Address—Josh Stewart
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Well, welcome to the last meeting of the conference. Let's begin by singing #200 and 76276.
Guide us all that.
Umm, well, I don't need.
Anything, uh.
Bread of Heaven, feed us now and evermore. Let's pray before we begin.
Well, this afternoon let's open up this book, which is illegal in over 50 countries in the world today. I don't know quite how many, I've heard different numbers, but I think it's over 50.
To an introductory verse in Deuteronomy chapter 8.
It's illegal in over 50 countries and yet it is the best selling book in the world year over year since the invention of the printing press. So put those two things together. This is a very special book. We hold in our hands Deuteronomy chapter 8, and I'll just read part of verse 3.
The middle of the verse, that he might make thee know that man does not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord, doth man live. Let me just read that again.
Man does not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live.
This is an address to young people, and I have to say, one feels very much the weight of the responsibility of standing up here and speaking to you. I I think back over my time and meetings like this when I was a little bit younger, and I think of my experience as a young person and all of the things that helped me in my life to go on for the Lord, to grow in the Lord.
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I think first of all of the grace of God.
Where would we be? Where would any of us be apart from the grace of God? I think of those who are an encouragement to me.
And as you might imagine from the verse I just read, what I would like to speak on today is the word of God, the word of God. I've had, umm, a line of things on my heart over the past few years to do with the word of God. Umm, words like inspiration, uh, inerrancy, interpretation. Those are three I words that are very important.
I've had subjects like that on my heart over the past few years.
But that's not what I want to speak about today. I think those would be a little bit too big for what we have before us today. And it's not the burden that the Lord has placed on my heart. You know, God works through his servants using burdens. And that's a wonderful thing. He'll put something on our heart and it's like a burden. And we we'll never get that off until we discharge, until we do what he wants us to do might be to speak to that person at school, at work about the Lord. It might be to share some thoughts or.
Help some elderly or sick person with their housework, whatever it might be, until we do it, he doesn't take that burden off.
While the burden on my heart, umm, for you dear young people, this afternoon is the importance of the Word of God.
There we hold in our hands a book that is not dead. It's a living. It's amazing, this book, the Word of God does not change, and yet it's living. Put those two things together, we can't.
It's incredibly important and, uh, you know, just by way of introduction, I wanna wax, uh, abstract for a minute here and please try to stay with me, but this is very important. Man was created as a dependent being.
And I know this is going to be a little abstract, but please stay with me. Man was created and placed in the Garden of Eden, independence on God. What does that mean? That means that man could only be happy if he depended on God for everything, for guidance, for direction, for food, for everything, to be dependent on God. And that's how man was created. And it's true for us today. We are dependent creatures.
And.
You know, there's, there are things in this world that we look around us and we see everything has cause and effect. You look at pick anything you could possibly think of and you can ask why and there's a cause. Everything has cause and effect. And you can look at something and say, well, why and go back a step. And then you can ask, well, why? And that thing had a cause. And you can keep asking why, why, why as young children often do.
And eventually you're gonna get back to something where you ask why and the only explanation is God.
That thing is called an absolute. God is the absolute. There's no reason why God exists. He just is because he is. In fact, that's one of his names. I am that I am. Does anyone know the Hebrew name for God? That means I am that I am. Anyone raise your hand if you know.
I am that I am. Maybe someone of the older ones could, uh, help us. I know somebody knows Jehovah. That's right. He is the self existing one. He just is because he is. Isn't that beautiful? Well, man is dependent on God and we are dependent creatures, which means you know something. We don't really know anything.
Unless God tells it to us so we can reason, we can take in data.
And we can draw conclusions based on that data, but it's really just reason unless God has said it. And God speaks to us in a variety of ways. He speaks to us through creation. Psalm 19 tells us, Romans one tells us that we can know God's eternal power and divinity through creation. That's that's his word in a sense. So we can know things from creation. But he's also given us this book. And when we read it and we believe it, we can actually know something.
100%.
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For certain and so we're living in a day and that's why I wanted to speak about this for you young people when there is more information than there has ever been it's right in your pocket. You can read news article after news article and yet one of the most disconcerting things is.
