The Spirit and the Word

Today we get to start a brand-new lesson quarterly entitled the Holy Spirit and spirituality. I think it's going to be a great series of lessons talking about that third person of the Godhead. Today we begin with lesson #1 entitled the Spirit and the word. Now, for our friends joining us, if you don't have a copy of the Sabbath school quarterly, you can go to the Amazing Facts website: just amazingfacts.org and download lesson #1 and you can study along with us. We also have a free offer that goes along with our study today, a book entitled the riches of grace; and the number to call for our free offer is 866-788-3966 and you can ask for offer #152.

Now, if you're outside of North America, you can also read our free offer by going to the Amazing Facts website: just amazingfacts.org; click on the link that says library, type in riches of grace and you can read the pdf version of our free offer for today. Well, as you can see, we have quite the gathering of musicians behind, right, standing onstage, and they're going to be sharing with us something very special as we begin our Sabbath school time so debbie's going to introduce fountainview and tell us a little bit about the group. Thank you, Pastor Ross - thank you, Pastor Ross. Yes, fountainview academy, all the way from british columbia, Canada with us again today and this is the ninth year that they've been on our program. So we look forward to it every year and we're just excited to have fountainview back with us again.

This is the president of fountainview academy, Michael dunbar. Michael, we chatted here last year about fountainview and what's going on, and I know you've had a lot happening in the last twelve months; tell us about it, would you? Well, a lot has changed at fountainview in the last twelve months. For one, we have a new music director and that is johanna mosguera. She is actually a graduate of fountainview. She graduated only two years ago and she's come back to lead our music department and she's doing a fantastic job.

We've also started a youtube channel, so if you want to visit us on youtube, go to youtube, search for fountainview academy, and you'll find our channel there. We are actually vlogging our trip, so if you want to see what happens kind of behind the scenes day to day, go to fountainview@youtube and you can check that out. Cool. So, a lot's happening and we're excited that they're here and I know that you'll receive a blessing, whether you're here in Granite Bay today or you're somewhere around the world. (Flute) (stringed instruments) thou didst leave thy throne and thy kingly crown, when thou camest to earth for me; but in Bethlehem's home was there found no room for thy holy nativity.

O come to my heart, Lord Jesus, there is room in my heart for thee. Heaven's arches rang when the angels sang, proclaiming thy royal degree; but of lowly birth didst thou come to earth, and in greatest humility. Thou camest, o Lord, with the living word that should set thy people free; but with mocking scorn, and with crown of thorn, they bore thee to calvary. O come to my heart, Lord Jesus, there is room in my heart for thee. When the heavens shall ring, and the angels sing, at thy coming to victory, let thy voice call me home, saying "yes there is room, there is room at my side for thee.

" My heart shall rejoice, Lord Jesus, when thou comest and callest for me. Amen, beautiful. Thank you, fountainview. I think there's a little more coming later on in this worship service today. At this time, I invite you to bow your heads as we have our opening prayer.

Dear Father, what a privilege to be able to gather in your presence and to just sing our - lift our voices in songs of praise. It really gives us a taste of what heaven's going to be like. Today, once again, Lord, as we open up Your Word, we ask for the Holy Spirit to come and guide our hearts and our minds as we look at a very important subject today, so we pray for guidance. In Jesus' Name, amen. Our lesson today is going to be brought to us by Pastor Doug.

Thank you, Pastor Ross, and thank you to the fountainview school, chorus, orchestra - and it is always a delight to have them join us here at the Granite Bay church. Welcome, those who may be visiting, we know these are - the holiday season has kind of come and a lot of people are traveling, visiting family. We have some of our folks that are gone and some new people here and we're glad that you're studying the Word of God with us today. I want to welcome those who are some of our extended class online or who are watching by television and, of course, Granite Bay has members around the world who don't have a local church they can attend and we want to welcome our online members. We are doing something really exciting; we are beginning a brand-new quarter study dealing with the Holy Spirit.

And, you know, based on what I can see and what I've read in the Spirit of prophecy, there's really no subject that is more important right now for us to study than the Holy Spirit, because that encompasses the greatest need of the church - is that we might be spirit filled, amen? And so I'm really looking forward to this study. It's written by my friend - the chief contributor - dr. Frank hasel and I know it's going to be great. Our first lesson is dealing with the subject of the Holy Spirit and the word - the Spirit and the word - and we have a memory verse - now, some of these verses are crucial and we're going to be using them quite a bit. And this is 2 Timothy 3:16 and 17 - most of us know John 3:16; you should also know 2 Timothy 3:16 and 17.

