Alright, good evening everyone, let's all make our way inside and find a seat, grab
a song book, open that song book up to song number 29 at the cross, and if you are able
this evening, let's all stand together for our first song, again song number 29 at the
song number 29 at the cross they're going all together nice and strong
alas and did my savior bleed and did my sovereign die would he devote that sacred head
light and the burden of my heart rolled away. It was there by faith I received my sight and now
I am happy all the day. Was it for crimes that
At the cross where I first saw the light, And the burden of my heart rolled away.
It was there by faith I received my sight, And now I am happy all the day.
at the cross where I first saw the light and the burden of my heart rolled away it was
there by faith I received my sight and now I am happy all the day but drops of grief can
And now I am happy all the day.
Amen, great singing to start off.
Let's open our service with the word of prayer.
Father, thank you Lord for allowing us God to be here tonight Lord and hear your word preached unto us God
Pray Lord that you would bless the service God every aspect of it Lord that the singing word
Prepare our hearts for the message Lord and please you Lord
Pray God also that you would fill our pastor with your Holy Spirit Lord as preaches unto us God and help us in the congregation
Lord to be attentive to the preaching Lord that we would take that which we hear and apply it to our lives Lord and leave here
differently than when we came in God
We love you Lord, and it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
You may be seated.
Song number 167.
All hail the power of Jesus' name.
Song number 167.
Song 167. All hail the power of Jesus' name.
Everyone all together, nice and strong.
Let angels prostrate, fall, bring forth
Great singing welcome to First Works Baptist Church just a few announcements here before excuse me
We sing our next song which will be song number 15 lead me to Calvary
I'm just gonna give a couple announcements here before brother Mori comes up to give the full announcements
Regarding after the the service here for our family nights. Let me give you some a couple things here number one
Please line up near the windows on the piano side of the auditorium
just outside the old foyer to get your food.
There will be ladies serving in the old foyer.
So we're gonna have Panda Express tonight for dinner.
So make sure you just line up against the wall use this door. There'll be ladies there
Serving and so keep that in mind and then number two, please supervise your children for the game night
So that they are not just putting game cards and pieces everywhere and not giving others a turn
So please
Supervise your children oversee them there for the adults. We will have Jenga
Uno now is this Jenga or Ganga?
Which are are we doing Ganga the ghetto one the bootleg one does anybody know I guess we'll find out today
Jenga uno connect for and clue games available and by the way, if you brought some games
We welcome you to bring that out as well and for the children
We will have uno beanbag tic-tac toe
Excel shoots and ladders and ticket to ride junior everyone is welcome to take turns during the axe throwing matches
Now where's the brother Ulysses? Do you know where the axe throwing thing? They're not real axis by the way
Everyone's wondering like what does anybody know?
Where's the axe throwing game gonna be yeah, it's gonna be right here like where brother Nick is
Okay, all right, this is gonna be cleared out.
Okay, so there's gonna be an axe throwing match,
but parents, please watch your kids
as they can get her walking through a match.
It's not literally, if you've been to my house,
we have those plastic axes and ninja stars
and so it's gonna be great,
but parents, please make sure you watch your kids
so they're not getting hurt
and then this night turns into a hospital visit of sorts
and so keep that in mind and that's it for the morning.
All right. Good evening everyone. Obviously we want to welcome you to our Thursday night service.
We're going through the book of John. Obviously we went through our first one this last Thursday
at 7 p.m. Happy birthday to those who have their birthdays in July. We have our so many times and teams here below.
continue to pray for our expecting mothers.
And as Pastor Mejia stated earlier,
we have a new mother on the list here,
which is my wife.
It's gonna be on,
dang, I forgot it.
I forgot what it's called.
Valentine's Day, that's what it is.
February 14th, it's Valentine's Day.
It's not really that big of a holiday, you know what I mean?
But continue to pray for the expecting mothers.
Tonight is our board night.
We have the instructions, board game night.
Pasadena just gave our instructions there.
Watermelon Sunday will be Sunday, July 13th
after the PM service.
We'll have our youth rally July 18th
and on the 20th we will have a mini soul winning marathon.
You don't wanna miss that.
That's it for the announcements.
Please silence your phones to not be a disturbance
to the service.
Open up your hymnals to song number 15,
lead me to Calvary.
Song number 15.
third song number 15 for our third song
song number 15 lead me to Calvary everyone all together nice and strong
king of my life I crown thee now thine shall the glory be
lest I forget thy thorn crown
Lead me to Calvary
Lest I forget Gethsemane
Lest I forget Thine agony
Lest I forget Thy love for me
Lead me to Calvary
Show me the tomb where Thou was laid
Early mourned and wept, Angels in robes of light arrayed,
Guarded thee whilst thou slept, Lest I forget, Yes, I'm a neif,
Lest I forget.
like Mary through the gloom, come with a gift to thee, show to me how the empty tomb lead
me to Calvary, lest I forget Gesseth.
share thou hast borne all for me, lest I forget Gethsemane, lest I forget Thine agony, lest
I forget Thy love for me, lead me to Calvary.
Amen.
And tonight we'll be in 2 Corinthians chapter number three.
Good evening to you now we're in 2nd Corinthians chapter 3 and the Bible reads do we begin again
to commend ourselves or need we as some others epistles of commendation to you or letters of
commendation from you year our epistle written on our hearts known in red of all men for as much as
year manifestly declared to be the epistles of Christ ministered by us written not with ink but
with the spirit of the living God not in tables of stone but in fleshly tables of the heart
and such trust have we through Christ to Godward.
Not that we are sufficient of ourselves
to think anything as of ourselves,
but our sufficiency is of God.
Who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament,
not of the letter, but of the spirit.
For the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
But if the ministration of death, written in engraving and stones, was glorious, so that
the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of
his countenance, which glory was to be done away, how shall not the ministration of the
Spirit be rather glorious?
For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the administration of
righteousness exceed in glory.
For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the
glory that excelleth.
for if that which is done away was glorious much more that which is remaineth is glorious."
Seeing then that we have such hope we use great plainness of speech and not as Moses which put
a veil over his face that the children of Israel cannot steadfastly look to the end of that which
is abolished, but their minds were blinded for until to this day it remained at the same veil
but even unto this day when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart. Nevertheless,
when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away." Now the Lord is that Spirit,
and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with open face beholding,
as in a glass, the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as
by the Spirit of the Lord.
Let's pray, dear Lord God, just thank you for this time we have this evening Lord to hear the preaching of your word Lord
Just please bless pastor and fill him with your Holy Spirit Lord and Lord just be with us in the congregation that we can apply
These truths from your word that's going to be preached tonight and just apply to our lives Lord to pray this all in Jesus name. Amen, man
Okay, we're in second Corinthians chapter 3 this evening and the title my sermon tonight is be like the Bible
be like the Bible first a second Corinthians three one says do we begin again to commend
ourselves or need we as some others epistles of commendation to you or letters of commendation
from you ye are our epistles written in our hearts known and read of all men tonight I want to draw
some parallels between the word of God and the Christian obviously we know that the Bible has
certain attributes and qualities that are actually similar to how a Christian should be how a Christian
should behave. I want to give you a couple things this evening, how we can be like the Bible.
