"Back to the Bible" \\ Bible Study \\ April 21, 2021

[Music] do so so [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] good evening 3b family it is such a joy and a privilege to be with you one more time as we gather together for bible studies again god is indeed a faithful god and we thank him for his goodness and his kindness towards us it's so so good to see all of you and i'm grateful to god for his keeping care for his loving care towards us towards the children of men we can certainly trust him we can count on him because he is our loving god and father i just want to say a pleasant good evening to one and all all of you who are on um zoom here with us and all of those who are over there in youtube land um really really so good to have all of you this wednesday evening the 21st of uh um april uh today is um today was a beautiful day i hope it was a beautiful day for you um of course it's one of those days where a lot of interesting things are happening around the world and um in our country um some sad things some good things some bad things you know some noble things um and as those things takes place um we have to continue to exist and we have to continue to um you know just keep pressing forward but one of the things that we are always cognizant of is the word of god and irrespective of all that's taking place um you know there's something that holds constant and true for us the word of god in matthew chapter 11 verse 28 to 30 declares come to me all you who are weary and burdened and i will give you rest take my yoke upon you and learn from me for i am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light what what what an amazing consolation that we have in god's word as god constantly pulls us to himself as god consistently refreshes us as god consistently revives us and renews us um and just simply does in and through us what only he alone can do we thank god for that opportunity to draw near to him this evening to come to him in a true way that our hearts can be refreshed and replenished and be blessed i'm going to open us in prayer um as we go into prayer this evening you know one of the sankeys or the hymns of the church of god um is a very powerful hymn says more more about jesus more about jesus i think is the title of the song more of his saving fullnessy more of his love who died for me and it's good to just be here as we seek to grow more to learn more to know more about our savior amen let me just open in prayer this evening as we get our hearts prepared for bible study father in the name of your son jesus god we humble ourselves before you and thank you for the glorious opportunity that you give to us to call on your great name we thank you for the invitation to come on to you lord all of those who are heavy laden those who are burdened and weary and need rest lord we give to you lord all of our struggles and our stress and our pains and our doubts and our fears this evening and we say lord would you have your way in our hearts and minds and lives god would you give us oh god almighty that which you promise lord we will you we pray that this evening the great exchange another great exchange would have taken place where lord you will take the burdens from us you will take oh god almighty the struggles from us you will take oh god almighty whatever it is that would seek oh god to weigh us down and that you would give us oh god almighty your easy and light yoke and burden father we pray that even this evening that your spirit will lead oh god almighty our evening's teacher as he teaches us as he leads us into the word allow your spirit to guide him and guard him and cause your name to be glorified more than anything else lord god we just worship and praise and adore you and we thank you lord god almighty for transformation of lives and hearts we thank you lord god almighty for god a renewing of spirits we thank you lord god almighty for something fresh to take place even as we bow before you we tell you thanks now lord for hearing and answering us in jesus name we pray and we say amen and amen and amen just before i turn over to um counselor jeremy lawrence who will be leading us in our bible studies tonight i just want to say if you are a first time visitor to our bible studies on a wednesday evening um we want to say welcome to you we have 44 persons on our youtube channel right now and if you are a first-time visitor we would appreciate if you would just go ahead and type in the chat that you are first-time visitors your first time here in bible studies so that we could you know just officially big you up and welcome you um it's really always nice to have first-time visitors our second time visitors but really really good to have you if you are here and would like to welcome you so let's go ahead reach out in the chat and and and just before we even go further it would be nice if you just send a link to a friend or a family member and just say hey 3b is on bible studies is on join us as we study the work together i'm sure it would be a blessing to somebody um and for those of you at home you know don't be afraid to call your family members you know your spouse your child your child or children and just say hey would you just tune in for us for the next you know couple of minutes as we study the word together um counselor lines bless you sir so good to have you leading us in bible studies tonight over to you my brother thank you rev um good night everybody i mean it is it's good to be here and um it's good to see my church family um even though we are joining virtually it is good to to see you all online and tonight we are going to spend some time just reflecting on the whole idea of back to the bible yes going back to the bible because we are focusing on um the whole idea of scripture this month and so we find it very fitting for us to just spend some time looking at um the word of god and so i invite you to to open your hearts axle to open your spirit and also that hope you have a pen with you and and a book and you have a bible because we are going to use those as we journey together all right good to have you guys good to see those persons who are joining us for the first time and those of you who are always here online welcome and thank you for being here so as we look tonight we are hoping um to cover these areas um we want to look at some background to the bible and look at the uniqueness of the bible and look at the kind of approach that we are to take as we go to the bible look at some of life big questions and what the bible has to say about them and of course i will share with you one of my reflection my devotional reflection let's trust the lord for good night and that we will be able to cover these areas and so i want to just start off by reminding us that the word of god or the bible is god's word for humanity it is god's word for humanity and so because it is god's word for humanity we trust that the word of god will say something to that effect and so we are going to turn our bibles um to second timothy 3 and verse 17. and of course it's a passage of scripture that you know quite well um but i want us to look at it together so i'm gonna read it for you um so you are privileged tonight to have me as the person reading the scriptures for you yeah so give god thanks for that because the word of god comes to us tonight and it says all scripture not some but all scripture is given by of god and is profitable for doctrine for a proof for correction for instruction in righteousness that the man of god may be perfect thoroughly furnished onto all works that is the first reference and then of course pizza will not be undone or done in this matter so peter also mentioned something to that effect so james so paul was the one who mentioned that just now um the holy spirit nepal and peter said i must join in as well um after all i was in the inner circle so why not me share something with on that matter as well so peter said for the prophecies came not in all time by the will of man but holy man of god's paid as they were moved by the holy ghost so both the apostle peter and paul um by the holy spirit points out that the bible is god's word and so the scripture is the record given to us by god and we have seen that before so the the scripture that we are just read and that you have in front of you is given to us by god therefore the revelation and the