2 Timothy 3:10

Second Timothy, Chapter 3, beginning there in verse 10. It says there, and this is the Apostle Paul writing to Timothy, a young man, not really that young but at that time they considered him a young man, he was about 40 years older or less, say Bible scholars. But Timothy had the hallmark of having been a pastor and disciple of the Apostle Paul and Timothy was fulfilling certain pastoral duties and so Paul, the veteran Apostle, writes to his disciple and is giving him advice on how he should conduct himself in his life, and how you must conduct yourself in your ministry as well. So it's a letter of pastoral advice.

Second Timothy, 3:10. Paul is advising Timothy and says: "...but you, Timothy, but you have followed my doctrine, conduct, purpose, faith, long-suffering, love, patience, persecutions, sufferings like those that befell me in Antioch, in Iconium in Lystra, persecutions that I have suffered and the Lord has delivered me from all, and also all those who want to live piously in Christ Jesus, will suffer persecution. But bad men and deceivers will go from bad to worse deceiving and being deceived but you persist in what you have learned and persuaded yourself, knowing from whom you have learned and that since childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which can make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and useful to teach, to reprove, to correct, to instruct in justice so that the man of God or the woman of God may be perfect, fully prepared for every good work." May the Lord bless his holy word.

I was thinking like this one of the fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith is this subject of the inspiration of the Scriptures, the inspiration of the Scriptures and that is one of the main points that I want to address this morning. But beyond that there is the issue of what we should do in light of the fact that we have a word, called the Bible, which we believe to be the word of God, inspired by God, written in a sense by the holy spirit. And what are we to make of that fact, how are we to behave in light of God's people's essential belief that the Bible is the inspired word of God? I hope we will explore this topic a little more. What does this mean about the inspiration of the Bible, the inspiration of the Scriptures? But let me take an exegetical tour through this passage to try to make the same synthesis that the mind of the Apostle Paul does with these different themes.

In Chapter 3 of this letter the Apostle Paul is very concerned about the danger of the time in which they are living, but at the same time he also gives a prophetic word towards the future time, a future time that I believe will be It is fulfilling now in these times, because we are in the last times, we believe, we are in difficult times, in dangerous times and that very well fill the description of what both Christ and the Apostle Paul and other writers of Scripture speak of. of what the end times will be like.

If you look at Second Timothy Chapter 3, in verse one, Paul tells Timothy: “.... you should also know this that in the last days dangerous times will come because there will be men who love themselves , greedy, vainglorious, etc”, and he gives a whole description of the type of person that is going to be in those times and they are definitely very similar to what we see in these times where there is all kinds of sinfulness in the world in an incredible way . The Apostle Paul even speaks to many who are still preaching the word and serving the Lord who say they have an appearance of godliness but deny its effectiveness, deny its power.

In other words, it is a time, says the Apostle Paul, in which there is a lot of fluctuation, there is a lot of evil, there is a lot of deceit, there is a lot of impossibility for one to know exactly who is who and who is what in the things of the Gospel. It is a time of great sin in humanity and in society and that is where that "but" comes from verse 10, in light of that negative dynamism that exists in the spiritual environment, Paul tells Timothy, and we says to us, to each one of us as Christians "but you, and you can put your name there in that you, you have followed my doctrine, conduct, purpose, etc..." In other words the Apostle Paul is saying to Timoteo: Timoteo, but your behavior is different. You are a different man, you are from a different spiritual category than those people who have gone behind sin and rebellion against God or behind doctrinal and religious hypocrisy, and you are a different person. Because? Because you have followed my doctrine, etc., etc. And there begins this idea in the mind of the Apostle Paul of the importance of fidelity to the values of truth, to the values of justice, to the values of true, biblical doctrine.

The importance of staying true to what God has declared and not going with the rest of the world. And so he interestingly puts himself as the norm in this case. He says: but Timothy, thank God that you have followed, and the Greek word that is translated "follow" suggests the idea almost of discipleship, of following in all dimensions, in the physical dimension, like the disciple who he beat his teacher and followed him wherever he went as the disciples followed Jesus Christ. The disciple who follows his teacher mentally because he receives his teaching and the concepts that he is transferring to his disciple and who also follows him spiritually because he adopts the spirit of his teacher and absorbs it and is a reflection of the spirit of his teacher as well. So all of that is enclosed in the word followed, which is the word almost like the disciple in the original Greek. But your Timothy has followed, and brothers, how important it is precisely that we as believers do exactly that...

