Good evening, you all had lots of exercise and hopefully with a meal in your stomach, all your blood's not going there instead of following along with what we have before us tonight. So it's a privilege to be able to be with you. And I have a question to begin and that is, how many of you are thinking of your life as a battle? The Bible is full of this idea and theme of battling. And I think of the spiritual meaning also in the Old Testament of the children of Israel. They were brought out of Egypt and they had no training in warfare. And yet God was going to bring them into the promised land. And as he does that, they knew they would have to fight the Canaanites. And so they needed to be equipped. But even as they enter the land of Canaan eventually and come to the first city, you well know that Jericho's walls did not fall to the ground because of their great capabilities of having been equipped for battle, but it was the Lord's battle. And then as they later enter the land, we see that there's much training and equipping that needs to take place. The same is true in spiritual life. We need to understand the foundation of the reality. We need God and his word and depend upon him for the battle to be won. And it is won in Jesus Christ. At the same time, we need to be equipped. And you've been hearing in this conference about the word of God and the various ways in which the word of God converts us, equips us, and various other things in regard to the word. Sometimes those who think about being equipped are thinking about, how can I better answer people who give me a question about the Bible or what I believe? That's good to be equipped that way and to have an answer ready. But if you don't believe the word of God yourself to be something that he has spoken to you, and you believe it's God who has spoken to you, and you can trust that word, and you can speak that word in response to the question you've been asked, as if God himself would be speaking to the other person, of what value has your being equipped been? We live in a time, I think, more than perhaps any other. Although every age had its circumstances, For a young person to be a Christian today is an exciting time, an adventurous time. There's so much happening in our world right now, and perhaps to you, to us adults, it's sometimes confusing. We don't know who's telling the truth and who's telling a lie. We hardly know what's going to happen tomorrow in our own country, let alone in the world. We hardly know what kind of things are going to come into our society and culture and people's beliefs. And yet I say to you that I think you are living on the cusp, if our Lord does not return, of a time where people who are searching for answers to questions of life need to hear what those who have been taught of God have to say. And so we need to be equipped to address these kinds of questions today. We're going to see marvelous things happening in our world, I believe, in time to come. And if we follow Him, just put yourself for a moment and pause. I've thought about this often in the ministry that God has given to me as I talk to young people. Think back to Daniel, think back to David. Their life was filled with trouble and trial and difficulty, but as we read those stories, as David going forth to Goliath, as we read of Daniel and his friends at the fiery furnace, and we see God's great deliverance, if we believe in the same God who rescued these young people, He's able to do the same thing for you. Are you willing to venture your life as they did? Do you believe his word, God's word that comes to you as his word? You are the targets primarily, I think, by the evil one today in the church. And the first thing I wanted us to do is to turn to this passage that was read to you by Eric. This passage will address the first thing, and you see in your outlines, I want to speak to you about, and that is God's Word. This is the foundation upon our equipping that you and I need to have straight. And I want to show us how to become equipped, and the first way is our first point, believing this to be the Word of God. I want to read verse 13 again. Follow along if you have your Bible. I want to unpack this. For this cause, Paul is saying to the Thessalonians, also thank we God without ceasing. Because when you receive the word of God, which you heard of us, you received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which powerfully, effectually works also in you that believe. I think the first thing that grips our attention here about verse 13 is what Paul is saying whose word this is. He is saying the word of God, not the word of men, the word of God. And I assert to you as you read the scriptures, as you study the scriptures, as you read others who are writing about the scriptures, there's one thing that becomes clear to us. There is nothing that you face, not a single thing you or I face, that God's Word does not address. But you might say, well, does it address COVID? Does it address cell phones? Does it address gender identity? Does it address evolution? Not necessarily directly addressing these things, but it gives us answers and principles to all the things that you and I are faced with. You see, part of the temptation in our world today is people and our culture coming alongside you of young people and saying, the Bible doesn't address this. God is not speaking to this. It's outdated. It was never good. It was good for a people who sort of checked out their brains at the door and just sort of emotionally moved through life. No, the scriptures are clear. This word that comes to us is God's word. Now all of us get advice from people and we listen or we don't listen to what they say to us. And the question often of whether or not we're listening to them is whether we trust them. You maybe have met a young man or a young girl at camp and you in your cabins at night or maybe texting or whatever you're going to do when you get home to each other, to your friends, what'd you think of so-and-so? And you're going to pressure