Thank you very much.
Thank you.
To song 209, Sunshine in the Soul.
Song 209, Sunshine in the Soul.
Song 209 on the first.
There's sunshine in my soul today,
More glorious and bright
Than glows in any earthly skies.
For Jesus is my line,
Oh, there's sunshine, blessed sunshine,
When the peaceful, happy moments roll.
When Jesus shows his smiling face,
There is sunshine in the soul.
There's music in my soul today,
A carol to the King,
And Jesus listening can hear
The songs I cannot sing.
Oh, there's sunshine, blessed sunshine,
When the peaceful, happy moments roll.
When Jesus shows his smiling face,
There is sunshine in the soul.
There's springtime in my soul today,
For when the Lord is near,
The dove of peace sings in my heart,
The flowers of grace appear.
Oh, there's sunshine, blessed sunshine,
When the peaceful, happy moments roll.
When Jesus shows his smiling face,
There is sunshine in the soul.
There's gladness in my soul today,
And hope and praise and love,
For blessings which he gives me now,
For joys laid up above.
Oh, there's sunshine, blessed sunshine,
When the peaceful, happy moments roll.
When Jesus shows his smiling face,
There is sunshine in the soul.
Good singing, Brother Jeff.
Will you open us in a word of prayer?
I pray that you would bless the server,
That you would fill the brother in the spirit,
The things that are too cold I would say today,
That will guide you in the walk of youth.
And I pray that you would just give us year to year,
As you repent it, and you will be my distraction.
I pray this all in the union's name, amen.
Amen.
For our next song, we'll go to song 37.
There'll be no dark valley.
Song 37, there'll be no dark valley.
Song 37 on the first.
There'll be no dark valley when Jesus comes.
Together his loved one's home.
There'll be no dark valley when Jesus comes.
Together his loved one's home.
There'll be no more sorrow when Jesus comes.
But a glorious sorrow when Jesus comes.
Together his loved one's home.
There'll be no dark valley when Jesus comes.
Together his loved one's home.
There'll be no more weeping when Jesus comes.
But a glorious sorrow when Jesus comes.
Reaping when Jesus comes.
Together his loved one's home.
There'll be no dark valley when Jesus comes.
Together his loved one's home.
There'll be songs of greeting when Jesus comes.
And a joyful meeting when Jesus comes.
Together his loved one's home.
There'll be no dark valley when Jesus comes.
Together his loved one's home.
All right, good singing.
At this time we'll go through our announcements.
We may have some extra announcements in the back.
If so, Brother Jeff will bring you one if you don't have one.
And on the front we have our verse of the week.
It's Romans 8.19.
It says,
For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
And on the inside on the left there we have our service times.
Every Sunday 10.30 a.m. we'll have our Sunday morning service and Sunday evening service at 5.30 p.m.
And on Thursday we have our weekly Bible study.
Pastor Shelley right now is going through the book of Acts.
So make sure you make it for that.
It's been a great study so far.
And tonight we'll be taking a break from that and preaching something different.
And we have all of our soul winning times listed there.
And I believe everything is current.
Except did I hear correctly last time I was here that there's a Friday time now?
Is there a Friday time now?
Okay.
I might have just gotten that from somewhere else.
Okay, so all of that's still current then.
So what the bulletin says is correct.
Let's go ahead and get a count for salvations.
Did anyone have anything from Monday?
Tuesday?
Okay, Wednesday?
And today we had two.
All right?
Three for today?
Awesome.
Amen.
Great.
So five for today.
Praise God for that.
Keep up the great work with soul winning.
And speaking of soul winning, we have our Texas, Oklahoma, Easter marathon coming up.
And I brought with me a sign up sheet that's on that back bookshelf there.
And basically we're going to be having soul winning times, several soul winning times,
that Thursday through Sunday of Easter weekend.
And so there's several times to sign up for.
If you can make any or all of those as a captain, sign up for whatever you're willing to do.
And if there's any overlapping, we'll just pick schedule allowing basically for the people that sign up.
But we'd really appreciate your guys' help for that.
So make sure you sign up if you're able to do that.
And we just want to make sure that we're out soul winning and celebrating when Christ was in the grave.
So that's going to be an awesome event.
And hopefully many souls get saved.
This weekend, it's going to be a great weekend.
We have my good friend, brother Blake Rincon from Sure Foundation Baptist Church coming.
And I'm really excited for this. Me and him have been great friends over the years.
We went to Sure Foundation Baptist Church together for about three years.
And we actually preached our first ever sermon on the same night and have just stayed friends.
And so I'm really excited for this weekend.
If you can make it out here, definitely show your support.
It's going to be a fun time for sure.
And then on the right on the top there, congratulations to the Darnell family for their baby Bellamy Blake Darnell.
So make sure you congratulate them when you see them.
And praise God for that.
And then right under that, be praying for all the other mothers that are pregnant as well.
And we'll be giving them that congratulations soon hopefully as well.
So be praying for them.
And then prayer requests as always.
If you have any prayer requests throughout the week, just make sure you send it into the email.
And we'll get that added to the list and make sure that we're praying for that as a church.
And then we're going to have one more song before we take our offering.
Song 104, lean on his arms.
Song 104.
Song 104, lean on his arms.
Just lean upon the arms of Jesus.
He'll help you along, help you along.
If you will trust his love unfailing, he'll fill your heart with song.
Lean on his arms, trusting in his love.
Lean on his arms, all his mercy's proof.
Lean on his arms, looking home above.
Just lean on the Savior's arms.
Just lean upon the arms of Jesus.
He'll brighten the way, brighten the way.
Just follow gladly where he leadeth, his gentle voice obey.
Lean on his arms, trusting in his love.
Lean on his arms, all his mercy's proof.
Lean on his arms, looking home above.
Just lean on the Savior's arms.
Just lean upon the arms of Jesus.
Oh, bring every care, bring every care.
The burden that has seemed so heavy, take to the Lord in prayer.
Lean on his arms, trusting in his love.
Lean on his arms, all his mercy's proof.
Lean on his arms, looking home above.
Just lean on the Savior's arms.
Just lean upon the arms of Jesus.
Then leave all to him, leave all to him.
His heart is full of love and mercy.
His eyes are never dim.
Lean on his arms, trusting in his love.
Lean on his arms, all his mercy's proof.
Lean on his arms, looking home above.
Just lean on the Savior's arms.
This time Brother Sampson will come up and read Revelation chapter 1.
Okay, Revelation chapter 1, follow along.
As always, we'll read this chapter together starting in verse 1 where the Bible reads,
The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass.
And he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John, who bare record of the word of God,
and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.
Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein.
For the time is at hand.
John to the seven churches which are in Asia, grace be unto you, and peace from him which is, and which was, and which is to come.
And from the seven spirits which are before his throne.
And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead,
and the prince of the kings of the earth, unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
and hath made us kings and princes unto God and his father, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him,
and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him, even so. Amen.
