Abide in Me and My Word

Well, good afternoon again, and welcome to our guest. I forgot to mention the young lady here. Thank you for being here today. And again, glad to see all of you. I'm going to give you all a warning. I've got a button that's about to go kaput. And so, if you doze off, you might get the button. I think this coat's been shrinking or something, or I've been getting bigger. But I noticed this morning, the first time I buttoned it, I had the coat. I set it in the car last night. So I can get ready and maybe get everything in the car before I leave in the morning. And I didn't even check the button. So this one is going to eventually fall off. I know it's going to fall off pretty quick. So maybe it won't...maybe it'll last throughout this sermon anyway.

I wanted to cover something that does tie in together with what Mr. Erbom was talking about. I appreciate his sermonette and being able to review those Scriptures and how important it is that we appreciate the knowledge that God has blessed us with. It really is. Even as we think toward the Passover season, which we know is coming up here in a few weeks or a little more than a month, there's a great deal of information, a great deal of knowledge that God has granted us the privilege of understanding.

And much of that is tied up into the Holy Day system and into the Passover, the Days of Unleavened Bread. We've got a whole row here, John, right here in front. I know you don't want to have to do that, but now that I've already mentioned it, you don't even have to go to the front. You can go to the third row. Now, we have the booby traps there, and that's that row, though, because Orin's back there, and we've got to keep him awake.

So, what was I talking about? I don't know. God has given us a lot of knowledge and wonderful, wonderful knowledge. As we prepare for the Passover, as we do, you know, we all are thinking ahead of time, and of course, we will emphasize this over the next several weeks as we get ready for the Spring Holy Days.

But it's interesting to see here in John 6, where Jesus is telling His disciples some actually very difficult things to understand. You know, He fed everybody, and then He gave them information about Himself. He got all of their attention. He filled their belly. And then He told them, remarkably, starting in verse 53, John 6, verse 53, Jesus said, "'Verily I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and you drink His blood, then you have no life in you. Those who eat My flesh and drink My blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day. For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink.

Those who eat My flesh and who drink My blood abide in Me, and I abide in them. Just as the Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so everyone who eats Me will live because of Me." You know, that was very hard to understand information. Now, I think in many ways, you probably read that and you think, I know what that talks about, or I know what that's explaining, or I see where that's heading. And yet, to the disciples, they thought, what in the world is He talking about?

Eating His flesh, drinking His blood. And of course, this was prior to the time later in His ministry and right before His death, that He would show to them in the Passover service that He observes with them before He's crucified, the meaning of the bread and the meaning of the wine.

And so, you can see why it wasn't something they picked up on real quickly. They didn't understand at all what He was talking about in verse 60. When many of the disciples heard it, they said, this teaching is very difficult. This is almost impossible to understand. This teaching is difficult. Who can accept it? And Jesus, being aware of what they were complaining about, He said, does this offend you? Is this so difficult? Is this so hard to understand that you are going to be offended?

He went on to say in verse 62, what if I were to tell you, what if you were to see the Son of Man ascend to where He was before? He said, this is really not all that unusual as far as what I'm telling you, because what you're going to see here in the next few years, the next couple of years, is what He was saying before He would be put to death. And then at that time, and then beyond that, you're going to see Me ascend to heaven. I'm no longer going to be walking the earth with you.

I'm going to ascend to where I was before He existed before. He existed before He came as a human being. And He goes ahead in verse 63 to say, it is the Spirit that gives life. The flesh profits nothing or is useless. The words that I have spoken to you, they are Spirit and they are life.

Who has life to give? Well, clearly Jesus Christ. But what I want to focus on is what He says here in verse 63, because He says, My words are Spirit and they allow life. Life for all eternity. And I want to tie this together with what He mentions in John chapter 15. And John 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 are chapters that I know we will cover more here in the next few weeks and as we lead up to the Passover.

But here in chapter 15, in verse 4, He says, Abide in Me and I will abide in you. In verse 5, He says, I am the vine and you are the branches. Those who abide in Me and I in them will bear much fruit, because apart from Me you can do nothing. So He's using a very well-known analogy of a vine and all of us being branches and all of us needing to bear fruit. Bear the fruit of the Spirit of God. Bear the fruit of responsiveness to God. Bear the fruit of the wonderful knowledge that He has extended to us about His plan, about His Son, about how we can have eternal life.

