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Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Welcome to the faith and word balance church. We're ready to see you all here for our Sunday morning service. If you could all please have a seat. Grab a handle and open up that handle. Song number 34. You can begin this morning's service by singing song number 34, I Know That My Redeemer Lived. Song number 34. I Know That My Redeemer Lived Behold on the earth And with your spirit I Know Eternal that if you give In the face of doubt For in his name I Know, I Know That Jesus lived with And on the earth The good shall stand I Know, I Know That life be given By grace and power For in his hand I Know His promise never failed And the world is free To do cannot die Lord, look at the place you stand Here I shall see Here by and by I Know, I Know That Jesus lived with And on the earth The good shall stand I Know, I Know That life be given By grace and power For in his hand I Know What match you came to bear And that where he is Whereby he be Lord, who's love will be given When he at last Will come for me I Know, I Know That Jesus lived with And on the earth The good shall stand I Know, I Know That life be given By grace and power For in his hand Amen. Amen, thank you brother. Let's turn our hymns to Psalm 102. Psalm 102, he hideth my soul. Psalm 102. Oh Lord, a full Savior Jesus my Lord The wonderful Savior to me He hideth my soul In the land of the Lord Where faith is not pleasure I see He hideth my soul In the land of the Lord That shadows not my Christ be found He hideth my life He could dance of his love And come with me And with his name And come with me And with his name Oh wonderful Savior Jesus my Lord He hideth my birth With your name He holdeth me And I shall not be burned He hid me Straight as my blood He hideth my soul In the land of the Lord That shadows not my Christ be found He hideth my life In the land of the Lord And come with me And with his name And come with me And with his name With the earth's blessings His holy ground Thank him His fullness divine I see I'm actually Oh, a written plan For sojoury deeper as mine He hideth my soul In the land of the Lord That shadows not my Christ be found He hideth my life In the land of his life And come with me And with his name And come with me And with his name Oh wonderful Savior Jesus my Lord He hid me Straight as my blood He hid me And with his name And come with me And with his name And come with me And with his name He hideth my soul In the land of the Lord That shadows not my Christ be found He hideth my soul In the land of the Lord That shadows not my Christ be found He hideth my soul In the land of the Lord That shadows not my Christ be found He hid me And with his name And come with me And with his name And come with me And with his name And come with me And come with me And come with me the service times in the upper left hand side every Sunday at 10 30 a.m. and again at 5 30 p.m. Thursdays at 7. I wasn't sure what I was going to do so that's why I kind of left out the chapter there but I think what I'm going to do is end up preaching 2nd Kings chapter 12 on Thursday night. I know it's Thanksgiving but most people are going to be out of town probably on Thanksgiving so I'm going to go ahead and preach the Thanksgiving sermon tonight so if you wanted to get that you either got to tune in or be here but we'll be in 2nd Kings chapter 12 on Thursday and then we've got the soul winning salvation baptisms the offering totals and the attendance below that also happy Thanksgiving to everybody and of course it's that wonderful time of year where we all get to start celebrating the holidays start to get to playing Christmas music here after this Thursday and not a day before right I don't know I might have to check that song sheet there again I don't know we'll see what happens but anyway a happy Thanksgiving to everybody and then of course we've got the Thanksgiving dessert social coming up on Thanksgiving you know the details there again don't you do not have to bring a dessert the church will make up whatever is lacking in this area and if you want to bring one please just go ahead and sign up back there I know everyone's busy cooking meals and and everything else so don't feel like you have to bring one but if you want to come join us at 6 p.m on Thursday prior to the evening service please be feel free to do so also we've got the homeschool field trip below that to shamrock shamrock farms this is of course up in Tempe but always these are available to the folks in Tucson we have the homeschool field trip for the Tucson folks also open to Tempe but they're going to be at the ones to make the trip this time if they want to come down to the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum again this is coming up kind of quick these things always get here quicker than you think it's going to be on Tuesday December 13th 9 a.m is when we need to enter so you need to be there a little bit earlier than that and then don't forget the it's not really in here but we're going to have a live theater animal a live animal theater is what they call it so it's going to be they're going to bring out some live animals it's going to be kind of like this setting where you're going to be nice and close and I'll probably be right up front sitting right there in the middle you know cross legged just all wonder right just eyes all glow but anyway probably not in my spirit I will be in my heart that's how I feel but do keep in mind this is open to anybody with school-aged children so it's not just for homeschool children we do call it homeschool field trips but it's open to anybody with school-aged children if you want to pull them out of class that day or whatever you know have teach them how to play hooky it's still an educational experience right so they're technically in school but you're welcome to do that just remember that it's one parent for families with five children or less and then two parents for six or more that way we can kind of keep the cost down a little bit although we're getting a really great rate but that is just something we try to observe for these events and then also the Saturday on Saturday December 24th Christmas Eve we'll be having our annual Christmas Eve service just a quick reading of the Christmas story we'll sing a few of the traditional carols light the candles and then and then go out it's only going to be about 20 minutes so everyone seemed to really enjoy it last year so we're going to do it again this year and it's a great time to invite family friends other people out we're going to be getting some invites made up here probably this week hopefully just start handing out really promoting that during our so many times you're welcome to take those once we get them and hand those out as well but