Knowing the Word, Knowing Jesus | Pastor Jason McKinnies | Purpose House Church

So, if you have a Bible, let's turn to John chapter 1, verse 1. I'm going to read a few scriptures in your hearing, teach you maybe a new song. Some of you may know it. You may hoot, holler, shout, and run about. All right, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God, and all things were made through Him, and without Him. Everybody say that, without Him. Nothing was made that was made. And in Him was life, and the life was the light of men. Amen? You all want me to reread that? Just in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God, and all things were made through Him, and without Him. Nothing was made that was made. And in Him was life, and the life was the light of men. So, the song I want to teach you, if you come help me. Let's give it up for Ms. Pat Wailidge. She drove all the way from Noblesville, Indiana, to be here today. We're going to come right out here in the middle. I believe in giving honor where honor is due, and she's been a children's evangelist for a long, long time. So, will you give it up for her and her commitment to the kingdom of God? All right. So, we're going to, we're in this series. I had to explain this, so I'm going to explain it to them by explaining it to you. So, we learn doctrine through our songs. When I was a kid in Sunday school, we learned Sunday school songs, and out of that, we learned doctrine. And now, the songs that we sing on Sundays also are teaching us foundational principles about God and our relationship with God. And so, she's going to sing this song. So, you teach it however you want to teach it to us. All right? I'm going to step out of the way and let you be you. What a wonderful presence of the Lord that we feel in this place today. How exciting to see these young men going down in the water in Jesus' name, knowing their lives are going to be changed forever. And you know, as I'm sitting here feeling the power and the presence of the Lord, and I think of Pastor Jason and Melissa, and I'm, the reason they are so rooted and grounded, they've been in this thing since they were down here. They have, from childhood, been laying hands on the sick, and they've been recovering because they have hid the Word of God in their heart. And that's what we want to see. My regret in this life is that I was not introduced to Jesus as a child. I was 33 years old before I came to know the Lord. But what could have been spared my life, as if as a child, I had

known there was a God that I could turn to. And it all is in the Word of God. We're going to stand upon this Word of God, the B-I-B-L-E. So everybody say, the B-I-B-L-E. Everybody stand. Everybody stand. Come on, we're going to sing this to the Lord and let Him know that we are standing on His Word. We are standing on His promises. We've got a heaven to gain because the Lord Himself is going to descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, the trump of God, and the dead in Christ are going to rise first, and we which are alive and remain are going to be caught up to meet the Lord and to ever be with Him in heaven. So use your outside voice today. Right now, pick an age between 5 and 12. You got your age? How old are you, 5 to 12? How old are you? Three. Oh, you're three. All right, we're going to act like you're three, and we're going to sing this song. Ready? One, two, three. The B-I-B-L-E. Yes, that's the book for me. I stand upon the Word of God, the B-I-B-L-E. One more time. The B-I-B-L-E. Come on. That's the book for me. I stand upon the Word of God, the B-I-B-L-E. Praise God you can be seated in the house of the Lord. That couldn't have worked out any better. I thought man when I found out she was going to be in church with us she is going to do that because here is the thing sometimes we can take people who we think are retired and retire them. But they still have a great purpose in the kingdom of God and we need everybody in the kingdom. Alright so when I grew up we had flannel graphs. Anybody else grew up with flannel graphs? We are going to turn this big old screen today into a flannel graph and I want to show you some things about the word of God. So the Bible consists of a lot of characters lots of characters like Sherry Yow she is written in there. But the Bible has shepherds in it. It has kings in it.

It has fishermen in it. It has doctors in it. It has prophets in it. It even has tax collectors IRS individuals are in the Bible. And they all are in there and the Bible has all of these characters on the inside of it and it is written all of these characters have been written by over 40 plus authors. Forty authors written over 1500 years three continents, three languages yet tells one story. Because while there were many authors there was actually only one. It was God himself. So then 2 Timothy 3 16 tells us that all scripture is given by God. It is all given by God. They are celebrating back here right now. So then within it are all these different books but you can categorize the books like this. There's different sections of the Bible. There's law. There's history. There's poetry. There's prophets, gospels, letters, revelation and oh yes there's even the song of Solomon in there. That might be the Harlequin romance. Matter of fact we used to give a Bible away and somebody said pastor have you read the Bible that you're giving to these people that got baptized? There's some words in there that I don't know and I'm like where are they at?

