Thank you.
Hymn number 43.
We're marching to Zion.
Hymn number 43.
We're marching to Zion.
Hymn number 43.
We're marching to Zion.
Hymn number 43.
We're marching to Zion.
Hymn number 43.
We're marching to Zion.
Hymn number 43.
We're marching to Zion.
Hymn number 43.
We're marching to Zion.
Hymn number 43.
We're marching to Zion.
Hymn number 43.
We're marching to Zion.
Hymn number 43.
We're marching to Zion.
Hymn number 43.
We're marching to Zion.
Hymn number 43.
We're marching to Zion.
Hymn number 43.
We're marching to Zion.
Hymn number 43.
We're marching to Zion.
Hymn number 43.
We're marching to Zion.
Hymn number 43.
We're marching to Zion.
Hymn number 43.
We're marching to Zion.
Hymn number 43.
We're marching to Zion.
Hymn number 43.
We're marching to Zion.
Hymn number 43.
We're marching to Zion.
Hymn number 43.
We're marching to Zion.
Hymn number 43.
We're marching to Zion.
Hymn number 43.
We're marching to Zion.
Hymn number 43.
We're marching to Zion.
Hymn number 43.
We're marching to Zion.
Hymn number 43.
We're marching to Zion.
Hymn number 43.
Before we reach the heavenly fields.
For walk the golden streets.
For walk the golden seas.
We're marching to Zion.
Beautiful, beautiful Zion.
We're marching up from the Zion.
Beautiful, beautiful city of Jordan.
We've read our songs about them.
And every tear we cry.
We're marching to him and we'll stand.
To fairer worlds of life.
We're marching to Zion.
Beautiful, beautiful Zion.
We're marching up from the Zion.
The beautiful city of God.
So, in the back, were there any salvations to report that I'm unaware of?
Anybody up here? Any salvations? Anybody?
Six, four, one, two. So that's 13 more.
Anybody else?
Alright, so that gives us, as a church for the year, 8,157.
That's a great job everybody. So that's more than 600 per month.
And also 3,206 when it comes to our other churches.
That gives us 11,363 together.
So great job everybody.
Now if you guys had gone so many yesterday, we'd have more.
But anyways, we do have our monthly prayer meeting coming up in three weeks.
And the big thing this month is our New Testament Bible reading challenge.
But this sermon is going to be about that. I will talk about that in the sermon.
So I'll just kind of leave that to the sermon. So I believe that's it for announcements.
While Brother Raffi will lead us to another song.
Amen.
Hymn number 187.
Jesus loves me.
Amen.
Hymn number 187.
Jesus loves me.
First lines are ready. Sing.
Jesus loves me.
Jesus loves me this I know.
Lord The Bible tells me so.
If the wants to Him belong.
They are weak butbeat.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
All the Bible tells me.
Jesus loves me, he who died.
Heaven's gate to open wide.
He will wash away my sin.
Let his little child love him.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
All the Bible tells me.
Jesus loves me, he will stay.
Those beside me hold the way.
Thou hast led and died for me.
I will answer him for thee.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
The Bible tells me so.
Amen.
For a scripture reading, please open your Bibles to the book of 2 Samuel.
2 Samuel chapter 23.
Joshua, Judges, Ruth.
1 and 2 Samuel.
2 Samuel chapter 23.
And we will only be reading verses 1 down to verse 10.
2 Samuel 23. Please say amen if you're there.
Amen. 2 Samuel 23 verse 1.
Now these be the last words of David.
And the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob,
and the sweet psalmist of Israel, said,
The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and his word was in my tongue.
The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spake to me,
Yea that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God.
And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth,
even a morning without clouds, as the tender grass springing out
of the earth by a clear shining after rain. Although my house be not
so with God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant,
ordered in all things, and sure, for it is all my
salvation, and all my desire, although we make it not to grow.
But the sons of Belial shall be all of them, as thorns thrust away,
because they cannot be taken with hands.
But the man that shall touch them must be fenced with iron and the stamp of his spear,
and they shall be utterly burned with fire in the same place.
These be the names of the mighty men whom David had, the Tachmonite that sat in his seat,
chief among the captains. The same was Adam of the Esnite.
He left up his spear against eight hundred, whom he slew at one time.
And after him was Eliezer, the son of Dodo, the Ahuite,
one of the three mighty men with David, when they defied the Philistines
that were gathered together to battle, and the men of Israel were gone away.
He arose and smote the Philistines, until his hand was
weary, and his hand played but to the sword. And the Lord
wrought a great victory that day, and the people returned after him only to spoil.
Blessed are we in the reading of God's prayer. Let us pray.
Lord God in Heaven, we thank you, Lord, for the state that you've given to us. I pray that you would please
bless the Lord for his name. Thank you, Lord, for another year that you've given to us. I pray that you
would please bless the preaching of your word and our preaching of the Lord this day. We love you.
Amen.
Alright, we're here in 2 Samuel chapter 23, and this is going to be the sermon
that is going to be basically the motivation to try to read
the New Testament cover to cover in the month of January. The name of the sermon is
Cleaving onto the Sword in 2023.
So look down at verse number 9, 2 Samuel chapter 23 verse 9.
The Bible reads, And after him was Eliezer, the son of Dodo,
the Ahoy, one of the three mighty men with David, when they defied the Philistines
that were there gathered together to battle, and the men of Israel were gone away.
He arose and smote the Philistines until his hand
was weary. So he smote or killed the Philistines with a sword
until his hand got very tired. Obviously, if you're wielding
around a sword, it's going to get tired after a while. And his hand clave onto
the sword, and the Lord wrought a great victory that day, and the people were
turned after him only to spoil. So it says, his hand clave onto the sword. And the example
I want to give is, if you hold something really firmly for a while
and then you let go of it, you loosen the grip, it's almost like
it's stuck to your hand. It's like it suctioned your hand for
a little while, and even if it falls off, you can still kind of feel it in your hand as if
it's there. And this is what's taking place with Eliezer, his hand clave
on the sword to win this big battle. Now go to 1 Samuel chapter
2. 1 Samuel 2.
Let me give you three reasons here today
why your hand should cleave onto the sword,
symbolically speaking, reading this book in
2023. I mean, I'm sure everybody here knows they should read the Bible.
I mean, you've probably known that your whole life. It doesn't mean that you've always
read the Bible, though. So let me give you three reasons why you should read the Bible.
Number one is for knowledge. For knowledge.