that's going to do it for announcements we'll go ahead and sing one more song before we get into the preaching this morning say just her in the glory is her in the glory is her in the glory Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land. Listen to instruction. How about listening to instruction when you're on the job? You want to succeed out in the workplace? Listen to instruction. Listen to the details that are being given to you. Listen to what you're being told to do and then do it. It's kind of hard to do what you're told to do when you don't listen to begin with. When we kind of just let it go in one ear and out the other and we're not listening to instruction. Look at 1 Timothy 6 verse 1. He says, And they that have believing masters, let them not despise them because they are brethren, but rather do them service because they are faithful and beloved partakers of the benefit. These things teach and exhort. It's my job to get up and teach you and exhort you, to encourage you if you already know this, to listen to your masters. He says there, As many servants as there are in the oak, verse 1, count their own masters worthy of all honor. But notice he goes on in verse 2 and says, And they that have believing masters, let them not despise them, but rather do them service. So it's insinuated here that it's not just the believing masters that we are to count worthy of all honor. And sometimes Christians can kind of get this attitude. They can think, well I'm saved, I'm a child of God, I can go to work and have a bad attitude with all these unsaved heathen. That's not what the Bible teaches at all. Not even close. The Bible says here, The name of God is doctrine, be not blasphemed. And then it goes on and clarifies, And they that have believing masters, let them not despise them, but rather do them service. It goes on and says that, again showing us that there's a difference between having a believing master and an unbelieving master. That he's addressing both. And meaning this, that all masters are to be kind of worthy of all honor. If you don't believe me, go to 1 Peter chapter 2. 1 Peter chapter number 2. Because again, we can get this attitude that says, well I know more than this guy. Well I'm saved, I know these great spiritual truths, what does this guy know? And people can get a bad attitude towards other people at church, or excuse me, at work, simply because of the fact that they're not saved. And it ought not be that way. Because here's the thing, Moses learned a lot of things in the Egyptians house, didn't he? You'd think there was a lot of, were the Egyptians good godly people that he was learning from? No, they were busy enslaving Israel. They were task masters. There was another pharaoh that had come up that knew not Joseph. We know the story. So Moses is still learning things, he's still learning to listen. Obviously there was a lot of good things that he still learned. A lot of practical things that he learned even from a wicked group of people like the Egyptians. Who were not godly, that were not servants of the Lord. And look, I'm not saying we should all go sit and learn at the feet of some unsaved false prophet or some wicked person. I'm using this as an example to show us that you can still glean things from people that aren't saved. There's still a lot of worldly wisdom so to speak. Obviously there's a lot of things we have to have discernment and say, well that's not something I need to do in my life. We don't want to go to certain people to get advice in certain areas of our life. Going to the world for child rearing, going to the world for marriage advice is probably not the best idea. Go to people that have actually succeeded in that area. Those are the people that you want to receive advice from. But if you have somebody that's succeeding on the job where you work, if you have somebody that's being promoted, if you have somebody that's been put in places of authority, if you see somebody that knows their stuff, that knows how to do their job well, that's probably somebody you want to listen to in that regard. Learn how they do things. Having this attitude of being able to listen to authority, this is a lesson that we can learn from Moses. That means we might have to go and listen to and obey bosses that are unsaved, supervisors that are unsaved and maybe aren't the most gentle among us. He says there in verse 18 of 1 Peter 2, The servants be subject to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. And the froward meaning people who are difficult to deal with. We can't have this attitude in life in the workplace or anywhere else where if anybody ever gives us a hard time, that somehow it just gives us a pass to blow them off and treat them however we want and treat them poorly. Even people who are froward can still teach us things and should still be obeyed. They should still be submitted to when they are in that position of authority. An example of listening to authority is listening to instruction on the job. Now here's one that's real popular today. Wives should listen to their husbands. Wives should listen to their husbands. In 2 Peter chapter 3, I'll begin reading in verse 1, it says, Likewise ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands. We just hairlipped every feminist in three counties. Likewise ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands, that if any obey not the word, they may also be without the word be won by the conversation of the wives. You know why God has to specifically put this commandment here, this very specific situation of a saved wife still having to obey her unsaved husband, is because that's pretty difficult to do. That's a big ass, but nonetheless it is commanded in scripture, isn't it? And ladies cannot, who maybe get saved later in life, got married unsaved, they have an unsaved husband, they don't just get to say, well my husband is this that and the other thing, therefore I don't have to obey him. That's not what the Bible says. The Bible says that you should obey him, even if he's not saved, that they also may be without the word won by the conversation of the wives. Look at verse 6, even as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord. Obviously he's not calling him God, she's saying Lord meaning boss. Calling him Lord. Now I'm not saying you have to go home and call your husband Lord. But if this shows, he might want to, I don't know. I think my wife did it once or twice to me, just to kind of see. And I was kind of like, why do you call me Lord for? It was like, I think she was half joking. I asked for something and she was like, yes Lord. I was like, that feels pretty good. I don't insist on that, believe me. But it shows what? It shows an attitude of submission, of subjection, of being willing to listen to the authority that God has given you. Whether you