The Bible Tells Me So | Jabin Chavez | City Light Church

All right, we are in week five of winning the war within. And I got to be honest with you, I am still out of breath. Ah. Because a 42-year-old in cowboy boots should not be dancing like that. Can I get an amen? My God. Turn in your Bibles, Matthew chapter three. If you're ready for the word, say I'm ready. I'm ready. Come on, everybody, say my heart's open. My heart's open. I speak, Lord, in Jesus' name, amen. Matthew chapter three. We have been in this series now for five weeks and we've been building line upon line. Every sermon, if you're new with us, every sermon's free on YouTube. Every sermon is free on all of your podcast channels. So we're talking about winning the war within. We're talking about our thought life, our word life. We're talking about the internal, the real us, and how it affects the external. And now Jesus is being water baptized and the Bible says that when he comes out of the water, a voice from heaven said, this is my son whom I love and whom I'm well pleased. And let me just remind you that what the father said to the first son, he says to all of his sons and daughters. What the father said to Jesus,

he says to all of us who are in Jesus. He loves you, he is pleased with you, and he calls you his son and his daughter, not based off of your performance, but based off of the performance of Jesus. Can I get an amen right there? Come on, everybody, say amen. Then Jesus was led by the spirit in the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. This is right after this, right? So he receives this moment and then right away, Jesus was led by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry and the tempter came to him and said, if you are the son of God, tell these stones to become red. So wait, the father just said, you're my son. Now the devil's saying, if you are the son. The last thing God said, now the devil's questioning. Proverbs 30 says, every word from God is tested like silver, tried like silver through the fire. So every time God speaks to you, the devil's gonna do everything he can to uproot the promise that God just gave you. But come on, if you don't quit, you win. And I declare, we're winning the war within, amen? So don't, never be discouraged by warfare. It proves what God just told you. Jesus said, man shall not live by bread alone,

but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Then the devil took him to the holy city, standing on the highest point of the temple. If you are the son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, he will command his angels concerning you and they will lift you up in their hands so that you will not strike your foot against the stone. Jesus said, it is also written. Now notice that the devil quoted Psalm 91. The devil knows the Bible. Let me blow your mind. The devil knows the Bible better than you. But if the devil ever quotes scripture, it's always from a spirit to deceive you. Even when the devil tells the truth, he's lying. Because the end goal is to bind you and to deceive you. So Jesus said, it's also written. Don't test the Lord your God. Then the devil took him to the high mountain, showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. All this I will give to you, if you will bow down and worship me. Jesus said to him, away from me, Satan, for it is written. Worship the Lord your God and serve him only. Three times Jesus says, it is written. And I wanna talk from that subject today, the Bible tells me so. The Bible tells me so. Speak Lord, we're listening.

And we're expecting a word from heaven today. In Jesus' name. Come on, everybody said amen. Amen and amen. In 1859, Anna Bartlett Warner wrote these lyrics. Jesus loves me, this I know. For the Bible tells me so. Little ones to him belong. They are weak, but he is strong. It would be a sin not to sing this chorus. Y'all ready? Yes, Jesus loves me. Oh yes, Jesus loves me. Oh yes, Jesus loves me. The Bible tells me so. Wow, you need to join the choir. What are y'all waiting on? That's amazing. The Bible tells me so. God loves you so much that he gave you a book. He gave you a book that shows you who he is, who you are, and what your life. What can be if you would fully surrender to Him? God gave you this precious book full of promises and commands. It is a supernatural love letter from heaven to you. I want to remind you these are not just words on a page. This is the very Word of God breathed by the mouth of God. And when you take this book seriously, it will change everything about your relationship with God and your life in general. This book is awesome.