illumination and look at those words are you know you know when you want you can go ahead and and open your dictionary after the story not no not no stop no after the study and look to see what those words might be i'm not gonna spend much time on those tonight but the revelation the deeper understanding you know the what god intend for us to know um comes from god so we have the records and the revelation and the illumination of the record comes only from god no if it comes only from god it simply means that you and i have to consult god when we're studying the scriptures that's the first thing right here that in order for us to have a deeper understanding of the scripture then the person who inspired the scripture has to be involved in the process yes and then no um so but as you read and as you study the bible of course we're gonna draw on the same knowledge skills and competency use in reading other documents you know so i can really add a book a look at the um the is and the the button the hand and what those meaning sentences of course you're gonna look i'm gonna use those same skill set um the verb and the adverbs and the pronoun and i have those things however as you do that okay you have to do that but as you do that you must understand why the scripture was written by human hands the ultimate art of is himself so you cannot just use these skill set that you have this knowledge that you have the ability to use can't exclude i remember when i was in in school and doing english i was not the best at it i must admit um but when i was in school and doing literature then when we're doing poems i must use context clues to understand what was being communicated by the person who write it right so even though you're using your context clues and your your ease and understanding the pronouns and the nouns and the adverbs and all those nice things i want to point out and remind you that it is um god who is the ultimate altar and so he must be consulted on the matter um so with the understanding with with with the fact that the scripture was written or given to us by god inspired by god john wesley one of all one of the great men of the faith um said that scripture can only be understood with the help of the holy spirit and never say it never he said only be understood in other words there is no other way to understand the scripture without the help of the holy spirit who inspired these 66 books hence each time you come to the scripture you and i have to ask god to help us to understand what we read and so i know some persons might have it you know difficulties understanding the passage and they will say oh i am not faster you know i'm not constantly um i am not dr felicia gray i'm not a sister sashimo you know who are able to look up look at a text and and expound on it and so i can't read the scripture sister um reverend pinock jeremy and lawrence and all the other persons who you see expounding on the scripture they are only able to do that with the help of the holy spirit and the good thing is that your position in the church pastor osha no pastor no osha does not um and make you closer to god than another believer you see that and so all of us as believers have the same as it were access to god so god can speak to us and inspire us and help all of us to understand the scripture even if we don't have a title okay the title that make us uh understand the scripture it is a relationship with god through the holy spirit so let's keep that in mind as we go forward that the holy spirit has to be an active participant and actually have to play an active role in you reading and understanding the scriptures so this this gentleman allan tips who who who wrote a book called god's word of course there's some subtitle to it forgive me for not mentioning that subtitle if you want to know more about that but we can always link me i will i will tell the entire title so he has this to say the bible is meant to be a spiritual guidebook a chart of the seas of life to show us the right way and to make us wise to salvation to enable us to know the truth by which we can be set free and sanctified now come on mr steps that's a lot of information that you are putting on here and i agree with you cersei's i agree with you because indeed it is the word of god that is going to help us to navigate the seas of life it is the word of god that is going to show us the right way because there are many ways um that is in this world and many different theories and many different world views but the truth is since all these worldview exists and they are saying different things it suggests that they're all of them can't be true all of them can't be right and so how are you going to be able to find the right way the word of god because it stands um as divine it stands as god's word that will that is forever circled in the heaven it is the same word that god says that the scripture speaks of of him magnifying the word over his name it is god's word to us it help us to help us to understand what it means to be safe and it of course it helped to set us free because jesus himself said and you shall know the truth and the truth set you free and of course sanctification comes by the word of god as well and so this is just uh a pictorial view i know we have different persons i know we have some persons who who like the word you know who likes to see you know sentences and comments and all those different things but there are some persons who are not into those things they are into pictures so i'm trying as your bible teacher here tonight to show you different things so i am here i'm saying no i just i just put it down like a pictorial view the bible in the center and these are what the bible according to allan slips is saying a spiritual guidebook it shows the right way make a wise salvation and help you to understand the truth the same thing in a picture of you the bible is unique so of course we would have look at some background to the bible to help you to understand um uh the importance of why we are placing the emphasis on the word of god so the bible now as a book is unique and is unique but it is unified it is unique but it is unified so i found this nice uh picture of uh this of this explaining different things right here and i borrow it and i'm using it here right now so one other thing that they said they say about the bible that it is unique among all the books in the world there is none like it it stands um it is in a class by itself and it is unit there is unity and unity it is unique and it is unified so the scripture as we know it was written by 40 or over 40 different artists over 40 different artists and these artists would include shepherds like uh david was a shepherd at one point and kings if it was also a king we talk about priests like you know um who was a priest now that nothing of one of the scriptures though i don't remember that right now but that's fine scholars like paul and fishermen like pizza and of course prophets like like daniel now well ezra would possibly maybe be one of the priests you know so so the scripture was written by different artists with different professions different backgrounds different educational background different settings over different period of time um and though the scripture was also written um over a span of more than 1500 years right so it's over a period of time that the bible was written it was written on three different continents it was written on on africa asia and of course europe and so it is believed that um the first five book of the bible was written on the continent of africa and of course most of south paul's book would have been written some in asia and some in in europe and and one of the thing that is unique about the bible as well is that the the writings um identify or put emphasis or are don't hide the flaw of the heroes so we have heroes in the bible that we will look up to when we salute no other books would probably would have hide um the shortcomings and the flaws of these these these men because why would you want to put those forward but not so with the bible for instance king david was um is celebrated as possibly the greatest king um outside of jesus to sit on the throne but yet still david committed adultery and it is written and he tried to cover it up by killing um the person's wife who we committed adultery with yes and it is written and countless