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[0:00] Thine the glory, that song said. Thine the glory. All right, Isaiah 34. And I'm not going to spend time in the context here.

[0:11] This is the day of the Lord, the day of the Lord's vengeance in verse number 8. And some of the changes to the geography of the land when he comes back.

[0:23] Some burning going on. Now, and I'm going to kind of get past that and look at verse number 16. And really just the beginning of the verse, for the most part, I want to point out where the Bible says, Seek ye out of the book of the Lord and read.

[0:44] Now, he continues to say, No one of these shall fail. None shall want her mate. This is going back to the context of these spiritual beasts and animals. But he finishes by saying this in verse 16.

[0:57] For my mouth it hath commanded. And his spirit it hath gathered them. And so God's saying, What I declared is going to come to pass.

[1:08] My mouth hath commanded. And there's the Bible says that we can do nothing against the truth. And so what God commanded, what God said, what he's even expounding upon through the prophet Isaiah.

[1:23] He says in verse 16, Seek ye out of the book of the Lord and read. In other words, open up the book and read what it says. I've already commanded it.

[1:34] It's going to happen. This will take place because my word says so. So open up the book. It's all there. Christ said several times to the devil, It is written.

[1:46] Because he's using the scripture. It's already been written. And so I want to take that as a thought tonight. And I'll show you why this is on my heart. To seek ye out of the book of the Lord and read.

[2:00] It's already written down. Just open up the Bible. If you have a need, it's in the Bible. If you have a problem, if you have a question, the answer's in the word of God.

[2:11] Just it's already in the Bible. Seek ye out of the book of the Lord and read. You don't need to go to men. You don't need to dig around and find a counsel and come up with the greatest and latest.

[2:22] It's in the word of God. And that's a position that we hold and believe that God has the answers. They're in his holy preserved word. And we have them. So we want to open up the book and read it.

[2:34] Now, last week, this very night, last week, I usually try to stay on top of this, but it slipped past me this year. In Jacksonville, Florida, Brother Peacock pastors a church in Jacksonville, Florida.

[2:47] It's a pretty large and growing church. And their church is called Bible Believers Baptist Church. And they put on every year at this time a meeting, a special meeting. And people come from all over the place to this meeting.

[3:00] And, I mean, hundreds and hundreds of people come to this meeting. It packs out their church. They build a new sanctuary. They pack that thing out. And they call it a jubilee. And their meeting is built around their graduation of their Bible institute.

[3:14] They have an online institute started by Brother James Lintz years ago and some other men. And so they have this. Some of you are very familiar with this, the Bible Doctrine Institute. And upon completion, each year they have a graduation in November of the men and women that finish the courses and so forth.

[3:32] And so they have a meeting. And in this meeting they have a theme that the preacher picked for this meeting. And it's called Getting Back to the Bible. That was their theme.

[3:44] And it slipped my mind until Eric mentioned it to me on Sunday and said, yeah, the jubilee is going on. And so since Sunday evening I've been watching at night in my bed several of the services.

[3:56] And then throughout the day picking a little here, a little there. And I've watched Wednesday and then Thursday morning, Thursday night, Friday morning. And the graduation is Friday. Last Friday night I haven't watched that yet. But what they have is just preacher after preacher after preacher after preacher.

[4:10] It's mostly either guys in the church or alumni from the school or some of the staff of the Bible Doctrine Institute that preach. And they generally, I guess, 20 minutes, 15, 20 minutes they get to preach on that topic, getting back to the Bible.

[4:27] And so this has been going in by in, in, in, in, in for so much lately that it's just been consuming me. And I thought I'd bring some of that tonight.

[4:37] Not really going off of anything anybody said, but just some thoughts that have been ruminating in my heart from listening to that and considering that theme of getting back to the book. The idea for that theme for the, for Brother Peacock and for the need is, is the, is saying that being out, seeing a trend of people going away from the word of God.

[4:57] And I could say that in my lifetime, I've seen it and I'm observed and aware that the church, the church itself has, has picked up this trend over the last decade or maybe two decades of getting away from the Bible and adopting or replacing it maybe with this philosophy of ministry that it's programs that will build a church.

