A special service, dear God, that would really mean something for all of eternity, dear God,
that people would be moved through the preaching of your word, and that all of us, myself included,
would learn something that could help us to grow and help us to be better servants of
thine in Jesus' name, I pray, amen.
Now in 1 Corinthians 13, this is probably one of the strangest stories in the entire
Bible.
It probably struck you as a little weird as we were reading it.
But one thing that stood out to me as I was reading this story recently is this phrase
that keeps coming up over and over again, and in fact I counted it, it comes up 17 times.
You'll notice the repetition of this phrase, the man of God.
Did you notice that?
It keeps talking about this man, it never even gives us his name in the whole story,
but 15 times in this chapter and two times in another chapter, God just calls this man
a man of God, the man of God.
So I was studying out that phrase a little bit in the Bible, I was looking at the phrase,
and I wanted to know what is a man of God.
And so I went down through these different lists of times that this phrase is used.
I saw Moses was called a man of God five different times.
I saw that Samuel was called a man of God four times.
Elijah, the great prophet, was called a man of God eight times.
Elisha was called a man of God 29 times.
David was called a man of God three times.
So these are very great men that the Bible reserves this title for.
I mean he only calls a few people this in the entire Bible.
There was another man named Igdaliah, a prophet, that was called a man of God.
And another man, Shemaiah, that a couple of different times was called a man of God.
And so throughout the Bible you'll see great men, Moses, David, Elijah, Elisha, and also
in the New Testament one man is called a man of God, Timothy.
And these men are called a man of God.
Well I looked through all the different times it was mentioned.
And sometimes the first time something's mentioned is significant, and sometimes the last time
something's mentioned is pretty significant.
So I looked up the last time that this phrase, the man of God, is mentioned.
It's in 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse number 17, if you look there.
Right at the end of your Bible, 2 Timothy 3.17, and actually we'll begin reading in
verse number 16.
Actually, let's read in 15.
But 2 Timothy 3.15, this is toward the very end of the New Testament, 1 and 2 Timothy,
Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, 1 and 2 and 3 John, Jude, Revelation, just all short books
so it's just right there at the end.
2 Timothy 3.15, the Bible reads, and that from a child, this is Paul speaking to Timothy,
and that from a child thou hast known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee
wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof,
for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly
furnished unto all good works.
Now it's interesting also that every time those words, the man of God, is used throughout
the Bible, it's always talking about a specific person, except in this one verse.
Every time it talks about Moses, the man of God, David, the man of God, this man of God
that we read about in 1 Kings 13, all throughout the Bible, Elijah, the man of God, but here
is an instruction to just anyone who wants to be a man of God.
You see that?
I mean, it doesn't mention anybody in particular here.
It says all Scripture in verse number 16, and by the way, let me point out in verse
number 15, the Bible reads, and that from a child thou hast known the holy Scriptures.
You see, Timothy, who is living about 1,600 years after the original Scriptures were pinned
down, I mean like Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, the first five books
of the Bible, he's living approximately 1,500 to 1,600 years after those were written down,
and notice what Paul says, thou hast from a child known the holy Scriptures.
Now did Timothy speak Hebrew?
No.
Did Timothy have the original manuscripts that were written by Moses' very hand himself
at the mouth of God?
No.
But see, God has promised to preserve his word to every generation, and there would
be people that would tell you that in our day we don't have the Bible accurately.
You know, it's been copied and copied and copied, and you know how people have translated
it, and you always lose something in the translation?
Hey, that's not what the Bible says.
The Bible says that Paul could look at Timothy, he's writing the word of God here, the Holy
Spirit is speaking, and he says, thou, Timothy, hast known from a child the holy Scriptures.
He said, don't worry, Tim, because that book that you have in your hand, Tim, is the word
of God.
It's the holy Scriptures.
It's the perfect, preserved word of God.
Yes, it's been passed out for 1,600 years.
Yes, the original manuscripts have been long gone for a long time.
Yes, it's been transferred into another language, but don't ever worry, Timothy, because the
word that you have in your hand is the word of God, the Bible, preserved for you.
And then he says in verse number 16, or actually it says, which are able to make thee wise
unto salvation.
See, how are you going to get saved?
You've got to have the word of God.
Which through faith, which is in Christ Jesus, of course, you're saved by your faith in Jesus
Christ, not by works, not by living a good life, only saved by faith.
And then he says in verse 16, all Scripture is given by inspiration of God.
He said these words were spoken by God.
The word inspiration, think about, you know what respiration means?
Respiration is the process of breathing in and out.
Inspiration is just breathing one time.
And so God breathed these words.
That means he spake these words with his own mouth, breath came out of his mouth while
he spake the word of God, and it says all Scripture is given by inspiration of God,
the whole Bible, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction
and righteousness.
Did somebody say that doctrine, that tells you what's right, reproof tells you what's
not right, because that's when reproof is when you tell somebody that they're wrong.
Correction, that tells you how to get it right, and instruction and righteousness, that tells
you how to keep it right.
But look at verse number 17, it says that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished
unto all good works.
Now what does that mean, throughly furnished unto all good works?
What does it mean that the man of God may be perfect?
Well, the word perfect, if you study the Bible, it's a little bit different than our modern
word perfect.
If you look at every time the word perfect is used throughout the Bible, God will make
this word perfect, he'll show you that it means the word entire.
He puts those two words side by side, complete, complete, entire, lacking nothing.
The Bible says in James chapter 1 that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
I mean, if there's nothing that you're lacking, you've got the whole package.
It doesn't mean that you never sin, you know, it doesn't mean that you never make a mistake.
It doesn't mean that I sin every day, and all of us do, if we be honest.
But the Bible says here that the man of God may be perfect, how's the man of God going
to be complete?
How's the man of God going to be perfect?
How is the man of God going to be throughly furnished?
What does it mean to be furnished?
I mean, all the equipment that he needs in his arsenal, he's furnished with every tool
that he needs for every good work he's going to do, how is he going to be perfect?
How is he going to be furnished?
Well, by the scripture.
See, he doesn't need a big library.
I mean, are you seeing this in the Bible?
He doesn't need some big library, a bunch of books written by men, a bunch of commentaries
in order for him to be throughly furnished.
He doesn't need all the different theological books and all the different man-made articles
and magazines and everything to teach him the word of God.
No, he says, look, the holy scriptures are all you need, men of God, to be throughly
furnished unto all good works.
Now, the man in the story, and we're going to go through the story in a minute.
I'm going to explain to you the story that we read in 1 Kings 13.
This was his problem.
