All right, well, I know all of you, but I'm Pastor Jeremy Baker, and this is our membership slash communicants class. So we're going to have some people in here that are looking to join, some people that are kind of like, well, I want to know more about what your church teaches, and then perhaps one or two that will be looking to make a profession of faith. And I'll explain what that is at some point during the class and whatnot, what that means. So I just wanted to start uh that's going around also as you look at that um let's make sure that we do kind of know each other because we're going to be together for a couple months so um let's go this way and just tell us maybe what who you are and where you're from at least start with that or something. My name is Mike Wolfe um my wife and I Grace Wolfe years ago, really like it here. I'm from Chicago, Nigeria, and my wife is from Moscow, Idaho. And we just moved from Moscow, Idaho, four months ago, back here, so. Great. All right, well, I'm Noah Voss. Jim Voss is an elder. He's my father. Yeah, I mean, I live like five minutes away, so it's really close. I'm a sophomore in high school. My name is Jay. I'm from the Plainfield area, and I come here at Navy Focus a lot. My name is Bonet. I come from the Shorewood Plainfield area. We've been here for a couple months now. Five or six. About five or six. Since November. I've been here November ish. That's about it. Okay. My name is Craig. My children all come here. I grew up in Orlando Park. I live right over I-80 from here. So I'm not very far. I could probably walk, ride my bike. Yeah, good weather. Yeah. Well, welcome. I'll probably, I mean, it takes me a long time. I mean, I remember all of your names now, but it takes me a long time in general to get names. So I'll try to think of like a really fast, easy question for next time too. We can probably do that a few more. a few more times. So I just wanted to start, kind of go over the class here. You can see the general class outline. We're hoping to have eight, meet eight times. And at some point, if there is a special topic that everyone's interested or just a few people, depending on what's going on, we can meet outside of class or add one or something like that if there's something, you know. Like, for example, if everyone in here was really, you know, hardcore believers baptism and really wanted to get in depth into why we baptize children or whatever, maybe that would be it. Or if people are like, wow, I just really don't understand at all, you know, how God chooses and this and that. So if there's some kind of special topic and you want to know more, maybe we'll do that in here. Maybe I'll just do it with you guys. But, you know, I'm open to those kinds of things as well. Looking at the calendar, it looks to me like these will probably be our meeting dates. The reason we're not meeting on March 30th is every month that has five Sundays, instead of Sunday school, we have a fellowship meal after AM worship. And so the fifth Sunday in March then is a church-wide Fellowship meal after after service Yeah, and then attendance this is also more the attendance thing is more for Communicant people who look to take it as communicant members, but you know if you want to learn the information and join You know it's generally applicable But yeah, if you if you miss a class or two Depending on which class it is and kind of depending kind of where you're at and what you already know about Christianity and whatnot you I might just say, hey, this class is recorded. Just look at the handout, whatever. Or we might make it up personally. But part of potentially joining the church is attending faithfully. So if you want to make that commitment, and that's actually a part of vow number five, is to attend faithfully. I mean, we should be at a place where we hear most of the time. So yeah, so if you miss three or more classes, like I said, We'll just see where you're at. If it's like, hey, I was sick for three weeks, we'll make it up, right? But if it's kind of like, well, I only come to church once every three weeks, then I'd probably say like, we love you, keep coming, and let's do this again like next time it comes up, right? Maybe you'll be at a different place, right? So this is not a high pressure class. It's mellow. But there is more work for if you're taking it to become a Communicant member, and I'll get in. into that. So, again, this is more for communicants, so far for Noah. Enthusiasm and questions are appreciated. Bring something to write with, a Bible, and you're going to want to have a folder or notebook or something where you keep all the handouts I give you because the handouts, and everyone else can do this, But specifically the handouts will have all the answers of, you know, all the things we'll ask you for your Communicant Membership interview. And so that you review for and stuff. So also what I'm doing, in addition to helping people explore, is preparing Communicant Membership, you know, some specific knowledge and things so they can, Lord willing, make profession of faith. Because a non-Communicant member, that's someone that's baptized as an infant, they're already a member of the church. but they haven't publicly taken membership vows and they're not taking the Lord's Supper yet. And they're not voting yet, voting for officers and whatnot. So when you become a Communicant member, when you're kind of desiring to make public profession of faith and understand what's going on in Lord's Supper and have some some Christian maturity on some level where you could vote and things and then you're ready to make a profession of faith. So that's when I'm referring to communicants, they're kind of thinking, okay, I'm taking