(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Alright, we're here in Luke chapter 2 and we're continuing our series on Mary. And so last week we kind of showed that basically worshipping Mary is very foolish, which obviously the Catholics and the Orthodox and many Protestants do that. But today I want to look at kind of the virtues of Mary, because I don't believe she was just an ordinary woman that ended up raising Jesus Christ, that was Jesus Christ's mom. I believe she was a very godly and very holy lady. And we can see that a few times here in Luke chapter 2. Notice what it says here in verse 15. And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which has come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. And they came with haste, which means they came very quickly, and found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. This is obviously the birth of Jesus Christ. And you know, the shepherds are coming, the wise men, all of these people, notice verse 18, And all they that heard it, wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. It says, everyone who hears them speaking, they wonder at those things. Okay, now, I don't want you to get confused on these two words, wonder and wander. Okay, the English language is pretty bobo. Okay, it doesn't always make sense. Because you would think that this sermon, wondering versus pondering, this doesn't actually rhyme. Because there is a word wandering, W-A-N-D-E-R, which basically means kind of move around with your feet somewhere. You're wandering around. Okay, so this is actually wondering. And this is something that takes place in the mind, where you're basically thinking of something. The definition I have here is this, a feeling of surprise, mingled with admiration, to admire something, to be amazed by something, caused by something beautiful, unexpected, unfamiliar, or inexplicable. And so basically, when you see some great sight that's very beautiful, you might just kind of wander at it with great amazement, kind of like in Revelation 17, which we'll look at later. You just wonder at this. You're like, wow, this is amazing. Or something that just kind of surprises you, and it will just make you think about it. You'll wander at it, okay? And so that's what we're seeing here. And when the shepherds spoke, everybody who heard this, they wondered at what was being said. Okay? But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. See there's a difference being made between everybody else and then Mary, okay? Now when it comes to everybody who's hearing what the shepherds are saying, I don't believe these are members of the LGBT and these wicked people, okay? These are people giving honor to Jesus Christ, okay? This is going to include Joseph as well, and anyone else who was there, which is probably going to include soul winners and people that love God. And yet amongst all of them, everybody wonders at what's being said, but then Mary kept these things and pondered them in her heart. What's the difference here? What are we talking about? It would be like if I preach a sermon, I preach a sermon against sin, and then you're like saying amen during the sermon. That's great. You're like, oh, that was awesome. You really ripped on sin. And then you go home and you just forget about the sermon, and nothing changes in your life. Now that's the way most people are. That's why most people don't even like a church like this, but even among soul winners, that's the way we are. We hear a sermon, you're like, wow, that's interesting, amen, we got to read the Bible, but you don't actually keep those things in your heart. You don't ponder them, and you wonder why for five years, 10 years, 15 years, there's no changes in your life. It's not a lack of learning the word of God because I preach everything here. And there's many churches where they preach everything, and even members of great churches, their lives do not change year after year after year. You say, why? Because they wonder at those amazing sermons, but they don't actually ponder them in their heart and make any real differences with those sermons. Mary was different than all kinds of other people that love God. This is why I believe Mary is probably one of the five greatest peoples ever lived, in my opinion. She might even be greater than any man outside of the Lord Jesus Christ that's ever been here, because even compared to other people that love God, she didn't just wonder at those things. She kept those things and pondered them in her heart. You say, well, that's one example. Well, go down to verse 46. Verse 46, see, the first point we have here today is most people, they wonder, but few people, they actually ponder. Most people, they wonder, few people, they actually ponder. This is why we recommend, you know, when you're listening to sermons, you hear something new, you learn something new or something you can apply, write the notes down or go back and listen to the sermon, because sometimes you're listening to a sermon and you hear something and you're like, oh, that's amazing, but you don't fully gather it totally during the sermon. You understand you've learned something new, but you kind of got to go back to process it. You know what I mean? That's called pondering it. Okay. And so we recommend you do that. We put the sermons online and it can be just as helpful for people that were here hearing the sermon as someone who's listening to the live stream, because you can go back and re-listen to parts of it and gather the information that maybe you didn't fully process. Okay. Verse 46, Luke chapter two, verse 46, Luke two, and it came to pass that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them and asking them questions and all that heard him were astonished at his understandings and answers. This is Jesus Christ speaking to these people that are a lot older and obviously Jesus was very educated. Verse 48, and when they saw him, they were amazed and his mother said unto him, son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? Behold thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing. Now here, Mary makes a mistake. Okay. We talked about that last week because Joseph is not the father of Jesus Christ. Okay. And you can tell she's not happy with her son, right? Because they basically, you know, left him and they had forgotten. And then they're like, oh man, we got to go all the way back and gather Jesus. And she's a little bit upset. She's like, why did you deal with us this way? Why did you do this to us? So basically she's sort of rebuking Jesus. Okay. Verse 49, and he said unto them, how is it that ye sought me? Wist ye not that I must be about my father's