Handling the Word Correctly

SERMON: 2011-04-10--t0211--handling-the-word-correctly SOURCE DURATION: 00:43:25.000 PROPOSED CUTS: 1 CONFIDENCE: 1.00 APPROVED: false REASON: The recording begins with narrative exposition setting the scene for the sermon (segment [0]). The material concludes with a prayer and reflection on scripture (segments [496]-[499]) before transitioning into sustained acoustic music intervals. Acoustic segmentation found sustained music at the end edge and moved the boundary to the adjacent transcript segment. ACOUSTIC EVIDENCE: available ACOUSTIC MUSIC INTERVALS: 00:40:06.080-00:43:25.040 ACOUSTIC SPEECH OVERLAP: yes ACOUSTIC BOUNDARIES APPLIED: end Inline CUT markers identify each proposed audio boundary after the relevant word. --- ORIGINAL TRANSCRIPT WITH PROPOSED CUTS MARKED --- The year was 1981. I was in my second year of pastoring my second congregation in Kentville, Nova Scotia. And that year, I together with three others were elected by Classes Eastern Canada to be delegates to Synod meeting in Grand Rapids, Michigan in June of that year. For those of you not familiar with the structure of our denomination, just a little bit of background information. The Christian Reformed Church in North America has over a thousand congregations, three quarters of which are in the United States, one quarter in Canada. But all these congregations of the Christian Reformed Church in North America are geographically divided into what we call a classes. A classes is a regional grouping of churches. So here we're part of Classes Quinti. Classes Quinti runs from Ajax to Kingston and up to Peterborough Lindsay. And each year, each classes, and there are 47 of them in the denomination, elect four delegates, two pastors and two elders, to represent that classes at the denominational level at a meeting called Synod. But they deal with the business as it pertains to the whole denomination. So that particular year was my first opportunity to be delegated to Synod. And it so happened in the wisdom and in the providence of God that I was assigned to be the reporter of one of the pre-advice committees, the one dealing with interchurch relationships. All business that comes to Synod, appeals and protests and reports of standing committees, all go to a series of pre-advice committees and these committees prepare the report and the recommendation and they present it to Synod. So I'm reporter for this committee. One of the contentious items on our agenda deals with our relationship with a sister church in the Netherlands who has strayed from the beaten path in terms of same-sex relationships. They've not only begun to tolerate them among their membership, but they've also begun to tolerate them among their clergy. And they have clergy members living together openly and publicly in gay relationships. And that was straining, as you can imagine, the relationship between that church and our denomination because we're sister churches in ecclesiastical fellowship. So our committee has to deal with this and being pretty straightforward, the recommendation from our committee was to sever relationships with this particular denomination as a statement of our disapproval lest the judgment that might fall upon them would fall upon us. Well, that created a bit of a firestorm and that's a story for another day. It opened my eyes to how the ecclesiastical political system works. But more importantly for our consideration this morning, I will never forget the conversation that some of us on this committee had with a spokesperson for that particular denomination. Because of course, the conversation turned to Romans chapter one. And if you know Romans chapter one, it has some very strong things to say about homosexual relationships. And before I launch into that, from a pastoral point of view, let me point out that I'm well aware that in a congregation of this size, that issue is not irrelevant to us. And my heart goes out to those of us who struggle with same sex relationships. And I don't want you to interpret what I'm saying as in any way coming down hard on you or harder on you than I would in any area where any of us struggle. We all need the grace of Jesus. But Romans chapter one, if you're familiar with the passage, talks about the prevalence of homosexuality in the world as being a direct result of the world's rejection of God. And the passage goes on to say that God gives us over then to the passions of our hearts. And that's where this scripture comes into the picture. And this is what our discussion was about. Because of this, that is to say, God having given us over to sin, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. And in the same way, the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion. I'll leave that verse up for just a moment. And what would a plain reading of those two verses indicate to you? Well that women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. And men abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. And historically, that has been understood as referring to homosexual activity. The natural being replaced by the unnatural. And the church has understood this for centuries and centuries and centuries. And that's where this conversation with this man proved to be very intriguing. And here's how the conversation went. And I remember this like the day of yesterday. In fact, I was so puzzled by what I heard that I had to ask a colleague of mine who listened to this conversation to make sure that I had heard it correctly. Our colleague from the Netherlands raised this question. He said for persons of