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[0:00] Thank you for choosing to listen to today's message by Rev. Dr. David Entry. We know you will be blessed as you seek and serve God. We believe that this message will stir up a desire for more of God even as you listen.

[0:14] Be blessed. Well, from the title you can tell, how do you study or how to study the Bible? How to study your Bible? How do you study your Bible?

[0:25] The Bible is a very important aspect of spiritual life or Christian life. You can never be a Christian without the Bible.

[0:37] Any great thing you see God doing with anybody on earth is a function of the Bible. I can thankfully say that I am a product of this book.

[0:51] Hallelujah. So, yeah. Caris Church, we are a product of this book. Many great, great, great, great churches, organizations, and even countries and cities and families are a product of this book.

[1:08] When it comes to the Bible or Christianity, there are doctrines, teachings of Christianity. Christianity has everything to do with teachings and doctrines.

[1:19] So, they are inspired by the Holy Spirit. So, your doctrine and your teaching will determine the quality of your life and actually determine the outcome of your destiny.

[1:31] All right. Doctrine matters. So, Paul kept warning the pastor, Timothy, that make sure you give yourself to sound doctrine and shun people who are not given to sound doctrine.

[1:44] The only place where we are categorically instructed by scripture to cease relationship and fellowship with others, other believers, is when they compromise in the area of doctrine.

[1:58] So, doctrine and teaching is important. Somewhere in Timothy, Paul said that in the latter times, I think 1 Timothy 3 from verse 1 or 4 from verse 1 or 2 Timothy 3, 4 and somewhere there.

[2:12] So, in the latter times, the Spirit expressly says that perilous times will come. Many people will depart from the truth and be given to doctrines taught by devils.

[2:24] I think it would be nice to see it. In the book of 1 Timothy 4, verse 1, it says that, Now, the Spirit speaks expressly that in the latter times, some shall depart from the faith, giving it to seducing spirits.

[2:40] And guess what? Doctrines of devils. Doctrines of devils. So, Satan and demons manage to teach doctrines.

[2:52] And it says, some, they're talking about, this psalm here is talking about some in the church. Will depart from the faith. Will deviate from the faith.

[3:03] Will swear from the faith. And let me use Elastichin's word. Will turn their back on the faith. A fist to me. They will turn their back.

[3:14] Turn away from God. Why? Because of doctrines taught by devils. Hallelujah. Very, very important. Because of doctrines taught by devils.

[3:28] Look at 2 Timothy 4. It says that, Preach the word. I charge thee, therefore, before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing in his kingdom.

[3:44] Preach the word. Be instant in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exalt with all long-suffering and doctrine. Pastor, whatever you are saying to the church members you are doing with church people and church life, make sure it is with long-suffering and doctrine.

[4:04] Doctrine must underget everything we do. Our singing, our music, our fellowship, our giving, our relationships, our praying. It must be underpinned and undergetted by doctrine.

[4:18] So, that means that doctrine is not something that, oh, as for me, I'm not giving to it all. Doctrine is not something that can be trivialized. Now, when we talk about doctrine in Christianity, there are essential doctrine and non-essential doctrines.

[4:35] When it comes to non-essential doctrines, we have love. For instance, if someone says that I do not eat meat or I do not eat salt because of my Christian and religious belief, these are non-essential doctrines and we show love.

[4:52] We show understanding. Some people say we worship only on Saturdays because Saturday is the Sabbath day for worship. This is non-essential doctrine.

[5:03] It does not define your salvation. All right. So, these are non-essential doctrines. Some people said, I don't believe in tongues. Others said, I do believe in tongues. Even some people said, we don't believe in miracles.

[5:14] Others said, we do believe in miracles. Some people say infant baptism, which is pedo-baptism. And others say, you know, a believer's baptism after you become a believer before you are baptized.

[5:27] Credo-baptism. Is it pedo-baptism or credo-baptism? These things are non-essential doctrines. Even though they matter and they are important and are taught by scripture, they are non-essential.

[5:41] When it comes to non-essentials, we can show love. But when it comes to the essential doctrines, I cannot have fellowship with someone who is flouting or who is, who differ with me when it comes to essential doctrines.

[5:58] For instance, what are some of the essential doctrines? That God is one. Three in one. Okay. God is one. That Jesus is the son of God, truly man and truly God.

[6:11] He came to die for us. Born of the Holy Spirit. Conceived of the Holy Spirit. Born like the Apostles. I believe in the Lord. I believe in God, the Father Almighty. Creator of heaven and earth.

[6:22] This is essential. If you don't believe God created heaven and earth, it's a problem with your Christianity. Creator of heaven and earth. And in Jesus Christ, his only son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy of the Holy Spirit.

[6:35] Born of the Virgin Mary. Suffered under Pontius Pilate. Was crucified. Died and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven.

[6:46] And he seated at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty. From thence, he shall come to judge the living and the death. I believe in the Holy Spirit. The Holy Universal Church.