this class because I think I might be ready to do that and I'm interested in doing that. Any questions in general about how the class is gonna go or anything like that? All right, we'll start looking at our handouts here. And the first lesson is the Bible as the Word of God. And I know that a lot of us are already there, but we wanna discuss a few things. And one of the other goals of this first lesson is to kind of help you kind of understand the culture and flavor of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. Because everyone here has probably been to different churches, and the kinds of things that we're gonna talk about in this class Things we're going to talk about in this class, almost every Christian church believes the same thing. Now, we believe a little bit differently about church government, you know, and we do baptize infants. But other than that, I could probably say, just about everything we teach in here is what just about every Christian church believes. But you've noticed when you go to different churches, they definitely have a lot in common in that sense, but they feel different and they look different. So why, you know, so what's the OPC look like and feel like and why, if you teach all these things are the same as like that church down the street, like what, why is it different? you know, to help you kind of understand that. So we want to do that a little bit today. So you have a lesson outlined. We won't go through everything on there, but some of it. And then what I did is, because I know a lot of us like are reading the Bible, but maybe we don't like know where every book is. So instead of spending a long time for all of us to try to like turn there and find it, I put all the scripture verses and catechism questions and whatnot are on the second page. So lesson outline on the first page, and then all the verses and stuff we're gonna look at are on the second page. So with that, let's go ahead and get started here. So what is the Bible? Well, the Bible is the inspired word of God. And we look at 2 Timothy 3, verses 14 through 17, tells us what the Bible is and what it's good for and how we use it. So Noah, would you feel like reading 2 Timothy 3, 14 through 17? Sure. It says, quote, But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. All scripture is treated by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. Okay, and then one more verse that has to do with the inspiration of the scriptures. And then we're going to talk about what that means in just a moment would be second Peter, chapter one, verses 20 and 21. This is on your handout. Does someone want to read? I don't want to just call on people because that makes people scared. But so if you go ahead, if you want to 20 knowing this, first of all, that no prophecy of scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. 21 for no But men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. Okay, so a few things about this. So, we believe the Bible is the inspired word of God. Now, what that means is we believe this is God's word. However, it was written by men under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And so, the process then of inspiration, because we would say this is infallible, meaning everything it says is going to come true. It's true, there's no errors in it. This is the foundation for everything that we do in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. from the way we preach and set up our worship services, and what we do and what we don't do, the principles, outworking, and how we have elders and deacons and everything else. This is our authority and guide for absolutely everything. And when we say it's the inspired Word of God, what that doesn't mean is it doesn't mean that, you know, the Spirit of God just audibly told men, write this and write this and write this. Or somehow those men weren't like possessed by the Spirit and they weren't aware of what they were writing and somehow, okay. That's called mechanical inspiration. I'll throw out theological terms out there. I'll explain them all, you don't have to, Remember them, but some of you like them and are ready for them. So we don't believe in mechanical inspiration as if it's like, oh, tell me Lord what to write. Now, sometimes you notice in the Old Testament does say, thus says the Lord, right? Or the Lord said, we would say that as a direct quote. right, but the Gospels. Okay, so what does it mean? So we believe in what's called organic inspiration. So some people say dynamic, but organic, and essentially what that means is God in his providence has not only redeemed this individual, caused them to be born again, and they love him, and they're his servant, but he also orchestrated everything about them. All of their life experiences, the way their brain thinks, their style, and everything else. You can see biblical authors have different style. And the Lord in his providence Okay, basically orchestrated all these things in, you know, Paul's life, Peter's life, whoever the author of a certain book of scripture is, so that they say things a certain way, and they have a certain style, and they think a certain way, and yet they're also under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, so they're aware of what they're writing. The writers of the Gospels, you can think of that as they didn't just sit down and just start writing and wrote out the whole Gospel. They went, especially Luke, Luke went and did a bunch of research and interviewed a bunch of people and put all these things together. Those of you that haven't heard me, at least, preach through Mark, you see a lot of literary things in there, a lot of foreshadowing and little climaxes. You see a bunch of literary