The Canon of God's Word

Praise the Lord, everyone. Lord is good today, isn't he? Amen. He's always good. I'm thankful for the last couple of weeks that we've had conferences and services and the Lord has blessed and been with us. Thankful for the district conference. And then also a week and a half ago or so was our national Spanish conference in Lufkin, Texas where 183 got the Holy Ghost and thankful for that. Praise the Lord. Amen. And then last week we had a special service in Spanish where we installed or had a service to dedicate or present our new pastors, the assistant pastor and then our youth pastor.

And we're thankful for the move of the Spirit that was in that service last Sunday. And then this week we've also they've had a revival up in uh in the sanctuary Spanish church. And so last night we were able to go there and talked to brother Scott that was in all the services and he said that over 10 people received the Holy Ghost and then last night two more got the Holy Ghost and five were baptized. So we're thankful for God what God is doing. Amen.

Praise God. So I want to get into the word today and um um so this is my first time teaching this class. So hopefully uh first time ever teaching this class. So uh it'll be interesting if I don't slip into Spanish or something like that. You know, that'll be that'll be a a trick. Uh but yeah. So today I wanted to talk about the the subject today that I've been given is the canon of God's word. And when you think about the canon of God's word, what do you think about?

Um I'm sure that some people that are fresh into church and they don't know anything about the canon of the uh word, you know, the canon of God's word. What do you think about when you think about the canon of God's word? And we've got a little graphic there. Uh on the top maybe somebody's thinking about that canon, but that's not exactly right, I guess. But maybe that was what enters into your mind thinking about a canon. What's the the canon of God's word? Or maybe at the bottom there underneath you think of a bunch of uh priests or a bunch of people that are standing around deciding, "Well, let's let's add that one and let's take that one out and let's let's put this one in there and and that sort of thing." Well, you know, maybe you thought one of those two things was right as we came into this uh subject today, but um I want to I want to ask you this.

How how did the Bible that we have come to be? How how did we get this scripture that we have today? And who decided what to include? Who decided what to leave out? Were there things left out? Were there things that were considered and all of that? And here is the answer the the historical evidence actually supports and it's stranger than any of the answers that you just considered. The church did not create the canon. The canon is basically the the right to include uh things in the word of God.

Uh scriptures or the there's 66 books in this Bible. There's some in the Old Testament and some in the Old and the New Testament. And how how did they come to be? How did we get all that we have is the is the question that we want to uh consider today. The church did not create the canon. It recognized the canon. In other words, it basically was a a natural flow of what was already taking place out of the church. If you think about it, the early church, they did not have the Bible that we have today.

What they had was the Old Testament or they had the law and the prophets. They had Moses' writings and they had uh the poetry of the Psalms and that sort of thing. And if you kind of think of of it this way, um we have the law and the prophets and then they kind of like added a song book. If you know, we used to have a song book book in church. And if you think about, you know, let's slap that in there somewhere, you know, and that's the Psalms, right?

And so that those were the things that they would sing. They would say, "Let's Let's open our song books to Psalms chapter 32." You know, something like that. So, these were all natural things that took place already. The The Old Testament canon was already established when the early church was formed. When on the day of Pentecost, they already accepted they already knew what was included in the Old Testament. What was already included as part of what their canon was. And then what happened was is some things that some things happened naturally.

And so we want to look at that a little bit here. Um So, we we want to say was the canon created or was it simply recognized? Created or recognized? Created or recognized? And I think that um what you'll have to realize or understand today is that the the word of God was just basically recognized. It just came naturally as part of the the development and the growth of the church, the early church uh that started on the day of Pentecost. That church grew into uh accepting and adopting certain writings from the apostles.

And we'll get into that in a second here, but everything we do for the next uh little bit here depends on whether you accept the distinction between a created canon and a recognized canon or recognized Bible. If the Bible is created by a vote, then the church has authority over the Bible, and you have reason for your suspicions. But if the Bible is recognized, it if it was already the word of God and the church merely identified it, then the Bible has authority over the church and over everything that we do, over the governance, over the organization structure, the worship, the the the word that we preach, everything.

Then uh the Bible has authority, and it has authority over the church, and you have a different kind of situation. You have to deal with how the people of God recognize it, and that story is full of surprises today. What is the canon? What it What does it actually mean? The English word canon comes from the Greek word canon, a measuring rod, a standard, a rule. The canon of scripture is the list of books that measure everything else. And when when we try to decide and determine what the criteria are for the canon, we have to look at There's There's five criteria.

