Hello again and welcome to the program. We're here with a little strength for today. We're in our third message concerning things I've learned in the last 83 years. Number one, I learned that man is born into trouble as the sparks fly upward. I have learned that God answers all of our prayers. Sometimes he says no. Sometimes he says not right now, but he answers our prayers. We don't have to have a yes. And I learned that we can know the truth. We're going to look at that statement. The word truth is in the word of God 235 times and it's in the book of John another 27 times. John 8 and 32 says, you shall know the truth and the truth will make you free. Immediately after I was saved as a 12 year old kid, I began to study the word of God. I fell in love with that book. I was told that the first thing I should read was the book of John and to read it five times before studying any other part of the Bible. Every time I read it, one verse seemed to jump off the page. Jesus said, when he, the spirit of truth, has come, he shall guide you into all truth. John 16, 13. Jesus promised the Holy Spirit would guide me into all truth. I determined to cash in on that promise, however, I soon learned there are hundreds of religions and denominations claiming to be preaching the truth while preaching different doctrine. I also learned there are many different groups calling themselves fundamentalists that have major doctrinal differences while they're all claiming to be preaching the truth. It is possible for us to be like the Corinthians, who had one group and another that they were supporting. 1 Corinthians 3, 4 says, for one saith, I am of Paul, another saith, I am of Apollos, are ye not carnal? When I was first saved, I began to listen to M. R. D. Hahn on the radio and really enjoyed his messages. In fact, I think I have all of the booklets of his radio programs that he did. And then I would listen to other speakers, and I would find even though these were very solid men and really loved the Lord, they were preaching different doctrine, one from the other. Who am I supposed to believe? As time went on, there were more issues to be concerned about. such as the music issue, repentance, separation issue, Bible versions, prophecy, dress standards, political issues, divorce and remarriage issues. There's all kinds of issues and all these different preachers were saying something different about them. Well again, John 8 and 32 says, you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. 1 John 3, 19 says, and hereby we know that we are of the truth. 2 Peter 1, 12 says, be established in the truth. I read in Daniel 7 and 19 where Daniel said, I would know the truth. And then God said in chapter 10 and verse number 12, we're not Daniel. For from the first day that thou did set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words. So there was a time and a day when Daniel said, I would know the truth. So although commentaries can be very helpful and Bibles with footnotes can be very helpful, I decided to get a Bible with no footnotes in it whatsoever and simply compare scripture and see if I could determine the truth about these issues. The best commentary on the Bible is the Bible. So I set up a study that would take me five years. I would take each one of these issues, I would tell myself I don't know anything about it, I'm going to see what the Bible says on these particular subjects. For instance, divorce and remarriage, there's a lot of that going on today. Who's right and who's wrong about that? Well, God's right. So I began a study on that subject. I studied everything that I could find in the Old Testament on the subject. I studied everything that Jesus said about it in the New Testament. I studied everything that Paul the Apostle said about it. It took me over 400 hours to conclude what I believe on that subject. I found that Ecclesiastes 12.12 is certainly correct where it says much study is weariness of the flesh. It's a lot easier to spend four minutes on what some commentary says. However, we are commanded to search the scriptures and see if these things be so. I am not suggesting you throw out your commentaries, they can be very helpful, but search the scriptures and see if these things be so. Not only do we need the scriptures, we need to just refuse the peer pressure that comes from what particular group we are associated with.