[6:59] The communion. That's the fellowship. The communion of saints. What we are doing. And when there's no lockdown. Real fellowship. Okay. Is the communion of saints. The forgiveness of sins.

[7:11] The resurrection of the body and life everlasting. These things are cardinal essential doctrines of Christianity. But above all of them, if we are to rate the most essential doctrine of Christianity.

[7:24] Listen to this. The most essential. The heavyweight. The most critical doctrine of Christianity is the word of God. The Bible being the pure, infallible, inerrant word of God.

[7:40] Okay. The pure, infallible, inerrant word of God. Inerrant in its original. Okay. And it has the final authority on all subjects and matters it addresses.

[7:55] Okay. Now, that is essential doctrine. The most essential and critical of all Christian doctrines is the doctrine of the Bible being the word of God.

[8:06] The next of them is God. The doctrine of God. The doctrine about God. Who is God the Father? So, if you don't understand. If the Bible is not essential, the final.

[8:18] How can you even know this God we are talking about? Because the only way he reveals. All right. The main way he reveals himself personally to people is through the word of God.

[8:30] He cannot have a relationship with you outside of his word. So, everything, every other book, any religious book written, it is not the word of God.

[8:41] This is the only, the Bible is the only pure, infallible, authentic, inerrant word of God.

[8:53] And it does not, it is true in, on, in, on every matter it addresses. And it is the final authority. When it comes to the subject, it addresses. And the next is God.

[9:06] The Father God, the Son God, the Holy Spirit. God, eternal God exists in three persons. That is the doctrine of God. The Father Almighty who created the heavens and the earth. And he created us in his image.

[9:17] And the third most essential doctrine of Christianity is, is Jesus Christ, the Savior. Jesus Christ, the truly God, truly man.

[9:28] Okay. Truly God, truly man. Born of a Virgin Mary. Died a vicarious death for penal, penal substitutional death.

[9:38] Okay. So, a vicarious death. He died to, in our place, for forgiveness of sins, for our redemption, and for the atonement. Hallelujah. That's Jesus Christ.

[9:50] He was buried. He resurrected from the dead. He ascended into heaven. And he's seated at the right hand of the Father Almighty. From this, he will come back to judge the living and the dead.

[10:02] This is Christology. That is the third most essential and critical doctrine of Christianity. And then the fourth is our salvation.

[10:14] How we are saved. Soteriology. How we are saved. But coming back, I don't want to go too much, too far into that. Coming back to what I'm talking about. The Bible.

[10:25] So, the only way God can personally. There are other ways God reveals himself. But that's the general revelation of God. When you, according to Romans chapter 1, verse 19 and 20.

[10:35] It says, God's creation.

[11:06] It's depicting the existence of God. Your shoe tells us God exists. Hallelujah. Yes. Your dress.

[11:17] Your wig. I mean, yes. Your wig. It tells us God. Everything physical has the thumbprint or fingerprint of God.

[11:28] But that is that knowledge of God. Watch this. Knowing God through the general revelation is good enough to damn you, not to save you.

[11:38] It's good enough to condemn you, not to save you. The only way one can be saved is to know God by revelation through his word. Through his word.

[11:49] Everything has been promised. But God manifested his word through preaching. How can they call on him on whom they have not believed? How can they believe in whom they have not heard?

[12:01] How can they hear without a preacher? Okay. So the preacher is meant to speak the word of God.

[12:14] Revealing the word of God. It's called the gospel. Who Christ is from the text. From scriptures. And it takes that to be saved. So the general knowledge of God, the general revelation of God does not save.

[12:27] It's good enough to condemn. How does it condemn? It points to you that God exists and you never came towards him. You never accepted him. God exists.

[12:38] You cannot say God does not exist. You can never. Nobody can ever say, I did not know God exists. Even the more you try to do research and study science, the more you come to the realization that there is a God somewhere.

[12:54] So science, everything tells us there is a God. So why is it that people don't believe? Because they choose not to. Unbelief is a choice. They choose not to. And God said, well, this is what happens.

[13:08] When you die, if you don't accept God here, when you die, those who do not say your will be done on earth, when they die and they go to earth, God will say, your will be done.

[13:22] If we fail to say your will be done on earth, when we die, he will tell us your will be done after death. Your will be done. That's what you wanted. So you cannot, not one can claim, I didn't know God exists.

[13:36] Because as for the knowledge of God, Bible says that he is the light. John chapter one, I think verse nine. He is the light that lighteneth everyone who comes into the world. So once you are coming, there is a sense of Godness, deep, very deep.

[13:51] It has not got to do with nature or culture. It has to do with human sensibility. As once you become aware of yourself and aware of your environment and your surroundings, you become, you grow into awareness.

[14:06] One of the things that you begin to realize is that there is God. Because nature tells us there is God. Right back to what I'm talking about. So you need God's word in other to be saved.

[14:19] You need God's word. And the only way, as I said in that previous teaching, Hebrews chapter one, verse one, God, who in times past, in various ways, diverse ways.