He didn't understand this verse right here.
He didn't think that the Bible was enough.
He didn't think the word of God was enough, and we're going to see that in the story.
Let me show you another interesting time that the word man of God is used.
Look at 1 Samuel 9, verse 6.
This is in the early part of the Old Testament.
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, and then 1 and 2 Samuel.
Just before 1 Kings, look at 1 Samuel 9, 6.
And we'll see a story here about King Saul, before he was King Saul, and he's walking
around, he's looking for some lost asses that his father had lost, and Samuel the prophet
is in the city here, and then 1 Samuel 9, 6, just this great verse that kind of jumps
out at you.
It's one of those verses that kind of jumps out at you as you read the Bible.
It says, And he said unto him, Behold now, there is in this city a man of God, and he
is an honorable man.
All that he saith cometh surely to pass.
And when he shall let us go thither peradventure, he can show us our way that we should go.
I love that phrase.
There is in this city a man of God.
You know, I've always loved geography.
I used to study all kinds of geography when I was in college.
I used to try to take, you know, whenever I had electives, I was taking like as many
geography classes as I could.
I loved to learn about the world and geography, and I loved maps, and I have all kinds of
maps and computer map programs.
I mean, I just like geography.
I like these things.
And, you know, sometimes I just get out the map of Arizona, and sometimes I get out the
map of the United States, and I get out the map of Arizona or the map of Phoenix, and
I just look at it, and I see all these different cities in Arizona, and I just think to myself,
would to God, and, you know, even the whole United States, but I think to myself, would
to God that it could be said about every city in America, there is in this city a man of
God.
I mean, I'm not saying that there's just a Baptist pastor in that city.
I'm saying that there's a real, I mean, bonafide, I mean, a man who eats, breathes, and sleeps
the Word of God, a man who cares nothing what anybody thinks of what the Bible says, a man
who's a real man of God.
I was thinking, you know, most Baptist pastors wouldn't really be called a man of God, and
that's why there's so few people in the Bible called a man of God.
And I was thinking that maybe they could be called, like, a man of the television,
you know, because when you go to their house, you know, the television's always on.
And so maybe it'd be like the man of TV.
There is in this city a man of TV.
There is in this city a man of DVDs.
There is in this city a man of sports.
There is in this city a man who doesn't go soul-winning.
There's a man in this city, and his wife wears pants.
There's a man in this city, and he's afraid to preach on sin.
He won't get up and yell and preach on sin because he's scared.
There's a man in this city who reads the Bible for 15 minutes a day.
Does that qualify as a man of God?
There's a man in this city who doesn't even work 40 hours a week, even though he's sucking
up a paycheck from church.
There's a man in this city whose kids are an embarrassment to Christianity.
There's a man in this city who drinks, but only socially.
Hey, wouldn't it God that in every city in America, that every city in Arizona, that
every city in the world, it could be said, there's in this city a man of God.
See, that's what we need in this country.
We need every city in America to have a man of God.
And you say, well, are we going to save America?
You know, we're not going to save America.
Everybody's not going to get saved, let's face it.
The Bible says, narrow is the way that leadeth unto life, and few there be to find it.
And there are going to be a lot of people always that just reject the gospel and will
not be saved.
But wouldn't it be great if even though everybody didn't get saved, there'd be somebody in every
city in America who is a real, bona fide, spirit-filled, I mean, old-fashioned, hellfire
and damnation, sin-fighting, taking a stand for what's right, separated, soul-winning,
sanctified, man of God who says, I am going to make sure that in my city, every single
door is going to be knocked and somebody's going to hear the gospel out of my mouth in
every house in this city.
But wouldn't that be great?
Wouldn't this be a different country if that was the case?
Wouldn't it be a different world that we live in?
And you say, well, there'd still be people that would be unsaved and go to hell.
But you know what?
I'd rather have somebody be unsaved and go to hell.
Well, at least they had a chance to hear the gospel from somebody who's a man of God.
Or a church that's pastored by a man of God.
Or a church that's filled with men of God.
And a church that's, obviously one man can't reach any city good night.
I mean, it's just not even humanly possible.
But I'm talking about a man of God that could go somewhere and start a church and build
a church that would preach the gospel to every creature in that city.
And I've often just looked at the map of Arizona and just thought about just daydreaming.
Just imagining, well, right here, this is where there needs to be a man of God.
Because I kind of know where the churches are around me, the good churches that are
taking a stand for what's right.
And there are some really good churches.
But I'm looking at it and I'm just seeing all these big voids, these big gaps where
I know there's no man of God there.
And I'm sitting there looking and I'm just thinking, right there would be perfect.
You know, wouldn't it be so great if in that city there'd be a man of God?
In that city there'd be a man of God.
I just love that phrase, in this city there's a man of God.
Wouldn't it be God that could be said about every city in America?
See, that's what, that'd be the answer to the problems in this country.
Somebody that would stand up and preach the gospel and preach and stand up for what's
decent and right and clean in this country again.
And not kowtow to the world's filthy, abominable lifestyle of just anything goes.
In church anything goes, in the world anything goes.
You know, somebody would stand up and preach with power and be a man of God.
Well, let's look at the story.
Back to 1 Kings chapter 13.
And let's look at this particular man of God, the case in point tonight in 1 Kings 13.
I mean, it's so odd because the other men in the Bible were called a man of God.
They're these famous people.
I mean, Moses.
They have whole books of the Bible about him, David, good night.
But this man, it doesn't even give us his name.
And yet it calls him a man of God 17 times.
Very interesting story.
It's kind of an odd story.
Let's go through it.
Look at verse number 1.
And behold, there came a man of God out of Judah, 1 Kings 13, 1, by the word of the Lord
unto Bethel and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense.
Now, before I go any further, let me bring you up to speed in history here.
What happened was David the king, you know, he basically took the place of King Saul,
who was the first king of Israel.
He had a son named Solomon.
Solomon became king of all the kingdom of Israel, and David was a great, righteous man
of God.
His son Solomon was a great, righteous man of God, a very powerful man, a preacher the
Bible calls him.
And he was a great man.
But what happened is, in his old age, he got soft.
I mean, he started to soften up.
He started marrying all kinds of different wives, and he actually married 300 wives.
I mean, he had so much wealth, the Bible says he's the wealthiest man that ever lived.
I mean, he had so much, he had anything he wanted.
Whatever he wanted, he just took it.
And he had 300 wives at the end of his life.
And these strange women that he married, the Bible says, they took his heart away from
God and got him to just really go into a lot of...
He basically was allowing a lot of idolatry to go on in the land and just letting things
go on that were wrong.
