Nature and Description of the Scriptures: Perfect, Sure, Living (Quick) and Active (Powerful)

[0:00] So, it's good to be back. I was not feeling well last week and so I needed some time for myself to get better and then with the kids getting sick and everything, that's eventful.

[0:16] So, it's going around and I noticed I was going to get sick when Ariela was laying on me and she felt so warm.

[0:29] I want to hold her but I know you're going to get me sick. She was so sweet though. She was just wanting to cuddle. She's a cuddly one though. Yes, she is. But they all got it. We're all better now. I think I'm just at the last stages of it and so is Erin but it's all back to back and that's very hard.

[0:56] So, we are continuing with our series. This is part eight of The Nature, The Purpose and The Power of Scripture.

[1:07] So, we've gone over quite a lot together. We've talked about the origin of Scripture. We've talked about the divine, the authority of Scripture, the authors, the role of the Holy Spirit, the names, the descriptions.

[1:25] We've just gone over quite a lot and we are drawing to an end on the descriptions of Scripture and I also would like to let you guys know this will be our last Bible study for the year.

[1:38] We'll probably start off with a new Bible study. It might be continuing from this or it will be a Bible study called God at the Center.

[1:52] But before we go any further, what I want us to do is go ahead and open in a word of prayer and we will begin our study. So, let's bow our heads and pray together. Father God, we come before you tonight. We're hungry for your word.

[2:07] We've been learning so much about your word, the origin, the inspiration of your word. Learned about the authors and the purity of Scripture.

[2:18] We've learned about how your word is significant and how you provided Jesus Christ, who is the Savior of the world, the Messiah, the Son of the living God.

[2:31] For it is in Christ, He is the Word and we're in awe at this complexity, but we're just in awe of who you are. You sent your Son to be born, to live, to perform many miracles, to teach us so much through parables and through action as well.

[2:52] To live and to die on that cross, to be buried and to be resurrected on the third day. All of this because of your divine plan, so that we can have salvation in Him through faith. Such a wonderful story.

[3:11] And even though we may not always understand everything about who you are, everything about your word, we know one thing's for sure. And that is that you love us. And just through your love, through learning about you, how can we not be in awe of who you are for loving us first and foremost?

[3:32] We ask Father that you are with us and that you help reveal truth, the truth of your word to us. We ask that you provide clarity, you provide insight, and you just help us grow in your holy name. And through that growth, we ask that we can implement what we've learned in our everyday life, so that people, others, our neighbors, our friends and our families will know who we are, for our identity is in you.

[4:05] It is in Jesus' name that we pray and we all say together, Amen. So in your notes, we're going to go over a few verses. We have four verses total.

[4:18] Mainly the focus is going to be on Psalms 19-7 and Hebrews 4-12. And there will be additional verses on Proverbs 8-5 and Philemon 1-6.

[4:33] Okay, so let's see here. The nature and the description of the word.

[4:44] Let's turn to our first verse in Psalm 19. And it's going to be, I'm going to put that on the screen.

[4:56] Psalm 19 verses 7-11. So we'll start off in verse 7. It says, The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul.

[5:14] The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart.

[5:26] The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The rules of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.

[5:40] More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold. Sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.

[5:54] Moreover, by them is your servant warm. In keeping them, there is great reward. And so that comes with our first question.

[6:06] Our question for reflection and discussion. That should be up on the slide is, how does the description of God's law, or God's word in these verses, how do they resonate with your understanding of scripture, your understanding of the Bible?

[6:24] There's truth in the word. In verse 7, I love how it says, reviving the soul. You see later in that verse 7, making wise the simple.

[6:39] We'll go a little more into that in just a moment. But it's just kind of this general overview. Now, what's very interesting, I want to let you guys know that a couple weeks ago we studied Psalm 19.9, where we talked about the fear of the Lord being clean, enduring forever.

[7:03] The rules of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. And it's interesting, you see this connection with cleanliness, right?

[7:14] The purity of scripture. And then we go into the perfection and the surety of scripture. Now, in the context of Psalm 19, we see that light flickering right there.

[7:34] David is speaking in regards to the Old Testament, right? He's speaking to the Torah or the Pentateuch. And many of these verses from the Psalms, it helps us with this, it's this very poetic language, right?

[7:51] The cleanliness of scripture, the purity of scripture. And we've gone over the idea before of the rules being true. It was more common for the Jewish people to have the law of the Old Testament, right?

