 Is seminary a good thing? Should I go to seminary? Should my pastor go to seminary? Should all pastors or preachers or teachers, should they go to seminary or should they have gone to some sort of Bible college? Well, there's different answers to this. It's dependent upon who you ask, but for me, I think it is a good thing for some and maybe a good thing for people who aren't necessarily even in ministry. As many of you know, I'm also in seminary and that was a time where I just rejected the idea of going to seminary. I didn't think there was a need for it. I felt like that as long as I've got my Bible and the Holy Spirit, well, then I'm good. And to some extent, that is true. However, there may be a little bit of some limitations to that, not to mean that seminary can accomplish just those limitations that you might get with just you and your Bible and the Holy Spirit. Some of the limitations are that you just don't understand or know what's happening in that particular culture, because again, we are about, about depending on which part of the book we're reading two, three, four, 5,000 years removed from the scene, not just in terms of time, but also in terms of culture. We're talking about an ancient Eastern culture that spoke different languages, a lot of different rituals, a lot of different ways of living and doing things. But for us, here we are in the 21st century looking at things through a 21st century lens. And sometimes it might be hard to kind of overcome that barrier. I was always encouraged to go to seminary and I just did not want to. I thought that I was fine, man, because of time. And also, I was just really never a big fan of school, except for the hanging out part, but the study and the reading, that was never really my thing. But now there are some benefits to that. So let me be clear up front, reading the Bible and having the Holy Spirit is sufficient. However, is sufficient the best you can do or the best that you may want to do? Is it possible that there might be something better that you can get than just you alone with your Bible? The aid, the help of other people, being pushed by other people, being made to defend your points, to prove your points, being able to show how you can confidently and effectively communicate the point, because the whole goal of a seminary or Bible college or extra Bible studies is not to get information just for the sake of getting information. The Bible tells us that knowledge makes someone arrogant, but love edifies. And so we want to have knowledge. Again, the Bible tells us to grow in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord and that we should teach what a chord would sound and doctrine mean, we should understand it as well. So whether you are a preacher, whether you're just a lay member you want to learn, I think that Bible study is a good thing. And all seminary is, or all these Bible colleges are, are just an extra layer of Bible study. They might be structured. You go over different doctrines and different disciplines in seminary, in these different Bible colleges and so forth. And so I think it can be a very good thing. Now, does that mean that it's to be all to end all? No, because some seminaries, though they might be reputable, they can still produce teachers or preachers or students that we would, which rather they never would have. That's not necessarily a reflection on the seminary, although sometimes we look at it that way, but we've got to remember that even Jesus, we're talking about Jesus, had a student named Judas and is that a reflection upon Jesus? No, the heart of the student actually matters. And so sometimes a person can go to a good seminary or a good Bible college and it's not the Bible colleges fault, it's that person, because maybe they went with the wrong motives, maybe they had a bad heart going in and the seminary didn't have the ability to actually discern always a person's intent. All you can do is all you can do sometimes. And so sometimes you're going to get some bad apples. Now, there are some bad seminaries and some bad Bible colleges. There are what we call these diploma meals. And one of the things that I think is beginning to be a problem in the church is that we've got people who in many cases are well-known, someone not well-known, who have gone to these diploma meals, who have gotten degrees, gotten letters, gotten honorary doctors and so forth and letters. And they use those to kind of promote themselves as though I'm doctor so-and-so or I've got my master's here. And when you go back in a careful examination of the seminary, the accreditation, their curriculum may shed some light on the fact that this person just went to a place and basically paid for a degree, paid for letters. That's not a good thing. That's lacking integrity on the part of the person. The person knows that some of these schools just aren't worth the name, not worth the paper that this degree is written on, but you do so why? Because even not necessarily knowledge puffs up, but perceived knowledge, those that perceive you as having knowledge, that can puff you up as well. If a person wants to be called doctor so-and-so, then one, that might speak to that person's heart, but then two, make sure you earned that. If you have not sat and taken the time to discipline yourself and do the correct writing, the time, the research and so forth, the actual dissertation and so forth, the lengthy process takes time. It's a careful process. If you haven't done that, even though that seminary gave