business? So basically he's rebuking her understanding of who the father of him was. Cause obviously Jesus is the son of God. Okay. Born of the Virgin Mary. Joseph was not his physical father. Okay. But basically he's kind of rebuking his mom. And I want you to notice verse 50 and they understood not the saying, which he spake on to them. So basically everybody who heard this, they really just didn't get what he was trying to tell them. They're like, well, you know, I don't, I don't understand what he just told us. They understood not the saying, which includes basically everybody. Okay. So basically, you know, Mary was rebuked and I'm sure a lot of people that were there with them were kind of upset about going back to get Jesus. And he makes a statement, but notice verse 51 and he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was subject onto them. But his mother kept all these sayings in her heart. The same phrase we saw earlier where it says she kept all these things, referring to keeping them inside of her heart and her mind. So Mary did not understand this, but she kept this saying in her heart. The Bible says, and see whether or not you're hearing a sermon preached or you're reading the Bible. Look, if there's something you don't understand, there's something new, there's something interesting. You need to meditate on it. Don't just forget about it. Okay. And most people, they hear plenty of good preaching, but they just kind of forget about it. They never apply it to their lives and they're never going to actually make changes because of the fact they're not pondering what's being preached. Okay. Look, there are a lot of great churches in the world in today's, in today's world. Okay. Now not necessarily one in every city, but there's a lot of great preachers that put their sermons online and look, there's people that know more about the Bible than me and are better preachers than me. But I want you to understand, honestly, it's not really a lack of knowledge being taught behind the pulp, but in those churches, look, you have every opportunity to grow as a Christian if you want. For one, you're saved. You have the spirit of God and you have the Bible for two, you're at a church that's going soul winning. And for three, I'm teaching new things. I'm explaining the word of God. And so you have the opportunity to just kind of wonder out those things and say, man, that was great. Or to walk away and ponder those things. That's really up to you. And honestly, in a church like this, what you're going to find is the years go by that some people are going to be great people. They love God. They go soul winning. They'll be here for, you know, till the end of this church, but they might not ever really make a lot of changes. Why? Because they're just kind of wondering at what's being preached rather than basically taking time to process it. Okay. Genesis 37. Genesis 37. Honestly, even sometimes when you're reading the Bible at home, because, you know, if you have a Bible reading plan, which, you know, I have a Bible reading plan I'm doing right now of how many times to read chapters. Sometimes you're trying to get through those chapters to get to the end of it. But quite honestly, sometimes you need to slow down and say, you know what, if it takes me two hours to process these 10 chapters or 30 minutes, I'm going to take time and write notes if necessary. And here's the thing. If you don't do that, you might just be kind of wasting your time. You might not be learning anything. Now you're not going to walk away and understand everything that you read. But I'll tell you what, I think one big mistake people make is they read the Bible too quickly. Okay. So basically, you know, if you're going to read, say I'm going to read 10 chapters, actually process that information. Don't just sit there with your cell phone going off and all these distractions and just kind of have the audio Bible in the background. You're like, oh man, and then I'll try to learn something. No, actually read, stop, take notes, do what you have to do. If you have to go back to the beginning of the chapter because you missed something and you're confused, no, wait a minute, which one of these people is the king and everything like that. I'm not saying spend an hour on two verses, but I'm just saying, you know, it shouldn't just be, well, I'm trying to get through this many pages, so I'll just quickly read as fast as I can. You process that information and in the long run you're going to learn more that way. You ponder these things. Okay. And so understanding that most wonder and few ponder when they learn things or read things or they hear sermons preach, I want you to understand people who wonder at sermons, they want to hear something they agree with. People that ponder, they want the truth. People that wonder, they want something they agree with, that they can get behind and scream amen immediately. People that ponder though, they want the truth, which means they might not always agree at first with it when they hear it, but people that ponder, they just want the truth. Mary did not understand or fully agree with Jesus when he said that. She's like, I don't get it, but she pondered those things. She kept those things. Why? She wanted the truth and wanted to make changes in her life. Jesus chapter 37, Genesis 37 verse five, and Joseph dreamed a dream and he told it his brethren and they hated him yet the more, and he said unto them, here I pray you this dream which I have dreamed for behold, we were binding sheaves in the field and lo, my sheaf arose and also stood upright and behold, your sheaf stood round about and made obeisance to my sheaf. And so Joseph basically tells his brothers, you know, you're going to be basically bowing down before me. I'm going to be kind of above you. And he's right. I mean, that's what ends up happening, but obviously they get offended by this. Verse eight, and his brethren said to him, shalt thou indeed reign over us, or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams and for his words. Now why do they hate him? Because they don't agree with this. They're mad about it. They're the sort of person that would sit in a church and they'll wonder at sermons, but when they hear something they don't agree with, they're angry about it. Verse nine, and he dreamed yet another dream and told it his brethren and said, behold, I've dreamed a dream more and behold, the sun and the moon and the 11 stars made obeisance to me. Now in verse nine, a lot of people have different opinions on what this verse means because, you know, honestly, when it comes to the sun and the moon and the 11 stars making obeisance to him, you know, the