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
I, John, also am a brother, and a companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ,
was in the owl that is called Patmos for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.
I was in the spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet, saying,
I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, and what thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia,
unto Ephesus, unto Smyrna, unto Pergamos, unto Thyatira, unto Sardis, unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.
And I turned to see the voice that spake with me, and being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks.
In the midst of seven candlesticks, one likened to the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the foot,
girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow,
and his eyes were as a flame of fire, and his feet likened to fine brass as he had been burned in a furnace,
and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars,
and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.
When I saw him, I felt at his feet as dead, and he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me,
Fear not, I am the first and the last. I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen.
And have the keys to hell and of death. Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are,
and the things which shall be hereafter. The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in thy right hand,
and the seven golden candlesticks, the seven stars of the angels of the seven churches,
and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest of the seven churches.
Firehead for a quick word of prayer.
Lord, we just come before you to give you thanks again for letting us gather here together to serve you once more.
We pray that you give thanks for Brother Dylan Aughs for bringing him down safely,
and pray that you fill in with your Holy Spirit, and let us be filled once again with truth from your word.
Lord, we pray this always in your name, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Amen. All right, well it's great to be here, and great to see you all again. I'm excited for this weekend.
I'll be down all weekend with you guys, so definitely looking forward to that.
And tonight, we're going to do a little bit of a different sermon.
We're in the book of Revelation, and in Revelation chapter 1 verse 3, the Bible says,
Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy,
and keep those things which are written therein, for the time is at hand.
And tonight, the title of my sermon is, Blessed is he that readeth.
I want to preach a sermon about the topic of reading, because sadly, and very just disgustingly,
we're living in a time where not only are people not reading their Bibles,
and certainly a lot of people are not reading their Bible cover to cover,
and certainly not very many people are reading their Bible cover to cover every year,
or multiple times a year, but we're actually living in a society,
and in a nation where people are just not reading anything.
People are not reading the Bible, and not only that, people are just not reading anything whatsoever,
but the Bible says, Blessed is he that readeth.
So reading is a blessing. Reading will bring blessing to our lives,
but before we get started, I want to read to you a portion of this article,
and this article is from 2018, so I'm sure it's even worse now,
but this article is called, Reading Books is on the Decline.
I just want to read a couple parts of this article.
It says, The Bureau of Labor Statistics' most recent American time use survey
found a decline in leisure reading.
A record low of 19% of Americans age 15 and older reported that they read for pleasure.
So less than 20% of Americans are reporting that they're just reading for pleasure, for enjoyment.
A Pew Research Center issued a report in March 2018,
and this update found that adults with lower incomes are about three times as likely
as the most affluent adults to be non-book readers, 36% versus 13%,
and that those with a high school degree or less are about five times as likely as college graduates
to report not reading books in any format in the last year.
Non-book readership is higher among Hispanics who are about twice as likely as whites
to report not having read a book in the past 12 months.
Those are some sad numbers. I don't care if you're black, white, Hispanic.
Hey, if you're not reading, that is really sad, and it's really sad that this many Americans
are just reporting not reading anything in the last year.
Let's continue this. It says, these are some heart-wrenching statistics.
33% of high school graduates never read another book the rest of their lives,
and 42% of college grads never read another book after college.
70% of U.S. adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years,
and 80% of families report not having bought or read a book last year.
80% of Americans are reporting that they did not read a book last year.
There have been a handful of reports, all issued this year,
that lament that the typical American is simply not reading for pleasure anymore.
The smartphone is always in our pocket, and many people tend to read on it,
but it's really easy to break immersion when you get Facebook notifications or Twitter DMS.
Netflix constantly gives us pop-ups about the new original movie or television show
that they just added, and instant messaging dings are omnipresent.
E-readers are not as popular as they used to be,
and Barnes & Noble is stocking more toys, records, and lifestyle items than books.
And this article explains all I need to know as to why America is getting so stupid,
and why America is just becoming a laughing stock of a nation,
and why America is confused on if Dr. Seuss is a racist book,
and on if Mr. Potato Head is evil.
It's because people are stupid because they're not reading.
Americans are not reading anymore.
They're not reading their Bible. They're just not reading anything.
How sick is that?
The Bible says,
Blessed are they that readeth, or blessed is he that readeth.
So let's go to Deuteronomy chapter 17.
Deuteronomy 17.
My first point is reading gives you knowledge, but ignorance leads to destruction.
Deuteronomy chapter 17.
Reading gives you knowledge, but ignorance leads to destruction.
Let's look at Deuteronomy 17 verse 15.
And this is talking about setting a king over the nation of Israel.
Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the Lord thy God shall choose.
One from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee.
Thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother.
But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt
to the end that he should multiply horses.
For as much as the Lord hath said unto you, ye shall henceforth return no more that way.
Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away.
Neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.
So, so far the Bible is telling you what you need to look for when you're choosing a king.
He needs to be a person that meets these qualifications.
And he's going to go on and talk about a very important point in verse 18.
And it shall be when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom,
that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priest, the Levites.
And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life,
that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, to keep all the words of this law in these statutes, and to do them,
that his heart be not lifted up above his brethren,
and that he turn not aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left,
to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel.
One of the qualifications for a king in Israel was that he would literally write out a whole copy of the Bible,
and that he would read it every single day to the end that he might, what? Learn.
Because reading makes you learn, okay?
You don't learn just from public education and you just get that rubber stamp degree and now you're just a learned person?
No, you actually learn by reading.
And it doesn't matter if you have a degree or not, someone who reads a lot is going to be learned,
a learned person, an educated person.
And when you're thinking about your king,
do you want your king to be someone who is just stupid and uneducated and can't read and can't write?
No, you want your king to be someone who's very smart and who's very intelligent and who's reading and learning, okay?
Think about Joe Biden.
This guy can't read.
He's signing things and he's like, I don't even know what I'm signing.
I mean, Joe Biden does not fit this right here.
He can't write out a whole copy of the Bible and read therein all the day of his life, right?
What a moron Joe Biden is.
But that's not how we should be and that's definitely not how leaders and kings should be.
The Bible says that they should be reading all the days of their life.
Why? So that they can learn.
And it's, we wonder why America is so stupid is because people are not reading and therefore people are not learning at all.
I'll read for you Ecclesiastes 10, verse 10.
It says, if the iron be blunt and he do wet the edge, then must he put to more strength.
But wisdom is profitable to direct.
So the Bible's giving this illustration like if you have an axe and you're swinging that axe, if you don't wet the edge,
meaning if you don't sharpen the edge of that axe, if anyone's ever sharpened a knife, maybe using something like a wet stone,
that's what it's talking about.
If you don't wet the edge, if you don't sharpen the edge, you have to put more strength to that thing.
If you don't have a sharp axe, you're going to be swinging hard.
You're going to be putting a lot of effort forth, but wisdom is profitable to direct.
So wisdom is just knowledge applied.
