God’s Prophetic Word is True - 2 Peter 1:19-21 - 16104

[Music] amen amen open your bibles to second peter chapter one we're going to pick up in verse 19. second peter chapter one and i titled this message god's prophetic word is true and you'll remember last time we were together we were encouraged to remember and rely upon the word of god that's where we start and that's also where we end we start in the word of god and we end in the word of god and what is truly lacking in so many lives today is the depth of god's word penetrating our minds and changing our lives so much drama and difficulty exists among believers today let alone unbelievers but so much drama and difficulty and regular repetitive sin exists in the body of christ today because god's word is not penetrating the minds and hearts of his people it was the prophet of amos you can jot it down it was the prophet amos that declared this listen carefully in amos chapter 8 verse 11 it says behold the days are coming says the lord god that i will send a famine on the land not a famine of bread nor a thirst for water but of hearing the words of the lord imagine that for a second a famine in hearing the words of the lord we certainly are living in a time where the words of the lord are going forth more than ever before with technology the ability for god's word to go out continually is multiplied today so it's not a famine even in the days of amos that the word of god wouldn't go forth is the exact opposite god's judgment amos is declaring god's judgment will come upon his people across the board they're going to face difficulties economically they're going to face difficulties spiritually and god's word would go forth during that time during the time of great difficulty as they suffer the consequences of their own bad decisions god in his grace and mercy according to amos is going to continue to give forth his word even in great difficult and trying times the famine of god's word is not that it will go forth the famine will be that men and women will not receive it believers his people not many times this is this is a declaration pastors use this as a declaration of oh look at the world today and oh look at the lack of bible teaching churches and oh look and those may be true that may be true but what amos is saying here what god is saying is that this is not merely a statement of a lack of solid bible teaching that there is not a lack today of solid bible teaching it is certainly available and it is certainly going forth today what what it what he's saying is that this is a warning that there is a day coming both in amos time and i believe in our time where there'll be a wholesale abandonment of god's word let me tell it to you from a different let me show it to you from a different place in the bible second timothy chapter four verse one just let it sink in second timothy four verse one i charge you therefore before god and the lord jesus christ who will judge the living and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom timothy preach the word be ready in season and out of season convince rebuke exhort with all long-suffering and teaching for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine but according to their own desires because they have itching ears they will heap up for themselves teachers and they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables for so many years i looked at this passage of scripture and i simply applied it to unbelievers to those outside of the church but the longer that i've served god and the more study that i've done on this text i mean if you if you look at it carefully it's applying to two groups of people it's applying first of all to the people that you are preaching the word of god and by the way there is a difference between preaching and teaching preaching is the proclamation of the gospel that is primarily to unbelievers where you preach the good news that your sins can be forgiven through the blood of jesus christ who came as a messenger god in human flesh to demonstrate the love of god for you by dying on the cross being buried and he rose again the third day when you preach the word you preach the word and the good news to those that need to hear of their great need for forgiveness but there's also teaching as he says to be ready notice in season and out of season and this is timothy he says convince rebuke exhort with all longsuffering and teaching teaching is for the saved you see if you try to teach the bible to unbelievers they don't have the holy spirit they can't understand the bible they won't be able to understand it they'll they'll even come back oh i don't get a word you said i don't understand what you're saying because there's a singular message that an unbeliever receives during the teaching of god's word and the singular message is you are not right with your creator you're not right there's not a right relationship with your creator teaching is to equip the saints for the work of the ministry that's why we crave the teaching of god's word why we feed on the teaching of god's word and we receive it so preaching and teaching are two different things and any good pastor and any good teacher will do both at the same time because there's always a mixed multitude listening to your bible study there's always people that need to hear it not only that but let's just say you have a couple people in a little home bible study that are believers already when you preach and teach at the same time you're teaching them just by doing it how to preach and teach to others but see this is not just for these last these end times this famine