Why don't you say it with me? You ready? This is in the new king James version, "all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work." All Scripture is given by the inspiration of God. Now, it's appropriate that we ought to have the first lesson dealing with the Holy Spirit and the Bible because the holy spirit really is cover to cover in the Bible. When you're in the first chapter of the Bible, do you find the Holy Spirit? Yes. 'And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the water.' Last chapter of the Bible, do you find the Holy Spirit? 'the Spirit and the bride say, 'come''. And so the Spirit is a subject that is all through the Bible as verily God is all through the Bible and God the Spirit is God.

And so, you know, because the Bible says, 'as the heavens are high above the earth, so are my ways past your ways' and 'God is past finding out'. That, of course, would be true of God the Spirit. And so, as we venture to begin this study on the incredibly important and profound theme of the Holy Spirit, let's first set the table by explaining there are some things we can't explain. There are some mysteries, and so, while I try my best to act like I know what I'm talking about when I'm teaching, I want to tell you right now, there are some things about the Spirit that we may never understand because he is God. Amen.

And God made us and so we can't put him under a microscope and break him down into the base elements and say, 'this is what God is.' And so there's something mysterious - there's something divine - eternal - about God the Spirit, the attributes of God being from everlasting to everlasting, being all-knowing, being omnipresent are true of the holy spirit. And so, we have other lessons that'll talk more about the divinity of the Holy Spirit, but right now I just want to explain that we're dealing with a big subject. Now, going back to our memory verse, where it said, 'all Scripture' - because we're talking, in particular, about the Spirit and the word - and, you know, it's the Holy Spirit that helps us understand the word and the word is about the Holy Spirit, and so, they're just interchangeable, these themes, this morning. All Scripture is given by the inspiration of God. Now, what does it mean to inspire? It means 'to breathe into'.

If a person stopped breathing - maybe they drowned or something - and you got the water out of their lungs and you gave them artificial respiration, you inspire them - you breathe life into them. And so, it's saying all Scripture is God breathed. And how did God bring man into existence in the beginning? God formed adam out of the dust of the earth and then what happened? He breathed into him - he inspired him with that breath of life. Does the Holy Spirit and the word still inspire? Yeah. Yeah, God breathes into us his breath of life.

So, hopefully, it makes sense that we're going to be talking about the Holy Spirit and the word, because all that we know about the Holy Spirit comes from the word. So one of the first things we need to establish is that the word is inspired, and what we find out about the Spirit comes from the word. Did that make sense? And so they're inseparable. Alright, that is, sort of, an introduction that leads us into our first segment, the holy spirit and Revelation. Now, the Holy Spirit helps us understand the Scripture and the Scripture helps us understand the Holy Spirit, and so, knowing the divine relation of both is important.

The Holy Spirit is divine; the Bible is divine. What makes the Bible divine? That it is the Holy Spirit speaking. 'The words that I speak to you they are spirit and they are life.' And I'll be quoting that again a little later. You know, there's an interesting verse given in our lesson that helps us understand that. Go in your Bibles to Daniel 2 - just to get the background - Daniel chapter 2 - we all know the vision of the King - Nebuchadnezzar - of this image - and he tells all the wise men, 'unless you tell me what I dreamed and what the meaning is, you're done for.

' So Daniel knows, 'unless God helps me understand what the King dreamed, I'm dead. We need a spiritual Revelation.' And so they prayed that God would reveal to them the King's mystery. They know it's something only the Holy Spirit can show them. And then Daniel has a dream that night that he knows - he just has that inner knowledge, 'this is from God. It's for real.

' You probably have all kinds of strange dreams - any of you felt like you had a dream from God? Let me see your hands. How many of you have felt like you've had a dream from God? How many of you feel like you had a dream because you just ate badly? (Laughter) I had a dream, not too long ago, I couldn't breathe - and I had stopped breathing in my sleep. I don't know why - and I guess I was in such a deep sleep I just stopped breathing. I don't typically have apnea and all of a sudden I woke up (gasps) 'I can't breathe' - 'oh, I've just got to breath.' (Breathes in) but I woke up in a panic because I couldn't breathe. I was dreaming I was drowning.

I was underwater holding my breath. It seemed very real. I don't think it was a divine Revelation though. (Laughter) I'm sorry, Daniel 2:19, "then the secret was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. So Daniel blessed the God of heaven.

" And "Daniel" - a prophet under the inspiration of the holy spirit, said - he "answered and said: 'blessed be the name of God forever and ever, for wisdom and might are his. And he changes the times...he removes Kings and raises up Kings;'" - which was part of the dream - "'he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding he reveals deep and secret things; he knows what is in the darkness, and light dwells with him. I thank you and praise you, o God of my fathers; you have given me wisdom and might, and have now made known to me what we asked of you, for you have made known to us the King's demand.'" It is the Holy Spirit that gives knowledge and understanding. Matter of fact, if you've got your Bible, turn there to the book of Isaiah. How many of you remember reading in - Isaiah 11 - you remember reading in Revelation where it talks about the seven spirits.