[8:07] They had the law back in that time and they would study scripture, they would meditate, or at least you were supposed to meditate on the scripture. And we are very blessed not only to have the law, the prophets, or wisdom literature, but the fulfillment of scripture.

[8:27] And that's kind of the really cool thing of having our Bibles nowadays, is that we get to read about the fulfillment of prophecy, the fulfillment of the law, just like how Christ says on the cross, it is finished.

[8:43] It's such a beautiful word from Christ, you know, that it's all part of God's divine plan. And as we've discussed before, the sum of God's word, right?

[8:56] The entirety of God's word being true. Now, when we're thinking of that, I want us to focus on Psalm 19.7, right?

[9:08] So those words, the law of the Lord, right? Being perfect, the testimony of the Lord, right? The law of the Lord, as I'm saying, it's mentioning the Pentateuch, the Torah, right?

[9:24] The law of the Lord, the law of Moses, so to speak, the law that was given by Moses. Now, clearly David didn't live to know the writings of the apostle Paul, or he didn't have the writings of Peter, just as we do today, but we can extend this to the sum of all scripture, right?

[9:43] The entirety of scripture. It's very important seeing here, okay, law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul that it's giving life to those who read it, those who study it.

[9:57] The testimony being sure. Now, that's very interesting. So I want to ask you, as we're kind of going along here, why do you think it's important to view the Old Testament laws as a blessing?

[10:11] Because you have some people that kind of disregard the Old Law, right? The Old Testament law. Even in light of the New Testament teachings, why is that important?

[10:23] So let's think about it. Why is it important to have the Old Testament, right? Why is it important to see these laws even as a blessing? So I want to ask you guys that. Take a moment to really reflect on that.

[10:34] I know that can be a challenging question. I've met some Christians, and I'm sure you have as well, that are like, oh, well, the Old Testament, it's old. We shouldn't really care. Well, it is important as it's part of scripture.

[10:46] So like I said, take a moment with that, rejoicing the heart, right? And then further when it's saying enlightening the eyes, right? That's such beautiful language there, right?

[11:00] Is that what all of your translations say? Rejoicing the heart enlightening the eyes? Some Christians, I'm not going to point name names or anything, but some people will say the Old Testament is invalid.

[11:16] Well, the law is fulfilled, therefore why should we care? Well, we should care because the Old Testament is pointing to Christ, right?

[11:27] It's, you know, when we're talking about scriptural revelation, right? Or divine revelation, the revealing of Christ. It's saying you have the Levitical law, for example.

[11:39] Laws that were made that, well, I don't think anyone can follow every single law of the Old Testament. But the point of that was to show that there had to be a better way and that better way was through Christ.

[11:55] Because when you had the Levitical priests who would have to sacrifice annually every single year, well, that was to atone for sin, so to speak.

[12:07] Well, the idea was that when you're reading Hebrews, for example, that Christ, his sacrifice, his death, his burial and resurrection on the cross, that was done so that there's no longer the need for the Levitical system.

[12:25] So it points back to how things were pointing to the future of how things will be, right? That Christ being the fulfillment of prophecy and the ending of the Old Law, so to speak.

[12:44] But to disregard the Old Testament or to say, oh, well, we shouldn't care about that, you're missing a big part of history. You're missing a big part of, well, how did we get here?

[12:58] And what was the way it used to be? You know, I mean, yeah, we can go on into the creation account. But when I'm talking specifically about the law, it's showing this is how things work on a temporary basis, so to speak.

[13:14] But God was going to provide a better way through His divine timing of things. So that's just something to keep in mind with that. And so going back to that verse in Psalm 19.7, the reviving of the soul.

[13:34] It's this idea of being refreshed, being renewed, right? Just like how we've talked about before. The renew a right spirit within me, right? There's that sense of being refreshed, new life that comes from God and comes from the Word of God.

[13:51] And now, what's interesting, there's different translations of, I want us to focus on the law of the Lord is perfect.

[14:03] The testimony of the Lord is sure. Now, there may be different variations specifically after the law of the Lord is what?

[14:15] So I always find it's always good at times to kind of look at the difference in translation. So you okay, what is it saying here? The NIV is saying the law of the Lord is perfect.

[14:29] The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy. The new living translation, the instructions of the Lord are perfect. The decrees of the Lord are trustworthy. The King James version says the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.