devices. So, the human authors, God uses their own skills, their own abilities, their own efforts, and yet it's also the inspired Word of God. And we believe without error. So we don't believe the Bible is a product of man's religious experience. So it's not, that's how the Bible is different from other religious books. Like, I don't know, any other religious book really. They really view that, well, this is, they wouldn't necessarily say, some would, but this is the inspired word of God, but they'll say, well, it's a good book, but it's a record of man's religious experience and it's got errors. We're saying, no, this is divinely ordained and inspired by God. And it's even more incredible than that because he tells us how to be saved from our sins and how to live as those who are saved from our sins. And he does it using, you know, all these different authors that have all these different skills and abilities. And he uses them all to write one book of the Bible or each book of the Bible, 66 books, 39 in the Old Testament, 27 in the New Testament. and written over a span of a couple thousand years or so. And they all tell the same story. Right. It's one story from beginning to end, the story of rescue and redemption. And so the inspiration of the scriptures, it is our authority, our guide for life and everything that we do. But it also blows our mind that the God and creator of the universe use this process to teach us about who he is and about who we are and how to be safe from our sins. So, and I just kind of got a little head in my outline a little bit here. So what's the Bible about? Well, that's the big picture story, right? We've got creation, fall, redemption, and consummation. And you kind of, as you're hearing Genesis, you're hearing the story of creation. We are in the middle of the fall. We've begun to hear the story of redemption here with that first promise in Genesis 3.15. about the seed of the woman crushing the head of the serpent. And then we've said, okay, from Genesis 3.15 on, that's the plot of the whole story. Even though this is written over centuries and even millennia by many different human authors, there's one divine author, and it's one great big rescue story. And that kind of blows your mind when you start to understand that the Bible, written over that amount of time, that many different books, tons of different genres in it, And yet it's got one story. And so we're trying to, as we're interpreting scriptures and whatnot, a lot of what I do is how does this fit into the bigger story? And what are the, you know, up close things we can get to? So there's a few, I'll stop for a second. Any thoughts or comments or questions so far about anything we've talked about? Okay. So there are four perfections of scriptures. These are terms, B.B. Warfield uses them, some other Reformed theologians probably do. And they're just ways to talk about the Bible and the four perfections of the scriptures. And I'll tell you what each of them are. The first one is the necessity of the scriptures. So why do we need God's word in the first place? The second one is the sufficiency of the scriptures. It tells us that God's word is enough. Well, enough for what? We'll talk about that. The clarity of the scriptures, that God's word is understandable, especially the gospel. And then the fourth perfection of scripture is the authority of the scriptures. And that's that God's word is final. And we've kind of already started to talk about that one. But this is just some ways to talk about the Bible. So the sufficiency of the scriptures means that God's word is enough. Well, enough for what, right? What does it do? Well, we read that in 2 Timothy 3, where we saw that it's profitable for teaching, reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, and to equip us to do good works that we were created to do. Right? So, it's needed because without that, we wouldn't know how to be saved. Right? We wouldn't know how to live as those who are thankful for salvation. Because there are two ways that God reveals himself to us. One is called, you know, the Word of God, that book. And does anyone know the other book? It's not a real, it's not an actual book, but we call it a book. The book of, somebody look outside, what do you see? Oh, general revelation. Book of creation, general revelation, right? So we do know some things about God through what he's made, right? We have some of those things, some of those verses. Psalm 19.1, the heavens declare the glory of God and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. And then Romans chapter 1 verses 19 and 20. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world, and the things that have been made so that they, being men, are without excuse. So we do know a lot about God from the things that he has made. We know that he's almighty. that he's powerful, that he loves beauty, that he's a God of order, as we think about just ecosystems and how the body comes together. And we think of just the unfathomable depths of God's, you know, intellect, so to speak, as we think of the complexity of this world. I think I already mentioned, it's beauty. So we do learn some things about God from what He's made. And we call that, different words for it, natural revelation, the book of creation. That's what we talk about. So let me ask you this question, because we've all seen these things, whether someone's a Christian or not. They know that there's a God because they can see something about Him when they look in the mirror that's created in His image, right? In creation. So they might suppress that and refuse to believe it, but it's there and they can't help but see it. So we learn some things about God from what He has made. But