The Origin of Scripture: Part 1

[0:00] Heavenly Father, we come before you today with our busy schedules tonight on this Wednesday evening. We ask that you are there with us as we open your word, as we study it, and as we apply it to our lives. We know that you are in the fine details of your word, just as you are there with us tonight, with us here tonight. We pray that we learn a little bit more about the nature, the purpose, and the power of your word. Your word is truth, your word is life, and there's just so much that we can learn together that it's just a great encouragement to be able to study the Word of God, to read the Word of God, and to ask questions together and just really go deeper in the Word. Be with us as we go through these set of verses. It's in Jesus' name that we pray together, and we all say together, amen. So I'd like to introduce you to our first Bible study together. So we have these little sheets as we're going over. I'm titling this, The Nature, The Purpose, and The Power of the Scriptures. And what we're going over tonight is we're going over the divine inspiration of the Word of God. We're learning about, we're going to go over 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 16, and we're going to go over 2 Peter. Now what will be very interesting about this is how, what does the Word of God have to say about divine inspiration and the role of the Holy Spirit? And so there's, what we'll be doing, I will be recording this, but it's just gonna be focused on me so you guys don't have to worry about that. And feel free to answer questions or you know, and we'll just go along with it. So the title of our series, yeah, we're gonna go through many verses. We're gonna start off with the origin of Scripture. We think about the

[2:09] Word of God. We have to consider how important Scripture is, how God has had His hand in Scripture. I love how, let's, let's turn together. We're gonna turn to 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 16, and it's gonna be, I have it on the screen here.

[2:31] It's gonna be page 1182. I'm just gonna delve right into it. So to start off, 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 16, it goes on, it says that all Scripture is breathed out by God, and it is profitable for teaching, it is for, reproof for correction, and for training in righteousness. And then it goes on in verse 17, that the man of God may be complete and equipped for every good work. And I love how Scripture is saying that all Scripture is breathed out by God. And that language is, it's very deep, it's very personal, that you're, you have this imagery of God breathing His life into the Scriptures, if you will. And I want to ask you guys, it's gonna, I'm gonna put it on here. What does the words divinely inspired, what does that mean to you? It's always interesting thinking about how we can answer that, right? When we think of God being divine, God being light, being life and truth, when He is breathing His breath of life into us, and breathing His breath of life into, into Scripture. When we look at that verse, we start off with all, right? The word all. And it's talking about everything in the

[4:10] Word of God. All of Scripture, not some of Scripture, not, you know, only certain portions of Scripture, we're talking the entirety of, of our Bible. It says all Scripture, and it literally is translated into the things that are written into the Word of God. When we think about the original Greek language, it's defined as talking about the things that are written in a document, or things that we would call Scripture, things that are written down. And I think about this word, this breathed out by God. It's significant because, you know, what's interesting is it is the only time in Scripture where you see that wording like that. There are different ways that this word's been translated, and I want to actually go ahead and show it to you on the screen here. You'll see that there's a pattern here, and the pattern is all Scripture is breathed out by God. You know, we use our, the ESV standard version, the English standard version. But it's interesting, you'll, you'll see the New International saying God breathed, the

[5:32] King James version, given by inspiration of God. The New American standard is talking about being inspired by God, and I think most translations are saying that it's inspired by God. Breathe out by God. I just love that wording of that.

[5:53] And the different translations, it's really just a matter of how you're ordering the words. The main idea, though, the main idea that's conveyed, it's the fact that the word of God is divinely inspired. And it's really also a matter of preference. Some people prefer reading God breathed or the inspired by God.

