 Now the emphasis in Calvary ministry is the teaching of the Word of God, and I'll share some things about that in a moment. In Matthew 28, verse 18, Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you, and though I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen. I want to share about the priority of God's Word. Pastor Chuck shared and seen that we're following the pattern of the Ventures series, and it's intended to communicate the philosophy and some of the things that make Calvary Chapel distinct, at least at one time, what we would have referred to as distinctives. Chuck mentioned how that he felt responsible for the members of his fellowship not growing because he originally was an evangelist, and so he's always given invitations, and he came to realize that he was evangelizing the evangelized, and so through a series of events, he began to learn to emphasize teaching. Part of what happened was he was pastoring a church in Huntington Beach, and Chuck was a surfer, and he loved the surf, and so he said that it was just such a great place to be that he said, I wanted to stay longer than I normally did, because in denominations they very often will just take a pastor and he stays for a short while, then they replace him, and he goes to another church. And so what he did is he found some notes on 1 John, and he broke those notes down so that he could teach an entire year, and he said initially that was part of the reason why he began to teach verse by verse through books of the Bible. He also had found interesting comments in Haley's Bible, a book called Haley's Handbook of the Bible, and in it Haley stated that the wisest thing a pastor could do is to take the church through the Word of God, and so these were things that the Lord began to work in Chuck's heart, and ultimately became his philosophy and all, and he never stopped caring about evangelism, he did until the day he went home to be with Jesus. He was responsible by the Lord's grace to actually encourage Greg Loritz to do the harvest crusades, and it was Pastor Chuck and his fellowship that actually paid for the initial harvest crusades and all, because he saw God moving at his church as Greg used to do an evening service there with many getting saved, and it was Chuck who desired to see people saved and all, and it was he who had put Greg in the position that he's found himself in now. God used Chuck for that, but he remained to the very end a Bible teacher, and so I'm going to share a little bit with you tonight about the importance or the priority of the Word of God. Now I don't know how many of you were raised in the Catholic Church, I've asked this on occasion recently, I'm out of curiosity how many were raised in the Catholic Church, so some of the things I say may relate to you, especially in the introduction. You see my Catholic upbringing did not include the teaching of the Word of God, because when I went to Catholic Church I learned things out of catechism and all, I learned some essentials of the Catholic faith, but when you went to church on Sunday you didn't really get a Bible study, you got a sermon, and it was a simple portion of the mass, and so I didn't grow up with an appreciation for Bible teaching, because I never had Bible studies, I never received Bible teaching, so my Catholic upbringing didn't include a love for the Word of God. When I began attending Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa, that's when I first began to be taught, and from the beginning of my walk with the Lord I had been taught that God's Word is of greatest importance. I remember when I was a young believer I went to visit my then sister-in-law, and she had a large Catholic Bible in one of the rooms, and I was there visiting her to share with her about the Lord, and she was somewhere else in the house, and I opened this 500-pound family Bible. Some of you have seen, you know, those huge ones that they put on coffee tables, and I was looking at this huge Bible, and obviously as a new believer I wanted to read and I wanted to know, and I can still remember going to the very back of the Bible, and it had Catholic doctrine from A to Z, and so as a new believer I'm looking at the different topics and all, and there were topics that I was interested in, that I had been taught, and so I began to look for biblical references to the assumption of Mary, body and soul, and to heaven, which made her the Queen of Heaven. I looked for that. I looked for the topic of baptismal regeneration, confession to priests. I looked for a subject related to the immaculate conception to limbo, penance, purgatory, prayer to the saints. I looked to see if there were any scriptures that backed up those those doctrines, and I made a decision then that if it wasn't found in this book it wasn't going to be something I would believe. It has to be in God's word, and so from the very beginning that's what I was doing, and so I went into the army shortly after I began attending Biola College. I began a home study in 1973, and I began my very first book that I ever taught was the Gospel of Matthew, and it simply made sense to me that if you're going to know God you ought to look from chapter 1 verse 1 to the last chapter and verse of that book. It just made sense to me, and so from 1973 to now that's how I've taught. It wasn't that Chuck taught me to do that. It wasn't that the first minister who was influencing me, his name was Lonnie Frisbee, it wasn't him. It wasn't that they didn't say that openly as far as I can remember. I didn't hear that specifically said. It was just something the Holy Spirit had laid on my heart. If you're going to know something you ought to read it from the beginning to the end. You never pick up a book and just read it from the center, right? If you're reading a book you start at the beginning, and then you go through the entire book to the conclusion. It just