Can I Trust The Bible?: Part 3

January 18th, 2026 | Seventh Day Adventist

SECTION 1: INTRODUCTION (5 min)

God’s Word Was Never Meant for One Language

Before we talk about English Bibles, before we talk about King James, and before we touch any of the books on this table, I want us to zoom out for just a moment. One of the most important things to understand about the Bible is that it was never meant to belong to one nation, one culture, or one language. From the very beginning, God’s Word was designed to travel.

Today, the Bible is the most translated book in all of human history. The full Bible has been translated into over 770 languages. The New Testament exists in nearly 1,800 languages. And at least one portion of Scripture exists in more than 4,000 languages around the world. That’s out of roughly 7,000 languages spoken on the planet today.

That didn’t happen by accident. It didn’t happen because of power or politics. It didn’t happen because one group was trying to control information. It happened because from the very beginning, God intended His Word to be heard, read, and understood by ordinary people in their own language. Translation has always been about access, not control.

We’re not going to try to cover every language or every culture. If we did that, we’d be here all week. Tonight, we’re going to focus on English, not because English is more spiritual, not because God favors one language over another, but simply because it’s the language most of us read and live in every day.

What I want you to see is the story of how the Bible traveled. And we’re not going to jump back and forth all over history. We’re going to move forward in time, step by step, so you can see this clearly for yourself.

As we walk through this, you’re going to see actual texts. You’re going to hear the story behind them. And you’re going to understand how the Bible you hold in your hands today connects to words that were written nearly 2,000 years ago.

My hope today is not that you walk away overwhelmed with information. My hope is that you walk away with clarity and confidence. I want you to leave saying, “I can defend the Bible now.” “So many of my questions have been answered.” “A lot of what I’ve seen online just isn’t true.” And most of all, “I trust God’s Word more, and I want to read it again.”

God is not afraid of your questions. And His Word has already faced every one of them.

So let’s start where this story actually begins, long before English existed, long before printing presses, and long before King James. Let’s start with the earliest witnesses to the New Testament itself.

SECTION 2: THE ANCIENT MANUSCRIPTS (8 min)

How the New Testament Was Preserved

If we want to answer the question, “Can I trust the Bible?”, the place we have to start is not with English translations and not with church history, but with the earliest physical witnesses to the New Testament itself. Long before there were bound Bibles, long before chapter numbers or verse numbers, the words of the New Testament were written, copied, and shared among early Christian communities.

The New Testament was written in the first century, primarily in Greek, because Greek was the common language of the Roman world. From the very beginning, these writings were not kept in one central location or controlled by one group. They were copied and circulated across cities, regions, and even continents. That matters, because Christianity never depended on a single fragile manuscript or a single line of transmission.

At this point, a natural question people ask is, “What exactly are these manuscripts, and what do they look like?”

(Picture)

Before we talk about codices, we need to talk about papyrus. Papyrus was the most common writing material in the ancient world. It was made from a plant, it was relatively inexpensive, and it was widely available. These early Christian writings were not written on luxury materials. They were written on everyday surfaces, because they were meant to be read, shared, and copied.

Many of the earliest manuscripts we have today are papyrus manuscripts. They’re often fragments, not because something was lost or hidden, but because papyrus wears out over time. What makes them so important is how early they are. Some of these papyri date back to the second and third centuries, placing them very close to the original writings themselves.

The volume I’m holding contains photographs and transcriptions of many of these earliest papyrus manuscripts. They come from several major discoveries across the ancient world, including what scholars call the Chester Beatty papyri, the Bodmer papyri, and the Oxyrhynchus papyri. You don’t need to memorize those names. What matters is this: these manuscripts were discovered in different places, at different times, and yet they consistently preserve the same New Testament text.

As Christianity grew, something else began to happen. Believers started organizing these writings into what’s called a codex. A codex is simply an early form of a book. Instead of a scroll, pages were bound together on one side. Christians were among the earliest groups to widely adopt this format. It made Scripture easier to carry, easier to read publicly, and easier to compare with other copies.

This brings us to the major codices you’ll hear about when people talk about ancient manuscripts.

(Pull up Pictures)

Codex Sinaiticus, Codex Vaticanus, and Codex Alexandrinus are large, bound collections of Scripture from the fourth and fifth centuries. They are not originals, but they are among our earliest complete witnesses to the New Testament. When you eventually see these on the table in the coming weeks, one of the first things you’ll notice is that they don’t look like modern Bibles. There are no chapter numbers. There are no verse numbers. The text runs continuously, because those features were added much later to help with reference and teaching.

