Thru the Bible - Sunday Sermon

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: How firm a foundation ye saints of the Lord is laid for your faith in his excellent word. When the son of man comes, will he find faith on the earth? Well, that's what Jesus asked his disciples and it's a clue to what the earth will look like in the end times. Welcome to Thru the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee and this Sunday sermon. His title is, will there be a total apostasy of the church?

So let's take a quick Bible review on the subject of apostasy, which literally by the way means a falling away from the truth. Now in First Timothy, Paul reminded us that in the final times some will depart from the faith. And the Apostle Peter said scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts. And then in Jude, we read that there would be mockers in the last time. So, pulling that all together, the last days will be characterized by mockers and scoffers who have fallen away from the truth, who walk according to their own lusts.

Well, putting it like that makes you wonder, doesn't it? How much longer it'll be till we can say for certain that we're living in those last days of apostasy. Well, in this message, Dr. McGee answers the important question of what this season will look like for the church. Let's begin in prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you for your word and your spirit who teaches us. And we ask that you would draw those who don't know you to yourself. And then encourage those who walk with you now in the knowledge that you have the future in your safe hands.

Lord, we ask that Jesus' name would be lifted high through your word. It's in his name we pray. Amen. Here's the Sunday sermon on Thru the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee. I should like to read tonight in your hearing some verses from the third chapter of the book of Revelation. I begin reading at verse 14. And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write. These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest I'm rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing. And knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire. That thou mayest be rich and white raiment that thou mayest be clothed. And that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear, and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him and I will sup with him and he with me. To him that overcometh, will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame and am set down with my Father in his throne. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.

And our subject this evening therefore is, will there be a total apostasy of the church? This is an area into which I've longed to go. The seven letters of our Lord, here at the beginning of of Revelation, they are personally written to seven churches that were in that area. There were other churches. But these seven are chosen for, I think, a very definite reason. Because these seven churches cover the entire spectrum of Scripture. From the day of Pentecost to the Parousia. That is, when the Lord takes the church out of the world. You have the total pilgrimage of the church from the very beginning until the very end of its earthly march through this world.

And each one of these churches represents certain sections. For instance, you begin with the church in Ephesus. That is the apostolic church. That's the church at its best. Then you have the church of Laodicea, the one we read about tonight. And that is the church at its worst. That's the apostate church. And so we have here, in these seven letters, seven letters written to organized churches. To the visible church. These were all local churches in these different centers. And these letters are addressed to the local church. Now the appeal is made to individuals in these churches. And that's a distinction that many of us in fundamental circles need to make today.

We have too many folk in our group today that like to say, "I'm a member of the body of Christ. I'm a member of the invisible church. And I do not believe in becoming involved in the organized church." Well, I've found out those people that are members of the invisible church are generally invisible on Sunday night, and they're not here tonight by the way. And they also are invisible on Thursday night. In fact, they are invisible. When I first came here, I had several people that came to me and said, "Now I won't be here this evening, but I'll be with you in spirit." And I found out we have a lot of folk here that are with the pastor in spirit on Sunday night and on Thursday night. And we now put those folk in the top balcony.

You can't see them, but they're up there. They're with us in spirit. And they never say "Amen." I've never heard an "Amen" from them. And also, they never give any offering. They, in fact, they just, they're just members of the invisible church. And I think it's time that we recognize that the Bible has a great deal to say about the organized church. And that's exactly what our Lord is talking about here. He's speaking to the organized church. And there is a second thing we need to note about these letters. He always has a word of commendation. Not always. The church of Laodicea, we read tonight, it has no word of commendation. No word for it at all.

And then he has a word of condemnation. And you will find that there are exceptions to that. To the church in Smyrna, which was the the martyr church, the persecuted church. It wasn't a perfect church, but our Lord is not offering one word of condemnation because literally, as Fox says in his Book of Martyrs, they were died there by the millions for Christ. He doesn't criticize that church at all. And he has a word though of commendation for that church. And the church of Laodicea, the period in which we are today, he has no word of commendation at all. That is quite interesting. It's all condemnation by the way.

