Hello, everybody. For those of you guys who are near the cafe bar, please come on over. We will start our Bible study in just about half a minute. So let's make our way and get settled in. And we'll begin just shortly. OK, good. Would you all please join with me in a word of prayer, and we'll get our Bible study started with a short time of praise.

Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we want to thank you, God, for your grace each day. And we also request, Lord, that, Lord, you would continue to grant to us sufficient supply, energy for the day, that you would help us so that we would be walking in faithfulness and abiding in you.

Lord, each week, we have our own troubles, burdens, worries, responsibilities, and more. But we pray, Father God, that you'd help us to depend on you each step, each day, and cause us, Lord, to look to you. Lord, we want to thank you for the opportunity to gather together to fellowship in your word and to fellowship in worship as well.

And we pray, God, that our joined voices would, again, be honoring to you. We thank you, Lord, in Christ. And we pray, amen. There is a Redeemer. There is a Redeemer, Jesus, God's own Son, precious Lamb of God, Messiah, only one. There is a Redeemer. There is a Redeemer, Jesus, God's own Son, precious Lamb of God, Messiah, only one.

Thank you, O my Father, for giving us your Son, and even your spirit's ill, the work on earth is done. Jesus, my Redeemer. Jesus, my Redeemer, name above all names, precious Lamb of God, Messiah, all for sinners slain. Thank you, O my Father, for giving us your Son, and even your spirit's ill, the work on earth is done.

When I stand, when I stand in glory, I will see his face. There I'll serve my King forever in that holy place. Thank you, O my Father, for giving us your Son, and even your spirit's ill, the work on earth is done. Thank you, O my Father, for giving us your Son, and even your spirit's ill, the work on earth is done.

The work on earth is done. Amen. Be Thou my vision. Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart. I'll be all else to Thee, save that Thou art. At my best hour, by day or by night, waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light. Be Thou my wisdom. Be Thou my wisdom, and Thou my true word.

I ever with Thee, and Thou with me, Lord. Thou my great Father, and I Thy truce. Thou in me dwelling, and I in thee. Riches I need not, nor man's empty praise. Thou mine inheritance, Thou and always. Thou and Thou only, first and I. Thy King of heaven, my treasure Thou art.

Thy King of heaven. Thy King of heaven, my victory won. I reach heaven's choice, O bright heaven's sun. Heart of my own heart, whatever befall. Still be my vision, O ruler of all. Heart of my own heart, whatever befall. Still be my vision, O ruler of all. OK, good evening again, everybody.

I want to just give a couple quick reminders. So for all the sisters who signed up for the Sisters event this weekend, just a reminder, the filmership is happening at 9 AM here at church. And so that being the case, there's going to be discussion groups and et cetera.

So those of you guys who are in the cry room currently, you can leave your tables there because they're going to be using that during the event on the weekend. Also for all the guys, the following week on the 15th, we have our men's ministry event starting also at 9.

So please make sure you just carve out a little time and sign up for that. This Sunday will be the last call on that, OK? And then for everybody, Sunday the 16th, we're having our members meeting and service fair. So make sure you book that on your calendar. And you should have received an email.

If you're going to be absent, please do just mark it on the form so that we know where you're at, OK? All right, everybody. At this time, please go ahead and start your discussions. We'll be back in 45 minutes. Thanks. >> Okay, if we can get back together in two minutes.

>> All the people in the room can come back out. >> Last one, are they okay? Okay. Can you guys in the back see this? You guys are okay? Over there? Can you guys see? Yes? Okay. All right. Okay. All right. Is everybody back? All right. Let's pray and get started.

Dear God, we thank you for giving us as a church to come together and continue to study your word. I pray that you would help us to truly fix our eyes upon Christ through your word. We ask that you would help us to glean from it what your intent is, that you give us understanding in context, understanding of your heart and your spirit.

So I pray for your grace and your guidance. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right. So this text actually has quite a few, even though it's only a few verses, there's quite a few things going on in here. I'm not going to be able to cover all of it.

Hopefully you are able to cover some of it in your Bible study. If you look at the text, I divided it up into what I think is a chiastic structure. Okay. How many guys know what a chiastic structure is? Okay. So some of you, most of you, okay. Hopefully you had some opportunity to talk about it.

A chiastic structure, like if you're writing, for those of you who don't know what it is, most of us who grew up in the West, when you think of your key point, main point, you'll usually find it either in the introduction or in the conclusion, right? And then it'll tell you the story and then it'll say the moral of the story is this, or it'll say, here's my point, here's my thesis, and this is how I'm going to back it up.

