What we Believe and What we Teach about the Scriptures

Please turn in your Bible to Deuteronomy 6 and then Matthew 16 Matthew chapter 16 we're gonna turn to those two passages in a moment Deuteronomy 6 Matthew 16 now we are in this series That I am titling the need for a church confession We're in the process of adopting a church confession and the title of what we're going to look at tonight Is what we teach and what we believe? You can reverse it you can say what we believe in what we teach.

We will reverse it at times I promise you tonight is one of those times so the series everything that we're looking at all centers around our need is a church to have a confession and Then also as we're waiting through the confession teaching through the confession We're examining what we teach here in the life of the church and we're examining what we should believe how we should believe it and then also some of these things how we're working hard to believe and to Understand it because it's all different and I think you're gonna see What I mean now, I think everyone here does know that we're in the process of adopting a church confession This has been the topic of the past two Wednesday nights We discussed that we're adopting a revision of the 1833 New Hampshire confession of faith It's very solid confession of faith.

It's very historic. It's very well known in Baptist circles. It's very useful Useful is a key term. Okay that word useful is a key term the 1833 New Hampshire confession of faith and Revisions because many churches will revise confessions for modern language It's really been influential in many Baptist churches and institutions Really, it's been very influential in a lot of Baptist work Now I said it last week that the Southern Baptist Convention Confession is called the Baptist faith and message the Baptist faith and message came from the New Hampshire confession of faith Now I've made the case Before and I'll make the case again from Scripture that a confession of faith is biblical This surprises some people what I mean is this we do see brief confessions of faith in the scriptures In the scriptures now, I'll be honest with you.

I'm hypocritical I did not turn to my copy in my copy of God's Word to Deuteronomy yet Usually I mark those places so I can be real good stewards of our time But I want us to look at this Deuteronomy 6 passage Deuteronomy 6 verse 4 Some of you are familiar with this verse Hear Oh Israel the Lord our God the Lord is one a short verse Hear Oh Israel the Lord our God the Lord is one Now arguably we have one of the most famous Confessions in the Old Testament This is commonly called the Shema.

You've probably heard that language That is a Hebrew word and this is the Jewish confession of faith This confession was a part of their personal worship and their corporate worship. Let me just put it in our language It meant that they used it in their own personal lives at home and they used it at church when they came to church That's what that means and in this confession We see two of the most basic and vital parts of the Jewish religion first that God exists That's what's in the verse and second that he is the one true God Now, let me show you how this this is doctrinal and practical Doctrinally, it's all about God.

He is the one true God Practically they were living in the land where paganism surrounded them So practically as they knew that verse as they recited that in personal worship and public worship It helped them remember not to chase after the pagan gods, you see it was doctrinal and practical But then I also want us to turn over to Matthew 16 Matthew chapter 16 you are familiar many of you are familiar with this verse as well Matthew chapter 16 verse 16 Jesus has asked Simon Peter a question who do men say that I am there was a large debate there Simon Peter He replied you are the Christ the Son of the Living God.

Let me read that again Peter replied to Jesus you are the Christ the Son of the Living God Well here we have arguably the greatest confession of faith in the New Testament When there was a debate about who Jesus was during his earthly ministry. This was a strong debate Jesus asks Peter who he said he was Peter's response he confesses vital truth about God the Father First he confesses that there is but one God the Living God you see that and then second He confesses that Jesus is the true Messiah of God He was the promised Messiah of God prophesied all about throughout the Old Testament And he was the one that the Jews were expecting.

So this was doctrinal and this was practical It's all about the one true God and his promised Messiah and practically Peter's confessing who all of the Jews are waiting on basically he's saying you're the Messiah you're finally here So we see two statements of faith two confessions of faith that are biblical But we need to see and we need to know the practical usefulness of what we're looking at in a church Confession that word usable write that down that word practical. I'm gonna show you how this is practical and reusable as a matter of fact through this process of working through the Confession and confessions.

That's one thing that brother Keith has constantly said it's got to be usable. It's got to be practical Now I covered a lot of practical and the introduction to the series really the introduction was that one message why church confession Now I zoomed through church history. I zoomed through some of our church history I zoomed through Southern Baptist Church history and how they have related to confessions in the past And what confession we are adopting you might need to go back and get that information But I want to revisit just for a second the practical usefulness of a church confession.