I believe that what defines a disciple or a believer in Jesus Christ is that fidelity, it is that following the teaching, following the standard that God has established. It is not so much coming to church and not even giving those tithes that we insist so much that you give at the time or having a membership letter, it is not that adhering in obedience to the norm of what is good, what is right, what is true. That is what God calls us to do. There has to be obedience. For me that is the key, I believe, for a fruitful and happy Christian life is that there is in us that obedience, that following, that sticking to the word of God and sticking to the truth of God. Many of us don't experience all of the abundant life that Christ has come to give us because I think we're still playing the little game, well, I'm in it or not. And we are there undecided, and what the Lord asks for is that total surrender, that following in a total way the norm of Scripture.

And how interesting the Apostle Paul, look at another curious thing is that Paul puts himself in a sense as the norm. He says: "But you have followed my doctrine, my faith, my purpose, my conduct...." It is not that the Apostle Paul was a proud man, it is not that he was a man who believed that he was a big deal because the He himself said I am the worst of all sinners, I am the chief of sinners, Paul once described himself like this. But Paul was a man that when he embraced the teaching, when he embraced the doctrine of the Gospel, he gave himself completely. He gave up his mind, heart, soul and body, gave his whole life to the Lord and dedicated himself to serving Him exclusively.

I believe that there is nothing wrong when a person has lived a life like the one lived by the Apostle Paul who Put yourself as an example and how important it is, brothers, that in the Christian life there are men and women who can serve as an example, right? Because many times we can talk about many of these doctrines, and these virtues in the abstract doctrinally, theologically. But how good it is when we can see someone who exemplifies faith, or exemplifies patience, or exemplifies love and the world needs examples, the world needs men and women who are embodiments of Gospel values. I hope that God helps each one of us to always have that goal of being an example and an inspiration for someone. Because we do not live alone, always remember that there are many people who are attentive to each one of us and as Christians we have to be aware of this and make sure that we are a model for others as much as possible.

One of the things that is in the vision of our church is to be an exemplary church. Because? Because we believe the world needs examples of institutions or individuals who are living the Christian life to the best of their ability with integrity and in a way that is pleasing to the Lord. And Paul tells Timothy: Timothy, you have followed my doctrine. Look at the variety of qualities that Paul embodied: by doctrine, Paul is referring to biblical fidelity, teaching, fidelity to the word of God; conduct, his behavior, his walk in the Lord; purpose, Paul was a man of purpose, Paul was a man who had a clear vision of where he wanted to go. He knew who had called him and what he had been called to do and he was a man of purpose. How important it is that we, brothers, be men and women of purpose, that we have a vision that encourages our lives.

I ask you this morning: what is the vision that animates your life? If you were asked to summarize in three sentences, three sentences the type of life you want to live and what you want to become in God and where you would like to be in 5 years in the Gospel. Or what financial or family or personal goals you have proposed. You could answer quickly. Could you say look, this is my purpose, this is my vision as a man or as a woman and this is what I want to become? Because many of us live life improvising. We just get up every day and improvise but don't have a sense of purpose and goal. And Paul was a man of purpose and also a man of faith who knew who he had believed in and who dared to do anything for the Lord and who was not there: I believe or I do not believe. No, Pablo was a man who knew. He says, I know in whom I have believed.

He also talks about his long-suffering which is a bit of an archaic word. Long-suffering, the most appropriate word for our time would be patience, although here later it says love and patience, but the word patience that is translated here into Spanish is that word that we have seen before Macrotumía that means persistence, means to endure, to have endurance , firmness in times of crisis and need. So he was a man who had all these virtues and Timothy had imitated him, had followed him in these things and at the moment something surprising emerges because from all that list, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, patience, at the moment he says persecutions, sufferings . And one is kind of surprised, where did that come from. Because all the rest are virtues but he also speaks, Paul always spoke on many occasions in his writings he speaks of the persecutions he suffered, of the sufferings.

There in Second Corinthians, Chapter 9 there is a very long list of all the afflictions that the Apostle Paul went through. And why is this also unexpected? Not only because it's like a mixture of things that don't fit together, but because one would expect that a man who has love, faith, patience, doctrine, purpose, behavior, like that man would be protected from all suffering, like a man so valuable as Paul, the Lord would protect him from afflictions and trials. Not however. How interesting that many times when you are, even if you are in the ways of the Lord and you are being faithful and greatly useful to the Lord, that does not exempt you from going through tribulations and difficulties. We have to always remember that, brothers, because I know that many times when we are going through trials, one says: but Lord, if I am serving you, if I am going to church, if now is when I pray the most and I am looking for more of you, and why these tests come to me. Brothers let us always remember. It is often more the closer we are to the Lord, sometimes the more the enemy will want to come and sometimes God will also want to come, because not only the enemy tests us, sometimes God himself also allows certain afflictions to come into our lives, for what? To form us To strengthen us. To create the character of Jesus Christ in us. Affliction is not only from the devil to make you fall, but many times it is from God to strengthen you.

