The Bible | Tyrone P Jones | We Believe | Full Service

This is what i am doing Good morning, ctc. Welcome to quarterback sunday. How are you all doing today? I know i know there's a big game coming up in a few hours, but if we could There's something bigger happening right now because god almighty is in the house There's no better place to be than right here we're gonna have some fun today you guys can see that and you'll get the details on what's going on up here i'm loving seeing all the jerseys in the house if this is your first time with us you picked a fun sunday to join us we're glad you're here we love you if you've come for several years you're part of the family thank you for coming we love you too if you're joining us online you are just as much as this family as everyone in the room here thank you for joining us god is in your house too i'd like to share something something very simple that i read this week in first john 2 25 it says this is the promise which he gave us eternal life and if we can't celebrate that i don't know what what will make you celebrate eternal life that he in that verse is god the one that the bible says that his promises are yes and amen that they never fail that he's the same yesterday today and forever the one who sits on the highest throne and he say he gave us this promise eternal life so today while we're here let's lift our hands let's look to our eternal god and the eternal life that he's promised us and let's worship him can we do that today church can we worship god because he gave us eternal life father god we thank you that no matter what is happening in our life today no matter what happened yesterday no matter what's coming tomorrow you said in this world you will have trouble do not fear for i have overcome the world and i thank you lord that you have overcome the world that you have given us eternal life and that this is our hope for forever god and we worship you today we worship you today we thank you for today god and we thank you for this service and have your way today in jesus name church let's praise him all throughout my history me the winter storms made way for spring me in every season from where i am all over my life

all of my life Help me remember when I'm weak Don't fear me coming for you, leave You lead my heart to victory You are my strength and you always will be I see the evidence of your goodness all of my life all of my life I see your promises in fulfillment all of my life all of my life Yes See the pros and the debate The evidence is in the mix All my sin rolled away I see the evidence of your goodness, all of my life I see the evidence of your goodness, all of my life I see the evidence of your goodness, all of my life, all of my life I see your promises in fulfillment, all of my life, all of my life I see the evidence of your goodness, all of my life, all of my life I see your promises in fulfillment, all of my life, all of my life So why should I fear? Oh, the evidence is here Why should I fear? Oh, the evidence is here Come on, we just lift up our praise and our worship to the Lamb of God Who is seated on the throne, who has defeated death in the grave Come on, lift your voice, lift your hands Come on, we praise you, Jesus You are worthy of every song You are worthy of our lives, God We sing hallelujah, we sing hallelujah Come on, just give that thanksgiving to Him

Oh, the Lamb of God, on the cursed cross The weight of every sin laid on His shoulders Beaten and betrayed, wrapped in all my shame Forsaken everything for my forgiveness No good enough for me Come on, every voice, we sing Oh, hallelujah He's worthy Oh, hallelujah We praise the Lamb upon the throne Oh, hallelujah Deep within the grave, spoken by the lame Atomic star that heaven was defeated But Jesus proved them wrong Death was overcome And all the angels shouted, He is risen No greater love than this Oh, hallelujah Oh, hallelujah We praise the Lamb upon the throne Oh, hallelujah We cry hallelujah, we sing hallelujah The sun of the day will come The skies will open up And on the clouds we'll see the Lord descending open wide, and tell Him Christ will rise and He shall reign and glory never ending behold the Lamb of God Alleluia, Alleluia we praise Him upon the morn

Alleluia we sing Alleluia Alleluia we praise the Lamb upon the throne we praise the Lamb upon the throne we praise the Lamb upon the throne Alleluia we sing Alleluia we cry Alleluia Alleluia, Alleluia we praise the Lamb upon the throne Alleluia we praise God was there at the beginning Spirit brooding like a dove spoke the earth into existence from creation that He loved man was born of perfect image made to be a friend of God meant to dwell within His presence where that's where we all belong Holy Spirit all we need is more of You we want more of You Holy Spirit all we need is more of You we want more of You and sin had spoiled creation the Creator sent to flood on the cusp of new beginnings

He again released the dove and after all the searching they found a place to land on Christ the perfect Son who would redeem it all again looking for the branches and landed on the vine the Word for our redemption who would bridge eternal night Holy Spirit the truth, the living water all we need is more of You we want more of You Holy Spirit the helper and the healer all we need is more of You we want more of You Holy Spirit the truth, the living water all we need is more of You we want more of You Holy Spirit the helper and the healer All we need is more of you. We want more of you, yes. Come on, just begin to ask Him. Holy Spirit, we need more of you. Oh, yes. We need more of you. We need more of you. Let this be an upper room, like the flame we burn for you. Holy, Holy, Holy Spirit. Like a mighty rushing wind, pour the Spirit out again. Holy, Holy, Holy Spirit.

