All right, we're there in second Timothy, chapter number 4.
Of course tonight is our graduation service, and we are thinking about graduations and
finishing up school and all those things, and of course tonight we didn't have any high
school graduates from our homeschool group, but we did have the kindergartners.
They graduated, but they've got a long ways to go.
They've still got a lot of school and study.
We did, however, have several of our church kids that graduated high school, graduated
from college, graduated from elementary school and middle school and all those things, and
tonight I want to preach a short sermon entitled How to Further Your Education, because the
lie of the world is that education is something that takes place in a classroom.
You do it for about 12 years and then you're done or whatever, 16 years if you go to college
or 27 years if you want to be a doctor or whatever, but there's this lie out there that
says education is something that takes place for a certain time, for a set amount of time
in your life, and then it's over, but education is something that should be going on in everyone's
life.
Honestly, not just in reference to the kids that are graduating and moving on, but this
sermon is really for everyone here, man, woman, girl, boy, adults, children.
We should all be interested in furthering our education.
We should be interested in growing in our knowledge, growing in our wisdom and in our
ability to learn.
If you're there in 2 Timothy chapter 4, I'd like you to keep your place there in 2 Timothy
and go with me if you would to the book of Proverbs in the Old Testament, Proverbs chapter
number 1.
If you open up your Bible just right in the center, you'll more than likely fall in the
book of Psalms, and right after Psalms you have the book of Proverbs, Proverbs chapter
number 1.
So how to further your education, I want to give you three thoughts tonight in regards
to how to further your education, and again, I don't want you to think that I'm just preaching
to the three kindergartners, all right?
I'm preaching to all of you, everyone, including myself.
We should all be interested in learning and growing in understanding.
The Bible teaches that this is something that we should be doing as believers, as Christians,
as followers of God.
Proverbs chapter 1, look at verse 5, notice what the Bible says, Proverbs 1, 5, a wise
man will hear and will increase learning.
Notice the Bible says there that if you're a wise person, if I have trouble with that,
you can just turn me off and put me here.
The Bible says that a wise person is going to hear and they're going to increase in learning.
The Bible teaches that someone who's wise will be learning throughout their life, not
just in their formal education, but all throughout their lives.
You're there in Proverbs 1, go over to Proverbs chapter number 9, look at verse 9, Proverbs
chapter number 9 and verse 9.
Notice what the Bible says, Proverbs 9, 9, give instruction to a wise man, notice, and
he will be yet wiser.
Teach a just man and he will increase in learning.
The Bible says there in Proverbs 9, 9 that a just man will increase in learning.
A wise man will be yet wiser.
We saw there in Proverbs 1, 5 that a wise man will hear and will increase learning.
Go to Proverbs chapter 18, Proverbs chapter 18 and look at verse 15.
This is the question I want to ask you tonight and it's not just for the kids, it's not just
for the graduates, it's not just for the ones that are actually in a formal education setting
right now, but the question is for everybody in this room, how is your education going?
How is your education plan going?
How is your education system going because we should all be furthering our knowledge
increasing in our wisdom, Proverbs 18.
Look at verse 15, Proverbs chapter 18 and verse 15, the Bible says this, the heart of
the prudent getteth knowledge and the ear of the wise seeketh knowledge.
Notice the Bible says that a prudent man, they are after knowledge, they are getting
knowledge.
The ear of the wise, they are seeking knowledge.
The Bible teaches that we should be a people that are learning, growing, understanding,
developing our skills.
We should be furthering our education.
You might be here tonight and say, well, I'm not really sure how to further my education.
What could I do to learn more or grow more or things of that nature?
I'm too old to go back to school or too old to do those things.
I want to give you three thoughts tonight in regards to how to further your education.
I'd encourage you to write these down if you have a place to take down some notes,
you can maybe write these things down.
Number one, how to further your education.
First of all, you should develop a love for reading.
When it comes to furthering your education, you should develop, and look, I'm talking
to a little kindergartener that's just learning to read all the way up to the oldest person
here.
You should all be developing a love for reading.
Keep your place in Proverbs and go back with me to 2 Timothy chapter number four, 2 Timothy
chapter four, where we started tonight, 2 Timothy chapter number four, and look at verse
number 13.
I want you to notice the apostle Paul here in 2 Timothy is in prison.
And we learned, we talk a lot, we've been talking a lot lately about Paul being in prison.
He spent a lot of his time in prison.
I want you to notice that when he was in prison, he made a request, he's asking for some things
that he'd like to be brought to him while he is in prison, 2 Timothy chapter four.