There's five things that tells us whether the word of God is is right, whether these books should be included, and all of all of these things were debated long time ago. Okay? So, we don't need to debate that today. We don't need to continue to deliberate on well, should this book be included? Should this scripture be included? All of these things. It was debated long time ago, and they settled on what we have today. The word is settled today. Do you believe that? Do you believe the word is settled?

So, we have these five five criteria. First is authorship. It was written by man or written by God or written by a man of God. So, an a prophet, an apostle, or an associate to one of those individuals wrote the words. So, authorship. Is it Is it from one of the uh people that are credible in the history of the church or in the history of the the Jewish people. The second one is confirmation. Was the message confirmed by acts of God? Were there miracles? Were there signs?

Were there things that God did? Is his name in the scripture? Those are all things that uh deals with confirmation. Uh all of those things. And we we have Hebrews chapter 2, verses 3 and 4 uh to look at if if you want to uh look at the idea of the the the idea of authorship. Hebrews uh in Unfortunately, I did not uh put these in my notes, so I got to look it up myself. Sorry about that. But, Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 3. The scripture says in in that and I'll try to not to read the Spanish.

Instead, I'll read the English. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation, which at the first began to speak be spoken by the Lord? And was confirmed under us by them that heard him. God also bearing them witness both with signs and wonders and with diverse miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to his own will. So, we see that the scripture was not just man's invention. It wasn't just people coming up with this stuff. It was a confirmation of what the Holy Ghost was already doing in the church.

What God was already doing when he used the apostles and the disciples to reach this world, there was a confirmation given by his spirit. So, people recognized that and understood that the spirit was attesting to those things. The third criteria, so we've got authorship, we have confirmation, and now we have truth. Truth does Does it tell truth about God? Does it tell the truth about man? Does it tell truth about the world? And I I find it very refreshing today to to to really when you when you look at the scriptures, it it doesn't beat around the bush.

It doesn't you know, just kind of leave out some details and paint a beautiful picture and just say, you know, this person was was walking 4 ft off the ground. You know, this this guy he was he was superhuman, you know, all all of this kind of stuff. No. The scripture says, you know, this guy had some some pretty bad flaws in his character or in his personality or in his in his morality or whatever, you know, it just it just lays it out there plain for everyone to see.

So, you know, I'm I'm thankful for that because it helps us to know that, you know, they they were just relating exactly what was going on. They didn't They didn't hide things. They didn't cover up things that were happening. And so, um with that you can see that the truth is contained in there. Not only is the truth contained in the word of God, the word of God is truth. And so, we can believe, we can trust the word of God. And I I think that's the the whole point of looking at the canonicity of the word of God is just to give us a confidence that hey, this this thing wasn't done in a corner.

It It's It wasn't done in the secret councils of some priests in the Catholic Church or in some other group of people. But no, it was just a natural outflow of what the Holy Ghost was already doing in the world. And we thank God that he gave us the truth through his word. Praise God. Amen. Quan- How many of you There I go Spanish, okay. How How many of you are >> >> How many of you are thankful for the truth of the word of God today?

Hallelujah. Number four, the fourth criteria is power. Does it come with life-changing power of God? Does it convert? Does it convict? Does it transform? How many of you have been transformed by the word of God? How many of you have come into the truth and received a change in your life because of the power that is in his word? His word is powerful. It's sharper than to any to any two-edged sword. Hallelujah. In And then, uh so, because of that, we have the power of God uh in our lives to to move and to change us and to help us to grow.

Praise God. Number five. Everyone say number five. All righty. I'm I'm hoping you're with me. Um I uh I usually sit in the back and try to help Stephen back there, but I'm not able to be back there today. So, he's he's on his own today. All right. So, So, here we go. Number five, I'm going to try to help you. Reception. Was it received by the people of God? Was it received by the church, the members of the church? Was it received by the church leaders, the pastors?

And And the question about pastors is something that's interesting that we'll be touching on in a section in in a minute here, but uh Was it received by the people of God? So, after you've dealt with authorship, dealt with confirmation, dealt with truth, dealt with power, all of these things, then was it received by everyone? Notice the order. These are signs of inspiration. They're not the source of inspiration. A book is not scripture because the church voted and said, "Yes." The church voted yes because it was already scripture.

