Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Find a seat.
And also find a hymnal.
You'll grab your hymnal and open up to our first song this evening.
It's going to be hymn number 110,
All the Way My Savior Leads Me.
Hymn number 110.
110.
All the Way My Savior Leads Me.
110.
Starting on the first.
110.
Amen.
Good singing this evening.
Brother Jeff, would you open us in a word of prayer?
Amen.
For our second hymn this evening,
turn if you would to 288.
288.
I am resolved.
288.
I am resolved.
Let's sing their starting on the first.
Amen.
Good singing this evening.
If you need a bulletin,
go ahead and raise your hands.
Brother Samson will get those around to you folks.
Hopefully we have enough this time around.
I printed some more.
I learned my mistake last time.
Welcome to Pure Words Baptist Church.
On the front there,
we have the date and our Bible memory passage.
We will switch on Sunday.
It will be on verse 24.
Today is the last day
to say 823
for those children 18 and under
to receive an ice cream reward.
On Sunday, we are moving forward
with or without you.
No child left behind here.
If you open up on the top left side,
you have our service times.
Underneath that, we have our churchwide
soul winning and their respective leaders
and their phone numbers.
We need to get soul winning numbers
from this week.
Between Monday and tonight,
do we have anything to report?
Any soul winning
from any of the regional times?
Looks like a goose egg.
That is alright because
we have 25 salvation month to date.
The updated number for us
puts us at 444 year to date.
That is fantastic.
The totals, if you look at our board,
the totals for 2020
will be 23 salvations for the year.
We are already well on track to
surpass that, but remember the goal is 1,000.
Now is the time to really pull out.
I think once it cools off,
maybe then it will be
a little more tantalizing to stay out longer
for soul winning.
Right now, by the time the time comes up,
I am like, okay, we are good. I am ready.
On the next top right side,
on the inside of your bulletin,
still be in prayer for our expecting lady,
Ms. Sarah Gomez.
Right around that December
time frame, so just be in prayer for them
and their baby boy.
Of course, for guest preaching
tonight, we have Deacon Corbin Russell
from Faithful Word, so just make sure
to really thank him for taking the time to come out
and to suffocate down here
in the Houston humidity with us.
Just make sure you shake his hand or tell him we really appreciate him coming out.
Then upcoming on
Sunday, we have,
this Sunday, we have Brother Ben Naim, Ben the Baptist.
It is really
nice to get him in on his schedule. I know he is really
busy trying to take Kabul back right
now over in Afghanistan, but he
has made some time to come
preach for us. He is actually a good friend of mine.
Hopefully, he takes that joke in good taste, but he was
making his own jokes himself.
He is a good friend
and a great guy, so he is coming
out to preach for us, both services
on Sunday. Then
a little further in the future, on October
3rd, we are going to have Pastor Aaron
Thompson from Shirk Foundation, so that will be
a blessing, another real
fun guy to hang out with. We have a lot of
great preaching coming up,
so definitely a time to be in church.
Underneath that, we
have our upcoming events. September
25th and the 26th, that is a Saturday
and Sunday, is going to be the
Pure Words anniversary.
Pastor is going to be down.
I think he said he is going to
have his family with him, but don't quote me on that.
I think that is what he said.
On that Saturday, we are going to have
a soul-winning marathon, and we are going to do
our annual false Bible burning, which we are
collecting quite the kindling
in there for. Then, of course,
on the 26th, they will be here to preach both of those
services. Then
a little further in the future, right after we
have Pastor Thompson here, we are going to have
the, or I say steadfast, is going to have the
Fire Breathing Baptist Fellowship on
October 6th through 10th. They have
a real good lineup of preachers.
Pastor is coming out.
They are also going to have in those days,
I know Pastor has talked about having some
singles events and some other events
and some fun stuff to do. If you can put that
on your calendar and make it out,
I know it is about four hours north of here,
but that is going to be worth it.
The Fire Breathing Baptist Fellowship
is fun.
I guess this is the second one.
This will be the second annual.
We went last year. It was a ton of fun.
It is just nice to be around a bunch
of people who are family. It feels like you have done them forever,
even though you may have just met them.
Because you have that same spirit.
Underneath that, of course, we have our prayer request.
Nothing that we have listed publicly at this time.
Of course, if you do have a prayer request,
if you want something added into
the bulletin, you can email your
request to PureWordsBaptist at
gmail.com, or if you will just send that
in a text to Pastor Shelley or Brother
Nick. I am sure they can give me that information.
We can get that in there if you want it public.
If you have an unspoken prayer request,
that is fine as well. Thursday, obviously mid-week,
we want to take the time to dedicate
just a moment of prayer for any prayer
request that we have. So, I am going to go ahead and
let's say a word of prayer for those prayer requests.
Dear Lord,
we just come to you this evening thanking
you for the opportunity to get together and
to worship, Lord. At this time, I would
just pray that anyone that has a request,
anyone that has an unspoken prayer request,
that you would just be with them and comfort them,
Lord, and that you would strengthen them in whatever
way they need, whether it is spiritually
or emotionally or physically.
Lord, I just pray that you would be with those
and just be that comforter, send that comforter
for them, Lord.
These things we pray in Jesus' name.
We love you very much. Amen.
Alright, and with that, that is going to be
the it for our announcements. On the back,
of course, there is a section to take notes
if you are so inclined.
And with that, we are going to go ahead and move on to our
third song this evening if you will grab
your hymnals back and turn to
hymn number 29
at the cross.
Hymn number 29.
Hymn number 29
at the cross.
We'll start there on the first.
Alas, and did
my Savior
bleed? And did
my Sovereign
die?
Would He
devote that Savior
bleed? And did
my Sovereign
die?
Would He
devote that sacred
head for
such a worm
as I?
At the cross, at
the cross, where I first
saw the light and
the burden of my heart
rolled away.
It was there
by faith I received
my sight
and now I am
happy all the day.
Was it
for crimes that
I have done?
He groans
upon the
stream.
Amazing
pity, grace
unknown, and love
beyond
dreams.
At the cross, at the
cross, where I first
saw the light and the
burden of my heart
rolled away.
It was there by
faith I received
my sight
and now I am
happy all the day.
Well might
the Son
in darkness
hide and
shock His
glories in
when Christ
the mighty
Maker died
for man the
creature sinned.
At the cross, at
the cross, where I
first saw the light
and the burden of my
heart rolled away.
It was there
by faith I
received my sight
and now I
am happy all the day.
But
drops of greed
can never
repay the
debt of love
I owe.
Dear Lord,
I give myself
away.
Tis all that I
can do.
At the cross,
at the cross, where
I first saw the light
and the burden of my
heart rolled away.
It was
there by faith
I received my
sight and now
I am happy all
the day.
Amen.
While the offering plate is being passed around
go ahead if you would turn to 2 Timothy
chapter number 3
2 Timothy chapter 3 and we'll read
that chapter as is our custom
kingdom.