their advice. You're asking for advice. They're giving you some advice back and counsel, if you will. equipping you in some ways to make a decision about what you want to do. Well, the Bible does the same thing. The Bible addresses the question of who you should be looking for if you're looking for a partner in life, even as you're at youth camp. What are the characteristics of a godly young man in a godly young woman? Do they know the Lord? Do you know the Lord? These are the biblical principles out of which if we want to follow God and we are those who are called after his name, we would want to be equipped to make a wise decision about. But secondly, so not only is it God's word, but secondly, Paul says here to the Thessalonians, he says, you have received the word of God from us. Paul, who was laboring with some others, had come to the cities in Thessalonica and had brought the gospel to them. And Paul says, when you heard that word, it connected with your hearts and your minds. Yes, the Holy Spirit was working. The Holy Spirit was renewing and transforming them. All that's true. But the reality was is they probably sat in the audience something like you. They heard Paul speaking, not in English, but probably in Greek. And he was expounding to them in the truths of the Old Testament, the Word of God. And he was saying, God is saying this to you. And you need to believe this message from God. He is calling out to you. He's saying, turn to me from your idols. So what Paul is saying here is that this Word that has come to you, God has appointed people to bring that message to us. That message here is recorded infallibly in the Word, the recorded Word of the Bible. I'm not infallible, other speakers are not infallible, and even Paul himself did not hesitate to commend the Bereans, who when Paul preached to them, even as an apostle, they took the words he had spoken and compared them. What's this say in the Old Testament? How is Paul actually saying? Where's he getting this from? How is he saying that? They wanted to be equipped to give an answer to the question of the hope that lie within them. And so these scriptures here that Paul is talking about, the word of God has the authority of God himself. So as you pick up your Bibles and you want to be equipped to live, you want to be equipped to answer people's questions and your own questions, First thing we need to understand and believe is that the Word of God is what it says. It is the Word of God. So if you want to be equipped, you and I need to be students of the Word. So when you hear something, some other teacher, when you read something in a book, when you hear another friend talking to you about, I don't know, something that's happening in the culture, whatever you're being confronted with as a young person, that shaping and forming who you are and what you're going to be should the Lord tarry in years to come, you have to have a standard by which you're going to bring it back to and test it. And that is the word of God. Now, does that mean we understand everything in the Word? It's not so easy always to understand the Word, is it? That's part of equipping, building up your understanding as you slowly read through it, as you meditate on it, as you talk to people about it, as you listen to sermons. But listen to what Peter says. He was an apostle. He says, even Paul spoke of some things that are hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable twist as they do the other scriptures to their own destruction. Peter's saying, Paul talked about some things I don't really understand completely. And so if you read the scriptures and you open your Bible and you understand it completely yet, I don't, don't be amazed, but ask God to teach you and equip you to understand the scriptures, you have an answer to the questions of life. For example, take those today who are reluctant, even churches, reluctant to condemn certain sins or identities, gender identities or sexual orientation. They want us to think the Bible is really out of date and doesn't address these various issues. The challenge you guys have, and girls, that we never had, is that you can go on the internet and you can type up any question you want and Google will have an answer. Because there's been 50 other people who thought about it and they've written an answer of their own opinion. But the only sure way to go is to take even all the things we hear and bring it back to the test. Did God say this? Is this what God is saying? Because what he laid down in the scriptures is enough for you and for me for all the questions of life. And so when the Thessalonians heard, as we're considering this verse 13, when they heard the Apostle Paul speak, what Paul is saying here in this verse is, it was as if you were hearing God himself speak. And so I have a question for you as we begin now in this equipping idea. When you open your Bible, When you go to church and you hear the scriptures preached, when you hear topics at youth camp, let this question settle in your heart and your mind. God speaks. The one who made you, the one who upholds this whole world and this universe, the one who's in control of all the things happening in this world, he's speaking. Are we hearing? As you read your Bible, as you hear it explained, as you talk about it together, are we hearing the Word of God, as Paul says the Thessalonians did here? Now all the people at Thessalonians who were gathered there in that meeting, perhaps they had a meeting as the people were called together, and he was preaching to them when he was doing his missionary journeys, a group of people gathered together. They weren't church people yet then. They all heard the same message, exact same words. But for some of them, Paul is saying, you received the word that you heard. And so the reality is, when we leave this camp in a couple of days, one of two things is going to be true. You either have heard the word, you believe it's God's word, and you received the word, or something else. Because you can't say hardly, I