like it or not, your husband is a God-given authority to the wife. And I'm not going to go on and on with that. I'll remind us again in Colossians 3, it says, wives submit to your own husbands as it is fit in the Lord. What does it mean to submit to somebody? It means you're going to listen to what they have to say. And Moses is somebody that we see submitting to other people when he listens to them. Saying, hey, you have a better idea. This is why people don't like to listen to others. Because it's like, they have to admit your idea is better. What you thought of was better. What you came up with was better. And people struggle with this, but all that comes from is pride. You know, I harp on this all the time from this pulpit, but this morning is no exception. You know, children ought to listen to their parents. I know I've already kind of gone off on that. Go to Ephesians chapter 6. I know every child in the room already knows this verse, has it memorized and written on their wall. They recite it every morning before they walk out and face the day. They remind themselves and their devotions and their prayer that they are there to obey their parents, right? This is just running through their mind. They're just looking for opportunities to fulfill God's command to them, right? Yeah, right. Hopefully, you know, Ephesians chapter 6, it says in verse 1, children, obey your parents in the Lord. Because your parents are mean. Because the adults in your life want to make you miserable, right? No, for this is right. For this is right. Well, who's to say that obeying my parents is right? God. Verse 2, honor thy father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise. Now, that's not the first commandment, but it's the first commandment with what? With promise. Meaning that if you do this, you're going to receive something in reward. You know, a lot of the commandments we just do to keep ourselves out of trouble. Like, you know, we don't commit murder because we don't want to go to prison. It's not because we're just such moral upstanding people. You know, obviously, hopefully we are, you know, but there's, you know, we don't want to just go around. Well, I'm not going to kill anybody just because, you know, I want to live a long life or something. You know, we, a lot of the commandments that we do, we just do because that's what we're supposed to do. Whether we receive anything in return or not, it doesn't matter. But this commandment, honor thy father and mother, is the first commandment with promise. And you say, well, what's the promise? Verse 3, that it may be well with thee. You know, that you'd be blessed, that God will bless your life and that thou mayest live long on the earth. You know, I want to live a long life. I want to accomplish a lot of great works for God in my lifetime. I want to, I don't want to die at a young age. I want to use my life in the service of God. I want to enjoy my life. I want to see my grandkids and all that stuff. I want to see everything that God has for the people that I know in this life. I want to be around for that. You know, Lord willing. Well, you know, if you want the same, you should probably learn to honor your father and your mother. You know, and it's addressed to children. And that honoring obviously has the connotation of taking care of them in their old age, but also honoring them in terms of respecting them and obeying them. That's why it says in Colossians 3, children obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing unto the Lord. It's not just about making your parents happy. It's about actually pleasing God. You know, so think about that when it comes to this idea of obeying your parents, young people. When your parents tell you to do something, you know, say, well, I don't care if I upset my parents. You know, I'm going to disobey and I don't care if it makes mom mad, I don't care if it makes dad mad. Well, you know, that's one, that's a poor attitude to begin with, but you might want to consider the fact that obeying your parents is well pleasing to the Lord. You know, and you definitely don't want to upset him because God's the one that holds your breath in your hand. He's the one that's going to give you a long life. He's the one that has blessings forevermore. You know, he's the one that could make your life great or very miserable. OK, so you want to please God, children, you want to kids want to know what's God's will for my life. Obey your parents. You know, it's repeating it over and over throughout the scripture. You must listen to your parents. You must listen to authority. Listen to the instruction that is given you on the job. Wives should listen and obey their parents or excuse me, their husbands. You must learn to listen. OK, you must learn to listen because to learn you must listen. I know that's kind of a mouthful. You say, why was it? Why was Moses brought up in all the wisdom and knowledge of the Egyptians? Why did he have why was he mighty in words indeed? Why did God was able to use him in such a great way? Why did he excel not only in Pharaoh's house, but also, you know, after he esteemed the reproaches of Christ, greater riches than all the treasures of Egypt? Why did he also excel as one of the greatest leaders in all of scripture? Because he was somebody who learned to listen. OK, because to learn you must listen. I'm just going to rattle off some proverbs real quick for you. Go back to Exodus 18. The Bible says in Proverbs four, Here ye children, the instruction of the Father, and attend to no understanding. Attend to no understanding. What's that talking about? It's talking about listening. Being somebody learning to listen. Attend to no understanding. You know, give attendance to no understanding. Receive my instruction and not silver and knowledge rather than choice gold. How are you going to receive it? By listening. How are you going to receive that instruction? By listening to it. By attending to know it. That's why he just says flat out in Proverbs eight, Hear instruction and be wise and refuse it not. You know, you want wisdom, then you need to hear instruction, which means you need to listen in order to learn. The Bible says, A wise son heareth his father's instruction, but a scorner heareth not rebuke. Hear counsel and receive instruction that thou mayest be wise in thy latter end. You know, this is something that I heard recently in a sermon. I've been thinking about it several times throughout the week. I thought it was such a good point. It bears repeating. I'm going to read to you again from Proverbs chapter 19. He says in verse 20, Hear counsel and receive instruction so that, you know, the people that are teaching you can relax a little bit so you don't have to make their lives so miserable. Know that thou mayest be wise in thy latter end. You know, listening and learning