stories in fact the genealogy of jesus is is one that why i'm telling you it really messed up man it is really really messed up but the bible did not hide any of it it is there in print for all of us to be able to see um the bible and maintains uh men remain unified in its message even though it displays a wide variety of literary styles so the bible would have different literally um style different different types of writing is in the scripture for example um genesis uh is primarily a historical book a historical record if you can find in genesis while the psalms and proverbs and ecclesiastics are books of poetry and of course the new testament there are letters um that were written and of course the prophetic books and stuff so so the bible has different books and the different books that are in the bible um convey different writing styles so those persons who are into poetry and they are into you know the arts and all those different things you can find it persons like sister jeanette um who is i'm one of our historian will will love a book like genesis because it speaks to history and persons who want to know how to write letters you know to different church leaders and so forth like reverend peanuck will love the books of paul the epistles written to um the churches so it's very important that everybody can get um something out of the bible so important the bible maintains a perfect unity despite the fact that its artists have different purpose in writing so moses who wrote the first five book of the bible um had a different motive and reason for writing from paul from peter from daniel from nehemiah and from david and so forth but even though they had different motives there was a sense of unity in what was being conveyed and you you can expect something like that when there is one central author one person who artists the book so for example moses chase his people history david composed songs and worship paul give instructions to church and some doctrine so different things are happening but it doesn't take away from the fact that each of these men had a role to play and even though they were writing in different time um in different circumstances with different um uh educational background and experiences doesn't matter there was there was a unity among what was written and that is because there was one general author the person of the holy spirit the bible uh as we know it we are humans right and so we have emotions and we express these emotions the bible as it were um exhibit uh a wide variety or range of emotions so you can find yourself or the emotions that you express on a daily basis within the scripture itself right but even though the writers express these range of um powerful emotions some um it it doesn't take away from the fact that they were being inspired by the holy spirit so we can see for example there are intense anger being expressed in some of the psalms oh my when you listen to some of david's psalm you are saying my god you can hear the anger in david you can hear the the anger in david they can't hear that emotion that range of emotion i've just you know it said if it was a man if it was in one of his psalms david was like saying why you know he almost like he want god to just wipe out his enemy i mean sometimes isn't that how we feel sometimes about the good things the bad things in our life not i don't want to wipe all people but the bad things in our life not sure you want to want to get rid of some things from our life and then we look at the psalms i'm talking about that then lamentation can't unconvey great sorrows oh my you know you you you could hear the sadness in in nehemiah's uh uh voice as he as he writes in jeremiah's voice as he writes the book of lamentation and then in romans it display um joy um for knowing god and having salvation quite an ah a nice array of of our emotions in the scriptures and those are just some examples that this person choose to place here so it's very important for you to understand that the bible um is unique but it is also unified i mean my why don't you just you know maybe let's take a time the company can just write something in the chat that you notice that is unique or that made the bible unified maybe you can spend a little moment on just say a couple of things that may be studio to you right here as you think about the unity um and the uniqueness of the scripture of the word of god and so again um this earlier on i show a pictorial view haha i'm trying here your teacher is trying right here so i'm saying you you give a picture of you of persons who just want to see graphics but they know those persons want to see you know the words and stuff no it is written here as well so i won't go through it so the bible comprised of 66 books and we know that 39 old testament and 27 in the new um but yet still the bible tells one cohesive story that reveals our creators love and plan for a relationship with each of us so everything that i expressed just know the aim of all of that the the artists aim mean aim is to is to share with us the creator's love and his plan for a relationship with all of us that is the essence of the bible that is the essence of what is being conveyed over these 1500 different 1500 years 40 different artists different continents and i have those different literature devices and stuff that were used to express the scriptures all of it was was seeking to express to us or share with us um the creator's love and his plan for our relationship with us isn't god amazing he is amazing because he right he inspired his men to write this book so that you and i don't have to guess and spell concerning god's love for us so god uses the writer's own writing styles and personality he used that to show us who he is and what is it like to know him so he used peter's uh background an experience to write he used david experience to write he used moses who had an experience in the kingdom what it means to be a a king or a prince and what it means to be a shepherd in a backstage desert he used that experience that they had and paul scholarly uh uh aptitude for learning he used all of that and his aim was to show us who he is and what is it like to know him god wants to know us man he wants us to know him and he want us um he wants to know us he wants to spend time with us and that's one of the reason why he actually write the bible or inspire me to write the bible so this was just um some other information so um the bible was written in different places um wilderness palace dungeons prisons islands in a various different place um these men were as they wrote um the scriptures they were in different times a time of war and a time of peace so when when when david was writing most of islam there was war in israel but when when when samuel when when his son solomon came on the throne there was peace in israel so when when when ecclesiastics and and parts of proverbs were being written you know sons of solomon it was a time of peace well yesterday when david was writing the psalm his father it was a time of war we talked about the fact it was written and three different continents already and it was written in three different language hebrew which is a primary language that the old testament was written in and um and and and aramic um daniel one of one some chapters of daniel was written in arabic as as well as hebrew and the new testament was predominantly written in greek so we know that the original uh manuscript was not english um it was actually written in three different languages hebrew arabic and and greek and we know that the old testament is predominantly hebrew the new testament is predominantly greek all right the bible is the genetic world of this now the bible read reads as a factual news account of real events places people and dialogue so is that that is that uh is that a book that you know a figment of somebody's emotion um imagination it speaks of real activities and of course i know there are some references in the scripture that is figurative you know it is not referring to a literal thing but there are things that are written that are literal so let's speak about the the red sea and the path of the red sea and the part not the jordan river and more than one occasion it was not speaking figuratively it was speaking literally when he talked about um moses and and peter and jesus and james and john it was talking