believe that that's God's word and he's speaking to me and nothing follows behind it. These at Thessalonica had all heard Paul's words, but for some of them, Paul is saying, you receive this as the word of God. They heard Paul speaking, and they heard it as the voice of God. Go back to chapter 1. And there are five and six, what does he say? For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance, as you know what manner of men we were among you for your sake. And you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost. So what was really happening is Paul was preaching, and as he was preaching, the Holy Spirit, mysteriously, wondrously, invisibly, was working with that word in the hearts and minds of people. It was after they had received this word, you see in verse 8, They received the word and he says, for from you sounded out the word of God. Not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God word is spread abroad so that we don't need to speak anything. You see what happened? They heard Paul, they heard the word, this is God speaking. We can't live as we did before. We need change. We need to live for him and for his glory. And they began talking to everybody else about it. That's the impact of believing what you hear as truly being the Word of God. Look at verse 9, chapter 1. For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God. You see, as these people who are heathens, who had idols in their hearts, as some of us may have, we serve other things than God. And those can be exposed through the convicting of the Holy Spirit. And we begin to see God doesn't have the first place in my life. I haven't believed his word as it has come to me. I've turned so often aside from those convictions I've had. And Paul's saying, now this changed. are entering in with preaching of the gospel, as it were, turned you to God from your idols. And you, the people at Thessalonica, who had this happen, couldn't keep your mouth shut. You spoke to everybody else. Don't serve those idols. They are nothing. Serve God. I met him under Paul's preaching. Well, that leads us back into chapter two, where Paul is highlighting here. Right before our coming to you at the beginning of this chapter, it was said by the Apostle Paul, we were even cast into prison. We had great difficulty at Philippi, but notice how he highlights the gospel here. At the end of verse two, we were bold in our God to speak to you the gospel of God with much contention. This is the good news, the gospel, verse four. But we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak. We don't seek to please men, but God who tries the hearts. Verse nine again, we labored among you. At the end of the verse, we preach the gospel of God to you. And then verse 13. We thank God without ceasing because you received this gospel as the word of God himself. Dear young friends. If we would see you, the chaperones and the camp directors would see you leaving from this camp. Your mouth open. Your hearts transformed. You say we have heard God has changed us. You speak to others, we would say, for this cause also, we thank God without ceasing. You see, as they heard the word of God, it was working in their hearts, in their thinking, in their reasoning. So as you're thinking about what you've heard so far in the camp, so far in this topic, Do you believe what you're hearing? Is God speaking to you? And if you believe that he is speaking to you, what change should that bring about in your life? If any of you have come to believe the gospel and you have heard the word proclaimed, you know what it sometimes does, it convicts you. convicts you of sin, convicts you of your need of Christ, and it draws you to the Savior, and you want to be taught by Him more. Those are marks of what it is to have been the recipient of the gospel, to believe that the Word came to you and you heard it. So we saw who spoke. It's God, though He spoke through Paul. Paul is writing here these words. And who heard? The Thessalonians heard. They also acted. But the primary actor here, let's not forget, is God himself. That's the theme that Paul is highlighting for us. God is the actor, if you will. He's the one who spoke. He's the one who spoke from the beginning all things into existence. He spoke you into existence. He is speaking with his word, still upholding all things by the word of his power. He is the one who is still speaking the gospel as it were through the mouths of others who are called to bring it. And he is also the one who acts by his spirit in the hearts of those who hear this word opens the heart, opens the mind, opens the understanding, convicts the heart. And it's not like some kind of voice from heaven or dream or vision. What did the Thessalonians hear? The gospel. The word of life. that by nature we are dead in sins, we've rebelled against God, and he calls us to repentance and faith in Christ, and that Christ is sufficient to cover anyone here, whatever sin you have done, and to make us holy. And being saved, he wants to equip us to live to his glory. And the word itself becomes active. It's a two-edged sword, as we read in Hebrews 4, 12. It comes and it pierces. Notice how at the end of verse 13, Paul says here, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually, powerfully works also in you that believe. The Thessalonians heard the message. received the message, believed the message, were transformed by the message of the gospel. Now, that's what we need as the foundation in order to be equipped for service. Because you saw what happened to the Thessalonians once they were saved. They had a heart desirous to serve God, to live lives that would be pleasing to Him. And so how do we become equipped to be able to address the questions you as young people face, the questions you have in your own minds, the questions that inevitably are going to come up? Well, turn with me to two different passages. First, let's turn to 2 Timothy 3. 