The Comfort of the Scriptures Gives Us Hope!

Once again, I'd like to just let our young adults know how much I appreciate you being here. We, as a congregation, appreciate you being here. We enjoy seeing your youth, your enthusiasm. I've enjoyed listening to your questions and your responses earlier today. Mr. Bradford's presentation, you had an awful lot. If there was some way for me to bribe you to come week after week, I'd be happy to do that.

I don't know if I'd need to offer steak knives or glasses or what I would need to do, but we certainly enjoy having you here with us. You know, our local young adults, along with the ministry here, have prayerfully, thoughtfully put together a series of topics that we felt would be helpful for our young adults as we go through the material.

So far to this point, we've had a Bible study yesterday morning. Mr. Bob Fade facilitated an interactive Bible study on what does it mean to have the Lord God sanctified in our hearts. And of course, Mr. Fade does a wonderful job with the interaction. I've often marveled at the way he's able to do those sorts of things. He just has a real talent for that. The session went very, very nicely. And yesterday we had a sermon discussing leaving spiritual Egypt behind with its false hopes that Satan would have us embrace. And looking forward to the kingdom of God and the wonderful hope that we have set before us.

Last evening, there was a breakout session. Again, Mr. Bob Fade was taking a look at and having you as a group take a look at various questions that might come up as you defend the faith. And I think this evening you're going to be answering those questions in group form. I think that's going to be very interesting for you.

This morning, Mr. Bill Bradford presented a study on what is hope. What is that hope that lies in front of us? What's it founded on and so forth? And I think to this point, we've had a tremendous number of topics here that we've covered that have been very helpful and beneficial. I would also like to point out something else in addition to our seminars and sermons and what have you. As a pastor, I've really appreciated the last two sermonettes I've heard. I think both men, both of our young adults, have done a wonderful job in presenting material that's been very helpful to us as a congregation and to you as young adults. And I certainly want to give both of them thanks for what they've accomplished.

That brings me to the message I want to bring to you today. The message I want to bring to you today is very simple. The theme, for those of you who like to write themes on your paper, is simply this.

We're going to talk about the comfort of the Scriptures gives us hope. The comfort of the Scriptures gives us hope. As you know, we've been talking about 1 Peter 3 and verse 15, the hope that lies within us, giving a defense of that hope, and so forth. I want to drill down a little bit more into the mechanics of that. I want to focus today as we look at that theme, the comfort of the Scriptures gives us hope, but drill down even further. And for those of you fellows who are sermonette men, wherever you may give sermonettes, whether it be here or elsewhere, we had assigned topics that were given to all of us as speakers.

I've had assigned topics yesterday and today, and so I just want to let you know that even pastors get assigned topics. My assigned topic was this, to focus on how a steady and daily review and study of God's Word maintains, renews, and builds the hope that is in us. It's a great topic. Some thought went into that. I really appreciate that. To focus on how a steady and daily review and study of God's Word maintains, renews, and builds the hope that is in us. We couldn't be any more fortunate than we are. God, in His great mercy, His great grace for each and every one of us, has given us this. You know, you take a look, and I've taken a look and taken an ear to what we see on the news, what we hear on the news, and we see people who are struggling with how to live life.

What proper values are. What direction their life should take. And brethren, I think sometimes we may take for granted the beauty of what God has given to each and every one of us. And we don't want to take that for granted. God has given us the Scriptures, which gives us tremendous hope, shows us our destiny, shows us how we can achieve that destiny with God's help. Let's take a look at 1 John 3 as we begin the sermon today. 1 John 3.

Talk about hope. Talk about something that's encouraging and comforting. Again, we have this through the written Word of God that's before us. 1 John 3. Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us. In His great love He's bestowed something on us. Knowledge, life-giving knowledge, that we should be called the children of God.

As I remarked in a sermon here not too long ago in Chicago, when you look at the false gods the world has, when you look at the physical leadership the world has, they don't want to share anything. They want it all to themselves. Our God wants to share the God family with us. We are just so much clay. We have our failings, we've got our faults, we've got our idiosyncrasies, and yet what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called the children of God? Therefore, the world does not know us because it didn't know Him. We're living, we're thinking in a different dimension than the world thinks. We're thinking in a spiritual dimension. Beloved, now we are the children of God. You know, over the years, come trumpets, I've been in the ministry 40 years. In those 40 years I've known a number of people who thought, you just can't know where we stand spiritually. You just can't know. Well, yes, we can know. The Scripture is very plain. Now we are the children of God.