[5:21] And I think that's true. Programs will build a church. And the evidence is out there. There's mega churches and people go and they're happy there. They love their church. But I would have to say that I don't believe programs build a strong church.

[5:36] I think they can get a congregation together. And I think you can have people come to worship and praise and be entertained and on and on. But I don't believe that programs build a strong church.

[5:46] I believe the Bible builds a strong church. I believe Bible preaching, Bible teaching and ministries founded upon and based on the scriptures is what builds a strong church.

[5:57] So this philosophy is permeating the church. It's got this strong social connection. That is, churches are offering something for everybody and they're keeping everybody happy and content.

[6:10] And to build this way, something had to be sacrificed. And that is straight Bible preaching, sound doctrine. And the result is the congregants, by and large, not every single one, but by and large, they're just biblically illiterate.

[6:30] As in, they don't know their Bibles. They're not being fed the Bible. They're not concentrating on the words of God. And they're having a great time. And so churches that way have fallen into no longer being an outlet for the gospel, no longer a training center for soldiers in the army of the Lord.

[6:50] But they've just become a place of fun, food, fellowship, and family activities. It sounds just like a rec center that any town or city would have and host and put on.

[7:03] And they've done this, which those things can be fine. I mean, everybody needs fellowship. Amen. Christians need food, too. I mean, it's good to get together. I'm for it. But not at the expense of the word of God.

[7:16] Not at the expense of putting away Bible teaching and preaching so that we can build an empire. And so churches that are seeking to minister in 2024, I don't believe you need to discover or reinvent anything.

[7:30] I think you just need to seek ye out of the book of the Lord. Lord, and read. And I believe we can adapt to the day that we live in. I believe we can attempt to be visible and attempt to be accessible.

[7:42] And we can attempt to be relevant in the world we live in. But we cannot afford to lose the book. And so while those men are preaching and preaching and preaching about getting back to the book, I want to take that as my title and say a few things and give you some reasons why the church itself needs to get back to the book.

[8:01] Or in our case, by the grace of God, that we would never, ever, ever leave the word of God, no matter what the supposed upside is being offered or might look like. So let's pray together and then let's cover a few things this evening.

[8:15] Lord, it's with humility and an intention here to exalt your word and to train up your people in the way that they should go.

[8:28] Lord, I pray that what comes out tonight would be fitting, that your spirit would bear witness to it and yield fruit from it. God, may this book become precious to us if it isn't already.

[8:41] May we understand the importance of never leaving this book, never desiring numbers over the truth. And God, I'm not looking to just stay in some little holy huddle and stay we got the truth.

[8:55] I really want to see the church here grow. I want to see people get excited for you and get built up in the faith and do something with what they've been taught. And so, Lord, I pray that this could be our foundation forever and that we wouldn't dismiss it, that we build our lives upon this rock.

[9:12] We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, would you go back to Psalm 119? I'm going to, you can keep your place in Psalm 119 tonight, although we will bounce around. We'll come back to it.

[9:24] So I want you to look at Psalm 119 and verse number 130. And the first thing, our reason I want to say that we cannot leave the word of God or that the church needs to get back to the book is because this book is our source of understanding.

[9:43] In verse number 130, the Bible says, The entrance of thy words giveth light. It giveth understanding to the simple.

[9:54] Now, some of the things are going to be pretty elementary to you to hear. But you got to understand that is what we need, is to stay with basics and stay with where we get our understanding from.

[10:08] Without understanding, in this verse, what are we? We're simple. We're ignorant. We know nothing. We're open for deception.

[10:20] If you leave the word of God, you're opening yourself up for deception. But if you enter the words of God into this ministry and into yourself, it giveth understanding to the simple.

[10:33] In a few ways, briefly, the Bible says in 2 Timothy 3.15 that the Holy Scriptures are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

[10:43] It's because of the Holy Scriptures that every single one of us have had our eyes open to the Lord Jesus Christ dying on a cross and making a payment on behalf of our sins to the Father.