1 Samuel 2, verse 2.
The Bible says the Lord is a God of knowledge. God wants us to know what
this book says. Right? If you say that you're close to God
and you love God and you've been serving Him for a decade, but you don't
know this book because you don't read this book, you can't say you're
close to God. Because God is a God of knowledge, so if you don't have much knowledge
of the Bible, you can't really say that you're close to God.
God is a God of knowledge, the Bible says.
You go in your Bible to Proverbs 4. Proverbs 4.
Proverbs 4.
You say, well, I don't really see why reading the Bible
is a big deal. Well, it's a big deal to God. Even if you
don't understand why, if God says to do it, do it.
And it says not only should we read therein all the days of our life, but He said He's a God of knowledge
so it's very important to Him that you read His
Word. Right? I mean, do you realize how many people have died to give us
a Bible in our hands today? I mean, if you've studied anything about the
Catholic Church and all the people they killed who are trying to bring a book
into the hands of man, I mean, it's astonishing
the persecution just to give people a Bible to read. The reason why
the Catholic Church did that is because if people didn't know what the Bible said,
they were at the mercy of their Catholic priests to tell them what
the Bible said. They couldn't know for themselves. But here's the thing, nobody
is at the mercy of a Catholic priest or a pastor in 2022
because you have a Bible. If you're saved, you've got
the Spirit of God, and you can read it and know for yourself.
Right? You're in Proverbs 4. Let me just read you from Hosea
where it says, my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. You know, a lot of people destroy their lives
because they simply don't know what they're supposed to do. They just don't know.
Right? If you were to ask people on the street, you know, what's your opinion
about this? What do you think about this? People might have an opinion, but
they don't really have a reason why. They don't know. Right? You can ask
people basic questions on the street. Is purgatory in the Bible?
I don't know.
People aren't sure. Right? And it's funny, sometimes you preach
the Gospel, and people say, well, you know, how can we know?
It's like, well, this is what it says.
That's how we can know. It's not like, well, we got a book, and all this
book says is, don't kill people. That's what a lot of people think.
No, actually, he tells us everything. And the answers are right here.
And as a saved person with the Spirit of God, if you've been saved for a length
of time, because I understand if you're newly saved, of course you're not going to know everything about the
Bible. If you've been saved for years and years and years, it's time
to start reading this book. It's time to start learning for yourself.
Some people have this idea, wait a minute, I thought I went to church,
and church taught me what the truth is. Yeah, church will teach you the
truth. Church is the pillar and ground of the truth. I can't teach you
everything in one year from the servants.
This is a big book. There's a lot of information.
Even if we go verse by verse, there's stuff that I don't fully cover, because either I don't fully understand
or I don't focus my time or attention on that. There's a lot to learn
in this book. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Proverbs 4, verse 1,
Hear ye children the instruction of a
Father, and attend to no understanding. For I give you good doctrine, forsaking
not my law. For I was my father's son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother.
He taught me also and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words, keep my commandments,
and live. Get wisdom, get understanding, forget it not.
Neither decline from the words of my mouth. Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee.
Love her, and she shall keep thee. Wisdom is the principal
thing, therefore get wisdom, and with all
that getting, get understanding. The Bible says wisdom is the principal thing.
If you had a choice here today of 50 million pesos,
or wisdom from God's word, did you know that's not
actually a tough question? Now most people
in the world are going to choose the money. And what's going to take place,
they're going to choose the money, they're going to be happy for a little while, and they're going to use that
money to commit a lot of sins, and then they're going to be depressed, and their life's going to be
destroyed, and it's like, why is my life so messed up? I'm just so unlucky.
No, it's because you just don't know what the Bible says.
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. We need knowledge.
We need wisdom. Look, if you're raising your kids in
2023, I was about to say 2022, if you're raising them in 2023,
you need knowledge, you need wisdom. You need to know what to do.
I mean, you ask people on the streets, I mean, should you
spank your children or not? And people don't know.
They might give you their opinion, well what does the Bible say? I don't know.
It's like, well haven't you read it? Right, my people are destroyed for lack
of knowledge. Then it says this in verse 8,
And go not in the way of evil men.
Now turn in your Bible to 1 Peter 2.
I mean, the Bible speaks about being on a path, and so
just think about your going out for a walk. And let's just say you're going
out in an area where there's a lot of, you know, I don't know, you call it booby traps,
that's what we call them in the US, like a lot of like things where you get caught
and something will come up, a bomb will explode or whatever. Imagine you're
walking on a path and you can't see those things because they're hidden.
Let's say you're in the middle of war and you're walking on a path, there's a lot of things that are there
to try to harm somebody. Well here's the thing, if you can't see, you're going to
get destroyed. You can't avoid it forever. But if you can see
where those things are, it's like, oh okay, I'll avoid this, I'll avoid this.
And see, as a Bible-believing Christian, we walk on the path of life
and we can see, wait a minute, I've got to avoid this, wait a minute, I've got to
avoid that. Right? As a Bible-believing Christian, someone says,
hey, you want to drink some alcohol? It's like, no! I know what the Bible says about that.
It's like, give strong drink on him that is ready to perish, those that are
destroying their lives, not to me.
But see, the average person in this world in college is like, hey, do you want to drink this? It's like,
sure. Why not? They just don't know.
They're just not really sure what they're supposed to do in life, and people
destroy their lives simply because they don't have
knowledge from God's Word.
1 Peter 2, verse 2, as newborn babes, desire
the sincere milk of the Word that ye may grow thereby.
The Bible says that desiring God's Word is going to cause you to
spiritually grow. Now it says, as newborn babes,
think of a baby born in this world. Babies
need milk to survive. There's no way around this. There was a case
a couple years ago where there was this hardcore vegan, I think it was in the U.S.,
it might have been Europe, though, and they're a hardcore vegan, and they're
like, not only would I never eat meat, I would never drink milk.
Right? Because, you know, the cow was harmed in
the milk, even though they're designed for that purpose.
It's like, I would never, you know, eat eggs. Right? It's against my beliefs.
Right? So they raised their baby without any milk,
completely vegan, just fruit juice. The baby died after, like,
a week or two. I mean, and the person was put on trial
for, you know, manslaughter, because it's like, how stupid
can you be? Everybody knows, even the one knows, it's like,
hey, we might be against eating meat, but you know what, I mean, babies, they need milk.
I mean, do whatever you want when you become an adult, make
your own choices, but a baby needs milk to survive.
