Well, good morning to everyone. Good to see you all here this morning! We're working through the book of Acts. If you're a guest here this morning, we teach through the Bible verse by verse, book by book, and for about a year now, we've been working through the book of Acts. We've come to chapter 18. The book of Acts is an account of the founding of the early church after Pentecost and the continuing work of Jesus through His disciples and apostles to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.

So we've seen that. And lately in the ministry, we've looked at Paul first, Peter, and now Paul again. This morning, we're going to look at a man named Apollos—just a few brief verses, just a historical account of this man who came to Ephesus and then went on to Corinth to preach mightily the truth. We've seen lately also that this is a book of transition from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant. 

We saw Paul last week with his vow, the Nazarite vow that he took to worship God and praise God—an Old Covenant vow—as things were not quite worked out in the minds of the believers in this time as the church was being founded and coming to a clear understanding of that New Covenant that Jesus instituted in His blood. 

So today Apollos is also in transition, coming to understand the New Covenant truth about Jesus Christ—His death, burial, and resurrection in our place for our sins—and the work of salvation that God does in the one who believes, giving a new heart, a new spirit, and the Holy Spirit coming to live in us.

In our text this morning, we learn about one of the greatest preachers in the Bible, a man named Apollos. As I studied this passage and what the Bible has to say about this man, a question came to my mind, and I just wanted to pose this question. It’s going to be a simple, straightforward message this morning: What is it that makes an effective, fruitful preacher and teacher in the church? What is it about a man that makes him a great preacher, such as we see here with Apollos? 

It's an interesting and, I think, important question for us to ponder because we need to understand what a preacher or teacher of the Word is supposed to be doing and how we are to know if he is effective in the ministry that God has given him. We see in our text that Apollos was an eloquent man. This word means that he was a great orator. He spoke well. I wonder, is that what makes a great preacher? Is it incumbent upon a teacher of the Word to be very gifted in oratory—skilled in words and telling stories—grabbing attention? 

This is nice. I think I was listening to Adrian Rogers this week; I hadn't listened to him in a long time, and he was such a gifted speaker, an engaging preacher. He had a way with words. But is it necessary for a man to be a great preacher to be eloquent? 

Let me ask you this: Do you think Paul was an effective preacher and teacher of the Word? I think he was one of the greatest. But remember what he said when he came to Corinth. We looked at this last week in 1 Corinthians 2.1. He said, "And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom, declaring to you the testimony of God." 

In 2 Corinthians 10, it says of Paul, "For his letters, they say, are weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence is weak and his speech is contemptible." It doesn't appear that Paul was a great speaker or an eloquent man who had a way with words, yet he was perhaps the most effective preacher in the Bible, other than Jesus.

Well, perhaps it's education that makes a man an effective preacher. I think Paul had a lot of education, and Apollos did as well. Education is good, but is it education that makes a man effective in preaching and teaching? I know another man who was a great preacher. We saw him lead thousands to Christ, founding the church on the day of Pentecost and the days and years that followed. He was a simple fisherman with no higher education whatsoever—a man named Peter. And Peter gave some pretty effective sermons.

So if it's not eloquence and speaking ability, if it's not education that makes a man an effective preacher, what is it? What is it that makes a man a great preacher in the eyes of God? 

There are at least two things that describe what is vital for the preacher of the Word of God in our text. In verses 24 and 25 of Acts 18, it says, "Now a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus." In verse 25, it says, "This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things of the Lord." 

He was mighty in the Scriptures—the ESV translates this word as competent. It literally means able or capable. The effective, faithful preacher is competent in the Scriptures; he is capable of rightly dividing the Word of God. 

The second point in verse 25 speaks to him teaching the Word of God accurately. The word literally means exactly. He says exactly and precisely what God says in His Word. This is the key, my friends. It's wonderful for preachers to be educated, if he's trained. It's tremendous if he's an eloquent man who can speak engagingly and clearly and has a way with words.

What really matters—what truly makes a preacher effective and great in the eyes of God—is if he is capable and competent, if he's mighty in the Scriptures, knowing and understanding the Word of God, and if he takes that Word and that knowledge and preaches and teaches it accurately, saying what God says.