And it would mean that it you can fit these seven periods in. You begin with the apostolic church. You come to the church of Smyrna. That was the church that was the uh the persecuted church, the suffering church. And then you have the church in Pergamus. And that was when the world began to come into the church. And then the church in Thyatira. That's uh that is paganism unlimited. That's the church of Rome. And then you have the church in Sardis. That is the church that he does not commend it too much. He has words of criticism for that church. That is Protestantism. And then the church in Philadelphia, the church of brotherly love, the missionary church.

And I think it's in existence today too, as well as the church in Laodicea. And we are somewhere in that period, the Laodicean period. And that is where we are at the present time. Just where, I'd not be prepared to say. Therefore, there is this chronological order that you have in these churches. I recognize that there are other explanations, but I think the chronological order is the the the one that is predominant and primary. Now the question is, will the organized church become totally apostate? And in order to determine this, let's look at this last church, the church of Laodicea.

And the church of Laodicea and the names are quite interesting. Smyrna means myrrh for instance. And uh it's called by the way Ismir today. And when we go there, we already have reservations at the, well, you guessed it, the Hilton Ismir hotel. Someone has said that they were sure that when the first astronaut got to the moon, he'd find a Hilton hotel in which to stay. And there's one there at Ismir, and a very nice one, they say, and it enables you to to rotate out from there to these other centers. Well, it was the martyr church. And then the church in Thyatira fits like a glove upon Romanism. As the church in Sardis fits the Protestant church. And down now in the Laodicean period, and I'm convinced that we're in that period.

Now Laodicea means the rule of the people. Justice of the people, a rule of the people. It is democracy, if you please. Uh our government today, as Daniel Webster said, is an unusual experiment. Never been tried before, where the people make a decision relative to the government. And uh but in that day, when you talk about the people voting, have you ever stopped to think how few people really voted in the 13 original colonies? First of all, no woman voted. And the second thing is, only landowners voted. They were the only ones that voted in that day. It was not and no one under 21 years of age voted.

My, how these candidates today are after the vote of these college students by wanting to reduce the age. Actually, uh very uh very few people voted in that day. But the Laodicean church is a church where the people do a great deal of voting and talking. Our government may be a short-lived government. I'm of the opinion that the Laodicean church will probably have the briefest period of any church of all of these. Several of these ran several hundred years. I saw a very interesting sign down in San Diego the other day. It was a picture of Uncle Sam, and he didn't have his usual gray hair.

He was a very vigorous-looking man. And he was pointing, as he generally is, and the the wording underneath it was, "Remember, he's your uncle, not your daddy." I think that's the best that I have seen that has been put out in this day of propaganda. He's your uncle, he's not your daddy. We're living in a day when most people look to the government for everything. Now today, the church has moved into the realm where the people make the decision. And you have churches today filled with unsaved people. It's tragic, and it's impossible to determine the will of God by a group of Bible illiterates, unspiritual and worldly church members.

You cannot find the will of God, and you certainly can't even do the will of God when you have that type of decisions that are made. Now will you notice what he says concerning this church here, and we want to touch on these things rather briefly. And unto the angel of the church of Laodicea write, "These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God." The Lord had a way when he addressed all of these churches, was to take something out of that first vision that described him and apply it to the church. The only thing he takes out of the vision for the church and Laodicea is Amen. And Amen means just this, "So be it." But it also means this, that's his, it's a title.

It's his name if you please. He is the Amen. He is the one that's going to bring the end to everything. And he's saying to this church, he will have the last word. This church can vote and do as it pleases. It can go into an ecumenical movement. It today can reject his deity. It can reject the Word of God. It can bring in these perverts today and do nothing about their conversion. It can do those things, but the Lord Jesus says to this church, "I am the Amen. I have the last word." And he's called here, he calls himself the faithful and true witness.

And may I say this to you, we're living in a day when people are saying, "We should listen to the politicians. We should listen to the commentators. We should listen to the scientists. We should listen to men in all walks of life." May I say to you tonight, as believers, there's only one that we should listen to, and that's the one who is the faithful and true witness. He's faithful, and he is the true witness. He is the one tonight that believers need to begin listening to. I frankly believe that right now in this nation, there's going on through TV and the press and all media for transmitting news and every method of communication the nicest piece of brainwashing that has ever taken place.