And this week I was reading an article in Christianity Today, a Christian magazine by a Christian writer who talked about testing and he said that many times God even brings testing into our lives, you know why? So that through the trial and the consolation that we receive in the trial, we can comfort others as well. The only person who can be of real use in counseling or in exhortation and encouragement, in encouraging others, is the person who has been through trials and has been shown by God that He is faithful and is therefore prepared to comfort others.

This very week when I appeared before the jury this, the Boston Redevelopment Authority, this agency in the city of Boston that deals with all permits and everything. By the way I tell you there are 2 great moments, let's say like this, that we have had to go through, one of them was this Thursday and the other will be on December 14, which we ask you to pray, it will be the end, this is a process of many months that we carry. We were able to appear there before those authorities and bring the project for the construction of the new sanctuary and this has been a great affliction for my flesh because we have had to deal so much with the neighborhood and with agencies, and fill out so much paperwork and the uncertainty if after all this mess, we've been in this design process for about a year and a half, two years and everything, and one wonders: will it work or not, in the end can we do it or not? It has been very burdensome and this Thursday when we appeared there before that authority and praise the Lord, they gave us their approval, and I thank the Lord for that, and I hope that after December 14 I can come before you in the name of of the Lord and give them great news that finally... But I thought in my innocence that by the end of July I was going to finish, this process was going to be finished because it was the first time that we appeared before one of those authorities . And it was not so.

They have been putting us off and we have had to enter into a process that I hoped the Lord would free me from the process of the neighborhood, one says: Lord, you can do anything, take this cup from me, Father, if it is your will. He said, no, no, you have to drink, you have to drink it. I had to get involved with the beasts of the neighborhood around here and with the beasts also of the city of Boston and one wonders: Lord, but why? If this is for your glory, if this is to make you a sanctuary. Why don't you make my life easier, don't you see that I have so many other things to do in the ministry? Damn, give me a break.

But the Lord says: No, I don't want to. And I have clearly understood in my heart that the Lord wants me to go through those processes and to learn as a pastor that I am involved in the affairs of the city, and I have learned, brothers, a ton of things that you cannot imagine. And appearing there before that group of very sophisticated people, having to prepare a whole strategy in the neighborhood and fight there with that pack of lynxes that are there in this neighborhood, professional people who know the laws of the city very well and all that. It has helped me to better form myself as a pastor and as an administrator and person who is involved in a public process. And on Thursday morning I confess that my heart was a bit racing, and the uncertainty of what is going to happen and all this. After finishing like it always happens, after I get into this mess and God gets me out of it, I thank the Lord. I tell him: Father, what a privilege to be able to be part of such a process and learn and battle and see your faithfulness. I believe that this will enable me with the help of the Lord to be able to do other things that God has for my ministry.

Notice, brothers, that God does not always get us out of trials. God can sometimes allow us to go through very strong afflictions, but always with a positive purpose, prepare us, train us, sometimes break us, humiliate us on other occasions, teach us patience, fidelity, persistence, but always with a good purpose. God's purpose is that, to form Christ in us, and He sometimes uses very strange instruments, let me tell you, as He used the cross. The cross is the most sinister instrument that has been invented for the torture of human beings, and God used it to bring salvation to humanity. So let's not be surprised. I got a little off topic but that's okay because that's part of it.

Pablo a man who with all these virtues, faithful to the Lord and suffered difficulties, sufferings, but remained firm. He says: "... and the Lord has delivered me from all of them." Glory to God.

Let me tell you, my brother, sister, if you are going through a trial the Lord is faithful to deliver you. Don't give up. Do not stop crying out to the Lord, do not stop serving the Lord. When you have come out of that test you will come out shining like gold, more prepared than ever. God will never leave you. That if I can promise you. I cannot promise that it will free you from affliction and trial, but I can promise that it will bring you out victorious from your difficulty. Glory to the Lord, amen. A round of applause is appropriate for the glory of the Lord.