made sense to me, and that's how come I do what I do now. I just teach book studies. Of course like now I do topical studies. Normally you know I teach book studies, and that's why I do that. Now as Romaine was saying, Romaine was Chuck's bulldog. He was Chuck's assistant. And as Romaine was saying he would speak to pastors, and pastors often wanted to know what the secret of the ministry of Calvary Chapel was. And the secret of Calvary Chapel always has been it was the sovereign work of God. Now Pastor Chuck taught us as pastors, and he influences this way. He said teach the Word of God and walk in the power of the Holy Spirit. Those are the two basic things. Billy Graham when he was in town and doing crusades was known to go to Calvary Chapel and just park in the parking lot. And on one occasion he was asked, why are you out here Billy? What are you doing? And he said the presence of God's Holy Spirit is so powerful here. I like to just come and just sit before the presence of the Lord. People talk about you know how did Calvary Chapel become what it was under Chuck's leadership? And Chuck would be the first one to say it's all the Lord. It's all the love of God. It's all the grace of God. It's the power of God's Holy Spirit. It's a love for God's Word. That's an essential of Calvary Ministry. I hope you see that as an essential of this ministry because that's what it's all about. The love of God, the love of his grace, the love of his goodness to us, the love of his Word that reveals him to us and the walk of the Spirit. And that's what we learned from the very beginning. And that distinctive should be obvious in every Calvary Chapel. So we want to be teachers of the Word of God and we want to be known for that. Now there was a movement that that spray out called the Vineyard Movement. And the Vineyard Movement began under the leadership of John Wimber. John Wimber was a friend's pastor, a friend's denomination pastor. And John Wimber became associated with Calvary Chapel. And John Wimber originally, when he associated with Calvary, was called Calvary Chapel of Yorba Linda. And so John got caught up in wanting to what he used to call do the stuff. He wanted to do the stuff. He wanted to see supernatural occurrences, power of the Holy Spirit, even wrote books on power evangelism and things like that. He used to teach at Fuller Seminary, a particular class related to power evangelism. And John began to move away from teaching the Word. And his ministry became more experiential. So you might go to a Vineyard and you might have 40 minutes of worship and 20 minutes of teaching. And it began to flow in that direction. And so Walter Martin, while still alive, said that if the Vineyard isn't careful to return to its Calvary Chapel roots to teach the Word of God, that it's going to lose its effectiveness. Because he saw that the Vineyard was moving towards experiential Christianity and was getting away from the teaching of the Bible. I remember one time when John said Calvary Chapels have made a new Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Bible. And he was doing that to mock the Calvary Chapel movement that he had left. Well, the fact is, is his quote-unquote ministry didn't last because he didn't found it on the Word of God. Somebody was speaking to a Jehovah's Witness and the Jehovah's Witness asked him, where do you go to church? And so the person that the Jehovah's Witness was speaking to said, I go to Calvary Chapel. And the Jehovah's Witness' statement was, oh, all they ever do is teach the Bible. And so that's well known what we believe. So we believe that God's Word is the foundation of our faith. And teaching God's Word is part of the commission the church received from Jesus as I just read to you. Notice how we had said again in Matthew 28, he said in verse 19, go therefore and make disciples of all the nations. Notice verse 20, teaching them to observe all things I've commanded you. And so that's what we're called to do. If they're going to become disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, they're to observe all things Jesus commanded. And that's why we have systematic Bible studies. That's why we go verse by verse through books of the Bible. It's like what Paul said in Acts 20, verse 27, when he was speaking to the Ephesian elders and he said, I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. How do you receive the whole counsel of God by going from Genesis to Revelation, by going from book to book, from chapter to chapter, from verse to verse? See the purpose of preaching and teaching the Word of God is liberation as well as transformation. Liberation in that spiritual captives are set free through the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's what Jesus said in John 8 30 through 32 where he said, if you abide in my word, you are my disciples indeed and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. Liberation but also transformation because a person's life is forever changed because we're born again. The question was asked in Psalm 119 verse 9. How can a young man cleanse his way? How does that happen? How can a man cleanse his way? He says by taking heed there to according to your word. Later on he says, is your word have I hit in my heart that I might not sin against you? In the book of James in chapter 1 verse 18 we read that he chose to give us birth through the Word of truth. So God's word says that we can become new in Christ. He says the old will be passed away forever. So we're taught the Word of God and by practicing it we're transformed and we're set free to practice and be transformed. Romans 6 18 says having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. Now this comes through the Word of God. The transformation, the liberation, it doesn't come through stories. It doesn't come through political parties. It comes through the preaching and receiving