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Let's get settled into our tables. And we'll take a moment to pray. To start off our Bible study. All right, please join with me in a word of prayer. Our Heavenly Father, we are so grateful to you. And God, we acknowledge that you are in the heavens and you are deserving of all praise.

We ask, Father God, that as we come together as a church centered around your word and your truth, that this will be pleasing in your sight, but also fruitful for us, for our growth and our faith. And we pray now that as we join our voices to lift you up, would you be praised, it's in Christ's name, amen.

(gentle music) ♪ You are my strength ♪ ♪ You are my strength when I am weak ♪ ♪ You are the treasure that I seek ♪ ♪ You are my all in all ♪ ♪ Seeking you as a precious jewel ♪ ♪ Won't you give up, I'd be a fool ♪ ♪ You are my all in all ♪ ♪ Jesus, Lamb of God ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name ♪ ♪ Jesus, Lamb of God ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name ♪ Taking my sin.

♪ Taking my sin, my cross, my shame ♪ ♪ Rising again, I bless your name ♪ ♪ You are my all in all ♪ ♪ When I fall down, you pick me up ♪ ♪ When I am dry, you fill my cup ♪ ♪ You are my all in all ♪ ♪ Jesus, Lamb of God ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name ♪ ♪ Jesus, Lamb of God ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name ♪ Jesus.

♪ Jesus, Lamb of God ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name ♪ ♪ Jesus, Lamb of God ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name ♪ Sing worthy. ♪ You're worthy of every song we could ever sing ♪ ♪ You're worthy of all the praise we could ever bring ♪ ♪ You're worthy of every breath we could ever breathe ♪ ♪ We live for you ♪ ♪ Jesus, the name above every other name ♪ ♪ Jesus, the only one who could ever save ♪ ♪ Worthy of every breath we could ever breathe ♪ ♪ We live for you ♪ ♪ We live for you ♪ ♪ Holy, there is no one like you ♪ ♪ There is none beside you ♪ ♪ Open up my eyes in wonder ♪ ♪ Show me who you are and fill me with your heart ♪ ♪ And lead me in your love to those around me ♪ ♪ Those around me ♪ ♪ You're worthy of every song we could ever sing ♪ ♪ You're worthy of all the praise we could ever bring ♪ ♪ Worthy of every breath we could ever breathe ♪ ♪ We live for you ♪ Jesus.

♪ Jesus, the name above every other name ♪ ♪ Jesus, the only one who could ever save ♪ ♪ Worthy of every breath we could ever breathe ♪ ♪ We live for you ♪ ♪ We live for you ♪ ♪ Holy, there is no one like you ♪ ♪ There is none beside you ♪ ♪ Open up my eyes in wonder ♪ ♪ Show me who you are and fill me with your heart ♪ ♪ And lead me in your love to those around me ♪ ♪ Those around me ♪ I will build my life.

♪ And I will build my life upon your love ♪ ♪ It is a firm foundation ♪ ♪ And I will put my trust in you alone ♪ ♪ And I will not be shaken ♪ ♪ And I will build my life upon your love ♪ ♪ It is a firm foundation ♪ ♪ I will put my trust in you alone ♪ ♪ And I will not be shaken ♪ ♪ Holy, there is no one like you ♪ ♪ There is none beside you ♪ ♪ Open up my eyes in wonder ♪ ♪ And show me who you are and fill me with your heart ♪ ♪ And lead me in your love to those around me ♪ ♪ And I will build my life upon your love ♪ ♪ It is a firm foundation ♪ ♪ And I will put my trust in you alone ♪ ♪ And I will not be shaken ♪ ♪ And I will build my life upon your love ♪ ♪ It is a firm foundation ♪ ♪ I will put my trust in you alone ♪ ♪ And I will not be shaken ♪ Let's pray.

Lord God, we just thank you for just the privilege it is for us to gather here freely as a body and to just have this time of fellowship, God, to have this time of where we're able to just worship you. We pray, Lord, that this time of just singing songs would have been honoring to you, that it would not have just been words, but it would be coming from hearts of worship, God.

And I pray, Lord, as we continue to discuss just what a healthy church looks like, I pray that you'll be with our discussions, that we would be able to encourage one another and that we would be able to challenge one another and just have fruitful time, God. Thank you and in your name we pray, amen.

- Okay, good evening again. I've got some important announcements for you guys this evening. Please note on your calendars that next week is going to be all church praise and prayer, Friday at 7.30 p.m. So hope all of you guys can join us for extended time of worship and praying together corporately.

So please make sure you guys note that Bible study takes a break for those of you guys who are newer. Next slide, please. And then for the band ministry, surprise, surprise. We're gonna be here Friday night for our first session of our retreat, okay? Now we're super thankful for all the firefighters.

As you guys see the clouds and stuff and you see the maps, there's actually like four or five fires that are happening at the same time. So we're not gonna be able to make it up to the mountains. That means on Friday night, it's gonna be busy here. So we're requesting that those of you guys who can carpool together on Friday night, please make sure that you're joining with somebody and coming to church.