And in verse 7, He gives a little more insight into this. He says, If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, then ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you. See, that's a very significant statement in verse 7, one at least that I want to focus on today. If we're going to be fruitful, if we're going to cultivate a relationship with God, if we're going to nurture our relationship with our heavenly Father and with our elder brother, Jesus Christ, then there are a couple of things we're going to do.

We're going to desire to abide in Jesus Christ as He tells us we should, because He tells us without that, we can do nothing. But what it says in verse 7 is, If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, then you can ask what you will and the Father will help.

The Father will hear, He will help, He will provide you the benefits that so many times we do need. So I want to encourage all of us, this is not something that I know that you are foreign to doing, but I want to encourage all of us to allow the words of Jesus Christ to abide in us.

Now, He's talking directly, not only about the words and the statements that He made, because as you know, in many Bibles, probably in some of them, those of you who have Bibles that have a red letter edition, you know, it has all of the words of Jesus in red. And of course, clearly, those are the words that Jesus spoke, or at least the ones that were recorded that are attributed to Jesus. And yet Jesus inspired the entirety of the Bible. He inspired the 66 books that we are holding in our lap that are very, very precious.

They are extremely precious. And so I want us to think about allowing the words that Jesus spoke about, the words of Jesus to abide in us. And of course, how we can do that is simply by studying the Bible. Now, you know, that's certainly not a new thing to any of you. Studying the Bible should be a consistent, a regular part of our lives. And yet sometimes we allow things to crowd that out. Sometimes we can get busy and so busy to where we don't focus on studying the Bible. And so I am going to go through a few things here that I hope will encourage you to figure out how you best benefit from studying the Bible.

Of course, we have a booklet titled, How to Study the Bible. It gives you many, many ways to study the Bible. A great many helps to be able to study the Bible. But I know, and certainly I find, that it's hard for me to keep up. It's hard for me to keep up with all of the literature that the church makes available. You get good news, you get world news and prophecy that's incorporated in it now. You can get, if you order, many, many booklets. And you can get a correspondence course. You can get all types of things that you can use to study the Bible.

But what works best for you? That's what I encourage each of us to figure out. Because trying to keep up with everything, we can get frustrated. I can't. I don't. I don't even try to keep up with everything that the church may produce. Because in many ways, new things I might want to try to read and keep up with.

Things that I should be relatively familiar with. I'm not trying to read. But see, reading the words of God. Reading the Bible is going to help us allow those words to abide in us. If we don't study the Bible, if we don't read the Bible, if we don't read that with consistency, with persistency, then we're not going to allow those words to abide in us. This is one way we can do that. Now, all of you got a letter the other day from Mr. Rhodes. Melvin Rhodes sent a letter about his trip to England.

I think we sent it on. I don't think it was sent out, perhaps. But at least it should have been passed on to you. Some of you seem to have gotten it. And yet, in that letter, he was describing his trip to England. Somewhat alarming. Because he was there in order to conduct a public Bible lecture or Bible seminar. And there were some, at least a small number of people, who did attend, new people who were attending. And yet, as he mentioned, the country there in England, and actually almost all of Europe, is very secular. And in many cases, they are almost totally, biblically, illiterate. As he mentioned, he has four brothers. He said, not one of them owns a Bible.

That seems strange. I know a lot of people who don't read a Bible, but I don't know a lot of people who don't have a Bible. And yet, that's what he was saying, that there in that country, and actually in numerous parts of the world, they don't care.

They don't really, they're not interested. They don't want to know what the Bible has to say. And it's kind of alarming to me. How can you preach the gospel of the kingdom of God to people who don't have availability, or if they have availability, don't even care about reading the owner's manual?

About reading what God tells us that we can use to allow Him to abide in us by filling our minds with His words. And that, I hope, can be an exciting... I hope your Bible study is exciting. But I also know that there are a thousand pages in here. It can be a pretty big book. Maybe you know all of it. I know some of it, but I don't know all of it.