You don't even know if you can believe it. You can actually be more sure that it's a piece of political propaganda. Then you can be sure that it's fact that you can really believe. That's why this book is so amazing. You can pick it up and you can read it and it is 100% true. Thy word is truth, Jesus said.
And so that's why I wanted to start with this verse here in Deuteronomy chapter 8. It says that man shall not live by bread only. We cannot really live apart from the Word of God. Now, there are plenty of people who live in a physical sense without this book, but they're not really living. They're dead men walking. But if you want to really live, the only way to do it is through the Word of God.
It was. The verse was already quoted this weekend. I think it was Job.
In the book of job that do we esteem his words more than our necessary food and I think we understand the importance of physical food. This book is every bit as important or more than physical food for our existence.
And, uh, as I was saying, you read, you look around in this world and there's a lot of reasoning going on and speculation, but that's all it is. And when we're standing on the word of God, it's like standing on a solid rock. The minute we step off that rock into speculation, it's like stepping into a swamp. It's just mush.
You don't know whether you can believe it. So that's why we wanna stay on this book and we'll have solid footing for our our feet. And so that's what I wanted to speak about is the word of God, the importance of the word of God. We live in a world when there's a lot of fake news, but this book, there's nothing fake about it. So I want to speak about the importance of the word of God under 3 subheadings.
The importance of reading it, the importance of studying it and the importance of applying it in our lives. Reading it, studying it and applying it.
Now, first of all, you might say, well, what's the difference between reading it and studying it? That that might be a little hard, so I'm going to explain what I mean. Umm.
A brother that I've I've been really helped by made this comment. He said. You know, there's two ways to read the Bible. You can read it as a devotional or you can study it.
And we need to do both of those things. And I agree with that statement. You know, when we read it as a devotional, we're reading it daily for our own soul. What is God saying to me? When we study it, we're seeking to understand what God means. And those are two very different things, and we need both of them. You could almost say it this way. When we read the Bible as a devotional, we let it study us.
We're reading it and we're letting the Spirit of God search us out.
David said, umm, search me, O God, to see, as he goes on to say, whether there be any wicked way in me. When we read this book as a devotional, it's really God. It's really God's Word searching us. But then we need to search it as well. We need to get an understanding of the truths that God has presented to us in His Word. So we do need to study it. So that's kind of the difference.
So turn with me to John's Gospel chapter 6, John chapter 6 for a verse.
I want to speak first about reading it as a devotional.
John chapter 6 is a long chapter, very important chapter, but let's go down to verse 48.
And that bread of life, your Father's did eat manna in the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof and not die. I'll just stop there. There's a lot more we could read and a lot more we could say about this wonderful chapter, and important one I should say. But here we have the Lord Jesus making one of those wonderful I am statements. He says I am the bread of life.
The first thing I wanted to say about reading the Bible is a devotional as we get food for our souls.
And specifically, it's Christ. He is the food for our souls. When you are studying the Bible, you're really, it's not quite the thought of food for your soul. It's food in the sense of meat. Our brother was talking about milk and meat and the difference. It's food in that sense. But that's a little different thought than spiritual energy. But food for your soul. What do I mean by food for your soul? I mean fuel, spiritual energy.
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If we are not daily feeding on Christ, there's going to be a coldness.
And an emptiness that creeps in. And so we need to feed on him as the bread of life to really meditate on Christ himself. It gives us that food for our soul. You know, I talked about the difference between reading the Bible as a devotional and studying it. And I think there's an often an imbalance with us. Some people gravitate more towards studying it and neglect maybe reading it daily as a meditation and others might.
Readily read it every morning, every evening, whatever it might be, as a meditation, but then neglect studying it, and we all perhaps go one way or the other.
But we need to be balanced and that's why we need each other.
But we need not to neglect this. And you know, you can be studying the scriptures and going through points of doctrine and be cold and empty in your soul. I've experienced it. Umm, so we need this food for our souls. We need this. We need this book too, for guidance. The Lord speaks to us. One of the ways he speaks to us, I think a prominent way he speaks to us is through this book. You know, there's so many decisions.
