WEBVTT 00:00:01.000 --> 00:00:08.039 As I think about for a church building and this new season of ministry, we operate on the school calendar year. 00:00:08.119 --> 00:00:14.360 We think about ministry as a church, as kids go back to school, we start thinking about ministry here as we go from, well, we think about ministry every day. 00:00:14.440 --> 00:00:21.500 But the new season of ministry starting in September until the end of August, that's how we operate on our calendar, just like everyone else does with kids in 00:00:21.500 --> 00:00:21.920 school. 00:00:21.920 --> 00:00:28.920 So we think about what our season is as a church, what God has for us this year, and all the change and 00:00:28.920 --> 00:00:35.780 the way things might look at the end of the year, redoing kids' area, adding onto the building, creating new ministries, seeing people come unto the Lord, grow in him. 00:00:36.040 --> 00:00:39.360 Missions, trips, camps, outreach, retreats. 00:00:39.360 --> 00:00:41.240 There is a lot that goes into church life. 00:00:42.500 --> 00:00:49.980 But the one thing that we want to make constant is a drive to 00:00:49.980 --> 00:00:52.580 know Jesus and to make him known. 00:00:54.300 --> 00:01:00.140 And I think for us the best place for that journey to really take its steps is in God's word. 00:01:01.700 --> 00:01:08.060 God's word is the way God communicates to us, reveals himself to us and encourages us in our relationship to him. 00:01:08.100 --> 00:01:12.140 He makes himself known that we could know him and make him known in the world around us. 00:01:13.700 --> 00:01:20.660 And this season, as we start into this new school year, we want to begin a new sermon series on the idea of the kingdom. 00:01:21.640 --> 00:01:28.780 And the reason that we want to start here is because we want to take the opportunity to do really a 30,000 foot view of what the Bible is about, 00:01:29.180 --> 00:01:36.180 if that's where God communicates to you and how you can know God, understanding the Bible is important and I recognize when people approach 00:01:36.180 --> 00:01:38.220 scripture, sometimes it's intimidating. 00:01:39.260 --> 00:01:39.760 Where do you start? 00:01:40.340 --> 00:01:42.680 How in the world does all this fit together with me? 00:01:43.400 --> 00:01:44.510 What does it even saying? 00:01:44.800 --> 00:01:46.540 It speaks in ways that I'm not accustomed to. 00:01:47.100 --> 00:01:54.660 The Bible can be intimidating, but on the flip side of that, if you think about the beauty of what it is, 66 00:01:54.660 --> 00:02:01.960 books, over 40 authors, written on three continents, in three languages, over 1,500 years 00:02:01.960 --> 00:02:03.400 to write scripture. 00:02:03.480 --> 00:02:04.340 And one theme. 00:02:06.780 --> 00:02:07.200 One theme. 00:02:08.780 --> 00:02:12.240 And I think about me, I can't even carry a thought for more than an hour, right? 00:02:13.020 --> 00:02:13.320 It's like... 00:02:14.220 --> 00:02:21.240 And God works in people to write his word, one theme, multiple authors, for 1,500 00:02:21.240 --> 00:02:21.480 years. 00:02:23.880 --> 00:02:24.740 And what is the Bible? 00:02:26.420 --> 00:02:33.520 Honestly, it's God's love letter to you and in that theme is God builds his kingdom to rule and reign, invites 00:02:33.520 --> 00:02:35.360 you to be a part of it in relationship with him. 00:02:36.020 --> 00:02:38.040 Man rebels, God doesn't give up on us. 00:02:38.140 --> 00:02:41.980 He pursues us to the point he becomes flesh, gives his life for us. 00:02:42.260 --> 00:02:45.280 And at the end of Revelation, you see him restoring peace in all things. 00:02:46.720 --> 00:02:47.520 He makes all things new. 00:02:48.860 --> 00:02:50.970 If I gave one word to it, I would just say it's redemption. 00:02:52.600 --> 00:02:58.480 It's God's redemption for your soul to know and delight in him for all of eternity as he restores peace that was lost through sin. 00:03:00.300 --> 00:03:05.860 The Bible paints this beautiful picture that we could know this God who desires to make himself known to us. 00:03:05.900 --> 00:03:13.260 And so we're going to start this series about the kingdom and desiring to see what God wants to communicate to us and for our lives 00:03:13.260 --> 00:03:20.020 in him and through him and sort of as a prelude to the beauty of the Bible this morning what I really want to talk about is the beauty of the Bible. 00:03:21.200 --> 00:03:22.660 And that's what Psalm 119 is. 00:03:22.700 --> 00:03:30.040 If you've ever read this psalm, it is the longest chapter in all of scripture, 176 verses and it's all about the beauty of 00:03:30.040 --> 00:03:30.640 scripture. 00:03:31.360 --> 00:03:38.360 And the reason I think this is important is the more that you begin to appreciate God's word, the more you get out of it as you read 00:03:38.360 --> 00:03:38.460 it. 00:03:39.460 --> 00:03:46.740 When you can understand it and know how God desires to communicate to you as you dive into it with that sort of appreciation, I think the more you glean from 00:03:46.740 --> 00:03:48.780 scripture itself. 00:03:48.880 --> 00:03:55.900 And so starting this series off in Psalm 119 I think is important for us to the appreciation of the greater picture of what 00:03:55.900 --> 00:03:56.520 God communicates. 00:03:58.100 --> 00:04:05.480 When you think about God's word, this psalm is nothing but appreciation for 00:04:05.480 --> 00:04:07.030 the Bible. 00:04:07.700 --> 00:04:08.000 A love poem. 00:04:09.440 --> 00:04:16.620 I would say it's the greatest love poem in scripture, and you think of all the topics God could record for us, the greatest love poem, 00:04:16.680 --> 00:04:23.800 it's not about marriage, it's not about the kids, it's not about puppies or rainbows or candy canes or unicorns. 00:04:24.760 --> 00:04:25.580 It's about the Bible. 00:04:27.460 --> 00:04:34.480 When you look at this section, if you were just to thumb through Psalm 119, you'll see that every, this section is broken up into stanzas: eight verses for 00:04:34.500 --> 00:04:35.370 every section. 00:04:35.460 --> 00:04:39.600 And every section starts with a Hebrew letter from A to Z. 00:04:39.680 --> 00:04:41.140 There's only 22 Hebrew letters. 00:04:41.140 --> 00:04:48.160 So if you want to learn the Hebrew alphabet, you can start in verse one, you'll see each eight section every eight verses broken up by Hebrew 00:04:48.160 --> 00:04:48.580 letter. 