SPEAKER_00: This podcast is brought to you by Grand Parkway Baptist Church.
SPEAKER_00: Helping people to know, enjoy, and glorify God.
SPEAKER_00: For more information about Grand Parkway, visit GrandProquay.org.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for what you have done.
SPEAKER_01: We have a reason to praise.
SPEAKER_01: We have a reason to worship because of what you've done.
SPEAKER_01: And we know you did what you did because of who you are.
SPEAKER_01: And we celebrate that this morning.
SPEAKER_01: We investigate that this morning.
SPEAKER_01: And I pray that as we open our scriptures, we can drill these truths down to our hearts in a way that we sing even louder and live even bolder lives.
SPEAKER_01: God, I pray as you embark on this journey in the next three or four weeks, three or four weeks, and you can be with us in the reading of your word.
SPEAKER_01: Fill the space, fill our hearts, fill our minds as we open up the scriptures.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Lord, for what you've done.
SPEAKER_01: It's in your beautiful name I pray.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: You can be seated.
SPEAKER_01: Go morning, how are we good?
SPEAKER_01: Hey, if you're your Bibles, we're going to grab those and go to uh 2 Timothy chapter 3.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, 2 Timothy chapter 3.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna take a little bit of a pause from the book of Acts in the month of July.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna switch gears and slow down into a series we're calling Simple Truths, Big Difference.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, simple truths, big difference.
SPEAKER_01: So as you're flipping there to explain why we're doing what we're doing, I have a picture here for you of a young woman named Blandina.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, Blandina, this is a painting, obviously isn't a picture, but this is a painting of Blandina.
SPEAKER_01: So she was a believer in the second century in Lyon, France.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, in about in the in the in the second century.
SPEAKER_01: And she was a believer in a time when it wasn't very convenient to be a believer in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, matter of fact, it was suspicious and dangerous to be a believer in Christ in her context.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, um Christians were considered, in her context, Christians were considered to be cannibals.
SPEAKER_01: People would walk by Christians and hear them joyfully talk about eating the flesh and drinking the blood.
SPEAKER_01: Christians were considered to be insurrectionists, meaning rebels, because they would worship their Lord, Lord Jesus instead of their Lord Caesar.
SPEAKER_01: In her context, Christians were considered to be atheists because they would worship one God instead of the big compendium of Roman gods.
SPEAKER_01: And Christians were considered to be practicing incest because they would speak joyfully about having these love feasts called communions, where they would just focus on loving their brothers and sisters.
SPEAKER_01: So sometime in the second century in Lyon, France, in her day, her city fell into a frenzy, and people demanded that Christians be eradicated.
SPEAKER_01: And one of the people arrested was a 15-year-old named Blandina, and she was set to be tortured.
SPEAKER_01: They tied her to a stake and let animals, wild beasts, um, they let wild beasts loose, and nothing happened.
SPEAKER_01: Literally, she started praying for the executioners, and the wild beasts just looked at her and did nothing.
SPEAKER_01: And this embarrassed the executioners, therefore, they tortured her and tortured her and tortured her and tortured her and tortured her and tortured her, and she didn't die.
SPEAKER_01: She just kept praising God and encouraging others, and finally the executioners were embarrassed.
SPEAKER_01: Someone got a dagger and ended her life, and her last words were I am a Christian and nothing wrong is done among us.
SPEAKER_01: Now, that's a simple statement, but the truth behind that statement is Jesus is worth living for, and Jesus is worth dying for.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is worth living and dying for.
SPEAKER_01: Now, you came to church on a holiday weekend.
SPEAKER_01: You probably believe that.
SPEAKER_01: If I were to quiz you at the door, you probably believe that.
SPEAKER_01: But the way that she held on to this simple truth, it made a huge difference.
SPEAKER_01: In the next four weeks, I want what I want to do is I want to check our grip strength on the truths we say we hold.
SPEAKER_01: So if you go to the gym, you will find people holding um big plates and they're just holding it out.
SPEAKER_01: They're working on their grip strength.
SPEAKER_01: So I want to work on our grip strength.
SPEAKER_01: I want to check our grip strength on the truths that we say we hold, because this book is pregnant with truth.
SPEAKER_01: It is pregnant with simple truths that whenever we hold them tightly, they change everything.
SPEAKER_01: They change us into living more interesting lives, more joyful lives, more resilient lives, more heroic lives, brighter lives, different lives.
SPEAKER_01: There are a lot of things that Christians claim to believe, but we don't really believe them, we kind of just lean that way.
SPEAKER_01: We just assent to them.
SPEAKER_01: They're opinions, they're not convictions.
SPEAKER_01: And there's a difference between opinions and convictions.
SPEAKER_01: Opinions are things you would argue for, convictions you would die for.
SPEAKER_01: So my prayer for us for the next four weeks is that some of the simplest truths of our faith would overflow from our head to our hearts and become deep level, heart-level convictions.