A chiastic structure, the main point is found right in the middle. And so the way that they would argue a point is the first section would make a point and then you would have the main point at the center and then it would reiterate the mirror the points on the other side.

Okay. So this is kind of like, you see a lot of this, especially in the Old Testament, a lot of the structures is done this way. And then if you, the more you study the chiastic structure, you can understand why the chiastic structure is so effective because it makes, it builds up to the point and then it gives the second part of that point kind of builds backwards so that the emphasis on it actually has an impact to me, has a greater impact because it's not just making, here's 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4.

It says 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, and this is the reason why. And as a result of this 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, and it mirrors the other in other words, right? Remember the text that we looked at, a book that we looked at in the Old Testament that the whole book was written in chiastic structure?

Leviticus. Leviticus. Okay. Right. The whole book was written in a chiastic structure. And remember what was at the center of the chiastic structure in Leviticus? Day of Atonement. That's what you meant to say, right? Day of Atonement, right? So everything led up to the Day of Atonement and everything kind of stems from the Day of Atonement.

So if you look at this chiastic structure, you may or may not agree, but I think the points are pretty clear, or at least I think it is. If you look at it, it starts by saying, "For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power in the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." And then the other side of it is, "For no prophecy was made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God." Okay.

Do you see that? You see it kind of mirrors the opposite side? And then he says, "But we were eyewitnesses of His majesty for when we received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to Him by the majestic glory." So we were eyewitnesses of this.

Then he says, "But know this first of all, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation." Okay. Do you see that? Do you see how he says, "We are eyewitnesses. We didn't make this up." Do you see the opposite side of this? Okay. I need you to see it because I need you to agree with me that you see a chiastic structure here.

Okay. Or else I'm just making this up. All right. And then the other part, "This is my beloved Son, whom I am well pleased and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the mountain." So this is the actual utterance, right, that was revealed to them.

"A lamp shining in a dark place until day dawns and the morning star rises." So conviction, right? Vision, conviction. So it seems like it mirrors the other side. Yes or no? Do you see it or am I milking it? Did I make this up? Do you see it? Yes?

Okay. All right. Good. All right. So it seems like to me it's written in a chiastic structure, which means verse 19 is the main point, right? And then these are the supporting points. Okay? So if verse 19 is the main point, the main question in this text is, what does verse 19 mean?

Right? And I apologize. I told you I was going to give some guidance last week and I forgot to post it. Once I was done, I focused on the sermon. Okay. So this week I will give you some guidance. If you don't see anything by Saturday, it means I forgot.

Okay? So somebody text me and email me and say, "Hey, you forgot." Okay? So if 19 is the main thing, if you looked at verse 19, how many of you looked at verse 19 and compared it with other texts, other translations? And if you did, did you notice any difference?

Okay. If you did your homework, right, you should have noticed the difference in the way that this was translated. Right? So Pastor Peter Chung sends you the different translations of these texts and you should have noticed the meaning of how it was translated in different translations says something completely different.

Yes? Okay. Which means you didn't look at it. If you did look at it, you would have found this. Okay? Hopefully you guys in the back can see this. So in NASB it says, "So we have the prophetic word made more sure." Right? "The prophetic word made more sure." Meaning, what he said prior to this, which was the transfiguration, transfiguration made the word of God more sure.

Right? That's the meaning behind this. If you read it, if you translate it this way. Okay, I'm going to say it again so you guys can follow. So if you translate it, "So we have the prophetic word made more sure." So meaning what? What he just said, the transfiguration.

Right? He said, "This is my beloved son." Right? "Who am I? I am well pleased." And they said, "We heard this utterance and this utterance from God that confirmed for us his identity has made the prophetic word more sure." Okay? If you're looking at this for the first time today, it's going to be going over your head.

But if you wake up, I think you will be able to know why this is so important. Okay? So ESV, look at the way ESV translates it. And we have something more sure. Somebody tell me the difference between NASV and ESV here. Okay. Huh? And some of you ESV says fully confirmed?

Huh? I cut and pasted. Did ESV have an update or something? Huh? I don't even own an LSB. LSB says, "And we have something more sure?" Okay. And read to me what it says in ESV. Okay. I literally copied and pasted this from my program. So maybe the ESV has an updated version and I have the old one.

