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Certainty in Times of Uncertainty ( Luke 1:1-4)
15 Plays5 months ago
Sunday Message recorded 02 June 2024
by Pastor Victor Morrison
First Baptist Church -- Columbus TX
1700 Milam St.
Columbus, TX, USA 78934
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Transcript
Welcome and Acknowledgement
00:00:06
Speaker
Well, good morning. Appreciate you being with us today. How many of you are here from Pine Cove? Any Pine Covers here? Whoa, look at them. All right. Good to see you. Yeah. Yeah, we definitely should give them applause. They just finished week one. How many fingers am I holding up? I know it can be rough. So anyway, thank you all for your service this summer. Yeah, we're praying for you.
00:00:36
Speaker
Well, I know that for many of you, some of you have contacted me this week by text or email or by phone. And I know it's been a hard week for some. And so definitely are praying for those who have gone through loss, talked to one man who lost his wife. And so I want to be praying for them.
00:00:55
Speaker
There's another man, talked to it today, I didn't realize, but he almost lost his life this past week. But over at Austin Heart, they were able to identify the problem and get him back on the road to recovery. And so anyway, he and his wife were saying how close it was today. So anyway, just very thankful they're here today.
00:01:18
Speaker
But, and then I know there's been diagnoses that have taken place this week that have been hard for different ones in our church family. So just know that we're praying with you guys.
Turning to Faith in Uncertain Times
00:01:30
Speaker
And the main thing to ask yourself is, where do we turn whenever we're in an uncertain time? You know, so I want you to turn with me in God's word to the gospel of Luke. Luke chapter one,
00:01:45
Speaker
verses one through four. Luke chapter one, verses one through four. I think that God's got a word that he wants to share with us today on where we can go for certainty. You know, Luke says in verse four that we're about to read, that's the reason why he wrote this. He said that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.
00:02:10
Speaker
I remember reading a long time ago, I thought, yeah, I've heard this before. And I looked it up to make sure it was right who I thought said this. But John F. Kennedy once said, there's nothing more certain and unchanging than uncertainty and change. It's like it's with us. And Benjamin Franklin had his own take on uncertainty and so forth and certainty. He said, in this world, nothing can be said to be certain except
00:02:39
Speaker
death and taxes. So anyway, that's a very encouraging word. James Dobson was honest though. He just said, one of the absolutes is that we will experience hardship and stress at some point. That's definitely true.
00:02:57
Speaker
But William Barkley, a commentator, points to passages like this one we're about to read. And he says that if a man fights his way through his doubts to the conviction that Jesus Christ is Lord, he is attained to a certainty that the man who unthinkingly accepts things can never reach.
00:03:21
Speaker
If you'll put that down, Jesus is Lord, it will solve so many other issues that you struggle with and wrestle with. You know, we're accustomed to seeking facts, truth, certainty.
Truth, Certainty, and Generation Z
00:03:35
Speaker
There are certain occupations in our world that the people who are doing those things, at least they're supposed to, seek the facts. For example, scientists, engineers, accountants, detectives, judges, architects, historians, reporters, doctors, and on and on the list could go. But these are all people that they don't want to make decisions based on opinions or feelings. They want to know what is the truth.
00:04:05
Speaker
And so they're saying, I need to know the answers because people are counting on me. You know, when times are uncertain, guess what we do? It drives us to search for truth and certainty. If we never had any problems, then we wouldn't go looking for
00:04:22
Speaker
truth and certainty and facts and so forth. I was so encouraged to read that Generation Z, you know, Generation Z, is anyone born from 2006? No, that's not right. Is that right? Yeah, maybe that is right.
00:04:38
Speaker
No, that's not right. I'm sorry, I got it now. 1996, it's not scripted, so I'm off script. But anyway, 1996 all the way through 2012. 1996 all the way through 2012. They're Generation Z. If you're born, if you're a child and you're 11 years of age or younger, you're not in Generation Z, you're in Generation Alpha. And so they're starting over, I guess. They're going back to the A's.
00:05:06
Speaker
But anyway, I was so encouraged to read that Generation Z is the most open generation to gospel truth that's
The Gospel of Luke: Historical Context
00:05:15
Speaker
ever been. They're so open and many are making decisions across the country and around the world like never before. And so there's revivals happening on college campuses. I know I was sent something that happened at the University of Tennessee. They were baptizing well past midnight.
