Title: Altogether Reliable

Text: II Peter 1:16-21

FCF: We often struggle accepting and believing the word given to us.

Prop: Because God’s truth is confirmed by 2 witnesses, we must cling to the Word until Christ appears in power.

Scripture Intro:

[Slide 1] Turn in your bible to II Peter chapter 1.

Last week, Peter began to transition his readers from his introductory words about God’s work in preserving His people to obtain a rich entry into the coming Kingdom, to, as we’ll see today, the surety of that Kingdom and Christ’s coming in power.

This represents the body of the letter. Peter is preparing his readers for attacks on the truth of Christ’s return and wants to ensure them that what he’s revealed to them previously is certain.

He does so forcefully today – providing a powerful and doctrinally RICH close to this first chapter.

I’ll begin reading in verse 16. I am reading from the NET which you can follow in the pew bible on page 1369 or in whatever version you have in front of you.

Transition:

Doctrine of supreme importance awaits us in this text. Let’s not waste any time.

I.) Because we have eyewitness accounts of Christ’s power, we must cling to the Word until He appears in power. (16-18)

a. [Slide 2] 16 – For

i. Why should Peter’s audience listen to him?

ii. He just said that he is reminding them of all they know and are doing. Why should they continue to listen to him?

iii. Why should they listen to him about this glorious excellence that all God’s people are called to?

iv. Why should they listen to him when he speaks of sharing in the divine nature?

v. Why should they listen to him when he talks about God’s power giving all they need for a godly life coming to them through the knowledge of Christ?

b. [Slide 3] We did not follow cleverly concocted fables when we made known to you the power and return of our Lord Jesus Christ;

i. It is not difficult to understand what Peter means by this statement.

ii. Our faith is not based on a bunch of myths and legends that deified Christ.

iii. What is more difficult is understanding the backdrop for this statement.

iv. Do the false teachers that Peter predicts later rely on myths and fables? Do they accuse the apostles of doing so?

v. What we do know for certain, is that within Roman paganism and emperor worship, much of the gods that were worshipped including previous Roman rulers were deified by their “miraculous” deeds.

vi. Stories were passed down about individuals doing amazing things, being blessed by the gods, and eventually being accepted into the pantheon for worship.

vii. Interestingly enough, no one really accepted these stories as truth. They were really meant to teach a moral or point someone toward a certain kind of living.

viii. It would have been easy for enemies of the gospel to have done something similar with Jesus, claiming that his death earned some kind of place among the gods.

ix. Was He atoning for sin? Probably not. Will He return to take us away? No. It is just a story.

x. But Peter categorically denies such assumptions without qualification or exception.

xi. The stories and history that the apostles made known to the church, and that Peter made known to His audience, the accounts of Jesus’ coming in power– did not originate in fantastical stories that developed over time to become legends.

xii. They did not sit down at a bonfire and listen to Jesus or someone else tell the great fables of His power and godhood.

c. [Slide 4] No, we were eyewitnesses of His grandeur

i. Peter says – I saw it with my own eyes.

ii. All of us did.

iii. All of us saw His grandeur.

iv. Grandeur here could be translated majesty or magnificence.

v. We saw with our own eyes the evidence that He was more than merely a man.

vi. We saw him eat, we saw him bleed, we saw him sweat – we know he was human. But He was not merely human.

vii. But to what event specifically is Peter referring?

d. [Slide 5] 17 – For He received honor and glory from God the Father, when that voice was conveyed to Him by the Majestic Glory: “This is my dear Son, in whom I am delighted.” 18 – When this voice was conveyed from heaven, we ourselves heard it, for we were with Him on the holy mountain.

i. Although not all the details from Matthew are recorded the same here in II Peter, we have enough in common to conclude that Peter references the Transfiguration on top of Mount Hermon.

ii. In the passage leading up to this, Jesus talks with His disciples about denying self, taking up their cross and following after Him. He says that if they wish to find their life, they must lose it for His sake. He says that if they gain the whole world but lose their soul it is of no profit to them. Because the Son of Man will come in glory and power with his angels and reward everyone for what they have done.

iii. This sounds… a lot like what Peter was just saying doesn’t it?

iv. Make every effort to add these virtues to your faith. Make every effort to confirm your calling and election so that you will never stumble but entry to the kingdom will be richly provided for you?

v. Then Jesus says – Truly I tell you there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His Kingdom.