SPEAKER_01: And we're gonna start here in 2 Timothy chapter 3.
SPEAKER_01: Um, just a little bit of context as we go in.
SPEAKER_01: Paul is locked up, okay.
SPEAKER_01: He's basically on death row, writing a letter to a young pastor, and he's using his last words to encourage a young pastor, a young pastor, and he wanted to encourage Timothy and all believers.
SPEAKER_01: And in this section we're about to jump into, he's talking about where the world is going.
SPEAKER_01: And it isn't pretty.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, it's not cute, it's not getting better.
SPEAKER_01: People are not getting more moral.
SPEAKER_01: And he's saying, listen, there's gonna be godlessness in the last days, and it's not just out there, it's from behind the pulpit.
SPEAKER_01: There's gonna be false teaching, and these false teachers are gonna have uh a corrupt character.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, even Christian leaders are gonna be invited into deeper and deeper levels of depravity, and Paul understands what we should understand that only dead fish go with the flow.
SPEAKER_01: Christians shouldn't.
SPEAKER_01: So you see in verse 10 right there, okay.
SPEAKER_01: What you see in verse 10, you see the words, you however.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, there's an emphatic climate, you however.
SPEAKER_01: And in verse 14, it happens again, but as for you.
SPEAKER_01: And that's what we're gonna jump into.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, we're gonna look at verses 14 through 17 in our time this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Look with me.
SPEAKER_01: But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you have learned it, and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make one wise for a salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
SPEAKER_01: Our first simple truth is this the Bible is the word of God.
SPEAKER_01: Again, you're here on 4th of July weekend.
SPEAKER_01: If I were to quiz you at the door, most of us who profess the faith in Christ, you would say, Of course, the Bible is the word of God.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, but this we have the preserved words of the eternal God.
SPEAKER_01: And I want to check our grip strength on the that that truth we say we hold.
SPEAKER_01: So the American Bible Society is a company who does these massive, massive surveys, and they want to chart out the the relationship between Americans and their Bibles.
SPEAKER_01: And they come up with this um 85% of uh of American households have a Bible.
SPEAKER_01: Um, 71% of Americans are curious about the Bible andor Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: 44% of America thinks that the but the the America will be worst off without Bible reading.
SPEAKER_01: However, fewer than one in five Americans are scripture engaged.
SPEAKER_01: So I have a chart here of those who are scripture engaged.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, ABS surveyed and they came up with this chart.
SPEAKER_01: So as you can see off the top, 29% of people who have a Bible have it for decoration.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, it's just decorating the house and it's it's spreading good luck.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: That's what it's doing.
SPEAKER_01: And as you go down the list, what you notice is 75% of Bible owners engage it once a week or less.
SPEAKER_01: So despite the curiosity and even the respect of the Bible, people tend not to read their Bible.
SPEAKER_01: Now, this was two years ago, but where are you in this and why are you there?
SPEAKER_01: So the passage here shows that the Bible is the word of God.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, number one, we read with resilience.
SPEAKER_01: We read with resilience.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verses 14 and 15 again.
SPEAKER_01: But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it.
SPEAKER_01: And how from childhood you went from being you have been acquainted with the sacred writings.
SPEAKER_01: So the command is simple for Paul here.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, continue.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, keep going in the scriptures, continue in the sacred writings, in the holy scriptures.
SPEAKER_01: This letter was written uh roughly AD 67.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, that's three years after something horrible.
SPEAKER_01: In AD 64, Emperor Nero made a sport of killing Christians.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, one of the things that happened is a lot of Christian leaders, a lot of pastors, a lot of Bible teachers kind of softened their resolve when it came to the scriptures.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, it got convenient to back off from the scriptures, and he's saying, listen, Timothy, not you.
SPEAKER_01: Continue in them.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, you learned the Bible from trustworthy sources.
SPEAKER_01: Myself, your grandmother, and your mother.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, and you learn them over a long period of time from childhood, and you've come to firmly believe them.
SPEAKER_01: And this same God who captured your heart back then as a child is still ruling and reigning and speaking through the scriptures today.
SPEAKER_01: Continue in the scriptures, Timothy.
SPEAKER_01: The world is changing, Timothy.
SPEAKER_01: The novel things are becoming more attractive, Timothy.
SPEAKER_01: But despite the godlessness in the last days, despite people, even preachers abandon it, continue in it.
SPEAKER_01: Friends, Paul understands what we need to understand.
SPEAKER_01: The word of God can go in and out of popularity, but it would always be relevant.
SPEAKER_01: It can jump in and out of popularity, but it will always be relevant.
SPEAKER_01: Now, most people in our society don't read a thousand-page books.
SPEAKER_01: That's just not the context we're in.
SPEAKER_01: So a book this big, okay, is just gonna be foreign to our taste.