Look at verse 13.
Notice what he says.
He says, the cloak.
Now, what is a cloak?
We would say it's like a coat, it's a garment that you put over your body in order to keep
yourself warm.
Paul says, the cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, he's talking
to Timothy here, and Timothy is going to come to see Paul.
And Paul says, when thou comest, bring with thee.
He says, remember that cloak that I left?
He said, I've been kind of cold here at night.
I don't have all the resources I need to take care of myself physically.
So he says, the cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with
me.
I want you to notice that when the apostle Paul puts a request in from prison, he has
somebody coming to visit him, and he asks for something.
He says, I'd like you to bring me something, and he asks something for himself physically.
He asks for a cloak to protect his physical body, to keep him warm, and I'm sure to keep
him warm through the night.
Maybe the nights were cold, and he asked for this cloak.
I want you to notice, secondly there, he says in verse 13, the cloak that I left at Troas
with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee.
He asks for something physical, then he says this, and the books, and the books.
I want you to notice that the apostle Paul asks for books, and you might assume, or someone
may assume, well, he must be referring there to the Bible, but I want you to notice that
he says later on in the verse, but especially the parchments.
Now the parchments is a reference to the word of God.
That's why he says, especially, Timothy, if you forget the cloak, that's fine, if you
forget the books, that's fine, but don't forget the parchments, especially the parchments.
He's asking for the word of God, but I want you to notice, Paul asks for a cloak, something
physical, then he asks for the books, something intellectual, and then he asks for the parchments,
something spiritual.
Here, he's in prison, and he said, I want you to bring me something to take care of
myself physically.
He said, I want you to bring the parchments, especially the parchments, so that I can have
something to feed myself with spiritually, but Paul, the apostle Paul said, I also want
you to bring the books, so that I can feed myself intellectually.
See, Paul had a love for reading.
Paul was a reader.
I'm sure you've heard this phrase before, leaders are readers, and they might sound
trite, but it's true.
You cannot lead without having a love for reading, without understanding the importance
of reading, and here we see the apostle Paul, Paul had a love for reading, and by the way,
biblical and non-biblical reading.
He asked for the books and the parchments.
He said, I'm gonna read my Bible, but I also want, I've got other books I wanna read.
I've got other things I want to learn.
Go to the book of Acts, if you would, and towards the beginning of the New Testament
you have Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Acts chapter 17.
I want you to notice that the apostle Paul had a love for reading, both biblical and
non-biblical reading, and as a result, Paul was a well-rounded, intelligent individual.
If there's one thing we know about Paul is that he was a smart guy.
I mean, read the letters that the apostle Paul wrote.
The book of Romans is an incredible thesis on doctrine and the word of God, and this
is a letter that he wrote to a church in Rome.
We're reading right now, studying right now on Sunday mornings, the book of Philippians.
We call it a book, but it was really a letter that he penned to his friends at Philippi.
The apostle Paul was an intellectual man.
He was a very intelligent man.
Notice there in Acts 17, in verse 21, the Bible says this, for all the Athenians, when
the apostle Paul found himself in Athens, he says, for all the Athenians and strangers,
and of course, this is the famous story of Paul on Mars Hill.
He says, which were there, notice, spent their time and nothing else but either to tell or
to hear some new thing.
This is a lot of the young guys in the new IFB, always trying to figure out what some
new doctrine they can come up with.
They want to tell or hear some new thing.
This is where the apostle Paul found himself with, on Mars Hill here, debating and preaching
the Lord Jesus Christ.
Notice verse 28, Acts 17, verse 28, when he was preaching his sermon, he says this, for
in him we live and move and have our being as certain also of, notice what he says, your
poets.
He says, your own poets have said, and I want you to notice, the apostle Paul, if you'll
notice his preaching, you'll notice his writings, he's constantly quoting the Old Testament.
He's constantly quoting the Word of God.
But here, he's going to quote a secular poet.
On his sermon on Mars Hill, he says, for in him we live and move and have our being, talking
about God.
Then he says, as certain also of your own poets have said, for we are also his offspring.
I want you to notice that Paul was quoting a secular poet in one of his sermons here,
and the idea is this, that Paul was a very well-rounded, intelligent individual.
I mean, he had to have been.
For him to travel to all the places that he traveled, for him to go to all the cities
that he went to, for him to deal with all the people that he dealt with.
We learned about it on Saturday morning in the soul-winning meeting where the apostle
Paul said, to the Jews I became as a Jew, and to the Gentiles as a Gentile, to them
that are without the laws, without the law.
