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Alright, well, this is the second service or otherwise known as children's nap time, but It's great to be back. I never left. I just want to get coffee, but I just want to say once again Thank you to everybody for the warm hospitality. It's been a great time I was supposed to my wife was supposed to be here with me, but My daughter went into labor and so we have our a blessing of I get to go home and see my eighth Grandchild that's been born and her name is Hannah And she was born healthy and eight eight pounds and 21 inches I can't remember what the the eight pounds and maybe it was I don't know with it She's a big baby, and she wasn't even full term so but praise God for the healthy birth of my grandchild I'm very excited about that. It's been a blessing being here. Thank you brother Jim. Miss Judy for all you've done for me here and You know it's sad that it has to come to an end, but that's just the way it is But I'll definitely do my best to come back Next year probably at some point But that's part of the reason why brother Jim was ordained so that you guys have ordained leadership here And when you get people saved you can bring him back here And and he can you know hold them under the water for a few seconds or whatever and His daughter's like we're kind of squirming from me They were a little bit worried I think because when when you're really big and tall little kids look at you like you're like a giant right? So they're kind of looking at me but I'm not that scary. I'm a big teddy bear so anyway the title of the sermon tonight is gleaning from God's Word gleaning from God's Word and that word glean means to gather that which is left over From grain or other produce after a harvest so in this chapter We have the most use of that word in the whole Bible is in this chapter, and it's talking about how Ruth is going and gleaning in the field of Boaz But and obviously the first you know there's a lot of different meanings for things in Scripture, and I'm gonna take a spiritual some spiritual Truce out of this chapter here, so it's not talking about what I'm talking about gleaning from God's Word It's the things that you would get from the Bible After reading it because in a heart, and you know I kind of I don't know why I thought to preach this sermon But it just kind of came to me, and so I just was like all right. Well. Let's see where it goes but Out here. There's a lot of farmland so and I definitely noticed that on the way here from Winnipeg And it's just vast amounts of fields so I figured you guys would be able to relate to this a little bit Who's who's done some farming in this room before? like pretty much everybody I Lived on a farm when I was a kid and so I didn't actually work the farm But I was I had cows next to me And I saw cows birthed and we had combines and tractors and all that kind of stuff And you know I would go and go on adventures And I loved living out we lived out in in the meadows and in a high desert area, but it was pretty cool But there was a lot of farming done out there, too So I'm a little bit familiar with farming, but obviously not the experts that some of you are in this room But when reading God's Word we're essentially gathering things From the heart you know if you trudge through and read the Bible you know a lot of people want to read through it Several times and kind of that's how you're gonna get like the surface level meanings Obviously you're gonna learn spiritual truths by reading through the Bible But it's kind of like when you finish the Bible cover to cover It's like the harvest has come and then you're finished with the harvest and then when you read it again You're gonna get more spiritual truth out of the Bible every single time you read it because some people are like well I read the Bible once you know who's heard that when you're out sowing before it's like well I read the Bible. I've read the Bible tons of times like oh, yeah, you read the book of Hezekiah I didn't know like yeah I've actually done that to someone before and at first they hesitated I was like I thought they were gonna call call my bluff. It was like yeah, of course. I've read the book of Hezekiah Just like what a bozo anyway But people will say well I've read that book once you know even when you're like saying I want to show you from the Bible what it takes to be saved and they're like well I've read the Bible before it's like you know, but they don't understand that it's not just reading the Bible That's gonna get them their salvation. You know it takes a soul winner to do that, but anyway I don't want to repreech anything. I preached this morning, but you know Every time you go through the Bible It's like the harvest and then every time you go through it also you'll glean things that you've never learned before But you know obviously you have to have purpose in that like if you want us to find the deeper things in God In God's Word, you don't have to go back to the Greek You don't have to go back to the Hebrew All you have to do is go back through the scriptures again And you're gonna notice things every time you read it that you never noticed before and that's what I'm talking about this this Afternoon is how to glean from God's Word So number one tonight I want to my first point is read and study the Bible and you will glean great wisdom from God's Word So again, you're gonna get more than the surface level every time you read it You're gonna get the surface level and the things that are you know are the main doctrines of God's Word Mm-hmm, but you might find nuggets and kernels of truth that you never figured out before Now let's look at verse number two in our text here. And again, I'm taking a spiritual application tonight for this chapter, but it says and Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi Let me now go to the field and glean ears of corn After him in whose sight I shall find grace and she said unto her go my daughter So what's worth trying to do? She's trying to glean ears of corn now when we think of corn We probably think of you know, like the corn on the cob style corn But this is talking about like grain and barley and you guys probably know about a lot about that kind of stuff here, too But I used to when I was when I first started reading the Bible I was thinking of corn on the cob or whatever which I like, you know I put a little bit of butter on it salt and pepper. It's pretty good, but She's saying glean ears of corn like single ears of corn now If you think about it when you're you know When these people are gleaning they're just trying to find the leftover parts that they missed the first time through And so when we read and study God's Word the Bible Then we'll glean those little nuggets of wisdom those kernels of wisdom that we didn't realize were there Let's turn over to Matthew chapter 13 verse 44 Matthew chapter 13 verse 44 and we'll just keep a bookmark or a ribbon and Ruth because we'll come back to that but Matthew chapter excuse me, Matthew chapter 30 13 44 says Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a treasure hid in a field So what's it talking about a treasure that's hid in a field? What kind of field do you think it's talking about? It's talking about just you know Probably a field for farming right? I mean, that's what a field generally is But the kingdom of God is like this treasure hid in a field with the witch when a man hath found he hideth and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath and buyeth that field so, you know the whole the whole picture of Of the kingdom of God is not just salvation It's not just sanctification but it's also understanding and learning doctrine and Doing good works. There's a whole package that's packaged as the kingdom of God But when you find that that little hidden treasure It's a it's a big blessing in your life and God's Word, but what it says in verse 45 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man seeking goodly pearls. So when we're seeking Goodly pearls in the Bible. We're gonna find him didn't Jesus say seek and you shall find knock in it And he shall he's gonna answer right? So and it says in verse 46 who when he had found one pearl of great price went and sold all that he had and bought it So these are just some examples of little things little nuggets and obviously, you know There's lots of different applications