Is the Holy Spirit one or is he seven? What does it mean when it says 'the seven spirits of God'? Go to Isaiah 11, verse 2. I think that it's simply describing one, God the Spirit, who has like seven facets or attributes. And it says, 'the Spirit of the Lord' - speaking of the Messiah when he comes, it says, "there shall come forth a rod from the stem of jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots." - That's verse 1 - speaking of Jesus - and "the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him," - that's one - "the Spirit of wisdom" - two - spirit of "...understanding," - three "...counsel" - four - "...might," - five - "...knowledge," - six - "...fear of the Lord." - Seven. And so some say this is talking about the seven attributes of the Spirit of the Lord. And so, the Holy Spirit is one; God is one; hear o Israel; the Lord our God is one; God The Father, son and spirit are one; and God, that one spirit - doesn't the Bible say there's one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and father of us all? the Spirit is one.

The Holy Spirit isn't like a series of ghosts that goes around and inspires people individually. We become united when we've got the same spirit because he is one. It brings us together. Now, speaking still about the Spirit in Revelation, go to 2 Peter chapter 1 - this is another verse that will appear many times, probably, in our study - 2 Peter 1:19, "and so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation," - the Holy Spirit is not going to give you a private understanding that will conflict with someone else's understanding. 'Well, I - the Spirit is telling me this, but it's telling you something opposite.

' the Spirit is going to bring people together - it's not of a private interpretation - "for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit." So for a prophet to be a prophet of God, he is not concocting things that are prophecies. It's not coming from him. The holy prophet is only a holy prophet because he's being moved by the Holy Spirit. The holy spirit is giving him the message. And God's Spirit, it says, he speaks by 'holy men speak through the Holy Spirit.

' He also speaks through holy women through the Holy Spirit because you've got prophetess in the Bible as well. And then you can read in - they're moved by the Holy Spirit - there's something that constrains them from within - there's a power that drives them. Matter of fact, before I go any farther - I hate to do this to you because we just spent 14 weeks studying the book of job, but I want to go back to job. By the way, there's twelve lessons this time - 14 in our last study - it's interesting, usually there's thirteen, but these are unusual months - the way it's lined - go to job 32 - you remember after all the discourse of job and his three friends, this other mysterious character appears, by the name of elihu, and after he sits and listens he says, 'I can't constrain myself. I've got to speak.

' And it says in verse 8, "but there is a spirit in man, and the breath of the almighty" - so where's the Spirit of man come from? "The breath of the almighty gives him understanding." You know, the word 'spirit' in the new testament Greek, is often coming from 'pneuma' and - even when it says 'all Scripture is inspired', you find the root word of 'pneuma' there and it's where you get the - it's where you get 'pneumatic tools' - any of you men use pneumatic tools? They're driven by your compressor, right? And if you get a bad breathing disease, it's called 'pneumonia'. It's supposed to be a disease of the breath. And the word 'spirit' is often found to be 'breath' in the Bible. Job also says, 'while the Spirit of God is in my nostrils' - now is that typically where you think about the Holy Spirit? It's obviously talking about 'the breath of God' is in my nostrils. So elihu says the almighty gives him understanding.

You can go down also to verse , he says, "for I am full of words; the Spirit within me compels me." - Driven to speak - "indeed my belly is like wine that has no vent'" - it's like I'm "...ready to burst like new wineskins. I will speak, that I may find relief; I must open my lips and answer." Paul said, 'woe unto me if I preach not the Gospel.' He felt this drive inside to share what God had given him. And so that's common, also, of these holy men and women that have a message from God that they can't contain. Now, not too often does a person say, 'what I'm telling you now is through the Holy Spirit.' There's a few cases in the Bible. David says that at the end of his life.

And if you look in 2 Samuel 23, verse 1, "now these are the last words of David." - This is David speaking - "thus says David the son of jesse; thus says the man raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob" - David says, 'I'm anointed.' Now Jacob - was that being proud for him to say - I'm sorry, David - for David to say, 'I'm anointed' - was he being proud or was he stating a fact? When Jesus said, 'I'm The Son of God' was he bragging? If he had denied it, it would have been lying. Was David anointed by God? Did God speak through him? I just want you to know he's not bragging, he's just stating a fact - "the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel:" - calling himself a sweet psalmist - "the Spirit of the Lord spoke by me, and His Word was on my tongue." Now, how many of you agree he was telling the truth? Not all, but most of the 150 Psalms in the book of Psalms were written by king David. And they are inspired - and how do we know they're inspired by the Holy Spirit? Well, it's confirmed by other Scriptures and one thing that pops into my mind is look at the Scriptures - look at the Psalms that David wrote that are messianic Psalms, where he talks about 'my God, my God' - psalm 22 - 'why have you forsaken me?' The words of Christ on the cross - 'dogs have encompassed me. They cast lots for my clothing. They pierced my hands and my feet.