To make in life, especially you young people, what to, what to study, what kind of a job to look for, who to marry, all those decisions are huge. You cannot make them on your own. You cannot. You have to have God's voice in your ear. And that happens through reading this book.
Another thing we need is to read this book for communion. What do I mean by communion? Well, communion, I've enjoyed it just simply means common thoughts, common thoughts. Well, how do we get God's thoughts? It's through his word. So do we ever sit down to read this book simply to get God's thoughts? And I, you know.
It's beautiful to just sit in the presence of the Lord and to think his thoughts, as simple as that. You know when you read this book and you understand that you're getting the thoughts of God. And I love the fact that the word Bible, even the very word Bible, is actually from the Greek to Biblia, and it's actually a plural word. We use it singular to think of this book, but it's a plural word. It really means the books. It's actually closer to the thought of a library.
Than it is the thought of a book now.
Don't get me wrong, this is 1 harmonious book, but think of it just like browsing through a library. 66 books on the shelf, every one of that you pull down is full of the thoughts of God. It's wonderful just to read it and enjoy it and to think his thoughts.
Well, I said there were three subheadings reading and the next one is studying all the importance of studying this book.
Let's let's turn to, umm, Proverbs chapter 2. This verse stuck out to me maybe, uh, six months ago. It really smoked me.
Proverbs, chapter 2.
Before we embark on studying, I just wanna say something. What I have to say this morning is very practical and I, I personally struggle when speaking on practical subjects like like this exhortation. It's not my go to thing. I don't wanna be prescriptive. I don't wanna tell you this is the one way to to do it. Umm, the Spirit of God can lead you and guide you. I just wanna give you.
Some encouragement. OK, so think of this as encouragements, not as, umm, prescriptive.
Measures for how you should live your Christian life.
Umm, so Proverbs chapter 2.
And we'll start with verse, I think 1.
My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee, so that thou would climb thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding. Yeah, if thou cryest after knowledge, and lift this up thy voice for understanding, here's the verse. If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her As for hid treasures, then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord.
And find the knowledge of God, for the Lord giveth wisdom. Out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. Just that verse, if thou seekest her as silver.
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And searches for her As for hid treasures. So now I want you to think about something for a minute. Let's say I were able to tell you on good authority, young people that there was $20 million in silver buried in a chest down at the beach. OK, think of pirates, treasure or something like that. And and you were to believe me, really believe me that there was 20 million in silver down at the beach. What would you do right now?
Would you stand around listening to me, or would you get out of your seat and run?
As fast as you could down to the beach and start digging. I think that's what you would do.
Would you, uh, stop to check Facebook maybe?
Or, uh, Snapchat or do some text messaging. Well, you can't hear because there's no service here, but.
I think you understand my point. The sheer value of what is buried down at the beach eclipses all of the other mundane things that you might otherwise be occupied with. And when you get a sense of the value of what is contained in this book, everything else is just Why waste my time doing that when I have something so much better?
I want to read for you.
A quotation.
From a brother C uh, Clarence Lundin. I heard this on a tape a while ago and uh, I don't know where it was, but it hit me right between the eyes and so I just wanna read it to you.
Timothy was to hold fast an outline of sound words. We're gonna talk about that in a minute. But you can't hold something fast if you don't have it. Oh, how you ponder your calculus and your chemistry. Hour after hour. It will pass away. It will all go up in the fire. It may be necessary for your job, but what about the things that are for eternity? You have to make a study of them.
I thought about that. How many of you here are in college?
Right now we're planning to go to college. Raise your hand, there's quite a few.
Does anyone know per credit hour at a reputable university? How many hours outside of class does it take to keep up on your studies and do a good job? Does anyone know per credit hour?
How many?
3:00 to 4:00 So let's take a course in mathematics, a rigorous college course. You would spend maybe 12 hours.
In that class, including class time, you had spent 12 hours to be able to stay on top of your coursework and do a a good job.
MMM, I just asked myself this question. Do I study like that in this book? How can I expect to do a good job, if you will?
If I don't apply myself, I mean, how many of us spend 12 hours a week studying this book? That's just one class, a full course, a full class load is what, four or five classes? So I, I challenge each one of you. Do we spend time studying this book well?
