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Page number 55, When the Roll is Called Up Yonder.

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When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound, and time shall be no more,

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and the morning breaks eternal, bright and fair,

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when the saint of earth shall gather over on the other shore,

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and the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there.

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When the roll is called up yonder,

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when the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there.

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On that bright and cloudless morning when the dead in Christ shall rise,

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and the glory of his resurrection share,

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when his chosen ones shall gather on their home beyond the skies,

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and the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there.

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When the roll is called up yonder,

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when the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there.

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Let us labor for the Master from the dawn till setting song,

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let us talk of all his wondrous love and care.

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When the life is over and our work on earth is done,

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and the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there.

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When the roll is called up yonder,

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when the roll is called up yonder,

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when the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there.

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Alright, excellent singing everybody, but Rhonda please open us up on a word of prayer.

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Dear Heavenly Father, thank you God for this day and thank you for this church here, Lord.

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I pray God that you bless all of us here and thank you for the two salvations yesterday, Lord.

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I pray you bless them and I pray you'll help them come to church, get baptized, and join our church, Lord.

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We love you in Jesus' name, amen.

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Alright, if you want to take your hymnals, we're going to turn to page number 244.

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It's page number 244, Amazing Grace.

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Page number 244.

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Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.

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I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see.

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T'was grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved.

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How precious did that grace appear, the hour I first believed.

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Though many dangers, toils, and snares have already come,

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Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.

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When we've been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun,

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We've no less days to sing God's praise than when we first begun.

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Alright, excellent singing everybody. At this time we will have our announcements.

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Good morning everyone. The verse of the week is John 1 verse 12.

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John 1 verse 12. But as many as have received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.

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That's John 1 verse 12.

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Alright, service times are 10.30 this morning, 3.30 this afternoon, and Wednesday 6.30 for our Bible study.

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So many times, we're 12.30 yesterday, 1.00 p.m. today, and salvations for April we're 18, and it is the 3rd of May, and we've had three salvations so far.

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For a total of 74 for the year. So, doing very good.

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Attendance down below, right now we're doing our Memory Bible Challenge, which is 1 Corinthians chapter 13.

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1 Corinthians chapter 13, and that is for everyone.

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So, hopefully you've opened it up, and even if you haven't yet, you still have like two weeks.

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So, you still got time, you know, to memorize it quite well.

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Coming up, May 8th, which I believe is this Friday, is our next soul winning marathon, which will be at Central Washington University there in Ellensburg.

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Hopefully you've RSVP'd. If you haven't, just let the Thompsons know.

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Like I said, when we travel, we all travel separate. We always like to make sure we've got everyone together.

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And also, it just allows them to prep. The pastor will be providing lunch.

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Soul winning times, we're going to be there at 10.45. I believe it's going to go until 2.30.

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And then we will have, well, you guys say lunch, I say early dinner, whichever, but then we'll head home after that.

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So, that's the plan that was put out. Like I said, if you haven't let people know that you're going, just let them know.

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So, we know everyone that will be coming.

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May 10th, which is next Sunday, is Mother's Day.

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And so, there will be a special event or a special sermon for that. Go ahead and invite people, bring them in, so you hear a Mother's Day sermon.

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And then, man, just remember it's Mother's Day. One of those that sometimes skips my mind.

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So, luckily I have to stand up here and announce it, so it helps me, helps you.

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I see a lot of nods from the long-haired members, so let's all remember.

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June 9th, coming right up, is Home School Day. That will be the next one. That will be here at the church building at 11 a.m.

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Please RSVP with Ms. Kylie so she can plan the games, food, and everything else.

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And then also, let's just give thanks. I heard the ladies event yesterday went very well, so thank you to the Thompsons for putting that on.

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And pictures may look like it was a blast, so hopefully everyone had a good time then.

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Alright, kids, your memory verse has changed. So, your memory verse for right now is Psalms 59, verse 17.

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Psalms 59, verse 17.

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Unto thee, O my strength, will I sing, for God is my defense and the God of my mercy.

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It's Psalms 59, verse 17. If you can memorize that, kids, and recite it to Ms. Kylie, you'll receive a piece of candy.

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Alright, rules are all down. To anything information looks sad, because it's the beginning of the month.

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We have no birthdays, no anniversaries to our knowledge, at least in the bulletin.

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But if you have any other prayer requests, please let the Thompsons know and they will get it into the bulletin.

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But with that, let's turn to the Lord in prayer.

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Heavenly Father, thank you so much for this day. Thank you for allowing all these people to come together, to sing songs unto you,

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pray together, and to hear your word together, to be edified and grow in knowledge and wisdom in your word, Lord.

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Lord, we thank you for those that have been saved this year. We just pray that even more willful hearers can hear this year.

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And we'd go out to the fields right for harvest and go out and gather them, not just during regular times,

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but even to our co-workers, our friends, to other people's families.

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We just reach those that are willing to hear and to get saved, Lord.

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Lord, we pray for those that are seeking your guidance and direction in their lives.

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We pray for Amanda's mother and for your will to be shown in her life,

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that for Victoria's father's health, for her back pain, for Joan's lupus treatment,

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for Timothy's to see God's will in his life, for Shanika to have justice seen in her life,

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for Lamond's family with the baby's health diagnosis,

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for the Larsen's family with dealing with the stresses of their son being deployed,

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for Kylie's great-grandmother's stroke that happened this week.

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We just pray that recovery is quick with them.

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We pray for Kyle in the many areas of life that he needs prayer in.

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We pray for his uncle, who is still in comfort care, going on for quite a while for now, but keep him in prayer.

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Lord, we pray for all those that are trying to change their lives to better serve you, Lord,

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and also that the springtime illnesses bypass and that people can be healthy and fully able to work in their home and in the Lord's house.

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Lord, in all these things, we give thanks. In Jesus' name, Amen.

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All right, if you want to go ahead and take your psalm books, or your Bibles,

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I would advise using your psalm book and turn to Psalm 119.

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Psalm 119.

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Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.

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I have sworn and I will preform it, that I will keep thy righteous judgments.

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I am afflicted very much quick in me, O Lord, according unto thy word.

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The wicked have laid us near for me, yet I erred not from thy precepts.

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Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage forever.

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Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.

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Accept I beseech thee the free will of rings of my mouth, O Lord, and teach me thy judgments.

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My soul is continually in my head, yet do I not forget thy law.

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The wicked have laid us near for me, yet I erred not from thy precepts.

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Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage forever.

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Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.

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For they are the rejoicing of my heart. I have inclined my heart to preform thy statutes.

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Even unto the end I hate vain thoughts, but thy blood do I love.

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The wicked have laid us near for me, yet I erred not from thy precepts.

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Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage forever.

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Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.

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Good morning everyone.

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Welcome to Shur Foundation Baptist Church.

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If you could go ahead and take your Bibles and turn to Job chapter 23.

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Job chapter 23 is our text.

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And as always here at our church we read the entire chapter before the preaching.

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Job chapter 23 the Bible reads.

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Then Job answered and said, Even today is my complaint bitter, my stroke is heavier than my groaning.

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O that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his seat.

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I would order my cause before him and fill my mouth with arguments.

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I would know the words which he would answer me and understand what he would say unto me.

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Will he plead against me with his great power? No.

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But he would put strength in me.

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There the righteous might dispute with him, so should I be delivered forever from my judge.

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Behold I go forward, but he is not there, and backward.

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But I cannot perceive him. On the left hand, where doth he work? But I cannot behold him.

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He hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him.

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But he knoweth the way that I take. When he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

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My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept, and not declined.

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Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips.

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I have steamed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.

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But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? And what his soul desireth, even that he doeth.

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For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me, and many such things are with him.

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Therefore am I troubled at his presence, when I consider I am afraid of him.

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For God maketh my heart soft, and the Almighty troubleth me, because I was not cut off before the darkness.

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Neither hath he covered the darkness from my face.

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Brother Daniel, could you pray for the preaching?

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Amen. You guys are there in Job 23. We're going to look in at verse number 12, where the Bible says,

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Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips. I have steamed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.

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The title of my sermon this morning is Essentials Read Your Bible. Let's pray.

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Here with God, thank you so much for this wonderful day. Thank you so much for everything you do for us, God.

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Thank you so much for this great chapter from your word, God, to read and to apply to our lives.

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God, I just pray right now that you would help me to preach a sermon that would be edifying to people in this room.

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I pray that people in this room would understand this subject better, God, and it would help them throughout this week, God, to be more motivated to serve you, God.

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Thank you so much for the people that showed up today and that I know would show up if they didn't have other things preventing them, God.

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I just pray that you'd help us to continue to do good work as a church, and I pray that you'd keep me from saying what you don't want me to say in the sermon,

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and help me to say boldly what you do want me to say. In Jesus name I pray, amen.

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The title of my sermon, like I said, again is Essentials Read Your Bible. We're here in Job chapter 23, and we're going to be continuing our Essentials series.

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So far we've only talked about one essential for being a Christian, and that was the fear of God.

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And in that sermon, if you remember, the two main points I brought up, which I'm not going to spend very much time to recap,

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but the two main points were in that sermon about fearing God, that when the Bible talks about fearing God, it truly does mean that we are supposed to fear him.

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That people will say, oh, fear just means reverence, but truly we should both reverence and fear God Almighty.

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It doesn't need to be one or the other. It should be both of these things.

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But then the same thing we talked about in that sermon was the fact that when the Bible says fear God and keep his commandments,

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that that is the whole duty of man, so we should in no way, shape, or form take that commandment lightly of fearing God.

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And I submitted to you that a big reason why that is under attack nowadays is because the devil knows that that is the beginning of wisdom.

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That's the beginning of knowledge is the fear of the Lord.

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So that is an essential to us for being a Christian, but this one is also essential, and that is Bible reading, reading your Bible every day as a Christian.

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And when I say essential, what I mean by that is essential for becoming a mature Christian and the essential for maintaining the status of being a mature Christian.

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Because being a Christian and how far you are along in the Christian life is not just like riding a bike where, you know, you learn how to ride a bike one time and then you just never forget.

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Being a Christian, I would as far as being a mature Christian, I would liken it way more like to weightlifting, where if you go to the gym and you dedicate a lot of progress to lifting weights, you will make gains.

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But if you stop going, you also lose those gains as well.

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So it is the same way with the with the maturity of a Christian.

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And in my opinion, that if you stop doing the things that make you a mature Christian, you will eventually devolve into being immature.

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Once more, you almost become like a baby in Christ.

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Baby in Christ, but once more, not concerning the doctrines, because we don't really forget the doctrines, you know, you can technically, but that's not really what I'm talking about.

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I'm talking about how you behave, though, in your day to day life.

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If you don't, you know, keep on the things you're supposed to do as a Christian, the essentials of being a Christian, then you will you'll you'll regress.

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So we want to try to prevent that as Christians.

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And so this morning for this sermon, though, like I told you, we're going to be talking about Bible reading and the format of this sermon is going to be a little bit different than the other one was in this one.

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I'm going to explain to you like why it's essential to read the Bible.

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And then I'm also going to intertwine in some tips that were that will be helpful to you, Lord willing, for you reading your Bible and for you retaining what you read from the Bible.

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Tips that have helped me out a lot in my life for both reading the Bible and retaining what I've read in the Bible.

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But with that being said, we'll just get in right to the sermon right away.

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The first point of this sermon of why Bible reading is essential is because the Bible reading is essential because the Bible says it's essential.

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Joke 23 verse number 12, it says, Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips.

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I have esteemed the words of his mouth more necessary or more than my necessary food.

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So I know that this is a verse that you guys have have heard before.

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I'm sure that, you know, someone's preached on this subject.

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I'm sure multiple people have preached on this subject before.