Another question people often ask is, “Do these codices only contain Scripture?” The answer is mostly yes, but sometimes they include other early Christian writings as well. That doesn’t weaken confidence in the Bible. It actually helps us understand how the early church distinguished between books that were valued and books that were recognized as Scripture. The presence of additional writings shows us discernment, not confusion.

You may also hear Codex Sinaiticus referred to as the “Sinai Bible.” That name has nothing to do with theology and nothing to do with rewriting Scripture. It’s simply named after where it was discovered, near Mount Sinai in the 19th century. It wasn’t written there, and it doesn’t represent a different version of Christianity. It’s just a geographic label.

One of the most common claims people hear online is that there are “thousands of differences” between manuscripts. That statement is technically true, but it’s deeply misleading. The reason we can identify differences is because we have so many manuscripts to compare. Most of these differences are minor, like spelling variations or word order. They do not affect any core Christian doctrine.

In fact, if someone had tried to change the New Testament, we would expect to see one controlled version replacing all others. What we actually see is the opposite. We see a wide, open manuscript tradition spread across geography and time, allowing scholars to cross-check and verify the text.

And here’s an important reassurance. These manuscripts are not ignored today. They are actively used. Modern Greek New Testaments, like the Nestle-Aland edition used by translators, are built by comparing all of these witnesses together. That means modern translations are not based on fewer manuscripts. They are based on more evidence than ever before.

So before English translations, before church councils, before printing presses, the text of the New Testament was already stable, recognizable, and widely known. It wasn’t hidden. It wasn’t rewritten in secret. It was preserved in the open by ordinary believers who believed these words mattered.

And once those writings were preserved, the next question naturally followed. How do we make these words accessible to people who don’t speak Greek?

That’s where the story moves next.

SECTION 3: CANON AND RECOGNITION (6 min)

How the Bible’s Books Were Recognized

Once the New Testament writings were circulating, copied, and read among early Christian communities, a natural question emerged. How did the church know which writings belonged in Scripture? Or more pointedly, who decided what books made it into the Bible?

That question matters, because much of what people hear today assumes the Bible was assembled later by powerful leaders who picked and chose books based on preference or control. But when you actually look at history, that isn’t how this happened.

The earliest Christians did not invent the Bible. They recognized what was already functioning as Scripture in the life of the church. These writings were being read publicly, taught alongside the Old Testament, and treated as authoritative long before any formal lists were ever written down.

As Christianity spread, many writings began to circulate. Some were letters written by apostles. Others were sermons, teachings, or devotional works written by early Christian leaders. And this is where an important distinction becomes clear. Not everything that was written or read was considered Scripture.

This is where the books on this table help us.

Some early Christian writings were deeply valued. The Didache, for example, was an early teaching document that explained Christian beliefs and practices. The Shepherd of Hermas was a devotional-style work that many believers found helpful. The Apostolic Fathers include writings from leaders who lived close to the time of the apostles and helped guide the early church.

These books mattered. They were preserved. They were read. And the church never tried to hide them. You can still read them today in English if you want. But they were never treated as Scripture in the same way the apostolic writings were. They were helpful, but they were not inspired.

That distinction is critical.

Being ancient does not automatically make something Scripture. Being meaningful does not make something Scripture. The early church consistently asked a few key questions. Did this come from the apostolic era? Does it align with the teaching handed down from Jesus? And was it recognized and used widely across Christian communities, not just in isolated groups?

Over time, a clear and consistent recognition emerged.

This also helps us understand writings people often hear about today, especially those connected to what are sometimes called the Gnostic gospels.

In 1945, a collection of ancient texts was discovered in Egypt near a place called Nag Hammadi. This discovery included a number of writings that reflect Gnostic ideas, such as salvation through secret knowledge and a very different understanding of Jesus and the physical world. These texts are often presented online as “lost books of the Bible,” but that label is misleading.

The so-called Gnostic gospels were not excluded simply because they taught something different. They were written later, by unknown authors, reflect theological movements that developed after the apostles, and were never widely recognized or used as Scripture by early Christian communities. These conclusions are shared across mainstream scholarship.

Nothing was hidden. These texts were known, preserved, studied, and ultimately rejected as Scripture because they did not come from the apostolic era and did not reflect the earliest Christian witness.

