I want to be obedient to the Lord. I know I'm talking to the choir tonight. Amen. Why we believe what we believe. Everybody all right? Amen. I know everybody here is on the same page. Amen. But I woke up with this on my heart this morning. Amen. I couldn't shake it. Amen. But God just kind of unfolded some things to me. And I just want to help us tonight. I want to encourage you. Amen. Child of God. Amen. I want to talk to you about your Bible. Is everybody alright? Don't get nervous now. Amen. I just want to talk to you for a few minutes about your Bible. Amen. While we have the King James Bible. Is everybody okay? Amen goes right there. I know you know it, amen. But sometimes it's good just to have it reaffirmed. Let's find out what the Word of God says. Let's find out what the Holy Ghost says. Let's find out what the Bible says about the Bible. Amen. And just some things, amen, I want to help us with tonight. Amen. So I want to start out, amen. I've seen something on the TV, amen, Fox News. Somebody say, thank God for Fox News. Everybody all right? Amen. They had a Christian meeting for families, amen, to try to tell boys you're boys and girls you're girls. And some people showed up to protest and started messing with the Christian people. And so the mayor of Washington gets up there and blames the Christians. They provoked it because they know good and well that Washington was a LGBTQ community. All kinds of things. And so in the end, that wasn't the bad part. I heard some pastors. Y'all know what that means, don't you? When somebody says a word, they do that. They fixin' to be sarcastic, probably. Amen? They call theirselves pastors. First fault I found was one of them was a woman. And though they started telling them why they were Christian folks was wrong and this was supposed to be church people. And so anyhow they was telling them why they was wrong. And then they started quoting some scripture. And the scripture wasn't right. Well what they call scripture. But they started quoting some words. Everybody all right. You can't quote scripture if it ain't King James it ain't scripture. Is everybody okay? And so as I heard that, and anyway, and just kind of dismissed it, I thought, man, they're so whacked out. Man, it's pathetic. But I woke up with this scripture on my heart this morning, and this thought, amen, about our Bible. You wanna know why people are so messed up? Amen, it's because they got the wrong book. They've got the wrong book. Amen, why do we have a King James Bible? Well, let me start out, amen, with it like this. The book of Psalms, chapter 119, verse 89 says, Forever, forever, O Lord, I want you to understand that word forever what he's talking about there he's talking about eternity past through eternity future forever all right we got to understand this didn't just happen last week amen God didn't just decide to put this down last week he said forever forever Oh Lord thy word Thy word, thy word, this is his word, correct? The Bible, is everybody all right? Y'all wake up now, we're just gonna do a little teaching tonight. Amen, thy word is settled in heaven. Thy word is settled in heaven. See, God settled it a long time ago. The problem ain't the Bible, the problem ain't in heaven. Amen, the problem, I can't understand why we can't get it settled down here. Is everybody alright? That word settled. That word settled means like this. It means it's placed. His word has been placed. His word is settled. His word has been, it means established. Amen. It means established. It means determined. It means composed. That word settled means it's been composed and it's been adjusted. God ain't up there readjusting. Amen. It's done been adjusted. And that word adjusted means like this, made exact. Any faults that was ever in it, and there was none never in it, God's adjusted it. God has made it exact or conformable to what God wants. Amen. Reduced to a right. Reduced to a right. from a standard or form of our standard settled. Amen. It's done. It's done. It's already been all the adjusting that God's going to put into it. It means it's not going to be changed anymore. See, that's what He's saying when He says, Forever, O Lord, Thy Word is settled. Thy Word has not been adjusted. Amen. There's no adjusting to it. It doesn't need to be changed. He said, Thy Word. Thy Word is settled in heaven. Amen. God's not up there looking down on us and finding out what we think we need or how we think it ought to be read or written down. God's already settled it in heaven. Amen. That word composed means set together or in due order. It's put together like God wants it already. God's not changing it. God's not pulling this out and putting something else in. God's not the one doing the changing. We do the changing down here, amen, when our lifestyle gets out of concept with that book right there. Is everybody all right? Amen. When all life gets against this right here, when this right here starts rubbing people the wrong way, then they come up with some new book, they put the title Bible on it, and it ain't nothing but something somebody's written down, amen, so they can feel good and live like they want to. Have no standards. Is everybody all right? No morals. Because it rubs them wrong. He said it's determined. That means it's ended. It's concluded. That word determined, this is what it means. Decided. Amen. Fixed. Resolved. Is everybody alright? This is what He's saying when He says, Forever O Lord, thy word is settled. It's been determined. Amen. God's not going to change it. It's been resolved. If there was ever