00:05:33
Speaker
And so it's just encouraging in California. There was a thing called baptized California and there were 12,000 baptized the same time we had our baptism of Derek and Eric. Whenever they were baptized that same day across California, 12,000, 6,000 were baptized in the ocean.
00:05:53
Speaker
Many of them were Generation Z. But I just wanted you to know that when we have problems, we face these hardships, it drives us in the direction of saying, I need to know the truth. I want to know what's real.
00:06:09
Speaker
Most Bible scholars believe that the Gospel of Luke was written between AD 60 to AD 62, somewhere in those that two or three year span of time. Now think about what had happened already in those early Christians. For example, Stephen and James had already been martyred. There was a famine across Palestine in AD 46 to 48.
00:06:34
Speaker
The one that was in charge of the whole Roman Empire was named Nero, and he was in his reign from AD 54 to AD 68. So during the time that Nero was in charge, that's when Luke was writing.
Luke's Intent and Method
00:06:50
Speaker
And so I wonder if a lot of people in the Christian faith at that time, they were really wondering, what can we count on? Where is truth? Where is certainty? And so they were really disappointed whenever they heard that the Apostle Paul had been arrested and he had been arrested and imprisoned in Caesarea for a couple of years.
00:07:12
Speaker
And then he was sent to Rome, and on the way they said, we've heard he had a shipwreck, but we don't know any more than that. He was in house arrest from AD 60 to 62 during this time when Luke was riding.
00:07:27
Speaker
So what I'm saying is, you're not the only generation. In this room are so many different generations. Your generation is not the only generation that goes through hard times. Other generations before us have also gone through hard times. And so I want us to listen to the preface of the Gospel of Luke. It's one long sentence.
00:07:48
Speaker
And it's in the Greek, it's 82 words. But what he's going to say is he's going to announce his reason for writing. He's going to tell us the methods that he followed when he was writing the Gospel of Luke. And he's going to tell us who he dedicated this work to. So would you stand in honor of God's word? Let me read these verses and then we'll get started.
00:08:13
Speaker
Luke begins with these words, inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us. It seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account
00:08:41
Speaker
For you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught. Let's go to the Father in Prayer. Lord, would you use your word today to speak to our hearts? Many are dealing with uncertainties. There's things that we don't know how it's going to turn out. But we know what your word says, that Jesus is Lord, that you came to down a cross.
00:09:08
Speaker
and you shed your blood so that we could be forgiven. You rose from the dead so we'd have hope. Thank you so much for what you wanna say today through your word. So I just wanna get out of the way and just let your word speak. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Thank you, you may be seated.
00:09:26
Speaker
If I were a teacher, I would give this author an A, straight A's for his work. So that's why all the points are gonna begin with A. Now you would not give me an A, if you look at the bullet then you'll say, he's got eight points, we ain't going anywhere today.
00:09:43
Speaker
No, trust me on this. Trust me. I've got your back. I'm on your side. No, I know I've got, hey, Pine Cove will come after me. Josh and the kids will come after me. Sunday school teachers will come after me. I'll be a dead man. I won't make it out of parking lot. So I guarantee you, I will not keep it long. Okay, let's look at the first A. I would give this author an A.
00:10:07
Speaker
because he was an author who was inspired about Christ. Are you inspired? When we sing Christ Be Magnified, doesn't it just resonate with you and you just want to sing it to the top of your lungs? Well, he only makes one reference to himself in the whole gospel. It's one of the longest books in the Bible,
Theophilus and Personal Appeal
00:10:28
Speaker
in the New Testament. And look at verse three. It says, it seemed good to me.
00:10:35
Speaker
Also, that's it. It seemed good to me also. He doesn't say anything else. It seemed good to me also. He doesn't say, I, Luke, write this, no. You know why? Because he's saying, you know what? Christ must increase. I need to decrease. That's his heartbeat. And so you can see it because really, Paul, if Paul didn't mention Luke three times in the New Testament, we wouldn't even know who he was.
00:11:01
Speaker
But Luke is mentioned in Colossians 4.14. It says that he's a beloved physician. So maybe he was like Paul's personal doctor. But then Philemon 24, Philemon 24 tells us that Luke was also a co-worker with Paul. So when Paul went on his mission trips, he took Luke with him on those mission trips. And then 2nd Timothy 4.11, whenever Paul is at the end, he says, you know what? Only Luke is with me.