can we learn from the things that God has made from creation Can we learn how we must be saved from our sins? Can we learn that Jesus Christ is the Savior from the things God has made? Yeah, well this is the other book, right? This is special revelation, right? But from like the trees, and the beauty of the sunsets, and the intricacy of creation, and how well it comes together. Does that tell us how to be saved from our sins and that Jesus is our Lord and Savior? No. So we learn things about God from what He's made, but we need special revelation. We need the Word of God to tell us, okay? We might have some sense of sin and right and wrong, but what do we do with that? Well, creation doesn't, our conscience tells us that we're sinners. Everybody has a built-in sense of right and wrong. But how do we learn what to do with that? Well, how do we learn that there's a holy God, and that we sinned in Adam, and we still sin because we choose to, and we're alienated from that holy God, and our sins deserve punishment. And so we need someone else to pay for our sins. We need Jesus to pay for our sins, because we can't pay for them. We can only learn about our rescue from sin through the inspired word of God. So all this to say, the Bible then is necessary, it's needed. We can't be saved without the information here that's in the word of God. The second one, the sufficiency of the scriptures, that God's word is enough. God's word tells us all we need to know for our salvation and to pursue godliness. And again, we've already read 2 Timothy chapter three, So getting at this, does the Bible have in it all the information and the answer to every question that we could ever think to ask? Is it that comprehensive? No. So what's in it? What is in it? Which is? You know Heidelberg Catechism question two? What is my only comfort in life and in death? You know the second question? No. What do I need to know in order to live and die in this comfort? How great my sins are about my Savior and how to live a life of thankfulness. That's the second question. Anyway, we're Westminster Shorter Catechism guys, but we use a Heidelberg too. We'll talk about that later. Yeah, so God's Word is sufficient for everything that we need to know and how to be saved from our sins. And then as those who are saved from our sins, what God requires of us. Like, how are we to live? Since Jesus saved me, I didn't work for my salvation. Saved by grace alone, through faith alone, and Christ alone. But now that I'm saved and belong to God because I trust in Christ's work for me, Well, now what? Now what do I do? How do I serve God? How do I love my neighbor? The Bible tells us everything we need for that. It doesn't tell us, like, necessarily how, you know, molecular physics work or whatever. We might get some principles about God holding all things in order and whatnot that apply to science and whatnot, right? But it's not a science textbook, so to speak. But it tells us everything that we need to know on how to be saved and how to live for Christ. Third, the clarity of the scriptures. The saving message of the Bible and its instructions for life are understandable by everyone. Let's look at Deuteronomy chapter 30. It's on your paper here. And in Deuteronomy, so Israel's, they've been rescued from Egypt. They've been in the wilderness for about a generation. Most of that first generation has died. They're getting ready to enter Canaan in the promised land. And so Deuteronomy is kind of a summary. Like here's your agreement between the Lord as your king and you as the nation. So it's a big summary. In Deuteronomy 30 we read, for this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it too far off. It is not in heaven that you should say, who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear of it and do it. Neither is it beyond the sea that you should say, who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it. But the word is very near to you. It is in your mouth and in your heart so that you can do it. So God tells us, look, I'm giving you something that's understandable. Something that you have right here. And we all are familiar with John 3.16, right? For God so loved the world, He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. That's a pretty simple message. Even if someone doesn't believe that message, can they understand what that scripture is saying? even if they believe it's not true? I think so, okay? God loved the world. Because he loved the world, he gave his son. And whoever believes in his son, you know, and then the work of the son, right, you'll have eternal life. Someone might not even believe anything about that, but they can understand something about what that verse is saying, right? So the Bible's clear. It's understandable. The main message of the gospel, commandments, how to live, these are clear enough for everyone to understand. Now, does that mean that there aren't also difficult things to understand in the Bible? Does that mean that everything's easy? No, there are some parts that are really hard. Even Peter, and this is on the back of your, Paper here. Peter says this about Paul's writings, okay, in 2 Peter 3. He says, as he does in all his letters when he speaks of them in these matters, there are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destructions as they do with other scriptures. So there are some things that are difficult to understand that are in the scriptures, right? And that's why we have Bible studies and you have, you know, ministers that, you know, go study the original languages and theology and these kinds of things. They're to help with those really hard things. So the Bible is clear. This is called the perpiscuity of scripture, by the