So, let's go on. What does the Bible say about its interpretation? The word, the big word is, how do you say it? Anybody got it on their sheet? Hermeneutics. Where does that come from? Hermes. Absolutely. I don't think the Greeks would like the way you said it, but we'll do that. Acts, chapter 14, verse 12. Acts, chapter 14, verse 12. They're at Lystra. And here's what happens. Barnabas, they called Zeus. Paul Hermes. Why? He was the chief speaker. So who was Zeus? The big guy. The big God. Incredible. And Zeus was the higher God. Who was Hermes? He was the one who spoke. He was the messenger for the God. Which is to say, in American culture we almost have it the opposite. If you had two people, And one spoke, you always knew in an Eastern culture, even in Africa today, in the Middle East, the guy speaking is the little guy. He's the non-important guy. The guy up front who's talking, he's the Hermes. He's the second in command. Because the really important people, who really know a lot, don't open their mouth. They tell other people what to do. We do well once in a while to learn that. But anyway, Hermes was the Greek concept that was the speaker, the communicator, Maybe the interpreter of the truth of the God. So, hermeneutics is the art and science of taking the communication of God and understanding it, interpreting it, coming to understand what it means and therefore being able, ultimately, to communicate it to other people. And so, I use the word art and science. A lot of times I use that because there is a science to it and there's an art to it. And science is kind of like real cold, hard, Art kind of there's an art to it. You know, there's an art to speaking. There's an art to whatever. So it is something like that. I'd like you to look at another passage of scripture in Nehemiah, chapter eight and verse eight. Nehemiah, chapter eight, verse eight. You might say we don't need to interpret. I just it means what it says. It says what it means. We don't need to interpret it. And a lot of times I've made that statement in the sense of it means what it says. It says what it means. But we have to be careful not to try to be So smart that we don't need interpretation. We're so spiritual, we don't interpret the Bible, we just read it. Here's what it says in verse 8 of Nehemiah, chapter 8. So they read distinctly from the book and the law of God and they gave the sense and they helped them to understand the reading. What is going on there? Ezra, the priest and everything there. Remember, they had kind of gone through a tough time and they had not read the Word of God for a long time and people were not familiar with the Word of God. And all of a sudden they bring out the Word of God and they start to read the Word of God. And all of a sudden they said, you know, we're reading it, but you guys aren't getting it, are you? You're just not getting it. So they read distinctly. It's a good place to start, right? Read it clearly, distinctly. Read it. Then what did they do? They explained it. Nothing wrong with explaining it. We do that all the time in every realm and they help them to understand the reading. And so we find in the Old Testament way back then, as well as many other places, I think implicitly that there was a sense of interpretation. There was a sense in which the Word of God, the Torah, the truth, the information, instruction given had to be given the sense. What does that really mean? Help you to understand it, help people along. And that's what we do all the time. And so that's a very, very positive thing. It's what we have to do. So the question is, how does one interpret or understand the Bible? How does he do that? There are, um, I'm just going to say there are two broad fields. All right. Obviously there's a million ways to interpret the Bible. And, uh, like so many things who could go to a million, but you'd be here a long time tonight. So we're just going to go into two broad ones. We owe a lot to the Jews. I hope you understand that. And a lot of Jews, unfortunately, because they have not accepted and trusted in Christ as their savior, will not be spending eternity in heaven. And for that, we feel bad. But we still owe a lot to them as a nation, as a people. Paul talked about that in Romans. And one of the things they did for us was not only give us the Old Testament and preserve it so well, but they also were a people that, and there are different views of the Jews, but there was a group of them in the 14th and 15th century, especially in Spain, who said there's only one way to understand the Bible and interpret it. They called it the Peshitta, which is a Hebrew word, a Peshitta method of interpretation. And what did they mean by that? What they meant by that is what that word means. It means it was a simple interpretation. What does that mean? Let's use another word, plainly. Let's use another word, literally. The reason we hesitate to say literally, I'm not ashamed of that or afraid of