2 Timothy 3. So the word of God is the foundation that's going to equip you. And the Holy Spirit accompanying that word and opening our understanding is what's needed. So we pray as we study the scriptures. But Paul here to Timothy is telling us something about the power of the word to equip us. So I want to read 14 to 17. But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and has been assured of. knowing of whom thou hast learned them, and that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture, all these words of God that comes to us, are able to make you wise to salvation. through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. Paul is saying to Timothy, his disciple, one he had taken alongside of him. Paul was saying to the Thessalonians, who we looked before in this letter to them, he is saying, the word of God is sufficient to equip you to be the man and woman of God. Verse 17, able to do, ready to do good works. So if we have been changed by God, and we know God, and we hear his word, read his word as from God, so he now has become our father in Jesus Christ, we want to obey him as our father in heaven, how does he equip us through this word Paul is saying? By reading it, by studying it, that's how we get a better understanding of the word of God that comes to us. How he gives an answer to all the questions that arise. How will you answer the questions that surface as you interact with people? Difficult questions. How would you interact with a seven-year-old whose brother was killed in an accident while his father was texting? as he was driving. Does the Word of God address that? How do you comfort a seven-year-old? What do you say? How do you speak to your younger sister who's in third grade, who's being bullied at school? Does the Word of God address that? Does it equip you to be able to speak to her about how she should respond to those who are bullying her, so she doesn't become hopeless and perhaps depressed? How about if you discover your friend at school is same-sex attracted? Do you laugh at them and mock them? Is that what the scriptures equip us to be able to do, to minister? If we know the Lord ourself, as we saw in the first point, and He's spoken to us and He's forgiven us, what we recognize is that person who is struggling with that kind of thinking or identity is no different than what I was before the Lord found me. The Word of God is able to equip us to give an answer to these questions. What about a 19-year-old friend who cannot find forgiveness after they've had an abortion? What about a family you know whose house is foreclosed because their dad lost their job? What about a secular university and the teaching of the profs are trying to undermine your faith? Do you have an answer to all these questions? Do you believe the word of God is sufficient to address these questions? There's much hopelessness today in the world in general, but I think it seems also among young people by and large in our culture today are confused, hopeless. I hope and pray that's not a majority of you, but if you interact with people your age in this world, it certainly will be likely to be true. And if you know the Lord, as we saw in our first point, you should be the first one ready to give an answer. Why they can have hope, where you need to point them to. And God's word is able to equip us to give an answer, but we need to listen also to what they're saying to us to be able to appropriately answer the question we've been asked. I've sent a a PDF file to Brenda Camp, and she's going to get all of your emails. I don't have time to unpack. It's a small booklet, but if you take the time to read through it, it helps you to, how do we come to the scriptures and see the big picture and look at the passages? How do we dive into those and understand what is the Bible actually saying to me as I read it? Help you in your reading, being equipped. And God has promised to fill every hungry heart. If you're hungering after righteousness, hungering after forgiveness, hungering after relationship and Christ, God's word tells us you will be filled. You'll not be disappointed. He will give you understanding. You know, when I was first a young believer, there was just a growing and understanding. I had been brought up like all of you were in church. And as I went off to college, I knew perhaps more than a lot of others, at least outwardly, in Dork College, which was a Christian college. Passed the theological exam very quickly. But my understanding of God was really very small. But as I lived life, as I experienced difficulty and struggle and trial, confusion, questions, doubts, fears, all that stuff, you begin to grow. And in growing, you are being equipped. And the more you read the word of God, the more you discuss it with others, the more you listen to sermons and podcasts, the more you will be equipped to better answer more and more of life's questions. I remember sitting in those early days, listening to a talk, and all of a sudden, as the speaker was preaching, it was on the Beatitudes, I'm like, wow, this connects with this in the Old Testament, this connects with that, and this connects to this. And so we need to be diligent, you need to be diligent students of the word, and God promises to equip you and grow you. And as you read the scriptures, you'll begin to understand with some clarity how this is one message of God to you, to the world, to mankind. Paul tells Timothy here that the word of God is going to equip you in all these things. Be assured of this, he says to them, to him. And the end, as we have said, is for good works. To you live a life pleasing to God. Now, what does Paul say in verse 17? Paul uses the word thoroughly furnished. And the word there is what we're considering being equipped. You might be complete. You might lack nothing. So how does this word of God actually do this? Well, the Word of God sets us free. By nature, we're in bondage. And if we're going to be equipped and set at liberty, it is the truth of the Word of God that will do it. There is much in this world today that's being presented as true freedom and liberty that they