of the Word of God and transformation occurs that way. So we see teaching and applying God's word as a high priority because God's method and message of transformation is found in scripture. D.L. Moody a great evangelist of another day said, I believe that the reader must have faith in the Bible and a love for it before he will receive much good from it. As Pascal said, human knowledge must be understood to be loved. But divine knowledge must be loved to be understood. Those who are full of doubts will never be much blessed. And that's true. So why have we as Calvary chapels made God's word such a priority? Because it's God's word that builds us up and it's God's word that puts ahead your protection around us. In Acts 20 verse 32, Paul said, I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. And that's what motivates me to study and to teach properly. In 2 Timothy 2 verse 15, Paul said, be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. When I was in the army back in 1971, I became involved with a group called the navigators. I don't even know if any of you have ever even heard of them. If you were in the military, perhaps you did, the navigators. And one of the challenges that the navigators gave to us was to memorize scripture, to study and to get to know the scriptures, especially to memorize them. And that was one of the traits of a navigator. And that's one of the things I saw that was valued when I went to the navigators. And so when I got out of the military and I went to school and started a Bible study, I made a decision and you'll see this in my teaching style, that if I'm going to make a statement to you, I want that statement to be backed up with the scripture. And that's why you can take notes and write down scriptures in my messages. Because I've seen, especially today, I see it's more common now than even before, where the pastor becomes the authority and the people are the listeners. But they're not checking to see whether he's making comments that line up with God's word. And so what I've tried to do is have what you call proof text. So if I say this is important, I want you to know a scripture that in context is saying exactly what I'm trying to present to you. And that's why you'll see so many scriptures in our Bible studies here. Because I want to rightly divide the word of truth. Now over the years, I have seen winds of doctrine that have entered the church. There are movements that I've seen I've been around long enough to have seen movements called like the shepherding movement, the positive confession movement, the signs and wonders movement, the holy laughter movement, the seeker friendly movement, the emergent movement. There are so many winds of doctrine that have entered into the church. And there's so much destruction that has been the result of that. There are some very well known people today that are actually starting to back off of positions that they've held for years. And they have said certain things for a long time. And now you're seeing that in the latter stages of their of their quote unquote ministries, they're starting to say, Well, I was off base on that. You won't be off base. If you do like what Romain and the others were saying, if you won't be off base, if you go through the Bible, because going through the Bible has a way of safeguarding you from the odd little things that come about sometimes, where people say the most odd thing, there was a movement that was taking place. It was called Holy Laughter. And there were the people would just laugh uncontrollably, but that gave itself over to other things. So that people in church services, you won't believe this, some of you, if you've been around a while, you'll know this is true. I spoke against it when it was going on 20 years or more ago. And I in this on on this platform here, I would and people would get upset. Oh, how can you be so harsh and judgmental? Because it's mentality that everything is true. And therefore, we shouldn't be discerning. It's been in the church for a long time. And and there there was a movement where people were actually barking like dogs during the church service. They were they were meowing like cats during the church service. And I was concerned because they were going to fight like dogs and cats if there was so much nonsense that people were accepting. And they were thinking that it was okay. But we want to hold fast to the word of God. And again, it was Walter Martin who issued the warning to the vineyard. But it was ignored. You see, movements come and movements go. But that which is built on a solid foundation does last. And Psalm 119 verse 89 forever, oh, Lord, your word is settled in heaven. In Mark 13 31, heaven and earth will pass away. But my words will by no means pass away, Jesus said. So many who are called pastor simply fail to emphasize what Jesus taught to emphasize. Many pastors fail to preach and teach the whole council of God with conviction. And 1 Peter 4 11, the apostle said, if anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it with the ability which God supplies that in all things, God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. So we are to speak with boldness with confidence, because we know that what we're presenting is God's word. It's not a word. It is God's word. And it ought to be spoken that way. Psalm 119, 160, the entirety of your word is truth. And every one of your righteous judgments endures forever. Romans 116. I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It's a power of God to salvation for everyone who believes for the Jew first and also for the Greek were to preach the word in season and out of season were to correct rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and teaching. Paul said to Timothy and 2 Timothy 4. You see, many pastors have failed to preach and teach with conviction that the word of God is true. And the