you can use for the parables and God's Word But in this regard it's it's liking unto the the the the hidden things of God's Word The deep things of God's Word the the more than surface level things of God's world a word Excuse me And there's great treasure in that field if you'll seek that wisdom and God's Word will show it Unto you God will reveal those things unto you through the Holy Spirit So the first thing is you have to read and study God's Word and you will glean great wisdom of God's Word But here's the thing if you never read it, you're not your first of all, you're not going to get the surface level You're not going to get everything that God intended for you because every word of God is is What we should know what we should have read So if you've never read the Bible cover to cover you're not gonna first of all You're not going to glean the truth that God wants you to know surface level But then you're never also going to glean anything extra out of it either. Number two is Studying the Bible every day is hard work, but you will glean greatly Because of it and if you read the Bible every day of your life morning and evening Then you're gonna glean greatly by doing that and it is hard work though See if if if the Bible reading wasn't hard work then everybody would read the Bible cover to cover But really the sad truth is is probably 99% of people haven't even read their Bible all the way through one time and we stress Bible reading at our church Every year we do the 30-day New Testament challenge and you know If you do that every year You're gonna have a very good knowledge of the New Testament And of course that gives you 11 more months to read the Old Testament, which is its work Isn't it and some of the the chapters like people like 1st Chronicles 1 through 9? Are those easy chapters? You know, you're reading names and reading about people but you know what you can find really great truths in the genealogies, too I actually have grown to like the genealogies because I want to learn you know Who is this guy and what is you know, and you can kind of go on study trails in your Bible without intending to but God We're not just supposed to read God's Word. We're also supposed to study it and it is hard work to read the Bible much You know with much study it brings weariness to you It makes you tired when you read who likes to read any book or whatever when you're trying to go to sleep Does that help you sleep if you read a book it does and that includes the Bible, too The Bible completely to sleep too if you're tired and you know, it's it can be hard, right? It's hard to sit through a whole sermon sometimes because you're just getting bombarded with all this and you're just tired You're resting. It's just ate a big meal and now you're feeling a little droopy ah, you're like, please don't look at me because my eyes are closed or whatever, but Anyway, let's look at Ruth chapter 2 verse 7 So Number two tonight is studying the Bible every day is hard work, but you will glean greatly because of it It's hard work But look you're never gonna get anything out of life If you don't work hard at the things God's not going to just give you everything on a silver platter He's not gonna help you with all your understanding if you just do nothing if you're a do-nothing Christian Your spiritual blessings are gonna be very limited Look at Ruth 2 7 it says and she said I pray you let me glean and gather after the Reapers among the sheaves so she came and What does it say there hath continued? She didn't just go and grab a couple handfuls of corn and go home for the day You know, that's the kind of work ethic you see today with people we were kind of talking about work ethic while we're eating our supper or whatever you want to call it our lunch and How people like at school in this country you can't even reprimand a child when when they're doing something wrong and somebody was telling me that You can't eat if someone turns our work, you know You say that your papers do on Wednesday and then they come to you two months later You can't mark them down or they can't get in trouble. You cannot get anybody in trouble in school here I just like that just blows my mind I remember parent-teacher conferences where I was sweating bullets, you know waiting for them What's the teacher gonna say about me this time, but apparently they can't do that anymore And what it does is it makes people lazy makes people slothful and makes people not be able to cope with real life because eventually you are gonna have to cope with real life and When you have to do it You're not gonna have the tools to do that because you never got a good work ethic and you never had somebody correct you When you did something wrong, you know, and and you know what how you'll never get corrected by God's Word if you never read it But if you read God's Word, it will correct you it will help you and you build those things upon your life You're not you know You're not gonna learn everything there is to know about the Bible the first time through you might not even know the timeline You might not understand what time this these particular stories are happening But you know what if you read the Bible like three times Then you really start to get the timeline maybe you don't know whatever whatever BC when some story happened But you understand that Moses comes before Joshua, right and then you got the judges And this is the time of the judges right here, but you'll start to get the timeline You'll start to understand the doctrine you'll start to understand the principles of God's Word that are kind of beat into us over and over again in every book of the Bible and It says that Ruth, you know, it says so she came and hath continued so Continuing is the hard part Working, you know a lot of people who's ever had someone, you know They all work for you and then like they just do a couple things and they stand around that's not that's not continuing That's that's quitting. That's being lazy. It says even from the morning until now So there's the other part get up in the morning get stuff done And then it's talking about until now. So obviously she had been working all day long and in the book of Ruth that explains that she was a hard worker and When Boaz saw that she was a hard worker That's that's a lot of what I think was attractive to Boaz was the fact that she wasn't just coming and trying You know, she wasn't flirting with the young men that she was working alongside and all this other stuff and you know ladies That should be a lesson to you You know when you're working hard, I mean, hopefully a man can see that. Hey this this woman's a hard worker and You know, that's not obviously what everybody thinks about. Well, I'm just gonna marry this hard worker, you know But it is an important thing because however hard they're gonna work when you see them Without you or before you ever date them or before you marry them How you see them working then is probably how they're gonna work later And if yeah, you're like well I'm gonna have you know 20 kids and you know or 12 kids or lots of kids And you should have lots of kids but if they can't even work hard when they don't have any kids or if one child is just too much for them then You know, how are they gonna have 12, you know? It is hard work to raise children and it's hard work to be a mom of a big family. So but anyway So it says that she has continued from morning until now So in other words Ruth was a hard worker now look at Joshua chapter 1 verse number 8 Joshua chapter 1 verse number 8 and So we need to be people that are willing to work hard at reading the Bible Reading the Bible is hard work. Most people want to do anything else besides read the Bible and that's not How Christians ought to be look at verse 8 and Joshua 1 it says this book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth But thou shalt meditate therein when it says thou shalt. What does that mean? It's a command, isn't it thou shalt? Meditate therein in what the book of the law God's Word and what does it say there day and night? So it's saying that there's a there's a couple time points in a day where you should be Studying Meditating reading God's Word and it's not talking about meditating like you're just like owner, you know That's not what it's talking about. It's not talking about the wicked heathen type of meditation It's talking about