The Bible was written for us, not to us.
In this sermon‑style teaching, the speaker reflects on a previously delivered message about the danger of "mixing the gospel" and expands it into a broader discussion of how the Bible was written for us but not to us. He warns that many believers are drifting from sound doctrine, citing Paul’s admonitions and the warning in Timothy about people who seek teachers that merely "tickle their ears." The core of the talk emphasizes proper hermeneutics: letting Scripture interpret Scripture, respecting progressive revelation, and studying the whole counsel of God rather than cherry‑picking proof‑texts. He shares his own educational journey—twice graduating from seminary—and argues that while formal theological training is valuable, it is not mandatory; diligent personal study, reliable commentaries, multiple translations, and modern tools (Bible software, AI) are essential. The speaker stresses humility before the Holy Spirit, the need for discernment when using tools that can mislead, and the importance of testing teachings against the broader biblical narrative. He advocates for seeking mature mentors, joining a sound local church, and fostering both pastor‑led and peer‑to‑peer discipleship, warning against the temptation to accept teachings that merely serve personal agendas or promote division. Throughout, he balances caution about cultural and linguistic gaps between the ancient biblical world and modern readers, urging believers to approach Scripture with reverence, patience, and a willingness to ask hard questions.
Chapters
And I'm just going to jump straight into it. I was actually supposed to do this video a few weeks ago and I didn't. I was disobedient. Repent it. And bear with me because my voice is— I'm coming back from a cold and so my voice is just, just healing. My vocals are healing. But anyway, let's jump into it. So a while back I had preached a message and this is nothing new. Many people have already said related this, um, but a while back I preached a message, maybe a year or two ago, a year ago, dealing with don't fall for the mixture. And basically what I was navigating, what I believe God was— what I believe God led me to do is to teach a message on the danger, because I was seeing so many people fall away from the faith because of how people were mixing, um, the gospel. And Paul had already talked about this. It's a danger. And Paul, paraphrasing, said, let them be accursed, um, when people do this. And so, and then, you know, we see this in Timothy where it says that people, certain people, well, people will not endure sound doctrine. They will perceive and seek out teachers, uh, that tickle their ears because of their itching ears and things. That, again, paraphrasing it, loosely paraphrasing it. So if we see that and we understand that, again, this is why I'm saying that it's nothing new. We've already been warned, so it doesn't surprise us. And my prayer is always that I don't fall prey to those things. And so this is what I want to just— if I could just kind of talk, and I have my thing, right? Just kind of keep me grounded with some few bullet points. So if I look down, that's what it's about. But, um, I want to kind of open up from this concept, kind of using that in, in the context, in the vein of, um, the Bible was written for us but it wasn't written to us. And I believe one of the things that has really helped me come to this conclusion, especially from some of my mentors and professors and things of that nature, is that I've been in seminary school, graduated seminary school twice. And of course, I've, you know, been educated on more of a traditional setting, secular setting. And one of the things I love about the academic settings is because it does, it forces me to sit down and study this. And then also, too, like, I'm an avid reader. And again, I'm not saying that it's to boast, but I guess what I'm trying to say is that you don't necessarily need seminary. Uh, yes, it has its pros and cons, but you don't necessarily need it. One doesn't have to go to seminary school, just one— like, one doesn't have to go to more of a secular-focused school, um, to be educated, is all I'm trying to say. Um, but however, you should seek education. And so for me, when it comes to the Bible, getting back to the heart of this video and stay on topic, uh, when it comes to the Bible, I have had to be educated. Like, and because a lot of times I would hear things coming up, or people would sit with me and be like, you just need to pray, you just need to read the word, uh, you need to study the word and do what it says. And that's what I would do, and it was quite boring and confusing. And it's because it was a while before I was properly educated, like, okay, here are some tools, here are some fundamental tools that you can use to make