You need to get this There were seven reasons that I gave you and I'm not going to go through all of it, but I want to highlight a little bit First of all, we must see that a confession helps us explain and clarify difficult, but very very important fundamental doctrinal issues doctrinal positions These doctrines are a must they're vital. These are not doctrines we can be wrong on I'll explain the doctrines.

I will help you understand the doctrines Some of you will come out pulling your hair out, but we're gonna work hard to understand them and believe them So I'm gonna explain the doctrines But I will also explain to you why it's important and how it's practically worked out in the church But then second a confession helps build unity in the church unity in the church Understanding these vital doctrines and how it relates to our personal lives and church life It will build unity within our church membership.

We will teach the same thing We're gonna teach the same thing in the church will believe the same thing teach the same thing in our homes And this will help bring about foster true unity in the body and then the last thing practically This helps us as a church in his leadership to openly express what we teach and believe as a people and as a church see You in the pew You in the pew you will know where the leadership stand on these matters now much of this we've covered throughout our years So many of you go say pastor you've been teaching me this for years But this will also help you and help us be able to express to the community who we are and what we believe You know moving we're in the public arena.

We're on the public square So we need to be able to articulate who we are and some of you have people ask you about our church and what we believe And what our doctrines are and this will help you when we get through this we're gonna give you the tools where you can minister to people that you are reaching out to and witnessing to and People when they're looking at our church Now before we get started in our study remember Please remember a confession is not equal to God's Word and authority no opinion No opinion no statement by man ever can be and the document that we will produce and we're producing It's not meant to be a club.

It's not meant to be a sword and it's not meant to be a straitjacket Please remember those words. It's never to be a club a sword or a straitjacket We do not beat people over the head with this teaching I know people that they think that's a spiritual gift We do not slice up a brother or sister because they don't see something quite like we do I think some think that that is a spiritual gift and we do not allow it to be super Constrictive in our use in the life of the local church. That's where your leadership comes in it can't be a straitjacket a Confession is to be like guardrails on a road.

They protect us It is to be like the lines on the road the signs that we were accustomed to is driving I use that illustration before see this tells us how to drive in which direction to drive It tells us where we can go and where we can't go and look folks. It's freedom. This will be freedom Not ropes this won't bind us up at all This will be freedom Now tonight we're gonna cover the first section You have two sections on your paper.

I Thought we could get into the section second section tonight But I'm extremely happy that we didn't because there's a few things in the second section that we desperately need to look at So we're gonna be examining the first section Roman numeral one you see it on your handout and it's all Concerning the scriptures now I want to give credit where credit is due I've said this but I'll say it one more time remember We're working from a revised version of the original if you go online and you pull up the original You're gonna see some changes.

You're gonna see familiar terms and words, but really what is in front of you is four parts It's the original It's the revision of Grace Life Church of the Shoals their revision. I shared that with you It's some influence there from the Bible's faith and message 2000 and then it is our revision and our input and things such as that Now I want us to get to number one. It's right there on your page number one what we believe Concerning the scriptures that's what Roman numeral one is all about what we believe Concerning the scriptures now.

I'm gonna read this section And it's important for you to read along with me and then we're gonna dive into some verses. Okay Notice what it says We believe that the Holy Bible The scriptures God's Word was written by men who were divinely inspired by God and that it is God's Revelation of himself to man that it is a perfect treasure of heavenly instruction That it has God for its author Salvation for its in and truth without any mixture of error for its substance That it reveals the standards by which God will judge mankind You can say humanity there that it is and shall remain until the end of the world the true center of Christian Union and the supreme standard by which all human conduct creeds and opinions should be judged and That all of scripture is a testimony of Christ who is himself the focus of divine revelation Now we're gonna look at what we teach what we believe here now in some of the teaching And some of what we're gonna look at in the weeks to come we are working We're gonna see that we're working to understand what we believe what I mean is this we may all be at different places Along the journey when we're understanding some of the difficult doctrines and that can be okay again That's okay We're not gonna beat you up because you're working and you're a little further behind than some of the others But in some of this teaching we must really be solid Some of this teaching we must be fixed.

We must be able to emphatically say oh, this is what I believe Well, that's the case here That's the case with the scriptures. You must believe certain things concerning the scriptures Or you simply will not have unity with believers you want and you won't have unity with believers in this church If you do not believe certain things concerning the scriptures to be honest with you in your Examination process of being a member of the church. You will not be able to to be a member That's why we must be able to say here.