thinking about mulling over chewing on God's Word Finding out what it means finding out what God wants from you Those are things that he wants from you and it says thou shalt meditate therein. It's a commandment that thou mayest observe to do a According to all that is written therein Does God wants to obey him? Yes, he does. Is that what's required for salvation? No, it's not but God does want us to obey him and he wants us to live according to what the Bible has written for us It says for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous and then thou shalt have good success So he's saying if you do this Good things are gonna happen for you. And and if you're just like well, you know, I just don't understand why I'm not prosperous I also understand why I don't have good success as a Christian. Well, maybe you need to start reading this book and that will help It says then thou shalt have good success turn over to Genesis chapter 24 verse 63 Genesis chapter 24 verse 63 and You know, honestly the parts about Isaac in the Bible the Bible talks about Isaac quite a bit But we don't really see a lot of his life. We know that he was only married to one woman he didn't multiply wives and he was obviously the promised line who would bring forth Jacob and You know when he was older he kind of favored the son that probably he shouldn't have favored You know, he was kind of a little bit carnal when it came to to meet and meet is the carnal thing But you know, he was a good man of God he was blessed by God and Here's one of the things that says about him. Look at Genesis 24 verse 63. It says and Isaac went out What to say to meditate in the field at eventide so there was a time when Isaac was like I'm gonna go out and meditate About the things of God and he went out at eventide It says and he lift up his eyes and saw and behold camels were coming So what was coming his bride was coming the one that he was gonna marry was coming You know then it's you know, because the Bible says if you meditate there in day and night Then you'll have good success then your ways will be prosperous So, I mean there's an example right there in the Bible of Isaac is meditating in the field of eventide It was probably something that he always did but you know God showed him that you know, he looked up and saw and there's the blessing right there of When you do what God says and you meditate in his word He's gonna make great things happen for you in your life. Look at 2nd Timothy chapter 2 verse 15 2nd Timothy chapter 2 verse 15 and what are we talking about? Well Reading the Bible day and night is work and when you work you will reap The Bible says whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap when you're sowing You know the the Word of God into your life you're gonna reap good things in your life, aren't you? Look at 2nd Timothy chapter 2 verse 15. It says study to show thyself approved unto God So, how do we show ourselves approved unto God? Study, what are you supposed to study? You're supposed to study the Bible So it's not just reading it's studying but it says study to show thyself approved unto God a workman That needeth not to be ashamed. You see how it's work. It's somebody that's working When you study its work Everybody knows that if you take tests for a Becca or whatever homeschool thing, you know, you have to study for certain things You can't just you know, maybe some people can ace tests by going through the material one time but most people when they take a big test in school you have to study to know the answers and a lot of people will fail to study and then expect some good score on their tests and You know You're gonna be very disappointed if you never study for tests that you have to take because when you take that test You know, unless someone's just giving you the answers, which is probably like that now, it's cool. It's like here Let's do I'm you know, you're right fill in all your answers and then we're gonna go through them I'll show which ones are the correct one. How do you ever how do you ever fail in that in that way? but Anyway, but it says to study to show thyself approved unto God a workman that needeth not be ashamed Rightly dividing the Word of Truth as you study God's Word, you're gonna rightly divide you're gonna help the under It's gonna help you to understand this goes here. This goes with this this doctrine is built off this verse and That is how you study the Bible in 1st Corinthians chapter 2 verse 13 It says which things go ahead and turn to Isaiah 28 9. I'm gonna read 1st Corinthians 2 13 It says which things also we speak not the words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Ghost teaches comparing Spiritual things with spiritual so in the Bible when you're comparing these spiritual things to to each other That's how you build doctrine. That's how you understand God's Word That's how you study the Bible and the Bible says that you're a workman when you do that Look at verse 20 or yeah, Isaiah 29. The Bible says whom shall he teach knowledge and Whom shall he make to understand doctrine who that that's a good question who is he gonna teach who's God gonna teach knowledge to and To who and excuse me and whom shall he make understand doctrine? What to say then that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breast. So it's talking about people that have already Taken the milk of God's Word They have already been weaned from the easy parts and the surface level things of the Bible Who's he gonna teach those people if you haven't even learned the first things of the first principles of the things of God Then how are you gonna expect to understand the deeper knowledge of the Bible? You should just not expect that because it's not going to happen now Maybe you're still new at things and maybe God does show you Things that maybe other people haven't seen I'm sure that God does I know that God does that but Who's he gonna help to understand knowledge? Who's he gonna help to understand doctrine those that have already been weaned from the easy things? Look at verse 10 for precept must be upon precept precept upon precept Excuse me line upon line line upon line here a little there a little so The precepts the knowledge that we're gonna gain is by building line upon line Precept upon precept you're gonna learn a little bit at a time God doesn't just like I said, he doesn't just dump everything like one time through the Bible You're not gonna understand everything you're just not It probably just overloads you right Like to know all that knowledge at one, you know You say you get your Bible reading done in one year You think that you're gonna know everything about God's Word you're not going to know it Now number three this afternoon is don't rely on sources outside the Bible to glean Bible truths Don't rely on sources outside the Bible to glean Bible truths A lot of people like to read books about the Bible They like to read commentaries about the Bible, but they don't actually like to read the Bible now When you I'm not saying don't read other books I'm just saying don't use those books to gain your Bible knowledge The way you're gonna get the Bible knowledge is by actually reading the Bible itself That's what you should a hundred percent count on Because you know you can say well the book of Josephus says this well Listen, the book of Josephus isn't scripture and he was a you know, he was a Christ rejecting Jew So, I mean take it as a grain of salt, right don't just believe everything that Josephus said because You know It's an extra biblical book that people like to go to To source that Christianity was real or that Jesus Christ really existed. He does admit that Christ was real So or that, you know, he talks about that that crucifixion and everything He references him in his in his writings, but he was also friend To the most wicked Caesar that ever was they were like best friends so, how are you best friends with a reprobate and then Everything that you say in your commentary is true. Everything you say in your history book is true I mean you can't count on that stuff. You can't count on commentary and a lot of preachers They'll go through a passage it's hard and then they'll go to some scholar or church father You know, even the Schofield reference Bible and they'll go by what Schofield said and Schofield taught that you know, the Jews were still God's chosen people even today. That's