Are we good? Okay, we've looked at the battle for the Bible regarding its singular authority, its sufficiency, its canonicity, its translation, its interpretation, and now we look at the battle for the Bible regarding its education. Its education. What's going on in theological education in our day? Where is the attack today? Well, first of all, in Bible colleges and seminaries. Now you think, oh no, well that's where we would find the truth, right? Wrong. Most of the time. Most of the time. And I'm not saying there's no Bible college or seminaries out there teaching truth. I'm not saying that. I'm just saying, more often than not, they're teaching inaccurately or they're undermining authority of Scripture or sufficiency and so forth. You know, it's like this joke says, attending this school may be hazardous to your future ministry. And unfortunately, many a student have gone to Bible College or seminary believing the Bible is the Word of God and have come out not believing it because of the denials of the professors there. You know, I was talking to a good friend of mine who works for Lagos, and he went up to a conference in Seattle, Washington here October 20th through the 22nd in 2011. for Lagos to put on some seminars. And this was a group of individuals, the great Christian educators of the United States. Almost every major college and seminary was there. And the role of Scripture in Christian formation and education. And he said, as he listened to the speakers, the best one, not all, the best one said, you know, we really should include the Bible in Christian education today. That was the best one he said. And it went down from there. You know, even again, like Dallas Theological Seminary, which was founded by Lewis Baird Schaefer, whose writings I greatly appreciate, John Walvoord, Charles Ryrie, so forth and so forth. A bastion of doctrinally sound theological education in yesteryear. And yet, Randall Price told me when he was here this fall at our Bible conference, that in the Old Testament department at Dallas Theological Seminary, There isn't one professor that believes the flood of Noah was a worldwide flood. They believe it was a local flood with hyperbole language used. Now can you imagine what a local flood that reached the top of Mount Aria would look like? I mean, that's an incredible miracle, if that was true. Incredible. So they say, well, why don't they think it's universal? Because it's not cool to do that. It's frowned upon in great academic circles in which approbation law is great and you want to be viewed by your peers as smart and intellectual. Do you believe Noah's flood was universal? Absolutely. Read the Bible. You know, Dr. John Whitcomb taught at Grace Theological Seminary in Indiana for 35 years. And he eventually was fired right before he was about to retire because he kept blowing the whistle on the inroads of human philosophy and psychology at the seminary to the point that the seminary basically fully collapsed and then later got kind of, in a smaller sense, combined with the college there. This is, again, what's going on in Bible colleges and seminaries. Furthermore, as we think of the attack in education, It's in academic societies, like the Evangelical Theological Society, which again is a bunch of basically theological coneheads that get together every year and they talk about stuff. Now, the president of the Evangelical Theological Society had to resign like three years ago because he had become Roman Catholic. This shows you where things are at. People flock here to hear all this, you know, great swelling words of vanity as Jude calls it. And again, the Bible is under attack by way of education. The Bible is under attack in local churches as well. And does it surprise you if the pastors are trained in these seminaries that in the local church they're going to also be in denial and doubt and difference with the Word of God? Frankly, it's hard to find good sound local churches that are clear on the Gospel teach the Bible verse by verse. Too often, like in the Old Testament, Ichabod could be written over the door, the glory of the Lord is departed. Furthermore, the attack is in publications as well. Again, we think of education. The printed page is a significant, or even now the internet page, or the e-book, or the Kindle, or the Nook, or the whatever. It's being used today. Again, it's repeatedly spilling out. Often times, wrong doctrine and satanic lies with theological language. Interesting in time, a few years ago, ten ideas changing the world right now. Number three was Calvinism. As you know, I'm not a Calvinist and I'm not an Arminian. I'm a zero point Calvinist who's not an Arminian, as I believe there's a third view. Now, there are people, we would call them classic Calvinists. An example of that is Dr. John MacArthur, Jr., who has written numerous books, is probably the most profound Bible teacher in the world in Bible-believing circles. Dr. MacArthur, in one of his messages, states this. Self-discipline comes when you look back at the covenant of your salvation. When you look back to the covenant of your salvation, That is to say, when you remember that at a point of your salvation, you made a promise to submit to the Lord. You made a pledge at that time to be obedient to Christ. You confessed Him as Lord, and Lord means He is above all. Now, when you were saved, did you make God a promise, or did you believe His promise? When you were saved, did you make a pledge to God, or did He make a pledge to you? to save you and to keep you safe. What must I do to be saved? Make a promise and you shall be saved. Is that what it says? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. It's essential then as believers to remember that we made a covenant of obedience when we confess Jesus' love. By the way, did you make a covenant of obedience? I didn't. I just put my trust in Him and what He did for me on the cross. We were saved unto obedience which God had before a date we should walk, and obedience characterized by good works and obedience to God's work. That pledge was inherent in salvation. God at the time, you came to Him for salvation, promised you forgiveness and eternal life and all the grace necessary to fulfill His will and the Holy Spirit, and you pledged obedience. Really? You get saved and you say, I will obey you if you save me. Is that grace? It's not grace at all. It's like saying, I'll take the gift, but I have to promise to do something. Well, then there's strings attached. And he goes on, and you need to go back and remember that and have the integrity to be faithful to your original promise. That's salvation by works. Charles Ryrie states, the importance of this question cannot be overstated in the relationship to both salvation and sanctification. The message of faith only and the message of faith plus commitment of life cannot both be the gospel. Therefore, one of them is false and comes into the curse, a perverting gospel or preaching another gospel. And I say, Amen. R.C. Sproul, very famous radio personality. In Christian radio, if you listen to Christian radio, which I don't usually, I listen occasionally, and it just drives me almost to carnality. And almost off the road, too, usually. Now, there are also neo-Calvinists today. They are a mixture of charismatic and Calvinism, which is very different. Calvinists historically have not been charismatic. But now you've got this blending that you never had before, such as John Piper. John Piper is a seven-point Calvinist, he says. who is fully charismatic, believes all the gifts are for today. Now listen to this quote by him. Christ did not die to forgive sinners who go on treasuring anything above seeing and savoring God. And people who would be happy in heaven if Christ was not there will not be there. The gospel is not a way to get people to heaven. It is a way to get people to God. It's a way of overcoming every obstacle to everlasting joy in God. If we don't want God above all things, we have not been converted by the gospel. I want to ask you a question. Do you want God above all things all the time? Some of the time? Did you have to make that pledge to get saved? I don't know. Listen to this. In an interview of John McArthur and John Piper by Justin Taylor, Piper admits, I probably pray the prayer Keep me and preserve me as often as I pray any prayer. I mean, keep me saved! Because I think God uses mean to cause us to persevere. Are you praying God keep me saved? I'm not. Because when He saved me, He promised to keep me saved. Why would I have to pray that? Now, I used to pray something like that before I was saved. It went like this. Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. And if I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my Savior." That is an absolute, heretical prayer of unbelief. If you have to pray that, you don't know for sure you're going to heaven. You don't understand the Gospel. Because the Gospel is what Christ did for you on the cross and guarantees you eternal life. There's others like Tim Keller, who is popular, C.J. Mahaney, There's groups like the Gospel Coalition Network, which again are Calvinists. There's like the Passion Conference that just went on in Atlanta here just last week. 20,000 college-age kids embracing Calvinism and getting confused in the Gospel. They're neo-Calvinists. Tom Stegall put this one together. Did you know, in 1982, the top two best Christian bestsellers was Strong's Concordance and Haley's Bible Handbook. Do you know why that was? Because people wanted to do what? Study the Bible. Do you know what the number one bestseller is today? Heaven is for Real. A young boy emerges from life-saving surgery with remarkable stories of his visit to heaven. That's just pure, bogus mysticism. I'm going to read a book about a four-year-old who died and went to heaven and came back to tell me about it? You know, when Paul was caught up to heaven, he says when he came back he couldn't talk about it. Why does the four-year-old get in on it? You know, people read that and say, oh, this is so good, this is great. This is absolute mysticism. This adds to the Bible. Do I need something besides the Bible to know what's happening? Some four-year-old kid? We're not even sure he was out of diapers. But is there a great need for doctrinally sound publications? Does a dog bark? Does a cat meow? Do teenagers like to eat? Well, of course. There's a great need for it. In fact, I love this verse. 