[10:57] You don't know anything about that without your Bible. You don't know anything about it. Somebody else told you? Well, they got a Bible. That's how they told you. Other than this book, you're simple.

[11:08] Concerning your salvation, you don't know a thing. And so let's just remove the Bible and what does man come up with for salvation or for anything? For what does he come up with?

[11:21] We'll get to that in a minute, but there's nothing there. It's void. It's an empty hole without the word of God. It is our source for understanding. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

[11:34] Your faith is grown in proportion to what book and Bible you have inside of you. If you have little Bible, I guarantee you, you have very little faith to walk in the Christian life.

[11:47] You're pretty carnal. You just make judgment based on what you see and what you hear. But when the word of God gets in, your faith grows. You believe the book and then it gives you understanding.

[11:58] In Hebrews 11, through faith, we understand. And so you can't have understanding without the word of God. You're in 119.

[12:10] Look at 97. And let's read this short portion. 97 through 104. Considering that it is our source of understanding.

[12:23] Oh, how I love thy law. It is my meditation all the days. Thou, through thy commandments, hast made me wiser than mine enemies, for they are ever with me.

[12:34] I have more understanding than all my teachers, for thy testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts.

[12:45] I have refrained my feet from every evil way that I might keep thy word. I have not departed from thy judgments, for thou hast taught me. How sweet are thy words unto my taste, yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth.

[12:57] Through thy precepts I get understanding. Therefore, I hate every false way. Now, when I've read that before, I've thought, I don't have more understanding than my teachers.

[13:10] Like my Bible teachers, or, you know, I'm thinking of Christians and influences in my life. But if I could look at it from a lost person's standpoint, or through a Christian in the world, a child, any product of public school, you could look at your teachers and the things, they don't know what they're talking about if they're trying to influence you.

[13:28] I was in a class with Robert today, and the teacher gave a little whine about the election and how sad they were about what took place over these elections.

[13:38] And I thought, no understanding. No understanding at all. No Bible. No understanding. Woe is me. Just cry about it.

[13:49] Anybody in that class that has a Bible has more understanding than their teachers. Amen. Amen. The Bible is our source for understanding. You can keep your place in the Psalms there, but go back to, go to 1 Corinthians with me in chapter number 2.

[14:06] Get into the Pauline epistle here. 1 Corinthians chapter 2. The Bible's our source.

[14:18] The source of our understanding. 1 Corinthians 2. And for time I won't read the passage, but I'll just, I'll start in verse 12.

[14:29] Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God, that we might know the things, know the things that are freely given to us of God, which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

[14:52] And so the Holy Ghost uses words, not the words of which man's wisdom teacheth, the words the Holy Ghost teacheth. Those are the things we speak, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

[15:08] So the Holy Ghost uses words to teach us spiritual things. That's why we need to get back to the Bible, because it is our source of understanding, of understanding spiritual things.

[15:21] Now to see this in the most, in the clearest sense, as I can give it, we have to consider the alternate. Consider what man believes apart from the Bible.

[15:32] Consider what life would look like if nobody ever had a copy of the scriptures. I'm not talking about you or your grandma. I mean, nobody. You look out at, you walk out the door and look up in the sky and you see these lights up there, and you look at me and I look at you, and what can we say?

[15:52] I don't know. I have no idea. Zero idea or concept of what that is and why that is. I don't get it.

[16:04] I look inwardly at the human anatomy. I look at the miracle of life. I have no words, no explanation, no understanding. And so what does man come up with?

[16:17] Well, we're here because we came from somebody, and they came from somebody, and they came from somebody, but we don't know how far back that goes. And so what do they come up with?

[16:31] Their best theory, you know what it is. Evolution. Evolution. A big bang must have taken place, and after that bang, and on and on, they've come up with their rhetoric.

[16:42] That's what man comes up with when he doesn't have understanding. But if he would seek out of the book of the Lord and read, just start at the beginning. Thank God.

[16:54] In the beginning, God created. It's right there. It's that close. It's that easy. So without the Bible, man comes up with nonsense, with unsatisfactory and unexplained theories.

[17:12] You could take 10,000 scientists and 10,000 physicians, and not one of them can satisfactorily explain why we're here and where we came from.