Look at what it says there in verse 12, it says: “...and also all who want to live godly in Christ Jesus, each one will receive a cadillac in his marquee,...it doesn't say: they will suffer persecution, they will suffer persecution. Every person who wants to please the Lord, who wants to be faithful to the Lord, who wants to stand firm in the ways of the Lord knows that you are going to have to face some kind of suffering in some way or another, but that will be for the glory of God and for strengthening yours, so do not be afraid of the devil, do not be afraid of circumstances, stand firm in that purpose of being faithful to the Lord because God has good things for you. But evil and deceitful men will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. That is the fate of every person who wants to play the little game that I'm here, and I'm there, to deceive others. What's happening? In the end they will be deceived and they will deceive others and they will always be eating others and eating themselves and being eaten too. Because that is the fate of the person who lacks that fidelity and integrity in the Lord.

Again, look here at the call to Timothy and all of us to faithfulness, to obedience. He says: “...but you persist in what you have learned and you persuaded yourself knowing from whom you have learned. Glory to the Lord. Again, you see that idea of we have learned, all of us have learned from someone and I hope that you have a mentor or a mentor that you have someone who can serve as a model for you. How important it is to have the figure of a father behind us or a mother, or an older person who has been a mentor or mentor or has been an example and has blessed us in life. If you don't have it and you are young in the faith, find yourself someone who has more experience than you and stick with that person and learn from them. And you, brothers who have more experience, find yourself a younger person and less experienced in the faith, and try to be a mentor to someone so that we can continue to lead you forward.

The Apostle Paul says: Timothy, you persist, hold on. Don't be like the others, stay firm, persist. Much of the Christian life is to persist because many times in the Christian life it is a matter of having stamina, it is not a matter of going well or that we will always feel enthusiastic about the Lord. Look, many times not even the pastor himself wants to come to church, that's the way it is, but if one takes it that I don't want to come, imagine, how many of you on Monday morning get up and say it's good that I have to get up at 5 in the morning and put on my clothes and go out into that cold of 10 below zero and go to work to punch out the machine and spend all day. How many say I'm happy to do it? But they do. Because? Because they know they have to. Because it is a discipline.

Many times we brush our mouths, not because we like the taste of pasta but because we have to, and likewise sometimes in the Christian life there are moments of drought as there are in marriage, as there are in friendship and one cannot simply be changeable, like a weather vane in the wind. One has to persist. I love persistent people in the Christian life, people who rain, shine or shine are there firm. Sometimes they don't speak much in tongues, sometimes they don't let their hair down too much because they dance a lot, whatever, but they are faithful people and they are faithful in their tithes, they are faithful in their church attendance, they are faithful in service , you assign them something and you know that they will be there even if they are dying, sometimes they come coughing, crawling through the door, but they arrive because they are faithful people, they persist. Brothers do not get carried away by emotions. We have to break the slavery to emotions and we have to be persistent people in the Christian life. These are the people who, over the years, you see grow, develop, because they are people just there, one small step in front of the other until they reach the goal. Persist in what you have learned and remember who you have learned from. Let us honor our teachers, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures.

Brothers, how important it is that we teach our children the word of God. Timoteo was a young man who learned from his grandmother, even his mother taught him the word of God. He was a boy raised in the ways of the Lord. Paul says: Remember Timothy what you learned from childhood.

How important, brothers, we do not spare resources for our children so that they have experiences that instruct them in the word of God. Instead of buying him a Nintendo or one of those weird games out there that will corrupt him, buy him a set of Christian books or strap him to a table leg and play a Christian video or something. Brothers, instruct your children in the ways of the Lord. Brothers, while we can, let's bring them to church and when they get to teenagers and they tell you at 13 years old, I don't want to go because I'm tired on Sunday, put a rope around his neck and bring him. Tell him: if you want to eat, you will have to come to church with me today. Perhaps the psychologists will not support you in what I am telling you, but..... take it from your pastor.

Brothers, I believe that sometimes we have to be firm with our children so that they drink the milk of the word Then they will thank you. There will come a day when that word will begin to do something in their lives. Many years will pass, perhaps, they will stray from the ways of the Lord, but that word will be there like a time bomb that one day when a crisis in the marriage comes, or a health situation or a financial problem, they will remember those signs they heard when they were children and will return to the ways of the Lord. The word says: instruct the child in his way so that when he is old, he will not turn away from him, or when he is old he will not turn away from him.