SPEAKER_01: But friends, something gigantic is at stake here.
SPEAKER_01: I used to make fun of people who read big books, and now my whole life is about this book, but something gigantic is at stake here.
SPEAKER_01: Listen to what God says in Jeremiah 9.
SPEAKER_01: He says this, thus says the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Let not the mighty man boast in his might.
SPEAKER_01: Let not the rich man boast in his riches.
SPEAKER_01: Let not the uh the one let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and he knows me.
SPEAKER_01: For I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth.
SPEAKER_01: For in these things I delight.
SPEAKER_01: This passage tells us that knowing God is our highest honor and privilege.
SPEAKER_01: And to have a relationship, to have a great relationship with God, you need a healthy relationship in his word.
SPEAKER_01: To have a healthy relationship with God, you need a healthy relationship in his word.
SPEAKER_01: Now in Timothy's day, the pressure was more extring.
SPEAKER_01: What's the word?
SPEAKER_01: Extrinsic, is it?
SPEAKER_01: I was trying to impress you, it didn't work.
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: The pressure was external, it was coming from the outside, okay?
SPEAKER_01: It was out there.
SPEAKER_01: For us, okay, it's in here.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, there's all sorts of reasons people don't continue.
SPEAKER_01: It's tough.
SPEAKER_01: All sorts of reasons people don't uncontinue it.
SPEAKER_01: But friends, it's something gigantic, knowing God is at stake, so be resilient in it.
SPEAKER_01: Find a translate, a robust translation that you can understand.
SPEAKER_01: You know what the best translation is?
SPEAKER_01: The one you'll read.
SPEAKER_01: Listen to it on audio, read it in groups, read it out loud, use commentaries, use charts, use maps, use Bible studies, um, use resources, continue in it.
SPEAKER_01: So whether you've been studying the Bible for decades or just became a Christian during our time of worship, resolve to be a people who continue in the word.
SPEAKER_01: We have to be resilient to continue in the word.
SPEAKER_01: Now, um UFC.
SPEAKER_01: You know what the UFC is, right?
SPEAKER_01: Okay, you have the Ultimate Fighting League.
SPEAKER_01: No?
SPEAKER_01: Oh, the Ultimate Final Championship.
SPEAKER_01: It's one of the most bloody activities in the world.
SPEAKER_01: It's a sport, it's kickbox, MMA.
SPEAKER_01: Um, there was a fighter recently.
SPEAKER_01: Uh I was I saw this video came across my phone.
SPEAKER_01: A fighter recently, um, in a he was in a highly anticipated, a highly anticipated fight.
SPEAKER_01: And in between rounds, okay, in between rounds, he looks, he looks across to his opponent.
SPEAKER_01: He's bloody, his face is bloody, his lips busted, he's drenched in sweat.
SPEAKER_01: He looks across to his opponent and he says, You're not gonna beat me.
SPEAKER_01: You're not gonna beat me.
SPEAKER_01: I'm prepared to die tonight.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm looking at that, I'm like, man, I've never been more sure that that's not what I want to do with my life.
SPEAKER_01: I feel so much more comfortable here.
SPEAKER_01: I'm prepared to die tonight.
SPEAKER_01: What he's saying is, it doesn't matter how hard you hit me, doesn't matter how hard you stream, I'm not quitting.
SPEAKER_01: I am not giving up.
SPEAKER_01: I have one more chart for you.
SPEAKER_01: Here's this last chart right here.
SPEAKER_01: Um, this is a chart.
SPEAKER_01: Um, the frustrations with Bible reading, not enough time, don't know where to start, lack of excitement.
SPEAKER_01: That's the big one.
SPEAKER_01: Difficult relating to the language, layout and difficult to navigate.
SPEAKER_01: Stories are confusing.
SPEAKER_01: My question for you is where do you fall on this?
SPEAKER_01: And I want you before you read to resolve, like the UFC fighter, I don't care which one of this comes up, and I don't care how intense it is, I'm not stopping.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not giving up.
SPEAKER_01: If knowing and enjoying God is at stake, I'm not giving up.
SPEAKER_01: This is worth, this is worth resilience.
SPEAKER_01: Let's make up our minds to continue in the word.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible is the word of God, therefore we read with resilience.
SPEAKER_01: Number two, okay, the Bible is the word of God.
SPEAKER_01: We read to stay awake.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, we read to stay awake.
SPEAKER_01: This is kind of counterintuitive.
SPEAKER_01: Oftentimes some of us who struggle with sleeping want to read our way to sleep, but I'm telling you, my my argument is the Bible, we read to actually wake up, to stay awake.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, one of the things that makes the Bible so unique is its range.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, the history books that you, whatever you studied, text history or social studies, the history books that you had at your school have a very limited scope, very limited range.
SPEAKER_01: From like the 1800s to the 1900s, or from here to, or just studying this country.
