Keion Henderson - "X" Marks the Spot

I want to talk on this subject; «X marks the spot.» You may be seated in the presence of the Lord. I begin this conversation with a bit of regret-not regret regarding the text, but regret as it relates to our grammatical approach to the scripture. For as I have shared with you on several occasions, the original text of the Bible was not written in chapter and verse form. The Bible, as it is transcribed through the writers, was originally penned in paragraph form. The Bible was divided into chapters and verses because once the church became commercial and the Bible became a product, translators then split the scripture into chapters and verses so that when we read together, we would be able to read in the same place at the same time. God did not write Genesis chapter 1, Genesis chapter 2, Genesis chapter 3, Genesis chapter 4; God wrote, «In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.» It would be difficult for us to say, «Go to paragraph 1,500, go to word 62»; nobody would know where to go. So when we translated the Bible, foremost in the King James Version of the scripture, we put it in chapters and verses so that when we read together, we can all read in unison at the same place. But that is cultural, not scriptural. In God’s mind, there is no chapter five. There is one story: He died, He got up, and He’s coming again. Every story you read is nothing more than a plot twist on the original story, for there is a shadow and a type in every one of the stories. You may like the story about the water being turned into wine, but it’s still a story about salvation. The Bible lets us know that He shows up for a wedding feast in Cana of Galilee for people He did not know. The scripture doesn’t tell us their names, but He shows up and performs a miracle for them, saying to them-or His mother says to them-"Whatever He says, do it.» He looks into the water pots and turns the water into wine, saving the best for last. It’s the salvation story. Whether it’s Jonah in the belly of the fish, if you read it transliterated, it literally says he was in the belly of Hades; he was in the belly of hell. It 's nothing more than a type and a shadow, as it’s all leading back to the fact that we need Jesus Christ as the propitiation for our sin, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek after Him. So while I read this text, which is one that is arousing and met with unanimous applause, and is one that most of the church can repeat verbatim, I begin with a little regret. Because our Bible is in chapter form, most people read 2 Corinthians chapter four because we typically start our biblical studies at the beginning of a chapter. Sometimes you’ll start at the beginning of a chapter without recognizing that due to our grammatical language, history, and culture, what you have done when you have read a chapter is perhaps started reading a story right in the middle. God did not write, are you with me so far, in chapters and verses? So when we get to 2 Corinthians chapter four, I begin with a slight askew of regret because chapter four, being separated from chapter three, is a malfeasance of character. The Bible says in chapter four, verse one, that we have this ministry. But if you don’t go back and read chapter three, you don’t know what ministry we’re talking about. You 've got to go back to chapter three, verse seven, to find out that he’s talking about the diakonia; we were called the diakonos. He’s talking about the Ministry of the Deacon. So we have this ministry. I don’t want to get too far off subject without letting you know that what he’s really discussing is service. We have this service; everybody say «service.» We have this service; we have this ministry. We have this ministry by which the scripture says we have obtained mercy. Don 't miss that; we have this diakonia-this ministry-but we have obtained mercy. Do you hear Paul? I’ve got this ministry, but it’s in an earthen vessel. Are you getting this? I have this ministry; I’m a great singer. I’m a great preacher. I’ve got a great business, a great family, a great job. I don’t know what you have-I’ve got great connections-but God has put an expensive gift in a cheap vessel. I’ve started churches in Asia Minor; I’ve started the Church of Ephesus, the Church of Corinth, the Church at Rome. I’ve gone all over the place, and I’ve been shipwrecked. I’ve been bitten by a snake, I shook that off, and the scales came off my eyes while I was on the road to Damascus going to murder people. I’ve done all of that, and somehow He still gave me a ministry. What Paul recognizes, and what we ought to recognize, is that God places extravagance in cheapness, and we have this treasure-this expensive thing-but it’s in an earthen vessel. Do I have any witnesses in here today?