any issues with it, and there's never been an issue with the Word of God, amen, it was resolved, it was settled, it's determined, and God ain't changing it. Amen? And so as I began to look at that, amen, I began to think about that. I woke up with that Scripture on my heart. Amen, about being settled. And there were some things, amen, that I want to talk to you about for just a minute. Amen. In the book of 2 Peter, he said, and just in case we're wondering, I mean, we find out what the Word of God says about the Word of God. The Word of God's been settled a long time ago. Amen, forever. Amen, before the world was, the Word of God was settled. Before God spoke the earth into existence, brother Mike, God's word was settled in heaven. Amen. He wasn't going to change it then. Somebody say amen. Well, why isn't King James the one? We're going to get into that in just a minute. You're going to find out why. And I don't know why this is so heavy on my heart tonight. Amen. But it's been on there ever since this morning. Amen. And really, whenever I saw that the other day, I thought, man, they're just crazy. But boy, if there's ever been a time in history when man needs to get back to the true Word of God, it's the day in which we live. Amen. I'm telling you right now, when I read my Bible, amen, and it rubs me the wrong way, there's one of two things I can do. I can either get me right, or I can throw my Bible out and pick up a different book. Is everybody okay? And so as I look at this, he said, In 2 Peter chapter 1 verses 19 through 21, I believe, he said, we have also a more sure word of prophecy. Whereunto ye do well, that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place. Amen. We need to take heed to what the Bible is saying. Amen. He said, Until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts, knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God. Listen to what he said. spake as they were moved on by the Holy Ghost. And I looked that word prophecy up. Amen. I know y'all know what it means. Amen. Ain't trying to add nothing or change it. There's a couple definitions. Amen. It's a discourse emanating from divine inspiration and declaring, listen to this, the purposes of God, whether by reproving or admonishing the wicked, listen to that, or comforting the afflicted. Let me read that to you again. Amen. It's declaring the purposes of God, whether by reproving or admonishing the wicked, or comforting the afflicted, or revealing things hidden, especially by the foretelling of future events. It's used in the New Testament to the utterance of the Old Testament prophets. Amen. What are you talking about, preacher? He said, holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Amen. But there was somebody there when Moses was there, and they was writing these things down. There was somebody there, Brother Eric, when Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego was there, and they were writing down the events, they were writing down what they said, they were writing down what they prayed. See, there was somebody there, Troy, amen, when Isaiah, amen, was out there. And Jeremiah and Ezekiel, is everybody alright? And Habakkuk. And somebody was writing this stuff down. Wasn't writing it down in a notebook. Somebody say amen. Wasn't typing it off on a computer or printing it out on a typewriter. Oh no, they were writing it down on scrolls. They was writing it down on skins. Is everybody alright? And somewhere, somebody, amen, had enough of God about them, amen, to keep them, amen, and to keep them preserved. This is the Word of God. This is the Word of God. These scrolls. Is everybody alright? And so we see that these men spake and these words were written. And in the back of one of my Bibles, it's got a great story. It tells the event of the Bible, the King James Bible, and it gives a lot of history. And I won't go through all of it, Amen, but we do know, let me read this, Revelation chapter number 22, verse number 18 says, For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, What? The words of the prophecy of this book. If any man shall add to them, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book. And if any man, verse number 19, and if any man shall take away from the words, from the words, from the words, if any man shall take away from the words, I don't like that word chastisement, let's change it to correction or to, you know, a stern talking to. If any man shall, what did he say? If any man shall take away from the words of this book, of this prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book. Verse 19, and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life and out of the holy city and from things which are written in this book. Well, we know that once you're saved, you're always saved. Am I talking it right? Bears to me now, this is Brother Tracy Puckett doctrine and I'll stand on it till I die. I don't care who it is. I don't care what you think. I don't care what Grandpa says. Amen to ain't no man getting up preaching out of an NIV and anybody getting saved. Why? Because they've taken the words out of the book. And he said they're taking their life. God's the one that said he was taking their life. He wasn't going to let them go. Is everybody alright? I mean, all we got to do is just read what the Bible has to say about the Bible. About the Word of God. Ain't nobody getting saved out of no NIV, no RSV, no New King James. Is everybody alright? Ain't nobody getting saved out of one of them brand new rainbow Bibles. Amen goes right there. Now I'm not talking