Believe It or Not | Pastor Chris Kouba

It is good to see you.

Grab your Bibles, open them up to 1 Peter chapter 2.

1 Peter 2 · chapter mention

First Peter chapter 2.

1 Peter 2 · chapter mention

I want to welcome all the men and women at our correctional facilities, those joining us online, traveling, whatever you may be.

Let's celebrate all those on the other side of the camera.

Give them a hand.

This is insanely disorienting for me because I know where all of you sit and you're all in a different spot, right?

Some of you are in different regions and things like that.

And so maybe I can get used to that.

Let me just encourage you though, even despite the construction that you see, we're gonna have some more construction starting on the north side here in just a few weeks.

We are open for business.

We are having services, and everything is as normal as before.

The last three years we have grown over the summer.

Like you don't usually do that, you usually just kind of survive over the summer.

We have grown over the summer, so I just want to encourage you to invite people to come and to be a part of that.

We have very little room in our 10 o'clock service, but with our 8:30 and our 11:30, we've still got some room, and so just continue, especially you, to invite and be a part of this.

It's exciting to see how God's moving in the midst of all of these projects as we expand this worship center, adding more seats as well as adding more storage.

Let me remind you really quickly: your faithful tithes and offerings has already paid for this project.

So this is not something we're raising money for, but you're giving.

Maybe for other family members, it's like all of a sudden, oh great, here we go.

And then somebody's getting upset over here, and then somebody's getting upset over here, blood pressures are boiling, intensity is going, anger is happening, and it's like a bomb went off in your house, and you can't recover.

There's no civility to the dinner at that point after that bomb has been released.

It's those topics that kind of just shut the room down.

They either shut the room down because everybody's quiet, or they shut the room down because everybody's mad and no one wants to talk to each other anymore.

It's those taboo topics.

Every family's got them.

And maybe you don't realize that that was the case until you go back to after the dinner, you go and sit down with your cousin and be like, what just happened?

You're like, oh no, no, we don't, we don't we don't talk about that in this family.

We don't bring that up.

We don't talk about the brother-in-law's choices that he made after high school.

We don't talk about Aunt Susie and that divorce that she went through.

Whatever your issue is, you've all got things that you don't talk about if you want there to be peace, civility, and normalcy in the house.

These are taboo topics.

The word taboo can be defined as uh something that is not acceptable to say, to mention, or to do.

You don't go there.

You don't say that.

You don't do that.

It's the rules that are unwritten, or the rules that are written, rather, or they're unwritten, but you don't know that they're unwritten until you break them.

There are the things that you're like, oh, I didn't know I wasn't supposed to go there, and then you sort of realize, no, no, no, no, no.

You are not allowed to go there.

Our goal for the next two months this summer here at United City with our series that we're titling Taboo is to go there.

We're gonna break the rules.

We're gonna talk about the stuff that you're not supposed to talk about in church.

We're gonna go there and address some certain issues that the culture says a whole lot about, but we wanna say what does God's word say about this?

But I want to give you a heads up.

These are not typical things that you talk about in church.

Maybe you don't talk about them because they're controversial.

Maybe you don't talk about them because there's so much passion around the specific issue that at the end of the day you don't really know what you don't want to care what God says about it because you already know what you think about it.

You're gonna do whatever CNN or Fox News or whoever you watch tells you to do.

And the reality is this you're either gonna be discipled by the world, or you're gonna be discipled by the word.

We're gonna talk about stuff like abortion.

We're gonna talk about stuff like LGBTQAIA plus, whatever it is now.

We're gonna talk about mental health, we're gonna talk about politics, we're gonna talk about the spiritual warfare, we're gonna talk about end times, we're gonna talk about some of these topics that at the end of the day you're either crazy passionate about or you hope never get mentioned.

But either way, it's a fight.

And either way, it's uncomfortable.

Now, let me just tell you this up front.

Let me tell you the reason why we're doing this, because one of our core values is not just something we put on a website or it's not just something that we we put on a wall, it's actually true.

We believe the Bible speaks.

And if we believe the Bible speaks, then we want to let it speak in the areas that the culture is screaming about.