2 Timothy 4.13. Paul said, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas when you come, and the books, especially the parchments. Did you know Paul had books? He had books. The parchments are probably Bible, Scripture, but he had books as well. Value of publication. And again, the value of the local church. Paul says, If I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, and the church is to be the pillar and ground of the truth. I am absolutely convinced that God's plan for the church is for the saints to be equipped within the church and through the church so that they can be used by the Lord in and through and wherever the Lord wants them to go. And you see, there are those today who say, well, no, we need the parachurch. We need these seminaries. We need these colleges. We need all these other things. And you see, when it comes to the parachurch, there are many problems. The problem of financial support, because where does the parachurch get their support from? Well, we have to appeal to a broad base of people. Therefore, we compromise our doctrinal convictions, usually, to some degree, in order to get a financial base. Are they still resources from the local church? There's also the problem of human accreditation. So how does this work? This is how it works. You have a college and you want to get it accredited. Why do you want to get it accredited? Why do they want these Christian schools accredited? Who can tell me? Money. Why? In what way? Can you get a Pell Grant if you're not accredited? No. So therefore, we've got to get accredited. Well, who accredits us? A bunch of unbelievers accredit us. So therefore, in order to appease Unbelievers and whatever, therefore, you come up with these compromises to do it. And again, the parachurch, too often, and I'm thankful wherever the Word of God is taught, but too often, the parachurch is really a parasite, often times, when it comes to the local church. And keep in mind that grace does not mean doctrinal compromise. I'm just going to jump ahead here a little bit here. Number seven. The battle for the Bible regarding its message. Its message. Is there a battle regarding the message of the Bible? Where is the attack today? A neglect or disdain of sound doctrine. And the Bible told us there would come a day they won't endure sound doctrine, so we shouldn't be surprised. Furthermore false gospels of our day and a lack of the security or absolute assurance of eternal salvation I Tell you that is attacked over and over again even on Christian radio if you listen to Christian radio, I would challenge you to have a piece of paper handy in a pen and As you listen throughout the day write down that they explain how to go to heaven what you have to do And I think at the end of the day, or within the course of the week, you'd have seven to ten or more things they told you to do. Now they'll include faith in that, but they'll also include many other things. So again, the Bible's under attack, especially when it comes to the Gospel. Because if there's any message Satan wants to undermine, it is the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, and there are many alternatives that are out there as well. Also, there's a tax on dispensational distinctives by covenant theology and Lord Shippers. Now, you say, well, what's dispensations and covenant? I'm not going to go into all of that, except to say that in God's plan for the ages, if you interpret the Bible in a normal, grammatical, historical way, you'll see that God has had different economies during different ages in his plan. And if you fail to distinguish them, you will oftentimes be confused what the plan of God is for you in this present day. There's a failure to teach positional or identification truth in our day. You know, you've heard a lot about positional truth or identification if you've been at Duluth Bible Church. You hear about it a lot. Many people never hear Romans 6, never Romans 7, Romans 8, Ephesians 1, and have those things explained. There's a great attack. There's an attack when it comes to counterfeit spirituality out there. And a lot of confusion of how to live the Christian life after you're saved. Legalism, mysticism, and so forth. And again, I was explaining to this couple today, that I talked about earlier, that you have to remember that the word salvation is in three stages or tenses. And we talked about Philippians 2, 12, work out your own salvation in fear and trembling. And I said, well, Were they already saved? Are these believers? Yes. Were they in heaven? No. So it obviously deals with this, about working out your own salvation. And the next verse says, For it is God who works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. She said, well, what does with fear and trembling mean? It doesn't mean in fear of hell. It just means taking God and His Word seriously. Again, confusion. There's also a lack of blessed hope teaching. in the church today. There's an attack on this. One of the questions I was asked today was, why don't you ever hear of prophetic conferences anymore? Why don't people teach prophecy? I'll tell you why they don't teach prophecy. Number one, not that many people are interested in heaven anyhow. And they're not interested in the rapture, they're interested in how to make a buck now. And so they believe the prosperity gospel. Then there are people like John Piper. who is amillennial. That means he doesn't believe in a literal future kingdom. He doesn't believe in a rapture. He doesn't believe in a coming tribulation. He believes the kingdom is now. That the church is the kingdom. And therefore, isn't going to teach on anything like that at all. And yet, when we understand the Bible and the dispensational teachings of the past, talked about how we're in the church age, how the rapture is going to happen. It could happen at any time. And therefore, we need to be aware, we need to be awake, we need to be waiting for this to occur. See, that's not