00:11:31
Speaker
Luke is the kind of friend you'd say, you know what? They're with me to the very end. Some people also have noticed in the book of Acts, which Luke wrote the book of Acts, right? They noticed that at a certain point, right after he leaves and goes over into Macedonia,
00:11:49
Speaker
He notices that the writer keeps saying we, we. He's not French. He's saying we, as in the pronoun we, W-E, Acts 16 verses 10 through 17, Acts 20 verses five to 15, Acts 21 verses one to 18, Acts 27 and into 28. He's constantly saying we. And what he means is Paul and I, or all of us on the mission team that's traveling together.
00:12:18
Speaker
Do you know that there's a Swiss Bible scholar named Martin Bodmer? And he went across Egypt collecting old, really old Greek manuscripts that were biblical writers. And so one of those manuscripts is called the Bodmer Papri. And it's the oldest copy of Luke's gospel dated
00:12:40
Speaker
200 AD. Do you know that it includes Luke in the title as the author? That old, old manuscript dated 200 AD. That's not long after it took place. You know, tradition says, I don't have anything to back this up, but Luke died in Bithnia at the age of 74. Some are not sure about his death. Some say, no, I think he was martyred by Domitian, one of the Roman emperors.
00:13:10
Speaker
So once you get away from Scripture, you're just speculating, right? But there's so much that we can know for certain because the Holy Spirit inspired servants like Luke or like all the other gospel writers and all the other men that wrote in the New Testament.
00:13:28
Speaker
We can know certainty and truth. We can know facts because the Lord was guiding them to write it down just the way He wanted. But the second A that I would give to Luke is an A for the audience, the audience who needed more information about Christ. Is there anybody in your life and you would say, you know, they're rejecting Christ, but they've not really researched Him.
00:13:52
Speaker
They haven't read, they haven't tried to know who Jesus is. They're rejecting sort of like a preconceived idea in their head about him. But I want you to look at who Luke is dedicating this work to. Look with me at verse three. It seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus.
00:14:21
Speaker
Isn't that amazing? So you mean to tell me this whole thing is written for one guy? What if God were to tell you, I had the Bible written for you? He could say that, because really the scriptures are intended to go beyond Theophilus, to go to each one of us. God wants you to know the way things happen. He wants you to know about his son. He wants you to know biblical truth. And so that's why he puts this in here in written form.
00:14:51
Speaker
You know that Theophilus, some have said, well, I think Theophilus is like a code name. It's like a name that means one who loves God. That's what it means in Greek, one who loves God. And so some have said, well, maybe it's like for everybody who loves God. But the problem would be where he says most excellent.
00:15:13
Speaker
most excellent Theophilus. That was something, it was like an honorable rank in Roman society.
00:15:23
Speaker
So what a lot of Bible scholars are saying is it wasn't written to everyone
Luke's Narrative Strategy and Canonical Criteria
00:15:27
Speaker
in general. It was written to one man. And this man must have had some kind of rank in Roman society. And so Luke, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is saying, you know what? I'm writing this just for you. I pray that as we go through the Gospel of Luke, that you would look at God's word as something that was written just for you, just for you.
00:15:51
Speaker
Do you know a lot of those readers, like Theophilus is a Gentile name, not a Jewish name. And so isn't it interesting that God had this work, the Gospel of Luke, but also the Book of Acts, he had both of those written for this Sangha, Theophilus. He was a Greek. And so really some people are saying it really is intended for all those who are interested to know the truth as God has it recorded.
00:16:21
Speaker
Some have suggested that this guy Theophilus, he must have been an unbeliever is what some say. Some say maybe he was like what they call a seeker. He was open. And so he wanted to hear more. He just didn't have enough gospel truth. And so Luke says, you know what? I'm going to sit down and I'm going to do a lot of research. I'm going to talk to a lot of people.
00:16:43
Speaker
And of course we know the Holy Spirit was overseeing everything, but he said, I'm going to write a message just to you, Theophilus, because he wanted him to have enough information. If you're here and you don't know Christ personally,
00:16:58
Speaker
I want you to know that the gospels were written for you. The Bible is written for you so that you could know who Christ is, so that you can know how He lived. You'll know the truth whenever you read God's Word. But other people say, no, you know what? I think Theophilus was like a new Christian.
