The Bible | Tyrone P Jones | We Believe

Raiders football to you. I haven't converted you but here we are Here we are. Hey, welcome to church for the city. It's great to have you here. It's always it's always great We always have a good time Some things we kind of enhance the the fun of being in the house But the most important thing is you're here and the Spirit of the Lord is here and we're so thankful For you joining with us We're gonna teach the Word of God encounter the presence of him and we're gonna spread the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ I was reminded I saw Mr. Danny Williams here. I just ended up on the Hitting yesterday and at the driving range and this gentleman here has been been visiting the church for a year Doesn't live here lives in Columbus, Ohio And he said to me ain't no Cincinnati or Cleveland or none of them in the in the game So we ain't saying nothing about, Ohio but But what he said to me was the greatest Attribute that I think I had he says his father was a pastor been serving the Lord 67 years He says I've never seen a more friendlier church than CTC and all of my life and boy that means more to me Than you know, so thanks for thanks for sharing that Well, I I just I just gotta pray I think is everything else was done and so I think I'm gonna have you stand and Take your Bibles up with you. We're gonna go to Psalm 19 and We're gonna read verses 7 through 11 Hearing the word we'll come back to that to those verses in the New Living, but I'm gonna read it out of the ESV and And this is a psalm of David talking about the word and How good the word is and So I'm looking forward to sharing this with you Psalm 19 Verses 7 through 11 the law of the Lord is perfect Reviving the soul The testimony of the Lord is sure Making wise the simple

The precepts of the Lord are right rejoicing the heart the commandment of the Lord is pure enlightening the eyes The fear of the Lord is clean enduring forever the rules of the Lord are true and righteous altogether More to be desired talking about the word more to be desired are they than gold even much fine gold? Sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb moreover by them is your servant warned? Keeping them there is great reward in keeping them. There is great reward It's wonderful. So far the reading of the word, let's pray father. I'm so thankful now for the opportunity to bring forth the Word of the Lord Lord I I'm grateful that we're in the house Where people do love they love hearing preaching they love hearing teaching They love to be encouraged by the word and so and I'm teaching about the Bible. So I just pray that you help me Lord to speak as you have given given it to me Lord as loud as my voice may get and as much as I may say I pray That is the Word of God and the Spirit of the Lord That's even louder that everyone who hears Lord God will be Infected a good infection of the Word of God that can be life transforming. You're so so good to us Father I also pray for every church in our county you know my desire that people are gathering in these churches all over Yuma and the pastors are speaking the word and people's people are being affected in a good way and That every church in our county will grow that there's more people in our community that name Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior So I'm thankful for that and just look forward to you being glorified in all things In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we pray may the people of God say amen Alright, you may be seated

now We Started this series we believe and of course, it's the Apostles Creed That we're gonna go into We got a couple more weeks before we actually dive right into the Creed Although you'll see the Creed on the screen and and some weeks, of course, I'll Will will repeat it recite it because I really do want you to know is but the word credo means I believe it's a natural why creeds are important. It helps us, honestly, just to unify what we believe in the Christian faith. Our faith, Christianity, is not built on any kind of vague spirituality. It's based on truths. Truths about God, truths about Christ, truths about salvation, truths about hope. Now every one of us, we talked about this last week, I don't want to overstate it, but every person operates on a doctrine. There are things that you believe, personal beliefs, and that's your foundational system of decisions that you make and actions that you take. And so knowing what you believe from the scriptures is absolutely important. The Apostles' Creed, by no means is to replace the Bible, it just summarizes the truths of our God, his relation to us as mankind, and his hope for salvation, and the work of the church, etc. Now this week, we're going to dive right into the Bible. Why we believe the Bible, because the Bible is a book that's filled with doctrine. It actually tells us what's right. It tells us what's true. It lets us know about a loving creator who absolutely wants us to properly make sense out of our life. That's through the word. And the Bible, if we didn't have the Bible, honestly, we wouldn't know how to think about life. But because we do have the Bible, it should be easy for us to understand what's moral, what's right, what's good. I don't have to spend a whole lot of time thinking about what people say, and whether that's a good statement or a right statement, or not a good statement, or not a right statement, because the Bible gives you the directions on how to filter things, how to know. When I see stuff on media, when people post things, I heard, I didn't see it, I heard the president posted something

