Biblical Research

Victor Paul Wierwille
May 2, 1982

Sunday Night Teaching SNT-1120 (40th Anniversary Year)
The Way International

Heavenly Father, we’re surely grateful and thankful that we can lean on those everlasting arms. Thank you Father for having called us out of darkness into the marvelous light of the gospel of redemption and salvation. Thank you for your wonderful deliverance and, heavenly Father, I’m truly grateful for the privilege of being back home here at International with your people. Thank you for the love of God that has been shed abroad in our hearts by the holy spirit. And I thank you for giving us a wonderful night – for all of our children and our young people and our adults – and just blessing our people abundantly who have dialed in for this Sunday night. In the name of Jesus Christ I thank you. Amen

You may be seated, please.

It’s springtime in Ohio. I don’t know what it is all over the country, but it’s a good time to be here, and I thought one of my home spun poems was appropriate.

[The Critic by Ethyl Nading]

A little seed lay on the ground,

And soon began to sprout.

"Now, which of all the flowers around,"

It mused, "Shall I come out?”

“The lily’s [lilies] face is fair but [and] proud,

But just a trifle cold;

The rose, I think, is rather loud;

And then its fashion is [fashions] old.”

“The violet is pretty [all very] well,

But not the [a] flower I'd choose;

Nor yet the Canterbury bell, --

I never cared for blues."

And so it criticized each flower,

That [This] supercilious [little] seed;

Until it woke one summer morn,

And found itself -- A WEED!

In behalf of the Board of Trustees of The Way International, I would like to make a presentation to him at this time. This is elegant, absolutely beautiful that Christopher Watkins prepared as a gift from the Board of Trustees to Ray this evening. It is – that’s what he quoted to you a little while ago, say it again. (Reads in Dutch.) Good, that’s good. This expression of recognition and commemoration of the completion of another Power for Abundant Living class in a language of our brothers and sisters across the world.

It says here: This expression of recognition and splendid achievement is extended to Renaud Jay Brandt in commemoration of the completion of the Power for Abundant Living class in the Dutch language, another milestone in the achievement of holding forth the Word of God to the world. Upon returning to his homeland he can now make available to a believing people this magnificent class in their own tongue that they, too, may begin to live for God and His Word a more than abundant life. May 2, 1982 and it’s signed by Gary Curtis and by myself. At the bottom of it is that great scripture, John 10:10b. Quote it to them in Dutch, will you, (Ray Brandt quotes the verse in Dutch) … [came that we] might have life, and … have it [how?] more abundantly.

Sir, on behalf of the Board of Trustees, I’m truly proud to present it to you. [I] certainly thank God for the ability latent within our people and they utilize that and bring it forth and make it possible for other people to have the class. I know the amount of work it is to do it in English, then for these men to do it in their language – it would also be comparable, at least, to the amount of work it takes in English. So, I’m grateful and I, too, am believing that it’s going to be possible for us to have it in 50 different languages.

I think you noticed tonight up there it says just 49 more days until Living Victoriously. I trust some of us are already living victoriously and that we won’t have to wait 49 days, but I’m talking about a class. It’s almost unbelievable to me that we’ve only got 49 days left, but I imagine when that time comes we’ll be ready to go because everybody’s believing, everybody’s working, everybody’s praying and it seemed to me like that should be one of the great times in the history of the world coming up, and I’m blessed for the privilege to be a part of that wonderful period of time.

Take your bible and turn to Psalm 121, please.

Lib and Eston Smith – I understand we got a new married couple in here tonight? They just handed me this note. Our wonderful Peggy Little of the 8th Corps got married yesterday at Lib and Eston Smith’s place. She married James Morrell, and they are living in Oklahoma City. I’d like for the newly married couple, James and Peggy Morrell, to stand, please. Bless your heart. Wonderful to spend your honeymoon here tonight with us. Love that. Well, I think that’s tremendous. It blesses my heart, and I’m thankful to be informed of these things and Lib’s wonderful daughter. I’m real thankful.