[14:30] So in times past, God revealed himself in various ways. Theologians call it dispensational revelations. So there are different dispensations. Dispensation is like the government, how God related with his people at a certain point in time.

[14:47] So the way God is relating to humanity now is different from how he related to Adam and different from how he related between Adam and Abraham.

[14:57] And which is different from how he related to the people of Israel when after they have been redeemed from bondage, which is different from how it's relating to us.

[15:08] So we have the dispensation of law. We are in the church age. The dispensation of grace is dealing with us based on the dispensation, the governmental dispensation of grace.

[15:19] That is important. So in time past, in various ways. So there are different ways God dealt with humanity in the past. That is why there are things he said they should do, which now you can't do.

[15:31] Those days, the walls of Jericho came down and everybody in Jericho, apart from Rahab and the people, perished. Why? Because that's how God was dealing with them against the Gentiles. But now God does not wish that any should perish.

[15:43] And God does not deal with anybody like that because Christ has come and the curtain has been opened into the holies of holies. So God deals with us in dispensations.

[15:57] All right. So Hebrews chapter one, verse one says that in times past, God dealt with our fathers or spoke to our fathers in various ways by the prophets.

[16:07] But now in these days has spoken to us in these last days has spoken to us by his son, Jesus Christ. So who is appointed heir of all things.

[16:18] So he's speaking to us by Jesus Christ. And I mentioned in the previous teaching that God is a speaking God. He's always speaking. The only way God can be revealed is through his speaking.

[16:28] Once if God does not speak, he remains a mystery. God remains a mystery in the absence of his speaking. When he speaks, he gets revealed.

[16:39] When he speaks, that's very important. God gets revealed through his speaking. And this is the speaking, the revelation of God through ways to us. So the Bible is important.

[16:52] Now, I also want you, I want to underscore a point here before we go further in. Number one, the word Bible is translated from the Greek, Greek Biblia.

[17:07] Okay. Biblios, that's singular. Biblia, plural. Very important. So the Bible, the word Bible was not translated from Biblios, but was translated from Biblia.

[17:19] Bible is a collection of books. In other words, it's a library. It's a library of 66 books. That's the Bible. The Bible is not just, let's say, a book per se.

[17:32] It is a collection of 66 books with various authors, different authors who lived, some of whom lived, who lived about a thousand years apart or 1,400 years apart from the other.

[17:50] Different backgrounds, different geographical locations, different people. Some were kings, some were slaves, some were prisoners, some were fathers, some were merchants, some were poets, some were songwriters, some were batlers.

[18:13] Different, different people got used, but yet they all spoke one language. So the point I want to make here is that the Bible is a collection of books. Very important.

[18:25] So, for instance, I would say, let's look at the book of Timothy, the book of Jeremiah, the book of Isaiah, because it's a book. Okay. Now, the next point I want us to underscore, understand, is this.

[18:41] That the Bible is the living word of God. Okay. The Bible is the living word of God.

[18:52] In 1 Peter 1, verse 23, he said, We are born again by the incorruptible seed of God's word, which is living. So the word is living.

[19:03] It has life. It's alive. Okay. That is why every pastor and every preacher must let the Bible do speaking. But when we allow the Bible to speak, it's only the words from God that has life.

[19:17] Other words don't have life. It's this word. The word of God is living. The word of God is living. In Hebrews chapter 4, verse 12, it says that the word of God is living and is sharper than any two-edged sword.

[19:32] Yes. It said it's living. I think translation NIV is living and sharper than any two-edged sword. The word of God has life. It's living. It's living.

[19:42] It's the living word. But it's not only the living word. It's also the word of life. 1 John chapter 1, verse 1, it says that what we have seen from the beginning that we declare of the word which our hands are handled of the word of life.

[19:56] So the word is the word of life. In Philippians chapter 2, verse 16, it talks about the word being the word of life. It is the word of life.

[20:06] So in Ephesians chapter 1, verse 13, it also, I'm sorry, John chapter 6, verse 63. When the disciples, after Jesus preached a very powerful message, and the Bible says many of his disciples left him.

[20:23] And he asked the 12, are you also going to go? Verse 68, Peter said, to whom shall we go? You have got the words of life. The words of life. So the word of God is a living word, but it's not only living.

[20:37] It's also a word of life. It gives life wherever it gets to. That's the point. Wherever the word of God gets to, it gives life. You remember how Jesus said, I am the bread of life.

[20:50] Yeah, he said, I am the bread of life. And then another, John chapter 6, then he said, I am the living bread. There is a difference between the living bread and the bread of life. The bread of life is the bread that gives life.

[21:01] The living bread is the bread that is alive. He has legs. He has feet. Somebody puts it this way. The word of God is so living. I, when I go to it, I realize I don't read it.

[21:12] It rather reads me. The word of God reads me. The other time I said, is it Martin Luther who said, the word of God has hands. It grabs me. The word of God has eyes.