vi. Then the chapter ends and with it our brains shut off. But the next chapter starts with - “after six days”

vii. Matthew clearly connects the prophesy of Christ’s coming in His Kingdom to the events that follow.

viii. What events follow?

ix. In Matthew 17:1-8 Christ’s inner circle of Peter, James, and John join him on top of Mount Hermon. Mount Hermon was located in a place known for its pagan worship. In fact, at its base was the “gates of hell”, a mythological entrance into the underworld.

x. Pagan deities and demons had been worshiped in this place for millennia.

xi. And on that mountain, Peter, James and John witnessed the Son of Man come in His Kingdom.

xii. Christ in their very presence tears the fabric of this world and the Spiritual world and displays His full glory. He stands with Elijah and Moses as a precursor to the Great and Terrible Day of the Lord – when He shall come again in power and glory.

xiii. He just predicted that this would be, and then he shows Peter James and John the trailer for the movie.

xiv. But why? Why does Jesus do this?

xv. Might I suggest to you that this is first to confirm that He was, at that very moment, able to come in power and glory.

xvi. But after God the Father speaks, his glory is hidden again and Elijah and Moses are gone.

xvii. What does that mean? It means 2 things.

1. He can and will fulfill the promise of His future coming in power. Because He just did. He can do it again. But…

2. It was not yet time to do that. He had a mission to complete that preceded His coming in power.

3. Interestingly enough, when they got down the mountain, Jesus once again told them that he would be put to death and on the third day raised again.

xviii. So, coming back to II Peter – what is Peter using this event for?

xix. Peter now uses this experience as the authority and assurance of Christ’s future coming in power. Why?

xx. Christ came in power on Mount Hermon, on the mythological doorstep of the underworld.

xxi. How did Peter’s eyewitness account differ from fables? Christ came and stood on top of cleverly concocted fables, lies of demons, and brought His true and glorious Kingdom down on top of it.

xxii. And Peter saw it with his own eyes.

xxiii. That is why Peter feels comfortable continuing to remind his audience about God’s power to get them from pre-ordination to glory.

xxiv. Because He has seen the glory of Christ shown brightly in the darkest place on earth.

xxv. And if He could do that BEFORE he was crucified and raised again to life and ascended into glory! Then surely, He can do that again and in a much greater way now that He has been given a name above every name and has put all powers under His feet.

e. [Slide 6] Passage Truth: So, in these first few verses Peter reminds his audience that his teaching in general, but specifically his teaching on the future coming of Christ in power, is completely trustworthy since it is based on eyewitness accounts and not on made up fables.

f. [Slide 7] Passage Application: Although he hasn’t quite gotten to the application yet, it is abundantly clear. They need to trust what he has said and will continue to say regarding the coming of Christ. True, this hasn’t been the main topic of discussion through the book thus far, but it certainly wasn’t absent. And now he will turn to proving it in the next two chapters. So, they had better listen intently and trust completely what he is going to teach them.

g. [Slide 8] Broader Biblical Truth: Zooming out for a more systematic look of scripture we see that all of our New Testament books are either directly from eyewitnesses of the events and teachings of Christ or, like in Luke’s case, collected eyewitness accounts. In fact, this was a mark of canonicity for our scriptures. They had to be written by or rely heavily on the eyewitness accounts of those who actually saw the risen Christ and were taught by Him. Every book that has been received in the New Testament canon except for Hebrews has this status. And Hebrews is written in such authority and exquisite interpretation of the Old Testament – that we might assume that one of the apostles wrote it without claiming that they had. The fact that they experienced all that Jesus said, did, and all the miracles, the resurrection, the ascension, and yes even the transfiguration – all of this gives heavy weight to the testimony of the apostles. It is not one man claiming some fantastical thing. Rather it is several men seeing, feeling, hearing, tasting, and smelling the power and glory of God, every day for three years.

h. [Slide 9] Broader Biblical Application: So for us CBC, it increases our trust not only that the biblical writers are correct in the future surety of the coming of Christ in Power – but also the assurance that we have the very words of Christ transmitted down through time to us. We can confidently trust those who were eyewitnesses to the glory and power of Jesus.

Transition:

[Slide 10] But it is not just that we have eyewitness accounts. As we know, sometimes our eyes cannot be trusted. Sometimes our senses play tricks on us. Who’s ever been to a house of mirrors right? In fact, magic or slight of hand succeeds basically because our senses are tricked. Is it possible that the apostles suffered from mass hysteria? Were they all duped? No. It is not possible. Why? Their eyewitness accounts are only one testimony of two.

