You know, God works in mysterious ways, and his timing is always on time. And we thank the Lord that he has brought Brother Josh to us in such a timely manner. So this evening, we're going to hear from Brother Josh again. So, Brother Josh. Amen. Thank you, Brother Haniff. And you want to know, I thank the Lord that his forgiveness is not like baseball. You know, at this point, one, two, three strikes, you're out of here. And I would hope that your forgiveness is just the same. And I don't claim to be a professional song leader. I don't claim to be a professional preacher. But I know that God uses people just like me, just like you. And I thank you so much for your patience and also for your encouragement. I just thank the Lord for the men and women in this church who encourage me. And I just am so thankful for this church thus far. And this evening, I'm going to preach from 2 Peter, 2 Peter. Also, those who have been asking about my wife, Sister Kaylee, I was able to take her this afternoon to the urgent care. She was able to get diagnosed. She has strep throat, unfortunately, but she doesn't have the flu, which is what we were worried about. So praise the Lord that she doesn't have the flu. They were able to give her some medicine and hopefully she'll be feeling better. Her fever did break, so praise the Lord for that as well. So just getting her some rest and some fluids. But like I said, I'm just half a man right now, so I really need her back and at it again. But we'll just pray for that. And I thank you for your prayers. I really do appreciate it. We're going to look at 2 Peter, and let's look at chapter 1. 2 Peter, chapter 1. And we're going to begin with verse 16 of 2 Peter chapter 1. We'll begin with verse 16. And if you have your Bibles there, we'll read it. For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty, for he received from God the Father honor and 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 a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts, 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. I'd like to preach a message tonight entitled, A More Sure Word. A More Sure Word. Let's go to the Lord in prayer now. Father, we ask you that you would have your hand of blessing on this night. Father, as we've sang praises to you, as we've uplifted brothers and sisters in Christ in prayer to you, Lord, and we thank you for those who are able to be here, Lord, but we pray for those souls and those individuals who are not able to be here. I pray that you would grace them with your hand of blessing and healing and relief at this time. Father, as we look at your word and what you have said about your word and what you have done through your word, Father, I pray that you would hide me behind your cross and help Jesus to be lifted up tonight, Lord. I pray that everyone would be able to leave here and say it's been good to be in the house of the Lord. And Father, I pray that you would bless them this week as they go out. And we ask these things in Jesus' name, amen. So a more sure word, we look here and Peter is talking a little bit about himself and also his fellow disciples. And we see first in verse 16 that, for we have not followed cunningly devised fables. It's not a fairy tale. It's not something that has been made up by man. And it says in later part of it says, when we made known unto you the power of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. Eyewitnesses. Brother Noel talked about that a little bit in his sermon this morning. And these men, Peter and James and John, were a part of this inner circle that we talk about, that were there at the Mount of Transfiguration. And that's the situation that we believe he's talking about here. And we see that they literally witnessed Jesus being blessed by God. And he says in verse 17, for he received from God the Father honor and glory when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory. This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. I can't imagine being there. You know, you're there with Jesus and you're fellowshipping with Jesus and you're praying together and you're listening to what Jesus has to say. And God himself literally opens the heavens and speaks and blesses Jesus. He says, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. If your faith is not strengthened at that point, I don't think there's anything that will strengthen your faith. That ultimately puts a stamp on it. But we look at all that and we see that Peter was an eyewitness and he heard this voice. You know what he says in verse 19? He says, we have also a more sure word. So he's saying all these things, the things that he witnessed, the things that he heard physically, you know what? They're all outweighed by the holy word of God that you hold in your hand tonight. This is something that you can trust more than the eyes and ears of the Apostle Peter, the Apostle John, and the Apostle James. You can trust the written word of God. And I want to talk a little bit tonight about the promises of God's Word. A little bit about what God's Word is and how it can work in our lives. I'm going to jump around a little bit here, but my first point here about God's Word is that first, it is inspired. We look at verse 21 of this passage here. 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." God used people. He used human penmen to write the words that he gave them. They were moved by the Holy Spirit. It wasn't some work of their own. It wasn't some poems that they came up with or different stories. Yes, they were there, yes, they physically saw it, but the Holy Spirit worked in their heart to write these things so that us 2,000, 3,000, 4,000 years removed from those times can still know what God wants us to know, how he wants to be revealed as his people, and how we can be encouraged in the different experiences that these men and women went through, and how we can know that This word is infallible and it is also literally from God. So let's also look at 2 Timothy. So you can hold your place here in 2 Peter. Let's turn over to 2 Timothy. We see first that it's inspired and that God used people. But secondly, we see that God breathed the words of the Bible. That's what inspiration means. It was God breathed. 