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But I do want you to for every verse I bring with the sermon, not just tune them out, because sometimes I feel like, you know, we can hear verses so often that we get to sensitize to them that we stop letting them, you know, have the power that they should have over us in our lives.

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But truly every verse that I go to in this subject, I'm sure you have seen before.

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But I want you to really examine with me these verses I'm going to bring up and meditate on them and allow them to impact your life.

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Don't ever get to the state as a Christian where you just allow the word of God to go over your head.

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What some people I've heard call like the gospel glaze where you just like verses that you know that were once really powerful to you.

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They just, you know, go right over your head or they just go right past you without you thinking about them.

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The words of the of the words of the Bible are pure words and they will change your life.

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They're powerful as Bible says.

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You have to allow them to be though. You can't just harden your heart or stiffen your neck like we see so often in the Bible.

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But I feel like as a preacher sometimes as well when it comes to popular verses, sometimes I'm sure some of the men in here that have made sermons can relate to this.

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Sometimes when it comes to popular verses, you almost like having aversion to them sometimes because you'll feel like, you know, oh, everybody already has heard this verse before.

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Everybody knows what this verse is teaching. So maybe I'll try to go to a more obscure verse.

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Can anybody relate to that? Has made a survey in here.

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You're like, oh, we know what this says.

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But something that Pastor Shelley said at a at a men's preaching night when I went and visited church camp really stuck with me for a long time now.

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And that is the fact that he said this to give someone correction in their sermon.

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He said the most popular verses in the Bible are popular for a reason.

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He says John three sixteen is popular for a reason.

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Romans five eight is popular for a reason.

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Ephesians two eight nine are popular for a reason because these verses are exceedingly powerful.

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So as a preacher, you should never shy away from something just because people know it.

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Because the reality about us as Christians is that we need to hear the word of God over and over and over again because we're all at different stages in our Christian walk.

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And also we're at different like ebbs and flow in our life where sometimes we're really receptive to a set of verses and sometimes we're not.

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So we just need to continue to preach every single word from the mouth of God no matter if we think it's popular or not.

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But especially if they're popular because again, their verses are popular for a reason because they are powerful.

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But going back into the sermon, though, with that kind of thought in mind, look at verse number 12 of this chapter.

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Excuse me. Verse number 12 of this chapter says, Neither have I gone back from the commandments of his lips.

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I have esteemed the words of his mouth more or a mouth more than my necessary food.

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So Job makes an incredibly bold statement here.

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OK, he says, Hey, the words of the Lord, the commandments of his lips, he says, these things are more important to me than even my food itself.

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And this is not to say what Job is not saying here is that your food is not necessary because you will literally die if you don't eat food.

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If you don't eat food, if you don't drink water, you will die.

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But what Job is saying here is despite the fact that these things are necessary, the word of God is even more necessary than anything on this earth, whether it's the food you eat, whether it's the water you drink, whether it's the air that you breathe.

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The word of God is more necessary than anything on this earth.

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And it's no wonder with an attitude like this that Job was such a great man in the Bible, someone who was perfect.

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It says he was complete. He was upright.

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He was upright. He's someone who feared God and eschewed evil because this is how he esteemed the word of God.

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He esteemed the word of God as essential in his life.

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We see a couple of people or excuse me.

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We see two other people that do this as well that I'll show you.

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Go to Psalms 119 verse number one, Psalms 119 verse number one.

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Someone else who took the word of God to be necessary, someone else who saw the word of God as essential was King David himself.

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And we can see this all throughout Psalms 119 because in Psalms 119, one, it says blessed are the undefiled in the way who walk in the law of the Lord.

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And two weeks ago, I just did a sermon on verse number 165 of this chapter.

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And I explained to you guys that all 176 verses of this chapter of Psalms 119, they're all about the word of God, which is super awesome.

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And the fact that this is the longest chapter in the entire Bible should testify to us itself.

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How important the word of God is that the longest chapter in the entire Bible is about the word of God itself.

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But even if you just look at all these verses in this chapter, you just see how powerful these are and see how highly David must have esteemed the word of God.

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Look at verse number 10 and just bounce with me through these verses real quick.

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It says verse number 10, with my whole heart have I sought thee, oh, let me not wander from my commandments.

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Thy word have I hidden my heart that I might not sin against thee.

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Verse number 20 says, my soul breaketh for the longing that it hath unto the unto thy judgments at all times.

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Verse 40 says, behold, I have longed after thy precepts quicken me in my righteousness.

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Verse 97 says, oh, how I love thy law.

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It is my meditation all the day.

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Verse 126 says, it is time for thee, Lord, to work, for they have made void thy law.

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Therefore I love thy commandments above gold, yea, above fine gold.

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Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right.

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And I hate every false way.

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Verse 129, thy testimonies are wonderful.

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Therefore doth my soul keep them.

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And verse 176, the very last verse of this chapter, it says, I have gone astray like a like a lost sheep.

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Seek thy servant, for I do not forget thy commandments.

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What a beautiful set of verses within a beautiful, you know, chapter itself.

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I'd love to just go through the whole thing, but that would take up a big chunk of our time.

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Just have Brother Ryan read it before the service beforehand.

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Just send all of it, okay?

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But truly when I was studying for this sermon, I was thinking to myself,

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this must, like King David must have really spent a lot of his time for just meditating on the law of God.

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Just meditating on the word of God.

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Because if you gave me a pen and paper right now and so I was like, hey, write 176 verses about just the word of God,

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it would be pretty tough to do.

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And obviously we know he's guided by the Holy Spirit,

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but that shouldn't, you know, downplay the fact that David clearly was meditating day and night on the law of God.

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He was meditating day and night on the word of God,

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and clearly he esteemed the word of God as essential in his life.

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The last person we'll talk about, go to Matthew 4, verse number 1 that we see,

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and obviously these are not the only people in the Bible that have seen the Bible as essential,

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but these are great examples of men that found the Bible essential.

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Then this is probably the most popular verse when it comes to Bible reading, Matthew 4, verse number 1.

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The Bible says,

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But he answered and said,

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And this is I'm sure another set of verses that people get desensitized to because we hear it so much,

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because again it is a very powerful verse.

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But like think about the context here and you'll realize how powerful this verse truly is.

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Jesus Christ has just got done fasting for 40 days and for 40 nights,

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and at the end of his session of fasting,

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the devil tries to tempt him with food, which it must have been incredibly hard to resist,

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because the text itself, if you cop that, even says that Jesus was hungered afterward, right?

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He was hungering afterward.

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So this must have been incredibly hard to resist.

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Even thinking back to times when you know that I've done fasting in my life,

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and I'm sure you guys can all relate to this if you've fasted before,

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but like even just resisting food on day one of a fast is incredibly hard, let alone day 40.

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Like this is 40 days here, it's just so incredible to me.

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Like I know that I'll never attain that.

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40 days is incredible, it's super awesome.

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But like the longest I've ever done a fasting for was a day and a half,

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and it wasn't supposed to be a day and a half, it was supposed to be two days actually, okay?

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But I broke in the middle of the first day,

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and I was just thinking to myself when I was writing this,

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and the reason I bring that up is like how incredible it was that Jesus Christ had the willpower to resist

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after 40 days of prayer and fasting.

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And through his willpower, through his determination, through his care for us in these verses,

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he delivers unto us one of the most powerful verses,

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if not the most powerful verse about reading the Bible where he says,

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man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

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Such a powerful verse when you like think about the context and think about the situation that's going on.

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And there's really like a lot of things that I would like to bring up with this story

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that I just wouldn't have time to do because it would just derail my whole sermon.

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But the two relevant things that I'll bring up from these stories and the verses that I've read so far is this,

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is that the first thing is that these are three of the most godly men that we see in the Bible.

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You know, obviously Jesus Christ is number one, and then you're going to have David and Job,

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got to be like top 10 at least, right?

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Of the most righteous, holy, God-fearing men in the Bible.

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And what do they all have in common? They all esteem the word of God very highly is what we see.

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And so clearly what God wants us to take from these verses is that we should also esteem the word of God very highly in our lives.

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We should esteem the word of God as something that's essential in our lives and to our lives.

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But the second thing I wanted to bring up, go to Proverbs 3, verse number 9, Proverbs 3, verse number 9,

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because the reality is, well, you got to turn there too, is that Jesus Christ,

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if Jesus Christ, who is God, manifests in the flesh, the word of God manifests in the flesh,

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and Job, who the Bible says was a perfect and upright man who feared God and eschewed evil,

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and David, who was a man after God's own heart, if all three of these men thought that the word of God was important,

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if they esteemed it highly, then surely we should esteem the word of God highly in our lives as well.

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If we hope to attain even to being close to the ballpark of anywhere of their righteousness or of their holiness

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in serving God and obeying his commandments.

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But the second thing I wanted to bring up, and this is why you guys are going to Proverbs 3, verse number 9,

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is that Jesus Christ says in this passage, man shall not live by bread alone,

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but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

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What does that mean though? It means we cannot, we must not, as Christians, live our lives on just the food that we eat.

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We need the word of God as Christians. We need the word of God, we need to esteem it as essential just like Jesus Christ,

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just like Job, just like David in the Bible, just like any good man of God from the Bible.

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And so as a Christian, if you are not reading your Bible every day,

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then you are doing something that Jesus Christ says that you shall not do.

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So if you're not reading your Bible every day, that's something that you need to fix today.

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And I think this morning is something you need to fix because this is essential to being a good, godly, and mature Christian.

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And sometimes when Christians hear this, they'll think to themselves like, oh, well, I do hear the word of God though.

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I hear it on Sundays and I hear it on Wednesdays, okay, which is good.

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You should hear it on Sundays and on Wednesdays.

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But let me tell you, this is not enough for you as a Christian though.

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That is not enough for you to survive because if you like going,

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like just thinking back to what we just read right there about Jesus Christ saying,

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Jesus will not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceed out of the mouth of God.

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Jesus likens the carnal food that we eat to the reading of his word, yeah, and to the intaking of his work.

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So if you just think about this even in a food sense, in a carnal sense,

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would it be enough for you in your day to day life if you just only ate on Sundays and on Wednesdays?

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That would not be enough to sustain you physically.

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So then what we should take from that is this, is that that's also not going to be enough to sustain you spiritually either.

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So you need to be reading the Bible every single day just like you eat food every day.

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And not just like you don't when you eat a meal, most of the time we eat three times a day.

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We don't necessarily have to read the Bible three times a day.

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But what I am saying is this, is that you eat a healthy portion of food in the day.

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So you should also take in a healthy portion of the word of God as well.

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This is the natural analogy that Jesus is clearly drawing from this passage of scripture right here.

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But I'd submit to you that there's a lot of Christians out there that are starving spiritually

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because they don't esteem the word of God highly.

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They don't make the word of God something important in their life.

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And they don't even make time in their day to read the Bible like Jesus Christ says you shall do here.

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That you shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

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I'd submit to you that there's a lot of Christians nowadays that are starving spiritually

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because they don't esteem the word of God as something that's even important enough to take 15 minutes in their day to read.

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It's a great shame for us as Christians.

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It's a great shame because here's the reality when I was thinking about this sermon as well.

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There's probably Christians that fast more often from the Bible itself than they ever do from food or from water.

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There's probably Christians that are no stranger to a 40-day fast.

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Not from food and water because that would be insane.

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But probably no strangers to a fast from the Bible itself.

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And let me tell you if that's your estate in this room you need to fix that because this is not acceptable.

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It is essential for you to read the Bible every single day as a Christian.

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Every single day just like you'd eat every single day.

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Just like you'd drink every single day.

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The word of God should be as essential as the things, the physical things that you consume on this earth.

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And even more essential because that's what Job says in the Bible.