I thought tonight I’d share something with you that has been burning in my heart as I travelled around to all these, so far seven weekends in our 40th Anniversary year because people consistently, wherever I go, keep bringing up, “Well, The Way Ministry is a Biblical research ministry and just really what does that all mean?” Well, it’s not nearly as intellectual as it sounds. We are just some people who love God and love His Word, and we love to work it.

But, The Way Ministry is a fellowship. You can’t have a fellowship unless you agree on something. If you’re mad at me and I’m mad at you, we’re not going to have much fellowship. So, The Way Ministry is a fellowship of the followers of the Lord Jesus Christ for the manifestation of the more than abundant life. The Way believers are men and women filled with and manifest power from on high, meaning that they’re filled with the holy spirit. They are men and women who freely avail themselves of fellowship meetings for their spiritual nurture and growth. The Way fellowship is cemented together by the love of God with each individual believer being transformed by the renewing of his or her mind according to the Word of God. The Way fellowship is not a membership list; it’s not a baptismal list; it is what I have just defined it to be.

The Way Ministry accepts and believes the scriptures, the Bible, to be the true revelation from God and about God, and it is our only rule of faith and practice. It is not our primary rule of faith and practice; it is our only rule of faith and practice. So, The Way Ministry is a Biblical research, a Biblical teaching and a Biblical fellowship ministry. This is for all people.

Well, then what is research? Biblical research is not primarily to learn something new, but it is to re-research, to reinvestigate, to rediscover anew the scriptures for ourselves in order to know what God has revealed to us and for our learning. All the benefits of our Biblical research work, all the benefits are designed for those who desire to hear – and that is teaching. When believers meet, that is fellowship. So that is The Way Biblical research, teaching and fellowship ministry.

Now, all believing equals receiving. Nobody ever receives anything without believing. Believing equals receiving. What you are doing today will determine your tomorrow. Basically the heart-cry of every man, I should say the heart-cry of every young individual, basically, is for help. Perhaps when you reach the adult stage (that some of us have arrived at) you get to that place where your heart no longer cries for help because you have come to the conclusion that there’s no help any place, anyway, anyhow. But, dealing with a lot of young people through all of these years of my life in the ministry, the young people, children, young people and young adults, basically are always crying for help. Their hearts (they may not say this on the outside – they may cover), but deep within their hearts, they are really crying for help; they’re looking for help. Man’s help never comes from any other basic source than God. The government really cannot help you nor can all the social programs or anything else. Man’s basic cry for help is God.

In Psalm 121 - this first verse is inaccurate in King James, but we’ll correct it according to the text and get it right on – King James says:

Psalm 121:1

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.

All the pagan temples, all over the world, basically, are built on hills. They always put their temples at the top of the hill to be sure that everybody in the valley and in town could see them up there. Those of us who’ve travelled in other countries, besides these our United States, have seen this also in other countries – that their temples, their places of worship, are always built on hills. That’s where they worship their gods. King James says, “[I’ll] lift up mine eyes unto the hills.” No, no, no. The original text reads, “Shall I [it’s a question], shall I lift up mine eyes unto the hills?” What’s on the hills? The temples, to what? The pagan gods. “[Shall] I lift up mine eyes unto the hills? From whence cometh my help[?]” The question. My help does not come from the pagan temples on the hills, my help …

Verse 2

My help cometh from the LORD … [who] made heaven and earth.

That’s the accuracy of verse 1 of Psalm 121. The heart’s cry of the common man is for help. The help doesn’t come from pagan gods, from temples built upon hills. “My help cometh from the Lord [who] made heaven and earth.” He is a God who does not dwell in temples made with human hands. God is a Spirit. You see, the counterfeit is so much like the genuine; you have to know the accuracy of God’s Word if you’re ever going to separate truth from error. Without knowing the accuracy of God’s Word, you will never be able to separate truth and error.

That’s why one of the first great things in the life of an individual who is seeking help is: that individual has to get quiet. In Psalm 46:10 the Word of God declares:

Psalm 46:10

Be still, and know that I am God

Be still and what? Know. Be still and know, be still and k-n-o-w, be still and know it. The only way you’ll ever really get to know God is to get quiet. If you have to isolate yourself someplace, do it. Whatever you need to do with your individual life, you’ve got to bring it to pass, so that you can know – that you get passed the stage of questioning and doubting all the time. That you may know, that you may know. “Be still and know,” that I am God,” … which I call: learning to practice the presence of God. You just get quiet. The greatest cargoes of life come in over quiet seas. You just get still, quiet within. Be still, then you can get to know the true God.