about real people not some makeup um fictionary characters that you know we we we conjure up with our minds you know no real people real events real activities and real conversations so we can trust that when when when john record jesus are speaking to the woman at the well it was a actual dialogue that took place between jesus and the woman at the well when when when we hear the conversation with jesus and his 12 disciples in the upper room as is expressed in john 13 is a real conversation real dialogue was taking place and so you have to understand that the bible is not just a nice little book that you know somebody just come come up and who is very creative and able to to think and and reason or come up with no it was speaking of real activities and historians and archaeologists have repeatedly confirmed its authenticity in other words they are persons who don't have uh who do not like i was going to use another word but i am on i'm and baby says let me just calm down historians and other persons who who don't care about christianity who have no liking for christianity they they write things that you know um shows that the scripture is actually unreal and something that you can you can take to the bank as it were you can use it as look at it is so i think we lost counselor lawrence there for a minute i'm so sorry my internet got disconnected just now i figured i figured was that right they can go back we can go straight back on let's go straight back on all right um i am back sorry about that um sorry about that so what i was saying before i was um we got disconnected just know was that they are able to construct um the the activities that are written in the bible from non-biblical sources in our there are enough information by historians persons who are true historians and persons who have studied um history they are able to construct activities and events that are written in the bible by persons who do not like christianity do not like jesus do not want to do anything with jesus so it shows or a demonstration that the bible is actually a real and factual account of things that has taken place so we have to we can trust the bible we can trust the bible because of that those realities all right so i want us known therefore to look at the fact that the bible is so unique and it shows unity and it demonstrates that there is some there is it can be um it is authentic if it is that we are not going to um get anything from the scripture then we need to therefore have an attitude we live in therefore have a way of approaching the bible so that we can get the best out of the scriptures so i'm gonna share with you now a video that i found very useful um in how we can actually approach the scripture let's listen to this listen to this um the bible is not just another book and so we ought to approach it in a unique way the the bible is god breathe that's what this passage from ii timothy 3 16 says all scripture is breathed out by god it's inspired now that doesn't mean that the bible is inspiring now it is inspiring but whether anyone in the world is inspired by the bible the bible is still inspired itself it's it's god's word to us it's god exhaling god opening his most hallowed lips and speaking to us so this word is god work god's word and this word is exactly what god wanted to be written down in holy scripture so that means we ought to approach this with a special reverence and with a special care so we come to the bible very carefully we want to be diligent we want to be prepared we want to take it seriously and we also come with with a special reverence to this book because god is speaking to us there's a submission to the word that one of the ways to think of the christian faith is that we stop telling god what to do and god now speaks to us i think uh theologian once said that you know to be a christian meant you put your hand over your mouth and we're silent and it doesn't mean that we can't ever cry out to god certainly the psalms are full of that but it means that we approach scripture with this reverence wanting to hear from god submitting ourselves fully to the word of god and i like what what it says here that when we come to it the aim is not just information it's never less than information we're not against information god uses that but it's more than just information we're trying to get from the bible now we want faith that's what god wants to accept this with faith so that there's a real delight in the word there's a desire for it there's a dependence upon it we're embracing it with faith and then storing it up so i love the line about john bunyan that said if you would prick him his blood would be bibline he was so full of the scriptures that it came out of him that that's what we want that we store it up and then we practice it because after all jesus said if you love me what if you love me you will have a tingling sensation in your heart no he didn't say that that's wonderful but he said if you love me you will obey my commandments so if we are serious about loving god we must be very serious about obeying god and obeying his word to us that's the aim to be transformed by it to embrace it in faith to worship at his feet really in its simplest form we ought to come to the word of god with the same sort of attitude with which we'd come to god himself so if god was speaking to you which he does in the scriptures if god was opening his mouth to us how would we approach him well i think we would listen very carefully we would listen very diligently we would listen very submissively we would listen expectantly and we'd listen with an aim to love and obey thank you so much my brother for sharing that with us may god continue to bless your ministry as you continue um with the scripture all right so we're gonna continue with our stories so what this uh gentleman was essentially saying is that there is uh we are supposed to have certain reverence when we approach the scripture and we are not just going to the scripture for information um for the sake of information to be able to put some scriptures at the end but we are going to meet with god and we are seeing the scriptures in such a way as if it was god literally speaking to us right so there are certain approach that i feel um we have to take when we go to the scripture one of them is that we must come to the bible expecting to go the truth is we are we were born in sin we are shaped in inequity there are things in us that cannot stay that needs to go and god himself is willing to perform those as it were operation to bring us to the place where we need to be and so the word of god you know if it is used in a way um that you know is reverence and we approach it with certain appreciation for who we must have an expectation of growth because the word of god is like both milk and solid food so let's go to scripture let's go to the bible for that because the bible is very important let's see what my what our brother peter has to say i did tell you that you need to have your bible with you yes so let's see if you have your bible with me if you have your bible turn with me to first peter 2 and verse 2. and so peter says as newborn babes and i have some my new believers here online god bless you my brothers and sisters as newborn babes designed this sincere milk of the word that he may grow nearby so the word of god has within it the ability to to help to nourish you the first six months of life um the world health organization um says that you know um the breast milk is all the nutrients that the baby need for life the baby does not even need water for the first six months of life only breast milk and the scripture is like breast milk so when you just come to the scripture where you just come to god the word of god is like breast milk it it it it gives you all of the energy you give you all of the nutrients that you need to grow spiritually but as you go and as you mature just like the baby who moved from six months to seven months to nine months to 12 months to a big man a big man that they the need for food and the need for energy changes with age and so as you go as you mature the word of god also move um from just a nourishing refreshing milk substance to hard food let's listen now to brother paul it seems like pizza and paul um um has something that they want to share with us well i'm not sure there are some theologians who believe