Inland Empire: Riverside
Inspired - Audio
Great to be here this morning. I hope you're doing well. God's working through all things going on in our lives and you know God's plan is to inspire us. God's plan is to work in our lives. Have you ever been inspired? I remember when I was in 8th grade, I was not a Christian, not interested in being a Christian but I got inspired, not really for godly things but it's just an example to get your attention until you get your Bibles out. I was in 8th grade and I went to my brother's high school graduation and I saw all the guys up there doing their speeches and I had never been to a high school graduation up that time or if I had I didn't pay attention until then and I was wondering why is that guy doing that speech and why are they up there getting that, you know, award or whatever it might be. Came to find out, you know, the top guy in the class gets to speak, the second guy in the class gets to speak and you know and I just got this idea of wow if you work hard you know there's a claim out there, there's opportunity out there and then I started here on they're going to this university or they're going to that university and it was just a little glimpse of okay, something that I hadn't seen before, that's okay, it inspired me to work real hard when I got to high school to work on my GPA and I ended up tying the actually smart guy at our school who was straight A's and I kind of worked the angles to get the grades and so I tied him and so I got to do the speech at the end of the year in my high school graduation which was great and I don't know how I did probably not well but I was inspired by a little spark and see being inspired is important, God intends to inspire us to do great things. The word inspired means to have been influenced from without producing in its object movements and effects beyond its native or at least ordinary powers and we're talking about the Holy Spirit as a congregation in the in these weeks and in the weeks to come we're going to be teaching a lot on that and certainly God inspired the writing of the Bible through the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is to inspire us to do something great. This morning what inspires you, what gives you energy and faith and desire to do something bold and energetic or beyond what you would do naturally, what breathes and energy into you. Open your Bible to Ezekiel chapter 36. Ultimately it is God who inspires and he uses a lot of mechanisms to do that. We find that Ezekiel chapter 36 in reflecting on the sins of Israelite nation and the pain it causes him, he has a plan and he says in Ezekiel chapter 36 we can start in verse 24 and 25 it says for I will take you out of the nations, I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh and I will put my spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. God wants us inspired. In this morning that is my hope, we get inspired and then we inspire others. That is the one thing I want to see and I believe that is what God wants to see, that we are inspired and that we inspire others. God inspires us to do his work and he breathes into us a mission and a purpose and we begin to see beyond ourselves as something great and you know just this week on Friday night an awesome new sister was added to our edge in singles ministry and that was Lucille Luna, where is Lucille at? Then it was awesome, she was baptized Friday night, so grateful. God inspired her. You know God's spirit is moving and he is working in all kinds of ways to change us and challenge us and here is the thing we need to be inspired. We need to be called beyond what is normal, what is natural to believe more than we would naturally believe, to think outside the box, to go beyond our ordinary powers and we find that even in our culture today many need that and our very society needs inspiration and there was a movie that came out a number of years ago called Invictus, I don't know if any of you saw it, it was the story of Nelson Mandela taking over the country of South Africa after he had been imprisoned for 27 years and the country was filled with racism, it was a predominantly black nation that the whites had run the country for years and what had happened is when finally free elections occurred, Nelson Mandela was elected to the presidency and yet there was just a lot of racism and tension in the country and so in an effort to inspire the nation to rise above, he saw that he couldn't get the people unified either politically, socially and anyway and he realized that you know the national sport in that country was rugby, in our country it's we got a number of national sports but over there rugby and they were hosting the World Cup of rugby every four years they host it's a big thing in that part of the world Australia and New Zealand, their team was horrible, the problem was their team was predominantly white in the nation, the predominantly black and everybody hated their team and he