result is weak sheep and deception that is rampant and is now accepted as orthodoxy. God's word gives discernment and it safeguards us. It's intended to equip the sheep and to protect them. In Ephesians 4.14, we should no longer be children, tossed, to and fro, carried about with every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men in the cunning craftiness by which they lie in wait to deceive. You see, many pastors are afraid of offending sensitive hearers. They avoid saying things that cause people to leave. And that spirit is in the church today in an amazing, amazing amount of that. It wasn't that long ago and for the first time, and again, to bring some context, this church is over 37 years old. I was assisting in another church teaching there in 1970, 1978. I was teaching in the Bible studies in 1973. So my teaching experience goes back 45 years. I've taught 8,000 or more sermons and messages, no less than that. Probably more, probably more over the years. So I have a little experience. And in all of those time-consuming, I've been behind a pulpit. All of the years that I've spent studying, every Bible study that you give takes several hours to prepare. And all of those years of study, all of those years of teaching. And if there's anything that you, the church here that goes here should know, is that I do my best to tell you the truth. I try to be as clear as I can. I do. I try to be as clear as I can. I do. I try to make sure that what I'm saying is accurate. And I do that with all of my heart. So you can't imagine how I felt a few weeks ago, several weeks ago now, when somebody from the congregation yelled out, you lie, pastor. And that's the first time Marie ever said that in public. And started, and it actually startled me, that somebody would yell out in church and call me a liar and said a few other things during the sermon. And it got me upset. It got me upset because if there's anything I want to be is honest and real and truthful with the word of God. But that's in church today. That attitude and that spirit is there. I don't want to hear what you have to say. Tell me things I want to hear. Speak to me falsely because it makes me feel better about myself. But I discovered a long time ago that sometimes I have to hear something about me that's not so good. So I can deal with that. So I can hear the other things that are good. There are times that the Lord gives me a spanking in order that he can mold me into what he can bless. And the word of God, when rightly divided and presented in its context, has a way of correcting and preventing correction simultaneously. That's one of the reasons why we go through the whole word of God. But there are a lot of pastors who are afraid of offending sensitive hearers. So they avoid things. There are churches that stick with certain doctrines, certain teachings. So they'll teach on healing or prosperity. They'll talk about politics or the latest doctrine. They'll speak of social causes. But when this occurs, the church becomes guilty of avoiding the full counsel of God. A while back now, I met with local pastors related to the subject of homosexuality. And there are bills and laws and things that were being passed. And I was asked to join a group of pastors to discuss that, how the church responds to that. And as I was in the meeting, I shared some things about what the Bible teaches related to it. And I shared how God's grace is abundant. How God forgives us every manner of sin. That you can't avoid one sin because it's not politically proper to approach it. But you have to approach all sins because God forgives us of all sins. And I mentioned that my sister was a lesbian for many years and came to Faith in Christ, was serving the Lord and all. And it upset some people in that meeting who were called pastor. And one of the pastors right after I spoke said, I don't know why we're making a big deal out of homosexuality. It's only mentioned a few times in the Bible. And I turned to him. And sometimes I'm not good with self-control. And I turned to him and I said to him, how many times does God have to tell you something before you listen? It's not enough. I said, if it's mentioned one time, that's all we need to hear from God. You can't be avoiding subjects and you can't be trying to make them appropriate or acceptable. You can't do that. You have to tell the people the truth so they can be set free from their bondage. And if you don't do that, you're a false teacher because God calls us to speak the truth in love. And we do love the people, but it has to be the truth. And that comes from God's word. And a lot of people are really not open to that even in this fellowship. You see from the beginning, I as a pastor have tried to lovingly speak the truth of God. I've wanted my church to be protected to grow in discernment, to be evangelistic and you only get that through God's word. We speak the truth in love. And Paul asked the Galatians on one occasion, have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth? See, you have to tell the truth, but according to Ephesians 4.15, you do it in love. God made a promise in Jeremiah 3.15. He said, I'll give you shepherds according to my heart who will feed you with knowledge and understanding. That's what the shepherd is to do, feed you with experiential knowledge and understanding of the ways of God. In 1 Thessalonians 2 verse 4, Paul said, but as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak. Not as pleasing men, but God who tries our hearts. You know, when God called a young man by the name of Jeremiah to ministry, he said, don't be afraid of their faces, Jeremiah, because there was going to be a response to the things that he had to say. When he spoke to a man named Isaiah, he said to them, he said to him, Isaiah, you're going to speak, but nobody's going to listen. They're going to have ears, but they won't hear. They'll