00:04:48.580 --> 00:04:50.780 And so you can learn the Hebrew alphabet if you want to. 00:04:51.540 --> 00:04:54.340 And so this psalm teaches us appreciation for the Bible. 00:04:57.080 --> 00:05:02.040 But then on top of that, something else that's interesting is that the Jews would start their new year reading Psalm 119. 00:05:04.020 --> 00:05:11.450 Now, you think about what that communicates, Psalm 119's appreciation for God's word and every year the Jews would celebrate their new year in a day called Rosh Hashanah. 00:05:11.980 --> 00:05:16.280 Rosh means head, and how the and asana is year. 00:05:16.980 --> 00:05:24.180 So the head of the year, every year to start their year, they want to start off with an appreciation of God's word to understand the beauty of what they possess. 00:05:26.800 --> 00:05:34.100 Just for your understanding, Rosh Hashanah for us on a calendar year for us, it lands 00:05:34.100 --> 00:05:35.520 on September the 30th. 00:05:36.740 --> 00:05:41.160 Actually for us, it could land on September 29th, because a Jewish day begins at nightfall. 00:05:41.280 --> 00:05:48.300 So on September 29th at night, Rosh Hashanah starts and Jewish people will read this passage of scripture for 00:05:48.300 --> 00:05:49.970 the appreciation of his word. 00:05:51.400 --> 00:05:55.560 And when you approach God's word, it can be intimidating, right? 00:05:55.600 --> 00:05:57.670 But I don't think God wants it to be that way for us. 00:05:58.700 --> 00:06:05.840 I think sometimes as Christians, one of the more comical ways to look at God's word, maybe this is just me, but I remember 00:06:05.840 --> 00:06:10.880 being early in my Christian faith wanting to know God and not really knowing how to approach the Bible. 00:06:10.880 --> 00:06:14.400 And so I would open it up and I would do what I call Ouija board Christianity, right? 00:06:14.500 --> 00:06:18.740 So that's like, I don't really want to promote the Ouija board today, but you understand how it works, right? 00:06:18.740 --> 00:06:25.740 You get this cardboard layout and this little device that you ask a question and some sort of spirit's supposed to navigate you to the answer, 00:06:26.100 --> 00:06:26.240 right? 00:06:26.680 --> 00:06:30.710 Well, sometimes how Christians, I think will approach the Bible in a lack of understanding or intimidation. 00:06:30.860 --> 00:06:33.200 You're like, Oh Lord, I need to hear from you today, right? 00:06:33.220 --> 00:06:34.760 And you're like, God guide me. 00:06:34.760 --> 00:06:40.700 And you start thumbing through and then you take your finger and you run it down a spot, and then you read that word and you're like, so-and-so begat so-and-so. 00:06:40.720 --> 00:06:42.860 What is, what does this mean for me, Lord? 00:06:42.920 --> 00:06:43.980 I don't understand right? 00:06:44.020 --> 00:06:48.420 You just close the bottom and walk away and you expect that that's what's supposed to be the illumination for your soul, right? 00:06:48.800 --> 00:06:50.140 I even tried that last night. 00:06:50.140 --> 00:06:57.180 I was like, okay, let's give this a shot, and I Googled it, random Bible verse, right, just to see what had happened so I could apply it to my life and up 00:06:57.180 --> 00:06:57.280 pops. 00:06:57.560 --> 00:07:00.120 I wish I could make this up, but this is the first verse and only verse I looked up. 00:07:00.240 --> 00:07:07.340 Up pops Mark, chapter 14 verse 51 and it says, "And the young man followed Jesus and he was wearing a bed sheet because 00:07:07.340 --> 00:07:12.220 he was naked underneath." Lord, help me to apply this, right? 00:07:12.220 --> 00:07:14.360 Like, God, I'm willing to do whatever. 00:07:15.080 --> 00:07:16.960 How does that look in your life? 00:07:17.080 --> 00:07:24.040 I don't think that's the way God wants us to understand his word and I think the psalmist wants us to be aware of that. 00:07:24.040 --> 00:07:30.980 Like if you look at Psalm 119, you can't help but walk away with this love and reverence and respect for God's word. 00:07:31.250 --> 00:07:34.260 That's what the author wants us to walk away with. 00:07:34.280 --> 00:07:36.080 In fact, I would just say this for you. 00:07:36.460 --> 00:07:38.780 Psalm 119 is 176 verses. 00:07:38.820 --> 00:07:40.560 There's no way I'm covering all that today, right? 00:07:41.020 --> 00:07:48.340 I don't think that you would even fit through all of that as I cover 176 verses, but I do want to just give us a flyover 00:07:48.340 --> 00:07:52.140 of the appreciation this psalmist has as we start into this series together. 00:07:53.180 --> 00:08:00.420 If we walk away from Psalm 119 and we understand every verse, but we don't love God's word and in so doing love Jesus, we miss Psalm 00:08:00.420 --> 00:08:00.560 119. 00:08:03.660 --> 00:08:08.460 So the Jews would begin on this section of scripture for appreciation for God's word. 00:08:08.460 --> 00:08:10.740 Let me, let me just challenge you and encourage you as you think about that. 00:08:12.480 --> 00:08:13.940 Couple of things I want you to be aware of as a church. 00:08:14.580 --> 00:08:20.510 One is every once in a while we bring these Bibles to the church and we sell them, but we don't sell them to make a profit. 00:08:20.640 --> 00:08:24.740 We actually buy them in bulk so we get them cheaper so we can give them as a discount for you. 00:08:25.500 --> 00:08:28.010 This Bible is one that I read to my kids. 00:08:28.220 --> 00:08:35.500 If you think about how can I encourage my kids in God's word for them to see the beauty of God and come to know the Lord, I would encourage you, if you have elementary age 00:08:35.500 --> 00:08:42.640 kids to grab this Bible, because this Bible takes the big themes of scripture and it ties them all together to Jesus to help us 00:08:42.640 --> 00:08:44.580 see the grand scheme of the Lord in all things. 00:08:45.480 --> 00:08:47.260 We'll have this available next week for $10 bucks. 00:08:47.640 --> 00:08:50.140 You save a couple bucks if you buy it, get it here rather than an Amazon. 00:08:50.700 --> 00:08:51.780 I'm not here to make a profit. 00:08:51.880 --> 00:08:55.060 We just don't have money to give away and so if you want one, they'll be here. 00:08:55.060 --> 00:08:58.050 If you don't, that's okay, but these are great Bibles. 