sure that you are staying in line in scripture. And so again, I was taught how to, you know, just properly do things when it comes to the Bible. You get into a whole lot of theological technical terms, but I'm gonna just keep it in everyday language, uh, just proper interpretation, um, cross-references and things of that nature. Just learning how to let scripture interpret scripture versus me bringing my personal bias and interpretation to it. The best interpretive of scripture is scripture itself. And that takes time and it takes patience. Uh, it takes a lot of prayer. And yes, you have to have the Holy Spirit because it doesn't make sense to the carnal mind. And so therefore, when it comes to the Bible, um, we have to understand that people gave up their lives to translate it, to preserve it. Many cases they died, like I said, they died for it by giving up their lives. And, uh, so we could freely open it today, and so we could have translations of it today. Now, you will get into arguments of the KJV versus the NLT or the CSB, ESV, NASB. People argue over translations. Uh, to me now, I now used to argue over them, but now I'm like, it is what it is. I hate to say that, but it really is, uh, because typically when I'm studying God's word I'm not fluent in Greek and Hebrew. I'll try it, and I kind of— I do use word study, uh, but I realize I typically pray, and I have people that I can reach out to that's pretty fluent in it, um, but I typically like have 3 to 4 translations open when I'm like deeply studying, um, uh, something in scripture, and then I'll wrestle with it study Bibles, you know, you know, I consult some trusted commentaries that I've kind of tested or vetted myself and just, you know, whatever, going through all of that. And so because we can't just have this arrogant assumption or idea that the illumination of Scripture just started with us, like, I think that's very arrogant. But I do think we should wrestle with the text, uh, because if we always go and consult this comment— uh, the commentary and um, every— what everybody else says about it, then typically we'll feel that we always need to be spoon-fed and we, we can't sit and work and pray, you know. So again, wrestle and like whatever with that, like just wrestle with it. And, uh, so typically I wrestle first, and then now with tools like AI and all of that, it does help. Soft Bible software and all of that, they're— it's not the devil, uh, but again you have to have tools. Because just like, just how like ChatGPT, for example, can hallucinate, you have other people that overstate and stretch the text. And so again, but relying on the discernment of the Holy Spirit and leaning in and looking things up, take your Bible, uh, be like, uh, in Acts 17 when Paul would teach. And this was Paul teaching, and the barbarians would be like, uh, okay, cool, Like, yeah, you said that, but we still gonna go look it up and see if it's true. Like, we should have that posture. Like, I love my pastor, I, I love a lot of teachers of the word, but, uh, I'm gonna go look it up. And I encourage people to do the same with me. Test this video, um, look at it in the context of scripture, and if I'm wrong, I'll stand corrected. Um, but so anywho, those are just, again, good habits. Like, it doesn't mean that your pastor is trying to deceive you. Uh, yes, there are some people that are false prophets and false teachers and all of that, but sometimes we like— we're— we will get it wrong. Like, and that's why I approach the scripture with so much humility. And a lot of stuff that I used to argue over, now I look at it as teaching. And so, um, so anywho, that's— because I don't want to go over— I'm already, uh, like 7 minutes in. And so, uh, just a few things that I believe that will help. So again, kind of going back into the premise of this thing, the Bible was written for us but not to us. Um, the problem isn't the Bible. A lot of people point to the Bible and say that it keeps us in bondage. It's a white man religion, it was passed down, all this type of stuff. But again, I disagree with that. I'm not— you might find this, but I was kind of leaning towards those views again until I had a safe space to ask hard questions, to ask questions that a lot of times people would rebuke me, tell me that I'm drifting, tell me that I'm very immature. It was hurt, but also too, God used that because it led me to a safe space where people would say, "Man, that's a good question. Let's unpack that. I'm not gonna give you the answers, but I'm gonna ask you a question." What a question. How about you go search this? And so I learned again how to start to study and, uh, pray, of course, pray and commune, navigating the Psalms and saying, wait a minute, this doesn't make sense to me. Like, this, this, this looks stupid, like, whatever. And it was like, is