You may also hear about the Book of Enoch. This is a Jewish text written centuries before Christianity, likely by unknown authors using a well-known biblical name. It reflects the religious thought of its time and helps us understand the world behind the New Testament, but it was never universally recognized as Scripture by either the Jewish community or the early church. Being quoted or referenced does not make a book inspired.

The same is true of the Apocrypha, which includes Jewish writings preserved alongside the Old Testament in some collections. These books were valued historically and debated openly, but they were not consistently recognized as Scripture by the early church. The discussions surrounding them were not hidden or suppressed. They were public, thoughtful, and ongoing.

At this point, it’s also worth briefly mentioning the Dead Sea Scrolls. These are ancient Jewish manuscripts discovered in the mid-20th century that contain portions of the Old Testament. What makes them so important is that when scholars compared these manuscripts, which predate Jesus, with much later copies, they found extraordinary consistency. The Dead Sea Scrolls don’t challenge the Bible. They confirm how carefully Scripture was preserved over time.

Taken together, all of this shows us something important. The Bible was not assembled arbitrarily. The church did not create Scripture. It recognized it. These writings were examined, compared, and tested over time, and the same books continued to rise to the surface again and again because they carried apostolic authority and were already shaping the faith of the church.

And here’s where this connects to what comes next.

The manuscripts we’ve talked about so far represent the earliest witnesses to Scripture. But as history moved forward, access to even more ancient manuscripts continued to expand. That didn’t change the Bible. It strengthened our ability to compare copies and understand the original wording with greater clarity.

Once the text was recognized, preserved, and trusted, the next question naturally followed. How do we get these words into the hands of people who don’t speak Greek or Hebrew?

That’s where the story moves next… into translation.

SECTION 4: FROM MANUSCRIPTS TO ENGLISH (7 min)

How the Bible Became Accessible

Once the text of Scripture was recognized, preserved, and trusted, the next question was not what belongs in the Bible, but how do we get this Bible into the hands of ordinary people.

For centuries, Scripture existed primarily as handwritten manuscripts. That meant copies were slow to produce, expensive, and limited in number. The Bible wasn’t hidden, but access was naturally restricted by the realities of the ancient world.

That began to change dramatically in the 15th century with one of the most important technological developments in human history: the printing press.

(Picture)

When Johannes Gutenberg developed movable-type printing in the mid-1400s, everything changed. For the first time, books could be produced quickly, accurately, and in large numbers. And one of the very first major books ever printed was the Bible.

This moment matters because it marks a shift from Scripture being hand-copied to Scripture being widely available. The printing press didn’t create the Bible. It amplified access to it.

But access still depended on language.

At this point in history, most people could not read Latin, which was the dominant language of the Western church. So the next major movement was not about changing the Bible, but about translating it into the language of the people.

This is where English translations begin to emerge.

The earliest English Bibles were not translated casually or carelessly. They were built on the best manuscripts available at the time. Translators worked carefully, reverently, and with deep respect for what they believed to be the Word of God.

It’s important to understand something here. Early translators were not working with the same volume of manuscript evidence we have today. That’s not a failure. It’s simply history. They worked faithfully with what was available to them.

As history moved forward, archaeologists discovered much earlier manuscripts. That didn’t introduce new Bibles. It gave scholars more witnesses to compare. The Bible didn’t change. Our access to ancient evidence expanded. And when scholars compared earlier manuscripts with later ones, they found extraordinary consistency.

This isn’t theoretical for me.

For a season, I worked at the Holy Land Experience in Orlando, Florida. And during that time, I had the unique opportunity to spend time almost every night in the Scriptorium, the museum space where the Van Kampen Collection was housed.

That collection included thousands of early biblical manuscripts, ancient scrolls, and rare printed Bibles. They had a working replica of a printing press. At one point, they even displayed a portion of the Isaiah Scroll from the Dead Sea Scrolls. And among the collection were original early printed Bibles, including a Gutenberg Bible.

I don’t share that to impress you. I share it to tell you that this history isn’t abstract to me. I’ve stood inches away from these texts. I’ve studied them up close. And what struck me most was not how fragile Scripture is, but how consistent it is.

Seeing those manuscripts and early Bibles didn’t weaken my confidence in God’s Word. It strengthened it.

As English translations developed, translators weren’t guessing. They were comparing manuscripts, weighing evidence, and doing their work transparently. Translation was never about rewriting Scripture. It was about faithfully communicating it.

As the Bible moved into English, it did so in stages. Each translation built on the work that came before it, refining language, increasing clarity, and expanding access.

This is where the physical story really matters.

I want to show you something special.