you a doctorate degree, you should be honest enough to say, I did not earn it, because all you've done is really waste time. Someone's gonna look and see that, wait a second, this is some sort of diploma meal, the accreditation process or the curriculum is below standard. A good college, a good Bible study program, a good seminary is going to force you to earn your stripes in terms of the languages. I think personally that every pastor should have a discipline in the language, Hebrew and Greek, not necessarily be a scholar at it, but at least be able to articulate some of the points, understand the moves, the voice, the tensions of the verbs, the case endings and so forth of the nouns, understand syntax of some degree, because it helps you to communicate the scriptures. Same thing with the Bible college, we should look and see what they're teaching, what they're going, what they're after. The reason why I would go to seminary, why I'm going to seminary, one is to be challenged. I think I have a pretty good understanding of the scriptures, but what if I'm wrong? What if it's just me that thinks so and then I find out that I'm not well, even if I find out that I'm not as understanding of the Bible, when I get there, you know what's gonna happen, hopefully I will become a little bit more understanding, I'll see what other people think, I will see what others think, what they have discovered, what they see through their many years of study. And oh by the way, I'm not the only one that has an idea or an opinion on the Bible, others do. And so I might hear and be able to share in with what others see, they may see things differently, things I didn't consider, but you'll learn more about the history, the culture, church history, what's happened, how do we have, why do we believe some of the things we believe in some of our denominations, how do they form the different scriptures that can help us to see these things clearly. And so for that reason, it is a good reason to go to a seminary or Bible college. Now there's some drawbacks. One, the cost, they can be expensive, but many seminaries, including the one that I go to, I happen to go to Dallas Theological Seminary, there are free online courses just to help you in. And there are also scholarships and so forth, if the person actually wants to go fully through the seminary. But there are places where you can go to get good Bible teaching and instruction for free. But do you have to go to seminary? Is it necessary? Obviously not, absolutely not. You don't have to. What you want to do is get a good education, a good understanding of the scriptures, whether you are going to be a pastor, in ministry or just a layperson, you want to grow enough for the pastor. We are told this. Paul says that you should be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed. Ashamed of what? Well, how he handles a text. He says one who accurately handled the word of truth. A person who was before the people needs to be able to accurately handle the word of truth. And we have seen far too often people who get up before the people and don't know how to handle the text even in a basic or elementary fashion. So apps and a person going to seminary or Bible college, what should a person do if they want to grow? Well, I think making sure that you find a place or a program where you can kind of be challenged, where you can go through the text, have questions, get the questions answered, the different online programs. That's the whole purpose of this particular channel is to be able to go through the text, take questions, answer the questions, but answer them kind of in an in-depth, thorough fashion. You want to be able to study and go in why, not because you want to know all the information, but you want to be able to get the information so that you can convey the information. You want to love the Bible so much so that you learn and then when you learn it, you live it. How you live the Bible is reflected on how you learned the Bible, what you learned about it and what you think about the Bible. Remember, these scriptures are inspired by God. They are breathed out by the Holy Spirit. So we have the very thoughts, the very words, imagined or inspired by the Holy Spirit for us to learn. And so we should take advantage of that. Look at getting different commentaries. Look at investing in different books and so forth. Look at getting different online studies sources such as maybe Accordance Bible Software or Lagos Bible Software or other software. And there are different packages that you can get. You don't have to spend tens of thousands of dollars, but even some of the more expensive packages, you could also pay for them over time, be it Lagos or Accordance. And I'm sure there are other packages also or just do it online as you go. There's a wealth of information out there. The bottom line is there's no reason why anybody who wants to know and wants to grow in the grace and not as the Lord, there's no reason why they can't. They can do it through seminary. They can do it through Bible college. They can do it through some sort of online Bible training course or what have you. They can do it through this channel. They can do it through other channels. They can do it on their own by just, you can Google certain things. There's a wealth of information at your fingertips. The point is, and all you're getting, get understanding, understand the scriptures, grow in it, learn in it so that you can effectively live it and then also effectively communicate it. Amen.