II.) Because the God-given Word has predicted Christ’s return in power, we must cling to the Word until He appears in power. (19-21)

a. [Slide 11] 19 – Moreover, we possess the prophetic word

i. Peter’s eyewitness account and experience is not the only thing that all of Christendom possesses to verify that Jesus is this powerful, magnificent, and returning Lord.

ii. We, meaning all Christianity, possess the prophetic word.

iii. The Scriptures are what Peter is referencing here.

iv. We might be tempted to conclude that since he mentioned Prophesy that he only means the Prophetic books.

v. However, what is clear is that he means every single piece of scripture that speaks forward to the coming of the Messiah of God to save His people from their sin and establish a New Kingdom in glory with them.

vi. Those prophesies are laced to literally every book of the Old Testament. I won’t say every page or every chapter – but certainly every single book has some reference, allusion, or blunt prophesy of the coming Messiah.

vii. Therefore, Peter is using synecdoche here. He is referencing a particular part of the Old Testament to refer to the entirety of it.

viii. New Testament writers do this when they say “The Law” or “The Law and the Prophets” – many times when they say these smaller parts they mean the entire Old Testament.

ix. Peter’s view of the powerful future coming of Christ in glory is not simply based on his own eyewitness account. Although that would be reliable in and of itself.

x. But the whole of scripture speaks to His power and future coming in glory.

xi. Why does that matter that all of scripture speaks to this truth?

b. [Slide 12] As an altogether reliable thing.

i. By Peter’s statement that the prophetic word is altogether reliable, he indicates that the words of the Old Testament are truly and completely reliable words. They are without error, and the reason they are without error, is because they were given by God.

ii. He has already said that they did not receive myths and cleverly concocted fables – but instead they were eyewitnesses to Christ’s glory and possessed the inerrant words of the Old Testament Scriptures.

iii. The phrase “altogether reliable” draws a comparative force here meaning that the Old Testament prophesies, though always without error and given by God, are now proven or vindicated all the more because of the eyewitness accounts of the apostles.

iv. Peter has seen the Scriptures fulfilled. That means that even though they always were God’s inspired and inerrant word, full of authority, they are now all the more reliable in their fulfillment.

v. The one thing we need to highlight here is what Peter says about the Old Testament Scriptures and thus all Scripture.

vi. [Slide 13] In reference to our doctrine of the bible or bibliology there are several key points of teaching that Peter hits on in these last 3 verses.

1. Inspiration

2. Inerrancy

3. Perspicuity

4. Sufficiency

vii. Unfortunately, we do not have the time this morning to unpack each of these to their fullest degree. However, in a few moments as we apply what we’ve learned from this text, we will unpack these teachings briefly and see how they impact our daily lives.

viii. But for now, Peter says something that ought to make us all snap to attention.

c. [Slide 14] You do well if you pay attention to this

i. He wants us to stop and consider the importance of the prophetic word.

ii. But he wants to draw us a word picture to demonstrate how important it should be to us.

iii. We need to pay attention to the prophetic word and the fact that it is altogether reliable …

d. [Slide 15] As you would to a light shining in a murky place,

i. Imagine with me that you are in a place of absolute darkness.

ii. Have you ever been in true darkness; darkness where you cannot see your hand wave in front of your face?

iii. Now imagine that it is not only this dark, but it is also dingy. Smelly. Slimy. Putrid. Dry. Parched. Where the smell of death hangs in the air and you can feel the filth creeping all around you.

iv. This word for murky means darkness but it also means all of these words. It conveys not just darkness but filth and poverty. As if you were sealed up in a crypt.

v. How would you react to a light suddenly appearing in your filthy darkness?

vi. Would you not rush to its rays? Would you not cry out for help to emerge from where you were? Would you not trust whoever bore the light to get you out of where you were? Would you not trust the light bearer to take you from your place of darkness?

vii. Such are the rays of light given by the absolutely reliable word of the Living God.

viii. This is how you should pay attention to the prophetic word … you should receive it with eagerness, gladness, and trust. But how long must you do this?

e. [Slide 16] Until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.

i. The night is often an Old Testament allusion to the world in which we live.

ii. The dawn is, then, an allusion to the coming day of the Lord where God invades His own creation and puts down forever the forces of darkness and reclaims all that is His.