That gives us hope. That gives us comfort. And it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, when Christ comes at His second coming, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. We will be able to do that because we will be spirit at that point. Now here we come to a crux statement in verse 3. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies Himself. And we have that hope. You have that hope in you. That we are the family of God. That we look forward to the resurrection. That we look forward to being in the God family fully. Not just a part of our hearts and minds, but fully. Everyone who has this hope in Him purifies Himself just as He is pure. Now how do you and I go about that purification process? Talk more about that today. Let's go to Hebrews 4.

Hebrews 4, verse 12. We understand our destiny. That we are the children of God. That we are going to be resurrected. That we are going to live for all time with our Father, with our elder brother, and with our brothers and sisters who are now fleshly. Who at that point will be made spirit. But notice, we ask the question, how do we purify? How do we get purified? Where is the health that we need? Hebrews 4, verse 12. For the Word of God is living and powerful. The Word of God is life-changing.

It's living. It's powerful. It energizes you and I. And is sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. The Scriptures show us, as we indulge in our studies, the Scriptures show us who we really are. We can come to Sabbath service with our great big smiles, and our nice clothing, and the handshakes, and so on and so forth. But the Scriptures tell us where we are at.

And again, this is part of the love that God has shown to us, that He gives us the Scriptures. It's a hope that we have because, as the sermon unfolds, we're going to see how God, in His great love and in His grace toward us, is helping us in so many ways. In so many ways. Romans chapter 15. Romans chapter 15 and verse 4. Romans 15 verse 4. Romans 15 verse 4. For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. That we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. So we're going to look at a lot of things today, a number of things today, showing us how the Word of God is a tremendous tool. And that tool gives us hope. That tool gives us encouragement. That tool energizes us.

Back in August 1970, a young 18-year-old who had never traveled much in his life, never been to a foreign country other than Canada, yours truly. And Canada, in one sense, didn't count because where I grew up, where the crow flew, I was only five miles from Canada. In Roseville, Michigan, suburb of Detroit. But I jumped on a, I got on a plane, didn't jump on anything, but got on a plane, flew my first plane trip.

Now, again, for you young adults here who've been all over the world, you know, even though I was raised, born and bred in Detroit, I almost kind of like a, I don't know, a bumpkin. My first, you know, 18 years old, first time on a jet.

Didn't know what to expect. Fly in to Pasadena, California, and I got there, and I'm walking around the campus. The first time I was in church was the day before. The day before I went, the ministry told me, well, Anne, if you're going to be going to Ambassador College, you need to go to church at least once. No, I've been keeping the Sabbath and the Holy Days for three years, but my parents wouldn't let me come to church. God called me on my own, by myself. But I got to the campus, and I was walking around and just enjoying the beauty of everything.

Then I came to Ambassador Hall, and above one of the doors there was a, and you've seen the picture. It says, the Word of God is the foundation of knowledge. I had various classes there in that particular building, where you walked into the door, and above the door it said that phrase, the Word of God is the foundation of knowledge.

In that building, I was baptized on November 15, 1972, over 46 years ago. But you know, brethren, young adults, the Word of God is the foundation of knowledge, but it shouldn't be written just on a tablet of cement or stone. It needs to be written on our hearts. It needs to be written on our hearts.

And if they're written in our hearts, then we are going to really be able to rejoice with our great God. So let's get to the theme, or the drilling down on the theme, for today's message. I may have mentioned we were going to focus on a steady and daily review of the study of God's Word, and we're going to start with the second aspect first, how it renews.

God's Word is spiritual food. God's Word is spiritual food that we need to survive spiritually. For our young adults—now, this sermon's for everybody, but for our young adults, you know, I don't know how much longer God wants me on this earth. I'll be on this earth as long as God wants me. The same thing is true for all of us in this room. If God doesn't come in my lifetime, I would think He would come in yours.

And if He's coming in yours, there's going to be some really dark times ahead before we get to the times of great—the Kingdom of God. And so there's coming a time that the world has never seen. There's coming a time of great spiritual darkness. There's coming a time where there'll be persecution. And for us to survive—young people, older people—for us to survive, for us to thrive, not just to survive, but to thrive. We need spiritual food. We need spiritual food.