to listen and receiving instruction is for our benefit. Just like we read back there in Ephesians. You know, it's obeying and listening, you know, brings blessing. Here's the thing. You know, if you disregard instruction, if you disregard, you know, what you're being taught, if you don't want to listen to the authority at home, if you don't want to listen to the authority at the church, if you don't want to listen to the authority at your job, if you just don't want to listen to authority, you know, you're not going to learn anything. But you know what? You're not going to be wise in your latter end. And here's the thing. Those that are instructing are going to be fine. Those that are teaching, the authorities, they're going to be fine. This is the point that I heard that I wanted to repeat. Is that, you know, if my children choose to disobey me and not apply the things that we have taught them in their life, I'm going to be okay. Yeah, sure, it's going to grieve me. It's going to hurt my heart. You know, if they go off and live in the world, it's going to break my heart, all of that. I understand that. But me, I'm still going to be fine. I'm still going to be loving the Lord, you know, because I'm already doing that. You know, I'm already reading my Bible. I'm already living a godly Christian life. I'm already in church three times. I'm already doing all those things. I'm just trying to teach others to do that for their own sake. And if people don't want to do that, you know, I'm still going to be okay. You know, that's why it says there, hear counsel, meaning listen. Receive instruction. How do you receive it? By hearing it. That thou may be as wise in the latter end. If you refuse it, the one giving the instruction is still going to be just fine. Okay, I thought that was an interesting thought. But look at there, Exodus chapter 18 verse 13. This is an example of Moses listening to somebody else, being willing to, you know, demonstrate that humility, that meekness that he had that made him such a great leader. In listening to somebody else. By submitting to somebody else. This point, Moses, I mean, he's, I mean, Jethro's coming to him, you know, giving him this advice, as we'll see in verse 13. He could have just said, you know, Jethro, who are you? Excuse me, have you ever split the, what seed did you split, buddy? You know, did you, what plagues did you perform in some great nation? How many millions have you delivered from the, some oppressive hand? You know, you know, show, what's your pedigree, Jethro? You know, Jethro's just, you know, raising some, some daughters and some kids out in the backside of the desert, and, you know, herding sheep and goats or whatever. He's just a herdman. You know, what, but, you know, he still had wisdom, even from that humble source, such as himself, to impart to somebody else. Very practical wisdom that was going to help Moses to not wear away, right? And Moses, again, demonstrates that humility by being willing to listen to somebody else and receive instruction from them. Verse 13, And it came to pass on the morrow, Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood by Moses for morning unto the evening. And when Moses' father-in-law saw all that he did to the people, he said, What is this that thou doest to the people? Why sittest thou thyself alone, and all the people stand by thee for morning unto even? He's saying, why are you spending your whole day with this line of people in front of you and you're just talking to every single one of them? What's going on here, right? And that sounds kind of critical, doesn't it? I mean, I'm sure he said it, and I don't know what exactly his spirit was, but I'm sure he wasn't like, what are you doing, idiot? You know, I'm sure he's just, like, out of concern, saying, what are you doing, Moses? Why is it, why are you doing things like this? You know, sometimes somebody might come to us in our life and say, hey, you know, I've noticed you do things like this. Why do you do it that way? You know, have you ever considered maybe doing it like this, right? And that's something that can be hard to receive sometimes, isn't it? And sometimes what they're basically telling us is that, you know, we're doing it wrong. You know, and our pride goes, ugh, you know, we don't like to hear that. What do you mean I'm doing it wrong, you know? But, you know, sometimes we are doing something, or maybe it's not like we're doing something wrong, we're just not doing it as good as we could. You know, and here's the thing, like, I try to be somebody who's open to, you know, suggestion. I try to be somebody who's open to critique. I try to be somebody who's open to being told how to do something better, you know. But, you know, if it's just someone's opinion, you know, I'm glad to hear people's opinions, but it doesn't mean I'm necessarily going to adopt it. You know, it's one thing to tell somebody how they're doing something not, they didn't do something right. It's another thing to be able to tell them how they could do it better. You see the difference there? You know, I'm interested in hearing how to do things better. You know, if people are going to come and say, well, you know, you're not doing things right, great. How should I improve? Well, I don't know. Well, then I don't want to hear it. You know, that's not really helping me. You know, you just kind of left me hanging at that point. It's like, well, you could have done it better. How? Well, I don't know. You know, I don't know. You figure it out. It's like, okay. I guess I'll just keep doing things the way I'm going to do them then until I hear a better idea. You know, Moses here is being addressed by Jethro in probably a very kind way, a very polite way, but out of a place of concern. Why are you doing it like this, Moses? And Moses says in verse 15, and Moses said to his father-in-law, because the people come and meet and inquire of God. I'm just doing my job. I'm just trying to help them. When they have a matter, they come unto me, and I judge between one and the other, and do make them to know the statutes of God and his laws. I'm just trying to teach the word of God to these people. That's what he's saying. And Moses' father-in-law said to him, the thing that thou doest is not good. Well, wait a minute. Are you suggesting that teaching people the law of God is not good? That's not what he's saying. That's not what Jethro is saying. What he's saying is the way you're doing this, what you're trying to do is good, but the way you're going about it is not good because you're not going to last. He says in verse 18, thou shalt surely wear away both thou and this people that is with thee. People are going to get sick and tired of waiting all day to talk to you, Moses. Every time they want to come back and talk to Moses about something, or get advice, or