SPEAKER_01: This Bible starts at the beginning of human history and ends at the eternal state.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, it starts at the very, very beginning and it ends at the very end.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, it's range.
SPEAKER_01: So we actually have documentation, revelation of what happened in the opening moments of time itself.
SPEAKER_01: In the opening moments of time.
SPEAKER_01: And in the beginning, we have a God who is being a creative God.
SPEAKER_01: He wasn't the universe was not made off of a war between good and evil.
SPEAKER_01: No, there's a God, no obligation, no mandatory, not out of boredom, not out of loneliness, who creates out of an extension of his glory.
SPEAKER_01: And when he does something interesting, he makes trees that make more trees.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, he makes plants that multiply more plants.
SPEAKER_01: And then he participates in this multiplication.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't make more gods, but he makes man in his own image.
SPEAKER_01: Makes mankind in his own image.
SPEAKER_01: And there's no one to work the garden, therefore, in Genesis 2, 7 says this.
SPEAKER_01: Then the Lord God formed man of dust, the man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.
SPEAKER_01: And the man became a living creature.
SPEAKER_01: So the as it's man of dust, some commentaries literally call Adam mud man or dirt man.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, but he breathed into Adam and he became a living creature.
SPEAKER_01: And that begins a pattern in the Bible of God being so powerful that his breath is insurmountably powerful.
SPEAKER_01: Just the breath of God is insurmountably powerful.
SPEAKER_01: He even has the ability to breathe life into anyone and anything, and when he does, it changes everything.
SPEAKER_01: The breath of God.
SPEAKER_01: Now look at verse 16, those first few words.
SPEAKER_01: All scripture is breathed out by God.
SPEAKER_01: These words wrote they were breathed out by God.
SPEAKER_01: Theo, the word there is the nustos.
SPEAKER_01: Theo means God.
SPEAKER_01: Nustos means breath or spirit, meaning God breathed.
SPEAKER_01: So the powerful breath of God is preserved in these pages.
SPEAKER_01: With that in mind, we read to stay awake.
SPEAKER_01: We read the power of God to actually stay awake.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, I told you this story a couple years ago, but it bears repeating for our context here here this morning.
SPEAKER_01: A couple years ago, I was preaching at this church to our youth.
SPEAKER_01: And it was nighttime, and the students were praying as I was preaching.
SPEAKER_01: They were going, I was like, I'm killing this.
SPEAKER_01: And afterwards, a student comes up to me and he goes, Hey man, I just want to let you know, when you were talking, I was falling asleep.
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, How dare you?
SPEAKER_01: So I preached the whole thing back to him.
SPEAKER_01: Just no.
SPEAKER_01: But he was like, When you talk, when you were when you were talking, I was falling asleep, but I went, I got up and I went to the bathroom to splash myself in the face and wake up.
SPEAKER_01: And after I was angry at that kid, I walked away and went, isn't that the Christian life?
SPEAKER_01: Even whenever you're born again, even if you love Jesus, this world has a way of rocking you to sleep and having you relax your resolve.
SPEAKER_01: And we need to splash ourselves in the face with this book.
SPEAKER_01: We douse ourselves with the breath of God to stay awake.
SPEAKER_01: Friends, whenever we read, we're awakened to the fact, listen, there is a God.
SPEAKER_01: Your five senses won't confirm him this morning, but there is a God.
SPEAKER_01: And there's not one molecule in the whole universe that's quote unquote doing its own thing, ruling and reigning over everything.
SPEAKER_01: He created everything.
SPEAKER_01: So he has authority over everything.
SPEAKER_01: There is a God on his throne right now.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, whenever we read, we're awakened to the fact that listen, the birds outside, we walk out of here, the birds outside that you ignore, the grass you mindlessly step on, the sky you don't even look at sometimes, all of those things we don't even look at have God's autograph on them, that have his glory autograph on them to make you and I sing and to make you and I comforted.
SPEAKER_01: Whenever we read, we're awakened to the fact that there's an enemy who hates your faith and hates your family.
SPEAKER_01: And he's already defeated, but his number one rule is lie.
SPEAKER_01: His number one trick is lie.
SPEAKER_01: Whenever we read, we're awakened to the fact that right now we are locked in a story.
SPEAKER_01: And whether you believe or not, we are locked in a storyline.
SPEAKER_01: And despite what uh American media wants to tell you, we are not the main character.
SPEAKER_01: It's not about us, but it does concern us.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, this story is salvation history.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 15 says the scriptures are able to make one wise for a salvation through faith in Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, you are being saved.
SPEAKER_01: That word salvation isn't just referring to the cross, and it's not just referring to the you're innocent on judgment day.
SPEAKER_01: That's referring to right now as well.
SPEAKER_01: You were saved, you will be saved, but right now you're currently being saved.
SPEAKER_01: The Holy Spirit has not pulled a cramp since the book of Acts.
