Well, welcome to Minor Prophets. Before I pray, I want to talk about if there are major and minor prophets. This is specifically titled Post-Exilic Prophets. Anybody know what that is? Yeah, I know who they are. Who are the Post-Exilic? Anybody know? Actually, I'll show you that the Bible has laid out that the last three prophets and the last three of the writing history books are the post-exilic. They're actually written in order, pre-exilic nine, post-exilic three. So you don't even have to worry about it. It's the last three of the historical books. It's Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther are post-exilic. And Haggad, Zechariah, and Malachi are post-exilic. So they were put that way. But we're in the Minor Prophets, and this is what we're going to study right here. First of all, the most important thing is why we should even study the Minor Prophets. And whether or not what we read matters, and all this is in your notes, because they're part of the Bible. And actually, the Minor Prophets are part of the Bible Jesus carried around and taught from. Exactly the words that are in your Bible are the same words he had, because Jesus carried a translation. Jesus did not primarily study the original Hebrew. I mean, he didn't teach from the original Hebrew. He studied a translation and looked at it. Then the next hour, do we have two hours together? We're locked in here for two hours. Wouldn't it be great? We're going to look at the structure and history of where the minor prophets stood in the whole Bible and how we got it. Then tomorrow, we're going to go through every one of the 12, and I'm going to share with you the key verses in every book. And so I hope that you'll have a Bible that you can mark and underline and know the other verses. When we get done, every verse, that is vital to know, we'll have Mark. And I'll explain why they're vital. Then, tomorrow we'll also see the plan of God for the United Prophets Church, which is in the United Prophets. Very interesting, in America, most churches never, never talk about the United Prophets. I mean, I've been a pastor 40 years. Rarely does any church have anything about the Minor Prophets. And we'll talk about what they're missing that's planned, and then we'll go through each of the Minor Prophets in little pairs. Here's what they're about, and this is what I'm afraid that you'll learn. And you have to learn, this is part of your test. You know, those of you that, how many of you are Filipino? Don't you have to memorize in school? That's how school is in the Philippines. It's a lot of memorizing. In the public schools, it's a lot of memorizing. So we're going to be like a Filipino school for that meaning. You must learn that faith. And that's the third of your grade. So it's very easy to just learn. Hosea, the whole book, all 14 chapters, all are declaring God as faithful. And he uses a picture of an unfaithful wife. And you all know the story there. Joel is something that most people don't even think about. God is wrathful. That's one of his attributes. The wrath of God is how he is. Most people think of God as love. But God is also wrathful. And he is a God of wrath. And he says, don't be deceived whatever you sow, you'll reap. In his wrath and faithfulness, he's just. He's the only completely just person there is. All of us are kind of, we are swayed by things, but God is absolutely just. On computers, if you justify a page, it makes it all fit. You know, there's a button if you have a word processor to justify. It makes it all even. God is the one who justifies. And it's amazing. Obadiah is another attribute of God. It's jealous. Now, in English, jealousy is not positive. It's almost always negative. But God is completely jealous. It says in the book of James that God yearns over us with jealousy. In fact, it's like we're engaged to see Him, but we aren't paying attention to Him. Like, are any of you engaged to be married? Are any of you married? Are any of you in love? Do any of you want to get married? How many of you want to get married? OK. I'll give you a little lesson. with my wife. If I wanted to marry Bonnie, and every girl that walked by I went like this, whoa, whoa, whoa, and she saw me, what do you think she would think of me? Well at first she would be what? Jealous. And then I would be out the door. Because when you love someone, The Bible, Jesus said that if your eye is single, your whole body is full of light. An eye single means you only look at one, the one that you love, not at everyone. And that's one of the things that I just told the Christian students. The girl, I said, come on, aren't you a good fellow to marry? It's not the one. that watches every girl that goes by. In America, they call it girl-watching. It's a sport. They just sit, and they'll sit in the mall and watch every girl that goes by. And they get in that habit, and even Christians do that. And God says, no, I'm jealous, and I want you to pay attention to this, to me. God is merciful. That's Jonah. So merciful that he let the worst people of the day get saved. The Assyrians were the worst people of the war. And we'll talk about that. You know what the Assyrians used to do? In battle, the