[17:23] So without the book, there's no understanding. Without the Bible, man is so lost and so confused and so ignorant, he needs to seek out of the book of the Lord.

[17:35] On top of that, Christians and the church without understanding, without the Bible, the church cannot produce a strong Christian. There is no way there's a strong Christian without this book.

[17:50] It doesn't happen. It will not happen. It never has happened. You've got to have this book to get strength in the inner man that can develop into anything or any kind of maturity or perfection of the saints.

[18:05] That's what the book needs to be. You can't have it without it. Without this Bible, the church or Christians have no assurance of salvation. You depart the Bible, you don't have assurance of your salvation.

[18:18] You don't have any certainty for what's right or wrong. You have no certainty or standard for truth, for absolute truth without a Bible. Everything that's true is verified by the Bible, not by science, not by laboratories, not by a council.

[18:36] So we Christians judge everything by the book the way God intended. That's why he gave it to us. We judge everything by the book like we're supposed to.

[18:46] If we walk away from the book, we're walking away from our only source of understanding. And then we're left with what? Our own understanding. And guess what the book says?

[18:58] Lean not into thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him. So without the word of God, we have no source of understanding.

[19:09] The church is leaving the word of God to build and to get bigger and to have more fun. And they're losing their source of understanding and then bringing in things that are not godly, but they don't have the understanding.

[19:23] They filled their platforms with rock bands. They don't have the understanding of why this is not godly. How this praise and worship is not being received by the Father because it's not worshiping him in spirit and in truth.

[19:37] And we could go down a line of how the new Bible is affected. It's all there without understanding. Something else I want you back in Psalm 119. And to the beginning of this psalm, in verse number 9.

[19:51] Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? That's a question. How's that possible? The answer is, by taking heed thereto according to thy word.

[20:07] So the Bible can clean your life up, can cleanse a young man's way. And so secondly, I want to say that this Bible is the source of our sanctification.

[20:17] Christ said in praying to the Father, sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. The agent of our sanctification, that is not our sanctification in Christ.

[20:32] Your position in Jesus Christ is you are sanctified. You're in him. You're justified. Your sins are forgiven. That's your position. But when you got saved, your soul is saved for eternity.

[20:45] That's fixed. What did not change completely, or very little if any, is your life. Is how you live your life. Your walk. And so we'll call that, we call that your positional sanctification.

[21:00] And this is called your progressive. As in your day-to-day, your walk. Salvation. What needs to get cleaned up? Your words. Your thoughts. Your friends. The things you participate in.

[21:12] The way you act or react and respond. And like, you got so much carnality and worldliness and flesh in you. And that needs to be put down and put off. And that's a process.

[21:22] That's growing and maturing. And where are you going to get evidence? And where are you going to get understanding? Where are you going to get guidelines and instruction and direction to know how to do this?

[21:34] Bingo! If you get back to the Bible, it's our source of sanctification. Let's stay here again, but I want to take you back to Paul.

[21:45] And I want you to find Ephesians chapter 5. Ephesians chapter 5. The Bible is our source. The source of our sanctification.

[22:00] Ephesians chapter 5. And again, to see this in its clearest sense, I want you to consider what you are without the word of God.

[22:12] If there is no book. But before we get to that, Ephesians 5 and look at verse 25. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church.

[22:22] And what did he do? He gave himself for it. Why did he do that? 26. That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word.

[22:36] That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing. But that it should be holy and without blemish.

[22:47] So that's what Christ did. He gave himself for that church that he could sanctify and cleanse it. How? With the word of God. He wants it to be holy and without blemish.

[22:59] That book can sanctify. If we walk away from the word of God, that is the source of our sanctification. We're left to our own devices. We're left to believe what he believes or she believes or what the world says is right or what our society leans.

[23:15] We need a standard. We need the book. Now let's consider what you are without that book. Come back to chapter 2. Again, just like before, it's the source of our understanding.

[23:28] What do we understand without the word of God? A whole lot of nothing. Man believes in evolution and reincarnation. When they see things in the world happening on people, they say that's karma. The universe is getting them back.