I can say there are clearly things I could read that I would not fully understand. There are other things I can read that I feel I do understand. And yet, I do want all of us to realize that if the words of Jesus are going to abide in me, or you, then you're going to have to read the Bible. You're going to have to read the book, the owner's manual which God gave us, so that we would have an understanding of life. Not only life now, but life eternal. And Jesus says how?

We can have that eternal life. I'd like for us to look, and actually, I guess more so than even studying the Bible. It ought to be something we enjoy. It ought to be something that we delight in, because that's what we find here in Psalm 119. Psalm 119 is a long psalm. It has 176 verses. I'm sure it's one that you decided not to memorize.

At least that's what I decided. If I wanted to memorize one, I'll back up a couple to 117. It only has two verses. But in chapter 119, you've got a lot of verses. Many of them refer to the law of God. Many of them refer to the value, the importance, the significance, the wonderful blessing, and the powerful benefit of the law of God. In verse 97, David says, oh, how I love that law. How I love your law. It is my meditation all the day long. And down in verse 103, he says, how sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth.

Is that the way the words of God are? Is the study of the Bible that we perform on a daily basis? I mean, that would be a beneficial way to do it, I would say, to do it on a regular basis. Now, I know we all get to read some of the Bible here at church. At least, if I'm going to talk, that's what we're going to talk about. And yet, God wants us to study the Bible and read the Bible every day. He wants us to drink in of the words that need to abide in us so that we have a close relationship with Him. In verse 105, He says, your word is a light or a lamp to my feet, and it's a light to my path.

See, this is the way that we are guided by studying and benefiting from the pages of the Word of God. Back in 2 Timothy, you find the young minister, Timothy, was starting to enter into his work. And as he was following up and supporting what the Apostle Paul had to say, in 2 Timothy, you find that Timothy was encouraged by Paul by telling him, you've got a great foundation. You've got a great foundation because of your mother, because of your grandmother, both of whom have schooled you in the Old Testament. See, that's what Paul told Timothy. Here, starting in verse 14, he said, As for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it. And how from childhood you have known the holy Scriptures. You have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. See, this was an encouraging note for Timothy. He had a good foundation. He had been introduced to the truth of God that involved an understanding of who Jesus was and of what kind of kingdom He was going to bring to the earth. He had been introduced to that by Paul. And yet, his mother and grandmother had schooled him in the pages of the Bible, which was made up of the Old Testament at that time. And yet, he says those sacred writings are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. He said that is what every individual needs. And so, you really are in a very good position. You've got a great foundation. Continue to study the Word of God. He went on in verse 16 to say, all Scripture is inspired by God and is useful or profitable for doctrine or teaching.

See, here we find in verse 16 a statement about a number of different benefits of the Word of God. See, these are all things that, again, we are aware of. And I know that in many ways, I'm talking to you as Bible students. I'm talking to you as people who are pretty familiar with the Bible. Some of you very familiar with the Bible.

But what Jesus said was those words need to abide in us. And I think, if you're like me, I need to continue to read it because I tend to forget. I tend to not be able to remember everything. I used to remember everything. No, I didn't. I used to remember more than I do now. But I'll show you another verse that I think will indicate that this study of the Bible ought to be something that we do throughout our lifetime, to the end of our life. Because that's what God is asking us to do. But here He says all Scripture is inspired by God and is useful or profitable for doctrine. And so that's where the teachings of the church are. That's where we receive them. The doctrines that we have. It's profitable for reproof and for correction. Now, those two words in many ways seem similar to me. Maybe to you they're quite different. But to me they seem similar. But I think reproof is referring more to convicting us of error. Convicting us of sin. Being able to show us, well, this is what happened and this is what's wrong and this is why you would turn from this. And correction is not only a benefit to us, but it's almost a setting us upright. We're tipped over and we can get straightened up. We can be benefited simply by the Word of God that will guide us and set us aright. And so Scripture is beneficial for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training or instruction in righteousness. So that everyone, the man of God, may be proficient and equipped for every good work. See, this is why the Bible has got to be a foundational piece of reading material that we benefit from on a daily basis. I'd like for us to look in Luke 24, because here you find Jesus verifying, in this case, the Old Testament. But it's interesting to see what he had to say. Because here in Luke 24 you find an interesting encounter. This is after the resurrection of Jesus. He had been crucified. He had been in the tomb for three days and three nights. He was now resurrected. And starting in verse 13, you read about individuals who were walking to Emma's. Luke 24, verse 13. And it says in verse 15, while they were talking and discussing, Jesus Himself came here and went with them, but they didn't know who He was. Their eyes were kept from recognizing Him. They didn't realize exactly who He was. Apparently, they didn't recognize Him physically. They didn't know who He was. They were just walking with them. And of course, they're amazed. They're amazed that He hasn't heard anything or He doesn't mention anything about what's just happened.