furthest you would get from the city is how far an arrow could go. And they all knew how far an arrow could shoot, even if you shot it up in the air. And they would park so that no arrow could reach them. And then they would take one prisoner and stake them to the ground. And skin, take their skin off while they're alive. They would slowly cut all their skin off their body of a prisoner. And of course, what would the person on the ground do? Scream, yell, cry, scream, cry, beg. And they would just skin them alive in front of the city. And when they got done with one, they'd do another. And they'd cut their heads off, and they'd make piles of heads. One at a time, all the Christians. You know what that did to everybody in the city? They wanted to surrender. And I thought, they said, if you give up, you won't be back to us again. And that's how these Syrians, like terror, they would scare the lives and cut the heads off, all the heads, until you're inside the city. And this is a siege. You know, you're inside the city. The army's all the way around you. You can't get out. And one by one, everybody that tried to escape is given them a life, and it's all gone, until the strikes that they had, gigantic piles of death. And finally, the people in the city have broken the gate with the white flag that we give up. And they were the worst people I've ever met. They were clergy. They were like Islamic terrorists that ISIS only told them to fight back. And God sent Jonah to them. And they all repented in God's Spirit. The Jews didn't like that at all. Jonah didn't like that. It would be like, whoever your worst enemy is, God, tell them they're forgiven. So Jonah's about God's mercy. Micah, the omniscience, the God who sees everything. Nahum. God is amazing. And what's interesting is Jonah and Nahum are both about the same people, the Assyrians. And God was patient. Because Nahum said, all the Assyrians are going to be wiped out. But Jonah was sent to lead them to faith. And they repented, and God spared them. But finally, the patient God of Nahum, finally in year six, 612, Nineveh was destroyed. Habakkuk, God wants our faith. That's got the famous verse in the just, Shaleh, Habakkuk, God wants our faith. Zephaniah, it says over and over and over in that book, one of the most beautiful verses, God is in your midst. God is in your midst. That means God is with you. God is in your midst. That's what we're talking about. God is with you. He's in the north. He generally lived in your north. You guys live down in that north? Right over there? Is that where you guys live? Do you know God lives in your north? Oh, where does the boys live? Okay, so. He lives in the latest form of Christianity. Do you know that? Do you guys act like that? Like he's in New York? Do you act like he's in your house or in your home? What do you need to think about? The whole point of Sephaniah is God is in your midst. How are you supposed to live if God is in your midst? If God is in your house, if God is in your car, if you have a car, if God is in your dorm, does that change how you live? We have a home in Colorado. And my son put up this Google Nest, it's called. It controls the, it moves things from our phone. Like right now, I can look at our house You want to see my house? I'll show you my house. I go right here. Uh-oh, the Wi-Fi. But the kids didn't know it was there. And our kids were at home. And if you push one button from the Philippines, I can say, hi, Jeremiah. He was walking through the house, and he went. At that, you knew my voice, and you didn't know I was watching you. And I couldn't see. It's only the face of the front door of our house. You can see if anybody's there. But when I walked by, I could see them from here. And oh, there it is. There it is. It's almost there. There it is. It's coming. There it is. It's night there. Right now, you're looking in our house. And you can talk, but nobody's there, but the spider. There's a spider, and you can see him on the camera, moving. But my son put this camera up, and as soon as we talked to the kids for the first time, he said, whoa, are you watching us all the time? I said, no, we're not watching all the time. I've got to work. I don't watch it all the time. But all the time, they wonder if we're watching. And so whenever they walk through that room, they go, are you watching? Are you watching? Did you know we act different? If you knew that a doctor or a professor, what do you call your... professor, doctor, or whatever, if you knew that he was sitting on the end of your bunk watching you guys in your dorm, would you act any different? Would you talk differently? Would you say things differently? Would you make different sounds and attitudes and actions? Would you? Or does he still do it? Does he live in a dormitory? No? You understand, Zephaniah says, God is in your dormitory. Are you acting like God is in your dormitory? It's a very, very good quote. I mean, he said that to do something. Haggai is worse. You know what Haggai is about? They were supposed to build the house of God in the temple. What was everybody doing in Israel? Building their own house. You know what the book of Haggai says? Why are you building a house for