[23:41] They don't know what they're talking about. Well, the same thing is true of their sanctification without the word of God. Let's consider what you are without this book. Verse number 1, chapter 2. And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world.

[24:02] And you didn't know it. According to the prince of the power of the air. Didn't know that either. The spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath even as others.

[24:21] And we were just completely blind and clueless and dead in those sins. No way of cleansing ourselves. No understanding of what clean and dirty was.

[24:33] Let's look at Ephesians 4 and verse 22. Considering what you are apart from the Bible.

[24:45] Verse 22. And that you put off concerning the former conversation, the old man, which is corrupt, according to the deceitful lusts. And as this passage carries forward, just plucking out the mentions of that old man and what you are without the Bible, without a cleansing, which you are.

[25:05] There's 25, lying, put away lying. You're a liar. In verse 26, you're sinful. You can't be angry without sinning.

[25:16] That's work of a new man, to be angry and sin not. There's wrath. There's giving place to the devil. There's stealing in verse 28. There's corrupt communication in verse 29.

[25:29] Grieving the Holy Spirit. Verse 31. Bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, evil speaking, malice. These are all trademarks of who you are and the things that God wants to get out of you.

[25:41] And he wants to put off. And you better get that sanctification source and have it close at hand. And look at Philippians chapter 2 while you're close by.

[25:53] In Ephesians, just a short list of those things that need to be cleansed out of your heart and out of your mind with the word of God.

[26:04] Christ said that he might sanctify it and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word. There's a lot of garbage and filth that needs to come out. Philippians chapter 2, verses 3 through 5.

[26:17] Let's start here. Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory, but in lowliness of mind. Now, what I'm pointing out here is some teachings and some commands which are actually training us and trying to change us.

[26:31] This is the process of sanctification by the word of God. Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory. So let's stop that. But in lowliness of mind, let each, that's individuals, esteem other better than themselves.

[26:46] Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. And he's going to go on with the explanation of how Christ wasn't thinking about himself.

[26:59] He was thinking about you and how he humbled himself and became obedient unto death. Verse number 13, 14, verse 14. Do all things without murmurings and disputings, that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation.

[27:19] I feel I'm pretty confident I'm not the only person in here who has been rebuked by that verse. Do all things without murmurings and disputings.

[27:31] You know what that is? That's the word of God trying to sanctify the sinner inside of me and get it out of me. And open my eyes to my murmurings or to my strife or to my vain glory.

[27:45] And learn how to start looking on other people's needs and esteeming their needs. And start to love and to care for them. And stop thinking about myself. And so the word of God has to teach me to do this.

[27:58] Without this book, I'm a filthy, filthy man. Filthy. And so are you. There's not much in you besides nothing that's good.

[28:13] There is no good thing. You need to be sanctified. The world has people that they believe to be moral. They believe to be good people because they don't commit crimes and they pay their taxes.

[28:29] And so they're good people, they suppose. And they feel like they're okay. But if they get a Bible and if they'd seek ye out of the book of the Lord and read, they'd find out that what they think of themselves, and even maybe sometimes what we think of them, is not at all what God thinks of them.

[28:46] And when God says that their heart is desperately wicked, he means it. And when God says that they're altogether an unclean thing, that's what he sees in the good people in this world.

[28:57] And he says they're enemies. And they had to be reconciled to me by the death of his son. Or they're still enemies. And they're corrupt. And their throat's an open sepulcher.

[29:08] That's the stuff God sees. And so men, women, we need to be sanctified. And if the church leaves the word of God, they're leaving the only source of sanctification.

[29:22] And the fruit is in the pudding. There's a better way of saying that. The proof's in the pudding. The fruit's in the pudding. Who knows? The fruit's in the churches that are out there. God, help us not to let it be in here, to where sanctification goes out the door, because the Bible went out the door for sake of numbers.

[29:40] Now, back in Psalm 119, I want to read a couple verses this time. And thirdly, this is finally, I want to say that the Bible is our source, or the source of our stability.

