your seats and find a hymnal and turn your song books to song 209 sunshine in the soul song 209
sunshine in the soul song 209 on the 1st there's sunshine in my soul today more glorious and bright
God Jesus it's a peaceful soul today sinning can hear their son it's when the peaceful to smile a
sunshine today it's a peaceful his mom soul today she gives me now it's a full to smile singing
brother jeff will you open us in a word of prayer amen for our next song we'll song 37 there'll be no
dark valley song 37 there'll be no dark valley song 37 on the first there'll be no dark valley
when jesus comes there'll be no darling when jesus comes there'll be no jesus singing at this time
we'll go through our announcements may have some extra announcements in the back if so brother jeff
will bring you one if you don't have one and on the front we have our verse of the week it's romans
819 says for the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of god
and on the inside on the left there we have our service times every sunday 10 30 a.m we'll have
our sunday morning service and sunday evening service at 5 30 p.m and on thursday we have our
weekly bible study pastor shelley right now is going through the book of acts so make sure you
make it for that it's been a great study so far and tonight we'll be taking a break for that from
that and preaching something different then we have all of our soul winning times listed there
and i believe everything is current except did i hear correctly last time i was here that there's
a friday time now is there a friday time now okay i might have just gotten that from somewhere else
okay so all that's still current then so what the bolton says is correct let's go ahead and get a
count for salvations did anyone have anything from monday tuesday okay wednesday and today we had two
all right three for today awesome amen great so five for today praise god for that keep up the
great work with soul winning and speaking of soul winning we have our texas oklahoma easter marathon
coming up and i brought with me a sign-up sheet that's on that back bookshelf there and basically
we're going to be having soul winning time several soul winning times that thursday through sunday of
easter weekend and so there's several times to sign up for if you can make any or all of those
as a captain sign up for whatever you're willing to do and if there's any overlapping we'll just
pick you know schedule allowing basically for the people that sign up but we really appreciate your
guys's help for that so make sure you sign up if you're able to do that and we just want to make
sure that we're out soul winning and celebrating when christ was in the grave so that's going to
be an awesome event and hopefully many souls get saved this weekend it's going to be a great weekend
we have my good friend brother blake rinken from sure foundation baptist church coming
and i'm really excited for this me and him have been great friends over the years we went to sure
foundation baptist church together for about three years and we actually preached our first ever
sermon on the same night and have just stayed friends and so i'm really excited for this weekend
if you can make it out here definitely show your support it's going to be a fun time for sure and
then on the right on the top there congratulations to the darnell family for their baby bellamy blake
darnell so make sure you congratulate them when you see them and praise god for that and then
right under that be praying for all the other mothers that are pregnant as well and you know
we'll be giving them that congratulations soon hopefully as well so be praying for them and then
prayer requests as always if you have any prayer requests throughout the week just make sure you
send it into the email and we'll get that added to the list and make sure that we're praying
for that as a church and then we're going to have one more song before we take our offering song
104 lean on his arms song 104 song 104 lean on his arms just lean upon the arms of jesus he'll help
you just his love sees proof he's seems so testing sees pristine it sees proof samson will come out
and read revelation chapter one hey revelation chapter one follow along as always we'll read
this chapter together starting in verse one where the bible reads the revelation of jesus christ which
god gave unto him to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass and he
sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant john bear record of the word of god
and of the testimony of jesus christ of all things that he saw blessed is he that read it they did
hear the words of this prophecy keep those things which are written therein for the time is at hand
john to the seven churches which are in asia grace be unto you and peace from him which is and which
was and which is to come and from the seven spirits which are before his throne from jesus christ who
is the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead prince of the kings of the earth unto him
that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood and made us kings and princes unto god
and his father to him be glory and dominion forever and ever amen behold he cometh with clouds and
every eye shall see him they also which pierced him and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because
of him even so amen i am alpha and omega beginning and the ending says the lord which is and which
was and which is to come the almighty i john also am a brother and a commanding in tribulation and
in the kingdom and patience of jesus christ was in the owl that is called patmas for the word of
god for the testimony of jesus christ i was in the spirit on the lord's day and heard behind me
a great voice as of a trumpet saying i am alpha and omega first and the last and what thou seers
write in a book and send it into the seven churches which are in asia unto ethesus smirna