' And you go through and you look at the - you look at the descriptions of the crucifixion and you look at the Psalms of David and they're many messianic Psalms - they're prophecies that are given by the Holy Spirit - 'holy men spoke as they were moved by the holy spirit' - and David was, most of the time, holy. He had an episode - and is David just saying this about himself? Someone's going to read for me, in just a moment, 1 Samuel 10:6 - okay? Let's look here - I'm going to read Mark 12:35 - this is Jesus speaking - "then Jesus answered and said, while he taught in the temple, 'how is it that the scribes say that the Christ is The Son of David? For David himself said by the Holy Spirit:'" - now this is - have you got a red-letter Bible? I copy and paste so I still have the red here - these are the words of Jesus - Jesus is saying, 'David said by the Holy Spirit:'" so how do you know David's inspired by the Holy Spirit? Because Jesus says so. Well, if you don't believe the words of Jesus, you've got bigger problems, don't you - with the Bible? So Jesus said that he spoke by the Spirit and that he was a prophet. the Lord said to my Lord, 'sit at my right hand, till I make your enemies your footstool.'" And he's - Jesus, of course, is arguing a point. I want to just bear out that Christ said David himself said 'by the Holy Spirit'.

Alright, go ahead, please read for us that next verse. 1 Samuel 10, verse 6, "then the Spirit of the Lord will come upon you, and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man." This tells us something else about the Spirit of God - now this is actually a verse that's talking about king Saul. Typically we don't think about king Saul as being a prophet but, you know, the Bible says, 'is not Saul among the prophets?' Saul did say some things that were prophecies, and there was a time when God called king Saul and he said, 'the Spirit's going to come upon you, you'll be converted, you'll be born again, you'll be another man.' And for the first few years of his reign he was. But with the power, things started to change and then came corruption. Not only did that happen to Saul - Saul went bad and he never repented - David was affected by the power, but he repented.

Solomon was affected by the power - he was spirit filled - are the Proverbs inspired? How about when Solomon had too many wives and he put idols in the temple? Was that inspired? No, he had back-slidden. Was baalam, at one time, a prophet of the Lord? He was - we're going to talk about that in our message later - but he backslid, and so, you've got some examples where God spoke through these people in these times when they were close to the Lord. Alright, now the Holy Spirit in inspiration - and, if you look, for instance, in John 14 - in just a moment I'm going to have someone read John 16:13 - in John 14, verse 16, Jesus, again, is speaking. He said, "and I will pray The Father, and he will give you another helper, that he may abide with you forever - the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him; but you know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you." Now, do we know the Holy Spirit because we can see him? In fact, and I'll probably say this again, as we delve into this study of the Holy Spirit, in some ways it is a difficult study because when they talk about the life and teachings of Jesus, you can at least - you know, kind of a mental context of Jesus because he became a man and we can relate to that, but when you're talking about the Holy Spirit, what picture pops into your mind? If I say, 'God The Father' to you, and you close your eyes, do you have some kind of a mental screen and you've got this image of the almighty - you might have him on a throne - how many of you have him sitting down - in your head - when you've pictured The Father? Okay. How many think that he's got red hair? (Laughter) how many white beard/white hair? See, what gave you that? Well, the Scriptures that talk about the white hair of, actually, Christ - but you figure he's the ancient of days, he's got gray hair.

So we've got a picture in our minds of God - most of us, even if it's just sort of dabbled with light, we've got an image - we're made in his image so we figure he's got a form. But when you talk about the holy spirit, that's like trying to picture radio waves. Sometimes the Bible portrays the Holy Spirit with these ethereal images that we relate to, like fire - it kind of moves - or wind - wind moves - or water, right? Holy Spirit's compared to fire, it's compared to wind, it's compared to water - and, through these images, God is telling us it's - it's a force - now, I've got to be careful what I'm saying here, because there are those who believe the holy spirit is just a force and not a person. I believe the Holy Spirit is a force and a person, but certainly there is a power of the Spirit and sometimes you'll hear the Bible refer to the Holy Spirit in the terms of its power and force, but it doesn't mean that it is a personless force. Again, that's a point for another study.

But it's hard for us to comprehend and that's why Jesus said the world can't see him - they don't believe in the spirit. He says, 'you know him' - why? Because he's in you. You know, atheists out there, when you say, 'I've been born again.' 'How do you know?' 'Holy Spirit's in me.' 'How do you know?' I remember one time a boy was telling his friends, 'I've been born again. I accepted Jesus and he's come into my heart.' And they said, 'how do you know?' And he said, 'you ever go fishin'?' 'Yeah.' 'And you know, when you get a fish, you can feel something tugging the line but you can't see the fish?' 'Yeah.' He said, 'I feel that tug.' He said, 'I know there's something on the other end.' And so it's hard to explain to atheists. I've got - Jesus said, 'the world doesn't know but you know'.