00:08:58.140 --> 00:08:59.040 Let me just tell you this too. 00:08:59.240 --> 00:09:03.800 If you're one that you're like, I still, even at my age where I'm at right now, I still don't feel like I understand the Bible. 00:09:04.220 --> 00:09:07.120 Can I just tell you the best thing to read is that. 00:09:08.220 --> 00:09:15.380 And that might sound ridiculous, but honestly the way that kids' story Bibles kind of paint the bigger 00:09:15.380 --> 00:09:16.940 picture together and especially this. 00:09:17.620 --> 00:09:22.920 This is a great place to start, so if you read this every night with your kids when they go to bed, great book to read. 00:09:22.960 --> 00:09:30.140 The other thing I want to encourage you in, if you go to our app and you click on the bulletin, there is a way to join a group at the very top 00:09:30.140 --> 00:09:37.180 of the bulletin for reading through the Bible in a year and so starting on September 30th which is Rosh Hashanah when the Jews would start 00:09:37.180 --> 00:09:39.040 on the new year, we're going to start this together. 00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:41.260 If you want to join, you can. 00:09:41.260 --> 00:09:42.220 If you don't, that's fine. 00:09:42.220 --> 00:09:44.550 I know some of us are already part of reading through the Bible in your groups. 00:09:44.720 --> 00:09:45.020 Good. 00:09:45.040 --> 00:09:52.300 I'm not trying to put more on you, just do what you're doing and enjoy that, but if you want to enjoy this challenge as well, there's an option to read through the New Testament 00:09:52.300 --> 00:09:53.800 and an option to read through the old Testament. 00:09:54.780 --> 00:09:58.760 If you're like, I can't do the Old right now, just want to do the New, I've never read through the Bible, that's a great place to start. 00:09:58.920 --> 00:10:01.100 If you want to challenge yourself for more, go to option two. 00:10:01.900 --> 00:10:05.510 We're doing the reading through the Bible, through The Bible Project. 00:10:05.660 --> 00:10:10.780 If you're not familiar with The Bible Project, they create videos that explain sections of scripture as you go through it. 00:10:11.400 --> 00:10:14.720 And so what you notice if you join this group is it'll give you a chapter of the Bible. 00:10:14.760 --> 00:10:19.520 There's only 260 chapters in the New Testament, which means if you sign up for that, you're reading less than a chapter a day. 00:10:20.520 --> 00:10:27.640 Less than a chapter a day, and every time you start a new book of the Bible, there'll be a video there to help explain it to you and then some videos that explain major concepts 00:10:27.640 --> 00:10:28.120 of scripture. 00:10:29.140 --> 00:10:31.430 So if you want to challenge yourself to know God's word, I think that's a good thing? 00:10:31.600 --> 00:10:36.130 Like, it would be weird to get to heaven one day and you meet James or John and he was like, what'd you think of my book? 00:10:36.160 --> 00:10:37.800 And you're like, I never read it. 00:10:38.620 --> 00:10:39.820 "Jesus, I wrote you a love letter. 00:10:39.900 --> 00:10:42.020 What'd you think about my love letter?" "I don't know. 00:10:42.200 --> 00:10:44.420 I couldn't even name the books." Like, don't do that. 00:10:44.500 --> 00:10:45.020 Don't do that. 00:10:45.100 --> 00:10:47.800 Like, if you love Jesus, read the love letter he wrote for you. 00:10:48.780 --> 00:10:56.000 It's interesting, if you don't watch the videos, but all you do is the reading in this, in 10 minutes a day, 10 minutes a day is all it takes, 00:10:56.000 --> 00:10:56.640 you read through the whole Bible. 00:10:57.740 --> 00:11:03.840 If you just read in two weeks, the amount of time the average American watches television, you could read through the Bible and then some, right? 00:11:04.020 --> 00:11:06.380 So this is not like a big sacrifice here, right? 00:11:06.520 --> 00:11:12.060 So God's word, if you're interested in wanting to read it and know it, starting September 30th you can join this group. 00:11:12.060 --> 00:11:15.760 There's places to ask questions, share things within the context of this. 00:11:16.100 --> 00:11:17.220 You can familiarize yourself with it. 00:11:17.260 --> 00:11:22.360 Take a look at it if you would like, but once again, let me get back to Psalm 119. 00:11:22.600 --> 00:11:29.600 Psalm 119, one of the things that's really incredible is not just that it's in Jewish scripture and how much the Jews appreciate it and Rosh Hashanah, but 00:11:29.600 --> 00:11:31.400 how much it's influenced even American history. 00:11:32.940 --> 00:11:40.040 Charles Spurgeon said that anyone that's a minister for the gospel should have to remember Psalm 119, I will tell you I don't have 00:11:40.040 --> 00:11:40.470 it all memorized. 00:11:40.920 --> 00:11:48.160 When I went to Bible college, they didn't make us memorize sections of it, but Psalm 119 was so influential in fact that there was a political leader 00:11:48.160 --> 00:11:50.940 in Great Britain's history named William Wilberforce. 00:11:52.540 --> 00:11:57.000 He became a political leader at 20, he became a Christian at 25. 00:11:57.360 --> 00:12:01.490 He Lived right near parliament and he would walk to work every day that he worked. 00:12:03.100 --> 00:12:10.280 And history tells us when he would walk to work, he would quote Psalm 119 and he gave his life to the care 00:12:10.280 --> 00:12:12.140 of humanity as a political leader. 00:12:13.180 --> 00:12:17.000 And he spent his entire political career fighting against slavery. 00:12:17.840 --> 00:12:24.320 He even joined forces with John Newton, the writer of Amazing Grace and he fought against slavery. 00:12:24.320 --> 00:12:29.900 Now, the tragedy with William Wilberforce's life as he died in July 1833. 00:12:30.740 --> 00:12:36.280 Great Britain didn't outlaw slavery until the following month, in August of 1833. 00:12:36.340 --> 00:12:39.630 But I think at the end of his life, he knew that it was coming. 00:12:40.380 --> 00:12:46.970 William Wilberforce and the influence of Great Britain became an influencer to the United States political decisions over slavery. 00:12:47.920 --> 00:12:54.570 Psalm 119 affects us even today without realizing it, because this was the psalm that this man cherished as he walked with the Lord. 00:12:55.880 --> 00:12:58.080 Psalm 119 is a beautiful section of scripture. 