being taught today in many, many places. They're not looking forward to the upper taker. My pastor used to say, I'm looking for the upper taker, not the undertaker. And the upper taker indeed is far better. For the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds. to meet the Lord in the air. Furthermore, there's an overemphasis even in free grace circles on rewards versus grace motivations. Now I'm not suggesting the Bible doesn't teach rewards for faithful believers. Salvation's a gift, but for faithful believers there's rewards in heaven to be gained at the judgment seat of Christ by believers. The Bible clearly teaches that. I believe that. I believe that one day I'm going to give an account of tonight to the Lord, and so will you. And while that sobers me at times, and that reminds me that it's worth it all when we see Jesus Christ, it's also true that the love of Christ is what really ultimately compels us. Because we think of His love for us. Because we think of what He did on the cross. when He died for you and He died for me. As we think of His love, as we think of His grace, as we are grateful to the Lord, this can motivate us to live for Him. Though it can't enable us to do it, because that must come through the power of the Holy Spirit. Where is the attack today? Here's another one. A lack of sound doctrine in songs and highly repetitive praise choruses with either weak or wrong doctrine. And I'm not saying all praise choruses are wrong. But most of them don't say enough. If you rang them out, you'd get a drop of water. There isn't much there, if anything. And sometimes they're sung over and over again, over and over again, over and over again. Why? Because we're not concentrating on the Word. We're trying to get an emotional lather worked up here. And so as a result, man, that was really good, really well. What were you singing? I don't know. Did you worship the Lord in spirit and truth? No, I just got Moved. I got moved. Colossians 3.16 says, Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom. Then it overflows in teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. But you're not going to have psalms and hymns and spiritual songs unless you're letting the Word of Christ dwell in you richly. And so often that's missing in our day. Furthermore, sound doctrine is not diligently guarded or treasured in our day. And so again, there's an attack on this too. There's also the battle for the Bible regarding its application. Regarding its application. You say, well, what do you mean? Well, sometimes there's just legalistic conformity versus walking by faith resulting in obedience. You know, just people all try to dress the same way. If you're spiritual, you'll have your hair this way, and you'll have this, and you'll dress. It's all external legalistic conformity. Or there's mystical delusion among charismatics and even non-charismatics. And you know, even in our circles, there's mysticism. You say, well, what do you mean? Well, you know, twenty years ago, when someone bounced from church to church, from week to week. Do you know what they were called? A church tramp. Do you know what they're called today? Being led by the Holy Spirit and embracing the universal truth. It's a form of mysticism. You know, they live in their little spiritual bubble. I'm doing great. Just don't touch me. I had my devotions this morning and therefore I'm just fine. And it's just delusionary. Here's another attack. Learning doctrine is an end in itself. You know, boy, I know all this doctrine. I know all this stuff, really. So, what does it mean in your life? Well, it doesn't mean anything, but I sure have great notes in my Bible. In fact, I keep my handouts and I punch them and I put them in a ring. Three ring binders. And I can tell you where they are. When I stand before the Lord, I'm going to pull them out. You're going to need to pull them out. And more. You see, learning doctrine is very important, but it's not an end in itself. It's a means to loving the Lord, learning to walk by faith, loving one another, being a witness for Christ, and so forth. And then there's Laodicea Christianity and the lack of true holiness to the Lord and separation from the world. You know, unfortunately, even in our churches, we're a lot more worldly than we'd like to admit. We've been shaped by the world a lot more than we'd like to think. Men shall be lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. You know, I was at a basketball game the other night. High school basketball game, my second one of the year. And I'm sitting on this bench. And I don't begrudge anyone going to a basketball game. Don't misunderstand. I'm not against someone playing basketball as long as they put the Lord first. But I sat on this bench, this hard bench, for an hour and a half. watching this game that was filled with turnovers for an hour and a half. And people complained that I was coming out to church for an hour and a half. I hear you're learning the Word of God. I hear you're watching this rotten game on this hard bench and nobody's leaving. I'm watching this thing. The game is out of, you know, it's a 20 point lead. It's a couple minutes left and I'm thinking, obviously they're going to leave, right? No, they're not leaving. They're sitting on the hard bench. And isn't it funny, you know, we go overtime in church, it's like, man, we go overtime. If they go overtime in the game, yeah, it's overtime. You know, they don't say, you know, I'm out of