And he really just really softened up on the people.
And so he had a son named Reboam, and Reboam took over the throne when Solomon died.
And the people came to Reboam and said, you know, your father, he's a great king, but
he was a little bit hard on us.
I mean, he really worked us.
I mean, he really preached it straight down the line.
I mean, he was really plowing.
And they said, can you tone it down a little, please?
Can you mellow out a little bit and not be as harsh as your dad was?
And so he said, well, let me get back to you.
He goes and he spends three days and thinks about it.
He talks to some different people.
He talks to some of the older men and they tell him, yeah, do what they say, just do
whatever they say.
Just give in.
You know, it's the only way they're going to accept you.
And then the young men that are with him say, no, you know, stand up.
Stand up, but tell them that you're going to keep it the way it was and you're going
to be even more powerful than your father.
And so that's what he decides to do.
So he gets up and speaks to them and says, my little finger shall be thicker than my
father's loins.
And he speaks harshly to them and says, you know, you're not going to push me around.
I'm the king.
Well, here's what happens.
And this was a punishment Solomon that was prophesied would happen that, you know, the
kingdom was going to be taken away from him.
But since God had promised David that his kingdom would, his king would always be on
the throne, his son would always be on the throne, then 10 of the tribes were taken away
and left King Rehoboam and formed their own country in the northern kingdom.
It was like a civil war that took place.
And the northern kingdom was the 10 tribes that rejected Rehoboam.
And they went up and they were following a man named Jeroboam who became their king.
And then the one tribe of Benjamin, I'm sorry, the one tribe of Judah stayed in the south
and also part of the tribe of Benjamin and Levite, Levi stayed in the southern kingdom
and they formed a separate nation.
And so now you have two different nations, Israel and Judah.
Well here's the thing, the temple where they worshiped God in the Old Testament, the temple
where the Ark of the Covenant was and everything, was in the southern kingdom.
And so Jeroboam, after they split off, and Jeroboam was actually, you know, at first
he was following God, I mean he was a pretty good guy.
But what happened was he started thinking to himself, wait a minute, if these people
go down here every year to Jerusalem to worship in the temple because they're going to worship
God as God commanded them, he said they're going to be constantly going to that southern
kingdom and they're going to see it and it's going to kind of remind them of how that used
to be the capital and that used to be what they did.
They're going to start to, you know, they're going to be around the king of Judah and maybe
they're going to think, well maybe he's not so bad after all.
And so he said, this is not going to work.
I mean we've got to keep this totally separate, so here's what he did.
He built two idols, he built these golden calves and he put one of them in Dan and one
of them in Bethel and he said, these are your gods that brought you out of the land
of Egypt, not Jehovah God.
These two cows, okay, these golden calves are what you need to be worshipping.
He said, I put one here and one here conveniently located for you, you don't even have to go
all the way to Jerusalem.
In fact, I'm putting one right next to you, so you've got two of them to go to and he
built a big altar at each of those places.
Well, that just finished happening.
Here's Jeroboam, he's there with his new religion that he just invented with these golden calves.
His offering at this altar, that's where this man of God comes on the scene, so if
you understand the setting here.
This man of God, the unnamed man that we're reading about, came up from the southern kingdom
out of Judah and comes to King Jeroboam at one of these false altars that they've set
up and this is what he says in verse number two, and he cried against the altar in the
word of the Lord.
So he's shouting, he's raising his voice and said, O altar, altar, thus saith the Lord,
behold a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name, and upon thee shall
he offer the priests of the high places and burn incenses upon thee, and men's bones shall
be burnt upon thee.
So here's what he's saying, he's saying, someday there's going to be a son of Rehoboam in that
house of David, a king that's going to come years and years from now, and he's going to
come to this city, he's going to come to Samaria, he's going to come to Israel, and he's going
to take the men that are in charge of this false religion that are offering these idolatrous
sacrifices and they're going to kill them and they're going to burn them, their bodies
on top of this altar.
He's going to light them on fire.
And then in verse number three it says, and he gave a sign the same day saying, this is
the sign which the Lord had spoken.
Behold the altar shall be rent, that means torn in half, and the ashes that are upon
it shall be poured out, and it shall come to pass when King Jeroboam heard the saying
of the man of God, which he cried against the altar in Bethel, that he put forth his
hand from the altar saying, lay hold on him, and his hand which he put forth against him
dried up so that he could not pull it in again to him.
So here's what happened.
This man of God comes and preaches against this altar and says, someday God's going to
judge this altar and he's going to judge you and you guys are going to die for what you're
doing.
And as soon as Jeroboam hears this young man, and the Bible says he's a young man, this
man of God, he takes his hand off the altar and he says, lay hold on him, like get that
guy, arrest him, you know, throw him in jail, kill him, whatever.
He sticks out his hand like this, and as soon as he sticks out his hand like this, the Bible
says his hand just like withered up and dried up.
All the moisture just went out of this guy's hand and arm, and his hand just froze, and
he couldn't even pull it back in, I mean his hand was just withered out like this.
And so the Bible says in verse number five, the altar also is red, so the altar just breaks
in half, supernaturally.
And the ashes poured out from the altar according to the sign which the man of God had given
by the word of the Lord, so exactly what he said would happen would happen.
And the king answered and said unto the man of God, entreat now the face of the Lord thy
God and pray for me that my hand may be restored.
He's like, okay, I'm sorry, you know, can you fix my hand, can you please pray for me
that my hand will come back to normal?
And so in verse number six continued there it says, and the man of God besought the Lord
and the king's hand was restored and again it became as it was before.
And the king said unto the man of God, come home with me and refresh thyself and I'll
give thee a reward.
And the man of God said unto the king, if thou wilt give me half thine house I will
not go in with thee, neither will I eat bread and drink water in this place.
So here's the king, after his hand has been withered and now it's been just healed back
to normal, he's very impressed.
Even though this man's preaching against him and really ripping his face off he still is
so impressed by the miracle that he just saw, he says, listen, why don't you come over to
my house and have something to eat and I'll pay you, I mean, I'll give you a reward.
I'm going to send you on your way.
And notice this man's conviction, this man of God.
Well look at verse number 9, it says, for so was it charged me by the word of the Lord
saying eat no bread nor drink water nor turn again by the same way that thou camest.
So this man had been given special instructions straight from God.
I mean God had given him instructions, I want you to go up to Bethel, I want you to preach
against that altar, I want you to preach against Jeroboam, I want you to preach this and then
I'm going to rip the altar in half and then I want you to leave by a different way than
you came in.