This goal, the goal of this series isn't for clicks or it's not to be controversial, but don't get me wrong, we're gonna poke the bear.

We're gonna at times look and press into some of these things from an apologetic standpoint.

You're gonna be like, I thought I was out of school.

Why am I back into school?

And at times you may need to feel like that because you need to know we have a rational faith.

Like what we believe isn't just something we just thought, oh, this would be a good idea.

But like there's actual reason and knowledge and intellect that goes behind what we believe and what we say we do.

On the other hand, though, I know that a lot of times if you grew up in church, then you probably have some basic assumptions about and the talking points that you've been fed along the way as to certain issues.

I want to press in and see if those assumptions should be held.

I want us to maybe ask some probing questions and see does our faith hold up when we press in a little bit?

I'm not gonna deconstruct or anything like that, but I certainly want us to be honest.

I want us to have real conversation, and ultimately what I want us to do is I want us to be able to know what do you do with the truth when we get it?

This morning I want to lay some foundation and I want to deal with a really big assumption for this entire series.

If we're gonna let the Bible speak, if we're gonna let it provide us answers for some of these taboo questions that come up that are being asked, then it is worth us asking this question.

Can you even trust this?

You see, it's a taboo question because at the end of the day, we're a church that that has the Bible speaks as one of our core values.

Every single week when you come here to church, one of the things that we're gonna say, the very first thing is turn in your Bibles to.

We're gonna always open up God's word, and I'm gonna quote it repeatedly over the course of the next six weeks during this taboo series.

So it's worth asking, well, what if something's wrong with this?

Have you ever considered that?

Have you ever thought about the fact that we have a Bible that's here that has been given to us, that's been passed down over time?

Is it possible that somewhere along the way, like you're playing a telephone game, whenever you start with one person and it goes to another person and it goes to another person and it gets down to the end, it's totally different than what was originally said.

Is it possible that that's the case with this?

Plus, I'm sure you've heard it just like I have.

Well, what about the Bible?

There are a bunch of errors in the Bible.

So if there are a bunch of errors in the Bible, what in the world are we doing in placing our theology and our life on it?

Why would we be so naive to do that?

Let's also be actually honest.

Have you ever read the Bible?

There's some pretty weird stuff in there.

There's some pretty weird stuff.

I was reading in my time with the Lord this morning, and it talks about how basically there was this king that ended up killing this king, and they killed this king, and it was like no big deal.

It was just another chapter.

There's some stuff that's hard to understand, there's some stuff that's hard for us to digest.

And so we gotta ask ourselves, is this really something worth basing our whole life and existence on?

I want to read for you a passage of scripture, 1 Peter chapter 2.

1 Peter 2 · chapter mention

Excuse me, 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 24 and 25.

1 Peter 1:24

It says, For all flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flower of grass.

The grass withers and the flower falls.

But the word of the Lord remains forever.

This word is the good news that was preached to you.

This is what we believe.

This is what I believe that that's actually true.

I don't want you to take my word for it.

I say I want to try to do the best that I can in the short amount of time that I've been given to try to prove to you with some internal evidence, with some external evidence, and with some personal evidence why I believe you can bank your whole life on this thing.

Let's start off, first of all, with some internal evidence.

What does the Bible say about itself?

Does it claim to be as significant and important as we claim that it is?

Let's just think about the process of writing a book.

Whenever you write a book, you would actually submit that manuscript over to an editor.

That editor would then take that manuscript and they would beat it up and change some things and do all some different things to it, try to make it sound better and more interesting, send it back to you, you rewrite some things, and it's this back and forth process, but ultimately the editor, because they're the publishing agent of the book, gets the rights to change some things in the book.

In the same way, a journalist, if they're gonna write an article for a newspaper or a news media of some sort, then what they will do is they will send the copy, is what it's called, to the editor.

The editor has the right to change things in that article, and then also to declare a headline to really determine what this article is gonna be all about.

Have you ever wondered who's the editor of this?

Have you ever thought about who's like kind of over the whole process?

Go to 2 Timothy chapter 3, verses 16 and 17.