You know, our bodies are physical. On fast days, we understand that. On fast days, we understand how tired we get, or in my case, how cold I seem to get. And we know that to be revitalized, we need physical food on a regular basis. And the same thing is true spiritually. If we're going to survive and thrive, we need a steady diet of the Word of God. Let's turn to Matthew 4. Matthew 4. Matthew 4, verse 4. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. The physical just doesn't do it for spiritual people, and we are spiritual people.

We must live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. In this book, the book you've got either in electronic form or written form on your lap, every word is placed just so to present information, to present guiding principles and precepts for each and every one of us. So we know, no matter what question, we had an interesting sermon about answering questions. But there are times in our life when we ask our own questions. We want to know what do we do in this situation?

Maybe that doesn't have to deal with anybody else. We want to know how do we live? How do we conduct ourselves? Now, the Bible doesn't have a... it's not a manual with a lot of do's and don'ts, but it is a manual of principles. Godly principles of living. And we need to be studying those principles on a daily basis. John 6.

John 6, verse 63. It is the Spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The words I speak to you are spirit. They are life. The words that you and I read in the Scriptures are another dimension. They are a spiritual dimension. And we need to take careful note of what we're seeing there. You know, as you were... whether you're a fifth generation or a first generation, whenever it came your time to counsel for baptism, each and every one of you had to ask questions of yourself. You had to answer to yourself as young adults. Have I repented of my sins? Forget about mom and dad and grandma and grandpa. Have I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Savior? Have I counted the cost? Am I going to live this way?

And you answered those questions, and you were baptized. And your sins were forgiven you, and God gave you His Holy Spirit, and your name was written in the Lamb's Book of Life. And now, as it says here, the flesh profits nothing. The words I speak to you are spirit. They are life. Real life. Romans 8 Romans 8, verse 5 and 6 Romans 8-5 For those who live according to the flesh, set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

Where do we find life and peace? Where do we find the right set of principles? Where do we find standards of right and wrong? Where do we find what righteousness is and unrighteousness? Where is that defined? Human beings just don't know where to look for that. God's not opened up their mind, and it's not their fault. God's not opened up their mind.

But we understand. We understand. Romans 12 verse 1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice. Living. In all that you say, in all that you do, the example that you and I set, holy, set apart. Acceptable to God. Why are we acceptable to God? Because we're doing those things that are pleasing in His sight. Which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. That you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. To be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

God gives us two very powerful tools where this takes place. He gives us His Spirit. A portion of His very mind. And He gives us His Word. That helps us under...where the Spirit helps us understand that Word. So we can live and be transformed. Our minds must be continually renewed. A spiritual mind is not permanent in a physical body. Every day our minds must be renewed by the study of God's Word. Back in the days when this Bible was written, God spoke personally to Adam, to Enoch, to Noah, to Abraham, to Moses.

The prophets, the apostles, in some cases. But today God speaks to us through this. This Word. And if we're not letting God speak to us regularly, consistently, prayerfully, and if we're not listening wholeheartedly, we're not going to learn to be like Him. We're not going to be the children He wants us to be. We're not going to be the people we want to be. So, again, drilling down, we're going to focus on a steady and daily review of the study of God's Word. We need the renewal that comes from the Word of God. But let's continue on with this whole discussion. How do you and I work with the Word of God?

How do we work with it? How do we maintain, if you will? God's Word enables us to have a relationship with Him, to have a relationship with Jesus Christ. There is a special process for spiritual change contained in the Scriptures. And we can understand that process. We can understand it. We can avail ourselves to it. And we can learn.

Let's go to 2 Timothy 3. Some time ago I covered this here in Chicago. So for you folks, this is going to be somewhat of a review. To me, this is one of the most powerful sections of Scripture that there is, in terms of us growing in the grace and knowledge of God the Father and Jesus Christ. 2 Timothy 3, starting here in verse 15.

And that from childhood you've known the Holy Scriptures, so being written to a church kid. And from childhood you've known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for proof, for correction, for instruction, and righteousness. That the man of God might be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Now, there is a lot of material here. We're going to take our time and work our way through this material. Notice in verse 15, it says, The Holy Scriptures which are able, the word able there is the word dynami. We get the word dynamo, or dynamite. The word means to have power. The Scriptures give us the power to understand this Biblical process of change. Brethren, just as God inspired the people who wrote this book, God inspires the people who He's calling that reads this book.

