SUNDAY (LIVE) - Feb 8, 2026 | Ephesians 6:14-18 - Word of God

Anybody know the second thing that Moses is told to write down? It's called the 10 words, the 10 commandments. Why does he have to write them down? Because he broke the first set. He got mad. So God says, okay, write down the second step. And the 10 commandments are real simple. Command tablet one is how to get along with God. Tablet two is how to get along with people. It's God's design. Know me, love me with all your heart, mind, and soul, and love your neighbor as yourself. The very second thing written. [00:58:41] (34 seconds)  #LoveGodLoveNeighbor

And it's my joy, the bible says, it's the glory of God to conceal a matter, and it's the honor of kings to search it out. I have found more gold in the dark sayings than in any other parts of the bible. And here's what I know now. If I struggle with a bible passage, it's not the bible that's the problem. It's my understanding of the bible. And now I have the privilege to work that out, to wrestle out those texts through prayer, through fellowship, through other people, through study, through rightly dividing the word of truth. I know I see through a glass dimly. I come at it with humility. I'm the problem, not the bible. [01:14:45] (37 seconds)  #WrestleTheText

And when people say that to me, I always say, if this book is to make money and control people, why the book of Job? A man who does everything right. A man that God says, he's my number one on planet earth. No one more righteous than Job. No one's doing it better than him. And, what's his reward? All of his kids die. All of his houses are destroyed. All of his camels are gone. All of his sheep are gone. All of his donkeys are gone. All of his servants are gone. His health is gone. [00:51:48] (40 seconds)  #RighteousnessAndSuffering

Do you know why we have the 27 books that we have in the New Testament? It's real simple. They went viral. They had a 100,000 views day one. They were copied and recopied and copied and recopied. We have tens of thousands of the manuscripts of these 27 new testament books. We've got nothing of the gospel of Thomas or the shepherd of Hermos. Why? Because nobody believed them, so they didn't copy them. There was no resonance in the early church that this is God's word, so they just ignored them. That's why we have them. [00:53:03] (36 seconds)  #ScripturesThatWentViral

You look at the gospel of John, not a transcript of God's life, of Jesus' life. That's not what John is. John tells us that. He said, if I was to write down everything Jesus did, John twenty one twenty five, there wouldn't be enough books on the planet to hold what he did. So I have choreographed and grabbed stories in order to serve one purpose, that you might believe that Jesus Christ is God come in the flesh, savior of humanity. [01:09:58] (31 seconds)  #JohnsGospelForFaith

There was an evil group that was following the tribe of Israel around, the tribes of Israel around. And they were picking off the weak and the old and the handicapped. And what you see in the Bible is God does not like bullies. So God said, turn around and put a stop to it. And Joshua, the general of the army does that. And God said, that's the first thing that I want you to write down. That right there. That when evil people are hurting my people, I will rescue them. First thing ever written down in the bible. I love that. [00:56:00] (44 seconds)  #RescueTheOppressed

So when I look at the bible, what I see is the personalities of the authors shining through. That Peter writes very differently than Paul who writes very differently than John because of who they are. That Isaiah and Ezekiel are night and day from each other and their personality is shining through because God said, I want your personality, your time, your place, what you know, your experiences. They're exactly what I need to get the book of Ezekiel. And the product is exactly what God wanted. [00:54:29] (39 seconds)  #ScriptureWithPersonality

Cast all your cares on him because he cares for you. And God demonstrated his love for us that while we are yet sinners, Christ died for us. If you loved us when we are our worst, it's not gonna change. So, come up, cast your cares, be prayed for. Pray for baptism every Sunday. Today is the day that you want to embody what's happened to you by the power of Jesus Christ. [01:22:08] (32 seconds)  #CastYourCaresOnHim

So, the first thing written down in the bible is not science, it's not poems, it is a story. Because I think the bible is the story of earth. That's what it is. And God's rescue mission over and over and over. And stories are so powerful. We have fallen for this enlightenment trap that the only way that you get information is through the scientific method. I disagree. I think real stories are way more powerful than scientific method. [00:56:58] (32 seconds)  #BibleIsStory