Because when you've been born again it's different inside, amen? Alright, John 15 - it also says here some other statements of Christ explaining the inspiration of the Spirit: "but when he the helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the father," - notice he says 'he' - the helper comes - "the Spirit of truth who proceeds from The Father, he will testify of me." What is the principle work of God the Spirit? To exalt God The Son. The offices - now, God is all-powerful - God The Father, God The Son, God the Spirit have different functions. God The Father sent The Son - he so loved the world he gave The Son. God The Father created all things through The Son. Even in the remote recesses of infinity, it appears that there was an understood distinction of roles between The Father and son.

Do you see that? In order for The Father to create all things through The Son, it says he delegates creation to The Son. And the Holy Spirit's work is what? To exalt The Son and to point to God. And so, he brings to remembrance what Christ said. He doesn't speak on his own. Here's another example - read for us, please, your verse.

John 16:13, "however, when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth; for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak; and he will tell you things to come." Whatever he hears - where's he hearing it from? The Holy Spirit - it says 'whatever he hears he will speak' - who's he listening to? Well, what does the Holy Spirit bring to our remembrance? Jesus said 'he will bring to remembrance the things that I have said.' And so - and it says that he will testify of the truth - what's one of the names of Jesus? The truth. So the Holy Spirit is always telling us about Christ - the one exalted by The Father. And even when you hear the great commission, 'go baptize in the name of The Father' - who comes first? - 'The Son, the Holy Spirit' - makes you wonder, is there a sequence there that they recognize? 'He the Spirit of truth is come.' So the purpose - you notice that first verse in John 15:26 - 'he will testify of me' Jesus said - and then we just read John 16:13 - he will guide you into all truth, he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak and he will tell you things to come. He's revealing the message from Christ. Now, if the Spirit gives you something to say, you need to say it.

Sometimes you might be afraid. Turn with me to the book of Jeremiah, for example - if you go to Jeremiah - where is it? - Chapter 2 - no, it's chapter 1 - Jeremiah chapter 1, and you'll read in verse 5, God says, "before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you;" - what does the word 'sanctify' mean? Make holy. Make you holy. 'Holy men spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit' - and "I ordained you a prophet to the nations." How can someone be a prophet from birth? Can God sanctify a person from birth? Can you think of some prophet that was a prophet from birth? John the baptist. John the baptist, that's right.

How can that - how many of you wish he'd done that with you from birth? How many of you wish he had done it with your kids? You want them preaching to you? But John was a prophet and Jeremiah - called as a prophet. And then he says - when he - he doesn't hear this as a kid, he hears it later in life and he says - I'm now in verse 6, "then said i: 'ah, Lord God! Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth.'" He said, 'in my natural abilities I could never do this.' So, when Jeremiah did it, was it in his natural ability or was it spirit empowered? Is Jeremiah the only one who drew back from the calling of speaking for God? What about Moses? Turn in your Bibles to Exodus 4 - and he had the same issue - he said, 'how can I do this? Exodus 4 and I think you go to verse 10 - God says 'I'm going to give you my spirit' - how old was Moses at this point? Eighty. He was eighty. He says, 'I haven't spoken Egyptian in over forty years. I can't go talk to the pharaoh.

' You sort of lose it. "Then Moses said to the Lord, 'o my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since you have spoken to your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.' So the Lord said to him, 'who had made man's mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not i, the Lord? Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say.'" You know, I especially appreciate that because I still have plenty of evidence, today, of a lisp when I talk. It used to be much worse. I know it might be hard to imagine, but if you had met me younger and said, 'he's going to be a preacher.' You would have laughed because I couldn't even say my own name. 'Douglath.

' (Laughter) and my people would always - my grandparents and my family, we'd get together and different things, and they'd make me say things with the letter 's' in it. My grandfather would say, 'sally sells seashells down by the seashore. Go ahead, dougie, say it.' And I'd go, 'thally thellth theathellth down by the theathore.' And they'd all laugh at me. And if you'd say, 'he's going to be a preacher - public speaker someday.' (Laughter) you know, one of the things that helped me - I hope it's the Holy Spirit - but I finally got my teeth fixed. I had trouble, actually, because my teeth were so scrunched together, I couldn't get my tongue to the top of my palate and that made it better, but anyway, that's too much information.