And I'm not talking about obeying the Bible. We obviously know we're supposed to do that.
Memorizing the Bible, we know that. Reading the Bible. I'm talking about adopting some of the
characteristics that the Bible has to our personal lives. Now, let me get started here.
Number one, to be like the Bible, think about this. You know, the Bible is heavier on the New
Testament than the old. We obviously know that the Bible is composed of both
Old and New Testament, we would also refer to it as the Old Covenant and the New Covenant.
Well, we know, according to the New Testament, that the New Testament is better than the Old
Testament. It's weightier than the Old Testament, even though there's far more books of the Old
Testament than the New. The New Testament has more authority than the Old Testament. And in fact,
it's used to clarify and interpret the Old. If you had someone who only had the Old Testament,
right? You know this is why when Jews say they are Torah observers, they only stick to the Torah,
the first five books of the Bible, their knowledge of the Bible, their knowledge of God is incomplete.
Why? Because you need the entirety of Scripture, not just the Tanakh referring to the prophets,
we're not just referring to the Psalms, we're talking about the New Testament. And in fact,
you know, we refer to ourselves as what? New Testament Christians, not negating
The authority of the Old Testament, however, we are New Testament believers, part of that New Covenant.
Look at verse number six, if you would, of 2 Corinthians chapter three.
It says here, who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament?
Not of the letter, but of the Spirit.
Now, when the Bible talks about the letter, what's it talk about?
Talk about the Old Testament, right?
For example...
When people were criticizing, you know, the disciples or the criticizing Jesus, you know, they often said, you know
How does this man, you know, know this much not not having learned letters, right?
It's referring to the fact that they think or they're assuming that he didn't know the Old Testament
The letters is referring to that Old Covenant that Old Testament. So he says not of the letter, but of the Spirit
For the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
Now what I want you to notice here is that the Apostle Paul is drawing a parallel between the New Testament and what?
The Spirit.
He's drawing the letter as being that which kills and he's drawing the New Testament as that which gives life, right?
So he says that the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. Look at verse 7.
It says, but if the ministration of death, referring to the letter, that old covenant,
written and engraven in stones was glorious so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly
behold the face of Moses, for the glory of his countenance, which glory was to be done away,
How shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious?
What is he referring to?
Well, the Apostle Paul is obviously, he's not trying to downplay the Old Testament.
It's part of the Christian faith, that Old Testament.
The precepts of the Word of God.
It's built upon the statements of the prophets at Moses.
And it says there that that ministration, as glorious as it is, is a ministration of death.
Meaning that the law brings forth death, right?
And, in fact, Romans chapter 7 says that the law killeth.
It talks about how it slays people when people come to the knowledge that they have violated
the law of God.
So it's administration of death.
We know that it's referring to the Old Covenant, that Old Testament, because it talks about
it being written in engraving in stone, referring to the fact that Moses went up to Mount Sinai
and received the two tables of stone written with the finger of God.
And look, we can read the Old Testament and find some glorious passages, right?
It's where we find the laws of God, the standard of God.
It is a glorious testament.
And in fact, you know, we don't ever want to just only stick to the New Testament.
You have a lot of Christians and churches today that don't want,
they want to stay away from the book of Leviticus.
They want to stick, stay away from the book of Deuteronomy.
They want to stay away from the imprecatory Psalms
because it's, you know, it's offensive to them.
It's not relevant to them.
But the Bible says that it's glorious,
meaning that it's still weighty.
It's still powerful.
It's just still be read and applied today.
But he says in verse number eight that the ministration of the spirit is rather glorious.
What does that mean?
Meaning that it's far more glorious than that old ministration of the letter.
It's better is what he's referring to.
Verse nine says, for if the ministration of the condemnation be glory, much more that the
ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.
For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the
For if that which is done away was glorious, much more of that which remaineth is glorious.
A lot of glory, right?
He's basically saying that if we deem the Old Testament as being honorable and glorious and
magnificent, we'll just understand that that new covenant excels the glory of the Old.
Now why is that? Because of the fact that now we know the name of Jesus Christ.
Now Christ has come and died on the cross to pay for our sins.
He is the fulfillment of the old covenant promises.
And here we see, according to verse 11, that that previous covenant,
that administration of death, according to verse 11, is done away.
And it goes on to say that that which remains referring to a new covenant is glorious and so powerful stuff here
Now you said what does it have to do with us being like the Bible pastor?
We know this already
You know why what's the what's the point of even addressing the fact that there's an old covenant new covenant new covenant?
You pretty much say every single week how it's better than the old one. You're always preaching against the Jews
You know, we know this already. We're not saying stop, but we're just saying we know okay
Well, here's the thing is that in like man or we too as believers are made up of the old man and the new man
So we can say that we're both old covenant and new covenant. Why because that old man just as that old
Covenant also brings forth death
Right if we were just an old covenant Christian meaning that we're only the old man only the old place guess what we would die and go to hell
However, now that we've believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, we have a new covenant within
us as well, also referred to as the new man.
And let me say this, the new man is far more important than the old man.
And in fact, just as when we've started the Word of God and we interpret the old covenant
using the New Testament, in like manner, the new man should be leading the old man, right?
That new man, the Bible tells us, if any man be in Christ, you know, he is a new creature
old things have passed away,
you know, just like that old covenant is ready to vanish away,
all things are become new, the Bible tells us.
And so, you know, before salvation,
we were considered like that old man.
And in fact, you know, the Bible tells us in Romans 2
that the Gentiles have the law of God right in their hearts.
It's kind of saying like they're like that walking old covenant.
And so prior to salvation, we're like a walking Old Testament,
but we just got to realize that once we get saved,
that new man supersedes the old.
It has authority over the old.
And that is what is esteemed in the eyes of God is the new man.
Now, here's the funny thing is that, you know, a lot of people today,
you know, churches, Christians, pastors,
they always want to place a really heavy emphasis on grace, right?
Which is a major thing of the New Testament.
But the irony is that they're still old covenant people though
Because they're not saved
And if you're not saved then you're basically like an old letter and old covenant
You're that old man
Absent of the new so they criticize people like us. They're like, oh you guys are so legalistic
But hold on a second. I'm the entire Bible
I got both Old and New Testament.
You, on the other hand, only have the Old Covenant
speaking of things which you know not,
desiring to be teachers, understanding neither what you say,
nor where of your firm.
You know, you're like, oh man, we're just undergrace.
No, I'm undergrace.
You're not undergrace because you're not even saved.