mother of Joseph is dead at the point later on in the story. So some people say this is referring to something else, but I will say this, that these people, they assume what it's saying is, and I agree with this, that basically they will basically be making obeisance to Joseph, okay? The sun representing the father, the moon representing the mom, and then the 11 stars representing the 11 brothers, okay? And so in verse number 10, and he told it to his father and to his brethren and his father rebuked him and said unto him, what is this dream that thou hast dreamed? That I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee, to the earth? Now, does Jacob seem very happy about this? No. He's rebuking his son. He's angry. He's like, you expect me and your mom and your brethren to bow down to you? I mean, he's upset about it, okay? And I understand because if I had told my dad, you know, you're going to make obeisance to me one day, I could see my dad, if Zeph said that to me, I'd be like, all right, here comes your spanking, son. You know, I'd be upset about it. I understand that. And so basically he's upset. And at first he gets angry about it, but notice verse 11 and his brethren envied him. His brethren are mad as well. His brethren envied him, but his father observed the saying, see at first, Jacob doesn't like what's told, but you know what he does? He keeps that saying in his heart. He processes that information. So look, when you're in church, there are going to be things you hear preached that you do not agree with when they're preached. Whether or not it's my understanding of a verse in the Bible or of a passage or whether or not it's some standard I have in my life or whether or not something, basically I'm giving you advice in a sermon and you don't like the advice, you will for sure hear things you don't agree with. I promise everybody in this room who's been here since the beginning, there have been things I preached and you said, I do not agree with that. Now you might not have said it out loud, but I'm sure inside your heart and your mind, you said, I don't agree with that. Okay. You say, why is that? Because of the fact there's 52 weeks in a year and three sermons is 156 sermons and I preach almost every week. So basically 150 sermons, one hour average and in 150 hours of speaking, of course I'm going to say something you don't agree with. Okay. Of course I'm going to say something and maybe I don't say it in the right tone or the right attitude or fully understand the context or maybe I make a mistake. Look, that's 150 hours of public speaking. Okay. Of course I will make mistakes, which is why I recommend you reading the Bible on your own and making your own choices. I give my best advice I can, but I'll make some mistakes. So of course you're going to sometimes have this reaction in your mind. You'll hear a sermon and say, you know what? I don't like that, but I'll tell you what, in this instance, Joseph's the one who's right, not Jacob. Now sometimes when I say something and you get upset about it, I'm sure sometimes you're probably right about it because I do make mistakes. But the reality is sometimes I'm probably right too. Okay. And so look, if you hear one thing per month that you really don't agree with, probably half the time I'm going to be right about that. Okay. Because we're all wrong on certain things. So here's the thing. If you hear something you don't agree with or some advice that you say, I think that's stupid. I think brother Stuckey's Bobo, whatever. Observe that saying. Think about it. And you might find out maybe there's more truth to it than you actually realize. Maybe you don't know the full story and maybe I am wrong about it, but at least what you can do is ponder that, observe the saying and see, well, maybe he's right about that. Turn to Isaiah 58, Isaiah 58, Isaiah chapter 58. Look, when I was at Verity Baptist church for about three years, there were things I didn't agree with Pastor Jimenez on and whether or not it was his interpretation of a verse. And obviously I work for the church, so at our weekly meetings, sometimes I would sit down with Pastor Jimenez and talk about a verse and say, you know, and I always did it in a nice way. You know, I'm not trying to, wasn't trying to rebuke, you know, Pastor Jimenez or whatever, but I'd say, you know, I kind of had a different interpretation of this verse. Do you mind if I kind of share with you my interpretation and you know, sometimes when I explain it to him sometimes, you know, I would still walk away and think that I was kind of right about my interpretation. But sometimes as he explained a little bit deeper, I realized I was wrong about it. Because sometimes, you know, you think something and maybe you don't know as much as you think you do. Or sometimes there was various advice and sermons and I thought, I don't agree with that. I don't think that's good advice. But you know, as you ponder those things, sometimes you find out maybe there's actually more truth to it than you actually realize. Okay. Now I think this is especially true because there's just different stages in life and you have to understand when you're hearing a pastor preach that has four kids and five kids, his perspective on life is going to be a little bit different than someone who's 25 years old with nothing to lose that says, man, if I go to prison, I go to prison. If I die, I die. I mean, I've got a wife and two kids. I've got two kids that are counting on me to raise them and train them to be soul winners. What happens if I do something foolish and I'm a little bit too zealous? Sometimes you know what, you're just at a different stage in life and sometimes some of the advice from people that have more knowledge or more mature, they live longer. Sometimes they might actually be right about that stuff. Isaiah 58 verse one, Isaiah 58 verse one, cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet and show my people their transgression and a house of Jacob, their sins. And what it says in Isaiah 58 verse one is basically what you're supposed to preach is on the specific transgressions or sins of the people you're preaching to. Obviously when it comes to the Bible, a lot of things are always going to apply to everybody. A sermon on why we need to be patient, that applies to everybody in every church around the world. Okay. But you know, honestly, when you look in the Bible, like the church of Galatia, you see them really focusing on salvation because that was an issue at this church, that church. At our church, I don't really think salvation is really an issue with our members. I think we got that pretty nailed down. Okay. But you have to