2nd Timothy chapter 3. And let's look at verse 16. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and it's profitable. You know, men and women today, and professors and different people around the world who consider themselves intellectual, will say that the Bible is worthless. Will say that it's of none effect. But we know that to be false. We see all these things in this world, we see what God has said, we see that in our own lives, how we read it every day and how it affects our lives to follow Christ more deeply, to follow what he has said, to obey his commandments. We see that it's profitable for doctrine, the teachings that we learn, what our faith is. We see that it's also profitable for reproof, for correction. When we see in our lives things that are wrong, we hear the Holy Spirit convict us. We can correct it because we know what the Bible says about correcting those things. And also for instruction in righteousness. So we see first that the Bible is inspired because of the people that God used, how he moved them with the Holy Ghost to write these things, but also that God literally breathed these words. Let's turn also over to the book of Hebrews, Hebrews. We're gonna look at also how the Bible is impactful. And let's look at chapter four. As you're turning over there, I'm going to read a quote by R.A. Torrey. R.A. Torrey was a sort of a contemporary to D.L. Moody. We know D.L. Moody was the great evangelist who shook two continents, America and also Europe, for God over in the 1800s. And R.A. Torrey was under him. And he also was a great man. He wrote many books. And he was a great preacher. He said that the scriptures are the covenants. old and new, and which God has guaranteed to us by word and oath, sealed with the blood of Jesus Christ and inheritance among the saints. We do emphasize this point in any wise not to underrate Christian experience, for it is blessed and true, or undervalue the blessing of believing parents or the church and her ordinances, but only to draw your attention to the more sure word of prophecy, which is better to us for the confirmation than visions and voices, frames and feelings, parental benedictions and church sacraments. So all of these things are good, but ultimately everything that we do in our lives should be based on the word of God. Yes, we have experiences in our life. We see how God worked. We see how God moved in different ways. And we don't base those things, those are not the basis for how we live our lives and what we experienced, but what the word of God says. We see first that it's inspired and also that it's impactful. As I had you turn over to Hebrews chapter four and verse 12, Hebrews chapter four and verse 12. And we all know this verse here, I'm sure. Many of you could quote it. What we see in Hebrews 4 in verse 12, for the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. The word of God is impactful because first it's powerful. It can cut through the hardest hearts. We see in the Bible that Saul, Saul was a man who was following after the traditions that had been passed down for generations. And also he was following in these Pharisaical laws. But we see that God met him and that the Bible was preached to him and that he changed his life around and he was no longer Saul the persecutor, but Paul the preacher. We see that the Bible can cut through those things. It is quick. It is powerful. It can awake those dead people to be a soldier for Christ. I read a story of a man who was the secretary of the Bible Society in Zimbabwe. And he tried to give a New Testament to a very belligerent man. This man didn't want anything to do with the Bible. The man insisted that, you know what he would do? He said, don't even bother. You know what I'm gonna do with it? I'm gonna roll up those pages and I'm gonna make cigarettes. And the man said, you know what? I understand that. But at least promise me one thing that you would read one page of the New Testament before you smoke it. The man agreed. And you know what? They went their separate ways. Years later, the two men met at a convention in Zimbabwe. The scripture-smoking pagan had been saved. And you know what? Now he was a full-time evangelist. He told the audience, he told those in the congregation as he was preaching, he said, you know what? I smoked Matthew, and then I smoked Mark, and then I smoked Luke. But you know what? When I got to John 3.16, I couldn't smoke anymore. He saw God's love in his life. And he said, he saw God's love for him. He saw God's gift of Jesus Christ. And he said, my life was changed from that moment. Aren't you glad God's book is more than just words on a paper. It is the written word of God. We see also from that story and also in our own lives that It's not only powerful, but it saves. It saves. Let's turn back over to 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy, we're gonna be turning. We know that the best commentary on the Bible is the Bible. So we're gonna look at 2 Timothy 3. We're back where we were at, but let's look at verse 15, which is prior to what we were looking at. And it says in verse 15 of 2 Timothy 3, And that from a child, thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. You know, this this verse for most of my life was my my life verse. You know, I don't have a testimony of someone who was in the world and was doing all these wrong things. And you know what? God saved me. I grew up in a Christian