But of course, they say, are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who doesn't know the things that have taken place here in these days? The things about Jesus of Nazareth. See, this is what they were talking about. This is what they had just been hearing. And so Jesus continued to go along with them and listen to what they had to say and talk to them a little bit. But He didn't show who He was. In verse 25, He said, Oh, how foolish you are! How slow of heart to believe! All that the prophets have declared. Is it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into His glory?

And then, in verse 27, beginning with Moses and the prophets, He interpreted to them, He explained to them the things about Himself in all the Scriptures. You know, they had the Old Testament at that point. What they were referring to, what they referenced as Scriptures were things out of the book of Exodus or Genesis or Deuteronomy or books of Isaiah. It could be even books of Psalms. He could explain Psalm 22 to them. They could read it and they would never really understand what it was talking about. Because it appears to talk about something that David went through.

And yet, what it was, was a prophetic statement about Jesus Christ and what He would endure as He was crucified. But, what He says was that He explained to them the things about Himself. So He had a lot of information to be able to convey to them. And of course, on over in verse 44, He said, These are My words that I spoke to you while I was with you. Everything written about Me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and in the Psalms must be fulfilled. And then He opened their minds to understand those Scriptures. He opened their minds. They read them all along.

They didn't really comprehend what it was about, who it was about. But here He was not only explaining what these Scriptures mean and how it is that the Messiah would come, how it is that forgiveness would be made available to mankind, how it is that the church would actually begin and you would be witnesses, My witnesses of these marvelous things that you've just been experiencing there in Jerusalem.

These statements here in verse 44 and 45 were made to His disciples. They were told that you are eyewitnesses of these things. And because you're eyewitnesses, then you're going to be passing that information on. But what we see in verse 44 is that Jesus was verifying the sections of the Old Testament that we're at least commonly familiar with. The Law and the Prophets and the Writings. He's the one who explains. And of course, He's the one who inspired those words to be written anyway. He was the one who gave Moses whatever it is that He was able to write.

He was the one who directed David, or later Daniel, or Jonah, or Isaiah, or any of those minor prophets as we go through the entirety of the Old Testament. He was the one who inspired those words. And of course, verse 45, He opened their minds to understand. But brethren, I say, unless the words of God are abiding in us, unless we are continually being refueled with those words, then I think we may miss out on some of the understanding that He is offering.

He's giving us, freely. If we go back to Deuteronomy 17, we see an account here about the King of Israel. This was actually prior to the time when the King of Israel would actually even come on the scene. Now, who was the first King of Israel? Well, the first physical King of Israel was Saul.

And yet, prior to that, God said He would lead them. Or the Lord of the Old Testament, Jesus Christ would lead them. And yet, Saul was the first physical King of Israel, and following Him, David, and then Solomon. And then there's a line of Kings of Israel and Kings of Judah. And yet, here in Deuteronomy 17, you see some direction that was actually in the law, written down, so that the King would know what to do.

So the King would know how to prepare, so He'd know how to rule. Here in verse 18, it says, When He has taken the throne of His kingdom, He shall have a copy of this law written for Him in the presence of the Levitical priests.

So He is to write a copy, or at least have a copy written for Him. Now, does that sound familiar? Some of you take some notes. I think all of us probably, at least earlier, took a lot of notes. I don't take near as many notes now as I used to. And yet, what was it that we were even taught if we studied the old correspondence course? Well, write out the Scriptures. Write out those Scriptures, or write out the questions, write out the answers.

That was a great way to learn things about the Bible. A great way to put that information in a form where those words would abide in us. And here we see the King was to have His personal copy. He was not supposed to rely on the priest. He was not supposed to rely on others.