Let's turn over to Second Timothy, Second Timothy 2, verse 15.
Study to show thyself approved unto God.
A Workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and vain babblings, for they will increase unto more ungodliness. Study to show thyself approved unto God. You know I just want to say one other thing. Studying the scriptures is not an end in itself. We don't just study to study.
We don't just study to know more. God wants to make us worshippers. He wants to make us worshippers, workers and warriors. But we need to study in order to do those things. It's not an end in itself. OK, so we don't just study to be know it all, so we shouldn't anyways. So it's not an end in itself, but it's a means to be better equipped to do what God wants us to do. First of all, as I said, sitting in his presence, sitting at the feet of.
Jesus in worship we need to study well, study to show thyself approved unto God. So let's just talk about what it what it says at the end of verse 15. A Workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. You know what I have in my heart in this meeting goes along with what we've had in these meetings, particularly the readings we've taken up the importance of dispensational truth, rightly dividing the word of truth. What do we mean by that?
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That means that when we read something.
We don't just lump it all together and say this is just one homogeneous thing. No, we, we rightly divide it. I think the original word means to cut it in a straight line. You know, a surgeon needs to be so precise with his scalpel to cut things neatly and cleanly. We need to have that same precision when we read this book, if every time we read it, we just think.
It's all talking about the same thing. We're really never gonna make progress. In fact, actually, that's one of Satan's greatest lies, is to lump everything together and not to make divisions and distinctions. But God is a God of order, and order comes when there are divisions. And that, that's a very general way of thinking of it. But so when we read a verse, do we understand whether it's talking about the church or Israel? Let's take a really general one.
Do we understand the difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament? My Bible has a blank page.
And words that say the end of the Old Testament, which I really like.
And that's that's a help so rightly dividing, knowing whether something applies to the church, to Israel, to prophecy, what whatever it might be. And I'm not going to go into that in detail. It's so helpful to do that. We've talked about the importance of the mystery. I want to just repeat that in the first reading. If you didn't hear it, our brother read that verse in Colossians in the mystery in which our hid.
All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge if if we understand that distinctive truth of Christianity, what the Church is.
And and the place that holds and the purpose of God, all of the other scriptures are going to be opened up to us. So I want to encourage you if you don't know what it is.
To go home and to study it, look it up, read it out for yourself so you can explain it in your own words. It's so, so important.
I remember when I was young, I started questioning the things I had been raised with, and that's a good thing. It's a good thing to question what we've been taught and, uh.
I was maybe 1415 years old. My parents gave me a book by WTP PTI. Don't know the initials. Woolston called the church. What is it? It sounds so simple. What is the church? Fantastic book. It established me. It helped establish me in the truth of the mystery. Very important, very very important.
Well, what hinders us from from studying?
You know, I think there are those who have this idea that I'm just not smart enough to understand that's not true.
I'm not saying that everything is easy to understand, but it's not that hard. Brother Mark mentioned how and I really believe the deepest truths of God are the simplest. They are not complicated. You don't need a massive chart to explain the deepest truths of God. I think the deepest truth of God is this. Jesus loves me. And the more you study this book, the more you realize the love of God. But even to get into dispensations, it's not that hard.
It's really not, and I appreciate the way it was brought out this weekend.
Others perhaps have a fear or have a thought that it's it's just not important. I can just get through life without it. You really can't. You really can't study to show myself approved unto God, a Workman which needeth not to be ashamed. We all need it. And then there's the distractions. And I already talked about, you know, social media, you know, when we study this book.
Umm, I have no problem with studying this book using electronic means. I do that and it's so helpful. Umm, we're gonna talk about sources for ministry in a minute. We have more available at our fingertips than ever before, but there's also more distractions. You know, studies have been done about the psychology of social media and the smartphone and how our brains just love that little notification.
That says somebody liked my photo or whatever it is. It, it, it's incredible. It's opening up a new field in psychology. We, we're so easily distracted by those things. So if you need to put your phone on airplane mode again, I'm not trying to be prescriptive, but whatever it takes to be diligent in the study of this book and maybe, maybe a paper Bible is not that bad. Umm.
