God's Word: A Story Worth Telling

Well, it is awesome.

Awesome, awesome.

Great job.

Ryan and Chantel and uh Brandon leading us as we uh move into our time of worship together.

If I haven't met you, my name is Russ.

I'm one of the pastors here at Church at the Grove, and it is awesome to have all of you with us this this morning.

I know uh the last couple days uh has have thrown us a curveball a little bit, but sometimes we need a curveball and this we can enjoy it and have some fun.

And uh hopefully some of you did uh get out to enjoy and have some fun.

Hopefully your kids maybe did if you didn't get to, if you had to go to work.

Sorry for you.

Uh that's just life.

Um but anyway, great to see you guys this morning.

Um we are going to be primarily in a couple passages, 2 Timothy chapter 3, also in 2 Peter chapter 1, primarily two passages.

2 Timothy 3 · chapter mention 2 Peter 1 · chapter mention

We're in a in a series, um uh series titled uh the Bible.

It's a creative series, right?

Uh titled The Bible.

We're gonna teach the Bible, something we've thought about the last year or two, um, that we should start teaching the Bible.

See, I'm trying to be funny a little bit here, and y'all just laugh with me.

If you you know, hopefully um we'll we'll go we'll get around to the Bible a bit sooner.

Um but but we're we're we're we really are we're teaching uh what we're what we're calling a foundational series where we're gonna be taking some of the foundational doctrines of our belief.

And so one is the Bible, it's the word of God.

What is the word of God?

How do we know Jesus is the Savior and the Lord?

How do we know that that what happened uh what what what we what we believe that happened 2,000 years ago, how do we know what actually really happened?

What what what we now have as our Bible, how did how did we get this?

How did how did how did this look throughout history before it got to uh to to what it has become now, not just leather and paper, but um you can read it electronically, you can you can have it on your phone or a tablet, you can you can have it anywhere with you.

Um and there's probably good and then there probably is some bad with that.

The most important thing about the Bible is it contains the story of God.

I love stories.

I love stories.

Uh one of my favorite people is a guy named Craig Ellington.

Craig Ellington is one is is one of our founding members of Church of the Grove here.

And so Craig, Craig might be home right now because he's going through a battle of cancer.

He's going through a tough season of life.

But but here's what I love about Craig Craig can tell a story like nobody else.

I mean, he is a I I've watched Craig with kids that are three years old and people that are in their 70s and 80s, and Craig can captivate their attention and tell a story like nobody's business and make it funny, make it interesting.

Craig was a Marine.

He he's he just has an interesting um dynamic in his life.

He's one of those, he's a he's an inventor and entrepreneur, uh just a great storyteller.

I mean, do y'all have favorite storytellers?

I mean, some of us might know some favorite storytellers that like our maybe are famous.

Famous storytellers?

Who's a famous storyteller that that that we all identify with?

Dr.

Seuss, man, he's a great storyteller.

Yeah, Dr.

He is.

Who else?

Uncle Remus Uncle Remus is a great storyteller.

Great storyteller.

Who?

Absolutely, man.

I have no idea who that is.

But I Silverstein?

All right.

Oh, I should know that, shouldn't I?

Uh I'm very a well-read person here.

Um that's that's great.

Um uh how about any any any uh other I'm kidding?

That's great.

That's great.

You sing you sing really good this morning, Ryan, by the way.

Just want you to know that.

Who is who's another who's a storyteller?

How about how about a guy named uh George Lucas?

Can he tell a story?

And you may not you may not be a Star Wars person, but you still I I I I can tell you I've watched enough to know that it's a pretty good storytelling that goes on.

How about um there's some guys that used to get together and uh and and and and tell stories together, and a couple of them have written some very significant stories.

How about JRR Tolkien, C S Lewis?

They there's some there's some good storytellers, aren't there?

Man, some great storytellers.

Those guys um there's this uh I mean you can you know I I started writing down just the names of things, you know, the Chronicles of Narnia, the Kill of Mockingbird, the Great Gatsby, um, Harry Potter, uh, the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

I mean, we've got to include them, right?

I mean, you you've got it all.