[Hold up the Geneva Bible leaf]

This is an original printed leaf from an early English Bible, the Geneva Bible. This page was printed in the late 1500s. That means this exact page was read by real people, families, churches, believers, more than four hundred years ago.

This isn’t a replica. It isn’t a modern reprint. This is an actual piece of history.

The Geneva Bible was incredibly influential. It was the first English Bible to use numbered verses. It was the Bible of the Protestant Reformation. It was the Bible taken to America by the Pilgrims. It was read by people like William Shakespeare, John Bunyan, and generations of believers who built their lives around God’s Word.

Holding this page reminds us that the Bible was never meant to live on shelves. It was meant to be read, shared, marked up, and passed down.

And this Bible didn’t appear out of nowhere. It stood on the shoulders of earlier translators… especially William Tyndale.

[Gesture to the Tyndale Bible]

Tyndale believed Scripture belonged in the hands of everyday people. He translated the New Testament directly from Greek into English, and his work shaped the English Bible more than almost anyone else in history. Much of the language we still read today comes straight from Tyndale’s translation.

After Tyndale came Coverdale. Then the Great Bible, the first authorized English Bible placed in churches for public reading. Later came the Geneva Bible, which became widely loved because it was accessible, readable, and practical. Then came the Bishops’ Bible, an official translation that attempted to unify the church but never gained the same affection among the people.

Each of these translations represents another step forward in access. None of them erased what came before. None of them appeared in isolation. They were part of a growing story — a story of Scripture moving closer to the people.

And as time went on, scholars gained access to even more ancient manuscripts. Early papyri, ancient codices, and later discoveries like the Dead Sea Scrolls expanded the manuscript base. That didn’t weaken confidence in Scripture. It strengthened it.

The Bible wasn’t being changed. It was being compared more carefully than ever before.

And eventually, this long, careful, faithful process leads to one of the most influential English translations in history — the King James Bible.

But to understand why the King James Bible mattered so much, and why it still matters today, we need to talk about the moment it was produced, what it was built on, and what it was never meant to be.

And that’s where the story takes us next.

SECTION 5: THE KING JAMES BIBLE (5 min)

Influence, Authority, and Perspective

If you grew up in church, there’s a good chance this is the Bible you picture when you hear the word “Scripture.”

The King James Bible.

For many of us, it’s not just a translation. It’s memory. It’s cadence. It’s prayer language. It’s the sound of sermons, altar calls, and Sunday mornings.

Jess and I both grew up in churches that were King James only churches. And I want to say this clearly: we don’t have negative memories of the King James Bible. We have very positive ones.

This is the Bible that was read to me when I gave my life to Christ. It’s the Bible I memorized from as a kid. It’s the Bible that shaped my early understanding of Scripture. I still love the King James Bible. I also love the New King James Bible.

So when we talk about the King James Bible today, this isn’t coming from a place of criticism. It’s coming from a place of gratitude and clarity.

The King James Bible was first published in 1611. It was authorized under King James I of England during a time of division within the English church. Multiple English translations were circulating, and there was a desire for a unified Bible that could be read publicly in churches.

A team of about fifty scholars worked for several years, drawing from earlier English translations like Tyndale, Coverdale, and the Geneva Bible, along with the best Greek and Hebrew manuscripts available to them at the time.

And what they produced was extraordinary.

The King James Bible shaped the English language more than almost any book in history. Its influence on preaching, worship, literature, and culture cannot be overstated. It is, without question, the most influential English translation ever produced.

I have here a 1611 King James Bible with the Apocrypha included. That surprises some people, but it’s historically accurate. Early editions of the King James Bible included the Apocrypha between the Old and New Testaments.

I also have a Scofield Study Bible, which reminds us that while the biblical text stayed the same, study notes have always shaped how people read Scripture.

During my time at the Holy Land Experience, I even saw what’s called the “Wicked Bible,” a 1631 printing of the King James Bible where a single word was accidentally omitted in the Ten Commandments. Instead of saying, “Thou shalt not commit adultery,” it reads, “Thou shalt commit adultery.”

Only about eleven copies are known to exist.

That mistake didn’t mean the Bible was unreliable. It meant printers were human.

Here’s something important to understand.

The King James translators worked with the manuscripts they had available to them in 1611. They did not have access to many of the early manuscripts we have today. That’s not a flaw, it’s simply history.

After 1611, scholars discovered far more ancient manuscripts, earlier copies, from more regions, closer in time to the originals. That didn’t expose problems with the Bible. It strengthened our ability to compare copies and clarify wording.