He was to have His personal copy of the law. And then in verse 19, It shall remain with Him, and He shall read in it all the days of His life. So, it sounds like He was supposed to do that from then on. Once you become King, you start reading the law. Now, you probably shouldn't read the law. I don't know how much Saul read the law. It didn't seem like he must have read it too much.

Because he didn't pay keen attention to what God told him or wanted him to do. David had somewhat more of an indication that he had some awareness of the law. And Solomon had some at least to begin with. And then he didn't do it to the rest of these days. He didn't do it to the end of his life. Because he knew a lot, but he also forgot what he had learned.

He must have ignored that. But here, it tells us that the King was supposed to read it all the days of his life. And it goes ahead to say why? So that he may learn to fear the Lord your God. And diligently observe all the words of the law and the statutes. This was in order to help him to have a relationship with God. To help him understand that God is to be respected. To help him to understand that God wants us to be obeying and responding in a way that He defines for us.

He's the one who gives us the instruction. That's why we call the Bible our owner's manual. It's the owner's manual for mankind. It's what we have to have in order to know how to make our lives work. And yet, of course, Christ points us to studying these words. In a sense, what we see with this example here in Deuteronomy is that the king, it was set up for the king to realize that I am the secondary ruler.

The real ruler is God. The real ruler is the one who has given us the law. The one who has given us the inspired word of God. And I'm the secondary ruler. And so I am operating under His guidance.

See, that's what the king was supposed to learn. Now, it looks like very few of the kings of Israel learned very much of that. But it can apply to us as we prepare to be kings and priests in the world tomorrow. We're the ones who need to have a good awareness of the Bible.

We need to have a good understanding of the Bible. And yet, most importantly, we want to focus on the words that Jesus tells us to abide in. Now, why was it that the king was to study so diligently? Well, it says to have a relationship with God. But I think it's also revealed back here in Hebrews 4. Why it is that the king was encouraged to study the Bible. See, why was it that the king was to study the Bible? Well, because the Bible, the Word of God, is an inspired book.

We already read verses that say that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God. What we find compiled in the Old Testament, and the sections of the Old Testament that make up the 39 books that are there, and then the 27 books that we have together in our common Bible today, that have been put together as a part of the New Testament, have been inspired to be the Word of God for us.

You know, those words are unique. They are powerful. They are exciting. They are active. That's what this says in verse 12 of Hebrews 4. It says, indeed, the Word of God is alive. The Word of God is alive. It's living, and it's active. Sharper than any two-edged sword. It's amazing that Paul would use this type of description. It says this written material that God is inspired to be put together, as Jesus stated, it can give us eternal life. If we abide in the words that Jesus gave, then we will be able to ask what we need, and God will help us with it. And yet, what we read here is the Word of God is active, alive, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul and spirit, joint from marrow. It's able to judge the thoughts and intents of the heart. See, what that tells us is the Word of God is able to give us insight and understanding. It's able to give us perception. It's able to give us something that there is no other way of having, except from reading the words that God gives us. Now, he uses the example here of a two-edged sword. I don't know how many of you might have a two-edged sword. At least some of you might. Do anyone have a two-edged sword? Nobody has a two-edged sword. I don't have a two-edged sword. I've got a one-edged sword, or at least I've got a one-edged knife, and I actually keep a knife in my car. I need it for protection, as you know. I don't need it for protection. I don't think it would help much. I needed to open candy wrappers, or peanut wrappers, or whatever I'm trying to open in the car. That's what I need it for. When I got this knife, I've had it for a number of years, and it's one that's got a bunch of gadgets on it, and a flashlight on it, and a number of things. That knife, the biggest blade on it, it's only about so big, and it's only one edge. It used to be really, really sharp. You could just barely touch it, and you'd get cut. Right now, it's real dull, because I haven't been keeping it sharp. But it would get real sharp. It would be really, really sharp. If you had that type of sharpness on two sides of a sword, then you could very easily get hurt. You could very easily get damaged very quickly. If you're trying to clean a deer or something, if you've done that, you know that a dull knife is not what you want. You want a sharp, sharp knife. And yet, that's a description that Paul gives to the Word of God, that it is able to show us the thoughts and intents of our heart. It's able to give us insight and understanding that there's no other way for us to have. And so, as we study the Word of God, as we make that Word a part of our lives, a part of our heart, a part of our mind, we want to do that on a regular basis. As we read about the King, he was to read that copy that he either wrote or had written for him. He was to read that the rest of his life. It wasn't enough just to read it through. And I'm sure most of you have read it through, or at least read parts of it and read all of the Bible. And maybe you've done that in dozens of times.