You believe in repenting your sins, false gospel.
You think you have to keep the laws of God in order to be saved.
According to the Bible, by biblical standards, you are an Old Covenant.
You are lacking the ministration of the Spirit.
You're the ministration of death.
Okay, but you have churches that are like that and you know what we need to understand that as Christians
We are old covenant beings
You know per se with that new nature that new covenant and that new man should be leading the old man
Okay, we need to interpret what the old man is doing based upon the new man. What am I saying here?
I'm saying, you know, we should be spirit led
You know, part of Christian success is what?
Being a spirit-filled Christian.
Part of Christian failure is someone who's just carnal.
They are fleshly.
They're led about of the flesh and not of the spirit.
But the Bible tells us, you know,
the flesh lusteth against the spirit.
the spirit against the flesh, these are contrary to the ones of the other,
so that you cannot do the things that you would. There's gonna be this constant
conflict between these two natures
and the only way you can succeed as a Christian
is if the spirit leaves the flesh. Okay? How do we do that?
Well, here's some practical ways to do it. In the morning when you wake up, read your Bible.
You know, tell that new covenant to crack open the Bible
or tell that old covenant to crack open the Bible, we're gonna read the Bible.
You know, here's a real practical way to do it.
You know, come to church, amen.
Be someone who says, you know what,
my flesh, the old covenant wants to stay home.
That old covenant, that old man wants to stay home
and just relax and just kind of, you know, take it easy.
But the new man says, no, I'm yearning to hear
the word of God be preached, to be with the people of God.
All right.
Hey, that old man desires the things of the flesh, but the spirit desires the things of the spirit, you know
Maybe your old man desires fornication. Maybe it desires drunkenness
Maybe it desires covetousness and wickedness and things that are not pleasing unto the Lord and needs to be in subject
Be subjected to the spirit needs to be spirit-led. Okay?
The Bible says in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 20,
but ye have not so learned Christ.
If so be thee, I've heard him and I've been taught by him.
As the truth is in Jesus,
that ye put off concerning the former conversation,
the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lust,
and be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
and that ye put on the new man,
which after God is created in righteousness
and true holiness.
Now this seems kind of impossible.
Because this instruction is that we need to put off our old man, but this is the old man
What am I supposed to do? Like kill myself or something? Like how does that even work?
Well, the Bible tells us that we need to
mortify the deeds of the body, right?
Referring to the deceitful lust and the way we do that is by walking in the spirit
And so the longer you walk in the spirit,
the longer you read the Bible,
the longer you come to church,
the more diminished those inner inhibitions
of the old man become.
You know, you may be a person who's inclined
to smoke in marijuana, for example, right?
You're a pothead.
Alright, hopefully not right now, but you know your times pass. Maybe you're positive
Well the longer you stay away from it and you surround yourself with righteous godly virtuous living
That desire will diminish. It's not gonna completely go away, right, but it's it's it will diminish
You know sin is like fat cells put it that way. That's the best way I can describe it. Okay
Over the last year, I've lost a good amount of weight.
I was a fat so before about a year ago.
And I have no reservations we'll call on myself that
because it's appropriate.
We need fat shaming more often in our society, by the way.
It's inspiring.
And so I was very overweight.
And you know what?
I lost a lot of weight.
I went on a deficit.
I lifted a lot of weight to put a hard work into it.
This is not something that took place overnight.
And I didn't do cocaine either, or some drug that makes you just lose a bunch of weight
or something.
I put in a lot of work.
But here's the thing, folks.
Right now, I'm a lot leaner than I was before, but let me just say this, the fat cells are
still there, though.
Okay?
What do you mean, amen?
I'm just kidding.
You know, the fat cells are still there.
You know what that means?
and just eat everything inside as I'm inclined to do,
that way can just come back just as fast.
It's just easier.
And so, because I've already opened that door.
To chicken nuggets and double cheeseburgers and canes and you know excessive all that excessive eating
And so those fat cells remain with me
But here's the thing though is that because I placed certain guidelines in my life that this is the amount of calories that I'm gonna eat
I exercise every single day. I lift weights every single day. I punish my butt. I keep under my body every single day
You know, it's not gonna get out of control
Whereas if I just didn't have any control, I wasn't led by the spirit that old man can say hey
Let's go. Let's let's go gorge a little bit
You know I had a long day or something and you know what happens those fat cells come back
But you know that's exactly how sin is though
Sin is like those fat cells.
So even though obviously you might have overcome
a specific sin and yet those inner inhibitions
may not be as loud as they used to be,
they still exist there, right?
But the goal for us as Christians
is to diminish those appetites as much as possible,
which can happen through the spirit, okay?
Our spirit can transcend the old man
where you don't have to be characterized as an alcoholic.
You don't have to be characterized as a pot hitter or something like that.
You know, I'm not necessarily for thinking that, you know,
because you quit alcohol 20 years ago, you should still call yourself an alcoholic.
I'm not written necessarily for that.
You know, once, according to the Bible, once you're forgiven of a particular sin, you're just done it.
Hey, if you're a fornicator before, you know, and you no longer fornicate,
the Bible doesn't label you as a fornicator still, right?
It's just like it's over and done with.
And so, the point that I'm making here is be like the Bible where we have these two natures but the New Testament is weightier and far more authoritative than the old, right?
Don't be an old covenant believer where you're only sticking to the first five books or something, you're only sticking to the talk.
Make sure you place a heavy emphasis on that new man.
If you've never read the Bible before, here's a good place to start, just start in the New Testament.
Just growing your knowledge of the New Testament because of the fact that if you were to read the New Testament 10 times over,
you're going to have a far greater understanding of the Old Testament because of it.
Okay, and so as Christians place a heavy emphasis on feeding the spirit feeding the spirit Bible content
Feeding the spirit preaching feeding the spirit godly music feeding the spirit the right thinking
Feeding the spirit the right type of company feeding the spirit church attendance
Why so you can be strong in the Lord and the power of his might and that?
Authority of that new covenant can override the old okay, and so it's important to do so the old covenant
According to the Bible it was ready to vanish away in like manner the old nature is crucified
with Christ. Colossians chapter 3 verse 9 says lie not one to another,
seeing that you have put off the old man with his deeds. And I've put on the new man
which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him. So we should characterize
ourselves by the new man and not the old. And you know here's the thing folks is that
Obviously, there are certain things that we can't escape from the old man, but at the
end of the day, we should endeavor to create or adopt that new identity that we have in
Christ.
It's just like, yeah, but you could take the hood out of the homeboy, or you could
take the homeboy out of the hood, but you can't take the hood out of the homeboy.
No, just take it all out.
You can be completely different by your behavior by changing your conduct changing the way that you think and so forth go with me
If you would hold your place there in 2nd Corinthians and
Turn with me if you would actually just stay there point number two be like the Bible
We talked about the fact that the Bible places a heavier emphasis on the New Testament
So in like manner we should place a heavier emphasis on the new man
Secondly be like the Bible because the Bible listen to this is meant to be used
When you buy a Bible, you're supposed to read the Bible, you're supposed to use the Bible,
you're supposed to teach from the Bible.