God is inspiring you as you read this book. In verse 15, the Scriptures are called the Holy Scriptures. These words aren't just any old words. These are sacred words. These are words unique to God. These are words consecrated to God. The counsel and deflation of the Bible is unique. It comes from heaven. It's not run-of-the-mill counsel. It's unlike any other form of counsel. It's sacred counsel, and it gives us a process of change.

In verse 16, we see, even more specifically, four different aspects where the Scriptures empower us. Scriptures are profitable for doctrine, number one, for reproof, number two, for correction, number three, for instruction and righteousness, number four. We're going to get to that in a few moments, but now drop down to verse 17. That the man of God may be complete. As we understand, as we employ what it says there in verse 16, the end result, the bottom line, is that the man or the woman of God may be complete, proficient, fitted out, able to meet the demands that this life has on us.

And it says here that we will be thoroughly equipped. You know, Paul was a man that was used to travel on the high seas, in the Mediterranean, if you want to call that the high seas. He spent his time on ships. And whenever, before a captain of a ship would take his ship out, especially into the Mediterranean, he would make sure that the ship's stores had what would be needed in case there was any difficulty.

You know, if you're out there in the Mediterranean, you've got difficulty. A storm comes up, your sails are ripped to shreds. You'll say you don't have oars or something like that. You've got to do some things to get yourself underway again. So the ship's captain would make sure his ship is properly, thoroughly equipped. He would have extra material for sail. He would have extra wood. He would make sure he's got the right kind of tools to take care of the situation at hand.

God does the same thing for us. He wants to make sure we're properly fitted out. He gives us his word to make sure we're properly fitted out. So we can take care of the contingencies that come our way. God does this because of his tremendous love for us. God does this because he, in all of this, is a matter of hope. As you and I look at these four things here in verse 16, we're going to see that these engender tremendous hope for us.

Let's take a look at those now. 2 Timothy 3, 16. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine. Doctrine can... another word for doctrine is simply teaching. God's teaching. In 1995, 24 years ago, some of you young adults weren't even born. Some of you were fairly young. Some of you older young adults. But I remember what it was like as a church pastor where those over me were saying, You know the Sabbath?

Nah. Holy days don't need them. Tithing? Forget it. Of course, they brought that one back when money started getting scarce. But all of us who went through that, each of us in our own heart and mind, had to think about where we were. Now, as a young kid, God called me out of spiritual Egypt. I wasn't about to go back. But how did I as a pastor relate my thoughts to a congregation where the congregations I was pastoring, roughly half the people, wanted to go back into spiritual Egypt?

Well, one of the things I, to me, was very basic. If I'm going to call myself a Christian, I'm going to live the way Jesus Christ lived. And if I'm going to live the way Jesus Christ lived, I'm going to take a look at the Scriptures and I'm going to see what did He do?

What did He say? How did He think? Let's take a look at that, because that basically is the doctrine of the church. Let's take a look at John 5. John 5. Christ's teaching consisted of what He saw the Father do and what He saw the Father say, what He heard the Father say. That's the basis of His teaching. It's the basis of our doctrine.

Now, we've coalesced the doctrine into the Holy Days and the Sabbath and various things, but the underpinning for all of this is what Christ saw the Father do and what He heard the Father say. John 5, 19, and 20. Then Jesus answered and said to them, Most assuredly I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do. For whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all things that He Himself does.

And He'll show Him greater works than these that you may marvel. So we want to be a Christian. We want to be a son or daughter of God. Well, we take a look at what God taught Christ, or what God gave to Christ, and what Christ in turn did. And you've done that. You're doing that. We want to continue to do that. We want to understand why we do that. That's why we're going to be having this section tonight on apologetics, questions that are asked about the faith.

John 8.

John 8.

Starting here in verse 26.

I have many things to say and judge concerning you, but He who sent me is true, and I speak to the world those things which I have heard from Him. Those things which I have heard. Now, He was talking about what He'd seen. Now He's talking about things which He heard from God. They did not understand that He spoke to them of the Father. Then Jesus said to them, When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself. But as My Father taught Me, I speak these things. And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him. So Christ follows God's lead by speaking the things that He heard from God. He did the things He saw God do. And here in John 8, we drop down to verse 31. Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. There has to be an abiding, there has to be a living, the way. Christianity is a hands-on way of life. It's not so much theory. It's a hands-on, truly interactive, proactive approach to obeying God. True discipleship involves living the way. We learn by doing. God doesn't want us to have just a mere academic understanding, but real-life training. And we get that through studying the Scriptures. We get that through doctrine. We get that through what Christ saw and heard of the Father.