They're like they're in the song of Solomon. I'm like I didn't realize we needed to change the Bible for people who are freshly baptized. The song of Solomon is in there. Some of you fellows probably should read it. You treat your wives better. Within those there are 66 books, 1189 chapters and over 31,000 verses yet the Bible is not random. It is actually a perfectly organized revelation of who Jesus Christ really is and it comes, we call it the Holy Bible. Those of you that have a Bible, it is the Holy Bible. The Holy meaning set apart and the Biblios meaning books. So it's a set apart books. How many of you read books? But when you read the Bible you finally find the book that reads you. You can read all kinds of other things but when you begin to read the Holy Bible it begins to read you and it begins to divide what's going on in your life. So then there's another little interesting thing that can happen and if Pastor Melissa would come and Mr. Corley would come and I want to do something that during this little part here because during this moment I want to teach you some doctrine out of a song that you may have heard before. But if you begin to read Genesis through Revelation there is an interesting theme that goes throughout the Bible. It is called the Scarlet Thread. It is talking about the blood of Jesus that goes from Genesis all the way through the book of Revelation.

Everything is there begins really in earnest in the book of Exodus where we encounter the Passover lamb. And then we find this woman by the name of Rahab that there's a scarlet cord that she is supposed to throw out over the top of her windowsill. And if you would study out history her windowsill was painted red identifying what she did for a living. But then they said we want you to throw a scarlet cord over the top of what you are identifying as. In other words when they looked at from the distance they were seeing the shape of the cross over Rahab's window. And what it was was showing her that the blood of Jesus is more important and can cover and can change your life no matter how you identify. They will throw the scarlet cord over the top of that. And you can be changed and Rahab went from being who she was to the great-grandmother of Jesus. And then we come into the sacrifices, Isaiah 53, where it talks about how He was bruised for our iniquities. All of our chastisement was upon Him and He was wounded and He was beaten and whipped for you. And so we sing this old song, and I know that many of you have filled out a connect card and I haven't even read them yet. But it doesn't even matter what you wrote down. The blood of Jesus can cover whatever it is and whatever you're going through. And however you feel, the blood of Jesus can cover that today. So while Pastor Melissa and Corley sing this song to us, I want you to realize that the blood of Jesus is as effective today as it has ever been in your life. It reaches to the highest mountain and it flows to the lowest valley. It's still strong today and it's running throughout this church because it began in Genesis and it will never lose its power. Pastor Melissa, lead us. It reaches to the highest mountain and it flows to the lowest valley. The blood that gives me strength from day to day, it will never lose its power. And it reaches to the highest mountain and it flows to the lowest valley. The blood that gives me strength from day to day, it will never lose, it will never, it will never lose. It will never lose.

Oh, it will never lose its power. Thank you, Lord. Come on, let's just thank you for the blood right now. Here's how you do it. Oh, clap your hands, all you people, and shout unto God with the voice of triumph. How do you know you're victorious? And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony. Thank you, Jesus. See, that's why the B-I-B-L-E, that's the book for me. Every page whispers his name. Isaiah 40 and eight says, the grass withers, but the word of our God stands forever. A few years ago, somebody wrote me a nice little email about why I would always teach out of the Old Testament. Because if you can understand that the Old Testament is talking about Jesus, you view the Old Testament differently. The Bible is broken into two testaments. There is the Old Testament. Let's say it is the schoolmaster leading us to Christ. Then there is the New Testament. And most of us, we're New Testament believers. There's the Old Testament, and then there is the New Testament. The Old Testament is leading us to Christ, and Christ is veiled in the Old Testament. And then all of a sudden, there's an event that happens that ties both the Old and the New together. And they come together like a puzzle piece. Because if you understand that the cross means everything to you, then you understand that the Old Testament was leading you to the cross of Calvary. All of the sacrifices of the Old Testament have now been fulfilled in the New Testament. And it all comes together at the cross of Calvary. It is the intersection of life, and it is the intersection of eternity at the cross of Calvary. cross of Calvary. Now, a lot of you may have met Jesus through people, but you really don't ever meet Jesus unless you meet Him at the cross. Because if you don't meet Him at the cross,