I don't want you to stop there, I don't want you to eat and drink there, I want you to
just get out of that wicked place, I want you to just go preach against it and then
leave.
And notice where he got his instructions, look at verse number 9, for so was charged
me by the word of the Lord.
I mean he got his instructions from the word of God, which said to us today would be the
Bible since we have the whole word of God complete.
This man did not have the complete Bible in his hand, you know, printed out, he had the
word of God revealed to him just straight from the mouth of God.
And so here he gets his instructions straight from the Bible.
I mean he's very confident about what he believes, he's very confident about what he's heard
because he's so vehement about it, he says I don't care, he's like you're the king of
Israel, you're like a millionaire, I mean you have all the riches and everything.
He said if you gave me half your house, I'm not going to go with you because God told
me in the Bible not to go with you.
He says I don't care what you say, I don't care what you give me, I will not change what
God told me to do.
I mean this is a man of great conviction, right?
It's a great man of God.
I mean if the Bible says a good night, there's no change in this guy, right?
Well look at the next verse.
So he went another way and returned not by the way that he came to Bethel.
So he did exactly what he was told to do by God.
I mean look at verse 6, I mean he prays and God answers his prayer and does a miracle
and restores the man's hand back to normal.
I mean think about what a great man this was.
I mean when was the last time you saw a preacher with this kind of power where things were
breaking in half and people's hands are withering out?
I mean this is a powerful man.
And so we see in verse number 11 though, this is where his downfall was.
In verse 11 the Bible reads, Now there dwelt an old prophet in Bethel, and his sons came
and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel.
The words which he had spoken unto the king, them they told also to their father.
And their father said unto them, What way went he?
For his sons had seen what way the man of God went, which came from Judah.
And he said unto his sons, Saddle me the ash.
So they saddled him the ash, and he rode their arms.
So this old prophet, this old preacher, you know and it's funny how he's not there preaching
against this.
I mean isn't it amazing how he's not there preaching against Jeroboam.
He's not standing up for the things of God.
He's living in this wicked city of all the people.
And the Bible even says in a previous chapter that the people who lived in the northern
kingdom who really wanted to obey and worship God, I mean they moved.
They moved down to the southern kingdom because they didn't want to be with these false God
altars and they wanted to be worshiping God at the temple like they were supposed to.
And so they got out of there.
So this old preacher, you know this backslidden preacher's up there, living right in the back
door of this sinful place, afraid to get up and preach against these people.
But as soon as he hears about this young fiery preacher, excited man of God and all the power
of God, he says, Man I'm going to get down there.
You know I want to see what's going on.
So he jumps on his ass, he saddles his ass, he rides down there.
And verse number 14, And went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak.
So the guy sat down to take a little break, and he said unto him, Art thou the man of
God that came as from Judah?
And he said, I am.
Then he said unto him, Come home with me and eat bread.
And he said, I may not return with thee, nor go in with thee.
Neither will I eat bread nor drink water with thee in this place, for it was said to me
by the word of the Lord.
He's like, I read, it's in the Bible friend, I don't care what you say.
He says, Thou shalt eat no bread nor drink water there, nor turn again to go by the way
that thou camest.
He said unto him, I am a prophet also as thou art, and I'm like you.
Hey buddy old pal, I'm just like you, I'm a prophet too.
And an angel spake unto me by the word of the Lord, saying, Bring him back with thee
into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water.
But he lied unto him.
So he went back with them and did eat bread in this house and drink water, verse number
20.
And it came to pass, as they sat at the table, that the word of the Lord came unto the prophet
that brought him back.
And he cried unto the man of God that came from Judah, saying, Thus saith the Lord, for
as much as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of the Lord, and hast not kept the commandment
which the Lord thy God commanded thee, but camest back, and hast eaten bread, and drunk
water in the place of the which the Lord did say, that he eat no bread, and drink no water.
Thy carcass shall not come into the sepulcher of thy fathers.
And it came to pass, after he had eaten bread, verse 23, and after he had drunk, that he
saddled for him his ass, the ass to wit, for the prophet whom he had brought back.
And when he was gone, a lion met him by the way, and slew him, and his carcass was cast
in the way, and the ass stood by it, the lion also stood by the carcass.
So what happened to this man?
He comes back with the old prophet that deceived him and lied to him.
The prophet said, No, you don't understand.
I know what God told you, but I'm a prophet too.
I'm an older man.
I know what I'm talking about.
And this is what God told me, and it's different than what you read in the Bible, but just
trust me, okay?
I know what I'm talking about.
So why don't you just come back with me and have some tea?
And so he said, Okay, sure.
He comes back and eats with him, and then the man at the table, the old, backslidden
prophet, the spirit of the Lord comes upon him, and God uses him to preach against what
this young man has done, which he told him to do.
I mean, isn't that kind of weird?
Did you notice that?
He told him to do it, and then he yells at him and says, What's wrong with you?
Why didn't you obey God?
Maybe you didn't obey God because you just lied to him and told him not to.
And so it's kind of a weird story, isn't it?
But here's the thing that we need to learn from this.
Remember what we saw in 2 Timothy, chapter 3, where the man of God's supposed to be thoroughly
furnished from the Word of God?
Why in the world would God tell him two contradictory things?
I mean, it's not going to happen, is it?
I mean, if God tells him something, is he going to turn around and contradict himself
and say, No, let me tell you something totally different that does not match up with what
you were told?
Well, think about the first thing that he was told, he got it straight from God, right?
The second thing that he was told, he got it from God through a man, and that's why
the guy was lying.
God never even told him that.
And so the whole point of this story is that God's trying to show us, Look, when I tell
you something, when you see something, when God speaks to you from his Word and he tells
you something that just thus saith the Lord, clearly, this is right, this is wrong, this
is the truth.
He says, it's the end of the story.
It doesn't matter what some preacher says, it doesn't matter what some old man says,
you say, Wait a minute, Pastor Anderson, you know, you're 25 years old, you don't know
what you're talking about, you're young, yeah, you're excited and yelling, and you believe
the Bible and read the Bible all day, but you don't know what you're talking about.
You need to listen to this guy who has more experience, who's dead, and he's got all the
commentaries and the books.
No, sir, no.
See, a man of God is defined by the fact that he says the Bible is my only authority, period.
I don't care what some Dr. Fatbottom in some university tells me that the Bible means.
Hey, I want to see what the Bible says in front of my own eyes and read it with my own
eyes.
Let me tell you something.
Did you know that you have the same ability to pick up that Bible and read it that I do?
