Transcript
Speaker: Welcome back to the Grove Hill Church podcast. Today we're going to be talking about one of the most important topics for any believer, and that is the concept of Scripture, the authority of Scripture.
Speaker: I've got my good friends with me today, Lori Harbour, who is the children's minister here at Grove Hill Church. Hi. and our resident theologian here, mr John Ballard, with all the good information. Thank you, my friend. Primarily with the discipleship aspect of our church, especially it pertains to young adults, but just a broad range of discipleship for our families.
Speaker: I want to start by reading passage of Scripture, but one of the reasons I felt like this topic was really strong for us today, I read an article this morning that talked about the number of people who are buying Bibles now, and specifically young men who are returning to the church after being gone for you know a couple of decades now.
Speaker: And the author made a really good point. I think it's important for us to kind of process this a little bit here today is, yes, they're coming back to the church, but what are they being taught yeah when they get there? So pastors, if you're out there today, Bible study leaders, small group leaders, please let me employ you. Make sure you know and understand the Word of God and that you're holding forth the Word of God as the primary element of what you're teaching. Yeah.
Speaker: um we we cannot We cannot compromise with the culture. The the culture is not they're they're not just another way of looking at things. They're in direct opposition to this word. And if we don't teach people the word, if we if we just leave it out, then we're not doing ourselves any any favors. And we're definitely not doing any favors for the people who are coming looking for truth.
Speaker: So let me read 2 Timothy 3. I'm going to start with verse 14. It says, "...but as for you, continue in what you have learned, And firmly believe. That word firmly is very important there.
Speaker: You know those who taught you and you know that from infancy you have known the sacred scriptures which are able to give you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. And this is a verse that many of us are familiar with.
Speaker: All scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
Speaker: So were we're talking, as I said, about the word. I want to start by defining some words that we throw around sometimes in the church. And I'm not sure that all of us entirely understand what they mean.
Speaker: The first one being the word infallibility. When we say the Bible is infallible, what we're talking about is that God's word will never fail. Talk to me a little bit, John. Why is that important for us? That knowledge, that confidence that the Bible stands, always will stand.
Speaker: Let me throw an illustration on it. Some of the things that have been ah mentioned throughout the you know Old and New Testament, we've even seen those things come true in the archaeological finds of today. So the fact that God's Word wasn't just the the words written on a paper, although this is such of great value in our faith.
Speaker: but the fact that God doubles down. And it's like, not only am I going prove myself in the Word, I'm going to prove it to you with physical, tangible things. So that God's Word doesn't fail from that aspect. You can go a couple different avenues on that, but that's just one way where God's Word doesn't fail. It's proving itself time and time again. Absolutely.
Speaker: So infallibility means word never fails. Inerrancy is something entirely different. That means when you go back to the very beginning, to the Hebrew and Greek versions of what we base our translations off of, that those books, I mean, those writings are in their formation. They are without mistake. They are trustworthy because they reflect God himself who inspired this word. And if God cannot tell a lie, then his word is always true.
Speaker: true. So um what does that mean for a child? The Bible won't lead you astray. Why is that such an important concept for the kids? Well, because they're told lies all the time. They're told things that are not true, and they they're very, very inquisitive. They like to know why. i mean, kids at a very early age start asking why, why, or no.
Speaker: They like to argue. They like, you're you we're just made that way. So I think we just have to be very truthful with our kids and tell them that this is Yeah, so take that just a little bit further because I think that's really, really important for parents.
Speaker: A lot of really good, well-intentioned parents, I know you're trying to raise the kids and in ah the right way. They come to this dilemma of what about Santa Claus? What about the Easter Bunny? What about all these stories we tell them? And then we turn around and tell them David and Goliath. How do we separate fact from fiction for our kids in that way?
Speaker: I think for for me personally, it's how often you are reading this, the Word of God versus all of that. If they see you reading it and they see you talking about it and they see you taking it serious, they're going to be like, okay, maybe this book is different. And I think it's all in the way that you approach it too with your kids. If you're going to do Santa Claus, talk to them about the history of who St. Nicholas actually was. Speak truth to your kids yeah all the time. Yeah.