This book is beautiful. This book will change your life. I know it's 2026 and I know we're modern and I know we've got technology now and I know we're all sophisticated. But can I tell you, we still need the Word of God in our nation, in our families, in our life. One preacher said, the Bible is the only book whose author is present every time we read it. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed. Now watch this. By the renewing, renew, new, back to its original state, re again, new again. You can be new again. Your mind can be new again. And when you get in the Word of God, now you're able to test and approve what God's will is, His good, pleasing and perfect will. You get so acquainted with truth. Every time a lie comes at you, you're able to see it, you're able to condemn it, you're able to stop it and you're able to reject it. Why? Because you now have a new mind filled with new thoughts, full of the promises and the commands of God. The Word of God is the will of God and the will of God is the Word of God. And God is bringing you back to a place of newness, being renewed to innocence, who you were before the pain, before the betrayal, before the addiction, before the divorce, before the disappointment, before the death, before the illness, before the bankruptcy, before the disappointments of life came, before your heart got hard and you got angry with life or maybe angry with God or angry with your circumstances. What the Word of God does is it keeps you new, it keeps you clean, it keeps you innocent, it keeps you with a childlike faith that can believe God in every situation. Come on, say amen everybody.

This Word renews you, it cleans you. Jesus said you are clean through the Word which I've spoken to you. How does God clean me? Through the Word. God does not prune us, God does not trim us, God does not cut us, God does not clean us through tragedy. He uses the Word of God. God will not put anything on you that He already put on Jesus on the cross. Amen. So that, you know, you get in a car wreck, well, I wonder what the Lord's teaching me. Nothing, just stop texting and driving, that's the message. God doesn't use calamity to teach His kids. How do you know? Well, you don't do that to your kids. I'm going to teach this four-year-old a lesson, I'm going to put cancer on him. What are you talking, we're going to put you in jail, what are you talking about? God don't do that. God uses the Word. If you don't want to be clean, just stay away from the Bible. If you don't want to be holy, just stay away from the Bible. If you never want God to convict and clean and separate, you just stay away from the Word. See, dusty Bibles create dusty lives. But a used Bible creates a clean life, a holy life, a sanctified life, a life that God can prune and cut and trim away for His glory. Come on, say amen, everybody. Timothy, my son, I'm giving you this command in keeping with the prophecies once made about you. Watch this. So that by recalling, by recalling, you cannot recall what you don't know.

You cannot recall what you do not remember. In other words, you'll never recall it or remember it if you don't know it in the first place. Now, why do you need to know it? Because eventually you're going to have to fight a battle. And when the battles come, you better have a word in your heart. Why is the Bible in peacetime so it's available in wartime? Oh, man, come on, say amen, everybody. That's why I've got to be in the book when seemingly it doesn't feel like I need it. So that when I need it, it comes right out of my spirit. Wow. And the Bible is the weapon that Jesus used in spiritual warfare. Not emotion. not even his position. If you are the Son of God, yes I am. Uh-uh. Not his authority. Not even his own name. Jesus used the written Word of God against the spoken lies of the devil. And if this was good enough for Jesus, y'all, it's good enough for me, say amen, everybody. And you're gonna need to know the Word. And the devil says if. This is the devil's favorite word. If is the devil's word of condemnation and deception. If. You know, Eve, God knows that if you eat of that fruit, you'll be just like God. It's deception, if.

The devil uses if to deceive and to condemn. If you are the Son of God. If, if, if. This is what the enemy ought. If you were really a Christian, you wouldn't think like that. You know, if you really loved God, you wouldn't cuss anymore. If you really had faith, if God was really good, if you were really a Christian, if you really had faith, you wouldn't be sick. If God was really good, he wouldn't have allowed that to happen. If, if, if. Listen, if the devil hit Jesus with three if, if, if. And that is what the enemy is trying to speak over your life. He's trying to get you condemned with an if. He's trying to get you deceived with an if. If, if, if. And he's trying to get you to live in the if. If I wouldn't have done that. If I wouldn't have said that. If I would have bought Bitcoin when it was worth a penny. If, if, if. If I wouldn't have sold that business. If I would have bought that house. If I would, if, if. If I would have married her. Oh my God, that would buy a girl. If, if I wouldn't have married him.