A lot of Christians, what they do is they buy a brand new Bible and just sits on the coffee table
because they're so superstitious about it.
They think it has some sort of power or something that's going to guard them from demons or something like that.
We're not Catholics.
Some people just get a Bible just to decorate their bookshelves.
Bibles are meant to be used.
And I'm all for getting a really nice Bible.
I got this really nice Bible from Pastor Thompson.
He gave me this Bible at the last Red Hot preaching conference,
you know, rest in peace, you know, but he gave me this Bible.
And man, it's super nice.
It's a really nice Bible.
It has pictures inside, you know,
and it's called the Lion Authorized King James Version,
Humble Lamb.
The cover's really nice.
But let me just say this.
As soon as I got it, I started preaching from it.
Because it's meant to be used. As soon as they're going to start reading from it.
Why? Because it's meant to be used, right?
The Bible should be used. It should be read.
It should be taught from. We should exercise Godliness through it.
It shouldn't just sit on the coffee table, on your desk, on the bookshelf,
collecting dust. Just looking nice.
Just looking clean.
Well-refined.
No, it should have some stains on the pages because you flipped through them so much.
Well, in like manner Christians are to be used my friends
Christians are meant to be used so we like the Bible should also
Wear and tear as well as we serve the Lord
Look what it says in 2 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 3,
for as much as you are manifestly declared to be the epistles of Christ ministered by us,
written not with think but with the spirit of the living God,
not in tables of stone but in fleshly tables of the heart.
Look folks, our church is not a museum for saints.
It's a factory for laborers, amen.
And you know what? Don't be like the King James Bible that's sitting on the shelf.
You should not be sitting on the shelf. You should be serving, amen.
And here at First Works Baptist Church,
we have all types of ways
so you can serve the Lord,
primarily in the manner of preaching the gospel.
Because one of the best ways to use the word of God,
aside from reading it, is opening it up
and sharing the content with someone else
about eternal life, okay?
And look, folks, you know, all of us, I think,
have a soul winning Bible that we specifically use, right?
How many say, like, I have this one specific
soul winning Bible that I use?
I know I do.
And, you know, if you're anything like me,
and if you've used it for quite some time,
there's like stains on the corners of the book of Romans.
And even to the point where literally,
you're so accustomed to opening that book
to the book of Romans,
it just kind of opens up to the book of Romans.
You know, and I've had to get new Sony Bibles
just because the pages become so thin,
they actually start tearing,
and then you gotta get new ones, right?
But it's because it's been used.
And so, you know, and it's just like,
it is one of those, you know, you have one of those
Bibles that just, you just kind of know where to go.
You know, obviously you have the passages memorized,
but because you kind of know the format of the,
how it's written in your specific Bible,
you kind of know where everything is already, right?
Well, you know, that's how we are supposed to be.
God cleaned us up. He put a nice little cover on us. He made us of lamb skin
He put those lamb skins on us called the righteousness of Jesus Christ and what did he do it for us? You could just
So you could just look great and and just you know
Oh, man, you just look like such a beautiful Christian. You just look like such a gorgeous handsome Christian
You're just such a no, so you can be used
God has decorated you with righteousness and with the robes of righteousness with godly virtue
So you can go out and win someone else to Christ, but also disciple others as well
We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works the Bible says which God has before ordained that we should walk in them
You know, the Bible tells us that all scripture is given by inspiration of God, but it tells
us for what?
That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished into all good works.
So think about this, you know, those of you who have been a Christian for a lengthy period
of time, let's just say even for a year, two years, three years, right?
Maybe God has like blessed you a lot.
You know, maybe he's allowed you or has aided you in overcoming certain sins
Maybe he's allowed you to become successful at your job
Maybe he's just improved your quality of life exceedingly
You know, thank God for that, but just you should have in your mind like all right. What for though?
How can I use the blessings of God that he's given me to be a blessing to someone else?
The things that you've learned from the Bible
The lessons that you learn from the preaching,
the lessons that you've learned
from reading the Word of God,
how can you be a blessing to someone else?
Well, I just, you know, I rather just,
I'm just here to hear the preaching,
brother, I'm not really here to be used or whatever.
Yeah, you're a bookshelf Bible is what you are.
You're a Catholic Bible is what you are.
Because Catholic Bibles just sit on the coffee table
and they just collect dust and do nothing at all.
And you know what I don't know about you, but I don't want to collect dust for the rest of my life
I want to make sure that I dust myself off and actually go do something for God
You know and again the greatest thing you could do for God is leave someone to Christ
And it's not like we don't have a lot of opportunities for you to do that on our journey
We have a ton of opportunities
If you and look you're like why prefer Spanish to come to Mexico
Let's go to Mexico. Well, you know, I got a specific day that I could go throughout the week
You know around here, and you guys don't seem to have that time. Let me know. We'll make a time for you
How about that?
Let's just go ahead and remove all excuses as to why you're a bookshelf Christian
Let's get you off the shelf and let's get you being used of God
Let me also say this because not so many is not the only way that you can serve the Lord. I
See a little section here. Hey, man
See a piano over there, and you know what we always need more piano players a member of Alex
Yeah, we always need more piano players
And you know what we need to dust off some piano players up in our church and get them going and start playing as well
You know we need more people apparently this is a big deal in our church
You know we need more people to play instruments, you know and not just collect dust on the chair
Well, I'm here to be blessed of God. Ask not what the church can do for you. Ask what you can do for the church
Well, I'm just here to learn about end times Bible prophecy. Go listen to a sermon when you go home
But come here and serve though, too
Amen, yeah, you want to learn about Bible prophecy go read the book of Revelation you'll learn a lot
Stick around afterwards and I'll answer your questions,
but let me say this, be someone who serves
in the church as well.
Be someone who is doing an actual work.
Don't just collect dust on the shelf, on the coffee table.
Don't become a Catholic Bible looking all nice.
You got the tree lineage of the family right here
and who gave you the Bible and that's about it.
Folks, I want to wear a way serving God.
And look, I've been saved since 2007.
I've gone through multiple Bibles.
I've gone through many Bibles and my and I've gone to a point because back in the day
I would just use the same Bible for everything, but now obviously I have different Bibles for different things
You know I have like my personal Bible that I have at home that I leave there and I read and
You know one that I preach with but I remember back in the day is just like, you know, the pages are coming off
You know, the spine is getting messed up and I would want to, you know, get it fixed up again.
Why? Because it's being used.
You know what? I prefer a Christian who has a used, just Bible that's falling apart because it's an indication that that person's not falling apart.
Because they're actually reading it. They're actually studying it, right?