There's gonna be youth group and college group in our first session here, okay? On Friday night, therefore, please know that there are various parking spaces that we can use. There are the two far ones, FNG on Fitch Road, and then there are the ones that are our two lots and the lot across, okay?

So just take note of that. It'll kind of be messaged out and you'll see it that Friday night, since we'll be busy, you'll try to make sure that we'll manage the parking and shuttles. We'll be operating like it does on a praise and prayer. Okay, next slide, please. For those of you who are newer to church, please note that there is a membership class that is taking place starting from September 29th, and that starts at 9.30 a.m.

It's an eight-week course that covers our foundational beliefs, and it's our membership process that you go through for church. Any questions about that, please contact Justin Wu. Next slide, please. The next slide is that Reformation Night is coming up, okay, in just about month and a half, two months, and volunteers are needed to run both trunk spaces, fun activities, but also everything from craft time to snacks and et cetera.

If you'd like to participate in that, please use this QR code and sign up to volunteer. Next slide. The next slide is that we are looking for volunteers to host a Thanksgiving regional dinner, so if you have a home that you'd like to open up, and it could house 15 or so plus people, please sign up.

We would love to have as many groups as possible. Last year, we had upwards of 600-plus participants in that regional dinner, and so we will need people to volunteer their homes. Even groups of people can come together, clean their house, and open it up for a gathering as well.

Please use the QR code to sign up. All of these signups will be on both our Linktree and in our app for where the events are, so please make sure you take note of those things. I believe that may be it. Next slide. Okay, so that's it for us in terms of announcements.

Please go ahead and do your discussion over the QT passages and the book, and we'll see you guys back here at eight. Thank you. 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laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience 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laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) - Okay, if you can hear me, if you can begin to wrap up and get back into the room, please.

(audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) All right, we're gonna get started.

So if you're still in the room and you're not out yet, we're gonna get started. (audience laughing) (audience laughing) All right, I see a couple tables not here yet. All right. All right, let's pray. Father, we thank you for this evening. We thank you for the material that we're covering.

Help us to have deeper understanding, not just of knowledge, but how to apply it in our personal lives and in the church. We pray that you would bless the sessions that we have, that it would help us to be on the same page as we pursue you, to build a church that honors you, glorifies you in a way, Father, that will be the greatest light that you desire us to be.

We ask for your blessing and your grace and your Holy Spirit to lead us. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. All right. Come on in, grab a seat somewhere, wherever you're at. All right. The weather is getting cooler. I'm assuming that our warmest days are behind us for now.

Found out part of the reason why this room was getting hot is because the fans are turning the wrong direction. So when we put the fans in, when they were doing some construction in here, they put the fans in, so most of the fans are actually sucking the cold air up, that we found out.

So if you are an engineer or you're a construction worker or you're an electrician or you know how to flip this thing back the other way, we're kind of in the process of trying to do that. Please come let us know, all right? We'll provide the ladder and then you can do the rest.

All right. Yeah, there's only like one there and two here that's turning the right way. And then everything else is sucking. That's why we're not turning the fans on, okay? Again, if you, Justin's been looking into it, but if you have any deeper insight about it that can help us with that, let us know, okay?

All right, today's that we're covering is covenant number two. I confess that the Bible is the inerrant word of God which has ultimate authority over my life. And as we mentioned, the tenfold covenant, each one of them were not just something that we just kind of decided to put in.

These are very well thought out years and years of wrestling and struggling through what we see in scripture. Number two, one, to be a member of the church, you need to be a genuine born again Christian. Number two is that the highest authority in the church priority is the Bible.

And so if that's what we believe, the doctrine of inerrancy means that in its original manuscript, there are no, there are no, there are no errors since the author is God himself. That's what the doctrine of inerrancy means. Years ago, probably maybe back in the '70s or earlier than that, they used to use the term infallible.

So if you read older books and they say we believe in the infallibility of the word of God, it means the same thing. But because it's just like today, you know, the term evangelical meant a gathering of like genuine born again Christians. But today evangelical has lost its meaning because evangelical has widened to the point where there's non-Christian liberals and people rejecting inerrancy all consider themselves evangelical.

So when somebody says they're evangelical, it no longer means what we used to mean. So in the same way, if you read old books and when they say infallible, it means the same thing. It is without error. But at some point in church history, in the last 30 years, the word infallible began to be interjected with certain meanings and what it means and what it doesn't mean.

And it kind of watered down the meaning. And so some of the more conservative schools came up with the term inerrancy. And it is without error, right? So today when somebody says they believe in infallibility, they mean that the Bible in its original meaning is infallible. But the words in itself specifically can be fallible.

Again, it depends on which circle is using that term. So we're specifically using the term inerrant meaning in its original manuscript, not the translations, right? Not the study Bibles, not the English Bibles, but in its original Greek and Hebrew, Aramaic manuscript, there is no error because the author is God.