It makes me wonder about so many churches in our communities where the Bible is de-emphasized or not preached at all or not even allowed to be read. I've always seen my role as a preacher and teacher of the Word as saying what God says, and that is what I strive to do in my study, in preparation, and preaching from this pulpit wherever I have the opportunity.

We're going to see today in our text that this was especially true of a man named Apollos, who God was bringing from following the baptism of John to the New Covenant understanding—from Judaism to Jesus, from the Old Covenant to the new, in another example of transition in the book of Acts. 

Let's look at our text together in Acts 18, starting at verse 24. It says, "Now a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus. This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things of the Lord, though he knew only the baptism of John." 

So he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. And when Aquila and Priscilla heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. And when he desired to cross to Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him. And when he arrived, he greatly helped those who had believed through grace. 

For he vigorously refuted the Jews publicly, showing from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ. I've given you four points on your outline: first, mighty in the Scriptures; second, speaking and teaching accurately; third, helping the brethren; and fourth, showing Jesus is the Christ.

Well, you remember from last week that Paul had departed from Ephesus. He was headed to Jerusalem to keep his vow, and he had left Aquila and Priscilla in Ephesus. Paul was off to Jerusalem to keep the feast. Remember, he's going to offer his hair with the other appropriate sacrifices in the temple to complete that Nazarite vow. While he was gone, a man named Apollos came to Ephesus.

This was no ordinary man. He was a Jew, born in Alexandria, Egypt, and it says that he was instructed in the way of the Lord and that he was mighty in the Scriptures. He was some kind of preacher, my friends. He could really speak and spoke accurately the things of the Lord—the way of the Lord. 

What was it that he spoke? What does this mean, the way of the Lord? Well, I don't think it refers to the gospel or to the church age and the New Covenant here. I did a little word search on this phrase, and I found several uses of it in the Old Testament. I want to just read those for you. 

In Genesis 18:19, it says, "For I have known him in order that he may command his children and his household after him that they keep the way of the Lord to do righteousness and justice that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has spoken to him." 

In Isaiah 40:3, it says, "The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God." 

Jeremiah 5:5 says, "I will go to the great men and speak to them, for they have known the way of the Lord, the judgment of their God." 

But these have altogether broken the yoke and burst the bonds. In Matthew 3:3, as well as several other gospel passages, we see a quotation of that verse in Isaiah 40 where it speaks of John the Baptist, and it says, "He was one spoken of by the Prophet Isaiah when he said, 'The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord; make His paths straight.'" 

The only other time in the New Testament that we see this phrase used is here in Acts 18, speaking of Apollos. Apollos was an Old Covenant Jewish man. It says he only knew the baptism of John—the promise of Messiah. That's what the Old Testament was all about. All the prophecies and all the promises were the promise of Messiah, that God would bring a deliverer—a sacrifice, a substitute to die in our place for our sins. 

That's what it spoke of. That's what Apollos taught accurately. Apollos was an Old Covenant Jew; he was waiting on his Messiah. He was looking for the King, the Deliverer. What is interesting here is that he understood the Old Testament prophecies about Jesus. He understood the promises, and he was waiting for that deliverance. This is why he accepted and followed John the Baptist in preparation, in willingness to receive the Messiah. 

He was skilled; he was knowledgeable, mighty in the Old Testament Word of God and its relationship to the coming Messiah— even Jesus. He knew the Word of God. He understood it. He divided it rightly. He spoke it and taught it accurately. You can imagine his booming voice in the synagogue, quoting the Old Testament prophecies and the promises of the coming Messiah and cutting the pieces straight—rightly putting them together to reveal and explain the truth. 

And my friends, this is what an effective preacher does: he's capable and knowledgeable in the Word, and he teaches it accurately, exactly, as God has given it. But Apollos did not know any more than the baptism of John, it says. 