to pergamos to thaitara to sardis to philadelphia and to laodicea and i turned to see the voice that
spake with me and being turned i saw seven golden candlesticks in the midst of seven candlesticks
one likened to the son of man clothed with a garment down to the foot girt about the paps with
a golden girdle head and his hairs were white like wool as white as snow his eyes were as a flame of
fire his feet likened to fine brass he had been burned in a furnace and his voice as the sound of
many waters and he had in his right hand seven stars out of his mouth with a sharp two-edged
sword and his continence was as the sun shined in his strength when i saw him i felt at his feet as
dead he laid his right hand upon me saying unto me fear not i'm the first and the last i am he that
liveth and was dead and behold i am alive forevermore amen and have the keys to hell and of death
write the things which thou has seen things which are things which shall be hereafter the mystery of
the seven stars which thou saw us in thy right hand the seven golden candlesticks the seven stars
are the angels of the seven churches the seven candlesticks which thou saw us of the seven
churches fire here for a quick word of prayer lord we just come to be filled once again with always
amen all right well it's great to be here and great to see you all again i'm excited for this
weekend i'll be down all weekend with you guys so definitely looking forward to that and tonight
we're gonna do a little bit of a different sermon and we're in the book of revelation and in
revelation chapter one verse three the bible says blessed is he that readeth and they that hear the
words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written therein for the time is at hand and
tonight the title of my sermon is blessed is he that readeth i want to preach a sermon about the
topic of reading because sadly and and very just disgustingly we're living in a time where not
only are people not reading their bibles you know and certainly a lot of people are not reading their
bible cover to cover and certainly not very many people reading their bible cover to cover every
year or multiple times a year we're actually living in a society and in a nation where people
are just not reading anything people are not reading the bible and not only that people are
just not reading anything whatsoever but the bible says blessed is he that readeth so reading is a
blessing reading will bring blessing to our lives but before we get started i want to read to you
a portion of this article and this article is from 2018 so i'm sure it's even worse now
but this article is called reading books is on the decline i just want to read a couple parts
of this article it says the bureau of labor statistics most recent american time use survey
found a decline in leisure reading a record low of 19 of americans age 15 and older reported that
they read for pleasure so less than 20 percent of americans are reporting that they're just reading
for pleasure for enjoyment a pew research center issued a report in march 2018 and this update
found that adults with lower incomes are about three times as likely as the most affluent adults
to be non-book readers 36 versus 13 and that those with a high school degree or less are about five
times as likely as college grad graduates to report not reading books in any format in the last year
non-book readership is higher among hispanics who are about twice as likely as whites to report
not having read a book in the past 12 months those are some sad numbers i don't care if you're black
white hispanic hey if you're not reading that is really sad and it's really sad that this many
americans are just reporting not reading anything in the last year and let's continue in this it
says these are some heart-wrenching statistics 33 percent of high school graduates never read
another book the rest of their lives and 42 percent of college grads never read another book
after college 70 percent of u.s adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years
and 80 percent of families report not having bought or read a book last year 80 percent of
americans are reporting that they did not read a book last year there have been a handful of reports
all issued this year that lament that the typical american is simply not reading for pleasure
anymore the smartphone is always in our pocket and many people tend to read on it but it's really
easy to break immersion when you get facebook notifications or twitter dms netflix constantly
gives us pop-ups about the new original movie or television show that they just added and instant
messaging dings are omnipresent e-readers are not as popular as they used to be and barnes and noble
is stocking more toys records and lifestyle items than books and you know this article explains all
i need to know as to why america is getting so stupid and why america is just becoming a laughing
stock of a nation and why america is confused on if dr seuss is a racist book and on if mr potato
head is evil it's because people are stupid because they're not reading americans are not
reading anymore not only they're not reading their bible they're just not reading anything how sick
is that the bible says blessed are they that read it or blessed is he that read it so let's go to
deuteronomy chapter 17 deuteronomy 17 my first point is reading gives you knowledge but ignorance
leads to destruction deuteronomy chapter 17 reading gives you knowledge but ignorance leads
to destruction let's look at deuteronomy 17 verse 15 and this is talking about setting a king over
the nation of israel thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee whom the lord thy god shall
choose one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee thou mayest not set a stranger
over thee which is not thy brother but he shall not multiply horses to himself nor cause the people