The King James translators did the best they could with what they had.
Modern translators are doing the same, with far more evidence than they had.

The translators of the King James Bible never believed their work was perfect or final. In fact, in the preface to the 1611 edition, they explicitly rejected the idea that any single English translation should be treated as uniquely inspired.

They expected revisions. They welcomed better manuscripts. And history proved them right.

Jess and I have seen where KJV-only thinking can sometimes lead, not always, but often… to fear instead of confidence, division instead of unity, and suspicion instead of trust.

And that’s tragic, because the King James Bible was never meant to function that way.

Loving the King James Bible is good.
Believing it is the only faithful translation is not necessary.

The authority of Scripture does not rest on one English translation. It rests on the inspired Word of God faithfully preserved through history.

The King James Bible is a gift to the church.
It is not the finish line of God’s work in translation.

And when we understand that, we’re free to love Scripture more — not less.

SECTION 6: Modern Translations (5 min)

How Translation Differences Work — and How to Choose Wisely

(Put the translation spectrum image on the screen here.)

I love this image because it shows us something really important visually.

Bible translations don’t fall into “good” and “bad.”
They fall along a spectrum.

On one end, you have translations that aim to stay very close to the original wording and structure of Hebrew and Greek. On the other end, you have translations that prioritize clarity and readability in modern language. Most of our trusted translations live somewhere in between.

This helps us understand why translations sound different — not because someone changed the message, but because they made different translation decisions.

Now, here’s the question many of you are probably asking.

“Okay… so which translations should I read?”

Let me answer that pastorally, not polemically.

Translations I Confidently Recommend

These are translations I trust, use, and regularly teach from:

• CSB – A great balance of accuracy and readability. Very careful scholarship. Clear language. Excellent for teaching and discipleship.
• ESV – More word-for-word. Excellent for study, preaching, and memorization.
• NIV (2011) – Thoughtful, clear, widely trusted, and carefully updated.
• NKJV – Faithful to the traditional English Bible lineage while updating the language.
• NASB (1995/2020) – Very precise. Excellent for deeper study.
• NLT – Extremely clear and helpful, especially for new believers or devotional reading.

These translations differ in style, but they agree on doctrine, theology, and the gospel.

Translations to Be Cautious With

I want to be careful here. I’m not saying “never open these.” I’m saying don’t treat these as your primary Bible:

• Paraphrases like The Message or The Passion Translation
  These are not translations in the technical sense. They are interpretive expansions. They can be helpful devotionally, but they should never replace a faithful translation for study or teaching.

And here’s an important clarification.

The concern isn’t readability.
The concern is authority.

A translation tries to convey what Scripture says.
A paraphrase often tells you what the author thinks Scripture means.

That’s a big difference.

Now let me give you what I think is one of the most important lines in this whole message.

“The best translation of the Bible is the Bible that you read.”

Not the one you argue about.
Not the one you defend online.
The one you actually open.

Because God’s Word works when it’s received, not when it’s weaponized.

There’s also something else we need to think about, especially here in America.

If one English translation is the only faithful Bible, what does that say about believers who don’t speak English?

What does that say about the thousands of languages Scripture has been translated into around the world?

The gospel did not begin in English.
And it does not belong to English.

God’s Word has always been multilingual, multicultural, and global.

The same Spirit who inspired Scripture in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek is faithful to speak through Spanish, Swahili, Mandarin, Arabic, and thousands of other languages today.

So when we elevate our preferred English translation as spiritually superior, we unintentionally shrink the global work of God.

This is why diversity in translation is not a threat to faith.
It’s evidence of God’s mission.

Different languages.
Different cultures.
Same gospel.

And the question God keeps asking His people has never been,
“Did you choose the perfect translation?”

It’s always been,
“Did you listen… and did you obey?”

SECTION 7: The Word On Mission (5 min)

So after everything we’ve talked about…
the manuscripts,
the codices,
the early church,
the translations,
the debates,
the evidence…

we have to ask the most important question.

Where is all of this heading?

Because if this series only leaves us saying,
“Okay, I guess the Bible is reliable,”
then we’ve missed the point.

The goal was never just confidence in the Bible’s history.
The goal is obedience to the Bible’s voice.

The Bible doesn’t exist simply to be trusted.
It exists to be received.

To be read.
To be listened to.
To be obeyed.

And ultimately to be shared.

From the very beginning, God’s Word was never meant to stop with one people, one place, or one language.