You see people, there’s so much to do in life for us, but there’s so little time for us to do it. We have to be absolutely sure that Jesus Christ is the way. John 14:6: he is the way, he is the truth, he is the life. Jesus Christ is not a way among all other ways of religion. He is not a way among all the way of those temples built on hills, pagan temples built on hills. We, in The Way Ministry, believe that there is only one way to truth, and that is the way of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the way. He is THE way. He is not a way among a lot of other ways. Budda may have been wonderful, Mohammed, I don’t know about that, but I know there is only one way, and that’s the way of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the way, the truth and the life.

In Acts 4, listen to this wonderful record. Acts chapter 4 verse 12, well first verse 11.

Acts 4:11,12

This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, [who] which is become the head of the corner [the cornerstone]. Neither is there salvation in any other:

There is no salvation – and the word salvation here is the word meaning wholeness (w-h-o-l-e-n-e-s-s). There is no other way for wholeness.

Verse 12b

for there is [no] none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved [made whole].

There’s no other way. People then could say, “Well, you’re prejudiced, you’re everything else,” … they have to say what they want to say. We just believe God’s Word. If they think there’s another way, they’ll try it. We do not believe that in The Way Ministry. We believe that the Word of God is the Will of God. It’s our primary – nope – it’s our ONLY rule for faith and practice. There may be a lot of other wonderful people in the world, maybe a lot of other fine religions; I don’t know. But, I know that there is only one way whereby you can have eternal life and that is the Lord Jesus Christ, for he is the way, the truth and the life. He’s the only name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.

In the Gospel of John in 4:24, you basically all know this, it says, “God is Spirit.” The indefinite article “a” you ought to scratch. God is not a spirit among all the other spirits. There are a lot of other spirits, but God is The Spirit. God is Spirit. God is called in the Bible the word, “word”. God is the Word, and the word for word in the Greek is the word, logos. You see, God is Spirit, but God is also The Word. Now how is God, who is Spirit, going to communicate to man on the senses level? He has to do it by way of words, w-o-r-d-s. You can’t see spirit, you can’t hear it, smell it, taste it or touch it, so if God is to communicate to us, it has to be in words. That’s why the word logos basically means communication. God, to communicate to man, had to put it in words. The prophets of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit, by God. But it was words. God is Spirit. The only way you can know God is through that Word. He has to communicate that way. That’s why in John 1:18, Jesus Christ is the living word, he is the word, the logos, he is God living in reality to the extent of making known God. It’s the living reality of God’s only begotten son who always did His will. That’s how it was communicated. Now the Bible is the Word written, and it’s the Bible that interprets the will of God to us and for us. Those two prepositions are very important. The Bible interprets it for us. That’s why the preached Word or the taught Word, must accurately make known the written Word. Whenever a man teaches or whenever a man preaches, he has to make know the written Word for it’s the written Word that makes known Christ, and it is Christ who made known God. Whenever anyone teaches or preaches anything else, but the written Word, that is not preaching or teaching – that is a counterfeit.

Now the first major requirement in any Biblical research, for any individual, is that you must be willing and you must be prepared to unlearn (even all that you’ve ever learned from your youth) for all must be tested and proven by the written Word. That’s the first major requirement.

Now the first major responsibility that is given to us, is that the Word of Truth must be rightly divided.

II Timothy 2:15

Study to [do what] shew thyself approved unto [who] God, [as] a workman [a workman of the Word, a workman who] … needeth not be be ashamed [of his workmanship].

We are to study to show ourselves approved unto God as workman of the Word, who need not to be ashamed of their workmanship by doing one thing:

Verse 2:15b

… rightly dividing the word of truth.