yourself while the Lord does not have a house? What? Does God need a house? No, He wants everything. He made everything. He controls everything. Does He need a house? No. What does He want? He wants first place. than our house, than our job, our career, our life. And that whole book is a confrontation of the children of Israel that God was not most important. You know what? If you think about it, most of us think and do things attached with whatever's most important to us. We don't usually think. That most important job, that's what I wanted to do. That's what I wanted to do most. That's what the whole point of Iraq is about. God wants to replace it. Zechariah, Zechariah is about why Iran, you know Iran? Is that what you call it in the Philippines? Iran, the country? The other Iran, right? Yeah. The Middle East, the Iranians, they're the ones funding your group. What town has the siege in the 14th century? Do you know who's paying them? The Iranians. You know that. They pay Islamic terrorists to terror. They actually pay every family that will blow up their son or daughter, even if it's a suicide bomb, they pay the family. $20,000. That's a lot of money even here, isn't it? In the Philippines, how much do people make a year? If they work at McDonald's, what is the normal percentage? Per 300 a day, 300 is $6.00. It's an interface of $6.00. Okay, $6.00 a day is $180 a month, which is $2,500 a year. So they would pay you eight years to blow up your daughter or son. Strap a bomb on, walk in, blow up, we're leaving the money. That's what Iran does all over the world. Every time you hear about a Palestinian in Israel, Iran is there to blow up against Israel. All the ones in Afghanistan? Iran uses their money from the oil to pay people to blow their kids up. Isn't that amazing? Why are the Iranians doing that? Because, did you know it says in the Bible they would? Iran is in the Bible? It says Iran is going to spend all they have to try and destroy Israel. It actually says that in the Bible. 3,000 years ago it said it would. It's God said it would. I pick Jerusalem. God says, I pick this country, which is little, you can't even see it, it's just got an airplane right there. And there's Iran. And God said, that country, is going to be invaded by all the people from here, and all the people from here, and all the people from here, and the people from here, and they're all going to come. Because God picked Jerusalem, and the devil, Satan, is going to make all the nations on earth march against Israel. Why? There's nothing there. Have you been there? There's nothing there. It's a private province. There's really hardly anything that's there. It's so little. Have you gone up your island? It's bigger than all of it. But it doesn't hit anything. It's so simple. And that's what the whole book is decorated about. And it even tells you what's going to happen step by step. So it's a great book. Malachi ends the Old Testament with God saying, I don't want you to kill all your animals and pour them up on all those sacrifices. I don't want you dumping all their oil out on the temple. I want you to love me. All of the sacrifices and all of the ceremonies of Israel were just for them to show God that they loved Him. So that's what we're going to learn. I mean, I think the line of prophets now, these are the post-exilic. So the title of your classes in the curriculum is post-exilic. We're going to really cover that. But you can't understand that unless you have the whole set. It's like a whole group that goes together. And that's what I'm going to do. OK, now I'm going to pray. And I interrupt now my prayer. It's in your notes. My prayer for every one of you is that God, and only He can do it, would stir inside of you a deep and abiding love for Jesus Christ that can only be satisfied by the kind of strength him in his work. Remember I was saying that if I was dating Bonnie, that I wouldn't be looking, watching, and wooing all the girls in the bar? You guys don't woo the girls in the bar. Boys don't flirt with the girls, do they? Are you from the Philippines or Korea? South Korea. Do South Koreans flirt with the girls in the bar? They do. They do? Do Filipinos? Do Filipino boys always look at the pretty girls and wish they had them? Yes. OK. So you kind of know what I'm talking about. We went to your mall. It was called the Mall of Asia or something. I mean, it was just all packs of boys following around packs of girls, you know? They were just wandering around the mall. You know what the Bible says? God wants us. to have a deep and abiding love that can only be satisfied by hearing his voice and seeing him in the body. It's not, I read my lifetime diary, check it out, that I did my lifetime diary. You know, I read it, I wrote it, I did it. He said, no, I want you to come because you want to spend time with me. Have you ever seen a couple on a date where the boy spends his whole time on the phone, and he's texting and everything, and they're sitting at dinner, and the boy is texting, watching videos, and the girl is just sitting there? Do you think that she likes that? No. If you're on a date, you're supposed to just... See, I was going to say, one more time. you know, with