homosexual orientation, what is natural? Well of course, homosexual relationships and activity, isn't it? So his next question was then, so what would exchanging natural relations for unnatural relations look like for a homosexual person? You see where this is going. Well he said, it would be asking them to adopt a heterosexual lifestyle. Because remember, homosexual is natural. You're asking them to exchange it for heterosexual. That is unnatural. And so here's his conclusion. And I'm still shaking my head over it. His conclusion was that Paul here was not criticizing or prohibiting homosexual activity. He was warning against asking homosexuals to become heterosexuals. Are you with me there? And I remember thinking here is a brilliant mind, a leading spokesperson for his church, delegated by his denomination to be a fraternal delegate to our ecclesiastical assembly. And he is spouting this kind of nonsense. And I learned later on there is a whole school of thought behind his assertions. He's not the first one to think this or to interpret it this way. And that was for me another one of those eye-opening, life-defining experiences where I began to understand afresh the importance of handling the Word of God with truth and integrity. And that of course is what Paul talks about here as he writes to young Timothy, "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the Word of truth. Avoid godless chatter because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly. Their teaching will spread like gangrene, poisoning, it destroys the system. And among them are Hameneus and Philetus who have wandered from the truth." See it's not enough to accept the Bible as the authoritative Word of God. We must also learn how to handle it correctly and how to interpret it wisely. And so in the time that remains this morning, allow me to spell out for you what I think are three very important principles that are needed if we're going to be able to handle the Word of God correctly so as to immunize ourselves against very smart and very clever people who sometimes with all the best of intentions distort and twist the Word of God to their own benefit. Peter commenting on Paul's writing said, "There are in his writings some things that are hard and difficult to understand which," he said, "certain people twist to their own destruction." First thing then, how to immunize ourselves against spiritual deception, really simple. We need to know the scriptures. We need to know the scriptures. There's a saying in Dutch which loosely translated goes something like this, "Every heretic has his proof text." And what that means is that every false teacher, anyone who seeks to deceive God's people, whether intentionally or unintentionally, almost always can find a scripture verse that supports their position. And they do it by quoting scripture selectively, out of context, often in total disregard for the overall message of scripture. And they paint a whole picture that sounds appealing to the uninitiated, but that in fact runs contrary to the message of scripture. Let me give you a quick example. We were talking last week, you'll recall, about Rob Bell and his latest book, Love Winds, created a firestorm because in his book he flirts with universalism. Universalism being the teaching that God saves everybody, either in this life because His mercy is so great or by giving them a second chance after they die. It's a book, as I pointed out last week, that has great appeal for many people because what can be better than a God who doesn't get angry at you because of your sin and who if you really blow it and die that way, you're going to get a second chance later on. So how does Rob Bell establish his point? Well, he does it among other things by selectively quoting scripture. And he selectively quotes the passages in scripture that could be interpreted as supporting universalism. I'll give you two of them, John 12 verse 32, "But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." See that little word, all. And somebody can say, see, all means all. 1 Timothy 2, 4, "God wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth." And then Rob Bell in his book asks the question, does God get what God wants? He mixes God's omnipotence and power in the context of his quotation of those verses and he says, well, of course God gets what God wants and so, yes, God's going to save everybody. But what's the most elementary principle of Bible interpretation that is being ignored in this whole process? It's the fact that scripture has to explain scripture. You can take any given text in isolation, spin just about any theory that you want to spin and make it sound what you want it to sound like. The question is, what is the message of the rest of scripture? Scripture must always be compared with scripture. And guess what? When you look at scripture, does scripture teach universalism? Even though Rob Bell never actually uses the word, he just raises questions to try to establish the groundwork, I think, for it. Fact of the matter is no. Scripture is categorical that it is appointed unto man once to die and after that comes what? The judgment. And the same Jesus who comes to manifest the perfect heart of God's love towards each one of us is categorical in talking about a final day of judgment and different destinies for the godly and for the ungodly. One verse will suffice just to prove the point. Jesus speaking in the context of separating the sheep from the goats, Matthew chapter 25, and he says concerning the goats, "Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life." And just for