it stupid? Is it a contradiction? Or again, is it progressive revelation? So because the, the thing is, is that Um, a lot of times we approach the scripture with our modernized view, our culture, our baggage. We already have preconceived biases when we approach the scripture. But the thing is, is that we do not share the same culture, we do not share the same assumptions, and we often lack the right tools. One of my mentors used to say Shakespeare— when we read Shakespeare, it is English. And the words he used sometimes can be very confusing. So just imagine if Shakespeare's confusion, how much more is the Bible? And so we approach it with this— gonna just do what it say, just read it and take it at face value sometimes, or just, oh, be literal. Like, again, now I am a literalist when it comes to a lot of things and in the Bible itself, but again, progressive revelation um, the right tool— scripture interpreting scripture. Remember I said the best interpreter of the Bible is scripture itself. And so take the book of Proverbs right now. If I, if I over-index and just solely focus on the book of Proverbs, and I'm, I'm faithful to the book of Proverbs and I have not read any other book of the Bible, I will start to over-index, and that's the way I see it's limited. And so then when things happen in my life I don't need new revelation. I need to study the whole counsel of God's word. This is what Paul told us, the whole counsel. And so, say this, I'm just living in the book of Proverbs and then things start to happen. Now I'm questioning, now I'm saying, see, you, you see this scripture, how can God be this if you're going through this and he's allowing you to go through this? And you, because I'm only in the book of Proverbs, But if I just would have read the Book of Job, now I can see, wait a minute, this is not a contradiction. Again, this is progressive, this is complementing, this is where God is the whole counsel. And so, but that's what we typically do. We create proof texts and we zone in and we focus on one thing. We don't give enough weight to the other because we don't like the whole tension. And the Bible has a lot of tension. Even Jesus himself is a, a walking tension. Like, when he was in the flesh, he was fully man and fully God. And a lot of people, they don't believe that. They say, well, yeah, he was a great man, but I can't get with his divinity. Or, you know, so it's like divinity— I mean, I'm sorry, divinity. And so they was like, I can't accept that. And so again, just because you can't accept it doesn't mean that it's not. Just because we can't accept something, um, doesn't mean it's not true. Like, it is very much true that he's fully God and fully man when we look in the context of scripture. So again, we don't speak the same language, we don't share much of the same culture, and so when we don't wrestle with things and we don't sit and take our time and have the proper tools to say, okay, let me go into an ancient world because clearly Paul, Moses, David, Jeremiah, um, Peter— these people lived in a totally different culture. And even a lot of times when Jesus would talk, he would speak to people that had a clear understanding of, uh, the Torah. And so they were well-versed in this. And so sometimes when I see people make claims and say 'Well, Jesus didn't say that,' it's, it's a partial interpretation. It's, it's, it's not enlightening. It's just really not properly coming to the Bible and respecting it in the whole counsel, letting scripture interpret scripture. Because not just, not just Jesus, but, but in this context, in this particular example, Jesus— the assumption was made that they will wear a verse. For example, if I go speak to the local church that I'm a part of, um, I sometimes don't have to overly explain things because I'm like, okay, we've been in the series. I know that I've been in this series, a 7, 8 part series, say, or a series for the month. And so now a bunch of visitors come in and I'm saying things that they're like, wait a minute, um, you need to clarify this, you need to clarify that. So I'm kind of like, now, well, you have to go back and look at parts 1 through 3 or 1 through 6 to kind of catch up, because I'm operating as we have already— this audience just, just been faithful to come into this series, they already know. So that's why it's dangerous to jump in and out of things without taking the time again to understand and give way to the whole counsel of scripture. And so, uh, we just want to be careful with that. Uh, people are getting more and more skilled. AI is making it— again, AI is not evil. Uh, I look, I work, I've been a technology engineer my whole adult life. It's not evil, just like guns and all that type of stuff. You've heard this argument, it's the hands of the people. Uh, slavery is another big one. It was— scripture