Speaker: That's good. All right. Next word, authority. What does authority mean for you when you hear that from Scripture, John? ah Authority, what is speaking over the design of how your life's going to be run. The authority of Scripture, it should surmount and surpass every bit of anything in your life. It has authority that surpasses everything else.
Speaker: ah So whenever we go to look to a place of trust, This needs to be number one. and And the authority that Scripture gives, ah there's nothing that beats it. Whenever we talk about this, too, talk about a time-tested written word that God has given us that speaks into you know the authority aspect in so many different areas of life, not just in the relationship with us and God, although that's priority.
Speaker: It's in all these other areas as well. Right, right. and And to go one step further and just kind of making this as simple, putting it on the bottom shelf for everybody, it's the statement that the Bible isn't an authority and it's not some form of truth. It is the truth. Yes.
Speaker: In fact, if you take this to its logical conclusion as a true follower of Jesus Christ, you believe that every other truth that's out there comes out of this word yeah and out of the person of Jesus Christ himself. Last one, sufficiency sufficiency. The Bible gives us everything we need to know for salvation, for life, how to live this life, how to please God, those kinds of things.
Speaker: It's a big word. We don't use it quite often as much in modern conversation. We don't talk about sufficiency a whole lot. But it's an important one that we need to understand that this Bible gives us everything we need to know. It doesn't tell us everything we want to know.
Speaker: in fact, it actually gives us verses where it says you're never going to know everything you probably want to know until you can walk into heaven. yeah But yeah, it's it's it's just this idea that we have everything there because the Bible is not...
Speaker: The Bible never becomes out of date. Right. It's not incomplete. In fact, at the very end, it says don't anything to it because it is it's complete in its its form. So let's talk a little bit more now about passing this on, this idea, this concept, because it's more than just teaching them these four words and what the definitions are, but it's the practical living out of this.
Speaker: So, Lori, when parents are teaching children from an early age about the scriptures, how do you help them understand this isn't just another storybook, it's not another nighttime, bedtime story or whatever, it it is history played out, it is factual, it is truth, and it still applies us today.
Speaker: think it's like what I said earlier, you've got to make it the book that you're reading in your home. Yeah. There's going to be books they bring home from school, but if you're reading this every day with your kids, the more they learn by repetition. And if you are going to do this repeatedly, because it says to do that in the scriptures and it says to bind them on your hearts, you know, do it ah over and over again. I think the frequency of how often we show our kids the word of God is going to let them know that it's the truth. Do it every day.
Speaker: one of the things I learned very quickly in my years of student ministry is you you will never be exposed faster than trying to fool a kid or a teenager. Absolutely. They can see right through you. You can say one thing and try to do another, and they're going to be the quickest one to call you on the carpet and go, wait a minute, didn't you just say that this is supposed to be that? So there's got to be this integrity of life between what you live and what you speak. Right.
Speaker: One of the challenges we face, and I'm going to come back to you on this one too, because I want to hear it from both age perspectives. One of the challenges we hear this day and age is kids that are bold enough to look at their friends and go, oh, the Bible is just a lie.
Speaker: So how do you help your kids handle that question as they're dealing with friends because your friend in the classroom may as likely be an atheist, a Mormon, a Jehovah's Witness, or or even Islamic this day and age? You have to teach your kids to be bold and you have to send them back to the scriptures. Psalm 19 verses 7 through 9 says, The instruction of the Lord is perfect.
Speaker: Renewing one's life, the testimony of the Lord is trustworthy, making the inexperienced wise. Teach your kids that this word is perfect and it's true. The more we teach them, the more they're going to be bold enough and courageous enough to share and and pray for those kids. we We used to, when my kids would come home and say, so-and-so so did this.
Speaker: Okay, the heart issue behind that action is actually, there's more to it than that kid stole your pencil or whatever. Let's pray for that kid. So I think you just have to model in every aspect of of parenting with them, whether it's discipline, all the things.