[21:23] It watches me. The word of God has feet. It runs after me. The word of God is living. So the word of God is living. That is why every one of us, every Christian must go to the word.

[21:37] Your pastor's word is not enough. The bishop's word is not enough. Other people, preacher's words are not enough. The words of the preachers and the words of the pastors are meant to drive you closer into the word of life.

[21:53] So we preach the word so that you, when you go to the actual source, you can have an understanding to navigate yourself through the word because the word is life.

[22:06] Hallelujah. So number one, the Bible is a library. Number two, the Bible is the word of God, which is the word of life and is the living word.

[22:18] Number three, I'm going to say something interesting. I'm going to throw in some heavy words. Okay. Now, Latin words. You know, sometimes I like to mention some of these words. If they are too heavy for your ears, just ignore it and then listen to what I'm going to say.

[22:33] All right. But remember, I mentioned it. Now, during the times of the Reformation, they came out with some words. Like I was saying at that time, they said things like sola fide, only faith, by faith alone.

[22:47] Sola gratia, by grace alone. Sola de gloria, to the glory of God alone. Solos Christos, that is through Christ alone. That's how salvation comes.

[22:58] And then one more, they add sola scriptura. Sola scriptura means the scriptures and only the scripture.

[23:11] Okay. The scriptures, so the Bible and the Bible only. The Bible. So, everything you need to know about God, everything, the authenticity of everything you need to know about God, comes from the Bible and the Bible only.

[23:28] Sola scriptura. That's very, very, very important. Okay. So, number one word I want you to notice is sola scriptura, which is the Bible and the Bible only.

[23:40] Geographic books, history books, they might all be good. Extra biblical information are all good. But, to know God salvifically, to know God truly for your salvation and for your deep relationship, it's the scripture and scripture alone.

[24:00] Other things might come in to support the scripture. Other things might come in to support the scripture. But, it's the, so that's why it says, whom we preach. Colossians chapter 1 verse 28.

[24:11] Whom we preach. Whom we preach. Whom we declare. Whom we proclaim. That's Christ. So, the preaching of God's word must be the preaching of Christ. The preaching of God's word must be not the preaching of money.

[24:23] Not the preaching of favor, breakthrough, prosperity. All those things are necessary and important and can be of God. However, the fundamental of all preaching is the preaching of Christ.

[24:38] The declaring of Christ. Who is the word? The preaching of the word of God. So, the angel told Peter, go and stand in the temple and tell the people this, the words of this life.

[24:49] The words of this life. Acts chapter 5 verse 20. Go and tell them. They need to hear the words of this life. So, it's a library and it's a living word.

[25:00] And guess what? The next point I want to make. These words, as I said. Yeah. Sola Scriptura. But they didn't only have Sola Scriptura.

[25:11] When it comes to the title I'm dealing with. Sola Scriptura. But we also have Tota Scriptura. Tota Scriptura. What is Tota Scriptura? Tota Scriptura means that the entire Bible.

[25:25] That is, the Old and the New Testament in its entirety was inspired. It's not like someone slept one day and then he said, I feel like writing something and just wrote by their own selves, from themselves.

[25:38] No. Bible says in 1 Peter, sorry, 2 Peter chapter 1, verse 21. Holy men of God were moved by the Holy Spirit. And in 2 Timothy chapter 3, verse 16, he said, all scripture, all scripture, paragrapha, all scripture.

[25:56] That's the Hebrew, sorry, the Greek. Paragrapa theonopsis. Paragrapa theonopsis. All scripture is God breathed. God breathed it out.

[26:07] All scripture. So, the scholars, the theologians, the Christian theologians came up with this word, with this phrase, total scriptura.

[26:19] So, all scripture, total scriptura. All scripture is given by God. It's very important. Don't let the devil, the devil's number one target is God's word. Guess what? When he came into the Garden of Eden, when the devil showed up, he showed up in human history.

[26:34] The first appearance of the devil, guess what, was to come and attack God's word. He said, did, has God really said? Has he indeed said? He questioned the integral, Kadaba.

[26:47] The devil always would love to question the integrity of God's word. When Jesus was baptized in Luke chapter 3 and Matthew chapter 3, Bible says the heaven was opened and a voice came from, the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily form like a dove from verse 21 of Luke chapter 3.

[27:04] And a voice came from heaven and said, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. And then Luke chapter 4, verse 2. Satan came to him and said to him, 2 and 3, that if you are the son of God, oh, by a word had just come to him that he is the son of God.

[27:18] Satan's favorite thing is to attack the word of God. That is why many people, unbelievers, oh, you can't take the Bible serious. You can't believe the Bible. That's Satan's language.

[27:29] They sound exactly like Satan. Exactly. You might not be Satan. You might not be intentional to sound like Satan. But actually, you are mimicking.

[27:41] You are just mimicking Satan. You are speaking on the behalf of Satan. Because Satan, his language is, ha, the word of God? No. No, don't believe this.