That's what we mean by inerrant. So any church or any person that believes in the inerrancy of the word of God means it is without error. So therefore, the doctrine means that it has final authority over all things. Everything that we do, that's the final authority. It doesn't matter even if 99.9% of the world says we don't believe that anymore.

If we believe that's what the Bible says, that's what we believe. That's where the church stands. If by believing in inerrancy that the church no longer grows, no longer popular, and everybody in this church leaves as a result of that, we cannot change. Because you are not the final authority, I'm not the final authority of the word of God.

That's what we mean by saying that we believe in inerrancy of the Bible. That's the final authority. So all things must be established by the word of God rather than tradition or preference. Now what do I mean by that? How much of, especially those of you who grew up in a church.

I grew up, again nominally, in a Presbyterian home because my dad was a Presbyterian pastor. And then I got saved at a charismatic background. And then I went to Talbot. And they were Bible-leaning, more conservative, at least when I was in school. And then I became more reformed in my faith as I came out of seminary.

So I went through the whole gamut. And I know the various things that I thought when I was younger, as I was studying the Bible, not because I went to a certain school or because I was in a certain Bible study. But as I started teaching the Bible, many of the things just stopped, just didn't fit.

And one of the first things that I came across is baptism. Because I was infant baptized. And as I was studying it, I realized that how I understood church and baptism came more from tradition than what I was seeing in Scripture. And so as a pastor, nobody told me I should be baptized.

I went to my pastor and I said, "Is it okay if I get baptized?" And I asked him if he would baptize me. The reason why I did that is because I was trying to be faithful to what I see in Scripture. And how can I teach this if I didn't do this myself?

And so that was one of many things that I went through to test. Is this tradition or is it actually biblical? Another thing, because I was saved in a charismatic background, seeing visions, speaking in tongues, saying that people have healing gifts, it was a given. Because that's where I got saved.

That was my introduction to Christianity. As I started studying the Bible, I began to realize that there were specific restrictions given on how to practice these gifts. And so I would go and ask the leaders, "Hey, in Corinthians it says "not to pray in tongues in public "unless there's an interpreter "for every two or three people." And so every time I would ask them, and these people knew the Bible way better than I did, but every time I asked them, their answer was, "You're making a big deal out of nothing." And in fact, some of them actually told me, "You need to be humble.

"Nobody's bothered by it but you." And it took me years of wrestling through that. Do I just submit to them? Is that the right thing to do, just be humble and accept what they say? When I clearly see what the Bible is saying? And so it took me four or five years because these are the people that led me to Christ.

These are the people who are discipling me. These are the people that I looked up to. And they were telling me that I was wrong. But that was not what I was seeing in Scripture. And so it took me a long time to be able to question that. And then I had to come to a conclusion.

I cannot put my confidence in man. I have to put it in what I see in the Bible. So it took me years of coming away. And then once my paradigm started shifting, even the people that I really looked up to could be in error. And so I had to test everything through Scripture.

And once I started testing everything through Scripture, I began to realize there's so many things that we do in church that, again, scripturally doesn't make any sense. Because it was passed down to us that you just accept it. And let me give you an example. And this is not a wrong thing.

I hope you do believe in this. How many of you can defend the doctrine of Trinity? Most of you probably cannot. Yet you're convicted of it. And you will defend it. You will fight other people. You won't go to a church that doesn't believe in Trinity. What is that based on though?

Is it based upon your careful study of the Bible? If you can't defend it from the Scripture, it's not really yours. I'm starting off with something hard, because I know this is disturbing to a lot of you. But I'm trying to challenge you. Loving the idea of being in love with the Bible is not the same as being in love with the Bible.

It's not the same. Sometimes if you're in a Bible-teaching church, you feel confident that because you're in a Bible-teaching church, whatever we teach must be biblical. And that you test everything outside the church based upon what you heard. But it's not from the Bible itself. Do you understand what I'm saying?

So just because you heard it here, just because I taught it, and other people who seem to know the Bible taught it, doesn't mean that you know it. Right? You have to test where did you get this from Scripture. And the reason why I start with that, the hardest one, is because if even at the core of the identity of God, you may have a hard time defending.

Imagine how many other things that you say you're convicted about. This is biblical, this is not biblical. How much of that comes from your confidence in the church that you belong to? Or somebody that you looked up to? Or a book you read? Or a conference that you went to?

Or somebody told you this? This is truth. But if you're challenged, where did you get that from the Bible? You wouldn't be able to defend it. The reason why I'm challenging you, is because there's going to come a time when you are going to be challenged. And if it was confidence based upon your surrounding, it won't stand up to the test.

And when it doesn't stand up to the test, you're going to end up questioning your own faith. Thinking that, oh, maybe the Bible isn't this way. Maybe my church was wrong. Maybe that guy was wrong. In reality, it's because you never really were educated. You understand what I'm saying?

So, I know you're probably already disturbed. And I meant to do that. If the Bible is going to be the final authority, the Bible has to be the final authority. Not me, not the church. The Bible. You need to be Bereans. What's coming off of here. What's coming off the pulpit.