Alright, we're there in 2 Timothy
chapter number 3 and the Bible reads
This know also that in the
last days perilous
time shall come for men shall be
lovers of their own selves, covetous,
boasters, proud, blasphemers,
disobedient to parents,
unthankful, unholy,
without natural affections, truce breakers,
false accusers,
incontents,
fears, despisers of those
that are good, traitors,
petty, high-minded, lovers
of pleasures more than lovers of God,
having a form of godliness
but denying the
power thereof. From such
turn away, for of this sort are they
which creep into houses and
leave captives, silly women
laden with sin, laid away
with diverse lust, ever
learning and never able to come to the
knowledge of the truth. Now as Janus
and Jabri withstood Moses
so do these also
resist the truth men of corrupt minds
reprobate concerning the faith.
But they shall proceed
no further, for their folly
shall be manifest unto all men
as there also was.
But thou hast full known my doctrine,
manner of life, purpose, faith,
long-suffering, charity, patience,
persecutions, afflictions,
which came unto me at Antioch
and Iconium,
at Lystra, what persecutions
I endured, but out of them all
the Lord delivered me.
Yea, and all that will live
godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer
persecution, but even
evil men and seducers shall wax
worse and worse, deceiving
and being deceived. But continue
thou in the things which thou hast
learned and hast been assured of,
knowing of whom thou hast learned
them, and that from a child
thou hast known thy holy scriptures
which are able to make thee wise
unto salvation through faith which is
in Christ Jesus. All
scripture is given by inspiration of
God and is profitable for doctrine,
for reproof, for correction,
for instruction in righteousness
that the man of God may be perfect,
thoroughly furnished unto all
good works.
Amen.
So it's great to be here again. It's been a few years
since I've been here. I recognize a lot of faces,
but I'm pretty bad with names, so
don't get offended if I didn't remember your name,
but I'll try my best.
You know, if I get to come back again,
it's always a pleasure to come here.
I've had a couple, like I said,
I've been here a couple times, and I've told people
from my experiences here that Houston
is the friendliest place I've ever gone soul winning.
You know, and I'm not just saying that to try and
flatter all of you. It really is.
So I remember Pastor Shelley talking
about that when he was getting ready to
be sent out to come start this church
from Faithful Word, and he would say,
man, Houston's just the friendliest place to go
soul winning, and I'm thinking, I'm agreeing,
I'm saying okay, but I'm thinking,
well, of course you're going to say that about the place you're going to go
soul winning. You're going to go start a church here. You're not going to go that
place. It's just terrible, and you know, go on
and on about it. But when I was finally
here, I got to go out, and I mean, people are coming
down from the end of the driveway to get the
invites, even if they're not interested in talking,
and even just being here today,
it just seems like it's a real friendly city.
Maybe it's just because I'm coming from a place where
everybody's just so
mad about burning alive all the time
in Tucson, Arizona, so
if that's where I spend most of my time
is in Tucson, I run a church plant very similar
to this. I feel right at home. It's hard not to spring up
and come up here and do the announcements. I felt it was just
you know, I'm such in the habit of doing that,
so, but I feel right at home.
Like I said, we have a similar church
about this size
in Tucson, so it's good to
see you all again. Now I want to preach tonight
on the responsibility to study,
the responsibility to
study, and you know, we always assume that
you know, when you're in a church, that that's something
that everybody does to some degree or another
that everybody is studying, and you know, if you are,
you know, great. And here's the thing about
study, it's something that
if we're not careful, it can wane.
Because as we'll see here, it's something that's
hard work, you know, something we have to be disciplined
about doing. So if you are
you know, somebody who's already taken on that responsibility
and being faithful to studying the word of God,
you know, keep doing that. You know, this isn't
going to be a step-by-step
how-to kind of sermon. I just kind of want to
encourage us to make sure that
we're living up to our
responsibility to study the word of God.
And if we're not studying the word of God,
you know, we need to start. And
you know, when you're here on a midweek, you know,
and again, appreciate everybody coming out,
it's usually a pretty good indicator
that the folks you got there on a midweek
are people who love the word of God,
you know, they're there to hear the preaching,
they're there to be edified
by it, and they're there to, you know, on their own time
are reading the word of God. So, you know, assuming
that, keep it up. But if, you know, if it
just so happens that you're not here, and
your devotions are waning,
you're not doing the study, you're not living up to the
responsibility, well, it's time to start.
And I really just want to encourage us to do that.
If you look there in 2 Timothy chapter number 3,
we kind of see the importance of why
we need to study the word of God,
why God has given us the responsibility
to study. It says in verse 13
that evil men and seducers
shall wax worse and worse,
deceiving and being
deceived. Okay? So we know
that as we come into the end times, and we
see this all about us, that evil men and seducers
are waxing worse and worse. Now I probably
don't have to try to take a lot of time
tonight to convince you of that. You know, we're seeing
our nation just continually, you know,
go down the, just the moral
degradation of our society,
and all of that, everything that's taking place with
the LGBTQ
and just, just the insane
things that are going on in this world. I don't want to go
on and on about that. But it's
telling us there that evil men and seducers
are going to wax worse and worse.
And what else are they going to do? It's not just that they're
going to try and push their filth,
it's not that they're just going to try and
brainwash us and try to make us accept
their, you know, their, their, their
filthy, vile, disgusting lifestyle, but
it's also that they're going to try and deceive us.
You know, there's also people that maybe
aren't going to promote some wicked lifestyle,
but they're also just going to try and deceive us and
draw us away from the truth. They're
trying to bring in false doctrine, teach false
doctrine. The evil men are going
to wax worse and worse, and they're going to
be doing what? Deceiving and being deceived.
So if we want to
avoid being deceived
as, as times get worse, and look, it's
going to get worse, it's not going to get better.
You know, it says that it's going to get worse and worse.
You know, you say, this isn't a very
encouraging sermon. You know, well,
you know, it's going to get, it's going to get worse before it gets
better. But once it gets good, it's going to be the best
it's ever been. All right, so there's your encouragement for you.
But in the meantime, you know,
it's saying here it's going to get worse and worse,
and part of what's going to make it so bad is that
these people are going to be deceiving
us. They're going to be trying to teach
us false doctrine, get us away
from the truth. So we've been given
the responsibility to study. Now, what is it that we're
supposed to study? Well, obviously, it's the word of God.
You know, God doesn't want us to be deceived.
God doesn't want to get caught up with the
error of the wicked. So he's given us
the Bible, right, to avoid this
deception that's out there. That's why it says
in verse 16, all Scripture is given
by inspiration of God and is
profitable for doctrine, for reproof,
for correction, for instruction, and righteousness.
Very familiar passage, but also very
important, isn't it? The Bible has all the answers
and it does so much for us.
It reproves, it corrects, it
instructs, it gives us doctrine.
The Bible is what's going to help you
and help you not to be
deceived. That's what's going to prevent the deception
that the evil men
and seducers are trying to bring in
to our churches, to our families,
to our society as a whole.
So we need to be in the word of God.