that. And I think that's what we do. But sometimes when you say that, people have all kinds of weird thoughts in their minds, like, you know, whatever. I don't know what they think you think. But anyway, when it says the Lord's my rock, they think that I actually believe he's a rock. And you know what? I do. He's just not made out of mud and clay. He's still my rock, right? So that's a metaphor. He is my rock. The Lord's my shepherd. What does that mean? That means he's my shepherd. But he doesn't walk around with a robe on and a cane like the shepherds I see on TV, you see. But they start to think, well, then you're a literalist. Those literalists think God's really just a rock up there in the hill somewhere. No, He's like a rock. He is a rock in that sense. He's solid. He's immovable. He's eternal. He doesn't wear away. All those things. He's my rock that I can build on. So, peshetta just simply meant simple or plain or, I'm going to use the word literal, and those who hold the other position will get really mad when you say we believe in a literal interpretation because They say, so do we. All right. So I always say I believe in a pashyta method of interpretation and that they don't have a clue what I mean. And then I really look smart. All right. So how would we do that? Well, sometimes it's called the historical. What's the other words? Dramatical. What's the last one? Contextual. And maybe you could add some other words. In other words, when I come to John 3.16, it's in a context. I better read the context. Right? One of the great problems we have in interpretating Scripture is we don't read the context around it. You know, for example, the classic, of course, is in the Old Testament, it said, the fool will sit in his heart, there is no God. Take away that little phrase, the fool will sit in his heart. Quote that to your neighbor. There is no God. That's in the Bible. Did you know that? Oh, yeah. There is no God. You've left the wrong impression with your neighbor because you took it out of context, right? You ever have people quote you out of context? Watch a news reporter come and take a quote of you someday, and you hope they get all the words. And they don't. And they pick and choose, and they say, this little sentence. But just before that sentence, I said this. And just after that sentence, I said this. And hopefully you get a good reporter. All the ones I've ever had the opportunity to work with were very fair. But I know there are times when they have an agenda and they take it out of context. So we believe, we interpret it in context. What's the context of John 3.16? Where every sentence is in the context of a paragraph, every paragraph in the context of a section, sometimes we call it chapter. Every chapter is in the context of a book, every book is in the context of a testament, every testament is in the context of the whole Bible. So the context is the whole book. You can't read any little piece by itself without context. And that's where you come, it interprets itself in one way. All right? What's grammatical mean? Major? Bryant. All right. What's grammar got to do with it? Yeah. Yeah. Where's the verb? Where's the whatever? You ever do diagrammatical analysis? Every day. When these young interns come, they think they're going to have a lot of fun with me. And I say, OK, diagram. They go. What do you mean, diagram? I said, diagram. We're going to be studying Galatians chapter 6, verse 1 through 5 next week. You diagram it for me in Greek. We're doing Psalm 23, diagram it in Hebrew. And they go, what do you mean, diagram? I said, well, you better figure it out by next week because you've got to diagram it. Because that's what I had to do in seminary. It means you tear the whole sentence. You know how to diagram subject, verb, direct object, prepositional phrases, infinitives, all that kind of stuff? I didn't either. Every verse of the New Testament now in my office is diagrammed, you see. And I know where every verb goes, every pronoun goes. I know what the modifiers are. And I just looked at the grammar. You say, what a waste of time. You know how many hours I put into that? And when I die, somebody's going to burn the whole mess. But it helped me to understand the text. What is the real verb here? Matthew 28 is a classic example. What does it say in verse 18, 19? Our favorite verse. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, etc., etc., teaching them. When you diagram it, it flows so easily. There's only one verb. Make disciples. You said go, didn't you? Because in English it is there, right? In Greek it isn't. It's going. By going, make disciples. So you have going, baptizing, and teaching. Three participles. One verb. Key is make disciples. Here's how you do it. You've got to be going. You've got to be baptizing. You've got to be teaching. Now you understand the text, right? Same thing with Ephesians 4 and on and on it goes. You diagram it, it falls out. Where's the preposition? Where's the infinitive? Where's the participles? Participles always modify something. Participles are always second. Notice 1 Peter chapter 5. Let me just quote a verse of scripture. Casting all your cares on him, for he cares for you. What's the problem with what I just did? I broke into the middle of a sentence, didn't I? Casting all your cares on him, for he cares for you. You know what you don't know? The part of that sentence in front of it. Not wrong for you to quote that. I do it all the time. But that's found in the context. You can cast all your cares on him. That's a part of it. You can cast all your cares on him because he cares for you. What's the context? Submitting and then humble. When you submit to God and humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, you may cast all your cares on him and he'll care for you. That's a lot of difference, isn't it? So you walk up to somebody and say, you can just cast all your cares on him because he cares for you, versus walking up to somebody and say, you know, if you would submit to God and humble yourself under his mighty hand, you can cast all your cares on him and he'll care for you. Is there a difference? Quite a little bit of difference, isn't there? So some of us walk around like, anytime I want, with all of my arrogance, doing anything I want, living any way I want, and I can just walk up to God at any time and just dump on him all my problems. You say, well, I wouldn't necessarily try that. Here's what I'd try. I'd submit completely to him and totally humble yourself under his mighty hand and then try downloading. It works every time. And some people can't understand why they care. So the other cares on him, he doesn't care for them. And I say, read the verse. Grammar teaches you that, right? Grammar, grammar, grammar, grammar, grammar. Is it a noun? Is it a verb? Is it a direct object? Where's the pronoun? What's the antecedent of the pronoun he? Figure that all out. It takes work, but you can do it. Contextual, grammatical, historical is also the other word, and that just means the history of the text there, the understanding of it. A good way to understand it is called what did the author really intended to mean, called authorial intent. And that kind of goes back to the article. What did the original author intend this to mean? That's what you're trying to find. Now, the original author is Paul, Peter, and all the rest who really were Moved by God, so the author was. And that's all you're trying to do is figure out what God meant. And so that's a good thing. By the way, 2 Peter 1 20 and 21, no prophecy is of private interpretation. In other words, you can't. What do you think it means, Gary? Hey, what do you think it means, Mike? Oh, this is great. What do you think it means? You know, and you go your way and you go your way and you go your way and we'll all do our, you know, we'll all do our thing. It is not a private interpretation. So the first way is the pashita, the simple, the plain. I'm going to use the word literal because I think you know what I mean. But beware when you use it, you'll get your head knocked off by those who hold the other view. What's the other view? The other view is, I'll use the word symbolic or spiritual. Very carefully, I'm going to use the word allegorical because many of them don't really hold to an allegorical view, but sometimes we use that word and some of them do. But there's more than just the normal, plain, literal, here's what it says, for example, a thousand years in Revelation 20. What does that mean? Well, if you take it by the Jewish view of a peshitta, simple, plain, a thousand years means, wow, what a thought. But if you take it symbolically, it means long time, heaven, I don't know, whatever. By the way, in the Middle Ages, or before the Middle Ages, they had The real allegorical school got strong. They had four views of every passage of scripture had four interpretations, different interpretations. You don't have to remember this, but this is what they had. Jerusalem, you bumped into the word Jerusalem, had a literal meaning. There is a real city called Jerusalem, right? That was called the literal interpretation or the letter. Allegorical, it really meant the church. Every time it said Jerusalem, it really meant the church. And moral, it really meant your soul. And anagogical or futuristic, it means heaven. And so every passage of scripture was interpreted four different ways. What did it really mean? What did it mean in that context? What did it mean for your soul? Et cetera, et cetera. So this wheel is spiritual, allegorical, symbolic. For example, I think I have a quote there from A.T. Robertson. Maybe not. This is millenarianism. That's those who believe in a thousand year reign of Christ. Millenarianism derived and retained its hold on the minds of Christians from the supposed plain and literal sense of scripture. In other words, the only people who believe in a