real stupid. It don't take long for anybody to see stuff like that and just know that don't make no sense, and it's not something that should be done by any of us. But when people take actions, when people make statements, again, the Bible helps us know what is right and what is wrong. We use it to understand life because we're receiving it from the author of life. So the Bible is the ultimate standards of what we are to know. It's the word of God that tells us who we are, and who God is, and what he's designed us to be. It's the Bible that tells us what's true and what's not, what we should do, what we shouldn't do, how change takes place. Actually, the Bible tells us why things have went wrong, how things have gotten wrong, and how all of this stuff can be corrected. And so, here's 2 Peter 1, 20 through 21. Listen, it says, above all, you must realize that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from the prophet's own understanding or from human initiative. That's an important verse because it's telling us that what we read here in the Scriptures was not just the thoughts of a person. It wasn't initiated by a person's thoughts. Now, all other religions with their books, mankind was the one that came up with the thoughts, and the direction, and the precepts, if you want to call them so, that dictates the decree that they should follow, but not the word of God. It was not by any man's own understanding or human initiative. Those prophets, those who wrote the word of God, the Scriptures, were moved by the Holy Spirit, and they spoke from God. And so, what we have here, we know to be true word of the Lord, and I'll break that down a little further. So, there's so much that can be said about the Bible. I think one of the things to be noted today is the fact of how many Bibles are still being purchased. The Bible is one book where segments of society have wanted Bibles burned. Cultures, countries would not allow Bibles into their countries, banned Bibles from being read, or being spoken, or being... Quoted. I told you about Ms. Choi, the lady that we've done ministry with in China and South Korea, where she was in a place, of course, where the Bible was banned.

But over a period of years, her mother rewrote every word of the Bible so that her family, when Bibles...they already didn't have them, but except for the ones that are smuggled in, but that her family would always have the word of God. She spent years writing every single word of the Bible. I was telling the first service, India right now is going through some heavy persecution, and it's kind of up and down in India. It honestly depends on who's running the government. Right now, it's a Hindu-led government, and so they've been very strong. We have 10 churches, as many of you know, in the northern part of India. Those churches have come under heavy persecution. Pastors have been put in jail, etc. I don't know necessarily if they're burning Bibles, but they're certainly going in, just causing chaos with people, jailing pastors, etc. A few years ago, when some of this stuff was going on, I was going into India for the churches, and I had bought some Bibles to give to the pastors there that we serve as gifts. And when I went through the scanner, they took my luggage, pulled it aside, and pulled me aside. And I knew there wasn't nothing in there that should have caused great alarm. But sure enough, I went over there, and they were pointing to the Bibles. And I asked them, is this what you're pointing to? And I held up the Bible, and they said, yes, no. Well, they let me know no, no, no, meaning can't come in. And now, being the calm, peacemaking, patient, loving young man that I am, I had a conversation with them because I didn't understand why now, on this trip, the Bibles couldn't come in. And I'm telling you, the Lord rescued me. He rescued me in this sense because as I was having a conversation with them, the Lord reminded me that I had beef sticks in my luggage. And those folks over there cannot eat beef because they cannot kill a cow.

And I'm telling you, I reached and pulled up one of my beef sticks. I said, hold on. I opened one of them up, and I took a bite of it. And I said, would you want one? Would you want one? And those two guys said, oh, yeah, oh, yeah. I said, put the Bibles in. I took all my beef sticks, gave them my beef sticks, and brought my Bibles right on into the country, right on into the country. But in 2025, Bible sales in the U.S. were over 18 million. In 2025 in the U.S., that's a 20-year high. And there was a great increase in 2024, 80 million Bibles that was distributed globally in 2020, 2025. We're seeing places, China, Iran, and Indonesia, Malaysia, Sub-Saharan Africa, where Bibles are just...there's a great passion and desire for them. In my reading, I saw where even South Korea and Japan was going through a great surge in Gen Z, like we're seeing in America, really having a desire for the Word of God. And the reason for that is because the Word of God is infallible. It's proven to be infallible. It's God who's the author, and there's no deceit in the Word. There's nothing false in it. How do we know that? Because Titus reminds us that God does not lie. And Hebrews tells us, Hebrews 6.18, that God cannot lie. And since God does not lie and cannot lie, everything he has spoken is absolutely true. It's infallible. The Bible is inerrant, meaning it has no error in it.