Verse 25 says, "This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things of the Lord, though he knew only the baptism of John." You see, he was in the process of moving from Judaism to Jesus, my friends. Just as we have seen all through the book of Acts. He was a faithful man. He was skilled in the Scriptures, understanding and accurately teaching the Old Testament truth. 

He had received the baptism of John. He was preaching and teaching accurately and mightily, yet he needed some further revelation and understanding about what had happened with Jesus of Nazareth—about the suffering Messiah who died and was buried and rose again the third day. There were two faithful believers there to help him out—two who just happened to be sitting under the clear teaching of the Apostle Paul and could now show Apollos the truth about Jesus the Christ. 

Look at verse 26: "So he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. And when Aquila and Priscilla heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately." 

Now, this is a fascinating and instructive verse for us. Here was a man that was fervent in spirit. He was on fire; he was mighty in the Scriptures. He had a natural ability to speak eloquently and effectively, and he had a willing heart, a believing heart. He just needed to hear the whole gospel truth. 

Aquila and Priscilla were faithful brethren, able to take Apollos aside and gently, lovingly show what he was lacking in knowledge. What he was lacking was an understanding that Jesus was the Christ—that Jesus had to suffer as the Messiah; that He had to come as the perfect substitute and die in our place for our sins in order to satisfy the wrath of God. 

That was the message. And that through faith alone in Jesus and what He accomplished on our behalf, a man was saved. Having been saved in this New Covenant time—Jesus had instituted the New Covenant in His blood at the Last Supper—being saved in this New Covenant time meant that he would be regenerated, recreated, made a new man; that his old heart would be taken out and he would be given a heart of flesh; that the Holy Spirit would come and live in him—that his spirit would be quickened, remade. 

These are the promises of Ezekiel 36, Jeremiah 31. So they took Apollos aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. They fine-tuned his doctrine so that he would understand. This reminded me of an event in my life that left a lasting impression. 

When I was first saved, I had a lot of zeal. I was fervent, and I was anxious to share the gospel with my family and loved ones. I wrote a letter—a 15-page letter. I called it "There Really Is a Difference" because every time I would share the good news of Jesus Christ with my religious family, they kept saying, "We believe Jesus died for our sins. We believe the same thing as you do." But they didn't believe; they didn't understand. So I wrote a letter to explain, laying out clearly the gospel truth for my religious loved ones. 

I think mostly it was a good letter, a good presentation of the gospel. But there was so much that I did not know and I did not understand. I'd never read the Bible; I'd never studied the Bible. I didn't know any truth. And I remember giving that letter to Al Smith. Many of you know Al and Lois Smith. He came back to me, and he sort of pulled me aside because I had written in that letter about infant baptism and said something about “no other church is baptizing babies or teaching baptismal regeneration other than the one I grew up in.” And that really showed what I knew. 

But Al gently explained to me that these things were not so and that this baptismal regeneration thing was a major issue in Protestantism as well. You see, it's good to have brothers and sisters to help guide us, to teach us, to show us more accurately the way of God, the truth according to His Word. 

And I think a good preacher or teacher is always open to this—always ready to hear how he can more accurately understand and teach the Word of God. And such was the case with Apollos. Paul had met up with Aquila and Priscilla by divine appointment. Paul had taught them, showed them the clear gospel truth and the New Covenant promises in Christ. 

Now, Aquila and Priscilla could do the same for Apollos. I want to show you just one more thing. After Apollos came to faith in Jesus and he understood the New Covenant, he was able to go to Achaia, it says, to Corinth and strengthen the brethren there. 

Look at verse 27: "And when he desired to cross to Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him. And when he arrived, he greatly helped those who had believed through grace." Apollos got his doctrine straight. He understood the truth that Jesus is the Messiah and the truth of His death, burial, and resurrection. 

And this guy was on fire. He was not only an eloquent speaker, not only an educated man, but he was mighty in the Scriptures and now in the truth about Jesus. He was unstoppable in his power of preaching and persuading. It says he greatly helped those who had believed through grace. 