want you to be seeking after. But the reality is the Bible is saying if you want true liberty and true freedom in life, it's found in Christ. You cannot live by any other word but the word of God. Paul says, all of scripture, the Bible you hold in your hand is sufficient to do these things. What does he say? First of all, he says it is for doctrine. We need to be equipped to understand the truths of the word of God as it's laid out for us, because there are many errors doctrinally. The truths of the word of God are corrupted and distorted, and you will be faced with some of those errors as you grow older. And where do you go? How do you become equipped? You read the word, you study the word, These are the truths that God wants us to hold fast to. The faith once delivered to the saints. And that's why it's good for us to have someone who we walk alongside of who may be older than us to disciple us. Your parents or someone else. I don't know if you experience the same thing as a young person, When the Lord was working in my life as a young person, and I look back at that time, I just long that there could have been someone there who could have opened himself up that I could have asked questions to, could I have dialogued with, to equip me to live life. You, as young people, have a lot more opportunity to do this than I think we had as those who are older. This is how the scriptures talk about this discipling ministry within the church. Is there a godly person in your surrounding to whom you can go to ask advice, to be equipped by, to walk alongside of you? The word of God through the Holy Spirit, yes, but Paul here is discipling and mentoring Timothy. And the purpose of this is you are discipled and equipped. What's the purpose? To do good works. So what? When you get 10 years from now, you may be at camp as a chaperone to do what? The very same thing. That's why you have your counselors in your cabin, for example. Use them. Speak to them. Remember the introduction I gave was a battle. We're fighting a battle. We're in a war. And if you want to be equipped, You need to be in the Word. It's knowing the Word of the Lord and its truth that we can wage a successful battle. Are you willing to be discipled? Are you willing to be equipped to be able to disciple others? When you think of those young men and there are young women also in the scriptures who are examples of what it means to live godly, are we willing to give ourselves like they did for this purpose? Second thing Paul says here besides doctrine is reproof. Reproof is a strong word and it's one that Paul is reminding us that the word of God is corrective. As young people, when the Lord begins working in our life, we can be full of zeal, but not always according to knowledge. There are things that people who are older than us have understanding of life, can help us and equip us better. But this reproof here is that there are thinking behaviors and errors that need to be corrected in us, lies. Our culture is filled with lies that are being foisted on us, are being told to us, and we need the Word of God to address them. And the Word of God can equip us to address these questions. How does it speak to us about use of internet and media? The Word of God is clear about the use of our time. how we are to use that time given to us to serve him with our whole heart. Reproof has the idea it's convicting. And if we're not in the Bible, we're not reading the Bible, and we're not listening to what the word of God is saying to us, how would we ever be convicted and reproved? And do we receive those reproofs? In other words, Paul is saying when the Bible comes to us and convicts us, it ought to be changing us. We ought to submit ourselves in obedience to what God is saying. That's how we are equipped. If we persevere and press on in what we think and what we understand about certain things and we don't listen to the word of God, we're refusing reproof. We'll not be equipped. Third, Paul says the word is Correcting, perhaps restoring is a better way of putting this. It sets in order the moral of our lives, so it's lined up with God's path, God's way. In many ways, our thinking is out of sorts. When we make decisions about life, why do you make the decision? Is it because it feels good, because it looks good, because you think selfishly it will be good? Or have you tested the decision by the word of God? Paul says, it equips us to correct us, to guide us. And fourth, Paul says, it instructs us in Righteousness. Not only the idea of righteousness to be received again into God's favor and the way of salvation, but what to know is right and what to know is wrong. The word of God will equip you to know. Listen to the words here of Moses as he concludes his message from God to the people in Deuteronomy 32. Moses made an end of speaking all these words to Israel. And he said to them, set your hearts to all the words which I testify among you this day, which you shall command your children to observe to do, all the words of this law. For it's not a vain thing for you, because it is your life. The Word of God is your life. It will equip you for all that you will face, the questions you will have. It doesn't mean you'll always immediately receive an answer to a question that's bothering you, maybe even a decision. But through prayer and wise counsel of other godly people, the Word of God will address these issues in your life. So what does the Word of God address? Well, turn with me to 2 Peter 1. You want to know the extent of what it addresses. We saw how it addresses it in Timothy, but turn to 2 Peter 1. Beginning at verse 3. According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. Note Peter's words. What I'm doing with you, young friend, in bringing you back to the Word is what my topic's about. It's to equip you. To help us understand what is it the Word is saying so we can live by it. As Moses said, it is your life. And so what is Peter saying? According as is, divine power is given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence. All