[27:51] God is lying. He can't. How can you tell me? How can you tell me this book? God, God. God writes it himself. How can you tell me this book came from God? How can you tell me it's a book of God? Most of the people, if the problem is many people who say they don't even believe the Bible have not actually taken their time to read the Bible.

[28:09] And number two, many people who actually believe the Bible actually also don't read the Bible, have not been reading the Bible. That is the purpose of this lesson. That's why we have to challenge people to go back to your word.

[28:22] Go back. Have a personal relationship with the Bible. Amen. So, total scriptura. So, we have solar scriptura. Total scriptura, which means the entirety of the Bible, both the old and the new, is inspired.

[28:37] And then we have the analogia scriptura. Analogia, that's a very important word. The analogy of scripture.

[28:48] Analogia scriptura. What does analogia scriptura mean? Analogia scriptura means that the Bible has harmony. Anything you see the Bible saying in Revelation or in 3rd John, it agrees with what is said in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus.

[29:06] Every aspect of the Bible is in, all the entire Bible is in total, perfect unity and harmony. In other words, the Bible speaks with one voice.

[29:17] Somebody say, but the Bible contradicts itself. Proof to be. Show me. Suppose when people say the Bible contradicts itself. I can even give you one scripture. In Proverbs chapter, I think, 26 verse 4 and 5.

[29:30] I hope it will be a blessing to you. Proverbs chapter 26 verse 4 and 5 says that. Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou be like unto him.

[29:42] Did you see that? Answer not a fool according to his folly. When you are answering a fool, don't answer him according to his folly. Look at the next verse. It will surprise you. Answer a fool according to his folly. Is that not a contradiction?

[29:53] It looks like the Bible is a contradiction. How can it say, answer not a fool? In Isaiah chapter 46, yeah, I think chapter 46 or so, it says that, or 54, somewhere there, it says that, I am the Lord who creates evil and good.

[30:08] Sometimes, if you don't understand, when you are reading the Bible, I will go into that in our next session, okay? The Bible has different genres, literary genres.

[30:19] So, some is Proverbs, some is history, some is letters, some are songs, some are narratives, okay? That's history.

[30:31] Some are apocalyptic. So, if you are not careful, you have to know what book you are reading. If you are reading a poem, you don't read a poem like you read history.

[30:44] So, for instance, Proverbs, the book of Proverbs is Proverbs. It's not promise. Some people will take Proverbs as promise, but it's not a book of promise. And when we say Proverbs, Proverbs means that something that is generally true, but doesn't mean it's always specifically true.

[31:02] So, a proverb is, for instance, more haste, less speed. That means that the more you are in a hurry, the more you may go slow. It's generally true, but it's not specifically always true.

[31:17] There are times you move faster, you're actually going fast. So, that's Proverbs for you. So, sometimes when you read a proverb, you must understand the context in which it's written. When it comes to interpretation, I might go into that and touch a bit more of that.

[31:32] But coming back to what I'm saying, they will tell you the Bible contradicts itself. The Bible is the analogy of Scripture. So, analogia scriptura. It speaks with one voice.

[31:44] There's no part of the Bible that contradicts any part of the Bible. It speaks with one word. And then the final word I want to mention, the final phrase. So, the first Latin phrase is sola scriptura.

[31:56] And second one, tota scriptura. Third one, analogia scriptura. Are you ready for the fourth one? That's quite a mouthful, okay? It is, it is, spiritualia, spiritualite examinatu.

[32:14] Spiritualia, spiritualite examinatu. Spiritualia, spiritualite examinatu.

[32:26] What is the meaning? Very important meaning. The meaning is, the Bible can only be understood by someone whose spirit is open to God with reverence.

[32:37] The Bible can only be understood. So, it's not everybody who understands. Oh, I read the Bible. I didn't get it. Yes. Because the Bible can only be understood. And I'll keep coming to some of these words, okay, in our teaching.

[32:47] The Bible can only be understood by somebody whose spirit is open to God with reverence. With awe. With reverence. I'm not coming to the Bible to come and find fault and challenge it.

[33:00] You won't find anything. You won't understand it. I'm coming to look for God. I'm coming. God, speak to me. I want God to speak to me. So, number one principle of studying your Bible, when you want to study the Bible, when you want to get grisps to the grips of the Bible, is to approach it, okay?

[33:20] Approach it with spiritualia, spiritualia, spiritualia, spiritualize, examinatu. Spiritualia, spiritualize, examinatu.

[33:31] Which is the only one. The Bible can only be understood by someone whose spirit is open to God with reverence. In other words, it takes spirituality to understand spiritual things.

[33:44] Like 1 Corinthians 2, verse 14 says. It takes spirituality to understand spiritual things. The Bible says that explaining 1 Corinthians 2 said, comparing spiritual with the spiritual.

[33:57] Spiritual things with the spiritual. So, spiritualia, spiritualite, examinatu. Spiritualia, spiritualite, examinatu. It's important. It's good to understand.