00:12:58.120 --> 00:13:04.980 If I just read some verses, I'm going to just read these to you and you can get an appreciation for the way the author communicates the beauty of God's word. 00:13:05.060 --> 00:13:07.000 By the way, no one really knows who wrote this psalm. 00:13:07.360 --> 00:13:14.540 A lot of people think maybe Ezra or David, but no one knows for sure, but listen to the way he says this, "How blessed are those whose 00:13:14.680 --> 00:13:18.440 way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord. 00:13:18.760 --> 00:13:21.960 With all my heart, I have sought you to not let me wander from your commandments. 00:13:22.820 --> 00:13:26.480 Your word I have treasured in my heart that I might not sin against you. 00:13:27.080 --> 00:13:30.500 Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderful things from your law. 00:13:31.100 --> 00:13:38.180 The earth is full of your loving kindness, oh Lod, teach me your statutes." 89: "Forever, oh Lord, your word is 00:13:38.180 --> 00:13:41.680 settled in heaven." Verse 97: "How I love your law. 00:13:41.920 --> 00:13:43.800 It is my meditation all the day. 00:13:44.100 --> 00:13:51.500 I am exceedingly afflicted, revive me, oh Lord, according to your word, the sum of your word is truth and every one of your righteous 00:13:51.500 --> 00:13:52.860 ordinances is everlasting. 00:13:53.540 --> 00:13:57.860 Those who love your law have great peace and nothing causes them to stumble. 00:13:58.500 --> 00:14:05.640 The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces." Throughout 00:14:05.640 --> 00:14:09.620 this psalm, appreciation for God's word. 00:14:09.700 --> 00:14:15.940 In fact, the author refers to God's word using eight different terms within the context of Psalm 119. 00:14:15.980 --> 00:14:22.980 He Refers to the Bible as the law, god's testimonies, precepts, statutes, commandments, judgments, words, ordinances. 00:14:24.320 --> 00:14:31.480 If you were to even take just that last verse and think, okay, he refers to God's word as the law of your mouth is better than gold 00:14:31.480 --> 00:14:32.420 and silver pieces. 00:14:32.700 --> 00:14:35.120 What does that mean when he references the word law? 00:14:36.420 --> 00:14:39.400 By definition, in Hebrew, the word law means a straight edge. 00:14:40.700 --> 00:14:44.460 You don't realize how important a straight edge is until you don't have it, right? 00:14:44.520 --> 00:14:46.300 Especially when you're like you're laying the foundation of something. 00:14:46.880 --> 00:14:47.820 God forbid you start off crooked. 00:14:49.640 --> 00:14:55.790 I think even in our relationship, my wife and I relationship, she saved our marriage a few months ago. 00:14:56.120 --> 00:15:03.180 And I mean it's a little bit extreme statement, but let me just tell you how I can hang something on a wall and it 00:15:03.180 --> 00:15:04.040 will be there until I die. 00:15:05.120 --> 00:15:12.120 My wife is gifted at understanding how to make a house feel like a home and understanding when things go out of style and what makes 00:15:12.120 --> 00:15:13.130 something look good somewhere. 00:15:13.600 --> 00:15:14.890 But she has a great eye for that. 00:15:15.200 --> 00:15:19.380 And eventually as we get to the frustration of those things, we fight. 00:15:19.380 --> 00:15:26.560 "Just leave it here." But one day she came home with a toll that saved our marriage and it was this measuring tool with 00:15:26.560 --> 00:15:30.240 these things that prod it into the wall with its own level built into it. 00:15:30.280 --> 00:15:34.600 So you don't even have to question anymore what the tool says goes in the straight edges there. 00:15:34.800 --> 00:15:36.540 And it's wonderful for us. 00:15:36.600 --> 00:15:38.060 Never again will we have a fight. 00:15:38.120 --> 00:15:38.720 It's great. 00:15:38.720 --> 00:15:39.240 Right? 00:15:39.240 --> 00:15:41.240 But that's what God's saying about his law. 00:15:43.600 --> 00:15:48.880 Life's going to rock you, things are going to press against you. 00:15:50.240 --> 00:15:51.460 And they'll want to influence you. 00:15:53.020 --> 00:15:53.500 Where do you go? 00:15:55.420 --> 00:15:56.080 How can you hold true? 00:15:58.320 --> 00:16:00.360 The psalmist describes his life this way. 00:16:00.400 --> 00:16:08.020 He says that he battles, he says in the way that he battles and plots against him and slanders and tots and persecutions and afflictions. 00:16:09.100 --> 00:16:16.100 Now, this psalmist apparently as a person of influence that he gets to be in the courts of kings and leaders because in verse 23 he even 00:16:16.100 --> 00:16:19.160 says that princes and religious leaders malign against him. 00:16:20.920 --> 00:16:24.580 Think about how difficult that is, when world leaders aren't standing with you. 00:16:26.400 --> 00:16:27.110 How do you stand true? 00:16:28.880 --> 00:16:29.320 The law. 00:16:31.020 --> 00:16:31.500 God's word. 00:16:33.020 --> 00:16:35.900 It's this straight edge for our lives. 00:16:38.620 --> 00:16:45.680 Psalm 119 verse 99 says it like this, "I have more insight than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation," so 00:16:46.040 --> 00:16:53.100 of all the teachers in the world, of all of the things that people could say to me, God, it's your word and meditating on it that directs my life. 00:16:53.120 --> 00:16:56.440 I understand more than the aids, because I have observed your precepts. 00:16:56.880 --> 00:17:00.260 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. 00:17:02.180 --> 00:17:02.440 I love that. 00:17:03.600 --> 00:17:05.500 That's one of the more popular phrases of Psalm 105. 00:17:05.640 --> 00:17:08.380 A lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. 00:17:08.400 --> 00:17:18.359 Maybe the psalmist is saying this, more than knowing every lyric to every Taylor Swift song, maybe 00:17:18.359 --> 00:17:21.440 God wants you to know the words to his song he sings over you. 00:17:24.240 --> 00:17:25.079 God wants you to know his word. 00:17:27.859 --> 00:17:31.520 Parents, even in your position, God wants your kids to know his word. 00:17:31.540 --> 00:17:34.380 What a great place to introduce them to that. 00:17:34.820 --> 00:17:41.880 You think about the way life goes for us as people, like we go through seasons of life and about the time you feel like you've mastered 00:17:41.880 --> 00:17:45.020 a season, your season of life changes and you're in a new season. 