September 27th, 2026

Go ahead and have a seat, everybody.

Well, today is just such a special day, and it's one of my favorite days in our liturgical calendar.

Um, because you know, liturgical calendar is just what the church follows, right?

And and every time uh we get to this time of year, I get excited.

Two times there's moments like this with our next generation, right?

It's third grade Bible, which we celebrate today, and then Confirmation Sunday, which by the way, the confirmation Sunday this year is going to be the second Sunday in our new sanctuary.

Um how cool is that?

They're gonna be the first kid first class confirmed over there.

Um it's gonna be awesome.

Um, but all the kids that we had, all these all these golden Bibles over there, that's so much better than Willy Wonka, right?

Um, you know, you got they got the golden Bible over there, and and just it's just such an exciting thing and a fun thing.

And and so I wanted to do a little standalone service today just to do this.

We finished that last one, I have a new one starting uh next week.

But so there was an off Sunday, and I said, you know, I just want to zero in on this because the Bible's important.

It is, and I don't think we give enough um credence to it, or we don't pay enough attention to it as often as we should.

Like there's some people in here that like how many of you have a Bible at home?

Pretty much every person on the face, it is the number one selling book.

Without question, it is just you it any stat you look up, the Bible crushes everything.

Just like White Christmas is the number one selling song of all times.

Come on, somebody, that's right.

Bing Crosby, yeah, crushes all of you.

Mariah Who, right?

The Bible year after year continues to outsell.

Jenna and I have, I don't know how many Bibles we have.

In fact, we we were uh we were just in Sagine uh this weekend, and she was gonna she does a quiet time every morning.

She goes out, she sits on her front porch swing, she has some coffee, and she and Lucy discuss scripture together because labradoodles are smarter than you think.

Um and so they sit out there and they do their little quiet time and she journals and all that stuff.

Um so we were at the at the river, and and she walked, she she goes, Do you have a Bible with you?

And I was like, No.

I mean, I got my phone um and I have the UVersion app, and I've got a text on that.

She goes, but I said, but I think there's one in that closet right there.

So she goes and she opens it and she pulls it out.

And it was one of ours.

Uh it had our name in it, Michael and Jenna Crocker, that we apparently someone gave to us, and we gave it to her dad.

Um like, you need more Bibles, Scott.

You need more of this.

You need to get Jesus more in your heart, right?

Those of you who know Dr.

Horn, that's a true statement, right?

Um, and but it just it was occurred to me like how many different Bibles we have.

We have, and granted, I I get it.

Like, I'm in a profession that you know that book's kind of important to me, right?

And so I have a lot of study Bibles.

People, people like to give me Bibles.

Hey, Pastor, I got you something.

It's a Bible.

Oh, thank you.

That is so awesome.

Great.

That encrosses.

I don't know why.

When I was a teacher, the the students used to give me ties.

I'm like, have you ever seen Mr.

Crocker wear a tie?

Yeah, my mom didn't know what to get you.

You're a dude.

Um it's pretty much the answer every time.

Uh and it was just so we got we have a ton of them.

And and what I like uh about that is the ability to read different translations.

Right?

I I love getting the scripture.

I love, I don't know how many times you've heard me say this when I am reading a particular verse of scripture.

I say, oh my gosh, I love this scripture right here.

Like I feel like I say it all the time.

Oh, this is one of my favorite parts.

And in truth, I say that because it is.

I just love this book.

I love it from the very beginning to the very end.

I love what it has to say.

I love the story.

I get the honor and um the burden sometimes, I think, of teaching upper school Bible to our St.

Andrews students right now.

I say burden because it's six, seventh, and eighth graders in one room at the same time, and they're horrible.

They're so mean.

Like they see me as Pastor Michael in the recess, and I'm playing with it and everything, and then come into the class and they're like, yay! I'm like, I'm Reverend Crocker now.

Sit down.

You know.

That never works.

It's bad.

They're mean.

Um, but I I love teaching.

And so I started out on this one curriculum, but then I stopped.