here. Yeah, I'm out of here. This has been an hour and a half. Are we going to go into overtime again? You know. It's like, overtime, yeah. Isn't it funny how much we love the world? Where is the attack today? A lack of evangelistic and missionary vision? Many people have no concern for the lost around them. I'm talking about believers. Are concerned to get out the Gospel? Well, yeah, I'm willing to do that as long as it doesn't mean any sacrifice on my part. What is this coming Sunday? Evening, when you have plans for the Super Bowl to watch, let's say, assume you do, that the Lord lays on your heart, you know, there's somebody who needs to hear the gospel. Could you beg that game and go give them the gospel? If you can't beg that game, they show you how worldly it is. You say, well, can't we do both? Can't I go give them the gospel with my iPhone on and I can watch and do both? Well, maybe. I don't know. Maybe you can. I don't know what an iPhone is. Another attack is the lack of body life due to rugged individualism. Thinking of application. You know, as I'm studying the book of Ephesians and teaching it, you know one thing I note, every verb basically is plural. There's no singular verbs hardly in the whole book. You know why? He's talking to the church corporately. And in our day, you know, we're rugged individuals. And so often we fail to see we're part of a bigger body. We're part of a local church. We are connected to other believers. There's all these one another's. And so often we don't think that way. In fact, not only is their body life under Christ's headship, but you know, the Lord has also designed this so that there is actually spiritual leadership in the church. He's designed shepherds, elders, pastors, to oversee the flock and even watch for your soul. Now, I want to ask you a question because this has really bothered me when I've seen this in some college students. Some college students, I believe, have just gotten big-headed and arrogant and they think, I don't need a church and I don't even need a pastor. I can handle this all myself. And I'm thinking, why do you think you're the exception when the Bible sets forth a movement? Not that the pastor should run your life. You're not trying to. In fact, I tell people very little what to do. When they come and talk to me, I tell them very little. I point them to the Lord. I point them to principles. I encourage them to pray about it. I had one guy look at me and say, so you're not going to tell me what to do. I said, no, I'm not telling you what to do. There are some principles. You pray about them. You do what you think will work. Now, if it's clear in Scripture, I'll say, well, here's what the Bible says. But a lot of times it's the application of principles relative to a situation. But I'm not trying to be the Holy Spirit or run someone's life. In fact, if I was, A lot of things would change if it was the Bible. And you probably feel the same about me, so you understand. Number nine. The battle for the Bible regarding its proclamation. We're almost there. Hang in there. We're almost there. Regarding its proclamation. Its proclamation. Where is the attack today? Churches and seminaries give you lip service studying the Bible. You know, many seminaries, you can go there and never have to learn how to really study the Bible. But then again, if you don't think it's inspired by God, or you don't think every word is inspired by God, or if there's even a correct method of interpretation, why would you ever learn a process how to properly study the Bible? Do you know in Roman Catholic seminary, Tom Stegall told me, when he was preparing to be a priest, by the way, did you know that? That was Tom's background? He went to a seminary in Dubuque, Iowa. Ended up leaving there, going to UMD, getting saved. When he was studying to be a priest, he said in his whole time studying to be a priest, he only had one course on the Old Testament and one on the New Testament. That would have been it. All the rest was psychology, philosophy and church traditions. Where is the attack today? The entertainment orientation of church services. If it's fun enough, I'll be there. Is it exciting enough? Like the girl who asked me, in your youth group, do you do Twister? And I said, Twister? What's Twister? It's when you get down on your hands and then someone twists around you. And I said, no, we don't. We do Twister. That's what we need. Twister. The lack of grace-oriented expository preaching. When it comes to proclamation, what a lack there is of that, of grace-oriented, verse-by-verse expository preaching. So missing in our day. Here's another one. An overemphasis on music and drama. I mean, we don't have time for preaching. We just sang for an hour. And I'm not against music. Drama doesn't really tickle me. I'm not against God-honoring, doctrinally sound, edifying music. And by the way, it doesn't have to be 250 years old either. And I'm not against hymns. I like hymns. But I don't mind newer music. We use a lot of majesty music that's newer and so forth. But sometimes there's such an over-emphasis on this. No wonder the pastor doesn't have time to sing. You know, it reminds me of a Bible teacher of the past, Donald Gray Barnhouse. He was asked many years ago at a Youth for Christ rally in Kansas City in the 1950s. And so he came there. They flew him from Philadelphia. They sang and had all these things for about an hour and so forth. And then they finally said, it's your turn. And he