I mean, uh you got old stories, new stories, uh, you've got you've got stories that reflect life, you've got stories that reflect culture, you've got stories that are good stories with bad endings, and you've got you've got bad stories with good endings, you've got all kinds of stories, but there's nothing like a good story, and and and amazingly enough, we can we hold in our hand, we're able to hold in our hand, whether it be leather and paper or whether electronic, we're able to hold the greatest story ever told right in the palm of our hand, right here.

The greatest story that's ever been told is centered around a man named Jesus Christ.

And and and that story has changed lives, and when I say lives, I mean millions and millions of lives have been impacted by the greatest story that's ever been told.

And we get it, we get that.

How do we know this about Jesus?

We get it from the Bible, we get it from the Word of God.

The story of the Bible is truly the greatest story that's ever been that's ever been told.

In 2022 alone, over 166 million Bible texts were distributed worldwide.

In 2022 alone, over 166 million Bible texts were given out worldwide, showing that the Bible isn't just for a Western audience, it's for every single person on the planet.

It's for every people group, every ethnicity, every language, every individual, every person needs to hear the story of Jesus.

And so it's not just for certain people, it's not just for Watton County, it's not just for Atlanta, it's not just for the Bible belt, it's not just for Americans.

It is for every person on the planet.

Every person should hear the story of Jesus.

As of September 2023, the complete Bible has been translated into 736 languages.

And the New Testament is now available in an additional 1,658 languages, making it the most translated book in history.

Nothing else comes close.

And just just FYI, this just not doubting, not trying to put any down any other belief system, but just by comparison, the Quran has been translated into a little over a hundred languages.

And I just want to throw that out there.

I'm not gonna make the point, I'm gonna let the point make itself.

And so the Bible is so significant that it has been banned in some countries because of the power that's been found, that comes from it when it's taught, when it's read together, when it's read in community, and and and when it's when it is shared from person to person or from individual with a large group.

And so um so the so that that's incredible to think about that.

Incredible to think about the the breadth of the influence of the word of God of the Bible.

While the Bible is the greatest story that's ever been told, and and it has shaped culture more than any other document, um people still push back and don't engage with the scriptures.

There's those of us that call on our Savior Jesus, we would say, Jesus died for me.

Jesus died to save me from my sins.

Jesus was born as a baby, he lived a perfect life, he gave his life, surrendered his life to die on a Roman cross to bring forgiveness to you and me.

And so, you know how I know that?

The Bible told me so.

The Bible is what teaches me that truth.

And so, but but the reality is a lot of us that have been impacted by the story of the Bible, the reality is that we don't even engage with the Bible.

We don't engage in the way that we should with the Bible.

The greatest story that's ever been told.

Why, why, why, what are the reasons people don't engage with the Bible?

Here's a couple of reasons.

It's perceived irrelevance.

Some people believe that the Bible is old.

And because it is old, it doesn't connect with modern society.

And for whatever reason, people would say that's just it's irrelevant.

It's out of date, it's not applicable to modern day life.

Uh the complexity, some people are just a bit overwhelmed.

And we've all read through the Bible, we've all read through some of the scriptures.

I mean, if you start in Genesis, this is why I tell people if you're starting for the first time ever to read the Bible, fast forward, I give you permission, fast forward all the way to what we call the New Testament or the New Covenant.

Start reading what we call the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Those are the stories and the biographies about Jesus.

That's the best place to start.

Fall in love with Jesus and then let Jesus, through the power of the Holy Spirit, guide you on this journey through the Bible.

And he will take what seems to be complex and he'll break it down to help you understand.

Sometimes people had negative experiences with the Bible.

Where a Bible should be shared with somebody, sometimes the Bible is used as an instrument to beat somebody over the head with.

Figuratively, maybe or literally even there.

So negative experiences we've had, people that are that teach the Bible incorrectly, that quote the Bible incorrectly.

Um, skepticism.

We live in a culture where people are just skeptical.

Some are skeptical about the claims that we teach or or or that the Bible even teaches about itself.

And so people push back on these supernatural events and all these uh crazy miracles.

And and and then finally, we're we have busy lifestyles.

We're busy.

I've already I've already got to read this, I've already got to cover this for school, I've got to do this for my degree, I've got to, and so so we there's all types of reasons that we don't engage with the Bible, but we should engage with Scripture.

Why?

Because when we understand, we understand our story when we understand God's story.

We better understand our story when we understand God's story.

And this is where we say, Holy Spirit, speak to us.