in the word of god is not merely for the lost world it's for us there are people among us right now that are turning their ears away from the truth and they're being turned aside to well in this case fables but i would say to nonsense or to false teaching and they've gotten off they've taken they have you could say in a very real way they're like the church of ephesus that have left their first love and they're calling things the gospel that's not the gospel and they're involved in all their energies and efforts are all caught up in things that simply are not eternal and they've turned away there's a famine of the word of god they sit and bible studies they listen to christian radio and then they live their life in a way that have turned their ears away from the truth they have what they have heaped up for themselves teachers that are telling them what they want to hear now before you even relegate this sense of well that's not me that'll never be me you know when something is hard and difficult it comes from the pulpit and you don't like it and it can repetitively come from the pulpit this pulpit or any pulpit and you don't like it you have a tendency to find people that agree with you that's normal human endeavors you might be in an argument with your spouse and if you're not careful you'll break that circle of confidentiality within your marriage and you will complain about your spouse and what are you looking for someone that will agree with you someone that will massage your ego perhaps or help you in stating your case to make it right and you're looking for someone that agrees with you now that's dangerous in a marriage it's super dangerous in your relationship with the lord where you are feeling a certain way and there becomes a famine of hearing the word of god and applying it in your life here here's the thing whenever you open the bible you cannot i mean i guess you can but it is not proper it's not proper to take the bible and make it say what you want it to say that is not the proper way to use the bible the bible is here to change you you are forbidden to change the bible you the bible there's there is a great warning to anyone that adds or takes away from the scriptures the bible is intended to change you ongoing i'm to be changed every time the word of god and to understand the character and the nature of god and it is to change me so why is there a famine well there's a famine because moms and dads aren't reading the bible there's a famine because kids aren't reading the bible there's a famine because pastors are not teaching it and you you look back and go where is the word of god you have a an argument at work and there's no you there's nothing you are not sharing the word of god with your co-workers now that doesn't mean you get up on your desk and you open your bible and you start preaching the gospel to them but if the bible is in you then when you have issues with others the bible will come out of you if the bible's not in you then you're just going to fight you're going to get all involved in things you're going to you're going to be in positions and places where it's obviously obvious 100 percent obvious that you're not feasting that's the opposite of famine you're not feasting on god's word you're not in it it's not in you you're not standing on it you're also not standing under its authority no wonder the church is sick today no wonder so peter is writing to people in chapter 1 verse 19. peter's writing to this group of believers under great duress under great persecution and now not only is it outwardly from rome and the government but it's inwardly now ii peter's all about the inward persecution on top of the outward difficulty now false teachers have come in to take advantage of the chaos that many times persecution brings i mean you think about just in your own life how when you're going through it how vulnerable you are to suggestion how vulnerable you are to go back to sinful habits that you left how vulnerable you are for someone that just agrees with you and you know i find it i it happens all the time it happens all the time where there's a and we'll get to it in chapter two but where false teachers and wolves and sheep's clothing come in here and gather people together and we have to jump in and break it up that's our responsibility you know our responsibility is to break it up you as a wolf are not allowed to take advantage of this church you're not welcome here you're welcome here if you get saved and become a sheep but if you're a wolf you're not welcome here to take advantage of the people of this church of the families of this church you got some weird doctrine or we'll get into that in chapter two but yeah there are weird people with weird doctrines and they want to take advantage of of sincere god-loving people the way that we stay the way that you help us as pastors and shepherds is by being a man or a woman of the word and that's peter is saying look you got all this all this weird doctrines and discussions and distractions and defectors that want to take advantage of you because you're vulnerable and you're hurting and what does he say in verse 19 we have the prophetic word confirmed i think in the old king james it says the sure word of prophecy we have this prophetic word that's been confirmed listen and you might want to mark this in your bibles if you have it open or highlight it circle it on your electronic bible it says that you will do well to heed the prophetic word you will do well to heed or obey as a light that shines in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts we have the prophetic word