All right, so the part that I want to focus on today in the book of Joshua chapter one
is verses seven to nine, verses seven to nine, and I'll just read them again, verses seven
to nine.
Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all
the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee, turn not from it to the right hand or
to the left, thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest.
This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein,
day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein,
for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
Have not I commanded thee?
Be strong and of a good courage.
Be not afraid, neither thou be thou dismayed, for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever
thou goest.
So on Sunday I preached on the Bible.
On Sunday I preached on the preserved pure Word of God that we have in our hands, the
King James Bible, but I didn't really expand upon that.
I just really went through just to prove to you that, hey, God has delivered on his promise,
has delivered the Word of God to us.
We have it in the English language in the King James Bible.
But now that we have the Bible in our hands, what are the principles, what are the main
things that we need to do with the Word of God?
I mean, obviously it's a book, obviously we need to read it, but there is more truth,
there are more things that we can do with the Word of God than what you may realize.
Because when you think of a novel, when you think of just a storybook, obviously all we
can do with that is read it, and then maybe reread it, but there's not a lot more you
can do with a storybook.
With the Word of God, there is so much more, there's so much more instructions that we
can take and commit to our lives.
And basically, I really want to preach for 20 minutes, I'm going to try my best, but
I've got six points, so I've got to get through these points pretty quickly.
But have a look again, verse number seven, what did God ask Joshua to do?
We can take a few points from here, he says, look, you're about to go and fight a war.
You're about to go and battle in the land that he's promised you.
Be strong and courageous.
How many times did we read that in this chapter?
God says, hey, be strong and very courageous.
And then it says this in verse seven, that thou mayest observe to do according to all
the law.
So God's saying, hey, be strong, be courageous, why?
To do all the things in the law, yes, to fight the battles, but more importantly, to take
the law, the scriptures that Joshua had, that had been passed down from Moses, and to observe
to do all these things, neither turn away from it to your right hand or left.
So stay focused on the Word of God.
And then it says that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest.
Do we want to prosper in our lives?
We talk about the prosperity gospel, right?
People teach that, you know, if you're not rich, if you're not healthy, then you're not
right with God, you know, in order for you to prosper in this life, you've got to be
right with God.
But hey, there is a prosperity.
There is a prosperity that we can read about in the scriptures, but that prosperity comes
from knowing God's Word, that prosperity comes from reading his Word and not turning away
from it.
Hey, the prosperity isn't just financial.
Yes, there is financial advice in the Bible.
Yes, there's advice you can take on board and grow financially, of course, but there's
so much more you can prosper from.
It's not always going to be financial.
It might be a peaceful life.
It might be just peace with God.
It might be rearing your children and having a great relationship with your children rather
than rebellious children that make your life difficult.
There is many ways we can prosper in life, and God promises Joshua, if you stick to my
Word, if you stick to the law of God, that I will make your way prosperous.
And then look at verse number 8, the book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth.
So what's Joshua ought to do?
Not just read, but speak God's Word.
Right?
It shall not depart.
Then it says, but thou shalt meditate.
So another instruction.
Hey, meditate on my Word, he says, right?
And again, thou shalt make thy way prosperous and have good success.
Again, verse 9, have I not commanded thee, be strong and of good courage, be not afraid.
Guys, we live in a wicked world.
We live in a world that hates our Lord, that hates the Word of God, that it just seems
whatever new laws, whatever new ideas, whatever is fashionable always just seems contrary
to the Word of God.
But God does not want us to be afraid.
He wants us to be able to take his Word and stand on his Word and be like Joshua and fight
those battles.
So we don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but we wrestle against principalities, but
we can stand on God's Word and be a light for him in this evil generation that we live.
So I just want to break down these few points, and we've taken some from them from the
book of Joshua.
But number 1, the first thing that I want you to do with the Word of God is to hear
the Word.
Number 1, hear the Word.
Romans 10, 17.
We know this one, Romans 10, 17.
We go out preaching the Gospel, it says, so then faith cometh by what?
How does faith come?
So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.
Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.
So when we go out and we preach the Gospel to the lost, what are we doing?
What are we doing for them, for their sake?
We're taking the Word of God and we're having them hear the Word of God.
We're begging them to hear it.
You know, I thank God today I went soul winning, I went to a little mountain, it was a lot
more receptive than Aruna was.