get help, or learn the law of God, it's like going to the DMV. Who wants to go sit in the DMV for three hours to be told, oh, you actually belong on that line, or whatever? You'll wear away. Everyone's just driving around, riding around with expired tags and no insurance. We don't want that. But he's saying here, look, you're going to wear away and the people. So obviously Jethro, his motive is right. He wants Moses to do things better. And Moses, again, the lesson we learn from Moses, this great leader, is that he doesn't just blow Jethro off. That he actually says, huh, well, yeah, tell me what I could do better. He says, harken out of my voice, I will give thee counsel, and God shall be with thee. But be thou for the people to Godward, that thou mayest bring the causes unto God. And we read the rest of the story, how he said, hey, appoint leaders, and let them handle the more trivial, less difficult, less complex matters, so that you can address the real big, important issues and other things. Moses is somebody that learned to listen to instruction. He listened to not only his authority in Egypt, but he also listened to those fellow believers. He listened to other people, other influences, other godly influences in his life. This is why it's important to be in church. This is why it's important to have a network of fellow believers involved in your life. Other people who know you, people who know the word of God, because then they can begin to instruct you and say, hey, I know you mean well and you're trying to do the right thing, but here's how you could do it better. Here's actually what the Bible says about that. Here's how to actually apply the word of God in your life. We need that in our lives, all of us. That's the purpose of church. Go to Ecclesiastes chapter number five. Remind us of Ephesians four as you go to Ecclesiastes five, that church is a place of instruction. As I kind of went off on Thursday night, this is not a place of entertainment. This isn't a place to just come and get goosebumps and walk out always feeling like you've got your back scratched or something. This is a place sometimes where you have to kind of get the swift kick in the pants. But we all need that in life. Sometimes we have to be spiritually kind of slapped upside the head and say, actually, here's what you're doing wrong. Here's how to do it right and to be corrected. Paul told Timothy, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. The Bible says in Ephesians four, you're going to Ecclesiastes five and he gave some apostles and prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints so that we could be whole for the work of the ministry so that we could get something done and for the edifying the body of Christ. That's the purpose of church, to perfect the saints. Ecclesiastes chapter number five. OK, so if that's the case, if church is a place of instruction, how then should we come to church? We should not come to church with an I know it all already attitude. Even if the preacher gets up and preaches something you already know, that's just going to help reinforce you and keep you from not forgetting it because what you don't use, you lose. A lot of times we'll learn something and then a year or two goes by and we'll have to relearn it. This is a principle that is applied when you're trying to do rote memorization, spaced repetition. That's why Paul said to write on you the same things is needful. For you it is needful. I'm kind of paraphrasing there. I need to get that in the spaced repetition, obviously, but that's why he's saying it's OK for me to tell you the same things over and over again because human nature is to forget, to constantly forget things, and we have to be reminded. That's what church is for. So never come to church and say, well, I already learned all this. Be one of these people that has all this attitude. I was in church for years. I've read the Bible several times. There's nothing that guy can teach me. Also, you haven't forgotten anything. That's a poor attitude. Here's the thing. People with that attitude, they will not be wise in their latter end. The guy who's getting up here and preaching the word of God and maybe repeating himself a little bit, he's still going to be OK. The people that are there actually listening, they're going to be all right. The person with the poor attitude that says, well, I already know all this, that isn't there ready to listen and to learn, they're the ones that are not going to be wise in their latter end. Everybody else is going to be fine. Ecclesiastes 5, look at verse 1. He says, keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they consider not that they do evil. He says, when you go to church, when you go there, the house of God, be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools. He goes on in verse 2, be not rash with thy mouth, and let thy heart be hasty to utter anything before God, for God is in heaven, and thou upon the earth. Therefore, let thy words be few. And if you go on a reading, he's talking about not vowing or swearing. If you vow, make sure you perform it. That's probably the more immediate application. When they're going to the temple to not go offer a sacrifice and say, oh, I'm going to do this for God, I'm going to do that. Let your words be few. Just go there and be more ready to hear. Be ready to hear the instruction that comes from the word of God. Be ready to hear and to listen when thou goest to the house of God, because that's what the house of God is for. And sometimes it just feels like people are only interested in hearing the subtle intricacies of end times prophecy when they come to church. They're only interested in going to church where they're going to hear a sermon where the preacher just rips on fags. And look, there's plenty of that goes on here. I mean, I just said fags from the whole page. I just said it again. You know what I mean? We do that, I think, almost ad nauseum during the Pride Month or whatever. I mean, hopefully there's people spiritual enough in this room that probably get sick of it. They're like, just get it off your chest, preacher, and move on, right? You know, some people, that's all they want to hear when they go to church is just some hot topic issue. They just want, you know, just some current event. And look, I'm not against those sermons. But look, those aren't the things that are going to help you in life. That's not the practical instruction that's going to make you a better parent, a better child, a better employee, a better church member, a better father, a better husband, a better wife, a better mother. You know, those are the things that kind of envelop our whole lives, aren't they? You know, whatever the world's doing, whatever recent abomination they're in, whatever, you know, the more minute details of Daniel's 70th week, you