you'll get disenfranchised with who He is. So, they're locked together. And so, the entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, is pointing us to Jesus. In Genesis, He's the seed. In Exodus, He is the Passover lamb. In Leviticus, He's the sacrifice. In Psalm, He is the shepherd. In Isaiah, He is the suffering servant. In the Gospels, He is the Messiah. And in Revelation, praise God, He's the King of kings and the Lord of lords. He's the Prince of Peace. He's the beautiful rose of Sharon. And so, why do we say all that? Well, to know the Bible is to know Jesus. And to know Jesus, you got to know the Bible. See, a lot of people want to know Jesus without knowing the Bible. And I encourage you that you need to get into the B-I-B-L-E and make it the book, not for me, but for you. And stand alone on the Word of God. Just a simple song, simple little children's church song, flannel graphs, Sunday school, but that little melody has one of the deepest theological truths in all of Christianity. Because it is not merely a book about God, it's revealing God through Jesus Christ. And I think we can all agree, we live in a world that is confused. They're filled with skeptics. We have people deconstructing their faith, spiritual counterfeits. But what we must do is reclaim our confidence, not in the church, but into the Word of God. Because if the enemy can disconnect you from the Word, he disconnects you from Christ. But if you truly know the Word, then you truly know Jesus. So, I read to you in John chapter 1, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God, and all things were made through Him. And without Him, nothing was made that was made. And in Him was life, and the life was the light of men. Notice where John

began his gospel. Almost all of the others wanted to begin it more at Bethlehem. John actually begins his gospel before Genesis. He uses the same words that the Bible opens with. In the beginning, same language, so John is announcing that before there was a manger, there was the Word. Now, the Greek word that is used there for Word is the word logos. Or some of you would say logos, or logos. It means expression, reason, divine communication, or revealed thought. And so, John is saying about Jesus, He is the eternal logos. He is the eternal expression of God. He is the eternal reason. He is the eternal divine communication. He is the eternal revealed thoughts of God. Not merely a messenger from God. Not simply a prophet. Not just a moral teacher. Jesus is the full expression of God. He is the full expression of the invisible God. Colossians chapter 1 and verse 15. He is the image of the invisible God. Jesus is God revealed. So, when you read Scripture correctly, every page ultimately points towards Christ. The Bible then is not just a random collection of disconnected stories. It is a unified revelation leading us to Christ. As we said in Genesis, He is the promised seed. In Exodus, He is the Passover lamb. Leviticus, He became the high priest and the sacrifice. Numbers, He was even the lifted serpent. He was the healing. Joshua, He was the greatest conqueror. Ruth, He became the kinsman redeemer. He was the shepherd king. In Psalm, the suffering servant. In Isaiah, He was the son of man. In Daniel, He is the Messiah. In Matthew, Mark presented Him as the servant king. Luke presented Him as the son of man. John says, He's the son of God. And in Revelation, He's the king of kings. So, the entire Bible is just one big giant arrow pointing you towards Christ. And people say, I don't know

anything about Him. I would ask you, when was the last time you read about Him? I don't know where to go. When was the last time you read His Word? It should not be a big thing for Christians to actually read about Christ. Pastor, I read my Bible today. Did you? I've been reading it every day. Could you? Pastor, I think I'm going to read next week. Shouldn't you? It shouldn't be a big deal to want to know about him because to know the word is to know Jesus Now here's where many people's are many believers miss this Some people know church culture But they don't know Jesus Some know worship songs, but they don't know Jesus Some know denomination But they don't know Jesus Some even will quote you verses without actually knowing the author Jesus rebuked this in his own day John chapter 5 verse 39 you search the scriptures Or in them you think you have eternal life, and these are they which testify of me So the Pharisees that's who he's talking to they knew scripture academically But they missed Christ relationally Because the purpose of the Bible is not merely about gaining information It is revelation The Bible is introducing you to a person and his name as Pastor Melissa said is his name is Jesus Now you can know facts about people without actually knowing them. How many of you know when Jesus his birthday is? How many of y'all listen we celebrate it as December the You know how your kids know that You misappropriate who gets the gift that's how they know that You give them gifts, and it ain't even their birthday Because we know when his birthday was but we don't know him we can know people's favorite color