iii. He then will make all things new.

iv. The expression morning star has clear roots referencing Christ, since he was the star that will rise out of Judah in Numbers 24.

v. Putting these images of dawn and Christ being the rising star in the morning of that dawn, the point Peter is making is that when Christ does return and the day of the Lord does happen, God’s people will no longer have to trust the prophetic word or the apostle’s eyewitness accounts because they will see it for themselves…

vi. In their hearts.

vii. This does not mean that Peter is refuting a literal physical return of Christ. In fact, Peter will talk about that soon enough.

viii. Peter’s point is not to prove the coming of Christ – at least not yet.

ix. His point is the reliability of His words and the words of all other Scripture.

x. Meaning that his emphasis is that their trust will be affirmed when Christ returns. They will see Him in a way that they were only able to perceive by faith before.

xi. And once we see Him clearly, once the day dawns, we no longer need to rely on the lamp light. We have the sun to guide us.

f. [Slide 17] 20 – Above all, you do well if you recognize this:

i. Peter says that his audience would do well if they paid attention to the reliable prophetic words of the Scriptures regarding Christ’s coming in power and glory and they should do this until he fulfills what they have prophesied.

ii. But first, and above all, they would do well to recognize.

iii. Or to know something.

iv. They would do well to receive a truth first, before they even pay attention to that prophetic word.

v. So, what must they know first?

g. [Slide 18] No prophesy of scripture ever comes about by the prophet’s own imagination.

i. The thing that his audience would do well to know first, is WHY the Scriptures are reliable.

ii. Many translations have “interpretation” as the last word in this verse. “No prophesy of scripture ever comes about by the prophet’s own INTERPRETATION” So we need to ask why the NET translates this imagination.

iii. The NET gives us a clue that there is some disagreement over what Peter is saying.

iv. The disagreement comes down to whether or not Peter is talking about the origin of the prophesy or the explanation of the prophesy.

v. I won’t dive too deeply here. We are getting close to the end of the sermon so I don’t want to get too technical. You can come on Wednesday night and ask for all the ins and outs – but for me the meaning that seems best is explanation.

vi. There is probably a comparison happening here between the pagan religions of the day, the false teachers that are coming, and the way God’s prophets received truth from God.

vii. In pagan culture, the oracles would consult a writing, event, dream, or vision. They were always unclear. So, the oracle would then interpret the dream and give a prophesy.

viii. The false teachers in Peter’s time are beginning to question the prophesies of the Old Testament as having been interpreted conveniently by the apostles to force Jesus’s coming in power into a still future event.

ix. Their reasoning is that like the pagans, the oracle is delivering an interpretation of their own making rather than one that conforms to the actual prophesy.

x. But what does Peter say?

xi. No. No prophesy of Scripture has ever come about or came into being because a prophet made his own interpretation of what God gave.

xii. Instead, Peter says here that the interpretation DID NOT COME FROM MEN.

xiii. Now over church history Roman Catholics and even Liberal Christians with Postmodern views, have taken this text to mean that it is not possible to arrive at the one meaning of scripture on your own.

1. From a Roman Catholic perspective, Vatican II says that “the task of interpreting scripture rightly has fallen ONLY to the teaching office of the church.” In other words, not one single Christian can interpret the scriptures accurately. Instead, they must rely on the Church tradition, with creeds and councils and the teaching office (pope, bishop, priests) to understand the scriptures’ meaning.

2. From a postmodern perspective, there IS no one interpretation of scripture and therefore you cannot arrive at that one interpretation because there are many interpretations based on the reader.

xiv. Both of these views, although using this text, actually violate what Peter is saying here.

xv. Scripture’s meaning is not of human origin.

xvi. That is not to say that people cannot err in interpreting the Word of God. They can.

xvii. But the true meaning of Scripture does not come from man’s mind.

xviii. The Roman Catholic perspective is closer to the truth, but still elevates human interpretation to the same authority as the scriptures, even though over the history of the Catholic church that interpretation has changed several times.

xix. In truth, we must confess with the reformers that the FINAL authority for a believer is Scripture, and thus the FINAL interpretive authority of Scripture… is Scripture.

xx. But why can Peter say that the interpretation or meaning of scripture does not come from men?

h. [Slide 19] 21 – For no prophesy was ever borne of human impulse;

i. Scripture’s meaning cannot come from men, because Scripture does not come from men.

ii. No Scripture ever came about by a man sitting down to write it of his own will.