why it crept into Baptist churches And it also You know, there's a lot of different extra biblical text You know people like to have the the Charles Spurgeon collection as their as their you know What's good? What did Charles Spurgeon say about this? What did Matthew Henry say about this? Matthew Henry wasn't saved I just want to kind of leave you a little dose of truth about that when when you go through all these commentaries John Gill and all these people they believed some really rank false doctrine So we shouldn't rely near like well, you're giving commentary on the Bible right now Yeah What I say you better check what the Bible says and make sure that what I'm saying agrees with what the Bible says Because that's what that's how you get the truth is by Learning what the Bible says and if I if what I'm saying agrees with the truth then believe me But if I'm saying something that's not true then test it, you know, we're supposed to test those things, right? So don't just believe every preacher even when they tell you something check it with the Bible and make sure it's right. So Look at what it says in Ruth 2 8 Ruth 2 8 That Says then said Boaz unto Ruth here is thou not my daughter go not to glean in another field So remember for the purpose of this sermon that field what is that field that field is the Word of God the true? source of knowledge that what we need to understand and how we get our faith and practice is through the Bible and so Go not to glean another field So don't go to the commentaries don't go to a modern Bible perversion to get a better reading for yourself That's what people like to do too. Now. They put these screens up and I'm not necessarily against the screens I'm against why they use the screens you know why they do that because they don't want to have like six or seven Bibles at their pulpit that they're gonna Go to the draw and make the Bible say whatever they want Because if you take all these Bible versions you can pretty much Make the Bible say whatever you want. And so they like to put it up on these flashy screens in NLT or NASB or HIV or NIV or whatever it is the Bible of the month that they're reading and Again, preachers like to go to commentaries Baptist preachers like to go to commentaries Baptist preachers will go to the sword of the Lord and download some old-time Preachers great sermon and then preach it for their own which I mean, there's no new thing under the Sun, you know We're gonna work eventually we're gonna preach what other people preach and it's the same God the same Bible the same Holy Spirit But a lot of people just go off of what other people say instead of doing the studying For themselves and they then they'll go to another source outside of the Bible To get their knowledge So Boaz says go not to glean in another field neither go from hence But abide here fast by thy maidens by my maidens, excuse me But so he's saying abide here fast stick in the field that I have for you Obviously, you know that field again for the spiritual purpose is the Bible don't go away from the King James You know, we got a great Bible translation the King James Bible Stick with the King James. Don't go to some other field Don't go to some other source that Greek is garbage that the modern versions are based upon. You know what everybody's Drinking the kool-aid on it. They really are but there was modern Bible versions didn't really exist until The the textual critics came out in the late 1800s Before that it was the King James and the proof in the in the in the received text Translations that people used but then they got this idea that the 1% of manuscripts That say something different or their true Word of God that was buried for thousands of years so Anyway, some I think somebody's trying to deliver pizza here. Yes, they are Time to get lost We already got pizza Anyway, that's one of our enemies that like to waste company dollars for other people other places so this bozo thinks that when he when he when he orders pizzas from a Restaurant makes that person that works for them to go and bring pizzas and that company loses money It doesn't hurt us at all. You idiot Doesn't hurt us at all. And sometimes we like it, you know, sometimes you actually order some decent pizza and we'll buy it but You know what? It doesn't do it doesn't hurt us. It hurts the company that you're Putting through the ringer out there working I mean, there's like he's got like 10 maybe not 10 but like five or six pieces This is the kind of things that the enemies of God like to do just disrupt it You think I actually care does that bother me? No, it doesn't bother me at all. I think you're an idiot So these little freaks that are listening online have to listen to every sermon because they don't have a life of their own anyway So we need to glean from the source the good field the Bible Now let's turn to 1st Corinthians chapter 2 verse 13 1st Corinthians chapter 2 verse 13 So you guys might be getting pizza deliveries here for a while, I don't know I kind of bring the pizza or something I guess So if your guys are really hungry like on a Thursday night and they deliver it to you Now if it's whoever's willing to pay for it, you know Might be a nice snack on the way home, right? But anyway, it is hurting those companies. It's pretty messed up, right? I mean I know that this person doesn't like every time we have a church service and he does it to all the other churches that we're Affiliated with so think about how many thousands of dollars This this clowns already wasted of other people's money You know as it's it's not again. It's not hurting us. It's hurting those companies and it's really wicked Hopefully these companies like track down who this person is and and have them held responsible for what they've done Anyway 1st Corinthians chapter 2 verse 13 It says which things also we speak not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth Comparing spiritual things with spiritual. I know I already went to that verse or I read you that verse but we're not supposed to go outside the Bible and and Paul's saying not in words which man's wisdom teacheth, so Obviously people do man does have wisdom man can teach you things But when it comes to the things of God, we need to get our teaching from the Holy Ghost. We need to get our teaching from the Bible Look at Colossians chapter 2 verse 8 Colossians chapter 2 verse 8 Colossians chapter 2 verse 8 says beware lest any man spoil you through Philosophy and vain deceit what is philosophy philosophy is the love of man's wisdom That's what it means So or what man's ideas are be with the Bible says beware lest any man spoil You in that way in what man teaches, you know Isn't that what the Pharisees always wanted to impose on Jesus the things that man has come up with? Oh, why why do you eat with unwashing hands? You know, why do your disciples pick these ears of corn on the Sabbath day? Don't you know that we're not so I mean and so he was always saying you're teaching for doctrines the commandments of men and that's where churches start to go wrong as they start lifting up some man instead of lifting up the Word of God and Letting themselves be spoiled through that philosophy and vain deceit says after the Tradition of men after the rudiments of the world and not after Christ So rudiments mean first principles So the world has the things that they think are the first principles But those are often the opposite of what God has for us for first principles because think about what the family is Purported to be now in this country what 1.5 kids 7.5 dogs, you know nobody being married. Oh, you already had 13 abortions I mean that the the philosophy of family here Maybe not here, but in other parts of this country or that, you know abortion should be on demand whenever you feel like it and to us life is is Is a sanctified thing life is a special thing and to destroy human life for no reason Just because you're too lazy to get married and do things right or whatever That child shouldn't have to suffer being murdered because you're a filthy dog You're a piece of garbage and you just want to murder your children so that you can keep being a whore or whatever This horror bad word or something. Okay it's in the Bible anyway, but That's what you have is a bunch of whores and whoremongers going around and then when they when they get into trouble What do they do? Oh, let's