2 Timothy 3:16

It says, All scripture is breathed out by God.

There's your answer.

God is the one who authored this, he spoke these words into being.

Here's the benefit of it.

It says for profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training and righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

That's a whole nother sermon that talks about the benefits of God's word.

What I want you to see is the origin of God's word.

It says here that God Himself breathed these words out, literally spoke these words, meaning when we read the Bible, we're not just reading like a collection of religious sayings over time that happen to stick out.

We're not relieving like man's opinions on what life should look like.

What we're reading are the very words of God.

Now I've got to wonder, and I've thought about this many times, did the people who were writing the Bible know that they were writing the Bible?

Like Peter, whenever he wrote this passage that we just read, do you think that he knew I am writing scripture?

Or is it possible that Peter was just writing a letter to all of the churches scattered all over uh the diaspora, and then all of a sudden, a couple years later, got word that people really liked it and it made it into this really good book that they're calling the Bible, and Peter's like, that's awesome! Like, I had no idea that this was gonna be the case.

We don't know how it went down.

What we do know is that each individual book has been written with a distinct personality and a distinct style.

But what we also know is that God was in the midst of it, even though if they whether they knew it or not.

Let me show you how I know this.

Second Peter chapter 1, verse 20 through 21.

2 Peter 1:20–21

It says, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of scripture comes from someone's own interpretation.

For no prophecy was ever produced, that's a key word right there.

We're gonna see that in just a moment.

Produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

The Greek word that's translated here, produced, is the same Greek word that is being used in Acts chapter 27, whenever there is a description of Paul, whenever he was being shipwrecked.

Acts 27 · chapter mention

Paul's in a boat, there's a fierce storm that comes up suddenly, and the sailors on board are trying are beginning to lose control.

They're unable to guide the ship, they're working hard to get things under control.

But here's what the Bible says in Acts 27, verse 15.

Acts 27:15

And when the ship was caught and could not face the wind, we gave way to it and were driven along.

That word driven is the exact same Greek word that we find in 2 Peter chapter 1 that is produced.

2 Peter 1 · chapter mention

Verse 17, it says this, after hoisting it up, they used supports to undergird the ship.

Then, fearing that they would run aground on the Seirtis, they lowered the gear and thus they were driven along.

Same Greek word.

Here's what it's trying to say.

The image is being used in Acts 27 of some sailors working hard on a boat in the midst of a storm, but eventually, while they were working, they just gave way to what was eventually happening.

In the same way, it's saying that the scriptures that were being written, whether they knew it or not at the time, they were being used by their physical effort, but God was doing something in the background that was bigger to allow it to become the very words of God.

Jeremiah chapter 1, verse 9, listen to what it says.

Jeremiah 1:9

Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me, Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.

The Bible says that when you read this, it's kind of something that's a big deal.

It's referring not to just that, hey, this is some this is just some thoughts.

This is just some things that you could consider.

It instead is saying that it is holy and inspired.

Let's say you're here today and you say, you know, I don't know if I'm by all this argument, but I'm into Jesus.

I think Jesus is great.

I think Jesus is good.

I love the fact that he's a God of love, and I love Jesus, his ways, his teachings.

And so therefore, in light of that, I I definitely kind of want to, I just want to follow Jesus' route.

Let's see what Jesus says about the Bible.

Matthew chapter 5, verse 17 and 18.

Matthew 5:17

Jesus says these words, do not think I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.

I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them.

For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot will pass from the law until all is accomplished.

Jesus is affirming, hey, if you're into me, then you gotta be into this.

Because that old testament isn't just old and I don't have anything to do with it.

I actually fulfilled it and completed, and Jesus routinely, whenever he would go into a new place to preach, he would actually go into the temple and preach the Bible.

He was a student of the Bible.

And so what that means is if you're gonna be a follower of Jesus, we gotta be a follower of this.

John chapter 12, verse 49 and 50.

John 12:49

For I have not spoken my on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has given himself, has himself given me a commandment, what to say and what to speak.

And I know that his commandment is eternal life.

What I say, therefore, I say as a father has told me.