2 Timothy chapter 3 and 16 talks then, after teaching, the word is used in the New King James, reproof. Another word that you would be more familiar with, instead of reproof, would be conviction.

As God teaches us, God convicts us. And this gives us hope. Why? Because our Father is individually teaching us. Let me go back a step. Let's go back to John chapter 6. I'm going to call an audible here. I don't know if this is my notes. For those of you who are looking at my notes, you're not going to find this one.

To me, some of the most exhilarating times I've ever had in my life, and I'm sure it's true for you, some of the most exhilarating times I've had in my life spiritually, as I've sat down, wherever it is I study the Word of God, and I'm pouring through the Scriptures, and a light comes on, and I see something I've never seen before. Now, you may have seen it, but I didn't see it, so it's important that I see it. And I look at it, and I see something I've never seen before, and I thought, oh wow, that's wonderful! You know, you want to go out, you want to have a Sabbath service right then. You want to go meet with a brethren right then, say, I just saw something, and you hope they'll say, well, we saw that ten years ago. Well, okay, fine. You saw it ten years ago, I'm just now seeing it fine. I'm excited that I'm seeing this. I'm excited. But notice what it says here. We always read verse 44 about being drawn by God. That's a beautiful verse, but look at verse 45. It is written in the prophecies, and they shall all be taught by God. I don't care what generation you are. You are being taught by God. Individually, you, what is your name? Put your name in the blank. You are being taught by God. Who's He? Well, He's only the one who's keeping the universe going. You know, all the stars, you know, burning brightly, all the planets revolving around their stars, you know, the commons, the asteroids, everything's doing their thing, making sure everyone that you know is breathing and their hearts are beating, and yet, that being is delighted when you sit down with your Bible, and you open it up, and you study His thoughts. He's delighted in that. And then what He does is He convicts us. He convicts us of sin. He convicts us because He loves us so much that a portion of the way we're living our life is not right. A portion of the way we're living our life is wrong. And needs to be changed. And again, that gives us hope. We've got a being who loves us so much, He wants to spare us from curding ourselves. And so we have hope in the great God that He's going to show us how to get out of that situation.

God's going to convict us that the way we're living in certain ways is not simply inconvenient or counterproductive or undesirable. God is convicting us that what we're doing is flat out wrong. It's sinful. It's going to take our life.

And as He teaches us those things, again, we've got hope, because we're going to move away from that. James 1.

James 1. Verse 23.

For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he's like a man observing his natural face in a mirror. For he observed himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. We don't want to study like that. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, we study. We look at the teachings. We are convicted by what we're studying. And we're not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work. This one will be blessed in what he does.

Okay, so God teaches us. God convicts us. We're convicted. We want to change. As we see in 2 Timothy 3, verse 16, the third part of this process is called correction. And it's interesting what the Greek word there for correction means. The Greek word means, this is from Theus Greek lexicon, the word for correction means a restoration to an upright or right state. Restoration to an upright or right state. The idea behind the Greek word is to stand something up or make something stand again. Doesn't that give us hope? When we have been knocked flat because of making wrong choices, sinful actions that have hurt us and others, that God is wanting to stand us up again, put us back up on our feet, get us going the right way. If that doesn't give us hope, what does? God's process for change is very positive. God doesn't just want us to identify our sin, He wants us to get it out. Hence, the days of unleavened bread. We get out the leavening, we bring in the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Let's turn to 2 Corinthians, chapter 7.

Paul, again, writing to a church that had a share of issues.

Great many issues, perhaps the most challenging or straight from his shoulder, correct epistles Paul ever wrote was the one to Corinth, 1 Corinthians. But now things have changed a little bit in 2 Corinthians. And now he's writing another letter, and this one has a lot more in terms of softer approach because they had been repenting. God was standing them up again. 2 Corinthians 7, verse 9, And this is what you and I want. We want to be people who are made sorry in a godly manner. Plenty of people in the world are sorry in an ungodly manner, and they don't do repentance, they do penance. We don't want that. Verse 10, So how do you know? How do you know you've got the right kind of repentance? We're not just talking about repentance leading to baptism, we're talking about a way of life. How do you know? Is there something in your life and mine right now, and I'm sure there is in all of ours because none of us are perfect. Where we need to get something out. We need to chisel something off. And does God give us instruction? Does He teach us how well we're doing with that? Well, verse 11 gives us that answer. For observe this very thing that you sorrowed in a godly manner. So He's going to tell us here what it means to have a true repentance. Number one, what diligence have produced in you? Number two, what clearing of yourselves? Number three, what indignation? What hatred of sin? Number four, what fear? Fear of God? Five, what vehement desire? Number six, what zeal? Number seven, what vindication? Now that's a sermon all to itself. I don't have time today to go through all of that. But here we ask ourselves, where am I, or am I in a continuation of zero to 100% in all seven of those areas? You think about what you need to change in life, I think about what I need. Where is Randy D'Alessandra with his diligence? Where is he with his clearing of himself? How much do I hate? How much indignation do I have regarding that particular sin? What fear of God do I have? Am I at zero or am I at 90 or 100? Well, those are questions you and I can only answer in our hearts and minds. In our hearts and minds.