00:17:16
Speaker
Theophilus was a new Christian who was facing persecution, but his spiritual legs were kind of wobbly, and he wasn't able to stand really strong because he didn't really know a lot of the biblical principles yet. And so that's why Luke says, you know what, Theophilus? I'm going to write the truth so you can be certain about the things that you have been taught.
00:17:42
Speaker
I would give him a third A, arrangement of the intervention of Christ. A third A of the intervention of Christ. Now, when I was at Union University as a student, I would be in preaching class sometime and I'd be preaching a message
00:17:57
Speaker
And there was a group of my friends that would sit on the back row and just like the Acapulco cliff divers, they would raise up a number. If they didn't like my message, they'd raise up a one. If they liked it, they'd do a 10. I never got anything above a five with those guys. But anyway, they were always back there laughing. So please don't grade me on my message. Let's give Luke all the A's that he deserves. But look at what he says in verse one.
00:18:24
Speaker
inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative. I just want to push the pause button right there. Christ intervened into this world. He ever wished that God would just come, just tear open the heavens and come down? He did. He did. That's who Jesus was, the Son of God.
00:18:44
Speaker
He definitely intervened into human history, into our world. He didn't have to. He had always been with the Father through all eternity past, but he comes. And so when he came, a lot of people, good meaning, they started writing all these narratives. Well, here's what I remember about Jesus and what he did. And maybe they were very authentic, they're writing from their memory, but they were not God-breathed. They were not inspired by the Holy Spirit.
00:19:13
Speaker
So we didn't even know where all of those kind of manuscripts are when he says, in as much as many, who are the many? In as much as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, well, we don't really know where those are, but you know what God did? God recognized there is a need for the people to know the truth about Jesus Christ. And so what he had happened was he had Mark and he had Matthew.
00:19:42
Speaker
he had Luke and he had John, these were spirit-inspired narratives and accounts so that people would be able to relax and know that this is exactly what happens. As a matter of fact, the word compile in as much as many have undertaken to compile, that Greek word there, compile, is a combination of the words that mean arrange in a row.
00:20:10
Speaker
arrange it in a row. It means to put in order. And so a narrative means through and lead the way. I thought that was really interesting. It's like somebody who's going to write a narrative says, let me blaze a trail. Let me show you where he walked. Let me show you how he lived. Let me show you how he died. Let me show you how he rose from the dead, all of those kind of things. That's what he was trying to do. He said, I want to give you details.
00:20:39
Speaker
I want to show you the course of events in an orderly sequence so you can know exactly what happened. I want you to listen carefully again to that beginning, because remember, Luke was a physician. And in his day, the ones who were physicians would have really depended on the writings of a man named Hippocrates.
00:21:04
Speaker
And so he's about 2,400 years ago from now. But do you know that Hippocrates is actually called the father of modern medicine? He authored 70 books. And so Luke would have already perhaps read some of his books and so forth.
00:21:21
Speaker
But one of the things that he was known for was he wanted to do things in a scientific manner about all these diseases, and he wanted the treatments to be based on detailed observation. In other words, he took time to know, what are the symptoms? What are you going through? How long has this been going on? Where does it hurt? Where did it start? Well, that guy, Hippocrates,
00:21:44
Speaker
he writes something that sounds so much like these first words. Let me read Luke's words and then let me read you the beginning words of one of Hippocrates' medical journals. Luke said, as many as have undertaken to compile a narrative,
00:22:05
Speaker
Okay, stop right there. Listen to this. This is Hippocrates, as many as have taken in hand to speak or to write concerning the healing art.
00:22:16
Speaker
Do you see what Luke is doing? The Holy Spirit handpicked a man who was used to making sure that the details were right, that everything was in order. And he learned that from being a physician. And so now he takes those skills that he learned about research and he says, I'm not gonna just say things that I can't document. I'm gonna gather all the information and know, do you know that the scripture canon, do you know that the Bible had very,
00:22:45
Speaker
high standards for anything that was allowed in. As a matter of fact, number one, there were five tests that if you were going to be included in the Canada scripture, you had to pass these five tests. The first thing was, was the book written by a prophet of God.