confirmed here's what here's what he's saying in the midst of all the difficulties you start to doubt the word of god you start to doubt it you might even begin to wonder i wonder if everything i've ever believed is wrong because look at my life look how hard it is look how challenging it is i wonder if the word of god is even real i wonder if god is even real and you begin to doubt god's word but we learned last time that it's the word of god that will change a life not these hyper experiences or even good experiences like peter had when he was up on the mount of transfiguration that experience was not going to carry him the rest of his life because experience only begets more experiences you know we have these groups of people together that come and say oh yeah come on come on we're going to have a great event we're going to have come together and then while you're at the event they say gold dust is falling and so now you got your gold dust falling or all kinds of weird stuff and what does that build you up it builds you up to come back with a cup next time for the next gold dust and he's like oh look at this what what's your church doing oh we're just studying the bible and praying for people oh you man you dude what are you guys doing man we moved beyond that we got gold dust man we got gold dust and then you're like whoa gold doesn't mean i mean we are just studying the bible and we are just praying and i don't even want to pray and i don't want to pray with people and you know we do just sing and i didn't even know that song and you get it all into the carnality of putting the spotlight on yourself and gold dust is pretty attractive yippee gold dust gold dust it's such a joke it's so not true not real i don't know what's happening there but it's not from the lord you know what's from the lord your steady commitment to god's word and you would do well to what heed it yeah but ed there's no gold dust nope there's not and you would do well to believe god's word and do it listen to it you would do well peter could live forever on that experience but he didn't he lived forever on the prophetic word that's the problem with experience as it begets more it produces a craving for more i'm grateful for the heritage of our church family at calvary chapel because they taught us to teach the bible verse by verse that's how i was disciple it wasn't in a discipleship group it wasn't in a classroom it was through the steady diet of the word of god it's what motivated us for those of you that are just joining our church in the last couple years it's what motivated us to invest our resources in a radio station not to simply be on the radio station but to have one for our city to provide one 24 hours a day seven days a week at great personal cost to our own church family a great personal invest investment of people's times and their their workflow and and just unbelievable spiritual warfare why because just like experiences will create a craving for more experiences listen the word of god will create an appetite for more of the word of god i mean when you hear the word of god taught for the first time how many times and so i'm sure some of those testimonies you don't need to raise your hand but i'm sure there's testimonies even among us right now where you're hearing a bible study you go i didn't even know that was in the bible i didn't even know that was in the bible well part of it is learning you know you haven't read through the bible all the way through and i get that part of it's just learning you're a new believer but part of it for some people they've been in a church for their whole life and they never opened the bible it's all in here it's amazing the bible how relevant it is to your life so the word of god also begets more of the word of god and there won't be a famine like james said when you hear it and do it hear it and do it so we have the prophetic word we have the prophetic word you know in the years that i've been pastoring here in colorado i've seen this shift in emphasis in some churches to follow after signs and wonders i've seen a shift in many churches to go after like you know the the cultural message that will be easily received i've seen churches their whole sermon series is about whatever movies are in the theaters listen you don't need more movies when you come to church you need the word of god you don't need to try to craft and go well you know i watched this latest marvel movie and if you see it this way and you close your eye and turn your head left it was the bible right there yeah maybe there's some great novel things in the latest marvel movie that are entertaining and and even noble but it's not the word of god man it's not going to change your life what's going to change your life is the noble example of jesus christ and his followers fully submitted to him that's what's going to change your life that's what's going to change you from the inside out and give you the stat the stamina and endurance to face anything and to me you know whether it's signs and wonders or cultural you know like believe me the bible needs to be culturally relevant i'm not saying that like definitely the the message of the gospel needs to resonate with the people that are listening that live in the culture absolutely but the word of god we can't mess with it the message can get the message can never change do you guys with me church the message can't change the methodology in delivering it of course it's going to change but the message the message in and of itself in the hands of the holy spirit will penetrate the hearts for which it's been sent out the