only had 15 minutes. And he got up and he said, Since the leaders of this crusade tonight don't value the Word of God to any great degree, let us pray." He prayed and ended it right there. He didn't even preach. Here's another attack. The delusion that the counseling couch and psychoheresy can solve your problems instead of the pulpit or the ministering of the saints using the Word of God. You know, in seminaries, most men and women, you know what they're doing? They're going into counseling. Why? You want to drive a Cadillac or you want to drive a hybrid? What do you want to drive? Pastors get paid little. Counselors get paid a lot. And again, I'm not against counseling someone, biblically, as needed. But frankly, I do 90% of my counseling over the pulpit. And then when I meet with someone, I try to encourage them in the Word and help them through the situation. But it's not this long-term counseling. In fact, if they're not willing to hear the Word of God, ultimately, they're not going to be benefited by a shot here and a shot there. But you know, sometimes people don't want to come to the restaurant when the family is being served. They want sidebar service. You know, they're not willing to come out and hear the Word of God when everybody else is there. The pastor, can I meet with you every week for the next 10 weeks? I'm thinking, just come on out. hear the Word of God. I don't have that much to say anyhow. You know, when it comes to proclamation, at times when you're hearing the Word of God, this is how you may feel sometimes. I had a guy who told me just two weeks ago, he said, you know, I came out to D.B.C. Duluth Bible Church for the first time three or four weeks ago and he said, I thought you were talking right to me. In fact, I wondered if my sister didn't call you before I came. No, but God knows your needs and the Lord knows how to meet those needs. Here's another one. Attack today's political correctness and the lack of certainty in the pulpit. Political correctness. You think we're getting a bit too political? Now I have very strong political convictions. But I don't use the pulpit to express them unless they intersect with the moral issues of our day, which at times they do. You know, again, the response should be, again, this valuing the Word of God and proclaiming it. You know, in Nehemiah's day, they read the Bible for like six hours straight, and the people first bowed down, then they stood up and they listened for six hours. You can never do that today. They would say, Nehemiah, we need to get a new pastor. You are not the guy we're looking for. Number 10. The battle for the Bible regarding its rejection. Regarding its rejection. And again, I'm sorry we're not turning to some of these passages just due to time here. Because I got it started so late with this PowerPoint. Where is the attack today? Everywhere. You want to look for the rejection of the Bible? Look north, south, east and west and you will find it. It's like Amos 8 verse 11 said about Israel in that day. Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord God, that I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. He reminds me of our day. Or Jeremiah 5.31, The prophets prophesy falsely, the Lord said. And the priests rule by their own power. And my people love to have it so. That's what they want. But what will you do in the end when you have nothing to hold on to? I'll tell you this, music can move you on Sunday, but it's not going to help you on Monday. But the Bible you learn on Sunday can help you every day. Jeremiah 15-16. Jeremiah says, Your words are found and I ate them, and Your word was to me the joy and the rejoicing of my heart, for I am called by Your name, O Lord, God of hosts. Question. We've looked at the battle for the Bible. Will you become a casualty in this battle? And don't think, oh no, I'll never become a casualty. Well, you're halfway there if you think that. Because he that thinketh, he standeth. Take heed lest he fall. Better men and women than you and me have fallen over the years. You take heed. Lord, I'm not sufficient of myself to think anything of myself. My sufficiency is of you. Oh Lord, I need you. I need your Word. I am not capable. I need you. I need you. And the Lord is amazing because he says, I will honor them that honor me. Let's pray. Father, thank you again for your wonderful word tonight. We have covered much and have inundated these college-age enough individuals with many angles, many issues, many things. Father, we know that this is probably more than any of them hardly can fully comprehend, but I pray that they would still take it to heart, they would think about it, pray about it, be aware of it, and most of all, walking away with a confidence in Your Word and a sense of need To know the scriptures and to mix these truths with faith. To appropriate your grace as you are tapping your toe waiting to show us grace. Every day and every moment. If we're willing to just turn to you and rely upon you to do for us what we could never do for ourselves. We know we do not have the wisdom to live the Christian life, so we thank You for Your Word. We do not have the strength to live the Christian life, so we thank You for the Holy Spirit. And we know that because of our position in Christ, that you will never leave us and you will never forsake us. You will work in us. May we respond to that end. And thank you so much for our Lord Jesus Christ, the Word incarnate, who loved us and gave us life.