someone else. Especially if he's texting a girl. She'd probably throw the phone. You know, family. See, the Bible says you know how much you love the Lord. Not by whether or not you and your wife have anything in common. But whether it be in quiet times, you become satisfied because you spend time with Him. And the only place He meets with us That's how he talks. That's like answering the phone. So it's like our Bibles are sitting there, and they're ringing. Jesus is called. And you go, OK, I got to get that over with. See, that is important. And that's what they were doing here. They did everything that the Bible said. They offered every sacrifice. They only ate clean, not pork, you know. They only ate clean foods. They went to the temple three times a year. But they didn't love God. They just didn't care. If you know, your second, or third, or fourth year, what year are you in? Your second and third year students, and you kind of know all this because you've been through a lot of classes, and you've learned a lot, and pretty soon you can just go through them like this. And that's what happens. And you just do all that, not because you're in love with the Lord, but because you're in love with Him. And the Lord says, no, I want you to have a daily meeting with me, and after you meet with me, You are so filled with joy and peace and are satisfied. It's kind of like after you have the meal you want, a cup of coffee, whatever you like, or a glass of water when it's hot, and you go, ah. That's what we do in America. If you're hot and you drink your cold water, you go, ah. That's what the Lord wants from us. So let's pray, and then we'll get started. Because we've got to get going. When is this class over? What time? 11? We're doing this. When do I leave? I'm teasing. I don't know. That's great. Dear Father, I pray that you would, inside each of us, stir our hearts so that every day we hunger and thirst after you. And we only get satisfied with that on Good Thursday when we spend time with You in Your Word. Open our eyes to do all wonderful things today in Jesus' name. Amen. Real quickly, I want to introduce you to my wonderful wife. There she is. That's Bob. She's sitting right there. I was saved in the age of six. My parents led me to the Lord. I was a terrible, wicked thief and liar and sinner. Basically, what happened to me is My parents were poor, and we would go to the store, and everything in the store they couldn't afford. And so they finally bought me a toy, and it was an American Western. The cowboys wore guns like this, and you'd pull them out and shoot them like you were a cowboy. There were playguns, toys. And they bought me the toy gun, but they couldn't afford the little paper that was cap, pop, pop. You know, they're called caps. They make it sound like the gun is shooting. And they go inside and just bang, bang, bang. And I thought, I'm the only kid that has guns that don't work. But they said it was too expensive, but they had them at the store. And so one day when my mother was going through the store, I reached down and got a box of those caps and put it in my pocket. I stole them. I didn't pay for them. And I was six years old. And I didn't even think of this. I went home, I put him in the gun, and I ran out to the yard and went bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. And my mother opened the door and walked up and said, Tommy. I realized by then, now she knows I took him. So I ran into the back door of the house, took my caps, and all the things I stole, and all that was in my pocket. And I threw them in the toilet and flushed the toilet. Because they were only a little, little paper. And I was standing there in the bathroom by the toilet when my mother walked in. And she said, where did you get those caps? And I said, what? I mean, what are you talking about? And just then, those caps were made of paper. They were very light. And when they flushed, they didn't really go down. And all of a sudden, whoop, they popped up and were floating. on top of the water in Detroit. And my mom said, where did you get those? I said, well, I was just lying. I said, I don't know what that is. I don't know where they came from. See, one sin leads to another. First, I wanted those things. And then I figured out how to get them. And then I got them. I stole them. And then I hid them. And then I lied about it. And then I hid them again. And then I lied about him again. And so my mom, the first time ever, didn't spank me. I didn't, she didn't do anything to me. She just walked out on me. And the Lord convicted my mother. And my mother every night said the same thing at the Bible study. She always said she would read the Bible to his kids when he prayed. And she would say, I'm going to heaven. You know, today is going to heaven. And your sisters are going to heaven. And she always would stop and look at me and say, you're not. and said that it would never bother me until that happened. And I began to be convicted, in my heart, that I was a sinner. So my mom let me be ordained at age six. Three years later, I went forward in a conference, a missionary conference, and surrendered. I told the Lord that I would serve Him, be a missionary all