He says, but not without the law to Christ.
He says that I became all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.
How was he able to do that?
Because he was a very smart guy.
He was an intellectual guy.
He was an intelligent person, and he was able to do that.
I believe we see here, especially in 2 Timothy, that Paul had a love for reading.
Someone said this, five years from today, you will be the same person you are today
except for the books you read and the people you meet.
I mean, how exactly do you plan on bettering yourself if you never have any sort of input
coming into your mind?
Look, you only know, I know this is real deep, on a graduation night, but you only know what
you know, and you don't know what you don't know.
The problem with what you don't know is that you don't know you don't know it.
The only way that you're going to grow, the only way that you're going to change, the
only way that you're going to better yourself, the only way that you're going to get better
is if you read books, if you meet people, if you learn and grow.
And look, the idea is this, that if you want to further your education, you need to develop
a love for reading, you need to develop a love and a habit for reading.
You need to make reading a habit in your life.
Now first of all, let me just say this, you say, are you talking about Bible reading?
Yes, but I'm not just talking about Bible reading.
Let me just start here.
I don't understand that this concept is often said, where Christians say, oh, I'm not a
reader.
Well, how could that be?
God has commanded you to read the Bible.
God has commanded you to study, study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that
needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
At the very least, you've got to develop a love for reading the word of God.
And look, if you don't have a habit, if you don't have a daily habit of Bible reading,
then that's where you need to start.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.
If you don't have a consistent time where you read the Bible every day, you need to
set that up.
You need to not let that go past tomorrow morning.
You need to decide right now that I'm going to become a reader of the word of God.
You say, pastor, how can I develop a Bible reading time?
And I've taught you these things in the past, but I'll continue to teach them to you.
You've got three ideas when it comes to daily Bible reading.
First of all, you need an appointed time.
Look, you need to make an appointment with God.
You need to just decide, this is when I meet with God at this time every morning, at this
time every afternoon, at this time every evening.
I'm not saying you have to read the Bible every morning, afternoon, or evening, although
that wouldn't hurt you.
What I'm saying is this.
You need to choose a time that works well for you and set up a time and an appointment
with God.
You need an appointed time.
You need an appointed place.
You need to choose a place where you're going to read the Bible.
You need to have a place in your home, a place maybe in your work if you read on your lunch
break or whatever.
You need to have a place where you go.
And lastly, you need a plan.
You need to get a chart.
We've got them all around here.
You can ask one from the staff guys.
I'm sure we can get you one.
You need a chart where you go through and you systematically mark that you're reading
the Bible through.
You say, I don't like to follow a plan.
I just do it as the Spirit leads.
Yeah, right.
You're not, look, you're not going to consistently read the Bible every day if you don't have
a way to track it, a way to keep yourself accountable, that you're reading through it,
that you're going through it.
You need to develop a love for reading the Word of God.
You need to have an appointed time.
You need to have a place.
You need to have a plan.
And you need to read.
And let me say this, not only do you need to develop a plan for reading the Word of
God, you should, now look, you say, Pastor, I don't read.
I barely read.
You know, this sermon's already overwhelming me.
Look, then you just focus on reading the Bible, and if that's all you ever read, that's all
you need, all right?
That's good enough, and you're good to go.
But most of us can do more reading than just the Bible.
Most of us should do more reading than just the Bible.
And I want to encourage you not only to do your Bible reading, make sure you get your
Bible reading in, that's the most important thing, but you know, most people in this room
should also be doing some personal growth reading, just some reading, some secular reading.
When I say secular, I mean it can be spiritual, but I'm saying not the Word of God, not a
spiritual book, the King James Bible, but just personal reading to help you develop
and grow.
You say, well, I don't need to read other books.
You must be a genius then.
You must have it all figured out.
The truth is, is that five years from now, five years from today, you will be the same
person that you are today except for the books you read and the people you meet.
And people often say, well, Pastor, you want us to read books, you know, secular books
from the secular world, but aren't those all going to be bad or things like that?
And look, here's the truth.
Jesus said that the children of the kingdom, He said the children of this world, He said
in their generation are wiser than the children of light.
Now, obviously, you need to be careful with the books you read.
I need to make sure you're not reading books that are going to teach you things or teach
you or give you some sort of a world philosophy that is ungodly or goes against the Word of
God.
Do heavy doses of Bible reading and you need to filter everything through the Word of God.
But I will say this, there are some good things you can learn from the secular world out there.