message so if you mess with the message then forget about it i mean you you're not just one degree off you're going in the exact opposite direction of the crucified jesus christ the one that was that was crucified and died for you that's the message we preached by the way jesus christ him crucified buried and rose again that's the gospel overhead that's i mean that's that's not much no it's enough it's enough it is the message of the gospel that will change your life and what's sadder is that many people follow many people follow i mean in my email box today i had a couple of emails uh one from a church that that believed in the seed faith stuff and wanted me they literally asked me to sow a seed into there believe it if i believe it i will see it ministry here's my seed abandon that false teaching and let it grow the lord will take care of you but it's like and another email was i opened today was was just as bad in sense of somebody just getting off track it's just off track just got to stay on track it's easy to walk right past god's word or even co-op god's word instead of just letting the word of god speak so we have the prophetic word the prophetic word god the prophetic word is powerful it is one of the evidences that the bible that you hold in your hand is divine in origin not human divine in origin can i show you some flip over to isaiah 46 with me would you isaiah chapter 46 we really need you really need to see this either for the first time or by way of reminder the prophetic word that's what he emphasizes we have the prophetic word we have the 300 plus prophecies of the coming the first coming of jesus christ peter says we experienced it we saw with our own eyes why is it why is the prophetic word so important because our god knows the future from beginning to end and one reason we know one of the many reasons we know that this book is from him is because it's filled with very precise prophetic predictions that only god can know notice in isaiah 46 verse 9 isaiah 46 9 it says remember the former things of old for i am god and there is no other i am god and there is none like me listen verse 10 declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things that are not yet done saying my counsel shall stand and i will do all my pleasure go over to chapter 48 now verse 3 isaiah 48 just a couple pages over verse 3. i've developed this in other bible studies if you want to go online you want to go to our app and just search something with the word bible in the title i forget what the title of the message is exactly i think it's you can trust your bible i think we developed this i think that's the message you can trust your bible and we develop this in more depth but notice here in verse three it says i have declared the former things from the beginning they went forth from my mouth and i caused them to hear it suddenly i did them and they came to pass see i declared them from the beginning and they went forth and suddenly notice he says verse 3 i did them because i knew verse 4 that you were obstinate that your neck was an iron sinew and that your brow was bronze even from the beginning i've declared it to you before it came to pass i proclaimed it to you lest you should say my idol has done them and my carved image and my molded image have commanded them god says right here in his word i've said things in advance to prove to you not that you would associate it to some idol or some other man i have told you things to prove ahead of time so you know when they come to pass that i am god and so what does peter say back in second peter it's the confirmed prophetic word that we cling to that god is saying god's saying to us look one of the evidence i give you is that i that i am who i say i am is i'm going to tell you what's going to happen in the future no other so-called little g god can do that and so we trust the bible that we hold in our hands we trust it we trust it notice back in peter now in verse 20 he says knowing this first why do we trust it well he says knowing this first that no prophecy of scripture is of any private interpretation let me just say for those of you that have studied inductive bible study this is how we've been trained to study and teach the bible you know that there is one interpretation to the scriptures there's not two there's not five there's not three there is one interpretation while there might be many applications how to use the text unless you get the right interpretation all of your applications will be wrong and so we'll be bringing back very soon here a inductive bible study seminar from our brother down in the springs and he'll come up for maybe a friday saturday and teach anyone that wants to learn how to study the bible that way very interactively it's very good we'll give you a heads up before he comes but there's only one interpretation but what what much of teaching is today is a guy coming up opening his bible throwing out a verse and then just totally shredding it and then giving all the kinds of opinions and attitudes and false applications why false applications because he didn't have the right interpretation there's no nobody has a private you can't come and this will build into chapter two you won't be able to come up here to the stage and go ahead ed you don't understand i've got a new understanding of this verse okay bro like the bible's been around for 2000 years and you're the first person to figure this out in all of history all the people that given their life for the scriptures all the people yeah yeah yeah the lord gave it to me in a dream nah man no no thanks that's not that's not from the lord