things that pertain to life and godliness. Tell me. anything that falls outside of what Peter is saying the Word of God addresses. All of life and godliness. You have any question? Peter says the Word of God is sufficient. That means your stress over grades, your stress over sexual temptation, your loneliness, your awkwardness, how to honor God in each of these areas, All of life, the Word of God addresses. And how do you know what it's saying? Reading the scriptures. If the Bible then is so relevant as I'm saying to you it is, why is it that sometimes we are so disinterested in learning? Well, it comes back to the first point. Do we really believe it's God's word and he's speaking it to us? The Bible is relevant today. There was a story I read, I want to leave you with this. It was a former homosexual involved in Hollywood. He was a set designer in the fashion industry, and he worked with stars and supermodels traveling the world. And he was in Paris. At the time, he said, I was living the so-called grand lifestyle, the party life. And he came to realize, as many people do, his life was empty. And he asked himself, is this all there is? He said it was one of the most intense moments he had when he began to think, if this is all there is, I have nothing. And of course, those who are outside of Christ have these moments and times often in their lives. He said, is this what I'm living for? At the end of it all, there is bitterness and death. He said that God was never an option for me because of the sins I'd committed as a gay person. Because he said, I was not confused about what the Bible said about my sin. It was clear and yet here he was asking these questions. And he wasn't equipped to answer them because he didn't know the Bible, of course. Well, one day he said he was back in California and he started chatting with a group of young people at a coffee shop. They had their Bibles open on their table before them. He was intrigued, he said, when he asked them about what the Bible says about homosexuality. They said, it says it's sin. And then they said, of course, there is grace also in Christ to forgive any sin, and we are sinners too. And they invited him to their church that Sunday, and he went and heard the gospel and received Christ, he said, and he never looked back. He traded his gay identity for a new identity. And this is where I want to go with this, because he wasn't finished. He was asked what it was like, where he came from, and how he was now. He had heard of many stories of young people who were growing up in churches and now abandoning their faith, also because of the LGBT issue. He compared this, he said, to Esau selling his birthright for a pot of stew. He said, you can see this happening a mile away. It's so common in the culture and so powerful. He said, look, if you're going to be on social media or Netflix for an hour, you need to read the Bible for an hour because you've been lied to. And now you need the truth. Have you ever thought about your Bible that way? You spent an hour on Facebook perusing and carousing the culture and the lives and other people's lives. Have we spent the same amount of time with God and his word to be equipped? Do we care about other people enough to be able to answer their questions when they come to us? One of my elders in my former congregation would often say, Pastor, you only have people for three hours once a week. The world and all the culture has them the rest of the time. I understand there's some nuances there you could make, but you get his point. My point to you is if we want to be equipped in the Word to be faithful to the calling we have. If we name Christ as our only hope, we need to be in the Word ourselves. That is what equips us, praying, yes, to the Holy Spirit to equip us, to enlighten us, to use the means of His grace, but it's in His Word that we will be equipped. If you are on your deathbed, my mother-in-law is on her deathbed right now. Do you want to still be pursuing the things you think are going to make you happy, as some of you may be doing right now? You've never found it yet. You think you're going to find it by doing the same thing? Those who have, as the Thessalonians did, heard the word as it was, the word of God, turned from their idols to the living God, found life. I want to leave you with Hebrews 12, beginning at verse 25. See that you refuse not him that speaks. For if they escape not who refused him that speak on earth, how much more shall not we escape if we turn from him that speaks from heaven? whose voice then shook the earth, but now he is promising, yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven, and this word, yet once more signifying the removing of those things that are shaken as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore, receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. What's his point? We ought in recognition, both in utter amazement and wonder, and with holy adoration and anticipation, hear what God is saying to us, that he would equip us for this hour in which we will see him. face to face and be a faithful witness while we're still alive. Let's pray. Our great God and heavenly Father, Lord, there are those of your children here who have received this word as a living word that is spoken to them. And we are in need of being equipped to live life. need of being equipped to help others. And so, Lord, help us to turn again to your word. It is the source of life and light and all that we need for life and godliness. It reproves us. It corrects us. It's good for doctrine and for instruction and righteousness. And so help these dear young friends who know thee to pursue thee through use of this means of thy grace and those who do not. Lord, I pray. That they may be as the Thessalonians who today. For the first time, hear the word as it is in truth, the word of the living God. Who. Is not seeking to destroy. but seeking to be reconciled to sinners through his son. So go with us, we pray. And each day we ask in Jesus name. Amen.