So it's important to teach, instruct our children in the Holy Scriptures. I believe that churches should do everything possible to instruct children in the word. Today we have so many things that entertain the boys and all kinds of procedures and things to entertain them and keep them interested and this and that. That is not bad, but I believe that if there is no teaching from the word of God, we are wasting time. You have to teach them the great doctrines, the great events of the Bible, the characters of Scripture, the great events that are written in Scripture because these things are what anchor a life to the word of the Lord. There is nothing like the word of God entering the heart and mind of the person, you can tell beautiful stories and this and that, but the word of God feeds like nothing else in this world. So instruct your children in the word of the Lord.

It says: ... the Holy Scriptures which can make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus, there is no source of wisdom like the word of God. How many would like to be wise? How many are asleep? I think everyone here wants to be wise, right? Brethren, there is only one way for you to find wisdom. Through the word of God. The Bible says: "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." The word of God is practical in its teachings. The Bible says that the entrance of your word illuminates the face. There is something special, the person who has been instructed in the word of God even though he has not gone to university or high school, but he will be a cultured person anyway and he will be a person who can always have a good conversation. However, there are people who have doctorates in philosophy and are stupid, pardon the word, ignorant, and you see that in their way of life they do not reflect that great knowledge they have, because many times they are devoid of wise teaching, millennial of the word of God. I prefer at any time to know the word of the Lord well than any doctorate that men can provide me, I tell you, because it gives us wisdom and wisdom and not just any, but wisdom for salvation. Eternal life.

The Bible says that it is good for a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul, the word of God is the only one that can give you wisdom to know how to relate to God, how to relate to yourself, how to drive your emotions, how to handle human relationships, how to deal with the wounds and traumas of the past, if you are not based on the word of the Lord you are worse than a ship in the middle of a storm at sea, without the sails of which our brother Luis Valles spoke. We are adrift, at the mercy of circumstances, but the person who anchors his life in the word, in the doctrine of the Lord, that person, even if the winds and storms of life come, will know how to get out of the difficulties of life. life. That is why it is so important, brothers, that we be faithful to that sound doctrine, to that word of the Lord. Let us not get carried away by the changes, let us not get carried away by today so much strange interpretation of Scripture, so much teaching that tries to take away the marrow of the word of the Lord, let us remain faithful to the word of the Lord.

Look at what it says here: "...all Scripture is inspired by God." What did the Apostle Paul mean by saying all of Scripture? Well, firstly he was referring to the Old Testament writings because at that time all the New Testament writings did not yet exist but there is already evidence in the Bible that that body of New Testament writings that would be included within it was already beginning to form. of the concept of Scripture and that the Apostle Paul himself already knew something about it, because he himself quotes passages from the Gospels in a couple of passages of his letters, wanting to suggest that certain New Testament writings were already circulating that one day would become part of the body of books that would make up the Bible.

When the Apostle Paul says that all of Scripture, brothers, means that, for us today that we have already gone through the whole process of preparing the canon and all this, hopefully one day we will have the opportunity to talk about how it is they formed what we call today the 66 books of the Bible, the Apostle Paul when saying all the Scripture is referring to all these books from Genesis to Revelation.

Repeat after me: All of Scripture. Amen. Brethren, it is not just some books. If you hear someone out there say that these books are more authoritative than the others, look, as orthodox Christians, we believe that every text, every phrase, every word that is in the Bible is a word inspired by God. Whether Paul wrote it, Peter wrote it, they are words of Jesus in the Gospels, they are words of Ezekiel or Isaiah or in Genesis, all these words are words of God inspired by God, a word that is as it says here "... useful for teaching, reproving, correcting and instructing in justice.”

I'm going to stop for a moment because time is running out. The word inspired, teo neupstos, means teo of theology, God and neupstos means like pneuma, air, it is like the Scripture was breathed by God. When we Christians say that the Bible is inspired, we mean that God breathed, the idea is that the spirit of God was breathed as it was blown on Adam and he became that piece of land, he became a living man. Likewise when God breathed in the process of writing these books, when different men wrote these books through centuries and centuries, every time one of those books was produced, and every time each one of those men sat down to write these words , the spirit of God was there as if breathing on them, infusing itself in their words.

It does not mean that God turned them into automatons that wrote each word under the dictation of the holy spirit. No, because these men also wrote retaining their individuality, their character, reflecting the customs of their times, including their temperament and other things, but even within their human originality the breath of God was there making sure that those words were without error. The way they put it but it was true. You can say the same thing in many ways. You can say, for example: my mother is very noble, or you can say my mother is very good, or whatever, but the idea is the nobility, the solidity of the mother. Also these men could write in many different ways, many different expressions, but what he said, the essence, the content, of those words that is totally firm, true and we can trust it.