OMG, he's a mess. If, if, if. And the devil's gonna try to keep you stuck in if. Come on, say amen to this preacher. I'm giving you my best. This is all I got. If, if. But to every if, Jesus responds with, it is written. Well if I would have bought Bitcoin, I would have been a trillionaire. But you know what, the Bible says that I can still be blessed. The Bible says God has a great plan for my future. The Bible says I'm gonna be the head and never the tail. Above and never beneath. Blessed going in and blessed going out. I'm not living in if, I'm living in it is written. The Bible tells me so. Can I preach about the Bible a little bit? The Bible says I can be healed. The Bible says I can get answers. The Bible says my children will serve the Lord. The Bible says God has a plan for my life. The Bible said. So let me talk about the Bible a little bit. Number one, the Bible feeds us. I am preaching way too hard right now. My God, I gotta calm down. Y'all hyping me up right now.

The Bible feeds us. If you are the Son of God, turn these stones into bread. Jesus had been fasting for 40 days. I want you to watch, catch this. His temptation was born out of his history. Y'all tracking with me? He had 40 days of not eating or drinking. He's very hungry. And now Satan is tempting him connected to his history. All of our temptations are born out of trauma, history, family experience, what we've been through, what we've seen, what we faced. All of our temptations are born out of that. Never forget that. That's why, by the way, never judge someone who's tempted differently than you or who sins differently than you. I would never. You probably wouldn't. But dependent upon what we've carried into the moment, Jesus is carrying hunger into the moment and Satan knows how to speak to that. See, let me say it like this. The devil knows what you're hungry for, what you're thirsty for, what you desire, where you're lacking, and what he's gonna try to do because every temptation is a cheap imitation of what God has for you. See, the devil can't create. He can only.

Imitate. So all temptation is an imitation of creation. I'm not trying to rhyme. It's just a gift. Listen. Whatever the devil's offering you is a, I could say like this, a Timu version. Come on, ladies. Some of y'all got an $8 Louis Vuitton right now. I ain't judging. I'm like, that thing looks like rubber. Okay, whatever. I ain't mad at you. I like it. You're on a budget. Amen. Know your level. Amen, stewardship. Don't go into debt over a purse. My God. But it's an imitation. It's funny. There's only four women like. It's an imitation of the very thing that God really has for you. So he says, turn these stones into bread. Jesus said, man doesn't live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. There is a supernatural bread. There is a God thing that is better than this earthly thing.

There is an eternal thing greater than this temporal thing. There is something from heaven that is greater than something from earth. There is something from creation that is better than an imitation. But I have to resist the bread right now in order to eat from what God has for me because there is a word from heaven that proceeds out of the mouth of God that will satisfy, sustain, and supply your hungry soul. The Bible says. And he said to me, son of man, eat what is before you. Eat this scroll. Everybody say, eat the book. Eat the book. Eat this scroll. Now watch this. Then go speak. Don't do anything without a word. Don't move without a word. Don't even take a promotion without a word. Especially the way they do it down at the casinos. We're gonna give you $4,000 more a year and you get to work 100 hours a week. They know what they're, that's why they got billion dollar properties. Amen, praise God. Shout out to the MGM. But you know what I'm saying? They know what they're doing.

Don't buy a house without a word. Don't sell your house without a word. Don't get married without a word. Don't go into business with somebody without a word. Don't make major life decisions. Don't speak, don't move, don't do until you get a word. Like in the natural. I mean, this place is crazy right now and it's been full all weekend. We really need another campus. We need another location to try to offload some people. But now listen, but listen. Thank you for that clap because I think that's true. But I don't have a word yet. And we're not McDonald's. So we don't just franchise because. We're not even Chick-fil-A, Christian Chicken. We're not even Chick-fil-A. Because you're, because see, I want you to know something about me and about us as a leadership team. When I'm receiving that offering and I see you pull out that phone and I see you tap to give and I see you do your thing and I see you, that is holy. That is sacred. That is an offering unto God. I don't just take that money and we just go franchise. We need a word before we move.