about the rainbow God put in the sky. I'm talking about the one Amen. The sodomites hijacked out there. Amen. Somebody say Amen right there. God's promise and they will act like it's something for them. Oh no, let me tell you what it is. It's God's judgment on them. Is everybody alright? Amen. So, as I begin to think and meditate and the Lord begin to speak to me, and I had a whole lot more I was going to say, but I want to read this to you. It's in the back of one of my Bibles. Amen. Many, many, many, many, many, many years ago, men said, you know what? It used to be that only priests had the Bibles, had the Scriptures. Are you hearing me? Amen. And you'd have to go and hear them read out of it if you wanted to hear the Word of God. Everybody alright? Nobody had a copy like we've got today. And they were great men that sacrificed a lot to try to get the Bible, the Word of God, into our hands. And so, as we look at just a few, there's a man, Wycliffe, amen? He wanted to get the Bible, he wanted to get the Word of God into the man behind the plow's hands. Are you hearing me? He said, that man does not need to just labor all day. But he ought to be able to labor. Amen. Out there in the field, meditating on the Scripture that he read that morning. Amen. And singing the Psalms that he read that evening. He wanted to put it in their hands, so when they come in out of the field, they can get their Bible down. They can get into the Scripture and find out what the Word of God said. So he was one of the first that had that great idea, but I guess, and I don't want to get in the hole out of that, but I guess one of the greatest men in history, amen, was William Tyndale. I believe that's how you pronounce his name. Some say Tyndale, amen. We're saying Tyndale tonight because I'm preaching. Is everybody all right? William Tyndale, amen. This man was so smart. He loved God. He could speak seven languages. He could speak Greek, and Hebrew, and Chaldean fluently, and English. I mean, it wasn't even a second language to him, Tiny. They were all like first languages to him. He could read them. He could speak them. I mean, he was a very, very smart, very brilliant man. I believe he had a touch of God on him. I believe God had a purpose for him. And so as I begin to think about it, I look at this. William Tyndale was born in 1494 and educated at Oxford. Became obsessed, listen to this, with a desire to produce a new edition, or to produce the edition of the Bible in the English language of his day. And you listen at this right here, because this right here, remember, Holy men of old spake. Moses spoke. Somebody was writing it down on the parchments. Paul spoke. Paul was writing it down. Somebody was with him writing it down. Are you hearing me? When Jesus was speaking, there was men there writing it down. Are you hearing me? They were writing these things down. And listen to this. This is how it was done. He wanted to produce a Bible in the English of his day, translated, listen to this, from the original Greek and Hebrew text. Are you hearing me? It wasn't what some other man had written. It wasn't what some other religion had brought out. This was the original Greek and Hebrew text is what it was translated from. It says that from the original Greek and Hebrew, Tyndale was expert in seven languages. And then it goes on to say, failing to secure any encouragement from the Bishop of London, Tyndale crossed the channel to Hamburg, he went to Germany. Tyndale was, in 1525, William Tyndale was betrayed by a friend. Are you hearing me? They took the scriptures after he sat down and translated the whole Old Testament. Had it all translated, had it printed out, they burned them. You know what he done? He sat down and done it again. Is everybody alright? He didn't let that stop him, so listen to this. He was betrayed by a friend in 1525, was deceivingly persuaded to come to England, where he was martyred on October 6, 1536, with those famous words upon his lips, Lord, as he was dying, Lord, open the king of England's eyes. But before that, he was banished, amen, from his own home country. They wouldn't have nothing to do with him because all he was trying to do, Brother Townie, amen, was take the Word of God and put it in your hand. Go where you could read it. Take the Scriptures, brother Daryl, amen, from Hebrew and Greek and Latin, take those and write them down in an English language where you could take that book and look at it and read it. That's all he was taught. And so they kicked him out of his country, they banished him. Now, listen to this. And then they brought him back, deceived him, nailed him to the stake and burned him. One of his final words, he's saying, Open the King of England's eyes. 80% of the text of the King James Version Bible is taken from the Tyndale Bible. 