Speaker: Absolutely. um So talk to me as a young adult. They are in a world that is increasingly pressuring them in the area of faith. yeah Same article this morning and said that 40% of 18 to 34 year old females in our country are now atheist or agnostic. yeah Well, that means there's a great likelihood that the kid that's sitting next to you in your college class or the one that's, you know, at the ball game with you or whatever, they don't have ah even a basic understanding of God because they wrote him off a years ago. yeah How do you teach young adults to deal with those challenges?
Speaker: um Know the real and know the counterfeit. yeah's Know the real and know the counterfeit. and And the thing is, you can read through fads real quick. ah One of the things that i hopefully introduce to them as we walk alongside each other week by week is knowing what those counterfeit and sometimes compelling arguments to appeal to well, hey, you know, why are they treating you? You know, we talked about it a couple weeks ago on the podcast about sometimes them mislabeling love.
Speaker: They'll say, oh well, that's not loving. But in intentionally, we're trying to love people like Christ loved people. We have to know the counterfeit and the real. And whenever I engage with some of these ah young people who sometimes don't have a background of, hey, I went to church all my life.
Speaker: Sometimes it's just starting from the basics basics of Scripture. Who In 2 Timothy 3.16, who did the breathing? It was God that breathed life into Scripture. It wasn't the fad.
Speaker: So I think we've got to determine the origin of where we're leaning into. Is it the origin of a fad of man or is it the origin of something that's been time-tested and spiritually tested? You know, the Holy Spirit breathing in, sustaining life into this Bible that we we love and treasure.
Speaker: I think it's okay to ask questions too. A lot of them don't, are not, are scared that maybe this that I'm reading or maybe this person I'm following is not solid, but they sound solid. Ask questions, ask people, find, seek that godly wisdom out and ask those really hard questions. I love that even as most recent as last night,
Speaker: the questions whenever I find the deepest spiritual conversations in the sense of not just knowledge being thrown around, but true heart change is whenever people ask questions and the Holy Spirit's like, Hey, go a little bit deeper.
Speaker: ah Be those Berean-like people like we've talked about. Search the scriptures for what God's put in there. When I have parents ask me all the time, do you think this this source or this study or this book children's book is okay?
Speaker: And if I don't know the answer, I'm going to go to one of y'all. like Do your research and make sure that you're you're hearing truth. Sadly, with the with the onset of the internet, we have a bunch of experts who really have no expertise at all.
Speaker: And they they can throw something out there as truth and it really has nothing to do with the truth. It's just their version of it or whatever. Right. So one of the things I hear a lot as a pastor and even in my days of student ministry from parents, a lot of my work with young couples, the men would would would say this a lot.
Speaker: What if I don't know enough about the Bible to guide my family? What if I don't know enough to help defend the truth? if you will How do you help those families? I mean, honestly, prayer, like you ask for the Lord to give you those words, because really that can really only come from the Lord. And you ask for wisdom. i think you have to seek it and you have to just continually try. If you let your kids know, I don't know everything, but I'm trying.
Speaker: I think they're going to be more receptive to your your honesty and your your vulnerability as a parent. Just be honest with them and seek that. Seek your godly wisdom. I think there's also a lot of freedom, and this this is true from across the board, parents, young adults, senior adults who are sitting out there.
Speaker: I think we always, as believers, have permission to say, i don't know. Yeah, absolutely. you come and challenge me about something and you don't know, don't try to make it up, because what's going happen is you're likely going to lead them down the road that's wrong and confusing.
Speaker: But just the ability to look at somebody and say, you know what, I don't know, but go on to say, but I'm happy to explore that with you. I'm happy to take that back to my pastor, my Bible professor, whoever, that source that you know understands this and knows it well.
Speaker: But don't feel the pressure to create something in that moment because you can create a lot of chaos for somebody. Yeah, that's how you get bad theology. Some guys, absolutely guys and gals, doesn't matter what form you're in, some of the pressure to appease the listener is sometimes the demise of good theology.
Speaker: like you You will run... a good understanding of God in the ground whenever you're thinking of yourself first of like, Oh, I got to know this answer. I got to make sure I don't look bad. Yeah. Just find it.
Speaker: Ask the question, you know, and and also be able to say, Hey, I don't know the answer, but let's, let's dig into what God's word saying. had a kid ask me a really hard question one time at a football game and I was like, you know what?