Today in this time in which we live, there are many Christians who have lost that sense of reverence for Scripture and we question, and especially in this time in the area of human sexuality, there is so much questioning of what the Bible says Bible for example regarding homosexuality. How many Christians are there supposedly out there teaching that it is okay for a man to marry a man or a woman to marry a woman in direct contradiction to Scripture? And they are surprised when one as an orthodox Christian says no, but it is what the word of God says and they say but you are still believing in those things and it is almost like they laugh at you, Christians with Christians, imagine. And the word of God tells you, but you persist in what you have learned, persist in what you convinced yourself of.

Christians, this word called the Bible is reliable, it was inspired, it was breathed by God and it should serve as the norm and the basis of your behavior in life. Never get out of it, brothers and if one day we get out of it let's re-enter it. Let's not try to judge the word, let the word judge you. We have to have reverence for the Scriptures and we have to persist in what we have believed. We have to be obedient to that word. All Scripture is inspired by God useful to teach, reprove, correct and instruct in justice so that the man or woman of God is fully prepared for every good work. May the Lord bless his holy word.

Brother, if you want to be a servant of God, a servant of God prepared for any good work that the Lord needs, base your life on the word of the Lord, let us be students of the Scriptures. I wish that each one of you and I can, brothers, in all the time that we have left on earth, be students of the word of the Lord, the Scripture. If you don't have a Bible, be sure to buy one. If you don't read your Bible, be sure to read it. Become a connoisseur of Scripture. Take advantage of these classes. There are instructions to be received here. There are so many good teachings that are given in this church but you have to invest time and make an effort to be prepared for every good work for which the Lord wants us.

Do you want understanding, do you want wisdom, do you want a solution to your problems, do you want to have a wiser, more intelligent mind, do you want your thoughts to be enlightened, do you want to get out of the quagmire you are in? Study the word of the Lord. Let the word of God enter your heart.

It came to my mind, it came to me clearly like this: you know the plumbers when they want to uncover a pipe, there is a steel snake that they insert, it is flexible, they put it through the pipe to remove it when the pipe is clogged, and that snake gets into a hole in the pipe and runs until it finds the obstruction and breaks it and keeps going until the water can flow again. That was the image that came to me a second ago from the word of God to uncover the mind of some of you. Some of us have a dull mind. There is something there, there is a tumor in our brain, in our mind that some life experience put us there. Do you want it to come out? Let the word of God get in and start working and breaking in your mind and in your heart.

The word says that the word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword, it says that it penetrates until it breaks joints and bones, it says that it discerns thoughts and separates the intentions of the heart and says that there is no nothing that is outside of your scrutiny and your ability to examine. Imagine how powerful the word of the Lord is. Why deprive yourself of that effect on your life. Begin and let the word of the Lord instill wisdom in your life and be faithful to it and obey it and live by it and persist in it, and be faithful to its teachings and obey it and your life will be blessed. You will be a man and a woman useful for whatever God wants you to do.

We're going to stand up and we're going to make a pact with the word of God this morning. Grab the word of the Lord there in your mind and say: Father, I embrace your word, I enter it into my heart and mind, I am going to live it, I am going to be faithful to it, I am going to obey it, I am going to let it she enters my mind and possesses my thoughts and enters my heart and possesses my feelings, enters my memories and wash away my memories, I am going to let the word of God instruct me in all aspects of my life and I am not going to doubt of it, I will not deny it, I will not question it, I will not criticize it in an irreverent way, but I will always approach it with a sense of great reverence and respect because it is the word of God inspired by God. to which God has infused a quality that no other human book contains, it is the life of God himself moving in those Scriptures and I receive it like this, I embrace it like this, I get inside it and I get it inside me.

I will live by it and I will study it and I will revere it, I will always respect it in everything possible let's make a pact with the Lord to be obedient to the word of God, to be obedient to the word, to persist in what we have learned and to which we are convinced. This morning, Father, this church declares its intention to remain faithful to your word, Father, never allow us to depart from it, that we as a congregation always show that high esteem in which we will have your word, Lord. May this pulpit never be an instrument for the teaching of false or misleading doctrines or in any way displeasing to you, Father. May only healthy teaching come from here for your people, Father. Deliver us from never pretending to be so sophisticated that we dare to play with your word, Lord, but like children to approach your word, Father, and believe what it says, Lord, and obey it with all our hearts. Thank you Father, we love you in Jesus name. Glory to the Lord. Amen. Amen.