understand there are going to be certain sermons I preach because I might see a problem where I think something needs to be fixed. And when you preach against what some people are doing, the natural reaction in your flesh is to be happy about it or upset, to be a little bit upset. That's your natural reaction when someone basically says, you're wrong. You messed up. Now, look, I don't call people's names out in sermons. You know, that's not my style. If other pastors want to do that, that's fine. But I want you to understand that if you're having somebody preach against what you're doing, your natural reaction is to reject that and say, well, he's wrong. Okay. And that's why most people will never like a church like this, because our church actually points out the transgression and sins, and most people want something they agree with. They don't want the truth. They don't want a church that is the pillar and ground of the truth. Turn to Acts 17, Acts 17, Acts chapter 17, I mean, quite honestly, whenever I've learned a new doctrine in the Bible, my immediate reaction is to be kind of stubborn and say, well, I don't agree with that. I remember the first time I heard in a sermon that you cannot get saved through a modern version of the Bible. This was probably 14 years ago or so, and it was like an old IFB preacher. But he said in the sermon that you cannot get saved through an NIV. And my immediate reaction was just like, ah, he's wrong about that. And I didn't have a single verse for why I believe that. It's just my natural reaction says I don't agree with him. And I read the King James. You know, I thought I was King James only, although I didn't fully understand all of it at the time. But then I remember he showed a Bible verse about it. And I was like, I can't really argue that. I kind of kept that saying in my heart. And I remember the next day after I got over my stubbornness, I was like, you know what? He's right about that. That's what the Bible says. Okay. So I want you to understand when there's something new that you don't agree with, don't just immediately reject it and forget about it and say, no, he's wrong. Actually do like Joseph did, who kept those sayings. He observed that saying the Bible says, Acts 17 verse 11, Acts 17 verse 11. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica. Okay. Now Thessalonica, the church of Thessalonians, was that a good church or a bad church in the Bible? When you're reading first and second Thessalonians, do they sound like a bad church, like the church of Corinth or the church of Galatia? That's really messed up on stuff. Not at all. Okay. They're actually right there near the top because when you see about how he speaks to them in the book of first and second, that's why I believe he's focusing on the end times when he talks to them because they deserve the meat of the word because they weren't the baby Christians. So he focuses on the end times. Okay. They were a great church. But what he says is these were more noble than those in Thessalonica and that they received the word with all readiness of mind and searched the scriptures daily whether those things were so. What is he saying? He's saying the Bereans pondered these things in their heart. They heard things and you know what? They searched the Bible to see whether or not it's so. So if it's something they agree with, they still searched the Bible to make sure that this, yes, this lines up. If it's something they disagreed with, they searched the Bible to find out whether or not it was right or not. And I hope you're reading the Bible every day but I'd recommend as you're hearing sermons also ponder the things that are being preached. Okay. Turn to Revelation 17. Revelation 17. And so the first point we had was this. Most people, they wonder at the things they hear preached or the things they read. Do people actually ponder, okay? Most people, the ones that wonder, they want something they agree with. Those that ponder, they just want the truth whether or not they agree with it or not. People that wonder, they want something interesting. People that ponder want something edifying. People that wonder with great amazement, they want something interesting. Tickles their ears. People that ponder, they want to be edified. Revelation 17 verse 6, and I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. Admiration is a word of admiring, basically something you're almost, is very impressive. It's very beautiful to you. And notice how it says, John, he wondered with great admiration. You say, why? Because when you look at false religions and you see all of their color and their riches and everything, you kind of look in amazement sometimes. Sometimes you see these idols that are super expensive, hundreds of feet tall, and you just kind of wonder at it like, wow, it's kind of impressive. Right? I mean, that's kind of what's going on here in Revelation chapter 7. Or you look at the Catholic church and when they have these big ceremonies and the popes there, you see all the colors of royalty, red and purple and gold and white. And you look at their buildings, like Vatican City is beautiful. If you look at buildings of Vatican City, it's beautiful. And you can look at it and wonder with great admiration. But notice what it says in verse 7, and the angel said unto me, wherefore didst thou marvel? Why did you marvel? What are you so impressed by? I will tell thee in the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carryeth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns. So basically saying, you know, why are you marveling about this? There's nothing special. There's nothing impressive. And I'm going to explain to you what exactly this is that's being talked about. Okay, turn to 1 Timothy 1. First Timothy chapter 1. I have an example of this in my life in terms of, I remember I was driving by Las Vegas during the day one time. You know, I was driving on a long drive going somewhere, and I remember just driving through Las Vegas because Las Vegas is known as Sin City. Okay, that's the nickname for Las Vegas. And the phrase they always say is, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. So basically, if you want to cheat on your wife, hey, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. You don't tell anybody about it. So it's a place where there's lots of prostitutes, you know, a lot of adultery, lots of gambling, all the casinos, people lose all their money and destroy their lives. Hey, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. So basically you can do whatever you want there. It's not wrong. That's basically what their motto is. And it's known as Sin City, Las Vegas. So it's not a godly