There's nothing you're going to find out about creation that's not true, nothing about world history, no facts about morality and spirituality, even how God operates in our life. Scientists have tried over the years to try to prove something that would disprove the Bible, and they still haven't done it, and they won't. Because everything in the Bible is without error, whatever the Bible speaks of, any historical events, anything about creation and the world and how the stars and universe works, all of that that is spoken about in the Bible. Bible has proven to be true. It's eternal. Psalm 119 tells us that the Word of God stands firm in the heavens. There's never been a revision to the Bible. There's never been any corrections. There's never been something wrong that was in the Bible and God had to say, oops, I got that wrong. Nothing like that. But again, I challenge you to look at any book that's put out by other religions and find out how many times they've had to revise it, how many times they've had to change it, how many times they've had to make either additions or take things out. But the Word of God is proven to be eternal. And the Word of God has proven that it works in us. It works in us. The Bible is designed to make us better. Hear this in 1 Thessalonians 2.13, and we also thank God constantly for this, that when you receive the Word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as what it really is. The Word of God, catch this, which is at work in you, believers. The Bible is designed to make us better, that we would be more conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, reflecting His image and living for His glory. The Bible is indeed, or the Word of God is the voice of authority. I like what Paul said to Timothy here in 2 Timothy 3.16 and 17. He says, 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 competent and equipped for every good work. Here's what the Scripture is telling us, that the Bible is the voice of the living God. And hear this, our convictions are based upon what the

Word of God says. Martin Luther said this when he was being challenged before the church courts. He says, I consider myself convicted by the testimony of Holy Scripture, which is my basis. My conscious is captive to the Word of God. That should be the testimony of every one of us, that our conscious is captive to the Word of God. When something is not right, it's the Word of God within us that says, that don't work, that ain't true, that's false, I can't live by that, I can't go by that. Our conscious is captive by the Word of God because the Scripture is sufficient for doctrine, for teaching. It's a Christian textbook. If you want to know about God, want to know about faith, want to know about life, that's what the Word of God is. It's for reproof or rebuking. This is more toward, honestly, those who are unbelievers because the Bible is used for the conviction of sin, to help us understand what's false teaching, to bring us to a place to realize that we're wrong. It's that rebuking, that reproofing, but also for correction. For every one of us as believers, there's a correcting element to the Scripture where we are restored to an upright position. You can kind of picture like if a plant was growing and it was either falling or leaning or wasn't going in the right direction, you put a stick and maybe tie a stick, the plant to the stick so that it grows upright. That's the same thing the Word of God does to us. It corrects us so that we might be in an upright position. It trains us for righteousness. And the Greek word here, paes, is the same word that's used for rearing a child. The Bible is training for us, raising us up, rearing us into righteousness, training us on what is right. I'm telling you, if you did not have the Scripture, you would not know the difference between right or wrong. You wouldn't know the difference between right or wrong. You wouldn't have the authority. If somebody said something to you and you said, that's not right, or if they did something and you said, that's not right, you wouldn't have the right to do that if we didn't have an authority that tells us what's right or wrong. Then what's happened is people is left to decide for themselves what's right. If we didn't have the Word of God, then any of us can do whatever we think,