SPEAKER_01: He does not have back issues now, he's not gotten older and more chill now.
SPEAKER_01: He's as powerful as he was when the scriptures were documented.
SPEAKER_01: And right now, no matter how bored you are or even distracted or tired or hurt you are, right now, if you are indwelled by the Spirit, you are having surgery done on you right this second.
SPEAKER_01: There is surgery being done in your heart and in your soul right this second to confirm you to look identical to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: What that means is.
SPEAKER_01: Look, Chip and Joanna Gaines, they got nothing on the renovation that's happening in your heart right now.
SPEAKER_01: You're being molded to look like Jesus right this second.
SPEAKER_01: Whenever we read, we're awakened to the fact that this is literally the closest you've ever been to seeing his face.
SPEAKER_01: When you walk back out of these doors today, you will be one church service closer to seeing him.
SPEAKER_01: We read to stay awake.
SPEAKER_01: It's the question: how often are you prone to falling asleep to the patterns of this world?
SPEAKER_01: How often does spiritual amnesia make you live out of your sight, not your faith?
SPEAKER_01: What does that look like for you?
SPEAKER_01: Boxer, boxers who are on the verge of getting knocked out.
SPEAKER_01: They go back to their corner and they get these things called smelling salts.
SPEAKER_01: You know what that is, right?
SPEAKER_01: Some of the smelling salts, what they have in there is like this ammonia, and it'll wake you right up.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so even if you're woozy after the last couple of hits, whoo, you're you're you're awake.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, what it does, it irritates your membranes, even makes your heart go a little faster.
SPEAKER_01: We are fighting the good fight of faith.
SPEAKER_01: We're fighting the good fight of faith.
SPEAKER_01: And we need to frequently these smelling salts right here, going, oh, wake right up.
SPEAKER_01: We douse ourselves the breath of God to stay awake.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible is the word of God.
SPEAKER_01: We read with resilience, we stay awake.
SPEAKER_01: And also, um, the Bible is the word of God, therefore we read because it pays.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, we read because it pays.
SPEAKER_01: Um whenever elementary Leo or Junior High Leo was asked to do a chore, uh I wish I could go back to those days.
SPEAKER_01: I thought those were hard.
SPEAKER_01: I I whenever I was asked to do a chore, I would just think in my head, like, what's in it for what's in it for me?
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: Like, what's well how does this pay?
SPEAKER_01: I'll do it, but is this gonna end in like, oh, here's a Capri Sun?
SPEAKER_01: Or is it in an allowance raise?
SPEAKER_01: Because depending on which one it is, that's it's gonna determine my effort, right?
SPEAKER_01: I have a range of effort.
SPEAKER_01: Um when people approach the scriptures that they think, okay, what's what's in it for me?
SPEAKER_01: What's in it for me?
SPEAKER_01: And sometimes we can land on some unhelpful things.
SPEAKER_01: People often read for, hey, I'm reading for just the emotional satisfaction, uh, the emotional satisfaction of checking off my religious duty for the day.
SPEAKER_01: Did it?
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: Or people often read to make God love them more.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, reading is not gonna make God love you more, it's not gonna increase the love of God and make you make you aware more aware of it.
SPEAKER_01: It's not gonna increase the love of God for you.
SPEAKER_01: Or people often read so God will owe them a favor.
SPEAKER_01: God, I'm a Bible reader, you know.
SPEAKER_01: Afflict all of them.
SPEAKER_01: Not me.
SPEAKER_01: I read it, I get up early and read.
SPEAKER_01: But in verse 16, it tells us the Bible that the scripture's advantages and its benefits or its profits in being in the Word.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 16.
SPEAKER_01: All scripture is breathed out by God, and it's profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, as you can see, scripture is profitable or beneficial for the first one right there, is teaching.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: Or the word there could be doctrine is profitable for doctrine.
SPEAKER_01: So you and I at our core, you and I are revelation receivers.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, you're not meant to run on relatable song or your friend's advice or your own wisdom.
SPEAKER_01: You and I are revelation at our core, revelation receivers.
SPEAKER_01: God didn't drop Adam and Eve in the garden and go figure it out.
SPEAKER_01: He starts talking to them.
SPEAKER_01: He starts speaking to them.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, he blessed them and talked to them.
SPEAKER_01: So in the Bible, we find God's official proclamation of his love, pardon, cleansing, righteousness, peace, and things like these.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, the Bible gives us truth, true teaching, true doctrine.
SPEAKER_01: It reveals a talking God.
SPEAKER_01: And he tells us about himself, about man, the world we live in, and the world to come.
SPEAKER_01: And listen, every other doctrine needs to be measured according to this one.
SPEAKER_01: Everything else is measured according to this one.
SPEAKER_01: So I'll never forget a few years ago, I met with a cult.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, someone asked me, I like to learn more about, I'm not gonna say who it is, like to know more about blah, blah, blah, blah.