the bible is very clear it was written historically in a known language with a context and a time and so you got to read it until you understand what it meant to its hearers that's why we keep mentioning peter wrote to people under under great duress to the government because we're going through something in our own time and age and we've got issues with government we don't lead with that we don't lead with culture we don't say well because everything's going let's go to the bible and find out what it has to say about how to live today no we go to the bible and say this is what it says then we apply it to our culture and you got to get the order right and that's what he says no scripture is any private interpretation it's not something you can just make up as you go as the false prophets were to the people in peter's day notice he says in verse 21 now for prophecy never came by the will of man but holy men of god spoke as they were moved by the holy spirit we can trust the bible because it was written by god and not men we what we have in the bible today didn't originate in the minds of men as false teaching does all false teaching was made up by man all of it and when you think of man-made religion today the emphasis is on man-made so what peter's saying is like look the bible didn't start with man the bible came to man what you guys are listening to started with man and it's going to man but he says no way the bible prophetic word came from the supernatural mind of god and often when someone comes to me with some weird teaching some weird belief i like to ask him this question just so you can be ready if you ever come to me with some weird teaching or some weird belief i'm going to ask you a question pretty much like this where did you learn that where did you learn that who specifically taught you that what teacher gave you that because you would never read the bible on its own and come to that conclusion never you would never read the bible in its simplicity and come to the conclusion of the weirdness of that doctrine now let me say it's okay to ask good questions about weird things that you're thinking or you know questions you might have about the bible that's not what i'm talking about but if somebody comes up you go i got a new doctrine or you know like the time michael the archangel showed up at church you know michael the archangel showed up to our church one sunday he came in um it was it was probably not a very wise thing but he came in uh this brother this man came in with a dark trench coat uh right after uh it wasn't a few years after columbine that was mistake number one that michael the archangel made as he came in and he's waiting for me he's got you know he has all the attention of security both the scene and the unseen security that we have here they're all surrounded they go hey you know this guy wants to talk to you ed but he's kind of scary you know i'm like hey let me talk to him i love to talk to him i come up he's got some weird thing he had some word from god he said he had by the way he wasn't michael the archangel okay he wasn't and so as he comes and you know he says my name's michael and he handed me his business card i wish i would have kept it it was a business card that said michael the archangel on it i'm like whoa and i was in an interesting mood that day and i said man if you're michael the archangel where's your bible i wouldn't think the angels would be using the word of god showing up like that and and then i got really kind of you know i don't know what you want to call it you could come to your own conclusions but i did ask him i said where are your wings take your jacket off i can see your wings he was getting very angry with me at that time but i didn't even need to ask him where he got that weird stuff in because it was not from the lord on its face and we said you know if you're going to believe that kind of stuff and you're going to bring that kind of stuff in here we don't want you here we want you to repent like i don't know what you're into guy i don't know where you got this from but you're not michael the archangel i can assure you that and then he left and we haven't heard from him anymore if you're michael the archangel and you repented i'd sure like to hear it because you know who you are that came in through here we need to be careful because the word of god is not wrong you're probably wrong but the word of god is not wrong if i make a mistake or i teach something that's wrong i'm wrong the bible is not wrong that's why you want to learn and i want to keep encouraging you you test all things hold fast to what is good i'm not an infallible teacher i'm not without error and even on secondary matters that there's great debate in the body of christ i'm not entirely certain that my view is the view that's going to last the test of time i am convinced in it i am convinced biblically i do hold to the biblical view i mean i have biblical reasons not just making it up but i'm willing to admit if i'm cr need to be corrected i need to grow i want to grow just like you do and i spend a lot of time studying the word but i too make mistakes see holy men it's the holy men of god that he chose they were moved notice in verse 21 if you like to write in your bibles you should mark that word moved it has the picture of being carried along by the holy spirit so you know how some people come to you and say oh i don't believe the bible the bible was written by men anybody ever say that to you here's your answer you want to here's how you answer them yes men did write down the bible you don't need to fight them on that