And, hey, you can read this Bible and don't listen to me.
Don't say, Well, Pastor Anderson, don't ever, when somebody asks you, Well, why do you believe
this and that?
Well, Pastor Anderson, he told me, you know, that's what he preaches.
What do you mean?
Why do I believe it?
Haven't you heard him preach?
I mean, look, no, it's not anything based on what a man says, it should all be based
on what God says.
I mean, people will deceive you.
People will lie to you.
The Bible says there shall also be false prophets among you.
That's what the Bible says.
I mean, he says among you there will be false prophets, there will be false seasons.
There are going to be liars who stand up and say that they're preaching the Word of God.
Maybe they even have a reputation for preaching the Word of God in the past.
I mean, this man used to be a great preacher, right?
But now he's leading people astray.
Now he's lying to this young man who was on fire for God, who was excited, who was powerful,
who was filled with the Holy Spirit, and what happens?
He ends up being destroyed, he ends up being devoured, torn apart, left to die in the street.
Why?
Because he started listening to what other people had to say instead of what God had
to say.
See, there's only one person that you can trust is God.
There's only one preacher that you can listen to.
It's the Holy Spirit.
It's the Bible.
It's not me.
It's not anybody.
This is the authority right here.
Thus saith the Lord.
You've got to come to the point in your life where you don't have somebody just spoon-feeding
you to truth all the time, and you say, hey, you know, I love Faithful Word Baptist Church.
You say, man, I love to come here, and I like the preaching, and I learn a lot.
But I'm going to tell you something.
Don't get in some kind of a habit where you just think that what I say is right or something,
because how do you know what I'm saying is right?
I mean, how do you know if anything I'm preaching is right if you don't read the Bible yourself
and see that it's right?
And, you see, can you imagine if I took Dave up here, and I got a high chair from the other
room that I used for my son, and I set Dave in a high chair right here, right, and I took
out some steamed carrots, and I blended them up in a blender, and then you know the combinations
that they do with baby food that make no sense?
They're like carrots and plums in one, you know what I mean?
I remember with our first son, we fed him the baby food out of the jars, and then after
that, we just started just feeding him table food.
We never used baby food again, but it's expensive, by the way, too, but baby food, I remember
I was in the aisle, and my wife sent me shit, buy me six jars of baby food, but she didn't
say what kind.
Okay, so I walked up the aisle, and the whole aisle is spinning like this, because it was
so big, and I was like, where do I begin?
There's all these numbers and letters and color codes.
I couldn't even figure it out.
There's a million different kinds, and I'm looking, it's like plum, carrot, squash mix,
turkey dinner with, you know, pizzas or something mixed together, and you're thinking, gross.
But imagine if I took, you know, the carrot and plum and whatever mixture, and I pureed
it up and got it nice and soft for you, Brother Dave, and got it all nice and ready, and I
sat him up here.
I put a bib on him and just started feeding it into his mouth.
That would be stupid.
It would be ridiculous.
I mean, he'd look like an idiot.
I'd look like an idiot, right?
I mean, it would be retarded, but see, look, do you think Dave wants to eat steamed carrots
after the service?
No?
Yeah, he wants to sit down with a T-bone steak or something, right?
He wants to sit down with something that he can sink his teeth into.
He wants to eat it himself, right?
You need somebody to feed you tonight, Dave?
No, he's going to feed himself, and you see, that's why God says that he wants you to be
henceforth no more babes tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine.
Every false prophet that rises up, every liar that comes out with some new fancy idea, some
book like we were talking about, some fancy sounding, and he's a dynamic speaker or whatever,
and he can just deceive you, and you believe this, and then you believe this, and you believe
this.
Why?
Because you're like a baby.
You're so used to ... He says, babes are tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine.
He says, every new thing that comes along, he just believes it.
They just go with the flow because they don't know how to feed themselves, and maybe they
started out in a good church.
I mean, maybe they started out in a church that had a great pastor, but they got so used
to just, open your mouth, let me put this in there, let me feed you.
Okay.
They got so used to that, they never learned how to pick up the Bible and feed themselves.
You're never going to be a mature Christian.
Look, let me ask you something.
We're talking about this morning, bearing fruit, bringing forth fruit, reproducing.
Let me ask you something.
Do you think John is going to be reproducing physically anytime soon?
No.
He's one year old.
He's not going to be reproducing anytime soon because he's a baby.
Hey, look, if you want to be productive as a Christian, if you want to be fruitful and
multiply as a Christian and win people to Christ, you can't be a little baby and expect
to reproduce.
You've got to grow up.
You've got to start feeding yourself.
You've got to grow up, be a man, be a woman, and say, I'm not just going to let Pastor
Anderson spoon feed me three times a week and just, oh, he said it, it must be right.
No, I'm going to get in, I'm going to put on my own, not a bib, I'm going to take a
napkin and put it on my lap, I'm going to take a knife and a fork, and I'm going to
dig into the Bible myself.
I'm going to feed myself the Bible.
I'm not just going to go to some drive-through somewhere and let somebody else fix me something.
No, look, I want to fix it myself.
I want to get something that I can really bite down into and chew and swallow myself
because I want to be an adult, I want to be a grown man.
I don't want to be on baby food for the rest of my life.
You've got to come to that point of spiritual maturity where you can be a man of God.
You can be a woman who knows the Bible and a woman who's a great soul winner and a great
lady and that's going to come when you get to the point where it doesn't matter what
the pastor said, it doesn't matter what any preacher said, it doesn't matter what some
book said, it matters what this book said, it matters what the Bible said.
I can't emphasize that enough because that's what's wrong with Christianity.
You'll talk to people and try to explain them something and say, look, this is what the
Bible says and they'll just say, well, you know, this is what my pastor teaches.
It's like, who cares?
You know, I was talking to a lady yesterday, she was a Jehovah's Witness and I went through
and I showed her, you know, the gospel, salvation from the Bible and I showed it to her and
I said, well, you know, I mean, what don't you understand about this?
I mean, you can see it, right?
Isn't it pretty simple?
And she's like, well, you know, but our church teaches this and that and I'm thinking to
myself, you know, so?
I said to her, I said, so what?
I said, so what will your church teach?
I said, so what would I teach?
I said, do you see what I'm showing you right now?
And she got out her Bible, it's like the wrong Bible, it's like this Jehovah's Witness Bible
that they've made where they change things around.
I said, and she gets out her Bible.
We look it up, it says the same thing, you know, said the same thing that mine did in
this ridiculous book.
And she's just like, yeah, I see your point.
You know, she's like, yeah, I mean, and it's just like, but you know what?