Let this be an upper room, like the flame we burn for you. Holy, Holy, Holy Spirit. Like a mighty rushing wind, pour the Spirit out again. Holy, Holy, Holy Spirit. Holy, Holy, Holy Spirit. Holy, Holy, Holy Spirit. Like a mighty rushing wind, pour the Spirit out again. Holy, Holy, Holy Spirit. Holy, Holy, Holy Spirit. Holy, Holy, Holy Spirit. Holy, Holy, Holy Spirit. Holy, Holy, Holy Spirit. Come on church, let's turn our attention to the screen as someone goes public with their faith. My name is Tatum. Before I had a personal relationship with God, my life looked full on the outside, but inside I felt empty. I believed in Jesus, but my faith was lukewarm and inconsistent. I only turned to God when things got hard or scary, and I rarely stopped to thank Him for all the blessings throughout my life. I struggled with anxiety, people-pleasing, and comparing myself to others, constantly feeling like I wasn't enough. Being in a relationship with someone who didn't share my faith caused compromise and inner conflict, which created distance from God and made me pull away from church. I started going to CTC in 2024 after my best friend invited me, and even though it took me a little while to be consistent, I immediately felt hopeful and emotional, like this is where I was supposed to be. Hearing Pastor Tyrone continually say, give it all to God, multiple times really stuck with me. During an altar call, I was prayed over, and the words, no labels, were repeated, which felt like God speaking right to my struggle with feeling not enough. He showed me it was a lie that I could have a God-centered life with someone who didn't share my faith, so I gave up the relationship, and at that same time, completely gave my life to Christ. God blessed me by bringing someone into my life who encouraged me to grow closer to Christ, and through that, I learned to live with my new motto, that I am God's girl. As my desires started to change, I wanted to worship, dig into scripture, invite others to church, and live in a way that even my students could see God's love and grace through me. Since surrendering to Christ, my life isn't about striving for perfection anymore. I still have struggles, but I've learned to bring everything to Jesus, trusting that if He loves me, I have everything I need.

He already has my path figured out, and now I'm going to sit and obey like Ruth, rather than Martha. Through prayer, worship, and time in the Word, I've grown closer to Him and found peace in surrender. I hope because I know I'm loved, guided, and held by God, and I want anyone who's ever felt not enough to know that real identity and purpose are found in Jesus. Today, I am going public with my faith. Tatum, Jesus said, every disciple should be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and because of your confession of faith today, I baptize you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins, and according to scripture, you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. When I spoke of my own earning, to have a helper at my side, the gift was fully purchased when the lamb was crucified. So now freely I can ask Him, for His blood has washed me clean. ♪ Let the dove of heaven rest upon the Christ in me ♪ ♪ Let the dove of heaven rest upon the Christ in me ♪ ♪ Holy Spirit come and rest upon the Christ in me ♪ ♪ Holy Spirit, the truth, the living water ♪ ♪ All we need is more of you, we want more of you ♪ ♪ Holy Spirit, the help, the life, the healing ♪ ♪ All we need is more of you, we want more of you ♪ ♪ We want more of you ♪ ♪ Let this spirit of truth rise up today with me to you ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy spirit ♪ ♪ Like a mighty rushing wind pour your spirit out again ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy spirit ♪ ♪ Let this spirit of truth rise up today with me to you ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy spirit ♪ ♪ Like a mighty rushing wind pour your spirit out again ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy spirit ♪ Come on, give your praise to the king. Thank you, Jesus. Lord God, we're thankful for your presence.

God, in the gathering of the saints, we worship your holy name. May your name be praised forever and ever and ever. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. All right, church, we're gonna prepare for the message, but before we do that, please turn to someone you don't know and greet them and tell them that you're thankful that they're here in the house today. Good morning, good morning. As you make your way back to your seats, we're gonna jump into the message in just a few minutes, but we just have a few announcements for you. The first one is just a reminder that City Youth Conference starts this weekend. Yes, super exciting. If you don't know what City Youth Conference is, it is our youth and young adult conference. It's geared towards them. It's a place where we bring together young adults and young people from all walks of life to share their stories and their stories of success. It's a youth and young adult conference. It's geared towards them. We are a multi-generational church. You see that in the congregation. You see that in our serve teams, and we love when we get the opportunity to create a space for the next generation to see them diligently and passionately chase after Jesus.