Even the book you're reading. You need to test it. Is that true? Is what he's saying really from the Bible? Or MacArthur said it, so it must be true. All things must be tested, if it stands the test of Biblical scrutiny. I had a... I can tell you story after story, so many years of people who challenged me on this particular subject of women in leadership.

We've had people come, and even recently have left our church saying that that's not Biblical. They don't like it. I had a girl, no longer a girl, she's in her 40s, but a long time ago, she graduated from a very liberal women's college, came back, and it just happened that we were teaching, we were going through the Bible, and we happened to land on a particular subject of women leadership.

And we said we don't practice women leadership at our church, and she stood up to me after the Bible study and saying, "You're twisting Scripture. "You're picking and choosing "based upon what you want." And I remember having a conversation with her. Whether that's true or not, let's see if that's what you're saying is true.

So I challenged her. Find two or three people outside of the church, I have no contact with them, that you are confident they know the Bible. And you ask them where these passages are. And then you go look at it yourself. And I'm going to give you time to go look at it.

And then so based upon what you find in the next three months, you come back to me and challenge me where I am twisting the Scripture. Two, three months go by, she's still at church, but she's not talking to me. So one day I decided to pull her aside after Sunday worship.

I said, "So what happened? "Did you find anything?" You could tell she was very uncomfortable. She said, "Yes, I talked to them." She just completely ignored me. She went, did her study, came back. She said, "Well, "I guess that's what the Bible teaches." And she admitted that. She said, "From what I read, "I don't know how else to interpret that.

"It seems like that's what the Bible says." And then she said, "I'm not sure if I like it." She was being honest. I said, "Okay. "At least we got that squared away. "Because because you didn't like it, "it means that I was twisting the scripture, right? "So we need to first establish, "does the Bible teach it?

"You and I agree that's what the Bible says. "Now the issue of whether you like it or not "is a separate issue. "So is it safer for you "to reject something in the Bible "because you don't like it, "or is it safer that maybe "the fact that you don't like it, "maybe something has gone wrong with you?

"Maybe something in the way that you've been trained, "maybe it's in the way that you understand "what true leadership is, "what's right and wrong. "Maybe because we've been influenced "by the secular world, "that somehow that doesn't sit well with us, "and that's why the Lord God is here "sanctifying us, "what he meant, right?" And so I can tell you story after story after story.

And even today, I have people challenging me, "This is biblical, not biblical." And I said, "Okay, tell me, "where in the Bible did you get that?" And a lot of times, it's not a text, it's something they heard, or the church that you used to go to, or a group, or somebody that they respect, or they went to some seminar, or some conference, and they came back and they said, "Based upon what they said, "you're not doing this.

"So show me where in the Bible." So if your authority is going to come from the Bible, it needs to be from the Bible. So there's a lot of people who are in love with the idea of being in love with the Bible. They're not in love with the Bible.

They're not studying it for themselves. And I say this because a lot of people who are in Bible-teaching churches are like that. And that's why you become critical. Let me tell you another story, okay? As you guys know, we're not a charismatic church. I've moved away from that. I had a guy who went to UCLA, and then went to some seminar, and he was fully convinced that the Bible was teaching cessationism.

And he came back excited to tell me, encourage me, and say, "You know what? "I agree with you. "I'm open but cautious." But he came and was sharing this with me, and nothing he said I was offended by. In fact, I agreed with almost everything that he said. But my concern was that he became so convicted, he said, "Charismatics are like this.

"Charismatics are like that." And I said, "You know, "it's not because I don't agree with you." I asked him, "Where did you get that from the Bible?" He got surprised. "Oh," I said, "you'd be happy that I became it." "Well, I want to first find out "how you came to that conclusion.

"What text were you wrestling with "that caused you to come to that conclusion?" He couldn't point to a single text. And so that's why I said I cautioned him. I said, "If you come to a conclusion, "and you're so convicted "that you're condemning all these people, "and you don't even have a single text, "and your condemnation is "they don't know the Bible, but you do.

"But when I ask you where you got that from the Bible, "you don't know. "So where is your confidence coming from? "From the seminar. "Whoever told you that, right?" So if the Bible is going to be your authority, the Bible has to be the authority. Not the culture, not a group, not a denomination, not some book, not some conference, but somebody that you trust with the Bible.

Does that make sense? Yeah. So that's why it doesn't matter who said it. It doesn't matter what book. "Oh, but all the people who take the Bible seriously "say the same thing." That's not where the authority comes from. Authority has to come from the Bible. I hope that's sinking in.

We must clearly separate what is preferable, or another way to put it is, what is profitable, or not profitable, versus what is biblical. Do you understand what I'm saying here? If you say it's biblical, there's no argument, right? That there's no wiggle room. That you have to do this because God says you have to do this.

Profitable and unprofitable is in application of something God said. Okay? And let me give you an example. Are topical sermons biblical or unbiblical? Think about that. Some of you guys might think that you know what I would say. Are topical sermons biblical or unbiblical? Good question. Nobody's confident in them?