There are some things you should be reading about and learning about and you say, well,
Pastor, you know, I don't read, you know, maybe I should start, where do I start, what
should I read?
Well, you know, when I tell you you got to read, I'm not talking about the comic section
of the newspaper.
I'm talking about personal growth, you know, you got to begin here.
What are you passionate about?
What do you care about?
What areas in your life do you need to learn about so that you can be more successful in
that area of life?
You need to do some personal growth reading.
Here's what I'm saying.
I don't know what you're passionate about.
I don't know what you do or what you need to get better at, but I would figure it out
when I start reading in those areas.
I can tell you right now, my wife and I right now, and this is just us, I'm not saying that
you guys need to do this or whatever, but you know, right now we're both reading several
parenting books and specifically focusing in on the teen years.
You say why?
Because we just got a teenager and we've got some other kids that aren't too far away from
being a teenager, from being teenagers.
So you know, we're reading up about it.
We're learning about it.
Some of them are spiritual books.
Honestly, some of them are secular books that there's stuff in there we don't agree with,
but there's just some things in there that we can learn from and understand from.
My wife picked up a book by somebody, I don't remember, I don't even know if it was a Christian
or non-Christian, but we picked up the book just because it was an interesting title.
Seven things I would do again if I could with raising my kids, you know, seven major mistakes
I made.
And you say, why are you reading that?
Because we want to, if somebody's willing to tell us the seven major mistakes they made,
we want to read about that and make sure we're not making those mistakes.
I don't need to read about parenting.
Oh, really?
You're just the perfect parent?
You got it all figured out?
Look, the Bible says, take heed lest you fall.
The Bible says, you know, we've got these kids we're raising, as far as I can tell,
they're doing good, but we're not even close to being done.
It is our purpose in life, it is a priority for my wife and I to raise those kids right
to make sure they've got the proper home.
So guess what?
We're passionate about that, so we read about it.
You know, we're reading about parenting.
I'm just saying, and you say, well, I'm not a parent.
Look, maybe your finances are in disarray.
You ought to read some finance books.
Talk about personal finance books, teach about budget.
Maybe you want to lose some weight.
You ought to read about that.
How to get healthy, how to exercise, how to lose some weight.
Maybe you're starting a business.
If I was in sales, I'd be reading every sales book that I could get my hands on, as long
as it wasn't teaching covetousness and trying to teach me to worship the almighty dollar.
But as far as some practices and ideas, if I was starting a business, then I'd pick
up every book I could about that business.
I run a church.
I pick up every book I can, written by independent fundamental Baptists.
You say, oh, they're all kind of, some of them are liberal.
Some of them are liberal, but you know what?
I read it because sometimes they got some good ideas.
And there's some things in there I don't agree with, and that's fine too.
I'm just saying, there's organizational books.
There's time management books.
There's all sorts of books.
And here's all I'm saying, you're not that smart, and I'm not that smart.
So maybe you should turn off YouTube and pick up a book and read it.
Maybe you should turn off Facebook and pick up a book and read it.
Leaders are readers.
Let me say this.
I read this in a book recently.
If you read, studied, or practiced for one hour a day, this has been proven.
In fact, my wife and I know somebody that did this.
I don't know that they got it from this book, but they just did this, and it came out to
be true.
If you read, studied, or practiced for one hour a day, five days a week, for five years
in any subject, it doesn't matter what subject.
Pick the subject, leadership, piano playing, trumpet playing, learning Greek.
It doesn't matter what subject.
You pick a subject.
If you read, studied, or practiced for one hour a day, five days a week, for five years
in any given subject, you would become a world-class expert in that subject.
I'm just telling you, if I had a business picking up dog doo-doo, I'd find every book
and article I could read about picking up dog doo-doo, and I'd become the world-class
expert in that subject.
I'm just saying you can learn, and you can grow, and you can understand, or you can stay
where you're at and wonder why your finances are in order, wonder why your parenting's
not working, wonder why your relationships aren't working, wonder why things aren't going
well, or you can decide, hey, maybe I don't have it all figured out, and I got to grow
and learn and understand.
By the way, let me say this to you parents.
The best way to instill a love for reading in your children is to read to them when they
are young and for them to see you reading when they are old.
How can I instill a love of reading for my children?
First of all, as they get older, they ought to be seeing you read.
Let me say this.
Your kids ought to see you reading the Bible.
You know that?
That should be a testimony, a memory they walk away from.
I remember my mom reading her Bible.
I remember my dad reading her Bible.
But you know, more than that, they ought to see you reading other books.
Kids will do what their parents do.
Did you know that?