thought what can I do to cross barriers to lift people's minds and eyes and ears and hearts above what they do normally and he grabbed the captain of the team and brought him to the palace, the president of the palace and he gave the president of the team a pep talk and he'd inspired them and then he talked about what inspired him and it was a poem when he was in prison for 27 years called Invictus, it was a Latin, that means it's Latin for unconquered and invincible and it's written by William Ernest Henley, the poem Invictus and the poem says, "Night that covers me, black is the pit from pole to pole, I think whatever gods may be for my unconquerable soul in the fell clutch of circumstance, I have not winched nor cried aloud, under the bludgeonings of chance my head is bloody but unbound, beyond this place of wrath and tears looms but the horror of the shade and yet the menace of the years finds and shall find me unafraid, it matters not how straight the gate, how charged with punishments to scroll, I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul and Nelson Mandela will recite that in his prison cell 27 years wanting to die and yet just those words, not Christian words really, but words of a poem inspired him to say, "I can do it" and he was lifted and I want to show you a little clip here from the movie Invictus, a little something different in church today, give us a little taste of inspiration and what it did for that country and then we're going to do today, we're going to do part one, I'm going to do a three part and when I'm preaching I know every couple of weeks I'm preaching three part series on Inspired, today is going to be inspired by words but I want us to get inspired a little bit about what inspired that country and that was of course the movie here, we're going to watch a little clip from it, a couple of piece together clips from Indictus, so let's play that. I think whatever God's may be for my uncomfortable soul, I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul. Today, President Mandela takes office in Pretoria balancing black aspirations with white fears. Remember the say boys, this is a day, no country went to the docks, brothers, this is the time to build our nation. All of the whites are cheering for thunder, all of the blacks are cheering for England, have them before the world comes, don't get your hopes up, we'll attend this grace. What is your philosophy on leadership, how do you inspire your team to do their best? For example, I've always thought to lead by example, sir, but that is right, that is exactly right, but how to get them to be better than they think they can be, that is very difficult I find. Inspiration perhaps, how do we inspire ourselves to greatness when nothing less will do? How do we inspire everyone around us? I sometimes think it just by using the work of others. On Robin Island, when things got very bad, I found inspiration in the poem, a Victorian poem, just words, but they helped me to stand when all I wanted to do was to lie down. But you didn't come all this way to hear an older man talk about things that make them no sense. And it takes completeness to me, on a day of a big match, sorry, the test, in the bus on the way to the stadium, now that he talks, ah yes, they're all preparing, but when I think we're ready, I hit the bus driver, put on a song, something I've chosen, when we listen to the words together, it helps. I remember when I was invited to the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, everybody in the stadium grated me with a song, at the time the future, our future, seems very brief. But to hear that song, in the voices of people from all over our planet, made me proud to be South African, it inspired me to come home and do better, it allowed me to expect more of myself. Here I ask what was his own, sir. Well, it wasn't faucity lately, Africa, a very inspiring song. We need inspiration, Francois, because in order to build our nation, we must all exceed our own expectations. We need to be proud to be the first to be the first to be the first to be the first to be, the first to be the first to be the first to be the first to be the first to be the first, to be the first to be the first to be the first to be the first to be the first to be the first to be the first to be the first to be the first to be the first to be the first, to be the first to be the first to be the first to be the first to be the first to be the first act of sacrifice inspires us. But today, I want to talk about how words inspire. God's word certainly is the first thing that inspires us. God's word is the sword of the Spirit, Ephesians says, and it can cut into our hearts, and it can change us and mold us. Look, since you're in Ezekiel, hope you're still in Ezekiel, turn over one chapter to chapter 37. I want to begin reading there that we're inspired by words, words of Jesus. Words of truth. Words of truth inspire and spark inspiration. Look in verse 1 of Ezekiel