know, and I'm not downplaying the importance of doctrine there, but I'm saying those really aren't going to be the things that make up the bulk of your Christian life. You know, it's the things that Paul dresses repeatedly throughout the New Testament. You know, wives, husbands, children, did you notice this morning we went to several different books to address kind of the same issue? He keeps bringing that up because those are the things that we need to learn and hear at church. So don't come to church with an attitude of, well, if he doesn't get up there and just entertain me or wow me with some, you know, deep doctrinal sermon, then I'm just not going to listen. I'm just going to tune it out again. No, don't tune it out. These are the things that we need to hear. Obviously, we need that too. There has to be a balance. But, you know, we should not go to church with a poor attitude. We should go to church with an attitude that's more ready to hear, to not be rash with our mouths, and to let our words be few, as it says. I'm not saying don't have fellowship after the service. You know, everyone's going to clam up and just go home when we dismiss, right? That's not what I was talking about. You go on a read, he's talking about not vowing, you know, foolish vows. You know, Jesus said to swear not at all, okay? But I'm using it, the text, to kind of make this point is that, you know, church is a place of instruction. If we want to do well in life, then we need to learn to be people who listen to instruction in all areas of life. You know, children in the home, employees in the workplace, you know, in the church, you know, in school, wherever we're being given instruction, you know, and to also maybe weigh that instruction out. If maybe we're in a place where we're more prone to get bad instruction, you know, we should probably listen all the more to really be able to discern, you know, what's being taught. Be like the Bereans, you know, who search the Scriptures daily to see whether those things be so. Other Christians are a place, are a source of instruction in your life. You know, go over to Titus chapter 2, Titus chapter number 2. Again, going back to this idea, why do we need church? So that we can learn to live the Christian life, you know, but it's not enough to just show up here. You know, when you show up here, you have to be more ready to hear than to speak. We have to be people who are ready to listen. We have to be like Moses, somebody who could willingly receive instruction, who could listen to correction, who could listen to sound godly advice and understand that it's for his own benefit and apply it to his life. The Bible says in Titus chapter 2 that the aged women be, verse 3, that the aged women likewise, that they be in behavior as become of holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things. And I know I kind of preached on this recently, but again, he's showing us that the aged, the elder, the more experienced women in the church, that they are to be teachers of good things. And he says that they may, very specifically, verse 4, that they may teach the young women. And it goes on there, you know, to love their husbands, to love their children, so on and so forth, right? The point is this, is that, you know, when you come here, there's going to be other people here that could potentially teach you something, right? But if you're somebody who doesn't want to receive instruction, you know, or doesn't receive criticism well, then you're probably not going to be the one that gets taught. The Bible says, speak not thou in the ears of a fool, lest he despise the wisdom of thy words, right? Cast not your parole before swine. If we want to be people who can come to a place and receive the instruction that we need, you know, we want to treat it like it's optional. No, we need this instruction. We need to know how to raise our children. We need to know how to fulfill our roles that God has given us. We need to know how to live our lives as Christians If we want to receive that instruction, then we have to be people who are willing to listen to it, who can receive it, you know? And if some more experienced wife and mother comes to another lady in the church and lovingly says, hey, you might want to consider this, you know, or vice versa, you can go to them. You know, if you're somebody who's more prone to, you know, who has an ability to receive instruction, you know, they're probably going to be willing to share that information with you, right? And I feel like our church is great at this. I'm always after church noticing, you know, all the ladies kind of get together and I'm sure they're not discussing, you know, the latest events in whatever soap opera is on television. There's probably, they're probably talking about the homeschooling and other things too, obviously. There's probably some light hearted conversation. But I know that the ladies in this church, you know, all express need for instruction and give instruction. And I think that's great. That's something that we need. But you know what? It's only the people that are here and the people that are here that are willing to listen to instruction that are going to receive it. And the same thing can be said, you know, for any one of us, even outside of the context of ladies. You know, other men could come to other men and give instruction. You know, fathers could help other fathers, things like that. You know, the elder men could help the younger men in the same way. We could teach them good things, how to be a man, how to succeed in the job, all these things. You know, the Bible says, rebuke not an elder, but then treat him as a father. You know, even the elder of the church, the leader of the church should be somebody who can be approached, you know, if there's a concern, you know, with the right spirit, with the right attitude. You know, you could come and say, as a father and say, hey, have you thought about this? Have you considered that? And honestly, you know, others have done this for me. And I'm grateful for it. I've had and even not just pastors. I'm not talking just about other preachers and things. I'm talking about, you know, laymen in the church have from time to time come to me and in a very respectful and humble manner said, hey, you should think about this. You know, and you might want to think about that. And, you know, maybe it wasn't exactly what I wanted to hear, but it was something that was sound wisdom. It was something that I had to think about and make adjustments, right? So this applies for everybody. You know, we all need to learn to be people who can listen to instruction if we want to be successful in whatever area of life. You know, and the guys that are going to do the best on the job, you know, they're the ones that are going to be people who can actually learn, right? It