place in the US. Okay, it's a really wicked place. I remember driving by during the day, and I was just like, I don't get what's so impressive about this. You know, I drove by, and it was just kind of like a normal town and everything. They had casinos. I was like, you know, I don't get it. But I remember, you know, because I was going on a long drive. So I drove one way, and then at night, I was driving through the same place. And as you're driving by in the interstate, you're just like looking at it like, wow, because you see all the buildings lit up and all this money from the casinos, and you could see how someone could get sucked into that because they're just wondering with amazement. It just looks so beautiful. It looks so impressive, even though it's like the most wicked place in the United States. But I could see how people could drive by and just wonder with great admiration. It kind of reminds me of Revelation 17, okay? But people that wonder, they want something interesting. They want those sermons against the Sodomites and things such as that. But people that actually ponder the Word of God, they want something that actually helps them, that changes their life. They want something edifying. First Timothy 1, verse 3. As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine, neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies which minister questions rather than godly edifying, which is in faith, so do. And in verse 4, it's contrasting something that's edifying versus fables and endless genealogies. Fables are these false stories, these ridiculous stories. And look, there's a lot of entertaining fables that are out there. I mean, it's entertaining that there's like 800 foot tall angelic humans, right? That's interesting, right? I mean, it's not true. It's a fable. But when people tell stories like that in sermons, it's going to get you 100,000 views online. If I started preaching like that, I'd get lots of views about all these fables and stupid things like that. But, you know, is that edifying for your life? It's a waste. And that's what you see dispensationalist will do. They preach these ridiculous sermons that don't help people fix their marriage. They don't help people become a good father, a good mother. They don't help people develop characteristics in their life or learn to work hard, learn to be patient or whatever. No, they're just kind of interesting stories people tell. And the Bible is contrasting the fables and the godly edifying. Look, when I look for a sermon to listen to, if I have free time, the last sermon I would ever listen to is a sermon on the sodomites. Now look, I preach against the sodomites and it needs to be preached. But I'm telling you, in my personal time when I listen to sermons, I never listened to sermons on the sodomites. You say, why? Because I already know what the sermon is about. Because I already know what the Bible teaches about it. I'm not saying I can't learn anything. I'm not saying I don't need to hear it. But I'm just saying I want something that's edifying. A sermon on how to be a good husband. I'd rather listen to that. Say why? Because it's something I need to work on. Okay. How to be a good father. How to develop patience. How to develop character. How to learn to be a hard worker. That is what's edifying. And someone who ponders the word of God, that is the sort of sermon they like. Someone who just wants to wonder at sermons and scream amen all the time, look, they're looking for the sermon against the sodomites. They're looking for a sermon about, you know, you know, whatever, rather than trying to find something that's actually edifying. Turn to 1 Timothy 3, 1 Timothy chapter 3. 1 Timothy chapter 3. And I'll tell you what, for you guys that are young preachers that maybe you want to go into the ministry one day, or maybe you want to get a chance to preach behind this pulpit one day. Let me tell you something. Don't base your success on a sermon based on how many views it got on YouTube. Because what I've generally seen is sermons that are dumb, they get a lot of views. Okay. And I'm not saying from pastors, but I'm saying people get to guess preach. And you know, sometimes someone gets to guess preach, and they preach something that's like an edifying sermon, a helpful sermon, like a sermon of, you know, why you need to not forsake church. That's helpful sermon. Okay. Why you need to read the Bible. Okay. Your look, when when you get a chance to preach, your goal should be I want to preach something that's edifying, not something that's entertaining, not something that's interesting, not something that's going to give me 1000 views on YouTube, okay, but something where people can actually learn and be reminded and be edified. Okay, that should be your goal. Okay. First Timothy three, verse 15. First Timothy three, verse 15. But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. Church is the pillar and ground of the truth. You're supposed to be learning the Word of God. There are some churches, and this usually kind of goes to the dispensational churches, that oftentimes they preach a lot of conspiracy sermons in conspiracy theories and sermons. Look, I don't really preach conspiracy theories, and I believe conspiracy theories, but but here's the thing about conspiracy theories. You don't really know whether it's true or not. It's not two plus three equals five. Okay. It's like, you know, it's like a math problem with like 50 different letters, and you're trying to figure out every single different one. It's like, I don't know A, I don't know B, I don't know C, I don't know D, you just don't know. And so when sermons are being preached, you're basically supposed to just preach the truth so people can learn. And look, you can learn new things just by having the Word of God preached, because it's a big book. The Bible's, you know, 66 books, thousands of pages, and look, just preaching the Bible, people will learn. Turn to Ephesians four, Ephesians four, Ephesians chapter four. I mean, this is the reason why many people, probably even in this room, the way you kind of found out about this movement, so to speak, is because you're looking up stuff on the end times. Why? The end times is interesting. Okay. Now, the end times can be edifying, obviously, that's what we're talking about on Wednesdays. But many people, the first taste you had in the new IFB was after the tribulation. Is that not right? Many people in this room, you watched after the tribulation. Why? Because of the fact the end times was interesting. Okay. And I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that. I think that's great. But what I want you to understand is, honestly, you