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, yes.
SPEAKER_01: So they took me into their place, and there was like five or six of them, and one of me, and I'm like, ready, I'm about that action.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, all right, I'm surrounded in here.
SPEAKER_01: But we were talking and talking and talking, and it just shocked me how much when I, whenever I asked them, how did you come to this conclusion?
SPEAKER_01: Like, how did you get here?
SPEAKER_01: And I remember almost all of them, if not all of them, said the same thing.
SPEAKER_01: When I prayed about it and knew it was true, yada yada yada.
SPEAKER_01: And this is too late.
SPEAKER_01: I should what I should have said was this isn't, you wouldn't measure a door like that.
SPEAKER_01: You wouldn't pray about how tall that door is.
SPEAKER_01: What you do is you measure it against a fixed point.
SPEAKER_01: You put a measuring stick next to it.
SPEAKER_01: That same way, friends, everyone has a working doctrine.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, next time you're listening to your favorite songs or watching your favorite movie, ask, hey, what's the doctrine behind these words or this scene?
SPEAKER_01: What's this director to communicate?
SPEAKER_01: And then you measure it against the teaching.
SPEAKER_01: It's profitable for teaching.
SPEAKER_01: Paul is saying the Bible is helpful because it's the truth standard.
SPEAKER_01: Every other doctrine needs to be measured based on this one.
SPEAKER_01: It is truth.
SPEAKER_01: When we eavesdrop on Jesus praying, he's praising God and he's asking God to sanctify them, sanctify his disciples in his truth.
SPEAKER_01: In John 17, 17, Jesus says, Father, your word, your word is truth.
SPEAKER_01: So it's profitable for teaching, it's profitable for doctrine.
SPEAKER_01: It's also, if you keep going there, scripture is profitable not just for teaching, but for reproof and correction.
SPEAKER_01: Now, studies show that an American is exposed to about four to 10,000, anywhere between four and ten thousand advertisements every single day.
SPEAKER_01: And that could be billboards or commercials or um on Instagram or scam likely, or you are exposed to thousands and thousands of advertisements every day.
SPEAKER_01: Not only that, you're exposed to so many shows and music and media, and friends, all of them are preaching something.
SPEAKER_01: All of them are preaching to you.
SPEAKER_01: Everything in this world comes from a worldview.
SPEAKER_01: Everyone has a doctrine and media presses it against your face.
SPEAKER_01: Like, for example, there are certain country artists.
SPEAKER_01: See how quiet a guy that just if you listen to them all day, you'll just come to the conclusion that finding the one is the meaning of life.
SPEAKER_01: Or there are certain news channels that if you watch it all day, they'll have you believing voting correctly means you're saved.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: If we're not careful, friends, our flesh loves that type of cheap wisdom.
SPEAKER_01: We love that type of worldly wisdom.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, we'll believe it if we're not careful.
SPEAKER_01: Our flesh loves that type of stuff.
SPEAKER_01: And what Paul is saying here is this the scriptures are profitable for reproof and correction.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, the word of God is a laxative to your bad ideas you collect from being in this world.
SPEAKER_01: The world of God is a laxative to the bad ideas you collect by being in this world.
SPEAKER_01: Have you ever gotten to colonoscopy?
SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying this to be crass.
SPEAKER_01: This is what I could come up with weeks ago when I was thinking about this.
SPEAKER_01: You're either given a pill or a liquid, and what it does is it purges or it cleanses you, or it purges what's in you and it leads to cleansing.
SPEAKER_01: In that same way, this book does not contradict itself, but it will contradict you.
SPEAKER_01: And it's irritating sometimes, but it will purge, the Holy Spirit will use it to purge what's in you, and that will lead to cleansing, no matter how uncomfortable it is.
SPEAKER_01: This is still uh the Jesus calls this world Satan's world.
SPEAKER_01: Now he has them on the leash.
SPEAKER_01: He can't do anything outside of the sovereignty of God, but his best trick is to lie, and you can't spot lies if you don't know the truth.
SPEAKER_01: So this book is profitable for reproof and for correction.
SPEAKER_01: Scripture is also profitable and beneficial for training in righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: This is exactly what it sounds like here.
SPEAKER_01: Training or instruction here has the idea of child rearing.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, it has in it, um, and hasn't it like all that the parent needs for growth and developing or maturing a child.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, the Bible is a training school for righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: It's not gonna tell you what's wrong, but it's gonna train you up to look like your king.
SPEAKER_01: Ethical things that make you look and identify or to look like your father, look like your king.
SPEAKER_01: Other books have training in music, rhetoric, but the specialty of the Bible is training in righteousness and leading to the righteous one.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, leading to the righteous one.
SPEAKER_01: So the Bible um is God's word.
SPEAKER_01: Um, so we it's it's good for we read with resilience.
