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National Bible Week

Floor Speech

By: Ted Budd
By: Ted Budd
Date: Nov. 30, 2021
Location: Washington, DC

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Mr. BUDD. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Lamborn) for hosting this very special hour.

Now, the Apostle Paul, when he was in prison and was persecuted for his faith and was awaiting execution for it, he wrote to his young mentee, Timothy. He wrote in the original Koine Greek, which was the trade language of the day, and he penned these words: ``kyruxon ton logon.'' That is, again, Greek, but the English translation would be ``preach the word.'' It is 2 Timothy 4:2, and it is the motto of my alma mater, Dallas Theological Seminary.

The verse goes on to say: ``be ready in season and out of season.''

There are moments when the Word of God is popular and people want to hear it. Now it seems there are increasingly frequent moments when it is unpopular and out of season to preach the Word.

Friends, colleagues, Madam Speaker, social trends, they come and go, and as the prophet Isaiah and then again the Apostle Peter hundreds of years later tells us, ``The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the Word of the Lord,'' the very one we honor this week and in this hour, the Word of God stands forever. Peter closes out that chapter by saying: ``And this Word is the good news that was preached to you.''

So as we approach this Christmas season, might we do something a little out of season in this day and age. Might we turn to the Scriptures, whether it is the Old Testament that prophesies forward to the first Christmas, or to Matthew and Luke's account of that first Christmas, or to the rest of the Scriptures that show our saving response to that first Christmas, that first Good Friday and the very first Easter, resurrection Sunday.

Friends, the Word of God stands forever in these tenuous times, and in these tenuous times, access to the eternal is really what we need. The apostle Peter closes out this chapter and this verse that I referred to earlier and he says, ``And this Word is the good news that was preached to you.'' And, friends, good news it is.

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