I was like, no, no, no.

We're gonna start at the very beginning because I need you to grab a hold of what I'm laying down, of why this, why Pastor Michael gets so excited about this book.

I want you all to get so excited about this book.

Because it is the foundation upon which everything is built.

It is these words that inform us who we are because of who he is.

Right?

This is it.

This is the thing that gets to tell us all of that information.

And it's so exciting, it's so wonderful to step into that.

Can you give me some water?

Sorry, I uh was with some cats two days ago.

No lie, I couldn't breathe all day yesterday, and I'm feeling really dizzy right now.

Um can I have a chair, actually?

Talk amongst yourselves.

There's nothing to see here.

The chick pea is neither a chick nor a pea.

Thank you.

Um Lisa, you may want to come up here a second and start singing again.

Thank you, Cecile.

That lady's a prayer warrior right there.

Okay.

We're gonna have a stool?

A stool will be better.

Because I can be higher.

Because I want that side of the room to see me, because I'm amazing.

All right.

Uh I'm sorry, everyone.

It's I blame Formosa, Formosa Garden and Milk, which is what I had for dinner last night.

Um I know you don't think milk in um Chinese food.

You're wrong.

Uh okay.

Good morning, everyone.

Good morning.

Where was I?

Oh no, it's talking about the Bible.

I was talking about the Bible.

Um, so here's the thing sola scriptura is what we're talking about.

And the importance of the Bible.

In the 1500s, uh, there was uh a group of guys that got together that weren't happy with the direction of the church, right?

Thank you.

Thank you.

Trent sent that.

Thanks, Trent.

You were too scared to cut- you sent your mom to bring me water?

That's awesome.

Mom, would you deliver this?

I don't want to be seen.

Um so in the 1500s, there was uh the Reformation, right?

People like Martin Luther, John Calvin, um, Ulrich Zwingli, which is one of the more fun names of the reformers to say, um, gathered together and saw that the church had lost its way.

The church had been around in the 1500s, obviously, for quite a while by that time.

It had been building to a huge behemoth of an organization, of an institution based out of Rome from which everything was pushed out across the world, because that was the center of Christendom, was Rome at that moment, right?

And so they began to utilize different things to say what was going on.

They began to utilize different writings.

Yes, there was scripture, but they would pull in other writings.

They would pull in tradition.

Well, we've always done it this way, so this is why we should continue to do it this way.

They would use their experience, they would use feelings.

It was an information age where there was just this gluttony of information that was pushed upon them because of different writings and different things that were coming out.

We too live in an information age.

There's multiple times throughout the history of the world when there's just been this onslaught of information.

We're living in one of those right now, in which you can find truth anywhere you look.

Truth is determined about where you're looking in your algorithm a lot of times.

Is if we say sola scriptura, I think some of us might say sola tick tock.

Sola MySpace.

How about that?

Come on, somebody.

That was funny right there.

Uh y'all don't even know what MySpace is on that side of the room.

Sola Facebook, things of that nature where we're finding these truths that we are told this is what you should base your life upon.

And then we throw in experience, and then we throw in tradition, and then we throw in feelings.

And what was happening during this time of Reformation is these things were going on.

And people were taking liberties.

The Catholic Church was taking liberties.

One of the chief complaints that these men had was about the selling of indulgences.

And what they, that what the Catholic Church was doing at the time, which by the way was a brilliant way to raise money, but it had no basis in faith, in scripture, or in the idea that God had for the church.

The selling of indulgences went like this: that if you sinned, there was a cost for that sin, literal cost for that sin.

And you could pay for forgiveness by however much money the priest determined you needed.

So if you had a speeding ticket, oh, that's 50 denarii, and you're forgiven.

Not what Jesus did on the cross, it's the 50 denarii probably wasn't what they were using then, but we'll just call it denarii.

Oh, you cheated on your taxes, that's a hundred.

Oh, you cheated on your wife, that's gonna cost you 5,000.

And we won't tell her either, but you are forgiven.