[34:08] These are Latin words that depict something. So, solar scriptura, total scriptura, analogia scriptura, and spiritualia, spiritualia, spiritualite, examinatu.

[34:23] These are important words to understand when it comes to approaching the scriptures and wanting to go further into the word of God. It's important. And so, the Bible is a library.

[34:38] The Bible is the living word. And now, the Bible needs to be understood. There's a certain approach to give to the Bible in order to appreciate it as the word of God. God delights for us to know him.

[34:50] Actually, it is the will of God and the delight of God. For us to know him. It is not enough to be a believer of the Bible. You must be a reader. There are people who say, I believe.

[35:01] But they are not reading. You see, if you misunderstand the Bible, it's almost putting you in the category of not believing. Because when you believe, what do you believe? The Bible says that these things are written that you will believe.

[35:15] So, these things are written that we believe. These things are written. John chapter 20, verse 29, 30, 31. These things are written that you will believe. So, you have to know what is written in order to believe.

[35:28] Don't just be a believer. Don't just be a Bible believer. Be a Bible believer who is a Bible reader. And as you become a Bible reader, you are reading the Bible and understanding the Bible with that principle.

[35:42] Spiritualia, spiritualia, spiritualites, examiner too. As you read the Bible with a spiritual approach, open-hearted reverence to God, guess what?

[35:54] You begin to get greater insights and get closer to God. Because they don't know that God shall be stronger. You have to know Him. You have to know. You can't afford not to know God.

[36:05] And the only way to know God, the main way to know God is not through just preaching. I will show you the value and importance of preaching. But it's actually a personal opening your eyes into God's Word.

[36:18] So then, if you don't read your Bible daily, I'm telling you, you are running at a deficit, at a loss. As a believer, it will affect the quality of your belief.

[36:29] Because the quality of your insight and understanding into Scripture is minimal. So, God always wants us to know Him through His Word.

[36:44] When you come to the Bible, one of the things you also have to understand is, this Bible was not written yesterday. So, you will not see the Bible talking about internet, talking about mobile phones, talking about telephones, talking about aeroplanes, helicopters.

[36:57] And, guess what, whatever, television. All right? The Bible won't talk about those things because they are foreign to the Bible.

[37:08] So, in other words, the Bible is actually foreign. It's alien to us. I will explain it. The things written in the Bible were written many years. We are talking about, some of it is about 3,000, 4,000 years ago.

[37:24] That is very remote from us. In a land that is from where I'm preaching. I'm reaching from United Kingdom, London. And Israel is thousands of miles away or kilometers away.

[37:38] Israel is very far from here. And the Bible was written somewhere that far. So, it's like it's so remote from me. The language, and then in a language, originally in an original language, originally in a language that is very foreign to me.

[37:54] So, it looks like the people are foreign. The customs are foreign. The geography of the Bible is foreign. The history of the Bible is foreign. The language of the Bible is foreign.

[38:04] And yet, I have to understand. I have to get closer to God through it. So, it requires a bit of work. And so, that means that to study your Bible, there must be principles guiding your studies of Bible.

[38:18] Because it is easy for people to, in theological circles, I've mentioned it before, it's called exegesis. To read into the text what you want the text to say. Whilst exegesis is to read out of the text, not add into it.

[38:32] You are just reading what the Bible is saying. That is exegesis. And a lot of people who are doing dishonest exegesis, they are reading what the Bible actually is not saying and just twisting words.

[38:45] And it's easy to make the Bible watch this. It can be kind of easy to make the Bible say what you want it to say. So, dishonest exegesis. Dishonest exegesis.

[38:58] There is something theologians call atomism. Atomism. Atomism is where, it is just like an atom. Atom. You pick a text. And, oh, you see, that's what it says.

[39:10] And then you run with it in spite of whatever any other thing will say. This is what I found in the Bible. But have you read it in light of other contexts? For instance, in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 29, it says that baptizing for the dead.

[39:23] Okay, the dead be baptized. Or baptizing for the dead. It doesn't mean someone dies and another person can be baptized on their behalf. So, you may see that and say, oh, yeah, that's what it says. Well, I can get my uncle, my grandfather who died, who wasn't born again, someone get baptized.

[39:38] No, no, that's not what it's saying. So, if you take it out of context, you are, that's what we call the atomism. You are atomizing the scripture, atomism. You are taking it out of context, make it stand alone something and run with it.

[39:54] And that is a dangerous precedent. You always have to read the Bible bearing in mind that it has a theme and somebody wrote it.

[40:06] So, it's called the author, the author of the Bible. There are two authors of the Bible. The first author is with small a, the main author is a capital A, which is God.

[40:17] So, God authored the word, his word, through human agents. Remember, 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 21. Holy men were carried by the Spirit of God. They were moved by the Spirit of God.

[40:29] So, the Bible was written by God through human instruments, through human agents for men. Okay? Like Jesus, God came in the form of a man to reach out to man.