That's just not how we see it.
And she starts telling me where the church believes.
I'm thinking to myself, it's ridiculous.
You know, and I just came to the point where I realized these people aren't believers.
You know what I mean?
They don't, they don't believe it anyway.
They don't believe the Bible anyway.
That's why they don't care.
When you show them, they're just interested in what their church believes.
They're just interested in what they've been taught.
And you can't do that because even if you have somebody teaching you who you feel like
is a good teacher, are you always going to have that teacher around to teach you?
You never know.
You don't know what's going to happen.
That's why you better get in the habit of feeding yourself.
And by the way, three meals a week is not going to sustain you.
You need, you need daily meals.
You know, morning, noon, and night, you need to be taking a meal from the Word of God.
Breakfast, lunch, and dinner right here.
Not just every once in a while, some kind of a starvation ration diet where you come
Sunday morning and Sunday night, if you do that, I mean, and then you get that meal.
It's not enough.
You've got to feed yourself so that you're not just deceived and lied to.
Hey, how are you going to know when you drive down the road and you see all the assemblies
of God, Church of God, Church of God in Christ, Baptist, Southern Baptist, North American
Baptist, Independent Baptist, Nazarene, Catholic, Methodist, Presbyterian, Piscopalian, African
Methodist, Piscopalian.
How are you going to know what's right if you don't read the Bible yourself and know
what's right?
See, the devil, his whole trick is confusion.
He wants to put out millions of different churches and denominations, millions of different
teachers all teaching something, millions of different preachers all preaching something
different, 412 different Bible versions in the English language today.
But his goal is to deceive and confuse.
The only way you're going to be able to cut through the confusion is when you grow up
and say, I'm going to feed myself, I'm going to know the Bible myself, I'm going to take
the time to figure out what I believe.
But once you take the time to figure out what you believe, don't be like this man who he
knew what he believed so much that he rebuked a king to his face.
He yelled at him and said, I don't care what you say.
I don't care what you give me.
I'm not going to do it.
And all it takes is for some preacher to come along, you know, some famous preacher.
Oh, would you sign my Bible?
You know, oh wow, you're, oh wow, I've heard of you, you know.
Oh, you want me to come in with you?
Sure.
Oh, God told you that?
Okay, I believe you.
No way.
Hey, when you know what you believe from the Bible, you've got to come to the point, and
I emphasize this a little bit this morning, but you've got to come to the point where
you learn something from the Bible, you know it's true, you just lock it in and never worry
about it again.
Look, I'm not wondering today whether you have to do good works to go to heaven.
I mean, I know it's by faith.
I'm not wondering today whether you can lose your salvation.
I know it's everlasting life.
The Bible says it hundreds of times.
I'm not wondering today which Bible is the right Bible.
It's the King James Bible.
You say, well, how do you know the King James Bible is the right Bible?
Well, because I studied the history of it and I, you know, I studied some archaeology
and I looked at some books and it's fine.
That's not how I know.
Let me show you how I know.
That's how I know.
I take the wrong Bible right here, okay, and I, you know, because what I read in some history
book, how do I know whether that's true about this manuscript over here and this manuscript
over here and, you know, the Sinai Atticus and the Vaticanus and the Alexandria Codex
B manuscript and the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Septuagint and the Masoretic Text of the
Hebrew and the 36 Editions of the Texas Receptus and, you know, hey, how do I know if any of
that stuff is true?
I don't know, okay?
But here's what I do know.
Okay, I got this King James Bible and then we use the NIV as a representative of all
modern Bibles because they all fairly agree with each other and I've got the other ones
in there, too.
But I can just take them and just put them side by side and I can turn somewhere like,
say, Acts 837 and I can look at Acts 837 and I can read a story where it says, let's see,
it says, and as they went on their way, they came to a certain water and the eunuch said,
see, here's water, what doth hinder me to be baptized?
And then verse 37, and Philip said, if thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest.
And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is Son of God.
And he commanded the chariot to stand still and they went down both into the water, both
Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized them.
And then I take out every modern Bible, including the NIV, I look up the exact same passage
and I read it and this is what it says.
It says, as they traveled along the road, they came to the water and the eunuch said,
look, here's water, why shouldn't I be baptized?
That's verse 36 and then there's no 37, it jumps from 36 to 38 and says, and he gave
orders to stop the chariot, then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and
Philip baptized him.
Now look, it doesn't even answer the question, I mean, it doesn't even make sense.
Why verse 37 is missing, it doesn't even make sense.
If somebody asks you a question, I mean, you can answer it.
Hey, why don't I get baptized?
Okay, baptize them.
You know, baptize anybody, baptize babies.
Anybody want to get baptized again tonight?
We're trying to hit 20 baptisms, all right, so we're about to break that 20 barrier for
the year.
Anybody?
All right, I see that hand.
Hey, look, this is stupid.
It's wrong.
You know, you can look in the Bible in the book of 2 Samuel 2219 in the NIV here.
I'll just turn there, you don't have to turn there in the King James, I'll just turn there
and you'll see right away what's wrong with it.
I can turn to 2 Samuel 19, verse number 2, and the Bible reads, oh, whoops, I got the
wrong reference.
Oh, wait, I'm in the wrong one, there we go.
Okay, here we go, 2 Samuel 22, ah, man, I got the wrong one.
But anyway, there's a verse in 2 Samuel, just trust me, you don't need to see it in the
Bible.
I'm just testing, you know.
But let me show you a different one, 1 Corinthians 1.18, since that one didn't pan out for me.
Somebody's been changing the NIV again, they change this thing all the time, it's always
changing.
You know, 2 Corinthians, let's see, 1 Corinthians 1.18, I'll read this for you.
First Corinthians 1.18, the Bible reads, for the message of the cross is foolishness to
those that are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.
Now, am I being saved, or am I saved, past tense, it's over.
But see, this book teaches work, salvation, like, you're being saved, you know, well,
I'm trying, I hope I go to heaven, because I'm trying, you know, I go to church, I live
a good life, I'm trying, I'm being saved.
No, I've been saved, I done been saved.
And see, here's the thing, like, you look at Romans 13, look up Romans 13 in your Bible,
I'm just going to show you a couple of these, but just to give you a feel for why I believe
the King James Bible is the word of God.
Not because I read it in some history book, not because of what some archeologists found,
but just, I'm just comparing the two right next to each other.
You know, if you put a diamond and a cubic zirconium next to each other, you can see
which one God made, and you can see which one man made.
Right away.
