If I were you sitting there with a new guy in this sacred place, this one right here,

which has so faithfully ministered the word to you over the years, I would want to know who in the world are you.

And you've heard a little bit.

I wouldn't really care about your name,

wouldn't care about your education,

I wouldn't care very much about accolades.

If I were you, I would want to know, like, why are you here?

And what are you trying to accomplish

and what are you committed to and what's your authority that's what I would

want to know if I were you so let me begin with three statements that get at

that before we look at scripture.

I come to you with a total allegiance, as much as it lies within me, to be honest, to the

Bible.

I have zero authority if I cannot show you here what I am going to say.

And there's no reason that you should believe anything I say because I say it.

If I can see it, savor it, show it to you, you better believe it.

This is not my word.

This is God's word.

So I can zero authority because of being an old man who've done this for a long time.

That doesn't matter.

But can you see it?

So we're going to go here in a minute. That's commitment number

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