I was really encouraged because we didn't get anyone saved today, but we got to speak
the Gospel to a number of people, so very encouraging.
But you know, what are we trying to do?
We're trying to get them to hear the Word of God.
Why?
So their faith can come, so they can believe on Jesus Christ, because it comes from the
power of God's Word.
You might be a very eloquent speaker, or you might be very poor with words, but if you
take God's Word, that's where the power is and that's what's going to cause someone to
have faith in Christ.
You know, I remember the very first time, the very first time I went soul winning.
I went with a guy and he was younger than I was, I was about 20, he might have been
19, something like that.
He was very young and he was, you know, we knocked doors and there was finally someone
that gave him the time of day to present the Gospel.
And he was so nervous, he was stuttering, I couldn't follow his logic, I couldn't follow
where he was going, but the guy got saved.
It wasn't, I learned, it wasn't his skills, it wasn't his eloquent words, it was just
the Word of God, the power of God's Word, the hearing of God's Word that brought faith
upon that individual and believed on Jesus Christ.
There's been times where I've, even when I came back from Chile, I was very rusty on the
Gospel and I gave the Gospel and I felt like I wasn't following my usual pattern, I wasn't
as confident as I was, but yet the guy got saved.
So you know, there's been numerous times where I've seen just people not really presenting
the Gospel that clearly, but the person still understood it because the Word of God planted
a seed in their heart and it grew from there.
So the first thing, hey, hear the Word.
Now what's interesting about this, the phrase, hear the Word of the Lord appears 24 times
in the Old Testament, hear the Word of the Lord, and also hear the Word of God appears
five times in the New Testament.
So God commands us, hey, hear my Word.
We know, yes, we ought to read, but we also ought to hear his Word, and that's why we
come to church.
You know, we come to church to hear Bible reading, we come to church to hear the Word
of God being preached, because there are certain things that you're going to learn in church
that you won't learn otherwise just at home.
There are certain things that the Spirit of God will bring to his people that you're
not going to get if you miss out on church.
It's important to be in church and to hear God's Word.
And I have nothing, you know, I'm not against if you want to hear other preachers online
or other preachers on CD or what have you, hey, it's great because we're commanded to
hear his Word.
Don't turn there, but Jeremiah chapter 22 verse 29, Jeremiah 22, 29.
It says, God's saying, it says here, oh earth, earth, earth, hear the Word of the Lord.
It's so funny, three times, oh earth, earth, earth, hear the Word of the Lord.
You know, the Word of the Lord isn't just for the believer, but also for the whole earth.
We need to preach the Gospel, we need to make it known.
You know, I didn't want to put my sermons on YouTube, but I realized we need God's Word
out there.
We need people to just come across it by accident.
The unbelieving world, hear God's Word and just realize just how far gone they are from
the Word of God, just how far away they've gone and realize, man, you know, God's Word
is so different to what we see in the world today.
And so, hey, we need to preach God's Word, not just to God's people, but to the whole
earth.
The whole earth needs to hear the Word of God.
But also the Word of God needs to be heard by God's people.
Isaiah 66 verse 5 says, Hear the word of the Lord, hear the word of the Lord, ye that tremble
at his word.
So those of you that have a fear of God, those of you that have a high respect and honor
for the Lord, you, ye that tremble at his word, why, your brethren that cast you out
for my name's sake, said, Let the Lord be glorified, but he shall appear to your joy,
and they shall be ashamed.
So even in the Old Testament, we'd say, hey, hear the Word of God, why, because God knows
there are those that will persecute you, there are those that hate you, there are those that
will cast you out for God's name's sake, for the name of Jesus Christ.
And if we stick to the Word of God, we hear his word, it allows the Lord to be glorified
and it allows us to be filled with joy so that they shall be ashamed, according to Isaiah.
So point number one, I want you to hear the word of the Lord.
Now I've got six points.
If you find yourself doing one out of the six, then your walk with the Bible is not
balanced.
Okay, you need all six points, okay.
If all you do is hear the word, if all you do is go online and listen to preaching or
come to church and listen, but you don't read the word, then you're not balanced.
You need all these six things in your life, okay.
So number one, hear the word.
Number two, read the word, right, basically read the word.
Number two, Exodus 24 verse seven, and he took the book of the covenant and read in
the audience of the people and they said, all the Lord have said we will do and be obedient.
So we are instructed in both the Old Testament and the New Testament to read his word.