What's the point that I'm making here? Be like the Bible.
And what's the Bible like? It's something that's used.
Okay, you're not here to for us to behold your greatness and beauty and handsomeness and gorgeousness and just like wow
What a perfect Christian look they just got it all together now
How about you actually do something get your hands dirty a little bit by serving the Lord and
Serving your brothers and sisters in Christ and you know playing one of these instruments here
You know playing the trumpet or the violin and look we got talented people in our church
I know we got talented people.
In fact, I believe we have such talented people
on our tour.
I guarantee there's someone here who could just pick up
an instrument and just learn how to play it.
I know there's people here.
Haik, I'm looking at you.
Thanks for letting me know.
Yeah, Haik is one of them.
Let's dust off Haik a little bit so we can get him
to play in the cello, amen.
He's not happy that you called him out like that.
Why because the Bible tells us that we should be sanctified and meet for the master's use and prepare it to every good work
Okay, the Bible be like the Bible because the Bible is meant to be used first Corinthians 12 forces now
There are diversities of gifts, but the same spirit
And there are differences of administration,
but the same Lord.
And there are diversities of operations,
but it is the same God which work with all and all.
But the manifestation of the spirit
is given to every man to profit with all.
To one is given by the spirit, the word of wisdom,
to another, the word of knowledge by the same spirit.
And he's saying there that he's doing it
to profit with all, in other words,
so you can be profitable for someone else,
so you can aid someone else, so you can help someone else.
God has gifted you with something.
I hope you're not just collecting dust.
I hope your talents are not collecting dust.
I hope your gifts are not collecting dust.
I hope your resources are not just collecting dust.
May you be used as the Bible is used.
Be like the Bible.
Wear away serving God.
I hope that I make it to like 90.
Lord willing, 100 and I'm still serving God at that time.
I hope that I'm just the crankiest
Just just the the the just most angry old man because of all the sin around the world and everything that's going on
But I'm just still serving God
I'm preaching the word of God and I'm just just you know
Just serving God with messed up knees and a messed up back or something. I hope I just die serving God
I want to go out serving God. Amen. I don't want to retire or want to refire
Because though our outward man Paris the inward man is renewed day by day the Bible says and
So I hope you have that same goal to say you know
I need to start dedicating more time to just serving God not just listening to the sermons not just singing the songs but actually
participating
Engaging in some way figuring out how I could be a blessing in my church because I'm not a Catholic Bible
I'm a King James Bible that's meant to be used
Be like the Bible number three
So be like the Bible because the Bible is composed of two testaments where that new testament is far wadier than the old
Be like the Bible in the sense that the Bible is something that's meant to be used so you should be used as well
Number three be like the Bible because the Bible doesn't need external evidence to prove its authenticity
One of the most annoying things to hear on social media is everyone using archaeological discoveries
You know this tablet that we found in Egypt just validates what the Bible says. I don't need that
I just have the Bible
The Bible is the final authority and I don't need history to confirm that the Bible is true
I definitely don't need the Roman Catholic Church to tell me that the Bible is true
I don't need any outside source why because the internal evidence is sufficient to testify that it's the word of God, right?
I don't need you to dig up some mummy
that died with the Bible or something.
This just confirms it.
I don't care about that stuff.
They probably lied.
You're like, oh, you're just gonna discredit history
over the Bible?
Yeah, for sure.
I believe the Bible over history, anything.
Cause you know what?
Just because it's history doesn't mean it's true.
Okay, and people twist history all the time.
History is often made by the victors
and sometimes the victors are not the best people.
However, we believe in the inspiration and the preservation of scripture, so we know that God has providentially preserved his word throughout the centuries, and we have exactly what we need right here.
This is God's word, right?
So, how do you know? Because I've read it.
Because I read it.
Because I have the Spirit of God. Yeah, who gave you the authority, God?
Right first John chapter 2 tells us I need no man to teach me
I had the spirit of God dwelling within me
I can prove all things hold fast that which is good the term Catholic is not found in there
So I don't have to go to the Catholic Church
I can discern the Word of God for myself because I'm saved and I have the Holy Spirit of God
dwelling within me.
The internal evidence of the Bible is proof of the Bible.
Turn around if you would to 2 Peter chapter 1, 2 Peter chapter 1.
The Bible says in Hebrews 11, 1, now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the
evidence of things not seen.
Of course we know the famous passage in Romans 10, 17, that faith cometh by hearing, hearing
by the Word of God.
It says, for he received from God the Father, honoring glory.
When there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased and
This voice which came from heaven. We heard when we were with him in the holy mount
We have also want you to notice this a more sure word of prophecy
Where until you do well that you take heed as until a light that shined it in a dark place
Until the day dawn and the day star rise in your hearts. What is Peter saying? He said look I heard God speak
from heaven, that's his testimony, but he says,
but we have a far more short word of prophecy
referring to the word of God,
meaning that this is far more authoritative
than the apostle Peter's testimony
of audibly hearing God's voice.
He says, we have a more short word of prophecy.
Now, why would Peter do that?
Don't you understand, first pope?
It's supposed to depend solely upon you.
Well, because of the fact that he understood
that people would rely upon testimonies
rather than the internal evidence of God's word
for the authenticity of God's word.
So he's saying here that the Bible is far more authoritative.
It is sure, he says verse 20, knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation.
For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved.
by the Holy Ghost.
What am I saying?
I'm saying that the Bible's internal evidence
is proof of the Bible.
We don't need archeological discoveries.
We don't need to find some tablet in Iraq
that, you know, mentions Israel or something.
It's like, oh man, wow, who cares?
There's forgeries back then and even if it was true even if it was true that some pharaoh
You know carved on a rock that the people of Israel existed and that he defeated them the Renepta whatever they call that tablet
I don't care because I already you know, I don't this has more than what that tablet is saying
The story on that tablet sucks anyways.
It just says like the people that are like nomads or something like that, here it actually says Israel.
And there's more information of what's necessary to know about the Old Testament about Israel than there is on that tablet.
Who cares?
But you know what, people have this thing where it's just like, no, no, we just need more external evidence.
We just need to find more things to validate what the Bible says.
No, just have faith in the Bible itself.
Okay, now, how do we apply this? Well, you know, here's one way to apply it is that
Christian the internal evidence in the Christian is what validates whether we're saved or not
Right because a lot of churches are like, oh, no, I need to see external evidence. I need to see the fruit. Well, you don't
Here here's here's what you see. I believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
That's the internal evidence the internal evidence is the fact that I believed on the Lord Jesus Christ
And whom you also trusted after that you heard the word of truth the gospel of your salvation
You know in whom also after you believe you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise
Which is the earnest of our inheritance for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith as it is written
That just shall live by faith
You know the word of God is the internal evidence and guess what the Christian the internal evidence is the legitimate evidence
We don't need to see well. How many how many works do they do though?