have eyes, but they won't see. They're not going to listen. They're going to reject you. I believe that we're in that period now. I believe that there are people with eyes who don't see and ears that will not hear. And I believe that we're in a period where people are heaping into themselves teachers because they have itching ears and they're moving towards fables and turning away from truth. We're living in those days. And remember that Jesus said the number one evidence of the last days was false teachers. And we're living in that day right now. And so, because of that, we want to stay faithful and true to God's word. You see, we have a priority of the word of God because there's so many blessings. Because in God's word, there's life. In John 6 verse 63, Jesus said, the words that I speak to you are spirit and life. There's understanding in God's word. In Psalm 119 verse 99, the Psalmist said, I have more understanding than all my teachers for your testimonies are my meditation. In God's word, there's a way of purity. I already mentioned where with all shall a young man cleanse his way. By taking heed there, too, according to that word, that word have I hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you. There's a light in spiritual darkness. In Psalm 119 verse 19105, your word is a lamp into my feet, a light to my path. Psalm 119 verse 130, the entrance of your words gives light. In God's word, there's faith. Romans 10, 17. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. It's God's word that instructs us concerning how we live. And it's God's word that teaches us how we love. In 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17, all scripture is God breathed. It's useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, training in righteousness so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. So the Bible informs us. It corrects us. It restores us. It trains us. And it furnishes us. As I read the Bible, I began to learn some things about being a Christian. Where else am I going to learn that I learned to love by reading about Jesus and seeing how he loved. I can still remember, as I've mentioned to you in the past, many of you have heard this. When I first went into the military and I was placed in a permanent party in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, I would every day, actually six days out of the week, I would go out to this particular area to run. And that's what I did. And as I went to take my run, I still remember every time I'd be walking from my barracks to the place that I was running in the woods, I can still remember walking as a young man, 21 years old, 20 years old, 21. I can still remember walking and I still remember the prayer that I would pray. It was not a rote prayer. It was just a heart prayer. But I was saying to him, God help me to love. God help me to love. Your word teaches that you love would you teach me what that word means? Because I had never seen it in action. I didn't know really what it was. And so, how did he teach me by reading the word of God? I've said this before, but it's very true. As a man, I didn't know how to show any kind of compassionate understanding. I didn't know how to do that. I was one of these guys that said, you got a problem? Fix it. I don't get it. What's your problem? Just deal with it. And then the Lord started showing me his compassion, how we would see people in need. And then I saw how he would weep. And I was taken by the fact that he wept over Jerusalem. It says that there he was looking at the city and as he approached the city, he wept. And I thought he wept over this. And then I read about him at the tomb of his friend, Lazarus. And I read about how Jesus wept. And I thought, you mean it's okay to have compassion? How that he would see the sheep as they were without any shepherd and he had compassion on them and he taught them and ministered to them? You mean that's what Christians do? And that's how I started learning about compassion. I read the Bible and I saw how I would bring children to Jesus. And me, you could bring your baby to me and it wasn't like I was a monster towards them. I just didn't feel an attachment to them or an attraction to hold them. That's what girls do. That's not what guys do. You know, bring your kid and show it to a girl and I'll look at it. But I have no desire to hold that thing. That's how I was. I mean, I was, that's the truth. I mean, even when my wife had babies she had two. I didn't hold them. I wasn't interested in that. It wasn't that I didn't like them. They were my nephews. I just had no time for them. And I thought, yeah, they're babies, you know. And so I'm reading the Bible and the Bible says that people brought their infants to Christ and he held them and he blessed them. And I said to myself so that's what love does. It's okay. Me you know, if you knew me at 20 you'd know what I was saying is true. At my age I grew tender, but how did that happen? You're just an old goat. No. It happened because I've been seeking the Lord every day since almost when I got saved. God changed my heart and teach me to love. Teach me to care. And so the only babies that I ever was really comfortable with at first was my own. And then I began to learn to love other people's children. How did I learn that? I looked at Jesus. I looked at him and he held babies and I thought I guess that's okay. I guess I can be a man and weep. He wept over his friend Lazarus so it's okay to have tears in your heart for the right things. And it's okay to hold a child. And I started seeing things about Christ and I started saying well if you're conforming me into the image of Jesus these are things Lord that seem to be natural to you that really should be natural to me too. And that's what I've done over the years. I've learned these things not through some man's examples but through conforming when I have good