This is what we believe now continuing with this section Let me tell you what I'm gonna do my approach going to highlight what I believe we need to see But you need to go you need to read these passages. They're listed up under the paragraph the statement of faith You go and you study I'm not gonna be exhaustive. Here's a good homework exercise for you Read the phrases look at the verses and see where they fit See where they fit do some good homework here now This is how this came to the surface for me first.

We need to see we must see it is emphatic that we see that The scriptures are from God We must see that the scriptures are from God now There are several scriptures that apply here, but I'm gonna tell you there are a couple here that I think are the best Second Timothy 3 16 we know this scripture. This was one of our vacation Bible school songs years ago All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching for reproof for correction and for training in righteousness This one might surprise you Proverbs 30 5 and 6 Every word of God proves true.

It is true He is a shield of those who take refuge in him that speaks of our personal relationship to God and then verse 6 Do not add to his words least he rebuke you and you be found a liar Now here it is important to see that all scripture is from God all Both Old Testament. Yes, the portions of the Old Testament. We can't understand and the new even those genealogies Here we see that God's Word is authoritative.

It is authoritative That means it has authority over all men It has authority over our lives as individuals as the people of God that would be the church and it has authority over every every area of church life I Have heard of pastors Who understood the authority of God's Word over a church life like this? They're preaching verse by verse.

They realize what the scripture says contradicts some of their church practice They have an emergency church business meeting and they vote to change practice according to what they studied Sunday See the authority You see that authority and see God's Word is authoritative in dealing with all matters in the church and in the world in our personal life everywhere But also we need to see that God's Word is perfect God's Word is eternal Psalm 119 it 89 says forever Oh Lord Your word is firmly fixed in the heaven your word is firmly fixed in the heaven Jesus said in Luke 21 33 heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away first Peter 125 but the word of the Lord remains forever and This word is the good news that was preached to you.

That is a quotation from Isaiah chapter 40 So we see that all scripture is from God Old and new it is all authoritative in every area of life It is perfect and it is eternal But then second we must see that the scriptures are God's standard for living The scriptures are God's standard for living. We see this in many many places, but this one is real practical This is the great Apostle Paul writing to Timothy his protege Scholars say that they really believe he helped mentor him and grow him It's obvious that Timothy's mother and grandmother influenced him to Christ Maybe Paul was the one who came and the Lord used to bring him to faith in Christ But notice how Paul is exalting the scriptures as a standard for living for this young man Second Timothy 3 14 to 17 but ask for you Continue and what you have learned and what you have firmly believed knowing that from whom you learned it verse 15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus all scripture verse 16 is Breathed out by God is profitable for teaching for reproof for correction and for training in righteousness That the man of God may be complete Equipped for every good work.

You see how practical that is We also see the standard expressed in the Psalms Listen to what is said in a couple of verses from Psalm 119 Psalm 119 111 says I have stored up your word in my heart that I might not sin against you and then in Psalm 119 105 it says your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path in both verses The psalmist is stating that God's Word is what is needed for living. It's the standard for Christian living the God One more that might surprise you Remember John 17 we went through the gospel of John that great high priestly prayer Jesus is praying for his disciples, but really he's praying for all believers.

And what does he say? He's praying to the father Sanctify them by the word of your truth Jesus knows that it is the Word of God that will form his people because he knows it's the standard So we see that all scripture is from God It's authoritative. It's perfect. It is eternal But it is also the standard for the practical Christian life then third We must see that the scriptures are God's standard for judgment. It's the standard for life, but it's also the standard for judgment Now here we see God's Word relates to life after death Simply man will be judged after death.

Here's a verse that's not on the handout, but notice Hebrews 9 27 I've used this very often in funerals and Just as it is appointed for man to die once and after that comes judgment Simply after death all people stand before God and give an account young people Everybody who dies they stand before God and they give an account Now a question You need to think about this by what standard is man judged Okay, pastor men are judged But what standard is used to judge them are men's deeds wait out and if they have so much good Did it outweighs the bad then God says hey, you're okay. Come on into heaven.

Everything's good Here we need to see one scripture that will debunk that we need to see an explanation of the meaning of the scripture This is an important verse for you to know Romans 12 or excuse me Romans 2 1 Paul says for all who have sinned without the law will also Perish without the law and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law now. What does that mean?