need to shift from this focus on, I want to find something interesting, defining something that's actually edifying, okay? Not just something that's interesting, but something that's edifying. And look, I think the whole Word of God's interesting. You hear sermons on just a basic topic. The Word of God's interesting as it is anyway, okay? But you need to focus on things that are edifying. Ephesians four, verses 11 and 12. Ephesians four, verses 11 and 12. And he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints. Perfecting basically means to complete them, so they kind of learn everything. For the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. Edifying of the body of Christ, referring to the church of Ephesus most specifically, okay? That's that specific local body, the edifying of the body of Christ. So when sermons are being preached, it's to edify, to help the people, help them make changes in their lives, okay? Turn in your Bible to James one, James one, James one, James chapter one. You need to be careful in your life not to just try to live off things that are always just interesting, okay? Because this is something you see because a lot of people are kind of like, they get into church, they get excited about the word of God, and they last for like a year and a half at a church like this. Because when you first hear preaching about the end times or anything that we talk about, why Bible college is wrong and this and that, it's very interesting to you because it's all new to you. And you're learning lots of information, but you know what you often see with some of these people that are young and zealous? They kind of get really excited and then all of a sudden it just goes the other way really quickly. You say, why? Because they run out of those really exciting things that are preached on. And quite honestly, you know, you need to realize it's not always the most entertaining sermon in the world. This sermon, if this sermon gets a lot of views, the only reason why is because people are on lockdown with nothing to do. Because a sermon titled wondering versus pondering is not a sermon people will click on. I promise you that. It's going to be the sermon that gets very few views. Okay? You say, why? Because in general, people want something that's entertaining. Like, wow, that sounds interesting. And they'll listen to that. But quite honestly, what you need is not just something that's entertaining. You need something that's actually edifying and don't misunderstand me because I believe when you preach sermons, it should be interesting to the people. The word of God is interesting. I'm just saying by and large, it should be edifying, not necessarily interesting. Okay? James 1 verse 22. So the points we have here today are this. Most people, they wonder at the word of God. Few people ponder. People that wonder, they want something that they agree with. People that ponder want something that is the truth. People that wonder, they want something interesting. People that ponder want something edifying. And lastly, this. People who wonder at the word of God, they get revived or resuscitated weekly. People that ponder make real life lasting changes. Okay? For the better. James 1 verse 22. James 1 verse 22. But be doers of the word and not hearers only. The Bible speaks about someone who hears the word of God, and he's not actually a doer of it. He doesn't make changes. Notice this. Deceiving your own selves. Deceiving your own selves. Basically you lie to yourself. The Bible says lie not against the truth. You basically are deceiving yourself or lying to yourself. And this is people that hear the word of God being preached. Say how could you be lying to yourself when you're hearing the word of God preached? He gives an example. Verse 23. For if any be a hearer of the word and not a doer, this is someone who hears sermons preached but doesn't actually apply it, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass. You say, what is that referring to? It's referring to a mirror. It's referring to a glass that you look at. He beholds his face in a glass, in a mirror. Now what's the purpose of a mirror? Purpose of a mirror is that you can look at it and make changes if necessary, right? You wake up in the morning and look, my hair's pretty short right now but even if it's grown out just for like a month and a half, sometimes I wake up and it's like this or something. And I wake up and what do I do? First thing, I look in the mirror. Say why? I'm seeing do I need to fix my hair? Do I need to make some sort of change? Or you're getting ready for church this morning and what did everybody in this room do? You went and looked in your mirror, is my tie straight? Or do I have something wrong? Do I need to make some sort of change? And you look to make sure everything was okay. The purpose of a mirror is that you can look at it and make appropriate changes if necessary. It's not for decoration, it actually serves a purpose. That's the purpose. Well the Bible's speaking about someone who's looking at himself in a mirror and it's giving the example of someone who hears the word of God preached but doesn't do it. He says he's someone who looks in the mirror. Notice what it says in verse 24. The Bible's giving the analogy of someone who looks in a mirror and then all of a sudden he just kind of goes his way and forgets about the problems. He looks in the mirror and his tie's like, I don't know, all the way over here and he's like no big deal and he doesn't fix it. Or he looks in the mirror and he just ate and he's got ketchup on his face and he's like eh, I'll worry about it later. And he just kind of goes to church anyway with ketchup all over his face. Or a guy just got done shaving and if you're like me, half the time I get done shaving and I got a lot of red spots because I cut myself. And then all of a sudden you see it and you see blood dripping down and you do no changes whatsoever. What's the purpose of a mirror if you don't make changes when you see there's a problem? The whole purpose of a mirror is to make changes. And see the purpose of hearing sermons in your life is so you can make changes in your life. And if you don't make changes and you just wonder with amazement at the sermons, you're like somebody who's looking in a mirror and all of a sudden you realize, man, I got a major problem. I'll just forget about it and worry about it later. Say how do you deceive yourself? You deceive yourself because the person that does this every week thinks they're right with God and they're not. And they wonder why other people are growing every single week and they're making the same mistakes and having the same