Statistics about them their biography, but relationship is deeper than information So the Bible is not merely a textbook It's an invitation into relationship with Christ so every time you open up the scripture Jesus speaks Truth begins to breathe light begins to shine Revelation comes alive, and I hear people say well the Lord spoke to me, and you're sitting there going How does the Lord speak to me? And can I tell you as I said to pastor Ed the other night There's a lot of rebellion That is cloaked in spirituality But it whatever you think God is telling you if it contradicts this then you did not hear God Because the word Testifies of itself and the best commentary on the Bible is the Word of God Testifies of itself and the best commentary on the Bible is the Bible Well, I was reading so-and-so. I don't care what their name was if it's not in the God's Word They're in a contradicting it don't listen to them You're hearing all this stuff pastor Pete I'm talking about this just before service about the UFOs coming and people saying the UFOs are going to change the Bible Good luck with that Why because the Word is living Hebrews chapter 4 verse 12 for the Word of God is living and powerful It is not dead. It is not outdated. It is not irrelevant It is living and this is why we must be careful because the enemy will attack the Word first Satan's strategy in Eden those of you that follow me on social media been talking about this even this morning How Eve's door was opened his strategy medium. He did not attack Eve physically first physically first He attacked what God said first Because if he can attack what God said and get you out of alignment with what God said Then your physical body will follow where you are spiritually Genesis 3 1 has God indeed said so the first battle in human history was over the reliability of God's Word and

Nothing has changed the enemy still whispers. Did God really mean that? The Bible is outdated Truth is now relative Culture has evolved We don't live that way anymore This was written by a bunch of primitive people But understand this if Satan can undermine the authority of Scripture He begins to distort the image of Christ in your life Because if Jesus is the Word made flesh then rejecting the Word is ultimately rejecting him This is why Bible literacy illiteracy is so dangerous because if you have a generation Disconnected from Scripture they become vulnerable to counterfeit Christianity. This is why not listen I love that. It's on your phone. I love that. It's on your phone. I'm thankful for electronics I'm using my iPad. I'm using my phone But listen, I have an old-fashioned leather-bound book because I know what it has to say What happens when AI changes what's in your phone and you begin to read something and think it's supposed to be there, but it wasn't really there. And I know some of you are gonna say, you're preaching against technology. No, I'm saying that you would hide the word of the Lord in your heart so that you would not sin against him. And some of you, it's not even AI, it's just your friends on Facebook telling you that God really didn't mean that. Yes, he did, he meant it. So he's undermining the authority of scripture, and then we have a generation, and listen, when I say generation, all y'all thinking about Purpose Gen. I'm talking about some older folks that are beginning to believe things that are not right.

The reason why this generation believes that holiness doesn't matter is because the previous generation did not teach them that holiness mattered. The reason why we have such a battle about the gifts of the Spirit is that there was a generation that didn't allow the gifts of the Spirit to flow in the church. But when I was raised up, I watched the gifts happen, so church without the gifts is odd to me. But then we have a whole generation that was raised that the Spirit of God is of the devil. Are you kidding me? So we have to raise a generation up that is literate about the Bible. We're watching this happen in real time. People are now creating a Jesus without holiness, without repentance, without authority, without truth, and without exclusivity. Meaning there's now a whole generation that believes that if you're good, you can get to God. If you follow Islam, you can get to God. If you do all these other things, you can get to God. May I remind you that I didn't say it. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. There's no one that can get there except through me. I didn't say that, Jesus did. And I wanna tell you something. If I'm wrong, at least you're still getting to heaven.

But if you're wrong, you're not getting there. The real Jesus is revealed through the Word. And so I wanna bring Scarlett Clunch out here, and I want you to listen to the heart of this young lady talking about the reliability of God's Word into our lives. So for any of us to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, and that the Bible is true, we have to know that the Bible is true. So the Bible is a historical document. For any historical document to be described as historically accurate, it must pass three tests. The internal test, external test, and bibliographic test. So for it to be valid and reliable, it has to pass all of them. It can't just pass two or just one. It has to pass them all. The internal test makes sure that any historical document does not contradict itself. So I can't say that Pastor Jason's almost 50, and then say 20 minutes later that he lived during the dinosaurs, because that would be an internal contradiction. Um. But when using this test, we must understand Aristotle's dictum, that language changes over time. So when scribes would copy books, they would write them down, but they would do the copies pretty frequently to make sure that the language stayed the same.