chapter 37. It says, "The hand of the Lord was upon me, and He brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord, and set me in the middle of a valley. It was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw great many bones on the floor of the valley. Bones that were very dry. He asked me, Son of man, can these bones live?" I said, "O Sovereign Lord, you alone know." Then He said to me, prophesied to these bones, and say to them, "Drive bones, hear the word of the Lord." This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones. "I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you, and make flesh come upon you, and cover you with skin. I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord." So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesied, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them, and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them. Then He said to me, prophesied to the breath, prophesied Son of man, and say to it, "This is what the Sovereign Lord says. Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain that they may live." So I prophesied as He commanded me. And breath entered them. They came to life and stood up on their feet, a vast army. God's Word can bring any of us to life. God's Word has a dynamic power. We see in the image here that Ezekiel has, that his very speaking creates these dead, dry bones to come together. And it's a metaphor certainly for people coming alive spiritually. God's Word can change us. You remember, your first time you really stuck your nose in the Bible and read with an open heart and open mind how that felt? I know in my life I was a dry, dead bone. So empty. Feeling empty. Feeling like, what is the answers? Confused about next week's problems. Filled with an arrogance and a sensuality and just an empty view of what life was about, wanting power and money. And I was definitely a dry bone spiritually. And I remember being asked to study the Bible, and I remember the first Bible discussion I went to. And it was the most stimulating talk. I mean, just talking about real issues. Truth begins to penetrate the heart, talking about sin, talking about purpose, talking about eternity. But, you know, I was asked, "Hey, go ahead and read the Bible in depth on your own. Read this chapter. Read this book. Read the book of John." I didn't read it. I didn't make any progress. I ended up going that very week. I ended up going to some fraternity party at my school, and it was a typical fraternity party, not godly. Okay, to say the least. I don't even have to get into the stuff that was going on, but it was not things that God would recommend we do. And I hadn't been reading the Bible in depth, so I just didn't really have a conscience towards a lot of that. I got together the next week with the guys teaching me the Bible, and they said, "Have you read the book of John? Have you read it?" I said, "No." And so you've got to read. You know, we'll do all we can, but it's God's Word that will bring you some spiritual life. God's Word is like those electric shocks that the EMTs use, or the paramedics, when somebody's heart's not beat, and they shock you. It has a power in it to bring you alive. And so they rebuked, and they said, "You need to read. We're not studying with you again." I said, "Okay, I'm going to read." And I read, and you know, my eyes open. I'm like, "Okay, it changed me. Just reading the book of John to this day. If I feel a little spiritually lethargic, I'm not where I need to be. I'll open the book of John." I just love reading through God's Word, love reading the Word of God, getting in there, reading about all the amazing miracles and things He's done. And there's something in God's Word that begins to change us. How many of those have gotten the book back on track? And that awesome, all the insights and thoughts, and just the Word of God and the spiritual Word. It brings you alive. If you feel unmotivated, uninspired, have you been in the Word of God lately? The Word of God will refresh you, change you. It'll bring you to life if you're dead, and if you're kind of dull and dying, you get in the Word of God. You know, this week, I was thinking about my health because I found out I have nose cancer. I have a little skin cancer in my nose. I'm going to have to have surgery on at some point, and so I'm like learning about health. I'm just reading all this material. And I started thinking about, "Well, I've got to be healthy if I don't eat well." And I started reading the Word, and this whole concept came up about eating healthy. And it almost convinced me that I should eat a lot more greens, and everybody should eat more greens. You're going to ask me later about it. I did this Bible study. I was telling some of the guys like, "Oh my goodness, look at this. You're in Genesis. They're eating greens, and they live longer, and then later they weren't, and they're dying sooner." So is that a message to be a vegetarian? I don't