Let me give you a story very quickly here.
Turn with me to Matthew, to the book of Matthew in the New Testament, Matthew chapter 12,
Matthew chapter 12, Matthew chapter 12 verse 1, Matthew chapter 12 verse 1.
Who were the Pharisees?
Remember the Pharisees in the time of Jesus Christ?
These were people that were the religious leaders, right, they were people that had
studied the law of God, they had spent time studying, they were the ones teaching the
word of God in the times of Jesus Christ.
And let's look at the Pharisees here in verse number one, Matthew 12.
At that time Jesus went on the Sabbath day through the corn and his disciples were hungered
and began to pluck the ears of corn and to eat.
So Jesus is going through this field of corn, his disciples are hungry, they start to pluck
the ears and eat it.
Verse number two, but when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, behold thy disciples
do that which is not lawful to do upon the Sabbath day.
So these Pharisees see what the disciples of Jesus are doing, hey you're wrong, you're
working on the Sabbath day, I mean they're just eating, they're just plucking ears of
the corn and eating, they're saying hey you're breaking the Sabbath day, you're not doing
that which is lawful.
Verse number three, but he said unto them, so this is Jesus, Jesus said unto them, have
ye not read what David did when he was unhungred and that they were with him?
How he entered into the house of God and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for
him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests?
Or have ye not read in the law how that on the Sabbath day the priests in the temple
profane the Sabbath and are blameless?
And so I'm not going to go through the reasons that they, you know, what Jesus was teaching
right now, but I just want to point out to you, what are the two questions that Jesus
asked the Pharisees?
These Pharisees that are meant to know the word of God, he said twice, have ye not read,
right?
Verse number three, have ye not read what David did?
Verse number five, have ye not read in the law?
Man, I would be so ashamed, you know, I'd be so ashamed if I meet my Lord and he says
to me, Kevin, have ye not read?
You know, we've got the whole Bible available to us here, you know, we can read it cover
to cover, we can read it again and again and again, you know, the word of God is not restricted
to us here in Australia, I'd be so ashamed if God said to me, Kevin, have ye not read?
We are to read God's word and too often we have people study God's word, which is okay,
they study God's word, but they don't read God's word.
We're instructed over and over, we're instructed more often to read God's word than to study
his word, all right?
And this is what I find, and look, I do have study, that's point number five, study God's
word, we ought to study God's word, but what I find sometimes, and look, I don't blame,
especially new believers, new believers, they get excited, they want to know what God has
to say and then like usually, oh, what's going to happen in the future, let's go to revelation
and they'll study revelation or they'll listen to stories and then they'll be, oh, what's,
divorce and marriage, they'll study divorce and marriage, all right, let's go through
and then they'll be like, oh, what's another thing that's interesting?
You know, whatever, you know, they'll have a priority list of things that interest them
and that's okay, I understand, I've been there, I've been excited and there are things that
you want to study, but sometimes people spend so much time studying God's word, trying to
look up a topic and comparing, but they have not read God's word, they don't know God's
word, they don't know all the books of the Bible, they don't know what certain books
are about, they don't know what certain books, what time period that was written, okay, the
context matters, you can study to your heart's content, but you're not really going to know
God's word until you've read God's word, right, until you've read it to cover, to cover and
you know Jesus Christ, there's a reason why he's called the word of God because the more
you know this word, the more you know Jesus Christ, the more you love this word, the more
you love Jesus Christ.
So nothing wrong with studying, please don't misunderstand, but please, if you find, if
you're someone that finds yourself just studying week after week, just studying a topic after
topic but you've never read it cover to cover, please stop studying, just stop it, stop studying
and just get reading your word, okay, just, you know, this is the other thing, when you
study, you're choosing the topics that you want to learn, right, but when you read God's
word cover to cover, the Holy Spirit chooses for you what you're going to learn because
you're going to come across things that you weren't really thinking you were going to
cover and then you'll be like, oh, that's interesting and that's the Holy Spirit teaching
you.
So please read God's word, don't just study it.
Number three, meditate on the word.
We read about Joshua being instructed to meditate on his word, turn to Psalm chapter one, please
Psalm chapter one, Psalm chapter one, meditate on the word of God.
Just the first three verses there, it says, blessed is the man which walketh, sorry, that
walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth
in the seat of the scornful, but his delight.