You say, okay, the responsibility
to study, what is that? You know, you should just be
reading your Bible. You know, that is a
form of study. You know, I'm not
saying everyone has to go home and
put on, you know, the tweed leather vest
with the little, you know, or the
wool vest with the leather pads and
get out the ink blot and then sit there
and have all the books out and do some
kind of deep dive into the
word of God. But, you know, you should be reading
the Bible. You know, do daily Bible
reading. You know, church, this, I
would consider this a form of study,
coming to hear the word of God taught.
I mean, there's a spot on the back for notes. I don't know
that I'm going to give you a whole lot to fill in there.
But, you know, that would be kind of, you know, taking notes,
going back, thinking about what you've heard,
reviewing a sermon. Those are all
forms of study. Those are things that we need
to be doing, getting into
the word of God. That's a responsibility
that has been given to all
of us. You know, it's something that's, you know,
when we talk about this, you'll say, well, 2 Timothy,
you know, that's the Timothy.
That's Paul the Timothy. That's for the pastor. You know,
study is something that the preacher should do.
And, amen, you know, preaching, you know, preachers
are the ones that should be studying the word of God.
They should be learning the word of God, knowing the word
of God, teaching the word of God at all times.
Right? But, really, the responsibility
to study is one that's been given to everybody.
You know, we can't just say, well, that's not
my job. You know, would
anyone get up and say, well, it's not
my job to read the Bible. It's not my
job to listen to what's being preached. Of course
not. But you can see how the responsibility
to study is something that's been given
to all of us.
And, of course, obviously,
you know, I'll start out by just, you know,
you know, doubling down on that point.
Yeah, it is for preachers.
You know, that's the primary application
here in 2 Timothy, verse 17, right?
He says that the man of God may be perfect.
You know, all Scripture is given
by inspiration of God
that the man of God may be perfect,
thoroughly furnished unto all good works.
So, of course, you know, if anybody's supposed to be doing
the study, it's the man of God, the one
who's going to get up and do the preaching.
And, you know, I know that, you know,
we have a lot of people here that come
through this pulpit, you know. Hopefully
every guy that's, you know, filling in
is doing that study, because that's an important job.
It's a real important thing to get up
and preach the word of God to a group of people.
And you never know
what kind of impact it's
going to make on somebody's life. I think about that
quite often. You know, we
might, we have a smaller church, you know,
it's not some big fancy building
or anything like that. But,
you know, and people say, well, that's what matters.
You know, getting the numbers in there and having
a big building and all that. You know what
really is the most rewarding thing
as a preacher? Is preaching the word of
God and seeing it actually work
on people's hearts. Actually,
watch people come and hear the preaching,
receive the preaching. Even sometimes
it's a hard sermon. Even sometimes when it's
something that is a strong rebuke,
you know, or not, you know.
But even then, you know, when they receive
something that's difficult and then they make changes
in their life and they stick by the stuff,
look, there's nothing more rewarding that
as a preacher. But if we as preachers
aren't doing the studying, we're not doing
the reading, we're not doing the preparation,
you know, we're not, we're going to miss out on that.
And more importantly, the people are going to
miss out on that. So there's an admonition
for, you know, the men of this church that get up
and preach behind this pulpit to take it seriously.
And don't ever think, well, it's just small
potatoes here. You know, it's just,
it's not a big crowd. No one's really
watching. Look, every single person
is, you know, every child of God
deserves to be edified and
can go on to do great things.
You never know the impact that you're going to make
as a preacher, so make sure you're doing
the study.
Of course, again, that's what the, you know,
2 Timothy is showing us here, that it's given
to the man of God to study, to know the word of God.
And here's the thing,
God wants that for
his people, no matter who they are.
It's not like God has some kind of a quota.
Like, well, you know, when you
get X amount of people in your church, then I'll
start caring about whether or not the people are being
edified. You know, God wants
every single one of his children to be
edified. He wants them to learn and to grow
and to have knowledge and understanding.
Go over to Philippians. I'm going to have you in
2 Timothy, I'm going to have you in 2 Timothy
1 Peter, that area, so just keep something
there. I'll try not to sprain any
fingers tonight. If you get a
paper cut or something, you can just
tell Pastor Shelley and he'll
pour some lemon juice or something, I don't know,
okay? So,
anyway, I'll do my best to not have you,
and I won't go too long and have you all over the place, but
go over to, did I tell you to go to Philippians?
I think that's where I told you,
go to Philippians chapter 3. Look, God
wants his people to have knowledge, to
have understanding, and he does that through the preachers.
He does that through the preaching
of the word of God. You know, in Jeremiah,
where he's pleading with Baxley
and Israel to come back, he
says to them, I will give you pastors according
to mine heart.
Right? And what is God's heart?
Which shall feed you with knowledge and
understanding. You know, God
desires for his people to be given knowledge,
to have understanding in the word of God,
to not be deceived, but to know
the word of God.
The Bible says in Proverbs that the soul
be, also that the soul be
without knowledge, it is not good. You know,
it's not good to just go through life
without knowledge, without understanding. It's not
good to go through life without
taking on the responsibility
of studying the word of God.
You know, we need to have knowledge, we need to have
wisdom, we need to have understanding as we live
our lives so that we can
do it effectively and do it well
and do it in a way which honors God
and brings forth truth unto God.
So if we don't have that,
look, that's not a good thing. That's a bad thing.
We need to make sure that we're doing the
study, that we're living up to that responsibility.
And of course, again,
it's a responsibility that's given to everybody
and we're just kind of touching base here
and emphasizing the fact that it is for
the preachers, anybody that's doing the preaching of the word of God,
the pastors, so on and so forth.
I mean, we can think about John, right? John 21,
where Jesus comes and finds,
you know, Paul and the others,
or excuse me, Peter and the others,
you know, they're fishing, right?
And he's kind of taking Peter's side, he's
rebuking him, and he's telling him, look,
feed my sheep. And just three times,
feed my lambs, feed my sheep, feed
my sheep. God wants his people to
be fed. God wants his
people to be edified
through the preaching of the word of God, through
the pastors and the preachers.
That's why it's such a huge responsibility
to do the study, to take on
that responsibility. He said
in 1 Peter, you know,
apparently Peter got the message, you know, because later
he's preaching himself, the elders which among you
I exhort, who I also am an elder,
and a witness of the suffering of Christ and a partaker
of the glory that shall be revealed, feed the flock
of God which is among you.
So he's getting it from Jesus, you know, three times,
feed my lambs, feed my sheep, feed my sheep.
He gets the point, he does the work,
and now he's telling others, hey, do the same thing,
feed the flock of God which is among you.
And look,
let me just say, you know,
that's why sometimes the most
needed sermon is not the funnest sermon.
You know, that's something I've kind of had to get
over and learn as a preacher, is
that you don't have to try and knock it out of the
park every single sermon.
People don't just need to hear about
how much we hate the fags
and how Jews
need to repent and get right.
You know, there's more to the Christian life than just Jews and fags.
Okay?
Now look, you've got to have those sermons, right?
Those are important topics to cover those things.
There's a myriad of other things.
Those are some of the hot button issues, right,
that we bring up, and they need to be preached.
But do they need to be preached every single service?