the record, the word eternal there is the same word in terms of eternal judgment and eternal life, and if you want to believe in heaven, if you want to believe in a new creation and eternal glory, then you need to biblically with integrity say, "I must also believe in eternal condemnation." That's why it's so important for us to preach the gospel. That's why we pray for family and friends who are not saved. That's why we're going to do everything that we can to drag them into church or to tying them up and loading them in your trunk because eternity matters. And the rich man in Hades who lifted up his eyes and saw that he was in torment and Lazarus, the poor man was in glory, was sufficiently disturbed that he wanted to go back to the world to save the rest of his family. You see, scripture does not teach universalism, scripture says you need to make a decision. And the more knowledgeable you are of what the gospel is and the more determined you are in rejecting it, the greater will your judgment be and the greater will be your condemnation. So what's the antidote to false teaching like that? Well, obviously we need to know the Bible. The best way to keep weeds from growing in your lawn is how? You grow a good crop of grass. And if you're here this morning and you've never read through the Bible on your own from one end to the other, then may I please recommend that you do that at your earliest convenience and yes, there will be passages that drive you around the bend and there will be places where you get stuck, but push your way through because it's all inspired by God and profitable for teaching and for reproof and for correction and for training in righteousness. Don't make it somebody else's job for you to know the Bible. And as you know, a lot of us in the tradition that some of us have grown up in, we did Bible reading regularly around our table. In the family where I grew up, we read a chapter of scripture at every meal. And when the kids were little, and the same thing was true in our own house, when the kids were little, we would read from the children's story Bible. And yes, I know we never think kids pay attention or whatever else, but I've told you this before. By the time I got to seminary, I knew my Bible better than most of my fellow students in my class. And I don't say that to boast, but I picked it up simply sitting there rolling my eyes and my father read through the genealogies. He read through the genealogies, every last one of them. And his own ability to remember scripture was astonishing, and he could tell you names that occurred in the Bible that most of the rest of us have never heard of. We're losing that in this day and age. And because we're losing it in this day and age, we are a pushover for theories that come along that somehow resonate with the human heart and that tell us what it is that we want to hear. We need to know the scriptures. And if you don't know how to read or you have a tough time reading, then get a CD version of the Bible or listen to it online, but get the word laid up in your heart. Here is how scripture puts it. The psalmist said in Psalm 119, I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. And Hosea 4.6, my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. Know the Bible. Nobody's going to do it for you. Don't want to belabor the point. You must have the discipline to make it happen. It's an inoculation against the foolishness of our age. Secondly, and this may surprise you a little bit coming from me, we need to know Christian tradition. And by tradition, I don't mean the empty, lifeless form of religion that is so often in scripture by Jesus and the apostle Paul criticized as being worse than useless, but rather as Jude says in his letter, the faith once and for all delivered to the saints. The tradition of how the Christian church has understood the faith historically. Here's how Paul puts it. So then brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions or the teachings which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter. And later on, now we command you keep away from any brother who is living in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you have received from us. The tradition there represents the collective body of teaching that from Jesus was imparted to the apostles and from the apostles was imparted historically to the church. It was Solomon many years ago who said there is nothing new under the sun. And one of the interesting things about heresy is that few heresies, few false teachings today are new, you know, the devil's not terribly original, and he keeps recycling the same arguments over and over and over. And I find it interesting that Rob Bell in trying to establish his teaching on universalism appeals to a number of church fathers, including Origen and Gregory of Nyssa. And he says, see, there has always been a significant number of saints historically that have bought into this view of God's amazing love and mercy that makes him overlook all sin. Well, what he conveniently forgets to mention is that both Gregory of Nyssa and Origen's teachings historically have been rejected by the church as an heretical view. And so there again, you have this kind of selective quotation. And throughout the course of history, the church has always had to deal with false teachers. We just don't recognize them quite as readily today as they might have in olden days. Jesus says false Christs will arrive. Remember, false prophets will arise who will even try to lead astray, if possible, the very elect. Don't let anybody deceive you. What's our