You know how many people you know how many good deeds are they doing do they love the Lord Jesus Christ?
Just tell me what you believe and I'll tell you if you're saved or not
When we go door to door we don't say oh, you know like I saw how much fruit of the Spirit have you produced?
No, we're just like what do you think it takes to get to heaven?
And we make a judgment based off of what they say.
If they say, you know, gotta be a part
of the Roman Catholic Church, what do we say?
Oh, okay, this person is just not saved whatsoever.
There's not an inkling of salvation
in the heart of this person
because they're part of the Roman Catholic Church.
And they're expressing that because out of the abundance
of the heart, the mouth speaketh.
And so that's a good way to determine that, right?
It's all about the internal evidence, which is what we believe the Bible says it if you held your place there second Corinthians 3 1
He tells them ye are our epistles
written in our hearts known and read of all men the content is in the heart now look that's not to say
That external things that we do don't validate whether we're Christians or not
If you think about it, you know in Titus chapter 2 verse 9 it talks about
Or the entire chapter talks about the behavior and conduct of Christians and how it adorns the doctrines of Christ, right?
So obviously there is a principle that right living should be coupled with
Being a Christian just to be a good testimony
Right to have righteous conduct righteous living adorns the doctrines of Christ if you're preaching the Bible
You're claiming to believe scriptures, but you're just living a godless life
You know you're not really adorning the doctrines of Christ. You're being a bad testimony, right?
You're just like faggots this and you're just drinking alcohol
bottle says fact. I mean you're right
about the homos
But you know you just it just doesn't look right if you're pounding a 40 at the same time
Okay, and so obviously we need to have the right living in order to adorn the
doctrines of Christ, but it doesn't negate the fact that the internal evidence
is still there. Now here's another way to apply this because you know,
Bibles should just, in my opinion, should just be read, right? Just like cover to
cover with no notes. Like I'm against study Bibles.
Okay, and you might have a study Bible if you do just get yourself just a
An authorized King James version of the Bible with no footnotes whatsoever, especially not a Scofield reference Bible
Okay, why because sometimes a lot of these footnotes they are they're actually contradicting the word of God
They're casting doubt on the word of God and most of these scholars so-called don't even know what the heck they're talking about
You know, they believe in the gap theory, they believe in evolution, they believe in
Nephilim's and all this other nonsense.
That's not in the Bible.
So what it does is just kind of it
misconstrues the truth and it causes people to be deceived in regards to certain things. So we should stay away from this external
commentaries of the Bible about the Bible.
You know, just read the Word of God and submit yourself to the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
And, you know, the way I can relate that to Christians is that we need to make sure we stay away from practices or things that mainstream Christians would often say helps our testimony, but it's actually detrimental to our testimony.
Like, for example, you know, you have Christians who are like, well, alcohol is okay. Alcohol is good, you know? Jesus turned the water into wine. And it's like a footnote, right? But it's completely wrong, because alcohol is sinful according to the Bible.
Or how about this? Tattoos!
You know, yeah, but what if I tattooed John 3.16 on me though?
The footnote says that, you know, you know, being a good testimony, I'm adorning the doctrines of Christ.
But here's the thing is the tattoos are against the Bible though.
And the only way you would come to the conclusion that it's okay to do is if you had a footnote of some liberal Christian telling you it's okay to do.
When it actually doesn't match up with the Bible, okay?
Go to Leviticus if you would.
Leviticus chapter 19
Leviticus 19 Christians don't need worldly means to prove how spiritual they are
You know such as tattoos
Which is a lot of reasons why Christians get tattoos?
Okay, and this is something that's really important because a lot of people in our church have tattoos, you know
And yes, yours truly has that as well. Okay. I just got one yesterday. No, I'm just kidding
So I had to get it out of my system first before I preach this sermon. I'm kidding
But I'm not kidding about having artwork. I do you know, but you know, this has happened BC
Okay before Christ, but you know, I'm sure a lot of you have tattoos, okay?
And I'm sure I'm sure we have a wide range of tattoos in our church
We we got maybe the loka or something and you know
There might be some some butterflies out there or whatever. Hopefully we don't have a virgin Mary floating around or you know
But I'm sure we I'm sure we got a lot of different tattoos out there
And I'm just telling you right now,
mainstream Christians push for getting tattoos all the time.
Calvinists, the reformers, they're all about that
because they like to be a little rebellious about that.
But folks, it's not biblical, it's not right.
Look at Leviticus 19, verse 27, verse 28, excuse me,
says, ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh
for the dead, nor print any marks upon you, I am the Lord.
Now that's pretty clear.
The cuttings in your flesh for the dead, you say, well, yeah,
what if you get a tattoo and it's not of a dead person
or something?
Well, then it says no print, any marks upon you.
And a tattoo is a mark, OK?
The only difference is it's a permanent mark, you understand?
Now, people would look at this and say,
we have that old testament that's done away with pastor.
Those are the meats, drinks, and diverse washings.
Wrong, it's not.
It's a moral issue.
Because why is he telling them, why is God commanding them to abstain from getting tattoos?
Because of the fact that tattoos were the manner of the heathen.
He then were often known pagans are the ones who practice getting tattoos and cutting themselves.
And so God forbade his people to associate with the heathen with the pagans to adopt their practices of observing the moons and the stars in the skies and committing infanticide and yes even marking up your body.
Okay, and look, you know, I'm not for external evidence,
but you can research history, the history of tattoos,
and you'll see that it comes from pagans and heathens.
Nothing Christian about it.
And let me ask you this, you know,
if tattoos are permissible in the Bible,
why didn't the disciples get it?
Tell me why Peter didn't get, you know,
Jesus tatted on his back.
I mean, he's right with them.
It would have been a great, a great act of loyalty to him,
you know, instead of getting mom,
he just gets like Jesus or something.
No one in the New Testament did the disciples ever get tattoos that didn't exist, right?
None of the Apostles got it. None of the disciples got it. Why? Because it was generally understood
That that was a heathenistic practice that should not be practiced amongst Christians. It shouldn't and they had Leviticus 19
It's pretty clear there
But yeah, you have Christians today. Yeah, but what if you get you know, it's a great conversation starter
You know, you you get psalms on your arm, you know, and it's a great way to start off a conversation
I got a better way. How about this? Do you go to church?
And it's it's a lot cheaper too
It's the stupidest thing ever. Well, these are great conversation starters. I got a bunch of them. Do you go to church?
Are you a Christian? What are you gonna do? You're just
Dude, what are you like, how about actually,
you know, a conversation started when you actually
start a conversation yourself.
You go and you speak to them and you open your mouth boldly,
you know, to make known the mysteries of the gospel.
How about we just follow the pattern
of the New Testament believers and go from house to house
and preach Christ and Him crucified?
You know, instead of getting tattoos, it's nonsense.
And why is it that always these overweight
reformers who get these tattoos?