literal thousand-year reign of Christ are people who take the Bible literally. Poor people, you know. If you're one of them, I really feel sorry for you. Anyway, you're not smart enough to take it symbolically in the way it's really meant, right? Well, that's the way E.T.R. Robertson, who was a Baptist, by the way. He was a brilliant guy. Gotta love that guy, except for a few things like that. Anyway, so which is right? I wish I knew half of what he knew, but anyway. The right half, the other half I don't wanna learn. So which of the two is right? Oh, come on. If you don't have conviction on this one, you're in the wrong class. All right, hopefully we take a little, why would you take it that way? Because you know that many, many, many, many people, many of whom are really genuine Christians, many of whom are your friends, and you love them, they love the Lord, you can sing Amazing Grace, and on and on it goes. There's no question in your mind they're going to heaven, etc., etc. Don't hold to that view. So why are you convinced it's right? Okay. Okay. All right, that's why you have the pole. I mean, you're exactly right. OK, so there's a good because it leaves up to man to figure out what does a thousand years mean if it doesn't mean a thousand years? OK, and somewhat their answer would be, well, the scripture interprets itself. So you have to take that verse in light of whatever. OK, that would be somehow they would handle it. Homer Larson, for example, is a great guy who would handle it that way. Why do you hold to that? Brian. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. All of those are philosophical and logical answers and they're excellent. Why does the Bible say that and I can't remember the passage fully, but you must be in the Word daily. And if you are to be in the Word daily, God is shrinking your mind with His own Word. And if it's meant for somebody else to interpret, probably. Absolutely. Okay, that's a good point. Let me give you a couple of biblical things you can do from the Bible to come to your conviction. In Micah chapter 5, verse 2, it said that the Messiah would be born where... How do you take that? Literally or figuratively? Where do you think he really was born? He was born in Bethlehem. Wow, what a thought. In fact, when the wise men came and they said, where is this king going to be born? You know what they did? They went, Micah 5.2, Bethlehem. Were they right? You know what you can say? Every prophecy or passage that has already been fulfilled, has always been fulfilled, literally. Right? I think you can do that. If it said Bethlehem, it was Bethlehem. If he was born of a virgin, he was born of a virgin. You know, it was right on the line. You know how many prophecies of Christ were fulfilled the day he was born? At least 25. Did I say 24 once? Maybe it's 25. I think it's 25. You know what the chances of that happening just by chance? The chance of eight prophecies happening, let's say you prophesied eight things, and you're not smart, you don't know really the future, you just prophesied eight things, the chance that that would actually happen, all eight of them, according to one mathematician, would be this, it'd be one in like 100 quadrillion, which is like saying this, in the state of Texas, you cover it two feet thick, the whole state of Texas with silver dollars, and somewhere in that whole mess you put one red one, and say, go find the red one. How many think you could find it? How long would it take you? Kind of long. That's the chances of eight random prophecies actually coming true if they were just done by chance. And 24 of them were done, 25 on the first day he was born. 500 prophecies of Christ. Many of them have already been fulfilled. Every one literally. I expect all the rest to be literal too. Maybe you don't, but I do. I have 100% running track record. I kind of expect I'm on a good course. Another one is this. That's kind of from that. Daniel, for example, how accurate was his predictions, the ones that have already come true? 100 percent. In fact, it is so accurate that the liberals who don't like the Bible to be true and don't believe in miracles, don't believe in prophecy, don't believe in God. All right. They say it is so accurate that nobody could have written it before it happened. So Daniel didn't write it. in the day that he claims to have written it, some other guy later on after it all happened wrote it and looked back at history and he just wrote history and said this is prophecy and pretended that it had been written. He found this book that was real, real old. I mean, it is so accurate. In fact, my friend from Minnesota, who now is in Rochester, that's how he was saved. He read Daniel. He was a historian. He read Daniel. He went to the library, got out history books. He says, bam, bam, bam, bam, right, right, right, right, right. He says, it's gotta be. God's word. Got to be God's word, and he was saved reading out of the library. So those