Do they need to be preached every single week?
Do they need to come across every month?
You know, well, maybe.
One month in particular, right, which has just gone by.
But, anyway,
look, not every sermon is going to be the
fun sermon, but it might be the
needed sermon, right? Are you there in Philippians
chapter 3? Look at verse 1.
Paul said, Finally, my brethren,
rejoice in the Lord, to write
the same things to you, to me
indeed is not grievous, but
for you it is safe. You say, Brother Corbin,
you come all the way here just to tell us to read our Bibles?
You come all the way here just to tell us,
hey, we should take preaching the word of God seriously?
Yeah, I came all the way here to do that.
Why? Because it is safe for you.
It's grievous to me.
You know, I could preach any number of things
when I came here, but, you know,
this is the thing that I think people need
the most, more than anything,
is that we need to be reminded to
study and to read the word of God and
take heed to the preaching the word of God
and to apply the things that we hear.
It might not be the funnest sermon,
but, you know what, sometimes it's the needful
sermon that we need to hear.
I mean, there's always these, you know,
revolving door of issues that
we have to bring up as preachers.
You know, if you stay in church long enough,
you're going to hear the sermon preached on
a particular topic more than once.
You're going to hear preaching on adultery
over and over. You're going to hear preaching about
fornication and drunkenness and
the rapture and the King James Bible
and eternal security and salvation.
But you're going to hear all these topics preached
over and over again.
And you should never get this attitude of, oh, here we go again.
Or this again, I already know this.
Look, Paul said, you know,
it's not grievous for me to write the same things,
but for you it is safe.
You know, it's needed by the people
to keep them safe, but, you know, it also keeps
the preacher safe too.
When the preacher doesn't get so caught up
in trying to preach some new thing.
You know, when you get up and you think,
well, I've already preached that.
You know, I've already preached that last year.
I preached that six months ago.
I don't know how many times I've preached on this topic.
Let me come up with something new and exciting.
You know, that's very dangerous ground to get on.
When the first scene comes about and you start,
you know, because then you might be motivated
to go to the word of God and try to make it
to say something that it doesn't say.
That's when you start coming out with really odd doctrines.
That's when you start making really odd statements
from the pulpit.
In fact, I heard a couple today.
You know, I heard in the clip from, you know,
that bozo over there in San Antonio
got up and saying that, you know,
that Mary had nothing to do with Jesus' birth.
That she would, brother, she's just the oven.
Well, she said, she's just the oven, brother.
He's that bread that came down from heaven.
She's just the oven.
Well, that would make him the dough
that came down from heaven, first of all, right?
And if you know what I'm talking about,
you know what I'm talking about.
If you don't, you know, you know,
be thankful you don't know what I'm talking about.
But, you know, where does something like that come from?
I mean, you hear something that you're just like,
how, why, how?
How do you even get there?
Well, it's because you got to be different.
You got to preach something new and exciting and edgy
that's going to draw disciples after you.
You know, then you start preaching crazy things like that,
that, you know, that Mary, you know,
that in fact Jesus wasn't made after a woman.
That, you know, Jesus isn't the seat of a woman.
That she's just the oven, or whatever.
And there's a whole lot of other things in that clip
that I'm not even going to touch with a 10-foot pole
that we're just really weird to hear.
But I'm using that and I said,
boy, this is a perfect illustration for what I'm preaching tonight.
Look, we need to preach the things that are safe,
the things that we know,
the things that we can prove from the Word of God
that aren't just speculation or just new.
There's nothing wrong with tried and true doctrine.
That's what people need to hear.
That's how these doctrines get lost.
That's how these doctrines go by the wayside.
That's how false doctrine flourishes,
is when people stop preaching what's needed to be preached.
Because it's, oh, I've already preached that.
Or, you know, everyone already knows that.
Don't assume everybody knows everything.
You know, that's another thing I've learned, too,
is that, well, you'll have someone say,
well, yeah, they'll come to the church.
Well, you know, I listened to Pastor Anderson online.
I found your church.
You just might have this tendency to think,
whoa, they listened to Pastor Anderson.
They just must have all their ducks right in the road doctrinally.
Not always the case.
You know, sometimes you still need to preach those things
that we all know and we all understand
to bring other people on.
People are at all different levels in their Christian life.
So as preachers, look, we need to bear up that responsibility
to do the study.
Why?
So that we can preach the Word of God accurately
and so that the people can be edified.
Not to, so we don't end up like, you know,
the Athenians and strangers in Acts 17
who just want to spend their time and nothing else
but to hear some new thing.
That's dangerous ground.
Okay, preach what is needful.
You know, another way you could apply this,
the responsibility to study why it's so important
is so that you can go out soul winning with knowledge.
You know, and by the way, those soul winning numbers are great.
That's, you know, good work on that.
That's amazing.
Great numbers.
It's great to see so many people getting saved
but I bet there's probably,
if we started to go around the room tonight
and start telling a few stories,
you've probably been out soul winning
and heard people say some pretty wild things
or say some pretty crazy things.
You know, nothing's really coming to mind
but we all know that they're out there.
People want to start talking about, you know, aliens, Bigfoot.
We were out soul winning, you know,
it was 100 whatever degrees in Tucson.
Guy invites us in and we're thinking, all right,
it's going to be a long gospel presentation.
He's got the AC going, right?
But he was listening but it got to the point where it was like
he just wants to talk about aliens.
He just wants to discuss about some strange abstract idea
about what the, you know, and it's just like,
well, I'm not going to waste my time on that.
We need to be studied so we can go out there with knowledge
and understanding and preach to people the truth
and not just get caught up in weird and strange things.
Go over to, are you still in 1 Peter?
I didn't have you go there yet.
Go to 1 Peter, 1 Peter chapter 3.
You know, we need to walk in wisdom,
the Bible says in Colossians.
Walk in wisdom toward them which are without.
You know, the people that are out there
that you're going to go meet, outdoor knocking,
they deserve, when you go to their door,
that you have some wisdom.
You know, again, the sermon is about
the responsibility to study and how it's for everybody.
You say, how is it for everybody?
It's for every soul winner.
Look, you might not have to know, you know,
all the intricate details of end times prophecy
to go out there and go soul winning,
but don't you need to know how to show somebody
they're a sinner?
How Jesus is God?
How he died for their sins?
How it's by salvation, by grace, through faith?
Don't you need to know those passages?
Don't you need to know how to present the gospel
if you're going to do that?
You need to be able to walk in wisdom toward them
that are without.
How are you going to do that?
By taking on the responsibility to study,
to know the word of God, to know how to give the gospel.
You said in 1 Peter chapter 3, look at verse 15.
Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts
and be ready always to give an answer
to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope
that is in you with meekness and fear.
So we're going to need to sanctify the Lord God
in our hearts and what?
We need to be ready always to give an answer
to every man that asketh you a reason.
Now he doesn't say a reason for everything.
This kind of goes back to what I was saying earlier.