We need a word before we spend. We need a word before we just go do things. Why? Because this is sacred. And I wanna say the same thing that we try to do as the house of God, you should do as your house. I'm not saying be paralyzed by the fear of missing God, but I would also say, don't just go through things. That's why I'm always telling people, just go three days. Don't eat for three days and fast. People look at me like, you know, we're trying to decide if we should move. Stop eating. Three days without food is better than ending up in Oklahoma going, what the heavens did I just do? Three days of no food is better than waking up on your honeymoon morning going, ah. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, three, I'm just saying. Get a word. God will talk to you. God will speak to you. Number two, the Bible protects us. The Bible protects us. The devil said, throw yourself off this ledge and the angels won't let you fall, they'll pick you up. He's quoting Psalm 91.

Jesus responds with a different verse and he says this, don't put the Lord to the test. best. Don't test God's mercy. Can I just say that? Grace is free, not cheap. Sometimes because grace comes to our lives freely, we think it was cheap, but it costs Jesus' life. I never want to test the Lord. I never want to see how far can I get to the edge. I hear people talk sometimes. So can I gamble and go to heaven? Yeah. Can I smoke weed and go to heaven? Yeah. I don't have the Lamb's book of life. I don't know. Yeah. I don't sign it. Yeah. Can I still go to the strip club? Yeah. Do we have to get married? Can I still go to heaven? Oh, yeah. You open up TikTok. You know, you don't have to go to church to be a Christian. They always have those eyes. You know, that pastor just wants your money. It's like, oh, okay. Yeah. You don't have to tithe to go to heaven. You don't have to go to church to go to heaven. Do I have to go to a small group? No, no, no. But you know, I wonder sometimes, I feel like what people are saying is how far can I get from God? My question is, why do you even want to go to heaven? You seem to be living in a way that you hate God. Why do you want to go spend eternity with him? You know, that's what C.S. Lewis said. C.S. Lewis said, hell is full of people who didn't want to be with God. So what do we, what do we do? Why live that? I'm not trying to live as far away. I'm not trying to test how far I can get away from God and still screech into heaven. I'm wondering how close can I get to Jesus? How much can I honor Jesus? How much can my life be a light? How many people can I serve? How many people can I evangelize? How many people can I see come to the kingdom of God? How many people? Come on. Can somebody say amen? Come on up in the rapture section. Give me a good amen up there. Come on. I'm not trying to live on. I'm not trying to test the Lord. Oh, when I make mistakes, amen, he's going to be there to catch me. When we sin, amen, he's going to be there to forgive. When we make a mistake, amen, the angels will be there to grab. Of course, but I'm not trying to test that. So here's what you have to do. You have to hide God's word in your heart so you don't sin against him. Hiding God's word in your heart, if you, in case you're wondering what I'm saying, is scripture memorization. Oh my God, I can't memorize scripture. Jamie, I can't memorize the Bible. Let's, let's test that really quick. Michael Jordan, what's his, what's his number? What's his number? 23. Okay, well, amazing. There's this really great golfer, Tiger. What's his last name?

Well, okay. Sweet Caroline. Okay. I feel like we're back at the Frankie Shinta concert right now. What goes up? Wow. To be or not to be. Got educated people here at the 1045. Oh, so you do, so you do know how to memorize things. Some of you could tell me every single fact about the Kardashians, everything. You know who Kim's with, you know, her latest surgery, you know what she's up to now, you know, she got rid of the booty and now she's going slim. You know it all. You know, all the facts about Kim, you know, you know, some of y'all know everything about Candace Owens and everything about the drama with Erica Kirk and everything. And you're in there. I can't memorize the Bible. Well, you memorize every one of Candace's conspiracy theories. So what the heck? Why can't you read the Bible? I'm not, I'm not taking a dig at Candace. I'm just saying there's someone better than Candace. His name is Jesus. I'm saying there's something better than a podcast. This is the word of God. Y'all can stare at me if you want. Okay. How do I do that? Jaben, here's the deal. Okay. How do I do that? Jaben, here's how you do it. This is going to set you free. Stop reading the Bible so much. What? I thought you just told me memorize, but yeah, stop reading so much of the Bible. You're reading too much because you, a religious American Christian that's got to read your four chapters a day to read the Bible through in a year, because stop that and camp on a verse until you know it till it's memorized. And here's the big part till you believe it. Yeah. I read 20 chapters in the Bible today. Give me. One verse you read. Well. It's March 15. You go to the book of Proverbs. Proverb of the day. Give me one verse. Well you know. Wisdom. God is not looking up from heaven like whoa. Six chapters? Yo Gabriel come here. 23 minutes in the word. Wow bless him. No. Read one verse. Until it just gets in your spirit.