So this man, this blessed man, what does he love?
What is his delight?
But his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
Meditate day and night and he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that
bringeth forth his fruit in his season, his leaf also shall not wither and whatsoever
he doeth shall prosper.
Hey, there's the prosperity again, you know, God says, hey, meditate upon my word, meditate
upon it day and night.
And if you're not someone that meditates on the word of God day and night, it's because
your delight is not in the law of God.
You see how the one that delights in the law of God is the one that will meditate day and
night.
So if you don't, you know, try to get into the habit of reading your Bible a little bit
in the morning, a little bit in the evening, you know, try to make it a priority.
All too often we get busy in life and we put off Bible reading because that's easy to do,
you know, I'll do it later.
Hey, get in the habit of meditating upon God's word day and night.
What does it mean to meditate?
It means to think about it, you know, after you read, think, hey, how does this apply
to me?
How does this truth apply to my life?
What can I do?
You know, I mean, just, let's take this example.
You know, his delight is in the law of God and his law doth he meditate day and night.
Okay, let's stop for a minute.
Let's stop and meditate on what I just read.
You know, just like I said, hey, if I'm someone that's going to delight in God's word, then
I need to meditate on it day and night.
And so by thinking about this, by just stopping and not just, you know, going through the
chapter just to, you know, go through your chapter a day to keep the devil away, but
to stop and think about, hey, meditate, how does this apply to me?
Am I someone that's meditating day and night?
Am I someone that delights in the law of God, you know?
So that's what I mean by meditate.
Just focus on a few little things that you've learned and think about that and try to apply
that to your life.
Point number four is to memorize the word of God.
Turn to Psalm, actually, don't turn there, Psalm 119 verse 11, Psalm 119 verse 11 says,
thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee.
Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee.
Now what does it mean to hide God's word in your heart?
How do you get God's word, which is a written form right here, and you get that and you
hide it in your heart?
There's only one way, and that's to memorize scripture.
To take scripture and memorize it, right?
So it's in your heart, it's in you.
God's word is in your heart, it's in you.
And what's the advantage of memorizing his word?
That I might not sin against thee.
If you find yourself somewhere, and look we're all sinners, I understand, we all have weaknesses,
we all have failings in our life, but if you find yourself defeated with sin, and you have
sin that you're just struggling to overcome, well, get in God's word.
Meditate on his word.
The promise is, hey, you keep that in your heart, and you're not going to sin against
the Lord, okay?
And then, I should have taken down the reference, I can probably turn there, but I won't just
for the sake of time, but you remember the story where Jesus was taken up by the Spirit
into the wilderness, and he was tempted, you know, he was fasting for the 40 days, remember
that, 40 days?
And the devil came to him, and tempted him, right?
And he says, hey, you know, turn this stone into bread.
And then, you know, he says, you know, throw yourself from the temple, and the angels will
catch you up.
And then the other one was, hey, worship me, Satan's telling Jesus, worship me and I know
I'll give you the kingdoms of the earth.
You know, you don't have to go and sacrifice yourself.
You don't need to wait for your kingdom in the future.
I'll give it to you right now if you worship me.
And every time Jesus Christ responded to the devil, he said, it is written.
Jesus Christ referred back to the scriptures.
He had it memorized.
And we might say, yeah, but Kevin, he was God, and yes, he was God, and he was the word
of God.
But we learn about Jesus Christ that he had to grow in knowledge.
Yes, he was 100% man, but he was also 100%, sorry, 100% God, but he was also 100% man.
And so he came to set the example, and we see that Jesus Christ, even he, memorized
the scriptures, and he is our example.
We too ought to meditate on the scriptures, so when the devil comes to tempt you to sin,
you're ready to give him an answer.
You've got the word, and you can quote it out loud to him, and cause him to depart
from you.
So point number four was memorize the word.
Actually one other verse here, Colossians 3.16.
It says, let the word of God, Colossians 3.16, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly
in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual
songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
So I thought this was interesting.
You know it talks about the word of Christ dwelling in you, and then it says teaching
one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.
One great way, if you struggle to memorize the word of God, one great way is to put it
to music.
There's a lot of good scripture songs that basically take the word straight out of the
King James Bible and translates it into music.
And so you can sing along, I mean, you know this is true.
I know you know certain lyrics of worldly songs, and as much as you want to forget them
because you know they're worldly and they don't please the Lord, you know when you hear
it on the radio, you can sing along to those lyrics, right?