Speaker: I don't know, but I'm going to find the answer for you. Yeah. So here's a toss-up question. one of you can in on this one because I think this is really good. Speak to the importance, as we're talking about believing in, trusting in, and defending the Bible, speak to the importance of Bible memorization. oh we both moaned at the same time. And I say that because as I'm reading through the Old Testament, you see the customs of ah those generations that didn't do that. There were some that did.
Speaker: There were some that didn't. yeah I just got back ah on a ah trip from New York City, and I was very ah circled around with a certain culture of ah Jewish customs and things like that. yeah It brought me back to that thought in the Old Testament, how even the youngest kids, you know, you're talking eight, nine, ten years old,
Speaker: that knew massive amounts of Scripture. And I see some of these people in my own walks that know Scripture and how the effectiveness, not because of them, but because of their knowledge of what God's done, how it is not just a memory thing, it's not just a knowledge thing, but it's...
Speaker: God breathed it, 2 Timothy, so God's going to use it. Well, then it becomes a heart thing, too. Exactly. Right. Yeah. Right. Yeah, so. um And, man, parents, don't let your kids go, i can't do this. In fact, don't let your spouse say, I can't do this.
Speaker: Because we remember phone numbers. Yes. We remember song lyrics. We remember our address when we were four years old. I mean, we remember all kinds of things. The brain, the brain, the mind is an incredible tool. Yeah.
Speaker: yeah It's just how much you're willing to push. Yes. Um, so learning scripture, it really does. It changes you from the inside out. And that's the way this was all intended to work. very I got to give a shout out to a story that I heard. It's been almost a year ago now. Yeah. You guys probably remember it. Uh, the Southern Baptist, uh, in the state of Tennessee, uh,
Speaker: a university, Jackson, Tennessee, they have a group of students that are memorizing large passages of scripture. yeah And I just think about that. It's not the knowledge that they're going for, although it's, you know, I'm sure they're going to use it in some class. They'll probably be able to feed off of it.
Speaker: But the main portion of it is feeding their soul. ah The fact that they're going to be able to, in hard seasons, recall to what God said. And man, we we are a very frail people. So when we go through tough seasons, we need to be able to recall to God's goodness. goodness You know, one of the things that I love that our church has started is this Awana program.
Speaker: And I grew up hearing about Awana, never was allowed to participate in myself, not because my parents didn't want me to, just it was never offered to our church or anything. I was in some great programs, but the thing that's impressed me the most about Awana is four, five, six-year-old kids walking up to me and quoting their pictures. Yeah, we have three-year-olds. It's pretty amazing.
Speaker: Reciting their memory verse each week. yeah And when you learn that stuff, it never really goes away. No, it doesn't. I mean, i have to give the Ridley Barron translation verses I memorized many years later because some of it slips a little bit, but the context and the content, the meat of that verse is always there. And I'm thankful that people pushed me out when I was young to to put parts of this, many chunks of this to memory. yeah So yeah, it's I think it's a life changer.
Speaker: right, so we're in a world, a culture that's, again... growingly anti-Christian, I think even probably as dangerous or more dangerous, closely Christian but not quite Christian, the Mormon church. even Even the Islamic faith that tells you they believe in God and they also believe in Jesus.
Speaker: Well, that can confuse someone who has no grounding in the Scripture. yeah So how do you help kids, how do you help young adults with holding on to things like authority of Scripture and errancy of Scripture in their life when the world around them is questioning everything? And you know the one phrase that we hear over and over again, you have your truth, I have my truth. Ooh, dangerous.
Speaker: Yeah. Very dangerous. You do you. hate that. I hate that phrase myself. I hate that. Still don't know what it means. No. So how do we help how do we encourage people to do that? How do we hold them how do we hold on to these principles we've talked about?
Speaker: um I think filtering it through you know this the right process of determining what what truth is, ah we've got to know that God breathed it out. But as we filter through stuff, I think sometimes people have no filter that they run through stuff. They're just like, oh, it sounds good. yeah you know let's Let's go with it.