00:17:46.460 --> 00:17:53.480 You go from being a teenager, to dating, to college, to careers, to being under a boss, to being 00:17:53.480 --> 00:18:00.900 a boss, to being married, to being a parent, to discipline your children, to maybe caring 00:18:00.900 --> 00:18:05.740 for your parents, to retiring, now trying to figure out how to navigate the later years of your own life. 00:18:05.740 --> 00:18:12.970 Like, every time you start the master a season of life, then that season changes and then you've got to start all over and learn what it means to walk with God and all of that. 00:18:13.860 --> 00:18:14.240 Where do you go? 00:18:16.560 --> 00:18:22.500 The one thing that remains constant: God's word. 00:18:23.460 --> 00:18:28.980 One of the things that the author of Psalm 119 does that I really enjoys as he describes God's word. 00:18:28.980 --> 00:18:36.260 Listen to this description in the Bible, he says, it's righteousness, it's trustworthiness, it's truthfulness, it's faithfulness, it's unchangeableness, 00:18:36.260 --> 00:18:43.360 it's eternality, it's light, it's purity, beautiful ways to describe God's words, to elevate it in our minds, but when you think 00:18:43.360 --> 00:18:50.560 about these terms, these characteristics he uses about God's word, isn't it interesting to think that we can also use the same characteristics to describe God? 00:18:52.120 --> 00:18:53.680 That God is righteous. 00:18:53.820 --> 00:18:58.890 God is truthful and trustworthy, that he's faithful, he's unchanging, he's eternal, he's light, he's purity. 00:19:00.540 --> 00:19:07.580 The reason the psalmist is able to describe God's word the same way that we would describe God himself is because his word is 00:19:07.580 --> 00:19:09.020 directly linked to his identity. 00:19:11.460 --> 00:19:18.580 As a church, we would say it like this, that because God's word is so aligned with who God 00:19:18.580 --> 00:19:23.700 is and his identity being communicated to us, that we believe in the verbal plenary inspiration of scripture. 00:19:25.020 --> 00:19:26.300 What we mean is every word is true. 00:19:27.820 --> 00:19:34.840 What's really cool about God is he inspired this word and every word that he wanted within it is that he didn't do it contrary to personality, that God's still used people's 00:19:34.840 --> 00:19:37.780 personality to communicate the truth that he wanted, down to the very word. 00:19:38.900 --> 00:19:41.460 Like with David, he's a poet and so David writes a lot of poetry. 00:19:42.600 --> 00:19:48.720 With Luke, he's a doctor paying attention to detail, and so he used him to write the Gospel of Luke and Acts. 00:19:50.680 --> 00:19:57.840 But God gives us his word communicated truthfully and so the author wants us to see the significance of his word 00:19:57.840 --> 00:20:02.600 being that way by tying the same characteristics of God to the identity of what God's word is. 00:20:03.160 --> 00:20:10.540 And when I say, look, we believe as a church or our faith rests in the thought that God's word was communicated truthfully to us, I 00:20:10.540 --> 00:20:12.460 realize not everyone may believe that. 00:20:15.440 --> 00:20:17.240 And I want you to know, I think that's okay. 00:20:19.340 --> 00:20:26.580 And the reason I say I think that's okay is not because I don't want you to believe that, I think that's the right thing to believe, but because everyone has to start somewhere. 00:20:28.760 --> 00:20:32.480 And maybe, maybe, you've heard in your life that the Bible has been mistranslated. 00:20:34.400 --> 00:20:35.080 How do you know? 00:20:35.380 --> 00:20:37.500 Maybe someone you trusted said that to you? 00:20:38.140 --> 00:20:41.270 Like some people say, I believe in Jesus, but I don't believe in the Bible. 00:20:41.340 --> 00:20:42.390 I think the Bible has been corrupted. 00:20:44.320 --> 00:20:44.680 What do you do? 00:20:46.420 --> 00:20:48.780 Well, you've got to begin the journey somewhere. 00:20:49.500 --> 00:20:52.080 And I would say for me as a Christian, that was very important to me. 00:20:52.120 --> 00:20:57.580 Probably the topic I studied more than any other topic as a follower of Jesus is the way we receive God's word today. 00:20:58.800 --> 00:21:01.060 Textual criticism, transmission of scripture. 00:21:01.100 --> 00:21:05.980 I've read a ridiculous amount of thousands of pages related to that, but I wanted to know I could really believe in it. 00:21:06.040 --> 00:21:12.840 And let me just give you a few thoughts to consider as you think about the importance of God's word and the reflection the psalmist gives on God's word. 00:21:12.880 --> 00:21:20.160 And the number one, when you think about the Old Testament, it's important to know the Old Testament Jews had very 00:21:20.160 --> 00:21:23.030 meticulous laws in the way they would write God's word. 00:21:24.300 --> 00:21:32.340 In fact, they had certain washing ceremonies that they would go through, rituals before they were even allowed to write pen to paper, God's word, 00:21:33.120 --> 00:21:34.520 and to record it. 00:21:35.260 --> 00:21:42.940 In fact, if they were to record and they were to make a mistake, there were certain laws that required them to trash the document 00:21:43.330 --> 00:21:46.810 because they wouldn't allow error to be done in transmission. 00:21:48.360 --> 00:21:55.500 When you get to the time of Jesus's day and the Old Testament is complete, Jesus shows up and he never refers to himself 00:21:55.500 --> 00:21:58.500 as the corrector of scripture, where it went wrong. 00:21:59.620 --> 00:22:02.670 He only refers to himself as the fulfiller of scripture. 00:22:03.460 --> 00:22:10.460 In fact, in Matthew, chapter five verses 17 and 18 he says this in verse 17, "I came not to abolish the law," or correct the 00:22:10.460 --> 00:22:10.720 law. 00:22:10.920 --> 00:22:12.620 He came to fulfill it. 00:22:13.420 --> 00:22:20.620 He says in verse 18, "Not one jot or tittle will pass," meaning not one small stroke, not one apostrophe or comma will pass 00:22:20.620 --> 00:22:22.480 until everything is fulfilled. 00:22:24.180 --> 00:22:31.220 Jesus even quoted in Mark chapter 12 verse 36, he quoted a writing from David, but rather than said, David said, Jesus, 00:22:31.260 --> 00:22:32.740 he gives a statement, he says, God said. 00:22:33.800 --> 00:22:38.160 And he's recognizing that God supernaturally works through his authors to record exactly what he wants. 