[6:17] And, you know, when we use our English standard Bibles, I think for me personally, I identify the most with being breathed out by God, and it's just, it's just beautiful language. And we have to think that when we think of the idea of inspiration by God, think of the imagery of God's hand being an intentionality, his life, right, his energy, if you will, being put into Scripture. And I just think about that, that how much love we have from God, that the word of God is ever lasting, and that it's always, it can be applied to us at any time in our life, whether we're children or whether we're adults, it helps us with our walk with the Lord. It helps us on our spiritual journey. And I find that the more we really take to heart this divine inspiration, we don't look at Scripture like we do, you know, everyday novels, right? When we think of, when I think of

[7:35] Barnes and Nobles, or I think of Borders, or even though Borders isn't around anymore, I think of Tom Clancy, or I think of, you know, certain best-selling authors, and certainly their good books. But are they divinely inspired? Was the hand of God in that? And so the more you think about how much God worked with the writers of Scripture, that's just beautiful when we're thinking about it.

[8:05] It's not just a work of humans. And I know sometimes people will think, well, the Bible is written by a bunch of people, and that's certainly true. But we're talking about God working with them, and that's that second point that will go into the role of the Holy Spirit in our Bibles, and how important that is. Because we don't, we believe that the Word of God is divinely inspired, and that it is unlike any other book that we have in any of our libraries. I mean, the Bible is the most printed book in all of history. I mean, sometimes you you see people, families who have more Bibles than they do members in their household, and there's nothing wrong with that. But I think there's something to say about how significant the Bible is. The Bible, we use it for wisdom, for insight, the story of redemption, the story of forgiveness, the story about Jesus Christ. We learn about the miracles that Jesus performed. We learn about the fulfillment of all of the prophecies. I mean, we could go on and on about all the prophecies that Jesus fulfilled, but it's something that, I mean, see Spot Run to the Tom Clancy books or whatever it is. Bible has something that's very different, and I think we always need to be reminded that the Word of God, that it is from God, it is a gift, and that's what I have in your notes here, that Scripture is a gift from God. God being the creator of the heavens and the earth. You know, if you're ever feeling down, go for a walk. Go out in nature. Look at the sun, listen to the birds as they're chirping, or go for a hike sometime. You know, when you go and you look at the forest, or you look at the fields, you look at all of the trees, I'm convinced that I don't think any of this was by chance. I really believe that God made all of this because of his love for us, and God made it all of it for his purpose, absolutely, but also for us to come to know who he is. You know, I found that in times where I'm sad, or in times where I'm very upset, if I go out into nature, and I put my phone away, and I don't think about, you know, the everyday stresses of life, just taking that deep breath of air, and looking at a sunrise or a sunset. I remember when I was in

[11:11] Hawaii, I would sometimes go for a drive right before the sunrise, I'd look out on the ocean, and I would think, so this was all by chance, right? I would think that there's no way this could have been made for nothing, you know? All of this had to have been made for a divine purpose, and you know, Scripture talks about how God is the Creator of the heavens and the earth, and then we think about how God made each and every one of us, every feature that we have, you know, the colors of our eyes, how many hairs we have on our head, and how many sands there are on the sea shore, I always think of that, the stars in the sky, but we also think, how do we come to know God? We come to know God through nature, but also through his word, and it's some good encouragement that we even have our Bible in our hands today. We have so many translations, as you can see, I mean, I don't know many people who use the NRSB, but whatever translation you prefer, as long as it's leading you towards Christ and it's leading you towards a deeper relationship with Him, that's really all that matters. I know there's some people that they're more focused on, oh, are you KJV, are you NASB, are you ESV, which one are you? At the end of the day, is it helping you in your walk with the Lord to get closer to Him? That's really, I mean, if you're, I know a lot of people like to say, oh, the message isn't a good translation, but at the end of the day, if you came to know the Lord through the message, then so be it.

[13:04] That's where you're at. It could change over time and certainly be encouraged to read the NIV or the KJV. So I want us to turn to, it's going to be 2nd Peter, 2nd Peter chapter 1 verse 21, it's going to be 1207. So it's 2nd Peter chapter 1 verse 21. So it goes on to say, for no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. And in this section in 2nd Peter, Peter is writing about the whole context of 2nd Peter is talking about false teachers, people who are infiltrating and influencing the early church. It's a reminder for us to be on the lookout for false teachers then as we do now. What

[14:23] Peter is talking about, he's talking about the prophecies of the Old Testament, that they were not just made up by men, but they were divinely inspired. They too were led by the Holy Spirit. The prophecies of the Old Testament were not produced by the will of man. So when we're reading the will of man, that's man's efforts, right? Man's efforts to make something. So he's saying that's not the case. Not by the will of man, but men who spoke from God as though they were carried by the Holy Spirit. And the idea is because the Bible is divinely inspired, it's not a book that can be made by man. We think of all of, in this context, the prophecies, the Holy Spirit would have had to guide them in the writing of

[15:27] Scripture. When we think of prophecy, sometimes you see people nowadays who say when the world is going to end. The year 2000, the world's going to end. The year 2012, the world's going to end. And we're still here. What we need to, when we think of nowadays, we don't know the time when Jesus Christ will come back. And one of the big things in Scripture is how we have to prepare for Christ's return. When we're looking at what Peter's saying is that somehow there might have been people who are thinking, oh, these Old Testament prophecies are just made up. And Peter's saying, no, these prophets were led by the Holy Spirit. So think about the connections in Scripture, the fulfillment of the prophecies that Jesus Christ did by him being born, by the miracles he performed, by feeding the hungry, by his crucifixion on the cross.

[16:34] One thing I can immediately think of is how the soldiers were casting lots with his garments on the cross. That was a fulfillment of a prophecy. And certainly we can go on on many, many of the prophecies that Christ fulfilled. But there's no way man could have come up with that. How could the prophets back then know about Jesus if it wasn't for the Holy Spirit, giving them that insight, giving them that inspiration, if you will, to write down to guide them in the writing of Scripture. And you're talking about a book that's been written over thousands of years. And think of, like I said, that connectedness to each other. Things that are in Psalms, are in the book of Matthew, or things that are in Nahum, are usually found in, you know, other wisdom literature.

[17:33] And it's all connected with each other. And that helps me personally with my walk. And I always tell people, I hope it helps with their walk. That they see that there is something special about Scripture. Because things being connected to one another, that's very interesting. It's not like any book I've ever read that can do that. I mean, they might reference one thing, but they don't reference nearly, nearly the things that are in there. So we have to think the interconnectedness of the Bible. That is something that we as Christians are to discover. Something that I find of great encouragement is that, you know, you read about artificial intelligence, or you read about atheists who are reading the

[18:34] Bible. But you know, some things that we find in Scripture are meant for the believer, the Christian, to discover. I didn't put this in your notes, but there are, there are verses that talk about how God will protect Scripture. It's part of the reason why we think that Scripture has lasted for so long. How it's been able, how is it we have copies of, you know, manuscripts over the centuries, and we're still able to pull from those manuscripts. To say something is done by the will of man, that would imply that the Bible is full of errors, because man is imperfect. So one thing you hear from non-believers, or you find from atheists, agnostics, or people who are critical of Christianity, is they'll say that, well, because it's written by man, man is imperfect, and therefore the Bible is imperfect. Well, if we believe that, and I believe, I hope you do as well, that the

[19:53] Bible is divinely inspired, then would it be imperfect? Well, I don't think so, because if you're being led by the Holy Spirit to write, to pen it, right, to write down the Word of God onto paper, if you will, just writing it down, I don't see how there would be error in that. And that's something we have to really kind of take to heart, that that's what Peter is addressing, is people are saying, if it's written by man, therefore it's incorrect, well, we're rejecting that. And I want to put this on the screen here. So I want to ask you, why do you think it was important for Peter to emphasize that prophecy wasn't just man-made, that it was divinely inspired? Why do you think Peter needed to do that? We think about the early church. It's very interesting that Peter is addressing this even back then, and we even deal with that now. People who are saying that, oh, well, isn't it just man? He's probably addressing it because it's been, well, a lot of times it's in Scripture, yes, because God wanted it to be in the Bible, but also because it had to have been a problem. A lot of people questioning the letters that were written, even people who were criticizing the Old Testament, even the old Jewish books, even. And so I think that's a good answer. Prophecy comes, it needs to come from God. I can't say it always comes from God. When we think nowadays, we have to always think about modern prophets and we'll go to the biblical prophecy. When you see someone who is, they say they're a prophet or they're prophesizing,

[22:10] Scripture always talks about the testing of the Spirit. And certainly, you know, throughout history there have been times where there have been false prophets or antichrists, if you will, who taught something that was contrary to what Scripture teaches. An example of this would be throughout history there have been people who have taught that Jesus is just a man. There have been others that have taught that Jesus was just God. Those are some of the great heresies that have been taught over the years, which are clearly false. You just have to go to Scripture to find that. But if you ever have someone who has a word from the Lord or they have something to prophesy on, make sure it aligns with Scripture.

[23:01] Because could I say that every single prophecy is invalid and we should ignore it? I wouldn't say that. I would say that, well, let's hear them out and let's make sure it aligns with Scripture. Are there times that someone makes a prophecy and it's completely false? Well, then we know the prophecy was incorrect. Are there times where a prophecy is fulfilled and it's fruitful and it's in line with Scripture? Absolutely. That is certainly possible. We just have to be very mindful when we're thinking of prophecy in the modern context. When we think about prophecy in a biblical sense, it reminds us even now that it's not about man's or human kind's agenda. It's not about their will or what we try to impose.

[23:59] If you think of, like I mentioned, the guy who's saying the world's going to end, they may have the heart, you know, making sure people are prepared for Jesus' second coming. Absolutely. But there are some things we can't force. We can't force the end times when they're going to happen. That's on God's timing. So we can't force man's agenda, will or intention. Certainly have the heart, but we just have to remember that. It's not just about the prophets writing silly ideas. That's what I put in here. It's the idea of being carried along and going back into that 2nd Peter passage. It says, no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man. So we went over that. Not man's agenda, not man's will. But men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. Think of the words that were spoken by the prophets and the words that were written in

[25:09] Scripture. And I want us to turn to, we're going to take a slight deviation here. We're going to turn to Psalm 119, 160. And you'll see why. Because I'm, it, the 2nd Peter passage is talking about men spoke from God as though they were carried from the Holy Spirit. The speaking and the written word, right? Because the word is talking about the words that were spoken from the prophets. So let's go ahead, I'm gonna go ahead and turn on there. Page 611 in here. So it's Psalm 119, verse 160. I love this verse. The sum of your word is truth. And every one of your righteous rules endure forever. It's talking about how the word of God, right?

[26:26] The Scripture is truth. And every one of, right, he's talking about the righteous rules. Contextually, it's talking about deliverance and salvation, right? A lot of Old Testament language in there. But it's the idea that it endures forever. I think that's very powerful. Because sometimes we think, well, what's gonna happen in the future? What's gonna happen with the Bible? Well, no matter what happens, even despite persecution, even from Emperor Nero, the word still carries on. And to me, that's just, that's encouraging, that's refreshing. The next one, I didn't put that in the slide either. First Peter chapter 1 verse 25. So we're going back to First Peter. And that's page 1204. So once again, First

[27:32] Peter chapter 1 verse 25. It says in here, but the word of the Lord remains forever. That's beautiful. This is the word. This is the good news that was preached to you. These are just two little side notes when we're talking about the prophecies, right? Of what the prophet spoke from God, also being written, right? Because the words that were spoken were written down in Scripture. They were carried along by the Holy Spirit. The word of God is timeless. It is ever lasting. It is divinely inspired. And we must remember that the Holy Spirit guided those writers. I find it of great encouragement that no matter how old or young, rich or poor, whoever you are, you can learn about who Jesus Christ is. You can learn about God. You can grow in your faith through Scripture. Now, I keep saying carried along, or some translations say driven along. Now those words are very interesting because we'll find a connection with Acts 27. We're not going to go there yet. I want you to think about this before we turn there. I want you to think about a boat that's on the water. It could be a lake, it could be a boat at sea, just any sort of vessel on the water, right? Well, let's think of a sailboat. It doesn't necessarily drive on its own. It needs the power of wind, or it needs to rely on the current, right? To go lead it where it needs to go, or it needs power on the little engine, right? To push them along the water. It must rely on these things to carry it along, and that is the language that's used in that 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 21, and also in Acts 27 verses 15 through 17. I'm going to put that up there. It's the idea of being a boat at sea. It's a very interesting connection. It's a reminder. This is how we have to think of the Old Testament prophets being carried by the Holy

[30:19] Spirit like a boat on the water. I just found this to be very, very interesting. It's on page so Acts 27 verse 15 through 17. It's on page 1115.

[30:42] Acts 27 verse 15 through 17. The ship was caught and could not face the wind. We gave way to it and were driven along. Running under the lee of a small island called Cara, we managed with difficulty to secure the ship's boat.

[31:07] After hoisting it up, they used supports to undergird the ship. Then, fearing that they would run around on the citrus, they lowered the gear and thus they were driven along. So they were, even though there's a storm going on, they were being led by the water. I brought this verse up in Acts to show you. There's that connection with the Holy Spirit guiding writers to be divinely inspired to write in the pages of Scripture just like treacherous waters or good waters leading a boat. Wind, water, power, whatever it is. There needs to be some sort of energy, some sort of power that is greater than the ship to lead it to where it needs to go. So it's this idea of being carried along or driven along as that Acts 27 passage is saying. The people on the boat were overpowered, right? If you think of the old and the New Testament, the waters that they had to deal with, right? The Mediterranean Sea. Just how powerful any storm can be. So it's something that's far greater and I tend to think when we're looking at this that it's kind of the overwhelming power, if you will, of the Holy Spirit to lead these writers to write what they need to do. And I'm like, that's, if you're looking at it compared to the strength of water on a boat, think of how overwhelming the Holy Spirit must be as if it were the water. So the Holy Spirit was that greater force that would guide the writers to write the prophecies, but also the writers of all of Scripture. That we have that that guidance from the

[33:12] Holy Spirit. That's where divine inspiration, that's how we get scriptures. That's why in that first point on your notes, the origin of scriptures, it comes from God by the guidance of the Holy Spirit to the writers to write down in the pages of Scripture. It's wild. It's absolutely when you think about it. I can't imagine having that overwhelming, the Holy Spirit being that overwhelming force coming upon me, but guiding me to fulfill what God has in store for my life or whatever, is to fulfill that purpose. It's just powerful language and it is a reminder for us of how involved the Holy Spirit was in the writings of this. So the next question I have on here, how does the tie-in with Acts 27, right, the the boat on the water, how does that help with our understanding of Second Peter?

[34:18] Yeah, yeah, when in preparing this, finding that connection I thought was very very interesting, because when you first look at it on the surface you just think oh, the Holy Spirit guided it. No big deal. And that's true, that's accurate, but there's more to it. That ties in very nicely when we're thinking about the context of all of Second Peter, that you have, you know, one of the things when you think about false prophets. I know there's a lot of pastors that love talking about, you know, who's false and who's right, who's wrong, but I think one way to simplistically look at it is, are you letting God or the Word of God mold you, or are you trying to do the opposite? If you think of the Garden of Eden, when the snake is saying you will be like God, right, trying to put man or humans as

[35:25] God when they're not, and trying to, that's why when you think of sin, right, it's you hear that language, oh, doing things on your own. Well, just as this passage when we're talking about acts, right, well they can't do it on their own.

[35:43] We can't fight against mother nature, right, the creation of God, right. Now certainly, yes, we can climb a mountain, yes, we can go in the depths of the sea, but how, we might be able to do that, but that's still pretty, pretty small compared to the power of an avalanche, or the power of a, you know, huge tidal wave, right, or in this context, they couldn't face the wind, right, just how powerful that storm must have been to where, to the point where they're like, all right, we're not gonna do this, right, we're not even gonna try, we're just gonna let, we're gonna go where we need to go, and then you think about kind of this overwhelm, and unfortunately, when you think of overwhelm, we always have that in a negative context, but I would think that'd be a very positive to have the overwhelming power of the Spirit come upon you to guide you in that direction, to to write scripture, and certainly, yes, it's talk, he's talking about the prophets, but I would go as far as to say that that's really any writer in scripture, because we believe that all scripture is breathed by God, so do you see how it's all tied in together? So that's, yeah, I think it's a good question to think about, that when we find connections like this, it's supposed to help strengthen, strengthen your faith, help you in your walk, I'm like, oh, you know, now, now I can see that the Holy Spirit is carrying them along, okay, leading them on, but to the degree where it's such an overwhelming force to lead me to write, I mean, think of, I mean, think of the Apostle Paul when he's in prison, I mean, that must have been the most comforting feeling to have been led by the Spirit to write down, it makes sense to me when people are going through crisis, or they're going through a challenge, a trial, a tribulation, and they're able to carry on, because they have God with them. And this leads us to a next question, you can answer this if you want, or think about it, it says, can you think of a time where you felt carried along by the Holy Spirit in your life, just as the prophets were when writing? Because something I think about is that you may not have felt the overwhelm to write scripture, but certainly there might have been a time in your life where you felt kind of this guidance by the Holy

[38:36] Spirit to speak to somebody, or to call a brother or sister in Christ up, something, and I kind of want you to think about that, feel that you can answer that if you want, or not, but I want you to think about that.

[38:52] Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, it's always interesting when Lord is calling you to speak to somebody, and at first you have, very often, it's like, I'm not sure why would I call that person, right? Or I don't know them, or you know, oh no Lord, I'm busy, but so often when we do that, it's like there's no way that could have been, that could have been you, right? That could have been me, like calling that.

[39:24] That was a kind of that divine intervention that God leading you, or that carrying along in that, and I think that it's definitely very important to be mindful of those moments when God calls you, and sometimes I would further add that sometimes you end up calling somebody and you don't realize they needed that phone call. I had that very recently, I called someone and just checking in, how are you doing? I really needed that phone call, like you have no idea, and I'm like, what? I had no intention, and it was, but through me at that moment, God was probably answering prayer, and sometimes we're aware of it, sometimes we're not aware of it, but it's just very, it's kind of one of my favorite verses in scripture is it's Habakkuk chapter 1 verse 5, which says that if you, paraphrasing this, if you only knew what was going on behind the scenes, you wouldn't believe it if I told you, but then he goes on and tells them, what tells Habakkuk what's going on behind the scenes, and it's basically, and you find that in scripture a lot, that things are happening even though we may not be aware of it, and that's something that's real today in the same way it was real back then, and it's something we, we should always remember those moments, share it as part of our testimony, or to testify on how God works in our life, and it's, it really shows just how responsive God is at the right moment, you know, like when you're talking about that, that man that you called, I do have been the right moment, you know, and it's sometimes hard when we think, oh well what if I didn't call him, right? That's hard, that's heavy, right? And so it's, it's definitely a, a good, a good question to think about. It seems to always happen, I mean, maybe your experience is different, but it seems to always happen at the worst time for us, right? When the Holy Spirit's nudging us and saying, hey I need you to do this, and like, now wait a minute, I gotta do this here, but it's in those moments where, okay you're running late, and now you have to, now you have to do something, and you're, it is that obedience, it's will you be obedient in this time, even when you're uncomfortable? And then certainly sometimes when you are comfortable, it's fine, but I would say more often than not, it definitely happens. I want to turn to 2nd Samuel, page 324, and this will be our last verse we're looking at for tonight, page 324. 2nd Samuel chapter 23 verse 2, I love this because it's in the Old Testament here, and how often do we find Holy Spirit verses in the Old Testament, right? So it says here, the

[43:06] Spirit of the Lord speaks by me, His word is on my tongue. Now I didn't know where to put that verse on here, but when we've been talking about the prophets of the Old Testament, the Spirit of the Lord, I'm like, wow, talking about the Holy Spirit, right, speaks by me, His word is on my tongue. So when we're talking about the carrying along in the writing, the carrying along in the speaking, knowing that the Holy Spirit was with, well, His word on my tongue, that's very powerful language, and I think, you know, when you read about the prophets who are, you know, they're speaking to the nation of Israel, or whoever it is they're speaking to, their word being on their tongue, knowing what to say and when to say it, and knowing what to write down as, you know, evidence of God working through the nation of Israel, throughout history and scripture, all of that is all tied together, and it's definitely something that, you see, it's all connected, and you know, as we study scripture, it is a good reminder, and this is on your key takeaways towards the end, is that recognizing that the Word of God is divinely inspired by God, that God is breathing onto scripture, right, just how we have the breath of life, if you will, so it's, God must have really good breath when you think about it, right, that He gives that breath of life to us in the same way He gives life to the Word, and the second key takeaway is the writers were being carried along by the Holy Spirit, I think that's very powerful language, the next time you read that passage, think about that, having that sense of like someone who's at sea being overwhelmed by a storm, that's how the writers were, and I just think, wow, that must have been an intimidating but very good feeling.

[45:33] Number three, like a boat at sea, we too are guided by God and His Word for our lives, you'll find that as you read and you study scripture, that very often you'll be moved to action, you'll be moved to make a decision for Christ, you'll be moved to share what you've learned with other people, and I think that's part of that overwhelm, it's in a different degree, right, in a different way, but it's something that that's a way that God can reach through to you, right, we call that nowadays conviction, right, or I was moved to do something, right, isn't it interesting, we say, oh God is convicting me to do something, it's almost as though you're being overwhelmed by the Lord to repent of your sin, right, or to talk to somebody, right, there's a tie in there, but yes, we're guided by the Lord and His Word for our lives, and then finally, despite being written over thousands of years, the Bible remains constant in our ever-changing world, and

[46:50] I put on there those those extra verses when we took a little bit of a slide, a side route for you on there, and we think of God and Scripture being our constant, right, you know, I know so many pastors that talk about how much culture is changing, I try not to talk a lot about how much the world's changing, but the encouragement is that no matter how much the world changes, no matter what legislation is passed, or what politician is elected, or you know, what technology is coming out, is that we have our confidence in God, we have our trust in that firm foundation, that which stands the test of time, compared to something that is fleeting, something that is vain, as Solomon says, right, something that fades away, and you know, a lot of these things are fads, right, maybe not, maybe they're not fads, but regardless, we still have that foundation in the Lord, and I think that in the Word of God and in our Lord, it gives me great confidence to know that no matter what changes come, you know, there comes a point where you're like, it doesn't surprise you anymore, but that's okay, you know what you believe in, you know what you stand for, and you have that foundation in your life, and it's just all, it's good knowing, I know where I'm going when I die, so with that, I want to take this time, if you have any thoughts or questions, or otherwise we'll go ahead and close out in prayer, but I want to give you time to ask any questions or any...

[48:52] Yeah, absolutely, yeah, that's, I think that's very, that's very good, I think that knowing that we have that constant in our lives, you know, I mean, how many, how many fashion trends and, you know, movements, social movements that have happened, I'm not saying all social movements are bad, but we have to be mindful, just like testing of the Spirit, be mindful of changes that happen in our lives, certainly there's some that are good, some that are great, I wouldn't say that's every one of them, but yes, having God is our constant as the giver of life, as someone that provides redemption and forgiveness, I think that's one thing I've learned a lot recently, is just how I feel that culture just doesn't forgive, I feel like it, maybe it used to, maybe more so, but I feel now if you do any wrong, it's, you're gone, you know, and I think that's, I've said this to a lot of people that, I think that's one of the greatest opportunities for Christians now, is to show them that there is forgiveness for sin or mistakes they have made, or the wrong that they've done with people, but see, God's always been that way, and if culture was like that, or is like that, or is not like that, it doesn't matter, because God's like that, and certainly we should show others that it's, there's another way, there's a path to life, so I really like how you showed that, right, we talk about the peace that surpasses all understanding, and it's something part of God being the constant, is knowing that he provides peace for us, you know, I joke around sometimes, I wonder why is it a lot of, and I can't say all, why is it a lot of people who are away from God, deconstructionists, or atheists, or people who've walked away, fallen away, or apostates, if you will, they're so angry, they're so filled with hatred, and with bitterness, yet you meet a man, or a woman of God, and there is a peace there, and

[51:43] I'm thinking, that's not a coincidence, like that is, there's something to that, like at first you think, is there a, the joke is, is there such thing as a peaceful atheist? Maybe, maybe there might be, but not, it's not common, or ones that have become like the Pharisees, I mean, people who have become legalistic in their practice, oh, you know, watching sermons, all men must shave their, their beards, well, Christ had long hair, I'm sure Christ had a beard, but yet you're treating it as though that is the key that'll lead to your salvation, and so it's, the closer you get to God, there's this sense of calm, one pastor I knew, used to always tell me that, and it's, it's controversial to say, is the closer you get to God, the simpler your life will be, but he would say, I don't mean easier, I mean simpler, and people are, how could you say that, you know, life is so complicated, he's like, is it though, is life complicated when you have God in your life, and I, I just remember like that impact that it had on me, I was thinking about that, I'm like, this pastor that I knew, him and his wife, lived some of the most peaceful lives I knew, and I'm thinking, compared to the one, the person that criticized this pastor, this guy's life was completely out of control,

[53:23] I'm thinking, huh, there's, I think there's some truth to what this pastor's saying here, but yeah, definitely there is peace that comes from God, and when we get overwhelmed in the wrong way, we get overwhelmed by culture in those troubling waters, I like to use the language of the fog of culture, but if we do get overwhelmed, and rather be overwhelmed by the spirit to lead me, then the confusion of culture, the stormy waters of, of society, and just all of that, because it's just, man, think of, we can always think about Peter, right, how he was sinking in that storm, right, and how often we're probably like that, we're we're sinking right in the storm, right, and Jesus pulling us out of the water, right, but it's, yeah, exactly, and I think that's probably a way to explain it to people that God will carry you through, no matter what happens, I mean, that, talk about a, a message of hope for people who are suffering, people that are struggling, that God will carry you through, I think that's very beautiful language, and certainly it's, it's very true to feel that sense of drowning, right, you're very welcome, this next week we're going to do the titles and the names of scripture, so the word, the word of God, the word of Christ, the word of truth, the holy scriptures, and the oracles of God, so we'll be going over that and there's a lot of really good ones on there, so that'll be next week, and then one after that, the nature of the scriptures, pure, true, perfect, and sure, living and active, so it's, that's why I said it's a Bible study on the Bible, so definitely going over that, so absolutely, absolutely, well, let's go ahead and take our time and close up and we'll pray together. Father, we thank you for your word, we thank you that you have loved us so much, that you sent your Son Jesus Christ, who fulfilled the prophecy, who lived, performed miracles, his, his death, his burial, and resurrection, all supernatural events that are not easily explained by the common person, but you know what you're doing, you have breathed life into each and every one of us, and you have breathed into your word, you overwhelmed, you carried along the writers of scripture, to write every word, every sentence into scripture that we have today, and yes, it took a long time to gather the Bible that we have today, but we are privileged, we are blessed to have your word in our hands, in our phones, and on our shelves sometimes, at times, we're just so grateful that you are that constant, you are everlasting to everlasting, you are, you redeem us, you restore us, and you sustain us, you hold us together, and we're so grateful for that. Be with us as we go from this place, and we're in the middle of the week, and we have a few more days for Sunday, we pray for everyone in our congregation, our friends, our families, we ask for protection of this church, protection for our congregation, we ask that if there's anyone here tonight, or anyone who was not able to make it, that they need to be here and be refreshed in you, we ask that you work on their hearts, work on them to be restored and renewed in you, we pray for those who are yet to know you, that you will work in their lives to come to know who you are, and your Son Jesus Christ. We are so great that your

[58:14] Spirit carried along the writers to write, may your Holy Spirit carry us through this life leading and guiding us, and may we not be afraid to have those conversations when you, when you tell us to, may we be obedient, and may we put our faith and trust fully in you, and may you renew us and restore us. It is in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.