problems and there's no changes. Now look, truly none of us are ever going to be perfect or right with God. So I want you to understand that some people will sit in a church and make changes through their life for the better and slowly get better, slowly develop more character, slowly become a harder worker, develop more patience, learn the Bible more. And some people are just kind of getting revived every week. Some people you come in here every single week and you're like on your deathbed and you're counting on me to just resuscitate you with something interesting and you're like, okay, I got enough energy to go for the week. I'm going to be good to go. You don't read your Bible the entire week. You don't pray the entire week. So basically you're fasting for a whole week and then you get an overdose. You've got this giant buffet here on Sunday morning. You get these sermons and it kind of gives you enough energy to go during the week and on Monday you kind of get through your day, but then on Tuesday you're like, man, I'm getting hungry. By the time Saturday night rolls around, you're almost at the point of death. And Sunday's reviving you every single week. You say, what's the problem with that? The problem with that is eventually it's going to be too late to revive you and eventually you're going to find yourself end up leaving church because look, as far as I know, everybody in this room loves God. You love the word of God being preached. You like to learn and stuff like that, but you know, plenty of people that love God end up leaving a church like this. It happens all the time and I've seen it for years. I've been an independent fundamental Baptist for, since I was 19 years old. Okay. I got saved at 18 and I realized I was a Baptist pretty much before I turned 19, you know, five days later because the one who led me, the Lord is a Baptist and I found out a few months later, okay, I'm an independent fundamental Baptist, King James only, soul wanting a church, et cetera, et cetera. Look, I've been an independent fundamental Baptist for a very long time. And you know what? You see a lot of people that love soul winning and are in church and they just kind of die out of church. You say, why? Because they want something that's interesting, but they never actually go home and make real changes to their life. And they, they, they, they, they were looking at all these conspiracy theories online. They came across Alex Jones and Ken Hovind and they came across, you know, pastor Anderson and after the tribulation and they watched it, man, this is so interesting in times and Babylon USA, man, this is great. And then they come to church and then after a little while as they're just looking for things that are interesting, all of a sudden they just find out, man, church is just not that exciting. You know, it was more interesting when they're just preaching against the sodomites and the end times and all that stuff. And they're not really looking for sermons that actually make changes in their life. And those are the people that end up dying out of church. They end up leaving a church like this because they're really in church for the wrong reasons. Okay. Now praise the Lord for anybody who comes here because I've seen people that were, I was never into conspiracy theories. I believe in some conspiracy theories, but let me tell you something. Before I was saved, I didn't believe any conspiracy theories. Okay. Somebody led me to the Lord the old fashioned way. They just preached the gospel to me and you know, they invited me to church. I started going to church, started reading the Bible a little bit, started to make changes, listening to sermons. And then later on, I believe some of those conspiracy theories, but a lot of people, they come to a church like this because they watched all these conspiracies online and it kind of leads them to the truth. And I've seen some of those people that were just like every conversation, they just talk about chemtrails. You know, and chemtrails are big, like outside the Philippines in the US, everyone talks about chemtrails. Okay. All these conspiracy theories. And some of those people you see, they just start slowly changing to worrying about being a father and a husband and worrying about the word of God and things like that. But some of those people, they don't really change. And they're always looking for something new, something interesting. Wow. That tickles my ear. And those are the people that end up leaving a church like this. And look, we preach everything here. We preach against Bible college. We just had that series about, you know, the old paths question mark, but I want you to realize those sermons are done now. We preach against Bible college, the Christian school, and the house of merchandise and all that stuff. You can't always just be looking for something interesting where you can scream amen and say, go get that old Baptist church of mine, right? Eventually, you just need something edifying. You say, why? Because most people here are very young. And I'm sure you plan to live for God for 50 more years. You need sermons that are actually going to make you make changes in your life. And sometimes those sermons come and it kind of hurts because you don't always agree with it right away. But you have two choices. You can either just kind of forget about it, get mad at me or whatever, or you can ponder what's being preached. Or basically, you're like the person that looks in the mirror. And all of a sudden, you heard the sermons about the things you need to change in your life. Because look, every single one of us will hear sermons where we need to make changes and you can just forget about it. Just walk away and say, whatever, you know, I'm fine, I can serve God, whatever, even if I don't apply this. And I guess we'll see if you last because most people don't when they try that. Verse 25, But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. The Bible speaks about contrasting the person who doesn't apply the Word of God to the person who does apply the Word of God. Turn to Proverbs four. We'll close up here. Proverbs four, Proverbs chapter four. One thing I really like about, you know, my sending church and Verity Baptist churches, if you've listened to Pastor Jimenez preach a lot, he focuses on sermons that are edifying. Sermons are actually gonna make real changes in your life. And quite honestly, I mean, even recently, as they have that help for the home YouTube channel, he's putting up small clips, a lot of those things. I'm like, man, those are the things I need to hear like mistakes with raising your kids. I just watched that this morning. And I was like, Yeah, I gotta