The church just said, "Yes, we we can receive this as the the word of God. We we know that it's the word because it's been engrafted in us. We can receive the word because it's powerful. We can receive the word because it's transformative. We can receive the word because it's everything that we need for our lives. There's nothing that we need that's outside of this. It's enough. You believe that it's enough? Praise God. And so, the scripture says in 2 Peter 3:15-16, 2 Timothy 3:16, Peter, an apostle, called Paul's letters scripture.

And he does it in a context where he lumps them in with other scriptures. Paul calls all scripture God-breathed. This is the recognition language in the New Testament itself. The church in the first century was not waiting for a council 300 years later. They were recognizing the word that was already given to them. They were recognizing the authority of the apostles. The apostles were the ones that gave us the scriptures. The apostles, the the the men that God had called, the men that walked with Jesus.

These were the ones that God had given the oracles of the word of God. They received it and then they shared it with the churches. Now, we see that this was done through letters and and it's interesting to see that many times in in the in the scriptures, what what you'll see is that the the apostles, they they would have to write letters. Sometimes they wrote it from prison or they would write it from places that were remote. They were they were on the road, if you will, doing the work of ministry, missionary work.

And so they would send letters back to the the church that had issues that they needed to to address. One that I am thinking of in particular is the Corinthian church. The Apostle Paul was was in Troas and he was desiring to find out what was going on in the Corinthian church after he had sent the letter to them. But, you know, they didn't have email or or Facebook or or texting or any of that kind of stuff. Couldn't make a phone call and and check on how the church is doing.

And Paul was invested in the church in those days and he was concerned about the well-being and how they were receiving the the strong rebuke and the strong word that they had received through the written word that Paul sent to them. And it wasn't for many months. Can you imagine a pastor that he preaches a a sermon and then has to go away for 3 months and doesn't know exactly how the church responded to the preaching or how they're doing after that time. The the stress, the pressure, the concerns, the lack of sleep, the not knowing, wanting to make a phone call, wanting to check in on the church, and see how is everyone doing?

How is their spirits? Everyone doing good? And all of that sort of thing. And then after a while, finally, the the message came back, and he heard that they had received it well, and they repented, and they had sought God, and they had made corrections to the errors that they had lived in their lives. And now Paul is able to rejoice with them over the the blessings of God in their lives, and the the response, the positive response to the word. But that that wasn't just for that city.

That wasn't just for that one church. Because now what they did was they saw that in this letter were were guiding principles. There were things that the all the churches need to know. They need to understand about the gifts of the spirit. They need to understand about all these things. And so that scripture was uh passed around. It was copied and given to other churches so that they could enjoy and and be able to receive the benefit from that same word, and to be able to grow together as the as the churches corporately.

And so this was kind of the process that took place in the early churches. They would go and uh hear messages from the apostles. They would send letters. They would preach messages, and they would uh do the work of an evangelist. They would do works in the church. And then people would write down what took place. Luke would write down what happened in all the churches, in all the areas, in all the ministry of all the people that were in the church. And Luke would write all that stuff down.

And then guess what? Later on, all the other churches were able to benefit from the same writings, then and be able to see the hand of God in the church and the work of God in the church and the miracles and the signs and all that God was doing through the work of the Holy Ghost that was infilling all of these people. And aren't you thankful that we we haven't lost any of that? It's still for us today. We have the word and it's right here and all that we need to do is open up the pages and we can see and we can receive exactly what God was saying to the early church.

Praise God. By the time Jesus was born, the Jewish people had a stable, recognized Bible. The New Testament never debates which Old Testament book belongs. Uh it quotes them as authoritative without ever raising the question. Let's look, if you will, turn in Luke chapter 24, verse 44. Luke 24:44. Okay. If you've got your scriptures, if your Bible, your uh your phone app, maybe. We're going to look at that. Luke chapter 24 and verse 44, the scripture says, "And he said unto them, these are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled." What What are those things?

Those things in the Old Testament, those things in the law and the prophets, those things that were prophesied. All these things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses and in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning me. So, the scriptures are given to us. They are preserved for thousand over a thousand years, preserved for the early church to begin to study and to be begin to look into the the things that Jesus proclaimed, the things that happened to Jesus, the things that the the apostles it's interesting how many times you'll find the in the scriptures references to the Old Testament, references to things that happened in the Old Testament because to them it wasn't the Old Testament.