Why?
Because those words are dwelling in you, unfortunately.
And the reason they dwell in you so easily is because they were attached to certain music
that was easy to follow, that you enjoyed in your life.
And so the same principle God is telling us here, hey, in hymns and spiritual songs we
can learn in psalms, we can learn and memorize God's word so that it will dwell in you richly.
Number five, study the word.
I don't know if you're purely studying the word of God, but no.
Number five, we ought to study the word of God.
Second Timothy chapter two verse 15, second Timothy chapter two verse 15 says, study to
show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing
the word of truth.
Now I looked up how many times the Bible says study, it comes up three times, but only once
in reference to the word of God.
That's why I mean, you know, reading the word of God, the commandment to read God's word
and to hear God's word vastly outweighs the study.
Because here's the thing, when you read, when you hear, you are studying God's word anyway.
But hey, we are also, you know, are to take God's word as a workman that's not going to
be ashamed.
You know, if you're someone that goes to work and you don't know how to use, you know, let's
say, you know, you work with a computer, you don't know how to use a computer, you don't
know how to use email, you don't know how to use Microsoft Word, or if you're a laborer
but you don't know how to use your tools, you don't know how to, you know, you've gone
to college but really you have no knowledge as to do your job, what's going to happen
to you?
You're going to feel ashamed, right?
You've got a work to do but you can't even do it and you're ashamed.
And it's the same thing with the word of God.
If you're going to be someone that teaches God's word behind the pulpit, you know, someone
that teaches your family, teaches other people, the instruction is to study, study God's word
to show thyself approved unto God.
Hey, I don't study God's word to show my self approved unto you.
You know, I don't want to look, you know, studious and look wise to you.
I want to show God that I take his word seriously, that I stop and study his word because I want
to be approved by God, I want to be approved unto God, okay?
A workman that needeth not to be ashamed.
So if you're someone that knows God's word cover to cover, you know the key doctrines,
the core doctrines, you're going to be finding someone that is not ashamed.
You know, when someone asks you a difficult question, you'll be able to, you know, give
them an answer or at least point them to the right direction.
You might not know everything in the word of God, but the more you know, the less you
need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
God's word is something that needs to be divided, okay?
Now you have the man-made interpretive tool called dispensationalism.
Some of you guys are aware of that, dispensationalist.
And many of the dispensationalists will say, when it says rightly dividing the word of
truth, that means dispensationalism.
That means you've got to read God's word with the lens of dispensationalism and that's how
you rightly divide the word of truth.
But here's the truth about it.
The word of God is already rightly divided for us, right?
We have the Old Testament, we have the New Testament, all right?
We understand the New Covenant, Bible says very clearly that it comes through the death
of the test data.
So following the death of Jesus Christ, that's where we understand the New Testament started.
So there are divisions that the Bible itself gives us.
The Bible is divided into books, divided into chapters and verses.
Yes, I know those weren't written there when it was first written, but I actually believe
the verses and God's allowed the chapters and the verses in God's word so we can rightly
divide God's word.
God's word is rightly divided for us already.
You already know this.
The reason you don't go and sacrifice an animal is because you're rightly dividing.
You know that Jesus Christ was that ultimate sacrifice and that the blood of bulls and
goats does not satisfy God, does not take away sin.
You know that.
You don't go looking for the tree of knowledge of good and evil and say, hey, I can't eat
from that tree because that was in the time of Adam and Eve.
That tree does not exist for us today.
So common sense should indicate to you if you know God's word that you're going to be
able to rightly divide God's word.
But hey, if you only had the Old Testament, you only read the Old Testament and you didn't
read the New Testament, you may very well think you still need to sacrifice animals
in a temple in Jerusalem.
But look, God says, rightly divide the word of truth.
So yes, point number five, we need to study his word.
Point number six, we need to do the word.
We need to do the word.
Turn with me to the book of James chapter one, James chapter one, verse 22.
James chapter one, verse 22.
Because here's the thing, it's all good to hear God's word, to read God's word, to meditate
on his word, to memorize his word, to study the word of God.
But if we're not doing his word, then you're missing out on the biggest thing.
You're missing out.
You can be full of knowledge.
You might know, hey, I need to love the brethren, but you may not even love the brethren.
You may know that's something you need to do, but you may not actually practice what
you know.