was hijacked. Uh, right now, if I wanted to, I could take— I could take advantage of my kids and I could manipulate them with the scripture to get them to do something and say that it's God because I can play on their ignorance of the scripture. Does that mean that the Bible— does that mean that the Bible is evil and keeping them in bondage? Or is it me that's evil and keeping them in bondage? Is it my posture? So those are things that we really have to ask when it comes to the word of God and just remembering that the Bible was written for us but not to us. And so, uh, again, remember that these— this was a real audience that these letters were to. These were real people, and it was an ancient context. And when we start to allow modern view to dictate scripture, we are playing a very dangerous game. Uh, and I would just say again, get up under a sound teacher. Uh, join a local church that is very sound and true to the scripture, and not just preaching sound but striving to live sound. We can get into debates about, um, we all sin versus habitually sinning. Uh, you want people that are truly— you see the evidence of maturity. Look for evidence. Get up close to them. See the lines of demarcation. Um, and pray and ask God, because, uh, it's a beautiful thing when we find the right community. There's no perfect local church, like, there's not. But the beauty of it is, is that, um, I believe that there's some very mature local churches. I don't look for perfection, I look for faithfulness to God. And so for me, uh, if you ever want to have a conversation, again, I will always encourage you to talk to your pastor if you have a pastor. Or talk to a community, or talk to a very mature believer. Uh, and again, when you're searching out mentors and things of that nature, it doesn't always have to be a pastor per se. Um, I don't know what's in us to always make us feel like spiritual father and a spiritual mother or whatever, or has to be per se a pastor. Like, it could be somebody that is just very mature that has lived his life out and has been consistent with, that you can— can take you up under your wing and teach you the Bible. Again, I'm not going away and saying you don't need a pastor or anything like that. I'm just saying, find— that is discipleship. It's just something in us that feel like it always has to be the pastor when it doesn't. Um, just find a more mature believer. And then I would say to the mature believer, uh, just because you're mature, uh, and I'm preaching to myself too, just because you're mature, uh, you might be immature in some areas that the immature person that you're mentoring might be mature in. So also give space for that peer-to-peer discipleship. But however, you should be the more mature helping them come along. Uh, so that's what I would just say, like, get with people that you can ask the hard questions to. You don't have to go to seminary, But find a local church that is really about equipping and people that can sit with you and won't rebuke you or think you have a demon because you're starting to question the word of God, because you're questioning from a posture of humility and you just like, hey, I just don't understand this. I think this doesn't make sense. I've been indoctrinated with this. Like, do the work because this is what's going to help you give a defense for the gospel. Not just in words but in posture as well. And so, uh, again, man, I love you all. Uh, my heart is for the Bible. I'm still growing. God is busting me up every day. People don't realize how much I'm corrected. It might not always be by people, but every time I'm looking at my desk over here, but every time I get in that word, you see little wet spots in my Bibles and things of that nature because of the humility. And when I'm do get it wrong. It's the repetitive posture and exhaling, God, thank you, thank you so much for your grace and your mercy, man. Thank you so much for keeping me in spite of how I was looking at something or doing something. Uh, so anywho, I'm getting way off topic, but, uh, just be careful. Be careful of the mixture. Be careful of promoting and playing into the trap of people that just really care about views and attraction, and they don't care nothing about your soul. Um, like, don't fall for it. Like, this is all schemes and tricks of the enemy because division promotes, division grows. Um, and this is why certain things and sound teachings and certain things don't really go viral because to a lot of people they're boring. They don't keep up strife and division, uh, because it promotes unity. And so, uh, man, again, I love you all. I'm always praying for you all. I wanted to be obedient. I know it's long, um, but I just had to be obedient and share this. And so pray for me that I heal up, and, um, and man, we just continue to keep doing God's will.