But you know, there's an interesting thing for us to comprehend here, brethren, when we're taking a look at those four steps we see in 2 Timothy 3. God educates us with his doctrine. Step one. God convicts us of where we need to make changes. Step two. God corrects us. Or, God, you know, yeah, God corrects us. Which is being, you know, getting rid of the wrong things. But if the process stopped there, if the process stopped there, we would be in trouble. Because God wants us to do more than just get the wrong things out. He wants us to put the right things in. Again, the days of unleavened bread. So, area number four, after those other three, is instruction in righteousness.

Instruction in righteousness. Another way that can be translated is disciplined training in righteousness. We've been taught. We've been convicted. We've got the wrong stuff out. But now we need the right stuff in. And so we've got discipline training in righteousness.

The word for instruction in 2 Timothy 3.16 comes from Strong's 3809. Pydea, if I'm pronouncing it correctly. Thayer's Greek lexicon gives an interesting definition of that word. The whole training and education of children. We're God's kids. The whole training and education of children. Thayer's goes on to say, whatever an adult also cultivates the soul, especially by correcting mistakes and curbing the passions. So God is dealing, as He instructs us, He's dealing with us as His kids. Let's take a look at something that's very similar over in Ephesians 6.

Ephesians 6. Ephesians 6.4 And you fathers, talking about physical dads, and you fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up into training and admonition of the Lord. The word training is that same word for instruction we saw in 2 Timothy 3.16. It means, in this case, a nurturing. A nurturing.

God wants to nurture us. And again, that brings a great deal of hope. God's not just throwing us onto the scrap heap of life. God is going to nurture us. It says here in verse 4 that we are to bring them up. In the Greek, according to Thayer's, that means to nourish up to maturity. So spiritually, God wants to not only nurture us, but nourish us up to maturity. In the admonition, it says here in chapter 6, verse 4, admonition meaning a putting us in mind. Now this is how adults are to deal with their children physically. But they're the same parallel spiritually. To nurture, to nourish, to put in mind the things of God.

So there's the nurturing process that takes place.

Let's go to the very last part of the assignment today that I had. Drilling down the theme being the comfort of the Scriptures gives us hope. Focusing on how a steady and daily review of the study of God's Word maintains, renews, and builds the hope. Builds the hope.

Earlier, I believe Mr. Fay gave some Bible study tips. I'd like to do that myself. I had a few more. His tips were excellent. I want to add a few more, kind of some nuts and bolts. We're talking about the beauty of the Scriptures. We're talking about how these change us. How we become more like God and Jesus Christ as we study richly the Word of God. So let's look at a few nuts and bolts. Let me say this. As a minister of almost 40 years now, I've had any number of counseling sessions with people over the years. People, long-term Christians, have been in the church many, many years. And they will come to me and say, Mr. De Losandro, I really have a hard time having regular prayer. I really have a hard time with regular Bible study. I have a hard time with fasting more than just the Day of Atonement. And I don't meditate nearly as much as I should. Now, if any of that you can relate to, you're not alone. We don't want to be there. We don't want to make those statements. On the other hand, let's face up to reality. I'm sure there are too many in the room who aren't praying like they should on a regular basis, or fasting as they should, or studying as they should, or meditating. But we can do better. And we've got God's help. We've got His encouragement to do better. So let's take a look at the Bible study aspect of it. Some of the nuts and bolts.