We're being brainwashed today, and many believers are being swayed here and yon. I get that today on the radio. Uh we have people, not all of them write lovely letters like these. Some folk write in, and they are greatly incensed of the things we say about the Bible. They hear it differently. And we rejoice frankly when they take that attitude, because if somebody will become angry with me like that, they'll keep listening. And if they'll hear the Word of God, they get converted. And that's the reason that we are having so many write in that are receiving Christ today as Savior, is because it's obvious they're being brainwashed by everything today.

And they're not hearing the Word of God. The church of Laodicea needs to listen again to him. He says, "I'm the faithful, and I am the true witness today." Now he brings against this church his condemnation. "I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would thou wert cold or hot." I'm told that that there was brought into Laodicea by an aqueduct, or two aqueducts I guess, cold water from a spring and hot water from a spring. But time it came down the aqueduct and got into Laodicea, it was lukewarm. And our Lord uses that in speaking to these people.

He said, "I wish you were cold." Cold means that they were in active opposition to the church and fighting the gospel of Christ. The problem today is that it the gospel doesn't make people angry like it should. In the the reason it doesn't make the unsaved man angry anymore is because of the lukewarm condition of church members today. They themselves are not hot, they're cold. They uh I I should say they're lukewarm. They're not even cold. If they would be cold and oppose this thing in a very vigorous way.

A preacher said to me this past week. He said, "I told my congregation that uh I didn't admire the Kennedys. I didn't care for the Kennedys." But he says, "There's one thing you have to say for them that we wish we could say for Christians." They believe in something, and that's politics. They believe in getting elected. And they've given two sons for that. And that last boy knew his life was in danger, and he was willing to risk it in order that he might become President of the United States. You may oppose them as I do in all their beliefs, but my friend, they were dedicated to something.

I wish we had believers today that would be dedicated to something. Either be cold or hot. This lukewarm condition is sickening. And it is the thing today that characterizes Laodicea. It's the thing that characterizes present-day Christianity. Lukewarmness. Not hot, not cold. Hot means to be zealous. Red-hot for the things of Christ. How many do you find like that today? Boy, you stand up out here in the stadium and yell for USC or UCLA. They say, "Boy, is he a fan!" You stand up and say one little squeak for Jesus Christ today, and they call you a fanatic, by the way.

You're no fan at all. We need people in a lovely way today. Not in an ugly way, but in a lovely way to take a stand for Jesus Christ and let people know where they stand. One of the criticisms that I've had of these men in public office, that when you get them in a Christian group, they tell about their faith in Christ. Why don't they stand for him out in public today? This lukewarm condition is sickening. We need those that will either be hot or cold. And give me one that's either hot or cold anytime, rather than a lukewarm Christian.

That is the thing our Lord says that he hates. He says, "You're neither cold, you're neither hot. You're lukewarm." And then he says something that sounds rather crude. "I'll spew thee out of my mouth." And if you want to know how literal it is, "I'll vomit you out of my mouth." The Lord Jesus is saying to the church in Laodicea, "You make me sick. You make me sick. I don't like the lukewarm condition. Either be for me or be against me. Take one position or another position. Stop your pussyfooting, your compromising. Either take a stand for me or resist me."

May I say that's the thing that he's saying now to this church. Now will you notice verse 17. He says, "Thou sayest I'm rich and have gotten riches and have need of nothing. And thou doest and knows that thou art the wretched one and the miserable one and poor and blind and naked." Now this is the church that says that it's rich. There's no question about that. That the wealthiest corporation in America today is not Standard Oil Company or General Motors. They're poor compared to the churches. The wealth of the churches in this land today is tremendous.

Have you ever stopped to look around at the valuable property that they own? The church is phenomenally wealthy. And today, the way the church measures its success is by its financial statement. That's the way the denominations do. You go to any denominational meeting, as I used to go, and if you're in the black, you can say, "Hallelujah! We're having a revival." And believe me, you're in a terrible way when you get into the red. May I say today that the spiritual barometer has become the financial statement of the church. The church says, "It's rich today." And it is rich.