Say what you think. Well, that's safe. That is the correct answer. That's not a biblical or unbiblical question. Is that profitable or unprofitable? Where in the Bible did you find where it says topical sermons are unbiblical? Where in the Bible did you find that? Doesn't exist. Doesn't exist. There is no text you're going to look at that's going to say this is how sermons should look like.

This is what the outline should look like. This is what the content should look like. You should go through the syntax and the grammar and the historical documents and all the stuff you should put out in every single sermon. Where did you get that? It's not in the Bible.

Now, is it profitable to have topics? Can you have a biblical topical sermon? Yes. We're going to teach on the subject of Trinity and you're skipping from passage to passage or maybe the doctrine of election and you're going through different passages to teach the idea of election. But if somebody says, this is how to be a good father.

You must hug your daughter. You need to take her out to dates. You know what I mean? That has nothing to do with the Bible. It's a topical sermon but it's not necessarily a biblical sermon. A topical sermon that's teaching the Bible could be biblical. When I ask is a topical sermon biblical or unbiblical, that's not the right answer because you can't find the text in the Bible.

So the question is the application of things that we see in the scripture but it does not have that final authority where it says, "Thus saith the Lord." "Thus saith the Lord," you can't preach topical. "Thus saith the Lord," you can't do this. You understand what I'm saying? Is owning a gun biblical or unbiblical?

Some of you may say it's biblical. But I'm from Texas. Again, that's not a biblical or unbiblical question. There's nothing in the scripture that says all true believers in Jesus Christ must own a gun or all true believers can't own a gun. That's a matter of profitable or unprofitable and you may have very strong opinions.

Is drinking biblical or unbiblical? I want you to squirm. I can tell who it is that's squirming. That's not a biblical or unbiblical question. Is it profitable or unprofitable? So the reason why I'm saying all of this is you need to separate what is a biblical argument versus what is an application argument.

So if you're making an application argument, you're talking about what you think is the best way to apply what the Bible clearly teaches. And there may be different opinions on that for different reasons. But if you give final authority to an opinion that you have in your application, you don't strengthen the Bible.

You weaken the Bible. You understand what I'm saying? Because you're giving authority to something that doesn't exist. If you're going to say that the Bible has final authority, the Bible has to have the final authority. Not your opinion, not your application. I'll give you another thing. It may not apply as much here as to the home groups.

Is homeschooling biblical or unbiblical? That's an applicational question. Some people may feel strong about it one way or the other. But that's not a biblical or unbiblical argument. That is an applicational question. Is it wise or unwise to send kids to public schools? Is it wise or unwise to homeschool?

You're taking a principle that is taught in scripture to disciple your children. Then how should that be applied? How should that be applied? It doesn't mean that it doesn't have any authority. But don't give it that final authority like everything else. If every application that you have is thus saith the Lord, you're going to find somebody else who says thus saith the Lord and there's no way to resolve that other than to say I know better than you.

It doesn't strengthen your argument. It weakens your argument. There's so many things that we argue about in the church saying the Bible says the Bible. The Bible doesn't say anything about that. It just gives you principles. And I'm going to get to that. So therefore, biblical authority must come in this chronological order.

And if you've been in our church for any given time, you know that this is something I will repeat over and over again up to the point it's like, oh man, you're going to do this again. Yes, I'm going to do this again. It needs to be in this order.

Final authority comes from exegesis of the text. That's why we do inductive Bible. I know a lot of people who were raised in a Bible teaching church but does not know how to interpret the Bible for themselves. They know the Bible from commentary. They know the Bible from preaching.

They know the Bible from seminars. But they don't know the Bible itself. It's just like that. If you learn the Bible that way, go sit down with a cult member, the local church, the Church of Christ. I mean, go sit down with them and argue with them biblically. And what happens is they have more Bible memorized than you do.

And they're absolutely convinced because they've been taught, whether it was from Joseph Smith or whoever was teaching. Whoever was the main teacher that started this cult, they take what they taught and because they have a lot of Bible verses, they say, oh, this must be the Bible. But if you sit down long with them and you start going over the context, what he was saying in chapter one and that argument led to chapter three.

And so how that particular word is being used in this verse and in that context, they don't know any of that. All they know is that here's some verses that talk about this particular subject and then they connected the dots. So therefore, Jesus isn't God. He is a God.

But you can't get that from the text. So that's why the text of Jesus has the highest authority is the text itself, that you're going verse by verse, word for word, from chapter to chapter, and then you figure out what that means. And then if you do enough of that, what does that lead to?

If you do enough of this, it leads to this. This thematic theology is accumulation of the knowledge of the Bible to teach you about a particular subject. So Trinity, right? Where do you get the doctrine of Trinity? From enough exegesis and then as you study from text to text to text to text and you put it all together, we have the doctrine of Trinity.

The doctrine of Trinity is not taught in a text. It's taught in the Bible. Sovereignty of God. It's not just in one text. You look at the totality of it. But you cannot start here. You can say, you know what, I'm convinced about this particular doctrine, but where did you get it?

