The topic I gave months ago was giving the Bible functional authority, giving the Bible functional authority,

giving the Bible functional authority in your speech and writing.

Now the reason I say speech and writing instead of preaching is because you do much more speaking than only preaching. You counsel people with endless kinds of problems. You stand by

dying saints with families gathered around the bed and they expect you to say

something un imaginably significant at that moment and you should and you speak on the street and draw people to Christ in your

evangelism and you speak at banquets and small groups and staff meetings and family devotions.

So you're opening your mouth all the time and saying things that are expected to be true and life-giving.

So I'm talking about all of that when I say speaking,

and when I say speaking and when I say writing more and more pastors write newsletters

more and more pastors blog more and more pastors tweet and do Facebook and Instagram and our words are

going out through all of

as well as speaking formats.

So I'm concerned about all of that,

and I want you to give the Bible functional authority

in all of your speaking and all of your writing.

Now what I mean by authority is this.

Authority is the right to direct.

It's the right to guide.

It's the right to decide what is good and bad, true false right and wrong beautiful and ugly and there are

degrees of authority God has absolute ultimate final decisive authority and the six-year-old child

that a mom commissions to take the three-year-old out to the sandbox and not let him go in the parking lot, has authority.

And it's not as great as gods, but it's real and it's derivative.

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