Look at verse 28: "For he vigorously refuted the Jews publicly, showing from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ." The words here indicate that no one could refute his logic, his arguments from the Word of God—that he just overwhelmed them with the truth of showing that Jesus is the Christ from the Scriptures. It reminds me of Stephen's sermon. 

Remember, we studied that before in Acts, where he went all through the Old Testament history of Israel, the covenants, the promises, and then he showed that all these things were fulfilled in Jesus Christ. No one could argue; no one could refute Stephen. So they stopped their ears and ran at him with one accord and hauled him out of the city and stoned him to death. That's how sometimes religious men deal with the truth. 

Because you see, the truth can't be refuted. The truth is that all men are sinners. All men are deserving of wrath. And no matter how much good we do, no matter how much religion we participate in, the fact is we've broken the law and we deserve the penalty. The only answer for that is a substitute—someone to take that penalty in our place, to die for us. And that's what Jesus did. The Scriptures say that only by faith in Him, only by turning from our own self-righteousness, only turning to Him in faith alone can we receive His righteousness and be made right with God. 

Well, here we see the full package, my brothers and sisters, in this man Apollos. He was mighty in the Scriptures. He was speaking and teaching accurately the Word of God. He was helping the brethren with this truth. And he was showing that Jesus is the Christ. 

Verse 28 of our text says he vigorously refuted the Jews publicly, showing from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ. You see, they were teaching that you had to be circumcised, that you had to keep the law, the Ten Commandments, that you had to do good works—all of these things in order to be saved. Paul dealt with that—we saw that in the letter to the Galatians—a gospel of legalism, which is not good news, Paul said. 

It's not another because we can't live up to it because we break the law. So Apollos was refuting that, showing publicly that that was a false message and preaching the truth about Jesus. Paul said to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 2.2, "For I determine not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified." 

The mark of an effective preacher of the Word of God, of a witness for Jesus Christ, is the central focus of showing from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ. 

Turn over to 1 John with me, please. 1 John chapter 2, verse 22. John is warning the brethren about those who are trying to deceive them. In verse 22, he says, "Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either. He who acknowledges the Son has the Father also." 

"Therefore, let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning." What did they hear from the beginning? The truth of the gospel. "Let that abide in you, which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father; and this is the promise that He has promised us—eternal life." 

You see, it's a promise—it's a gift that God gives us, and we receive a gift by faith. Error against Christ and the gospel always comes in one of two forms, and this is what John highlights here: either denying who Jesus is, that He is fully God and fully man, the perfect sacrifice, or denying what He did—propitiating, that is, paying the full payment for our sins—satisfying the wrath of God. 

So when a man denies Christ, he either denies who He is or he denies what He did. And that's what we see in all false religion today. All false gospels, false teachings deny Jesus in one of these two areas, and Apollos was a man who vigorously, publicly refuted these kinds of lies. 

This is what Apollos did in Corinth. He proclaimed Jesus and the truth of His death, burial, and resurrection—that He is the fulfillment of all that the Word of God had prophesied and promised—that the Scriptures speak of Him. He is the way; He is the truth; and He is the life. And no one comes to the Father except through Him, and only by faith in His death, burial, and resurrection from the dead, paying the full price for my sins and yours, satisfying the wrath of God. 

We see that this included refuting the false teaching publicly as well, even Judaism—that which did not rightly divide the Word of truth but twisted the Scriptures to their own destruction. My friends, this is what really matters: preaching Jesus Christ according to the Word of God. 

And this includes refuting the error. This includes marking out, noting publicly, as Paul says in Romans 16:17, those who teach doctrines contrary to Christ. But most of all, making the truth clear by a verse-by-verse, book-by-book preaching and teaching in the church, in Bible studies, in fellowship, for every believer, for each one of us—the preaching of a clear gospel, Christ-centered, as witnesses to the lost and the dying men of this world all around us. 

We must speak the truth in love, but my friends, we must speak the truth. On Thursday night, we studied in 1 Peter 4, Peter’s writing to the believers who were enduring incredible persecution under Nero. He writes to them that they should not think it to be some strange thing that they are suffering so much for their identification with Christ. 