(Laughter) so - but when God calls a prophet and he calls him to preach - now, I wasn't calling myself a prophet, let's just make that clear. I'm just saying I remember when Moses said, 'oh, I can't speak.' And I felt the same way, but God will help you if he calls you. Through the Holy Spirit he inspires. And God, through Moses, said, 'I'll also' - and this is Deuteronomy 18:18 - it's a very important verse because in Deuteronomy chapter 18, Moses foretells the Lord God is going to raise up a prophet like himself - it is a prophecy of Jesus. He - they never named him, you know, the Bible says God'll raise up another prophet in the spirit and power of Elijah and that was, sort of, a named prophet, but there's this other prophet that jews were all looking for and they just called him 'the prophet'.

They had no name for him except 'the prophet'. Matter of fact, when John the baptist starting preaching they said, 'are you that prophet?' Meaning, the one Moses foretold would come. And when Jesus came they said,' are you that prophet that is to precede the Messiah? And then Peter and stephen, they said, 'this is that prophet that was foretold by Moses.' Speaking of Jesus - 'for I'll raise up a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites and I will put my words in his mouth.' This is what happens with the inspiration. When you're reading the Bible, what makes it different? It's spirit breathed. There's something different - 'the words that I speak are spirit and life' - God's Words were put in the mouth.

Micah chapter 3, verse 8, "but [truly I am full of] power [by] the Spirit of the Lord, and of justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin." Micah said, 'God has given me a message that I am compelled to share.' Jesus said, in John 6:63, "it is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.' Now, are different parts of the Bible more inspired than others? When you've got a red-letter edition Bible and you're reading the words of Jesus, are they more inspired than the words of Peter? Sometimes I think we act that way. I've probably fallen for that myself, preaching. Technically, how much of it is inspired? All. Is the red-letter in your Bible a hundred percent inspired and then the letters of Peter and James and Matthew and Paul, they're ninety percent inspired.

And then when you read Ecclesiastes it's seventy percent inspired because Solomon already had too many wives at that point. (Laughter) you've got to be careful because there are some people that read their Bibles that way. There are some Christians and they diminish different parts of the Bible. You start going down that road - I've got a quote here from e.g. White - the adventist review Sabbath herald January , 1885, "many contradictory opinions in regard to what the Bible teaches do not arise from any obscurity in the book itself, but from the blindness and the prejudice on the part of the interpreters.

Men ignore the plain statements of the Bible and follow their own perverted reason." She's not talking about people in the world, she's talking about people in the church. They kind of pick and choose what they think was inspired and say, 'oh, that wasn't really inspiration, that was just for the culture back then. But, you know, we're more educated now. And God said everything was created in six days because they were just, you know, dragging their knuckles back then and they didn't understand and so he had to explain it in a fairy tale about adam and eve that they could understand, but don't take adam and eve literally. Don't take Noah and Jonah and the flood literally, and' - have you run into this before? All Scripture is given by inspiration of God.

Amen. It is all inspired. And it is Jesus who put the words in Paul. Now, people will ask me - I've got to be really careful what I say - people will ask me, 'well, Pastor Doug, are there any inconsistencies or contradictions in the Bible?' And my answer would be there are definitely some apparent contradictions. And there are many of the contradictions that I can explain - that they're not really contradictions, they're misunderstandings - like the signs above the head of Jesus - the writing on the sign when he was crucified - 'this is the king of the jews' - 'this is Jesus of nazareth, king of the jews'.

All the Gospels word it a little bit differently, what pilate put above the head of the cross. And people say, 'aha, you cannot trust the Bible, it contradicts itself and the fact that the words are different there, they're probably different other places and you can't really know what the Bible says.' Critics love to find these inconsistencies because if they can find an inconsistency - in one place it says absalom four years later; another place it says forty years later. And they say, 'aha! Inconsistency. Bible can't be trusted' - oh, by the way, on the signs above the head of Christ, it says it was written in three languages and so the different Bible writers could have quoted from Hebrew, Greek, or latin. It's written different ways in different languages.

It was summarizing - all of them said the same thing: 'this is Jesus, king of the jews, he claimed to be the Messiah' that's what's above his head. It's really the same thing, but because some of them took the writing that was latin and Hebrew or Greek - and it seems different. But here's what I would say to you: if you're going to make a mistake of believing too much of the Bible or believing too little of the Bible, please make the mistake of believing too much of the Bible. If you're going to make the mistake of thinking that maybe a few things in the Bible that are inspired may not be inspired or you're going to make the mistake of believing that a few inaccuracies in the Bible are inspired, make the mistake of believing it's all inspired. You will be much safer, because as soon as you start going down the road of picking and choosing what part is God breathed, that's all it takes.

Pretty soon you become your own interpreter and you can justify anything. And, instead of the word telling you what to do, you'll decide what it says - you'll say, 'well, I don't think that part's inspired.' Any part you don't like won't be inspired. You know, I discovered, when it comes to music - music's a very hotly-contested subject among Christians - what's the right kind of music and what's the wrong kind of music? People pretty much believe the music they like is the good music. Isn't that right? Amen. Alright, enough about that.