And probably will be taxed. And don't misunderstand me, I'm not opposed to it. That's the only place that I know I agree with the liberals. I think the church should be taxed today. We've come to an America that is no longer uh can even be called a Christian nation. And as a result, we find the church uh accumulating wealth. Buying property. Why the wealth of some of our schools today is phenomenal. And they're still after it. They're build up reserves. They get wills from people. I saw where Christian college in the past year has been given over $2 million.

May I say to you that it they have need of nothing. And believe me, my friend, they act like it today too. You don't question them anymore what they're teaching because they don't need your support anymore. I think one of the tragic things of the hour is the wealth of some of our fundamental organizations today. Now, don't misunderstand me. They're still crying for money. But nevertheless, the wealth today. The church of Laodicea is a church that is rich in material things. And it boasts of the fact that it's rich in material things and increased with goods and has need of nothing.

And the Lord Jesus Christ says, "You're wretched." You remember what Paul said in the seventh of Romans, "O wretched man that I am." Paul knew he was wretched. The average believer today does not know. Living a defeated life, he thinks it's a normal life. He doesn't know that he's a wretched individual. If we could only discover our condition and let the Great Physician look us over and tell us that we're in a wretched condition today spiritually. And miserable. And that means an object of pity today. That's the picture of the church. That is the picture that our Lord draws of it here.

Now let me move on. "I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire." The Lord has not gone off the gold standard. And he has plenty of it, by the way. And he's talking about gold that's been tried in the fire. That thou mayest be rich. And these are spiritual blessings. The thing that he said to the church in Ephesus, that is one of the churches he's writing to here. The church in Ephesus, he said that you've been blessed with all blessings, all spiritual blessings. And we're rich today. And again and again, Paul talks about the riches of his grace today.

Oh, how God tonight wants to enrich each one of us spiritually this evening. He he wants to he longs to to do that. "I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire." How do you buy? All you bring to him is faith. And hold out the hand. That thou mayest be rich and white raiment. And that white raiment is that righteousness that he clothes the sinner with. That is the thing that we need today, and need to rest in and not our own works. That thou mayest be clothed and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear and anoint thine eyes with eye salve that thou mayest see.

The city of Laodicea was a very rich city in Paul's day, and in John's day. It was uh a Roman city, a fact of the matter is, Cicero came to Laodicea and lectured. It was a city of culture. It had a medical school. It had a temple there to the God of medicine. And it was one of the main temples in which they they worshipped. And Laodicea had a a salve and a powder that they shipped from there. The the salve was for the eyes. The the powder apparently was for the hearing, for the ears. And it was a great business, tremendous business.

Now, the Lord Jesus says to this church, "I suggest that some of you get in the real eye salve business. The kind that can open your spiritual eyes." And that, of course, is the Holy Spirit. He alone can open our eyes to behold wondrous things out of his Word. He alone can teach us. The Lord Jesus said, "I'm sending him to you. And when he comes, he's going to take the things of mine and show them unto you. He'll show you things to come. He'll lead you into all truth." That's the eye salve that is needed today. And yet, you look about you at the church in this present hour throughout this land of ours.

Begin with very few churches have a Sunday night service. Few years ago, you'll remember they tapered off with book reviews. Our Lord Jesus says what you need is eye salve. Something to open your eyes that you may be able to see in the Word of God. You can see the things and see him, if you please. That's the thing that's needed by the Laodicean church. And now he has a word of admonition for this church. He says to it, "Behold," no, let me back up just a little. He says to this church, "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous therefore, and repent."

Two things that he asked this church to do. He's asked the church to be zealous, and that's the same word for to be hot. He says, "Be hot. Don't be cold, and certainly don't be lukewarm. Be hot and repent." And repent is a word that was given to all seven of these churches. Every one of them had that word given to them. We today think that repentance is for the unsaved, the man outside. I'd like for you to show me where God asks the unsaved to repent before he believes in Christ. And I'd like to ask you, can any man repent before he accepts Christ as Savior?