just kill the baby But those are the the world thinks of things differently is my point and the Bible and God's people Are supposed to look at things the way God wants us to look at them not after the rudiments of the world And after the roots of the world and not after Christ So we must get our first principles the things that are first in our life From the Word of God look at Hebrews 5 12 Hebrews chapter 5 verse 12 The Bible says for when for the time you ought to be teachers you have need that one teach you again Which be the first principles of the oracles of God the first principles of the Bible Is what it's saying and are become such as have need of milk and not of strong meat So when you allow, you know, good things to be done So when you allow, you know man's wisdom to infiltrate your mind instead of God's Word Then you're gonna have problems when you try to collide the ideas of the world with the ideas of the Bible they don't mix well at all and So people think that we're weird maybe not in this town But in other places like me and brother Robert went to go get some coffee and everybody there was dressed like we are I mean, that's just normal here Like when you drive down the roads here women in dresses and skirts men are and you know dressed nice And obviously there's a church on every corner around here or something like I mean, that's normal here But you know what we're from you walk in a suit and tie. They're like, well, where's the business meeting at? you know, what's going what's really going on here and so We have to you know, get our principles from the Word of God. Look what it says in verse 5 Hebrews 5 12 It says or when for the time you ought to be teachers you have need that one teach you again Which be the first principles the oracles of God So yeah, we you know If you get to the point where you put man's wisdom in front of God's Word You need to be taught again You need to read the Bible You need to get the first things down first and quit trying to go to some Commentary or some other source to get your knowledge because that's always a mistake read the Bible Get the Bible down first and then read a book about the Bible, but if you haven't even got through the Bible once Why are you buying a bunch of other books about the Bible? About and you don't even know if they're interpretations, right because you've never even read it So it's it's easy to get trapped into that trap. So don't do it number four When you work hard in studying the Bible God will show truth to you that you were not looking for as a bonus Let me say that again when you work hard in studying the Bible God will show you truths that you are not looking for as a bonus You know a lot of times when you're reading the Bible, don't you you pick up some kind of like wow I've never saw that before and As a preacher when I do that I immediately open up my phone and pull out my notepad and and write that thought Into my notepad because I'll tell you what happens if I don't do that I forget and I think well, what was that truth that I just learned the other day? But you know if you want to remember something that you learn from God's Word That's like a special thing that you've found in your Bible reading write that down write it down and put it in a notepad and especially if you're a preacher and you're looking for ideas to Preach and you find some great nugget of truth some great truth in the Bible that you weren't intending to find then write it down and Store that up for later look back in our text at Ruth chapter 2 verse 15 Ruth chapter 2 verse 15 so You're gonna get truce that you didn't intend on getting Sometimes when you're reading the Bible Ruth chapter 2 verse 15 says and when she was risen up to glean Boaz commanded his young men saying let her glean even among the sheaves and Reproach her not and let fall also some of the handfuls of purpose for her and Leave them that she may glean them and rebuke her not. So what's he saying? He's saying while she's gleaning Throw her some freebies as she's walking through trying to glean and so when you apply this principle to God's Word You know, I believe that if you're just doing your regular Bible reading your regular gleaning of God's Word Then God's gonna throw you some handfuls of purpose and he's gonna teach you things that you didn't realize were true Turn to Psalm chapter 119 verse 18. I'm gonna read for you Jeremiah chapter 33 verse 3 says call unto me and I will answer thee and show thee great and mighty things Which thou knowest not? So he's just saying call unto me and God will do that So when you're reading the Bible God is going to show you things that you didn't know before he's gonna teach you Mighty things that you didn't know before you're in Psalm 119 verse 18. Look what it says Open down mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law and that's a good prayer to pray before you even begin your Bible reading for the day is that you would ask God to open your eyes and That you would behold wondrous things out of his law teach me something new God help me with my understanding Because you know, we'll come across some real hard Bible verses and there's things that I still don't understand in the Bible I haven't completely arrived, you know And there's some things that I thought that I understood and then when I go to preach those things out of a you know Out of a Bible study or something and I really boil the text down and really kind of just chew on it I realized that I was wrong about an interpretation that I had before But that's God just teaching you things The more you read the Bible now Number five this afternoon is read the Bible all the way through for the rest of your life Read the Bible all the way through for the rest of your life. Don't be this person Oh, I got to get my Bible reading in. Oh There it is a righteous the right as righteous tendeth to life So he that pursueth evil pursueth to his own death. Oh, I got my Bible reading in today That's not how we should be that's I mean that's giving God your garbage time. Yeah, you read a scripture You know, it's better than not reading one But I mean if that's the way you approach your Bible reading and trying to gain knowledge from the scriptures I don't think God's gonna teach you much, you know, so We should be people that care about reading God's Word. And yeah, I mean we all we all fail We all miss Bible reading times. We all get busy. We all have, you know, just forget and we're human beings we forget things we're sinful, but we should read the Bible all the way through and For the rest of our lives. It's not just a book that you read one time and you're done I'm sure some of you have read novels more than one time who's read novels More than once because it's your favorite book. You don't have to be shy. It's okay. Let's put them up high. Yeah It's okay to read. You know, I mean unless it's Stephen King's it or something that you read three times I mean that's if you've read Stephen King's it three times and you haven't read this book You better get busy and get on this Bible reading, right? but You know, you've read through novels multiple times. Why would you not? read through the greatest book of all time the the only spiritual book worth anything on this planet and Skip through that and not and not read that look at Ruth chapter 2 verse 23 Ruth chapter chapter 2 verse 23 It says So she kept fast by the maidens of Boaz to glean what to say there Onto the end she finished Onto the end the end of the day Maybe the end of the season the end of the gleaning whatever it was, but she didn't just start something and stop it She continued to do so and that's why God blessed her so much because I mean, you know, she's doing something carnal She's doing something physical something for physical sustenance But look at the spiritual blessings that Ruth got because of the way she was Because she was tenacious because she was like, you know what I'm not gonna leave you Naomi I'm not gonna just leave you I'm gonna stick by you and you know what as a matter of fact, I'm gonna make Your God my God, you know, that's the kind of person that she was and the Bible also said that she's a Virtuous woman and if you go through the list of Proverbs chapter 31 and you look at what the virtuous woman was like I'm pretty sure I could be wrong about this but I'm pretty sure the only woman that's ever called a virtuous woman in