[14:45] The testimony of the Lord is sure. And the new King James, why that? That's weird. The law of the Lord is perfect. The testimony of the Lord is sure.

[14:57] So there's a pretty good consistency in there. The new American standard, the law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul. So you'll also see the law of the Lord is perfect, right?

[15:14] Pretty much all of them are saying it's perfect, which is great. Now, new international version says it's refreshing to the soul. New living translation, reviving the soul.

[15:27] King James converting the soul. New King James converting the soul. New American standard is restoring the soul. So it kind of gives us a good idea of what is happening here, right?

[15:42] It refreshes us, reviving us, giving us life. Now converting is also a good translation in it for someone who may not know the Lord, right?

[15:54] When you're studying the word, so to speak, or the law of the Lord, that it can convert you, right? When we talk about how that's consistent is when we talk about having knowledge of saving knowledge of the Lord, right?

[16:10] You have to have that knowledge, which there would be the conversion that happens through the word. So then we have, yeah, let's see.

[16:23] Yeah, when we're looking at the word perfect, the perfect, the law of the Lord is perfect. It means complete, full, the perfect, it's sound, whole.

[16:39] The law of the Lord, or in our case, as Christians nowadays, the entirety, just as we've talked about before, the sum of God's word is perfect.

[16:50] We allow for the word to work through us, right? Give us that holistic self, right? That the word of God will complete us, that the word of God will give us this sense of wholeness in our everyday life, which should encourage us to open God's word, right?

[17:13] It would encourage us to study the word of God. Now, in looking at these different words that were used for refreshing, reviving, converting, and restoring, reviving the soul, our soul can come to life by God's word.

[17:33] Refreshing the word of God can refresh your soul, give you a sense of calmness, of joy and peace. The word restoring is that God's word has restorative power.

[17:48] It can be for someone who is lost, someone who is broken, or someone who's even fallen away. And we have to always have a heart for people who have fallen away, some who have walked away from, whether that's a bad experience or whatever it is, that the word of God can still work through someone who has fallen away.

[18:10] And I always have a heart for people who have walked away. I know many people, unfortunately many people my age, who have walked away from the church, and whatever their reason is, we still pray for them and we still love on them, just like we love on anyone who may not know the Lord, or someone who may not fully understand who the Lord is, we still exhibit that love.

[18:37] So, restoration, the converting power, right? Faith comes through the word of God, just how I'm reminded of. Faith comes through hearing, right? Faith comes through hearing the word of God, whether that's being preached or whether it's being taught, or I think of the evangelist on the street who's holding the sign and saying, Jesus saves, it could be that. There's many different ways of the seed being planted, right?

[19:09] The seeds that are being scattered to people. So, the next part of the verse is the testimony of the Lord is sure. So, I want us to focus on that sure, right? To establish. The testimony of the Lord is sure.

[19:24] It is established. It is verified. It is built up. It is supported. It's that Hebrew word is talking about the things that are done from the Lord. It is verified.

[19:36] I think of that famous saying, it's tried, tested, and true, right? It's that there's that verification. It's established. It is supportive. It is sure. The testimony of the Lord is to be trusted.

[19:50] It is worthy to be trusted. So, that question makes a lot more sense. How does the trust worthy, I'll put that on the screen, how does the trustworthiness of God's testimony, or God's word in our sense, how does that impact how you live out your faith? Isn't this Psalm written very interesting?

[20:10] The law of the Lord being perfect, right? So, in our, for us, it would be, right, the word of God. We're talking about the context. It would be the Pentateuch, the Torah, right?

[20:21] It's perfect, that it revives the soul, right? It gives life to those who read, who study, meditate on the word. It's the testimony of the Lord, right? Being tried, tested, and true, being sure, right?

[20:34] Now, that's very, very interesting, right? Where you're seeing about the word and the testimony of the Lord. And I'm just like, oh, there's a nice tie-in right there.

[20:46] Yeah. Yeah, so God's testimony is worthy to be trusted. It's just, I'm flipping it intentionally there. But yeah, the, how does the, how you would reword that is, how is God's testimony trustworthy?

[21:06] How does it impact how you live out your faith? Okay. So, God's testimony is worthy to be trusted. And I'll go a little further into why that is, because this can mean two different things. When you first read it, are you, okay, are you saying the testimony of the Lord as those who give testimony to the Lord, or are you talking specifically the testimony of God?