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So if you're not reading your Bible every single day you need to be as a Christian and make the Bible essential in your life.

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But let me intertwine this in with a little bit of a tip.

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If you're someone in here that knows you should be reading your Bible but you struggle to read the Bible this is the tip.

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The first tip I'd give to you is you should read your Bible in the morning.

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Or you should read your Bible as early in the day as you possibly can.

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And you guys are there in Proverbs 3 verse number 9.

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I'll say though as a little bit of a caveat there are some faithful nighttime Bible readers.

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If that's you I'm not talking about you okay whatever.

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You can do your little night owl Bible reading.

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Okay. AM supremacy over here okay.

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But this is for people that are struggling to read the Bible.

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This is for people that you know want to be consistent but are struggling to do that.

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I would advise you to read the Bible in the morning. Here's why.

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Proverbs 3 9 says honor the Lord with thy substance and with the first fruits of all thine increase.

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All over the Bible we see this idea of offering God the first fruits.

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You ever wonder why that is?

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Why is it that God cares about it being the first fruits?

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Because we offer God 10% no matter what.

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Isn't that what the Bible teaches about tithing?

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You give him 10%.

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So you think about it like why would God care if you give him the first fruits, the middle fruits, or the last fruits?

01:00:20.000 --> 01:00:23.000
I mean he gets 10% no matter what so why would he care?

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Well the reasons I'd submit to you that are relevant from this sermon is that the reason why God wants the first fruits from you concerning tithing

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but concerning a lot of things in your life because you can apply this spiritually is because when you don't give God the first fruits

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the odds are a lot of times that you'll forget to give him any fruits at all.

01:00:39.000 --> 01:00:42.000
And you can probably relate to this if you are a tither in here.

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When you first get your paycheck if you tithe the same day or the same week as soon as you get your money it's really easy to tithe.

01:00:49.000 --> 01:00:57.000
It's like no big deal, barely an inconvenience, just like super easy to do because you have that big lump sum of money.

01:00:57.000 --> 01:01:04.000
But then like if you wait, like you forget or something like that it gets harder every single day to tithe because you're like man I kind of need this money for the bills.

01:01:04.000 --> 01:01:12.000
So you can see there why the first fruits is important because when you don't give God the first fruits it's likely that you won't give him any fruits at all.

01:01:12.000 --> 01:01:17.000
Whether that's on purpose or whether you just forget because that's what happens to me more often than not.

01:01:17.000 --> 01:01:19.000
That's why I tried to make this change in my life to read the Bible in the morning.

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Most of the time when I wouldn't read the Bible it wasn't because I didn't want to read the Bible because I did I would just forget at the end of the day.

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Or I'd be so tired at the end of the day and just be like ah we'll start you know we'll start off good tomorrow.

01:01:30.000 --> 01:01:35.000
Something like that right? It's like it's not that I didn't want to read the Bible it's just I was putting it off.

01:01:35.000 --> 01:01:40.000
But this is the danger of not giving God the first fruits in all areas of your life.

01:01:40.000 --> 01:01:44.000
So I submit to you if you're struggling to read the Bible get up and do it first thing.

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Get up and read in the morning rather than at night.

01:01:49.000 --> 01:01:57.000
And that leads me to the second thing because the second reason why you'd give God the first fruits is because this guarantees that your Bible reading will get done.

01:01:57.000 --> 01:02:08.000
Because like when you do something first in the day it just virtually guarantees it's going to get done and that you can't be like oh I forgot or oh I'm too tired or oh something came up or oh I don't have enough time.

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You have to make time to read your Bible though.

01:02:11.000 --> 01:02:16.000
And when you give God the first fruits you're dedicating a purposeful slot of time to him.

01:02:16.000 --> 01:02:19.000
This is why I believe it's so important to him.

01:02:19.000 --> 01:02:22.000
And that way you can't be like oh I just ran out of time.

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Because that's the biggest use that people use a lot.

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Like oh I just don't have time to read the Bible.

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Not even just for the Bible. People do it for lots of stuff.

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It's like I just don't have any time in my day.

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But the reality is is that what is important to you you will make time for.

01:02:34.000 --> 01:02:36.000
In every area of your life.

01:02:36.000 --> 01:02:37.000
Whether it's spiritual things.

01:02:37.000 --> 01:02:39.000
Whether it's your hobbies.

01:02:39.000 --> 01:02:42.000
You will find time to do what is actually important to you.

01:02:42.000 --> 01:02:44.000
So if you're not finding time to read the Bible.

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You know what that says though.

01:02:46.000 --> 01:02:48.000
That you don't find the Bible essential.

01:02:48.000 --> 01:02:49.000
It's not essential to your life.

01:02:49.000 --> 01:02:54.000
It's not essential as your food or as your water or anything like that.

01:02:54.000 --> 01:02:59.000
So if you're struggling to read the Bible I would advise you to read it in the morning.

01:02:59.000 --> 01:03:01.000
And to find time for it.

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Go to Ephesians 6.10 if you would. Ephesians 6.

01:03:03.000 --> 01:03:05.000
Verse number 10.

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Again like I said if you read your Bible faithfully at night.

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I'm not trying to mess you up out of your schedule.

01:03:10.000 --> 01:03:11.000
That is good too.

01:03:11.000 --> 01:03:13.000
This is for people that need that help.

01:03:13.000 --> 01:03:15.000
And it helped me a lot.

01:03:15.000 --> 01:03:17.000
Again that's why I say that as well.

01:03:17.000 --> 01:03:20.000
It really helped me a lot as a Christian when I changed from doing that.

01:03:20.000 --> 01:03:22.000
Because I used to do the same thing.

01:03:22.000 --> 01:03:24.000
Oh like hey I'm 9 o'clock at night.

01:03:24.000 --> 01:03:26.000
I'm reading the Bible though.

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It's fine with Danny until it's not.

01:03:28.000 --> 01:03:30.000
It is what it is until it isn't.

01:03:30.000 --> 01:03:32.000
Like I said before.

01:03:32.000 --> 01:03:34.000
Ephesians 6.10.

01:03:34.000 --> 01:03:36.000
You guys are going there real quick.

01:03:36.000 --> 01:03:38.000
I just wanted to bring up though.

01:03:38.000 --> 01:03:40.000
Because sometimes people get this attitude about Bible reading.

01:03:40.000 --> 01:03:44.000
And this reminds me of like a story at a church camp.

01:03:44.000 --> 01:03:45.000
Not even a story.

01:03:45.000 --> 01:03:47.000
Something that I lived through at a church camp.

01:03:47.000 --> 01:03:51.000
Where the preacher, the very first preacher that I ever heard raise his voice when he was preaching.

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I don't even remember the dude's name.

01:03:53.000 --> 01:03:55.000
But I remember that he was preaching some fire.

01:03:55.000 --> 01:03:57.000
And I had never heard that before because at my old IFB church.

01:03:57.000 --> 01:04:00.000
The pastor that we had he was just very monotone.

01:04:00.000 --> 01:04:02.000
Like never got animated.

01:04:02.000 --> 01:04:04.000
Never got dynamic in any way, shape or form.

01:04:04.000 --> 01:04:06.000
I didn't know anything to rile him up.

01:04:06.000 --> 01:04:08.000
And I thought it was very bizarre.

01:04:08.000 --> 01:04:10.000
As a kid.

01:04:10.000 --> 01:04:12.000
Or I should say I find it very bizarre now.

01:04:12.000 --> 01:04:14.000
Because back then I didn't know the difference.

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I was just like oh okay this is what preaching is.

01:04:16.000 --> 01:04:18.000
And then I go to church camp when I'm like in 5th grade and I'm getting my face ripped off.

01:04:18.000 --> 01:04:20.000
And I'm like oh this is what like the say it the Lord preaching is.

01:04:20.000 --> 01:04:22.000
This is what like Baptist fire breathing preaching is.

01:04:22.000 --> 01:04:24.000
But the guy got up and he was preaching a sermon.

01:04:24.000 --> 01:04:26.000
And he was like people will come up to me all the time and be like.

01:04:26.000 --> 01:04:28.000
Oh how do you get the desire to read your Bible?

01:04:28.000 --> 01:04:30.000
He was like because I'll have people come up to me and be like.

01:04:30.000 --> 01:04:32.000
Oh I've prayed to God.

01:04:32.000 --> 01:04:34.000
Give me the desire to read my Bible.

01:04:34.000 --> 01:04:36.000
And it just hasn't come to me yet.

01:04:36.000 --> 01:04:38.000
And he was like listen.

01:04:38.000 --> 01:04:40.000
If you're saved as a Christian.

01:04:40.000 --> 01:04:42.000
You have the Holy Spirit in your heart.

01:04:42.000 --> 01:04:44.000
That should be all the desire that you need to read the Bible.

01:04:44.000 --> 01:04:46.000
He was like what are you asking God to read?

01:04:46.000 --> 01:04:48.000
Like the desire.

01:04:48.000 --> 01:04:50.000
He told you to read the Bible.

01:04:50.000 --> 01:04:52.000
So just pick up the Bible and read it like he said to.

01:04:52.000 --> 01:04:54.000
And he was like just ripping on this.

01:04:54.000 --> 01:04:56.000
And I just loved it as a kid.

01:04:56.000 --> 01:04:58.000
I remember this stuck out to my mom a lot.

01:04:58.000 --> 01:05:00.000
Because she brought this up for you know what got her consistent in her Bible reading as well.

01:05:00.000 --> 01:05:02.000
He's just like hey does God have to do everything for you?

01:05:02.000 --> 01:05:04.000
It's like he already saved you.

01:05:04.000 --> 01:05:06.000
He already put the Holy Spirit in your heart.

01:05:06.000 --> 01:05:08.000
He gives you the Spirit that guides you into all truth.

01:05:08.000 --> 01:05:10.000
That lets you understand the Bible.

01:05:10.000 --> 01:05:12.000
It's like does he have to do it all for you?

01:05:12.000 --> 01:05:14.000
Does God need to pick up the Bible for you?

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And read it to you out loud for you to be happy with it?

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Like does God have to like give you a bottle and put it in your mouth?

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And be like here let's read the Bible now Jimmy.

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He's like no just pick up the Bible and read it.

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That's what he commanded you to do.

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Find the desire.

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This is the reality of Bible reading as well.

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The more you read the Bible the more you want to read the Bible.

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The more you make time for the Bible the more it becomes important to you.

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So and sometimes when you get out of the swing of it it is hard to get back into it.

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But just pick it up and read it.

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That's what he commanded you to do.

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That's what the preacher said.

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He was like you don't need a desire.

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You just need to obey what God says.

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And then the desire comes afterwards.

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You get to a point sometimes when you're so in a schedule.

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You're so in a routine that you're like I can't not read my Bible.

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You're like I can't not read my Bible.

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You're like I can't not read my Bible.

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You're like I can't not read my Bible.

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You're like I can't not read my Bible.

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I can't not pray. I can't not go soul hunting.

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It's like I'm compelled to do these things.

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That is walking in the spirit.

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And to do that you need to just get up and make yourself read your Bible sometimes or any other kind of good spiritual work.

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You just got to make yourself and you learn to love these kind of things.

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Ephesians 6, 10.

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The first point of my sermon is that Bible reading is essential because the Bible says it's essential.

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And the second point of my sermon is that the Bible is our only weapon in the armor of God.

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Ephesians 6, 10 it says,

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Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and the power of his might.

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Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand or stand against the wiles of the devil.

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For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers, the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

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Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand.

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Stand therefore having your loins gird about with truth and with the power of his might.

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For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers, the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

01:06:38.000 --> 01:06:40.000
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers, the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

01:06:40.000 --> 01:06:42.000
Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand.