Because if you were to read a book from the medieval times, it would not sound the same as today. That's why copies have been made to adapt the language to what we speak today. So we must understand Aristotle's dictum when doing the internal test. The second test is the external test that says any valid work of history cannot contradict archeological evidence or other valid works of history. If no archeological evidence is found that supports the external test, it may have decomposed, the area's name could have been changed, that happens a lot, name changes in areas. You may have just not dug deep enough to find archeological evidence yet, or it may be a copying mistake. Again, they would copy these by hand, so sometimes mistakes will pop up. And the third test is the bibliographic test, which is looking for an eyewitness account. They want a short amount of times between the original document and the first copy, and you also want a bunch of copies by a bunch of different people. Because somebody can say, hey, I need you to make 10 copies of this, but change this in it. So if we have 100 copies, but it's only by one person,

then it's not gonna be considered as reliable. So now we're gonna do the internal test on the Bible. So according to one source, there are 144 contradictions. in the Bible. So we're gonna go through some of these examples and see if they're actually contradictions. The first example is the genealogy of Christ, which is Matthew 1.16 and Luke 3.23. In Matthew, it says that Eli is Joseph's father-in-law and Jacob is Joseph's dad, but it says that in Luke. It is going through the genealogy and it's just using the male names. So it goes Eli, then Joseph, then Jesus. But in Luke, it goes Jacob, Joseph, Jesus. Well, Eli is Mary's dad, but they just didn't use her name. They used her husband's, Joseph. So that's not a contradiction. That's just what was appropriate for the time. Women were not as recognized in the Bible, and so they used her husband's name. The second example is the conversion of Paul in Acts 9.7 and Acts 22.9. In Acts 9.7, it says, they heard but did not see, and then in Acts 22.9, it says, they saw but did not understand. So in Acts 9.7, when it says they heard but did not see, you can, so if you're on a phone call with somebody and they're talking to you about something

and you're like, oh yeah, I see you. Like I see you, like I understand you. Not I see you as in, like you can't, you're on the phone, you can't see them. But then I saw but did not understand. So it is using the same language, we just have to understand what type of that language they can mean. This happens a lot when it's a word that has a bunch of different meanings. So you just have to understand what meaning they are using. So both of them heard the noise, but did not understand the meaning. The third example that we have is Jesus's resurrection. This is Matthew 28, verses one through seven, Mark 16, verses four through seven, Luke 24, four through 12, and John 20, 10 through 12. And Matthew and Mark, they're outside the tomb and they say that there is one angel. And Luke and John, they said that there is two angels. Sounds like a contradiction, it's not. So in Matthew and Mark, they wrote one angel because that one angel spoke. In Luke and John, they wrote two angels, but only one of the angels spoke. In Matthew and Mark, they were only talking about the angel that spoke, they didn't have to add in the extra detail of there being another angel there. But in Luke and John, they described exactly what they saw.

There were two angels, but only one of them spoke. The fourth example I have is in Genesis 14, 14. It says they chased the enemy as far as Dan. The problem with this is that in the time of Moses, the city of Dan did not exist. But again, we have to take into account that language changes over time, and also so do places. So when a scribe was writing that down, they probably saw, oh wait, that place doesn't exist anymore, it's Dan now, I'm gonna change it, because they were adapting to the language that was used. So later copies updated to the new name. The fifth example I have is about Judas Iscariot's death. In Matthew 27, five and Acts 1, 18. In Matthew 27, five, it says Judas hung himself, but in Acts 1, 18, it said Judas fell headfirst and his body burst open. I'm not gonna try to be gory, but I'm gonna explain to you. So the most common way to hang yourself at this time was to do it on a tree over a cliff, because you could just, you know, fling yourself over. So what happened was Judas hung himself, and either he flung too hard and the branch broke, or he was already dead and the branch broke, but somehow the branch broke, and he fell into the field at the bottom. Because again, that was the most common way especially at that time to hang yourself. So he hung himself, the branch broke, his body burst open.