Okay. Read that to me again, your false version, ESV. Okay. Okay. ESV, this must be the updated version. Like I said, I just cut and pasted from my Bible program. Okay. So they changed their mind then. Okay. But look at King James. Look at King James. You have a King James here?

You do have King James. We have also more sure word of prophecy. So what is the distinction between NASV and King James? What's the difference between the meaning? You can't tell the difference? Huh? Yes. All right. Okay. Maybe it's too late in the night. Okay. If the ESV translated, I'm going to have to go back and check on this because maybe there is an update.

Huh? Anglicized? All right. I go back. Like I said, my Bible program, it just says ESV. Okay. Anyway, let's pretend like this didn't happen. Okay. And let's just look at what we have. Okay. If you look at the two different ways, okay, before it was three different ways, including ESV.

If you look at it, or sorry, two different ways, it says we have also, I'm reading the King James, we have also a more sure word of prophecy. It may mean that the prophecy is more sure than what? Than the transfiguration. Right? If you read it this way, and we have something more sure.

If you read the, at least my version of the ESV, right? Meaning that the word of God is more sure than the transfiguration. Right? If you read it this way, if you read it the other way, the transfiguration is making the word of God more sure. Okay. Do you get it?

I need you to get it so I can make my other point. Right? If you don't get this, the other stuff's not going to make sense. All right. So what is the correct translation? Well, there's nothing in the Greek that you're going to look at and say, well, the grammar says this and that.

And there's a reason why it was translated different because the word, let me go back here. The word for greed made more sure is a comparative word. Right? So if you were to translate it literally, this is what it would sound like. Okay. Because it was meant to compare.

And that's the only thing that exists in the Greek. But the reason why the NASB and all the other translation, and maybe the updated ESV version, maybe translated this way is because it doesn't necessarily fit the context of what Peter is saying. That he's saying that he has this transfiguration and then he says that he's not discouraging them from the transfiguration.

He's basically telling them to add to, to bolster up the word of God. Does that make sense? So if we go back here, the word of God, that however you view it, the agreement is the same. Whether you translate it to NASB or the King James version, the meaning is the same.

The meaning is that the vision confirmed the word of God and not the word confirming the vision. The order of this is that the word of God is central. Right? So he, the only reason why he even mentions the transfiguration is to get to the word of God. Right?

However you translate it, the word of God is central. The conclusion of the encouragement is to pay attention to the word of God and not to pursue vision. Right? He's not saying don't pursue vision, but the conclusion of this isn't because we saw the transfiguration that you guys should have this personal experience of this transfiguration yourself.

That was not his point. He said we have this transfiguration to confirm, right, even more the word of God. So and then he concludes it, the second part of it is therefore pay much closer attention to what you have heard. Right? And then it doesn't nullify or prohibit your experience, but it must not contradict or detract from God's word because the word of God is central.

Does that make sense? Okay. Yes, that makes sense? Okay. All right. I'm going to have to recheck the ESV. What's going on with, yeah. My Bible program is very old, so maybe there is an updated version. There's a UK version? So why is the UK version different than the?

Okay. But I don't understand why in my Bible program, the only ESV they have is the anglican version. That's weird. Okay. All the more why we need to pay close attention to the word of God. Okay. So again, these type of things, like while you, if you're taking a closer look at the text, can you see how, maybe not in this text, can you see how if you're looking at the text and one person looks at one way, another person looks at another way, why they can, two people come up with two different conclusions.

Right? And you say, the word of God, I'm sure the word of God says this. It's because the translation sounds a bit different. And that's why we need to take a closer look and then to see what's actually going on. And so when you actually see what's going on, they might, there might not be a slam dunk conclusion, but you can decipher and filter to see how much of this is someone's opinion and how much is, is a direct quote from the Bible.

Right? So you think about it, like how much of the things that you are taught on a day to day basis is somebody who looked at it and interpreted a certain way, but because they're presenting you as the word of God, you're looking at it and say, Oh, that's what the Bible says, which they're not, they wouldn't be wrong.

But there's something going on in, in the text that when you look at the different translations, you know that even the scholars had some disagreement of how this should sound. Okay. That's why inductive Bible study is important. Okay. So the central point here, right, is a prophetic word made more sure, meaning pay attention to the word of God.

The word of God is central, not your experience, right? Not how you feel, not your own interpretation, not your denomination, but what does the word of God say? Right? Make sure that your faith and your life is founded upon clear teaching of the word of God. Right? Not, not your church, not your nomination, not some pastor that you like, but what does the word of God say?