Right?

This was the selling of indulgences.

Priests were utilizing their power and authority and supposed connection, only connection to God, to hold the people down and to enrich their coffers.

Well, this really upset the reformers.

And so they came up with these things called the five solas: sola scriptura, sola Christus, sola fide, sola gratia, and solideo, um solideo gloria.

Only scripture, only Christ, only faith, only grace, and only for the glory of God.

Those five things.

If it falls outside of those five, throw it away.

It is only scripture, only grace, only faith, only Christ, and only for the glory of God.

And so the reformers went through this and it was all based on that first one, sola scriptura.

Right?

Point out to me in scripture where the selling of indulgences is okay.

Because if you look then only Christ, because we know that from Scripture, only faith, we know that from Scripture, and only by the grace of God, not what you do, we know that by Scripture.

And so, in order to navigate the untruths of the world, they needed to greatly depend upon the Word of God.

And so there was a huge focus on getting the Word of God into the person's heart, into the person's head, not just something that they would know, but someone that they would be.

Because when you have that truth inside of you and the truths of the world come across your path, you can go, no, no, no, no, no.

I know what truth is, and that's not truth.

Do you know how they teach Secret Service agents to discover a counterfeit bill?

They don't show them fake dollars or currencies.

They put in front of them the real deal so many times, over and over again, that when something crosses their desk that doesn't look like the real thing, they immediately know.

They don't know what all of the lies are, they just know what the truth is.

And because they know the truth so well, when a lie comes, they know it immediately.

Sola scriptura.

Only scripture.

There are so many truths and lies that are out there and exist in this world today.

As long as we know his truth, we will know those lies.

And so that is why I love third grade Sunday.

Third, third grade, when they get their third grade Bibles and we get to give it to them, they get to open up.

And one of the scripture that I highlight in there, I've done a couple of them.

I think it's uh don't let the world look down on you because you're young.

Um, because come on, you're about to change the world.

I love that.

And I love just pouring that into those kids and saying, no, no.

The disciples were young too.

And they took over the world and they changed the world because Jesus had faith and belief in them.

And guess what?

He has the same faith and belief in you.

But you gotta have the tools to enter into the battle.

And that first one is this text.

So why should you trust it?

2 Timothy 3 says this as Paul is writing to Timothy, but you must remain faithful to the things you have been taught.

You know they are true, for you can trust those who taught you.

You have been taught the Holy Scriptures from childhood, and they have given you the wisdom to receive the salvation that comes by trusting in Christ Jesus.

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 teaches us to do what is right.

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

All scripture is inspired.

Yes, it was written by many human hands, but there was one author behind it.

And so often when people talk about, oh, well, it was written over the course of thousands of years with many different authors, it can't be true or real.

But no, no, no.

What Paul says is one author through many different hands.

It's the inspired word of God.

Peter's going to take this further in his second letter.

2 Peter chapter 1 is where I am.

2 Peter 1 · chapter mention

Can you see it?

For we're we were not making up clever stories when we told you about the powerful coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We saw his majestic splendor with our own eyes when he received honor and glory from God the Father.

The voice from the majestic glory of God said to him, This is my dearly loved Son who brings me great joy.

We ourselves heard that voice from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain.

Because of that experience, we have even greater confidence in the message proclaimed by the prophets.

You must pay close attention to what they wrote, for their words are like a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and Christ, the morning star, shines in your hearts.

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

No.

These prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit, and they spoke from God.

Inspired by God, directed by the Spirit.

How do you trust these words?

Because they aren't the words of humans, they're the words of the Father.

Inspired by God, directed by the Spirit.

This is the foundation.

Sola Scriptura has not changed.

Yes, the reformers used other writings.

Yes, they brought other wisdom into their understanding to help them formulate who they believed God was and who they were because of it.

But it was all based on this.

If it went against these words, it was thrown out.

If something you read goes, man, that sounds good.

But what does Scripture say about it?

And they don't go hand in hand?