ponder those things, you know, because he's doing a great job raising his family, and I don't want to make those mistakes. And I want you to realize, I think people have this idea that, hey, if I bring my kids to a church like this, then they're gonna grow up and love God. That is not necessarily true at all. There have been plenty of great IFP preachers from the past whose kids turned out to be reprobates and hated God. Okay? No, I mean, if you don't actually make the changes in the sermons that are being preached, and you just kind of forget about it, look, you're gonna find out that your kids don't love you when they grow up, and they don't love God. Okay? You have to actually apply what's being preached. Proverbs four, verse 26. Proverbs four, verse 26. Ponder the path of thy feet and let all thy ways be established. The Bible says ponder the path of thy feet. What it's saying is really think about what direction you're going on in life. Okay? Because basically, you know, there's kind of two different paths you can go down in areas of life. Basically, go down the path of what God says or the path of what you want or what the devil's telling you to do. Okay? Now, I want you to understand when you're at the beginning of this path, it really might not seem like that big of a deal if, oh, man, I just kind of watch movies from time to time because we're gonna preach on worldliness. We're gonna start that sermon here in, you know, 15 minutes, you know, we're gonna start that series. And you might say, well, it's not really that big of a deal, you know, I'm a lot more separated than the average person. Now, I watch a lot less movies than my coworkers or whatever, and you might think it's no big deal. I'm a little bit worldly and I don't apply everything from the Bible, but you have to ponder the path of your feet because it might not be a big deal right here. But what about if you keep going down that path and this is God's way and you just keep going a little bit more and more this direction? What you're gonna find is you'll start being offended by the things that are preached because people don't like being told they're wrong. And you're gonna find yourself making more and more and more mistakes. So before you go down a road of basically becoming worldly or rejecting the things of God, ponder what direction you're going. And look, that's what I ask you to do. Any sermon that I preach, you know, whatever it is, ponder it. Think about it. You say, why? Because you don't know the end of the matter. And at the beginning, it just might not seem like that big of a deal. But how many people end up quitting a great church along the way? How many people fade out? You say, why? Because of the fact they slowly start going the wrong direction. And I want you to realize that, you know, it's really serving God is like an all or nothing thing. You really can't go halfway on this, okay? Serving God, you just have to go all out. And if you don't go all out serving God, you're not gonna last in a church like this. Say why? Because you'll start getting mad at the preaching, you'll start getting frustrated or whatever. You'll get offended by the things that are preached. You have to actually ponder what direction you're going. Be someone who hears the Word of God and says, you know what, I want to learn. I want to be edified. I just want the truth. And if that means I need to change this area of my life, I'm gonna make that change. If that means I've got to spend more time doing this and less time doing this, I'll make the change. Regardless of what anybody else is doing, I'll just look at my own personal life and say, you know what, I don't want to make the mistakes that other people are gonna do. I want to make changes. What was the difference between Mary and pretty much everybody else, including soul owners? She pondered what she heard. Most people just wonder. And honestly, even in a church like this, that's what you're gonna see by and large. Most people are just kind of wondering at the sermons. They just want to hear a sermon where they can scream Amen, find it interesting. Then other people are actually going to ponder what's being preached, keep those sayings in their hearts, take notes, observe that saying, be like the Bereans and say, how can I apply this to my life? Not how can so and so apply this to their life. How can I apply it to my life? Even if you're more separated than anybody else in this room, what changes do I need to make in my life? You know, one thing I found interesting when you preach sermons, you know, sometimes when you preach sermons, you're not preaching a sermon in regards to trying to focus on a person. But when you preach sermons in the back of your mind, you kind of know, well, these are the people that maybe need to work on that, okay? If I was preaching a sermon on, you know, why you need to go soul winning, by and large people at our church go soul winning, but not everybody goes soul winning. You know, what I find is when I preach a sermon on why you need to go soul winning, the people that go soul winning the most are like, man, I needed to hear that. Or you preach a sermon about why you need to read the Bible, the people that already are reading the Bible are like, man, I need to hear that. You say why? Because there are people that are just pondering and they're trying to be edified. They're trying to learn and they're trying to keep going. They're not trying to just get resuscitated week by week. They're trying to make life long changes and look, it's up to you. If you want to make the same mistakes in your life over and over and over again, you can be like everybody else. But if you actually want to make real changes in your life, you need to stop and ponder everything that's preached or everything you read in the word of God. Let's close the word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today and ask you to help us all apply this sermon to our lives, including myself. Whenever we learn something new or we hear sermons preached or we're reading your word, God, we want to learn. We want to be edified. Help us to make real changes in our life, God. We realize none of us are perfect and we still need to make a lot of changes and we don't need to worry about what everyone else is doing, but just what we're doing personally, God. Help us to all make changes and continue to bless our church. We also ask you to bless this church and everything going on in the Philippines at this time with the coronavirus. God, help us to get through this and keep serving you and loving you and please open up the doors and return things back to normal. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.