When you're going out soul winning,
yeah, you have the responsibility to be studied up
to know how to present the gospel,
but you don't need to be able to go out there
and defend every false, or disprove every false doctrine
and defend the Bible from every single angle
that people are going to come at you with.
Look, some people are out there just to argue.
They just want to get in a debate.
They just want to talk about some obscure thing,
and they're heretics.
They're not there to listen.
They're not there to learn.
He said you need to be ready to answer every man
that asketh you a reason of the hope
that is in you with meekness and fear.
You know, if people want to know how to be saved,
we ought to be able to tell them how to do that.
And how do you do that?
Through study, through knowing the word of God.
We don't need to answer every stupid question
that people ask.
But we do need to be able to give an answer
to the hope which is within us.
That's why it says in Proverbs,
speak not in the ears of a fool,
for he will despise the wisdom of thy words.
Go over to Titus chapter 3, Titus chapter 3.
I'm going to spend a little bit of time on this point
because people seem to struggle with this.
I see it often.
People go out there, they'll go sowing,
and they'll get caught up in talking about
and debating about something
that has nothing to do with the gospel.
They're just trying to prove God or something
or prove why the Bible's true.
There's no way to prove that.
I mean, you're not going to be able to,
in 10, 15 minutes at a door,
completely convince somebody
of why creation is true and evolution is false.
You can just show them what the Bible says
and they can take it or leave it.
That's how we need to approach it.
Did I have to go to 1 Timothy?
I had to go to Titus 3, didn't I?
1 Timothy 6, it says,
If any man teach otherwise,
consent not to wholesome words.
This is 1 Timothy I'm reading.
Even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ
and to the doctrine which is accorded in Godless,
he is proud, knowing nothing,
but doting about questions and strifes of words,
whereof cometh envy, strife,
evil railings, evil surmisings,
perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds,
destitute of the truth,
supposing that gain is godliness,
from such withdraw thyself.
Say, look, when you run into these things,
you didn't say dig your heels in,
have your Bible tabbed up,
why you can prove that Satan and Jesus aren't brothers
when you knock on that Mormon's door.
Look, I'm gonna be perfectly honest.
When I hear Mormon, I'm already backing away.
As soon as I hear,
I don't know if you have a big population here,
those are like the hardest people to get saved,
I've noticed.
Or if they say, hey, I'm a Jehovah Witness,
one thing I saw that I really like,
they'll say, well, how long have you been a Jehovah Witness?
30 years.
It's like, time to wrap it up.
Right?
Because they're just, it's so ingrained,
there's so many things
that they're just gonna wanna argue and dote
and question and just surmise about.
And the Bible doesn't say dig your heels in
and go at them and prove them wrong
and get that aha on them, right?
That's not what we're out there to do.
We're there to give an answer
for the reason and the hope that is within us,
not to argue.
He says from such to withdraw thyself.
He told Timothy, in 2 Timothy 2,
foolish and unlearned questions avoid
knowing they do gender strifes
and the servant of the Lord must not strive.
You're in Titus chapter 3, verse 9.
But avoid foolish questions.
Avoid them.
You know, when you see one coming at you,
just step aside and just let that foolish question
just go right on by.
So many people wanna just step in front of it
and be like, oh, I got this.
And then, you know, 20 minutes later,
you've gone nowhere at the door, right?
Avoid foolish questions, genealogies,
contentions, and strivings about the law,
for they are unprofitable and vain.
You know, that's what a lot of people
that just wanna get into arguments
and look, this is a big thing online that I notice.
You know, in the chat groups and the live streams,
people wanna get in there and they just want to argue
and they want to just, you know,
prove how much they know.
It's not about getting somebody saved.
It's not about bringing somebody around
to see things your way.
It's about just showing, I showed that guy.
You see what I wrote in there?
You know, just having that comeback, right?
You know, having that right verse
and that right thing to say
and just cut somebody down
and prove that they're wrong, right?
That's, you know, the Bible says
that that's unprofitable and vain.
I mean, it doesn't profit anybody.
I mean, if I just disprove somebody to be a heretic,
I mean, does it really profit anything at all?
It's just vanity, really.
And he says that a man is an heretic
after the first and second admonition reject,
knowing that he, that his such subverted
and sin had been condemned of himself.
There's really not a whole lot you can do for the guy
who just refuses to admit he's wrong and to get right.
That's why he gives him two admonitions, right?
That's it.
So again, you know, I'm kind of trailing off here
a little bit going down a rabbit trail,
but the point is this,
is that yeah, our responsibility is to study, right?
Why?
So when we go out soul winning,
we can present the gospel.
We can get people saved.
But it doesn't need to turn into this,
you know, we need to study so we can, you know,
disprove every single false doctrine that's out there.
You know, when I first started soul winning,
that was a big hang up for me.
You know, maybe somebody else goes through that too
in this room, or has or is.
Going through that.
Because I was like, well, I can't go soul winning
until I know how to answer Mormons on this doctrine.
Until I know how to answer JW on this doctrine.
And then I remember hearing, hey,
it's the same gospel for everybody.
The Catholic gets the same gospel,
the Mormon gets the same gospel, the JW,
the non-denom, the non-religious,
the non-churchgoing, the atheist,
they all get the same gospel.
Now I just ask them, hey, do you want to hear it or not?
And if they don't want to hear it,
I don't say it like that, but you know what I'm saying.
Do you want to hear this or not?
You say, hey, can I show you?
Can I share that with you?
Got a minute?
No?
Okay, have a good day.
You know, but if they want to come at me
from some strange angle about their Catholic doctrine
or whatever, their Mormon doctrine,
you know, it's just, well, we can come back to that.
Okay?
So those are two groups.
Again, we're talking about the responsibility to study.
Whose responsibility is that?
It's everybody's.
You know, it's the preacher's responsibility.
It's the soul winner's responsibility.
You know, not so we can go overboard out there.
But it's also, here's another big one.
I'll just touch on this.
You know, it's the responsibility of parents to study.
Say, why?
Why parents?
Because you have a job of instructing your children.
I mean, isn't that the whole point of studying
so you can teach others?
So you can take in that knowledge.
It's not just so you can sit on it, you know,
and pat yourself on the back and say, well, I know so much.
I've got such a big brain.
I've learned, you know, so many things.
If somebody asks me something, you know,
I'm going to have the answer.
You know, it's so that you can share that knowledge,
so you can give that instruction,
so you can give that correction.
You know, that's a big job of, that's a big part
of being a parent.
You know, that's a huge part of being a parent.
A lot of your life, at least it should be,
is spent, what, instructing children.
You know, and any mothers know this is the case.
Kids have to be taught, like, literally everything.
I mean, everything, right?
And hopefully, if you have enough,
you get some older ones that have figured out,
they can start kind of taking on the teaching, you know,
about how whatever works, or how to do this,
or how to do that.
But look, that's a huge responsibility.
If parents don't do the study themselves,
how are they going to teach the kids?
And that's something that, you know,
we're commanded to do in Scripture.
I mean, I won't take the time to go to Deuteronomy 6
and read all that, but look, you go read Deuteronomy 6,
and God is saying, look, you need to teach this
to your children when they'll sit us down,
when they'll walk us up, when they lie us down,
when they'll rise us up.