They're always the ones who got the beer at their church and and and they're always the ones getting the tattoos and stuff
Well, what's up with that?
You know, oh, it's just a great conversation starter. It's a great way to memorize scripture. How about you just memorize scripture?
Instead of like tattooing a scripture your favorite scripture, why don't you just memorize it? How about that?
You know, it's so funny, you know, the Bible is literally telling us not to bring print marks on our on our body
But rather to hide the word of God in our heart and New Testament Christians are just like, oh, yeah, let's just put it
I'll put it on my heart
I'll just tattoo right here. You know
It's nonsense
But again, these are the old covenant people though
These are a lot of times. They're just the unregenerated of this world and look if you got a tattoo. I'm not against you
I'm not trying to preach against you.
But look, whatever tattoo you got last should be the last one to get though.
Because now you know what the Bible says.
Okay?
And it's vain, it's nonsensical, Christians should not be doing it because we're Christians,
we're peculiar people, not because of the tattoos we have.
Oh, we do it to be different!
What do you mean everyone has a tattoo?
How's that different when everyone has one?
Stupid.
And look, folks, let me just shame tattooing for a minute or so.
Because you have like, it's mostly young people who do this.
And they don't stop to think that they're
like destroying their body.
They get like a butterfly on their,
they call it a tramp stamp, right?
Get a butterfly right above their rear end.
Okay, but it's just like you know you're gonna be 80 one day and that thing is gonna have metamorphosized into a moth
You know, it's gonna get all wrinkly. It's gonna become ugly like
You understand that right it's gonna become and then if you've reached nine you become a pterodactyl or something
It's gonna look nasty
You're like, oh, you know, I think it's just great, you know, I'm thinking about getting the tattoo of just like praying
How about you just pray?
You know how about how about you actually do the things you want to get tattooed, okay?
Now let me just be transparent with you. Okay, lest you think I'm just being disrespectful and I'm just cooking you by saying this stuff
You know in my carnal side. I think tattoos are cool. I'll be honest with you
Can I be transparent with you?
I think they're pretty cool.
And in fact, when I first got saved,
I had saved up and had planned to get sleeves done.
I was going to get my chest done, my stomach, my back.
I had saved up all this money.
And I was just like, man, I can't wait to do this.
But then I got saved at a fundamental Baptist church.
And then someone got up and preached about it.
I was like, oh, man, well, maybe I
should get Christian tattoos.
And so I started looking up different verses in the Bible
and I was like, oh, you know what, I'm gonna get instead.
I'm gonna get, I am for peace,
but when I speak, they are for war on my chest.
Yeah, you know, it'll be cool.
So then I told my pastor,
I said, I'm thinking about getting this tattoo
on my chest and he's just like, Leviticus 19 says,
you can't do that.
I'm like, not even scripture.
He's just like, no, not even scripture, no.
And I was just, I was kind of bummed out
because I had all these plans
of getting all this work done on my body.
And then this is what he told me and I appreciate he said it
and this is why I'm kind of telling you guys this.
He told me, he's like, I'll be honest with you,
I think the tattoos are cool.
And he had tattoos, because you know, BC.
And so he had tattoos, he goes,
but just because I think they're cool
doesn't mean it's right to do
because it's against what the Bible says.
And so as Christians, we should abstain from ever
marking up our bodies because the Bible forbids us to do so.
And then I never got a tattoo thereafter,
because the Bible said it.
And so by the way, young people,
don't get off of this, you know,
SoundCloud rapper culture of tattooing your face.
You look like an idiot.
You look like a fool.
You look ugly as hell.
You look like a freak show.
And you're gonna regret it when you're 40.
How's it gonna look when you finally decide to mature and grow up and try to get a decent job and you have some
Upscene word on your face or something. It's nonsensical
Okay, and so, you know, we don't need anything outside of what we have here in godly living
To decorate adorn the doctrines of Christ be like the Bible the Bible is beautiful on its own, right?
The words that we don't need commentary
Look, sometimes there's commentaries that take up like half the page sometimes.
And most people, when they read the Bible, they're just reading the commentary, they're
not even reading the Word of God itself, because that often supersedes the Bible.
Folks, we don't need things to supersede Christian living.
Let's just live righteous lives,
lives that are pleasing unto the Lord.
And you know what?
That will make an impact on this world.
Not your stupid little tattoo.
You know, how about,
are you gonna get Leviticus 19, 27 tattooed on you?
You know?
And look, folks, you know,
also tattooing your body is just an indication
that you're not pleased with the way your body looks.
But can the thing form, say to him that formed it,
why has that made me thus?
Change the things that you can change,
but don't try to change things how God made you, you know?
If you can lose weight, lose weight, amen.
You know, if you can comb your hair, brush your teeth,
you know, and look presentable, do so.
But, you know, don't get plastic surgery where, you know,
this is like, oh man, I don't have calves,
so I'm just gonna get plastic surgery
to get calves or something.
Sorry, God didn't bless you with calves.
It's the way it works sometimes.
Just wear pants for the rest of your life.
Okay, hey, some of us just don't have certain features that we would want, but it's okay
because this is the way God made us.
And maybe if you had massive calves, you'd just be a proud person, you just never know.
You know, getting, and look, I'm not against all plastic surgery either, because there's
plastic surgery that is good.
Okay, you know someone gets someone is a burn victim for example, and they need skin grafting and all that that's that's that's a good
Use of plastic surgery, but you're like well
I want to get plastic surgery because I want to be a Korean just a cool what I want to look like kpop
Like you are gonna get plastic surgery look like a queer. That's so crazy
It's insane
Okay, oh man, you know they have this thing where it's just like people are just unhappy with their height
So they like break their legs
Put rods in their legs so they could be taller some of you are like really
God made you short for a reason
All right, because you cannot handle height
That's probably why I'm short right because I wouldn't be able to handle height Ruben handles it well
You know follows Rubens have I probably would not be a pastor. I don't know
You just don't know.
The point that I'm making here is that God made you that way.
Be thankful.
Don't try to make these alterations that are unnatural.
Make necessary alterations within the information that's
already there that God blessed you with.
But aside from that, and by the way,
this is why one of the reasons I am against steroids.
And I get it, sometimes it's tempting, I know.
Trying to hit those PR numbers
and you're just not getting there fast enough.
You wanna get some of that, it's just easier.
But you know what, let's just work hard
and be disciplined and you know what,
if you don't hit 700 pounds on your squab,
well maybe God didn't want you to hit 700 pounds.
Okay, you know, there's certain numbers that I'm probably never gonna hit and I have to just kind of
Conclude and just be happy with that. Why because if I did maybe it would be bad for me. Maybe I'd become a proud prideful person
Okay, the point that I'm making here is that be like the Bible. You're good as is
You have the Holy Spirit of God dwelling within you. You don't need footnotes. You don't need worldliness
You know, hey, you don't need to look like a whore
You don't need to look like a feminine Korean k-pop whatever
You don't need to change the way you look. You're good as is the content within the Bible sufficient
You know what the vibe the content within you is sufficient as well be like the Bible, okay?