Now, through those five examples that I just gave you, we can see that a lot of the contradictions, especially in the internal test, are just because of a misunderstanding of the language. So through these, we've just proved that all of those contradictions aren't really contradictions, and the Bible passes the internal test. That's one test out of three. Now the external test. So in the first century, which is the century that Jesus was born and lived in, there were 147 valid Christian authors, and nine valid non-Christian authors. Everyone has a bias. Those Christian authors are obviously gonna have a bias towards Jesus. So for these examples, I'm just gonna use the non-Christian authors, because they wouldn't have particularly had a bias towards Jesus. So the first, I'm gonna botch these names, by the way. The first example is Cornelius Tacitus. He's a Roman and a writer from the first century, and he said in his valid writings that Christ existed and had death by Pontius Pilate. The second example is by Thalleus and Phlegon. He said, or they, They said, darkness was on the land the day that Jesus died. Again, that's a valid writing,

and they're agreeing with what the Bible has written. The third example is Josephus Flavius. He was a Jew, he was born after Jesus died, but he encouraged better relationships between Jews and Romans, so he became a Roman citizen himself. So although he did not live during Jesus' time, he had access to a lot of Roman libraries and Roman records because he was a Roman citizen, and with that information, he would compile summaries. He would basically write about what he read in the libraries. And he said that Jesus resurrected. So through all of those examples of people writing about what the Bible said outside of the Bible itself, the Bible passes the external test. The third test is the bibliographic test. So this one is trying to see, you want a bunch of copies, and you want it in a short amount of time from the original document. The first example that I have is about Cornelius Tacitus, who we just talked about. He had two writings. His major work, which had 20 copies, and the first copy was 1,000 years after the original document. That's like not a lot of copies and a lot of time, but he's still considered valid.

And his minor work, he only has one copy, and that copy was 900 years after the original. And again, he's still considered valid. The second example I have is Pliny the Younger. His writing has seven copies, and the first copy was 750 years later. Third example, Homer, the Odyssey, and the Iliad. He had 643 copies of the Iliad, and the first copy was 1,000 years later. Our fourth example is Julius Caesar. He has 10 copies of his writing, and his first copy was 1,000 years later. Example number five, Plato. He has one copy, and that copy was 1,000 years later. So the shortest amount of time from the first copy that we have through these five examples was 750 years. And then the most copies that we have so far is 643. So I guess, I mean, that's kind of a lot. But the New Testament, 24,000 handwritten copies, and the first copy was only 25 years after the original document. Now the Old Testament. So prior to 1947, the first copy was dated at 950 AD, which is at least 1,000 years after the original. But in 1947, they found the Dead Sea Scrolls, which dated those copies at 125 BC. And mind you, those are just the earliest copies that we have found so far. And those have copies of every single book in the Old Testament except Esther.

So the Bible passes all tests better than any historical document. It passes the internal test, and it passes the external test, and it passes the bibliographic test, which makes it a historically valid document. So when people try to tell you, okay, no, but it has contradictions, well, it's different. Well, it just doesn't apply to my life right now. It's a historically valid document. You can go and ask a bunch of historical studiers, people who study historical documents, people who study historical science. They can tell you that, yes, they use the Bible as a valid document. They use the Bible as a reference for other documents. The Bible is one of the documents that is used the most as a reference to other documents. Like, I'm gonna test and see if this document is valid. Oh, I'm gonna put it up to the Bible because I know the Bible's valid. I know the Bible's valid. So when we understand that the Bible is historically accurate and we understand what it says to us, we understand that it is true and it is accurate and we can believe it and we can trust it. And when we know we can believe it and we know we can trust it, we can stand on it and we can take it to other people. And they're gonna be like, okay, well, no, it's not.

It just doesn't apply to me. Oh, but it doesn't apply to me and it doesn't apply to them, but it was written so long ago. Okay, well, you still read Homer and think it's cool. Like, I mean, okay. The Bible is the most historically accurate and valid document ever written. That's all I have to say. Thank you. Why does it matter? Because I stand alone upon the world. Word of God, my life is built on it. To help you, first of all, I think she's now 15 years old. This is what is being produced out of all of the kids programs and the Christian education right here in Southern Illinois is kids who know what they're talking about. So, and to help some of you with biblical apologetics, beginning this fall, Pastor Pete Moak is going to be doing the creation series on Sunday nights to help some of you. And we don't even talk about the difference between creation and evolution anymore because we just think it's all about evolution. No, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. We'll give you some more information about that. So why it all matters is we're not defending the Bible just to win arguments. We defend Scripture because Scripture reveals Jesus. And if the Word is trustworthy, then the Christ that is revealed through that Word is trustworthy. And in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God. So when you hold the Scripture in your hand, you're not holding mythology. You're holding the revelation of Jesus Christ. And the Word that John talked about, in Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And notice the connection. The Word, then life, then light.