doesn't take a lot to be, you know, a superstar in the workplace today. You know, if you can be somebody who can show up on time and pass a drug test, you know, you're probably going to go far. It's sad, but that's kind of where we're at. I'm not saying that's across the board, but, you know, especially in a lot of maybe these lower level and entry level jobs, you know, you say, I'm sure I'm going to get hired. Am I going to do well? Well, if you can, you know, not show up at the hangover, you can show up on time, if you can pass a drug test, you know, that right there, you're going to get, you know, a leg up on people. Well, here's the thing. What if you're somebody who can actually be instructed and can actually be taught? You know, then you're going to, the people that have been there longer on a job, they're going to be the ones that are going to say, hey, this guy can actually learn and listen. You know, I'll take the time to teach him. Because people who have wisdom, you know, like that proverb, you know, wisdom in the heart of man is like, is like a deep, deep water. I'm probably getting wrong, but a man of understanding shall draw it out. Right? There's people in this world, saved and unsaved, that know something about a subject or a topic or a skill or whatever. There's people in this church who have an understanding of the word of God, who know how to live the Christian life. They have that wisdom. They have that knowledge. But it's deep, meaning it's like you're going to have to put some effort to get that out. A man of understanding shall draw it out. You know, the person who has understanding to know that, hey, if I go to this person and show them that I can listen and learn, you know, I can draw some wisdom out of them. Okay? Same thing on the job site. And the guy who can learn something is the one that's going to go far. He's the one that's going to get instruction. You know, I want to close on this last point. We see that one of the things that, and again, there's a lot of things we talk about Moses, what made him such a great leader. But one of the things that made him so great is his ability to listen. You know, we talked about how humble and meek he was. How did that manifest in the fact that he was able to listen to other people? I mean, don't you think listening to Jethro is kind of a, you know, it's a very, that was a very respectful thing that he did. It's his father-in-law, you know. But I mean, again, honestly, it's respectfully, I could say it, who was Jethro really compared to Moses? You know, he was just a humble, simple man. You know, he went, you know, obviously he raised a godly family, but Moses showed that he could listen to other people and receive sound advice from any source in his life. Okay? And he had the discernment to apply it. But probably, obviously, if you would, go to Deuteronomy chapter 9. The most important person any of us could ever listen to is the Lord. Listen to God in your life. And ultimately, you know, obviously church is just one place where we can kind of hear God's voice in a sense. We can hear the word of God expounded to us. I'm not suggesting any of us, you know, goes up on Mount Lemmon for 40 days and 40 nights and doesn't eat anything. You know, and try to talk to God. Okay? That's not how God operates. You know, what more can he say than to you he hath said? You know, God has written unto us excellent things in his holy word. God has a lot to say. I mean, don't you think God has a lot to say? This isn't a thin book, folks. You know, this isn't a dime store paperback that you're just going to flip through on a weekend. This is a deep, powerful book that God will literally, you know, God will speak to us through his word. Okay? God will move in our hearts. It's all there, but the question is this. Are you listening? Are you giving attendance to the reading to the exhortation of doctrine? Are you there to listen to the instruction that God has given in his word? Are you listening to God? You know, people like to really make that into, you know, these charismatic types and others. They like to really make themselves out to be some more spiritual than they are. Well, I talk to God every morning. We've all probably run into those people. I talk to God every morning. Oh, oh, I talk to God every morning. Really? Yeah, I'm walking down the street just talking to God. Oh, I go out in the woods and hunt and camp and I have my church out in the woods and I just talk to God. I'm sitting up there in my deer stand. That's my church. It's like, no, that's not church. And no, God's not talking to you. That's indigestion or something. You know, that's your own mind at work. Right? How does God talk to us? Right here. You know, people don't like that because that means they'd actually have to, you know, have humility. They'd have to have the discipline to actually open up the Bible and read it. To actually hear it preached and let it land wherever it lands and then apply it to their lives. But Moses is somebody who listened not just to his instructions that he received in Egypt. You know, his tutors and things like that, his teachers, those that instructed him in his youth. Not just somebody who listened to, you know, his fellow believers, other godly influences in his life like Jethro. But most importantly, he listened to the Lord. Okay? Be somebody who listens to God. Look at Deuteronomy chapter number nine. Deuteronomy was where Moses is kind of just rehearsing everything up until this point. And he said in Deuteronomy chapter number nine, verse nine, When I was gone up into the mount to receive the tables of stone, even the tables of stone of the covenant of the Lord, made with you, then I abode in the mount forty days and forty nights, and I neither did eat bread nor drink water. And he's up there listening to God, sitting at his feet. Obviously, this is a very, you know, unique circumstance. Moses is literally sitting in the presence of God Almighty. You know, and he's being, you know, probably receiving some kind of supernatural provision to where he doesn't even need sustenance at that point. And we know eventually he comes down from that mount and his face is glowing to the point where he has to put a veil over it. Right? It says in verse ten, And the Lord delivered unto me two tables of stone written with the finger of God, and on them was written according to all the words which the Lord spake with you in the mount of the midst of the fire in the day of the assemble. And it came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights that the Lord gave me the two tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant. Verse seventeen, And I took the two tables of stone and cast them out of my hands. You remember the story comes down and finds them worshiping the golden calf. He smashes the stones and break