It means that those who have never had the opportunity to know God's moral law the 10 commandments They will be judged on their disobedience as it pertains to limited knowledge Romans 1 18 to 23 Explains what happens to those people who have never heard of God and never heard God's Word They are judged because they rejected God through the testimony of his creation and the law of God written on their hearts Romans 2 14 to 15 But those who have had access to God's Word They've had access to God's moral law will be accountable to God for that knowledge They are accountable to God for the standard of their judgment is the Word of God that they know So we see that scripture is from God See how it builds It's authoritative over man in all matters of life in the church and out.

It's perfect. It's eternal It's never going away and it is the standard for life and it is the standard for death And the scriptures of the standard by which God judges man Then forth we see that the scriptures are a testimony of Christ Here we see that the scriptures are a testimony of Christ Now for me I phrased it like this here We see the most glorious reason for the scriptures now when I wrote that I thought is that accurate?

Should I say that of course there are many many reasons for God's Word and they're all glorious But all of the reasons for God's Word are good But this is the reason for it all see the scriptures are a revelation of the one true God But ultimately the scriptures are a revelation of God's plan to redeem men and that's in Christ The Old Testament all of it it's full of what we call scholars call types and shadows examples illustrations little glimpses of who Jesus is and was See the Old Testament points to the Savior that would come but the New Testament is the message of the Messiah the Savior who did come you see And we can see this truth the fact that the scriptures are a testimony of Christ in a few passages I'm not going to be exhausted Luke 22 verses 44 to 47 Then he thus Jesus said to them These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you that Everything written about me and the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms was fulfilled What does he saying all the Old Testament is about me?

Verse 44 then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures and he said to them Thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead and that Repentance for the forgiveness of sin should be proclaimed in his name to all the nations beginning from Jerusalem Notice that's the story of the cross and the resurrection and he says thus it is written see it's all about Christ And then John 5 39 and 40 Jesus is speaking to the religious leaders He says you search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life Listen, you can study the scriptures all day long.

But that does not mean you have eternal life. That's what he's saying And it is they that bear witness about me What is he saying to the religious leaders you're looking for eternal life in the scriptures and the scriptures tell about me Yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life So we see that the scriptures are a testimony of Christ all through the scriptures Jesus said that the law of Moses and the prophets spoke about him the Psalms are all about him He said that the Old Testament spoke even of his crucifixion and his resurrection Now I do this often It helps me take a couple of steps back from what we've looked at what we've examined the scriptures old and new Genesis to Revelation the easy passages that you grew up on oh those Genealogies that you cannot pronounce any of the names all of that is from God It is authoritative in every way concerning life death life after death The scriptures are perfect.

They are eternal and they are God's standard for living listen folks This is God's standard for living and God's Word is the standard for judgment All men all women all people who die They will be judged and those who know God's Word will be judged according to God's Word and ultimately God's Word is the testimony concerning Jesus the promised Messiah the Savior of God Now we've got all of that right we can just recite it back in that right you got every word and every phrase and every Example I gave you right Don't say anything.

We don't want to be liars Let's look back at what we've studied look at Roman numeral one and then I'm gonna move to the practical the usable, okay Look back at it. See if what I haven't taught you just comes right out of this We believe that the Holy Bible was written by men who were divinely inspired by God That it is God's revelation of himself to man And it is a perfect treasure of heavenly instruction that it has God for its author Salvation for its end see the end of the whole thing is to save men And it is truth without any mixture of error for its substance In other words what is there in its substance is truth without error that it reveals the standards by which God will judge all Mankind that it is and shall remain to the end of the world the true center of Christian Union and the supreme standard by which all human conduct all creeds and opinions Shall be judged you see folks were judged not by just what we live but what we say And then all scripture is a testimony of Christ who is himself the focus of divine revelation Now at this point I Want to state something I said earlier The statement is what we teach and what we believe and we've got to ask ourselves Can we say we believe that statement?

Can we say we believe this about God's Word? You see can we say it is? Truth without any mixture of error can we say it is sufficient for all matters of life It is authoritative, and it is trustworthy or do you find yourself looking for answers in life elsewhere? Do you find yourself looking at other authoritative figures outside of the Bible you see? And then can you say it is the only standard by which man will be judged?