way, if you're looking for the big theological word. You don't have to remember that. Perpiscuity just means clarity. This is important because, for example, until recently, for example, in the Roman Catholic Church, they didn't want their people to read the Bible because they thought it was too hard for them and they would mess it up. Anyone here have a Roman Catholic background? You ever hear that? Okay, so, I mean, Rome is changing a little bit to being okay with people reading their Bible a little bit more, but as a general position, the Roman Catholic Church says, no, you gotta let all the clergy interpret everything for you because this is too hard for you, you're just gonna mess it up, and you're gonna get your doctrine and your knowledge of God all messed up. It's not fruitful for you to read on your own, right? You need someone else to help you all the time for everything. Well, one of the things we're saying here and what we've seen right here is God's own word says that it's accessible and that we can understand it, Deuteronomy 30. And we just read John 3, 16. Anyone can understand that verse even if they don't believe it. So, that should make us comfortable reading the Bible. There's going to be things that are really hard for us that we don't get. It's okay. Circle back to it. We might get it later, someone might help us understand it, or it might be so hard that it's a Deuteronomy 29, 29 thing, which is on the front page, the secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and our children forever, that we may do all the words of the law. There are some secret things that we can't figure out that are like above our pay grade. Like why does God choose some people and not others for his own good pleasure? Like that's not for us. You know, mystery of the Trinity, one God, three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There's parts of that we certainly grasp and understand. but to fully explain it in its depth and detail and to know God as God knows himself, that's not the kind of knowledge we get. We don't get to know God to the extent that he knows himself, right? We get to know God as he reveals himself to us, as we're able to understand it. He comes down to us, right? So it's important, that's why that's one important is that it's clear. is we believe that we should be reading the Bible, right? That it's God's word for us, his love letter. The last one, the authority of the scriptures, that God's word is final. So the final and highest authority on every subject, and especially in the OPC, but all reformed churches, which would be churches that believe similar things to us in general, they're called reformed churches, okay? It's the guide for everything that we do. You know, why do we do some things in worship and not others? The Bible, because we get it out of the scriptures. Now look, how many rows to have and how many chairs in each row and what time to have service and stuff. We order that based on like wisdom and the light of nature, right? Whatever seems best. But the actual things that we do and how we do it in worship come from the Word of God. Instructions for families and these things come from the Word of God. So what that means for us is that one, this is our authority and there's some humility because we sit under it. not over it, we submit to it. But that also means that, you know, if somebody says something that you don't think is biblical, or like if this church started doing something, and you're like, I don't think that's, I don't think the Bible says you can do that in worship, okay? You can, you have a recourse to say, hey, Pastor Baker, you know, Elder Jim, whatever, Can you explain to me why we do this? Because it seems, you know, I'll pick an easy one, even though it could be a sensitive one, and I'm not, like, bagging on it. But, like, you know, some people during Christmas, they like to have Advent candles in worship, right? Well, here at this church, we're not going to, like, rail against that or anything. But we don't do that because that's like an extra ceremony, and we don't feel, you know, that the Lord commands us to observe that and light those candles. It's extra. It's added. Right? So if we started doing that, someone might say, can you just kind of show me in the Bible where it says we should have that extra ceremony in worship? And we should be able to say, oh yeah, it's right here. Or if we say, well, no, we just think it's a good idea. That's not how the OPC works. It's no, we just don't think it's a good idea or helpful. That's not how we roll. Usually this is in the context of worship. Basically, the Reformed view of worship is whatever the Bible says, that's what we do. More Lutheran view of worship, and broad evangelical churches together. Well, if we think this would be helpful and a good idea and help people worship God, then we'll do that, right? And Rome's more along that view as well. So we don't just give lip service to the Bible. We really try to structure everything according to it. You know, there's a lot of comfort there because if we have to come up with everything, with our own limitations and sins and everything else, There's just going to be a lot of problems. So it's actually comforting. It's not restricting. It's freeing. Because we know we're doing the things that God commands as he commands them so we can enjoy them. When you go somewhere else that just does whatever they think is helpful, you're kind of always worried about what's going to happen next and if that's going to send your conscience. You can just enjoy. You know? So that's why that's important. Let's see. How much time do I have here? I'm doing okay. Any questions about just kind of the authority of the