protection? The faith once and for all delivered to the saints. We must never think of ourselves so smart and so bright living in the century that we're living in as if we are that much more enlightened than everybody that ever came before us. Today it's been the battles for the faith that have led to creedal statements. Our denomination subscribes to three universal creeds. The apostles, the Nicene, the Athanasian, all fought out in the nitty-gritty of life as the church grappled with the issue. What is it that we believe and what is it that scripture teaches? We also subscribe to three reformed confessions, the Heidelberg Catechism and the Canons of the Door and the Belgian Confession, our reformed understanding of our collective interpretation of what the Bible teaches. And of course, the question always arises then, how do I know those are accurate? And how do I know that people who have gone before me haven't made a mistake? And of course, they're also human, and they live within the context of their history, and they live within the context of their experiences, and so they see life through their own eyes, and it's perfectly possible that their views on things were incomplete or even sometimes inaccurate. But again, let's not make the mistake of thinking that people who lived previously were stupid people. That's a modern-day deception that somehow we're smarter than everybody, and we've got a handle on the truth that's better than everybody else. And if we're going to critique those that have gone before us, the giants on whose shoulders we stand, let's make sure then that's done prayerfully, that's done out of a heart's desire to know God and to walk with God, and not out of some falling in love with the spirit of this age, so that somehow or another we must modify Biblical truth because it suits us better. There was a fellow by the name of William Inge who made this statement. I love it. He who marries the spirit of the age will soon find himself a widower in the next. Isn't that brilliant? He who marries the spirit of the age will soon find himself a widower in the next. What does he mean? That when you fall in love with what is current today, what is current today will be out of style tomorrow, and you will have given your soul to something that has already outdid it. I don't know about you, but I'd rather build on the solid rock of the foundation of the historic Christian faith, wouldn't you? Kingdoms have come and kingdoms have gone, but guess which kingdom is going to last forever? It's the kingdom of Jesus. Don't ever be afraid to say this is what I believe. So how do we get immunized against false teaching? We need to know Scripture. We need to know the way Scripture has been interpreted historically in the mainstream of the Christian faith, and then, of course, we need to learn to depend on the Holy Spirit. Because the Bible, as I said last week, is the most unusual of all books, while it was penned by people living in their historical context, limited to a large degree by the environment and the world in which they grew up, they wrote and they spoke, not simply out of their own hearts and out of their own minds, but they spoke under the illumination, the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Here's how Peter puts it towards the end of his life. He says, "First of all, you must understand this. No prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by the impulse of man, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God." All Scriptures, said Paul, in the next chapter in 2 Timothy 3.16, is "God breathed." And the word is often translated as "inspired," because that's what "inspired" means. God breathes into the writers of Scripture, and He gives them insight and wisdom into the things of God. That being so, who do you suppose is the best interpreter of Scripture? It's the Holy Spirit, is it not? I mean, I think back to my English classes, I don't know if this is still the case today, but in college and in high school, one of the things that we sometimes had to suffer through was poetry. Sorry for those of you that love poetry, but I remember going through poetry classes in English lit, and sometimes the English kind of brains would just really groove on getting into the deep meaning of this poetry. Any of you ever have that kind of experience? And they'd look at the poem and they'd say, "Well, I think this is what the author meant," and somebody else would say, "No, I think this is what..." and would go on and on and on like this. And I remember sitting there, I said, "What a vain discussion. If you really want to know what this poem means, would you please go talk to the poet if he's still alive and find out?" Because I discovered half the time, the interpretation that was given by all that speculation was miles removed from what the poet was thinking. Well, that's kind of how it is with Scripture too, isn't it? If the Holy Spirit wrote Scripture, then maybe the Holy Spirit is the one who can give understanding. And so it's not surprising that Jesus puts it this way, speaking to his disciples in John chapter 16. He says, "I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, guess what? He will guide you into all truth." And Paul, same kind of thing, "The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the Spirit within him? In the same way, no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God." Guess where he's going. "We have not received the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. The Holy Spirit is the agent who can interpret to us the words of Scripture." Here's a question