Well, you know what, as a Christian, you know what you need to survive?
You need God's word. I mean, Job
says, I've esteemed the words of God more than my necessary
food. You're not going to go days and days and
days and days without physically eating. You know, people do this
spiritually all the time. You could come to people's house and say, hey, you know, can you show me
your Bible? It's like, oh, man, where did I put that? And then all of a sudden
then they pick it up, it's like, wait a minute, it's like,
all right, let me clean this real quickly. Right?
It's been years since I've used this. I mean, I'm being
facetious, but this is a truth with a lot of people.
It's like they don't read their Bibles. Anyway, we have so many
modern conveniences just that can be a good thing. I mean, you can have your Bible on your phone.
You can just be out, you know, whatever. You're in the, you know,
I don't know, the jipney. You could just read or whatever. I mean, there's opportunities that are
there. It's actually a lot easier in today's world, but people don't do it.
Right? But see, God is a God of knowledge, and if you're going to grow spiritually,
you need God's word. Right? Now,
look, it is not possible to spiritually grow without God's word.
It's not possible. Whether it be the preaching of God's word
or reading it, if you're not getting any Bible in your system, you will not
spiritually grow because that is how you spiritually grow. Right?
Go to 2 Peter 3.
There's this
false prophet in the Philippines, and he said, you know, hey, reading the Bible
is a great thing, but you don't need it to grow.
And then he gave examples like, you know, like Moses. You know?
It's like, he wasn't reading the Bible. It's like, he directly got the Bible
from God. I mean, God is saying what the Bible says to him.
And he was writing it down. It's like, what are you talking about?
He's like, in the Old Testament, they didn't have the Bible. That's ridiculous. People were hearing
the Bible back then. They might not have had a cover-to-cover Bible in their
hands, but, you know, they took it very seriously to hear preaching from God's word as much as they
could because of the fact they didn't have it as accessible.
But, you know, in the Old Testament, you see them going out with the book of the
law doing what? Going soul-winning. They obviously had
something, right? It's not possible to spiritually grow
without God's word because the Bible says that is how you grow. Well, in what areas
do you grow? 2 Peter 3, verse 18,
But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
to him be glory both now and forever. Amen. So, in 2 Peter 3
18, there are two things that are mentioned here.
Grace and knowledge. Now, knowledge is a little bit easier for us
to understand. Right? It's like, kind of, what do you believe about stuff?
What does the Bible say? You know what it says.
Grace is basically like your character. Who you are.
So, basically, grace is like not being bitter, not being prideful,
you know, being humble, you know, not being envious,
not being covetous. How the way you act and interact with
other people. That's basically like grace. And both of these things are very important.
You have grace and you have knowledge. Now, here's the thing. I believe
listening to good preaching is a good thing. Many of us have been blessed
from a lot of great preaching that we've heard. But here's one of the dangers. If you
listen to a lot of good preaching but you don't read the Bible, what you're going to find
is you will grow in knowledge but you won't really grow in grace.
And you'll get puffed up in that knowledge. What you really need is
a balance. By all means, if you have time to listen to a good sermon
from another pastor that is, you know, a Bible-believing Christian,
by all means listen to the sermon. But don't forsake your
Bible reading to listen to online preaching because you're going to have a bad balance.
And you're going to get a lot of knowledge, but then your character is not really going to change.
And quite honestly, you're probably going to get puffed up and arrogant because you have
all this knowledge, but you don't really have a lot of grace.
Now, turn to Proverbs 27. Proverbs 27.
You know, if I see people start dancing while
they're dancing, I'm going to know who used to be worldly, right?
Thankfully, I mean,
I used to listen to a lot of bad music. This is not the type of music. So I don't have any temptation
in my flesh right now. This is not my type of music.
But anyways, knowledge is something that we need. That's one reason
to read God's Word simply to have knowledge, to know what the Bible says.
Another thing is grace. Now I want to show you this verse, Proverbs 27, verse 19.
This one stood out to me recently when I was reading my Bible. It's a really interesting verse.
Proverbs 27, verse 19, it says,
Now you say, what is that referring to? Well, it says first,
as in water, face answereth to face.
And the idea of water would be like a glass, as the Bible says, or a mirror,
where basically you see your reflection. So as in water,
face answereth to face. I see what my face looks like.
Right? Now here's the thing. Right now,
everybody in this room except me can see my face.
Unless you're behind that big pillar that we have. Everyone,
right? Okay. I can't see my face though.
I mean, if I woke up this morning and did not look in a mirror,
I would have no idea if my hair is like messed up or whatever. It's just like
I wouldn't know. I mean, I could have like the biggest pimple like right here in my face
and I'd have no idea. Right? But everybody else would know that
about me because you can see my face. Right? The only way to know what your face looks
like is if you actually look in water, look in glass,
look in a mirror, look where you see your reflection. Right? And you can think whatever
you want about yourself. You could say, man, I'm the tallest person in the world.
I'm the best looking person in the world. Right? You know, my hair is colored, you know,
red. Or my eyes are brown or whatever. But then all of a sudden you look in the mirror and it's like, whoa.
The reality. Right? It's like, you know, once you see your reflection,
that is what you actually look like. Right? As in water,
face answerth the face. You don't know what your face looks like unless you see the reflection.
But then it says, so the heart of man to man.
So the heart correlates with the water and then face
answerth the face is the man to man. And what the Bible is saying is
as a man, as a woman, as a person, you don't
know what you're actually like until you come in
contact with your heart. Now, here's the thing, though.
Everybody in this room knows what I'm like. Right? I mean,
you know what I'm like, but a person actually doesn't really know what they're like. They think they do,
but nobody thinks they're an arrogant person. Nobody
thinks they're a bitter person. Nobody thinks they're a covetous person. Nobody
thinks they're an angry person. And yet, if you ask other people around you, it's like, you're not an
angry person? It's like, what? You're not a
prideful person? It's like, you're always talking about yourself. You're not a bitter
person? I mean, you're bringing up stuff from like 20 years ago.
But people don't realize it. They're literally oblivious. It's kind of like,
I could not know what I look like unless I look in a mirror.
And people literally don't know what they're like
until they come in contact with their hearts. And then their heart
is going to show them the reality. You say,
Brother Stuckey, how do you come in contact with
your hearts? Well, what's the one thing that can actually get
down to the heart according to the Bible? The Word of God.