Show me where. Let's open up the Bible. Tell me, where did you get it? If you can't argue your position from the scripture, right, then you're relying on somebody, some other human tradition, and you can be dead wrong. Now the reason why this is so important, that's how heresy comes into the church.

That's how bad doctrine, that's how deception comes. You're deceived when you are confident about something that you shouldn't be. Right? That's what deception is. You are confident, you're vocal, you're judgmental when you shouldn't be because you don't know what you're talking about. So if you're going to be confident about something, make sure your authority is coming from the Bible itself.

Not your opinion, not your upbringing, not from the background, not from the previous church you came from, from the Bible itself. If you have enough of this, then you can compare with historical theology. Historical theology is what the church has been debating, arguing, written down through history. So you have systems of Calvinism.

Right? And so that was passed down to us from generation to generation to generation. It was tested. But you don't start with this. You don't go learn theology and say, "Oh, I can tell you about this," and then assume that it's in the Bible. Right? The correct way to do it is pour all your energy into this and it will lead to this.

Then you can test historical theology to see which camp you belong to. Right? You can't, "Oh, I was raised in a Presbyterian church so therefore I'm a Calvinist." Even though I'm a Calvinist, that's not why you should be a Calvinist. You're not going to a church that taught Arminianism so therefore I'm an Arminian.

You shouldn't be an Arminian because of a church you went to. It should be coming from exegesis, systematic theology, historical theology. And in philosophical theology, it's basically, what do you make of it? Well, if God is sovereign and the Bible teaches us that we're responsible, how do these two things mesh together?

That's philosophical theology. Or a question of, we have this woman who's a great teacher and the Bible says that she shouldn't be teaching in church. How do we reconcile? Why did God make her such a great teacher and prohibit her from teaching the church? Is that a biblical question?

That's a philosophical question. Right? An application. There's good answers to that. But typically, if you're not careful, what happens is, you hear something, but you don't hear it. And so, if it doesn't seem fair and I don't like it, then we begin to alter all this. The Bible cannot be saying this.

Look at the people who are trying to push homosexuality in our community. Sometimes in the church, they'll tell you the Bible says this, the Bible said that. And next time they say that, read what they say carefully. Read their argument carefully because they're going to take a text and they're going to butcher it.

And you don't have to be a pastor to be able to see that. Just follow their argument. When they quote a verse, go and look at that text. See if what they're saying is actually coming from that text. It's not that difficult. Women in ministry issue is right there.

Majority of the argument for women in ministry comes from exegetical studies. It's coming from fairness. Why would God give gifts if he's not going to allow them to use it? Therefore, they're going back and reinterpreting everything so it'll fit. That's a very dangerous thing to do. We have to see what does the Bible say and then however you may feel about it, the authority comes from the Bible, not me, not you, not the culture.

Does that make sense? If you don't like anything that I said, find it in the text and then come challenge me from the Bible. Whatever I said, it's like, "Oh, he's saying things I don't like." Go find it in the text. That's why I'm saying it. Go find it in the text.

Study it for yourself and then come. But don't sit there and say, "I don't like it." That's your problem. That's not my problem because the authority doesn't come from you, it doesn't come from me. The Bible is sufficient. The Bible is sufficient to know God in general revelation. I'm going to go a little bit longer than normal today.

General revelation is the imprint that he's made of himself in creation. That because that which is known about God is evident with them, for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world his invisible attributes, his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made so that they are without excuse.

So this is what's called general revelation. He put enough evidence of himself in creation to draw people to himself. Okay. That symbol means draw. Okay. To draw people. But general revelation cannot save you. General revelation can only draw you. Okay. So general revelation will lead you to special revelation, which is the Bible.

Bible will, general revelation will draw you to Christ, special revelation will introduce you. You cannot be saved unless you are introduced to Christ. Does that make sense? So it is sufficient to know God. So if somebody says God is like this, God is like that, where did you get that from?

From creation we can say God is powerful, he is creative, he is intelligent. We can get that from creation, but can you get that from creation that he's loving? That he's merciful? Maybe. But the specifics of his nature, that he is holy, we can get that from scripture. Okay.

So not only the Bible teaches us about who God is, the Bible teaches us how we are saved. And that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ. All scripture is inspired by God it says sacred writings which wisdom that leads to salvation.

Sacred writings that lead to salvation. That's special revelation. You know, this word is so interesting, inspired. How many of you in this room use the LSP? How many of you use the old version of the NSP? The old version, not the 93, the one before that. 95. Not the 95, not the revised 95, but the one before that.

Anyway, if you look at the LSP or the old NSP, this word is translated God breathe. That's literally, that's what it says. God breathe. And then the newer version of the NSP translated inspired by God. You know why this is so, to me it was interesting was where else do you see the term breathe?

When God created man, he said he breathed his breath into the man, right? But when man fell, what happened? He died. When we come to the New Testament, how does he breathe his breath back into us? Through the word of God. Doesn't blow your mind? It blows my mind.

I remember when I was doing my PhD, like the breath that we lost because of our sin, God has ordained his word. He said he put his very breath into the word of God. And he said faith comes from hearing and hearing of the word of Christ. He has ordained his very breath into the word.