for you. Ever ask yourself the question, why sometimes the Bible seems to be written so obtusely and is so difficult to understand in places? Did anybody here ever have that problem? I mean, really, couldn't God have made it a lot simpler? And couldn't he have avoided a lot of controversies in the church by spelling out things more clearly? Give you an example. Had an email this past week from a man who watches our service online. I've never met him, though he says that he comes here periodically. And he witnessed the baptism last week where we sprinkled infants. He comes from a Baptist kind of tradition, I think. And so very politely he said, "I'm intrigued by that. Would you explain to me why you do that?" Then I wrote him back, "Baptism is a very difficult and contentious issue." And I didn't spell this all out, but there is hardly a consensus among the church about something that is as essential as baptism. Because some people baptize infants, some people only baptize believers. Some people sprinkle them, some people dunk them. Some people even pour water over infants. And some people do it in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and some people only do it in the name of Jesus. And everybody has got their favorite proof text. Now, God could have solved a lot of problems if he would have just said, "Thou shalt baptize in this fashion." Or at least if he didn't have other verses that seemed to teach something else. Or the Trinity. You ever try to prove the Trinity to the Jehovah's Witness? Try it. It's tough. I know because I have tried it. So why does God not make it simpler? I think I can tell you why. For the same reason that Jesus began to tell parables. Most people think that Jesus told parables because he wanted to tell nice stories that everybody understood. That's part of his reason, but only half. The other half was to hide the truth from those who didn't have ears to hear. If the Bible were written so logically that a person with a good mind could look at it, understand everything, then guess what? Only smart people would get it. And the rest of us, we would just be at mercy. Instead, God has ordained that it's only in union with Christ through the gift of the Holy Spirit that suddenly the Scriptures come alive. And a lot of us here can testify that there was a day when we used to look at the Bible and it didn't make any sense at all. Or we thought we knew it, but we didn't really know it. And then faith came alive, and God granted us the Holy Spirit, and our spiritual eyes were opened, and all of a sudden we began to see things that we had never, ever seen before. Isn't that true? Isn't it true that for some of us, the old hymns of the faith that we grew up with singing and knew by heart, all of a sudden took on a whole brand new meaning? Because the Holy Spirit opened our eyes and we now understood the reality behind the words. Because you see, words, which are our primary vehicle of communication, are very limited. And those of us who speak publicly can tell you that what we think we say, what we actually say, and what you think we say, are often three different things. And so what the Holy Spirit does is he takes us beyond the words of Scripture to the reality that stands behind, and he gives us spiritual illumination and spiritual understanding. One quick example and then we're going to wind up this morning. Leviticus chapter 19, verse 19, has this intriguing commandment that God wants Israel to take very seriously, "Keep my decrees, do not mate different kinds of animals, do not plant your field with two kinds of seed, and do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material." Interesting, isn't it? Now most of us won't have much trouble trying to breed two different kinds of animals because we're not in that business and even if we try it, it's fairly difficult. But two seeds? How many farmers haven't there been who seed their grain fields with oats and barley? And who of us here is not wearing clothing made of blended fibers, isn't that true? So are we in trouble? Are we living unbiblically? What does it mean to take seriously the Word of God and how do you interpret it? You see, that's why interpretation becomes so important and that's why the Holy Spirit becomes so important because the Holy Spirit takes us beyond the letter of the Bible to the Spirit that stands behind it. And guess what God was trying to teach the nation of Israel with this very strange command not to mix two different kinds of seeds, not to make two different kinds of animals, and not to blend two different kinds of fabric. Well, you'll remember that Israel was God's chosen nation and God called Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldees to become the core of his people so that in a world that was rapidly going to pot, where the knowledge of God was lost, that the people of Israel would maintain their identity as God's people so that through their identity, God's truth might eventually be made known to all the nations of the world. Why do you think it is that Isaiah looking prophetically to the day of restoration says that all the nations of the world come to the mountain of God's people because God's people are demonstrating the reality of the kingdom? This isn't just about you and me getting to heaven one day. This is about the salvation of the world. Now I ask you this question. In the Old Testament, what was Israel's besetting sin? They were always forgetting their identity. And they were always falling in love with the pagan nations and the pagan practices. That's why eventually they got kicked out of