We think of Hebrews 4.12, the Word of God is quick and powerful
and sharper than any two-edged sword. Dividing in the center of soul and spirit is the
thoughts and intents of the heart.
And the reality is, when you start reading the Bible, when you hear preaching
from the Bible, and all of a sudden it highlights certain things,
all of a sudden you come face to face with reality. You actually
find out what you're like. I mean, a lot of people would say, well, I'm not a bitter
person, but if I preached an entire sermon on bitterness, there'd probably be a lot of
people that would think, ouch.
I mean, when I read the Bible, sometimes you're reading, you're like,
man, I thought it was really spiritual until I read that verse.
You come face to face with reality.
And you as a man need to know what you're
actually like, but the reality is, everybody knows what people are like. If you want to know
what you're like, here's what you do. You ask other people.
Because everybody has a biased opinion about themselves.
Everybody does. Everybody thinks they're better than they actually are.
Everybody thinks they've got everything all put together.
But you know what? Those around you know what you're actually like. You say, well, Brother Stuckey,
how can I fix this? How can I figure out what I'm actually like then? By reading God's Word.
By listening to preaching with the Bible. You say, why? Because the
Word of God gets down to the heart, and all of a sudden reality ends up coming.
You can actually find out. Turn your Bible to Ephesians 4.
Ephesians 4.
And that's very associated with grace and what you're like, because
once you start reading the Bible, you start realizing, man, I have a lot of things I need
to work on. I thought I had it all put together, but then you start
reading about various characters and stories in the Bible, and you
start realizing, you know what, I'm nothing special.
And reading God's Word will cause you to have a humble outlook on yourself.
You think very highly of yourself until you read the Bible, then you start
realizing that you're nothing. And I'm nothing. None of us are.
We're just sinners saved by grace that, you know what, all of us, our old
man, is nothing to be proud of.
The old man, you say, Brother Stuckey, man, I thought I was like the best looking person in the world, so I looked in the mirror.
You know, it's the same thing spiritually speaking. You're like, man, I'm just so
humble on the inside. Then all of a sudden, you come in contact with your heart. Oh,
pungent! It's hideous! That's horrible!
What is that? It's the old man. It's the old man
that's bitter and complaining and prideful. This is reality for all of us.
Right, you know, if you've been saved for a long time and you've
been serving God, I would assume you've probably changed quite a bit
as a person. And honestly, I still have a lot
of work to do, as all of us do, but you know what, I can realize
that, you know what, when I first got saved, you know, I was a very prideful
person. Very arrogant person. And, you know, obviously that's something
that we can all struggle with, but it's just like, people told me, you know, you've really
changed. You know, the last couple years when I started to go, got saved,
started to go soul winning and make changes, it actually changes you as a person.
It's kind of like that story where Moses, you know, goes up to talk to God, and he
gets down, and he's physically changed, and he doesn't realize it.
He doesn't realize physically change because, you know, as in water,
face answereth to face. And the application is a
spiritual application where he has changed quite a bit,
you know, physically, and people are surprised when they see him. It's the same thing with you
spiritually, though. I mean, if you come in contact with
someone that you used to go to college with or whatever that you haven't seen in years,
and they're probably like, hey, you know, you want to go to the bar tonight? It's like, ah, I don't drink.
What? What happened to you?
Right? You know, you want to go watch this movie with me?
There's a lot of violence in that movie. What? A lot of violence?
Right? But the reality is, you change.
Your interest changes. It's like you're a brand new person, because you are.
Because it's the new man that is shining out.
Ephesians 4, verse 11.
Now notice this in verse 15.
But speaking the truth in love. See, the Bible says that when you speak the truth,
you need to do it in love. So you can get the knowledge to know the truth, but actually
doing it in love, that actually takes growing in grace. So what are you talking
about, Brother Stuckey? Well, let's say you go to a church that's kind of like an old IFB-style
church, and then all of a sudden you start reading your Bible, and then you learn about
the rapture topic. You know, you read Matthew 24, and, you know, just go to
Matthew 24, just to, I want to show you a point or show you what I'm trying to
explain.
Anyway, if this
topic's new to you, that's fine. You know, we preach on this from time to time. There's obviously always
a lot to learn. But what the Bible speaks about the end times is that the
second coming of Christ will take place after the tribulation.
And as God's people, we will actually go through persecution, and, you know,
basically the first four seals are kind of setting the groundwork.
The second coming of Christ will reveal Himself, and then we go through great tribulation, which will last for a time
period, and then all of a sudden the Lord will come back, we'll be raptured, and God
pours out His wrath. Right? And it's actually not that complicated in the Bible, but
a lot of people come to the book of Revelation and they're like, I don't know. And then you look at a verse like Matthew
24, verse 29, where it says,
Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars
shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. And so it's
an undeniable sign because the sun's darkened, and the moon shall not give her
light, and it's happening after the tribulation, and then shall appear the
sign of the Son of Man in heaven, and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall
see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, and He shall
send His angels with the great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds
from one end of heaven to the other. And so in verse 31 we're seeing the rapture
because He's gathering together His elect from the four directions, the four winds.
Very clearly, the rapture, and it's taking place after the tribulation.
So we reject a pre-tribulational rapture because it says after the tribulation.
That's not that complicated once it's explained
to you, or you get a chance to study it and learn it. But here would be
the tendency for people, it's like you learn this doctrine, and then you
try to show somebody else, and they're like, well, I don't know if that's
true or not. Do you not understand English? It says after, you idiot!
That's not exactly
speaking the truth in love.
Honestly, when you preach sermons, you have to learn to speak the truth in love,
and not just be super rude to people and realize people are at different
levels, they're learning different things, they've heard different things. It's just like
you have to do it with some grace. But the thing is, when you learn
a lot of new doctrines, the grace is way behind on what's
growing. And you get a lot of knowledge. I think all of us would probably say, you know, at times
maybe you're a bit overly zealous. Now, this is always an interesting
situation because I never want to destroy people's zeal. So when people
are very zealous and excited, I don't want to destroy that, but in the back of my head I'm
thinking, man, I hope the grace really starts to catch up to the knowledge.
And it says, speaking the truth in love
may grow up unto him in all things, which is the head, even Christ.
Go to Deuteronomy 17. Deuteronomy 17.
Deuteronomy 17.
I mean, when people are
new at church, everything's new to them. There's a lot
of things they've never heard, they've never learned, and you know, it's very
easy for us to forget about what we used to be like.