the Bible is Ruth and So that's the type of person she was and so if you go through, you know She's someone to aspire to be like for the ladies, you know I think that she you know, the virtuous woman is you know, no one's ever gonna get to the to the perfect Virtuous woman category necessarily, but is it something that can be achieved? Well, you know Ruth achieved it So and Solomon hadn't written, you know written the Proverbs at that point Yeah, because she's a relative of Solomon. In fact, like maybe a great-great-great grandma or something like that. But anyway She's a great woman in the Bible so this story is Something that's that's that's a carnal truth a lot of it But the spiritual blessings because of the carnal work the carnal truths of this Bible of this of this book Helped her to become a very spiritual woman and her children were spiritual and her children's children Were spiritual and so when we find things important out of God's Word when we you know take God's Word seriously when we take our Marriage seriously when we take the raising of our children by this book, you know We we are going to reap great things in our lives and the Bible has a lot to say about these things That's a lot to say with how we should rear our children. What does the government tell you? Don't spank your kids What does the Bible say spank them spank them early spank them often, you know I mean spank, you know, the Bible says that it's the rod of correction But you know, what's funny is that when the government says not to spank your kids they say don't do it with any implements The opposite of what the Bible says, why are they doing that because they want to ruin Society they want to destroy Society and make it into work. You got people homeless on the streets getting Everything that they want for free you being taxed by your tax dollars at 40% So you can pay for transitioning people to get surgeries or whatever else they do I'm sure that abortion falls under that doesn't it? I Mean it is it's that way in America But here we are working hard and the government's working hard against us, aren't they? So look at Deuteronomy chapter 17 verse 18 Deuteronomy chapter 17 verse 18 It says in Deuteronomy chapter 17 verse 18 and It shall be when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom That he shall write him a copy of this law and a book out of that which is before the priests and Levites So God's talking about here you know there there's gonna come a day when there's gonna they're gonna ask for a king and If they do that the king has certain rules that he has to go by One of those things is he has to sit down and write a copy of the Bible by hand before the priests and the Levites The same book not his own version not the Thomas Jefferson edition but the real deal Bible right in verse 19 it says and it shall be with him and he shall Shall be with him. Excuse me. And so yeah, that's a good thing to have your Bible with you Right and he shall read therein all the days of his life So, what's the king's responsibility to read the Bible what all the days of their life and That he may learn to fear the Lord his God To keep all the words of the law and these statutes to do them Fear God keep his words Do them that's what God expects from us. That's what he expected. You're like, well, this is the king Well, guess what? God calls us priests and kings under the Lord our God We are priests and kings in his eyes And so should we do the same thing that God would expect the king in the Old Testament to do? I think he does. I think he does expect that and It said because it says thou shalt meditate there in day and night, right? So Thou shalt is a commandment and we're not supposed to you know And he Joshua was talking to all the people at that point So it says in verse 20 that his heart be not lifted up above his brethren You know what you read the Bible and you soak that stuff in and you learn those truths You're not you're gonna look at yourself like you truly are You know Just a little bit level above pond scum In reality, I mean we're you know, God obviously values us I'm not saying that but I'm saying as far as our sinfulness We're all sinful in here. We all have our own problems. We all have our own Vices that we have we have the besetting sins yours might not be different you know might not might not be the same as theirs, but everybody has a sin problem and So when you lit when you lift yourself up that the people that lift themselves up are the holier than that was I probably don't even read the Bible. They have it all down. They've never cussed in their life. They've never smoked They've never chewed they never run the girl with the girls that dude, right? And so they think that they're better than everybody else and you know what God hates that It's like smoking his nose when people are like that so why would he tell the king to read the Bible all the all his days and You know, he said that his heart be not lifted up above his brethren He doesn't want us to think we're better than other people Right if God's gonna call us someone better than the other person will let God do that But that's not our job to decide whether we're better than somebody else or not So it says and that he turned not aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left To the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom. He and his children in the midst of Israel. So The king had a great responsibility To write out a copy of the Bible to have that with him to read it every day And you know what God has that responsibility for us too because if we're kings and priests unto the Lord Then God would probably want us to do the same thing And you know what the more you read the more you're gonna learn be a lifelong Bible learner be a lifelong Bible reader and you're gonna glean not only the the the surface level and the things you need to know the milk But you're also gonna get past that you're gonna get to the meat To the prime rib to the ribeye steak of God's Word and you're gonna be able to chew on that because you're gonna be mature enough Spiritually because you already learned the things of the milk of the word You know what? We have a lot of small children here and some of them are still drinking milk But there's gonna come a time when they're gonna grow those teeth and those teeth are gonna be able to eat Solid foods and then once they are able to eat those solid foods You know, most people don't feed their kids steak when they're really young why why not because they're not mature enough to choose the steak up the way it should be chewed up, right and What do people choke to death a lot on steak? So don't don't you know Don't choke on the steak before you've had your milk and before your teeth have grown before you've become a little bit more mature You shouldn't be trying to figure out all these complicated doctrines When you've never even read the Bible once when you don't understand baptism when you don't understand if you don't understand salvation You'll get saved first, right? But if you if you don't understand salvation and baptism and all these easy doctrines Then how are you gonna go and try to explain someone the post-trib pre-rath rapture? You're gonna say watch this video from Pastor Anderson. Is that what you're gonna do? Could you explain it to someone could you go through the scriptures and explain the post-trib pre-rath doctrine? Because it's easier said than done my friends You know, you might be able to ride it all out after watching, you know after the tribulation or maybe you know Taking notes on a sermon or something But maybe you could do it But if you can do that, but that means you probably graduated past the milk portion of God's Word so When you know, so when is the harvest? When is the harvest going to come well when Christ comes right, so We as Christians need to continue because the field is is the Word of God in this In this teaching so when's the harvest though? When's the ultimate harvest gonna happen? It's gonna happen when Christ comes back then you can quit reading your Bible but until then keep reading your Bible and Maybe we will have Bibles up in heaven. I don't know I'm pretty sure that we'll know have the mind of Christ and we'll know the Bible probably pretty good But maybe we will have copies of the Bible. I don't know but One thing's for sure is that we shouldn't ever quit reading the Bible on