You can take a whole barrel of cubic zirconiums and put a diamond in there, it'll stand out
right away the one that God made, because God made a diamond, and a man made a cubic
zirconium, and a man made this book, and God made that book.
Look at Romans chapter 13.
The Bible says in verse number 9 of Romans 13, actually, let me get there in the right
Bible, so we can both be on the same page.
For this, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal,
thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not covet, and if there be any other commandment
as briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
So listed there are the last five of the Ten Commandments.
The first five have to do with God, the last five have to do with man.
Remember they came on two tablets when Moses came down from the mouth?
Listen to this, the NIV.
The commandments, do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not covet.
So what are we missing?
Thou shalt not bear false witness, the one about lying.
Oh, so a book full of lies, a book that changes what God says, a book that takes out 15 verses
in the New Testament where the numbers don't even match up, I mean, it goes 36, 38, 17,
18, 19, a book filled with lies takes out the commandment about thou shalt not bear
false witness, which is the commandment about lying.
Isn't that ironic?
Look at 1 Corinthians, I'm sorry, 2 Corinthians chapter 2, look at 2 Corinthians chapter 2,
and I'm just showing you a few of these off the top of my head, that's why I messed up
that one in 2 Samuel.
You know what?
I just remembered where it is.
Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 2, now let me tell you something, the King James Bible
is the only Bible today in 2006, the only English Bible that's not copyrighted.
I can print this, I can get out a Xerox machine and print off my own King James Bibles and
hand them out to people and make it myself, and it's totally legal.
Did you know that if I wanted to quote from the NIV, I would have to get permission from
the people who own the copyright to this if I wanted to quote more than a couple verses?
Like if I wanted to put out a little booklet or something that quoted throughout verses
from the NIV, I'd actually have to get permission from the publishing company to do that.
Did you know if I wanted to print out Bibles and give them out to people, I'd have to get
permission from the people who own this thing?
And you say, well I don't believe you.
Well okay, go down to the bookstore and find two Bibles that are the exact same brand,
the exact same leather, the exact same pages, by the same manufacturer, one of them will
be a New International Version or any modern Bible, and one of them will be a King James
Bible, and this one will cost exactly a dollar more.
You will never find an NIV at the dollar store.
King James Bible at the Dollar Tree.
Every Dollar Tree has Bibles.
You cannot find an NIV at the Dollar Tree.
Why?
Because a dollar for every Bible has to go to the people who own the copyright, the people
who made this up, the people who wrote this.
Get a dollar every time you buy one.
So it sounds like they made it for money, right?
I mean they're selling it for money.
They want to have the right, they have the rights to this and they say, we wrote it.
I mean, God didn't write, we wrote it, and so we get a dollar every time you buy it.
That's why the NIV, mark my words, write it down, 2006 Steven Anderson said that the NIV
will not be available for purchase after the year 2023.
I'll guarantee it.
I'll promise you, I'm a prophet.
I just had a word of knowledge.
I prophesy.
Because I'll tell you something.
Copyright laws only last for 50 years.
So 50 years from now they won't be able to charge you that dollar anymore.
That's why they're constantly coming out with new Bibles.
You cannot go to the Christian bookstore and find any Bible version that's older than 50
years old except the King James Bible.
Every other Bible is more recent than 50 years.
They used to have a Bible, real popular, called the American Standard Version, gone.
Now it's the new American Standard.
They had to change 4% of the words in order to make it copyrightable.
So every Bible, the 412 versions that are out there, are at least 4% different from
one another.
They at least have 4% of the words different because that's the only way that they can
make the money of getting a dollar every day, ting, ting, ting, ting, ting, ting, ting,
at the Christian bookstore, so-called, where they're just selling all these different Bibles
for money.
So with that in mind, look if you would at 2 Corinthians chapter 2, verse 17, great verse
in the Bible.
For we are not as many which corrupt the word of God.
See, there are many people out there who want to corrupt and change the Bible.
But we are not as many that corrupt the word of God, but as of sincerity, but as of God
and the sight of God, speak weak in Christ.
Now listen to this.
The NIV takes out the part about, you know, we don't corrupt the word of God because they
do corrupt the word of God, let's face it.
Listen to what it says.
Unlike so many, we do not, are you looking at your Bible?
Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit.
Did you hear that?
So they're saying, unlike so many, we don't sell it.
We don't, peddle means sell.
Like peddle is like a guy who's out peddling things.
Unlike so many, we don't peddle the word of God for profit.
That's what they're saying, you know.
Let's take out the part about how we're corrupting it and let's put in this joke about how we're
not selling it.
Ha!
What a joke.
What a ridiculous thing.
Look if you would at 2 Samuel 21.19, now I found the right verse.
Second Samuel 21.19, I know I'm having you turn all over the Bible, but I just want to
show you a few of these.
Second Samuel 21.19.
Second Samuel 21.19, the Bible reads, actually I'm not even in the Bible, I'm in this piece
of junk that's in my hand, the NIV, return in the real Bible here.
You see what I mean, you don't have to be like a historian to figure out which Bible's
right.
You know, did you know that you can read the NIV, the entire Old Testament, and the word
hell is never mentioned in the entire Old Testament?
I guess hell didn't exist back then, huh?
Is that crazy?
And yet, and then half the times in the New Testament, half of the references in the New
Testament are gone, and the word hell doesn't even exist one time in the Old Testament of
the NIV.
But look at Second Samuel 21.19, the Bible reads, and there was again a battle in Gob
with the Philistines, where Elhanan, the son of Jer Origim, a Bethanite, slew the brother
of Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver's beam.
Now listen to the NIV.
In another battle with the Philistines at Gob, Elhanan, son of Jorah Gorm, the Bethanite
killed Goliath the Gittite.
So in this Bible, it's saying that this guy, Jorah Origim, killed Goliath.
Now who killed Goliath?
The boys and girls, semi-school class.
Who killed Goliath?
David killed Goliath, right?
I mean, is that what the Bible says?
And you remember how David went down to the river and he picked up five smooth stones
and he put them in his back?
That's because Goliath had four brothers.
And listed in this story, if you read it another time, in Second Samuel 21, it goes through
them killing four of his brothers.
Three of them, their names are given, you know, and one of them is not named, is given,
just says he was another brother of Goliath.
This one says it's Goliath that's being killed.
See how inaccurate it is?
I mean, see how different it is?
I mean, it changes things.
And you say, well, those changes don't really matter.
Well, does it matter in Luke 2, 33, when this Bible calls Joseph Jesus' father, it says
that his father Joseph?
Does that matter?