[21:34] So, I'll go, since you're bringing that up, I'll, and I hope this will answer your question. We're talking about the idea of the testimony of the Lord. Contextually, we're talking about the things that have happened throughout the Old Testament, right?

[21:51] The things that were written in the Old Testament time period. This can be applied to the entirety of Scripture, right? The fulfillment of the prophecy, the coming of the Lord Jesus, the miracles that were performed, the writings of Paul, and the Pauline epistles, right? All of that.

[22:10] These things, they testify that the Word of God is tried, tested, and true. So, the things from the Word, they testify, they make a testimony to the Lord.

[22:26] So, does that make sense? So, I was trying to have some discussion before expanding into that, right? So, when we give testimony to how God's worked in our life, we're pointing to the Lord.

[22:41] Well, here we're talking about that the Lord is giving testimony in the things that have been done in Scripture, right? So, when we're looking at the context of the Pentateuch or the Torah, right?

[22:56] The Old Testament, there's miracles that have happened that testify to what the Lord has done, right? The promises that He keeps, the creation account, for example.

[23:07] We're looking at the entirety of Scripture, like I'm saying, the coming of Jesus Christ. Well, that would testify to the work of God, right? That should be the greatest one right there.

[23:18] So, it's just very good language, right? We testify to the Lord, and the testimony of the Lord is His Word, right?

[23:29] So, I hope that clears it up, but yeah, I wanted to kind of get you to think a little bit on there. So, yeah, the things that testify... Let me go back to verse 7 here.

[23:42] The testimony of the Lord is sure, that last part, making wise the simple. Now, we see in Proverbs, we see in Psalms, we see throughout the Old Testament, there's this idea of...

[23:58] When you've read Proverbs, you've probably heard about the wise and the foolish, right? The categories of the two types of people.

[24:09] Well, I would like to propose to you, there's a third type of person, which is the simple. So, let's turn our Bibles to Proverbs 8-5.

[24:22] Because this is interesting, because this Psalm is talking about the simple becoming wise, right? By the testimony of the Lord.

[24:35] Okay, so, what do you mean by that? You know, I want to know more about this. Now, I will say, before we read this verse, the fool and the simple, they lack wisdom and understanding.

[24:58] Okay, so, let's read the verse here. So, Proverbs 8-5. O simple ones learn prudence.

[25:12] O fools learn sense. Okay, it's a short one. And there's not a lot of verses that talk about the simple ones, but they're scattered. This is just one example of it.

[25:25] So, in researching the difference between the two, well, the simple ones are what you would call the naive. The ones that...they lack wisdom and understanding, but they can be molded by God's direction.

[25:42] They can be molded by God's word. Okay? Well, that's different than the wise who already understands God's instruction.

[25:54] Right? They already...the wise, they have the wisdom of the Lord. They have that understanding. Well, what's the difference between a fool and the simple? Well, the fool is someone who...

[26:06] Well, they're foolish, right? They're rejecting God's direction or they're rejecting God's word. So, very often you'll hear teachers and pastors saying, well, are you a fool or are you wise?

[26:20] Well, that may be true for a lot of people, but you have to make the case for the third type of person, which is the simple. The one who doesn't know the Lord, or they're just not there yet, right?

[26:31] There comes a point where you got to make a decision. You got to make a decision on if you know, if you're going to say yes to Jesus Christ or you're not.

[26:42] So, as I said, there's not a lot of... Not a lot of verses on the simple ones, but it is scattered throughout Scripture.

[26:54] So that was one of them. So there's a question that comes with that and... Or no, there's not. It's on your notes. Or is it on your notes? No, they're not put it in there.

[27:07] Oh, it's right. It's the last one. How does the distinction... Yep, how does the distinction between being simple and being foolish influence our approach to gaining wisdom?

[27:23] In other words, the difference between simple and foolish, right? How does that influence us when we're gaining wisdom?

[27:34] Or how... You could even expand that. How does that help us understand the difference? Like, how do we teach them wisdom? Yeah, I see... In knowing this, it kind of...

[27:48] Maybe for you, maybe not. I know for me personally, thinking about the simple, I'm not as quick to say, oh, they're just foolish. I'm not so quick to be like, oh, well, you're just a fool.

[28:01] Well, no, wait a minute. If you don't know the Lord, you're simple. Now, as time goes on, you will either become a fool or wise.