yes of course men you know you don't believe that the god wrote the bible and not man no i believe men wrote the bible of course they did men wrote the bible they wrote down what god told them to write down as they were carried along by the holy spirit they wrote down what god intended to be written down for us so of course the bible the agency that god chose to reach man was man isn't that great i mean it's the same thing you parents do when you want to explain something real difficult to your kids and you know little guys like we had running through the building today just little guys one of the ways that you one of the tools that you use in order to convince them or connect with them what do you do you get down on your knees and you look at them eye to eye and what god did for you and me is he sent his only begotten son so his son could look us eye to eye god in human flesh it does make sense that god would in his sovereign choice condescend to our level to reach us even as paul would adapt that into all his lifestyle you and i adapt that into our lifestyle what when paul said i've become all things to all men why with the motive of reaching them that some might be saved so we learn as we are sending a missionary out to thailand she's doing a lot of study i'm sure on thailand culture language she's talking and learning and growing why so she can become a more relatable tool in the hands of god she's certainly not going to carry with her a message of you guys are doing it all wrong we're doing it right in colorado so let me tell you how to do it right now and we're just going to copy everything we do in colorado and thailand well first of all if she doesn't change her language she's not going to connect with anybody because they don't speak english there i mean you know as a second language many of them do but there's a different language a different culture different food as pastor jj was sharing when we did our mission support trip there it everything it was it was you know living or staying in thailand for a short amount of time was an assault on all your senses and yet for those that lived there it wasn't an assault on their senses at all this is their culture and it was a beautiful culture and a wonderful culture it was a a wonderful place to serve the lord and visit pastor dave and irina and deneen and and to learn from them and here we are taking the word of god and recognizing god became man so that he could reach man and some might say well god couldn't have done it another way of course he could have done it another way but he chose this way and so in the word of god he said can't god couldn't have god done it a different way yeah he could have done a different way but he chose to do it this way and you go how do you know what he chose because it says right here in the bible the holy men of god were moved by the holy spirit one more verse and then we'll head out today second timothy chapter three would you go there with me that's to the left from peter second timothy chapter three second timothy chapter 3 sure men wrote down the word of god but they were carried along by the holy spirit they were carried along men wrote it down but god inspired it literally carried them along notice verse 16. you can always remember first timothy 3 16 as the verse you know through john 3 16 is the verse that emphasizes the gospel of jesus christ first timothy 3 16 emphasizes the inspiration of the holy scriptures notice all scripture is given by inspiration of god just to make sure everybody's with me let me give you a real quick pop quiz how much scripture is given by inspiration of god all of it all of it all scriptures given by inspiration of god and notice is profitable for four things every time you read the bible whether you understand it or not god is working these four things out in your life number one for doctrine that's right teaching number two for reproof that's to tell you what's wrong teaching number three for correction that's how you that's to teach you how to change toward right teaching and then number four instruction in righteousness that is how to continue on in right teaching why verse 17 so that the man or woman of god may be complete thoroughly equipped for every good work so doctrine teaching us the truth about god reprove teaching us what's wrong about ourselves correction teaching us how to fix what's wrong and instruction in righteousness teaching how to maintain that which is right god has given you the inspired scriptures not only so that your faith might be built faith comes by hearing and what hearing by the word of god that's why reading it out loud is a double blessing reading the bible out loud even with your own voice is a double blessing because not only are you seeing it with your eye and internalizing it but you're reading it out loud and you're what hearing it but now you know we years ago we were so excited because we got this we found this company that was doing mp3 bible being read to you and we did it like on a pack of 10 cds or something and we ordered all kinds and we were back in the school back then it was just when the technology of mp3 was invented and you had to i don't even remember what kind of mp3 players there were back then but you could put it in your computer on your microsoft um on your microsoft xp or whatever the operating system was back then your office 95 or whatever it was put it in the little cd tray pop it in and you could play the bible being read to you but now it's in your pocket if you don't already have this app downloaded you must download it it's the you version you version the most popular