[29:54] Of our stability. And in more than one way, our spiritually speaking gives us strength and fortitude. And yet, mentally and emotionally, it gives us a sound mind and a sober mind.

[30:09] The word of God does that. Now, let's look at a few verses here from somebody who's been through some stuff. I'm not going to read them all. There's so many I was finding. And I'll just start in verse 23.

[30:22] Princes also did sit and speak against me, but thy servant did meditate in thy statutes. Princes coming after you, like powerful men coming after you.

[30:35] And what do you do? Get into the book. Meditate on thy statutes. How's that? Because it's giving him strength. It's helping him to trust God. It's helping him not to get afraid and not to mess up.

[30:48] Look at verse 28. My soul melteth for heaviness. That can't feel good. Strengthen thou me according unto thy word.

[31:01] Look at the section starting in verse 49 through 56. Remember the word unto thy servant upon which thou hast caused me to hope. This is my comfort in my affliction.

[31:14] For thy word hath quickened me. The proud have had me greatly in derision. Yet have I not declined from thy law. I remembered thy judgments of old, O Lord, and have comforted myself.

[31:27] Horror hath taken hold upon me because of the wicked that forsake thy law. Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage. I have remembered thy name, O Lord, in the night and have kept thy law.

[31:38] Well, this I had because I kept thy precepts. Look at number 92. Verse 92. Unless thy law had been my delights, I should then have perished in mine affliction.

[31:56] I could go on and on. You understand that. But it's the word of God that is a source, our source, or the source of our stability. The Bible says a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.

[32:10] Yet the word of God is a source of stability. And again, to look at it like this, to see it, what I believe in the clearest sense, let's consider what you don't have if you don't have the Bible.

[32:21] To see this in its clearest sense, for stability's sake, one thing you don't have is the promises of God. Without this Bible, you don't have any promise from God that you can hold on to, that you can quote and affirm in your heart.

[32:39] And when sometimes there's nothing else going right in your world, you can hold on to that one we just sang about in Romans 8.28. Without the Bible, you got nothing.

[32:51] You have nothing at all. You have no hope of a better day. You have no comfort available to you. You have no understanding that Jesus Christ will never leave you, nor forsake you.

[33:04] You don't know that when mother and father forsake me, the Lord will lift me up. You don't know that. You don't have that. You don't have Jesus Christ telling in the world, you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer.

[33:16] I have overcome the world. Nope. Don't have it. I just know that in the world I'll have tribulation, but no promise, no connection to good cheer.

[33:27] This Bible is what keeps you and I grounded. It keeps us sober and stable in this world. Look back at, you can lose your place in the Psalms now and go to Philippians.

[33:40] This will be the last passage we look at here. Philippians chapter 4. And here's three distinct promises just in this passage alone.

[34:00] And I'll start in verse 6 with 6 and 7. Be careful for nothing. It's a reference to being filled with care, full of care. like, was it, which one was it that was Mary or Martha?

[34:16] That was cumbered about with much. Martha? I might be thinking about a different phrase. Anyway, somebody being full of care, that's not it. Okay, forget it. Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known unto God.

[34:35] And then comes the promise. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

[34:46] That's a promise. That's a pledge from God that he'll give peace inside of your heart. That'll keep your heart. That is, it'll protect your heart and your mind from all the cares of this life and the tragedy.

[35:00] The peace of God, nobody can explain it. It's, can't even understand it. But there's a promise. Now moving a little bit further, look at verse 13.

[35:13] You know this one. I can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me. This Bible is the source of our stability. And that one has to do with being abased, abounding, being hungry, suffering need.

[35:30] no matter what comes in this life, I can handle it and I can do right through Christ, which strengtheneth me. That's a promise. Another one's in verse 19, but my God shall supply all your need according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus.

[35:48] This is given to a people that have given and they've, they've communicated in giving in verse 15. 15. And so they didn't hold, they weren't stingy or withhold.

[36:01] They gave out and it's called a sacrifice, acceptable, well-pleasing to God in verse 18. And because they were givers, the promise abounds that God will supply all their needs.