But you know, here's another way.
You say, how can I instill a love of reading in our children?
The best way to do that is for you to read.
And I'll be honest with you.
You know, this is something my wife has done in our home.
I work for the church here at the church, and she's the one that homeschools.
But I'm thankful, my wife, for years and years and years, as far as I can remember since
she started homeschooling, even before she started homeschooling, spends pretty much
every afternoon reading to our children.
And I can tell you this, and I'm not saying our children are all perfect or figured out.
Don't look at them.
They're good looking, but sometimes they're dumb, all right?
So you know, I'm not trying to put pressure on my kids, but I'll say this.
She's done something to put a love of reading in those kids.
I mean, we can't keep up with the books, you know.
We buy them books, and they read the books in like two days.
It's kind of a bad situation when you're punishing your kids by saying, you're not allowed to
read for the rest of the night.
And those things.
Here's what I'm saying.
Instill a love in reading for your children, instill a love in reading.
See, you say, what's the best way to learn, read?
How did God, how did God, what was the method and the mode by which God decided to give
us his eternal knowledge?
What do you do?
He gave us a book.
He said, read it.
Do you think, oh, no, you got to go to college to get education.
Well, first of all, in the college and universities of this world, they're teaching all sorts
of, you know, devil worship, atheist garbage.
But even if that wasn't true, you know what they do in college?
You know what you pay, you know, hundreds and thousands of dollars to go do in college?
You go sit in a classroom, and they hand you a book, and they said, read this book.
Read these chapters, and then we're going to test you on them.
You know, that's it.
You know, you go pick up those books, buy those books, and read them for free?
Go to a public library and read them for free for a lot less money.
And you wouldn't get all the garbage, liberal, devil worship stuff that comes along with
it.
I'm just telling you, so how do I further my education?
You got to further your education by developing a love for reading.
Paul had a love for reading as a result.
Paul was a well-rounded, intelligent individual, and you got to develop a love for reading
the Word of God.
You got to develop a habit and a consistency of reading the Word of God.
And once you have that down, and once you have that path, I would encourage you, develop
a love for reading other things.
And I'll be honest with you, even if you don't read personal growth-type books, even if you
just read the classics, you'll probably learn a lot.
It'll help your vocabulary.
It'll make you smarter.
Do you understand that your brain is a muscle?
And the more you use it, the more you exercise it, the stronger it gets.
And your brain, like any other physical muscle, will atrophy when it is ignored and unused
and not used.
So you got to develop a love for reading to further your education.
Let me give you a second statement tonight.
Go to Proverbs chapter 12.
Proverbs chapter 12.
How long are you preaching tonight?
Till the pizza gets here.
So if I get done with these points and the pizza's not here, we're just going to go back
to talk about reading.
You ought to read.
Did you get that?
I'm not sure if I was clear.
How to further your education, develop a love for reading, number two.
How to further your education.
Here's point number two.
Decide that you will receive correction.
No, the Bible talks a lot about how we receive correction.
Proverbs chapter 12 and verse 1, notice what the Bible says.
Proverbs 12 and verse 1, who so loveth instruction loveth knowledge.
And notice the context.
Someone who loves instruction, why do they love instruction?
Because they love knowledge.
But here's the contrast.
He that hateth reproof is brutish.
You know, what is reproof?
Reproof is an expression of disapproval.
Reproof is when somebody tells you, you're doing wrong.
I don't like what you're doing.
I don't think that's right.
Reproof is when you are corrected.
Notice the Bible says, he that hateth reproof is brutish.
You see the word brutish there?
We might use today the word brute.
It means absence of reasoning or intelligence.
It means to be stupid.
It means to be dumb.
The Bible says that the person that hates reproof is stupid.
The person that hates reproof is brutish, is dumb.
Go to Proverbs 13.
Look at verse 18.
Proverbs 13, verse number 18.
Proverbs 13, 18 says this.
Poverty and shame shall be to him that refuseth instruction.
The Bible said, look, nothing good
comes from refusing to learn, doesn't want to learn.
But he that regardeth reproof, the word regard
means to consider, to think, to pay attention to.
He that regardeth reproof.
He that considers reproof.
He that pays attention to reproof.
Notice, he that regardeth reproof is prudent.
The word prudent means that they are wise,
but it's more than being wise.
It's someone who considers the future.
Someone who looks ahead and realizes that there
are more things in their lives.
The Bible says that the person that regardeth reproof,
they're prudent.
They're wise, but it's more than wise.
It's that they realize that there's more out there.