Bind them for a sign upon thine hand.
They shall be frontlets between thine eyes.
I shall write them upon the posts of thy house
and on thy gates.
You know, this is something God wants the Word of God
taught to our children.
And is the public school going to do that?
They're not going to take your child aside
and give them the gospel, teach them about heaven,
teach them about hell, teach them about Jesus.
They're not going to teach them that.
We know that.
You know, and look, the preacher's going to help there.
You know, the church is going to help with that,
but they can only get you so far.
You know, you're going to be the one that has to,
as a parent, is going to have to construct
and teach your children day in, day out.
So you should be doing the study to be able to do that.
And again, my study, it's just, you know,
all the moms are like, great, you know, thanks a lot.
Brother Corbin, you're going to come and just lay more
on me like that?
You know, I'm already got, I'm already, you know,
neck deep in work, you know,
and doing all the things around the house.
Now I got to study.
Look, all I'm saying is, you know,
have a family devotional time.
You know, just read the Bible to your kids for a half hour.
You know, sit down and just show them something
from the Bible.
You don't have to, you know, sit down and have an eight-hour
session and like, okay, Genesis to Revelation, here we go.
You know, we're going to do an old, sit down,
it's time for an Old Testament survey tonight, you know,
on a Tuesday night or something like that.
But, you know, this is something that we can do
as we live our lives with our children.
You know, moms, dads, you can be looking for those
teachable moments to instruct kids.
You know, when something comes up, they say something,
they do something.
You can say, hey, well, let me remind you
what the Bible says here, son.
You know, let me remind you, daughter,
why that's wrong or why you did something good here, okay?
But how are you going to do any of that if you yourself
haven't studied, if you yourself have not read?
So, you know, for moms, you know, really,
I understand moms aren't going to get up and preach sermons
and do all that.
You know, they don't need to be really digging
into the Word of God as much as a pastor would.
Well, look, they have a pretty big responsibility
of teaching their children how to live godly Christian lives,
like training up that next generation.
They should be doing the reading themselves
and finding that time to get into the Word of God
and to teach it and to train up their children
the way that they should go.
You know, a great example of this,
and go to 2 Timothy 3, is Timothy himself.
You know, Timothy is probably one of my more favorite characters
in the New Testament, just because you kind of piece them
together through the Acts and through the epistles
written to him and other places.
You can kind of see Timothy's life play out.
You never hear from him directly.
You know, the books are called Timothy,
but it's not him speaking.
You know, it's Paul.
He's kind of an interesting character,
and we get to see him start out.
And it says in Acts 16, I'll just read to you.
You know, this is after Paul and Barnabas is split, right?
And he's coming into Derbe and Lystra, and it says,
And behold, a certain disciple is there named Timotheus,
the son of a certain woman, which is a Jewish,
and believed, but his father was a Greek.
And it says of Timothy that he was well reported of
by the brethren that were at Lystra and Iconium.
Him would Paul have to go forth with him.
So Paul comes into, you know, Derbe and Lystra,
and he meets this guy Timotheus, and he starts asking around.
Well, what can you tell me about the kid?
You say, you know, that Timothy, he's a great cat.
You know, he's solid, right?
He's well reported of.
He's got a good reputation, before Paul even gets there, right?
And this great opportunity opens up for Timothy
to go on, to go with Paul, right?
It says him would Paul have to go forth with him.
I mean, that would be a pretty cool opportunity, wouldn't it?
I mean, you know, if I were a young man,
and, you know, like Timothy, probably unmarried at this point,
didn't have any kids, just, you know, kind of had an open schedule.
And a guy, some man like Paul came along and said,
hey, you want to go, you know, tromping around all the world
and preaching the gospel to every creature with me and starting church?
I mean, what an adventure. That'd be great, right?
But Paul didn't just pick any name out of a hat.
You know, he picked Timothy because of the fact that he was well reported of.
And what I'm getting at is this, is that, you know,
Timothy didn't just turn out that way.
He didn't just, you know, it wasn't by accident.
He'd just wake up one morning and it was like a godly young man.
You know, there was people in his life that brought him to that place,
that opened up that door for opportunity.
And, of course, that was his, you know, his mother and his grandmother.
That's what it says in 2 Timothy chapter 1.
It says in verse 5, when I call to remembrance the unfaith faith that is in thee,
which dwells first in thy grandmother, Lois, and thy mother, Eunice,
and I am persuaded that in thee also.
So these two Lainies in Timothy's life, you know,
they are the ones that took the time to instruct him.
They are the ones that took the time to teach him
and to give him the knowledge and understanding
that led to this great opportunity of going around with the apostle Paul
and doing all the great works that they did.
You know, there's probably a real, they get credit for that, don't they?
You know, moms should never get, you know, feel like they're,
what they're doing is unimportant.
You have no idea how God could use that child.
I mean, they were just faithfully training up Timothy,
teaching him the word of God, right?
That's what it says in 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 15,
and that thou from a child hast known the holy scripture.
Now, who was teaching him?
Well, we just read, you know, it was Lois and his mother, Eunice.
They were the ones that were giving him that instruction
and look where it led, right?
Now, again, that didn't happen by accident.
You know, they had to do what?
In order to instruct the word of God to give Timothy that knowledge,
they themselves had to be people that were in the word of God.
And they, and yeah, even, again, it's the responsibility to study.
It's for everybody.
It's for the preacher.
It's for every soul winner.
And you know who else it's for?
It's for the moms.
It's for parents.
And it's for dads too, obviously.
And you say, well, is it really that important?
Well, look what it did for Timothy in his life.
Turned him into a godly young man who was well reported of,
opened up this great door of opportunity to go out and do a great work for God.
So you could see what a great impact, you know, even, you know,
just the reading of the word of God, teaching your children the word of God
can have on a life.
You should never take that lightly.
We see that, but so the question is then, why is study so often neglected?
I mean, a lot of people will say, well, yeah, it's important, I know.
But yet it goes undone.
Yet it doesn't get done.
Why is that?
Because study is hard work.
You know, it's hard for mom to carve out that 20, 30 minutes, whatever,
to get all the kids to just sit still, you know, and listen, right?
And look, that's a great, you know, getting kids to sit still in church,
that starts at home.
You know, that's, you know, giving, that's teaching instructing.
Let me teach you how to sit still in church by teaching you how to do it
at Bible time at home, okay?
You know, but that's, you know, but that's hard work, isn't it, for moms,
when they've got a busy schedule.
It's hard work when, you know, you're working a full-time job as a dad
or whatever, and then you're like, you're starting out soul-winning
as the silent partner and going out and having to listen to other people,
give the gospel and taking notes and marking your Bible,
getting over the nerves to actually speak.
You know, that's hard work, right?
That's why people don't do it.
It's not because they underestimate the importance of it.
It's because they just don't want to put in the hard work of doing it.
You know, that's why so many preachers get up and preach false doctrine
and just, you know, off-the-wall things and say dumb things
because they don't know the Word of God.