of my days. Then, I went to school. I went to Michigan State, Bob Jones, Masters, Dallas, I was in school for 37 years. I was in school every year for 37 years. I finished in 1999, right before we were born. But in my first year in school, in Bible school, the Bible teacher taught the Bible like I'd never heard. And I went up to him and I said, how did you learn to teach the Bible that well? And he said, until you read the Bible through a page once, For every year you are old, you'll never be able to teach the Bible well. I said, what? I was in Bible school. Do you know how many times I read the whole Bible? I was 19 years old. And how many times did I read it? And I only read it once because someone paid me $100. They said, if you read the Bible, we'll give you $100 and send you to camp. And that's how much camp costs, $100. So I only had Reddit to be paid. And I was in Bible school just like you, preparing to teach the Bible the rest of my life. And I had only read it once. And he said, you're going to need to read it through at least. He asked me, how old are you? And I said, no, not you. He asked me, but how old are you? 22. I was only 19. And I said, I'm 19. These are the times you read the Bible. He said, then you've got a lot of work to do. And I started thinking, do you know how long it takes to read the whole Bible? Now that is, if you are a sixth grader, And you read it aloud. If you take the Bible and hold it and read it out loud, as a sixth grader, how old is that? 10 or 12? You guys are older than 10 or 12. I think you read faster than that. That's how long it takes to read the whole Bible. Now, don't answer. How many times do you read a Bible? How many YouTube videos have you watched? How many basketball games have you watched? How many video games have you played? How many hours have you spent? You know, I don't even know if you guys have Facebook or Snapchat? And all the other things. Think about it. Every one of us have 168 hours a week. And so, you know, that's like 672 hours a month. And so what I found is, to read the whole Bible, I only had to read 2 hours and 12 minutes a day. And I found, when I was 19 years old, that I wasted far more than 2 hours a day. And I made a schedule, and I got rid of all the waste. And I never missed anything in normal life. And I started reading the Bible once every month. I read it once every month that year until I was 20. And when I was 20 years old, I was on my 13th time through the Bible. And when I was 21, I was on my 25th time. And when I was 22, I was on my 57th time. And by the time I got far enough that I knew I wouldn't get behind, I slowed down and started reading the Bible through about every three months. Or every four months, three or four times a year. And so I'm way past 100 times reading through the Bible. I've been a pastor of the church 40 years in the Mary Tavani for 34 years, we just had our anniversary. And we have eight children, there they are, our eight wonderful children. This son is at University of California, Los Angeles. This is not my daughter, it's my wife. This son is in medical school. This daughter is a hospital administrator. This son works at a rescue mission. This daughter is a junior in college, gonna be a neurologist, he's a graphic artist. She's a missionary, started Christian school. He works in social media. He actually works for Facebook. And his wife. And that's our family. And yes, we live in the snow of Colorado. This is where we served. I was born in Michigan. I went to school in South Carolina. I pastored in Georgia. Then I pastored in Los Angeles. Then I pastored in Rhode Island. And then I pastored in Oklahoma. I went to school at Dallas Seminary. and a pastor in Michigan. And now, Ron and I are full-time missionaries. And we basically minister in sub-Saharan Africa. You know, oh, Africa's not on your map. But the part that's not on your map, we minister on a faculty at a seminary in the Middle East. I teach Arabic pastors and church planners. We work in East Asia, in China. training a lot of those that work in Central Asia. And we also work with the refugees in Europe. And those are helping us save our time. Why do we study the Bible? And the reason we study the Bible is God gives us the most complete answers to the most important questions. Now, open your Bibles to Acts 17. I want to show you something that will affect the rest of your life. I hope. Acts 17. Now, Acts 17 has Paul's mind for how he shared the Gospel. And basically what Paul did is, he went to people and gave them answers the questions that all of us share at school. And basically, almost everybody wonders where they came from. That's how I got here. They wonder why I'm here. Did you know in Japan, I heard they might build a railroad here by the school. Did you know the Japanese are going to fix that railroad that's near here and make it all Japanese? Did you know in Tokyo, there's a park in Japan where every day they find three young people hung. They commit suicide. Three a day. You know, there's a whole group of Japanese that walk through the park, and they go, are you going to try and hang yourself? You shouldn't hang yourself. You shouldn't. They're trying to talk them out