are some things some people would say, but it can't happen that way. For example, you read Revelation and it talks about plagues and all that. Remember what we said? It can't be literal. One third of the trees couldn't happen. Why not? Do you know all the plagues and exodus? How did they happen? Did the water turn to blood? Impossible. Couldn't happen. It's got to be taken symbolic, because there's no way water could ever turn to blood, right? Everybody who says that is a person who believes that in the Old Testament Book of Exodus, when water turned to blood, it actually turned to blood. If it happened back then, the whole Nile River, water turned to blood, why can't it happen that one third of the fresh water in the world, in the end times, would turn to blood? Can't happen, they say. It's got to be symbolic. Why? You see, it can be. It has been. Everything tells me that it would be taken that way. Let's go to the next one. The second way to interpret scripture, the biblical view, is called individual soul liberty. I just want you to take a minute here. In Acts chapter 5, verse 28 and 29, they say, we must obey God, we cannot obey man. Because the authorities said to them, the Jewish authorities, the guys who really knew the truth, said to them, you can't teach Jesus that way. And they said, We have to obey God. We cannot obey man, which is to say no teaching authority. I don't care how many rabbis you got there has the authority to tell me what the text says. Only God has the authority to tell me what it says about Jesus, about whatever. And therefore, there is no authority of man who can say to you, now, Mike, this is what you have to believe, because I'm the pope or I'm the pastor or I'm the smart guy or I'm the whoever. So you have to believe in the whatever. And the truth of scripture is nobody has the right to tell you that that's the truth and that's the way you better believe it and you better live it that way. Now people can help you understand it, we have teachers all the time, but that's what it says. Romans 14, 5 says, let each one be fully convinced in his own mind. It's called individual soul liberty. And of course you do a Romans 14, 12 and whatever. Hebrews 5, 12 says that does not eliminate teachers, all right? But it says this, Every individual has the right, but more importantly, here's the key, the responsibility. You have the responsibility to read, study, understand the word of God. And not just swallow what everybody tells you, you have the responsibility to read it, study it, understand it. And it does not mean, soul liberty does not mean you can believe whatever you want. And I'll believe whatever I want. And I won't try to correct you and you don't try to correct me. You just do whatever you want. That's fine. It doesn't mean that. It says you have a responsibility to look at this book and find out what it says. And so do I. Now, if we both do that, we should come to the same truth. But I can't ram it down your throat. You can't ram it down my throat. And on and on it goes. It is not dependent upon people telling you or counsels or commentaries or whatever. The Bible can and must be understood by every person. That's what it says at the bottom. Hopefully it can and it must be understood by every person. You have a responsibility to interpret, understand the word of God and don't say, well, my my pastor, it's up to him. Maybe your pastor can help you, maybe your Sunday school teacher can help you, but you are responsible before God to understand it and implement it. The Bible is the responsibility of every believer. You have an article on biblical authority. I hope you read it. It's often misunderstood, but that really sets us apart as Baptists. Now, there are others who hold the same view that aren't Baptists. I understand that. But we believe that the Bible is our authority and, more importantly, that every believer has a responsibility to read it, understand it and implement it in their life. And not to say, well, my priest, my pastor, my whoever, told me what this is what it says and he's taking care of that. I'm just going to go to bed. OK. Therefore, we must. If it needs to be interpreted, we need to. Get the right sense and understand it and be fully convinced in our mind. I'd just like to leave one verse there, John 7, 17. Jesus had a little problem with the Pharisees from time to time. Remember that? And if he had a problem with the Pharisees, they once said, how do we know that's true? More importantly, they said, prove to us That what you're saying is from God. You know what his answer was? John 7, 17. What does it say, Rebecca? Do you have the NIV? Oh, good. I was worried there. No, just kidding. Can you catch that? They said, how do I, how do we know that's from God? He said, if anyone wills to know his will, if anyone has a desire to know God's will, He will know, whether it's of God or man. You know what our real problem is? Interpretation. Yeah, we get in the