bible uh app that that is around translated into so many different languages and one of the benefits is that many of the translations they will it will read it to you and you just have it read that's what marie does for devotions i'll i'll go i'll wake up first go downstairs have coffee i'll come back up and she's got the bible going on in the bathroom and she's getting ready for the day the bible just going filling our house filling our bedroom with the word of god and it's the you version it's a it's a free you know that's where pastor craig groschell is such an inspire inspiration to us because his church they took on that project and have maintained it as a free gift to the world from the very beginning it was there you know we got this little thing grace fm that god's doing here in denver that's our gift to the city but now you know you've got other churches that model generosity god blesses generosity just know that god blesses generosity god can always replace money he can character that can't be replaced it has to be developed and a generous spirit the lord will bless generosity the word of god is trust so i would just say this as we as we head out my final word please please please be careful with your bibles and even as i'm encouraging you to download a free app there nothing replaces it by a paper bible nothing replaces what it smells like it's just books you know this is a pretty new one too it's just unbelievable i love the small books when you're at the doctor's office and you take a bible out there's no mistake what you're doing when you have your word of god it's one of the things we teach the pastors here and now the men and women in the school ministry carry your bible this is the tool you know just like a construction person is going to take a hammer or one of those air gun things whatever construction people use they need their tools believer you have one tool it's the bible it's not books about the bible it's not other people's opinions about it's not even bible studies or the apps or anything it's the bible and if you have the holy spirit he'll use the bible in your life he will use it if you just read it and do it god will bless you and you'll grow so please be careful with your bibles if you don't own one take one from the chair in front of you buy one downstairs if you know all of our bibles we don't mention this but downstairs all of our bibles there's no markup on them so like if you're looking for a bible go find it somewhere get all the information and then bring it here and see if we can order it for you we may not be able to order it for you but if we can you'll get it at cost there's no markup on the bible we want to get good bibles in people's hands we don't we we desire you to have a paper bible and you know i use mine on my ipad and i'm not against that but there's something about the bible so be careful with them don't let anyone take it out of your hands don't be discouraged from using it don't let churches churches encourage you not to bring it not to use it don't let colts try to replace it or add to it don't let the enemy discourage you away from it the bible is an awesome book and if you will read it if you will read it if you will read it you will find the same thing that peter did god's word is true you can trust it you can trust not only see because the final thing i did i say finally here's another final one when you read the book just like some of you already have favorite authors in other genres you know a favorite fiction author you have a favorite non-fiction author when you read the bible you know what happens god becomes your favorite author you fall in love with the author of the books you read the most so fall in love with the author by starting with the book that he read you're looking for a place to start start in the gospel of john because not only will john point you to the father but john will point you to the son in the book of john the gospel of john was written so that you might believe so to those of you who are wavering those of you that need stronger faith in these difficult times go to the book of john and just camp there and just receive it in let the holy spirit encourage you so father thank you for the privilege of your word tonight your prophetic word it's more sure it is reliable you know we go through those seasons of doubt and experience you know difficulty but i'm grateful that you're patient with us that you promise never to leave or forsake us so god help us to fall in love with your word to be men and women of your word and even those that might be listening to me right now they go man i've been reading and reading i don't see anything i don't feel anything i pray for patience and long suffering in their lives lord because you're doing an inside job what they can't see is all that you see the work you're doing inside changing their minds we don't want to be formed by the news cycles we don't want to be formed by conservative people or liberal people we don't want to be confirmed we want to be conformed by the popular voice what gets spun in the media what what gets spun in our family what gets spun in our own head we want to be formed and conformed into the image of christ and we know that the tool to do that is your word so may your word come alive in our lives in jesus name amen amen you

Channel: Calvary Church with Ed Taylor

Views: 352

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: BIBLE, JESUS, BIBLE STUDY, CALVARY CHURCH, ED TAYLOR, BIBLE READING, CALVARY AURORA

Id: iqt0TMcycZQ

Length: 42min 32sec (2552 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 12 2021