home. My father was a deacon in a church, and my mother was working in the nursery. So I was probably in church as soon as I was out and about. You know, and you know what? I don't have a testimony of being dramatically changed. You know the song that the teens sometimes sing? The things I used to do, I don't do them anymore. You know what? I can't sing that sometimes because when I was really young, I got saved. But you know what? I did have to get saved. It says, and that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures. We know that Paul is writing to Timothy. And it doesn't say, Thou hast known the Holy Scriptures because of thy mother, because of thy grandmother Lois. No, it doesn't say those things, but Timothy had to know the Scriptures. He had to find Christ in his life. And you know what? Though I was only five years old, I went to my mom, I think it was after a Sunday night if I remember, I was after a Sunday night, I said, Mom, I don't want to go to hell. I was just five years old. And my mom explained to me and she opened the Bible and showed me of how I could go to heaven. She showed me about how Jesus Christ had died and how he had been born on that cross as Brother Noel depicted this morning. And I just think about how Christ died. And you know what? He's offering that gift free to us. And us who have received Christ, we think of that. No matter what point in your life, whether you were young, whether you were a teenager, whether you were older in life, you know what? God still wants to use you. And he can still use those scriptures. If you've already been saved, you can use that to help someone else see that light, to also bring them to salvation. So we know that the scriptures are impactful to be powerful, also to save, and we see thirdly that the scriptures guide. So let's look over in Joshua chapter one and verse eight. Joshua chapter one and verse eight. We see this is right after Moses died. And Moses, as we know, wrote the first couple of books of the Old Testament. And we know that he's moved off the scene, and God is putting Joshua into his place. And he's writing these words as an encouragement and also a challenge to Joshua. In Joshua chapter 1 and verse 8, I know the song, maybe some of you who grew up in Sunday school know this song, but I'm going to read the verse here. It says in verse 8, This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein, for then For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. You know, this world is looking for that new book that has the quick guide to success. You know, they're looking for that way to be successful, to be prosperous. But you know, God gives a lot of those principles in the Bible of finances. He gives the principles of how to have a good family, how to have a right marriage, how to do all these things, how to parent. And they're all looking for these new books out there. But the Bible is ultimately the best guide. The Bible says that in verse 8, it says that thou shalt meditate therein. And that's a very pictorial word. And as if any of you know the background of that, it literally has the idea of a cow chewing the cud. That means basically they're eating their grass and they're eating it. And for sake of being graphic, they spit it up and chew it again. You know what? And when we're in our devotions and as we're reading the Bible, don't just leave it there, take it throughout the day. Think upon what God is saying to you so that you can put it into your heart so that you can be prosperous and so that you can be successful because you're a person of faith that is following what God is saying. We also look at Psalm 119. I'm not gonna have you turn there, but it says, thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. We all know that. We know that the Bible is impactful because it's powerful. It saves and it guides. We also look at the Bible and see that it's impeccable. As I was looking earlier today about how the Bible was just the best seller. So if you look at the Bible and you Google it, you research different things about the Bible, I was looking at Business Insider. Does anyone think that Business Insider would be a spiritual or scriptural website? No. And you know what they said was the number one selling book? Is the Bible. And over the past 50 years, 8.9 billion have been sold. Let's look at these seven wonders of the Bible. It says the wonder of its formation. Someone said these seven wonders of the Bible. So we know about the seven wonders of the world, the seven wonders of the ancient world. But let's look at the seven wonders of the Bible. The wonder of its formation, number one. The way in which it grows in one of the mysteries of time. The Bible is always alive. It's always new to us. You may read a certain passage again and again and again, and it'll bring something new to you. You see also the wonder in its unification. It's a library of 66 books, yet it's one book. We see also the wonder of its age. It's a very old book. It's one of the most ancient books of all. I think that we look at some of these things and we see some of them may have been written as old as 5,000 years ago. We see also the wonder of its sales. It is the best seller of all time, as I just mentioned with the $3.9 billion over the past 50 years. And if you look even further, you'll see that the best selling is the King James Bible, not any of the other versions. You also see the wonder of its interest. It is the only book in the world read by all classes of people, rich, poor, all different races, all these different people, all different portions of the world. It's read by them, and it's interested by them. We see also number six, that the wonder of its language. It was written largely by uneducated men, yet it is the best book from a literary standpoint. We see the book of Peter. I had just