that hebrews was written by by paul and some said it was not but whoever it was written by he has something to say to us he says this is what the hebrew writer says in hebrews 5 verse 14 but strong meat belonged to them that are full age even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil so those persons who are in a state of newborn babe my new believers come to mind i think of that and those persons who want to understand the deeper things of life uh my council members come to mind i think after when i think of that both persons are both group of persons can use the word of god to grow to mature to develop to provide the nourishing substance that we would need when we whether we are young in the faith or we are mature so the word of god it it helps um everybody those who are young in the faith and those who are mature in the faith still need the word of god so it doesn't matter how long you have been the church and how many times you have preached a sermon you can never ever reach a point where the word of god is no longer relevant or important for your nourishment because you will never as as long as you're alive and i'm speaking now as someone who has studied nutrition as long as you are alive you cannot survive without eating food so a 90 year old person versus a one day old person still need food and so whether you are a newborn baby couple days old in the faith or you are mature bishop um pastor and leader and deacons and stuff you still need the word of god so you'll come to the word of god expecting to grow because the word of god has the ability to give the nourishing substance that you need to grow let's see what else we can attitude we should have when we come to the scripture you must come to the bible as well with an unders with your complete bible for understanding and direction we speak earlier how the world is dark and there are many rules and there are many twists and turns and we all want to know where we want to go we all want to have a sense of understanding and direction if you want to move like for example when i just came to to honey i was moving around in chilean i had to be traveling with a colleague of mine because i never understand i never know the way how to get to different places that i needed to go for work so i had to identify somebody who knows the way and as the person share with me the way now i can go to these places by myself and so the word of god has that ability to help to share with you a sense of direction and a sense of understanding the word of god acts like a counselor as we go to the psalm therefore let's go to psalm 100 and 19 let's go to psalm 119 and verse 24 to see what the psalmist has to say on a matter because the word of god is truly a counselor and it really counsels us um in terms of how we what we are to do and so forth so let's see what psalm 119 and verse 24 has to say if you have if you reach there if you reach here amen type amen in the chat if you are there psalm 119 verse 24 thy testimonies are my delights and my counselors and of course the scripture provides light for the journey thy word is a lamp under my feet and a light and my path said psalm 119 verse 105 and so the darkness of our world how dark our world is in order for us to to see where we are to go we need the light and the light are my brothers and sisters is the word of god the light is the word of god that gives us direction and so we go to the scriptures when you want to know what who god is and even who you are and what is what is life all about you can go to the scriptures because the scriptures is there to provide direction and understanding but not only that but you must come to the bible for correction and purification for correction and for purification in other words there is there is a part of us that really actually needs um to be um purify that need and every now and then we need correction every now and then we need uh somebody to to tell us that we are wrong and that that which we have done was not done according to some wisdom so correction is needed and purification is needed so the word of god says james is like a mirror where someone go and see him himself so let's go to james now let's go to james one i i we have to go to the scriptures you know because we can't talk about the bible i don't want you to see i want to see for yourself that um what i am saying is not my word but it is scripture it is actually in the bible listen to what james have to say james the apostle in um james 1 verse 22 25 but be he does of the word and that hear us only deceiving your own self for if any man be a hearer of the word another doer he's like a man beholding his natural face in a glass of virgin says mirror for for before he behold it himself and go with his way and straight way forget what manner of man he was 25 but whosoever looked into the perfect law of liberty and continuing therein he be not a forgetful hearer but a door of the world this man shall be blessed in his deed so the word of god is like a mirror that helped to share with you um what is going on so as you read the scripture says one theologian the scripture is actually reading you you are able to see yourself you know the flaws that exist as you look into the word of god this even when i was coming on here um my beautiful lovely wife said to me you know um you you need to just wash your face you know i'm i'm being very you know i'm disclosing things here now and so i went into the bathroom and i washed my face so if you look cool at night yes ma'am thank you so much wifey god you know so when i when i watched when i was washing my face i was able to see clearly what she was talking about i could not see exactly what she was talking about because i was not looking at my face but as i stand in the mirror in the bathroom i was able to see some of the things that she was seeing the grease and whatever else was on my face i was able to see it and they know use an action no soap and water whatever else there is to wash my face and dry it off and that's how the word of god is if you are not reading the word of god you're not going to you're always going to think that you are right you're always going to think that you don't need any correction you don't need to be purified but as you read the scripture you get to see no man but you did round this up that's not how you're supposed to be the scripture never say you're supposed to do that so you have to read the word of god because it helps to show um direction james um jeremiah know my god that brother there is a is a prophet of the prophets he's one of the major prophets of the bible um and he says something um god says something through him actually in jeremiah 23 when i was reading it you know for the first time i was saying to myself what is going on here but then as i go deeper i get an understanding as to what is happening so this is what jeremiah 20 23 verse 29 says this is god no it's not my word like as a fire said the lord and like a hammer that breaked the rock in pieces now of course when you think of fire you think of purification not true you think of purging out and burning old impurities so you think of a rock you know a precious stone and a diamond going through the fiery furnace and and to be purified to get rid of all the infirmities so the word of god if it is used correctly is able to remove all the impurities and as it removes those impurities it is also hammered those impurities are also hammered because the word of god is acting both as fire and as a hammer and so you cannot that's why it is that's why jesus would say by a fool you shall know them it is someone who is spending time in the world and being a doer of the world it is hard for you to take it's hard for you to um to mistake those individuals you can always tell when somebody is is is uh a doer of the word and someone who is not because as you spend time with the world the word of god is is revealing things and is removing things at the same time spend time with the scripture because it helped to correct you and purify you it's like a scalpel by which god god performs spiritual surgery and the heart my doctor friends might be here tonight i i can think of a couple of them who are performing at heart surgery the scripture says that word is like a two-edged sword piercing to the divine thing to the divine of joint and marrows and bones the the word of god goes