Holy Spirit, speak to us.

So this is a, listen, I'm giving you a crash course right here in systematic theology on the Bible, right?

So why not why don't I teach for an hour?

We'll take a little break, and then we'll come back and do it for another hour.

Amen.

Amen.

Walt knows if he says amen, I'll stop sooner.

That's a so no um uh I'm kidding about that.

But but what what we're doing today is is a bit, it's almost just like what I'm pulling out of what what was an old systematic book, a systematic um theology book.

Just this journey that we're on with the scripture.

We may not get all done, we may not get done with it this morning.

That's fine.

We can come back uh next week and and we can teach some more.

And so here's a few things.

We're gonna we're gonna go through this very quickly.

The Bible is less like a book and more like a library.

Here's some things I want you to know about the Bible.

The Bible is less like a book and it's more like a library.

Because we think book.

We think book.

This is how I go and buy a book.

I can I can buy it uh made out of paper or leather, I can buy it electronically through Kindle or some other uh you know electronic system.

Uh but but the Bible is given to us to change our life.

It is to give us the story of God so we can better understand our story.

And it's more like a library.

It is a collection.

See, we we wrongly assume that the Bible is just really one book because it's it's bound together like it is.

It's a collection of books, 66 different books to be exact.

39 Old Testament books, 27 New Testament, New Covenant books.

It was written over about a 1,500-year period, about 1,500 years the Bible was written, which is, and it was written by over 40 different authors, 40 different individuals that wrote into what we now have collected and bound as the holy word of God, the Bible.

And so it's a library.

It is a library.

Each book is diverse.

There's all types of genres.

There's historical writings, there, there's law and wisdom literature, poetry, prophecy, letters, apocalyptic language and literature.

And each genre brings its own unique perspective to the story of God.

And therefore to our story.

And so the book, the Bible is primarily written in three three languages: Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.

Those are the primary languages that everything is translated out of those languages to where we now have uh have the all the Bible not in all the languages that we have on the planet, but but in many of the languages that we have on the planet.

And people are working.

People are working to make sure the Bible is available, whether it's it's being able to hear it or read it or both, and and experience the life change that comes through the encounter with the author of the Word of God.

And so while the Bible is a collection of books, the most amazing thing is that it tells one unified story, over 40 authors, written over 1,500 years.

66 books all point to one person.

And his name is Jesus.

His name is Jesus.

That's what that's the center point of the Bible.

Matter of fact, the longest book of the Bible, anybody know what the longest book in the Bible is?

The longest book of the Bible?

Psalm 119.

Psalm 119 is the longest.

You know what that book is about?

You know what that whole psalm is about?

Well, it is Jesus.

That's the safe answer for if we're in church.

Always Jesus, you know what?

I mean, it is it is.

You know, what has gray fur and uh, you know, and uh, you know, just uh uh you know furry tail.

You know, it sounds like a squirrel, but it safe answer is Jesus.

Um but but so so we we look at the Bible as a collection of books, all these different facts about it.

There's one thing it points to, one person it points to, one individual that the Bible is about.

And Charles Spurgeon says it this way He says the whole Bible is about Jesus Christ.

The Old Testament predicts him, the gospels reveal him, the epistles explain him, and the revelation proclaims him in his glory.

And so God's redemptive plan is to restore his creation through a relationship and an encounter with Jesus Christ.

How do people hear about Jesus Christ?

They are read or taught or or shared with the message.

Where does that message come from?

It comes from the Bible, it comes from the Word of God, from Genesis to Revelation.

The Bible tells one story, one story, and it is about God's plan to rescue humanity, to rescue you, to rescue your children, to rescue the kids in our community, to rescue the kids in our ministry here, to rescue your entire family, your spouse, the person you love the most, the person you're more the most concerned about.

Listen, this word is for him.

And this word points to Jesus.

That is where we find our hope.

From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible tells one story.

God has come up with a plan to rescue humanity.

And that plan comes through Jesus Christ.

Thank you, Jesus.

Can we just say that together?

Thank you, Jesus.

Thank you, Jesus.

I love we we give out these children's books written by Sally, Sally Lloyd Jones.

It's called the Children's Storybook Bible.

But but I love the tagline on the book says this every story whispers his name.

Every story whispers his name.

And what what she's saying is every every story, every chapter, every story that is in this book whispers the name of Jesus.

In Genesis, for example, he is the promised seed who will crush the serpent's head.

In Exodus, he is the Passover lamb.

In the Psalms, he's the good shepherd.

And the prophets, he's the suffering servant, and he's the coming king.

And we could go on and on and on.

But here's a few more things I want you to know before we stop and spend a moment in prayer.

Is this the Bible is not just randomly thrown together, it is something that is that is divinely inspired.

The Bible is divinely inspired.

Let's look at a couple of scriptures.

It's a rustle word.

You're using the Bible to teach about the Bible?

Absolutely.

Do it all the time.

Now, there are some other materials I can bring in, and I do bring in extra biblical material.

Sometimes it's good to have just to encourage people that maybe struggle with thinking that this book is divinely inspired.

But we believe that the Bible is divinely inspired.

Here's what Paul wrote to his protege that he was mentoring Timothy.

2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17.

It says all scripture, all scripture.

It says all, all scripture.

How much scripture?

All scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives.

It corrects us when we are wrong and it teaches us to do what is right.

God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.

So the Bible is inspired by God.

The doctrine of inspiration comes literally out of this text, which means God breathed.

All scripture is inspired.

That word inspired in the Greek, it really is two words that literally mean God breathed.

God breathed.

God breathed out scripture.

God moved upon the hearts of the apostles and the prophets and the writers, the disciples, those that were involved in bringing us the word from the Holy Spirit, being God breathed.

And so God breathes out his word.

Hence, the Bible is inspired.

It is the inspired word of God.

And so God writes, God works through the Holy Spirit through the writing of the prophets and the apostles.

Doesn't mean that there's a dictation process because God, in his sovereignty, uses the personality and the people and all the distinct aspects of their life in writing.

What the Holy Spirit writes through them, which is the miracle that we have in the Bible.

The miracle is that is that is truth through personality.

Truth through personality.

And so you have a Peter who is part of writing, inspiring, writing scripture, but we also know of a Peter who would who would say things that would get himself in trouble.

He would stick his foot in his mouth and he would say things that he shouldn't say.

And so out of the same mouth comes the word of God and and and and also comes things that need correction, that need some correction.

And so we see that see that God breathed, the Bible is inspired.

Peter writes about it this way, 2 Peter 1, 20 and 21.

He says, above all, you must realize that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from the prophet's own understanding or from human initiative.

No, those prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit and they spoke from God.

So to read the Bible then is to really actually read the very voice of God.

We hold, if we hold a copy of God's word, we're holding the very word of God in our hands.

And it doesn't necessarily make this paper or leather, you know, uh more holy than any than this desk or anything, but it does, I mean, it's amazing that God wanted to make sure that He, that, that I understood his story, and so he wrote me a story.

And so as I read his story, I begin to see myself in the story, and I see my need for Jesus in the story.

And so Peter writes that, he says, verse 20, he says, above all, you must realize no prophecy, scripture ever came to the prophet's own understanding or from human initiative.

No, those prophets were moved by the what?

By the Holy Spirit.

And they spoke from God.

And so also the Bible is not only divinely inspired, the Bible is trustworthy.

The Bible is trustworthy.

Listen, if the word of God says it, you can trust it.

You can trust it.

Two words that are important when you understand the doctrine, the doctrine of scripture.

One word is inerrant.

We believe, we believe in the inerrancy of scripture.

What we would call the plenary version of Scripture, which means every word counts, every word matters, every word is inspired by the Holy Spirit.

And so there's inerrancy without error, without fault, and what we have, we have scripture.

The other word I want you to be familiar with is the word infallible, not capable of making a mistake.

That's what that word means.

And that is attributive to Scripture.

Not not no errant, there's absolutely no error, and it is infallible.

The Bible is also historically reliable.

It's amazing when you look at a story like we looked at over this over the Christmas season.

I can't have, I can't, you know, I've talked about how, hey, it seems interesting.

Every December I seem to be teaching the same story.

But I find something new every year.

And the story that God has come to us, that He has become one of us, so we could have a reconciled relationship with Him.

That is at the heart of Scriptures.

The heart of the Scriptures, the heart of the Bible.

And so there's historical reliability, which means that when we read that that Quirinius was the governor of the of the province where we're married and Joseph had to go, it's actually factually reliable.

It's historically reliable.

When it tells us about the Roman Empire and Pop Tramana and the peace of Rome, and how how how amazing it is that this young couple had to travel a certain distance to be in the right place for that child to be born and for the message of this child that's born to get around the world as fast as it could during that historical timepiece, it tells us that this book is historically reliable.

There's unity across Scripture, despite being written over 1,600 years, 15 to 1600 years, over 40 different authors from diverse backgrounds telling one cohesive story about one person that has within himself the ability to redeem the whole world.

Oh man.

I mean, I that that I can't tell you how powerful that is.

How how to be able to, how hard it is and how responsible I feel when I'm given the responsibility to teach the scripture.

Prophetic fulfillment.

We talk about unity across scriptures.

How about prophetic fulfillment?

Numerous Old Testament prophecies are fulfilled in the New Testament.

Particularly, we're talking about the life of Jesus.

And so the author write about, they write about the coming of a Messiah.

The prophets, years before Jesus came, they wrote about the Messiah, the one who would come.

And so all of these stories, all the events happen in very specific detail in his birth and his life and his death, how he would be born, but also how he would live and then how he would surrender his life.

And Jesus fulfills over 300 prophecies that came hundreds of years before he was born.

Now, let me just give you a little mathematical.

Some of you have probably heard this from a guy named Peter Stoner.

What are the chances that any one human being could fulfill just eight of these prophecies?

Not 300.

Eight of them.

Eight of them.

Peter Stoner uses this illustration.

He says it's one times ten to the seventeenth power.

Imagine that number of silver dollars spread all over the state of Texas.

They would cover the whole state of Texas, two feet deep.

That many silver dollars, one times ten to the seventeenth power.

To fulfill just eight of those prophecies would be like walking out into the middle of Texas, putting your finger down, and picking up the one silver dollar that somebody had marked with an X.

That's how powerful it is that these prophecies are fulfilled in Jesus.

That would have been only eight prophecies.

How about to fulfill 16 prophecies?

It would be one times ten to the 45th power.

All of those silver dollars balled up in a sphere, 60 times the distance from the earth to the sun, it would be 5.5 billion miles.

That's the chance.

Those are the odds of 16 of those prophecies being fulfilled in one person.

Now, what really, though, is the point of what we're talking about?

I want us to be a church grounded in the word of God.

Our faith based on the teachings of the word of God.

We are to be a church where it's all about Jesus, nothing but Jesus, everything Jesus.

And where do we get that?

We get that from the Word of God.

I wish y'all could see what I'm looking at right now.

I'm looking at a foyer full of people, all staring.

Can y'all all wave?

Well, just wave.

Yeah, wave back at them if you see him through.

That's so cool.

Um and I and I I definitely do not have ADD, so don't suggest that.

Um everybody be really still out there.

So the Bible has been carefully preserved.

It's been carefully preserved for the purpose of you hearing that Jesus loves you, that Jesus came to give his life for you, that Jesus did give his life for you, he died on a cruel Roman cross.

They put his lifeless body in a tomb, and three days later, some type of life was breathed back into that body, and he walked out of that tomb.

That's the story of the gospel.

And for those of us who have put our faith in the reality that Jesus came, he died, he rose again, and he's coming again.

For those of us that have put our faith in the Lord, we wait expectantly, don't we?

We wait knowing he's coming back.

We know because we know the story.

We've been somebody taught us, somebody explained it to us, somebody shared it with us, and we bought into it so much that many of us have repented of our sins and we have turned and put our faith in Jesus Christ and made him our Lord and Savior, which guarantees us eternity with God.

And yes, we love talking about, hey man, I'm I'm gonna I'm gonna uh I'll fly away one day, and that's great.

I'm gonna be in heaven one day.

But the reality is when you put your faith in Christ, heaven comes to you.

You don't have to go to heaven, heaven already comes to you.

Jesus said that we're we're to pray that his kingdom would come on this earth just as it is in heaven.

And so through through life changed by the power, the transforming power of the gospel of Jesus Christ, that has been revealed to us through his word, has the power to draw people together on a on a crisp, snowy, cool morning and proclaim that Jesus is Lord.

Amen.

Hear you, brother.