I just want to use this as an illustration of what I'm talking about in rightly dividing the Word, preaching the truth accurately. But I think we would have to say that in the church in America today, we have largely been taught that for the believer to suffer is indeed a very strange thing. Certainly, the Word Faith Movement, the prosperity preachers, the name-it-and-claim-it crowd will tell you that God never, ever wants you to have any kind of discomfort at all, but that you should be healthy, wealthy, and prosperous in every way. 

I was reading a story about Stephen Curry yesterday, the great NBA basketball player. He struck a deal with Under Armour, they say, worth up to a billion dollars by the time it's done. Part of the deal was that he wanted Philippians 4:13 printed on the tongue of those tennis shoes. Well, they agreed to part of the verse; the shoes say "I can do all things." First of all, I find it interesting that they left out the key words, "through Christ, which strengthens me." But also, is this what Philippians 4:13 means in context? Does it mean that through Christ I can win NBA championships? 

I'm all for these players giving God the glory, and I appreciate that. But Paul says in that passage, "I have learned in whatever state I am in, whether I abound or whether I am abased, whether I am full or whether I am hungry, to be content in Christ. I can do all things through Christ, which strengthens me." This is not about winning sporting events. Paul was hungry and naked and beaten and shipwrecked all day long. He was counted as a sheep to the slaughter because of Jesus Christ. 

I've heard preachers use Romans 8:32, “He who did not spare His own Son but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He with Him not freely give us all things?” What's the “all things” that God wants to give us—Cadillacs and mansions and material things? I'm afraid that the whole design of the modern evangelical church is to meet the needs of man—to draw them in, to entertain them, to show them what Jesus can do for them. 

How did we get here, my friends? How can we come to such a skewed view of the gospel and why Jesus came and what He did for us? Peter says, "Don't think it strange that the world hates you, persecutes you, that you're experiencing this fiery trial." 

Remember, Nero burnt Rome. He took the believers and rolled them in pitch and put them on sticks to light his courtyard. Peter says, rather, rejoice that you have been counted worthy to suffer for His name. Rejoice that you now, because of your identification with Christ, are suffering the wrath of the world that's intended for Him. 

My friends, the Scriptures are so abundantly clear. The one thing we can take from the Word of God concerning how the world will respond to Christians is that we will suffer. Now, we're in an enigma here in the United States in this time. I'm not sure it's healthy for us in this prosperity. 

But around the world, even today, believers are suffering, and they're dying because of Jesus Christ. Luke 6:22 says, "Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and revile you and cast out your name as evil for the Son of Man's sake," He says. John 15:18 says, "If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you." 

Philippians 1:29 says, "For it has been appointed to you, granted to you on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake." Turn over to 1 Peter 2 with me, please. 

1 Peter 2:18 says, "Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle but also to the harsh. For this is commendable if, because of conscience toward God, one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God." 

"For to this you were called because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow His steps, who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth, who when He was reviled did not revile in return. When He suffered, He did not threaten. Look at this, but He committed Himself to Him who judges righteously, who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness by whose stripes you were healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls."

My friends, the truth is that if we identify with Christ, if we believe Him, if we live for Him, Paul says all who desire to live godly in this ungodly world will suffer persecution. The Scriptures couldn't be more clear, but here's my point. If our churches are preaching health, wealth, and Jesus as the fixer of your problems in this world, then the church has necessarily had to leave the Scriptures to find that message. 

Paul reasoned from the Scriptures to prove that Jesus is the Christ. Peter quoted the Scriptures in his sermon on the day of Pentecost to show the Jewish men and women that day that they were guilty, that they had killed their Messiah, and that the only remedy was to repent and turn to Jesus in faith. 

Apollos was mighty in the Scriptures, accurately teaching the way of the Lord. Do you see, my friends, that to be an effective preacher and teacher, a witness for Jesus in this world, in whatever capacity God has for you within the body, is to know and understand and preach and teach the words of God? 

If we want to be effective, if we want to obey God, if we want to follow these men as they followed Christ, if we want to glorify God and accomplish His will and purpose in our lives and ministries, if we want unsaved men to hear the truth, to believe, and to be saved from God's wrath forever, then we have to focus on the Word of God and say what He says. 