To them it was just the word of God that was handed down to them. And so so many times they would quote scripture, they would quote and make references to what was said about Jesus in the Psalms, what was prophesied about Jesus in the scriptures. And so all of these things were were given to us. Jesus says the law of Moses, the prophets and the Psalms, that's the three-fold Hebrew division that he had. He He treats it as settled. He There was no debate about well, that wasn't that was extra-biblical or that was rejected by the majority of people or something like that.

No, 2,000 years later a Jewish child in a synagogue is reading the same books. The Old Testament canon is not a Christian invention. It's a Jewish invention that the church has adopted. It's something that is older than Christianity and the Christian church inherited it as a finished product. Praise God. You still with me? I I know this is this is really uh really anointed uh stuff that you can shout and praise God for, right? Okay. Amen. Well, it is the word, right? Praise God. Another thought, but what about the Septuagint?

What is the Septuagint? Well, in the days that Jesus lived and in the time of the church, the Roman government was all throughout that region and the the language, the predominant language of that day was Greek. And so a lot of people that were either not Jewish or that they were Jewish but did not speak Hebrew, they they weren't trained how to to speak Hebrew, they had no access to the Old Testament. They had no way of understanding what that was and so they translated the Hebrew into Greek.

And that translation then they called the Septuagint. That's what that is is the the Greek version of the Hebrew Old Testament. And here's the wrinkle. The Greek Old Testament, the Septuagint, was used by most early Christians, included a number of extra books. Uh there's some other books called Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, First and Second Maccabees, and other books. And these all these all were considered apocryphal or apocrypha books. Protestants reject them as canonical, the Roman Catholics call them deuterocanonical, and uh the Eastern Orthodox Church, they include them.

But the reformers reject them for hard historical reasons. And these are the reasons. The Jews never accepted them. The Old Testament was entrusted to the Jews according to Romans chapter 3:1 and 2. They were written after Malachi. So basically Malachi we consider to be the the close, the books are closed now. And they were written after that time. Their authors are unknown and some are pseudonyms for for other people. And Jesus and the apostles never quote them as scripture. These are all evidences why these were not included.

And they contain errors doctrinally. They they contain errors not only in doctrine, but also historical errors. Uh they they included things like prayer for the dead and salvation by works and the preexistence of souls and things like that. Those are errors that uh they continue to try to creep into the church, but we have to be wise and understand that these things are rejected for a reason because they are not uh divinely ordered. They're not scriptural in the sense of what what we understand as core doctrine, core teaching in the church.

The church did not vote them out. They were never voted in is the point. They always were a supplement, and the supplement was eventually recognized as not part of the body. It'd be like us saying, "Well, we're going to we're going to incorporate the uh the Constitution of the United States in the Bible because it sounds good. It seems right. It it's you know, we're going to include that in the Bible. Or we're going to include other writings from from whatever, you know, Aesop's fables. We're going to put that in the in the scriptures." No.

No. Let's let's leave the word of God alone. It's God's precious word, right? We're going to leave it alone. We're not going to add to. We're not going to take away because because there's a curse for taking away or for adding to the word of God. And and so, if if we can settle it today that the word is good enough, if we can settle it that this scripture contains everything we need for salvation, everything we need for life, everything we need to grow and to to know God, if it's it's if it's complete, if we can settle the question, is it good enough?

If is it complete? Is it everything that we need? If we can settle that question today, then there's a hope that is in this word for our lives. Praise God. How many of you are thankful the hope that lies within us because of the word of God? Hallelujah. Praise God. Uh Okay, >> >> I touched all those points about why we don't add other scriptures, other things. The New Testament canon is 27 books written across about 50 years by eight authors. Five were apostles, Matthew, John, Peter, Paul, and James.

There were close apo- apostolic associates, Mark, Luke, Jude, and the unnamed author of Hebrews, and the recognition happened in real time. So, in other words, these these these books started coming to the churches. These books started flowing to the churches and and the apostles were saying, "We we need you to read this book. We need you to study this book. We need our letter or or book, whatever. We we need you to you know, teach this in the church so that your church can grow. And then we've got some other writings that we want you to look at as well and those are going to come to you as well and and they just it was just a natural process of them adopting what the apostles began to teach, what the apostles began to show, and that was very important.