Then you go to Scripture and you lean on that.

Because too often our experience and our tradition and our feelings want us to go the other way.

And when we let those things, three things rule, we miss what God is potentially doing.

It is all based on the foundation of Scripture.

And so my question as we come into October 1st, the dust off your Bible challenge is how well do you know these words?

How well do you know this story from Genesis to Revelation, which is a love story of a creator and a father to you?

I started this the other day with our class, and we're going to do it here just for fun.

Some Bible trivia questions.

This is a competition.

100%.

And we're not in the class where you have to raise your hand, anything like that, because I don't have time for that.

But we are going to just shout out the answer.

I'm going to start easy.

Who built the ark?

Who was the first man?

Woman?

Who killed Goliath?

Oh, I'm starting to know.

That was a little shaky right there.

Where was Jesus born?

Okay, thank you.

I had the answer into my class the other day was in a stable.

And I was like, I'm gonna give you a point for that.

Um, but that's not what I was looking for.

Um let's see, who is Jesus' mother?

How many apostles did Jesus choose?

Who baptized Jesus?

Thank you.

I heard that.

John the Baptist, clarify, because I was about to say, which John, there's three of them.

Um okay, let's see.

Uh who was swallowed by the great fish?

Hmm.

Who received the Ten Commandments?

What sea did God part?

I also would have accepted the Sea of Reeds, for those of you Hebrews out there.

Um was thrown into a den of lions?

Who betrayed Jesus?

Ooh, yeah, all of us.

Uh on what day did Jesus rise from the dead?

Which day of the week?

Yeah, first day of the week, Sunday.

Uh those are too easy right there.

Okay.

We're gonna take it up a notch.

Who is Abraham's wife?

What was the name of Abraham's promised son?

Y'all aren't so sure now.

Who was sold into slavery by his brothers?

Who succeeded Moses as leader of Israel?

Joshua.

Which city walls fell after Israelites marched around them?

Who was Israel's first king?

Saul?

Is it a question or an answer?

Saul.

Which king asked God for wisdom?

Solomon.

Hey, right side?

Come on, come on, right side! Come on! We're getting to the New Testament.

I feel like I'll hang out there more.

Um who confronted King David about his sin involving Bathsheba?

Who said it?

Mr.

Carnes.

Nathan is the right answer.

Which prophet challenged the prophets of Bel on Mount Caramel?

Mr.

McAllister, is that you?

David?

Yeah.

Elijah is this correct answer.

Um let's see here.

This is a layup.

Who became queen and helped save the Jewish people from destruction?

Esther.

Which disciple denied Jesus three times?

Who replaced Judas among the twelve?

Matthias?

Yeah, Matthias is the correct answer.

Okay, now we're getting to challenging.

Some people are like, those weren't challenging?

Alright, there's the uh and I will I I to Trent and I went through this the other day in full um uh disclosure here, and Trent and I didn't know all of these either.

Um just just and I have a degree in it, and he's about to have a degree in it.

So if that makes you feel better about yourself, um your parents, Trent, might not feel better about that.

Um what judge of Israel made a vow that resulted in tragedy involving his daughter?

There's no way.

What?

That is correct, Joe.

Well done.

Um I can't even pronounce the guy's name.

Jeff Luth.

Jeff is what it was.

Alright, I'm gonna speed up and do two more because uh this this is you should which prophet married Gomer?

Yeah.

I just love saying that name.

I just had to put that one in there because it's Gomer.

Who was what was the answer?

Somebody said over here.

Hosea.

Hosea is correct.

Who was a high priest when Samuel was a boy?

Eli.

Killing it.

What was the name of the young man who fell from a window while Paul was preaching?

Trent's answer to this was I didn't know he had a name.

Eudychus.

Yep, I know you were all about to say that.

Alright, this is I will do one just only one more.

According to Acts, who was Paul's teacher of Jewish law?

It was Debbie?

No, Debbie's right here.

That is right.

Yeah, Grace said it was Debbie.