say whatever we want, project whatever we want, and can declare that we are the authority if we don't have the authority of the Word of the Lord. Am I talking to the right church? And I'm telling you, we can go to the Scripture, we can look at Judges, we can look at Kings, and all of us will know... What happens to us and society when we are right in our own eyes? Can I make it more personal? You would know what happens to you if you determine what was right in your own eyes. I can certainly tell you about Tyrone P. Jones. If you leave me to myself to say what I want, act the way I want and do the way I want and proclaim to everybody that what I'm doing is right. I can tell you where that would go. When we don't have an authority in our lives, no scripture that tells us what's right or wrong, when it's left up to ourselves to discover what is true, to do what we think is right, to decide, then all of us are left in a place of total destruction. And so God's word guides our life. Psalm 119, 105 says this, Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path. A lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path. Spurgeon done wonderful in his commentary on this and he pictured it very much so in the days when he was in London in the 1800s when there wasn't all the streetlights like we have now and people had to get around with either lamps or some manner of projecting light. He said that's how we would be without the word of God. We would be like walkers walking in the city, going into darkness, maybe falling into potholes or falling off the edge of a road, venturing out, trying to figure out what is the best way to go so that our feet don't slip. But the word is a lamp unto our feet. It's a lamp. It gives us everyday steps of guidance, everyday steps of instruction. The truth of it is our heads need to be illuminated with truth so our feet will know the direction to go. And that's what the word of God does for us. It's a light unto the path, a light by night and a light by day that we can absolutely delight in it. I can certainly tell you for sure that without the word of God, I would have no idea of what it means to be a responsible man. I wouldn't know how to be a responsible husband. I wouldn't know how to be a responsible father.

I wouldn't know how to be a good neighbor. I wouldn't know how to shape friendships. I wouldn't know what it means to be a good citizen or even a member of the body of Christ. I wouldn't know right from wrong. I wouldn't know how to respond to suffering if I didn't have the word of God. I would just think suffering was wrong and all suffering was unjust and you just deal with the pain of it and the shame of it or the guilt of it or the agony of it or the depression of it. I wouldn't even know how to respond to suffering without the word of God. I wouldn't know how to handle money. I wouldn't know how to handle sex. I wouldn't know how to handle power. I actually wanted to spend more time on sex. But as soon as I said the word, your eyes got big as saucers because you thought I was going to go too deep in it. But it's we wouldn't know how to handle money. We wouldn't know how to handle sex. We wouldn't know how to handle success. I wouldn't know how to handle power. Wouldn't know how to handle authority. I wouldn't know the need that I had for rescue or for reconciliation or for restoration. If I didn't have the word of God, I wouldn't know how to make sense out of out of my identity or how to even think about education or or how to deal with a life calling or or church leadership. I wouldn't know what to do with romance or marriage or dealing with conflict. I wouldn't know those things, even what it meant to look for fulfillment or how to address trials in my life or tribulations or respond to media, respond to entertainment, even respond to political issues or positions or or policies. All of that comes because of the word of God. And here's a tremendous thing. I do want to thank all of you who either. Well, more than just purchase Grip by Hope, hopefully read Grip by Hope. And I got some comments for some people this week who had was into it. I think when this this last comment struck a struck a chord with me about how a certain chapter really helped them. And I I thought about that, that for everybody that's reading it. I'm not able to be there with them. And walk them through what I was really going through at the time. And how how I use the word of God to get through that situation, what some of the thoughts was, what some of my prayers were, where some of my action were, what helped them understand what even got me into that situation, how to walk them through that. the journey of that chapter. But then I said to myself, that's exactly what God does. He walks us through every one of those situations through his word. He's right there with us, step by step. Whatever the emotion is, he's right there.

Whatever the thought is, he's right there. Whatever decision has to be made, he's right there. When you read the word of God, it's not just that you have the word of God, but listen to this, folks. You have the God of the word that is with you, that's sitting with you, that's walking with you. His word will transform us. I read this Psalm 19, seven through nine. I wanna read it again out of the New Living. The instruction of the Lord are perfect, reviving the soul. The decrees of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The commandments of the Lord are right, bringing joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are clear, giving insight for living. Reverence for the Lord is pure, lasting forever. The laws of the Lord are true, each one is fair. Whenever you read the word of God, it will absolutely transform you. When you approach reading the word, which I encourage you to do on a daily basis, find a translation that you can read very clearly, and you pray and you ask God, what is it that you wanna say to me today? Don't let it just be a book that you forget about what you just heard or what you just read. Approach it as a book that is absolutely designed to change your life.