Right? So having said that, how does he make his argument? So let's connect these together. Right? We do not follow cleverly devised tales. Now why does he say that? If you remember, if you did cross-referencing, right, how often does it come out where Apostle Paul and the apostles, they're saying like, "Oh, this is a myth." Right?

And he cautions Timothy, like, "Don't follow, you know, don't give in to endless genealogies." Right? So one, one of the ways that they were trying to nullify the gospel is saying, "Oh, that's, they just made that up." Right? And today, even today, people are saying that about the Bible.

Right? All just human beings, they say that Jesus wasn't real. They say all of this stuff, even though there's historical evidence. Right? But especially in the early church, think about how strange this must have sounded. That the son of God took on human form and died for you, and if you believe in him, you'll have eternal life.

Think about how crazy that must sound. Right? And if you grew up in the church, it doesn't sound crazy to you, but think about it from, from 2000 years ago, where they're all polytheists. They believe in all kinds of God, and all of a sudden, just the fact that you're saying there's only one God, you're crazy.

But on top of that, think carefully about what this means. Right? And so he's saying, "We didn't follow cleverly devised tales." And then the version of that is, "No prophecy." Oops. No prophecy was by human will. Right? Do you see the correlation? We didn't make this up. Right? This was not by our will.

When we made known to you the power. Right? You notice how he says power, not love? Because when we typically think about the gospel, we think about the love of Christ. But he says, "We made known to you the power of Christ." Right? Remember we talked about what is power associated with in the Bible?

Huh? Sorry, I couldn't hear. Judgment, yes. But I mentioned this a couple of weeks ago. Holy Spirit. Right? Now, do you see the chiastic structure a little bit better? Okay? He's kind of making a mirror argument here that it wasn't cleverly devised tales when he spoke of the power of God.

It wasn't by human will, but by the Holy Spirit. Okay? He said, "But we were eyewitnesses of his majesty for when we received honor and glory, when he received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to him by the majestic glory." You notice how he mentions how Jesus' majesty.

Right? He saw his majesty by who? The majesty of his glory. So Peter is equating, at least in verbiage, Jesus with God. Right? And he says, "But know this, that first of all, no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of own interpretation." He says, "No, we didn't just devise this.

We didn't just make this up. We actually heard him." Right? "We didn't, this was not by our own interpretation." Okay? Then lastly, he said, "My beloved son, whom I am well pleased, and we ourselves heard the utterance made known from heaven, and we were with him on the holy mountain." Right?

And so basically, this is what his eyes were opened. Right? Now, did Peter not know this? Did Peter not know this? When did Peter make that confession? Who do men say that I am? Was it before the transfiguration or after the transfiguration? Before. Right? The confession happens before the transfiguration.

So Peter, when he was asked, "Who do men say that I am?" He said, "Well, some say you're Elijah, some say you're the prophet." He said, "Well, who do you say I am?" You are the Christ, right? The son of the living God. Right? So Peter already knew this confession.

And this was what God said to, remember in last sermon, right? At baptism when he came up, the Holy Spirit descends upon Jesus and rests on him like a dove and God opens up heaven and says, "You are my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased." Right? So this was not the first time, but he says this for what purpose?

For confirmation. Right? For greater and deeper conviction. So what does he say here? "A lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your heart." Okay? So do you see the chaosic structure? That's my whole point. Okay. So you see a clear, to me, there seems to be a clear chaotic structure that Peter must have been thinking this in order to get to this point.

Right? To pay much closer attention to the word of God. Right? So the central point of what he is trying to tell us is do not stray from his word. Right? It doesn't mean your experiences don't count, but your experiences have to be tested by the word of God.

If sometimes your feelings are going to take you away, sometimes your own convictions are going to take you away, sometimes your own prejudices, your paradigm, certain things that you've adopted. And sometimes simply because it's inconvenient. And so instead of judging, allowing the word of God to judge you and change you, what ends up happening?

You end up changing the word of God. Right? And so the word of God has to be central. Right? So one thing I want to point out here, he says in verse 20, before I move on, but know first of all that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation.

Right? Know first of all, you notice how he emphasizes first of all, above everything else, that you need to know that scripture is not man-made. Right? This is from God. This is the beginning point. Right? So if you are not confident about the word of God being the word of God, what ends up happening?

How does that, how is that fleshed out in your walk with God? Or even Bible study? How will it change your approach, your attitude, your application of the word of God, if your conviction of this being the word of God is not sure? Or it's shaky? You understand my question?