80% of what we hold in our hand. 80% of this scripture was translated by this man. The King James Version of the Bible, now listen to this. We're almost done. This is on my heart. I can't help it. Amen. And I hope it helps you tonight. I hope it helps all of us. Because in the future, we'll probably be pressured. Amen. We'll probably be told the King James is outdated. We'll probably be told the King James, you don't need that. You need this. You can understand it better. Well, God's already settled it. God's not giving any man permission to change it. Is everybody okay? And so here it says this. Now time to turn to a consideration of the most important English version of the Bible ever to be produced, called sometimes the Authorized Version and sometimes the King James Version. In the summer of 1603, when King James was on his way to London to receive the English crown, he was presented with a petition of grievances by the clergy of Puritan convictions, which led the king to call a conference for hearing and for the determining of things pretended to be amiss in the church. I like that. This conference was convened for three days, January the 14th through the 16th in 1604. It was known as the Hampton Court Conference. During this conference Dr. John Reynolds, the leader of the Puritan party and president of the campus Corpus Christi College, Oxford, made the motion that the new translation of the Bible be undertaken. Although the majority present were against the motion, that sounds like today, the majority is against the King James Bible, still are. They was against the motion, it appealed to the king and he ordered that such a translation be undertaken. Now listen to this, I like it. 54 of the greatest biblical scholars in Great Britain were brought together for this great task and divided into six groups. Three to work on a translation of the Old Testament and three on the New Testament. Two groups for the Old and New Testaments were to meet at Oxford, two at Cambridge, and two at Westminster. Amen. And listen to this, and this is what they've done. Brother Larry, they would take their work, they would look, first they looked at Tyndall's work, they approved of that, agreed with all the translations there. Everything else, they got down. There was no margins. So they couldn't write their own opinion. So they would go through the parchments, they'd go back through the originals, transcripts. These 54 scholars, these men could speak Hebrew and Greek and Chaldean and English, and don't tell them how many other languages, but these were the qualifications. They had to be able to read and translate these words of these languages just like they could do their own in English. These were very smart individuals. These were men who studied the Scriptures from a time at a young age up to where they were at. They were teaching the Scriptures. These men were not just some run-of-the-mill people. These were not somebody picked up off the street. These were men that loved God. These were men that dedicated their lives to the service of the Scriptures. And so as they were there, there was no margins. They couldn't write in what they thought. Amen, and if there was any discrepancies, amen, they set it aside so they could all come together in prayer and look over this scripture and find out what God was trying to say. And when they could all come to agreement after much prayer, so then when they got done with their part, they'd send it over to this group. This group would check and make sure theirs was right. When they got done with their part, they'd send it to this group. This group would check and make sure they got it right. So it's been checked three times. Checked and rechecked. Checked and rechecked. And then in 1611, it was completed. Are you hearing me? That's why it's called KJV 1611. Because in 1611, the translation was completed. I believe, I could be wrong, I should have looked at that, about 150 years after that, I believe it was, they went back through it, the words that were misspelled, they corrected some spelling, something else they'd done, but they didn't change anything. They went back through, corrected the spelling. I believe that's when they started putting in the verses, adding verses to it and chapters and stuff like that, because a lot of it was just letters. And after that, that is what we have in our hand. That is the King James Bible. And you know what God said? He said, forever my word is settled in heaven. Everything those holy men of old spake, Somebody wrote down and now it's in here. And man thinks he has the authority to come in and change it? Talk to me now. Man thinks he has the authority after God said it's settled. It's been determined. It's not changing. Amen. It's been composed. It's been put in the order I want it in. We think we've done God so smart. We've outsmarted God. Well that ain't really what it needs to say. It needs to say something different. Everybody alright? Why do we have the King James Bible? I'm going to die with the King James Bible in my hand. I'm not never going to change. Amen. I'm not going to yield to them. I'm not going to give in to them. So tonight, I know it might have been different. Probably wasn't what you was expecting. Amen. But sometimes it does us good to know why we believe what we believe. Why are we holding on to this old book? But everybody will tell you it's outdated. Everybody will tell you you don't need. Amen. It just sounds better the other way, preacher, and everything. Well, you know I can just understand that other version better than all. Yeah, I could too before I got saved. This book's a spiritual book. It's to be spiritually discerned. Amen. The light, the Bible said the light shone in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not. Before I got saved, I couldn't understand it. Are you hearing me? But after December the 17th, 1989, I couldn't put it down. Even before that, I didn't even want to pick it up. Is everybody okay? Before I got saved, Brother Darrell, I didn't even want to pick up a Bible. I tried reading it a time or two. I said, I'll read it and see what all the hype's about. I mean, I had family members that was in church serving God. I mean, I never went, but you know, they did and everybody talked about the Bible since the time I was a little kid. I mean, I