way, it's not that this is such a tough book, I could never understand it. What's so tough about it might take you a long time. I mean, it takes hours and hours and hours, but not beyond anybody. I promise my heart, your heart, if any man wills to know his will, he'll know the teaching of his God. If I come with the right heart, God will make sure I get the right truth. that if I already want to prove that it's all right for a lady to be a pastor, or that homosexuality is an acceptable lifestyle, or whatever it is, I can use those because that's not a problem for any of you here, but maybe I could pick one that is a problem for some of us here, that it's okay for whatever. If I really want to prove it, my heart desires it, I might end up there, because that's where I wanted to end up anyway. So remember that one. Let's go to the last sheet and our time will be up in six minutes. The Bible's view, here's the most important one, but I preached it a while back, so I hope you got it. And if not, you can fill in the blanks. The Bible's view of its sufficiency. I hope you believe that the Bible keeps saying that it is sufficient. Now, it doesn't teach you how to build bridges, so it's not sufficient for every aspect of every piece of life. Some people have tried to prove that it will not teach you how to raise cattle. It doesn't teach you how to build bridges. It doesn't teach you a lot of things. But it does teach you what you need for life and living. It is sufficient in what it talks about. OK, first of all, it tells us it is profitable. Second Timothy 316, you could all quote that doctrine reproof for correction, instruction, righteousness. And you quickly understand that what is doctrine. What is to be right, what is right, that's what teaching is, what is what's right, what is to be right, what's reproof, what is not Right. You might get the sense of this. What's correction? How to get. And what's instruction? How to stay right. You get the sense of it? He picks up four very unique words. It says, here's what is right. Here's what is not right. Here's how to get right. Here's how to stay right. All right. And he gets it. And it says it's profitable for that. I mean, what else could you ask for? A book that would do that. How about Psalm 119, 97? It makes me wiser than the aged, which is not a cut on ages. It says old people should be smart. And I'm just a young guy, whoever you are, you can be, ever see a little kid walk up to somebody who doesn't believe the Bible? And the little kid, I remember Bradley once did that to this older guy, and he said, well, the Bible says he was right. A three-year-old kid can be right. He can be wiser than that old guy who says whatever. And the little kid says, well, the Bible says the world was created. And the old guy says, no, it was evolved. And who's right? Who's wise? You can be wiser than the aged people, the teachers, the smart people of our world. Just read this book. It is sufficient to make you what you need to be. It's profitable. It's powerful. Many, many of them. Psalm 1, you should be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, etc. Isaiah 55, 10, not return void. Acts 7, 38, the oracles of God. Hope you pick up that phrase, oracles, means the communication of God. God is speaking to us. It's powerful. Romans 1.16. I'm not ashamed of the gospel for it is a power of God's salvation to everyone who believes. You want people to get saved? What are you going to do about that? You better read them the book. The gospel is the power of God. Romans 10.17. Faith comes by hearing hearings of the word of God. It's powerful. Hebrews 4.12. Living in powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. By the way, I've said this before and if you didn't catch it, some people say this is the written word and Jesus Christ was a living word. That is not true, is it? Because Hebrews 4, verse 12 says this word is living and powerful. No other book in the world is living. This book is alive. Just try it. Just try it. I caught that. That was great. Martin Luther said, the Bible is alive. It speaks to me. It has feet. It runs after me. It has hands. It lays hold of me. I like that. Sometimes that's how you feel, right? You're trying to escape it and it keeps running after you and grabbing you. It is profitable, powerful. It is protective. You've read many verses. Ephesians 6. It's a sword of the Spirit. Protects you and helps you. Matthew 4. Christ was in conflict with Satan. How did he fight it off? I've kept quoting Scripture. If you want to fight off evil, whatever, just start quoting scripture. Genesis 3, has God said? If she would have just stuck to what God said, she'd been all right. And Psalm 119, 11, that I might not, thy word if I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee, that kind of a statement. I mean, you could find hundreds of them that would tell you. It really will protect you. And then finally, you ever have pills? You know, they're great. You just hate them. That's the word of God, right? I know it's right. It's true. It's good. It's great. But man, do I hate it. It's tough to swallow. It's mean-spirited. It's whatever, right? Absolutely not. Oh, how love I thy law. It's my meditation all the day. Psalm 119 tells you that. Psalm 19 says, sweeter than honey. Jeremiah says, I took and I ate, and I had joy and rejoiced. You can go down that list. You know, in Romans 12 it says, this is your reasonable service. It's very pleasant. 