[28:14] But there's that kind of that time period before one of them. And so I would really encourage... It encourages me, and I hope it encourages you, that when you meet someone who doesn't know the Lord, or someone who's never read a Bible, don't be so quick to call them a fool, or to think of them as a fool.

[28:39] Rather, consider, well, maybe they truly don't know. Maybe in this sense, they are simple. Instead of someone who says, you know, I don't do that Christian stuff.

[28:52] I don't do that Bible stuff. That would be very different. And so I think that to me, this is very important in distinguishing the two. Yeah, that gets into... There's a lot of opinions on how to handle that.

[29:06] But certainly, I would encourage, always be there for them. If you feel that the Holy Spirit is leading you to talk to them, by all means do it. Because we don't always know what's going on internally.

[29:18] They may be like, oh yeah, right, and maybe they're open to it. Maybe not. You know, it's a really... That's a very difficult one. How many of you... I'll just ask a question that's not on our notes here.

[29:31] How many of you have met a simple one? Someone who's... They haven't rejected the Lord, but they're not wise. Have you ever met someone who would be considered a simple... a simpleton?

[29:44] Yeah, and sometimes it's... It might not be you who gets through to them. And that's always hard when you want to, you know, lead them to the Lord, have them...

[29:55] You give them the gospel presentation. It might be someone else. It might be certain timing, but it never hurts to pray for them. It never hurts to just let them know that you're there for them.

[30:08] I mean, showing that kindness and compassion to them at the end of the day. Well, it is their choice, and I know that gets into very difficult territory, you know.

[30:22] Because you kind of wish that foolish ones like that verse is saying. What's it say? Oh fools. What's it say there?

[30:34] What an interesting thing to say, right? Be understanding, right? What else does it say and what does your translation say?

[30:47] And that's Proverbs 8-5. Gain understanding, right? ESV is saying learn sense, right? How interesting is that?

[30:58] Perhaps it's a prayer for us that they get sense. That they get understanding, right? It could be a heart thing. Oftentimes it is.

[31:13] You know, I think of someone who has a hardened heart, right? Asking God to soften their heart. Right? When we think of a renewed spirit even.

[31:28] So I think in reading that, that should be a prayer for those who are foolish, right? Now what about the simple ones? What does it say there?

[31:40] Mine says learn prudence. What does yours say? For the simple ones. So come to understand, have that prudence, have discipline as some translations say.

[31:51] Discipline for what? Discipline in understanding God's word, right? And being prayerful, so to speak. So it's just interesting when we're talking about understanding God's word, understanding the Lord.

[32:08] For the foolish ones, it's to get that understanding, right? Softening of their hearts so that they can come to understand the simplicity.

[32:19] You know, I had a pastor once tell me. And I didn't realize it's very controversial saying this even now. But this pastor used to tell me that the closer you get with God, the simpler your life will become.

[32:36] Now in hearing that, I used to think, well what do you mean pastor? You know, life is not so simple. And he looks at me and he says, I didn't say easy. Because that's what I thought in simple.

[32:48] I thought he meant easy. No, simplicity would be very different, right? And the ability to discern what is right and wrong.

[32:59] Having the peace that comes from the Lord. Having the joy that comes. That's a very simple life compared to the complex life that, well, the fool has.

[33:13] Think of how they just don't get it. Oftentimes they may appear to have it together and maybe they do from a worldly standpoint.

[33:27] But being in the calm of knowing that you're safe and secure in salvation from the Lord is something that's very beautiful. Knowing that at the end of my life I know where I'm going, that gives me a sense of security.

[33:44] That we don't even have to fear death because we know where we're going. I mean, there's a book in my office. I've been hesitant to read it.

[33:55] But it's famous. I'll have to go get it. It's basically saying famous things, famous last words from famous people.

[34:06] And it's ones that were saved and those who were not. And it's giving differences. Some of them saying, well, I'll see my relatives in a little bit. And others are saying, you know, like, oh no, what have I done?

[34:19] Like those kind of things. It's like, oh, it's a very scary book, but scary if you don't know the Lord. So certainly things that God has done, right?

[34:34] It testifies to the Lord. The testimony of the Lord, as I've been saying, it's tried, tested and true. And it makes the naive ones. It makes them wise.

[34:46] And what a great prayer for us. What a great encouragement for us as Christians that the fools should learn sense and that the simple ones should gain understanding or learn prudence as this verse is saying.