So the way that the breath is going to go back into us is the word of God. And that's why he tells Timothy to preach the word in season of what's been lost. Okay? I don't know, you guys don't seem impressed. I was so blown out of the water when I noticed it.

Bible is sufficient to know God's will. Now let me take a few minutes talking about this. This is where I think a lot of people who are in Bible teaching churches go astray. Because if you think that knowing the Bible is simply an intellectual exercise, you're going to get into trouble.

The Bible, God is not somebody that you can study through syntax and doing, asking questions and putting together. It's like, oh, I know him. You cannot approach God until we are humble before God. It doesn't matter how much Bible you know. Bible teaches us about God, but you cannot know God until you are humble before God.

Hebrews 4.12, it says, "For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart." So the word of God is, does what?

First and foremost, to judge what's right and wrong? Yes, but where? You and me. When the word of God is open, first and foremost, before we judge outside, before we judge anybody else, it needs to judge the thoughts and intentions of your heart. Because if it doesn't judge the thoughts and intentions of your heart, the filter in which you're going to see and interpret the Bible is going to come from a sinful, proud heart.

Does that make sense? That's why somebody who is looking to the Bible for proof text to prove homosexuality will find it. And he'll point to verses. Right? If you approach the Bible thinking that somehow the heart is evil, but the intellect has not been tainted by sin. No. We've all been in every part of our will, our intellect, and our heart was tainted.

So if your being is not being sanctified, even the way you look at Scripture is going to come through a sinful lens. I'm going to try to prove that person wrong. I'm right and you're wrong. So everything you're going to see and interpret in the verses that you find is going to bolster up the position that you want to find.

Does that make sense? First and foremost, the Word of God has to judge the thoughts and intentions of our heart. What's the judge of thoughts and intentions? It's internal. Not judge what you're doing with your life, right? Why is this important? Romans 12.2, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." So how do we come to understand the will of God?

Now there are texts that it says, clearly, do this and don't do this. But 99% of the things that you're asking, the Bible doesn't have a clear saying. Like, should I go to this school or that? Marry this lady. Where did you find that in the Bible? You can go seek counsel, but that's another human's counsel.

He says, "Not to be conformed, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." So how does your mind get renewed? By the Word of God. By allowing it to judge the thoughts and intentions of my heart. Do I have any idols in my heart? Do I have any bitterness in my heart?

Do I have any pride in my heart? And if you are being transformed by the will of God, then you will be able to prove the will of God. He doesn't say, "Then you will be able to know all the will of God." He says, "You will be able to test and prove the will of God." Does that make sense?

In other words, the filter, the sinful filter that's getting in the way, sinful paradigm that's getting in the way of you being able to discern what is right and wrong is getting removed, right? So if your heart and your intentions are not being sanctified, the way you're looking at Scripture is going to come through a sinful lens.

I can give you a perfect example. If you and your wife get in a fight and you're angry at her, right, and she, to you, that she's so selfish and everything that she says is going to sound selfish, everything she says is going to sound selfish because I'm angry and I'm unable to deal with my anger.

I can't hear. You understand what I'm saying? I can't hear because I'm angry. I want to see you a certain way. I'm trying to prove to you that you're wrong. But everything that you say is going to be evidence for what I want you to be saying. And so, so many, like if you get in a fight, you're fighting over what you're saying, you understand what I'm saying?

You'll get in a fight and you say you said this, but I didn't mean that, but you said it. I'm just telling you that's not what I meant. I don't care what you meant, but you said it. So you're not trying to get to the truth. You're just trying to win an argument.

In that context, you can't come to the truth because you're not looking for truth. You're looking for evidence. Does that happen in the way we interpret Scripture? Yes. If your heart and your intention is not being dealt with and your mind and your heart is not being renewed, you don't have the tools to be able to discern what is God's perfect will.

That's why sanctification must happen internally first. Before you figure out, should I do this, should I not do this? Who are you in that context that needs to be sanctified? Is this too late? Is this going over your head? Okay. I hope it's sinking in. You grow in faith.

Long for the pure mickle of the Word so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation. Now, I'm going to say something because this is a common thing that I hear. Training. We need discipleship. You know what discipleship is? Discipleship is getting the Word in you. Getting the Word in you is discipleship.

Now, I can model it. I should model it. Right? But the primary source of your growth is getting the Word of God in you. Because there's so much attention and time given into the structure and relationship, finding somebody older, somebody with somebody younger, an older couple with younger couple.

All of that stuff, there's nothing wrong with it. Those are tools that we can use. But the source of true growth is always going to be exposure to the Word of God. If your heart and intention are committed to God, all you need is the Word. All you need is the Word.

All you need to know is to know which direction to go. Right? But if you're resistant, if you're not surrendered, you need to have the perfect temperature, you need to have the perfect person, the words need to be perfect, it needs to be a certain personality, you need to connect with that person.