iii. Even the words Peter is writing now, he did not sit down of his own will to write them.

iv. He did not desire to write them and it did not originate from him.

v. So, in this text we have both the origin and the interpretation of scripture being located from a source that is completely OUTSIDE of man.

vi. If man neither creates nor assigns meaning to the Scripture… where does it come from?

i. [Slide 20] Rather, men carried along by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

i. The verb to be carried along refers to guidance. It is to bear, to bring, to carry, or to produce.

ii. God’s Spirit, the Spirit of truth, the Spirit of Christ, provided the impulse for the biblical author to sit and write and provided the content, breathing out the very words God desired to be said.

iii. To the extent that when a prophet speaks, to ignore would be to ignore God Himself. Regardless of whether a prophet said “Thus says the Lord” they were always saying what the Lord said. For they were carried or guided along by the Spirit of God to say exactly what God desired them to say.

iv. And to that end, the interpretations the apostles have provided of the Old Testament are also the Spirit guided interpretations of the scriptures. Where they interpret them, they rightly ascribe the meaning of the text of the Old Testament.

j. [Slide 21] Passage Truth: So, Peter reminds his audience that his teaching on the future coming of the Lord in power is a trustworthy teaching. It is trustworthy because it is a fulfillment of what the God-breathed, inerrant, clear, sufficient, and authoritative Scriptures have already revealed.

k. [Slide 22] Passage Application: Therefore, as Peter says, they would do well to pay attention to the scriptures that they know are God given, even down to their meaning.

l. [Slide 23] Broader Biblical Truth: We will spend a good chunk of time exploring this more fully in just a moment but it is enough for us to realize that the scripture as a whole reveals about itself that it is From God, without error, Having one clear meaning, Is sufficient for our lives, and is thus our final authority in all matters of faith, life, and practice. We can resoundingly say – Sola Scriptura. For this is what Peter says.

m. [Slide 24] Broader Biblical Application: Therefore, CBC, with the scriptures being our final authority – we must come to them not as if we determine what they mean, not as if they were purely human made, and not as if we can never understand them. Rather we approach as if they are the very words of God, without error, possessing one clear meaning that we can and must labor with the Spirit to uncover, sufficient for all of faith and practice, and thus are authoritative over our lives. We must come to the mirror of the Word and not judge the word, but have the Word of God judge us.

Conclusion:

[Slide 25(blank)] I want to spend some additional time this morning discussing what we believe about the Scriptures.

Don’t worry, I don’t plan to make this into some long theology class with lots of big words. I don’t plan to dive deep into all the false teachings on these things. We’ll talk a little about what we don’t believe to help explain what we do – but we won’t be naming all the various perspectives that exist.

Today I just want to answer, what do we believe about the Scriptures. God’s Word.

[Slide 26]

1.) First, we believe in the verbal, plenary (whole or complete) inspiration of the Scriptures.

This means that we believe the Holy Spirit, through the personality and style of the human author, breathed out upon their minds the exact words that God wished to give to His people. We must state that this applies only to the original autographs. It does not apply to the copies or translations. That is not to say that what we have with our English bibles is NOT the verbally inspired word of God. But we would say that in all these copies and translations God has preserved His original message down to the very words. Which is exactly what we would believe about Preservation.

[Slide 27]

2.) Second, God has graciously and providentially preserved all of His word for us and will continue to do so until all is fulfilled.

God promises this to us in many places in scripture. We must be sure though that we do not err in how we apply this. He has not done this in a single copy or translation. Instead, more miraculously and more securely, he has preserved every single word He ever gave in the various copies and translations of the text.

[Slide 28]

3.) Third, we believe in the inerrancy of scripture.

Because we believe in the inspiration of the Scriptures, this is not only a logical assertion but also one that the bible says about itself. God’s Word is truth. When God says something that seems to be in error, no matter what the topic, be it science, math, history, or doctrine – we must accept that we are the ones who need to shift – since the scriptures are without error. Again, this applies to the original autographs only. Copies can contain errors. Translations too.

This is not to say that the word of God must be precise. When the scriptures speak of science, there is no need for them to be technically scientifically accurate. Rounding numbers up or down is not an error. Neither is using figurative language or not including all the details of a narrative. These are not errors. But, the Scriptures NEVER tell us something is true when it isn’t or false when it is true. Why? Because they are God’s Words. And God is truth.