went to church a few times when mom and them wanted to do a little better or something. Amen. But, boy, I didn't understand nothing. I picked it up. I said, I'll read it. I read it maybe once or twice. Throwed it back down. Couldn't understand. Couldn't get nothing. Couldn't hold my eyes open. I mean, it just put me to sleep. But boy, after December the 17th, 1989, that night, hey man, I got up out of that altar over at High Chapel Baptist Church. I went home. Hey man, my brother-in-law put a King James Bible in my hand. That's what they preached out of over there. Hey man, I opened that Bible up out of Genesis 1-1. I started reading. Man, all I know about 5 o'clock in the morning. I still had that Bible open. I'm still reading that Word of God. Boy, speaking of my heart, it was alive. It was like a fire burning down in my soul. I mean, boy, it's feeding me. It's something I've been needing. It's something I couldn't put down. And buddy, that's why, that's why, because men died on the stake. Men gave their lives. Men were banished from their country. I'm going to put the Word of God, the King James Bible, in our hands. Hallelujah. That's why I'm a King James man. And you can't say that about any other Bible. Not one, not none can you say any of that about. Amen. Not one. There ain't another one that goes back in history like this one. Can't say that about any of the rest of them. Everybody okay? Hallelujah. Somebody come on to the piano. Amen. So I'll encourage you tonight. Amen. You trust that book right there. That King James Bible. It'll lead you right. It'll get you where you need to be. Is everybody okay? It'll get you where you need to be. Don't let nobody cloud your mind about it. Amen. Even before I knowed all that, brother Darrell, I was a King James man. Sure was, Miss Shelley. I saved, I was taught me a King James Bible. I didn't know why, but I knowed I was taught one. Somebody told me, you don't need that. And I said, yes I do. They said, why do you need it? I said, because that's what my preacher uses. Brother Michael had a King James Bible. Is everybody okay? That's exactly what I told them. I said, you just do that because your preacher does it. I said, you're right. I said, I'm going to keep quoting it too. I mean, but that doesn't make me mad. I almost said something I shouldn't have said. But I didn't. Amen. Amen. I said, you can say anything you want to, I ain't putting it down. I said, and you know that whole saying, you have to pry it out of my cold dead hand. I said, you ain't that bad. Everybody alright? Amen. You ain't gonna kill me. Amen. But I'm gonna hold on to that book right there. I'm gonna live with it. I'm gonna live by it. Amen. I'm gonna die with it. And I guarantee you, it'll carry me home. The words in this book lead all the way home, child of God. The words in this book right here. Amen. They'll take you all the way to heaven. That's right. Hallelujah. Is everybody okay? I know it's different. Sunday school lesson tonight. Sometimes we need them. Amen? Why do we have it? Well, now you can tell them. It's from the originals. Amen? It's the stuff that was written down about Moses and Aaron. Are you hearing me? Mount Carmel. Is everybody alright? Amen goes right there, that's right. This is something that was written down about the battle of Jericho. This was written about Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. And it was written down and somebody got those originals, amen, that original text, amen, and they wrote it down and I'm holding it in my hand. Why in the world would I want to sell it out to anything else? Boy, those people that know more than us, Wayne, are so they think. And you know what they've done? They've changed it. They've changed it. Amen, they can live any way they want to. Everybody all right? Amen, that King James rubs them wrong. You know, it preaches against things. That's right. That King James has a few standards in it. Is everybody all right? And that's what the problem is. Amen. When their life don't measure up to the standard, they just get them a different book. Well, we can't use that no more. You know, times are changing. You're right. But Tracy, times have changed. It's not the same world it was 50 years ago. You're right. But the Bible says, Forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. I believe that was written before America was constituted. I believe that was written, amen, before the world was formed. I believe that was written, why? Because in the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life. And the life was the light of men. And the light shone in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. Amen? The Word. It's always been, and it's settled, brother Darrell. It doesn't matter whether you believe it, it doesn't matter whether you won't accept it. It's not going to change it. And there's one thing, there's one thing, there's one thing, brother Richard, I can't stand. Amen? There's one thing I cannot stand. And that's being wrong. I'm right. I know I'm right. I am right. Brother Billy, I ain't wrong. Brother Tiny, we ain't wrong. Tell them amen, son. Brother Tiny, me and Brother Tiny ain't wrong. We are right. Amen. We gonna stand on it. We gonna die on it. Amen? I hate being wrong. Man, I really hate being wrong and my wife knowing about it. Everybody all right? Amen right there. That's right. I've been wrong about a few things. But I ain't wrong about this. Amen. You can be wrong all you want to. But I ain't wrong. I'm right. Every other one of them is wrong, man. They might argue, would you