The God of the Bible is a God that's sitting with you when you're reading this. I want you to think about this. The God that created the planet and everything therein is so much into you that even though he created the planet and has all sovereign over all things, that God sits with you personally when you're reading the word of God. It's transforming. The word converts the soul. This word conversion here in the Hebrew, it actually means revive for us. The idea is that the word of God returns us back. And basically what the psalmist is saying, he is pointing back to Eden when there was a fall in the garden with Eve's deception, Adam's disobedience. And from that moment on, mankind fell from that relationship with God. And the scripture is saying that the word of God revives our soul. It restores us back to that place. It's the word that forgives us and washes us and cleanses us and restores us back to that place. The psalmist says that the word of God makes us wise, that the source of all wisdom is God's word. No matter how simple minded we may be, no matter how much maybe you were raised in ignorance or lacked understanding, you can be wise because the wisdom of God will come to you

when you read the scriptures. The word of God causes us to rejoice. You can't hardly read the word of God and not settle in that book, the joy of the Lord. He's able to bring us to a place of peace and a place of tranquility. God loves us with all of his heart and he deposits that into our innermost being. The word of God enlightens us. It gives us guidance and understanding. As we said earlier, God's word is a light to our eyes. It's that internal radiant eyes that we need, that we may see his light in all things and his truth. It's so much into the word. I recalled a commercial from years ago. It was a Prego spaghetti commercial, spaghetti sauce commercial. And you might remember this, I'm probably dating myself, but the mother was stirring up this spaghetti sauce and the son comes in and he's just so excited about getting the spaghetti and having that sauce poured on it and he's sitting there with anxiousness and the mother is telling him what's happening, of course, with dinner. And he said, man, I'm just looking forward to this. Did you put mushrooms in there? Did you put oregano in there? Did you put tomatoes in it? Did you put sausage in it? He goes on with the list and after he finished the list,

the mother said, it's all in there. That's the word of God, man. It's all in there. Whatever you need is in the Word of God. The comfort that we need, the transformation that we need, all of the good stuff that we need is in the Word of God. Now, what I'm going to do right now has nothing to do with this lesson. Nothing to do with this lesson at all. But when I put this illustration in there about Prego, I actually thought about the best spaghetti sauce I've ever had. This spaghetti sauce is made by Anna Viscarelli. Some of you might remember Bella Vita's pizza. Well, she's back in town and boy, we've been stocking up on Bella Vita's pizza sauce and spaghetti sauce. And I wanted to give a gift to a Raider fan for consolation. Dakota, here you go, buddy. Here's some spaghetti sauce from Bella Vita's. But the Word of God has got it all in there. It's trustworthy. The Bible is right. The Bible is pure. The Bible is sure. The Bible is righteous. And there's a passage in Isaiah 55 that really to me, it's one of the most profound verses in the Bible that talks about what the Word of God does. It's so consistent with the laws of nature.

And it's right here in Isaiah 55, 10 through 13. Hear this. The rain and snow come down from the heavens and stay on the ground to water the earth. They cause the grain to grow, producing seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry. It is the same with my Word. Listen to this. And when this snow comes down and rain comes down, it has a changing nature in the earth that allows things to grow. Listen to this. It is the same with my Word. I send it out and it always produces fruit. You ought to say amen to that. It will accomplish all that I want it to accomplish. Can you say amen to that? And it will prosper everywhere I send it. Can you say amen to that? That's the Word of God. He says, you will live in joy and peace. The mountains and hills will burst into song and the trees of the field will clap their hands. Where once there were thorns, listen to the change. Where once there were thorns, now cypress trees will grow. Where there was nettles, now myrtles will sprout up. A complete change that takes place in the land because of the Word of God. These events will bring great honor to the Lord's name. They will be an everlasting sign of His power and His love.