We're living on this earth and we can still read and even if you can't they got apps that you can listen to The Bible you can listen to it at higher speeds and take more in than you ever could We got so much Bibles in this I mean who's got more than one Bible at your house Yeah, everybody pretty much does you know in these times? Do you think everybody had just King James Bible? Well, King James was a redneck, but do you think that they all had their Hebrew Bibles just laying all over their house? They probably didn't it was probably more scarce in those days. We have an easier time now to read the Bible We have no excuse to not read it We have no excuse to say I haven't read it cover to cover unless you just can't read unless you're a small child Read the cut read them, you know, I wanted to impart something that I think is very important when I came up here to preach and that is that you should hold the Bible in high regard and that you should learn the Bible and That's the most important thing we can do because the bot out of this source brings all this truth So Look, the source is the Bible and the truth. We draw out of the well by reading it by Understanding it by God giving us the ability to understand so Look at yeah, look at Leviticus chapter 19 verse 10 I actually never mind. I think I already skipped past that. I'm sorry first John chapter 2 verse 27 first John chapter 2 verse 27 Says but the anointing which you have received from of him I'm sorry. I got a backup here. I think I flipped my page too fast. I got ahead of myself. Okay, let's start over Yes, go to Leviticus chapter 19. I'm sorry. That's my fault Leviticus chapter 19 verse 10 says and thou shalt not glean thy vineyard neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard thou shalt leave them for the poor and This and stranger I am the Lord your God so the principle behind leaning is to help the poor, isn't it? Jesus said blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of God So, you know if you're poor in spirit Then you are going to glean things from God by reading his word and applying those things to your life So, how do we approach the scriptures? How should we approach our Bible reading? What are the things you know because when you when you have a System of a way that you do things it does help you if you have a daily routine a daily system Those things help you but when you get off your routine, isn't that when you stop reading your Bible? When you get out of your routine, isn't that when you stop, you know doing you know You know, you're just out of sorts. I am I have to put my keys in the same place I have to hang my coats in the same place I've put my shoes in the same place or I'll just be out of you know, I'll be out of sorts I I just I need my wife. That's when I need my help me but you know Where's my keys if you put if I put my keys in a different spot than I always put them I will never remember where they're at If you Stop your daily routine of reading your Bible every single morning and you just do it for a couple days You're on vacation or you're doing this or that you're gonna get out of your routine and you're gonna have a hard time Staying in the Word of God. You're gonna have a hard time with any Routine if you get out of the routine and it only takes a few days to mess it up for you now What how should we approach the scriptures? Well read it twice a day like the Bible says like Joshua says Meditate therein day and night study to show thyself approved unto God a workman that needeth not to be ashamed You know, we want to not be ashamed before God we want to be approved before God and he says to study his word and then ask God to show you great and Wondrous things from his law before you before you begin your Bible reading. It doesn't have to be some long prayer Just God will you show me something new out of the Bible today? Will you teach me what this means when you're wrestling with the harder passages that you don't understand? Or the ones that you don't agree, you know, here's the other thing you'll read things in the Bible You're like, I don't know if I agree with that. I don't know if I believe that Well, you know if it's the Word of God, you should believe it and maybe ask God to help you You know to get past your feeling with that because there are some things that I've come across in the Bible It's just like I don't know if I agree with that But you know, we've got to get on God's page and not have God get on our page That's the problem with Christianity today. There was like well my God wouldn't yet You know why your God wouldn't do it because your God doesn't exist. The God of the Bible is the boss not us so That's another thing we could do is ask God to teach us things and if you're having a hard time about a passage Pray about it and ask God to show you the truth and maybe he won't show you the first time Maybe he won't show you the second time. There's verses that I've wrestled with for years I'm just like I just don't understand this. Why don't I get it? Well, why didn't the disciples get it? You know Jesus rebukes the disciples after the feeding of the five thousand because They're like, you know, they're like he says beware of the leaven of the Pharisees And they're like is it because we didn't take bread? They completely just don't understand what he's talking about because they're thinking about stuff. They're thinking about their day off They're thinking about their call needs and Jesus is trying to teach them something he's like how is it that you don't understand Well, you know sometimes we just have to pray and ask God and you know what that's what they did They didn't want to say anything. They're like But Jesus will teach us things God will teach us things the Holy Spirit will teach us things When we ask and if we don't understand just ask Ask and he shall receive now turn to John chapter first John chapter 2 verse 27 first John chapter 2 verse 27 It says in first John 2 27 says but the anointing which you have received of him abideth in you and you need not that any man teach you but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things and Is truth and is no lie and even as it hath taught you you shall abide in him What is the Bible saying here? It's saying you don't need man to teach you the Holy Spirit will teach you the anointing that you've received from God as a saved person will help you to understand and Teach you all things. So can you can you learn the things that you want to learn? Absolutely, you can and God will help you with that. But I'll tell you what if you never crack the Bible open It's never going to happen. He's not going to teach you anything so the other thing is You know, the Bible says, you know Paul tells Timothy till I come give attendance to reading So is it important to study it absolutely is important study, but it's also important to read Why do we have the Bible read a chapter every single time somebody preaches so you can get the context of what's going on? So that I can't get up here and twist Scripture and and use it to my own ends and you're like, well, you're kind of spiritualizing the story of earth Yeah, but I told you that I was doing that I Know what this I know what the surface meaning of Ruth is. I know that there's other it look the Bible is a deep book folks You know, I would say it's kind of like an onion. There's lots of different layers to it, right? there's lots of different layers to it and There's more than just one primary meaning. There's secondary and third interpretations of things now I Told you what I was that I was teaching it as a spiritual truth because I believe That you're gonna get that spiritual truth out of this so Is it wrong? Is it true? If you read the Bible, they're gonna glean truths. Of course, it's true But it says till I so Paul says till I come give attendance to reading and you know he says to study the show thyself approved and The more you you will read the more you will glean you're gonna get the treasures the nuggets the pearls of great price in your life and you know be a lifelong Bible reader and and read the Bible as long as you live and Those things will help you in your life turn to Luke chapter 16 verse 10 Because You When God God's gonna give you more when you can handle more But if you can't if you can't even get past the first things He's not going to give you more than you can handle if you're