But see, we want to continue to do that. We want to continue to be refueled with the words of life that Jesus said are so important to us. Now, I point this out in Hebrews 4 because what this tells us is that the Word of God is extremely powerful. It's extremely powerful. And as we have the Bible today, again, I think most of us are familiar with the major sections of the Bible. Which ones of those are you reading right now? See, I'm encouraging you to read the Bible. I'm encouraging you to read sections of the Bible.

I'm encouraging you to read even certain sections of the Bible because that's going to be beneficial for you. It's going to be beneficial for us as we go forward in doing the work that we've been called to do. It's beneficial for our personal relationship with God. See, if we don't read the Bible, if we have a Bible but don't read it, well then it's not going to help us very much. Christ referred to the sections of the Old Testament. The law or the Torah makes up the first five books of the Bible.

Genesis and Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers, and Deuteronomy. That's a specific section of the Bible, particularly that the king was supposed to write and then study. So that he would know what kind of leadership he should extend to his people. But the next section, the prophets, in many ways the prophets can be kind of confusing. Some of them can be pretty easily understood. Certainly some sections we often talk about. There are certain sections in Isaiah that we read on somewhat of a regular basis. Isaiah 53 is pretty familiar. And maybe some of the millennial verses that are in Isaiah 11 or 9 or 2 or 35. Those are chapters that we're familiar with.

But see, are we familiar with the entirety of the book of the prophets? And that, of course, involves many, many books. Some of them being more or less history books. Samuel, Kings, Joshua, Samuel, Kings, Chronicles. When you read through those, those can be a little bit hard to follow sometimes. Because unless you are studying who the different people are and kind of what the setting is. And yet, those are all the former prophets. And then the latter prophets are all grouped pretty much in the latter part of the Old Testament.

Ezekiel and Isaiah and Jeremiah, larger ones. And then the smaller ones, Jonah and Daniel. And I guess Daniel is thrown into that category as well. But, yeah, are we familiar with those major and minor prophets? Are we familiar with the early prophets or the latter prophets? In many ways, they are revealing a great deal about God. A great deal about the Lord of the Old Testament. A great deal about what the plan of God will ultimately show. And particularly, you see that in latter parts of Ezekiel and Isaiah.

And then the last of the three sections here in the Old Testament, the writings. See, those are the remainder of the books. Psalms and Proverbs and Job and Esther and Song of Solomon. Ecclesiastes. Many of the books that are really very different. Different than what you read in the Law. Different than what you read in the prophets. Although in many ways, some of the things that you read in the book of Psalms is prophetic. It has a prophetic overtone to it. Certainly, the book of Daniel is a greatly prophetic book.

Although, some people don't technically think of it in that way. And yet, I think I find in studying the writings, that you have information there that is probably more insightful. More inspirational. Especially when you read the Psalms. And the book of Proverbs is basically about wisdom.

And yet, I mean, the wisdom plus other categories, I guess, there would be many categories of Proverbs that you would have there. But see, often you find in the writings, and of course the writings include Job and they include Esther. Those are more historical and yet they have a great deal of significance, a great deal of meaning.

So, are we familiar with those sections of the Bible? Are we studying certain sections in that way? Trying to gain an overview of the Bible. The New Testament is divided into four sections, primarily. At least commonly it's divided in that way. The first four books, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, are the Gospels. Now, I'd have to say that those are impartial. Unpartial to those particular books because I know that those record the life of Jesus Christ. They record the words that Jesus, for the most part, the words that He spoke, they record His life, they record His sayings, they record His parables, they record His miracles, they record His death and His resurrection.