The scriptures are the Word of Truth. But, we have the truth of the Word in the proportion and to the extent that I rightly divide it. Where I wrongly divide it, we will not have the truth of the Word. But will the scriptures still be the word of truth? Definitely. The scriptures will be the Word of Truth if nobody believes; it will still be the Word of Truth. This is why it’s so important that we research, re-research, that we reevaluate, rediscover for ourselves – working the Word, rightly dividing it.

How many times we failed through the years to rightly divide the Word. How many times Christendom today fails to rightly divide the Word. So, we are in all types of confusion and dismay, and it’s all because we are not handling the Word of God rightly, rightly dividing it. Sometimes even they handle it deceitfully, deliberately to back up their preconceived ideas. That’s why that first major requirement is: you have to be willing and ready to unlearn anything you’ve heard or learned before because it has to be checked by the Word.

The first major responsibility of anyone preaching or teaching the Word is to endeavor to rightly divide it, not endeavor, to rightly divide it, but we can only rightly divide it to the extent that we understand the Word. That’s why in Psalm 119:162 the psalmist declared, “I rejoice at thy word [rejoice in thy word], as one … [that] findeth great spoil [great treasure]. Rejoice at the Word as one who finds great treasure. In order to rejoice at the Word, you first have to have joy. You cannot re-joy until you first have joy. (Remember the twins Pete and Re-Pete?) You cannot rejoice at the Word until you first have the what of it? The joy of it. The Psalmist said I rejoice at thy word as one who has found great spoil, great treasure. Do you joy and rejoice at the Word as a great treasure?

In Jeremiah 15:16 Jeremiah says:

Jeremiah 15:16a

Thy words were found, and I did eat them;

It doesn’t mean he chewed on the scrolls for breakfast or for a snack after Sunday evening 5 o’clock fellowship.

Jeremiah 15:16

Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and … [the] Word [the Word, the Word] thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart …

You can’t have joy and rejoicing of the heart until the Word is first found. “Thy words were found …” That’s the first thing you need – is the Word. You can’t ever joy or rejoice until you first have the Word. In order to joy and rejoice you have to assimilate that Word, eat it; you have to believe it; you have to receive it. You have to eat it, assimilate it, digest it before it becomes efficacious in your day by day living. Thy word was the joy, the joy and rejoicing of my heart. Is the Word the joy and rejoicing of your heart or do you still get much more joy and rejoicing watching the boob tube, reading the daily newspaper or doing something else? For those of us called of God to move the greatness of the Word in this day and time, the Word has to be for us the joy and rejoicing of our hearts.

At the close of the Healing Arts Advance, Dr. Winegarner came in the back office with me. We sat and visited a little, and we talked about staying at the top of your profession. The reason this came up is because he and I would like to have two, three days together, isolate ourselves, be together. I’d like to spend two, three days with about 10,000 people that I know across the nation or nations. But, I just don’t have that amount of time, because if I’m going to really teach the Word, you have … other things have to be bypassed. You know, if I just loved to ride motorcycles (you all know that), so if every day I spent two, three, four hours riding motorcycles, you would lose – I would lose the greatness of my ability to handle the Word because I wouldn’t be in it. A great concert pianist practices daily.

If we’re going to be men and women of God, we’ve got to stay put on the Word. (Sure there are times when I can ride a motorcycle a little, but it’s all secondary.) The Word is the joy and rejoicing of my heart, and if I’m going to stay a champion in the Word, I’ve to to stay in the Word. So, you don’t have time to go to all the parties they got, all the dinners they want to give for you – all the things they want to do. You just can’t do it (in your heart you might like to, but you just can’t do it) and still stay a top professional. The Word has to be – for those of us who teach, those of us who are responsible before God to share it with God’s people – the Word has to be eaten. We have to be in that Word all the time, every day: not just to read it for my own spiritual enlightenment, I have to read in the light of being able to teach it to someone else that they, too, can walk in the light as the Word is the light. So, I have to eat it; I have to digest it; I have to assimilate it and then it becomes the strength of my life that I can give it out.

The dark clouds that rest over us this day are due to the fact that the Word of God is being made of none effect by the traditions of men. The traditions of men, for the most part, have so clouded men’s minds that the love for truth is about as depraved as the love for holiness. Thus men are living in deserts of despair and defeat, and they are drinking from the stagnant pools of tradition instead of going to the fountainhead of all truth: God and His wonderful son, Jesus Christ.