know. Love to discuss that. The Lord said you can eat all the animals of the earth. It's fine, but you don't have to live as long. Now, Mike, he's 54. He didn't want to live. I sent him a text and said, "Mike, you know, you're halfway done. 108, baby. 108." He's like, "Oh man, I hope I'm 5, 6, done. Just eat more greens. You're going to live a long time." Just something simple like that inspired method. I got to get more greens. I'm out with Carrie on our date. I'm like, "I got to eat something healthy. I want to have a healthy meal." Guys, word can change you in all kinds of ways. I want to eat healthy. I want to be spiritually healthy. How do you do that? You need that nourishment. If you can't get that book back on track of you or if you're out of money, talk to Mike or Doug. They'll give you some money. They'll help you out. They want you to get that book. They're well off. They'll take care of you. God's word inspires. Turn it over to me to the book of John. Let me show you how God's word and truth. Truth inspires, right? Truth lifts our heart. It moves us. The truth of our testimony can change lives. Look in John chapter 4. We see there the Samaritan woman. Look with me down to verse 29. Actually, let's look in verse 39. Verse 39 says, "Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony. He told me everything I ever did. So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them. And he stayed two days. And because of his words, many more became believers. They said to the woman, "We no longer believe just because of what you said. Now we have heard for ourselves and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world." Our words and our testimony, the truth of God changing us, can totally change lives. You know, she says, "Come, me and the man who told me, you know, first of all, what moved her? He told me everything I ever did. He called me out on who I was. And that got her, that moved her, that inspired and changed her. And then she was telling the other people, "Yeah, he called me out on everything he told me everything he ever did. Come here, he's the Christ." Her testimony inspired the whole town to come out. Our testimony can change lives. The truth, you have a unique story that needs to be shared. It's powerful. You've got to meditate and pray on how God has worked in your life and share that testimony. It's the living truth of God in our present day society working right here doing amazing things. God is working. Share your story. You know, I remember last year, one of our young brothers, Ryan Lagerbore, I was talking about what inspired him to want to study the Bible and become a disciple. He said, "You know, I knew Bignette, you know, who did our little offering talk here. I knew Bignette when I was in high school. Man, he's so different. The way he talks is so different. His story inspired. His change inspired. His words inspired. And you know, Ryan said the Bible. He's a great brother now at UC Riverside, working with our UC Riverside ministry. Our testimony, our words, our example, the way we speak can change lives. And it inspires people. Amen? You know, the other thing about God's word and about words in general is that words of encouragement inspire. Words of encouragement inspire. Look over in Acts chapter 18. Acts chapter 18. You guys with me out there? Acts 18, we find in verse 9, Paul had gone into the city of Corinth to preach. And there was, you know, some opposition. The Jews were opposing Paul. They had become abusive, it says, in verse 6. But look on down in verse 9. It says, "One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision. Do not be afraid. Keep on speaking. Do not be silent for I am with you." And no one is going to attack and harm you because I have many people in this city. So Paul stayed for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God. And of course, we have the book of 1st and 2nd Corinthians. We know history says the church might grow up to 10,000 even Paul talks about 10,000 guardians as he's writing to the church in Corinth. And the church grew. I mean, Paul was inspired by what Jesus appeared and said, "Do not be silent. Keep preaching. Keep teaching. Keep sharing." He needed those words of encouragement. I've shared it here, but it is one of the things in my mind that marks the great encouragement. As an 8th grade student again, that was about the inner high. So it's a good time to have moments that change you. And I remember running in this race and it was a track and field event back then that I ran in. And in an open event, like the 100 meter dash, I know I was, the three of us are about equal. And I thought, "I'm going to win it. I'd won it the year before it." And I ended up getting third. Two guys beat me and I was like, "Ah, I didn't win. I was just down about it." You know, these guys, you know, they beat me decently too. So I was like, "Man." But then later in the day was the four by 100 relay that day. And you know, those two