What about reference to other books in the Bible? Now, the Bible's inspired, but it's not telling you every other book is inspired, but there may be parts of other books that are inspired - non-biblical books. For example - someone's going to read, for me, in a moment acts 17:28 - did I give that to someone? Yeah. Joshua 10:13, "'so the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the people had revenge upon their enemies.' Is this not written in the book of jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and did not hasten to go down..." The book of jasher - now where in the Bible is the book of jasher? It's an inspired biblical event that's in another extra-biblical book, and so, because God may inspire others in other books, doesn't mean every other book's inspired or all of those books are inspired. Another example: 2 Samuel 1:17 and 18, "then David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over jonathan his son, and he told them to teach the children of judah The Song of the bow;" - and this is the one 'oh, how the mighty are fallen' - "indeed it is written in the book of jasher:" so there's this other character by the name of jasher and you don't find reference to his book - you can't read it anywhere. You will find people who say, 'hey, we've discovered the book of jasher online' or something and they can't trace it anywhere.

Someone just made it up. Again, 1 Chronicles 29:29 and 30, "now the acts of king David, first and last, indeed they are written in the book of Samuel the seer," - that's what we call the books of 1 and 2 Samuel - "in the book of nathan the prophet," - uh, we're not sure, what's that? Did nathan contribute to writing the book of the Kings? There's no book of nathan the prophet. You don't find the book of nathan in the Bible. It says the book of nathan the prophet - "and in the book of gad the seer," - what's that? And so, there are other things where these prophets wrote; not every prophet wrote a book. How many books did John the baptist write? None.

And not every prophetic book is in the Bible. Did you get that? That's a very important point. Not everything that - did Elijah write a book? No. Did Elijah write anything? No? I think he did. It's a test for the scholars out there.

There is a letter Elijah writes in the Bible. He sends a letter and you can read about that in 2 Kings, so Elijah does write and he does write a short letter - I think it's to ahab - but, no, there's no book of Elijah in the Bible, you just have his letter. Alright, go ahead, read your verse, John. Acts 17:28, "for in him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, 'for we are also his offspring.'" So now Paul is quoting Greek poets and he takes the statement - he extracts a true statement from a Greek poet. That doesn't mean the poet was inspired.

It could be an inspired statement. You know how many people will say 'God helps those that help themselves.' And they're almost sure they're quoting the Bible. It is a true statement, but it's Benjamin franklin. It's not in the Bible, it's from poor richard's almanac. There's a lot of things, actually, that ben franklin said that people misunderstood from the Bible.

That's because he read a lot of the Bible and he shared a lot of the wisdom of Solomon that was in there. Alright, the Holy Spirit and the truthfulness of Scripture. Psalm 31, verse 5, "into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, o Lord God of truth." How true is the Scripture? Psalm 119:160, "the entirety of Your Word is truth," - how much of the word is true? The entirety. "The entirety of Your Word is truth, and every one of your righteous judgments endures forever." And this one: John 17:17 - can you remember that? Jesus said, "sanctify them" - must be true, Jesus said it - it's red letter, right? Must be even more true - no, I'm just being sarcastic, sorry - "sanctify them by your truth. Your Word is truth.

" So what is truth? The Bible. Isn't it interesting? You remember last week we were talking about the similarities between Jesus and the word that he drew? He said the word is truth and he is truth. Hebrews 4:12, "for the Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." Word of God does something that other words cannot do; it actually kind of peels you open and it brings conviction and it brings cleansing. It's like a scalpel in the hands of the almighty. Isaiah 65:16, "so that he who blesses himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth;" - God is true.

His Word is true - "and he who swears in the earth shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hidden from my eyes." Alright, did someone have Hebrews 6:18? I don't know if we got them ready for you. I think they are. Go ahead. Hebrews 6:18, "that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us." God is truth. His Word is always true.

It is impossible for God to lie and so, you know, I can't understand it, friends, but there is something that God did where he intervened in the affairs of man in history on earth and he said, 'I want to have a protected communication with humanity' and the Bible is that communication that he preserved in a supernatural way. And so, this is God's book. It is a sacred book. And - alright, we're going to go ahead and read Holy Spirit as teacher - Ephesians 4:8, "therefore he says: 'when he ascended on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men.'" The Holy Spirit teaches - he gives us power and he gives us different gifts. And if you read in John 14:26, "but the helper, the holy spirit, whom The Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.