00:23:01
Speaker
someone that was a known prophet of God, someone who definitely walked with God, spoke for God, and so forth. Secondly, was the content authenticated by miracles confirming the message? So the main thing is the message, but the miracles confirmed what the message was saying. Thirdly, does the book tell the truth about God? Some books might say some things that are right about God, but then say things that are off the wall wrong about God.
00:23:31
Speaker
Fourth, does the book have divine capacity to transform a life? Is it changing lives when people read that book? And then number five, did the original audience accept it as God's word? Especially, how about those initial 12 disciples that the Lord called, did those men, did they accept it as the word of God?
00:23:56
Speaker
I would definitely give him an A on the way he put this whole thing together, but I would give him a fourth A on the accomplishment of God's intention through Christ.
Fulfillment of Old Testament Prophecies
00:24:06
Speaker
You see, Luke was a Gentile, but he was aware of Old Testament prophecies. And so what I thought is interesting is in the next part of verse one, where he says, in as much as many have undertaken to compile a narrative,
00:24:21
Speaker
of the things that have been accomplished among us.
00:24:26
Speaker
What things have been accomplished among the ones that were alive back then? Well, that's what I want to explain. You see, Luke was compelled to include in the gospel of Luke some of the references that go back to Old Testament. Now, I know that there are some people these days who are saying, we don't need the Old Testament. All we need is the New Testament. Can't rely on the Old Testament. That's not right. Luke is trying to show us that what was written in the Old Testament was fulfilled in the New Testament.
00:24:56
Speaker
And so they're definitely connected in a good way.
00:25:00
Speaker
As a matter of fact, the word accomplished there is a Greek word that means fulfilled. And it was used back then whenever you are putting cargo on a ship and you finally get it to where there's no more room. The ship is loaded. We have a fully loaded ship here. Or it was used whenever trees were fully bearing. And you know what? They're at their peak. There's not going to be anything further. This is at the peak.
00:25:27
Speaker
That's the word accomplished. It meant complete fulfillment of the redemptive plan of God. But notice that is also among us. Isn't that what he says? Of the things that have been accomplished among us. So he's talking to people that saw this, all of this take place. So it wasn't done in secret.
00:25:48
Speaker
This is not a secret cult whenever we're talking about Christianity. We're talking about something that thousands of people saw, multitudes would gather to hear Jesus. People saw him when he died on the cross. People saw him, over 500 saw him after he rose from the dead. So it's not something done in secret. You know, an example of how focused Luke was on salvation is this man named Zacchaeus.
00:26:14
Speaker
I don't make fun of, you know, wee little man. I don't like that. I wish they hadn't put the wee little man in their part because of my own height. You know, I'm just a little vertically challenged. But anyway, Zacchaeus was an example of salvation because this guy was really a bad dude. He was ripping people off. He was a tax collector, taking more than he needed to take. But he had an encounter with Jesus Christ. And you know what? His life was never the same.
00:26:40
Speaker
He became so joyful. He invited all of his tax collector friends over and wanted to meet Jesus at his house. I mean, he just completely changed.
00:26:50
Speaker
Do you know that only Luke tells the story of Zacchaeus in Luke 19? But you know, right after that is the key verse. Right after it says how Zacchaeus' life was changed when salvation came to him, do you know that right after that Jesus said, the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.
00:27:12
Speaker
A lot of Bible scholars, I mean over and over again, Luke 19.10, Luke 19.10, Luke 19.10. What's the key verse of the whole gospel of Luke? Luke 19.10, the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost. And you know that he more than any other gospel writer includes people.
00:27:33
Speaker
names. You know, I may not know all of your names in this room, but you know, I know God knows your name. God knows the hairs that are on your head. Of course, that's saying more about some than others. But anyway, but God knows he was there. He made you. And so just know that the Lord loves you so much.
00:27:52
Speaker
And He wants you to come to know Him. He wants a personal relationship. You know, Christianity is not a religion. It's not about rituals. It's about a personal walk, personal relationship, knowing Jesus Christ, knowing the Father through Christ. So if you don't have that, you can have that.
00:28:13
Speaker
Do you know that after his resurrection, if you were to go over toward the end of Luke and look in Luke chapter 24, verses 25 and 27 describes when he's walking with two disciples on the road to Emmaus. And here's what he says to them in verse 20, 25.