01:06:42.000 --> 01:06:44.000
Stand therefore having your loins gird about with truth and having on the breastplate of righteousness and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.

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Above all, taking the shield of faith wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked and the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit which is the sword of the spirit.

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Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand.

01:06:48.000 --> 01:06:50.000
Stand therefore having your loins gird about with truth and having on the breastplate of righteousness and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.

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Above all, taking the shield of faith wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked and the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit which is the sword of the spirit.

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The Bible is the word of God.

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The reason why the word of God is so essential to you and why the word of God is so essential to you as a Christian is because this is our only weapon in the armor of God.

01:07:42.000 --> 01:07:44.000
The reason why the word of God is so essential to you and why the word of God is so essential to you as a Christian is because this is our only weapon in the armor of God.

01:07:44.000 --> 01:07:46.000
The reason why the word of God is so essential to you and why the word of God is so essential to you as a Christian is because this is our only weapon in the armor of God.

01:07:46.000 --> 01:07:48.000
The reason why the word of God is so essential to you and why the word of God is so essential to you as a Christian is because this is our only weapon in the armor of God.

01:07:48.000 --> 01:07:50.000
The reason why the word of God is so essential to you and why the word of God is so essential to you as a Christian is because this is our only weapon in the armor of God.

01:07:50.000 --> 01:07:52.000
The reason why the word of God is so essential to you as a Christian is because this is our only weapon in the armor of God.

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If you're going out in this world without the word of God in your heart, without the word of God in your hand, then the best that you can do is just repel the attacks of the enemy.

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If you're going out in this world without the word of God in your heart, without the word of God in your hand, then the best that you can do is just repel the attacks of the enemy.

01:08:24.000 --> 01:08:26.000
If you're going out in this world without the word of God in your heart, without the word of God in your hand, then the best that you can do is just repel the attacks of the enemy.

01:08:26.000 --> 01:08:28.000
If you're going out in this world without the word of God in your heart, without the word of God in your hand, then the best that you can do is just repel the attacks of the enemy.

01:08:28.000 --> 01:08:30.000
If you're going out in this world without the word of God in your heart, without the word of God in your hand, without the word of God in your hand, then the best that you can do is just repel the attacks of the enemy.

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You have people that are at best, they have like a nerf sword, like all these modern versions, okay, like a real sword, like a little nerf sword, or they have nothing in their hands, or they have a sword that they don't know how to yield in the first place.

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You have people that are at best, they have like a nerf sword, like all these modern versions, okay, like a real sword, like a little nerf sword, or they have nothing in their hands, or they have a sword that they don't know how to yield in the first place.

01:09:02.000 --> 01:09:04.000
You have people that are at best, they have like a nerf sword, like all these modern versions, okay, like a real sword, like a little nerf sword, or they have nothing in their hands, or they have a sword that they don't know how to yield in the first place.

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That's why Christianity is always like it's on the defense nowadays, because we should be advancing, because we do have the offensive weapon, we have the most powerful weapon that there is, the word of God itself!

01:09:06.000 --> 01:09:08.000
That's why Christianity is always like it's on the defense nowadays, because we should be advancing, because we do have the offensive weapon, we have the most powerful weapon that there is, the word of God itself!

01:09:08.000 --> 01:09:10.000
That's why Christianity is always like it's on the defense nowadays, because we should be advancing, because we do have the offensive weapon, we have the most powerful weapon that there is, the word of God itself!

01:09:10.000 --> 01:09:12.000
That's why Christianity is always like it's on the defense nowadays, because we should be advancing, because we do have the offensive weapon, we have the most powerful weapon that there is, the word of God itself!

01:09:12.000 --> 01:09:14.000
The word of God that's quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, like this is the weapon that we have as Christians, and the reason why the world is in the estate that it's in nowadays is not because our weapon has lost its power, it's because Christians have neglected to take advantage of the power that they have through the Bible.

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The word of God that's quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, like this is the weapon that we have as Christians, and the reason why the world is in the estate that it's in nowadays is not because our weapon has lost its power, it's because Christians have neglected to take advantage of the power that they have through the Bible.

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They've neglected the word of God itself. We have a bunch of unskilled swordsmen. We have a bunch of swordsmen that don't know how to yield the weapon or to use the weapon, but we have the most powerful weapon that there is, the word of God itself!

01:09:18.000 --> 01:09:20.000
The word of God that's quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, like this is the weapon that we have as Christians, and the reason why the world is in the estate that it's in nowadays is not because our weapon has lost its power, it's because Christians have neglected to take advantage of the power that they have through the Bible.

01:09:20.000 --> 01:09:22.000
The word of God that's quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, like this is the weapon that we have as Christians, and the reason why the world is in the estate that it's in nowadays is not because our weapon has lost its power, it's because Christians have neglected to take advantage of the power that they have through the Bible.

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They've neglected the word of God itself. We have a bunch of unskilled swordsmen. We have a bunch of swordsmen that don't know how to yield the weapon or to use the weapon that God has given to them.

01:09:25.000 --> 01:09:27.000
It's a great shame, and I would just submit to you that again, we have a bunch of unskilled swordsmen that don't know how to use the weapon that God has given to them.

01:09:27.000 --> 01:09:29.000
It's a great shame, and I would just submit to you that again, we have a bunch of unskilled swordsmen that don't know how to yield the weapon or to use the weapon that God has given to them.

01:09:29.000 --> 01:09:31.000
It's a great shame, and I would just submit to you that again, we have a bunch of unskilled swordsmen that don't know how to use the weapon that God has given to them.

01:09:31.000 --> 01:09:33.000
It's a great shame, and I would just submit to you that again, we have a bunch of unskilled swordsmen that don't know how to wield the weapon that God has given to them.

01:09:33.000 --> 01:09:35.000
It's a great shame, and I would just submit to you that again, we have a bunch of unskilled swordsmen that don't know how to wield the weapon that God has given to them.

01:09:35.000 --> 01:09:37.000
It's a great shame, and I would just submit to you that again, we have a bunch of unskilled swordsmen that don't know how to wield the weapon that God has given to them.

01:09:37.000 --> 01:09:39.000
It's a great shame, and I would just submit to you that again, we have a bunch of unskilled swordsmen that don't know how to wield the weapon that God has given to them.

01:09:39.000 --> 01:09:41.000
It's a great shame, and I would just submit to you that again, we have a bunch of unskilled swordsmen that don't know how to wield the weapon that God has given to them.

01:09:41.000 --> 01:09:43.000
It's a great shame, and I would just submit to you that again, we have a bunch of unskilled swordsmen that don't know how to wield the weapon that God has given to them.

01:09:43.000 --> 01:09:45.000
It's a great shame, and I would just submit to you that again, we have a bunch of unskilled swordsmen that don't know how to wield the weapon that God has given to them.

01:09:45.000 --> 01:09:47.000
It's a great shame, and I would just submit to you that again, we have a bunch of unskilled swordsmen that don't know how to wield the weapon that God has given to them.

01:09:47.000 --> 01:09:49.000
It's a great shame, and I would just submit to you that again, we have a bunch of unskilled swordsmen that don't know how to wield the weapon that God has given to them.

01:09:49.000 --> 01:09:51.000
It's a great shame, and I would just submit to you that again, we have a bunch of unskilled swordsmen that don't know how to wield the weapon that God has given to them.

01:09:51.000 --> 01:09:53.000
I would just submit to you that again, if you're not reading your Bible, that's a problem because that is the only way you'll learn how to wield the sword of the spirit.

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I would just submit to you that again, if you're not reading your Bible, that's a problem because that is the only way you'll learn how to wield the sword of the spirit.

01:09:55.000 --> 01:09:57.000
I would just submit to you that again, if you're not reading your Bible, that's a problem because that is the only way you'll learn how to wield the sword of the spirit.

01:09:57.000 --> 01:09:59.000
I would just submit to you that again, if you're not reading your Bible, that's a problem because that is the only way you'll learn how to wield the sword of the spirit.

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By reading it, by reading the Bible is the only way that you'll know how to actually use it.

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Go to Matthew 6 verse number 11.

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Matthew 6 verse number 11.

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Matthew 6 verse number 11.

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The only thing that we need from Christians nowadays is not just numbers because the reality is that throughout history, God's people have never been in the majority.

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The only thing that we need from Christians nowadays is not just numbers because the reality is that throughout history, God's people have never been in the majority.

01:10:11.000 --> 01:10:13.000
The only thing that we need from Christians nowadays is not just numbers because the reality is that throughout history, God's people have never been in the majority.

01:10:13.000 --> 01:10:15.000
The only thing that we need from Christians nowadays is not just numbers because the reality is that throughout history, God's people have never been in the majority.

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It's usually always the minority because we don't need the majority.

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It's usually always the minority because we don't need the majority.

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We just need God to be on our side.

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But part of that is going to be in having Christians that are skilled in the word of God, that wield the word of God with knowledge and with power.

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And the only way that that can be possible as a Christian is if you're actually reading the Bible.

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And the only way that that can be possible as a Christian is if you're actually reading the Bible.

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And reading the Bible every day is what I'd submit to you.

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Because again, the word of God has not lost its power.

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The word of God is what created the world that we see nowadays.

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The word of God is what Jesus Christ used to defend against Satan when he's being tempted into the wilderness.

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The word of God is what created the world that we see nowadays.

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The word of God is what Jesus Christ used to defend against Satan when he's being tempted into the wilderness.

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And it's the word of God that was able to make us wise unto salvation.

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And it's the word of God that was able to make us wise unto salvation.

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And it's the word of God that was able to make us wise unto salvation.

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The word of God is what Jesus Christ used to defend against Satan when he's being tempted into the wilderness.

01:10:47.000 --> 01:10:49.000
The word of God is what Jesus Christ used to defend against Satan when he's being tempted into the wilderness.

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And it's the word of God that was able to make us wise unto salvation.

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And it's the word of God that was able to make us wise unto salvation.

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That saved our souls.

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The word of God has not lost its power.

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Christians have failed to take up the power of the word of God.

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That's the reality.

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Christians have failed to yield the word of God properly.

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But let that not be said of the people in this room.

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Let the people in this room esteem the Bible for what it is as essential.

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Let the people in this room esteem the Bible for what it is as essential.

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The most essential thing in our life.

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The most essential thing in our life.

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Matthew 6 verse number 11.

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The second tip I wanted to give you guys in between this little thing.

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Is that you should put your armor on before the battle starts.

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Is that you should put your armor on before the battle starts.

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And Matthew 6 verse number 11.

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It says, give us this day our daily bread.

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I know I've made this point before.

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But I do think it's pretty helpful.

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And I was kind of like using the armor of God as an analogy.

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And I was kind of like using the armor of God as an analogy.

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To basically say like, you know, every time you step out of your house.

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You are engaging in spiritual warfare.

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Every time you go outside.

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We are in a spiritual battle.

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When it talks about the armor of God.

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And I'm bearing the sword of the spirit.

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I'd ask you guys like.

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When do you put your armor on for a battle?

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Is it before the battle?

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Or after the battle?

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It is before the battle, right?

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This makes sense, right?

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So that's why another reason I'd advocate you for, you know.

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Reading the Bible in the morning.

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Or just doing the spiritual things that you should be doing in the morning.

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I mean really you should be doing these things all the time.

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We should understand this, right?

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And there's no wrong time to read the Bible.

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And I'm not saying that you should read the Bible in the morning.

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I'm just saying that you should read the Bible in the morning.

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Okay?

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But I'm just saying like if you think about this in this context.

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If we're going outside in this world.

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And we're in a spiritual war.

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It makes sense to go out already armed with the gospel.

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With the armor of God.

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With the sword of the spirit.

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And how do you arm yourself with that?