That's what the Word of God does for us. It's an everlasting change. Takes us from the people who we are, the manner of how we are, the way that we thought, the way that we do things, and brings about a complete change. And the final thing I'll say about this, which there's so much to say about the Bible, is that God's Word saves. It saves us. Listen to this, 2 Timothy 3.15. Paul, writing to Timothy, he says, you have been taught the Holy Scriptures. Actually, I wanna read verse 14, which is not on your notes. Here's verse 14. Paul is writing to Timothy, he says this. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing that from whom you learned it. Verse 15 says, you've been taught the Holy Scriptures from childhood, and they have given you the wisdom to receive the salvation that comes by trusting in Christ Jesus. There it is again. It tells us that we can have an assurance of our salvation. Why? Because we put our trust in Jesus Christ, who is sure, who is certain, who is solid, who's kept his word and kept his promises. Our salvation is a sure thing in Christ Jesus.

I'm here to tell you, there is no other religion that can tell you salvation is a certainty. Every one of them will have a bunch of laws, and they'll have some precepts, and they'll have some things that you gotta do with the hope of becoming saved. But the certainty that we can have is that our trust can be in Christ Jesus, and we know that we're saved. We know that we have an assurance. We know what Christ has done. That's the great thing about the gospel. You find me another person. You find me another one who has proven over and over again that he is who he says he is and will do. What he says he will do without the gospel. I wouldn't even know the narrative of redemption I wouldn't even know a clear gospel message. I wouldn't know the attributes of God. I wouldn't know the knowledge of sin I wouldn't know the ability of forgiveness But we got all that in Christ Jesus and the Word of God teaches us that listen to acts 4 10 through 12 This is a Luke writing. He says let it be known to you all that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth Whom you crucify God raised from the dead we could stop right there and every Sunday can be an Easter Resurrection message because that is indeed the explanation point of it all You you show me somebody else. I'll give you a lifetime You find me somebody else who loved you enough to take your sin Take your shame your guilt take your dishonor Take a person who was ostracized and a misfit of society who looked you in your eyes and says I love you enough that I'll take on your pain. I'll take on your anguish I'll take up on your distraught have himself nailed on a cross put in a ground three days and three nights and Rose again, find me another one

Find me another one that's done what Jesus has done and is still declaring his power today This ain't no accident that you sitting in the church the power of the resurrection has got all to you There's something that Jesus has done that's been proven to you that he does love you that he did die for you You're not living a life of happenstance You're not living a life of a wish this ain't a make-a-wish foundation. This is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ This is Christianity. I know that I'm saved because Jesus said it I know that I'm alive because he took me from death to life. I know where I'm going because he made a home for me This is Christianity. This is the gospel Jesus Christ alone Jesus alone don't need a book. I don't need a shama. I don't need a rabbi. All I need is the Jesus That said to me you trusted me and I'll give you eternal life prayer team. You can come if you're in the house and You've never trusted Jesus as Lord and Savior. I'm here to tell you right now today can be your day What else you're gonna hope in? What else you're gonna trust in? Who else you're gonna call on? Find me somebody who said I'll never leave and never forsake you Find me somebody that said you watched me what I do I'm doing this for you. Every cry on that cross by Jesus was for you personally every cry Jesus did it and Jesus is still alive Still alive and his Word of God is so so true every head bound every eye closed Father, I want to thank you for this opportunity to deliver your word Lord to Express the love that we have for the Bible the truth that we found from the scripture And Lord how this gospel Brings us to salvation Lord if there's anybody in the house today

That hasn't surrendered their life to them to you I'm praying right now. Holy Spirit that you finish the work You finish the work and Lord. I'm also praying for people who? Who knew a relationship with you and maybe they've walked away or strayed away But today is the day that they can come back home They can come back home To your arms while eyes are still closed for just a moment if you're in the house and you've never made a commitment to Jesus but today Today you said I want to surrender to him. I want this Lord. I want this Savior I want this God that you preached about you can just lift up your hand wherever you are I'll pray for you wherever you are. If you're in the house and say today, I want Jesus God bless you I see that hand here to my right say you want Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. I see that hand to my left Today is a day that to see another hand in the back today is a day That a new life begins. Come on. Let's celebrate what God is doing in the life of those who's making that commitment They're gonna lead us in a song of worship, I want you to hang here, but let's pray this together Can you just pray this with me dear Jesus? Today, I want you to be the Lord of my life. I Repent of all of my sins and I look to you for forgiveness. I Want my life to glorify you in all that I do Until you return in Christ's name we pray. Amen. God bless you