Because he says first of all, before anything else, you have to be convinced that this is God's word. Because if you're not convinced this is God's word, what are we doing today? Huh? What did he say? Book club. Yeah, this is one massive book club. Right? And we're only doing five verses.

Yeah, we're just studying. Right? We're gaining knowledge. Will it ever change you? No, it's not going to change you because your real reason you're here is not to hear the word of God. This is where your friends are. It just happens you are among friends who are studying the word of God.

But that's not your main reason why you're here. Right? If you're not convinced this is the word of God. Anything that the Bible says is inconvenient, says your life, you're not going to take it seriously. Right? Because you're not sure if this is the word. Because it doesn't come to you with authority.

Right? It's to kind of give you some boundaries of what you should and should not do, or maybe to kind of fit into the social group that you're in. But it doesn't speak to you like God says this. God is telling you this. Right? It won't come to you with that kind of authority.

So you'll end up picking and choosing what you think is beneficial in your life, and whatever you think isn't going to be beneficial, you just, you're not going to say, "I reject it," because rejecting the word of God publicly means you're going to reject the community that you belong to.

Right? And you don't want to do that. So therefore, you kind of study the word of God, go through the motions, right? Even sometimes memorize scripture. But it doesn't have the kind of impact that it should. Because you're not taking it as God's word. God didn't say this. Right?

Imagine if God, these were actually the words of God to you personally. Right? And that's exactly how it's said. Right? Every time Paul writes a letter, he said, "I'm an apostle of Jesus Christ." This is God's word. Right? God is speaking. Not apostle, not cleverly devised interpretation, not from the will of man, but God is speaking.

So you and I do not get to choose, "I like this and I don't like this." Right? If the Bible says women shouldn't preach, we don't stand there and say, "That doesn't sound right. How can that be fair? He must not mean this." And we reject that. Right? Now we can challenge that and then study it.

Does it actually say that? Is that what we're actually supposed to apply? But you can't, by your prejudice, say, "I choose not to accept that." If this is God speaking, you don't come to God and say, "You know what I mean? I know you made me, but I don't know if I agree with this." If he's the creator and he said it, it comes with authority.

Right? So the application question is a different question. But does it actually say that? You and I cannot change that. Right? The Bible says homosexuality is a sin. We don't get to come to the word of God and say, "I'm not sure. That doesn't sound fair." Right? If it's God's word, God changes us.

We don't change God. Right? That's why he says, "No first of all, that this prophecy is not a matter of one's own interpretation. No prophecy was ever made by human will. This was not a bunch of people got together who put wise words together. But men moved by the Holy Spirit, by the power of God, spoke from God." That's his main point.

Right? His main point is he's telling, as Apostle Paul, Peter is facing death, all kinds of challenges are coming into the church, persecution, and even the cost of their life. And so Peter is telling them, right? He says, remember what he said last week? He said, "Remember justification by grace, sanctification by grace, glorification by grace.

Therefore," what? "Live your life to pursue holiness, love, sanctification. And as you're pursuing sanctification, God will supply everything that you need," right? "In your journey to glorification in heaven." And then now he says, "I've heard all of these things and it makes the word of God even that much more precious." Because everything that we've seen and experienced, it points to the word of God being the word of God.

Not man's words, not something that we created, not just some fancy history, but this is the word of God. And because this is the word of God, he said, "Pay very close attention to it. Pay very close attention to it. This is not just some random letter that you're getting.

This is a matter of life and death until a lamp shining in the dark places, not just in the world, but in your own heart. The things that you've allowed darkness into your heart, into your thinking, into your coveting, compromises. Until the lamp shining in the dark place, until the day dawns, until you see the truth and the morning star rises in your own heart, until the word of God changes you.

And you begin to see the truth as God says it, because this is not made up. This is not some fancy story, right? You're not studying this like you're studying at school. This is not just science. This is not history. This is God's living word, right? All right. Here's your discussion questions.

Does your experiences, do your experiences in life confirm the word of God more, or do you have a hard time reconciling the word with your life? Okay. Does that make sense, right? Okay. Has some of you guys been Christians for a long time? Some of you guys have been Christians for a short period of time, but have you seen the word of God confirming it to be true in your life?

Right? Or you're studying these things and then you're living life and it doesn't seem to be true. What has your experience said about the word of God? Okay. How has the word of God caused you to have a complete paradigm shift of something about God yourself and the world and et cetera, right?