Jesus said in Matthew 24, verse 35 heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

Matthew 24:35

If you want to follow Jesus, if you want to believe in Jesus, then you have to know that he thought highly, he followed, and he calls his followers to see this as the holy inspired word of God.

You want to be a Jesus person, then you gotta be a Bible person.

It's one and the same.

Now, here, let's be honest.

Some of you may be like, shaved, I don't buy it.

I don't buy the Jesus thing.

I don't really buy all of this stuff.

And in fact, I've heard and I know that the Bible has a bunch of errors in it.

I read a book once or I saw an argument about it once.

There's a bunch of errors in there.

Let's look and see if it holds up intellectually apart from it.

Besides, some of you are thinking, you just quoted a bunch of verses from the Bible to prove that the Bible's real.

Don't you realize that's a circular argument and it doesn't hold up?

Fair enough.

So let's look.

We've looked at some internal evidence, what the Bible says about itself.

Let's look at some external evidence.

I want you to pull out your phones, if you will, please.

And I want you to get the camera app open, or the text message, whichever one.

You can text the word taboo, T-A-B-O-O to 55498, and it will send you this link.

Or you can take a picture of this QR code that's on the screens.

And I want to encourage you to get this.

Each and every week in the midst of this series, we are going to help give you some resources that you can, the easiest way to say it would be double-click on what I'm going to introduce to you.

There's no way in the time block, the time frame that I've given that I can go into the depth that's needed with the amount of information related to this.

But with each topic, knowing that we're talking about kind of controversial stuff, we want you to be able to do a little more research on your own.

We want you to, because we're not like we we have nothing to hide.

Like we want you instead to do your own search and your own, but these are some great resources we've pulled together specifically related to this topic today that I want you to take a look at and can be super, super helpful for you to check out.

If you've ever been in Washington, D.C., I was there a few months ago, and I want to encourage you, whenever you do the kind of the DC monument tour and all that kind of stuff, if you do that along the way, make sure you designate some time to go to the Bible Museum.

Museum of the Bible.

It's absolutely phenomenal.

It's incredible.

It's a five-story building that's just absolutely beautiful in its architecture, but it specifically is designed to help teach you, show you, explain to you how the we can have confidence in the Bible that we hold.

And it's not starting off with that assumption.

It instead is going into it from an honest intellectual pursuit, and what you'll begin to see is scientific evidence, you'll begin to see historical accuracy, you'll begin to see archaeological confirmation that all go to support the Bible.

That's one place that you can go that can help you in the midst of all of this.

Also, the resources online for that are incredible.

Let's just talk about a couple things.

The printing press wasn't invented until the 15th century, excuse me.

And before that time, all original manuscripts, which we call autographs, are nowhere to be found.

Meaning this.

We do not have the original writings of Peter, of Paul, nor do we have the stone tablets that God wrote with his own hand when he handed down the law of Moses.

But we also don't have the original autographs of any ancient historical literature.

We don't have the autographs of any of Homer's work or Plato's work.

All we have is copies of those autographs, yet we still assign those in rela classes in high school and in college routinely today.

So I want us to make sure that we're at least honest.

If we're gonna start saying the Bible has a bunch of errors, you can't trust it.

You can't trust anything.

You can't trust any ancient document that we routinely act like is totally accepted.

Let's, for the sake of argument, though, look and see how the Bible holds up against some of the ancient literature documents that is routinely and universally accepted as true.

Take a look at this chart.

Homer's Iliad, written in 800 BC.

The earliest copy that we have is 400 BC, meaning it's a 400-year time gap, and we have 1757 copies.

Plato's Tetrologies, written in 400 BC, earliest copy that we have is 895 AD, about roughly about 1,300 years, and we have 210 copies.

Caesar's Gallic Wars, written between 100 to 44 BC, with the earliest manuscript being 900 AD, about 950 years, is we have 251 copies.

When you compare that to the Bible, which has over 10,000 manuscripts of the Old Testament, either in part or in whole, and 5,795 manuscripts of the New Testament.

New Testament was completed between 50 to 100 AD.

Earliest manuscript we have is 130 AD.