examples of course but because I saw the example in Christ and where did I learn that from? The Bible. From reading about Jesus to seeing how he dealt with things. To see that he was betrayed. How did he react to betrayal? You know he said my own familiar friend has lifted up his heal against me. So there are times of betrayal that even those who are closest to you will break your heart. Yes, but what did you do after that? I went to the cross and I died for his sins too. So you learned these things by reading the Bible. So I learned to love by reading about Jesus and watching how he loved. I learned to love my wife by reading Ephesians in 1 Peter and other passages that relate to laying your life down for I learned to love my children. I learned to love Israel. You know I would have had no concern at all for the nation of Israel if God didn't have so much for it. I wouldn't have cared about Israel why would I? But when I see that God says I will bless you on account of Israel. When I see that God's eye is on Israel that Jerusalem is the apple of his eye. When I see his love for Israel I grew to love the nation of Israel too. I learned how to speak properly. I learned how to speak without swearing because I had the most profane dirty mouth that any of my friends had. I could out cuss. I invented cuss combinations. Just to shock people. I really did. When I was in high school as long ago as that is now I was very quick. The coach said I was the quickest runner in my high school. He said but he's got the filthiest mouth of any kid I've ever heard. And that was true because I would use filthy language and invent combinations just to do it. But I read the Bible let no coarse word proceed out of your mouth and I discovered the scripture teaches that profanity isn't a proper way of communicating and I learned he said no let the words that you speak be those that bring edification to the hearer. I received the power of the Holy Spirit by the word of God. And through God's power I overcame the alcohol and the drugs and the things that went along with that. You see the man of God is thoroughly furnished or equipped by the word of God thoroughly thoroughly completely so that he can perform every good work. So I encourage all of us to become disciplined students of the word to become acquainted with God's word it has eternal value in 1 Thessalonians 2 13 for this reason we also thank God without ceasing because when you receive the word of God which you heard from us you welcomed it not as the word of men but as it is in truth the word of God which also effectively works in you who believe. It takes personal time. It takes effort and it takes discipline but we have to make a priority of not only knowing God's word but also obeying it. I've had people who have approached me on occasion after a study or whatever and they've shared with me their situation and they have said to me things like I need help in this area this and that and I listen to them and then I there's been more than once that I've said you know Jesus said this and they will say it to me so often I already know that I already know that and my answer is found in John 13 17 because and I'll say that to them I'll say well if you know these things blessed are you if you do them it isn't the knowing alone there are a lot of people going to hell who know a lot of truth it's not the knowing it's the doing in the Jewish mind knowledge was not the accumulation of information the accumulation of information is really a Greek way of thinking when it comes to knowledge so for a Greek the more he knew the more she knew the more information they had they would be more respected for their information but not to the Jew the Jew said that information is an assimilation that produces transformation and that's why Jesus would say if you know these things blessed are you if you do them because it's not enough to know it's the knowledge that is real is the transforming knowledge that comes through obedience and faith and that's what Christianity is you see there are a lot of people who like to say they're Christians you know like Lady Gaga no seriously right you read about her comments the other day that she was making concerning Karen Pence and that Karen Pence ought not to be teaching at a Christian school because you know it's just wrong because it's a bigoted thing to do and Lady Gaga said I'm a Christian you know and that's easy I'm not going to judge the person God forgive me if it sounds like I am I'm using that as an example you can say one thing but your life screams so loudly I can't hear what you're saying see Christianity is not just accumulating information it's not just saying I believe it's living and that's why James said you believe in one God that is good no you're not that demons also believe and tremble there's something called devil faith demons have a more sure knowledge of the reality of God sometimes than even believers do because they were created they have seen him they are aware of who he is and that's why they would say I know who you are because they are aware of him in a way that we have to walk by faith and not by sight so one of the ways that demonstrates that you actually know God is a transformed life that you live because of that and that's one of the reasons why many people say they're Christian never pick up the book don't put it into practice don't go to churches that teach the word of God and walk around still blind saying that they can see and so for us here in Calvary Chapel it's one of the distinctives and one of the things that we value is not just the talk but it's the talk that is followed up by the walk and the walk comes from the word so we want to walk in the spirit and the word of God so that our lives are evidential that we know him that he changes lives that's christianity and that's one of the things that we as Calvary Chapels most surely believe