These two pictures. So, this picture right here, what is this a picture of? The night sky. It's called Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh. It is a depiction of the night sky. What is this a picture of? It's a depiction of the night sky that someone took with their camera. Are they the same? Yeah. Are they different? Yes. They're serving two different purposes. That's what they're doing. Different genres. Right? One's worth about $10. Van Gogh's worth about a billion dollars. [01:11:30] (36 seconds)  #GenreMatters

So god accommodates us, meets us where we are at to bring us to where he is at. No problem. God says, can communicate my meaning phenomenologically, so no matter where somebody lives, no matter their level of education, no matter what they are doing or where they're from, they will be able to read the bible and understand it. So I'll use phenomenological language. [01:14:12] (24 seconds)  #GodMeetsUsWhereWeAre

Anybody know the first rescue mission that God does for his people? It's called the Passover. It's where God punches pharaoh in the mouth, a megalomaniac that is killing his babies. And he goes, that's enough. And he rescues his people. How were the children of Israel to remember that story? Eat a meal. Cook it with your family. Sit around the dinner table and talk about my rescue mission for you. That's how they're they're to remember it. [00:58:09] (32 seconds)  #PassoverRemembers

So you have to ask, who made the quilt? Did grandma make the quilt? Did the ants make the quilt? Or did the gal that we met with make the quilt? What's your answer? Yes. Right. Yes. And what you see in the Bible is exactly that. You see people that are quilters, and God gets exactly what he wants. [01:05:05] (26 seconds)  #ManyHandsOneQuilt

You wouldn't go to the Van Gogh painting to go find Alpha Centauri, would you? Cause that's not its purpose. Its purpose is this beautiful rendition of a happy, just emotionally charged night. That's what it's supposed to stir you to. So that's what genres do. It's the allow the bible to have different genres. So if you're cooking a meal for Super Bowl Sunday today, do you use a chemistry book? Because you're doing chemistry. Right? Sodium chloride plus bicarbonate soda plus h two o, add them together, heat up until there's reaction. You're doing chemistry. But if you want someone to eat your food, don't use a chemistry book. Use the joy of cooking. Right? [01:12:06] (47 seconds)  #UseTheRightGenre

That he collaborates with his disciples to come up with a new testament. And today, he says to you and me, I'll partner with you as well. I've got great works prepared in advance for you to walk in as well. Join with me, just like he did the authors of scripture, that we get the same opportunity today. [01:17:17] (23 seconds)  #PartnerWithGod

The bible is written the way that people would see things happening. The phenomenon that they would see. So when the bible says the sun rises, that's phenomenological language. We still use it to this day. And if the bible was written any other way, let's say it was written, like, scientifically, what would happen to the majority of people that live before the twentieth century? They'd be like, what in the I don't even understand this. [01:13:42] (29 seconds)  #BibleUsesEverydayLanguage

Luke though is writing his gospel. He tells us that he's writing it to a friend named Theophilus probably lived in Rome. So if he was to say, they dug, Theophilus would think, what do they live in? Holes in the ground? Are they hobbits? He'd be puzzled by that. So Luke realizes, I'm going to translate this true story into a way that Theophilus, my buddy, can understand it. And since they all the roofs in Rome are tile, they removed the tiles. [01:05:56] (31 seconds)  #WriteForYourAudience

Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Brut the scribe, the son of Noriah, who wrote on it at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim, king of Judah had burned in the fire, and many similar words were added to them. What do we have here? The second edition of Jeremiah, the one that makes it into the canon of scripture. [01:02:32] (29 seconds)  #JeremiahRewritten

Take a scroll and write on it all the words that I've spoken to you against Israel and Judah and all the nations from the day I spoke to you, from the days of Josiah until today. That's twenty five years of ministry. Everything that you've prophesied, all the stuff that I've been given to you, twenty five years of it, take it, write it down. [01:01:00] (23 seconds)  #WriteDownTheWord