Old Testament was completed between 1200 and 165 BC.

The earliest until 1947 document that we had, a copy of it, was found in 900 A.D.

But an amazing discovery took place in 1947, whenever you had a Jewish boy who was out in the desert and he began to throw rocks into caves.

We actually go to this place whenever we go and visit Israel.

And literally he threw these rocks into the caves, and one time he threw it into a cave, and it just sounded different, so much so that he went into the cave to figure out what the sound was.

What he discovered was his rock had broken a vase.

Inside of that vase contained what we now know to be the Dead Sea Scrolls.

These Dead Sea Scrolls contained documents and manuscripts all the way back to 200 BC to 135 AD.

They began to now be the earliest manuscripts that we had of about 1100 years prior to the ones that we had before.

So one of the things that was very interesting, besides the fact that we now have even older manuscripts, was okay, how much changed between whenever they found these.

These scrolls, and then ultimately what they used to have, which was in 900 AD.

They began to do some analytics and began to do some research, and what they did, they looked at Isaiah 53, for example.

Isaiah chapter 53 is a chapter that is very foundational to us seeing the fact that the Jewish faith was completed in the person of Jesus.

Isaiah 53 · chapter mention

All the suffering servant passages in the book of Isaiah are found in their completion in Jesus.

Literally, you read Isaiah 53, it's like reading the storyline of Jesus' crucifixion.

And what you saw was that they began to compare those passages, they found only one word different in the entire chapter, and it was the word like the, meaning it could be included or it could not be included, it changed the meaning, not none whatsoever.

So in 1100 years of copying the scriptures, only one word that doesn't change the meaning was different.

In the New Testament, you may hear, and there's books that are written out there that talk about how there's all these variants and there's all these different discrepancies in the text.

And I would tell you, 70% of the variants are small spelling errors, meaning like you label something as color C O L O R, or you do it color, C O L O U R.

Doesn't change the meaning whatsoever.

And 99% don't impact the meaning at all.

No significant New Testament belief or doctrine is affected at all by any discovered variant.

All other archaeological digs have only confirmed the Bible.

They haven't disproven the Bible.

In fact, 40 different kings mentioned in the Bible have been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt by way of archaeology, and over 80 persons in the Bible have been confirmed by extra-biblical literature.

Luke, in his writings in the gospel in Acts, mentions 32 countries, 54 cities, nine islands, and have been proven, all have been proven by history to exist.

This Bible that we have was written over a period of 1,500 years.

It has more than 40 different authors, was written in different settings and different contexts over three different continents, in three different languages, with different styles and poetry and narrative and law and prophecy and letters.

It has survived time with the most amount of manuscripts and the oldest amount of manuscripts.

It survived persecution and it is still to this day the largest selling book in the world.

Here's what I would tell you.

You may not buy it, but it is intellectually dishonest to just act like, ah, it's got a bunch of errors, I can blow it off.

Reality is this it holds up to all of the scrutiny that you would put on anything that we hold is true.

And it comes out showing this is real.

The question is, you've got internal evidence, you've got external evidence.

Finally, though, I want you to see there's personal evidence.

Here's the big question What are you gonna do with it?

See, the Bible is different than other religious texts like the Quran, or is different than the Book of Mormon.

The reason isn't just because of how it came to be and the fact that the Holy Spirit inspired it and allowed it to come into its shape and its form, but also the Bible tells us that there's something going on when we read it.

The Holy Spirit didn't just write it, he also allows us to be shaped by it when we read it.

This is why you can read a verse of scripture, and then three years later read the same verse of scripture and it just hits different.

It just speaks to you in a powerful way.

That is the Holy Spirit doing something as you read God's word.

1 Corinthians chapter 2 explains this in verse 13 and 14.

1 Corinthians 2 · chapter mention

And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom, but taught by the Spirit.

Interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.

A 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.

When you read the Bible, God does something in you to receive it.

What you will discover is when you actually try it, you will see that the word doesn't change.

And you become faced with a choice.

You can deny it, you can discredit it, you can ignore it.

But it doesn't change what's in it.

You know, there's a lot of things, I'll be honest with you, that I don't like.

I don't like the fact that the speed limit on 1960 is 45 miles an hour.

I think that's dumb.

I think it's dumb.

Especially when people are flying on 1960 as though 45 is just a mere suggestion, right?

I really think it's really dumb that every single time you crest any kind of hill on Beltway 8, there's always a police constable that is sitting right over there on the on the feeder area, and he is gonna pull you over if you go past the ridiculous speed limit of 65.

If you actually drove 65 miles an hour on Beltway 8, you would get hit by the people going 90 miles an hour with the flow of traffic.

I just think it's dumb.

I think it's stupid.

And if I am driving on Beltway 8, driving 80, 85 miles an hour or whatever, because I'm at least better than the people going 90 miles an hour, right?

And I get pulled over by a police officer and he asks me why I was speeding, I can't say.

I thought your thing was dumb.

I didn't like it.

Did you see the sign, sir?

Yeah, I saw it.

I didn't care.

I thought it was dumb.

I thought it's a stupid rule.

And I just wanted you to know that.

He's not gonna say, well, let me tell you my opinion about the rule.

He's instead just gonna write me a ticket because guess what?

As much as I don't like it, as much as I don't want it, as much as I don't buy into it, it's still the rule.

It's still what it is.

I hope that all of us are gonna act differently than I might if I get pulled over on beltway eight.

Or like Corey Harris, who had a really bad week.

Take a look at the screens.

Mr.

Harris, are you driving?

Actually, I'm pulling into my doctor's office, actually.

So just give me one second.

I'm parking right now.

What are we doing?

Your Honor, we are especially requesting an adjournment in this matter, um, uh possibly 24 weeks at the court would allow.

Okay.

So maybe I don't understand something.

This is a driver with a license.

That is correct, Your Honor.

Um, just driving.

I don't even know why he would do that.

So defendant's fine is remote in this manner.

Defending to turn himself into the watchman by 6 p.m.

today.

Thank you.

Okay.

Alright.

Don't be Corey Harris, all right?

You got a choice.

Your choice is to see this as a reference book, as a rule book, as a list of commands that you can decide whether it fits into your life or not.

And you can choose to just blow it off.

Blow it off by apathy, blow it off by ignorance, blow it off just simply because you don't buy it.

At the end of the day, you still can't drive without your license.

And there will be a day, the Bible's very clear, when you're gonna stand before God and you're gonna give an account.

What I want to offer you, what I would like to invite you to be a part of, is not to see this as a rule book or not to see this as some reference guide so that you can get all of the talking points and the verses to back up what you've already decided is true and how you're gonna live your life.

I instead want to invite you and plead with you to begin to see this as a story book.

It tells a story.

And in this story, it begins to tell us about how the fact that we have a God who created the heavens and the earth.

And he looked at all of it and he's like, this is good.

The Bible also says that he created me and he created you, and he said it's good, and we can begin to see the fact that there's something that's in ape that's built inside of all of us that knows we were created for more than just what I'm doing.

Like there's this larger thing that I don't know what it is, and you may not have been able to articulate it, but I gotta tell you, it's because there's a creator that started this whole thing that said, Hey, I want you as a part of this deal.

We also know there's brokenness all around us.

Here's what the story tells us.

It's story, the story tells us how the brokenness came about.

It tells us about our forefathers all the way back who sinned and went against what God does.

And since then, all of us have picked up the same thing.

And as a result of that, we do the best that we can, but there's just brokenness all around us.

World doesn't make sense, our lives are confusing.

I look at the insanity that is taking place in our culture, and I just see a group of people that are longing to figure out how to explain brokenness without this.

They're doing the best that they possibly can.

They're redefining stuff, they're changing stuff, they're doing all that.

Instead of us getting mad at it, let's see, the Bible tells us that was gonna happen.

It invites us into a story to see, hey, this thing's a messed up problem.

But the story also tells us that God, the one who created us, sent his son Jesus, not just to leave us on our own, but instead he sent Jesus to walk this earth, to live a perfect, sinless, obedient life.

He then died on a cross and he rose from the dead.

And if that wasn't enough to display his power and his authority, and for us to give him praise and glory, he then says, and by the way, I want you to be with me.

You see, he didn't do it just to show off, he did it to rescue you.

And he invites you to be a part of this journey where you begin to follow after Jesus and you begin to see his word as a gift that was given to you, not to catch you, not to not to mess you up, not to somehow cause you to not have any fun, but instead, he gave this thing as a gift for you so that you can be on this redemption journey that Jesus is accomplishing by moving all things ultimately to the place when we know.

He's gonna make a new heaven and he's gonna make a new earth.

In this taboo series, I promise you, you can walk away here knowing some verses so that you can go argue with your neighbor who disagrees with you, but you've missed the point.

Instead, my plea and my goal is that you would be educated, yes, because we have a faith that stands the test of intellect.

But most important, that you would have a heart that is closer and more connected to the God of this Bible.

You would see your story as a part of his story.

Would you bow your heads and would you close your eyes all across this room?

Online, I invite you to do the same.

A question for you, 1130, is not do you believe the Bible?

The question is, do you know the God of the Bible?

That's really what matters.

You see, the invitation is being given to you today to follow the way of Jesus.

And I want to invite you to not only just embrace the Bible, just please hear me.

It's gonna be times and it's confusing, it's gonna be times and it's hard, it's gonna be times and it's gonna push you outside of your comfort zone, and all of that stuff's right.

It's also gonna talk about his love for you and his mercy and his grace.

It's also gonna talk about holiness.

And you're gonna discover along the way that you don't deserve it and you don't you aren't worth it, worth it, but but I want you to know this.

You're gonna see it's it's his story.

You're you're you're in his movie.

And you get to be a part of his redemption plan, which is saving us so that we can be about telling others about his desire to save them.

If today you want to receive Jesus, I'm gonna invite you in just a moment.

We're all gonna stand up just to make your way forward.

Just simply tell one of our team members that are gonna be in front and gonna be on the sides.

I want to give my life to Jesus today.

I want to choose his way.

Others of you need to come and join United City Church.

I just want you to know this the culture, it's changed a ton in the last two years.

It's radically different than it was five years ago.

It's gonna be even more different than it will be in five years from now.

But I want you to know this this church is gonna let the Bible speak.

We're not gonna change it, update it.

It doesn't need a fresh coat of paint.

We're gonna preach it.

We're gonna believe it.

We're gonna base our whole lives on it.

And despite what the culture screams, we're gonna let the Bible speak.

God's calling you to be a part of a church like that.

You come lead the way today.

By your coming, you're gonna encourage others, you're gonna be an inspiration, you're gonna see how God's moving, even in the midst of construction, in the midst of stuff, in the midst of all the things.

You instead are just gonna be an evidence of the fact that God continues to build his church, which is what he says in his word.

Others of you need to come and be baptized, you need to give a public demonstration of your faith through believers' baptism.

It's what God commands and calls us to do in his word.

And so therefore, I want to invite you.

You come today if that's your next step.

Let's schedule that.

Let's get you baptized next week.

Some of you need prayer today.

The Bible says the prayer of a righteous person availeth much.

We want to be a source of prayer for you.

If you have something that a need that you need someone to walk alongside of you, we want nothing more than the privilege of being able to share that need with you for a few moments.

Lifting it up to the name of Jesus, who hears us, serves as our intercessory, serves as our mediator between God and man.

Father, I pray you'd move in these moments we have left.

Call people to yourself, give them courage to respond, let them take their next step.

It's in the name of Jesus that I pray.

Amen.

Wow, what an amazing message we got to hear this morning.

I hope the Lord showed himself to you in a fresh way.

Hey, if you made a decision today to follow Jesus or a decision for Christ, we would love to process that with you.

So text the word next to 55498, and someone from our team will be more than happy to reach out and process that with you.

If you missed the message or you missed the note or two and you want to go back, don't worry.

We've got the option for that as well.

It's going to be available on Spotify as well as Apple Music.

This has been an amazing morning.

We love you guys so much, and we hope to see you next week.

Bye-bye.