into the deep intricacies of our core and it remove what is there that should not be there the truth is says jesus that whatever is whatever comes out of you that is what defiles you is that what goes in no the fact that it comes out is an indication that it is inside ah and so the word of god now comes and removes those little things it perform a surgery to purge your heart to cut away the selfishness the pride and the jealousy and the malice and the bad mind and the biting and the fun occasionally adultery and all the world of them it was cutting them up cutting them away and it is now revealing or giving forth no a heart that is ready and prepared to do what god has in mind the word of god is there as an uh a tool that god used to purify us to correct us finally um it is used by porno in ephesians 5 verse 23 26 and of course some of us um gentlemen who are here husband right here um potential husbands who are here you know sometimes we spend time looking at the uh the passage in ephesians 5 that speaks to women being in submission to their own husband no no scripture we call it early time on all right i'm recording but not knowing that the the the passage speaks more to what the husband are to do so this is what ephesians 5 verse 26 says that he the husband speaking of god here might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word so so so the word of god is doing uh a master work i don't see the one you don't see that [Music] the word of god is performing a surgery and it is also washing us so after i don't perform the heart surgery and i'll have a different um i want to know it was the word mock so i'm not gonna i'm not saying mock here i'm using another i'm trying to find another word to use but you cannot use your english those persons will good at english just use that now to find out what other word could be used but it it's removing all of the the debris and after different things that was after you done the heart search you have to know use some watermelon to wash away to wash away not sure to remove from the person any impurity that is there any waste by product that is there the word of god is still performing another operation there's no cleansing ah it is no doing a final thing of removing whatever is inside so that you and i can be presented as pure as partly as god wants us to be approached in the bible has to be uh very very important it can't just approach it in any home um you must come to the bible not just for for correction and for purification that those things are someone uh like you you are they kind of know you are you are performing a surgery and it is painful of course it is i mean when when god is cutting away some of our or always it is not going to be pleasant but the word of god can also be used for pleasure because god word is like honey sweet to the maru man sweet the word of god is not just ah one that causes pain when it is removing what it should not be there but it brings pleasure it brings joy it brings a a a mode of happiness and and celebration have you ever read think about scripture and read it and as you really definitely laugh for yourself i said my god it's almost like you've been reading the scripture for years and the lord was just like a lightbulb moment thing and it's like you can't help but just laugh to yourself and say oh my god you can't wait to go with your friends i have a couple of friends um who's on here tonight and um everyone and they know you know i get super excited about something i'm getting excited man you know i can't wait to share it and sometimes disappointed because sometimes they cannot drive with me how you know i'm sharing it some person don't really get the job get me answer get some personal really fully um understanding joy but when you get it man and all of us getting together you know my god it's sweet it's sweet the word of god is sweet cheese that is sweet man it's sweet but it's sweet and sweet it's really sweet so after i perform this surgery it now comes as something that brings pleasure that make you want to just rejoice and just smile and just be happy because the word of god is like that because how can you not experience joy and pleasure when when the scripture says in his presence there is fullness of joy and at his right hand there are pleasures forevermore how can you have god who who who writes the scripture or inspired the men to write this scripture um who is filled with joy how can he not allow you to read the scripture and experience that joy it is impossible i tell you impossible for you to read the scripture and not get some sense of joy out of it approach the word of god man approaching the word of god so if you come to the bible with this kind of attitude and expectation you will be changed you will be transformed so many of us want to want to be changed want to be transformed want to be like jesus and it's a good attitude to have it's a good mentality to have but you you will not be changed you will not be transformed by just thinking about it you have to spend time with god through his word so he can do what he needs to do so you can be changed the word of god is god multifaceted instrument for conforming you to the image of his son so the same word that is bringing pleasure and joy to somebody is performing a surgery on somebody else the same word that is giving correction um to you here is also purifying you here the word of god is god's instrument to help to conform you and transform you into the image of his son that is god's ultimate plan to transform you into the image of his son that is his will for your life to conform you into his image and into his his likeness so let us now go quickly to life big question so the first question we want to ask ourselves is who am i you know these are there are four questions that um is your generally asked um um generally uh asked by you know general people of life you know um persons who uh want to find answers to life there are four questions that you know different you know world views and stuff most answer one of them is who am i well the scripture says that you are an intended intended creation lovingly and fearfully and wonderfully made that is what psalms 139 is all about it speaks to the fact that you were not just a figment of somebody's imagination but you were well thought about you were well loved and cared for god had a plan when he designed you he was thinking about you so even though you do may not look like how you feel you should look i mean i have the pigmentation that you feel you should have or you may not have this size nose that you feel you should have the scripture says that god um knit you together in your mother's womb and that you are fearfully and wonderfully made so every now and then whenever because self-esteem is coming on when you're not sure what is going on with um your emotions is all over the place why not spend some time reflecting on psalm 139 and it will tell you of who you are and how loved you are by god god answered the scripture answer the question as to who you are you are an intended creation um lovingly and fearfully and wonderfully made but what else are they what is the other question where do i come from of course uh you know other worlds you speak about why it was big bang and different other things that they came up with evolution come from monkey and i have those foolishness the scripture says that we were created by god from the dust of the ground when you look at genesis 1 you are seeing god who is all powerful forming by his word everything that there is and towards the end of genesis 1 the scripture says you know and god then god said let us make man in our own image and in our own likeness nowhere else are nothing else in all of god's creation bears the image of god no understanding that image is something that i will allow or leave reverend peanut to deal with you know that's a theological thing that i will leave or when people do it at another time but just understand that you are the most precious of all of god's created beings not even the angels for creating this image think about the the the night sky think about the vastness of the of the creatures in the ocean think about how ho ho ho ho the beautiful andy and the ocean and the and the sea and the angelic being and all of those things and all of those stands in all of you and i because we bear the image of god and one of the most