If you've been a Christian for any period of time and you've never had any paradigm shift of any kind, it probably means you're not either studying the word of God or the word of God is having no effect on you, right? So that's number two. Number three, what gives you the confidence that God's word is God's word and that it's inerrant?

If somebody challenged you about that, well, you say this is the word of God. I mean, I heard that it was, you know, the church put it together, right? You probably heard some professor somewhere or maybe some atheist or somebody tell you that the church just kind of gathered these books together and they stamped it, right?

Isn't that true? If that's so, how can you be so confident? Why are you, why do you keep quoting the word of God? It's just, it's just a bunch of people who are flawed put it together. What makes you so confident this is God's word, right? Because until you're convicted that this is the word of God, you're not standing on solid ground, right?

When temptation comes, struggle comes, and when persecution comes and it's going to cost something for you to stand with Christ, what's going to cause you to say, even if I die, I believe this is true, right? But if that's not the case, when your faith starts to cost something, you're not going to be able to withstand the test if your conviction doesn't come from here.

So what, what gives you this confidence, right? Now there's probably going to be different degrees of confidence. Some of you guys are absolutely convinced for various reasons, right? Some of you guys may have, may have conviction, but maybe you can't articulate it. But again, maybe in your small group, you can take some time to, to hear, right?

Sometimes hearing other people's convictions will help you with yours. Okay. And number four is a practical application question. In what way can you better commit to pay closer attention to God's word on a daily basis? Okay. So as I conclude, before I pray and let you guys go into your group, again, this was a struggle that I had early on in my Christian faith because I started running into Jehovah Witnesses and Catholics and, and I started to, even though I was already a Christian, I started asking myself, how can I be certain that the Jehovah Witnesses Bible isn't true?

How can I be certain if the Mormons were not true? And so as I was wrestling with this, the conclusion that I came to is, is the reliability of the word of God, right? Where did it come from? How did it start? How can I be certain that what it says is true?

So that's why back in college I took, you know, Buddhism, you know, anytime I had an opportunity to ask questions and to study on different religions, I did. And the end conclusion that I came to was that all the other religions, again, you know, if there's more time I will go into detail, but all the other religions, you have to try hard to believe, right?

I mean, you have leaders who went to jail, who are, you know, caught in besiegment, they have court records of, of their past. I mean, all kinds of stuff and all, and usually it's just one guy came out of the woods and saying God spoke to me. He just happened to be a very gifted, charismatic guy, but his background is so shady, right?

Even Buddhism, right off the bat, if you study Buddhism, you go back to Gautama, the last Buddha that they say they had, all the disciples say something completely different, right off the bat. They don't have a central teaching thing that started from the beginning. So that's why if you, if you look at Buddhism in Thailand, Buddhism in China, Buddhism in Japan, they all sound very different because right off the bat.

So anyway, I took plenty of time to go and study all of this stuff and the end conclusion was word of God, even if you're not a Christian, you end up with a lot of questions. How did we get this book? How did these things happen? How come, how come there's, the things in here are so accurate?

Why a bunch of people who are trying to tell lies from the beginning, why do they give their life, all of them telling the same lie? None of them benefited from it. None of them got rich from it. None of them were venerated. Everybody went to jail, got beheaded, crucified upside down if they were telling a lie, right?

Why are the prophecies so accurate? How come if they're telling a lie that every other historical fact, archeology is written so accurately? I mean, it just piles up one after another and the end conclusion is even if you're not a Christian, you come out thinking this is not an ordinary book, right?

Obviously as Christians, there's reasons why there's so much evidence because this is true, okay? Again, all of this is, that's the journey that I took but at the end of the day, all of that stuff was superficial. The real evidence is in the word of God itself, right? I can tell you about God but until you meet God, it's just my testimony, right?

And so because the text is driving us to the word of God, the end conclusion is where do you stand with the word of God? I know you're at a Bible teaching church. I know most of you guys are members of this church and superficially, you may say, "I believe in inerrancy," right?

But how does the word of God impact you? Do you actually read it, study it and apply it like God is speaking to you? Okay, let me pray for us, okay? Gracious Father, we pray that you would bless this time, bless our discussion. I pray that it would truly be fruitful.

Help us to be honest with our struggles, with our doubts so that we would have opportunities, Lord, to grow. Help us, Lord, not to simply present ourselves to be godly but that we would be seekers of truth. Whether we are young in our faith or whether we have been walking for a long time, I pray that you would reconvict us of these truths that we may be lovers of you and lovers of your word.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen. we're going to do a little bit more stretching.