Deborah is a name in the Bible, Grace.

That is true, but that's not who it was.

Gamaliel, yes, is the correct answer.

Look, some of those challenging ones, like the J Fath one, I had another one for JL, which I don't even know if y'all remember that name in the Bible, but he is there and he was kind of an important figure for a little bit a moment.

I like looking through this stuff to let me know how much I know it.

And by the way, I use Chat GPT to do this.

I don't use it very often.

I was like, come up with 50 questions and give me the answers and the scripture references of where the answers are.

Because I'm scared I don't know all the answers.

And I didn't.

But one of the ways that we get to know this story is to be immersed in this story.

One of the ways that we get to know the stories of Scripture and all these things that inform us who we are, the foundation upon which everything is built, is to be in that foundation all the time.

And so what I want to encourage you is as we come up to this Wednesday, when we begin the dust off your Bible challenge, I'm going to, once again, there's going to be a video devotion every day.

I'm going to put we're going to post it on the socials where I'm talking about the different scripture.

You can grab one of these journals if you want, and maybe we'll put a digital copy online so you can print it off yourself.

But just spend some time.

The reading, like the day one's reading, is to read Acts 7, verse 54, through Acts 8, verse 3.

Acts 7:54 Acts 8:3

It's not a big reading.

And then they'll give you a question.

What do I learn about Saul's attitude towards Jesus and his followers?

I'm going to place for my thoughts and a prayer.

And the reason we we started doing this, this was Miss Natalie's idea last year that she had seen somewhere else.

And she said, we should do this, is because if this is, if we say we are Christians, if we claim to be followers of Jesus Christ, then we need to know who He is.

We need to know who God is.

And the way we get to know that information is to be in the Bible, is to spend every day just immersing ourselves in his story because it brings life and hope and peace.

And it brings power that when your pastor is literally about to pass out, that someone says, We're going to stand up and bring the Holy Spirit and pray right now.

Because that's faith.

And where did Cecile McAllister learn that you stop in those moments and you pray?

Right here.

And her immersion of the text.

And so that's what we do.

And so I want to encourage you as we walk into this on October 1st to join us in this story of Paul.

My sermon series is going to match it.

We're going to talk about Paul over the next four Sundays.

But I want you to get into the story of Saul Paul and see that transition.

The reason I chose Paul is because I most resemble him in scripture.

You ever look at somebody and you're like, who do I look like?

Who do I look like?

That's my middle name, too, Michael Paul.

But boy, if you would have said that I was going to work for Jesus when I was president of my fraternity, they would have said, no way.

And yet here I am, and this knucklehead next to me.

Fellow Bobcats.

Any other bobcats in the house?

Eat them up, cats.

Yeah.

That's right.

But the reason I can do this is because I know the story.

And it's not just because I have a degree in it, because quite honestly, what I learned at seminary, I could put it in one little hand.

What I learned from being in the text, from going to Israel, from going to Turkey, from walking around the places where Jesus walked, where Paul walked, where John was, or all those different things, from immersing myself in Scripture for over 20 years to bring different revelations of what God is doing, the way He speaks.

It's formed me.

If you knew me when I started in ministry over 20 years ago, and some of you in the room were there, boy, I'm different now.

I think I'm a little skinnier.

Praise Jesus.

I'm a lot grayer, and my body hurts a lot more.

But I know who I am more.

And it's because of this story.

Only Scripture.

Let's pray.

Gracious and Heavenly Father, we thank you and praise you for the way that you move in this world and in our lives.

We thank you that you don't leave us to navigate this world on our own.

It's not a guessing game.

You give us the answer key.

We don't need Chat GPT because we have the KJV.

I wouldn't use that version, but you get what I'm doing.

God, we thank you for the story that you've given us from Genesis to Revelation, for the way that it informs us who you are, and the way that it tells us who we are.

God, help us to hold strong to those words.

To know those words, to let it shape us and form us into the son or daughter you long for us to be.

We thank you and praise you in the name of Jesus.

Amen.