1 John 5, 3, His commandments are not burdensome. So God says to you, it's kind of you can really understand it with your kids, you know, son, you know, don't do that. Oh, my dad. Oh, don't do that. Oh, Dan, you always want to take all the fun, you know. OK, stick your finger in the outlet. Go for it, buddy. Dad, why didn't you tell me? I just did. They are not burdensome. We have a book that claims to be sufficient for all of our needs, that if life and living teaches us all about God, about self, about sin, about everything else that we need, and it's sweeter than honey, and we love it, and it just goes down so well. The Bible is active and not useless, if you're filling it in. Therefore, we must a whole bunch of things, right? You got to love it. meditate on it, read it, enjoy it, whatever. Let it hit your life, etc, etc. You should teach it. By this time you guys ought to be teachers. That's what Hebrews 5, 12 says. Hopefully you're teaching somebody. It might be maybe a three-year-old kid, because that's all you know how to teach, and that's fine. It might be whatever. The verse I'd like you to end with, about the Bible, I think is a, I don't know, I've always wondered what's the greatest verse in the Bible about the Bible? And Psalm 119 always comes to your mind, Psalm 19, etc, etc. But I think 1 Thessalonians 2.13, the order I get may be the one, says, We also thank God without ceasing, because when you receive the word of God, which you heard from us, a whole bunch of things here. You welcomed it. It was not the word of man. But as it is in truth, it was the word of God. Which also effectively works in you who believe. Boy, there's a powerful lot of truth there. This is a book that really does do something in your life if you trust it. If you believe it. Now, if you don't believe it, you can read this till you're blue in the face, probably won't do a whole lot of good. You got to believe it. You got to trust it. And I hope that you and I do that. Joseph Stoll, you ever have the wordless book? Did you do that at the Olympics, Bryant, the wordless thing, the four colors? Yeah. There's a wordless book. Anybody have that in something? VBS and whatever. We used to do that, right? Probably still do. It's a great thing. The different colors and no words in it. And we explain sin and all that kind of stuff. Great. Probably one of the problems we have in our day is we've become the wordless church. A lot of churches have kind of become the wordless church. That's not a good thing. And so, oh, there's a lot of subtle ways that's done. What's a worship leader today? What does he do? He's the guy who leads the music, right? Do you ever call the guy who teaches the word of God the worship leader? Not today. Worship is when you sing. Worship is not when you read, right? I mean, all of those kinds of things, when you stack them up, you realize our whole culture in Christianity is trying to say, you know, The Bible? Man, we gotta get something relevant here. Teach me how to handle my money. Teach me to sing. Whatever. I love Luther's quote. I've said it so many times, you're probably bored out of your mind. He says, the word of God's like a lion. Just open the door and let him run. He really believed in the Bible, didn't he? Luther. He says, it's like a lion. You don't believe this is powerful? Watch this. I'll open the door. Many times when people say to me, you know, I say, well, would you have a Bible study with me? Oh, I know what you're going to hear. No, just all we'll do is study the Bible. Is that OK? They're often afraid of it. But if I can get him to do that, I said, just we'll just read the Bible. We can read it together. We'll study it. We'll try to understand it. We'll just read the Bible. You don't have to become a Baptist. You don't have to believe what I believe. We're just going to read the Bible. If I can get him to do that, you know what I've done? I've won the battle almost every time because this is a lion. I just got to open the cage door. And it kind of gets them, doesn't it? Not all of them, because some of them have hard hearts and whatever, but that's our goal. Bring the truth to God's Word. Hopefully you learned something about the Bible or what the Bible says about itself. You have a quiz next week and we'll get to God or theology proper, which is the attributes in the person and so of God. What a tremendous God we have. Alright, read your 50 pages. Any other questions? Our time is up.