The only repentance that God's ever asked the lost man is found in the word "believe." You remember that Paul said to the Thessalonians, "How ye turn to God from idols." The repentance is turning from, and it's metanoia means to turn around. And my friend, I know when you turn to Christ, you have to turn from something. You can't turn to something without turning from something. But you have to do the turning to first. And therefore, when you turn to Christ, there is the repentance. And for the Christian, it's repentance from then on in.

How many of you confessed your sin today? How many of you believers ever go to God in confession and tell him you're wrong? Tell him what you've done. He says to all the churches, "Repent." That's the message for the church today, and we pass it on to the outside world. God is saying to the outside world what Paul said to the Philippian jailer, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved." Now when that Philippian jailer, a Roman, brutal, he had to be brutal at that job. He had to be brutal to have been asleep while men had been beaten in an inch of their lives were lying down in the dungeon of his jail.

He had to be brutal to have a job like that where he had paid Rome so much for it. But this man turned to Christ, and when he did, he turned from those things. And he became one of those lovely saints that Paul wrote about when he wrote the church to the Philippians. Repentance is for the church. And there never was a time when the church needed to repent as it does today. But yet we don't think we need it at all. Now we agree that the liberal needs to repent. We agree that the other fellow needs to repent. But we don't feel like it's for us today.

He says, "As many as I love, I rebuke them, and I chasten them." And the chastening of the Lord today, Peter says it's not pleasant, and sure it isn't. But it's an evidence that he loves you. My friend, if he doesn't chasten you, there's always a question about his love. Have you ever noticed that it's only the father and mother who paddle their own child? They don't paddle the neighbor's children. God's not whipping the devil's children. He doesn't worry with them. He takes care of his own. He disciplines his own children and he deals with his own children.

This is the message that he has for this church. Now will you listen to him. "Behold I stand at the door and knock. If any man, any man, any man." What about the doctrine of election? I know nothing about it. "If any man," you believe in the doctrine of election? I sure do. "If any man." Well, what about election? I don't know anything about it, he never showed me the list. He said to me, "If any man," and it's a legitimate, sincere invitation to any man. "If any man will hear my voice and open the door, I'll come in to him. I'll sup with him and he with me."

Will you notice several things, and I'm through. This is the plea of a Savior who loves even lukewarm church members. "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Be hot therefore, and repent." And he today is still the meek and humble Jesus. "Behold I stand at the door and knock." The glorified Christ tonight, we ought to come to his door and knock at his door and plead at his door. But he's still the humble one who came to this earth 1900 years ago. He's still going about and he's still saying, "Behold I stand at the door and knock."

He's the same one that he was 1900 years ago. He's still meek and lowly. And he's truly concerned tonight about you. He is. Then will you notice? People can belong to a church and not hear. "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches." A man right here at the church of the open door said to me some time ago, he said, "McGee," he was a member. He said, "I sat here for three years and listened to you, and I never heard a word you said." You may be like that tonight. Have ears to hear, not hear. Our Lord says, "It's possible. You can belong to a church and not hear."

And then anyone can hear. If you want to, "He that has ears to hear, let him hear. If any man will open the door, you listen, I'm knocking. Anyone can hear." And then the third thing that's so paramount. The door opens from the inside. Holman Hunt years ago painted a picture of Christ at the door, and I'm sure you've seen it. It's probably the most famous picture that's ever been painted of Christ at the at the door. After he'd completed it, he invited some of his artist friends in to criticize it. And they offered certain suggestions. One of them said to him, "Holman, you you missed it. You left the handle off the door."

And he said, "No, I didn't leave it off." He says, "The handle is on the inside. Behold I stand at the door and knock. If any man will open the door, I'll come in to him and sup with him and he with me." The handle is on the inside. Will you hear me? The Lord Jesus has moved heaven and hell to get to the door of your heart. And he won't crash the door. He stops right there. Knocking. If the door's open, you'll open it. He won't. This is the picture of the church of Laodicea, the last church. Will there be a total apostasy of the organized visible church?

Listen to the Lord now himself in Luke 18:8. "When the Son of man cometh, will he find not faith," that is the abstract quality of believing, "but will he find the faith, the body of truth that he left here, the doctrine of the apostles," as it's called in Acts. "Will he find the faith upon the earth?" And that's asked in the Greek in order to get a negative answer. And the answer is, "No, he will not find the faith." I believe that there'll be a total apostasy of the organized church before he takes the church out of the world.