Right? I mean, we've all changed quite a bit.
I've changed a lot. As I said, I mean, it's sort of a
you know, kind of a silly example because, you know, it's just
how I used to dress, but when I went to church, as I said, I would wear a soccer shirt and soccer pants.
And you know, I did that for probably about a year, and then all of a sudden
I started to just kind of slowly change it. You say, why? But, you know, I just felt more comfortable. That's
how I dressed, right? And it's just like, but everything was brand new to me. If you had
told me at that time, you know, did you know that God cares about how you dress? I'd be like, really?
I would have no idea. You say, why? Because I didn't know what the Bible
said. You know, I've said before, you know, it was about, you know, I don't know, six months or eight
months after I got saved, and my pastor said, hey, do you think about getting baptized? Like,
what's wrong with you? Right? It's like, am I supposed to be baptized? Right? I mean,
because I got baptized as a baby. I didn't know. I didn't know that
baptism as a baby didn't count. I had no idea. You're learning all these new things.
Right? It's very easy for us to forget about what we used to be like
or what we used to know. We need to remember that, you know what, people are at different levels, and they're
learning things. Anyway, I'm never really that concerned
with people if, as long as they're reading the Bible, and they're trying
to serve God, because I realize, well, the changes are going to come if they want to
grow. So, the thing is, I don't have to try to force
somebody to be just like me from day one or whatever. It's like, people are going at different
rates. They're learning different things. You know, just let people make their own decisions.
But you've got to speak the truth in love. Now, Deuteronomy 17, verse 18, the Bible says,
And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of
his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy out of this law, and a book
out of that which is before the priests of 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 and these statutes, to do them. Now, this is directly written
to the king, or about the king, and he might say,
Well, Brother Stuckey, the king is supposed to read therein all the days of
his life. Why would that apply to me if I'm not the king?
Well, I mean, number one, we are kings and priests unto God, the Bible says.
But even above that, it says as a result of reading
God's Word, it will help you learn to fear
the Lord his God. It will help you fear God.
Here's the thing. Does everybody need to fear God? Yes.
Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
That's for everybody. And so if fearing God's for everybody,
how do you get that? By reading God's Word? Read therein
all the days of your life. Every single day you need to
read the Bible is what the Bible says. Just like every day you
physically eat, unless you're going on a fast
for, you know, whatever reason, I mean, every day you eat,
except on rare exceptions. And here's the thing.
What if you don't eat in a day? You'll be like, man, I'm starving.
I'm like Esau, I'm at the point of death right now, right?
It's like I'm really, really hungry. I mean, people are like that when they skip a meal.
I mean, before we change the service times to shorten them, that's the way
you felt after the second service. It's 1 p.m. I'm at the point of death right now.
Death by preaching, right?
It's like, you know, you wouldn't go a day without eating,
and yet people go a long time without reading the Bible.
And people feel like they don't need it, but you do need it. You do need
it to get the knowledge. You do need it to get the grace. And sometimes you'll see this.
If people, you know, read the Bible a lot or they draw close to God, but then
they kind of go the other way, all of a sudden just the old man starts coming out in that
person. They just act differently. And you know them as a Spirit-filled person, but
now they're complaining and bitter and angry and all this stuff. Well, that's
the old man that's coming out. Because if you don't feed the new man,
then the old man is going to rise back up. It's not like
a boxing fight where you knock the old man out and it's over.
It's like you're crowned the victor. The old man always comes back.
You say, how many rounds are there? Like five million.
The old man always comes back. The fight's never over.
And the old man is going to rise back up.
Now, when you get knocked down by the old man, you need to rise back up and get back to your feet.
Right? The old man is always going to come back. And so, look, how are we going to
fear God? By reading God's Word.
You say, what does it mean by fearing God? It means you're literally afraid to disobey
God. You say, is that a good thing? Yes.
It's a good thing. It's certainly a good thing
for kids. When they're afraid of disobeying their parents because they don't want to get a spanking,
it will help them to actually do right.
Spiritually, we need that. And there's no doubt about it, you should fear God
because of the fact, in this life,
you're going to pay for your sins. You do bad, God's going to punish you. We need to
fear God. And by fearing God, it will cause us to keep His commandments.
To keep all the words of this law and these statutes to do them.
Notice this also. That His heart be not
lifted up above His brethren. Meaning
that you don't become an arrogant, obnoxious,
Mayavang jerk. That's what it's saying.
The Bible's saying that if you read God's Word, it will
cause you to be humble. Now, you look at characters in the
Bible like King Saul we've talked about, and here's the thing, King Saul, when he started
was very humble. You know what that probably tells me? He probably spent a lot of time in the Scriptures.
He became very arrogant. You know what that tells me? He didn't apply
Deuteronomy 17 verses 18 through 20 as the king.
He wasn't reading God's Word. When people become very arrogant, it means they're not
reading God's Word. As a saved person, the antidote,
the medicine to keep us humble is by reading God's
Word. And if we don't get that antidote, then the arrogance is going to rise up.
The bitterness, the complaining, it's that way for all of us. It's a fact.
Right? It's going to cause you not to be
arrogant. And that he turn not aside from the commandment to the right hand or the left
to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children
in the midst of Israel. Go to Psalm 119. Psalm 119.
Psalm 119.
Now look,
both of these things are important. Knowledge and grace.
But I can just say that, you know what, as in, I'll tell you what, in general
we often look at knowledge as being what we want. We don't necessarily think about how we're acting
or whatever. Because once again, we think we're acting great. Until
we come in contact with our heart. I would say this though, as a parent,
I would say that I'm more concerned with my kids having grace
and knowledge. I want them to have both. But I would never want it to be said about
my son that's like 8 or 10 years old, oh man, what an
arrogant, rude little kid that is. Even if he knew
everything about the rapture, I would not be pleased as a father if that was the reputation
that my son had, that he was a spoiled little brat, if that's what people
said. That would bother me. As a parent, I want my children
to learn grace. I want them to have a good attitude. When they do wrong, hey, you say
you're sorry. You ask for forgiveness.
Right? You learn very simple things about having just
basic manners. Those are things that are very important to me. And I think as any parent
that's the way that you would feel about your kids. It's important for you also though.
Knowledge and grace are both very, very
important in your life. Knowledge, that's one reason. Grace,
that's the second reason. And thirdly, holiness. Because
by reading God's word, it will cause you to be holy. It will cause you to obey
God's commandments. Now we already saw some verses that talked about that a little bit, but notice what
it says in Psalm 119 verse 9.