There's more life that they have to live.
There's more that they have to do.
And they realize that this correction might help them.
See, the truth is this, a wise man will receive correction.
A foolish man will reject correction.
Go to Proverbs 15.
Proverbs 15, look at verse 5.
Now look, in our flesh, does anybody
like to receive correction?
The answer is no.
All of us want to be affirmed all the time.
Isn't that true?
All of us want to be constantly told
that what we're doing is right, what we're doing is correct,
we're the best, we're the greatest.
That's what we all want.
Well, let me let you in on a little secret.
You will all, we will all receive correction
at some point in our lives.
You're just not that smart.
You're just not perfect.
You're going to make mistakes.
You're going to do dumb things.
You realize that everyone's going
to receive correction at some point in their lives?
Everybody.
And how you handle correction.
How you handle correction will tell a lot
about whether you're a wise or a foolish individual.
Proverbs 15 and verse 5.
Proverbs 15 and verse 5, the Bible
says this, a fool despises his father's instruction.
Again, a fool doesn't want to learn.
They don't want to hear.
But he that regardeth reproof is prudent.
Proverbs 15, verse 31, notice what it says.
The ear that heareth reproof of life abideth.
Don't miss this.
The ear that heareth reproof of life abideth among the wise.
Notice verse 32.
He that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul.
But he that heareth reproof getteth understanding.
Listen to me.
Of course nobody likes to be corrected.
Of course nobody likes to hear when
they're doing something wrong.
Of course nobody wants to be criticized.
But let me let you in on a little secret.
Everyone gets corrected.
You don't think I've been corrected in my life?
You don't think I've had pastors correct me throughout my life?
You don't think I haven't had bosses and employers?
I was in the stinking military.
You don't think somebody yelled at me at some point
and told me you're an idiot and you're doing it wrong?
How you handle correction will determine about a lot about,
that will tell us a lot about how wise you are.
And it will also tell us about how successful you'll be.
Because here's the truth.
Look, just learn this.
Especially you guys that want to go into ministry,
just figure this out.
You will always be criticized.
People will always criticize.
No matter what you do, no matter what decision you make,
people will criticize you.
And sometimes, sometimes, though we don't like to hear it,
sometimes there's a little bit of truth in those criticisms.
Sometimes there's a lot of exaggeration.
Sometimes there's a lot of false accusations.
Sometimes there's a lot of things blown out of proportion.
Sometimes there's a lot of things that are simply not true.
But every once in a while, there's a little bit of truth.
Every once in a while, you have to walk away from a situation
and say, all of that wasn't really true.
And everything they said was blown out of proportion.
And they made a lot of false accusations.
But there was this one thing.
There was this one part.
There was this one part where I messed up,
where I could have dealt with that better,
where maybe I shouldn't have said that,
where maybe I shouldn't have gone there.
You know, let me tell you something.
It's a proud person who never is able to admit that they've
done something wrong.
I mean, it's a proud person who argues with their spouse
and says, I'll never take responsibility
for anything I've done.
It's all been you.
That's not true.
You know that's not true.
How you receive correction will determine a lot
about your success in life.
I don't like it.
Duh, no one does.
But a wise person will say, I don't like it.
But I'm going to listen to it.
I don't like it.
But I'm going to try to see.
I'm going to try to find if there's some truth in it.
I don't like it.
But I don't want to be a fool.
You say, how can you further your education?
You can further your education by developing a love
for reading.
And you can further your education
by deciding that you will receive correction.
Go to 2 Peter, chapter number 3.
2 Peter, chapter 3.
If you start at the end of the Bible and you head backwards,
you go from Revelation, Jude, 3 and 1 John, 2 and 1 Peter.
I always think it's funny when people come to a church,
like our church, and then they get mad at me
because I preach about them or against them
or preach something that applies to them.
Like, have you not been paying attention?
This is what we do.
I'm sorry.
Maybe you think I have a nice smile,
but my name's not Joel Osteen.
Look, you're crazy if you think you're
going to come to a church, like Verity Baptist Church,
and not get your toes stepped on every once in a while.
I'd give my paycheck back if I didn't step on your toes
every once in a while.
I'm not doing my job.
You're not that good.
You're not the Lord Jesus Christ.
You've not yet attained.
And look, some of you, you get mad.
You say, pastor preached this, and that had to do with me.
At least you only got it for an hour.
I had to live with it for the last week.
You don't think sometimes I'm studying the Bible,
and I'm like, oh, man, good night.
That applies to me.
Better work on that for the next seven days
before I preach on that.