to return to egypt to the end that he should multiply horses for as much as the lord hath said
unto you ye shall henceforth return no more that way neither shall he multiply wives to himself
that his heart turn not away neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold so so
far the bible is telling you what you need to look for when you're choosing a king he needs to be a
person that meets these qualifications and he's going to go on and talk about a very important
point in 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 in a book out of that which is before the priests the levites and it shall be
with him and he shall read therein all the days of his life that he may learn to fear the lord his god
to keep all the words of this law and these statutes and to do them that his heart be not
lifted up above his brethren 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 one of the qualifications for a king in israel was that he would literally write
out a whole copy of the bible and that he would read it every single day to the end that he might
what learn because reading makes you learn okay you don't learn just from public education and
you just get that rubber stamp degree and now you're just a learned person no you actually learn
by reading and it doesn't matter if you have a degree or not someone who reads a lot is going
to be learned a learned person an educated person and when you're thinking about your king do you
want your king to be someone who is just stupid and uneducated and can't read and can't write
no you want your king to be someone who's very smart and who's very intelligent and who's reading
and learning okay think about joe biden this guy can't read he's signing things he's like i don't
even know what i'm signing i mean joe biden does not fit this right here he can't write out a whole
copy of the bible and read therein all the day of his life right what a moron joe biden is but
that's not how we should be and that's definitely not how leaders and kings should be the bible says
that they should be reading all the days of their life why so that they can learn and it's we wonder
why america is so stupid is because people are not reading and therefore people are not learning at
all i'll read for you ecclesiastes 10 verse 10 it says if the iron be blunt and he do wet the edge
then must he put to more strength but wisdom is profitable to direct so the bible is giving
this illustration like if you have an axe and you're swinging that axe if you don't wet the edge
meaning if you don't sharpen the edge of that axe if anyone's ever sharpened a knife maybe using
something like a whetstone that's what i was talking about if you don't wet the edge if you
don't sharpen the edge you have to put more strength to that thing if you don't have a sharp axe you're
going to be swinging hard you're going to be putting a lot of effort forth but wisdom is
profitable to direct so wisdom is just knowledge applied if you have knowledge that a sharp axe
cuts better than a dull one hopefully you'd be wise enough to stop what you're doing and sharpen
that axe and you'd have a lot easier of a job you know something else we might be familiar with
if you've ever ridden a bicycle have you ever seen someone who has their saddle height wrong
i mean someone who has their saddle height all the way down hey they're putting a lot of strength
into their riding their knees are like up in their chest and they're riding they have a lot
of strength going into their riding but if their saddle height's at the wrong height then they're
putting in a bunch of effort that they don't have to this is why wisdom is so important because it's
profitable to direct and you get wisdom by learning and by applying that knowledge to your life and so
if you're not reading you're going to miss out on a lot of wisdom that you can gain in your life
you must be a reader deuteronomy flip over to deuteronomy chapter 31 deuteronomy 31 deuteronomy
31 and look at verse number 11 when all israel is come to appear before the lord thy god in the place
which he shall choose thou shalt read this law before israel in their hearing gather the people
together men and women and children and thy stranger that is within thy gates that they may
hear and that they may learn and fear the lord your god and observe to do all the words of this
law and that their children which have not known anything may hear and learn to fear the lord your
god as long as you live in the land whether you go over jordan to possess it so reading here was
actually a commandment where you'd bring the whole congregation together and you would read
and specifically it mentions the children and it says that the children which have not known
anything may learn to fear god and you know what what a disservice it is to our children to not
instill in them the love of reading because the whole reason they were doing this is because this
has generational effects reading does that's why everyone would come together and read because
that causes you to learn that causes you to get knowledge and if you apply that knowledge hopefully
that gives you wisdom and you don't want the next generation to miss out on that you don't want the
next generation to be a bunch of people that are fighting over dr seuss books and whether or not
they're racist because that's what happens when you don't read and it's weird and it's weird how
today so many people just like boast in how dumb they are and boast about how all books are for
idiots i don't want to read a book i got better things to do like snapchat i've got better things
to do like tiktok i've got better things to do like spend my all my day on social media it's like
no you need to be spending your time reading why so that you can learn so that you can fear god
that's the whole point of reading go to second kings chapter number 22 second kings chapter number