Paul quotes Deuteronomy 25:4 in Luke 10:7 in the same breath, calling both scripture. He's treating Luke's gospel, which hadn't even been finished being circulated yet, as on par with the Torah. That's a first-century writer already recognizing the canon as it's being formed. Okay? Now, the the same thing that we talked about with the Old Testament, when we look at, okay, the the Old Testament stopped with Malachi, and and other people were writing things after that that had nothing to do with the the voice of a of a prophet, had nothing to do with uh authoritative voices.

The the same thing happened uh after the the apostles left the scene. In other words, after all the apostles were gone, the the church fathers had to carry on. And it was at that point that they basically said, "Okay, the book is closed. We're not going to add more stuff. We're not going to add stuff in 125 AD. We're not 120 AD or whatever it was. We're not going to add stuff in 325 AD. We're not going to add stuff later on with these councils that we're we're not going to change the word.

The word is settled now. It's it's established because the the word is founded on Jesus Christ and the apostles. You got to build on Jesus Christ. He is the foundation. You got to build on the apostles because they are the the building stones that we can build upon. So, everything that you need to build the house is right here. Everything that you need is right there in the word of God. And so, we don't need to add to the New Testament. Now, there's a there's a technical, and I I know that I'm throwing in some technical things here as well as the the the common stuff, but there's a antilegomena, and uh this is a part that scholars love and new people have never heard of.

There are seven New Testament books which were disputed for centuries. They were called the antilegomena or the spoken against. It's another way of saying spoken against. And the seven are Hebrews, James, II Peter, II John, III John, Jude, and Revelation. And remember when I said at the beginning that the scriptures were debated back in those days? Well, they had a debate. They had They had people wise people sitting at the table. They had people that were bringing arguments for and arguments against, and they had the debate and they had the argument and everything.

But, you know what? At the end of the debate, after all of the discussion, at after everything was considered and all the evidence was provided, they decided to leave in these books. They decided They settled the debate. They settled the question once and for all, and they said, "Yes, it's good. Yes, it's to be included. Yes, it has value. Yes, it is of eternal worth for you to look at those scriptures." And so, today, we don't need to go back and re-debate or question or argue about what is there.

That was done long time ago, and those that were in authority, those that were heads of the church and the the pastors, and I I said I was going to talk about pastors because a pastor has a heart to care for the sheep. A pastor has a heart to care for the people that are in his congregation. And those pastors were among some of the people that had to decide whether the scriptures were going to be included or not. And they had to weigh the word of God with what their church was going to receive and what they were going to hear and the teachings that they were going to receive.

And at the end of the day, those pastors, those shepherds, had to consider it for the the benefit or the well-being of their members. And those pastors, I I think that was something that was really key when it comes to looking at this because who who better has a heart for the people of God than the pastors of the churches. And so, they were the ones that said, "Yes, we're going to keep this. We're going to include it. It has value. It has something that can be given to our people that will help them to grow, that will help them to stay strong, that will help them to stay in the confines of the church, help them to stay saved, help them to stay uh close to God." To all of this stuff was included after all of this debate.

Praise God. Amen. All right. Now, there's there's a lot more that I I could talk about today, but unfortunately, we're we're drawing close on time, and and I really wanted it to get to the heart of something here today. And the the church did not sit down in one day and decide to form the canon. The canon was clarified in the furnace of heresy. The Bible talks about heretics. The Bible talks about Antichrist and false prophets and all of these things. The Bible makes reference to all of these things.

In the early church, they were encountering people that had teaching that wasn't aligning with the word of God. They were teaching things that were considered to be heresy. Okay? And out of all of that, you you You the the the group, the followers of Marcion. You had Montanism. You had the Gnostics. And they were producing other writings. They were producing other things that uh were were trying to dissuade or to deceive the people of God. And so uh basically they they made the decision that the apostles have a unique qualification.

They were eyewitnesses of the Lord. They heard directly from Jesus Christ. They were commissioned directly from him and through the work of the Spirit. Uh they were able to continue to hear even after Jesus left uh the direction that God had for the church. There is no future generation that can recreate or reproduce the authenticity and the authority of the apostles. It doesn't matter who they are. The new covenant or the New Testament is perfect and complete. It doesn't need a supplement. It doesn't need to be added to.

And then the New Testament explicitly warns against adding to it. As I mentioned already, the canon therefore is closed. The story is closed. It's been The story's been written and we can believe it. We can trust it. We can receive it today. Amen. I I know that we've taken a scholarly look at studying the canon here today. How God preserved his word, how he spoke through prophets and apostles, how he breathed out scripture. It's It's anointed. It's God breathed. It's God inspired. It's God directed. How can all of that come together and be be harmonious throughout all of the years of writing the scripture and and and coming together?