Psalm 119 verse 9. Wherewithal shall a young man
cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according to thy
word? What's that saying? How is a young man going to live
a clean and holy life by taking
heed to God's word? By obeying God's word.
And that comes by reading God's word. Right? And look, this was
true thousands of years ago. It's certainly true in
2023. How is someone legitimately, how is a young
child going to grow up and be a holy
and godly person if they don't have God's word? Sin
is all around us in 2023. I mean during this
day, if people went out soul winning, I don't think that the men would have to
watch where their eyes go as they go soul winning because I don't think people would be dressed in that way.
But in 2023, as a going out soul winning,
you got to pay attention to what you're looking at because of the way people are dressed. We live
in a very sinful society in 2023.
I mean in our society, pornography is all around us. That wasn't
an issue, at least to the same degree as it is today back in
the days when Psalm 119, but even back then if you're going to live a clean
and holy life, you needed God's word. And I'll tell you what, if people are going to
live a clean and holy life in 2023, they need God's word.
Verse 10, With my whole heart have I sought thee, O let me
not wander from thy commandments. Thy word have I hid in mine
heart that I might not sin
against thee. And of course we sing that song in our hymnal, Thy word
have I hid in mine heart. And by
hiding God's word in your heart, by memorizing and
reading God's word, it's going to help you not sin
against God. Isn't that a pretty good reason to read God's
word? To read the Bible? If this was the only thing you
got, let's say you learned nothing
and you didn't grow in grace at all by reading God's word, but it
helped you not sin against God where God would have to punish you, wouldn't that be
worth it? Reading God's word will help you not sin
against God. That's what the Bible says. And how is a young man
or a young woman going to do that in 2023, living a clean and holy life
by taking heed to God's word? Go to your Bible to Matthew 4.
You say, why does that help
you not sin? Well, I mean, there's probably a lot of reasons, and that'd probably be a good
sermon in the future or whatever, but one thing I can think of is this, that if you're
tempted to do wrong, verses can pop in your head like,
be not deceived, God is not mocked,
for whatsoever man soweth, that shall he also reap. I'm just being
honest, that verse has popped in my head before, it's like, whoa, I better make sure
I don't do anything wrong because God's going to punish me. Or if you have trouble in a
specific area, how about if you have trouble with alcohol? How about, touch not the
unclean thing? Right? I mean, that verse pops into your head,
it's like, man. Right? You're tempted to do wrong, and then
verses pop in your head, and then it's just like, man, I need to do right.
You're tempted to listen to bad music while speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and
spiritual songs. Not that. Whatever that is.
Right? It's like the psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.
And see, when these verses pop in your head and you know God's word, look, I'm
sure that if you've been here in this room and you've read the Bible many times, you
could say the same thing, that the Bible pops into your head and you think of
stories, you think of verses, and you're like, man, why was I even tempted
to do that? It's wrong. Right? Because God's word is in your
head. Hiding God's word in your heart, it will help you not sin, and it also will
help fix your heart. Because like I said, when it comes to the heart, that's
how we find out what we're like. And the Bible says the heart is deceitful above all things and
desperately wicked. Who can know it? If you want to fix your heart,
reading God's word is like the medicine that will fix it and turn you into a better
person. Right? That's what the Bible teaches. Go to Matthew 4.
Matthew 4. Matthew 4.
Matthew 4, verse 1.
Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil, and when he had
fasted 40 days and 40 nights, he was afterward in hunger. And when the tempter
came to him, he said, if thou be the Son of God, command that
these stones be made bread. Now, obviously Jesus was never
going to sin. Right? I mean, he's God in the flesh. He does not have
that sinful nature passed down from his Father. He's obviously not going to sin.
But obviously we are capable of sinning, and we all do
sin at times. Now, of course, this exact thing is not going to happen to us.
I don't believe that the devil has ever personally tempted me because the
devil is not omnipresent. He's probably got
much bigger fish to fry than me. That's the way I look at it. Probably for all of us,
it's just like he has other things. But, you know, we've probably all been tempted by devils,
which go underneath the authority, which in our modern day we call it demons.
The Bible says devils. There's probably all of us have been
tempted to do wrong when maybe a devil tried to get us to do something
wrong. Now, in reality, it's like usually you're just tempted by your own flesh,
according to James 1. It's like we want to blame it. It's like, man, Satan tempted
me. Probably not. And a devil tempted me.
Actually, it's probably just your own flesh. But I would say from time to time, you know,
the devil will try to put you in a situation to do wrong. And so another thing
that would make this not really all that realistic for us is we probably wouldn't withstand forty days
of temptation. We'd probably just give in very quickly.
This is forty days. But forty days take place
and he says, if thou be the Son of God. I'm not saying you're not the Son of God,
but if you're the Son of God, basically prove it to me.
But he answered and said, it is written. Now notice
he does not say it was written. He says it is written.
You say, why? Because God's Word applies just as much today
as it did two thousand years ago, quoting from
a long time before that. See, God's Word is always relevant
because people will say, well, you know what, it's a different culture today.
Yeah, I mean, the Bible speaks against, you know, the homos, but that's because, you know, back then it was a
different culture. Right? It's like, no, God's Word is timeless.
And the same Word of God that applied thousands of years ago, it applies today also.
Anything that was true for people thousands of years ago, it's true
today as well. It's not like we come to a verse, well, read therein all
the days of thy life. Well, it's a different dispensation. Right?
It's not for me, because I'm after the time of Christ, so I don't have to read the Bible.
Right? It's like the dispensationalist, you know, it's really clever, they get to just
anything they disagree on, well, different dispensation.
That's what they always argue. Right? But he says it is
written. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word
that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Every word.
You say, Brother Stuckey, do we really need every word? I mean, what
about the boring books of the Bible?
What about the Mosaic Law? I mean, Numbers,
Leviticus, Deuteronomy.
You know why you need Deuteronomy in your life? Because Jesus just quoted from
the book of Deuteronomy. That is a quote from the
book of Deuteronomy. Now, I'll be honest with you, just to
take a slight break from the sermon, I don't know how Deuteronomy lost that poll
online. Right? If you've been to our YouTube, we have the competition of Bible books.