of committing suicide. They're full-time volunteers trying to keep the young people not to kill themselves in Japan. Why do young people kill themselves in Japan or anywhere else? because they don't have any purpose. They don't know why I'm here. They say, I'm never going to get ahead. I'm never going to get out of this. I live in the slums, or I live in poverty, or I don't have what all the rich people have. I didn't know why I'm here, so I give up. Destiny. People want to know where they're going. They want to know. I mean, when you're little, so when my kids were little, every time we got in the car, they always said, where are we going? And about 30 seconds later, he said, when are we going to get there? He just always wanted to know when we're going to get there, wherever we're going. Did you know those are the questions of life? How did I get here? Why am I here? Where am I going? Now, biblically, look at what the Bible answers those questions with. How did you get here? You have a what? A creator. Why are you here? He bought you. You have a redeemer. Where are you going? Either you're going to go with your Redeemer forever, or you're going to suffer judgment. Now, look at Acts 17, because I want you to see exactly what Paul said. Now, you guys, how many of you do not understand English where you're going? OK. You all can read that, right? So I'm going to call on you to read out loud. So I would like Jinsoul. If you can read Acts 17, verse 24. What's the first thing Paul addresses the pagans with? Where did you come from? You have a creator. He introduces them to the creator. That's important because you know that it's kind of hard to share the gospel if people don't even know who you're talking about. And you have to start somewhere and Paul, with his pagan audience, said, God made everything. Now, I need Shalumio's solace. Can you read? Oh, the words are good. So that they should seek the Lord in the hope that they might be able to look for Him and find Him who is not far from this world. And then verse 30. Verse 30, these times of ignorance, but the Lord that now reminds them only of their duty to the Church. So verse 27, they should seek the Lord and he's commanding them, verse 32, to repent. Who is that talking? The one that died on the cross. This is the Redeemer. The Creator came to earth. He's the Redeemer. Now, I need, Catherine, could you read verse 31, please? because He has appointed a day on which He will restore life to His people. They do not know what He has for them. He has given assurance of peace to all by His individual creation. The Creator became the Redeemer, who came down and died, and rose from the dead. And if you don't receive Him, you're going to face Him as the Judge. That's the Gospel called Presented on Marysville, Nathanael. Now, basically, that also is the framework of the Bible. Genesis 1 and 2 introduce us to the Creator. Genesis 3 to Revelation 5 talk about His work of redemption. Revelation 6 to 2 is all about the judgment that's coming. And that amazing framework is what we have in the Bible. Okay, real quickly. Why do we even have a Bible Institute? You notice this is called the work-life Bible Institute. Well, it's because we need to trust the God of the Bible. And basically, my question to you, if you're a second and third year student, is do you really trust the Bible? And do you really understand what you have in front of you? That this actually is God talking to you. People in the future, when you talk to them and tell them what the Bible says, they'll go, oh, the Bible has what? Errors, mistakes. How do you know that you can trust the Bible? And so basically, as a note to the minor prophets, I am assuming that already in your two or three years, you've already gone through bibliology, and you understand the doctrines of how the Bible came. And therefore, you would accept History as God presents it. Basically, God gives us the framework of history. telling us why pink and green are going to march, you know, Russia and Iran are going to march, as it says in Ezekiel 38, on Israel. And that was written 2600 years ago. And we can trust the history that God gives us in the Bible. Basically, those events are there. But why do we trust the Bible? Number one, the Bible is all that God wants us to know about everything we need to know. It's not everything possible to know. It's everything God wants us to be. And do you understand what most people are interested in? What isn't in the Bible? I mean, if I talk about aliens, everybody's, you know, aliens, UFOs, flying saucers, and all that. They want to know about that. Did you know that, well, that is in the Bible. But most people are interested in the peripheral stuff. We used to have an American author And his name was Mark Twain. And he said, it's not the parts of the Bible that I don't understand that bother me. It's the parts that you understand. And most people don't obey what's clearly in the Bible. They're interested in the parts that are hard to understand. Start with what is clear. If God hasn't revealed in his words, either it's a secret New Roman in 29, or it's not a secret. And again, most people have questions about either what's secret that God