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Umm.
I don't use one exclusively, but it's, uh, it's just something to think about.
Well.
Let's uh, let's read the next verse first sixteen. It talks about sorry, I lost my place.
It talks about shunning profane and vain babblings so they will increase under more ungodliness. Just to make this simple point, when you start to study the word, you're gonna find discussions, conversations about the truth of God that sometimes aren't profitable. I just encourage you don't get bogged down with that, especially online. For some reason, people, their manners just go out the window when they get online. And it's, it's, it's remarkable.
I just encourage you to avoid those things.
Get into the presence of God so just you can just avoid those things and that'll be a help to you. Well.
The next verse I want to read was in chapter one.
Chapter one and verse 13 Yeah, here it is very important. This is another help I want to encourage you in the study of God's Word. Verse 13 Hold fast the form of sound words which thou hast heard of me in faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus, that good thing which was committed unto the keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in US.
That word in verse 13 form could be translated a number of different ways, but.
Outline ha hold fast, and outline of sound words which thou has heard of me.
What do we mean by hold fast and outline or have an outline?
Umm, let me just give you an example. Our brother Phil spoke from Galatians chapter 5. If you're studying the book of Galatians, it's a real help to get an outline of the book, to have an overall understanding of the book. First of all, well, what's it what's he writing about? Well, he's writing to deliver the Galatians from the danger of legalism. And then the first two chapters he's establishing as apostleship, and he's showing these little seeds throughout the epistle that he's going to take up.
You're in the epistle and there's chapters three and four. He starts building his doctrinal thesis. Incredible the way he does it. Chapters three and four, to show the foolishness and the huge mistake of bringing in the law, whether it's for justification or even to try to help us live a holy life for God. And then chapters five and six, he gets into the practical. He shows what it looks like in practice. Christian enjoying their liberty in Christ. What does that look like?
So you kind of see how there's three divisions in the book.
And then you can go further and you can look at subdivisions and you can see Paul developing his points. Now I understand for some minds it's easier to do that than for others. And it's interesting. He says hold fast a form of sound with an outline of sound words which that was heard of me. Paul's epistles particularly lend themselves to outlines which thou has heard of me. But, and again, I I'm not trying to say that everyone has to do it the same way.
All I'm saying is have a general idea of what?
It says in faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus. I'll just again just bring out a practical point here.
It says that we're to hold the truth and love and it says in Ephesians were to speak the truth in love. And if we can always have that attitude, whether we're studying or whether we're presenting the truth of God to do it in love, what a blessing that will be. I'm sure we've all heard the truth presented like a club or like a broad sword.
Umm, and it does sometimes more damage than good. So let's hold it and faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus.
Verse 14, that good thing which was committed on today, umm, that good deposit of truth that Paul committed to Timothy, He's committed the same thing to us. The Spirit of God has committed a deposit to us and he says keep it, hold it fast.
Umm I I really have a hard time putting this into words, but almost think of it the way. The children of Israel were responsible to possess their inheritance. God gave them a land of promise and he says you are responsible to go in and possess it. And God has given you tremendous riches in this book, but you are responsible to go in and possess it. Make a study of it.
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Do you have it? Do you possess it?
Hold it fast. God is going to hold us accountable for what He's given us. Did we hold it? Did we possess it?
And I just want to encourage you to do that.
Encourage you to lay hold of what he has given to us well.
I wanna make another brief, uh, comment about something very practical. And again, please don't take this the wrong way. I wanna speak about note taking.
Note taking Second Timothy 4. Now you notice we're referring a lot to Second Timothy. Second Timothy is a great book to encourage us in studying the scriptures. It's a book for the last days and we need it. Second Timothy 4 and verse 13.
The cloak which I left at Troas with Carpus when now comest bring with thee and the books, but especially the parchments. I've been very encouraged this week to see different ones taking notes in the meetings. I, I'm really encouraged by that. Umm, I, I want to focus on the last part of this first, the parchments, uh, the books and the parchments. So the books, I think would have, would have been finished works by the apostle Paul books he had written not.