They record His inspiration that He was extending to His disciples. And so, in many ways, if I were to be asked, do I have any favorite books of the Bible? I have a favorite section of the Bible, which would be the Gospels. But, see, that's a very foundational part of the Bible. The book of Acts is a history of the New Testament church. It's a history of the church that began on the day of Pentecost after Jesus died.

And you have writings about what some of the apostles, I guess, probably the forward of almost every Bible. It says the Acts of the apostles. It's the book of Acts. But it's a book that Luke recorded in order to include a lot of different of the apostles. Peter and John initially, and later, more so Paul and some of Barnabas, and how they interacted with people that they were talking to and that they were preaching to in the Gentile world.

And then you find a large section of the New Testament makes it made up of epistles that Paul either wrote, or that Peter wrote, or John wrote, or that were written to specific church congregations, like Rome, or Philippi, or Colossae, or directly to specific ministers, Timothy, or Titus, or Philemon, or in general, as Peter and John seem to be written, in general to the church overall.

See, those are all books that we often refer to for doctrinal instruction, for direction in righteousness, because all of this is going to come together in order to teach us the way of God. And then finally, you have a book that in many ways people think is just completely in understandable, completely off the chart as far as what we read in the book of Revelation.

And yet, as you read through that book, as you read through the book of Revelation, you see that John was simply writing down what he saw. And what we read in the first verse of Revelation 1 is that this is the revelation of Jesus Christ. And so you've got seven sections, seven large sections, I guess, of the overview of the Bible.

And at least the last one, the book of Revelation, more so projects us into the time when Christ will intervene and restore the kingdom of God to the earth, and ultimately the new heavens and the new earth will rule. So you've got a wide range, starting from the book of Genesis, and as Mr.

Urbom went through a little bit in Genesis 2 and 3, the beginning of man, but then ultimately the future of what's really important, what's really going to happen, what's really going to unfold as we go forward. But I mention these just in encouraging us not to grow lax in our study of the Bible.

And again, I'm not telling you how to study the Bible because I think that's something that each of us needs to determine on our own. We can all read through certain, as we do often in a Bible study. We read through certain. We're in Topeka. We're going through the book of John, and we've gone through half of it. And it takes a while to ever do that, but to go through it word by word, or verse by verse, and to be able to discuss what it is that is revealed in that book, that's beneficial for all of us.

But see, whatever type of study that we are using, I want to encourage you to do that. Do it. Whatever works well for you. Are you familiar with, say, these seven major categories of the Bible? Are you not only familiar with them, do you kind of have an understanding of what they're about? What the background of them are? See, those are all things that you can study, all things you can read. And yet, ultimately, I hope that we will focus on what Jesus says here in John 15, because it is really important.

As we study the Bible, as we make that a habit, as we are encouraged to drink in of the Word of God, we're told to study to show ourselves to prove before God. And so, I'm encouraging us to do that, to truly study the Word of God, to do that on a regular basis, on a consistent basis, and more so because of what we read here in John 15, verse 7.

Because here in chapter 15, verse 7, he says, If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, and I don't see how they will really do that unless we are reading the Bible regularly, unless we are consistently drinking in of the Word of God. But he says, if you abide in me, and my words abide in you, then ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

See, our rapport with God, our relationship with God, our intimacy with God, our feeling of connection to our Heavenly Father and to our Lord, Jesus Christ, is going to depend on our abiding in the Word of God, abiding, those words abiding in us and us having that connection with Jesus Christ. And so, He is willing, not only to hear, but to help. And as Jesus stated very, very emphatically, whenever He raised Lazarus from the dead, whenever He brought him back to life, He gave him physical life again.

He was performing that miracle for a reason. And what He said was, Father, I know that You always hear Me. So that's a wonderful, confident, assured approach that Jesus had. Because He knew that He was very close to the Father. He was close to Him. He could relate to Him in every way. And yet, He'd set that as an example for us to shoot for.

He set that as a pattern for us to follow. And of course, He went ahead to say, I'm simply saying this so that the rest of these who were hearing this will come to believe who I am. And yet, He said that in order to help show the type of example, the type of rapport, and the type of closeness that I think each one of us want, with our Heavenly Father and with Jesus Christ, our Lord.

So I encourage all of us to allow the words of God to abide in us by continuously studying that word of God.