You know one of the hardest things for people to do is to look at God's Word and let God's Word be the standard By which they accept whether or not they're right with God or not Men will contrive all kind of reasons while they say they're right with God and it contradicts God's Word Will you let God's Word tell you if you're right with God? Will you let God's Word tell you if you're saved or lost you see? And then when it comes to death will you let God's Word tell you what life is after death?

I've seen so many people that would say they believe in the authority of God's Word the sufficiency of God's Word But when it comes time to a loved one dying and they don't know Christ They flub it I'm not saying you stand up at a funeral and say your uncle that passed away Just went straight to hell no, but we've got to honor what God's Word says about our salvation And we've got to honor what God's Word says about humanity and death And here's one that you need to ask yourself Can you say we believe God's Word and?

That it is the supreme standard of conduct Creed that means belief and opinion Listen if you have an opinion a so-called conviction a Creed or a belief and it is extra biblical. It's not clearly expressed in the Bible and If someone comes along and shows you that it is unhealthy it is Unscriptural it's not good for you in your personal life in your church life Will you Billy willing to let it go will you be willing to repent of that?

I have seen some people have a creed and have a belief that is extra biblical They twist scripture to live it and then when you confront them with what the Bible says they hold on to that creed and belief And they reject you They're not dealing with the scripture right We've dealt with that in the life of this church brother Keith and not his head and then fourth Can you say we believe this this is God's Word we believe it and we believe ultimately it is a testimony of Jesus see the Bible is a testimony about God and ultimately it is a testimony about Jesus and listen, it's not just that those phrases mean a lot It's just that those phrases are vital if you don't know that the Bible is a testimony of God and his son Jesus You're gonna miss the whole thing I was reading in some Extra biblical material today the opinions of men and I've got a good book It's called the inerrant Word of God or the inerrant Word by John MacArthur And it has many different scholars and theologians who have contributed to it now Listen to a quote and this really is gonna help us here.

Okay, and I'm quoting and he's quoting So it'll probably get all mixed up So I'm gonna read it word for word It was a W. Tozer who famously stated What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing to us? the reason for this tozer went on to explain is that Deficient views of God are idolatrous and ultimately damning Low views of God destroy the gospel for all who hear them and again Perverted notions about God soon wrought the religion in which they appear the step down for any church is Taken when it surrenders its high opinion of God as tozer insightfully observed the abandonment of a right view of God inevitably results in theological collapse and moral ruin because God has made himself known in his word a commitment to a high view of scripture is a paramount importance So folks if you want to have a high view about God and a high view about Jesus You've got to get into the scriptures and if you have a low view of the scripture If you reject what's taught in that paragraph You will have a low view of God and the great a W.

Tozer was right a low view of God turns into a low view of scripture a low view of scripture reflects a low view of God and Listen if you have a low view of scripture You have a low view of God and so goes your personal morality So goes your personal spiritual life and so goes the gospel and if you lose the gospel you lose Salvation and your sons and your daughters will never come to faith in Christ and so goes the church That paragraph matters I'm gonna give you a real example Look around you Look up at the stained glass windows Look at these pews Look at this sanctuary This is the old first Presbyterian Church.

No, I'm not throwing stones at Presbyterians. I have friends who are Presbyterians If you know their denominational history in the 70s, they had a split They had a split, you know what it was over Scripture they were those who took a low view of Scripture. They rejected what the scripture taught and ultimately the faction that took a low view of Scripture kept the building and ultimately it died You're looking at a church that was You're looking around you at a church that was in Dr. Lee Presbyterians are supposed to have solid doctrine They took a low view of Scripture and ultimately the doors closed but Praise God in his good grace.

He's let us have it I'm thankful Now you see folks if you can't say emphatically that you believe this about the scriptures You really can't have true unity with God's people Not right with God and I'm not being ugly you won't be able to be a member of this church and look you'll hinder other believers because you'll bring all kind of cockamamie teaching into their life and you'll hinder the work of the church and Simply this is what we teach But this is what we must believe and you'll always hear me sound the clarion call that we go back to the book Back to the Bible.