22 and you know what's a good example of this has anyone ever heard of mark dice okay these mark
dice videos it's so funny he goes to the beaches of california and he just does like random man on
the street interviews where he'll just ask them a random question and one of them i saw he was like
hey you know if we had better gun control laws do you think maybe lee harvey all oswald wouldn't
have been able to kill jesus christ and they're like yeah or they're just like maybe or i don't
know and it's just like these people haven't read anything they don't know who lee harvey oswald is
they don't know who jesus christ is they don't know anything about gun control laws obviously
you know it's like they're just morons complete idiots and one of the things that he asked them
he goes what was the last book you've read they're like i'm stupid it's so funny it's
like no it's not funny it's sad it's disgusting that you're that dumb it's disgusting that you
don't read and let me tell you something people that don't read are dumb they're they're not
intelligent people because they're not learning because they're not reading i mean these statistics
that we read in that article is absolutely sick but doesn't it doesn't it help you understand why
our nation is the way it is it's because it's full of people that don't read and these same people
that don't know who lee harvey oswald is the same people that don't know who jesus christ is
they're out there voting they're reproducing i mean they're getting involved in policy and
they're in the news media and they're teaching your children and it's like we wonder why our
society is so messed up it's because people are not reading not only they're just not reading the
bible they're not reading anything whatsoever it's absolutely sad second king's chapter number 22
so just give you some context of this king joseph he sends uh shea fan his scribe to go up to the
house of the lord to hakiah the high priest and he's asking him hey i want you to go up there and
count all the money that's in the house of the lord and this is where we pick up the story in
verse number nine and she fan the scribe came to the king and brought the king word against and said
thy servants have gathered the money that was found in the house and have delivered it into the hand
of them that do the work that have the oversight of the house of the lord and she fan the scribe
showed the king saying hilkiah the priest have to have delivered me a book and she fan read
it before the king so the word of god was found in the house of the lord king joseiah hadn't known
about it his scribe comes and he starts reading it to him and let's see what happens in verse 11
and he came to pass when the king had heard the words of the book of the law that he rent his
clothes and the king commanded hilkiah the priest and a hike him the son of shefan and akbor the
son of mekiah and shefan the scribe and asa asaia a servant of the king saying go ye inquire of the
lord for me and for the people and for all juda concerning the words of this book that is found
for great is the wrath of the lord that is kindled against us because our fathers have not harkened
unto the words of this book to do according unto all which is written concerning us so what's
happening the word of god was unknown to asaia it was brought to him it was read to him and he
was so angry by the things that they read and by the things that he heard that was in the word of
god that he didn't know was there that he rent his clothes and he's telling him hey go inquire for
god for us because i didn't know that so much wrath was upon me and upon my nation and upon our
people because of the fact that we were not obeying what the bible said and so what does
this teach us ignorance is not bliss ignorance is not bliss people use that cute funny little
statement but it's stupid and it's not true ignorance is bliss what they're saying is if
you're ignorant of something then it's fine because you're just going to feel great and you're not
going to be stressed out and you don't have to worry about any problems just because you're
ignorant of it but that doesn't make the problem go away you see God's wrath was on the kingdom
and on his people before Josiah found out about it he just found out about it and said okay now
it's time to do something about it and so all the time there's all this knowledge to be had there's
all this wisdom to be had there's the whole word of God sitting in front of us and that's available
to every single person in this country and the wrath of God is on our country because people
have not read the Bible and people don't know that we're transgressing so heavily against God
but that does not change the fact that God's anger is still on us I mean hey if you never
if you never open up a Bible and you never learn about hell you know the wrath of God still abides
on you if you don't believe on Jesus Christ you know what even if theoretically a person never
heard the gospel which I believe that that every person gets a chance at hearing truth and that if
someone seeks and prays and asks for the truth to be revealed to them I believe they will get that
chance absolutely but theoretically speaking if someone just never heard the gospel you know that
doesn't excuse them from hell you know the wrath of God still abides on them and you know there's
all this worldly secular and spiritual knowledge to be had and the consequences of you not having
wisdom you will still face those consequences whether you take the time to learn or not so you
might as well just learn you might as well just read what the word of God says and just actually
fix yourself and actually fix all the ways that you're transgressing against God and actually
find out where you're at with God rather than just being ignorant and still having God's wrath on you
it makes no sense you're not going to get out of God's wrath by just not reading the Bible