It's like nobody reads the Old Testament, because the New Testament wins every single
poll. It's like, what? Deuteronomy is a great book,
and the proof is the fact Jesus is quoting from them. But every word that proceedeth
out of the mouth of God. Now, obviously, certain parts of the Bible are
more entertaining than others. I mean, you woke up today, if you read your
Bible, you know, with the New Testament, Matthew is a very interesting book. I mean, you got to the
Sermon on the Mount as well if you finished it. You could read that a lot.
And it doesn't get old. I mean, it's great. The Sermon on the Mount, you get
reminded of all these things. I mean, literally, you could preach like a 25-part series on
the Sermon on the Mount, because there's all these topics that come up. It's great,
right? I mean, the reading in the early books of Matthew, the birth of
Jesus Christ, the persecution, the temptation,
got John the Baptist, a lot of great information. Yes,
other parts of the Bible are not as exciting as maybe the first seven
chapters or first nine chapters of Matthew. But you know what? Even in books like Numbers
that are a bit drier, there's still great information that you can learn from them.
And you can read it your whole life, and there's a lot of stuff maybe you don't understand, and then
all of a sudden it just hits you. Okay, I understand what that's about now,
right? We need every single word in the Bible. Verse 5,
Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,
and saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast
thyself down. For it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee, and in their
hands they shall bear the up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against the stone. Jesus
said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
What book is Jesus quoting from?
Book of Deuteronomy. Again, quoting from the book
of Deuteronomy. Right? I mean, he's quoting from the... And Satan is
misquoting the Bible, but Satan's kind of quoting the Bible
and he's kind of like a false prophet. They'll say, well, you know what? It's written,
you know, you know, this, faith without works is dead,
what is written again, whosoever believeth. Right?
It's written again. Oh, I'm not done. I've got a hundred more. It is written again.
It is written again. It is written again. It is written again. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.
Right? It's written again, not by works, lest any
man should boast. I mean, it's not of works, lest any man should boast. So, it's just
like, you know, we need to be able to know the Bible
to understand what we believe, but Jesus is also giving us
a template, which is what I want you to understand. Basically, if you are tempted to
do wrong, even though Jesus would have never sinned,
what you can do is actually quote the Bible, and it can help you
overcome it. It will help you not sin against God
by quoting God's word, by thinking on God's word, by meditating on God's word.
Right? Verse 8,
And so, in verse 10,
He is quoting from the Old Testament. What book is He quoting from?
The book of Deuteronomy, again. All three are quotes from the book
of Deuteronomy. Now, what's interesting is that
Jesus is quoting from it, and if you quote from a book,
you have to know the book well enough to quote. Either you
memorize it, or you've read it quite a bit. Now, here's the thing. Deuteronomy
is probably not the first book that you would think about memorizing.
Probably a lot of other books that you would think about memorizing, and yet three different times
He shows us you can withstand a temptation from the book of Deuteronomy.
Just quoting the book of Deuteronomy.
And so, let me just, the three things we mentioned, why should you cleave under the sword,
knowledge, grace, and holiness, all those are important.
But let me just explain to you how this Bible reading chart works, and if you've been at our church
for over a year, then you're like, brother stuck, you already heard it. Okay, take a nap. Whatever.
I don't care. But anyways, you've got this chart
and it's got two sides. You've got to finish both sides. No, I'm just kidding.
You've got the option of which side that you want. So there's benefits to both sides.
This side is the nine chapters a day. So basically, if you read
nine chapters, starting at the beginning of the New Testament,
and you start in Matthew chapter 1, you're going to finish on
January 29th. There'll be eight chapters
on the 29th, and you'll be finished, and you have two days
of grace period. Now, the thing is, it's like you have
these couple days of grace period, because obviously, you know, you can get distracted one day
or you don't get to your Bible reading. So basically, you have time to catch up.
The advantage of nine chapters a day over the other side
is that you do a lot of reading early, because the early books of the Bible
have long chapters. The chapters in Matthew are longer than
the ones at the end of the Bible. The chapters in Mark are longer. The chapters in Luke are
longer, right? So basically, as you're excited, you get a head
start, and then you can just kind of, you know, drift downhill the rest of the way.
Right? You ran uphill the first, you know, two weeks
and it's like, all right, I get to just slowly, leisurely, you know,
finish this thing. Right? The other side,
the advantage would be that it's more balanced on a daily basis.
I like this side better, the balanced side. We're basically seven chapters
in Matthew on day one. It's also more mathematical,
which I'm a mathematical guy, because, you know, on nine chapters a day,
you've got one chapter left in Matthew on day four. I don't like that. I like to
just, okay, let's finish it out. Seven chapters,
Mark, eight chapters, Luke, since the chapters are super long, six
chapters, and it just evenly distributes. Acts is 28 chapters, so
it's seven chapters per day, and it's pretty evenly distributed to finish it.
But honestly, whatever method you use reading the Bible, if you read the New Testament
in a different method and you finish in January, great.
You don't have to use this. I mean, people use all kinds of techniques to read the
Bible. Some people use the technique of pages. They'll look at their Bible and say,
well, you know, it's, you know, 800 pages, so I'll read, like,
five pages a day. Some people do it by, you know,
a Bible reading chart, which is what I do. Some people do it by just,
I mean, a lot of different methods. Some people read several books in one day because
they want them more balanced or they don't want to get bored or whatever. I mean,
I know people that do that. There's a lot of different methods, and it's perfectly fine.
But this is meant to be a help to you. Now, it's sized in this way
because it can probably fit in your Bible pretty well. Obviously, I sent you
a PDF copy, and in our modern day, for a lot of people, that's probably what you'll use
or whatever, just an electronic copy. But you can put this, you know,
honestly, in some ways, though, I think doing something old-fashioned is kind of nice, just
sitting down with your Bible. You can read your Bible on a computer or a cell phone, but
at least for me, I still prefer just the old-fashioned
book and no distractions, no temptations, and you're just sitting there.
So this could work very nicely for that. So basically, as you finish your reading,
you know, you put a check mark, and the goal is to finish the entire
New Testament in January. With this method, you finish on day
30, and so you still have an extra grace day period as well
to finish it. Now, for some people, maybe this sounds impossible.
The entire New Testament in January?
But yet, over half of our church last year
finished the New Testament in January. And here's the other thing about this.
You know, this is not something where it's like you succeed
or you fail, and anything in between is a failure. That's not really how it works.
Because if you've never read the Bible that much, and you start doing this,
and you make it to day 18 in your Bible
reading chart, I would say well done. You've read the Bible more than you ever have
in your life. Right? I mean, if you try this and you don't finish
it, but you get pretty far along, you read something.