[35:01] The same way that we learn about salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, we grow in our faith by developing wisdom from God's word, the ability to discern what is right and what is wrong.

[35:16] And what a wonderful gift from the Lord that is discernment, having wisdom from the Lord and how you can imply the wisdom of God to your everyday life, to your friends, to your family, and even to your work.

[35:31] There's a author that I know. I'm trying to remember his name, who wrote a, basically built all of his businesses.

[35:43] I think it's Steven Scott. Look him up sometime. I think it's Steven K. Scott built all of his businesses based off of proverbs, and they became very successful businesses. I'm like, well, that's really great, you know, when we're talking about testimony.

[36:04] There are many benefits to reading, to study, and applying, and living out the word of God. We've learned about how God breathed into the word, right, or how the word was divinely inspired, written into the pages of Scripture.

[36:20] The Bible works in and through us to come to have that knowledge of the Lord, to be sanctified where we grow in our faith. And that leads us into our final verse, which I'm going to put on the screen here, which is going to be Hebrews 412.

[36:38] The famous verse here, Living and Active. And we've gone over this verse before.

[36:53] The last time we went through this, we talked about specifically the two-edged sword, right, the division of the soul and the spirit.

[37:06] And how sharp and how deadly as it were, the word of God can be. In other words, just be mindful when you're using the word of God.

[37:22] You can use the word for many good things. Hebrews 412. Let's see here.

[37:33] For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

[37:50] So what does your translation say? For the word of God is what and what? The living part. The word of God being alive, living quick. It is defined as, well, basically it breaks down to really any of those definitions, right, that it can be quick, quick as in lively.

[38:13] Like when you think of a quick animal, right, it's very lively. It can be very quick in movement, right. It being living just as the word of God is divinely inspired, right, how God breathed life into it.

[38:29] So we're considering the living part to live to be lively or to be quick. So really any of those translations would be accurate.

[38:40] We're looking at the active part of the verse. It can mean active, effective, powerful.

[38:51] There's different meanings in that. But really at the end of the day, it being active as an active in our lives and powerful. It has powerful influence into our lives.

[39:04] And it helps us with our understanding because what's interesting about this, I want you to think of the effectiveness being another definition here because if you turn to Philemon, put that on the screen, Philemon 1.6.

[39:23] That same word that is used for powerful, active, right, the word of God being alive and active, right, that second word active, powerful, it can also mean effective.

[39:37] And here's why Philemon 1.6. Right, we have the apostle Paul writing to Philemon, talking about Onesimus.

[39:54] Right, verse 5, I hear of your love and the faith you have towards the Lord Jesus Christ and all the saints. And I pray that the sharing of your faith may become what?

[40:07] So, mine says effective, right, but it's the same idea. That's the same word as we find in the Hebrews 412. The same Greek word that's being used here.

[40:19] So, the word of God being active, powerful, effective, right, effectual as you were reading in there. So, there's the effectiveness of the word of God.

[40:30] There's the power in there. I mean, you could even use any of these, right? I pray that the sharing of your faith may be powerful. I pray that the sharing of your faith may be active.

[40:41] I pray that the sharing of your faith may be active. It can be any of these things. So, it's very good seeing this where it's like, wow, that's kind of, it helps us with that, right?

[40:58] It's the same Greek word that's found. So, I just find it really interesting that when we're seeing the apostle Paul writing to Onesimus, that Paul is praying that his faith may become effective.

[41:13] We should pray that our faith in the Lord, that it may become effective. Effective for us sharing our testimony and sharing the gospel message to others.

[41:26] We should pray that our faith may be active and not stagnant, not dead, as it were, right? Just like how it says in Scripture that faith without deeds is dead.

[41:41] We are saved by grace through faith, absolutely. And by receiving salvation, we need to go out and do good in the name of the Lord, right? That our faith may be active.

[41:53] We should pray that our faith becomes powerful as a powerful testimony, that we can minister to others, that we can share in the love of Christ.

[42:05] And we even find this in the Word of God as we've been studying the Word of God being effective. The Word of God being active in our lives. It being effective by affecting us to be converted, to come to know who the Lord is.

[42:23] The Word of God being powerful. And in all of these things, we must be mindful. We certainly must be mindful of the power of the Word of God.

[42:34] That can mean a good thing, that can also mean a bad thing. May we be reminded of cults that are out there that misuse the Word of God. May we use the Word of God for good.