And so, 2 Timothy is as Paul says, all scripture is inspired by God, and it's useful to teach us what is true, to make us realize what is wrong in our lives, it corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right, and God uses it.

God uses it.

What does he use?

He uses his inspired word to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.

Now that's that's a fast, that's a quick journey through a through a through a study on systematic theology on the word of God.

It's a quick, quick study, but it's enough for us to dip our toes in and maybe to ask the Lord what he wants to say to us this morning.

What is it?

What is it the Lord wants to say to us?

Because God speaks, whenever you open this book, God wants to talk to you.

It might be as simple as just knowing you matter.

Jesus loves you.

And the the thing that you're carrying that feels like a thousand pounds, he wants to take that off you.

You know why I know that?

Because this is what Jesus said.

Matthew 11, 28, 29, and 30.

It said, gentle.

Jesus, he was gentle and lowly.

Jesus was gentle and lowly.

He comes not to bring burdens.

He said, I come not to condemn you.

I come to bring myself as a ransom, to set you free from sin, to set you free from the power of sin, to set you free from the effects of sin, to set you free.

I've come that you would have hope.

I've come that your family would have hope.

I've come that your marriage would have hope.

I've come that your relationship with you, between you and your kids, would have hope.

And so, what is it you need to hear this morning that comes out of this word?

I'm telling you, there is a word for you, and God has one for you.

And so, can we spend a moment asking him what that word is?

God, that God would speak to us.

Can we just spend a moment just praying?

Let's let's do that.

Let's pray.

Let's pray.

Father, we are so grateful and so thankful for the word that you've given us and the transforming power that your word brings when it's taught, when we read it, when we study it.

And so I pray, Lord, that we would fall in love with the Bible, that we would fall in love with your word, and and it would in turn, it would it would turn us more and more towards your face and who you are and your character.

And in turn, we would fall more and more in love with you, our Heavenly Father.

So I I I just I know there's somebody here this morning.

There's somebody here this morning that needs, that needs to know their salvation is secure.

Let me just encourage you.

Some of you came in here with some doubt.

Some of you came in here feeling a bit like a skeptic, even in your own journey as a Christ follower.

Let me encourage you.

He will never leave you and he will never forsake you.

He is the one who does the saving.

He is the one who pulls you and draws you by the power of the Holy Spirit.

He is the one who gave his life to die on a Roman cross.

He is the one that had life breathed back into him so he could walk out of that tomb and continue teaching the gospel.

He is the one who sits at the right hand of the Father right now praying and interceding for you while you're living this life on this earth.

And so he promises that he will save those that repent and believe in the good news of the gospel of Jesus.

And so if that's you this morning, if you need Jesus, you've never put your faith in Jesus.

I want to ask you right now, right now, just to say yes to Jesus.

You don't have to quote the exact words that I'm praying, but basically you say this.

I admit that I'm a sinner and I need you, but I turn and I believe and I trust and I put my faith in what Christ did for me and his life and his death and his resurrection.

And I confess him as my Lord and my Savior.

If that's you this morning, you pray that for the first time, I want you to tell somebody.

You you tell a friend that brought you or that came with you, you find me out in the lobby if you can and write me a note, make sure I get it in my hands, or hand it to somebody that's standing up here with a microphone or singing, and you let us know if you made a decision to follow Jesus this morning.

For those of you that are here and you're already a follower, maybe your challenge is just simply say, you know what?

I'm gonna pick up this book and I'm gonna start reading it on a daily basis.

I'm gonna start trusting that reading this book has the power to change my life.

And if that's you, that's your application, what do you do with that?

Do you just go back and start reading to Genesis?

Probably not the best place.

Start with Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Start somewhere in the New Testament or go find a reading plan through your Bible app.

Maybe it'll be a plan that would help you understand some things that you have struggled with.

Some doubts or some aspects of God's character.

Father, we love you.

God, we we are so grateful and so thankful for all that you provide for us.

We ask that you would move in somebody's heart this morning that needs you, and I pray that you would give comfort to those that are here with hurting hearts.

God, thank you.

Thank you for your word.

Thank you for the hope that it brings to me and to so many, and for the hope that it has brought to millions and millions of people around the globe.

God, I pray that we would be a faithful church and be faithful to teach the word.

So in Jesus' name we pray.

And everybody said, Amen.

Would y'all just stand with me as we close this time?