read some of the book of Peter as my text. Who was Peter? He was a fisherman. He wasn't trained in probably not very high education in grammar and composition and all these different things. We see also John. the gospel according to John and also the epistles of John. He was also a fisherman. Probably more of the educated men were Paul and Luke, but most of the rest of the Bible was not written by very educated men. But God used them and inspired them and moved them to write beautiful pictures and beautiful literature about the Bible. We also see in the book of Psalms, David, Solomon, beautiful language that is used, that even many in our society don't know it, but they use some of the poems and also the words that are spoken by Solomon. We see also seventh, the wonder of its preservation. It is one of the most hated books of all. Yet it continues to exist. Many have tried to destroy it, but they can't. We see that, first, the Bible is perfect. Let's, Psalm 19, verse seven, I'm not gonna have you turn there for sake of time, but it says, the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. You know, you don't have to have a high education to be a Christian. You don't have to be a very smart person, but God can give you his wisdom. The Bible says that he will give you wisdom liberally. He will give it to you. If you look in his word, you will see the wisdom of God. We see first that it's perfect, second, it is everlasting. Matthew chapter five, Jesus says, think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. Verse 18 says, for verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away, Jesus said. We see in Psalm 119 in verse 89, it says, forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. We see first that God's word is inspired. Second, that it's impactful. Thirdly, that it's impeccable. And fourth, that it's inestimable. You can't estimate the power of God's word. You can't even contain it. Psalm 138 verse two says, I will worship toward thy holy temple and praise thy name for thy love and kindness and for thy truth. thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name the name of God what a wonderful name it is the holy name of God and he said that his word is above his name excuse me but we see that his word is above his name we see back in the early church, if you look at the Roman emperor Diocletian, he issued a decree which he hoped would extinguish the spreading flames of Christianity. One of his primary objectives was the seizure and destruction of the Bible. Later that year, officials enforced a decree in northern Africa. One of the targets was Felix. He was a bishop at a village near Carthage. The mayor of the town ordered Felix to hand over all the scriptures, all the manuscripts that he had. Though some judges were willing to accept just scraps of parchment, Felix refused to surrender the word of God. At the insistence of mere men, he knew that it was better to obey God rather than man. Roman authorities finally shipped Felix to Italy, to Rome, to see Caesar, to see that Roman emperor, where he paid for his stubbornness with his life. He laid down his life rather than surrender his Bible. Felix valued his Bible more than his life. Christian, we have the Bible here. We have it every single day of our lives. I have probably three or four on my shelf. You know, and do we value the Bible the way that it should? You know, it's great that we have it. It's a more sure word. And are we reading it? Are we meditating on it? I would ask you, Christian, to consider how you treat your Bible. I would ask you to consider how it can change your life, how it can change the lives of others. Let's go ahead and pray. Lord, we thank you so much for your word. We thank you how powerful Lord, how perfect, and Lord, how you preserved it, Lord, in our language, so that we don't have to have others tell us about the Bible, Lord, but we can read it for ourselves. We thank you for the many men who shed their blood, Lord, the men who were faithful, even to the stake, to preserve the word of God, Lord, and that you use these men. to have an everlasting effect on our lives. Christian, as we close the service here with an invitation, I may ask, how many of you say here, I'm 100% sure that I have accepted Christ as my Savior? Would you raise your hand? I'm sure I'm going to heaven. Brother Josh, I know that I've been shown God's word to be saved. Amen. You can raise your hands or put down your hands. Brother Josh, I've, I've heard your preaching tonight and I know this Bible. I've heard this Bible. Maybe I've never read it, but you know what? I'm not 100% sure. I was hesitant to raise my hand or I didn't raise it at all. But I don't know if I'm going to go to heaven. Would you raise your hand now and say, Brother Josh, would you pray for me? Would you pray for me? Maybe Christian who's here, you've been saved and you know what you've read, you've read your Bible, but you're not just in love with it as much as you used to be. And I've been very convicted by this message. You know, we need to be people of the book. And I would ask you tonight, would you raise your hand and say, Brother Josh, I want you to pray for me that I would read my Bible more, that I would value it more, just like Felix did. just like some of these other men did. Would you raise your hand and say, Brother Josh, would you pray for me to love my Bible more? Amen. Amen. I need it too. I'm raising my hand too. Lord, as we continue in prayer, I pray that you would bless those who have raised their hand tonight, Lord. I pray that you would help them to make a decision tonight. to love their Bible more, to read it more, to meditate on it more, to memorize it. Lord, and I thank you for what you've done with your word and how you've given it to us and revealed it. And I pray all these things in Jesus name, amen.