Fairly inspired and he wanted those to be brought along, but especially the parchments. What were the parchments? Well, as I understand, they're, they're probably blank pieces of paper for, for writing. Do I think that Paul was taking notes and and doodling on the corners of his pages? Probably die this this parchment would have been extremely rare and expensive. And he said, I need it so I can write on it, probably to write epistles or, or or whatever it might be.
He valued. This is the point I want to bring. Not that Paul perhaps took notes in the same fashion that we might today, but that he valued the privilege of writing down the truth God had given him. Can I encourage you in that? Write down the truth God has given you. There's something about writing it down where it sticks in your brain. I don't know what it is. I talked to so many and they all say the same thing.
You write it down and it sticks, so I just want to encourage you to do that.
Umm, paper is not rare as it was in the day that the Apostle Paul was writing and it's, it's available to us. Umm, I'm not saying everyone has to take notes of meeting. Some find it very distracting to take notes in meeting umm, but umm, I, I guess I would ask myself this question. How do I expect to remember it if I don't write it down? It's a simple, it's a simple thought. So I just want to encourage you with that. Again, not everyone's a note taker. I'm not trying to say that some people find a wide margin Bible to be helpful.
Others find notebooks to be helpful. We have electronic means these days. We can. You can organize your notes so many different ways. Umm, it's so helpful.
I just want to encourage you with that little practical thing. The Paul valued the privilege of writing down the truth God had given him, and you can do the same.
So the next thing I wanted to take up is sources for ministry. Before I talk about sources, I want to address a thought that I think perhaps we've all perhaps had. I shouldn't speak for others. I know I've had had to be corrected. I've heard it from others as well, the thought that we don't need ministry. Uh, Ephesians chapter 4.
Ephesians chapter 4 you could turn to other scriptures. I just want to read it from this because it's so.
Precious.
Umm, let's just read.
We'll just reverse 11.
Speaking of Christ, who who descended and then ascended back into heaven. And he that's Christ gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the Saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. Until we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. And we could go on.
I just want to bring out the simple point. It says that Christ gave gifts.
To the church for their building up and they're edifying.
So has God? Has Christ given us anything that we don't need? I don't think so.
If He gave it to us, we need it. And sometimes you hear this statement, well, I don't need anything. I just need my Bible. And I understand that the Spirit of God, we know from other scriptures is given to us to bring the truth home to us. But that doesn't set aside this verse which says we need the gifts God has given. So I just want to encourage you, you're not alone, OK? And Christ has given gifts to help us.
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In our understanding of the Word of God. So I just want to encourage you in that.
Umm, to encourage you in that, that you can go to to the gifts that God has given. Now I wanna talk about sources for ministry and I hope I don't get myself into trouble and I'll try to.
I'll try to, uh, state this in a, in a, in a right way. You know what, let's let's turn to a verse because I think it's, it's best to stay with Scripture.
Back to Second Timothy in chapter 3.
Second Timothy 3.
Before I read this verse I'll just say.
One of the things that's.
Increase the burden, I should say, that the Lord has put on me is is just hearing, you know, speaking to different young people.
That that when there's questions about biblical subjects that the answer is to Google it.
You might laugh and I I don't think I even need to say that. That's probably not the best place to go. Google, Umm.
I, I'm, I'm starting with something that might seem ridiculous to, to some of you here, but it might not seem to others and people might, might be here that literally think that's acceptable. You want to fix your car, you know how to repair it. You go to Google, you want to fix, you want to do something around the house, do it yourself, whatever. You go to Wikipedia, do it how to's, whatever. Umm, when we take up the things of God, let's be careful about where we go for our ministry.
So let's just read this verse again. I don't want to be, I don't want to offend anyone, but I want to encourage you in this subject.
Umm.
Second Timothy chapter 3 and verse 14. But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and has been assured of. Here's the part of the verse knowing of whom thou hast learned. This is such a helpful principle. It's such a guiding principle for us. Knowing of whom thou has learned them. How do you know if you can trust the source? You really need to see how the life is lived and how the truth of God is practiced. It's really.