guys were lankering their teams and I was anchoring the last leg of my team. And I remember, you know, one of the guys that had beat me, he was ahead, you know, about, you know, five, ten feet ahead when he got to the time. And I remember right when I got to the time, I heard out my dad was standing sort of on the corner of the track. I was like, "You could do it, Steve, really loud. That's all I heard." And I zoned. I got in the zone. And I was just running. I was like, "You could do it, you know. You could do it." And I just heard that. And little by little, you know, that guy didn't have his dad yelling at him. He just heard sort of this little noise behind him. And you know, right at the tape I passed him and I beat him. And I thought, "Yeah, you know, I got it." You know, but you know, it really mattered. That word of encouragement, it emboldens. It inspires. God knows that. We need words of encouragement. We need to give them out. You know, I know oftentimes before I speak, you know, Carrie will say, "Are you ready? I'm again." She says, "I know you will do a great job." And I appreciate that, you know. She gives me that little, that pep talk, you know. She's that pep talk. Of course, my key comes up to me and says, "Surface has been great. Don't mess it up." [laughter] But I do want to say about Mike that Mike understands this principle. I know early on in our congregation here, there was a ton of discouragement five years ago, six years ago, and Mike came here. We weren't sure what was going to happen. We had had really a church split. It was very difficult. Our congregation had dwindled. It was tough. And I remember Mike and Libby coming in and just being faithful saying, "We're going to do it God's way. Hang in there. Things are going to rebuild. Things are going to work out. God's going to work." And, you know, those words of encouragement. So many of us go, "Yeah, that helped." And the words of truth that Mike spoke. The words of truth. "Hey, we're going to hang on. What is true? Don't back off on what is true." And, you know, look at us growing. Look at us having 700, 800 at church on Sundays. And many of us have been here years ago when we weren't, and it was difficult. You know, Mike certainly has been in inspiration with his words, just encouraging Carrie and I, that we could do more in the campus. We could oversee more. We were capable, and it kept us believing. And even recently Carrie and I were asked to help oversee with the Stevenson's LA church campuses, helping coordinate them, which we kind of were doing, but more officially they've asked us to do that. And a lot of that I realized, you know, Mike put that in us. He said, "You could do it." You know, we want to do it, but he always believed words of encouragement. Inspire. And we need to believe in each other. We need encouraging words. We got to keep believing, keep inspiring, keep telling people. You can do more than you think. Certainly, we know God's words are filled with encouragement. Right? "I will never leave you nor forsake you." Be strong and courageous, he told Joshua. "I will never leave you or forsake you." Jesus says, "If you're out doing what I said, go and make disciples, baptize them, teaching them to obey. I will be with you forever." We need those words. He's here with us. As we're doing his work, he's here with us, inspiring and encouraging. Encouraging words inspire, amen? Certainly Nelson Mandela would understand the power of encouraging words, just those words from that poem in Victus, right? "I am the captain of my soul. I am the master of my fate, the captain of my soul." And those aren't really spiritual so much as we know that God ultimately is the captain of our soul, but God gave us free choice. We have the will to choose what we do in any and every situation. We have the freedom to choose what we will do, what we will respond to, how we will live in any and every situation. Those words got him through a dark and difficult time. And oftentimes your very words could be the difference between somebody just throwing in a towel and quitting and believing, "You know, I'm going to hang in there." Don't underestimate the power of your words. Don't underestimate the power of your testimony because they can inspire. You know, the other thing is words of vision inspire, don't they? Words of vision inspire us. Look at, it's in June chapter, go back to John, go back to John. One of my favorite verses about vision is just a simple thing that Jesus did in John chapter 1. Words of vision inspire us. Do you give vision to people? I was sharing about Mike's encouragement, it was really a vision, a continual vision that he had. Look at John 1, look at me in verse 42, what we find here is this is when Andrew brings his brother, Simon. And we find there that he brings Simon over to him, and you can see in verse 41 the first thing Andrew did was define his brother Simon and tell him we have found the Messiah, that is the Christ, and