I'm going to skip a lot again.
And by the way, you know, if you're so worried about, oh,
man, you know, I wish I had this kind of hair,
and I wish I was tall, I wish I was a baller,
I wish I was a little bit taller, you know?
There's the resurrection, OK?
So the resurrection is there, and you know what?
Then you will have a perfect body.
I can't say you're going to have a six pack,
but you know, at least we'll be absent of sin, OK?
point number four is that the Bible because we're making connections here
between the Bible Christians right the Bible has power despite its outward
appearance right and here's the funny thing we'll look at second Corinthians
chapter 3 if you would actually I'll read this in just a bit let me say this
you know it always cracks me up that like my wife for example she just likes
But it's just like the cute little tiny little King James and it's pink and then when you open it up
You know she has hearts on it and you know squiggly lines different colors and stuff
You know and it just and then there's my Bible and my Bible has no writing on it. It's just it's just it's just a Bible, right?
But here's the thing is that they're both powerful
So, you know regardless of my wife's Bible it's pink
It has all these girly neon colors on it the little you know, I don't know what you don't pants
I'm talking about girls ladies, right? What's the what's the what are the pens called you?
What is it? Yeah, the gel pens, right? You know if it has the gel pens and all that, you know
But here's the thing though. It's still powerful though. She's gone people save with it
She's taught her children with it right so it still has power despite how it looks on the outside
And you know you have we have like a wide range of different Bibles in our church not like versions
I'm talking about like the way they look you have people who have like you know
Ostrich skin Bible. I got you know, you know, what what are the stingray? What would you got there?
Water above the bro's got to breeze the burden as well of look his cover
You know people are like I got rattlesnake. I got this and it was but then you have other people just can tell
Which is like a 99 cent store Bible
Right where the print is just so tiny you got you look at it through a microscope Romans is spelled back where it's just like
But let me say this the 99 cent Bible and the one that cost 200 or whatever they're both equally powerful
right
You know you got one Bible that just looks absolutely gorgeous is just clean has great coverage
But then the other one is just but ugly
But they're both equally powerful right what am I saying be like the Bible
Doesn't matter how you look on the outside. It's the power that dwells within right
Look what the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 3-4,
and such trust have we through Christ to God word.
Not that we are sufficient of ourselves
to think anything as of ourselves.
I want you to notice this,
but our sufficiency is of God.
who also has made us able ministers of the New Testament.
2 Corinthians 4-6 says this,
For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness,
has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ, but we have this treasure
in earthen vessels.
that the Excellency of the power may be of God and not of us.
Meaning that what?
The power is in the person.
It's not necessarily how tall they are, how short they are,
how ugly they are, how beautiful they are.
At the end of the day, they're a child of God
who has the Excellency of the power dwelling within them.
And then look, here's the thing though,
it's like I do believe though that you should take care of your Bible.
You know what I mean like if you have a nice Bible if you want your Bible to last, you know
Obviously get a good quality Bible if you get the nine-in-sense store ones great
If you're if you're okay with just switching them out a dollar every couple of weeks or whatever because it falls apart great
But you know if you want a Bible to last obviously you got to get you got to take care of your Bible
But also, you know, you get get a good quality Bible. Well, you know in like manner take care of yourself, please
Okay, you know exercise a little please eat healthy, please every once in a while
I'm saying this as we're gonna eat like Panda Express tonight
But you know let this be your cheat day and then tomorrow have about hot back on under your caloric deficit or whatever
Go get some exercise go lift weights go ride your bike be an active person because we want we want you to stick around for a lot longer, okay?
The point that I'm making here is that at the end of the day
This doesn't really matter the way the Bible looks on the outside the powers on the inside
And you know what? At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter how a Christian looks per se on the outside.
What matters to the Lord is the power that dwells within the power of the Holy Spirit.
Okay? Be like the Bible.
And here's my last point I'm done.
Regarding being like the Bible, that is number five. Wait, did I already give number four?
Yeah, I did. I did.
Alright, number five, that is that the Bible has a variety of content.
Go to Matthew 13, we'll finish here.
Matthew 13, when you read the word of God,
you just see a variety of myriad of topics
that are covered.
It has lessons on marriage, on child rearing,
sin, holiness, the Lord Jesus Christ,
it has concepts of wisdom and knowledge, practical living.
I mean, it just covers a wide variety
of different topics, right?
Well, in like manner, we should be like the Bible and not be a one-trick pony, right?
We should be simply a well-balanced Christian that we're basically good at many things.
Not just winning souls to Christ.
We can disciple people, too.
You're not just knowledgeable about the Bible.
You know how to fellowship with people as well, right?
Well, I'm just here to hear the word of God.
We should be here to fellowship, too.
Be like the Bible.
Don't be a one trick pony where you only know about one particular doctrine really well and you just forget everything else.
We need to make sure that we're balanced.
Look at Matthew 13 verse 52.
It says here, then said he unto them,
Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is likened to a man that is in householder.
I want you to notice this, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and bold.
Meaning that this man is balanced.
He's able to teach from the old,
but he's also able to teach from the new.
And you know what?
We, in like manner,
need to have the plan of salvation downpacked,
but also end times prophecy.
But also the book of Proverbs, but also the book of Ecclesiastes, but also the major and minor prophets
But also the the historical books, but also the book of Genesis
But also the creation period, but also the names of different people stories of different individuals
Just cover a wide variety
of topics, we should be balanced in all areas of our Christian life.
We don't want our church to just be a one-trick pony where we only know about one particular thing.
This is our hobby horse. We should seek to be balanced in all the subjects of the Bible, right?
What's the sermon today? The sermon is simply this. Be like the Bible.
The Bible has many characteristics and attributes that we should adopt as Christians to become
better to be someone who is heavier on the New Testament
than the old, but we also gotta make sure
that we are adorning the doctrines of Christ
and not allowing that which is on the external
to cause us to be identified as,
oh man, I need these external podcasts
to really find my identity or something.
I need the Republican Party to help me identify
as a specific group.
No, you don't need anything on the external,
you just need the Bible.
Be like the Bible. Let's pray. Follow me. Thank you so much for your word and
Thank you for the word of God and of course the word of God in and of itself has so much power
Has so much to offer
But even the attributes of the word of God Lord are things that we should see to adopt in our personal lives
To be better Christians and I pray that you bless us as we go on our way
Bless the meal the fellowship and the games to follow. We love you. We thank you pray the things in Jesus name. Amen
we have one last song this evening song number 343 revive us again song number
343 revive us again everyone all together nice and strong
We praise thee, O God, for the Son of thy love, for Jesus who died.
Great singing, so just a couple reminders.