If you have knowledge that a sharp axe cuts better than a dull one,
hopefully you'd be wise enough to stop what you're doing and sharpen that axe and you'd have a lot easier of a job.
You know, something else we might be familiar with.
If you've ever ridden a bicycle, have you ever seen someone who has their saddle height wrong?
I mean, someone who has their saddle height all the way down.
Hey, they're putting a lot of strength into their riding.
Their knees are like up in their chest and they're riding, they have a lot of strength going into their riding.
But if their saddle height is at the wrong height, then they're putting in a bunch of effort that they don't have to.
This is why wisdom is so important, because it's profitable to direct.
And you get wisdom by learning and by applying that knowledge to your life.
And so if you're not reading, you're going to miss out on a lot of wisdom that you can gain in your life.
You must be a reader.
Deuteronomy, flip over to Deuteronomy chapter 31.
Deuteronomy 31.
Deuteronomy 31 and look at verse number 11.
When all Israel is come to appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose, thou shalt read this law before Israel in their hearing.
Gather the people together, men and women and children and thy stranger that is within thy gates,
that they may hear and that they may learn and fear the Lord your God and observe to do all the words of this law,
and that their children, which have not known anything, may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God,
as long as you live in the land, whether you go over Jordan to possess it.
So reading here was actually a commandment where you'd bring the whole congregation together and you would read.
And specifically it mentions the children, and it says that the children which have not known anything may learn to fear God.
And you know what a disservice it is to our children to not instill in them the love of reading.
Because the whole reason they were doing this is because this has generational effects, reading does.
That's why everyone would come together and read because that causes you to learn, that causes you to get knowledge,
and if you apply that knowledge, hopefully that gives you wisdom, and you don't want the next generation to miss out on that.
You don't want the next generation to be a bunch of people that are fighting over Dr. Seuss books and whether or not they're racist.
Because that's what happens when you don't read.
And it's weird, and it's weird how today so many people just like boast in how dumb they are,
and boast about how all books are for idiots, I don't want to read a book, I got better things to do like Snapchat,
I've got better things to do like TikTok, I've got better things to do like spend all my day on social media.
It's like no, you need to be spending your time reading. Why? So that you can learn.
So that you can fear God. That's the whole point of reading.
Go to 2 Kings chapter number 22. 2 Kings chapter number 22.
And you know what's a good example of this? Has anyone ever heard of Mark Dice?
Okay, these Mark Dice videos, it's so funny.
He goes to the beaches of California, and he just does like random man on the street interviews where he'll just ask them a random question.
And one of them I saw, he was like, hey, you know, if we had better gun control laws, do you think maybe Lee Harvey Oswald wouldn't have been able to kill Jesus Christ?
And they're like, yeah. Or they're just like, maybe, or I don't know.
And it's just like, these people haven't read anything.
They don't know who Lee Harvey Oswald is. They don't know who Jesus Christ is.
They don't know anything about gun control laws, obviously.
You know, it's like they're just morons, complete idiots.
And one of the things that he asked them, he goes, what was the last book you've read?
And they're like, uh, uh, I'm stupid, ha ha ha, it's so funny.
It's like, no, it's not funny. It's sad. It's disgusting that you're that dumb.
It's disgusting that you don't read.
And let me tell you something, people that don't read are dumb.
They're not intelligent people because they're not learning, because they're not reading.
I mean, these statistics that we read in that article is absolutely sick.
But doesn't it help you understand why our nation is the way it is?
It's because it's full of people that don't read.
And these same people that don't know who Lee Harvey Oswald is,
the same people that don't know who Jesus Christ is, they're out there voting.
They're reproducing.
I mean, they're getting involved in policy, and they're in the news media,
and they're teaching your children.
And it's like, we wonder why our society is so messed up.
It's because people are not reading. Not only are they just not reading the Bible,
they're not reading anything whatsoever.
It's absolutely sad.
2 Kings chapter number 22.
So just to give you some context of this,
King Josiah, he sends Shaphan, his scribe,
to go up to the house of the Lord to Hekiah, the high priest.
And he's asking him, hey, I want you to go up there
and count all the money that's in the house of the Lord.
And this is where we pick up the story in verse number 9.
And Shaphan the scribe came to the king and brought the king word again
and said, thy servants have gathered the money that was found in the house
and have delivered it into the hand of them that do the work
that have the oversight of the house of the Lord.
And Shaphan the scribe showed the king saying,
Hekiah the priest hath delivered me a book.
And Shaphan read it before the king.
So the word of God was found in the house of the Lord.
King Josiah hadn't known about it.
His scribe comes, and he starts reading it to him.
And let's see what happens in verse 11.
And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law,
that he rent his clothes.
And the king commanded Hekiah the priest,
and Ahicham the son of Shaphan,
and Achbor the son of Micaiah,
and Shaphan the scribe,
and Asaiah a servant of the king,
saying, Go ye, inquire of the Lord for me,
and for the people, and for all Judah,
concerning the words of this book that is found.
For great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us,
because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book,
to do according unto all which is written concerning us.
So what's happening?
The word of God was unknown to Josiah.
It was brought to him, and it was read to him,
and he was so angry by the things that they read,
and by the things that he heard that was in the word of God that he didn't know was there,
that he rent his clothes.
And he's telling him, Hey, go inquire for God for us,
because I didn't know that so much wrath was upon me,
and upon my nation, and upon our people,
because of the fact that we were not obeying what the Bible said.
And so what does this teach us?
Ignorance is not bliss.
People use that cute, funny little statement, but it's stupid,
and it's not true.
Ignorance is bliss.
What they're saying is, if you're ignorant of something,
then it's fine, because you're just going to feel great,
and you're not going to be stressed out,
and you don't have to worry about any problems,
just because you're ignorant of it.
But that doesn't make the problem go away.
You see, God's wrath was on the kingdom,
and on his people, before Josiah found out about it.
He just found out about it, and said, Okay,
now it's time to do something about it.
And so all the time, there's all this knowledge to be had,
there's all this wisdom to be had,
there's the whole word of God sitting in front of us,
and that's available to every single person in this country,
and the wrath of God is on our country,
because people have not read the Bible,
and people don't know that we're transgressing so heavily against God.
But that does not change the fact that God's anger is still on us.
I mean, hey, if you never open up a Bible,
and you never learn about hell,
you know the wrath of God still abides on you,
if you don't believe on Jesus Christ.
You know what?
Even if theoretically a person never heard the gospel,
which I believe that every person gets a chance at hearing truth,
and that if someone seeks and prays,
and asks for the truth to be revealed to them,
I believe they will get that chance.
Absolutely.
But theoretically speaking,
if someone just never heard the gospel,
do you know that it doesn't excuse them from hell?
You know the wrath of God still abides on them?
And you know there's all this worldly, secular,
and spiritual knowledge to be had,
and the consequences of you not having wisdom,
you will still face those consequences,
whether you take the time to learn or not.
So you might as well just learn.
You might as well just read what the word of God says,
and just actually fix yourself,
and actually fix all the ways that you're transgressing against God,
and actually find out where you're at with God,
rather than just being ignorant and still having God's wrath on you.
It makes no sense.
You're not going to get out of God's wrath by just not reading the Bible.
You're not going to get out of being poor by just not learning how to manage your finances.
I mean, you're not going to get out of all these problems.
Every single person, no matter if they're saved, unsaved,
you know, in the world, in church,
we all need to be learning,
and we're all going to face consequences if we do not learn.
But notice what happens in this story.
Let's go to 2 Kings 23, verse number 1.
And the king sent, and they gathered unto him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem.
And the king went up into the house of the Lord,
and all the men of Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
with him, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people,
both small and great, and he read in their ears
all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the Lord.
And the king stood by a pillar and made a covenant before the Lord
to walk after the Lord and to keep his commandments,
and his testimonies, and his statutes with all their heart and all their soul
to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book,
and all the people stood to the covenant.
So notice what this knowledge that was brought to King Josiah,
it allowed him to start making better decisions.
And no matter if it's a spiritual or a carnal issue,
knowledge will always be able to help you make better decisions.
And so Josiah, he didn't realize that their nation was transgressing against God,
but now he read it, he read it before all the people,
and then what did he do?
They covenanted to follow God.
He's able to start going down a track where he's able to change things,
and he ends up actually being one of the greatest kings in the history of this nation.
And let's see why. He did some really excellent things.
Let's look at verse number four.
And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest,
and the priest of the second order,
and the keepers of the door to bring forth out of the temple of the Lord
all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the grove,
and for all the hosts of heaven.
And he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron,
and carried the ashes of them unto Bethel.
And he put down the idolatrous priests whom the king of Judah
had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah,
and in the places round about Jerusalem.
Them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon,
and to the planets, and to all the hosts of heaven.
So what is he doing?
Now that he's read the word of God,
now that he's gotten some knowledge and some information,
and now that he's read it to all the congregation,
what are they doing?
They're getting rid of false religion.
They're burning all the instruments used to worship Baal.
He's putting down the idolatrous priests.
Hey, he's making some good decisions here, right?
I mean, this is what you want your leader to do.
You want your leader to root out false religion.
How did Josiah get the wisdom and get the knowledge to make that decision?
By reading.
That's how he got that knowledge.
Man, what did God?
Every pastor in this country would read Matthew chapter 23
about how we're not supposed to call any man father upon our earth,
and we can start putting down these idolatrous priests of the Catholic Church.
Wouldn't that be nice?
You know what that takes?
Reading, and actually learning that the Bible says that to begin with.
How many people just don't even know that?
I mean, whenever I talk to a Catholic,
at the end of the Gospel presentation,
I usually bring that up to them, and they're usually just floored.
They just can't believe that the Bible says,
Call no man upon the earth father.
And it's like, how did you not know that?
Oh, yeah, because you've never read.
That's how you never knew that.
And so today, if we had leaders like Josiah that got up
and actually read and got knowledge and got wisdom,
then they would be able to start making those good decisions.
And us as fathers, leaders of our home,
we've got to lead our family spiritually,
and it starts by reading the Bible.
It starts by reading lots of things and getting knowledge and information
so you could actually be able to make good decisions.
Based on reality, based on good knowledge and wisdom.
Let's look at verse number six.
Verse number six.
And he brought out the grove from the house of the Lord,
without Jerusalem, unto the brook Cydron,
and burned it at the brook Cydron,
and stamped it small to powder,
and cast the powder thereof upon the graves of the children of the people.
And he break down the houses of the Sodomites
that were by the house of the Lord,
where the women wove hangings for the grove.
Hey, here's another really great decision as a leader,
as a leader of a nation,
breaking down all the houses of the Sodomites,
getting all the Sodomites out of the land.
That's a great decision.
What made Josiah make that decision?
Did he just wake up one day and was just like,
you know, I'm thinking we get all the sodomites out.
No, he read the Bible.
And wouldn't it be nice if pastors,
instead of falling all over themselves saying,
they're normal, we love them,
they can be forgiven, they can serve Christ,
they're good at working with the children.
Wouldn't it be nice if they just read what Josiah read
and caused them to actually make a good decision
to not allow homos in their church?
Wouldn't it be nice if our leaders actually read the law of God
and got some wisdom and applied that wisdom
and it applied Leviticus 20.13 to our land
like it was hundreds of years ago in this land on the East Coast
where that exact verse was cited as the reason
why they implemented some of the laws that they did?
You know, Pastor Shelley has a book, it's called like,
I think it's called just The Ancient Laws of Connecticut
or The Colonial Laws of Connecticut, something like that.
And they list like Bible verse after Bible verse
after Bible verse to cite why they implemented
each law that they did.
And it's like, you know why?
Because they were reading the Bible.
I'm not saying that they were all saved,
but at least they were reading the Bible.
And hey, obviously the unsaved,
they can't understand the spiritual truths of the Bible,
but they can understand what Noah's Ark is.
They can understand what putting people to death means.
You know, they can't understand the spiritual thing,
but they can understand the facts of the Bible.
And even if our nation just implemented
the carnal truths of the Bible,
do you know how much better our nation would get?
It'd be unbelievable.
And so right off the bat, he's just destroying false religion.
He's ridding the Sodomites out of the land.
Why? Because he read.
Because the law of God was read to him.
It was able to give him that knowledge.
He was able to apply that knowledge
and he made his kingdom a great kingdom.
Look at verse number 25.
Verse number 25.
Speaking of King Josiah, it says,
And like unto him was there no king before him
that turned to the Lord with all his heart
and with all his soul and with all his might
according to all the law of Moses.
Neither after him arose there any like him.
He goes down as the best king.
God just gives him this great stamp of approval.
And you know where it all started?
With him reading the word of God.
With him actually just reading what the Bible says.
And hey, it was brought to him.
He didn't even seek it out.
But that just goes to show you the power of reading
and the power of knowledge.
Imagine what we could do in our lives
if we actually just seek knowledge
and seek wisdom and try to just read it as much as we can
and get wisdom.
Hey, we can end up making a lot of good decisions in our life.
But you know what would have happened
if King Josiah never read the law?
You think this verse would be in the Bible
that there was none like him that followed the law of Moses?
No, that verse would not be in the Bible if he had never read
because then he would have never gotten that knowledge.
He would have never applied that knowledge.
He wouldn't have gotten the Sodomites out of the land.
He wouldn't have taken the false religion out of the land.
He would have been a failure.
His nation probably would have been destroyed
because remember the wrath of God was on his nation.
He didn't even know it.
He would have been destroyed.
You know what was the difference between him and his nation being destroyed
and him being the greatest king?
Reading.
That was the difference.
That is the power of reading.
I'll read for you Hosea 4.6.
It says,
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
Go ahead and turn to 1 Timothy 3.
Because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee,
that thou shalt be no priest to me,
seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God.
I will also forget thy children.
So why were God's people destroyed for lack of knowledge?
Because they had forgotten the law of God.
And so now God is going to forget their children.
I mean, that is not what I want happening to my children.
I want to fear God.
And how do I fear God?
It's by learning by reading the word.
I mean, they were told,
Hey, read this so that your children will learn to fear God.
That comes by reading.
It does not come any other way.
We have to be readers.
Here's another person you want reading.
How about your pastor?
1 Timothy chapter 3.
Let's look at the qualifications of a bishop.
Verse 1, it says,
This is a true saying,
If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.
A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife,
vigilant, sober of good behavior,
given to hospitality, apt to teach,
not given to wine, no striker,
not greedy of filthy lucre, but patient,
not a brawler, not covetous,
one that ruleth well his own house,
having his children in subjection with all gravity.
For if a man know not how to rule his own house,
how shall he take care of the church of God?
Pay attention to this.
Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride,
he fall into condemnation of the devil.
You know, the pastor sounds like a really great person
that you want to have read a lot.
Because the Bible says if someone's a pastor who's a novice,
they're going to get lifted up with pride
and fall into condemnation of the devil.
And so when it comes to the leaders that are the kings
or leaders as husbands or leaders as parents
or leaders as a pastor,
well, that's one of the most important things, reading.
And you know what else is funny?
Notice, the king was supposed to read
all the days of his life so that his heart
is not lifted up above his brethren, right?
And in 1 Timothy 3, the pastor's not to be a novice,
lest being lifted up with pride,
he fall into condemnation of the devil.
So notice, these people, they both have to read
so that they don't get prideful.
And you know what's funny?
Isn't it funny how you run into a lot of people
that don't read, they don't know anything about the Bible,
and you see how prideful they are?
Isn't that hilarious?
We go out soul winning, we knock,
and we ask them a question,
hey, are you sure that you go to heaven if you die today?
And they're like, yo, absolutely, I'm sure.
And it's like, okay, well,
what do you think it takes to get to heaven?
Oh, you know, just be a good person,
repent of all my sins, you know,
get baptized, go to church.
And you're like, well, actually,
the Bible doesn't teach that.
Can I show you how easy it can be?
And they're like, I've read the Bible.
I know what it says.
It's like, you idiot, you're not saved.
You don't know the Bible.
I'm here to show you
because we've actually read the Romans road.
We've read all the salvation verses.
We're trying to save you, but you know what?
You're not gonna get saved because you're too prideful.
And you know what?
That's why the king needs to read
so his heart is not lifted up above his brethren.
That's why the pastor has to not be a novice
so he's not lifted up with pride.
Hey, when you actually read a lot and study a lot,
you realize how much more there is to know
and how you're not even close
to knowing what you should know.
And every time you read through the Bible cover to cover,
you're just like, I don't know much about the Bible.
You know, it's like, seems like every time you read it,
it just gets deeper and deeper to you.
And you realize, man,
I'm never gonna figure this whole book out.
There's so much to know, but yet the person who goes
to church on Easter and Christmas,
you knock on their door and they know for sure
they're going to heaven because the Bible says something
about faith and works.
I think in James two, I think it says something in there.
You know, they're like, I know what the Bible says.
I don't want to hear it.
It's like, come on.
So prideful.
And because of that, what happens?
Destruction.
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
And you know what?
The world is destroyed for lack of knowledge to people's
lives get destroyed for lack of knowledge all the time.
And, you know, a good example of this,
I think is like with this coronavirus shot,
this coronavirus shot,
which obviously is not a salvation issue.
It's not like, you know, if you take it,
you're taking the mark of the beast or anything like that.
But all day, every day,
we hear the same garbage about this shot that it's safe
and effective, safe and effective, safe and effective.
And if you, you deny science,
if you don't want to take this coronavirus shot,
you're just a bumpkin.
You don't know anything.
And it's funny because this week I read three science
journal publications,
one by international journal of infectious disease,
one international journal of clinical practice,
and one nature microbiology journal.
Okay. This is not info wars.com.
They can't just come at you saying,
Oh, you're just listening to conspiracy theorists.
This is just reputable bonafide science journals that
everyone would point to and say that this is credit
credible information.
And in all three of these journals,
they're warning about the dangers of something called
antibody dependent enhancement by this coronavirus vaccine.
And they're saying that, you know,
this is a legitimate threat with taking this vaccination,
which basically coronavirus,
the ADE antibody dependent enhancement in the most basic
terms.
It's just saying that when you get the coronavirus the second
time, if you get antibody dependent enhancement,
it attacks you like 10 times harder than if you were never
vaccinated. So here's, here's the definition of this phrase.
Antibody dependent enhancement is a mechanism by which
certain antibodies actually enhance viral viral replication
by promoting entry of the pathogen into immune cells.
Example would be macrophages resulting in worsening of the
infection.
So these articles are saying like,
you are at a risk when you take this vaccine of,
when you get the virus in the future,
it being way worse and your cells could possibly replicate
this virus way more than if you were never vaccinated.
And these, these articles are not saying,
don't take the vaccine.
One of them was just pushing for an informed consent form.
Just letting these people know that are in these trials,
that this is a danger to them because this vaccine hasn't
been approved. It's emergency approved by the FBI, FDA.
It's not even thoroughly tested.
It's just like a brand new emergency thing. And it's like,
is this so crazy to ask for an informed consent form for a
vaccine that you can't sue anyone for? It hasn't been tested.
It's emergency approved. But you know what?
What's funny about that? Why don't people know this?
Because they don't read. That's why.
Because all they do is listen to the news,
tell them safe and effective, safe and effective,
safe and effective, but they've never actually read anything.
They don't actually know anything.
All they know is what CNN and Fox News and TikTok and
Facebook shoves down their eyeballs all day long because
they're not actually reading anything at all.
They're not reading the Bible and they're not reading actual
medical, medical literature. And I'm no medical expert.
I don't, I don't have any medical history whatsoever,
but even I was able to find this information and just three
quick articles gave it a read.
And it's telling you here's a legitimate danger.
ADE, antibody dependent enhancement.
And then yet these people that don't read,
they're prideful, aren't they? They'll say, oh,
you deny science. You're just an idiot.
You don't know anything when really they're the ignorant
ones and they can be destroyed by their lack of knowledge.
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
And so a lot of people, unfortunately,
may take this shot and may experience this along with the
other side effects that we're not even talking about.
And they could possibly be destroyed.
Their families could possibly be destroyed because of lack
of knowledge, just because they didn't know.
And it's sad because here's what you're going to see.
You're going to see people sadly get this vaccine and maybe
they, they get this issue and then they're dying of the
coronavirus. And you know what they're going to say, man,
only more people had gotten the vaccine.
If only more people had worn their masks,
I would have been just okay.
Not realizing that they're dying because of that vaccine.
And my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge because
they didn't read.
And so God's people in our,
in our spiritual lives all the time people's marriages are
destroyed for lack of knowledge because people aren't reading,
you know, wives obey your husbands.
They're not reading husbands love your wives.
They're just hearing 50 50 relationship because they're not
reading. And so they're,
they get destroyed people's finances all the time get
destroyed. People's child rearing all the time gets
destroyed because they're hearing, you know,
you shouldn't spank your kid, but the Bible talks about,
you know, he that spares his rod hates his son.
And so people's lives all the time,
whether in carnal matters or spiritual matters are destroyed
by one thing, lack of knowledge.
Where does knowledge come from?
It comes from reading.
And so we need to be people that read,
whether it's spiritual, obvious,
obviously we need to be reading our Bible every single day.
You know, we should, we should do more than just read our
Bible. We should learn about the way this world works and
the systems in this world.
And we should learn about science and math and reading
and finances and not be people that are simple and not be
people that can just be easily manipulated by every Anderson
Cooper that comes on the TV. You know,
we need to be people that are intelligent.
Let's go to Proverbs chapter number eight,
Proverbs chapter number eight,
look at verse 11,
but it was 12. I wisdom dwell with prudence and find out
knowledge of witty inventions.
The fear of the Lord is to hate evil,
pride and arrogance in the evil way.
And the froward mouth do I hate counsel is mine and sound
wisdom. I am understanding.
I have strength by me,
wisdom, Kings reign and princes decree justice by me,
princes rule and nobles, even all the judges of the earth.
I love them that love me and those that seek me early shall
find me.
Riches and honor are with me,
yay, durable riches and righteousness.
So, you know,
when it comes to finances,
people's lives are often destroyed for lack of knowledge.
And the Bible says that with wisdom is riches and honor,
durable riches and righteousness.
A lot of people,
the reason why they're rich is because they're wise and
they're hardworking.
That is the reason why a lot of people are rich and the
reason why a lot of people are poor is because they're not
wise and they're lazy because they're unintelligent or
uneducated and lazy.
And that is just the reality.
And when I was writing the sermon,
I was thinking like when it comes to wisdom and finances,
I was thinking,
I bet you that the people who play the lottery,
if you just did a poll of the literacy level of people that
play the lottery,
I bet you would find a lot of people that don't read.
I bet you would find a lot of people that have not read much
in their life.
And I actually found that there was an article on it.
The article is called rich or poor.
Who plays the lottery more?
Okay.
Who thinks that the rich plays the lottery more?
Who thinks that the poor plays the lottery more?
Yep.
That's the truth.
I wonder why that is.
Let's read a little bit of this.
It says probably isn't a surprise,
but poor people are the leading participants of lottery games
in the U S as concluded by a 2011 study from the journal
gambling studies.
The results showed that the lowest fifth in terms of
socioeconomic status had the highest rate of playing the
lottery.
So the lowest fifth,
the poorest fifth of people in America played the lottery the
most and had the most numbers of days spent gambling while
those in the higher status averaged only about 10 days of
gambling.
It seems that households with lower income are more willing
to spend their money.
No matter how little they have betting on lottery games in
2014 alone lottery ticket sales in 43 States reached $70.5
billion,
$70.5 billion.
Whereas other entertainment sectors like sports,
movies, video games, and books,
books only gathered a fraction of that amount.
So lottery tickets beat out all the money gathered by sports
movies, video games, and where you get wisdom books.
Is that any surprise people that would spend their money
and instead of books are going out and buying lottery tickets
that the poorest people is because they don't read it's
because they're not smart because the lottery is designed
is a predatory system.
It's designed to prey on poor people.
They don't have that because they love you.
They have that system because they make a bunch of money off
it.
They make $70.5 billion off of it.
It's not because they just really want to help the poor
person climb out of poverty.
No, it's because they know that the poor person is usually not
wise enough to not play that stupid game.
And I'm not saying that every poor person is,
is stupid or unintelligent because obviously,
you know, our Lord Jesus Christ was poor,
but you can't get any smarter than the Lord Jesus Christ.
And you know what?
He read the Lord Jesus Christ read I'll read for you Proverbs
13 11.
It says wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished,
but he that gathers by labor shall increase.
So there's some wisdom that we can get from the Bible that
says wealth gotten by vanity will be decreased.
So if we get money by something stupid,
like winning the lottery, God's not going to bless that money.
But when you earn money by hard work,
according to what the Bible says,
God's going to make that money last.
God's going to make sure you can take care of your family.
But if you're just playing the lottery,
even if you do win, which you won't,
God's going to make sure that that movie just that money just
decreases and gets destroyed.
And so obviously there's a lot of ways we can apply this to
our life, but I mentioned just a minute ago,
how Jesus Christ read, I want to read to you Luke four 16.
It says, and he came to Nazareth where he had been brought up.
And as his custom was,
he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up
for, to read.
So our Lord Jesus Christ had a custom and he did it over and
over and over of reading in the Sabbath or in the,
in the temple.
And so what's funny is like,
that's a lot more than other religions can say about their
founders, like Islam.
I mean, the prophet Muhammad was completely illiterate.
The guy could not read.
And it's like,
no wonder a guy who could not read created such a stupid book
and such a stupid religion because the guy couldn't even
read.
Whereas Jesus Christ is the word of God and you read the word of
God.
And it's amazing.
It's amazing literature.
It's powerful.
It's wonderful words of life.
You know, it's great book because Jesus Christ was not
illiterate.
Here's another person that was a reader,
the apostle Paul I'll read for you.
Second Timothy four 13.
It says the cloak that I left at Troas with Karpus when thou
comest bring with thee and the books,
but especially the parchment.
So he's asking them to bring him the books and the
parchments,
which the parchments are probably just scripture.
It's usually just scripture.
So he wants the books and the scripture,
meaning he wasn't only reading scripture.
He was also reading other things.
The apostle Paul,
he was a smart person.
He read,
he was not uneducated or stupid.
So number two,
reading is the key to knowing and serving God.
Go to Daniel chapter 11.
Reading is the key to knowing and serving God.
So not only is reading just going to give you knowledge,
that's going to help you make better decisions.
You know,
ignorance leads to destruction.
Not only is it just going to help you there,
but reading is absolutely key to knowing and serving God.
Daniel chapter 11.
When you're there,
look at verse 32,
it says,
and such as do wickedly against the covenant.
Shall he corrupt by flatteries,
but the people that do know their God shall be strong and do
exploits.
And they that understand among the people shall instruct
many yet they shall fall by the sword and by flame and by
captivity and by spoil many days.
So in the end times,
who are the people that are doing great exploits?
Who are the people that are instructing many,
those that know their God and those that understand those that
understand are going to be instructing many.
And those that do know their God are going to do exploits.
So the question is,
how do you know God or better question is who is God?
John one,
one says in the beginning was the word and the word was with
God and the word was God.
You know how you know God through the word of God.
I mean,
Jesus Christ is the word of God.
Do you know how you know Jesus Christ by reading the Bible?
That is how you know the Lord.
And so in the end times,
those that do know their God shall do exploits.
It's those that know the Bible.
Well,
why is it that we don't see,
you know,
all these lame watered down churches that don't,
you know,
study the Bible that have 15 minute sermons about God's grace every
week.
Why do we not see them right now doing great exploits for God?
Because they don't know God because they don't even know the Bible.
They don't read the Bible.
Jesus Christ is the word.
You must know the word of God to know God go to John chapter
number four,
John chapter number four,
John four.
And look at verse number 23,
but the hour cometh.
And now is when the true worshipers shall worship the father in spirit
and in truth for the father seeketh such to worship him.
God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit
and in truth.
So worshiping and serving God is not just a free for all.
It's not just do whatever you think is best.
Serve God,
worship God.
Anyway,
you think is best.
Jesus said,
you have to worship God in spirit and in truth.
Now you don't have to go there,
but I'll read for you.
John 17,
17,
where it says,
sanctify them through thy truth.
Thy word is truth.
So Jesus said,
you have to worship the father in spirit and in truth.
And in John 17,
17,
it says thy word is true.
So how do we worship God?
It's directly connected to the word of God.
We cannot,
we cannot effectively serve God,
know God or worship God.
If we don't know the Bible,
you cannot do it.
These things are inseparable.
You must have it.
Here's a good example.
Let's say someone just doesn't know God.
They don't know the Bible,
but they think I want to win someone to Christ.
I want to help someone become a Christian,
but they don't know the Bible.
How are they going to do that?
Well,
maybe they're going to pray and say,
God,
I just pray that this person would get saved.
Was that how God ordained for people to get saved?
No.
You know how we get people saved?
The Bible tells us how to get people saved.
Go to Romans chapter.
Number one,
Romans chapter.
Number one,
I'll start reading in verse 15.
It says,
so as much as in me is,
I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome.
Also,
for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the
power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth to the
Jew first and also to the Greek for therein is the
righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith as it is
written,
the just shall live by faith.
You know,
how someone gets saved.
It goes from a saved person preaching the gospel and that
faith from going from faith to faith.
So we're thinking,
Oh, let's worship God.
Let's go soul winning.
Well,
it better be done in spirit and in truth by word is truth.
So the Bible tells us how we do that.
We don't just come up with our own way of serving God.
We don't say,
Oh,
you know,
I want to win souls this way.
I want to worship God this way.
No,
it has to be according to what the Bible says.
And so that makes sense when you think about in the end
of time,
those that do know their God shall do exploits.
The people that know what the Bible says about solving the
people that know the word of God are going to be doing the
most for God.
Think about this,
a woman pastor.
Oh,
she just wants to worship God.
She just wants to serve God.
It's like,
well,
it's not according to spirit.
It's not according to truth.
So you don't know God and you're not serving God.
You're not worshiping God because it's not according to
what the Bible says.
The Bible says,
let the women keep silence in the church.
Bible says that they're not to usurp the authority over the
man.
I suffer,
not a woman to teach.
So if a woman thinks that she's going to go worship God by
being a pastor,
well,
she's not doing it according to spirit and she's not doing it
according to truth.
So she doesn't know God in that sense.
Positive only preaching is a good example.
Maybe a pastor just wants to really worship the Lord with
365 days of grace.
Only preaching is like,
well,
that's not according to truth because the Bible is just full
of negative messages.
And the Bible instructs pastors to preach negative messages as
well.
I am the way,
the truth and the life.
No man cometh unto the father,
but by me,
how are you going to know the truth?
It's Jesus Christ.
Who is Jesus Christ?
The word of God.
Well,
how do you know that by reading it?
It's so simple,
but this,
this little fact of knowing God through reading the Bible is
attacked by liberal Christianity,
where it's not about,
it's not about putting in a lot of time reading the Bible.
It's just by having a special feeling about Jesus Christ.
It's by just wearing a t-shirt that says,
all I need is a lot of coffee and a little bit of Jesus.
It's like,
that's not worshiping God.
I'm sorry.
That's not what worshiping God is,
is reading and knowing the Bible.
And people want to make fun of fundamentalists for being so
about the Bible that everything has to be exactly what the
Bible says.
Absolutely.
I love what pastor Jimenez always says.
If the Bible is your boss,
you're a Baptist.
This is a Baptist church.
This is not a new,
a new international version fund center church.
This is where we believe the King James Bible.
And we believe every word that it says.
Why?
Because we want to know God.
And how do we do that?
By actually reading it.
You can say you're King James only all day long,
but if you're King James Bible sits on the shelf and you never
read it,
what does that profit you?
Absolutely nothing.
We've got to be reading the Bible.
Go to Matthew chapter 12.
I'll read for you.
Second Timothy two 15.
It says study to show thyself approved unto God.
What is studying?
Studying is a lot of reading,
isn't it?
And it says a workman that needeth not to be ashamed,
rightly dividing the word of truth.
You know who the real workman for God are in this world.
Those that are studying the word of truth,
those that are reading the Bible,
those are the real workmen today.
And so Jesus Christ many times in the Bible actually rebukes
people for not reading.
And there's too many to go through all of them.
So I just want to real quick,
let's just run through all of them that are in the book of
Matthew alone.
Okay.
This is just all the times where Jesus Christ rebuked
someone for not reading Matthew chapter 12,
and we're getting close to finishing up here.
Matthew 12.
Look at verse number two.
But when the Pharisee saw it,
they said unto him, behold,
thy disciples do that,
which is not lawful on the Sabbath day.
So they're accusing Jesus Christ.
But look in verse number five,
or have you not read in the law how that on the Sabbath days,
the priests in the temple profane,
the Sabbath and are blameless.
But I say unto you that in this place is one greater than the
temple.
But if you had known what this meaneth,
I will have mercy and not sacrifice.
You would not have condemned the guiltless for the son of man is
Lord, even of the Sabbath day.
So they're coming in accusing Jesus Christ and he addresses
their problem.
Have you not read?
Why is it that you do not understand?
I'm the Lord of the Sabbath.
I mean, the Sabbath is a picture of Jesus Christ resting for
salvation.
God did all the work for us.
And so he's the Lord of the Sabbath and he's saying,
have you not read?
Why is it that you don't understand is because you have
not read.
Look at Matthew chapter 19,
Matthew 19,
verse number three,
the Pharisees also came unto him,
tempting him and saying unto him,
is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?
And he answered them and said unto them,
have you not read?
That which he made them at the beginning made them male and
female and said for this cause shall a man leave father and
mother and shall cleave to his wife and they twain shall be
one flesh.
These people are just saying,
Hey, can you just divorce your wife for any reason?
It's like, have you not read?
He made them male and female.
By the way,
that's a good question to ask all these liberals that don't
know the difference.
Have you not read that God made them male and female?
It's like, you haven't even read Genesis chapter five.
You haven't even read the first couple of chapters of the
Bible.
Have you not read Jesus is insulting these people because
of it.
Matthew 21.
Look at verse 15.
And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful
things that he did,
and the children crying in the temple and saying,
Hosanna to the son of David,
they were sore displeased and said unto him,
here's thou what these say.
And Jesus said,
sayeth unto them,
yay have you never read out of the mouth of babes and sucklings
thou has perfected praise.
He's like,
why are you so ignorant?
Have you not ever read?
That's why you're ignorant because you have not read
Matthew chapter 22 flip over.
Flip over to Matthew 22.
Look at verse 29.
Remember,
we're just going through all the mentions in Matthew.
I may have missed some.
This is what I could find.
But Matthew 22 verse 29 says,
well,
unto you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites because he built the
tombs of the prophets.
I'm sorry.
I'm in the wrong chapter there.
Verse chapter 22 verse 29.
Jesus answered and said unto them,
ye do err not knowing the scriptures nor the power of God.
And so these two things are inseparable from each other.
Knowing the power of God and knowing the scriptures for in the
resurrection,
they neither marry nor are given in marriage,
but are as the angels of God in heaven.
But as touching the resurrection of the dead,
have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God saying,
I am the God of Abraham.
And so many,
many times people come and ask a stupid question or just are
completely ignorant.
And what is the reason?
Because they did not read.
And so all the time we see so much false doctrine,
so much bad preaching.
So many people that say they know God and don't.
And what is the reason is because they have not read.
It's like these people,
you know,
you open a book,
a kid's book and it's Jesus with long hair.
And it's like,
have you not read first Corinthians 11?
It's a shame for a man to have long hair.
You're going to tell me that Jesus Christ had long hair.
Have you not read?
It's like,
Oh,
you know,
I believe that homeless could get saved.
It's like,
have you not read Romans chapter one?
Oh,
I believe that salvation's by repenting of your sins.
Have you not read the entire book of John,
the entire book of acts,
the entire book of Romans,
the entire new Testament.
It's just like,
have you not read?
That is why there's so many problems in Christianity.
That is why there's so much false doctrine is people's not,
people are not reading the Bible.
And so you knowing God,
you being filled with power,
you being,
you know,
doing great things for God is directly connected to you,
knowing God,
which is directly connecting to you knowing the Bible.
And so if you want to be a Christian that's used greatly by
God,
you have to know the Bible.
And so just in conclusion here,
I'll just read these for this for you,
but you go to Proverbs one in application.
Number one,
if you don't read,
if you're a person where you don't read much at all,
you should not be content with being uneducated.
Some people,
they are just content with not knowing things and they just
don't care.
Oh, I just,
I don't know who Lee RV Oswald is or who Jesus Christ is.
And I don't really care if the second amendment would have
changed any of that.
I don't really know,
you know,
anything.
And I'm just totally okay with that.
Don't be that kind of person.
Don't be a person that's just content with not knowing.
Don't be content with being a person that is a novice.
In the scriptures.
And there's nothing wrong with being an office.
When you're starting out,
there's nothing wrong when being a child and not knowing
anything,
but we should constantly be diligent and be reading things,
both the Bible and history and math and science and
literature and learning as much as we can so that we're not
ignorant people.
I saw a King James Bible conference in Florida last year
where a preacher got up and he's like,
you know,
I believe the King James Bible.
I may be an idiot.
I may be a loser.
I may be a retard.
I may not be able to understand half the words on this
page,
but the half that I can read,
I believe it.
And the other half,
I believe him too.
And that's like,
he was like glorying and boasting and being stupid.
And let me tell you something that is not how we should
be as Christians.
That is a shame to the Lord Jesus Christ to get up and
preach like that,
or to just be okay with being uneducated or being stupid.
Look,
if you didn't grow up and you,
the love of reading was not instilled into you,
that wasn't necessarily your fault.
But now,
you know,
reading is something you should be doing.
And starting today,
read,
read the Bible,
read books.
Don't fall into this category where you're one of the 80
percent of Americans that didn't read anything in the
last year.
Do not be that person.
Number two,
you know,
if you do read a lot,
don't become prideful about it.
Be like,
oh,
well,
I read all that stuff.
I,
this sermon,
I didn't need this sermon.
I read so much.
I'll read for you.
First Corinthians eight,
he knows nothing yet as he ought to know.
So,
you know,
I don't care if you spend 20 hours a day reading,
you know,
the Bible talks about how if all the,
the acts of Jesus Christ were written,
that the earth couldn't even contain the books that were
written of it.
So you will never know all that there is to know.
You'll never understand this Bible 100 percent.
You can never gain all the knowledge that is out there.
And so it'd be really stupid for us if you do read a lot
or you are a really intelligent person to just start getting
prideful about that intelligence because then you're
just going to be destroyed by pride and all that
intelligence is worth nothing when God has to constantly
just be bringing the hammer on you for your pride.
So obviously,
exalt reading,
exalt intelligence,
but never let that cause you to be prideful or cause you
to look down.
Number three,
if you want to be greatly used by God,
you must be reading your Bible and I'll close on this
verse.
Daniel 11 32 and such as do wickedly against the covenant
shall he corrupt by flatteries.
But the people that do know their God shall be strong
and do exploits and they that understand among the people
shall instruct many.
And so if you want to be part of that group in the end
times where you're doing great exploits,
you're instructing many,
it's connected to how you read.
It's connected to how you know God,
to how you know this Bible and to how you understand,
which is directly connected to you reading.
So the Christian life,
one of the biggest parts of the Christian life is reading.
So let's make sure that pure words Baptist church is a
church that reads.
Let's have a word of prayer.
Lord, thank you for this day.
And thank you for the word of God.
Thank you that we have so much to read and that we can
never understand all of it.
We could spend our whole lives just studying it and always
learning new things.
Lord, it is such a fun book to read.
And I pray that every single person in here would have a
love of reading and that they would want to continuously
gain knowledge and gain wisdom to help them make better
decisions in their life.
And in Jesus name, we pray.
Amen.
All right.
For our last song, we're going to song 363.
Wonderful words of life.
Song 363.
Wonderful words of life.
Song 363.
On the first.
Sing them over again to me.
Wonderful words of life.
Let me more of their beauty see.
Wonderful words of life.
Words of life and beauty.
Teach me faith and duty.
Beautiful words.
Wonderful words.
Wonderful words of life.
Beautiful words.
Wonderful words.
Beautiful words of life.
Christ the blessed one gives to all.
Wonderful words of life.
Sinner list to the loving call.
Wonderful words of life.
All so freely given.
Wowing us to heaven.
Beautiful words.
Wonderful words.
Wonderful words of life.
Beautiful words.
Wonderful words.
Wonderful words of life.
Sweetly echo the gospel call.
Wonderful words of life.
Offer pardon and peace to all.
Wonderful words of life.
Jesus only savior.
Sanctify forever.
Beautiful words.
Wonderful words.
Wonderful words of life.
Beautiful words.
Wonderful words.
Wonderful words of life.
Thank you all for coming.
You are dismissed.
Thank you.