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By picking it up and reading it.

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Because I'm sure you guys can relate to this.

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It's so beautiful how this happens.

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There's been so many days in my life where like.

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I'm dealing with that day.

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It's just like the word of God is powerful.

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And the spirit really does guide us in our Bible reading.

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And there's so many times in my day where like.

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I'll be like oh man this reminds me exactly of what I read in the Bible earlier.

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This is no coincidence.

01:12:51.000 --> 01:12:53.000
This is the word of God working in our hearts.

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Yeah?

01:12:55.000 --> 01:12:57.000
And I'm sure you guys can relate to that.

01:12:57.000 --> 01:12:59.000
And this is like the benefit of giving God the first fruits.

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Is that when you start off your day with the sword of the spirit.

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He allows you to have something as a tool for that day.

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Or just even a different way to look at this.

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Is that something else that's been helpful in my life.

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Is that when you read the Bible in the morning.

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I'm sure you guys have experienced this as well.

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You'll find like a difficult passage of scripture.

01:13:15.000 --> 01:13:17.000
But when you read it in the morning.

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It allows you to just think about it all day.

01:13:19.000 --> 01:13:21.000
You go to work and if you're like you know.

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If you're being spiritually minded.

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If you find something that's confusing you.

01:13:25.000 --> 01:13:27.000
It allows you to just meditate on that passage of scripture all day.

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Which is super helpful.

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Just lets you think about you know.

01:13:31.000 --> 01:13:33.000
Like many times I do in the Bible studies.

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I'll just find it. I'll read it in the morning.

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I'll just think about it all day.

01:13:37.000 --> 01:13:39.000
Super helpful. This is what the Bible Command is doing anyways.

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We're supposed to be meditating on the law of the Lord.

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Not just reading it.

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Because there is a difference in these things.

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I want you to understand as well.

01:13:47.000 --> 01:13:49.000
There is like reading the Bible.

01:13:49.000 --> 01:13:51.000
And then there's thinking about the Bible.

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Because I think people get lost in this sometimes too.

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Some people just treat the Bible like it's just a goal.

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Like it's just something that they're trying to trudge through.

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And there is times where it will feel like that.

01:13:59.000 --> 01:14:01.000
Just because of our flesh as Christians.

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It will always be like that.

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You should be finding things in the Bible that are confusing to you.

01:14:05.000 --> 01:14:07.000
Or that are interesting to you.

01:14:07.000 --> 01:14:09.000
And you should be thinking about them.

01:14:09.000 --> 01:14:11.000
Talking about them with your spouse.

01:14:11.000 --> 01:14:13.000
Talking about them with your friends.

01:14:13.000 --> 01:14:15.000
Talking about them with the people at this church.

01:14:15.000 --> 01:14:17.000
And that's one thing I do love about this church.

01:14:17.000 --> 01:14:19.000
Is that we always are finding some kind of heresy to talk about afterwards.

01:14:19.000 --> 01:14:21.000
Like have you heard this before?

01:14:21.000 --> 01:14:23.000
This is the craziest thing I've seen.

01:14:23.000 --> 01:14:25.000
And it's like no no no. This is the craziest thing I've ever heard.

01:14:25.000 --> 01:14:27.000
You know what that comes from though?

01:14:27.000 --> 01:14:29.000
It comes from people actually studying the word of God.

01:14:29.000 --> 01:14:31.000
And they're trying to find these things.

01:14:31.000 --> 01:14:33.000
And thinking about the different doctrines that people believe.

01:14:33.000 --> 01:14:39.000
So I'd encourage you in that regard to put your armor on before the battle.

01:14:39.000 --> 01:14:43.000
Because so many times God will give you something to help you throughout your day.

01:14:43.000 --> 01:14:47.000
And get out of this mindset where people are just like you know.

01:14:47.000 --> 01:14:49.000
Again I've given you the caddy dots so I'm not going to say it again.

01:14:49.000 --> 01:14:51.000
But get out of this mindset where people will just be like oh yeah.

01:14:51.000 --> 01:14:53.000
Like I'm just not a morning person.

01:14:53.000 --> 01:14:55.000
The reality is nobody is a morning person though.

01:14:55.000 --> 01:14:57.000
You just make yourself a morning person.

01:14:57.000 --> 01:14:59.000
Speaking from someone who was always like oh yeah I'm a night owl.

01:14:59.000 --> 01:15:01.000
I'm a night person.

01:15:01.000 --> 01:15:03.000
But this is just fake news.

01:15:03.000 --> 01:15:05.000
It's like it is fake news.

01:15:05.000 --> 01:15:09.000
It's like someone just being like oh yeah I'm just not really a health food kind of a person.

01:15:09.000 --> 01:15:11.000
I'm just donuts, cookies are kind of more up my alley.

01:15:11.000 --> 01:15:13.000
It's like yeah hello that's everybody though.

01:15:13.000 --> 01:15:15.000
That's just what you like naturally.

01:15:15.000 --> 01:15:17.000
The same thing.

01:15:17.000 --> 01:15:19.000
It's like nobody likes getting up early.

01:15:19.000 --> 01:15:21.000
It sucks to do that in your flesh.

01:15:21.000 --> 01:15:23.000
Even though I get up early every single day for my work week.

01:15:23.000 --> 01:15:25.000
I still hate doing it.

01:15:25.000 --> 01:15:27.000
But it's just something I've learned that I have to do.

01:15:27.000 --> 01:15:29.000
For my own personal life.

01:15:29.000 --> 01:15:31.000
But as a side note to that too.

01:15:31.000 --> 01:15:33.000
I know I'm a little bit off topic on that.

01:15:33.000 --> 01:15:41.000
But that reminds me of just how sometimes people will allow labels and the different personality traits that they have to just completely box them in.

01:15:41.000 --> 01:15:43.000
And to basically like handcuff them in this life.

01:15:43.000 --> 01:15:45.000
You should avoid this as a Christian.

01:15:45.000 --> 01:15:49.000
Like this is a big thing in our culture where people want to tell you all their disabilities.

01:15:49.000 --> 01:15:51.000
They want to tell you all their struggles.

01:15:51.000 --> 01:15:53.000
All these things.

01:15:53.000 --> 01:15:55.000
And I understand that there's people that really struggle with things.

01:15:55.000 --> 01:15:57.000
I'm not trying to minimize that.

01:15:57.000 --> 01:16:01.000
But I don't like when people just use these things as a crutch for every area of their life.

01:16:01.000 --> 01:16:05.000
Like people will be like oh I'm an introvert so I just can't go out soul hunting.

01:16:05.000 --> 01:16:09.000
It's like well that's against the word of God because God commanded us to go into all the world and preach the gospel.

01:16:09.000 --> 01:16:11.000
That's every single person.

01:16:11.000 --> 01:16:13.000
Whether he made you an introvert.

01:16:13.000 --> 01:16:15.000
Whether he made you an extrovert.

01:16:15.000 --> 01:16:19.000
That's irrelevant. Stop using that as a crutch to just get away from things that you don't feel comfortable doing.

01:16:20.000 --> 01:16:22.000
Because speaking of someone who's the king of the introverts.

01:16:22.000 --> 01:16:24.000
You just got to learn to be uncomfortable sometimes.

01:16:24.000 --> 01:16:26.000
And when I say I'm an introvert I truly mean it.

01:16:26.000 --> 01:16:28.000
Like nothing sounds more peaceful to me than just being in solitary confinement for like a week.

01:16:34.000 --> 01:16:36.000
It's like this is just like a dream.

01:16:36.000 --> 01:16:38.000
Like just silence is perfect.

01:16:38.000 --> 01:16:40.000
Like to yourself.

01:16:40.000 --> 01:16:42.000
Some people think that's crazy.

01:16:42.000 --> 01:16:44.000
I'm like you know just being on a deserted island for like a week.

01:16:44.000 --> 01:16:46.000
Just big chilling.

01:16:46.000 --> 01:16:48.000
That's the dream okay.

01:16:49.000 --> 01:16:51.000
I think that sounds crazy but we're all made differently.

01:16:51.000 --> 01:16:53.000
But here's the thing.

01:16:53.000 --> 01:16:55.000
You just can't use the personality traits that you have as a crutch throughout this life.

01:16:55.000 --> 01:16:57.000
It's not good for you as a Christian.

01:16:57.000 --> 01:16:59.000
Like you know learn to make yourself uncomfortable sometimes.

01:16:59.000 --> 01:17:01.000
Learn to just deal with things.

01:17:01.000 --> 01:17:03.000
Just be like oh you know I just can't read the Bible.

01:17:03.000 --> 01:17:05.000
I have ADHD.

01:17:05.000 --> 01:17:07.000
I have ADD.

01:17:07.000 --> 01:17:09.000
I just can't focus when I'm reading.

01:17:09.000 --> 01:17:11.000
It's like God commands you to read the Bible so you can get it done.

01:17:11.000 --> 01:17:13.000
Period.

01:17:13.000 --> 01:17:15.000
Like stop using things as an excuse.

01:17:15.000 --> 01:17:17.000
And not to say that ADHD and ADD are like the same thing.

01:17:18.000 --> 01:17:20.000
Like some people struggle with things that I struggle with.

01:17:20.000 --> 01:17:22.000
Like truly.

01:17:22.000 --> 01:17:30.000
Like you just got to learn sometimes that you just got to stop relying on these things as being just like an overarching umbrella to just deflect all criticism away from you.

01:17:30.000 --> 01:17:32.000
Or deflect all the things that you can't do away from you.

01:17:32.000 --> 01:17:34.000
Learn to endure hardness.

01:17:34.000 --> 01:17:36.000
Learn to make yourself uncomfortable.

01:17:36.000 --> 01:17:42.000
Learn to be like hey I might not want to talk to someone right now but that's what I do anyways because the Bible commands me to fellowship with my brothers and sisters.

01:17:43.000 --> 01:17:47.000
Learn to be like hey I might not want to go out and preach the Gospel.

01:17:47.000 --> 01:17:49.000
I might be scared.

01:17:49.000 --> 01:17:53.000
I might be nervous but hey God wants me to do it so that's what I'm going to do anyways.

01:17:53.000 --> 01:17:55.000
Learn to step out in faith.

01:17:55.000 --> 01:18:05.000
Learn to trust in God and not just rely on your own strength because we're weak when we're by ourselves but truly God can use our weaknesses to be our strength.

01:18:05.000 --> 01:18:08.800
can use our weaknesses to be our strength and he can work through our

01:18:08.800 --> 01:18:13.160
weaknesses to where the point we don't even realize that we have them anymore.

01:18:13.160 --> 01:18:17.200
All I have to say, yeah, it was kind of a thing. You just got to lock in sometimes.

01:18:17.200 --> 01:18:20.760
That's what you got to do. You got to lock in. Just be like, hey, you know what? I can't be

01:18:20.760 --> 01:18:24.780
distracted on reading the Bible. Let me lock in real quick. Just like you make

01:18:24.780 --> 01:18:28.460
yourself do it. I don't know how to explain it. You're just like, I think, I

01:18:28.460 --> 01:18:31.080
don't know, maybe it's just like sports growing up. You just like learn sometimes.

01:18:31.080 --> 01:18:34.520
You're just like, sometimes when you're out there running, there were times when

01:18:34.520 --> 01:18:37.840
my coach would make us run and I'm like, I'm gonna die. I'm like, I'm gonna fall

01:18:37.840 --> 01:18:42.960
down and I'm gonna die. He's running us like Hebrew slaves right now.

01:18:42.960 --> 01:18:48.440
I'd be like, I just can't push anymore and then the whistle would blow.

01:18:48.440 --> 01:18:52.160
Guess what I'd do? You run. That's just what you do. You just learn in sports.