The Word produces life, then the Word produces light. This is why you should get into the Word. Confusion lifts when Scripture is preached and read. Bondage breaks when truth enters, and darkness flees when revelation comes. Truth illuminates. Psalm 119, Thy Word, O Lord, is a lamp unto my path and a light unto my feet. The Word is not simply educational, it is transformational. So people will say, I need direction. And we would say, get in the Word. People say, I feel spiritually dry. We would say, get into the Word. People say, I don't know Jesus deep enough. Get into the Word. Because the Bible is just not about ink on paper. It is the divine revelation introducing humanity, Purpose House, and all of Southern Illinois to Jesus Christ. It's the B-I-B-L-E. Yeah, that's the book for me. Not because it's culturally popular. Not because it is politically convenient. Not even because society approves it. Because this is where I encounter Christ. So when I open up Genesis, I find Him. When I read the Prophets, I find Him. When I study the Gospels, I find Him. When I read Revelation, I await for His return so that I can meet Him face to face. This book has survived fires, empires, critics, atheists, agnostics, dictators, universities in America trying to dismantle it, cultures trying to replace it. Yet the Bible remains the most read, most translated, most attacked, the number one stolen item in the world, and the most enduring book in human history.

Why? It's not about the leather around it. It's the man who comes out of the inside of it. And His name is Jesus. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God stands forever. If Jesus is the Word made flesh, then every time you treasure the Word, you're treasuring Christ. Every time you obey the Word, you're obeying Christ. Every time you meditate on the Word, you're drawing near to Christ. And that, my friend, is a reciprocal promise. For His Word said if you would draw near to Him, He would draw near to you. To know the Bible rightly is to know Jesus deeply. Maybe it's been a long time for you since you read the Word. Maybe you've drifted from the Word. Maybe you've lost confidence in Scripture. Maybe you've substituted opinions for truth. Maybe you've become spiritually dry. I would invite you to come back to the Word. Come back to Christ. The same Word that created light in Genesis still creates light in dark places today. The same Word that raised Lazarus can still resurrect. Dead things today The same word that made flesh still stands among us for he was resurrected on the third day So the church should say it one more time and live it out every day. Yeah, the bi BLE That's the book for me. I Stand alone on the Word of God and all of God's people said Amen So if you would would you stand with me across the building? I Say a 53

Says who has believed our message To whom has the Lord revealed his powerful arm? My servant grew up in the Lord's presence like a tender green shoot like a root in dry ground There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance There was nothing to attract us to him He was despised and rejected a man of sorrows acquainted with deepest grief We turned our backs on him and looked the other way He was despised and we did not care Yet it was our weaknesses that he carried. It was our sorrows that weighed him down and we thought his troubles were a punishment from God that they were a punishment for his own sins, but He was pierced for our rebellion Crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole he was whipped so we could be healed and All of us like sheep have strayed away and we have left God's path to follow our own Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all he was oppressed and treated harshly yet He never said a word He was led like a lamb to the slaughter and his sheep is cited before his shearers. He did not open his mouth He was unjustly condemned and he was led away No one cared that he died without his descendants and that his life was cut short in midstream But he was struck down for the rebellion of my people. He had done no wrong never deceived anyone They buried him like a criminal put him in a rich man's grave, but it was the Lord's good plan To crush him and to cause him grief Why did he do that? for you and me So here's how I would like to end today if our prayer teams would come If you're in this room And you have a need However, that is represented in your life physical spiritual emotional

However, that is Christ died To provide a means for you to receive what you have need of The Bible says that he how he meets our needs is not according to what we have here on the earth But it is according to his riches in heaven Just pass them listen the team sing one more song Whatever your need is in this room Christ is the solution for it He's a healer He's the great physician. He's a way maker He's a peace speaker. He's a joy giver Whatever you have need of in your life He has the answer for you Why do we do this? Well, the word says to call upon the elders of the church so that they can pray for you and anoint you with oil And pray a prayer of faith over you that you might recover So right now this altar is open and then we'll come back in just a moment We'll dismiss you right now as they sing if you have a need please come Hey We're so glad that you joined us today at our purpose house church YouTube page I pray that this message encouraged you if you haven't already Go ahead and subscribe so that you don't miss any of our new content or our lives Also comment ask us any questions that you have what stood out to you most if you have any prayer requests Also, if you love what we're doing We'd love for you to partner with us Go ahead and click that give button and join with us in spreading the gospel across the aisle across the street around the world We'll see you next time