[Slide 29]

4.) Fourth, we believe in the perspicuity (clarity) of scripture.

We believe that God giving us His Word and being all powerful means that He desires that we understand what He says. This means that God has one meaning that He intends as He writes His Words to us. That doesn’t mean there are not layers or double meanings, but that all meanings are intended by God and clearly given in the total counsel of the Word of God. This doesn’t mean that there are not difficult passages to understand. This doesn’t mean that every single person on earth can understand the Scriptures. Rather, this means that God has intended a meaning and from all of scripture He can and does show that meaning to His people. His Word is not far from us.

[Slide 30] “The Holy Spirit …has generously and advantageously planned Holy Scripture in such a way that in the easer passages He relieves our hunger; in the more obscure He drives away our pride. Practically nothing is dug out from those obscure texts which is not discovered to be said very plainly in another place. “ Augustine of Hippo

The light of the scripture is bright enough to reveal all its truths to us. We are the problem. We have mud on our eyes. If we cannot understand – it is not because the sun isn’t bright enough – it is because our eyes are caked with mud. This is the proper place of church tradition and traditional interpretation. Like I just did quoting Augustine, we can go back and see how the church has interpreted the scriptures. These traditions do not act as another authority, but they do help us to get past our 21st century western eyes to see the scriptures true meaning. This also validates ongoing extra biblical works to help explain scripture. But they are always subservient to scripture. Which leads us to…

[Slide 31]

5.) Fifth and finally, we believe that the Scriptures are sufficient.

We believe that in the scriptures God has given us all we need. That doesn’t mean the bible speaks on every topic. We can’t go to a bible verse to fix a broken leg. We can’t go to the book of Jeremiah to get help for our Physics homework. But it does mean that all we need to be what God has called us to be, to believe, to walk in His ways – all has been given to us. There is no difficulty in life the scriptures do not address. There is no doctrine necessary unto salvation that the Scriptures do not plainly lay before the eyes of those who have been prepared to receive it. And this belief teaches us that as wonderful as church tradition, creeds, councils, catechisms, and confessions are – should they all burn up tomorrow and all that remains is the Word of God – we have lost nothing. It also teaches us that to understand the problems in this life, the difficulty and struggle, the heart of man, or the truth – we have do not need human psychology, philosophy, theory, or discovery. These too may help us understand our world and ourselves – but they are NOT the final authority especially when they contradict the scriptures.

[Slide 32]

And 6th – which is a bonus one – you’re welcome.

Because of all this – we believe that Scripture alone is absolutely, unequivocally, undisputedly, authoritative for all men, let alone for His people. What God says, is. We approach His word humbly expecting to be rebuked, reproved, corrected, and instructed. We expect to leave from His word different than we came. We expect His word not to return to Him void.

Counter to our culture which tells us that we can live our truth expecting us to leave their truth alone. God’s Word burns away such foolishness. God has said, and that is the final word. You can receive it, believe it, cling to it, or you can reject it… but no matter what YOU do with it – it does not change His Word. It stands forever as Truth from the mind of God.

[Slide 33] My friends…

If this is true…

Why are our bibles not ragged? Why have we not memorized whole books? Why have we not read it all?

You say, “You know every year I make it to numbers chapter 1. That’s right I made it through Leviticus only to run right into numbers. I couldn’t go on.”

My friends. Every. Single. Word. In Numbers chapter 1… is from the God who holds the universe in His hands. It is from the God who knows how many hairs are on your head at any given moment. It is from the God who breathed His breathe of life in you so that you might receive faith in Christ.

Every. Single. Word…. He has breathed. So that you might know Him. So that you might believe Him. So that you might live for Him.

We have exactly 3… only 3 services at our church. Sunday morning, Foundations, and Wednesday night prayer group and bible study. They are all focused on the reading and study of the Word of God. We have added Sunday Night tonight in a study of Deacons. Which will be yet another study from… any guesses? The Word.

My friends, it is not that you have no access to the Word. Of God. It is that you have so little time, energy, stamina, willpower, and commitment to pant for the Word. Of. God. Unlike a deer panting after water – our hearts pant after mountain dew, kool-aid, iced tea, and alcohol. But not water. Rarely water. The living water of God’s Word.

Is it any wonder we are oftentimes lost and rudderless with no answers? Is it any wonder we feel blind and unable to know which step is right?

We must keep following the lamp of light… The dawn approaches. Don’t be left in the dark.