00:28:32
Speaker
25, 27. And he said to them, O foolish ones and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory? And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
00:28:57
Speaker
You see, Jesus is saying, look in the Old Testament, so filled with signposts pointing to me. And he said, I came just like was prophesied, for example, in the book of Isaiah and so forth.
00:29:12
Speaker
Do you know, I went on a journey through the Luke's gospel and I identified 21 Old Testament prophecies that were already fulfilled. Some of them haven't been fulfilled because it's not time for it to be fulfilled yet. Speaking of time, I got you. I'm about to let you go. But anyway, speaking of that, you know, Luke says,
00:29:34
Speaker
This was fulfilled because of this. Here's the fulfillment of that. He kept on pointing back 21 Old Testament prophecies were fulfilled by Jesus and recorded by Luke.
00:29:47
Speaker
For example, that he's a descendant of Abraham and he's a descendant of David, prophesied about the birthplace in Bethlehem. He would be born of a virgin. He would suffer. He would die. They would tear his robes, his clothing. They would cast lots for his clothing. He would be crucified between transgressors.
00:30:08
Speaker
It's all there. And so what I'm thinking is, what more do you and I need? What are you waiting on for more in order to stand on the truth of God's word? You know, I want to close there and, you know, we'll finish next week, Lord willing, but I want to close with this. In 1521,
00:30:29
Speaker
There was a man named Martin Luther. He was summoned to appear before the Imperial Diet in Berms, Germany. They demanded that he recant. He was like a pastor. They demanded he recant his teachings, his writings. So before Luther, he knew this had already taken place. Before him, he knew that men like John Wycliffe,
00:30:54
Speaker
Men like John Huss had already gone to the stake because they wanted people to know the truth of God's word. And so when they say to him, are you willing to tear up everything you've ever written? Are you ready to say that all that you taught about Christ and all from the word that it wasn't right? And here's what he said. He said, I am bound by the Bible text that I've quoted. And as long as my conscience is captive to the word of God,
00:31:25
Speaker
I cannot, nor do I want to retract anything. And later he said these words. He said, here I stand, I can do no other. Is that the way you stand upon God's word? Would you say, I don't care what the culture says. I don't care what other people are doing in another circle. Do you know that this man, Martin Luther, was banished from the empire and he was declared an outlaw on May 8th, 1521.
00:31:55
Speaker
So people before our generations, they also had to suffer because they stood on the truth of God's word. Luke is saying, the reason I wrote this Theophilus is so that you would know the certainty of the things that you have been taught. Let's stand together. I want to give anybody an opportunity that's never trusted Christ to have that time to come today.
00:32:18
Speaker
to say, you know what? I'm ready. I believe what God has put in the word for us. I trust what he said. You know, one of the things about God is he won't lie to you. There's people that lie right to your face, but you know what? He won't. God is a God of truth and his word is called the word of truth.
00:32:38
Speaker
And the church is called the pillar of truth. And so we should be saying, you know what? We embrace the truth of God's word. Do you embrace the truth of God's word? In your daily life, are you standing on the word of God? I want to encourage you, if you have a decision you need to make, if you want to trust Christ, I'll be down here. But also, maybe you would take this time to say, I'm going to pray for our students who are leaving for camp.
00:33:03
Speaker
at two o'clock today. They're gonna gather at 1.30. They're gonna leave at two. So they're gonna be hearing God's word all during the week. So maybe you could say, Lord, I just pray you convince them of how true your word is. That would be an awesome thing to do during this time of invitation. But whatever God's spirit is saying to you, you respond in obedience. Let's pray together. Lord, thank you so much for this time to pray. I know that we're about to sing a song called I'd Rather Have Jesus.
00:33:34
Speaker
I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold. Do we really mean that? I believe that people in the past have meant that because they were willing to say, I'd rather have Jesus than to recant the scriptures. I'd rather have Jesus than deny what God has written in his word, and they would go to be burned at a stake. What is our choice? What will we do? Will we be a generation who says, I will stand on the word of God
00:34:02
Speaker
because I can do nothing else, I can do no other. So Lord, speak to us and draw us to yourself. May we spend this week really praying over our students that we love so much. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. This is a ministry of First Baptist Church, located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas.