Thank you very much.
Thank you.
O come, all ye faithful, in the Christmas spirit, 424. O come, all ye faithful.
O come, all ye faithful, in the Christmas spirit, 424. O come, all ye faithful, in the Christmas spirit, 424.
O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant. O come ye, O come ye, to Bethlehem.
Come and behold Him, Lord the King of Angels. O come, let us adore Him. O come, let us adore Him. O come, let us adore Him.
Christ the Lord, sing, choirs of angels, sing in exultation. O sing, all ye pride, host of heaven above.
Glory to God, all glory in the highest. O come, let us adore Him. O come, let us adore Him. O come, let us adore Him. Christ the Lord.
Yea, Lord, we greet Thee, for this happy morning of Jesus, to Thee, our glory give.
Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing. O come, let us adore Him. O come, let us adore Him. O come, let us adore Him. Christ the Lord.
Amen.
The first song to your second song will be song number 169. Song number 169, Come Thou Fount. 169.
First, come thou fount of every blessing. Tune my heart to sing thy grace. Streams of
mercy never ceasing. Call for songs of loudest praise. Teach me some melodious sonnet sung
by flaming tongues above. Praise the mountain fixed upon it. Mount of thy redeeming love.
Here I raise mine Ebenezer, hither by thy help I come. And I know by thy good pleasure,
safely I'll arrive at home. Jesus sought me when a stranger, wandering from the fold of
God, he to rescue me from danger, interposed his precious blood. Go to grace, how great
a debtor, daily I'm constrained to be. Let thy goodness, like a better, find my wandering
heart to thee. Thrown to wander, Lord, I feel it. Thrown to leave the God I love. Here's
my heart, oh take and seal it. Seal it for thy courts above. Amen. Good singing. So
we'll go ahead and go over our announcements for the morning. So go ahead and pull out
your bulletins. If you do not have a bulletin, just raise your hand. Brother Eli and Brother
Henry will bring them around to you. On the top left we have our service times. And there
is a note for the service times. For the week of Christmas, Christmas week, our midweek
service, the Thursday midweek Bible study, is going to be moved to Tuesday. All right?
So it's just going to be moved forward into the week on Tuesday. That is December the
22nd. So just take note of that. Christmas week, the midweek service, is from Thursday
to Tuesday. But all the other service times will remain the same. Beneath this we have
our soul winning times. We have three soul winning times that meet here at the church
on Sunday at 2 p.m., Thursday at 5.15, and on Saturday at 10 a.m. We also have a regional
soul winning time also on Saturday that meets in Baytown at Jenkins Park, and that meets
at 4 p.m. All right? So you can do two soul winning times if you want on Saturday. All
right? In the morning and in the evening. All right? And on Saturday, both of those
soul winning leaders, they are here in the bulletin with their phone numbers. So if you
plan on going, just go ahead and give them a heads up. We have our totals underneath
this. We have 532 salvations for the year, and for the month of November we're up to
48. So good job, soul winning. Does anybody have any salvations to report? One, two, three.
Anybody else? Three? Awesome. Get on there. And for a Bible memory passage, we are still
in Proverbs chapter number one, we're in verse number 22. So kind of get to that latter end
of it. Keep working on that. And then again, if you do have that memorized word perfect
and you quote it to a non-family member, you will receive a special prize. And I know we
have quite a few already have it done or working on it. Let's find another show of
hands just so I have another good idea. Awesome. Good job. And another reminder for our baby
shower coming up, we have it for Christian Rogers. She's having her baby girl and that
is going to be on Sunday, December 27th. And that baby shower is going to be after the
morning service. It's going to be at 2 p.m. She is registered on Amazon. So just be prepared
for that. It is nurselings only preferred. So guys, if you could just take the kids with
you and let the ladies enjoy their baby shower. So just kind of note that on your calendar.
And be in prayer for our expectant mothers. This list just keeps growing. It seems like
every lady here in this church is pregnant. So just pray for all the pregnant ladies here
listed and all their babies. Exciting to see that. And for our preaching schedule, today,
November 29th, we have Brother Ben Naim with us. So whenever you get a minute, just greet
him. It's good to have him back. Thursday, December 10th, we have Brother Dylan Oz coming
to preach that midweek service. Sunday, December 13th, we'll have Brother Chris Segura coming
back from Faithful Word. December 20th, we'll have Pastor Shelley for morning and evening
service. And February 21st, next year, we'll have Brother or Pastor, I'm sorry, Pastor
Bruce Mejia coming out. It'll be his second time here, so it'll be good to have him back.
And then just some upcoming events. We do have some more details here for the Christmas
caroling that we're going to do on December 4th. We're going to meet here at the church
house at 5.30 p.m. We'll just kind of get ready to go out and be leaving at 6. So December
the 4th, meeting here at the church at 5.30, and we'll be leaving out to go caroling at
6 p.m. And then December 20th is our family and friends day. We did get all of our invites
in. They're on the back shelf. We have a ton of them, so just give them out to everybody.
Whenever you go soul winning, just give them out to everybody. Invite your family and your
friends. Pastor Shelley, again, is going to be preaching bold services for that Sunday.
We're also going to have some lunch provided. So the church is going to provide the main
course, some type of meat, barbecue, something of that nature. And if we could just ask all
the church family to bring a side dish, a dessert, and we'll just have a good fellowship
and food after the service. And then again, we'll have a free gift, you know, a gift for
all the first time visitors as well. And lastly, for a prayer request, if you do have anything
you need special prayer about, you can just email that into the church at purewordsbaptist
at gmail dot com. And then Pastor Shelley will go over those during the midweek service.
But that is the announcements for the morning. Go ahead and pull your hymnals back out. We'll
go to our third song. It'll be 431. Silent Night. 431.
Silent Night.
Holy night.
All is calm.
All is bright.
Round yon virgin mother and child.
Holy infant so tender and mild.
Sleep in heavenly peace.
Silent Night.
Holy night.
Shepherds quake at the sight.
Glory stream from heaven afar.
Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia.
Christ the Savior is born.
Silent Night.
Holy night.
Son of God who loves your light.
Radiate peace from thy holy face.
With the dawn of redeeming grace.
Jesus, Lord at thy birth.
Silent Night.
Holy night.
Wondrous star, lend thy light.
With the angels let us sing.
Alleluia to our King.
Christ the Savior is born.
Alright, so at this time if you go ahead and pull out your Bibles and turn your Bibles to Ezekiel chapter number two.
Ezekiel chapter number two.
Brother Jeff will come read for us and we'll go ahead and pass the offering plate.
Okay, Ezekiel chapter two.
The Bible reads in Ezekiel chapter two verse one.
And he said unto me, Son of man, stand upon thy feet and I will speak unto thee.
The Spirit entered into me when he spake unto me and set me upon my feet, but I heard him that spake unto me.
And he said unto me, Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that have rebelled against me.
They and their fathers have transgressed against me even unto this very day.
For they are impudent children and stiff-hearted.
I do send thee unto them and thou shalt say unto them, Dost saith the Lord God.
And they, whether they will hear or whether they will forbear, for they are a rebellious house,
yet shall know that there have been a prophet among them.
And thou, Son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words,
though briars and thorns be with thee, and thou dost dwell among scorpions.
Be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.
Thou shalt speak my words unto them, whether they will hear or whether they will forbear, for they are most rebellious.
But thou, Son of man, hear what I say unto thee. Be not thou rebellious like that rebellious house.
Open thy mouth, and eat that I give thee. And when I look, behold, a hand was sent unto me,
and lo, a roll of book was therein, and he spread it before me.
It was written within and without, and there was written therein, lamentations and mourning and woe.
Let's all bow our heads for a quick word of prayer.
Dear Lord, I pray that you would fill Brother Ben with your spirit,
that you would guide him in giving us your spiritual meat, that we would be attentive.
Listen to what he has to say.
I pray that you would bless this church, and I pray that it's all in Jesus' name. Amen.
All right. Amen.
You have to bear with me through this awkward process for a sec. Get the mic ready.
All right. So we're there in Ezekiel chapter 2. Look at verse number 8, if you would.
Ezekiel chapter 2, verse 8. The Bible says there,
But thou, son of man, hear what I say unto thee. Be not thou rebellious, like that rebellious house.
Open thy mouth, and eat that I give thee. And when I look, behold, a hand was sent unto me,
and lo, a roll of a book was therein, and he spread it before me, and it was written within and without,
and there was written therein, lamentations and mourning and woe.
So the prophet Ezekiel here, he's commanded to eat a book.
He's commanded to eat the words of God. He says,
Open your mouth and eat what you're given.
Now Ezekiel, he was among the captives by the river Kibar,
and let's just say that what he was told to preach wasn't exactly pleasant.
He was exposing the wickedness of God's chosen nation at the time.
And this roll, it contained the words of God that the Lord wanted him to proclaim to his people.
Now if you would, turn over to Jeremiah chapter 15.
Jeremiah chapter 15. In Ezekiel 3, the very next chapter, the Bible says,
And he said unto me, Son of man, cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels with this roll that I give thee.
Then did I eat it, and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness.
So not only was Ezekiel given a roll which contained the words of God,
but we also know that this roll tasted like honey.
The roll tasted like honey.
Here in Jeremiah chapter 15, we see that exact same symbolism.
Look at verse 15. Jeremiah 15, 15.
It says,
So Jeremiah, same as Ezekiel, he ate the words of God.
And just like what it says in Ezekiel chapter 3, we know that it tasted like honey.
You see, the word of God exemplified throughout the scriptures as tasting like honey.
Pastor Shelley touched on this a couple of weeks ago when he preached out of Psalm 19.
And the title of my sermon this morning is Eat the Word.
Eat the Word.
You know, we all just finished eating a lot this past Thursday for Thanksgiving.
And that was a great carnal meal that we enjoyed.
But we shouldn't ignore the spiritual meal that we ought to be eating each and every single day.
We shouldn't ignore our spiritual diet that we have to maintain.
Because if you neglect that, you'll suffer in your Christian walk.
The word of God, just like certain carnal food, has nutritional value.
It has spiritual value, spiritual or symbolic nutritional value.
And the Bible, over and over and over again, it typifies the Bible.
It typifies the word of God specifically as something that you can consume, that you can eat.
And we see that with Ezekiel and Jeremiah.
I want to show you a few more places where we see this.
Go to 1 Peter chapter 2, 1 Peter chapter 2.
Meanwhile, I'll read from Matthew 4, a very famous scripture,
as you turn to 1 Peter chapter 2 where the Bible says,
But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
We don't live simply by the carnal food that we eat every day.
But the Bible is clear here. This is the Lord Jesus Christ himself saying that we live by the word of God.
But here's my question for you. How many of you are willing to skip a meal for a day?
How many of you are willing to say, I'm not having any breakfast today,
I'm not having any lunch today, I'm having no snacks today,
I'm not having dinner today, I'm going to eat nothing?
Doesn't seem like a very popular proposition, does it?
But you know what? There are Christians who don't eat their spiritual food for an entire day.
For two days, for three days, for four days, for five days, for a week, for a month, for two months straight.
They don't open this book up at all. They're skipping their spiritual meal.
Now it sounds insane for someone to say, I'm not going to eat for an entire week.
But Christians do that with respect to the spiritual food they should be consuming, the word of God.
1 Peter 2, look at verse 1.
So I already covered how the word of God is exemplified by honey.
Well here we see it exemplified by milk.
And that makes sense because it's talking about how as newborn babes, we should desire the milk of the word.
Do you think about babies when they're first born?
And this church knows a little something about babies.
This guy over here seems to have a new one every time I come visit, which is great.
I'm not making fun of him, I think it's awesome, just to be clear.
But newborn babies, they desire milk, and it's that milk that enables them to grow physically.
Well it's the same thing with regard to Christians.
When you're first born again into God's family, you need the milk of the word to grow spiritually.
I can tell you this, my son, who was born on September 1st, he was a little skinny when he was first born.
And then, after drinking a lot of breast milk every day, he got fat.
Now he's fat. He has a double chin. How did he get that way?
Because of the milk that he'd been consuming.
Because of the milk. But you know what's sad?
There are some neglected children I've seen who never receive milk.
They never receive nutrients they need for their body.
And their growth is stunted.
It's true, their growth is stunted.
Well the same thing can happen to a newborn Christian.
If they're not in the word, if they're not going to church where they're actually being fed by the Bible,
by God's word, their growth will be stunted.
It's going to happen.
You think about all these people who get saved out sowing when they go out and we reach the communities with the gospel,
and they never step foot in church, they never subsequently open up their Bible and read it,
they're not going to grow.
They're not going to grow.
But the principle here that we see in 1 Peter chapter 2 is that it starts with milk.
Just as a newborn baby isn't going to eat solid food right off the bat as soon as it's been born.
No, it starts with milk, then moves on to solid food.
Well the same truth applies for Christians.
We should start with the milk of the word before moving on to the strong meat.
And by the way, meat is another way in which God's word is exemplified.
Look at Hebrews chapter 5, Hebrews chapter 5, the symbolic meat.
This is the more exotic, if you want to call it that, or more complex portions of the word of God,
the more complex doctrines that we can learn.
You don't want to jump straight into those complex, difficult doctrines before you've consumed the milk.
You have to start with the milk, then move on to the meat.
You say, well why?
I want to get into the complexities of end times Bible prophecy one day after getting saved.
I want to study biblical typology one day after getting saved.
I want to get into some of the hard stuff so I can be like all the preachers in the New IFB movement
knowing all the difficult doctrines.
Well here's the problem with that.
It will lead to you being unbalanced.
Do you want to be the guy who can't recite the Ten Commandments,
but can tell me all about Daniel's 70th week?
And by the way, I know a little something about this because I made this mistake.
The New IFB is a great movement and there are a lot of benefits associated with it,
but one potential drawback is there's so much information out there on YouTube.
There's so much information out there for you to learn that someone who just gets saved
in a very short period of time can learn so much.
And you can pick and choose which sermons to watch.
The ones that sound not as fun you can skip over.
The ones that are more exciting, you know about end times or whatever,
you can watch, you can learn from.
And the problem with it is you'll end up learning things that are complex
before you've got the foundation down.
But it's important to have a strong foundation on which you can build
the more difficult doctrines that we all know and love to study.
Hebrews chapter 5, it says in verse 12,
For when for the time ye ought to be teachers,
ye have need that one teach you again,
which be the first principles of the oracles of God,
becomes such as have need of milk and not of strong meat.
So these individuals here in Hebrews chapter 5 that this is being directed toward,
they need the milk first before moving on to the meat.
You don't want to invert that.
Verse 13, For everyone that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness,
for he is a babe.
Again, newborns don't start out coming right out of the womb and eating a steak.
You're not going to take your two-month-old baby to Outback
and have him enjoy a ribeye.
That's not how it works.
They start out with milk, the child grows,
and then you introduce a solid food to its diet.
Look at verse 14.
But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age,
even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised
to discern both good and evil.
So this is saying here experienced Christians,
they enjoy an increased level of discernment.
And again, strong meat not for babes.
What am I talking about here?
I'm talking about, for example, the finer points of Bible prophecy.
I'm talking about, for example, the intricacies of the book of Ezekiel
or the minor prophets like Josiah and Zephaniah.
These are difficult passages of the Bible,
which I certainly believe we should study,
but let's get a strong foundation first on which we can build.
Now, what's the point of me bringing this up?
I want to show you first of all that we see the Word of God
exemplified through honey.
We see it exemplified through milk.
We see it exemplified through meat.
Now look at Revelation chapter 10.
Revelation chapter number 10.
Over and over again throughout the Scriptures,
you'll see that God's Word is that which can be eaten or consumed,
which is why I wanted to preach a sermon like this
to exhort you to eat that,
to maintain a good spiritual diet.
Look at Revelation 10 verse 9.
Revelation 10 verse 9.
So we see there again that God's Word typified through honey,
and we also see that it's something you can consume or eat.
Look at verse 10.
And I took the little book out of the angel's hand and ate it up,
and it was in my mouth sweet as honey,
and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.
So it starts off sweet as honey, and then it becomes bitter.
Now obviously you don't want to take a carnal application
of what I'm saying here in the sense that I'm not asking you
to put some barbecue sauce on your Bibles this morning
and literally start chomping down on it and eating it, right?
What I mean by eat the Word, I'm talking about reading it.
When you're reading it, you are metaphorically eating it.
And we see that that's what John the Revelator did,
and the book first of all tasted sweet, and then it tasted bitter.
Now why is that?
Well, if you think about it, when you read your Bible cover to cover,
you're going to notice that, well, it contains certain truths that are sweet.
How about the sweetness of the Gospel?
How about the sweetness of love and mercy
and the fact that salvation is free for us?
But how about the bitterness of judgment as well?
There's a lot of judgment here in this book.
There's a lot of wrath in this book.
There's a lot of fire and brimstone in this book
and hard preaching in this book because it contains not just that which is sweet,
not just that which we want to consume, not just the honey,
but also that which tastes just a little bit bitter, the judgment.
Think about what John the Baptist ate, locusts and wild honey. Why?
Because he was a balanced preacher.
Not only did he preach the sweetness of God's word,
not only did he preach the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ,
but he also consumed locusts, which means,
I think that exemplifies the fact that he also preached judgment
because locusts typify God's judgment.
How did he judge Egypt?
Think about the waters of Marah in Exodus chapter 15 that started out as bitter waters.
What changed?
A branch was introduced into the waters and then they became sweet.
Well, what does that symbolize?
Well, think about this.
When we go out sowing, we have to feed people with some bitter waters at first.
And what is that?
Well, we all deserve to go to hell.
But then you introduce what Jesus Christ did for us at Calvary,
the death, the burial, and the resurrection,
and then all of a sudden those waters are a little bit sweeter, aren't they?
Because once they understand that, hey, we all deserve hell,
that we have to go someplace to pay for our sins,
that it's impossible for us to be good enough to go to heaven,
when you explain what Jesus Christ did for us at Calvary,
then you can show them that salvation is by grace through faith alone.
And that's a lot sweeter, isn't it,
than those bitter waters that we have to take in at first.
So the bitter truth is we all deserve hell.
The sweet truth is that salvation is free for us.
But again, I just wanted to show you here
how the Word of God is symbolically described in the Bible.
Honey, milk, meat, also manna.
What did the children of Israel eat in the wilderness?
Manna that came down from heaven,
which symbolizes the Lord Jesus Christ,
who is the Word of God, according to Revelation 19, 13.
You say, where is it symbolized as honey?
Well, I already showed you a few examples,
but Psalm 119, 103 is pretty clear.
I'll go there a little bit later on.
We saw that it was described as milk in 1 Peter 2, 2.
Meat in Hebrews 5, verses 12 and 14.
Manna in John 6, 48.
And here's what's interesting about all these.
They all have carnal health benefits.
Now, junk food does not have carnal health benefits at all,
as much as, and I'll confess my faults to you,
from time to time I do like going to grab me a quarter pounder from McDonald's,
but I recognize that as I'm chomping down on that quarter pounder,
as much as I might enjoy it in the moment,
well, a couple hours later I'm not enjoying it too much.
It messes your stomach up.
Why is that? No nutritional value whatsoever.
You can eat a Twinkie all day, okay, and enjoy it if you want in the moment,
but understand that's not providing you with nutritional value whatsoever.
And let me help you out with something.
Although you might enjoy the things of this world and consume the things of this world,
the Hollywood movies and the music and the television,
you might enjoy it in the moment, but it's not going to give you any benefit whatsoever.
There is no benefit to your spiritual diet by consuming those things whatsoever.
Now, what's interesting about the carnal examples of the Word of God
is they do have carnal benefits for your body.
Honey, for example, this is according to health.com.
It says, while the amounts are small per serving,
31 minerals have been found in honey,
including all the major minerals such as phosphorus, calcium, potassium, and magnesium.
Now, I'm not a nutritionist,
but there is something called Google that I could use to find information,
and that's what I did to extract information for this sermon,
and it says here that there are actual health benefits associated with honey.
How about milk?
You know, there's a campaign to say milk is bad for you, but I don't believe that.
Health News Today says milk contains valuable nutrients
that help support a growing body, including calcium and protein.
WebMD says that it leads to stronger bones.
Obviously, newborns consume milk in order to grow.
Meat. MeatPoultryNutrition.org says that it's iron rich,
that it's good for muscle strength and maintenance, good for bone strength,
that aids brain function and benefits heart health among many other benefits.
You know, these vegans, they want to rail on meat, right?
They want to claim that we shouldn't be eating meat because some of them,
they don't only have an issue with their animal rights weirdos,
but it's not just that.
Some of them actually make the argument that meat's bad for you.
Well, no, I don't believe so.
I'm going to go have a steak, you know, maybe not after the service today,
but perhaps tomorrow.
I'll have at least one steak a week, I'll tell you that.
And, you know, if you're a vegan and you don't like that,
then I don't know what to tell you.
Bread. Again, people say bread's bad, but this is from FOB.UK.
It says bread contains, that bread is fortified with calcium, with fiber, with iron.
So we see all these different carnal foods that the Bible is described as.
They have carnal benefits for you.
Well, the King James Bible has spiritual benefits for you.
The King James Bible is the non-GMO organic word of God, the NIV.
That thing's full of preservatives.
That thing's full of GMO.
That thing is not organic.
You know, throw that in the garbage can.
That's been altered.
The GMO foods have been altered.
This is organic. This is real.
This is every single word that God spoke translated perfectly in the English language for us.
Go to Ezekiel chapter 3, if you would, Ezekiel chapter 3.
So just assure us the meat, the bread, the milk, and the honey that I talked about will profit your body carnally.
Well, guess what?
God's spiritual food will profit you spiritually.
And I want to go through some of those spiritual benefits here over the course of the rest of my time.
As you're turning to Ezekiel chapter 3, I want to make this point, my first point, my first benefit, if you would, for God's spiritual food.
Again, these carnal foods, they will profit you in terms of your diet, your carnal diet, your body.
Well, God's spiritual food contained in the King James Bible has certain benefits as well.
And the first one I want to talk about is that eating the word enables you to preach.
Eating the word enables you to preach.
And that's not my opinion.
We see that here in Ezekiel chapter 3.
Look what it says in verse 1.
Moreover, he said unto me, Son of man, eat that thou findest, eat this roll, and, now pay attention to these two words, go speak unto the house of Israel.
So I opened my mouth and he caused me to eat that roll.
And he said unto me, Son of man, cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels with this roll that I give thee.
Then did I eat it, and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness.
There's that word again, honey.
You see it throughout the Bible.
Look at verse 4.
And he said unto me, Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with my words unto them.
So Ezekiel's commanded, first of all, eat the roll.
First of all, eat God's word, then speak.
You know, some people have it backwards, though.
They'll start talking before they've eaten anything.
And then they make a fool of themselves.
Notice he ate the roll first.
He ate the roll first in Ezekiel 3, 1, and then God said, go speak unto the house of Israel, and make sure that you illuminate the fact that they have turned their back on me.
Bad preachers, you know what they'll do, though?
They'll write their sermons, and they'll get up and preach on an empty spiritual diet.
And that's how they end up preaching a bunch of lies, because they're not checking it with what the Bible says.
No, sometimes it's because they're not even saved, right?
And they're false prophets.
But I can tell you this, the lies that are uttered from behind the pulpits of America today are coming from people who haven't eaten the roll first.
They're not preaching God's word.
They're preaching their own word.
They're preaching what comes out of their own heart.
Here's an example. How about Manly Perry?
Yeah, I'm going to name the name.
I'm going to name the name this morning.
Manly Perry, who says that Pastor Anderson is wicked, and he wanted to cut fellowship with him,
because Pastor Anderson teamed up with Dane Johansen for a great documentary called Going Back to the Greek.
Manly Perry threw a fit about that, but then recently does an interview with a literal works salvation Calvinist devil.
He teams up with him for an interview.
He'll do an interview, he'll give that guy an interview, where he'll rail and falsely accuse our movement.
But he has no problem with that.
But Pastor Anderson teaming up with Dane Johansen to make a documentary, he throws a fit over that.
The hypocrisy is amazing.
And the reason why I bring him up and bring up that hypocrisy is because Manly Perry has been teaching rank heresy at his church.
And it's because he's not eating the word.
He's preaching what comes out of his own wicked heart, claiming that the non-God part of Jesus died on the cross.
That is damnable heresy.
My Bible says in 1 John chapter 3 verse 16 that it was God who laid down his life for us.
And if you're not eating the word first, you know what's going to happen?
You'll fall off into heresy.
Not damnable if you're saved.
But you'll preach what is wrong.
And if you're not eating the word as a church member, you say, okay fine, I'm not a preacher, I'm not a pastor.
How does this apply to me?
Well if you're a church member and you're not eating the word, you know what's going to happen to you?
You'll tolerate rank heresy.
You say, how is that?
Oh, well he didn't mean it.
He didn't mean that. He meant something else.
When he said nobody burns in hell, what he meant is that people do burn in hell.
How does that work?
When he meant that Judas got more people saved than all the other disciples, what he really meant is that Judas didn't get anybody saved.
When I say A and then you claim that I meant B, that's a contradiction folks.
It doesn't make any sense.
But church members who are indebted to man, who are respecters of persons, and not the word of God,
they'll make excuses for practically anything because they've been flattered for years.
Because the preachers flattered them for years.
Now I thank God that we have a pastor who eats the roll first before he gets up and preaches.
And when I go home and I check whether those things are so, they are.
Because our pastor actually reads the Bible and studies the Bible and preaches the Bible.
Is that too much to ask for today? Manly Perry?
Anyway, I didn't mean to go down that rabbit trail.
Look at Ezekiel 3 verse 10.
It says, moreover, he said unto me, Son of man, all my words that I shall speak unto thee receive in thine heart and hear with thine ears.
And go get thee to them of the captivity unto the children of thy people and speak unto them and tell them,
Thus saith the Lord God, whether they will hear or whether they will forbear.
So God asks Ezekiel to receive the word in his heart and then go warn Israel and then go preach.
Why? Because a steady spiritual diet, it enables spirit-filled men of God to proclaim,
Thus saith the Lord.
Do you want to hear powerful preaching? Then go find the preacher who's eating the word.
Look at verse 17. Skip down to verse 17.
It says, Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel.
Therefore, hear the word at my mouth and give them warning from me.
When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die, and thou givest him not warning,
nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way to save his life.
The same wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at thine hand.
Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way,
he shall die in his iniquity, but thou hast delivered thy soul.
So if Ezekiel fails to warn the wicked, then their blood is on his hand.
He's being told to be a watchman.
But recognize this, that he was told to be a watchman after he ate the word, though.
And you know, there are men I'm looking at here this morning where God wants you to be a watchman.
God wants you to be a watchman over your family.
God wants you to be a watchman over your wife, over your children,
to ensure that there aren't things entering your home that will harm them,
whether it's physically, or metaphorically, or figuratively, or spiritually.
You see, we need more watchmen today, like Ezekiel, who've eaten the roll first,
which then enables them to excel in that role.
We need watchmen today to warn the brethren.
We need more preachers today to warn the brethren.
You know, the Bible says, if my people will turn.
You say, man, I don't like the current state of the United States of America.
Let's look inwardly at how to fix that.
It starts with Christians. It starts with the spiritual Israel.
And there isn't going to be any change if there aren't more watchmen willing to get up behind God's pulpit
at churches across America and warn the brethren.
Warn them about things like, for example, sins that will get you kicked out of church,
sins that will lead to church discipline.
Let me help you out for a minute.
Folks, that's a warning right there.
When I read 1 Corinthians, chapter 5, I take that as a warning that I better stay on the right path,
or I could face that church discipline as well.
That could happen to any one of us.
We need to take that as a warning.
When the preacher gets up and he's feeding you the word of God, and he's warning you against alcohol,
and he's warning you against fornication,
and he's warning you about the things of this world that will ruin your life,
you have to take heed to those words and understand that if you fall into that temptation and those sins,
your life will be ruined.
You say, there's so much negativity in some of our churches today, always preaching against sin and all this other stuff.
Hey, you should thank God for that because you have a watchman warning you.
Take it as a warning. The preaching against alcohol and fornication and wickedness, take it as a warning for you.
Take it as a warning for your family.
Kids, take it as a warning when the preacher gets up and he admonishes you to obey your parents, to obey mom, to obey dad.
Take that as a warning because the Bible says that if you do that, you'll live long here in this life.
You want to be that watchman? You want to be that watchman for somebody else to warn people?
Hey, make sure you have a good spiritual diet first.
You got to know the word of God, obviously, to warn people about the consequences that are contained here in this book.
If you turn aside, go to 1 Samuel chapter 14, 1 Samuel chapter 14.
The second benefit I want to talk about is that eating the word enlightens.
Eating the word enlightens.
Israel here in 1 Samuel 14 had been in the midst of a conflict with the Philistines.
Saul, he makes a hasty oath here. He makes a hasty oath telling his people not to eat anything.
And look what happens, 1 Samuel 14, 24.
And the men of Israel were distressed, 1 Samuel 14, verse 24.
And the men of Israel were distressed that day, for Saul had adjured the people, saying,
Cursed be the man that eateth any food until evening, that I may be avenged of mine enemies.
So none of the people tasted any food.
So here's Saul's decree, don't eat anything until the evening.
No man could eat anything whatsoever.
And they were distressed as a result of that because if you don't feed yourself, obviously,
from a carnal perspective, you're going to be weak.
Look at verse 25.
And all they of the land came to a wood, and there was honey upon the ground.
There's that word again, honey.
Verse 26, and when the people were come into the wood, behold, the honey dropped,
but no man put his hand to his mouth, for the people feared the oath.
But Jonathan heard not when his father charged the people with the oath,
for he put forth the end of the rod that was in his hand, and dipped it in a honeycomb,
and put his hand to his mouth, and notice, and his eyes were enlightened.
So Jonathan, he didn't hear about this oath.
He was unaware of Saul's decree.
So he finds honey, takes his rod, grabs the honey, and eats it, and he was enlightened.
He was enlightened.
Consequently, look at verse 28.
They were weak.
They were faint because they hadn't eaten.
Look at verse 29.
Then said Jonathan,
My father has troubled the land.
See, I pray you, how mine eyes have been enlightened, because I tasted a little of this honey.
How much more, if haply the people had eaten freely today, of the spoil of their enemies which they found,
for had there not been now a much greater slaughter among the Philistines,
and they smote the Philistines that day, from Michmash to Agelon, and the people were very faint.
So Jonathan asserts that Saul troubled the land with his decree when he said that his people couldn't eat anything,
and he makes a good point because they were weak as a result.
He postulates that the honey, the honey would have led to a greater slaughter among the Philistines.
Now what does all this really symbolize here for us?
You have to understand this.
If you're not eating the word, you will be weak, and if you're not eating the word,
understand, yeah, you might go out soul winning every week, but perhaps you won't slay as many quote-unquote Philistines in the process.
Perhaps you won't amass as many victories as you would have if you had a good spiritual diet.
You know, Jonathan makes the argument here that the slaughter that they were able to accomplish,
this army here in Israel, that it would have been much greater had they eaten.
Well, how many more souls would you have gotten saved if you had a good spiritual diet yourself?
You might get more salvations.
A lack of spiritual food just assures this army was weak because they hadn't eaten anything.
A lack of spiritual food, that leads to weak soul winning.
Imagine if somebody has an objection about salvation by faith and you can't answer it.
What if they take you to James 2 and you can't answer it?
What if they take you to Hebrews 10 and you can't answer it?
That's weak soul winning.
What if they ask you a question about the nature of Jesus Christ and you can't answer it?
Weak soul winning.
And I've been there.
When I first started out, I didn't know where to go beyond just my typical straightforward gospel presentation.
And there were times where I was stumped.
But you can rectify that issue with your soul winning by eating the word.
So it's a stronger presentation so you're ready to answer questions that might come your way.
Now obviously you're not going to know everything.
I'm not making that argument.
There are always going to be portions of scripture that we don't fully understand.
But if you don't want to be a weak soul winner today, if you want to be ready to answer potential objections today, eat the word.
And it will enlighten you and you'll be strong.
This army was weak because they hadn't eaten it.
Go to Psalm 119.
Psalm 119, look at verse 103.
Psalm 119 verse 103.
I made reference to this earlier but I want you to see again further proof of what honey is talking about.
Psalm 119.
Psalm 119 verse 103.
It says, Psalm 119 verse 103,
Jonathan, he didn't know that his father had made a decree not to eat anything.
He grabbed some honey and he eats it and what happens?
He's enlightened.
Well that honey typifies the word of God.
Honey is the word of God and the word of God enlightens.
The word of God enlightens.
You say, what does that mean?
What does it mean to enlighten?
Well, to give light to, that's a pretty obvious definition, to illuminate, to enable to see or comprehend truth.
To illuminate with divine knowledge or a knowledge of the truth.
Let me help you out for a minute.
This is the truth.
When you eat this, you're enlightened of the truth.
Go to Proverbs chapter 2, Proverbs chapter 2.
Meanwhile, I'll read from Ephesians 1 as you're turning to Proverbs 2.
The Bible says in Ephesians 1,
At peace not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of him,
the eyes of your understanding, being enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of his calling
and what is the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.
Paul prayed for the saints at Ephesus to be enlightened.
Well, how are they going to be enlightened by the word of God?
The spiritual honey that I've been talking about, it facilitates an increase in wisdom and knowledge
and that comes from God.
It comes from his word.
It comes from your King James Bible.
So why don't you open it up once in a blue moon?
Preferably more frequently than that.
Proverbs 2, look at verse 6.
Proverbs 2, verse 6.
For the Lord giveth wisdom, out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.
God's mouth, the Bible says, comes knowledge and comes understanding.
You say, well, I've never heard God speak to me audibly.
He's never spoken to me audibly.
Good, because if you started hearing voices in your head, there might be a problem.
You say, I want to hear God's word, though.
It's right here, folks.
It's right here.
Here's God's word.
You pick this up and you read this every morning, guess what you'll be hearing?
God's word.
And it won't be voices in your head.
It'll be words on a page.
You say, oh, that's not as fun.
Yeah.
Well, guess what?
Black words, white page, this is what you get.
Be happy with it.
It's perfect.
And it has all the knowledge and all the wisdom that you could consume for yourself,
wisdom that emanates from his word.
You say, what are you talking about?
Be specific.
Yeah, we've all heard God's word is filled with wisdom.
But wisdom about what specifically?
Well, if you study this, OK, this will offer you wisdom on so many aspects, so many components
of your life.
How about wisdom on being a godly husband?
How about wisdom on being a godly wife?
How about wisdom on being godly children?
How about how about wisdom on raising children, how to pray, how to make friends, excelling
in life, the perfect familial structure of authority that the world rejects, overcoming
temptation.
How about this?
Wisdom concerning the origins of the universe.
It's right here.
Scientists are searching for it.
And the fake scientists have come up with a bunch of radical theories that came from
Satan, ultimately, the Big Bang and evolution and all the rest of it.
And they're asking questions constantly about the origins of the universe.
They're looking to gain more wisdom on the origins of the universe.
Well, that wisdom is right here in the Bible.
And you know what?
They can keep asking those questions about where we came from and how this universe was
created, but they'll never get the answer because the answer is in the beginning, God.
There's your answer.
They reject it, though.
You can get wisdom that emanates from the Bible on so many different areas that I didn't
even touch on, including those as some example.
It's bursting with wisdom.
Why?
Because it's the ultimate standard of knowledge.
It's the ultimate standard of morality.
If there's no standard beyond humanity, okay, then we have no way to adjudicate between
two different societies, who's right and who's wrong.
There are certain societies out there that engage in horrific acts against women.
You look at what's going on in some of these Muslim countries.
If there's no standard by which we can appeal to to determine who truly is objectively right
in that scenario, then you know what?
It's just up to man's opinion.
Well, thankfully, we don't have to rely on man's opinion to determine right from wrong.
We have this, and it tells us everything we need to know.
Go to 2 Timothy 4, if you would.
2 Timothy 4.
My third point is that eating the word strengthens.
Eating the word strengthens.
Saul's army was weak.
Okay, we read that in 1 Samuel chapter 14.
They hadn't eaten, and so they were faint, they were weak, consequently.
Well, the Bible tells us in Proverbs 24, as you're turning to 2 Timothy 4, you're turning
to 2 Timothy 4, but the Bible tells us in Proverbs 24,
A wise man is strong, yea, a man of knowledge increaseth strength.
So, like I said, the Bible offers wisdom, and it also says that wisdom leads to strength.
Wisdom leads to strength.
Okay, well how so?
Well, it'll give you the strength, for example, to overcome vices.
If you have wisdom about a certain area that you're struggling in your Christian life,
well, you'll get the strength to overcome that vice.
God's word also strengthens through encouraging passages,
and here's one here in 2 Timothy chapter 4 that I wanted to show you.
Look at verse 16.
This is an encouragement.
It says, 2 Timothy 4 verse 16,
At my answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me.
I pray, God, that it may not be laid to their charge.
Notwithstanding, the Lord stood with me and strengthened me,
that by me the preaching might be fully known,
and that all the Gentiles might hear,
and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.
You know what Paul says here?
All men forsook him.
Now think about the magnitude of that statement.
All men, they turned on him.
They forsook him.
You know, someone weaker in this scenario would quit.
Someone weaker in this scenario would just throw in the towel and say,
I'm done. I can't handle this anymore.
I'm finished.
You know, I can't do it.
All men have forsaken me.
You think of what happened to Pastor Anderson over the years
and all the friends that have stabbed him in the back.
I guarantee you he reads a scripture like this
that he's comforted and he's encouraged and he's strengthened.
Why? Because he stays strong on God's word.
If you find yourself in a situation where all men have forsaken you,
like the Apostle Paul here in 2 Timothy chapter 4,
you know where you can derive strength to make it through a situation like that?
Right here.
Your King James Bible.
This will strengthen you because Jesus is our rock, not man.
And if Jesus is your rock and not man,
it doesn't matter how many times people stab you in the back
or turn on you or backbite and whisper
and talk bad about you behind your back because of your faith.
You know what?
You've got Christ.
And he'll never do that to you.
He will never leave you nor forsake you.
So when I read 1 Timothy chapter 4, I'm strengthened.
Not that I'm in a situation like this, but if I ever face this scenario,
if I ever am forsaken by all men,
then I know that I can open up my Bible
and I can read about the exploits of the disciples
and the fact that they were persecuted,
that in some cases, Stephen as an example,
he was stoned in Acts chapter number 7.
And here we see Paul saying that all men have forsaken him.
You know what this gives me?
It gives me hope.
It gives me hope that if I ever go through something like this,
hey, I can be strengthened as well just like Paul was.
The Bible says that the Lord strengthened him.
Psalm 27 says in verse 14,
Wait on the Lord, be of good courage,
and he shall strengthen thy heart.
Wait, I say, on the Lord.
Now the reason why I bring this up,
that you eat the word and you'll be strengthened,
is because right now I think there are a plethora
of people who are weak right now,
especially those who are saved.
They're worried.
They're worried about everything going on.
You look at COVID-19 and this plandemic,
if you want to call it that, right?
I go to the airport.
I flew here, and I look around sometimes,
and I just take it all in.
I look around.
I see masks everywhere, the plaster,
the stickers on the floor saying,
Stay six feet away from people.
Maintain a six-foot distance, social distancing.
I hear the announcements over the PA system
talking about how we need to do our part to fight COVID-19.
We're all in this together, right?
You guys have heard that slogan probably
about a million and a half times by now, okay?
And I look around, and I remember
I was in the airport recently, and I just sort of stopped.
I stopped what I was doing,
and I just took it all in for a second, and I said,
Wow, it feels like we're living in a dystopia.
It feels like the end of the world is upon us,
the way people are acting,
and the way things are going geopolitically
and culturally as well,
and, of course, with this COVID-19 garbage.
And, you know, people need strength today.
People need strength.
Because, folks, if you're just incessantly watching the news,
I don't care what it is.
I don't care if it's CNN, fake news, or Fox News,
which is hate to make you upset here, you know,
neo-cons, but that's fake news too, okay?
CNBC, whatever, all right?
It doesn't matter what mainstream media outlet
you're relying on for information.
It's fake.
And you know what?
It's going to make you weak as well,
because negativity sells.
Negativity sells, folks.
They need to make you scared.
They need to make you weak.
And for Christians that are just consuming that,
of course they're weak.
Of course they're afraid.
They're fearful right now.
Hey, it's easy to be discouraged by what's going on.
That's just the reality.
It's easy to be discouraged by the wickedness of this world today.
It's easy to be discouraged by the abominations of America.
A literal whore is right now supposedly the vice president
unless it gets overturned
and a Satan worshiper named Joe Biden.
It's easy to be discouraged by the enemy
seemingly prospering today, blaspheming the Bible,
blaspheming the Lord Jesus Christ, hating God's people.
But the only appropriate response to all that
isn't to listen to more news.
It isn't to consume more Fox News and CNN and MSNBC
and all the rest of it.
The only appropriate response to all of the wickedness
that's going on today and the craziness
and the World Health Organization coming out
and forcing people to adopt totalitarian measures
to fight COVID-19 and the great reset
and the World Economic Forum talking about
stripping everyone of their private property
and bringing in world government.
Folks, it's insanity today,
but the only appropriate response isn't to obsess over
all that negativity and bad news.
It's to serve Jesus Christ with everything you've got
because He will strengthen you.
That's what the Bible tells us that happened with Paul
in 1 Timothy chapter 4.
He was strengthened by the Lord.
Why?
Because the Bible promises He'll strengthen your heart.
Fox News ain't gonna strengthen you.
Sean Hannity ain't gonna strengthen you.
It's not gonna happen.
God will.
So you obsess over what's going on today,
of course you're gonna be discouraged.
Of course you're gonna be weak.
That's why I advocate for this.
Every once in a while,
why don't you just unplug a little bit?
Just unplug.
Do you need to check Facebook every single day?
No.
Do you need to go onto Twitter every day
and see what a bunch of God-hating reprobate celebrities
are saying about current events?
No.
Do you need to go on the Drudge Report every single day,
which is basically a liberal outlet now
if you've been following?
No, you don't.
You don't have to do these things
each and every single day.
So how about every once in a while just unplug?
Unplug for a little while.
Make this your newspaper.
Read Revelation.
That'll tell you everything's gonna happen.
Just make this your newspaper
because the actual newspaper is full of lies.
Why would you want to consume lies?
Just make this your newspaper.
Unplug every once in a while.
You don't have to pay attention
to every single little thing that's happening.
Now, I'm not speaking against reading the news at all
because I do think we should pay some attention
to what's going on
and that we should be aware of our surroundings
and aware of geopolitics
and aware of happenings with respect to our culture.
I'm not against you if you pay attention to that.
You pay attention to that stuff,
but you don't want to obsess over it
because obsessing over it
will lead to you being extremely discouraged
and it'll lead to weakness.
It'll lead to weakness.
Go to Nehemiah Chapter 8.
Nehemiah Chapter 8.
You know, I have a challenge for you this morning.
Here's my challenge,
and I know people do this
because I've done it too, okay?
Every morning when I wake up,
here's my temptation.
I'm gonna check this.
I'm gonna check my phone.
It's like, man, what did I miss
over the last five to eight hours on Facebook?
I'll tell you what the answer is.
Nothing.
I didn't miss anything.
Somebody put up another cat video, okay?
Great.
All right?
So here's my challenge.
Instead of reaching for this every morning,
why don't we reach for this?
Why don't we reach for this right here?
Okay, this is what we need every morning.
This should be our breakfast right here, not Facebook.
This should be our breakfast right here,
not Twitter, not Instagram.
That's my challenge, and you know what?
It's a challenge that I'm gonna give myself as well.
Let's reach for the Word of God
instead of our cell phones every morning.
My fourth point is eating the Word provokes action.
Eating the Word provokes action.
Nehemiah chapter 8, I have you turn there.
This is after the captivity.
Judah is trying to amend themselves here, okay?
They're trying to amend themselves
after falling into some really horrifying sin.
Look at it.
It says in verse 13,
And on the second day were gathered together
the chief of the fathers of all the people,
the priests and the Levites, unto Ezra the scribe,
even to understand the words of the law.
And they found written in the law,
which the Lord had commanded by Moses,
that the children of Israel should dwell in booths
in the feast of the seventh month.
Now this is out of Leviticus 23.
It describes what's called the feast of booths,
or tabernacles, and the children of Israel
were commanded to celebrate this,
to commemorate God dwelling with them in the wilderness,
which was a temporary home for them.
Okay, so they were commanded to remember
how God provided for them in the wilderness,
which was a temporary home.
They had to celebrate the feast of tabernacles every year.
Look at verse 15.
And that they should publish and proclaim in all their cities
and in Jerusalem, saying,
Go forth unto the mount and fetch olive branches
and pine branches and myrtle branches and palm trees
and branches of thick trees,
to make booths as it is written.
So the people went forth and brought them
and made themselves booths,
everyone upon the roof of his house and in their courts
and in the courts of the house of God,
and in the street of the Watergate
and in the street of the Gate of Ephraim.
And all the congregation of them
that were come again out of the captivity
made booths and sat under the booths,
for since the days of Joshua the son of Nun,
unto that day had not the children of Israel done so,
and there was very great gladness.
So what happened here in Nehemiah chapter 8?
Well, you notice that they were introduced to the law,
and then they made the change.
And then that law provoked them to action.
You say, where's the law?
It's right here.
And when we read this, it ought to provoke us to action.
When we go to church where we're being fed with God's word,
that ought to provoke us to action.
In Ecclesiastes chapter 12, the Bible tells us
that the words of the wise are as goads.
You ever heard of the saying
that somebody was goaded into doing something?
It's a sharp tool.
Well, the words of the wise ought to goad you to action
or provoke you to action.
And here we see that the children of Israel
were provoked to celebrate the feast of booths as instructed,
something that they had neglected for a long time.
They celebrated this feast as instructed.
Well, we need Christians to read Hebrews chapter 10
and go to church as instructed.
We need Christians to read Mark chapter 16
and go preach the gospel as instructed.
We need Christians to get the fear of the Lord in their heart
and get the sin out of their life as instructed.
And you know what?
If they were actually motivated,
like the children of Israel were here in Nehemiah chapter 8,
to celebrate the feast of booths,
if we can get Christians as motivated
about the things of God here in the New Testament,
perhaps this nation wouldn't be on a bobsled straight to hell.
Again, it starts inwardly.
It starts with us.
We can make the change,
and they're not going to do it at a ballot box, okay?
The election's rigged, all right?
I hate to break it to you,
but even the Fox News Baptists are figuring this out now in 2020.
It's rigged, folks.
It's fake.
It's a fraud.
They're just going to install whoever they want in there.
You're not going to make change in that avenue.
You make change doing what you're doing right now.
You sit in the pew,
and you listen to the word of God being preached,
and you go out and you get people saved,
and you compel them to come in.
That's how we turn the tide in America.
We do it spiritually through the spiritual fight.
The Bible says the weapons of our warfare are not carnal.
And if we had more Christians today who were motivated
to go out and reach people with the gospel,
who were motivated to get the sin out of their lives,
who were motivated and who had zeal for the things of God,
our nation would be in a much, much better place.
I can guarantee you that.
It would be in a much better place.
If you would, turn over to Hebrews chapter 9 and I'll be done.
Hebrews chapter 9 is my final place I'm going to go.
Here's the conclusion, folks.
Here's the conclusion.
Job 23, it says,
My foot hath held his steps,
his way have I kept and not declined,
neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips.
I have esteemed the words of his mouth
more than my necessary food.
You know what Job says?
He esteemed the words that came out of God's mouth
more than his necessary food.
Can you say that today?
Tough question, right?
We've got to ask ourselves that.
Can we really say that about ourselves?
Does that describe us?
Do you depend on God's word in that way,
like what Job articulates here in chapter 23?
Well, Hebrews chapter 9,
take a look at what it says in verse 1.
This is describing the Old Testament tabernacle.
The first component of it,
well, it says that it contained the candlestick,
the table, the showbread,
which is called the sanctuary.
But then we're going to talk about
what happens beyond the veil.
It says in verse 3,
and after the second veil,
the tabernacle, which is called the holiest of all,
so the temple had two components.
The first it described there,
but the second,
well, that is where the high priest went in
once a year on the Day of Atonement
with the blood of others, okay,
to make atonement for the people.
But my point is the tabernacle contained two components.
The holiest of all was the inner portion.
Look at verse 4,
which had the golden censer
and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold.
So inside the inner portion of the tabernacle,
this is what it contained,
and then it says wherein was the golden pot
that had manna and Aaron's rod
that budded in the tables of the covenant.
So inside the holiest of all,
it contained the ark of the covenant.
What was inside the ark of the covenant?
Well, it talks about it.
It says Aaron's rod, the ten commandments,
and then it says manna.
Manna contained inside the ark,
inside the inner portion of the tabernacle.
Well, the New Testament tells us
that we are the temple of God.
We are the temple of God.
The inner portion of the tabernacle,
I believe, pictures,
what would be the inner portion of your body?
That would be your heart.
The holiest of all pictures your heart,
and what was contained in the holiest of all?
Manna.
What should be contained in our hearts?
Manna.
You say, what's manna?
Well, John chapter 6 says, verse 48,
this is Jesus talking.
He says,
You know what the manna is?
Jesus.
You know what Jesus is?
The word of God, Revelation 19, 13.
Let me introduce you to Jesus Christ right here.
He is the bread of life.
He is the manna that's described in the Old Testament.
It typifies Him.
It typifies the word.
It was beaten even in Numbers 11, verse 8,
which is obviously a foreshadowing
of what ended up happening to Jesus.
Guess what?
There are Christians today doing the same exact thing,
and it's a shame.
Christians are choosing Netflix and rock and roll
and the fake news and Hollywood over God's manna.
It's not on their heart.
But you know what is?
The NFL.
I guarantee you there are people who are saved,
and they can name you every single player
and their jersey number and their statistics
and where they graduated from
and have memorized all these facts
about their favorite NFL team,
but they can't quote the Ten Commandments to you.
They don't know the 12 disciples.
They might not even be able to accurately quote John 3.16.
But they'll tell you all about their favorite NFL team.
They'll tell you all about their favorite movie.
They might be able to quote the whole movie.
I've met people who can quote the whole film,
the whole movie, every line.
They don't have a single chapter of the Bible memorized.
It's vanity.
There are people who are heaping up for themselves,
wood, hay, and stubble,
and it's all going to burn up one day,
according to 1 Corinthians chapter 3.
It's all going to burn up.
Why would you consume your mind with these things
that are utterly meaningless instead of God's manna?
It just doesn't make any sense.
Why would you forsake that which has eternal ramifications
for the things of this world?
It doesn't make sense, folks.
So here's what I want to exhort you to do.
Don't just eat God's word like I've talked about over the last hour.
Don't just eat God's word.
How about this?
Store it in your hearts,
just like it was stored in the Ark of the Covenant,
in the inner portion of the tabernacle.
Store it in your hearts.
Meditate on it.
Memorize it.
Live by it.
Because without God's manna, we are nothing.
We're nothing without the word of God.
We're nothing without his manna.
So I challenge you this morning,
don't lust after the leaks and the melons of Egypt
like the children of Israel did,
as the spiritual Israel,
let's not make the same mistake that the physical Israel made in the wilderness.
Let's not lust after the things of this world.
It's unfulfilling.
But rather, eat the word.
That was the title of my sermon.
Eat the word.
And I guarantee you this,
you will reap the benefits I've talked about over the last hour.
What are those benefits?
I said eating the word will enable you to preach.
Eating the word will enlighten you.
Eating the word strengthens.
And also eating the word provokes action.
Let's pray.
Father, we thank you so much for this church.
I pray, Lord, that you would help us to continue to eat your word
and that we would maintain a good spiritual diet
and not a diet that will harm us
and not a diet that will lead to our Christian walk being stunted or stymied in any way.
And Lord, I pray, Father God, that you would help other Christians who aren't on fire for you
and Lord, that the Christians out there who are just consuming the things of this world endlessly
and the wickedness of this world endlessly, that you would wake them up,
that you would send someone into their life who would compel them to come to church
and be fed with your manna and be fed with your word
because we know that without it, like I said in the sermon, Lord, we are nothing.
In Jesus' name I pray, amen.
Alright, go ahead and pull your hymnals back out.
We'll sing our last song for the morning.
It's number 449.
Number 449, Dwelling in Beulah Land.
449.
Sing nice and loud.
On the first far away the noise of strife above my ear is falling
Then I know the sins of earth beset on every hand
Doubt and fear and things of earth in vain to me are calling
None of these shall move me from Beulah Land
I'm living on the mountain underneath the cloudless sky
Praise God, I'm drinking at the fountain that never shall run dry
Oh yes, I'm feasting on the manna from a bountiful supply
For I am dwelling in Beulah Land
Far below the storm of doubt upon the world is beating
Stuns of men in battle off the enemy wisdom
Safe am I within the castle of God's word retreating
Nothing then can reach me, tis Beulah Land
I'm living on the mountain underneath the cloudless sky
Praise God, I'm drinking at the fountain that never shall run dry
Oh yes, I'm feasting on the manna from a bountiful supply
For I am dwelling in Beulah Land
Let the stormy breezes blow their cry
I cannot alarm me
I am safely sheltered here, protected by God's hand
Here the sun is always shining, here there's not an army
I am safe forever in Beulah Land
I'm living on the mountain underneath the cloudless sky
Praise God, I'm drinking at the fountain that never shall run dry
Oh yes, I'm feasting on the manna from a bountiful supply
For I am dwelling in Beulah Land
You may hear the words of God I seek in contemplation
Hearing now His blessed voice I see the way He planned
Dwelling in the Spirit here I learn of full salvation
Gladly will I tarry in Beulah Land
I'm living on the mountain underneath the cloudless sky
Praise God, I'm drinking at the mountain that never shall run dry
Oh yes, I'm feasting on the manna from a bountiful supply
For I am dwelling in Beulah Land