the promised land. That's why they went into exile. And so because in the Old Testament the average believer did not live in the Holy Spirit, only prophets, priests, and kings did, God had to remind them like we have to remind our children time and time again by the practical realities of life. You are not to mix yourself with the pagan nations of the world. You are a holy nation, a royal priesthood, God's own people. And every time these dudes put their seat in the ground and every time they herded their animals and every time they wove their clothing, they were reminded, "Oh, we're God's people. We're not supposed to mix with other people. We're to maintain a holy identity before the face of God as God's chosen people because the destiny of the world hinges on our obedient walk with God." And if you have doubts that that's the correct interpretation, you just wait, Lord willing. Eventually we get to the vision of Peter's clean and unclean animals and you will see that exactly the same principle applies. So guess what the correct interpretation of that verse is in the New Testament sense of the word. Paul picks it up later on in 2 Corinthians 6, he says, "Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers." There's nothing wrong with wearing blended fabric. There's nothing wrong with sewing two seats together. Those were a type of the reality that was to come in the person of Jesus. But the reality is the church is now God's chosen people and the church is to manifest the ways of God among the nations of the world so that the nations will come to repentance and the nations will find the reality of God. And yes, if that convicts you, it convicts me even deeper. But that doesn't change the reality. And so the principle behind the letter is that we're not to enter into unequal friendships. Believers are not to marry unbelievers. Believers are not to enter into the closest friendships with people who are unbelievers. We're not to engage in business practices as equals with those who are unbelievers. Guess why? Because the pull is always downward. And the pull is always to make us lose our Christian uniqueness. You know why Rob Bell tries so hard to make the gospel palatable to the peoples of the world, is because he genuinely longs for them to come to faith. And he figures if he lowers the barrier, it will be a way of drawing people in. But guess what? You know what happens historically when you lower the barrier? You know what happens when the church loses its uniqueness? It stops being salt. It stops being light. And it's only a question of time before the world says, "Well, you're just like us. Why should I pay the price to become like you? When I can have my cake out here and eat it too." And so salt that has lost its savor is useless. And light that is hidden under a bushel has lost its impact. And the challenge for you and for me is to walk in repentance before the face of God and to live in the light of Christ, knowing that we'll make lots of mistakes and we'll do lots of things wrong, but we're not Christians because we have our act together. We're Christians because we belong to Jesus. And when Jesus lives in us and his light shines through us, not only will the Lord help us to understand scripture properly, but he help us to show the glory of God in the face of Christ to the nations of the world. And then those whom God has chosen for eternal life will identify with that and will come to the brightness of his rising. And people from east and west to north and south will be drawn into the kingdom. I wonder this morning, are you willing to be part of that biblical vision? Are you willing to hold up high not only the word of God, but are you willing to do all that you can to know what it says, to know what has been said historically so that you know the faith once and for all delivered to the saints? And will you trust the Holy Spirit that when he speaks through the word, he'll show you what it means and he will help us to live it out for the glory of God? And I for one look forward to the day, and as I told you before, I don't know what this looks like. All I know is that scripture says the nations are going to come to the brightness of our rising. So let's pray that God stirs that vision, stirs that faith in our hearts, and that the demonic forces that hold people in bondage will be broken. And people young and old will just be swept into the kingdom. And how the heart of God will rejoice, because that is why Jesus died. [CUT] [PROPOSED CUT 1 START at 00:40:06.080; remove through 00:43:25.000] Holy words, long preserved, for our walk in this world may resound with God's own heart. Oh, let the ancient words empower. Ancient words of life, words of hope, give us strength, help us hope. In those world, where'er we roam, ancient words will guide us home. Oh, let the ancient words ever true, changing me and changing you. We have come with open hearts, oh let the ancient words empower. Holy words of our faith, handed down to the sage, come to us through sacrifice. Oh, heed the faithful words of Christ. Holy words, long preserved, for our walk in this world may resound with God's own heart. Oh, let the ancient words empower. Ancient words ever true, changing me and changing you. We have come with open hearts, oh let the ancient words empower. Ancient words ever true, changing me and changing you. We have come with open hearts, oh let the ancient words empower. We have come with open hearts, oh let the ancient words empower. Oh, let the ancient words empower [CUT]. [PROPOSED CUT 1 END at 00:43:25.000; resume after this marked segment]