00:22:39.280 --> 00:22:41.880 And so you get to the Old Testament, Old Testament manuscripts. 00:22:42.040 --> 00:22:46.720 We have Old Testament manuscripts older than Jesus, literally the Bible Jesus would read from. 00:22:48.380 --> 00:22:49.500 And so you see the Old Testament established. 00:22:49.760 --> 00:22:51.320 But what do you do with the New Testament, right? 00:22:51.360 --> 00:22:53.050 Because the new Testament came after Jesus. 00:22:54.040 --> 00:23:01.260 I would say when it comes to the new Testament, the New Testament, today we have over 25,000 manuscripts of 00:23:01.260 --> 00:23:04.060 the Bible, handwritten manuscripts of scripture. 00:23:04.920 --> 00:23:12.140 We do not have any original copies of the original writings of the New Testament, but we do have copies of the Bible starting as early as 30 years 00:23:12.140 --> 00:23:13.760 after the New Testament was completed. 00:23:15.320 --> 00:23:16.480 25,000 of them, in fact. 00:23:17.180 --> 00:23:21.310 Now I will tell you this, out of the 25,000 manuscripts that we have in scripture, they're not perfect. 00:23:22.560 --> 00:23:23.590 Some of them have spelling errors. 00:23:24.640 --> 00:23:25.920 Some of them reverse word orders. 00:23:26.620 --> 00:23:31.180 Some of them accidentally leave off entire lines of scripture, because they're just copying line to line, they accidentally skip. 00:23:32.300 --> 00:23:39.500 Sometimes there's people that make notations, that's a writing scripture, meaning as they're writing the Bible, you think back in first, second, third centuries, 00:23:39.600 --> 00:23:40.540 they're recording scripture. 00:23:40.860 --> 00:23:45.420 They have someone teaching them about scriptures, they're recording it, and they realize that verse is little confusing to them. 00:23:45.500 --> 00:23:47.530 So they write a note off to the sides that make some notations. 00:23:48.120 --> 00:23:48.580 They're not thinking. 00:23:48.900 --> 00:23:54.400 "You know, in 2,000 years from now, someone's going to have this and look at this." They're thinking, this is God's word and I want this. 00:23:54.400 --> 00:23:54.830 I want to understand. 00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:56.380 So they make a notation off to the side. 00:23:57.820 --> 00:24:03.540 So when you look in early manuscripts, you see that, but you have 25,000 manuscripts. 00:24:05.100 --> 00:24:10.040 And so what that means is, and there's no Oxford dictionary in this day, right? 00:24:10.080 --> 00:24:14.880 There's no solidifying of a language down to one fine point, like an Oxford dictionary to refer to. 00:24:15.240 --> 00:24:16.560 It's what you find in certain regions. 00:24:17.160 --> 00:24:19.180 People might spell words a little bit different. 00:24:19.680 --> 00:24:21.000 And so they're not mistakes in scripture. 00:24:21.140 --> 00:24:27.180 They're variants, like someone might spell John J-O-N and someone else might spell John J-O-H-N, but it's still John, right? 00:24:28.100 --> 00:24:35.200 And so what scholars do, they do something called textual criticism, where they take all 25,000 manuscripts and they look at them and they can say, 00:24:35.200 --> 00:24:39.080 look, this person accidentally switched Jesus Christ and Christ Jesus around. 00:24:39.120 --> 00:24:46.520 The reason we know this is because this manuscript was written in the 10th century and the rest of these manuscripts 00:24:46.520 --> 00:24:47.520 don't even have it. 00:24:47.660 --> 00:24:51.280 So you can see that this person made a variant in the text by switching the name around. 00:24:52.080 --> 00:24:54.060 So, we have 25,000 manuscripts to compare it to. 00:24:54.520 --> 00:24:58.460 It's easy to see where in the transmission of scripture that happened. 00:24:59.400 --> 00:25:03.610 Now, some people think that when it comes to the Bible, the way that we get it today is sort of like the telephone game. 00:25:03.880 --> 00:25:09.800 Like, first century person gets designated to talk to the second century person and whisper in their ear what to say. 00:25:10.420 --> 00:25:13.520 And then the second century ends and they designate a person to talk to the third century. 00:25:14.240 --> 00:25:18.180 You get all the way to the 21st century and the Bible's got a lot of words in it, man. 00:25:18.220 --> 00:25:19.790 So how do you know that what we're saying is correct? 00:25:19.920 --> 00:25:24.540 Well, I would just say the telephone game has nothing to do with the way transmission of scripture takes place. 00:25:24.840 --> 00:25:28.160 We don't pass this on from generation to generation and get rid of everything previous. 00:25:28.460 --> 00:25:33.080 You've got 25,000 manuscripts that go back through centuries to see what was written. 00:25:34.380 --> 00:25:36.420 So, the idea of the telephone game doesn't work. 00:25:36.520 --> 00:25:37.070 But here's the beauty. 00:25:38.680 --> 00:25:44.560 When it comes to the New Testament, Rome had conquered the known world in multiple languages and people groups. 00:25:45.360 --> 00:25:52.720 And so when a letter in scripture is written in the New Testament, people would grab a hold of that letter and they would begin to send it out and it would start to be translated 00:25:52.720 --> 00:26:00.040 into multiple languages, early on in Christianity, so that no one could intentionally corrupt 00:26:00.040 --> 00:26:03.860 the Bible because it had gone all through Rome in multiple languages. 00:26:05.400 --> 00:26:08.360 Could you imagine the feat of being able to pervert something like that? 00:26:08.560 --> 00:26:09.140 It would be impossible. 00:26:11.380 --> 00:26:18.480 So, no one could intentionally corrupt the Bible because the Bible went through all of Rome and no one could unintentionally corrupt the Bible because you have thousands of 00:26:18.480 --> 00:26:18.980 manuscripts. 00:26:20.800 --> 00:26:27.320 So when you hold God's word, I think it's important for us to appreciate its beauty. 00:26:28.740 --> 00:26:33.280 Began 3,500 years ago, finished little over 1,900 years ago. 00:26:34.760 --> 00:26:37.760 People have given their lives for other people to possess it. 00:26:38.960 --> 00:26:46.160 I think early on in Christianity, fourth century, actually starting in the first century to fourth century, 250 years of Christianity, 125 00:26:46.280 --> 00:26:47.910 of them, Christians were persecuted. 