01:18:52.160 --> 01:18:56.400
You're like, your body gives up way before, or your mind gives up way

01:18:56.400 --> 01:19:02.800
before your body ever does. So anyways, yeah, I was talking about reading the

01:19:02.800 --> 01:19:07.560
Bible early though. That's what my topic was on or that was what I was talking

01:19:07.560 --> 01:19:10.240
about before I got derailed, is what I should probably say. So again, I would

01:19:10.240 --> 01:19:13.960
just recommend you put on the armor of God early. I think it's beneficial for

01:19:13.960 --> 01:19:17.800
you as a Christian and just don't make excuses for why you can't do these

01:19:17.800 --> 01:19:22.360
things. Before I give you the last point of why the Bible reading is essential,

01:19:22.360 --> 01:19:26.760
why Bible reading is essential, I'm gonna give you a couple more tips. Go to

01:19:26.760 --> 01:19:30.240
Matthew 12 verse number 3, Matthew 12 verse number 3. We're getting close to

01:19:30.720 --> 01:19:36.880
the end of the sermon though, so the tips are not very long. And obviously again, I would point out this, the tips I'm giving you, these are not,

01:19:36.880 --> 01:19:40.880
besides this one we're about to read right now, these are not just, thus state the

01:19:40.880 --> 01:19:43.320
Lord, these are my opinions. So if you've got a different style of doing things,

01:19:43.320 --> 01:19:46.480
you don't have to listen what I'm saying. Again, my point is try to help people

01:19:46.480 --> 01:19:50.380
that need help, that are struggling, that need some kind of guidance. That's the

01:19:50.380 --> 01:19:55.760
point of a lot of these points. Tip number three though for this sermon is

01:19:55.760 --> 01:20:00.800
that you should read your Bible to retain the Bible. Read the Bible to retain

01:20:00.800 --> 01:20:03.200
the Bible. Bible says in Matthew 12 3 it says,

01:20:10.320 --> 01:20:13.320
You know, I understand it's a little bit of an unfair argument because back in the Jesus

01:20:13.320 --> 01:20:16.960
day they obviously didn't have YouTube, they didn't have Alexander Scorby, you

01:20:16.960 --> 01:20:21.560
know, going on their reading. They didn't have audio Bibles. But Jesus Christ says

01:20:22.360 --> 01:20:25.960
here, he says, Hey, have you not read? Not just have you not listened to because

01:20:25.960 --> 01:20:28.880
obviously they could hear the sermons back then they could hear preaching from

01:20:28.880 --> 01:20:35.000
the word of God. But Jesus Christ says, Have you not read? Which means you need

01:20:35.000 --> 01:20:40.200
to be reading the Bible, not just listening to the Bible. Um, and listen,

01:20:40.200 --> 01:20:43.800
listening to the Bible is good. That's there's, that's I'm not, I'm not like

01:20:44.080 --> 01:20:46.640
there's a lot of that's the best thing that you can listen to out of everything

01:20:46.640 --> 01:20:50.480
out there. Okay. But the thing is, is that it's not a replacement for reading

01:20:50.480 --> 01:20:53.080
the Bible. That's what I want to understand. And that's how, you know,

01:20:53.080 --> 01:20:55.800
some people have gotten as Christians, they'll get lazy in this regard and

01:20:55.800 --> 01:20:59.000
they'll just, you know, like, oh yeah, you know, I just plugged the Bible in on

01:20:59.000 --> 01:21:02.000
YouTube and that's my Bible reading for the day. That's not your Bible reading

01:21:02.000 --> 01:21:05.360
for the day though. That's you listening to the Bible and in a pinch and in

01:21:05.360 --> 01:21:08.360
different situations, I think this can be a good thing, but you don't want to

01:21:08.360 --> 01:21:12.720
just let this be a substitute for your actual reading because the way you

01:21:12.720 --> 01:21:16.480
learn things from listening to them and reading are two different things.

01:21:16.480 --> 01:21:20.280
Neurologically, this is even true. The way you learn things when you read them

01:21:20.280 --> 01:21:24.080
versus when you hear them are different and Jesus Christ commands us to read

01:21:24.080 --> 01:21:27.120
the Bible and there's just several practical reasons I could think of for

01:21:27.120 --> 01:21:30.640
this being true anyways. Like when you're listening to the Bible in my

01:21:30.640 --> 01:21:34.320
experience of listening to the Bible, you're way less likely to cross

01:21:34.320 --> 01:21:37.560
reference something. You just let it keep reading in the passage. Like

01:21:37.560 --> 01:21:41.720
sometimes I'll hear, you know, score be say something and it's just like his

01:21:41.720 --> 01:21:44.840
weird pronunciation of the English words and like, okay, okay, whatever. But

01:21:44.840 --> 01:21:48.360
then sometimes I'll hear something like it's like a doctrine that he says and

01:21:48.480 --> 01:21:52.080
I'll be like, oh, you know, this is interesting. But then I'm like, I'm not

01:21:52.080 --> 01:21:55.400
going to pause it and actually like go like, then I have to take out my Bible

01:21:55.400 --> 01:21:58.520
and then, you know, start comparing scripture with scripture. It's like, that's not

01:21:58.520 --> 01:22:01.560
going to happen at that point. I'd submit this is the case for a lot of people

01:22:01.560 --> 01:22:04.120
that listen to the Bible though because it's a huge burden to have to be like,

01:22:04.120 --> 01:22:07.840
oh, I got to pull my Bible out. I had to find where he was reading at and then I

01:22:07.840 --> 01:22:11.320
can start going from there. It's just, you're way less likely to study

01:22:11.320 --> 01:22:14.720
something out when you read the Bible and compare scripture with scripture if you

01:22:14.760 --> 01:22:18.480
only listen to it. I'd also say when you read your Bible, it gives you good

01:22:18.480 --> 01:22:22.680
muscle memory for, you know, finding passages out soul learning as well. That

01:22:22.680 --> 01:22:25.240
a lot of times, like if you're in your daily daily Bible reading, especially if

01:22:25.240 --> 01:22:29.200
you read from the same Bible that you go soul learning out of, you'll like have a

01:22:29.200 --> 01:22:31.880
passage of scripture where you don't know exactly where it's at, but you're

01:22:31.880 --> 01:22:36.000
like, I know it's kind of in the ballpark of this page in this book, right? So then

01:22:36.000 --> 01:22:39.600
you can find it that way. It's a very good tool in that regard. I'd also say

01:22:39.600 --> 01:22:43.280
that when you listen to the Bible, it's also a lot easier to get distracted

01:22:43.360 --> 01:22:46.920
compared to when you're reading the Bible. So many times I'll like, Oh yeah,

01:22:46.920 --> 01:22:50.000
I'm gonna listen to this chapter and then like I'll hear the very end of it,

01:22:50.000 --> 01:22:54.800
you know, and that was the word of God. And then I'm like, man, like what did I

01:22:54.800 --> 01:22:58.320
listen to right there? Right? But it's like, Oh, I still read it progress.

01:22:58.320 --> 01:23:02.360
It's like this is cheating though, right? This doesn't count. Like that's a big

01:23:02.360 --> 01:23:05.840
distraction and a big hindrance when you're just reading the Bible audio from

01:23:05.840 --> 01:23:10.080
an like an audio book or something like that from YouTube is that it's way

01:23:10.120 --> 01:23:13.560
easier to get out of focus on what it's saying. And then you kind of tune back

01:23:13.560 --> 01:23:17.200
in and you're like, well, I got like 60% of the chapter that I was paying

01:23:17.200 --> 01:23:20.720
attention to. So we'll just count it, right? You just round up for your

01:23:20.720 --> 01:23:25.960
Bible reading. But but but I would caveat this and say there are some people

01:23:25.980 --> 01:23:30.200
that will say, you know, Hey, I like listen to the Bible and every day at

01:23:30.200 --> 01:23:33.280
the same time, whatever. That's obviously reading it though, because that's

01:23:33.280 --> 01:23:36.680
your reading and you're listening. There's nothing wrong with that. I don't

01:23:36.680 --> 01:23:40.600
think. Uh, but I would just say again, you should not just use these things

01:23:40.600 --> 01:23:42.980
to crutch to where like if you go out somewhere without connection that you

01:23:42.980 --> 01:23:46.880
can't even actually just pick up the Bible and read it, you should be able to

01:23:46.880 --> 01:23:50.120
read your Bible and not make excuses. People say that like they'll be like, Oh,

01:23:50.120 --> 01:23:53.560
when I just read the Bible, I just go out of focus. It's like, well, then lock

01:23:53.560 --> 01:23:57.440
in, then pay attention. Then like seriously, like you like to take a deep

01:23:57.440 --> 01:24:00.960
breath. You like, okay, I'm reading the Bible. Let's go. You clear your mind and

01:24:00.960 --> 01:24:05.640
then you read the Bible. Oh, I just need the audio. It's like this is not true

01:24:05.640 --> 01:24:09.920
because before there ever was an audio, there was only the word of God itself

01:24:09.920 --> 01:24:13.240
and you had to manage to understand it. Okay, so I'm just making an excuse.

01:24:13.240 --> 01:24:17.320
Like I just can't comprehend when I'm only reading like what? What is this

01:24:17.320 --> 01:24:21.640
tick tock brain? This is crazy. You need to go on a social media detox. That's

01:24:21.640 --> 01:24:24.880
the case. Learn to pick up something and read it and to focus on what you're

01:24:24.880 --> 01:24:28.500
reading. And here's a good tip for that as well. That's very helpful to me is as

01:24:28.500 --> 01:24:33.360
well. Like if you are reading something, if you choose to read it out loud, it

01:24:33.360 --> 01:24:38.600
helps you to focus a lot better. I found especially in the genealogy passages, if

01:24:38.600 --> 01:24:43.280
you read it out loud, it really helps you to stick with, you know, to stick to

01:24:43.280 --> 01:24:47.680
the focus of the passage instead of drifting off into something else. I found

01:24:47.680 --> 01:24:50.120
that to be very helpful because then it's impossible for your brain to focus on

01:24:50.120 --> 01:24:53.080
something else. It's like you're reading it out loud and it's hearing and you're

01:24:53.080 --> 01:24:56.680
looking at the page. I think it's a good strategy.

01:24:56.680 --> 01:25:02.320
Tip number four about this, okay, go to 2nd Timothy 2.15. 2nd Timothy 2.15. Tip

01:25:02.320 --> 01:25:07.240
number four is that I would recommend you to read multiple chapters at once.

01:25:07.240 --> 01:25:10.240
Like for example, like if you're reading through Romans, you can go like Romans

01:25:10.240 --> 01:25:13.800
one through Romans four, depending on what, you know, amount of chapters you're

01:25:13.800 --> 01:25:19.660
gonna read a day, it's gonna vary. But I have found that nothing is as helpful as

01:25:19.660 --> 01:25:24.640
reading the Bible in chunks rather than just in, you know, just one chapter.