I believe the scriptural way to know whether we can trust a particular source of ministry. Umm, and I don't wanna be negative about this, but could you, could you really trust a source of someone who denies the truth of the rapture, the pre tribulation rapture of the church? Well, they're not. They are not living out the truth of God as you know it. I trust you. You hold that truth.
So I'm not that everything they taught would be out the window. I'm not saying that.
But I couldn't recommend that to you wholesale.
Umm, and we could go on and on. Someone who denies the sinless perfection of Christ, Could you trust that ministry? I would suggest you from this verse. You couldn't. And So what I want to encourage you, hopefully not in a negative way, is to read and take in those sources where you've seen their life, that they practice the truth of God.
In a wholesale way, you're never going to find anyone perfect I you're never going to, you're never going to. And I don't think it would ever be right to just totally write someone off or a source off, but.
Can I encourage you to read those sources and take in those sources of those who have lived and practiced the truth of God? That's what I want to encourage you to do and I want to encourage you. You were afraid I was going to say it, to read and take in the writings of those that God used to recover much of the truth of God that was lost for the past 1700 years up until the mid 1800s.
You're afraid I was going to say that, but I want to say it. There was a time when I didn't want to hear that either. But I've come to enjoy those writers. I want to tell you why.
Not all of them.
But most of them, when I read that ministry, I am left not with an impression of the greatness of the writer.
Not with an impression of, wow, that was really well put, but my soul is left on the word of God and it opens up the word of God in a way that I didn't see it before. And my feet are left standing on the, on the solid walk. And I value that. And I, I know I'm speaking to many who value that as well. So I just want to encourage you young people.
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Jay and Darby may not be the easiest read, but there are others who are easier to read who took perhaps some of the truth that was brought out by the earlier ones that made it a little simpler. I want to encourage you to pick up some of that good written ministry and read it. It's, it's like a fountain of, of, of, of good ministry that so many have profited down through the years. So I just want to encourage you in that. I don't want to be negative in the way I present this.
Umm, you know, there are, there are, there is written ministry, there's good audio ministry, there's even some video ministry that's been been helpful. Umm.
And so much of what was written in those early years is in the public domain. It's available online, Umm, and put in a plug for Bible truth library, umm, and other websites as well. Stem publishing, umm, and there's a, there's a number of other websites. It, it's right there, right there on your phone or your tablet or whatever it is, it's, it's right there. But you know what else is right there? Facebook, Snapchat, all that other stuff. But I just want to encourage.
You it's, it's rich and umm, I've profited from it and I want to encourage you to as well.
Well.
Umm, last thing I wanted to say about studying the scriptures.
It's hard work, but it is full of joy. It is so full of joy. I have had the experience since maybe 1314 years ago when I started getting serious about studying of the Spirit of God opening up to me. I don't know how to say it exactly, but widening vistas of truth. Maybe that doesn't even make sense, but it's almost like ripples on a pond where I see something.
And it's just I've never seen things that way before.
And then a couple months later and I, I see it again, but in a wider way, a clearer way. And it just, it takes your breath away. Sometimes it reduces you to tears. I remember where I was. I had just started this job that I have now. I was sitting at my desk. It was at lunchtime and I was studying the prophet Hosea. If you've never studied the prophet Hosea, I encourage you to do it.
Umm, especially the first few chapters and the Spirit of God opened up for me.
A vision of the love of Christ that I had never seen before. If you don't know the story, I'm not going to go into it. But the profit is asked by God to marry a harlot, I think so that he could sympathize with the heart of Jehovah, who was espoused in a sense to Israel, who was much like a harlot. She had gone after all of her, her false gods and he.
He says to Jose, you need to pass through some circumstances.
So that you can understand how I feel about Israel. And she leaves him, and she goes after her lovers, and he goes after her, and he takes her back, and then she leaves him again and he goes after, and he has to pay for the price of her freedom.
And read the 2nd chapter. He's pronouncing the judgments that must fall on her for her waywardness. And he just stops and he speaks about the blessing he's going to bring her into.
For no reason. No reason other than his love.
Starts with but I will allure her into the wilderness, and I will speak peaceably unto her and so on. Just read it for yourself. I remember just being reduced to tears and.