not faithful in the smallest things. He's not going to be Giving you more than what you deserve. So no look at what verse 10 it says he that is faithful and that which is least is faithful also and much and He that is unjust in the least is unjust also and much What's the principle someone that's faithful say your job is to sweep the church floor every week? That's that seems like a small thing. It's probably an important thing So the place doesn't get filthy dirty, but it's it's a to me. That's a small thing, right? But to God if you're faithful in that one thing that's a small thing Then he's gonna trust you with bigger things So if you apply that to Bible knowledge and Bible reading if you're faithful to read through the Bible He's gonna give you know, and you're faithful in the in the little he's gonna trust you with more More truce that you didn't know before he's gonna trust you with more than just surface level truce It says if therefore you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon who will commit to your trust is the true riches So He's like saying if you can't be trusted with money, how are you gonna be trusted with the true riches? Well, what's the true riches the spiritual things the spiritual riches the spiritual blessings? so if you apply this to Bible reading and If you're not faithful in reading your Bible to learn the small things. He's not going to teach you the deeper things right turn to 1st Corinthians chapter 2 verse 9 1st Corinthians chapter 2 verse 9 And this is the last scripture I'll have you go to we'll wrap it up here 1st Corinthians chapter 2 verse 9 the Bible says But as it is written I hath not seen nor ear heard Neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him But God hath revealed Them unto us by his spirit, so the Apostles and this is Paul, of course He's saying it's been revealed to us by his spirit for the spirit searcheth all things Yay, the deep things of God. So are there deeper things in the Bible? of course there are there's deeper truths in the Bible and If a wise man will draw those things out of that deep well of truth a wise woman And it says in verse 11 for what man knoweth the things of man save the spirit of man Which is in him even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God now We have received not the spirit of the world But the spirit which is of God that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God So God's spirit can receive or can help us to receive those things that we might know He wants us to know things But he's not going to trust the true riches to those that are just lazy and don't want to do the work right and that just applies to really anything in life and When you are gleaning the edges, that's kind of what the whole thing was you're not supposed to you know Glee, you're not supposed to just take everything in the harvest the first time You leave a little bit behind for the poor of the land So as you trudge through the Bible over and over and over again You're gonna learn that surface knowledge. You're gonna learn that milk of the word, but you're also gonna learn the meat You're gonna learn the harder or complicated passages And of course the nuggets of God's Word and truths that are buried from our sight Will discover those little treasures and the poor and spirit can gain that wisdom that God left buried and Finding that pearl of God's Word for our lives and you're like, well, I don't care about gleaning I don't care about knowing the deeper knowledge. Well shame on you because you should want to know the things of God Let me just ask you this. Are you reading God's Word? Maybe you're in here and you know, you should be reading the Bible every day and you're not doing it I'll tell you what, you know, what'll get you heartened to the things of God not reading the things of God because his word is like a hammer and it breaks the hard hearts and His word is like a fire and it consumes you So if you're not reading it Then you're not gonna get what you need to do better in your life If you're backslidden most backslidden people, they're not reading their Bible. They're not going to church They're not going soul-winning. They're not praying. They're not Fellowshiping with the Saints. They're not, you know doing the things that God wants us to do Because they're backslidden so the best thing to do is to just Apologize to God for being backslidden and ask him to renew a right spirit within you That's what we need to do. And and you know, we have you have you Here's another question. Have you read the Bible cover to cover one time? If you're in here and you have the ability to do so Then you should do that make it a goal make it a priority set time aside in your day to read the Bible daily and You know, your your life will be blessed because of that. Isn't that what God said you'll be successful If you do that, so Every word is important Because it's God's Word, you know, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word That proceedeth out of the mouth of God. It's all important And so if you've been slacking on your Bible reading time, you know, the good thing is is that you have a Bible It's do you have a Bible? Does everybody in here have a Bible? Well, the good thing is is that we have Bibles There'll be one thing if you're just like well, I'm throwing my Bible away and then you could ever get another one But you know, what's great about about God is that he's blessed this generation with a lot of Great ability to read Bibles and all that get the apps and all this other stuff You know, if you've been slapping slack on your Bible reading, you know what you can do Pick it up and start reading it again Make the time do what's right do what God wants you to do because if this is the basic instructions What what is what's the Bible? What's the acronym? Hey? Basic instructions before leaving earth That's that's a good acronym for the Bible because but there's more than basic instructions There are some pretty complicated ones in here too. And that's what I'm talking about today Is that you know, you know reading the Bible is important Getting this strong foundation a sure foundation in your life of Bible reading is what God Requires from you it's a commandment of God or to study the Bible and look the more the people in the pews know the better off Most cults and you know, we get accused of being a cult, you know, but we we kick people out We don't keep people in cults keep people in right But you know, they'll say well you just you know, you're a cult because we just say we are But here's the thing. We we want you to read the source We don't say here's the Book of Mormon Here's another testament of Jesus, yeah, we're telling you just read the Bible But we don't tell you read my spin on the Bible. We just say read the Bible Because you know why it's the most important thing Every word of God is important. It's the most important thing we can do It's the best thing we can do to help our leadership You know if there's a church filled with warriors and soldiers for Christ that know God's Word They know hey We need to have this book with us when we go out places Have this book for us when we go out soul winning have this book you never know when you're gonna have to preach someone the Word of God and So to know this book is the ultimate knowledge that we have on this planet for us It's better than all the books combined that were ever written. This book is better than all of them If I could choose, you know, people say if I could choose to be on a desert island What would you choose to have with you there? Well, the one thing I would have is a Bible and not just any old Bible the King James Bible Amen. All right, let's pray Lord. We thank you so much For this great church and Lord I pray that you just do something with this message Lord if there's someone that needs to start reading their Bible again Lord, I pray that they would do that and find it important Lord help us to have a Structure in our life where we are avidly reading the Bible help us to come to you with the attitude of wanting to learn what the Bible says to us and What what you want for us Lord instead of just what we want and what we desire I pray you'd help us to have your desires become our desires and Lord that this book That our sin wouldn't keep us from this book. But this book would keep us from sin. We pray these things in Jesus name. Amen You