So God makes it very clear, we need to be doers.
James chapter one, verse 22.
But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only.
So should we hear God's word?
Yes, that's point number one.
But hey, again, we need a right balance.
We need all these things in our life when it comes to the word of God.
Be not hearers only, deceive in your own selves.
You see, here's the thing.
There are many Christians that know the word of God very well.
They know many doctrines, right?
But they don't do God's word.
They know they shouldn't forsake the assembly of the church, but they forsake the assembly.
They know they ought to love the brethren, but they don't love the brethren.
They know many doctrines, but they don't put it into practice.
If you don't put them into practice, it says you deceive your own selves.
Verse 23.
For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his
natural face in a glass.
For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of
man he was.
And so it gives us this analogy, it's like, you know, if you're someone that doesn't do
God's word, you look in a mirror, you see yourself in the mirror, for a moment you can
see what you look like, but then you go away and you totally forget what you look like.
Because here's the thing.
If you want to retain God's word, if you want to know his word, you need to do his word.
You might learn it, like I have a temporary learning of his word, but if you're not practicing
it, you're going to forget it, just like the natural man that forgets what manner he is.
You know, I experienced that, I mentioned that when I went to Chile, I didn't do any
soul winning for three months.
I came back and I was very rusty.
It's almost like, it's not that I had forgotten obviously, but when you don't practice it,
you do tend to forget God's word and you do tend to forget the knowledge that God has
already given you.
Verse 25, But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, not
being a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
So do you want to be blessed by God?
Do you want to be blessed in your works and your deeds?
Then don't be a forgetful hearer, be a doer of the word.
Listen and hear and then do it, put it into practice.
And then I'll just leave you with this, Luke chapter 8 verse 20, Luke chapter 8 verse 20
and 21, and it was told him by certain which said, so people came to Jesus, some people
came to Jesus and told him these things.
He said, thy mother and thy brethren stand without desiring to see thee.
So the mother of Jesus Christ and the half brothers of him came to see him, wanted to
talk to him, obviously Jesus was busy, and then Jesus says this in verse 21, and he answered
and said unto them, my mother and my brethren are these which hear the word of God and do
it, my mother and my brethren are these which hear the word of God and do it.
Now if you're saved, you are a child of God, that makes you a friend of God, that makes
you a brother of Jesus Christ, because he's the son of God, you're the son of God, that
makes Jesus Christ your brother, because we've got God the father, right?
But Jesus says hey, you know if you want to be my brother, and it's not about salvation,
but he's talking about those that hear the word of God and do it, that's his brethren.
It's not the physical that matters, it's the spiritual, it's those that know God's word
and does it.
If you want to be counted, I'm not talking about salvation here, but if you want to be
counted by Christ as his brethren, as his family, then you need to not just hear it,
but do God's word.
So just a quick point, if you're someone that, some people struggle to have their kids sit
still in church, and look, I want to have a family integrated church, I want to have
children here, and I know that children are easily distracted, I know that children make
noise and right now, Sebastian, Sebastian, Johnny, stop.
Right now even my own children, they're talking and getting distracted.
But I get asked sometimes the question, how do you make them sit still?
I'll tell you how, especially the younger ones that can't read God's word, you know
what they can do?
They can hear God's word.
So fathers, let me encourage you, especially if you have young children, get in the habit
of getting them not just to sit still in church, but at home.
Spend time, every day or just a couple of days during the week, get in the habit of
just sitting your children down and reading God's word to them, so they can hear God's
word.
They can't read it just yet, but they can hear and they can absorb God's word.
We know that children absorb so much more than what adults can absorb.
And this is why I want children in the church.
I want children to hear the sermon, they're not stupid, we don't need to put them in the
Sunday school class with watered down lessons.
They can actually take in what is being said and they'll come and ask you sometimes questions
of things that they heard.
So please, always have your children in the church, don't feel afraid or don't think that
I feel bad of you if your children are making noise.
I want them here.
I want them to learn just as much as anyone else.
But hey, if you want them to sit still in church and take in what is being said, you
need to put that into practice in your own home.
You can read the word, as we've learnt, and they can take it in and hear God's word.
And so let me just repeat those six points once again before we close up today.
Number one, hear God's word, two, read the word, three, meditate on the word, four, memorize
the word, five, study the word, and six, do the word.
Let's pray.