They haven't read to Genesis 3.15, you know, where, you know,
the Bible's telling us that it's the seed of the woman
that's going to bruise Satan's heel.
The seed of the woman, right?
That, yeah, Mary actually did have a lot to do with Jesus' birth.
That there were, you know, her chromosomes were involved.
I'm going off again.
But that's why stupid things like that get preached
because people don't, one, it's probably because they're not saved
and wouldn't understand the Word of God if they read it anyway.
Or they just don't read it.
It's neglected because of the hard work.
If you're there, go over to 1 Timothy, chapter 5.
1 Timothy, chapter 5, the Bible says,
in Ecclesiastes, that the Word of the wise are as goads,
as nails fastened by the masters of assembly,
which are given from one shepherd,
and further by these, my son, be admonished,
of making many books, there is no end,
and much studiness, study is a weariness of the flesh.
You know, study is hard work.
The Bible says it's a weariness of the flesh to do the study.
It's a weariness of the flesh to, you know, instruct.
It's a weariness to sit down and get in the,
we would all like to just say, well, no,
every time I open up the Word of God in the morning,
it's just I could hear the angels sing.
You know, it just, it falls open.
It's like, oh, you know, and, you know,
it's just this deep, intimate moment with me and the Lord,
and it's just, it's so moving.
And look, if you've been in the Word of God on a regular basis,
you have had those moments.
You didn't hear angels sing, okay?
It was probably, you know,
someone drove by in their car or something.
But, you know, you have had those moments
where you're reading, you have the fellowship,
the Holy Ghost, I get that.
But is that every single time?
Sometimes you read the Bible and it's like,
what did I read?
You had to go back and read it again.
You know, what was that chapter about?
You realize after like five minutes of reading,
you haven't even been taking in what you've actually been reading.
You have to start over.
It's hard work to pay attention and to do that reading.
But look, it's got to be done.
Otherwise, we're not going to know the information.
How then are we going to be able to share it to the soul winner,
you know, to the unsafe?
How are we going to be able to share it to our children?
How are we going to get out and stand in front of a congregation
and share it to the people that need to hear it,
whose lives could be impacted if we haven't done that hard work?
You know, it's hard work to do consistent devotions,
to be consistent at it.
You know, our personal devotions, our family devotions,
these are things that take hard work.
You know, preaching three times a week is hard work.
You know, guys want to get up and just think it's going to be this,
every sermon I preach is just going to be this heart-moving, eloquent speech
that just every tear is just going to, you know,
there won't be a dry eye in the place, right?
Like, that's not reality.
You know, but getting up and preaching solid doctrine
is what needs to happen, and that's hard work.
That's why it says in 1 Timothy, to have you go there,
chapter 5, verse 17,
Let the elders that rule well be kind of worthy of double honor,
especially they who labor in the word of God,
in the word and doctrine.
They labor in the word.
You know, that's their job to get in and to mine those gems out
and to make that which is complicated understandable, you know,
and teach it in a way that can be understood.
It's hard work.
That's why it gets neglected, right,
because of the fact that it's difficult,
not because people don't understand how important it is, they do,
but because of the fact that it's hard work
and that there is a lack of desire.
There's a lack of desire to get that information,
to do the study that needs to be done, to do the reading.
The Bible says in Proverbs 18,
Through desire, a man having separated himself, seeketh an intermeddleth with all wisdom.
You know, you're not going to read the Bible,
you're not going to take on that responsibility to study until you want to.
You're not going to learn that Romans road,
you're not going to mark your Bible,
you're not going to teach your kids the basics,
you're not going to teach them the books of the Bible,
the Ten Commandments, all of that, until you want to do it,
because it's hard work.
You know, you have to want to do that work.
I heard a great quote today, I was reading this,
listening to a book on the plane about, you know,
developing self-discipline and self-improvement.
It was one of these self-improvement books, I admit it.
Okay, I read it.
Okay, believe me, I need it.
Right, but he said that life is easy when you live it the hard way.
Life is easy when you live it the hard way.
I thought, man, that's a great saying.
I'm going to write that down somewhere.
What is he saying by that?
It kind of seems like a paradox, right?
What he's saying is like, look, life is easy
when you do the hard things that nobody wants to do.
You know, instead of just taking the path of least resistance
and just doing that, which is easy,
just giving in to the instant gratification of, you know,
instead of the Bible reading, I'm going to do whatever,
whatever my flesh wants to do.
Instead of doing the memory or writing the sermon
or teaching the kids or going out and doing the soul winning,
instead of doing that hard work, I'm going to do something
that just makes me feel good right now, you know,
because there's a lack of desire.
You think that's the easy way, but you know what?
That's actually going to come back around and haunt you.
That's going to be what's coming, you know,
because then you're not going to raise a Timothy.
You know, you're going to raise a Demas instead.
You're not going to get up and preach the sermon
that's going to edify.
You're going to get up and preach heresy.
You know, you're not going to do what you could have done
because you didn't want to do that, which is hard.
You know, that's what makes life hard
when you want to always do the easy thing.
But when we decide to, you know, do the hard things in life,
that is what makes life easy, ironically.
It's the lack of desire.
That's why people don't want to do it.
Because, you know, again, study is difficult,
but it's a responsibility that's been given to all of us.
No matter what role you fulfill in life,
preacher, soul winner, parent, whatever it is,
you have a responsibility of studying and why?
So that you can equip others.
Equip others.
So that you can instruct others.
That's the whole purpose behind it.
It's not just that, you know, God is some taskmaster,
just, you know, cracking a whip,
just trying to make our lives miserable by making us study.
No, there's a purpose behind it.
So that we can be equipped to instruct other people.
That is our motivation.
That's what's going to give you that desire.
To get up, to read the word of God,
even when you don't feel like it,
to do the Bible memory, all of that.
You know, those things that we don't want to do
that we know we need to do.
When we understand that the purpose behind it
is to instruct others to profit other people,
that's when we'll have desire.
I mean, consider what we've learned from other people.
And consider what we've learned from, you know,
men like Pastor Anderson.
You know, a lot of people have learned a lot of things
from a guy like Pastor Anderson.
He's got that platform out there.
You know, a lot of people tune in.
People learn.
I mean, I read the emails, folks.
People are always, hey, I learned this from you.
I learned that.
This film changed my life, this sermon.
It's having such an impact.
Think about all the things you've heard
from Pastor Jonathan Shelley.
You know, things that have been preached behind this pulpit.
The other men that have gotten up in this pulpit
and preached things from the word of God
that maybe you didn't know before.
You know, kids can think about all the things
that their parents have taught to them.
You know, consider all these things
that we've learned from other people.
How do you think they learned them?
Do you think they just woke up one day
and just had all that knowledge?
Do you think Pastor Anderson just knows everything
that he knows?
Pastor Jonathan Shelley just knows everything
that he knows because when he got ordained,
God just downloaded all that information into his brain?
No, it's because those are men that get up
and read the Bible and study the Bible
and put hours in.
They labor in the word of doctrine.