he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, you are Simon, son of John, you will be called Kefa or Cephas, you know, which were translated as Peter. I think in Aramaic they pronounce it Kefa, but you know, what does it mean? The rock. Hey, your name is Simon, but you're going to be the rock. You know, even in our generation, we know that that's a cool nickname, right? People take that on, we have, you know, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Rod the actor, he took that one. You know, he's a bus guy, you know, he's a movie star, he knows the rock, that's a cool nickname to have. You're going to be the rock. Now, I will say that, you know, Jake's name is a pretty cool name, Jake Rock, right? I just like that name, my name is Jake Rock, you know. Have you breathed vision into anybody lately? That's what Jesus did, right? He looked at him and he gives him a nickname that's an inspiration of who he can become and what he can become. Words of vision inspire. Words of vision can change the world. Do you have a vision for the people around you? You know, I have a vision for my kids and I see how God made him and I, you know, I see these visions, I see God can use them in great ways. When I meet college students, that's why I love working with the campus and the edge ministry so much because I love catching people at early stages in their life. Is there not a where yet of all the things God has in store? I remember meeting the guy one time, he had like 39 body piercings. Yeah, not Doug. Dad was a motorcycle gang leader and just challenging the circumstance he lived in, you know, but he became just an incredible family leader in the campus, his loving guy married, this beautiful woman. Just, God just changed him, you know, he took out most of his piercings, you know. And, you know, I don't mind, piercings 39 was a bit too many, I think, but, you know, a lot of times we see first impressions and we just buy into the first impression. That's not like God at all. God had words of vision and give words of vision. If you look in the words, scriptures, clearly you're going to see his vision for our life. I certainly have a vision for Chris Lee. I have had one and I even talked about him last week when I was in Texas. Just said, God has a vision for him. I don't know the plan. This is before I found out the accident. God has a vision. I don't know the outcome of this. I'm going to pray for miracles here. But I do know God wants to be glorified and that he has a vision for each one of our individual lives. And God is working. At every stage of our life, he has a vision for you. I think about the difficulties that I've seen as a minister in our congregation and the challenges. You know, even the worst defeats are training for future victory. Do you have a vision when you see somebody who's been through some horrible struggles? I have a vision. I love our enemies. We have in our edge ministry where it's getting a little bit older. Some of our edge singles are, we're not 22. We got 32, 42, 52, 62 and on up. But I have a vision. There's a lot of people in our culture been through divorce. Maybe they're in their 50s. They're not sure what life God in store for me. They're like, if you're 54, Mike's thinking, I'm happy to go. You know, well, he's done so much for God. I think the Lord is going to keep Mike a lot longer than he expects. 108, I think there's a chance. But I have a vision of our 50-something edge ministry. Maybe people have been through divorce and difficulty having an outreach and a ministry to meet that need in our culture, which is so enormous. Marriage, you have a vision that having a godly marriage is the antidote to the problems so many of the problems in our culture. Maybe not every problem. Jesus is the ultimate antidote. But let me tell you, having a healthy marriage stabilizes your family, stabilizes your children, stabilizes our community. We have so much to give. There's so many things God wants to use us for. We've got to believe that. A vision. You know, I did another study. 19 to 20,000. I couldn't get the exact number, but between 19 and 20,000 universities in the world. There's one in every major city of the whole world, often way more than one. Well, we want to evangelize the world. Jesus is going to make the disciples of all nations, right? I have a conviction, a way to do that. You don't even need anything else to say. Let's get a campus ministry and a church surrounding that campus ministry, just like we have here, which is awesome. And every campus on the planet. If we do that, guess what's going to happen? There'll be a church in every major city in the entire globe. And who's more open to God than 19, 20, 21, 22 year olds? What were the apostles? I mean, I love the campus. I love the marriage. I love the teens. I love all those ministries. But what a cool vision. And I hope we can all know that it is part of our plan as a fellowship. This is a goal we've got to get campus ministries