doesn't want us to know, or what he doesn't say is an important question. But let's go on to this. Why do we study the Bible? Here's the bottom line of why we have this class. God's Word sanctifies us, John 7, verse 7. Did you know, going through any class in the Bible Institute, should cause sanctification. Now, let me ask you a question. What does sanctification mean? Third and sanctuary students? Set apart. Set apart what? Set apart. Set apart. Yes. Set apart for God. Why? Why should we set apart for God? Your answer is right, but why? Sanctification does mean, actually, hagyavzo. Actually, hagyavzo actually is a word for holiness. Hagyas, read in English here, actually means holiness. Sanctification is hagyavzoman. Which means, you may be holy. Why though? I mean, most people in America, when I say holy, they think of some old woman, you know, that doesn't do anything wrong, and doesn't have any fun, and is just old, you know, and doesn't smile. And they think that's holiness. That's not holiness. Holiness, basically, is usefulness to God. Why does he want to think about holiness? Because He wants to use us. How does He use us? He fills us. What? What does He fill us with? The Spirit. How are you most useful to God? How am I most useful to God? The fuller I am of God's Spirit. I know you have a lot of these tricycle things. Did you know if you let the air out of the tires, those things don't work very well? If you let the air out of their tires, they would have trouble driving around. They would spend most of their energy resisting. They work best when they're filled. You and I are useful to God when we're filled with the Spirit, but He only will fill a holy vessel. And a holy vessel is one that's surrendered, limited, consecrated to Him. Why we study the Bible is that God sets us apart and sanctifies us through His Word. So, there are seven reasons why I believe the Bible is true. Number one, Jesus believed it. That settles it, by the way. Did you know that? Jesus held a Bible, the Old Testament that you have right now, exactly matches word for word what Jesus said. Exactly. You know what Bible we have? Jesus talked from the Septuagint. The Septuagint was a translation of the Hebrew Old Testament in Greek. We still have a copy of it. Jesus used that. You have a Bible that Jesus affirmed every word in it, every chapter, every book, every story, every doctrine, every person. Jesus called it a scripture. So if someone asks me why I know the Bible's true, in fact, some did ask me. I was pastoring in Oklahoma, the map I showed you. And I was moving into the church. It was a really nice church. And I was putting my books on the shelf. I had just gotten there. I was taking them out of the box and putting them on the shelf. When the secretary walked in the door, and she said, excuse me, pastor, you have a phone call. I said, oh, who is it? She said, well. Now, the city I was in was a city of a million people. And it was 11 o'clock in the morning. And she said, well, she said, it's John Berling. And he wants you. He's on the air, on the radio. And everybody in Tulsa, from 11 to 1, listened to John Irwin as they drove to lunch. He was the most popular radio talker. And in their cars, they were all listening on their radios. And he called, and he said he wanted to welcome the new pastor to town. Aaron, I'm standing in my office with my books. And she said, so pick up the phone, and you're on the radio. I said, oh, great. So I pushed outside, and my wife was sitting there. And I picked up the phone, and I said, hello. And he said, hello, this is John Irving, and we're on the air live. And he says, I have the pastor of all the local churches, the United Presbyterian Church, the United Methodist Church, and the Catholic Church, and the whatever church. And he said, and we're having a little discussion on the radio. And he said, we wanted to ask you one question for one minute. And he said, why do you think the Bible is true? And he said, the other pastors have said that Adam and Eve aren't real people, and that David they're not sure is a real person, and Abraham they're not sure is a real person, and that Jonah did not get swallowed by a whale, and that the Hebrew children did not, you know, go through the fiery furnace. And he said, how do you know the Bible is true? And now he talked through half of my minute. He said, you only have one minute. I'm there to hear it. And he talked through half of it. And I said, oh, I'd love to answer that question. I said, I believe the Bible is true because Jesus believed the Bible is true. And I thought. And all of a sudden, he said, well, friends on the radio, we're going to come back right after the break. Because he says, no one has ever answered my question before. And he says, we're going to hear what Jesus said. And he said, did Jesus really? I didn't know. Other pastors on the phone, did you know that Jesus will come back after the break? And I talked to him for about a half hour on the radio, and all the people at hotels have listened. And he never has been explained that the reason I know the whole Bible is true is Jesus Christ. And that's why I believe the Bible. And go have a nice break, and I'll see you later.