I mean, look, if somebody set out on a goal and said, hey, you know what,
I want to memorize the entire book of Revelation, and they only made it to
seven chapters, they did something. That's accomplishing
something. That takes a lot of work. So if you do these charts,
and especially if you've never read the Bible much, and it's like you don't
finish it, you haven't failed if you read something.
Now, if you don't read it all, then, well,
I would consider that a failure. But if you actually try and you don't make it to the end,
I believe that you succeeded. Now let me just give a practical tip on reading the Bible.
Because some of these things you kind of take for granted, but
a lot of these things we learn from people, and then we pass it along.
When you're reading your Bible, I would not encourage you
to just stop at a verse you don't understand, and
spend an hour on that verse, and say, well, I'm not moving on
until I finish this verse. I think that would be a bad idea.
You say, why? Well, imagine you're taking a test in school,
and you've got to get eighteen out of twenty, ninety percent to get an
A on the test, and you've got one hour to finish it.
Question number one, easy. Two plus one equals three.
Wow, that's easy. Question number two.
What's a non-math example? I can't do that. Five plus three equals eight.
Three times three equals six. Then you get to question four. It's like, take the
anti-derivative of this integral. What?
You say, you know, man, I don't know this, and you just sit there
and you sit there trying to figure it out, and then all of a sudden,
five minutes go by, ten minutes go by, twenty minutes go by.
You know what you should do? Hey, maybe the next question is like one plus one.
Right? Just move on to the next question.
I'm using a humorous example, but it's like this in Bible reading,
because let me be completely honest with you. There are things that
are hard to be understood. There are things that I read
in the Bible, and I'm like...
Oftentimes when people come to me with a Bible question, the amazing thing is,
if you weren't able to figure it out by reading it, I also was not able to figure it out
sometimes, and I don't know. I'm like, I'll have to look into it. I'm not really sure.
Right? I mean, I've asked godly pastors on verses, and they're just like,
yeah, that's a good question. Some things are just hard to be understood.
But here's the thing, though. There's a lot of things that are not hard to be
understood. There's a lot of things that are very easy.
And so instead of focusing on what you don't know, just
focus on what you do know. I'll give you a silly
example. When I first started reading the Bible, I came across
one of the examples where it says the person gave up the ghost.
And I was confused. Because I said, well, once you're saved, you're always saved.
You can't lose your salvation. So I was thinking, how could he give
up the Holy Ghost? Now, here's the thing. If you've read your Bible, you know,
you might say, wow, that's foolish. But for someone that just started reading the Bible, I was
confused. It's just an expression, a person died because the body without
the Spirit is dead. I didn't know that as a newly saved person, though. And I started reading
my Bible, he gave up the ghost, but we have eternal life. I'm like, well,
I'll just have to write that down to figure it out another day. And the amazing thing
is, a lot of things you don't understand, and then all of a sudden you just have it explained in a
sermon, or you hear it, or if you had to ask somebody else that's read the Bible a lot
and they might give you the answer, and it's like, oh, okay. Doesn't that make more sense than just spending
one hour on that verse and saying, man, I can't figure it out?
You just move on and focus on what you do know. But I would also
say this, though. This is not a speed reading competition either.
It's not like, let me see how fast I can get through these seven chapters.
Because to be honest, if you read the Bible really quick and you don't
focus that much, I mean, you can read very quickly
probably and finish a chapter very quickly. Doesn't
necessarily mean you got that much out of it. And so what I would suggest
is, you know, not just being like, man, I got ten minutes, I'm just
going to finish these seven chapters no matter what, right? It's like double speed
Alexander Scorby on YouTube while I'm brushing my teeth. Boom!
I finished it. Now, of course, you can resort to the audio Bible, but
I'm just saying, you know, what's better is if you just make a conscious effort to say,
you know what, I'll put aside all distractions. I will just sit down and
just slowly read, and I will think about what I'm reading
and pay attention to what I'm reading. Because if you read like that, you're actually going to learn
a lot. Obviously, people read at different paces, and
that's understandable. And so the idea, though, is this is
just like a helper to help you get through the Bible. There's nothing embarrassing about using
something that can help you. I use a Bible reading guide every day
of my life. I have a chart for 2023 of
everything I'm going to read every single day. You say, why? It helps me.
And look, if you can do it
on your own and you have a different method or whatever, that's great. For me, personally, I just use Bible reading charts.
And what I've found through my years of being saved, when I use charts, I read a lot more.
When I don't use charts, I read a lot less. And so this can be a help
to you where basically you just wake up tomorrow morning and it's like, okay, I'm on
Matthew chapter 10, hopefully, Matthew chapter 10
or Matthew chapter 8, and you just sit there. And you know what, I'd even suggest
have a notebook. Have a piece of paper. You can write some things down. Write
down some notes of things you learn or questions. Or what I like to do oftentimes,
I'll write down verses that stand out to me. They kind of impact me. And then
all of a sudden I can look at it afterwards and say, man, that's a great verse.
But this is meant to be a help. And what I love about January at our church
is just you get through all the holidays and things are
very muggle-low, and then you kind of just get back into the pattern. Let's just get
back to our Bible reading, our personal walk with God, spending time with God.
And here's my promise to you. If you do this,
you will come in contact with your heart.
What I do not promise you, I'm not saying
it's going to be pretty. It might be pretty ugly.
You might realize as you start reading the Bible, man,
I actually have a lot I need to change in my life. And to be honest, I think
all of us will have that sort of reaction. And whether
or not you are very spiritual or not, it will cause everybody to have a
humble outlook on themselves. Let us cleave to the
sword in 2023. Let's go to the Word of Prayer. Dear Heavenly Father,
thank you for allowing us to be here and just getting to see about this story and verses
about reading the Bible. And help us all to just get back into our normal routine
of just spending personal time with you every morning,
time in Bible reading and memorization and prayer of God. Help us to meditate on
your Word and help us to live a godly and holy life in
2023. And help us use the Bible as our means to get there, God.
We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Amen.
Him number 440.
Him number 440. Thanks to God.
First time sample, please.
Thanks to God. First time sample, please.
Sing.
Praise to God.
Thanks for hope and thanks for Christ.
Thanks for hope that's in your name.
Thanks for love and thanks for sorrow.
Thanks for heaven and peace to be.
Thanks for hope and thanks to God.
Thanks for hope in eternity.
Praise to God.
Amen.