Look, we all get corrected.
The fact that you're surprised that you're corrected
shows a lot about your arrogance.
The fact that you're just shocked
that someone might say something that's
kind of sounded like it was directed towards me is insane.
The point we're here, the reason we're
here, all scripture is given by inspiration of God for reproof,
for correction, for instruction in righteousness
that the man of God may be perfect,
thoroughly furnished unto all good works.
That's why we're here, to get corrected, to find out,
to figure out where we're wrong, what we've got to fix,
what we've been doing wrong.
I was just here to hear you rip on the sodomites.
See, that's the funny thing about hard preaching.
We love it till it comes down our aisle.
As long as it's about the homos and the abortion crowd
and everybody out there, well, listen to me.
You've got some things you've got to work on too.
And how you choose to receive correction,
how you choose to receive correction
will tell a lot about how your marriage will go,
how your parenting will go, how your friendships will go,
how your career will go, how your relationship
with your in-laws and your neighbors and your co-workers,
because a wise man will receive correction.
I don't like it.
Nobody likes it.
But a wise man will receive it.
A foolish man will reject it.
Let me give you a third one.
I said, number one, how to further our education,
we ought to develop a love for reading, number two,
how to further our education, we ought
to decide that we will receive correction, number three,
how to further our education.
We ought to determine to grow personally.
You ought to determine to be a lifelong learner.
Second Peter chapter 3, look at 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.
I want you to notice that this is a command.
This is not a suggestion.
We're being told to grow.
Grow in grace and notice, grow in knowledge.
Grow in knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
The Bible has this idea in it that we are supposed
to be growing and learning.
Go to Hebrews chapter 5, if you would.
Hebrews chapter 5, you're there in Second Peter.
Just go backwards past First Peter.
James into the book of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 5,
Hebrews chapter 5.
You ought to be a lifelong learner.
You ought to just determine everywhere you go,
you want to grow.
You want to learn.
This requires humility.
It requires you.
It requires you to be able to stop and say,
I don't have it all figured out.
Every time my wife and I go somewhere and we get a chance
to talk to parents who maybe are a little further down the road
than we are, every time that we get a chance to talk
to some parents that maybe have raised their kids
or got some grandkids or have some kids that are older
than our kids are, we love to sit there
and just pick their brain.
Tell me all the mistakes you made.
And we don't ask it that way.
And obviously, we don't ask that at all.
We like to, you say, why do you do that?
Because we don't got it all figured out.
Every time we get around another pastor and a pastor's wife,
even if they've been in ministry shorter than we have,
hey, we like to talk to them.
And what are you guys doing?
And what are you learning?
And sometimes they tell us about things going on
in their church.
And we can learn from those things.
And sometimes we share with them.
And we try to say, yeah, don't do that.
And we've made this mistake and all that.
Here's what I'm saying.
Determine that you want to be a lifelong learner.
Everywhere you go, you ought to grow.
Hebrews chapter 5, look at verse 12.
Hebrews 5, 12.
For when for the time.
I want you to notice the implication
in this verse, the idea, the assumption that's
being made here.
For when for the time ye ought to be teachers,
ye have need that one teach you again
with the first principles of the oracles of God.
Here you have the writer of Hebrews writing
to these individuals and saying, you know,
you've been saved long enough.
You've been doing this long enough.
You've been going long enough where you should have,
by now, you should be teaching these things.
But instead, you have need that one teach you again.
That is not where you want to be in life.
That is not where you want to find yourself.
Well, people are looking at you and saying,
like, you've been doing this long enough.
You should be teaching people, but you need someone
to go back and teach you again.
And our become, notice what it says there in verse 12,
and our become such as have need of milk and not
of strong meat.
What does that mean?
The idea there, and he's going to spell it out for us
in verse 13, is that you're a babe.
You're immature.
See, a baby drinks milk.
A baby does not have the ability to be able to eat
a piece of strong meat.
You can't feed a steak to a baby.
They'll choke on it.
You've got to feed them milk.
He says, you are become as such as have need of milk
and not of strong meat.
Look at verse 13.
For everyone that uses milk is, and here's the key word,
unskillful in the word of righteousness.
For he is a babe.
But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age.
Even those who by reason, don't miss this,
I want you to see this, even those who by reason of use
have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
I was just reading this week about the idea
of forming habits, good habits, and developing
good, strong habits in your life.
And you know what neural scientists have found?
Is that the way that you develop a habit
is through repetition.
In fact, they have this phrase.
They say neurons that fire together wire together.