Speaker: But God's Word, I mean, we see that as this thing was canonized, that we trust these 66 books to be what they are. ah there were large parts of the church, the the church that God has called, that looked at these and said, is it profitable?
Speaker: You know, is it is it doing everything that 2 Timothy 3 is talking about? And at the end of the day, God was the one that did it. He was the one that aligned these 66 books out. But we have to filter it right. yeah It can't be through, like I said earlier, it can't be the thoughts of what do I want this to insert into my life? It's what do I want God's what What does God want to insert into my life? Well, something I always do is I always ask y'all.
Speaker: So I do, though, when i'm like I'm giving out a new Bible this year for parent-child dedication, and I wanted to make sure that the publisher was sound. I wanted to make sure that it was actual, good, real scripture. i think you have to check your sources and check your where your information's coming from. Right.
Speaker: Yeah, absolutely. So bottom line is um putting putting the word in your heart. I'm going test my memory. think it's Psalm 119, 11. It says, does a young man keep his way pure my living according to your precepts? Check me out on that. I think that's where it is. Psalm 119, what? 11. I think that's it.
Speaker: um But yeah, that's an important verse. How do you keep your way pure? By living according to the truth. Jesus later would put it this way. you will know the truth. The truth will set you free. The difference between Christianity and many religions, Eastern religions, things like Buddhism, some of those others, is this whole concept of go find truth. Once you find truth, you'll... But the truth has been given to us in this Word. It's been preserved for us for 2,000 years. It was inspired by God, breathed by God, protected by God, and delivered to us.
Speaker: And we cannot take this book for granted. No. How did i do You did great. Psalm 119, verse 9 through 11. You actually said three verses. look at that. Kind of. How can a young man keep his way pure by keeping your word? I have sought you with all my heart. Don't let me wander from your commands. I have treasured your word in my heart so that I may not sin against you.
Speaker: Awesome. There's one other the thing that ah in the Psalms. Psalm 12, verse 6. The words of the Lord are pure words like silver refined in an earthen furnace, purified seven times. ah You hear that number seven a couple different times throughout Scripture, you know, the number of completion.
Speaker: ah The cool thing, throw in a little ah reference to the book of Daniel. yeah You know, we see the furnace that was heated up seven times hotter. time It was this... heated up to as hot as it can get.
Speaker: Well, this was a reference to there not being anything more complete than God's Word. And we see God's Word being breathed. So there's nothing better, nothing more complete than this Word right here. And so we we can trust that. We can see that, man, the psalmist is speaking out some really, really pure truths that ah there's no other refined, beautiful message than God's Word. Yeah.
Speaker: you know and Some of the most absolutely impactful, life-changing people you hear about, read about through Scripture, and even just from history, man, they love this Word. They pursued it with every bit of their lives. Again, memorized great portions of it, started every day with it, lived it out in their lives, lived every bit of their lives by its direction and its principles.
Speaker: Our encouragement to you, if you don't know this book, find one, pick up one, stop by a church and ask for the Bible. um Not some man's opinion of a Bible. i mean Books and commentaries are great, but at the end of the day, you've got to come back to the source of this.
Speaker: That's what's going to change your life. um If you've got questions about the Bible, that's why we're here. We'd love to hear from you. If you want to shoot us an email, you can find our emails on our website, grovehillchurch.org.
Speaker: We would love to hear from you, conversation pieces you would like for us to bring back around. We'll be back next week. Don't know, maybe Kyle will be back. Kyle's like vacating all the time. so typical student pastor you know now we we'd love to have kyle back laurie thanks for joining us again today as a guest she's always thrilled when invite her to the thanks sister way to go thanks for putting your part um to my friend john thank you for today and uh you know we've done what five or six of these now yeah yeah guys uh it is to my shame that i have not mentioned my friend jeff tracy on the other side of this thing he is doing all the work on this. Excellent job. He makes us look and sound good and maybe even more intelligent. We really are. So Jeff, thanks for being a part of this.
Speaker: We love you guys. If you're looking for a place to go to church, come visit us this Sunday, 8, 9, 30, and 11. As always, click, like, and share this. We'd love for this message to get around. We look forward to seeing you next week.