01:25:24.640 --> 01:25:27.560
Because the reality is too, if you're only reading one chapter a day from the

01:25:27.560 --> 01:25:30.560
Bible, you will not even get through the Bible in a whole year. So then it's like

01:25:30.560 --> 01:25:33.280
by the time you get back to what you were reading, of course you're gonna

01:25:33.280 --> 01:25:36.320
forget what you read. There's a lot of people like I just can't retain what I'm

01:25:36.320 --> 01:25:39.320
reading. It's like well how much are you reading then? If you can't retain what

01:25:39.320 --> 01:25:42.920
you're reading, you either are not esteeming the Word of God as essential or

01:25:42.920 --> 01:25:47.060
you're not reading enough of the Word of God. And when you read it in chunks, like

01:25:47.060 --> 01:25:50.320
I'm just saying like they're like Romans one through four, it really helps to

01:25:50.320 --> 01:25:53.400
stick in your mind because it helps the story and the train of thought to be

01:25:53.400 --> 01:25:56.600
cohesive in your own mind. Because that's like the hard thing. It's like if you,

01:25:56.600 --> 01:25:59.240
when you're reading some of these passages sometimes, if you're only like

01:25:59.240 --> 01:26:02.320
doing like a chapter, by the next day a lot of times you'll forget where you're

01:26:02.320 --> 01:26:04.840
in, what he was even talking about. Like you forget the train of thought, you have

01:26:04.840 --> 01:26:08.760
no idea what the context is anymore, it just like goes over your head. Something

01:26:08.760 --> 01:26:12.480
that's very helpful is to read chunks of chapters at a time. Helps follow the

01:26:12.480 --> 01:26:15.600
train of thought, helps you follow the context, it helps you to keep the story

01:26:15.600 --> 01:26:19.440
in your mind. It's kind of like, it reminds me for like language learning,

01:26:19.440 --> 01:26:23.680
they tell you to, people, and this is like a newbie trick that you don't fall into

01:26:23.680 --> 01:26:27.120
this, okay, if you learn a language. Some of the people try to learn just individual

01:26:27.120 --> 01:26:29.840
words instead of like a sentence or something like that, but this is not good

01:26:29.840 --> 01:26:32.920
for language learning. You want to learn like phrases rather than just a word

01:26:32.920 --> 01:26:37.080
because it's a lot easier for your brain to remember a phrase than it is to just

01:26:37.080 --> 01:26:43.080
an individual word. This is just how we are as creatures. Here's tip five, this is the

01:26:43.080 --> 01:26:46.640
last tip before we get into the last point of this sermon, okay, and the last point is

01:26:46.640 --> 01:26:50.080
not that long, so bear with me, okay. This is for the hardcore people only though.

01:26:50.080 --> 01:26:55.040
The hardcore, this is a pro gamer tip, okay, for reading the Bible to supercharge

01:26:55.120 --> 01:27:00.000
your Bible knowledge, okay. If you want to really, you know, if you want to really

01:27:00.000 --> 01:27:03.680
lock in and focus on a couple books of the Bible, I would recommend reading them

01:27:03.680 --> 01:27:09.360
back to back. It's very helpful for having them stick in your brain. I forget who I

01:27:09.360 --> 01:27:12.640
heard this tip from one time, but they just said, hey, yeah, if you're forgetting

01:27:12.640 --> 01:27:15.720
what you read from a book, it's because I was like I was saying earlier, sometimes

01:27:15.720 --> 01:27:18.360
you read something and you don't come back to it for like a whole year, so of

01:27:18.360 --> 01:27:22.120
course you forget what it is, but like if you like read it back to back, it really

01:27:22.120 --> 01:27:26.440
helps it to lock into your brain. I have found this to be incredibly true and

01:27:26.440 --> 01:27:29.800
again, this is like a hardcore tip I say because some people struggle to even get

01:27:29.800 --> 01:27:32.560
through the Bible one time at all in a year, so you're like two times what in

01:27:32.560 --> 01:27:36.160
the world, but it really does help. Like I haven't done this with all the books

01:27:36.160 --> 01:27:39.560
of the Bible, but I know I did it with like first and second Samuel and when I

01:27:39.560 --> 01:27:41.920
did this, I think I was working for the city of Portland, so this has been like a

01:27:41.920 --> 01:27:46.400
long time now, but that whole story was like ingrained in my brain and still big

01:27:46.400 --> 01:27:50.080
parts of it are truly just ingrained to where I was like knowing exactly what

01:27:50.080 --> 01:27:53.480
was happening in every chapter of first Samuel just by reading it twice. I think

01:27:53.480 --> 01:27:56.520
I think that when I read three times back to back just because I was being I

01:27:56.520 --> 01:27:59.920
was being a hyper spiritual, I was like I gotta go over like they said read it

01:27:59.920 --> 01:28:04.240
twice, I'm gonna read it three times, but it really stuck in my brain that way and

01:28:04.240 --> 01:28:08.280
you can you can it's no marvel why right? It's like you're like reading the same

01:28:08.280 --> 01:28:10.520
story, but I remember like even to this day I didn't think about like the story

01:28:10.520 --> 01:28:14.280
of Samuel, it's like you know you have Elkanah and they can't have a baby and then

01:28:14.280 --> 01:28:18.480
Hannah's praying and then she gets the baby and then Samuel starts to hear the

01:28:18.480 --> 01:28:23.480
word of the Lord and then God tells Eli hey your sons suck and you suck for not

01:28:23.480 --> 01:28:26.840
you know stopping them and then they go to war and they bring out the Ark of the

01:28:26.840 --> 01:28:30.840
Covenant and then they lose the Ark of the Covenant and then they get emorads

01:28:30.840 --> 01:28:33.400
for taking the Ark of the Covenant and then they send the Ark of the Covenant

01:28:33.400 --> 01:28:37.160
back and it's just like all these things just from like doing the back to back

01:28:37.160 --> 01:28:40.040
to back but like that and that's even from five years ago that it's still

01:28:40.040 --> 01:28:45.480
ingrained in my brain so that's a pro tip for you guys, not for the faint of

01:28:45.480 --> 01:28:49.280
heart though and that's not what I do most days okay I would tell you that

01:28:49.280 --> 01:28:53.680
right now. Second Timothy 2 verse number 15 that's only if you really like like

01:28:53.680 --> 01:28:56.800
really want to dig in because there's seasons of your life that allow you to

01:28:56.800 --> 01:29:00.040
be like that with the Bible sometimes you can only get through you know like

01:29:00.040 --> 01:29:03.240
three or four chapters a day and then sometimes you do have a lot of time to

01:29:03.240 --> 01:29:07.280
where you can be reading like ten chapters a day or you know big numbers if

01:29:07.280 --> 01:29:11.280
you want to or doing that back-to-back thing like I was telling you it is very

01:29:11.280 --> 01:29:14.880
helpful though if you want to supercharge your knowledge on one book so

01:29:14.880 --> 01:29:17.320
you can do that right before the Bible trivia okay we're coming up for December

01:29:17.320 --> 01:29:24.360
just start doing the back-to-back book. Second Timothy 2 verse number 15 it says

01:29:24.360 --> 01:29:27.000
this it says study to show thyself approved unto God a workman that

01:29:27.000 --> 01:29:30.880
needeth not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth. The last point

01:29:30.880 --> 01:29:33.120
I want to bring up for this sermon is that Bible reading is essential because

01:29:33.120 --> 01:29:37.840
it impacts us out soul-warning. It impacts people out soul-warning because

01:29:37.840 --> 01:29:42.240
one of the worst things out soul-warning in my opinion is not having an answer

01:29:42.720 --> 01:29:46.680
for someone it really sucks when someone brings up a verse that completely

01:29:46.680 --> 01:29:50.120
catches you off guard or they bring up like an obscure some scriptures that you

01:29:50.120 --> 01:29:53.600
just have never heard an argument for before it really sucks when that's the

01:29:53.600 --> 01:29:57.000
case but I'll tell you right now if you're reading the Bible every single

01:29:57.000 --> 01:30:00.920
day it negates that happening a ton like to the point where it almost never

01:30:00.920 --> 01:30:04.000
happens to me anymore because when you're just always in the word of God

01:30:04.000 --> 01:30:07.560
then it's like hey people aren't gonna surprise you with the word of God because

01:30:07.560 --> 01:30:10.120
that's somewhere you don't want to be as a Christian this is weird like like I

01:30:10.240 --> 01:30:12.760
should say weird but I just say like this like you tell them not reading

01:30:12.760 --> 01:30:14.920
their Bible though you go up and tell them like a random Bible story like a

01:30:14.920 --> 01:30:19.440
completely obscure one but it's like a lesser one you're like oh yeah you

01:30:19.440 --> 01:30:24.200
remember like you know David you know he you know hides in the bed and he puts

01:30:24.200 --> 01:30:27.800
that thing in his bed to hide from Saul people are looking at you're like what

01:30:27.800 --> 01:30:30.800
are you talking about it's like what do you mean when I talk about this is the

01:30:30.800 --> 01:30:33.680
Bible friend this is the thing that we're supposed to both be reading right

01:30:33.680 --> 01:30:36.920
that every Christian is supposed to be reading and again you're not gonna know

01:30:36.920 --> 01:30:41.240
every single story in the Bible inside and out but like nobody should bring up

01:30:41.240 --> 01:30:45.200
a story to you in the Bible and you're like I've never heard that before I have

01:30:45.200 --> 01:30:49.320
no memory of this place just like what are we talking about here like the

01:30:49.320 --> 01:30:52.960
Bible the thing that you're supposed to be living your entire life by the thing

01:30:52.960 --> 01:30:57.000
that you're basing your entire life by that's what we're talking about no story

01:30:57.000 --> 01:30:59.920
should take you off guard in the Bible you should never hear a story in the

01:30:59.920 --> 01:31:03.360
Bible and think to yourself I've never heard that before unless we're talking

01:31:03.360 --> 01:31:06.440
about like someone who's new to Christianity okay obviously you should

01:31:06.440 --> 01:31:08.720
get to a point as a Christian though where you've read the Bible enough to

01:31:08.720 --> 01:31:13.880
where you know what's going on again not the finest of details like you know who

01:31:13.880 --> 01:31:17.320
was the fourth king in the in the line of Israel okay I don't know who that is

01:31:17.320 --> 01:31:20.880
okay but I tell you that there was the Kings in the north and there was the

01:31:20.880 --> 01:31:23.600
Kings of the south right general Bible knowledge is what we're talking about

01:31:23.600 --> 01:31:26.680
right here you should never be caught off guard with the Bible because you

01:31:26.680 --> 01:31:30.640
ever seen people do that with the and I know I'm yapping here I'll get back to

01:31:30.640 --> 01:31:33.560
this but have you seen someone do that like I think they do it on like CNN a

01:31:33.560 --> 01:31:36.960
lot where they'll bring up some passages from the Bible some Old Testament like

01:31:36.960 --> 01:31:40.040
death penalties and they'll bring up to Christians and they'll be like oh that's

01:31:40.040 --> 01:31:44.640
barbaric and they were like surprise that's the Bible friend it's not the

01:31:44.640 --> 01:31:48.920
Quran and they're like whoa that should never be us as Christians we should know

01:31:48.920 --> 01:31:53.000
the law of the Lord it should be essential to us as I've been saying

01:31:53.000 --> 01:31:57.400
throughout this sermon but I was about sewing okay that before I got off track

01:31:57.400 --> 01:32:00.520
and this is getting right towards the end of the sermon but last place I'll

01:32:00.520 --> 01:32:03.800
you go as a matter of fact go to Proverbs 25 verse number 11 Proverbs 25

01:32:03.800 --> 01:32:07.080
verse number 11

01:32:12.520 --> 01:32:16.160
because I'm talking about and why you guys are turning that I read 2nd

01:32:16.160 --> 01:32:18.720
Timothy 2 15 about saying to show yourself approved this should apply to

01:32:18.720 --> 01:32:22.040
every single person in this room because we are all called to win people to Jesus

01:32:22.040 --> 01:32:27.120
Christ we're all called to be so owners both men and women as well and especially

01:32:27.120 --> 01:32:30.120
I'd point this out to women because sometimes this idea creeps in that like

01:32:30.160 --> 01:32:33.180
it's like it's not important for women to know the Bible that it's like not as

01:32:33.180 --> 01:32:36.240
big of a deal because as long as your husband knows or as long as your pastor