00:26:48.740 --> 00:26:52.560 The last emperor before Christianity was legalized under Constantine was a man by the name of Diocletian. 00:26:54.100 --> 00:26:58.080 Diocletian's on record wanting to wipe Christianity off the face of the earth and destroy every Bible. 00:27:00.120 --> 00:27:03.190 In Christianity, today, 25,000 manuscripts remain. 00:27:04.220 --> 00:27:05.920 People gave their lives to hold it. 00:27:06.480 --> 00:27:08.420 Think about even in English to hold the Bible. 00:27:09.400 --> 00:27:14.000 We're just a couple of weeks away from the anniversary of this man's death, William Tyndale. 00:27:15.000 --> 00:27:22.200 William Tyndale represents a group of Christians in these centuries that wanted people to possess God's word, and Tyndale 00:27:22.200 --> 00:27:28.000 believed he wanted people to possess God's word in their own language and he gave his life to write the Bible in the English language. 00:27:29.040 --> 00:27:31.580 People like John Wycliffe, John Haas, William Tyndale. 00:27:32.280 --> 00:27:35.840 William Tyndale was strangled alive, burned to the stake, and his ashes were scattered. 00:27:37.960 --> 00:27:39.220 Just so you could have the Bible in English. 00:27:40.560 --> 00:27:43.940 Out of this group of people, there was a group that went to Geneva, Switzerland. 00:27:44.560 --> 00:27:48.580 They ended up translating the Bible into English and it's called the Geneva Bible. 00:27:48.580 --> 00:27:50.160 It's the first study Bible ever written. 00:27:50.240 --> 00:27:55.020 Those people in Geneva, Switzerland were the ones that came across the Atlantic ocean to found America today. 00:27:56.640 --> 00:27:59.200 Pilgrims and Puritans, Geneva Bible. 00:28:00.660 --> 00:28:07.780 America wasn't even founded on the King James, believe it or not, it was founded on the Geneva Bible, but it was more importantly founded on the 00:28:07.840 --> 00:28:15.350 thought that God's word was written for God's people and you should be able to read it and understand it and know him. 00:28:17.100 --> 00:28:24.580 And the psalmist, just like throughout history where Christians have given their lives, is communicating the beauty of God's word so that we don't miss it. 00:28:24.580 --> 00:28:25.040 Listen to this. 00:28:25.060 --> 00:28:32.420 Psalm 119 verse 72, "The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces." Verse 89: 00:28:32.520 --> 00:28:40.820 "Forever, your word is established in heaven." And you think about this, the 00:28:40.900 --> 00:28:42.180 vast appreciation of Psalm 119. 00:28:43.840 --> 00:28:51.120 I want to hone in on just one thought, one thought for us that 00:28:51.120 --> 00:28:56.860 I think really draws what the author desires for our lives as we read through a psalm like this. 00:28:58.620 --> 00:29:05.620 When you think about God's word and understanding and appreciating it, now, some 00:29:05.620 --> 00:29:13.180 Christians will read Psalm 119 and get fired up and in the end they'll get so fired up, that we'll mis-apply 00:29:13.180 --> 00:29:15.260 our excitement. 00:29:15.620 --> 00:29:22.400 Meaning sometimes Christians will get so fired up about the Bible that they have a personal relationship with the Bible, but not Jesus. 00:29:24.140 --> 00:29:27.920 It's possible to love Bible so much that you just want to know it, but you really don't ever know God. 00:29:29.400 --> 00:29:35.060 We can read the Bible like it's a requirement, but not really even encounter God. 00:29:37.100 --> 00:29:44.400 When Christians emphasize the Bible, sometimes we quickly follow that phrase like in a love for the Bible, "Come on and join my Bible 00:29:44.400 --> 00:29:45.440 study," right? 00:29:46.340 --> 00:29:47.920 "Everyone, we should know the Bible. 00:29:47.960 --> 00:29:48.660 God wrote us the Bible. 00:29:48.740 --> 00:29:56.580 It's a love letter and we love God and we want to know him, so come join my Bible study." Here's 00:29:56.580 --> 00:29:58.240 an interesting idea to ponder. 00:30:00.740 --> 00:30:03.140 Did you know the Bible rarely uses the word study? 00:30:05.240 --> 00:30:10.700 In fact, one of the most famous verses people often quote in referring to study, 2 Timothy 2:15, "Study to show yourself approved. 00:30:10.820 --> 00:30:14.860 A workman need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." That's the way that King James says it. 00:30:16.220 --> 00:30:19.740 But did you know the word study there is actually a poor translation of the Greek? 00:30:20.980 --> 00:30:24.660 What it really says is be diligent to show yourself approved before the Lord. 00:30:25.480 --> 00:30:26.520 That's not the word study at all. 00:30:27.840 --> 00:30:30.900 In fact, Psalm 119 doesn't even use the word study. 00:30:32.620 --> 00:30:39.180 Rather, Psalm 119 wants to emphasize something for us in a different way, and I want to encourage this in this because just consider this for a minute. 00:30:40.060 --> 00:30:42.560 First three centuries of Christianity, there was no Bible. 00:30:44.000 --> 00:30:45.140 Christians had scrolls. 00:30:45.240 --> 00:30:46.740 The Bible had been written, right? 00:30:47.440 --> 00:30:51.600 Christians had scrolls, they had 66 scrolls, but no one carried around the Bible in a book. 00:30:52.780 --> 00:30:54.530 The Bible had been scattered all over in the Roman Empire. 00:30:54.700 --> 00:31:00.180 But if you are fortunate to even have the majority of those books, not all of them, you were considered lucky or fortunate. 00:31:01.680 --> 00:31:05.160 It wasn't until the fourth century, they compiled all the books into one location. 00:31:06.780 --> 00:31:08.640 I think Christians read from the Bible. 00:31:08.680 --> 00:31:13.980 I think Christians may have had all the copies of scripture, but it wasn't universally recognized until the fourth century. 00:31:14.740 --> 00:31:20.800 But when you study Christianity in the first three centuries, they had an incredible impact on this world, maybe more so than any other time in history. 00:31:21.380 --> 00:31:22.100 How do they do that? 00:31:23.340 --> 00:31:24.240 They weren't in Bible study. 00:31:27.280 --> 00:31:28.040 What did they do? 00:31:30.580 --> 00:31:37.460 I think the psalm emphasizes it throughout his work rather than just simply say study I think what the psalmist wants our hearts to do is this. 00:31:39.200 --> 00:31:46.800 Meditate and delight, meditate and delight. 