important thing for me um um in terms of giving me a purpose and giving me um a sense of dignity and worth and value is that the most important being in the universe became one became somebody like me he took on humanity he never transformed into an angel he never take on the the attitude are they are they the composition of the sun the only image that um that god the creator the most powerful being in the galaxy take on is humanity that for me give me value it gives me a sense of dignity and worth and so even if you don't like me you can't help you can't do anything about it because you will never create you never created me god created me for himself i never come from the monkey i never come from no big bang i came from god i was a concept i was a thought in god's mind until god um put that action with whatever the thought he had in mind of me into action and i my genesis in terms of how i came into this world may not be pleasant it may not be an enjoyable moment for my parent or my mother but at the end of the day god had a plan for my life i was created by god from the dust of the ground where do i come from the next question is what is my purpose why am i here why am i on earth well the scripture says that we were created to glorify god and to enjoy him forever that's the essence the the writer in in corinthians says why we must everything we do we must do for the glory of god in other words you have to recognize that you were created by god for god for to live and enjoy his presence forever and it is so uh clear in scripture that jesus came to earth he died on the cross for your sins it took your place so that you can enjoy the presence of god forever and ever in other words if it was a situation where your word was created for just for us a year and now then there'll be no reason for christ to come in and die but the fact that christ came and he died on a cross gives indication that there is something more deeper than just hear and know we were created to glorify god and to ensure him forever and ever final question that is asked is what happens when i die well the scripture is very clear on that heaven if you accept jesus christ as a lord and savior but hell if you reject christ as your savior in revelation 20 and verse 11 to 15 it speaks about the throne and the great judgment and now everybody will be standing before the judgment seat of god and then the great book will be open and there will be another book called book of life and every name was not found written in the lamb's book of life will be thrown into the lake of fire god is a just god and because he is a just that he has to execute justice and justice mean that he has to call what is wrong wrong and call what is right right so the scripture speaks jesus himself speak about it the weeds and the tears growing together onto the day of harvest so there is coming a time when there will be a separation and that separation will be for persons to enjoy god's presence forever and persons to be in in eternal tamish in term internal time charming tournament you're going to be tormented forever right so you have to recognize brothers and sisters that when you die that's not it there is more to life than we hear and know that here is only a small portion of what we refer to as eternity time is only a short span compare to eternity but what you do here determine what happens in the life to come so the scripture says those persons who accept the sacrifice for sin which is jesus and place their faith in him will have eternal life but those who do not will be um separated from him eternally in hell um bearing um torment and torture you don't want that to happen to you so if you are here tonight and you do not have you do that you have not yet placed your faith or your confidence in the man christ jesus i encourage you to do so now because the scripture that we're talking about make it very clear that when we die there will be a separation some of us will be enjoying god's presence forever while others will be separated from god forever i trust that you would have you would have made that decision and that you are continuing to trust in the lord and savior if you are not here if you are here i have not yet done so you can take the opportunity to write in the chat um comment on facebook um someone will reach out to you that you if you have if you are making that decision to follow christ because the scripture makes it very clear and if you can believe anything else about this picture if you believe um that why you know the wicked or penny perish and if you believe some other nice beautiful things about the scripture then you must also believe the part of the scripture that speaks about the judgment that is coming for those persons who do not yet have a relationship with god let us trust that um by relying on his word final thing i want to do now is share with you um something um from my own personal devotion so i am not going to gonna i have not even edited this i have i've just wrote it i wrote it long some time ago and i'm so if you hear grammatical errors and all those things that's fine you know um i'm just sharing with you what i sense the lord was saying to me as i spend time reflecting on on the scripture and the title of my of this devotion is the king the bride and the tyrant the king the bride and the tyrant just want to share with you uh something um that is revealed to me in the scripture the aim is not to to show superiority and to say oh you know this is basically what will happen to you this is what's supposed to i am just being very transparent and sharing with you um so that you know you can have an understanding or a different perspective maybe of a personal scripture that is there in the bible the king the bride and the tyrant god sent moses back to egypt i was reflecting on excellence and there's some passage of some verses in exodus right god sent moses back to egypt to tell fear to let his people go so that they may worship him now that may sound selfish or self-seeking of god to want these people to worship him but what if you think of it in the context of love god is the groom slash hero the people of israel his bride um or his queen to be and the tyrant would be of course unfair now any girl that is truly that truly love his bride wants to protect and care for her not only that a goon would also want his bride to be where he is at all times so in this story it is god's way of desiring to be with his bride um designed to be with his bride of course there are lots of things he has for her lovely things too and he has prepared that he has prepared for her and has gone through great length to ensure that the scene is set to rescue his bride from someone who was abusing her and misusing her being the hero he is he has done many things to prove and demonstrate to his bride that he cares for her the plague in egypt the parting of the red sea what clear demonstration that he can be trusted with his bride's life he ensured he destroyed the tyrant that was abusing her he provided food for her and water to drink all to help her to understand that he is for her he has the promise land for her spread with lovely things but before he gave it to her he wants to give her himself it has never it was never about the promise or the promised land it was about the promise giver it was never about the gift it was about the gift giver it wasn't about the kingdom it was about the king the fairy tale the fairytale writers whether they want to believe or accept it or not were inspired to write based on a concept that god himself placed in them the hero in these stories fight for and defend and defeat all enemies to get his girl he is driven and nothing will ever stop him from being for stop him from being there for his lady think about it now the ladies see all he has done and yet still she refused his love and ignore his bravery or sacrifice and instead of being thankful and embrace her brave hero she complains and curse him saying she wish she was back in egypt where she was coming from how do you think the king the hero feels about these scenarios of course i suspect that he feel hurt and crushed but yet still he never relent he continues to be all that he can be for the lady or for his lady all the while helping hoping rather that she will see him for who he is he desire and and want to desire him more than she desire what he has to offer