[36:14] Praise the Lord for some promises, but without the Bible, when things start to go wrong, you don't have any, anything to grab a hold of. You don't have any stability. You don't have a sound mind.

[36:25] You're going to fret and fear and go crazy. You're going to lose sleep. You're going to lose your appetite. You're going to complain. You're going to call a friend, but they can't help you. You need that book.

[36:39] When people get into the worst cases in life, Christians that know how to go to the Bible, that's when they find the greatest source of strength and stability from the Bible.

[36:51] I remember hearing a pastor talk about going through treatments for cancer and talk about that the word of God was never so sweet to him than when he was at his lowest times and lowest days in life, not knowing if he'd live to see another week, not knowing if he'd get to see his kids grow up and get married.

[37:09] He said the word of God was my stability and my strength. So if you've got problems, you need something that can keep you stable and keep you secure and give you hope and give you endurance.

[37:25] So seek ye out of the book of the Lord and read. Without that Bible, you're up, you're left to your own ability, which is limited, and you can't overcome anything.

[37:36] And men, you can change a flat tire, but you can't get cancer out of your wife's body when that day comes. You're powerless and you'll find out somewhere along the road just how powerless you are.

[37:48] You better find something that can give you that strength and keep you stable and keep you strong in those hard, trying times of life. You better get back to the Bible because if we go away, what do we have?

[38:04] Remember what Peter said to Christ in John chapter 6? To whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. We better get back to the Bible.

[38:16] If the church departs from the Bible, what are they taking in? What are they substituting for place of the Bible? I've already referenced the deception that's coming in, the lack of understanding.

[38:30] There's no stability. There's no strength. There's no strong Christians going to be born out of that. The church can't afford to depart from the Bible. If a Christian departs from the Bible, what are they taking in?

[38:43] What are they substituting for it? Used to read the Bible every day? You used to have a relationship with God and the Bible? Used to walk in that book regularly and then you stop doing it? Well, what took its place?

[38:55] Something else took its place. And it's not going to end well. Kids grow up in church. They become of age. They leave the book and then swallow the world.

[39:09] And what they get, they leave the source of their understanding. They leave the source of their sanctification and become filthy and defiled. And they leave the source of their stability.

[39:20] And I've seen it and it continues to go on to where their lives are a wreck. Searching for fun. Searching for friends. Searching for something else. When it's right there in the book.

[39:35] If we would just believe that. If we would believe from what God's word said at the very beginning, seek ye out of the book of the Lord and read. I've already commanded it. It's in the book. Just go seek, go find it in there.

[39:47] Go get it out. I've already put it in there. It's likened to treasure. It's likened to the spoils, great spoils in that book if you'll go looking for it.

[39:59] And so for whether the church is leaving the book or whether it's you and I that need to stay with the book, maybe tonight this can challenge you just to renew your own relationship with God and your fellowship with Him in the word of God.

[40:14] I'll challenge you tonight, don't make decisions without consulting God in His word. And if you've put it down, you've probably picked something else up. And it's starting to take toll on you.

[40:28] It's starting to show in your spirit or in your life. And it may not even be a bad thing, but it's not the book. You can't replace this book. So I hope that helps you.

[40:40] I hope it's a challenge to you. And I hope at the same time you can rely and recall that this is the source of our stability. Without it, we fall. You fall. I fall.

[40:52] So let's never depart from the book. Amen. Fathers, we dismiss. I want to thank you for this Holy Bible. It is more than we've ever asked for. It's more than we understand and know.

[41:04] But we're thankful that we have it. I pray that you'll strengthen each one of us through it. Give us a drive and desire from the youngest to the oldest to find something new.

[41:15] To get the strength and the stability and that sound and sober mind to cling to its promises and truths. Lord, please give us understanding as those words enter through our eyes.

[41:30] And please fill our heart and clean us up. Oh God, clean us up. Clean out our minds from the corruption that's in them. Wash us each morning with the word of God.

[41:43] I want to thank you that we have it. Now God, may we not take it for granted and may we not neglect it. And may you do a work inside of us through it. And I pray that you'll strengthen us in this church as we stay true to this book.

[41:57]  We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. You are dismissed tonight.