SPEAKER_01: We read with um, we we read, um, I lost one of my pages here, my notes.
SPEAKER_01: Um, this is tough.
SPEAKER_01: This is terrifying.
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: This I've I literally have nightmares of this happening, and it's not here.
SPEAKER_01: It's not here.
SPEAKER_01: This is awful, but it's okay.
SPEAKER_01: Huh?
SPEAKER_01: Okay, yeah.
SPEAKER_01: We read.
SPEAKER_01: There you go.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, there we go.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, we read.
SPEAKER_01: Um we read with resilience.
SPEAKER_01: Um, we read to stay awake, we read because it pays.
SPEAKER_01: And last one, we read to stay ready.
SPEAKER_01: Keep that on the screen.
SPEAKER_01: Uh literally, one of my pages just fell out.
SPEAKER_01: Um uh, but it's okay.
SPEAKER_01: The Holy Spirit is is in this room, so we'll we'll be fine.
SPEAKER_01: So we read to stay ready.
SPEAKER_01: So um read verse 16 and 17 again.
SPEAKER_01: All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching and for reproof and for correction and for training and righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
SPEAKER_01: Now, um, this is funny because I've been praying, God lead me when I preach, lead me when I preach.
SPEAKER_01: I'm very, very structured, and now I don't I'm missing an entire page, so this is gonna be fun, right?
SPEAKER_01: Um now um you are not saved by your works.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, you're not saved by your works, but you are saved for good works.
SPEAKER_01: So if you look at Ephesians, okay, Ephesians chapter um two, it tells us that we are his workmanship.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, chapter two, verse, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
SPEAKER_01: Not saved by good works, but we're saved for good works.
SPEAKER_01: And the Bible helps us spot what those good works look like.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, a lot of things people hear good works, they think, man, I'm gonna jump on a plane and go overseas, go do something extreme for the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: No, no, no.
SPEAKER_01: Where are you right now and what are the good works you can be doing around you right now?
SPEAKER_01: So, our main example, of course, when it comes to good works, is our Savior Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, Jesus was complete.
SPEAKER_01: The point of the scriptures is to make you complete, and Christ Himself was complete.
SPEAKER_01: And one of the ways you can tell he was complete is what came out of him whenever he was squeezed?
SPEAKER_01: What came out of him when he was bumped?
SPEAKER_01: In the wilderness, um, whenever the the Satan is tempting him and harassing him, what did he quote back?
SPEAKER_01: Scripture.
SPEAKER_01: Whenever he's continually teaching, he always goes, hey, as it is written, as it is written, as it is written.
SPEAKER_01: Whenever he's asked why he's doing what he's doing, hey, so the scriptures will be fulfilled, so the scriptures will be fulfilled, so the scriptures will be fulfilled.
SPEAKER_01: And even on the cross, when he's being uh crucified, I mean he's in excruciating pain.
SPEAKER_01: That word excruciating literally has been invented to describe how agonizing crucifixion is.
SPEAKER_01: Whenever you bump Jesus or squeeze Jesus, scripture comes out.
SPEAKER_01: He's complete.
SPEAKER_01: The scriptures are for our completion.
SPEAKER_01: With that being said, what comes out whenever you're bumped?
SPEAKER_01: Whenever life squeezes you, what tends to come out?
SPEAKER_01: Years ago, I was at a I remember hearing a speaker one time, um, and I'm gonna get the I'll I'll wipe this up.
SPEAKER_01: Um I'll wipe this up, I promise.
SPEAKER_01: Um Clyde's not here, I'm good.
SPEAKER_01: Um so um I wiped this so but I remember a speaker, uh but he he had this cup in his hand, and he went like this, he split a little bit, he went, Why did why did that happen?
SPEAKER_01: And we all yelled out, because you you you did it.
SPEAKER_01: You you your hand pushed it.
SPEAKER_01: And he goes, Why did water come out?
SPEAKER_01: And we said, because your hand pushed it.
SPEAKER_01: And then he goes, Why did water come out?
SPEAKER_01: And the answer goes, because water was put in.
SPEAKER_01: It's because water is put in.
SPEAKER_01: So we read the scriptures to be ready.
SPEAKER_01: We read the scriptures to be complete, we read the scriptures here to be ready.
SPEAKER_01: So we um we read for um our we read with resilience, okay, we read to stay awake, we read because it pays, and we read to be like our savior, how he was he was ready.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, and that's um I'll just read this passage again here to you.
SPEAKER_01: All script or um for us for you, continue in what you've learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, how from your childhood you've been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make one wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training, and for righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
SPEAKER_01: May the truthfulness and the richness of scripture flow from an opinion of yours to a deep level conviction because you've experienced it.
SPEAKER_01: Let me pray for us.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus, thank you for who you are.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, thank you for the fact that you've gifted us this book.