It started in Hebrew.
Moved into Aramaic.
Exploded into Greek.
Was copied, preserved, translated, preached, and carried — often at great cost.

People didn’t preserve Scripture because it was interesting.
They preserved it because it was life.

And that same Word is still moving today.

Jess and I saw this firsthand years ago.

When we were living in Nashville, I was serving as a missions pastor, and we spent a lot of time traveling, partnering with what God was doing around the world.

One of those trips took us to North Africa, to a Berber people group living near the edge of Morocco and Algeria.

They lived in an oasis town, beautiful, ancient, relational.
We went back multiple times.

We ran basketball camps.
We built real friendships.
We drank tea.
We ate meals.

And over time, trust grew to the point that they literally held a ceremony and handed us the keys to the village.

But there was something missing.

They did not have the Bible in their heart language.

They spoke Amazigh.

But Scripture wasn’t available to them in the language that shaped how they dreamed, prayed, and understood the world.

On one of our last trips, Jess and I were walking through the local market, grabbing a drink, when something caught our eye.

On a small shelf, there were freshly printed Bibles —
French to Amazigh.

We bought three.

And when we got home, we didn’t keep them.
We shipped them straight to Bible translators.

A few years later, I received a report.

Portions of Scripture had now been translated into their heart language.

Think about that.

People hearing the Word of God
not filtered through a second language
but spoken directly to the soul.

We haven’t been back yet.
But I pray that when we go again, we’ll be carrying Scripture with us.

Because that’s where all of this is going.

Not just toward historical certainty but toward global transformation.

We are living in a wild moment in history.

For the first time ever, Bible translators believe we are within reach of seeing Scripture available in every known heart language.

Not someday.
Not centuries from now.

In our lifetime.

Generations before us preserved the Word.
We get to help deliver it.

All those manuscripts we talked about.
All those translators.
All those martyrs.
All those scribes.

They weren’t building a museum.

They were building a mission.

And now it’s our turn.

So let me bring this all the way home.

The Bible is not just trustworthy.
It is alive.

It speaks.
It convicts.
It heals.
It sends.

And God is not just asking,
“Do you believe it’s true?”

He’s asking,
“Will you let it shape your life?”

Will you read it? not out of duty, but hunger?
Will you listen? not just for information, but direction?
Will you obey? even when it costs you something?

Because when God’s Word takes root in us, it never stays with us.

It always moves outward.

To our families.
To our city.
To the nations.

This is why we can trust the Bible.
Not just because it survived history
but because it is still changing lives.

And we get to be part of that story.

In just a moment, I want to show you a short video.
Not about the past, but about the future.
About what God is doing right now through His Word.
And how close we are to seeing Scripture reach every heart language on earth.

ALTAR CALL (7 min)

(Pause. Step forward.)

Church, after everything we’ve seen today, I want to ask one simple question:

What are you going to do with God’s Word?

Not what do you think about it.
Not what version you prefer.

What are you going to do with it?

For some of you, this series has answered questions you’ve been carrying for years.
And today, you’re realizing I can trust the Bible.

But trust is not the finish line.

Trust is the doorway.

RESPONSE 1: A PERSONAL YES

If you’re here and you would say,
“I want to re-engage with Scripture.
I want to read it.
I want to hear God’s voice again.”

Right where you are, just quietly say:

“God, give me a hunger for Your Word again.”

RESPONSE 2: A YES TO JESUS

For others of you, this moment is even more foundational.

You’ve heard about the Bible today
but you’ve never surrendered your life to the God who speaks through it.

If you want to give your life to Jesus today, or come back home to Him, pray this with me:

Jesus,
I give You my life.
I believe You died for me.
I believe You rose again.
Forgive me of my sin.
Make me new.
Help me follow You
all the days of my life.
Amen.

RESPONSE 3: A YES TO THE MISSION (ALTAR CALL)

And now this is where I want us to move.

You just saw what God is doing around the world.
Languages being reached.
Scripture being translated.
People hearing God speak in their heart language for the first time.

If you’re here and you’re saying:

“I want my life to count for that.”

If you’re ready to:

• Help get God’s Word to people
• Start or join a crew
• Make disciples
• Be part of God’s global mission

Then I want you to step out of your seat and come to the altar.

This is not about emotion.
This is about availability.

Come if you’re saying,
“God, use my life.”

PRAYER OVER THE ALTAR

The Bible didn’t survive history just to sit on a shelf.
It survived so it could be lived, and shared.