[40:40] So, his word also was given to man through men. That is very important. So, when you hear people say, but this is some people who wrote it. King James is a crook and all that. Don't mind them. Don't mind them.

[40:51] Don't mind them. Let's just approach the word of God with integrity. So, as I said, people would pick, you pick a text and then run with it and say, no, that's it.

[41:02] No, you can't do that. If you read the scripture or atomizing, okay, if you do that, that kind of thing, what happens is that you are, if you read the scripture with atomism, what happens is that you are undermining the entirety of scripture.

[41:23] Because you can't take one and say, that is it. Meanwhile, the other scripture, the other scripture says something that is not necessarily the same. So, that means that this cannot mean, cannot mean what you are trying to run with.

[41:35] All right? So, that's why, that is why we had to understand the apologia scriptura. That means that the scripture is, the harmony of scripture, it speaks with one voice. So, if you are reading something and you are thinking, this is what he's saying, it's not what does, it can't mean that because it contradicts other ones.

[41:52] So, if this one is saying that, then that means this is not what the scripture is meaning. Reading within the context. I think this is very important. That's what people do. And they begin to take the scripture out of context and run with all kinds of things.

[42:04] So, it's important that every believer will lay hold of the scripture or come to grips with what the scripture is saying. You will not understand everything in a day.

[42:15] It takes time. According to Isaiah chapter 28, verse, I think, 8, 9, 10. It's a precept upon precept. Here a little, there a little. Precept upon precept.

[42:26] Precept upon precept. Gradually. As I said the other time, I heard that Washington, George Washington, former president of America, said that when you read the Bible, just gather as much as you can get.

[42:41] And the rest, you can't get it accepted by faith. Accepted by faith. But what happens is that, does that mean what you didn't understand doesn't have a meaning? Every word in the Bible has a meaning.

[42:53] May I say this before I continue to bring things to a close. Remember that the Bible may have 10,000 applications, but certainly only one meaning.

[43:03] Okay. So every verse of the Bible might have 10,000 applications. You can apply it in 10,000 ways, but certainly the meaning is one.

[43:16] So when the Bible says, for God so loved the world, what does it mean by that? It means exactly what it said. For God so loved the world. And nothing else. Nothing else.

[43:29] There are things, some things called allegorization of scripture. Oh, I, I, I, I, I, I, I reading scripture with analogy, trying to read deeper spiritual meaning more than, like I said the other time, I don't think I've said it yet on this platform.

[43:46] Where somebody was studying the Bible, was trying to study the Bible, and then he was reading a commentary, and in Songs of Solomon, chapter one, there's a place where he says that he puts his head, my beloved put his head in between my breasts.

[44:00] And the, the commentator said, the, in between my breasts, the breast means the old and the new Testament. And my beloved puts his head in between my breasts means he puts his head in between the old and the, come on, no, that's not what it means.

[44:12] It actually means he puts his, lay his head on my breast. So you are, when you are reading poetry or you are reading songs, read it like songs.

[44:23] Okay. It's not didactic or it's not instructive. It is songs. I'll go into that later. Um, but so we have to understand that the Bible can have 10,000 applications, but it's certainly every word, every, every verse of the Bible has one meaning.

[44:40] Um, let me just, I want to, I'll be ending very soon. Let me just mention to you as well that, um, grasping, how to grasp the word of God.

[44:52] Now, you see, if I hold the Bible with this, my finger, how easy is it for you to snatch it? For someone to snatch it from my hands. It's very easy.

[45:04] Very, very easy. Simple. All you have to do, you don't even have to snatch it. You have to just take it. Yeah. I'm holding it like this with one finger.

[45:15] You just take it. Okay. How about if I'm holding it with two fingers? It might be a bit easy, but it will be, it will not be as easy as when I'm holding one finger.

[45:28] What if I add three? I'm holding it with three fingers. Oh, okay. So it's a bit more difficult to snatch it from my hands when I'm holding it with three fingers than when I'm holding it with two.

[45:39] How about if I do, I hold it with four fingers? It is harder. And how about if I hold it with all my hand, my arm, my hand?

[45:50] Okay. I hold it with all fingers. That's even harder. Now, first finger is to, I'm just giving you ways how to come to grips with the word of God.

[46:01] Number one, you have to hear it. So that's, when you are hearing the word of God, it's like you're holding one finger. Okay. And then you have to read it. When you hear it and read it, it's like you're holding it with two fingers.

[46:13] Okay. You're holding it with two fingers. When you, and then, when you study it, there's a difference between reading the Bible and studying it. I will mention briefly how to read it and I'll mention how to study it.

[46:28] There's a difference between reading. So when you hear it, you're holding one finger. You read it, you're holding it with two fingers. You hear and read it. You hear, read and study it, you're holding it with three fingers.

[46:39] You hear, read, study and meditate or teach it, share it. You are holding it with four fingers. Hear, read, study, share and apply it.