01:32:36.240 --> 01:32:39.640
knows the Bible it's not that big of a deal wrong though because guess what we

01:32:39.640 --> 01:32:43.640
are all called to go out and preach the gospel so if you're a woman in here

01:32:43.640 --> 01:32:47.400
that's representing Jesus Christ as an ambassador someone that's unsaved you

01:32:47.400 --> 01:32:51.160
should know the Bible as well your Bible reading is important as well and maybe

01:32:51.160 --> 01:32:54.520
you might not be on your husband's level but you should be on a good level at the

01:32:54.520 --> 01:32:57.840
very least you should be on a level enough to where you feel feel comfortable

01:32:58.160 --> 01:33:01.400
talking to people out so wanting and to give the people the gospel out so wanting

01:33:01.400 --> 01:33:05.520
because you are commanded to do that as a Christian and here's the reality this

01:33:05.520 --> 01:33:08.760
area it seems like people are more receptive to the women in Spokane than

01:33:08.760 --> 01:33:11.720
they are even to the men like brother Paul and I go to a door and it's like you

01:33:11.720 --> 01:33:15.480
hear like five like lock bolts they go and dead both they go and you're like

01:33:15.480 --> 01:33:19.000
who you hiding from like the cartel like what it's going on like they're like

01:33:19.000 --> 01:33:24.560
like they're spinning the wheel like what's going on and then like the girls

01:33:24.560 --> 01:33:26.800
just got free course or just like skipping you want to talk to everybody

01:33:26.960 --> 01:33:30.120
but like hey take advantage of that though ladies like take advantage of the

01:33:30.120 --> 01:33:33.480
fact that it seems like to me in this area people are a lot more likely to

01:33:33.480 --> 01:33:37.080
hear a woman preach the gospel take it especially even like the another

01:33:37.080 --> 01:33:40.720
advantage that ladies have is they can talk to kids a lot easier as well take

01:33:40.720 --> 01:33:43.560
advantage of these things and how you're gonna take advantage of that as a woman

01:33:43.560 --> 01:33:47.960
is by actually knowing your Bible by building the confidence to go and talk

01:33:47.960 --> 01:33:53.040
to people and to preach the gospel boldly because we see lots of great

01:33:53.040 --> 01:33:55.600
women that were soul winners in the Bible I mean even the woman at the well

01:33:55.640 --> 01:33:58.560
she wasn't even like a super verse in the Bible she's going around just

01:33:58.560 --> 01:34:02.560
preaching Jesus Christ right from the get-go right okay come and see a man

01:34:02.560 --> 01:34:06.800
that told me all things I ever done women have just as much as a call to

01:34:06.800 --> 01:34:11.480
preach the gospel just as men do so take advantage of that especially with that

01:34:11.480 --> 01:34:15.200
the area that we're in last verse though is Proverbs 25 verse number 11 it says

01:34:15.200 --> 01:34:20.560
a word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver and just like

01:34:20.560 --> 01:34:23.400
I was saying earlier about God giving you something in your daily Bible reading

01:34:24.400 --> 01:34:28.280
this also happens out soul winning all the time like I'll be like in some obscure

01:34:28.280 --> 01:34:31.720
passage and I'm like oh man this is interesting story and then sure enough

01:34:31.720 --> 01:34:35.880
like within a couple weeks someone out soul winning will bring up some crazy

01:34:35.880 --> 01:34:39.240
challenge from that passage that I would have had no idea how to answer them on

01:34:39.240 --> 01:34:43.080
had I not already been reading that passage and it's like it's such a

01:34:43.080 --> 01:34:46.080
beautiful thing when you can give someone just the perfect rebuttal or the

01:34:46.080 --> 01:34:49.840
perfect verse or the perfect word that just collapses what they're saying or

01:34:50.040 --> 01:34:53.560
that proves you right it's like apples of gold and pictures of silver truth

01:34:53.560 --> 01:34:57.120
it's like the most beautiful thing when you can give someone a verse that just

01:34:57.120 --> 01:35:01.480
completely shakes their worldview and completely shakes on how they were

01:35:01.480 --> 01:35:04.640
viewing the gospel and you see the light bulb go off in their head and it all

01:35:04.640 --> 01:35:08.360
just makes sense it's beautiful it's a beautiful picture to see that's what the

01:35:08.360 --> 01:35:12.200
Bible is telling us here in Proverbs 25 verse number 11 but how that's gonna

01:35:12.200 --> 01:35:15.800
happen more often than not as a Christian is by you knowing the words to

01:35:15.800 --> 01:35:19.400
say them in the first place is by you knowing the verses to take them to in

01:35:19.400 --> 01:35:24.440
the first place is by knowing the scriptures to take them to in the first

01:35:24.440 --> 01:35:29.120
place that's how you're gonna get a lot of these moments and again like I said

01:35:29.120 --> 01:35:32.720
you guys the thing that should motivate us more than anything for reading the

01:35:32.720 --> 01:35:37.560
Bible is the fact that people can get saved depending on whether or not we

01:35:37.560 --> 01:35:42.360
have a knowledge of the Bible of the answers to give them the answer for the

01:35:42.360 --> 01:35:45.620
hope that lies within us right the Bible says yeah that should motivate us

01:35:45.620 --> 01:35:49.700
anybody in this room to read the Bible because someone else someone that you

01:35:49.700 --> 01:35:52.860
meet out someone might not get the correct answer from you because you're

01:35:52.860 --> 01:35:56.340
being too lazy because you can't spend 15 minutes of reading your Bible at home

01:35:56.340 --> 01:36:01.580
that should never be the case but like going to the recap of this

01:36:01.580 --> 01:36:04.940
sermon the last thing I wanted to say about this sermon though is truly at

01:36:04.940 --> 01:36:09.380
this point in history there has been no easier time to read the Bible than it is

01:36:09.380 --> 01:36:14.620
in 2026 any way you slice it it's so easy to read the Bible now like when I

01:36:14.620 --> 01:36:18.300
was at Sure Foundation Vancouver I did like a little sermon what do you call

01:36:18.300 --> 01:36:21.460
that an illustration okay I haven't done one of those in a while though I

01:36:21.460 --> 01:36:24.780
didn't a sermon illustration where I have like a stack of I have like a table right

01:36:24.780 --> 01:36:27.620
here and I was like stacking all the Bibles I owned at my house it was just

01:36:27.620 --> 01:36:31.340
like a mega stack and I was like this is how convenient it is to have the Word of

01:36:31.340 --> 01:36:35.320
God nowadays it's so easy go and buy the Bible from the Dollar Tree something

01:36:35.320 --> 01:36:38.140
that would have been priceless and times past you can go and pick up like a

01:36:38.140 --> 01:36:42.540
dozen of them from the Dollar Tree it's an incredible thing so at this point in

01:36:42.540 --> 01:36:46.500
history we have no excuse not to read the Bible it's never been easier you can

01:36:46.500 --> 01:36:50.380
read a physical copy you could read it on your phone there's just so many ways

01:36:50.380 --> 01:36:54.900
that you can read the Bible nowadays and to keep it with you there's no excuse as

01:36:54.900 --> 01:36:59.380
a Christian and just you being too lazy is not a good excuse and I'd hate to go

01:36:59.380 --> 01:37:04.160
to God with that excuse as well God I know that people were literally dying to

01:37:04.160 --> 01:37:08.620
translate this Bible in English but you know Instagram was calling it's like God

01:37:08.620 --> 01:37:12.260
I know that people were longing through this throughout history they're like

01:37:12.300 --> 01:37:15.860
just begging for the Bible to be translated into their own language to

01:37:15.860 --> 01:37:20.900
have a perfect copy of the Word of God and now that I have it just like you

01:37:20.900 --> 01:37:24.180
know what I got more important things to do let that never be our attitude as

01:37:24.180 --> 01:37:27.900
Christians there's nothing more important than the Word of God itself

01:37:27.900 --> 01:37:35.220
for us as Christians it is essential to us so with that all being said though the

01:37:35.220 --> 01:37:38.340
the points of the sermon were this the Bible readings essential because the

01:37:38.340 --> 01:37:41.100
Bible says essential it's essential because it's our only weapon in the

01:37:41.140 --> 01:37:44.860
armor of God and Bible reading is essential because of its impact out

01:37:44.860 --> 01:37:48.180
soulening so if you're not reading your Bible on a daily basis in here I would

01:37:48.180 --> 01:37:50.780
encourage you to if you've fallen off the horse you're not reading as much

01:37:50.780 --> 01:37:53.580
Bible as you should be and you know you're not reading as much Bible as you

01:37:53.580 --> 01:37:56.820
should be let this be a thing to motivate you let the sermon be something

01:37:56.820 --> 01:38:00.900
to motivate you because truly we need people that are skilled in the Word of

01:38:00.900 --> 01:38:03.660
God nowadays we need people that understand their Bibles because

01:38:03.660 --> 01:38:08.020
Christians that don't understand their Bible are a dime or dozen but we need

01:38:08.020 --> 01:38:11.420
people that understand not just any Bible but the King James Bible because

01:38:11.420 --> 01:38:13.180
we have the right Bible that's another disadvantage people don't they don't

01:38:13.180 --> 01:38:16.300
even have the right Bible but I spent a long time on that so let's pray. Dear Lord God

01:38:16.300 --> 01:38:18.580
thank you so much for this wonderful day thank you so much for everything you do

01:38:18.580 --> 01:38:22.660
for us God thank you so much for your Word God thank you so much that we have

01:38:22.660 --> 01:38:26.220
your Word so readily available God and thank you so much that there are so many

01:38:26.220 --> 01:38:30.300
people that gave their life for the Bible in history God and that would have

01:38:30.300 --> 01:38:33.540
given their whole life God to just have the Bible in their in their own language

01:38:33.540 --> 01:38:37.300
God and thank you so much that it's so readily available for us in English and

01:38:37.300 --> 01:38:40.580
I just pray that we take advantage of that fact today God and that we would

01:38:40.580 --> 01:38:44.620
make the Word of God something essential in our lives God and that we would care

01:38:44.620 --> 01:38:48.740
for our daily Bible reading and that we wouldn't get distracted by this world

01:38:48.740 --> 01:38:51.980
and we would realize why we're here on this earth and I just pray that you help

01:38:51.980 --> 01:38:54.460
us to keep all say when we got so many later and help people to get saved when

01:38:54.460 --> 01:39:00.300
we go to Central Washington this week and just let me pray amen.

01:39:08.100 --> 01:39:14.100
All right if you want to take your hymnals we're gonna go ahead and turn to page number 297.

01:39:17.700 --> 01:39:22.100
Page number 297 close to thee.

01:39:25.500 --> 01:39:27.700
Page number 297.

01:39:27.700 --> 01:39:45.500
Thou my everlasting portion more than friend or life to me all along my pilgrim's journey

01:39:45.500 --> 01:40:05.300
Savior let me walk with thee close to thee close to thee close to thee all along my pilgrim's journey

01:40:05.300 --> 01:40:19.100
Savior let me walk with thee not for ease or worldly pleasure nor for fame my prayer shall be

01:40:19.100 --> 01:40:38.420
gladly will I toil and suffer only let me walk with thee close to thee close to thee close to thee

01:40:39.020 --> 01:40:52.340
gladly will I toil and suffer only let me walk with thee lead me through the veil

01:40:52.340 --> 01:41:06.220
of shadows bear me your life's fitful see then the gates of life eternal may I enter

01:41:06.220 --> 01:41:26.940
close to thee then the gates of life eternal may I enter close to thee.

01:41:26.940 --> 01:41:31.940
All right excellent singing everybody but the apology please closes in a word of prayer.

01:41:36.220 --> 01:41:39.940
We should consume it as if it is our meaningful breath.