SPEAKER_01: Um, Ephesians 4 talks about how you've gifted given to given to us the apostles, the prophets, um, the teachers, the evangelists.
SPEAKER_01: God, we we benefit from your gifting in these scriptures.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for my opportunity to teach the scriptures.
SPEAKER_01: And Holy Spirit, I I think about those um excuses and those reasons to not read.
SPEAKER_01: Holy Spirit, I pay, will you make a way?
SPEAKER_01: For those of us in here who are frustrated with death because they don't read fast enough or don't read well enough, will you teach their song to rise to you in those moments?
SPEAKER_01: And God, we are not reading so we can have knowledge of the word of God merely, but we want to get knowledge of the God of the Word.
SPEAKER_01: We want to know you, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: We want to know you.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, it's in your beautiful name I pray.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: So, as always, we teach the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: We'd like to give you some soul space to think about it.
SPEAKER_01: So, here are some questions that you have here on the screen.
SPEAKER_01: And um, what we do is I'm gonna give you a couple moments just to go through these questions.
SPEAKER_01: Um, you can look at one and just venture off with the Holy Spirit with one of these questions, or you can take a picture of this and just think about it uh throughout your day or throughout your week.
SPEAKER_01: But nevertheless, I'm gonna step back and give you stake, or stake, not space to think about um what you've just heard.
SPEAKER_01: Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Please open our hearts.
SPEAKER_01: The taste buds of our hearts, we can taste the bread.
SPEAKER_01: Whereas Isaiah says that we I tremble at your word.
SPEAKER_01: We're thankful for what you've done.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for these scriptures and thank you for today.
SPEAKER_01: Continue to work in us.
SPEAKER_01: I pray that anyone that feels um shame or condemnation.
SPEAKER_01: Holy Spirit, will you will you hide will you interrupt that thought process and just have them think of this as invitation?
SPEAKER_01: And this is invitation, not the trivia, but invitation to know.
SPEAKER_01: We get to know you, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: It's in your son's amazing name that that's possible.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Well, as always, church, it is so good to be with you.
SPEAKER_01: If you're new here, thank you so much for coming.
SPEAKER_01: Happy 4th of July to you.
SPEAKER_01: Um, if you were new here, um, welcome.
SPEAKER_01: And you just text welcome to that number on the screen.
SPEAKER_01: That gives us a record of your visit and just lets us know that you were you were here.
SPEAKER_01: Um, if you this is your church home, if you've been coming here um for uh if this is church, if you consider this is church home, there are some boxes around the room.
SPEAKER_01: If this is a day where you want to worship with um through your giving, um there are gonna be some pastors up front here ready to pray with you, process with you, or just meet you at the conclusion of our service, um helping you just to process anything that you have you have heard.
SPEAKER_01: Now, we always want to keep you informed of what's happening in the life of our church, so just direct your attention to the screen.
SPEAKER_02: Here's what's happening at Ground Parkway Baptist Church.
SPEAKER_02: If you're new, text welcome to 281-626-5707.
SPEAKER_02: This way we can know you're here and get you connected with the church.
SPEAKER_02: On July 16th, we'll be adding the fourth grade to our bridge ministry.
SPEAKER_02: And so it'll then be comprised of fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students.
SPEAKER_02: This move does three things.
SPEAKER_02: First, it gives the bridge ministry room to grow as we reach and equip the strategic age group.
SPEAKER_02: Second, it gives our growing student ministry full use of the suitability.
SPEAKER_02: Third, it gives our children's ministry space to expand to accommodate them.
SPEAKER_02: Here's a guide by our device.
SPEAKER_02: First, you feed that boys pizza, then head over to Rico Theatre to watch the Ada Children and the Dow Destiny.
SPEAKER_02: You won't want to miss this.
SPEAKER_02: On July 30th, our women's ministry is bringing a big super fellowship in the student building.
SPEAKER_02: There will be an easy craft, extra break, and an ice cream bar.
SPEAKER_02: This will be a great time to catch up with some old friends or make some new ones.
SPEAKER_02: Finally, registration for student camp closes tonight at 11.59 p.m.
SPEAKER_02: This is a hard decline, so please register as soon as possible at Camp Ray.
SPEAKER_02: For more information or to register for these events, please visit our website at grandparkway.org.
SPEAKER_02: If you have any questions or want someone to pray for you, find one of our pastors at the front of the stage at the conclusion of our service.
SPEAKER_01: We have to conclude our service with the spoken blessings.
SPEAKER_01: Would you stand to your feet for me?
SPEAKER_01: Hold your hands out.
SPEAKER_01: Children of God, you are free to know him, you are free to enjoy him, you are free to listen to him, you are free to commune with him.
SPEAKER_01: And then you are free to obey him in such a way that the whole world is curious about your heavenly father.
SPEAKER_01: May these simple truths of our faith become deep level convictions.
SPEAKER_01: I declare these things in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.