" I'm wondering if the migration of the students is telling me I'm out of time or something like that. (Laughter) I've got - it says I've got a minute and a half left! You can keep coming but I'm not going to quit until my clock runs out. (Laughter) "but the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom The Father will send in my name, he will teach you" - so what does the Holy Spirit do? He teaches you. He's a teacher. 1 Corinthians :13 and 14, "these things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

" - Does that mean we don't need other teachers? The Holy Spirit can teach us but listen to what John says in 1 John 2, verse 26, "these things I've written to you concerning those who try to deceive you. But the anointing which you have received from him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but that same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true," - you do not need any man to teach you but the anointing - what anointing? The anointing of the Spirit teaches you. Who here believes we never need any man to teach us? He's not talking about never needing anyone to teach you because there's too much in the Bible that says the opposite. He's saying that when you've got people that are questioning the truths that they had heard in the Gospel that are challenging he said, 'you don't need the Holy Spirit' - or - 'you don't need a man to be teaching you these things are untrue because the Holy Spirit is telling you that they are true.' That's what John is talking about, those who contest the truth. And then you have, in the book of John 5:39, Jesus said, "you search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life;" - he says - "and these are they which testify of me.

" Well, I think our time's up. (Laughter) alright, I want to remind our friends before we go off the air, we do have a free offer and all you've got to do is call and ask for it. The number to call is -788-3966 - ask for offer #152 - that's 866-study-more and we'll send this to you. Please read it and then share it with a friend. God bless you and we'll look forward to studying His Word together again next week.

(Piano and stringed instruments) in the first light of a new day no one knew he had arrived things continued as they had been while a newborn softly cried but the heavens wrapped in wonder knew the meaning of his birth in the weakness of a baby they knew God had come to earth as his mother held him closely it was hard to understand that her baby, not yet speaking, was the Word of God to man he would tell them of his kingdom but their hearts would not believe they would hate him and in anger they would nail him to a tree but the sadness would be broken as The Song of life arose and the firstborn of creation would ascend and take his throne he had left it to redeem us but before his life began he knew he'd come back, not as a baby, but as the Lord of every man hear the angels as they're singing on the morning of his birth but how much greater will our song be when he comes again to earth hear the angels as they're singing on the morning of his birth but how much greater will our song be when he comes again to earth when he comes to rule the earth! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Amen. Amen Amazing Facts. Changed lives. I had a lot of pressure, as a pastor's kid, to perform. They're not allowed to make the same mistakes as everyone else.

Not only are people looking at you, but they're judging your father according to what they see in you. After a while you get tired of carrying that load as a child. By the time it got time for me to leave home, I was pretty much finished with all that. I just - I wasn't good enough and I didn't belong in there. So when I left home, I went to the world at a dead run.

You know, I partied and went to work and, you know, was living my life the way I wanted to - and I just wanted to be left alone. One day I was driving my motorcycle with some buddies of mine; all of a sudden I had oil running everywhere - all up and down my arm and across my legs and rippling down the tank in the wind and we loaded it up on a trailer and sent it to the shop to have it fixed. So I went to pick it up and the mechanic came out and he said, 'you know,' he said, 'we got your front end rebuilt,' he said, 'that wasn't the bad part.' He said,' the bad part was the only thing holding the front tire on was the weight of the motorcycle.' So all I would have had to have done was accelerate quickly and the front tire would have come off. And it got my attention. It got me to thinking, you know? You hear a lot of people talking about, you know, the relationship that they have with Jesus and all that and I didn't even know what that was supposed to look like.

It began to work on my mind, I think, God was beginning to speak to me. I believe that you could say I may be a poster child for the shepherd/lost sheep story because I wasn't looking for God. I didn't really care, but he cared about me and he came and got me. Together we have spread the Gospel much farther than ever before. Thank you for your support.

Friends, one of the amazing things that you'll often find in the south pacific islands, like here on fiji, is the vaivai plant. Now, in North America, if you want to build a fence you've got to get fence posts and then you put the wooden fence posts in the ground and then after a few years they're going to rot and break off, unless they're specially treated. But here, they've got these trees - the vaivai tree - they can cut them right out of the woods, they'll take a stick, they stick it in the ground, and because they have so much rain and precipitation, it begins to sprout and turns into a living fence post. It makes up its mind that it's going to flourish wherever you stick it, which is a good lesson for you and me. So you might wonder sometimes if you've got a purpose in life.

You might feel like you're growing sort of sporadically in every direction, and then along comes this person who cuts you down and carries you off, he sticks you in the ground but you look back and say, 'there was a plan. There was a purpose.' God knows how to teach us how to prosper where he plants us. You might wonder why the Lord has put you where he has in life, but you can put down roots and you can grow and you can serve a great purpose for God. You know, it's like God says in Jeremiah chapter 29, 'I know the plans that I've got for you to give you a future.' God has a purpose for your life, friends, and he can help you to prosper and grow wherever you're planted.