I believe this is manifest by the focus of our churches, the messages from the pulpits, the content of our worship, the holiness of our living, and first and foremost, the substance of our gospel. When I preach here at Living Hope Church, when we teach Bible studies on Thursday night, when you, as individual believers, go out into your sphere of influence to the opportunities that God has given to you, what message, what gospel do we preach? 

How do we persuade men concerning Jesus as the Christ? Is our message one that is consistent with, centered on, coming from the Word of God? A God-centered message, a Christ-centered message, or is it a man-centered message? Is it a message that emphasizes the helpless state of man, the sin of man, the holiness of God, and God's goodness, grace, and mercy? 

It's the goodness of God that leads men to repentance—an amazing love demonstrated at the cross, providing salvation from our sins, from the wrath of God to come. Or is it a message focused on the alleviation of the temporal, physical, social, and economic woes of man? Is Jesus a Savior from sin, death, and hell, or is He a Savior from all that is wrong in my world? 

I think this is important, my friends. Because when I study the Word of God, when I look at what Paul preached, what Apollos preached, as well as the rest of those highlighted in the Scriptures, especially in the book of Acts, what I see is a vigorous refuting of error and a making clear of the essence of the gospel of Jesus Christ—of His death in my place because of my sins—and the salvation that He fully accomplished and provided. 

Salvation from the wrath of God only by the cross, only by grace, only through faith. Not only do we see a lack of promises to deliver us from all that ails us temporally in this world, but conversely, we see abundant promises of suffering, trouble, trial, and tribulation because of our identification with Christ. 

I want to be clear: in the midst of all this, we are promised peace—a peace that surpasses understanding. We're promised joy—an abundant life in Christ. But these things are not the absence of troubles. Rather, they are based on our secure relationship with Jesus, with our Father, based on the promises of eternal life and glorification and the grace that is to be brought to us at His coming. 

Pastor quoted that verse from Peter this morning: "Set your hope fully on the grace that is to be revealed when Jesus comes." Here's the bottom line, the take-home application for us from our text this morning. 

Here's the application we can take from Apollos and his amazing ministry in Ephesus and Corinth: Our passion, goal, and pursuit should be to accurately preach and teach the Word of God. And we should be constantly studying, learning, growing, and open and willing to be instructed, corrected, so that we might more accurately preach and teach. 

Look at our passage again: "This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things of the Lord, though he knew only the baptism of John. So he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Aquila and Priscilla heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. And when he desired to cross to Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him. And when he arrived, he greatly helped those who had believed through grace, for he vigorously refuted the Jews publicly, showing from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ."

It's just a few verses, a brief description of the ministry of Apollos, but it is such an example for us—so instructive for us—in the midst of a modern church that has left the Word of God for the wisdom of the world. May we here at Living Hope Church follow the example of Apollos and Paul and Peter and Stephen and all the rest, and accurately, precisely, exactly, diligently, and carefully preach and teach the Word of God. 

And my brothers and sisters, say what He says. First, you have to know it, and you have to believe it. How else do you know what is true? I saw a meme yesterday that said, "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me; fool me 365,000 times, shame on the weatherman." 

How do we know what's true? Compared to what I don't know, I don't know much of anything. I've been wrong so many times I can't even begin to count them. How do I know what is true? I only know what is true by the Word of God. Men have a lot of opinions, but I only know what is true by the Word. If I don't know the Word of God, then I don't know.

So we need to know it. We need to believe what He says. We need to obey what He says, trusting Him, depending on Him, abiding in Him, as we see Him, by His grace and power, produce fruit for His glory by Jesus Christ in the church. That's the purpose, that's the intent, that's the result. 

Let's close in prayer. 

Father, we're so thankful for these examples You've recorded and preserved for us, and that You just continually, patiently teach us and grow us and renew our minds and bring us into conformity with Your thinking. Help us to know You, to believe You, to trust You through these words in the only book You ever wrote. In Jesus' name, amen.