[42:45] And may we ask God to guide us for a correct understanding of His Word. So as we close for tonight, I want us to keep in mind of the ideas that we are learning tonight.

[42:57] The Word of God being tried, tested, and true. The Word of God being alive, it is living, it is quick, quick to move in our lives.

[43:08] Because God breathed life into it, much like how He breathed life into us. And we can learn and conclude, and I hope we apply from tonight, the Word of God is effective.

[43:22] It has the transformative power for those who read, study, and apply and live out Scripture. The Word of God, let it be active in our lives.

[43:34] We go with what God says in His words, and we follow in the footsteps of Christ. And in the following of the Word of God, there is power in the Word of God.

[43:46] Much like how there is power in the name of Jesus Christ. And I really hope that we are mindful of those who are foolish, those who are wise, but also for those who are simple.

[44:04] May we be an example, may we not be afraid to share in our faith to the simple ones, and to the fools that we know in our lives, may we pray for them, may we be open to them, may we be present for them.

[44:19] Asking for God to work in their lives, to soften their hearts, and to allow for their minds to be open to the Lord, not open to anything.

[44:30] It's just like how people say, oh, you know, I'm going to open my mind. Well, be careful what you open your mind to, right? As a funny joke, there's a, I don't know what movie it was where someone said, I'm going to give someone a piece of my mind, and the guy said, well, don't give too much of it, you might not have anything left, right?

[44:52] So in the same thing, I'm going to open my mind, well, be careful what you open your mind into, you might get garbage in your mind, right? But certainly, if we're talking about having an open mind, have an open mind to God and the Word of God, not some garbage, whatever that, anything else that's, anything that's contrary to Scripture or the divine plan of the Lord.

[45:16] And certainly, may we have that heart for those, the simple ones, may we have a heart for the fool. I know it's difficult when we butt heads with people who just don't get it.

[45:30] And certainly, we should have respect for those who are wise too. Pray for the wise as well, that they don't become fools. Doesn't it say in Romans, claiming to be wise, they became fools.

[45:43] They exchanged the glory of God for a lie. Something along those lines. So, we need to check ourselves.

[45:54] It's that famous saying, check yourself before you wreck yourself. Well, how do you check yourself? Make sure what you are reading, what you're teaching. I have to check myself all the time is what I'm teaching in line with the Word of God.

[46:06] You always have to check yourself. Well, how you check yourself is through God's Word. So, with all of that, let's close in prayer. Let's pray together. And Father God, we thank you for this time of gathering us here tonight as we've gone over the surety of your Word.

[46:25] The trustworthiness of your Word. For the sum of your Word, the entirety of your Word is divinely inspired by you. And it is alive. It is active. It is quick.

[46:37] Because you made it so. We're in awe of that. We ask that your Word, it dwells within us. That it allows for us to come to know you.

[46:49] To come to have that saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. And upon receiving that gift of salvation, may we grow in our faith to have knowledge, wisdom, and discernment.

[47:01] And the ability to testify to you. We love you so much. And we thank you for giving us the freedom, the opportunity, and the ability for us to be here tonight.

[47:14] We thank you so much. We ask that you're with us for the rest of the week. And as we leave from this place, may our love be for you and for other people.

[47:27] We'd like to pray for the fools in our lives. The ones that have rejected you. We pray for softened hearts and open minds to you. Open to you and your Word.

[47:40] We pray for the simple ones. That they may come to know you. And whether that's through our everyday action or through us sharing in our testimony, or opening the Word of God and showing John 3.16.

[47:56] May they come to know you. And for the wise in our lives, we pray for protection. That the wise may not become fools and owe how easy it is to become foolish.

[48:11] We ask for that protection for our leaders, for pastors in this area, and for those who know the Word of God. May their hearts not be hardened and may their minds not be closed off to you.

[48:26] Rather, may they remain rooted and anchored in you. We thank you so much for giving us your Word and the truth that comes from you.

[48:37] Father, we pray for this community. We pray for the city of Ontario and the surrounding communities, the surrounding towns in the Treasure Valley. We pray for revival.

[48:50] We know that your Word has reviving ability. That it can refresh souls. That it can restore people. It has that conversion power as we've gone over.

[49:03] We just ask that you work in and through us, but Lord, let your will be done. We love you so much and we thank you.

[49:15] Be with us for the rest of this week. It is in Jesus' name that we pray. Amen.