We believe what the Bible says Now I want to show you a little more how this practically works out in your life I'm gonna help you here How it works out in the lives of the leadership how you relate to the leadership. Let me show you some things here See there are many books. There's all kinds of teaching out there in this day that is extremely popular That contradicts this statement of faith concerning the scripture I'll give you an example the very famous book called Jesus Calling by Sarah Young Some of you've heard of it You have family members you've seen it in their homes Basically, she claims that Jesus speaks to her.

She writes down what Jesus says The problem is it's all extra biblical. It's extra biblical revelation. There are Bible studies and songs written about it all it's everywhere Some of you've heard about the book heaven is for real Basically a little boy dies and says he goes to heaven and comes back. It's all about extra biblical revelation It's full of errors because it represents an afterlife that's contrary to the scriptures Do you want to believe the scriptures or what a little boy what a little boy said he saw and heard and?

Here's my point if you truly believe the scriptures and you let this teaching soak into who you are and you grasp that it's Rotatave and you know it and what you'll do is you will look up when you come in contact with this stuff And you'll say up faults hair seek. Nope, that's not biblical you reject it Another example this one's where you might need the leadership of the church It's a very popular pastor and author Andy Stanley, this is kind of old news He's the son of the famous Charles Stanley longtime pastor of First Baptist Church Atlanta.

I'm not saying that Charles Stanley is taught heresy No, he's just known because of who his father is But a couple of years ago Andy Stanley famously came out and he said that Christians must unhitch from the Old Testament That's exactly what he said He ignores the New Testament writers statements that the Old Testament scriptures are in fact inspired of God and Rotatave he fails to understand or he ignores the proper relationship between the old and the new He is simply saying Christianity comes from Christ And it comes from the cross and it comes from resurrection so the Old Testament is not needed He kind of says the Old Testament is inspired But he goes on to say it's not relevant and that in itself is contradictory now.

What's my point here? What he is teaching and saying is terribly faulty at best or it's horribly heretical at worst And it's very dangerous and look thousands of unprepared naive Christians fall into that I Know churches who teach his material in Sunday School. I Know him I Broke it down in three categories You know when you walk through Walmart and you see the National Enquirer there and it'll say something like missing parts of the Bible found I Think most of us look at that and laugh.

What a waste of paper But then the Jesus Calling books come along and they'll fool you a little Then the Andy Stanley comes along and you need some help What I'm showing you is this I'm showing you that you must understand what the scriptures say about the scriptures and It's easy sometimes to reject the National Enquirer Sometimes it's a little harder to reject the Jesus Calling books that everybody else is reading and Sometimes you got to have your pastor and the elders of the church to point out a heretic Who's leading tons of people astray and you might even know them? I?

Think about it like this this application how it works out There are things that you will be able to resist and reject from your own understanding of this teaching right away As you grow in wisdom and acknowledge the ability will get even better You won't need some help quite as much But there are times that the pastor and the leaders of the church will have to assist the church in Refuting error as it relates to the church and beliefs on the scriptures Sometimes a pastor has to point out a heretic and it's hard for you to get it.

It's hard It's just hard Well, I think you can see why we didn't cover Roman numeral - But I'm glad Honestly, I'm really glad Because we needed to spend some good time here with our view of Scripture And we need to really take our time to cover the person of God Because we're gonna really need to look at the Trinity and I'm gonna show you how your understanding of God God the Father son of the Holy Spirit Really hits close to home Now I want to do it one more time I want to read out that section look at your copy with me, okay? Oh, it's all right there everything I've taught. It's just gonna all fit together.

I believe for you it does for me we believe that the Holy Bible was written by men who were divinely inspired by God and that it is God's revelation of man of himself to man and that it is a perfect treasure of heavenly instruction and It has God for its author Salvation for its end in truth without any mixture or error for its substance It reveals the standards by which God will judge all mankind or humanity That it is and shall remain until the end of the world the true center of Christian Union and the supreme standard by which all human conduct all human creeds all human opinion should be judged and that all of Scripture is the testimony of Christ Praise God it tells us about his Savior Who is himself the focus of? divine revelation So what have we looked at this is what we teach and what we believe and folks we got to believe this Because I think you see the church hinges on it all Now I want to close with this We have any questions Please write them down Email them to me text them to me.

Call me if you have any question at this point. We want to field it You give it to me this week. I'll come in here next week and I'll answer it And if you have a question and it gets answered, it'll help other people that are listening. I promise Let me pray and we'll look at a couple of needs and dismiss