In the Gospel of Matthew chapter 15:

Matthew 15:1

Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying,

Now this is the top religious brass, the scribes and the Pharisees, men who were heads of the worship in Jerusalem, men who were part of the Sanhedrin, the 70 that ruled Judaism. They said to Jesus …

Matthew 15:2

Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread.

Isn’t that terrible? It definitely was to the scribes and Pharisees, for they had set up certain laws, and one of them was what they were – how they were supposed to wash their hands. And these scribes and Pharisees criticized Jesus and accused him of transgressing the tradition of the elders. He answered in verse 3.

Matthew 15:3

… Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?

Of the two, which is the greater: The commandment or the tradition of men OR the commandment or tradition of God? God’s commandment, traditions of men, secondary.

He says in verse 6, the latter part,

Matthew 15:6b

Thus have … [you] made the commandment[s] of God of none effect by your tradition.

Tradition will do it every time. Tradition will always make the commandments of God of none effect. They will not be efficacious; they will not be utilized. Tradition will reign above the commandments of God. That’s why he said in verse 7,

Matthew 15:7a

… [You] hypocrites,

Were they religious people? Definitely. They prayed at the right time, payed of their tithes, mints, you know, but they forgot the weightier matters of the law, remember? Jesus said unto them, “You hypocrites.” In other words, when we get caught up in tradition, we break the commandments of God, and we are hypocrites.

Esaias talked real nice and said, verse eight:

Matthew 15:8

This people [draws nigh or] draweth nigh unto me with their mouth … [honour] me with their lips;

They talk about God; they talk about religion; they talk about love; they talk about service; they talk about all of those things,

Matthew 15:8b

but [in] their hearts … [they are] far from me.

Verse 9

… in vain they do worship me,

Did they worship? Sure. But it was what kind of worship? In vain, in vain – it didn’t do any good. It’s like praying without believing: just mouthing it, just saying it. It’s in vain. In vain they worship. I think some of us in the past have been at the same place. We were really religious; we wanted to really serve God, but you couldn’t go – we couldn’t go beyond what we were taught. Therefore, we went by what we were taught, and what we were taught was tradition, so we were worshipping God in how? Vain. Worshipping Him in vain.

Matthew 15:9b

… teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

Teaching for right believing, doctrine, the commandments of men, and the commandments of men are contrary to the Word of God. You see in our time, if the Bible has been studied at all, it has been basically with a view of finding support for one or the other of the arguments, the beliefs, the traditions we already hold. The true object of working and studying the Word, researching the Word, is to rediscover what God has really written and revealed to us and for our learning.

You see, the doctrines and traditions of men are eradicated and corrected only when the true doctrines of the Word of God are discovered. We no longer have the problem with the two crucified with Jesus because we know the Word says there were four. We no longer have him dying on Good Friday and getting up on Easter Sunday morning and trying to get three days and three nights out of that. Well, what has corrected, what has eradicated that previous false teaching? The Word, the Word.

The birth of Jesus Christ is September 11, 3 BC. He was born sometime between sunset and moonset on September 11, 3 BC. And sunset was at 6:18 that night according to astronomy and moonset at 7:39. So, in that 81 minute period on September 11, 3 BC, Jesus Christ was born. The accuracy of the Word, working the Word is what eradicates and corrects men’s false teachings, wrong teaching, gets rid of tradition.

We also know from astronomy, from history and from the Word of God that the star, his star that is mentioned in Matthew 2:2, is the star Jupiter. Bible scholars have argued about it for years, like they have the birth of Christ. As far as we know and understand the scriptures, there is no argument about it because the Word of God, history and astronomy (and astronomy is a science, astrology is hookey pook stuff), but astronomy is a science (it’s documented science, typically) all three of those together. So, that’s how we get rid of tradition, how we eradicate error. It’s the Word.

You have to honestly come to the place where you constantly keep asking yourself: Where did I learn what I believe; how did I get to the place of believing what I believe today; who taught me this. For the most part, what men believe they have received from tradition and not directly from reading the Word of God. Many times the Biblical truths will be a complete substitution for what you have believed because what you have believed will not stand the test of the Word, the truth of the Word, if you rightly divide it.