them before your eyes. And I fell down before the Lord as at the first forty days and forty nights. So he goes right back up the mountain and says, Well, I got to go back and listen to God again because this other situation came up and the whole thing goes through it again. But, you know, the point is this is that Moses is somebody who listened to the Lord, who spent time with God, and he was given the law of God. And today, you know, we're not going to get the table of stone written with the finger of God. But we have, you know, a book called the Bible, which was given to us, you know, not by, you know, any private interpretation. But holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. That's how we have the scripture. You know, this Bible has been given to us by revelation. We are we are built upon the apostles and the prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. What's he talking about there? When Paul says in Ephesians three that we are built upon the apostles and prophets. Well, he's talking about our faith, everything that we we are as a spiritual household, you know, is built upon the apostles, the epistles, right? They're the ones that wrote the epistles and the prophets, the Old Testament, Moses, the major and minor prophets. This is what we're built upon right here, this book. Are we reading it? Are we listening to it? Do we find ourselves in it? Daily, you know, receiving the instruction. The Bible is God's instructions to us. You know, we're talking about Moses being someone who can listen to instruction. How are we going to emulate that in our own lives by listening to instruction, not just, you know, the authorities in our lives, but the greatest authority of all, God's word. Are we even listening to the instruction that we get out of God's word and obeying it? We should be. Bible, you know, in Psalms 119, which is like the word of God chapter, he says in verse 18, Open thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. You know, if your Bible reading is is a drudgery, you know, if you're if you're just, you know, having to get through it. Look, I know sometimes it's a little bit more difficult. We have to be disciplined and just do it. We don't feel like it and spend time in the word of God. Or maybe we're in some section of the word of God that would be considered dry or whatever. But even in those dry chapters, you know, if we would pray a prayer like this, open down my eyes. They may behold wondrous things out of my law. Things would open up to us. God would speak to us in that passage. You know, if we read through First Chronicles, we would get towards the end, which I think are some of the most moving chapters that are there. I mean, I'm not saying it's the greatest, but there's some powerful stuff even throughout First Chronicles. But you know what? You got to read First Chronicles one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. You got to get through all that stuff. And even in there, there's these little nuggets here and there, right? But if we're just going to approach the reading of God's word as just something I have to do and get out of the way, then don't expect God to open up your eyes and allow you to behold wondrous things. But if we come to the Lord and listen to him like Moses on the mount, you know, going back up there, sitting at his feet, you know, and saying, this is my sustenance. This is my food. This is my bread and my water right here. This is the spiritual meat that I need, Dane. I must have something out of the word of God today. I must be encouraged in the Lord. I want to hear from God. If we go to our Bible reading like that, you know, then God will speak to us. Then we will receive things from him. We want to behold wondrous things out of his law, right? He said, that's the prayer of the psalmist. Open thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. But notice in verse 15, I'll just read to you, in order to do that, he had to listen. He had to read. You must listen to behold wondrous things out of the law. He said, I will meditate in thy precepts and have respect unto thy ways. That's what he said before verse 18. He said, open thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. But before he got there, before he could even pray that prayer, he said, I will meditate in thy precepts and have respect unto thy ways. You know, he's going to delight himself in the law of God. You know, that's what it means to, you know, listen to the Lord. Not just going, not just, you know, dropping God a dime. You know, just saying, you know, all right, God, you got five minutes. What's up? You know, I keep office hours for the Lord in case everyone wants to stop by. You know, that's not our attitude with the Lord. We should be going to him like Moses wanted to listen to the Lord, you know. You know, and it's kind of curious that we have to be encouraged to do that. You know, to even do that. When we, you know, we have access, you know, we have boldness, you know, and access with confidence to come before the throne of grace. You know, we can go to God boldly, go to the throne room of grace and have God speak to us and ask yourself this. Does God want to speak to you? And I'm not saying God's going to speak to you in an audible voice, but do you think that God wants to speak to you? The answer is yes. You know, God does want to speak to every single one of us through his word. God does have wondrous things in his law that he will allow us to behold that will just cause us to just pause in our Bible reading and just get lost and just meditating upon it, just thinking about some wondrous truth at the word of God. That is there for every single person. God wants to give that to people. But the only ones that receive it are those who what? Who have learned to listen, to be there, to hear what God has to say. Let's go ahead and pray. Dear Lord, again, thank you for the great opportunity that we have to hear from you, Lord, not just here on Sundays and midweek services, Lord, as the word of God is preached by the Lord, that we can hear from you through your word any time we want, Lord, that through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and through the inspired and preserved word of God, Lord, you can still speak to us today and move our hearts and, Lord, to encourage us and to motivate us and to give us, Lord, the instruction that we need to lead a godly life that is well pleasing unto you. We pray that you help us to avail ourselves of that in this coming year, especially asking Christ's name. Amen. All right. We'll go ahead and sing. Song number 43, Watching Desire. Song number 43, Watching Desire. Song number 43, Watching Desire. Song number 43, Watching Desire. Song number 43, Watching Desire. Song number 43, Watching Desire. Song number 43, Watching Desire. Song number 43, Watching Desire.