Amen? So if you haven't registered for that, go ahead and do that. You can do that in the lobby, or you can do it online as well. We also have a men's breakfast coming up. I've never been to a men's breakfast, but I heard the food is really good. So please, men, go ahead and get registered for that. This is a great on-ramp. If you have yet to find a life group, yet to find community, the men's breakfast is a perfect opportunity to do that. So again, you can register by visiting the Connect table in the lobby, or you can tap the disc. None of these events would be possible if it wasn't for your generosity. So thank you for your giving, and thank you for allowing us to put on events like these. And last but not least, I don't think I have to remind you that it's Super Bowl Sunday today, which means it's Quarterback Sunday for CTC. If you've never been here for Quarterback Sunday, it is our opportunity to be able to invest back into the community together as a church. So what we do is every single year, we pick a local organization. This year, we've picked United Way of Yuma County,

and all of the funds raised today will go towards their Biz Kids program. Their Biz Kids program helps local kids. It gives them financial tools and teaches them how to open a checking account, how to open a savings account, and even manage and own a business. So all of the funds raised here will go towards United Way. So let me tell you guys how this is gonna work. This side over here is the Seahawks side. Hey, there we go. First service was all about it. I don't think CTC has ever gotten a year wrong. I think any time we've picked a team, that team has won the Super Bowl. in the Super Bowl. So, so far, there's over $1,000 raised for the Seahawks. So, when the team starts to play, if you're a Seahawks fan, you can put your money in these buckets over here. Then, on this side, we've got the Patriots. Okay, well, you can still put your money on this side, though, okay? All right, guys, the team's gonna start, and let's go ahead and give our donations. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Well, this is kind of shaping up like last service. I mean, it's just over. I'm just shocked at the number of Seahawks people around here. After all my years of preaching 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 great. We always have a good time. Some things we kind of enhance 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 going to teach the Word of God and count on the presence of Him, and we're going to spread the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I was reminded I saw Mr. Danny Williams here. I just ended up hitting yesterday at the driving range, and this gentleman here has 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 game. So we ain't saying nothing about Ohio.

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 in all of my life. And, boy, that means more to me than you know. So thanks for sharing that. Well, I just got to pray, I think, because everything else was done. And so I think I'm going to have you stand and take your Bibles up with you. We're going to go to Psalm 19. And we're going to read verses 7 through 11 here in the Word. We'll come back to that, to those verses in the New Living. But I'm going to read it out of the ESV. 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. 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'm grateful that we're in a house where people do love. They love hearing preaching. They love hearing teaching. They love to be encouraged by the word,

and I'm teaching about the Bible. So I just pray that you help me, Lord, to speak as you have given it to me. Lord, as loud as my voice may get and as much as I may say, I pray that it's 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 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. All right, you may be seated. Now, we started this series, We Believe, and of course, it's the Apostles' Creed that we're going to 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 some weeks, of course, we'll repeat it, recite it, because I really do want you to know this, but the word credo means I believe. And that's 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 truth, truth about God, truth about Christ, truth about salvation, truth 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 truth 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 to this. 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,

the dictates, the decrees 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, 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. 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... 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 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 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 has 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 conscience is captive by the word of God because the scripture is sufficient for doctrine, for teaching. It's a Christian textbook. If you wanna know about God, wanna know about faith,

wanna 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's 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 could 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 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, it's a lamp unto our feet. 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 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 my identity or how to even think about education or how to deal with a life calling 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 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've either...well, more than just purchased Grit by Hope, hopefully read Grit by Hope. And I got some comments from some people this week who was into it, I think, when this last comment struck a chord with me about how a certain chapter really helped them. And 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 I used the word of God to get through that situation, what some of the thoughts was, what some of my prayers were, what some of my action were,

what helped them understand, what even got me into that situation, how to walk them through 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, 7-9. I want to 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. 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 want to 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... But 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 the 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, you know, 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. He's saying, 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... field will clap their hands, where once there were thorns, listen to the change, where once there was 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 want to 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 got to 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 Luke writing. He says, Let it be known to you all that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, 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 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're sitting in the church. The power of the resurrection has got a hold 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 a 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 are you gonna hope in? What else are you gonna trust in? Who else are you gonna call on? Find me somebody who said, I'll never leave you and never forsake you.

Find me somebody that said, you watch 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 bowed and every eye closed. Father, I wanna 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 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 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 ours 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 wanna surrender to him. I want this Lord, I want this Savior, I want this God that you preach 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, have a great day. Thank you. ♪ Let this be an uproar like the flame we burned for you ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy spirit ♪ ♪ Like a mighty rushing wind pour your spirit out again ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy spirit ♪ ♪ Let this be an uproar like the flame we burned for you ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy spirit ♪ ♪ Like a mighty rushing wind pour your spirit out again ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy spirit ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy spirit ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy spirit ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy spirit ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy spirit ♪

♪ Holy, holy, holy spirit ♪ ♪ The truth, the living water ♪ ♪ All we need is more of you ♪ ♪ We want more of you ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy spirit ♪ ♪ The helper and the healer ♪ ♪ All we need is more of you ♪ ♪ We want more of you, yes ♪ ♪ Let this be an offering ♪ ♪ Like the flame we might feel ♪ ♪ Holy spirit ♪ ♪ Like a mighty rushing wind ♪ ♪ Pour your spirit out again ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy spirit ♪ We love you, Church. We'll see you next Sunday.