scriptures, inspiration? Yeah? So to kind of summarize the whole church or the Presbyterian church, essentially you guys are like, no nonsense, follow exactly what the Bible says to the T. You dot your I's. That's what we try to do. And sometimes it's a principle. And so that's why it could look different at different Presbyterian churches. It's like we all agree on this principle, but in different circumstances, sometimes it looks a little different. So it's not like only do it this way no matter what exactly the same, but it's at least like we all have this principle. And sometimes that principle looks a little different at different places. That's okay. Right. Yeah. We all interpret the word a little bit differently. Well, you know, what's going to work in, you know, for example, like for example, we wouldn't say only sing these hymns and only use this hymn, right? Well, you know, someone that's in Jamaica or something, that might be too big of a reach and we might need to, you know, find a way to, you know, make something that's more user-friendly to them in the light of hymns and singing psalms and stuff. Right? So the principle would be sing theologically correct, glorifying to God, hymns and psalms and worship. Like that's a principle we have. Right? But which ones? To which tunes? Well, those can be worked out and they can look different sometimes. Right? So it's not a straight jacket. Sure. It's more like I can rest knowing I'm doing, I'm not doing something I'm not supposed to. But you're trying to, you know, follow it. Yeah. That's everything we're trying to do. Especially like culturally, too, right? If you went from here to, say, Africa or... Yeah, it'd feel different. I'm sure there'd be clapping and more noise and those kinds of things. Dancing. Yeah, well, I don't... Probably. And Presbyterian churches, they'd at least still be moving. I don't know if they'd be dancing in a Presbyterian church in Africa, but they'd be moving, right? Things that we just... Yeah, so there are some cultural things, but still there's... Biblical principles that are good all times and places, and sometimes they look a little different. So we can be a little flexible with the application of principles, but we all agree on those, so. So we do, you've probably noticed, I do quote things out of, like we recite the Apostles' Creed together, right? The Nicene Creed. I talk about the Westminster Shorter Catechisms. I just talked about the Heidelberg Catechism. So it's important to just kind of understand what these are. We do not think that creeds and confessions are the inspired word of God. Creeds and confessions can be improved. They can be, if it's found to be an error in them, they could be corrected. But the Bible is a good book, a big book. And you see how it's organized. And it's a bunch of stories and poems and whatnot. you can't really go to a page and find a topic. You know what I mean? Like what page is the Trinity on in explaining how there's one God and three persons, all equal in power and glory, equal to be praised and worshiped? What page is that on? It's not on a page, right? So what our confessions and catechisms and creeds are is they are summaries of what we believe the Bible teaches organized topically. Okay, so we think these are really helpful because it's hard to keep the whole Bible in your brain all at once on every topic. And so the most important topics, you know, in the 1640s for our Westminster standards, the Westminster Confession of Faith, Larger Catechism, and Shorter Catechism. So we say that we believe those are faithful summaries of what the Bible teaches. And again, we might say, well, this could be worded more clearly because it's an old document, right? Or more could be said here. But we believe they're faithful summaries. And so for us to learn the contents of the Christian faith, we need summaries. Right? So that's why they're important. That's why we use them. We do have an OPC one. You can get these online for free, too. But this is kind of cool. It's 12 bucks. And it's cool because you can also use it for devotions because it also has all the proof texts. Proof texts are where in the Bible does it teach this? Okay? And sometimes it's that specific verse, but sometimes it's, you'll read that verse and you're like, how do you get that out of there? And you might have to read like a chapter or something. Like it's just, because it can't fit everything. in there right so this has so for example I'll just chapter 32 the Westminster Confession is of the state of men after death and of the resurrection of the dead and then it starts the bodies of men after death return to the dust and see corruption and then there's a little letter a Genesis 319 and that we just read that today So that's where you see that. So I'll pass this around. If you want to buy one of these, you don't have to. Also give some catechisms out. But it's kind of cool to just kind of read through and use for devotion sometimes. Or just if you want to get more grounded. Because we use it kind of like guardrails. We believe this is an accurate summary of what the Bible teaches. So if we hear a teaching that is like, way different than this, we're like, okay, I don't know. Like, that might be, that might be wrong, right? Like, it kind of helps us to be discerning. So, I'll pass this around. You guys can look at it if you want. But, you know, that's not like an inspired version or something. That's just the one that OPC puts together. So, let's test it out. Let's test out. Does the Westminster Shorter Catechism summarize what the Bible teaches? We've gone through and looked at what the Bible teaches about itself as the Word of God, and clear, and sufficient, and authoritative, right? We've