so he has prepared for her lovely things he has chosen to give her himself before he give her the promise he has promised he has chosen to give her himself before he give her his kingdom because for the king what is most important is that they are together in a love relationship not based on a gift or a promise but by two individuals who loves and care for each other that is the bible the love story god is busy at work helping to shape a beautiful scenery and we have seen it from time to time we have seen it um being demonstrated um even on easter our brother i'm demonstrating jesus we have read it in the scriptures it is very clear to us that there is a god who is willing to give us himself and he has gone to great extent he has preserved the scriptures over 1500 years and yet still it still remains as a point of reference for us today and we have the story that there is gonna come a day when jesus himself will come and he will receive us unto himself because as the king as the hero he wants his bride that's you and i to be with him forever and the scripture make it very clear that the tyrant the enemy as it were the devil and his angel will not stand in his way he will burn that old drug and said revelation and cast him and his demons into the lake of fire and there to live forever will be the king and his bride and join each other for each other's presence forever and that is what the bible is all about why not spend some time to get to know the king because you are his bride and why not enjoy his presence now starting today so that you will get to experience all that he has for you all that he has for you all that he has for you god is more interested in giving you himself than he is in giving you the gifts of his kingdom and so he said to moses tell fear to let my people go that they may worship me and he met with them and known sign before they got to the promised land because god knew that if he give them the promise before and give them himself then they will not be interested in him god is interested in you and if you must open yourself to reading the scriptures you will see that for yourself because god loves you he cares for you so here the conclusion it is not enough to know what the bible does for a believer the believer must say the time to study its content not for knowledge or the ability to quote verses but more so to get to know god and to know his or her role in god's progressive agenda god has an agenda at work at play and enough for you to know what role you play in that you have to spend time in the scripture after all the bible stands for basic instruction before leaving earth god bless you my brothers and sisters um thank you so much for uh tuning in to our studies tonight i am happy to have um being your teacher for tonight i trust that you have learned some things um if you have learned something why not take the time out now to put some things in the chat so that um we can get a sense as to what god has done for you even as you you study these scriptures here tonight so i'm gonna ask you to make some notes in the chat just make some to say some things in the chat concerning the impact that are the way uh what the scripture and what you have learned from tonight's scripture um or from tonight's studies rather god bless you my brothers and sisters um as we seek to honor the lord with all that we have as we seek to spend time with him and with his word uh yes it's good so to have you let me just see if i can identify some persons what they are saying the chat here tonight um all right praise god we give god thanks for for what he has done and i just want to encourage you to continue to spend time with god and with his word can't you just spend time loving god by loving his word the scripture encourages us that if we love him we should keep his commandments and how are we going to keep his commandments if we don't know what these commandments are so we have to spend time to study the scripture for ourselves so that we can know what god is all about thank you so much for joining and i'm happy that you were able to join and um we are truly grateful that you continue to be a part of our community on our our youtube channel we are so grateful that you have you have subscribed that you have shared and that you you continue to invite other persons to be a part of this community we look forward to meeting with you here each wednesday night and also on sunday when we have our worship experience we are living in unprecedented times we are living in a time in which things are different um but god has been good to us he has allowed us to be able to connect with each other connect our own things that are spiritual we are able to still read our bibles together as our church we're able to study this scripture together as a church i'll be being virtual but nonetheless we have an opportunity to share with each other and so we want to just give god thanks for that thank you so much for coming if you are here for the first time we trust that you would have been blessed by the study and that you will be able to join us next week as we continue all being well to look at the description um thank you so much my brothers and sisters for for that as we as we as we did part one for madonna um i i just want you to spend some time just to just pray with you um i'm not sure if ref have any updates or anything that he would want to say i would i would give him the opportunity if you so desire if you want to say anything um and then if not i will just go ahead and pray for you and we wish each other good night all right okay let's let's let's pray and let's pray brothers and sisters let's pray father we want to pause to just be thankful this is supposed to say thanks to you lord for all that you have done you are our very very loving and caring god and we thank you for that a reminder tonight and we ask so that you will help us um to uh worship you and to enjoy your presence forever lord we recognize that the word can be trusted recognize that your word is solid recognize that your word is truth recognize that your word reveal who you are and also who we are and we ask lord that your people will continue to spend time in your word that father as a church as a group of believers that lord we will not go weary in studying the scriptures but we will continue lord to open ourself up to you and to allow your spirit to teach us what we are to know from the scriptures lord leaders ask that tonight lord your presence will continue to overshadow us and that we will seek almighty god to honor you through the reading uh the reflection and the actual doing of your work on a daily basis be with us be with every single person who are able to join tonight i pray a lot that you remember those persons who might be healed at this time those persons who might have difficulties at this time those persons who might have financial challenges or other challenges a lot of ask that your hand of mercy and love will be upon them in a very special way we pray almighty that he will continue to bind us together thank you so much lord for the gifts and the talents of your people um the multimedia team and the communication team who almighty god have been doing their work to help us to be able to um to meet with those persons um who are in various places on a weekly basis we give god thanks we give you a thanks for them lord and we ask your country to be with them and with their family we commit the leadership of the church into your hands and we ask our your handwritten country to be upon our pastor we thank you lord that he um the the incident that happened with him recently mighty god that it has been getting better with each passing day and we are so grateful lord that your mercy and your grace preserve him count you to be with him and with his wife and his sons lord for your cover them under your blood and that you will continue oh god to overshadow your people i commit every single one of us into your hands almighty god and thank you for what you have started the work you're doing in our heart through your word may we continue to yield ourselves to you in jesus name amen and amen thank you so much my brothers and sisters god bless you um god bless you

Channel: Escarpment Road Church

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Length: 100min 20sec (6020 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 21 2021