[46:54] You are holding it with five fingers. Nobody can't try it. The devil cannot take it from you. Bible says that the enemy comes to steal the word. The enemy, Bible, Jesus told the parable of someone went to sow the seed.

[47:06] He said, therefore by the roadside are those who, when they heard the word, immediately the enemy comes to steal the word. Amen. So the devil loves to steal God's word from God's people.

[47:19] And so you have to be able to hold the family. How do you hold the family? By reading it, by hearing it, by reading it, by studying it, by sharing it and by applying it.

[47:29] Hallelujah. Or sharing it, I prefer using teaching it and then applying it. Hallelujah. So now quickly, what does it mean to hear the word? Romans 10, 17 said, faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God.

[47:41] Jesus said in John chapter 5, verse 24, that he who hears my words and believes will ask. If you hear my words and believe me, he said you have crossed from death to life just by hearing and believing.

[47:56] Okay. And then in Galatians chapter 3, verse 2, he says that the miracles and all the things you see, did you receive it by the hearing of faith? Galatians chapter 3, verse 2.

[48:08] This only would I learn of you. Receive ye the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith. Hearing is important. Verse 5, it says, but he therefore that ministers to you the Spirit and works miracles amongst you, does he doest he it by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith?

[48:31] So hearing, faith comes by hearing. Ephesians chapter 1, verse 13, it talks about how we are sealed with the Holy Spirit when we heard it. It says, and in whom also, in whom ye also trusted after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your servant.

[48:48] After ye heard. So hearing plays a role. When you hear God's word, it has what it does for you. And if I were you, now in fact, he is talking about hearing of the preaching. But hearing God's word is important.

[49:02] Now it is time for technology. You can have the Bible. Even on YouTube, you can be playing the Bible. On your phone, you can be playing the Bible. Sometimes it's good. You are driving.

[49:12] You are cooking. You are doing something. It's good to have the Bible. I do that a lot. Have the Bible playing in the background. It's more important so that I can be hearing. Sometimes consciously or unconsciously.

[49:24] Always hearing. Sometimes just play the same book over and over and over and over. This is how to lay hold on God's word. So hearing. Some people are asking, Pastor, how come you remember so many scriptures?

[49:36] Because I give myself to scriptures. It's important. All right. So studying the Bible. This is how to do it. Keep hearing. Number two, read it. You have to read it. Deuteronomy chapter 17 verse 9.

[49:51] Thank you, Jesus. Deuteronomy 17 verse 19. I have it open here. That will be faster for me.

[50:03] Thank you, Lord. Deuteronomy chapter 17 verse 19 says that, And it shall be with him. And he shall read therein all the days of his life.

[50:16] And that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, to keep all the ways of this law and these statues to do them. So he's talking about he shall read the word.

[50:29] He's talking about reading the word of God and making sure you are doing it. There is a blessing that comes with reading the word of God. Psalm 119 verse 148.

[50:40] My eyes prevent the midnight watches that I might meditate on your word. I will sleep because I want to open my eyes and read your word and meditate on your word.

[50:55] In 1 Timothy chapter 4 verse 13 to 15. Till I come, give attendance to what? Reading. To reading. Give attendance to reading. Give attention to reading.

[51:05] Brothers and sisters, give attention to reading. Till I come, give attendance to reading. To exhortation. To doctrine. You see, doctrine has appeared again.

[51:15] Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of hands of the prayer retreat. Meditate on these things.

[51:26] Give thyself holy to them, that thy prophecy may appear. The reason why a person is not profitable to God and in the things of God is because they are not giving themselves to reading and exhortation and doctrine.

[51:40] Give yourself to reading. Okay, so reading is a very important aspect of your Christian work and your, of our Christian work and our Christian life.

[51:51] In 2 Timothy 3 verse 15. And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures. What have you known? The holy scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation.

[52:02] The holy spirit, the holy scriptures will not, doesn't guarantee to make you prosperous. Doesn't guarantee to make you rich. Does it's not guaranteed to make you clever. It's guaranteed to make you wise.

[52:13] When you give yourself to the holy scriptures, it makes you wise. Psalm 119 verse 98. You have made me wiser than my instructors through your word. It takes the word to make you wise.

[52:24] Not clever. Wise. Wise to know how to handle your life. Your life. Now because of time, I will leave it now. And then in our next session, I'll take my time to speak on the tools you need for Bible studies.

[52:40] To read your Bible. How to go about reading your Bible. Then I'll come to the main thing about studying. What it takes to study. And how to have effective study.

[52:51] How to have proper, accurate interpretation of scripture. To be sound. In Jesus name. Amen. Amen. We thank God for using the servant Reverend Dr. David Entry to share this awesome word.

[53:04] If this message has blessed you in any way, please spread the word by sharing it and send us an email to amen at caris.org. Remember to stay connected with us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter for regular updates on what God is doing here at Caris Ministries.

[53:21]  Stay blessed. Amen. Amen.