Does it matter when this Bible takes out the word Lucifer from the Bible, when it's only
mentioned one time that Satan's name is Lucifer?
This Bible takes it out and puts in the phrase, the morning star, which is a reference to
Jesus Christ.
Does that matter?
Does it matter that this Bible says, for God so loved the world, that he gave his only
begotten son, that whosoever believe in him should not perish, but have everlasting life?
And this one says he gave his one and only son?
That's not true.
I'm God's son.
Behold what manner of love the father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called
the sons of God.
Therefore, the world knoweth us not because it knew him not, beloved, now are we the sons
of God.
And you say, well, that doesn't matter.
I mean, we understand what it's saying.
No, it does matter because if I can't trust every word that the Bible's saying, how do
I know that the part that I'm basing my whole faith on, how do I know that the part that
I'm basing salvation on, maybe that's a mistake too, since there's all these mistakes.
And I could go on and on.
There's places in the NIV where it says it quotes from Isaiah, then it quotes from Malachi.
It says it's, you know, it's just, it's inconsistent with itself.
It says in one place that Saul reigned forty years, says in another place that he reigned
forty-three years.
You know, just stuff like that.
This doesn't even make sense.
The math doesn't even add up.
Let me read for you a few scriptures about what the Bible says.
Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one shot or one tittle of the
law to pass away till all be fulfilled.
God says that every single word of God is going to be preserved, available.
Now let me ask you something.
A hundred years ago, when this was the only Bible that anybody ever even used in the English
language, which is, by the way, the world language, which is the most important language
in the whole world, English, if you don't know that, didn't even say King James Version
on it.
It used to just say Holy Bible, because it was the only one that was used for three hundred
years.
And now all of a sudden, you have all these new Bibles that come out, and you know what
they say?
We've dug up new findings.
We've found older texts that are more reliable.
I mean, they've been under a rock all these years.
Who would have thunk that the real Bible was under a rock all these years?
We've been copying and copying and preaching, and millions of copies have been disseminated
throughout the world.
It's been translated into almost every language, the best-selling book in the world.
Who would have thought that it was wrong?
And that really these ones that were in a garbage can in the dump somewhere, and they
dug it out, and they brushed it off, and they took it to a laboratory, and they dated it,
and they said, this is 50 years older than what we were looking at before.
This is it.
We found it.
Now it's only three hundred years after Jesus, and it said three hundred fifty years.
This must be right, because it's closer to the original.
And then that's what all the new Bibles are based on.
See, I used to think that they were just different translations, but really they're translating
from a different original source.
They're translating from different Greek and different Hebrew.
I mean, this one translates from the one that was passed down, passed down, passed
down, passed down, where God said, I'll preserve my word for every generation.
This crowd right here says that, you know, hey, finally, it says in the New American
Standard in the introduction, finally a reliable translation of the Bible.
Finally an accurate copy of the Bible.
It's like, you're nuts.
No, my friend, Jesus Christ has made his word available to every generation.
Two hundred years ago, when this is what was being preached, and by the way, I think that
this was a little bit more of a righteous nation, before 1973 when the NIV came out,
and before the 1960s when the New American Standard came out, and before the 1950s when
the RSV came out, hey, I think that we were a little bit greater as a nation than now
when, I wonder which denomination is going to be the next one to have a lesbian pastor
ordained.
You know what I mean?
It's like, first it was the Episcopalians, now it's the United Methodists.
Now the Catholics ordained some woman as a Catholic priest in the United States.
You know, look, we're living in a day where this bizarre thing's happening.
They just voted down in Brazil, remember I was telling you about how women can be pastors
now in Brazil, you know, and there have been different Baptist groups that condone homosexuality
now.
I mean, who would have thought?
Well I think it's because they got those older, more reliable Bibles.
That's why we're seeing all the, that's why in every city there's a man of God, right?
You know, my friend, when we threw out the old King James Bible two-edged sword that
said, Thus saith the Lord, that used words like hell and damnation, heaven, Jehovah,
you know, these great powerful words, fornication, but we have now the butter knife of the NIV,
not the two-edged sword, but the plastic Kentucky Fried Chicken butter knife that tells you
about Hades and Sheol and the grave, doesn't talk about hell, doesn't talk about fornication,
doesn't even use the word damnation.
Hey friend, we need to get back to the Bible that God has blessed for hundreds of years,
but I'm going to tell you something, when are you going to nail that down that this
is the Bible that you believe?
I mean when are you going to nail it down to the point where you won't set foot in a
church that doesn't preach this Bible?
I mean shouldn't that be the first criteria?
Do you believe the same Bible that I base everything I believe on?
Do you believe the same Bible or do you have a different Bible that teaches something else?
I mean when are you going to get that nailed down?
Get it nailed down.
Just like this guy in 1 Kings 13, great man, everything going for him except one thing,
one thing he had going against him is that he trusted and listened to other people and
he didn't trust only the Bible and say I don't care what anybody says.
That was the one thing that he had going against him and it destroyed his life, it ruined his
ministry.
I mean he could have, think about it, he could have went through a whole life just preaching
and he probably could have been right up there with Elijah and Elisha, but no, he ruined
his life because he listened to somebody who lied to him and said, let me tell you
what the Bible really says.
I've gone into the Greek and Hebrew and let me tell you what it really says because I'm
a little older than you.
Hey you know what?
I don't care how old you are, I don't care how young I am, I'll tell you how old this
book is, it's as old as eternity.
In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God.
And so it's not me or my age that matters, it's not you or your age that matters, it's
not Dr. Fatbottom, Professor, Dr. Screwham up in some seminary somewhere, you know that
doesn't matter how old he is, I don't care if he's 150 stinking years old, if he doesn't
believe what this ancient, eternal Word of God says, then he's wrong and I don't want
to hear from him.
You see, you have to get to the point where the Bible is what matters, where what God
says matters.
Would the God that in every city there'd be a man of God, would the God that some day
it wouldn't be like where I look at the map of Arizona and say, man, you know, I was looking
at different areas and I'll not name the areas but I was just looking at different cities
and towns and just thinking, there needs to be a man of God here, there needs to be a
man of God here.
Well look, it could happen some day, friend, but we've got to stand up for what's right
here in this church.
We've got to fight the good fight in this church.
We've got to be out there, you know, beating through the bushes and knocking the doors
and going in the highways and hedges and doing our job and working hard so that God can build
this church and we can see young men go out and start these churches and to be a man of
God so that I can train my children to be a man of God, a real man of God.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, I thank you so much that I have the Bible tonight and I thank you so much that
I'm not wondering what I believe tonight.
I know.