00:31:48.220 --> 00:31:54.150 These words aren't about just studying God's word, so you can be really smart and impress people with your Bible trivia. 00:31:56.100 --> 00:32:03.320 These words are encouraged to let God's word rest deeper in your soul than just simply by 00:32:03.320 --> 00:32:03.570 studying. 00:32:05.820 --> 00:32:09.820 Meditate and delight. 00:32:10.120 --> 00:32:16.020 When you think about delighting, delighting sees God's word as a gift, not a guilt. 00:32:17.640 --> 00:32:22.230 So when I said in the beginning, hey, if you're interested in joining a group that's going to read through the Bible in a year, can I tell you what I don't want? 00:32:24.400 --> 00:32:26.180 I don't want you to feel guilt to do that. 00:32:28.280 --> 00:32:30.810 I want you to be delighted that you have opportunity to do that. 00:32:33.260 --> 00:32:40.320 This word delight just reminds us that God's word is a gift and he 00:32:40.320 --> 00:32:44.860 wants you to know, he wants you to know him, and he cares about you. 00:32:46.600 --> 00:32:49.820 He wants to be a lamp unto your feet and a light unto your path. 00:32:51.120 --> 00:32:58.160 This is not necessarily an obligation, this is a privilege that throughout the centuries people have 00:32:58.160 --> 00:33:05.240 given their life for so that you could have an opportunity today to go, "Nah," or to really 00:33:05.240 --> 00:33:06.780 love it and delight in it. 00:33:07.900 --> 00:33:10.040 When you appreciate it, you get more from it. 00:33:10.920 --> 00:33:16.630 And so when you go to open the pages because you're so delighted, you have this angst want to see what it's going to communicate to you that day. 00:33:17.660 --> 00:33:21.020 Not to just say I read it so I can say I read it because I'm really smart. 00:33:21.080 --> 00:33:21.740 I know the Bible. 00:33:23.000 --> 00:33:24.040 It's not about that. 00:33:25.320 --> 00:33:27.010 The Bible's given so that you can know him. 00:33:27.440 --> 00:33:28.810 The other thought with it is to meditate. 00:33:29.160 --> 00:33:36.420 When the psalmist writes about delighting and meditating, oftentimes he uses this and following verses like you see verse 15 meditate, but verse 16 00:33:36.420 --> 00:33:38.740 delight, verse 23 meditate. 00:33:39.040 --> 00:33:39.960 Verse 24 delight. 00:33:40.020 --> 00:33:45.050 These things are interconnected with each other that the idea of you wanting to meditate is because you're delighting in it. 00:33:45.840 --> 00:33:48.560 So when you think about meditation, what does that mean? 00:33:49.520 --> 00:33:53.990 You could read the Bible every day but never let it read you. 00:33:55.180 --> 00:34:01.900 And this idea of meditation is allowing God's word in us and so that it will transform us and so, the question I think we should ask them is how do you meditate? 00:34:02.860 --> 00:34:09.699 Like, there's this Eastern thought of meditation where you empty yourself, but I think the biblical thought of meditation is filling you up. 00:34:09.900 --> 00:34:12.820 It's not about emptying you, it's about filling you with who God is. 00:34:14.080 --> 00:34:19.120 One of the beautiful passages of scripture, if I just read you a couple of these, Psalm 119, 15 and 16, look at these back-to-back. 00:34:19.739 --> 00:34:22.320 "I will meditate on your precepts and regard your ways. 00:34:22.620 --> 00:34:24.239 I shall delight in your statutes? 00:34:24.300 --> 00:34:31.340 I shall not forget your word." One verse I think really helps me and hopefully you understand what meditation 00:34:31.340 --> 00:34:32.679 is like in scripture. 00:34:32.800 --> 00:34:39.840 Isaiah 31 verse four says this, "For thus sayeth the Lord to me as the lion or the young lion growls over his prey." Let me 00:34:39.840 --> 00:34:41.250 just, we'll end it right there. 00:34:41.460 --> 00:34:47.820 There's some more thought to this verse, but you see God communicating and as God communicates, it says as a lion or a young lion over his prey. 00:34:49.500 --> 00:34:54.610 He's growling, or some translations will say he is roaring. 00:34:55.820 --> 00:34:56.850 Now, what does that have to do with meditation? 00:34:57.720 --> 00:34:58.160 Well, here it is. 00:34:59.420 --> 00:35:03.080 That word growl is the same Hebrew word for meditation. 00:35:05.860 --> 00:35:10.720 When you think about when a lion roars, it's not just a sound that comes out of his mouth. 00:35:12.140 --> 00:35:19.400 From the depth of his soul, his body reverberates in that power, to 00:35:19.400 --> 00:35:21.620 the point the roar of a lion can be heard miles away. 00:35:23.600 --> 00:35:26.900 His core shakes over this roar. 00:35:29.240 --> 00:35:35.320 The idea of meditation becomes a much more vivid picture that way, right? 00:35:35.700 --> 00:35:42.240 From the depth of who you are, it's not just simply attaching it to your mind, but in the core of your being. 00:35:43.140 --> 00:35:49.480 His word is life and it becomes your life, and when you reverberate, God's word comes out. 00:35:51.620 --> 00:35:52.420 That's meditation. 00:35:54.460 --> 00:35:55.840 For a Christian, I think it looks like this. 00:35:56.300 --> 00:35:58.680 When you open up God's word, you don't read it just to say you read it. 00:36:00.140 --> 00:36:03.180 You open up God's word and say, God, I'm not going to put it down until I feel blessed. 00:36:04.780 --> 00:36:07.060 It's not about accomplishing a set amount of reading. 00:36:08.360 --> 00:36:14.340 It's about his power being made known in your life and it transforming who you are. 00:36:17.480 --> 00:36:24.480 As we go through this story together, I want the Bible to come alive in our life to 00:36:24.480 --> 00:36:31.760 not it not be something that intimidates us, but transforms us, that helps us grow 00:36:31.760 --> 00:36:36.800 in our love and appreciation for the way God desires to make himself known in our lives. 00:36:38.340 --> 00:36:43.480 My hope, guys, really is that we Rosh Hashanah, let me say it like this, Rosh Hashanah like a lion. 00:36:45.040 --> 00:36:52.040 That's my desire for us this year as a church, as we think about all that the Lord has for us, that we bring in this new year, this new season of life 00:36:52.040 --> 00:36:59.310 as an opportunity to reset, to know God and from the core of who we are reverberate his glory in our being.