kind of seen those things, talked about them, we saw them in 2 Timothy 3. All right, so let's see if it works. Okay, this is on the back of your page. Let's see if this is a summary of what we think the Bible teaches on this topic. Question number two, what rule hath God given to direct us in how we may glorify and enjoy him? The word of God, which is contained in the scriptures of the Old and New Testament, is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him. Question three, what do the scriptures principally teach? The scriptures principally teach what man is to believe concerning God and what duty God requires of man. Does that sound like what we talked about today as we kind of looked at these verses and talked about them? Yeah, okay. So you can just kind of see it's a summary. Alright, I'm almost out of time. So before I give a brief, just a few more things to finish this up. Do you guys have any questions or comments so far about just how we view the Bible and how we use it here in the OPC? Okay. Alright, so This is really tied into the OPC's history. We're almost out of time, so I'm just gonna try to get you interested enough that you do something else. But if you don't, that's okay. The OPC was founded in 1936. So what happened in the 1910s, right, is the church was actually starting to go liberal and believe that, hey, we should all just do good works and Jesus, you know, the Bible, it has errors in it, it's a product of man, our Lord Jesus Christ and substitutionary atonement and payment for sins, that's optional. Like, you don't have to believe that. And so, a big portion of the Presbyterian church started to drift from what the Bible teaches. And so, it was a big, giant fight. in the OPC and the ministers and folks that said, no, we've got to stay true to the Bible. Well, eventually what happened is, in summary, those guys got kicked out and they started the OPC. So there could be continuing a Bible-believing Presbyterian church. So it's a fascinating story and it tells you a lot about the flavor of the OPC. If you want to know more about that story, and it's actually really interesting, I did put a link on here for you. There's an old cheesy, super cheesy, I mean cheesy video, OPC History for more details. You can go to that website and click on the OPC History videos if you want to. Also, just kind of the story called, Lest We Forget, a personal reflection on the formation of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. This is actually super fascinating reading, and it kind of helps you understand what the OPC feels like. So those are some things you could do. Anyone want one of these? Hey. Cool. I can bring more. What do we owe you for this? That's a $2 book, nothing. Are you sure? Yeah, I'm not paying for those books. The church is paying for those books. Craig, guys, do you want me to bring more next time? Anyway, if you want one, let me know. It's just kind of a history of how the OPC started. and it gets into like the actual battles and how Westminster Seminary was started and how there's a separate mission board to actually preach the gospel because they weren't and it just kind of tells you more about the history of the denomination. Other things just to finish up here. One other thing I'd like you to do is to read through the Westminster Shorter Catechism. You don't have to understand and agree with everything in here to join the church. In order to just be a Christian and join the church, it's more like the stuff in the Apostles' Creed that we say. Okay, but you should know what this church believes the Bible teaches. So I would like you guys to read, just read through it, like 20 questions a week or something. It'll take you like five minutes. So I was gonna give you guys these. Do you have one of these, Noah, or you need one? Yeah, we got a bunch. Yeah. All right, so here's four going this way. You need one grace only when I have oh sorry. Yeah, so um it just be good to read through you have questions. Let me know um membership vow number one for those of you think you make impression of faith or potentially eventually joining. So this is what you have to agree to for val one okay. Do you believe the Bible, consisting of the Old and New Testaments, to be the Word of God, and its doctrine of salvation to be the perfect and only true doctrine of salvation? And if you can say, I do, well that's membership vow number one. So adults, if we could please read through the Shorter Catechism. Where it says for kids, that means communicant. I would like you to memorize 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17. And it has first catechism on here, but you might want to do shorter catechism questions two and three instead. So, yeah, so I'd like you to do a little bit of memory work for this. And then one of the big other questions we ask, you know, in kind of membership interview or at least question of faith is, what do you do when you feel like something is is okay, but the Bible says it's not. Like, what are you gonna do in life? For example, some people feel like, hey, gay marriage, it feels okay, two people love each other, I'm not repulsed by it, I feel like people should be able to do that. But that's not what the Bible teaches. So as a Christian, what do you do? Well, if you're gonna be a Christian, even when it doesn't, even when your feelings are off, you come under and submit to the word of God. That's one of the things also wrapped up in vow number one. Is it like, look, I don't trust myself enough to be the ultimate judge of truth. That's why I need something outside of myself to do it for me, right? So, all right, I'll give you one more thing, but I won't read it because our time's up. And we'll.