You know, your kids, if you know anything
about the word of God, it's because you have a parent
that is instructing you.
I mean, the only reason they can instruct you
is because they themselves have done the study.
They themselves have done the reading.
They themselves have sat in church for year upon year,
taking in the preaching of the word of God.
You know, all the things that we've learned
from other people, whether it be parents,
whether it be preachers, whether it be, you know,
other personal acquaintances.
You know, the Bible talks about the fact
that we ought to be able to edify one another.
We should, you know, be able to come to church
and learn from other church members.
Look, whoever it is you've learned from,
if you learn something from them,
it's because they themselves have done the study.
They themselves have had the desire
and seen not only is it responsibility,
that is only important,
but that it's beneficial to other people
for them to be equipped.
Are you still in Second Timothy?
I know I've had you all over the place.
Go to Second Timothy if you're not there, chapter two.
I want to end with this thought is that, you know,
we've learned a lot from other people, haven't we?
You know, we've learned from other people
who've instructed us, who them themselves
have done the study, you know,
and they've probably shown a lot of patience with us,
haven't they?
You know, that's a big part of instructing other people
is being patient with other people.
And, you know, we should be patient with other people
because the fact is people have been patient with us.
You know, they get up and they preach things
and then they have to preach it again,
preach it again, preach it again
until it gets through to us, right?
You know, we should be patient with people,
especially when we're out going, again,
I'm going to bring it up because we do it so much.
It's soul winning.
You know, I know it's a big topic, but we do so much of it,
it's important to keep these things in mind.
When you're out doing the instructing,
when you're out, you know, preaching the gospel
to other people, you should be patient with those people.
You know, you should, even when you're kind of
have to rip face a little bit or rebuke them,
it says in Titus chapter one, verse nine,
holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught,
you know, he himself hath been taught,
you know, this is speaking of a bishop,
that he may be able by sound doctrine to what?
To do what to the gainsayers?
To put them in their place
and show them that they don't know nothing.
That, you know, we got all the answers,
they're a bunch of dummies.
So that he can what?
By sound doctrine, exhort and convince the gainsayer.
You know, not just the guy who just, you know,
just doesn't know, just kind of innocent in it,
just, you know, never really thought of it, just ignorant.
He's talking about the gainsayer, you know,
who's gonna speak, who's gonna oppose even,
or argue a little bit, or have something to say
against what you're saying, right?
The Bible is telling us that we need to be able
to exhort and convince them.
That's the point of going out and instructing people,
to exhort them and to convince them,
not just rip their face.
Look at 2 Timothy chapter two, verse 24.
It says, and the servant Lord must not strive
but be gentle unto all men.
App to teach, patient in meekness,
instructing those that oppose themselves.
If God, peradventure, will give them repentance
to the acknowledging of the truth,
that they may recover themselves
out of the snare of the devil.
And that's why it's so important for us
to do this study ourselves and to go out, you know,
and to get up, preach the doctrines, you know,
so that, you know, people might be ensnared here.
People might be coming to church
and they're snared by some sin.
They're snared by some, you know, habit.
They're snared by some thought pattern.
They're snared by some feeling, whatever it is.
You know, we need to be able to preach to them.
But, you know, also we need to go out
and preach the gospel to people
so that they can recover themselves
from the snare of the devil.
And we got to do that in meekness.
You know, this, every time I read that,
I always think of this illustration that I heard.
He says there that they may recover themselves,
in verse 26, out of the snare of the devil
who are taken captive by him at his will.
It always amazes me when I see people
get so short with unsaved people.
They get such a short fuse with unsaved people.
These people who are, you know, that are just,
you know, the Bible says that the natural man
receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God
and neither can he know them
for they are spiritually discerned.
And they're trying to, you know, teach somebody
who has no discernment, they don't have the Spirit,
and they're just, they get so impatient with people
that they don't, they're not getting it, right?
But you have to remember the people
that you're talking to, the unsaved people,
they're people that are taken captive
by the devil at his will.
It always makes me think of this illustration
that you ever see a cat play with a mouse
when it's caught a mouse?
Have you ever seen that?
When it catches a mouse and it'll let it get away
and then just bring it right back,
throttle it around a little bit in its jaws
and let it drop it, let it get away?
Or what's the other one, like those orcas, right?
They'll go out, the killer whales,
and they'll play with the seal before they eat it.
They'll just bat it around for a while.
And that reminds me of some sinner.
That's the picture I get.
It's these people that we're preaching to,
we're trying to instruct and we're trying to reach
are people that are taken captive by him at his will.
They feel like, oh, man, I'm finally getting away
from this sin a little bit.
I'm finally feeling better about myself
and then the devil just goes, eh, come back here.
They feel, you know, then they try again,
they're trying to get over some addiction,
they're trying to get over some habit, whatever it is.
They're trying to get their life right.
They finally feel like they're making some ground
and the devil says, nah, come on back
and thrashes them around a little bit.
That's who a lot of times we're dealing with out there.
You know, spiritually speaking, at the very least,
that's what they're like.
So we should be patient with them.
We should instruct them in meekness.
We should instruct them who oppose themselves.
They're not opposing us.
They're their own worst enemy.
Even if they're lashing out, even if they're mad
and upset and saying things at us,
they're really opposing themselves.
They're really rejecting the Lord and not us.
So I'm trying to kind of close on that thought
that the responsibility of study is a serious one.
It's one we all need to take on and fulfill in our roles
and the point is is that we can go out
and instruct other people so that we can share
what we've learned.
And it's important because people need to hear it.
They need to benefit from what we've learned, right?
I mean, just as we've benefited from the study
of other people, you know, others should benefit
also from our own study.
That's why it's important for us to take on
that responsibility, the responsibility of studying.
Let's go ahead and pray.
Lord, again, thank you for the Bible.
Thank you that you've given us all this instruction
and knowledge and understanding that's just there
for us to learn and to know.
Lord, I pray it help us to be people that study
and know the word of God to whatever capacity we can
and, Lord, that we would fulfill the roles that we're given
adequately and, Lord, that we would do a good job at it,
Lord, through the study of the word of God.
Lord, thank you for this time we've had to come together.
I pray you keep everybody safe as we go our own ways.
We ask in Christ's name, amen.
All right, we'll sing one more song before we go.
All right, if you will grab your white handout
or alternatively your Bible and turn to Psalm 126.
Psalm 126.
Psalm 126, let's sing.
When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion
We were like them that dream
Then was our mouth filled with laughter
And our tongue with singing
Then said they among the heathen
The Lord had done great things for them
The Lord had done great things for us
Whereof we are glad
Turn again our captivity
O Lord, as the streams in the South
They that sow in tears shall reap in joy
Then said they among the heathen
The Lord had done great things for them
The Lord had done great things for us
Whereof we are glad
He that goeth forth and weepeth
Bearing precious seed
Shall doubtless come again
With rejoicing
Bringing his sheaves with him
Then said they among the heathen
The Lord had done great things for them
The Lord had done great things for us
Whereof we are glad
Amen, and with that you are dismissed. Have a good night.
you