And the idea is that the way you develop a habit.
See, here's what you and I like to do, right?
When we're undisciplined, we'll talk about this
in the undisciplined series.
We like to, oh, I'm going to start a diet.
And then we want to sit there and talk about our diet,
read about the diet.
And I think you ought to read about the diet.
You know, chart it all out, plan it all out.
But we never actually start.
That's what some of you have been doing with soul winning.
You went through the soul winning seminar.
I'm all for you going through a soul winning seminar.
I made the soul winning seminar.
I want you to go through it.
You went through a soul winning seminar.
You highlighted all the verses.
You put the little tabs.
You put the little directions.
You said, after 310, go to Romans 323.
And after Romans 323, go to this passage and that passage.
You wrote out the script.
You did everything, except you never actually showed up.
You say, how do I grow?
How do I mature?
It's this way, by reason of use.
How do I develop a habit?
Do it.
People often ask this question.
How long does it take to develop a habit?
The question is not how long it takes.
It's how many repetitions it takes.
You don't develop a habit based on the amount of time.
You develop a good habit based on how frequently you do it.
You say, well, I want to grow.
How do I grow?
Get to work.
That's how you grow.
I want to grow in my soul winning.
Well, look.
We got the soul winning seminar.
We got all those things.
But you know the best thing for you to develop,
you to become a soul winner?
The best thing for you would be to just go soul winning?
Do it.
He says, you are become such as have need of milk and not
of strong meat, for everyone that uses milk
is unskillful in the word of righteousness,
for he is a babe.
But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age.
Even those who by reason of use have their senses
exercised to discern both good and evil.
How do I grow?
By getting to work.
How do I grow?
Look, that's why it's so important for a church
like this one, a church like Verity Baptist Church,
where the pastor actually preaches direct sermons that
are meant to offend you.
You say, pastor, I was offended this morning.
Good.
That was the point.
Mission accomplished.
We'll see how wise you are with how you take it.
You say, well, what do I do with all these things you preach,
pastor?
Here's what you do.
You go out there and you put it to work.
Have you noticed the sermons around here are highly applicable?
You know why we do it that way, so you
can go do something with it?
You can go actually do.
See, you sit here.
Oh, I know what I'm supposed to do.
I know that I'm supposed to be respectful to my husband.
And if I'm disrespectful to him, he's
going to be on the corner of a housetop,
and I'm going to be the woman in a white house.
Yeah, you know it, but when are you going to do it?
Well, I know that I'm supposed to love my wife.
The Bible says I'm supposed to love her sacrificially
and selflessly, which means that if one of us has to lose,
I lose and she wins.
Because that's what Christ did.
I'm supposed to love her like Christ loved the church.
And in case I don't get that, then God
gives you a very selfish way of understanding.
He says, how about you just love her the way you love yourself?
So you're pretty good at that, loving yourself.
So why don't you just reverse it instead of selfishly,
selflessly.
You say, yeah, pastor, I've heard that.
I've heard you preach that.
OK, well, when are you going to start doing it?
I've heard you preach about Bible reading.
I've heard you preach about prayer time.
I've heard you preach about reading.
You've already preached a sermon about reading.
So when are you going to start doing it?
Here's how you grow by reason of use, by doing to do.
All throughout the Bible, we're told to do,
to do what we've been told to do,
to actually apply it in our lives,
to go home and put it to work.
You say, how do I further my education?
Here's how you do it.
You develop a love for reading.
How do I further my education?
Here's how you do it.
You decide that you will receive correction.
How do you further your education?
You determine to grow through your actions
by applying what you've learned, by applying
what you've already learned and putting it into action.
Because the only way to grow is to put the things you're
learning into action and then go and learn some more.
That's why I had to have a word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, for your word.
Thank you for the Bible.
Lord, I pray that you'd help us to have a church filled
with people that are just lifelong learners.
Lord, I pray that you would help us
to have a church filled with people that want
to learn and want to grow.
Lord, help us to have people that love reading.
And of course, first of all, that they would love
reading the word of God.
And secondly, that they would read other books
and that they would learn and grow and understand.
Lord, help us to be people who receive correction well.
Help us to be people who realize that we don't have it
all put together.
And there are some things we've got to learn and understand.
And help us not to be arrogant and realize that we're not just
going to go through life not receiving correction.
Help us to receive correction well and to accept it.
And Lord, help us to be people who put into action the things
we're learning, who are doing the things that we've
been told to do.
And I pray, Lord, that you would bless the time set aside
for fellowship, the food, and all those things.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.