planted in the Middle East, to get them planted over the Southwest, get them planted in the Southeast, all over the world. It's a simple plan. Okay, is there a campus or is there a campus ministry there? Then we'll build a church around it or the church will evolve out of it? It's a great inspiration. It's a vision. Do you have a vision? And do you give that vision? See words of vision inspire. The last thing I want to say is words of conviction inspire. Words of conviction move us powerfully. You know, we'll hang on to them. They become a strength that enables us to stand when the winds are sweeping over top of us. You know, Jesus had deep conviction. We find that he preached. And it's conviction was so strong that it amazed people. Look over in Matthew chapter 7. And we see there that people reflected on how powerfully Jesus preached. Matthew chapter 7 verse 28, we see at the end of his sermon on the map, maybe the greatest sermon of all time, right? One of the greatest sermons, most famous, the greatest. Maybe some of his other sermons were equal, but certainly any of those were his were the greatest. But he said, turn verse 28, when Jesus, or they say, when Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, which we know he did, and not as the teachers of the law. You know, we read about how God's word comes to the Thessalonians church, with power, the Holy Spirit, and deep conviction. When you share, do you share, Jesus is the way. Jesus really helped me. I think he's a good way to go. I think the Bible's true. That doesn't move people, does it? You're almost like, really? You sure about that? Words of conviction inspire. Are you certain of the foundational teachings that you agreed to, that you understood? When you said, Jesus is Lord, and we're baptized, like we see it was, just this body. Are you sure of those foundational convictions? There is only one way. Jesus is that way. The Word of God is the truth, the living truth, the eternal truth, the inerrant truth. Are you really sure? Are you really sure of what you believe? I love this one Bible talk we do on the campus. A lot of the guys do it. Jake's been doing it. Big Nick's been doing it, but it's a great Bible talk because what they do is it's from Jeremiah. You can try it out. Marry's, you might like trying this. Edge ministry, Jeremiah chapter 36. And it's about Jehoya Kim, and he's the king of Israel, and he doesn't want to hear anything negative about his kingdom. And yet, the Prophet Jeremiah told, "Yeah, here's some bad stuff going to happen." He tells his assistant to write this stuff down and then tell him. And then he writes down, "Hey, you're going to be taken over by the Babylonians." Well, the king, you know, it's winter time. He's sitting by his fire. He doesn't like that. So he grabs the scroll, which is the word, which is the Bible, and he cuts it. I don't like that. Throws in the fire. Of course, in the end, you know, God shows him, "You can't do that." It doesn't work out. It's like it'll work out for you. Well, our Bible talk, what we do is we'll read that chapter, and then we'll get like an old Bible we got from wherever, you know, thrift store, or some version we're not really using that's, you know, we're going to scare people here. And so what we do is we grab the Bible and say, "What are some of the most difficult passages to obey?" How about ones on purity, sexual purity, no sex before marriage, total absolute purity. Not even a hint of impurity. Yeah, those are tough. Let's just take this out of the Bible, and we ripped it out of the Bible in the Bible talk. What's another one? And they're like, "What, you ripping the Bible?" [laughter] And then we go to another one, and we'll talk about, you know, total surrender to Jesus, only those that give up everything are disciples of Jesus. You know, Luke, chapter 14, or Luke 9, or all those so many of the passages that say that. Give it up everything, or you're not a disciple, not a Christian. When I like that, we'll rip that out. And we whittle it down so we're just the basic, most famous scripture. What do people like? Well, they like the one that says, "Just believe in your going to heaven." Just say, "I believe," and I'm going to heaven, the easy verse. So we go, so everybody likes John 3, 16, which is an amazing, awesome promise and gift from God, but it's not the whole Bible. And so we'll take, we'll get that page, we'll pull it out, and we'll throw the whole Bible and say, "Is this your Christianity?" And then we'll challenge people, let's study the whole Bible. Words of conviction inspire people. We need inspiration. We've got it go beyond what we normally think we can do. There are needs. We're going to talk about those next time. Great needs. We need inspiration from God and the Holy Spirit, right? The Holy Spirit. He's the one that breathes these things into us. He uses words. Let's be inspired and let's inspire others. Amen. (Applause) [BLANK_AUDIO]
Sunday lesson by Steve Lounsbury