And umm, I just got one of those glimpses of the truth of God in a way I never have seen before. Well, that's not uncommon, so I just want to encourage you. It's hard work, but it's full of joy.
Well, I said 3 subheadings and I've left myself just a few minutes to speak about practicing the truth of God. Umm.
I'm going to read another quotation and then I want to turn to a verse.
The importance of practicing the truth of God. The importance of PLA, of applying what we know. This is a short quotation from a man named William Kelly. I I read this, umm, I read this a number of years ago and it was just like the other one. It hit me right between the eyes. No error more dishonors God or damages man than the divorce of theory from practice.
The divorce of theory from practice.
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Oh, there's that danger that we might learn a lot, that we might know a lot of theory but not put it into practice in our lives, that the rubber might never quite hit the road.
Oh, I want to encourage you. It's it's a secret when we have that fear of the Lord. It says the secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him. God is only going to show you more truth if you practice what you already know. The Thessalonians are a beautiful example of those who fear the Lord.
And they were the ones who were given, as was mentioned earlier today, that wonderful truth of what? The rap of the Rapture and all its beauty.
And what was the secret? It was that they feared the Lord. They feared the Lord. Look at their faithfulness as the apostle Paul brings that out. They practiced a little bit. They had just three weeks they had had with the apostle Paul, and yet they were living for him and God was able to open up to them more. Oh, it's the secret to fear the Lord and to put it into practice. So let's turn to that verse.
Uh, they wanted to read. It was in Ephesians 6.
The Armor of God was mentioned. I'm not going to go through the armor of God today. It's not my burden, but.
Just to read the first piece of that armor.
Whenever you get to a list of things or a series of things, there's an order to it, and so I want to look at the first piece of the Armor of God.
Umm, let's see 1St 14 stand, therefore having your loins Gert about the truth. That's it. So I wanted to read There are six, maybe 7 depending how you want to look at it, pieces of the armor, but the first one is the girdle of truth. The girdle is like a belt in modern terminology. It uh.
And hold your pants up. It kind of keeps your clothes together. Umm, a soldier without a girdle would be a disaster on the field of battle. It's the first piece of armor. What does it speak of? It's the girdle of truth. It's to take the truth of God and tie it about us tightly. That's what it is. It's to take the truth of God and apply it to ourselves. The first piece of the armor.
And it comes first for a reason. If we do not have an attitude, we take out the scriptures.
Of applying these things to ourselves, then we are not gonna be successful in our Christian lives. It's the first piece of the armor, similar to how the parable of the sower is the first of the seven parables in Matthew 13. There was the good seed falling into the ground, all those other types of ground. It did not work out well, did it? It was the seed that fell into good ground, and it received it.
It speaks of the word of God being taken in and it reaching the cart and conscience.
If the seed never reaches the good ground, there will be no fruit for God. In the same way, if you never put on this girdle of truth, there will be no success for you in your Christian life. So I just want to encourage you when you're studying the Scriptures, try to avoid this thought of I know someone who this applies to. It applies to that person or or to just think of it in a theoretical way, but just to let the Spirit of God.
Come right in that sword, that two edged sword that pierces.
The dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And just let it come in and affect you, and then practice it. Live it out in your life. You know that. The joy of living and the will of God, but also the sorrow of living and disobedience. I want to speak to you young people.
A verse like Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers.
It's been on my heart a little bit. Still Bay, It's still bad.
It will save you untold grief and heartache if you simply submit to the Word of God.
We know those who have made that mistake of thinking they knew better and and the sadness that is coming and you can be spared all that and not just spared the sadness, but brought into so much joy by simply taking what God says, what you know, and applying it in your life. So time is almost gone if we can just remember those things. The importance of reading the scriptures as a devotional.
The importance of studying the Scriptures, the importance of putting them into practice.
In our own lives, what joy we will have in our Christian life. And there's that day that's going to come very soon.
That one whom we have not seen, whom absent we love, will see him. And uh, what a day that's gonna be. But we're left here. Let's remember these things. Let's take this book. Let's, let's hold it close. Let's realize the importance of it. Well, let's propose in prayer.