You know, it needs to be a small group, it needs to be people of my age, it needs to be people who are married, who have children, you need to be a middle child too. So many things that's required to get somebody who is not bending, to get them to bend.

But if somebody's already bent toward God, all you need is the Word of God. All you need is the Word of God. Because they're ready to go, they just need direction. But so much attention is given to the human created structure in order for people who have not surrendered to God to come a little closer.

But if you are committed to Christ and your heart and your intention and being renewed by the Word of God, you just need somebody to open up the Bible to you. Now, I'm not knocking all this other stuff. Those are tools that we have, but that's not the final source of spiritual growth.

And then obviously to be equipped, and even this, to be equipped. There's a lot of things, how to share the Gospel, and all of these things are very useful tools to have. But ultimately, what will equip you is God's Word. All scripture is inspired by God, proper for teaching, reproof, correction, training, and righteousness, right?

So that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. What equips you for every good work? Older brother? Older sister? Small group? No, Word of God. Word of God equips you. How does it equip you? Because what causes you to be the closest to God is your best training.

Because he said he was going to do it, right? You get somebody who knows very little about the Bible, who's in love with Christ, and they for some reason share their testimony, and somebody comes to Christ with that person. You get somebody who has a PhD in the Bible and give you all the arguments that they can give, and at the end of the day, it's more hardened than ever.

Until the Holy Spirit is ignited through you, what you do is only going to be frustrating. So God never, God is not waiting for us so that we can master our ability so he can use us. He just said to submit, abide. Abide by what? Abide his Word, right?

So if you are abiding in his Word, you are the most equipped. You are the most equipped. You have a PhD. Not the guy who's been doing this for 30 years, because you have all this knowledge, but the one who abides. So even if you're a brand new Christian who is abiding closer to Christ, that person can be more fruitful than somebody who's been walking with Christ for 30 years and is not abiding.

Understand? Right? So I hope our paradigm is being shifted by the Word of God, because so much of how things are being practiced, we suddenly give confidence to man, and we take away authority and confidence of the Word of God. The Word of God is sufficient. Sufficient. And Joshua, he says, "The book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, "but you shall meditate day and night "so that you may be careful to do "according to all that is written in it, "for then you will make your way prosperous "and then you will have success.

"Just do what I say," he said. So I hope this experience, you're a young general who's going to fight a fortified city, right, with battle-seasoned soldiers behind the pronged tower, and all you guys have been doing was walking 40 years, and all the adults who led you in the desert, they all died.

And these young families and young kids with a young leader is going to go, and all God has to say to them was, "Do what I tell you. "When I tell you to walk, you walk. "When I tell you to pick up the box, "you pick up the box.

"When I tell you to blow the horn, blow the horn. "Then when I tell you to blow the horn, "you walk in and you just walk in "and do exactly what I say." None of that has changed today. None of that has changed today. Whether you're a brand-new Christian, you feel like, "I don't really know the Bible that well," but what you do know are you abiding.

All right, I'm not going to read the whole thing, but this is a verse that I, I'm going to read to myself constantly. Actually, I'm going to read it. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, "so are my ways higher than your ways, "and my thoughts than your thoughts.

"For as the rain and the snow "come down from heaven and do not return there "without watering the earth "and making it bear and sprout, "furnishing feed to the soul and bread to the eater, "so will my word be which goes forth from my mouth. "It will not return to me empty "without accomplishing what I desire "and without succeeding in the matter "for which I sent it." The Word of God is going to do what the Word of God is ordained to do.

It will bear fruit, it will judge, it will build, it will tear down, whatever He had intended. So all He told us to do is to teach the Word in season, now the season. That's what we're committed to. Not committed to about the Bible, we're not committed to a set of theology, we're just committed to the Bible.

All right, I'm done. Final discussion question. Between one to 10, how well do you think you know the Bible? Between one to 10, how well do you think you'll be able to discern false doctrine? I'm not talking about the obvious stuff, things that are subtle. Obviously, if you're low on number one, then you're probably going to be low on number two.

Are there any doctrines you feel convicted about but confess that you can't adequately defend from the Bible? Trinity is probably one of the top ones. In my experience with a lot of people. Are there any other doctrines that you feel like the Bible needs to be, church has to be this way?

Where did you get that from the Bible? Can you defend that from the Bible? Not about the Bible, not something you heard. Where did you get that from the Bible? When was the last time that the Word of God really convicted you in how you viewed God or how you ought to live your life as a Christian?

You personally. And I'm not talking about some book you read or somebody else told you. Like the Word of God itself has convicted you. All right, let me pray for us and then I'll let you get to your decision. Father, we thank you for this time. We thank you for my brothers and sisters in this room.

We're spread across in the home groups. Help us, Lord God, to put our full confidence in your Word as you told us to abide in your Word and not to turn from it to the left or to the right, not to add to it, not to take away from it.

But ultimately, Lord God, for the sake of your glory, help us to be humble servants, Lord God, with searching for ignoble things in our lives that we may be useful for noble things for your kingdom. Bless our time of discussion. May it be a fruitful, open, and honest time.

In Jesus' name we pray.