Therefore, you must not only be content to give up tradition and wrong teaching, you must be thankful to give it up, happy, tickled to death, and receive (instead of man’s tradition, instead of man’s imagination) the true divine revelation of His Word.

You see in Matthew chapter 4 in verse 4:

Matthew 4:4

… [Jesus] answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word [and the word every means]{every} that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

In The Way Ministry we allow the Word to speak for itself, fully knowing that the Word speaks more loudly, clearly, more effectively and effectually for itself than anyone could ever speak on its behalf. Man shall not live by bread alone (which means he has to have a little bread), but he needs something else. Most people spend most of their so called Christian life gathering what they call bread: money, material things, property, business stuff. Man shall not live by bread alone, but live by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Of course, that’s the figure of speech, condescensio. We not only need material things, but we need every word from the mouth of God; we need spiritual things. The world and tradition will always train us for the material. Only the Word of God will train us to rightly divide it and separate it out knowing what Matthew 4 says:

Matthew 4:4

… Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

You see, the root of all Biblical evils which abound among us in such a tremendous way in our day and in our time, reside in the truth that the Word of God and the words of God are not believed. They are not received and rightly divided, and, thus, they are not fed upon, they’re not digested, not assimilated or acted upon. The Bible is not read or enjoyed because the Bible is not understood when they read it. You can’t enjoy something that you read here if you don’t understand it, and because the Bible is not understood, it’s not believed to be God’s Word, but simply to contain at places within it, God’s Word. Thus the Bible is the most misunderstood and neglected and argued about and confusing book in the whole world.

I read a number of scriptures to the Healing Arts Advance. I read them a scripture about Noah, where it says in God’s Word that he died at the age of 950 years. Now, that’s got to be a lie because he was not modern; he didn’t have Carter’s little liver pills and MO, whatever it is. He didn’t have a two million dollar scanner to look inside of people’s guts or something. So it’s got to be a lie. That’s what it’s been traditionally and for people who do not believe the Word. My Bible says (and it’s my only rule of faith and practice) that Noah lived to be 950. With all of our modern abilities – we are really tremendous, you know, we really got it. We are really the live-er uppers, you know, our culture is fantastic. By the time you are 50 you are supposed to have heart trouble, and not too many people make it beyond 65 or 70. That’s why the government put it at 65; they knew they wouldn’t have to pay much after that. Aren’t we just wonderful? Is there any doctor that would like to tell me that he can keep me alive until nine fifty? See, it’s so far even beyond my thinking because we were all taught you have to die early to avoid the rush. And the government advocates it, so they don’t have to pay you money out of their coffers that they’re already bankrupt in.

What a crazy world. By the time you’re 65 – and I’ve even had them come up to me and say something about being an old man. My God, 65, you know, I may be older, but I’m not an old man I trust. But, everybody thinks you have to die young, and we do because believing, teaching – that’s all we’ve ever heard. You know, when you live to be 100 or something, my gosh, you got to be freaky to live that long. That’s the whole attitude. Nine fifty – I think even Moses, I think he was even … was 120, wasn’t he. He didn’t even have to have these things [glasses]; the Bible says he had wonderful eyesight. I’m not 120 and if I didn’t have these on, I could read it, but with a lot of strain. (All strain is drain, so I put ‘em on.) Moses didn’t need them. And Moses didn’t have that highly trained optometrist I have. Why could Moses see without glasses for 120? It says also that he was one heck of a man because all his physical abilities had not abated. That means you women, he was still one wonderful man. You just got to get the impact of the Word here. We are so advanced in our culture. We know all about all the sickness; we know everything. Oh people, we haven’t caught up at all yet – even got close to what Adam knew and Noah and some of the rest, but, you know [indistinguishable].

I believe, as you do, too, that the Word of God is the Will of God, and that the subjects that are matters of controversy and conflict (among so called Christian believers) could be easily settled could Christians agree upon the principles of rightly dividing the Word of truth. The Word of God is all we can ever know about God or any subject relating to God and the things of God.