Number one, try and have a definite time for Bible study. Try a definite time. Habits can be a bad thing. We talk about bad habits. We talk about getting rid of bad habits. But habits can also be a good thing if we've got a good habit. If we've got a good habit, whatever the time is best for you. Some people, it's the beginning of the day. Other people, it's later on in the day. Whatever is good for you. When you can give God your best, we talk about giving an offering financially. Well, we want to give God an offering of our hearts and our minds. And whatever that time of day is good for you. Now, for me, it's never been in the morning.

I enjoy praying in the morning, but my study, my mind is kind of like, you know, so much cotton with oil poured all over it. And, you know, the gears aren't really kind of going like they should. So many times I'll be studying more later in the day.

I tend to be more of a night owl. You know, my wife is more a morning person. I'm more of a night person. Whatever is good for you, wherever it's more effective for you. You know, it's not to me to tell you that, you know, the first thing is you jump out of bed, you've got to, you put in five hours of study. That's between you and God. But we as humans, as we develop patterns of habit, we can kind of get used to a good habit. You know, I've got this time of the day, and this is prime time for me. What's prime time for you? Maybe it's first thing in the morning. Maybe you can learn to be a morning person. You know, everybody's different. So have a definite time for your Bible study. Number two, have a right environment for your Bible study. Some place that helps set the mood. You know, when you go to that location, whether it be your desk or the dining room table, or wherever it's going to be, the place should put you in a proper mood. It should be relatively private, relatively quiet, conducive to a proper attitude, so you can really get into the study of God's Word.

Number three, have a proper attitude as we study the Word of God. Have a proper attitude. We want to study the Word of God with purpose. We have needs. You know what your needs are. And if you don't know what all your needs are, ask God. He'll show you. Now, be wise in that, because God loves that kind of prayer. Father, reveal to me what I need to change. Well, you better stand back. A lot of things are coming your way. But we want to study with the intention of coming to a deeper and fuller understanding of how God wants us to live.

How God wants us to live. Let's go to James 1.

James 1, verse 5.

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and will be given to him.

We go to the Father, and we're sincere, and we really want his help. And he, of course, he can understand and read our hearts and minds. When he sees you are truly sincere, and you're going to put some action behind it, then God is going to be there for you and give you that wisdom that you need, for whatever the situation is. Now, many times, we will gain wisdom through the trials in life we go through. And as we go through those trials, we're studying deeply the Word of God, looking at the various principles that relate to what we're going through. And then we begin to put those together, like David talked about. We begin to meditate on the Word of God and say, oh, yeah, I'm understanding the machinery here. I'm understanding what God's trying to do. And, oh, I remember reading about this over here. This section of Scripture, this group of principles, will really help me here.

So study with purpose.

Fully respect—I forgot what number I'm on. I don't have a number to my notes. Fully respect God's Word. Well, I've got a number, but I'm changing the numbering up here. Fully respect God's Word. 1 Thessalonians 2.

1 Thessalonians 2, verse 13. For this reason, we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the Word of God, which you heard from us, you welcomed it, not as the Word of men, but as it is in truth, the Word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe. Now, that's a wonderful—that's a hope-giving, life-giving Scripture there. We certainly want to take note of that Scripture. And certainly, we want to be positive and big-minded as we study. I'm not going to turn there, but in your notes, you might want to jot down to Acts 17, verse 11, where you've got the example of the Bereans, Acts 17.11, how they studied daily whether those things were so.

Positive. Daily study.

And lastly, brethren, read the whole Bible. Read the whole book. You know, what you might want to do is you might want to just—a part of your study is you start reading the Bible as you would almost read any other book. You start maybe in Genesis, and you just read so much a day. You know, you're—I'm going to read 15 minutes. I'm just going to read straight through. And then as another part of your study, whatever amount of time you're going to devote to that, you're going to actually go into depth. And maybe it's another part of the Bible altogether. But you want to be going through the whole of the Bible. You want to know where things are. So that when you have need, oh, I can go to this section, because I know in that section there are these principles, beautiful principles there, I can apply to this area in my life. But if we're not reading the whole Word of God, we won't know that. So we need to be studying the entire Bible. And it takes time. It takes time. It's a systematic endeavor.

So, brethren, my purpose today, my assignment today that I was given, was to focus on how a steady and daily review and study of God's Word maintains, renews, and builds the hope that is in us. I'll leave it up to you whether I fulfill that commitment or not. But certainly, this is the last time I'm going to have a chance to address our young adults. So happy to have all of you here with us. Again, if there's any way I can bribe you to stay with us, I'd be happy to do that. But it's been our pleasure to host you, and I'm hoping you'll come back next year.