And again and again, I went through this yesterday, and I'm not going through it tonight. But you go through and look up these words that have to do with the faith. He says, "Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong." Who's he talking to? He's talking to you and me. "Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, the body of truth." Why? Because in the last days the church will depart from it. A great many people are distressed today, and naturally so, that all the denominations, the great denominations are departing from the faith. I was raised in the Presbyterian Church. I'm amazed how far they've gone in apostasy.

They have practically repudiated the Westminster Confession of Faith, which is probably the finest document that's ever been composed outside the Bible. They have turned their back on it. The Methodist Church did it years ago. The Baptist Church has. The Christian Church has. These great denominations that had a creed that was sound, they've departed from it. I believe in the organized church, there will be a total apostasy. And that believers will be outside of the church at the time of the Rapture when the Lord takes them out of the world. I think we're moving that way today. And I'd be very frank with you tonight. I would be very much discouraged and downhearted and despondent.

If it wasn't for the fact he already told me how it was going to work out. He said it would be this way. And he said to me, "Stand fast. Stand fast. Stand fast in the faith today." That's all I'm asked to do and all that he's asking you to do in these days. Shall we pray? Heavenly Father, we truly thank thee for thy Word. This is a black picture we've looked at, but it's the picture that Thou didst give. We do pray that we may recognize the conditions that we are living in today. We pray therefore that the important thing for each individual is to make sure that he is standing in the faith. That he today is on the Lord's side. That he today is in enjoying sweet fellowship and has a relationship with him. We would pray especially for anyone that's here tonight that's in a church that is actually an apostate church. That's not today proclaiming the Word of God. We pray, O God, Thou will deliver them from an atmosphere that's bound to have an effect upon their lives. Help us to have the courage and conviction in this day to stand for the things of God and stand for the faith. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Stand fast in the faith. That's Dr. McGee's challenge for you and for me. Stand for what's important to God and then stand for what brings honor and glory to the name of Jesus Christ. Well, that's no small order, and it's also a challenge that is impossible to achieve except through the Spirit of God who works within us. That goal to live for Christ in every situation, well, it can only be lived God's way. That's the only way. Dr. McGee wrote about this in his digital booklet, Living the Christian Life God's Way, and he also encourages us to live for God in another resource called Living for God in a World that has forgotten Him.

Now, both of these digital booklets can be downloaded for free in our app or at TTB.org. And while you're there, you can also listen again to this sermon. The title is, Will There Be a Total Apostasy of the Church? That's true for any message or all the messages in our five-year journey, really. Some people ask, "Do you mean that I can listen to or even download every study of the Bible if I wanted to?" Well, the answer is yes, you can. Some would say that's a bad business decision on our part. "Why give it away rather than charge for it?"

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And if that's you, we want to thank you for your generosity and your gift, given in gratitude for how God uses this ministry in your life. And if you've been blessed, and you've yet to support Thru the Bible, then please, first, pray for our effectiveness together in taking the whole Word to the whole world. You know, God says, "The prayers of a righteous man are effective." And then as God leads, would you help us maybe keep gas in the tank of the Bible bus? You can make your gift in our app, it's super easy, or online at TTB.org, or you can always call us at 1-800-65 Bible. That's 1-800-65 Bible.

And when you contact us, why don't you take a minute to tell us how you listen to Thru the Bible? Is it on our app? Online, by podcast? Maybe it's your favorite radio station? Alexa, YouTube? We got so many different options. You know, but letting us know how you hop aboard the Bible bus really does help us make important decisions and be wise stewards of the resources that God provides through faithful friends like you. And it's especially useful if you listen by radio, so be sure to give us the call letters of your station if that's how you get on the Bible bus. Our number again, 1-800-65 Bible, or you can drop us an email, biblebus@ttb.org.

Now, as we go, I'm Steve Schwetz, praying that you'll stand fast in your faith today. And let me leave you with this encouragement from First Corinthians 15:58. "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." Join us each weekday for our five-year daily study through the whole Word of God. Check for times on this station or look for Thru the Bible in your favorite podcast store and always at ttb.org.