How did it all fit together and and we we can see the the what what God spoke in the Old Testament is the same in the New Testament. And what God spoke to the church in the New Testament is the same as in the Old Testament. It's because there's one author. There's one that wrote this and it's God. God wrote this and because of that he's the author of it and because of that he just used men to put it down used ink and paper ink and scrolls ink and papyrus and he they wrote it down.

God, I I don't understand what you're saying. Don't worry about it. Just write it down. Just write it out. You don't have to understand it because it's my words. You're just a scribe. You're just writing what I want you to write. And so what we see is that because it is the voice of the living God we can trust it. We can look we can hear God's voice today. We can receive from his word and we can open the pages and we can say God is speaking to me.

God is speaking to me through this. He's saying to me I need to get my heart right. I need to change this in my life. I'm looking in the mirror of your word God and I'm seeing that I don't like the person that I see in the mirror. And so we can make changes to our lives. Praise God. Aren't you thankful for the grace and the mercy of God that helps us to be able to be transformed by this living word that God has given to us.

Hallelujah. So these are the things that we know. We know the word of God is true. In a world drowning in opinions, shifting morals and unstable voices, the word of God stands unmoved. It has never lied to you not once. Every promise is yes and amen in the word of God. Every prophecy is sure. Every command is righteous. When everything else is uncertain, the word remains forever settled in heaven. Praise God. Not only is the word true, the word is trustworthy. People fail, systems fail, but the word of God has never failed a single individual that built their life upon it.

It is the anchor that holds when the storms rage. It is the rock beneath your feet when everything else is shaking. When your emotions betray you, when your circumstances confuse you, when your heart condemns you, the word still stands. Hallelujah. The word is complete. Nothing is missing. Nothing is broken. No addendum is needed. No revision is required. God has already spoken everything necessary for salvation, holiness, hope, and victory. You don't need a new revelation. You need to stand on the revelation that he's already given us.

Hallelujah. The word is our hope. When your heart is heavy, the word lifts it up. When your future feels dark, the word lights it up. When your strength is gone, the word restores it. Hope is not an emotion. Hope is a person revealed in scripture, and every page speaks his name. And what is his name? Hallelujah. The word is God's love letter written to you. You can receive it as God writing his love letter to you. It's not a textbook. It's not a history book. It's not a rule book.

It's not a cold historical archive. It's the Father bending down to speak to his children. It is the Bridegroom whispering to his bride. IT IS THE SPIRIT DRAWING NEAR TO COMFORT, to convict, and transform. Every page drips with mercy. Every chapter breathes grace. Every verse carries the heartbeat of God. The word of God is also our daily bread. Not a snack for Sundays. not a dessert for special occasions, it is sustenance. It is nourishment. It is strength for the journey. You don't have to live by bread alone.

You live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. If you are spiritually starving, it is not because God stopped speaking, it's because we stopped listening. Hallelujah. The word also is our manna, fresh every morning, given freely, perfectly portioned, and meets you where you are. It carries you through times in your desert. It reminds you that God IS NOT JUST THE GOD of yesterday, but he is the God of right now. HE IS THE GOD OF TODAY. THE SAME GOD WHO FED ISRAEL IN THE DESERT is feeding us through his word today.

Hallelujah. Glory to God. When you hold this Bible, you're holding God's voice. Hallelujah. I love the word. I love to study the word. I love to debate it. I love devotions about it. I love when God speaks to me out of this word. The word is powerful. It's sharper than any two-edged sword. It will correct me when I'm wrong. It will guide me when I'm lost. Praise God. This word was able to create worlds. The word broke chains. The word heals hearts. The word saves sinners.

The word sanctifies saints. The word will judge the nations, and this word will never pass away. Hallelujah. Can we love him right now? Thank you, savior, for your word. Thank you, Jesus. Hallelujah. Thank you for your word, Jesus. Thank you, Lord. We give you the praise. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord. Hallelujah. If God has spoken, if his word is true, if his promises are sure, if his love is written on every page, then the only right response is worship. Praise God. Will you stand right now and let's let's give praise to God and let's worship him for a minute.

Thank you, Jesus. Thank you for your word. We give you the praise, God. We thank you, Jesus. Hallelujah. Praise your name. We give you the glory. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. We give you the praise in Jesus' name. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Amen. Amen.