I've had one verse in my spirit all weekend. It's Psalm 84. Blessed are those whose heart is set on you. It's just been. It's been in me all. One little word. One little word. One little phrase. It's just been in me. Jesus my heart is set on you. God people are coming and their heart is set on you. And you told us that if our heart would be set on you you would bless us for that. And so I've just been praying that all. One little verse. Not 30 verses. Not 10 chapters. One little verse. Because we're Americans and we're doers we have begun reading the Bible for information but we have to read the Bible for transformation. Amen. Lastly. Come on up. I gotta I gotta quit right now. The Bible frees us. The Bible frees us. Satan said if you will bow down and worship me. I'll give you all the kingdoms of the earth. This is interesting. Because what Satan wanted was Jesus' posture. Catch this. He wanted his heart position of bowing. It wasn't that Jesus was gonna go I worship Satan. It wasn't that. It was to bow is to whoever you bow to calls the shots. We think of idolatry like this little wooden figure on the other side of the you know other side of the world. Somebody's got a little wooden figure. That might be true but that's that's not an idol for Americans. An idol is anything you have to consult before you obey God. That's idolatry. God talks to you and you gotta go ask permission. That's an idol. And what whoever gets your bow. Your awe. A-W-E your awe some. Whoever gets your awe gets your life. Whoever gets your awe gets your future.

Whoever gets your awe gets your heart. Here's the amazing thing about this. I'll give you all the nations of the earth. Guess what? Jesus eventually would get all the nations of the earth. Book of Revelation. Every tribe, tongue, and nation are around the throne of God worshiping him. Every one he bows. Every tongue confesses Jesus Christ is Lord. He was gonna get it but the devil was trying to get Jesus his destiny. Watch this. Without submission to the Father. That's why Joshua 1 says what? Good success. Not just success. Good success. Because there is a success from the earth that is not good. But Joshua 1 tells us that God will give us good success. Meaning you can have your dream and not lose your family. You can prosper and have integrity. You can fulfill God's plan for your life and worship the Lord. It's called good success. You can have your gift and not lose your mind. It's good success. OK so what Satan wanted to do is give Jesus something that he was gonna get three and a half years later. See the right thing at the wrong time is the wrong thing. Patience. Don't get out of pace with the Holy Spirit. Patience. And whoever has your awe and your bow and your surrender. Get your life. Everything is beautiful in its time. Ecclesiastes 3.11. It's beautiful in its, in its time it's beautiful. Out of time it's not beautiful. In its time it's beautiful. That's why, you know, I think sometimes we come to church and maybe you feel this from us like we're, yeah, jump, shout, clap, smile, run, roll, dance, make noise, poke your neighbor in the eye, tell them to walk by faith and not by sight, you know, it's like it just never stops. I'm going to try that one time. I'm actually just trying to get you in a posture of receiving because here's what a lot of

us do. We come into church. I know it's been a big week. I know we got a lot on our plate. I know a lot. We come into church and we do this for an hour. Come on, lift your hands. I see it. And we can miss what God has and then here's what we do. I'm guilty of it too. We wake up. That alarm goes off and we grab our phone. Whoa. War. Whoa. Gas prices. Whoa. Hollywood. Whoa. What did they wear to the Oscars? Whoa. What was the score? Whoa. Before you know it, this has your awe. I'm not telling you to get off social media. I'm not telling you not to have hobbies. I'm not telling you anything. I'm telling you when it's God-time, worship. It's time to seek the Lord. This is not a speed-reading contest.

Jayven, I only have five minutes. That's why I said just a verse. I don't even know what to read. What are you worried about? Google it. Ask ChatGPT. I need verses on fear. I'm afraid. It will pop them out for you. And then read them. I'm sick in my body. I don't know what to do. I need healing scriptures. Google will tell you what they are. It's a pretty amazing time of technology that we live in. And then just feed on a verse.