The cry that I’ve heard through the years that The Way Ministry teaching is unsettling men’s minds and contrary to the accepted teaching of Christianity and that the history of the church is certainly more true than our findings of the truth of the Word of God, as far as I’m concerned, those are all arguments that are asinine, they’re invalid and inconsequential. The Word of God is true, and rightly divided, the Word of God will hold its own against all comers.

In the book of Nehemiah in chapter 8 … Biblical research can only do one thing, basically, the same thing that Ezra did of old. In 8 of Nehemiah verse 5:

Nehemiah 8:5

… Ezra opened the book …

He opened the book. Biblical research has to open the book. Ezra unrolled the scroll; he had to open the book. Biblical research has to open the book.

Nehemiah 8:5

… in the sight of all … people

So people can again see the book.

Nehemiah 8:5

… and [here it says] when he opened it, all the people stood up:

It is an Orientalism that whenever the Word of God was read, people stood. Whenever a man talked about it, everybody sat down. They weren’t too sure he was always right on, but they were always sure when the Word was read it was right on, and so, for respect of the truth of God’s Word, people would stand. That’s why when they handed Jesus the scroll that day in Luke 4, he read and said, “This day is this scripture …” and they all sat down, and he said, “This day day is this scripture fulfilled.”

Verse 6 says:

Verse 6

And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen, [and] Amen … lifting up their hands … they bowed their heads … worshipped the LORD with their faces to the ground.

And in verse 7, latter part:

Verse 7

… and the Levites, caused the people to understand the law [they taught it]: and the people stood in their place.

Verse 8

So they read in the book … [of] the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading.

They read in the book distinctly. They read it clearly. They read it with understanding, then they explained it. They gave the sense of it, and thereby the people were able to understand it.

Biblical research works from the internal evidence of the Word to the external. We allow the Word to speak for itself, and we work it from the inside out. To have a revelation from God, who is Spirit, to have a revelation from God in writing, it has to be in words, w-o-r-d-s. As such, each word in The Word becomes very important else you cannot have the true Word, the true revelation; you’ll only end up with possession revelation from the adversary, and that’s counterfeit from the spirit world.

The Bible is written for believers: for men and women who want to believe and know God and His Word. It says so, in the Gospel of John. Take a look at it. The Gospel of John, wonderful record in here. You see if the Bible is not what it claims to be, God’s Word, then we have no true revelation.

Here in John 20 in verse 31 it says:

John 20:31

But these are written, that … [you] might [do, ] believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing … [you] might have life through his name.

These things are written that you might believe. The revealed written Word of God is for believers, for people who desire to believe. The Bible is not written for the unbeliever, the God rejecter, the one who does not want to know truth, the one who does not want to really know God. It’s written for men and women who want to know God and know the answers. That’s why in II Timothy (that we had earlier) it’s the Word of Truth. The Bible is the Word of Truth.

In James it says it’s the engrafted word. The word “engrafted” is the implanted word. The Bible is the Word of Truth; it has to be implanted by studying it, by rightly dividing it. Titus tells us that it’s the Word that’s faithful. It’s the faithful Word. It’s not only the Word of Truth, it is to be implanted; the reason it is, is because it’s a faithful Word. Faithful: what God has promised He is not only able, but He is willing to perform. Then that great record in Philippians says it is the Word of Life. You and I will have life to the extent and in the proportion that the Word of God is rightly-divided, taught to us, we believe it, we receive it, we assimilate it, we act on it.

That’s why this Word – to have the type of ministry that we have, it’s not big, there are not millions and millions of people yet, but it is reaching down to where it will reach millions. Those who hunger and thirst after righteousness will be saved; they'll be given an understanding. Those whom God has called before the foundation of the world, when the Word of God is spoken to them, they will believe. These things are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God and that believing ye might have eternal life. That’s our ministry, and I’m thankful to God that He’s loved us enough to trust us with it and allow us to share it with our people.

Father, thank you for your Word, tonight. Thank you for allowing me to share my heart from the Word and the greatness of the Word that lives in my heart with your people. Thank you, Father, that this is truth and that the truth never changes. In the name of Jesus Christ.