you're not going to get out of being poor by just not learning how to manage your finances
I mean you're not going to get out of all these problems every single person no matter if they're
saved unsafe you know in the world in church we all need to be learning and we're all going
to face consequences if we do not learn but notice what happens in this story let's go to
second kings 23 verse number one and the king sent and they gathered unto him all the elders of juda
and of jerusalem and the king went up into the house of the lord and all the men of juda and all
the inhabitants of jerusalem with him and the priests and the prophets and all the people both
small and great and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant which was found
in the house of the lord and the king stood by a pillar and made a covenant before the lord to walk
after the lord and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all their heart
and all their soul to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book and all
the people stood to the covenant so notice what this knowledge that was brought to king Josiah
it allowed him to start making better decisions and no matter if it's a spiritual or a carnal issue
knowledge will always be able to help you make better decisions and so Josiah he didn't realize
that their nation was transgressing against God but now he read it he read it before all the people
and then what did he do they covenanted to follow God he's able to start going down a track where
he's able to change things and he ends up actually being one of the greatest kings in the history of
this nation and let's see why he did some really excellent things let's look at verse number four
in the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest and the priest of the second order and the keepers of
the door to bring forth out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels that were made for Baal
and for the grove and for all the hosts of heaven and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields
of Chidron and carried the ashes of them unto Bethel and he put down the idolatrous priests
whom the king of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah
and in the places round about Jerusalem them also that burn incense unto Baal to the sun into the
moon into the planets and to all the hosts of heaven so what is he doing now that he's read
the word of God now that he's gotten some knowledge and some information and now that
he's read it to all the congregation what are they doing they're getting rid of false religion
they're burning all the instruments used to worship Baal he's putting down the idolatrous
priest hey he's making some good decisions here right i mean this is what you want your leader
to do you want your leader to root out false religion how did Josiah get the wisdom and get
the knowledge to make that decision by reading that's how he got that knowledge man what to God
every pastor in this country would read Matthew chapter 23 about how we're not supposed to call
any man father upon our earth and we can start putting down these idolatrous priests of the
catholic church wouldn't that be nice but you know what that takes reading and actually learning that
the bible says that to begin with how many people just don't even know that i mean i whenever i talk
to a catholic at the end of the the gospel presentation i usually bring that up to them
and they're usually just floored they just can't believe that the bible says call no man upon your
earth father or upon your father and it's like how did you not know that oh yeah because you've never
read that's how you never knew that and so today if we had leaders like jessiah that got up and
actually read and got knowledge and got wisdom then they would be able to start making those good
decisions and us as fathers leaders of our home we got to lead our family spiritually and it starts
by reading the bible and it starts by reading lots of things and getting knowledge and information
so you could actually have be able to make good decisions based on reality based on good knowledge
and wisdom look at verse number six verse number six and he brought out the grove from the house of
the lord without jerusalem unto the brook chidron and burned it at the book brook chidron and stamped
it small to powder and cast the powder thereof upon the graves of the children of the people
and he break down the houses of the sodomites that were by the house of the lord where the women
wove hangings for the grove hey here's another really great decision as a leader as a leader
of a nation breaking down all the houses of the sodomites getting all the sodomites out of the
land that's a great decision what made joseph make that decision did he just wake up one day and
just like you know i'm thinking we get all the sodomites out no he read the bible and wouldn't
be nice if pastors instead of falling all over themselves saying they're normal we love them
they can be forgiven they can serve christ they're good at working with the children wouldn't be nice
if they just read what joseph read and caused them to actually make a good decision to not allow
homos in their church wouldn't it be nice if our leaders actually read the law of god and got some
wisdom and applied that wisdom and it implied leviticus 2013 to our land like it was hundreds
of years ago in this land on the east coast where that exact verse was cited as the reason why they
implemented some of the laws that they did pastor shelly has a book it's called like i think it's
called uh just the ancient laws of connecticut or or the colonial laws of connecticut connecticut
something like that and they list like bible verse after bible verse after bible verse to cite why
they implemented each law that they did and it's like you know why because they were reading the
bible i'm not saying that they were all saved but at least they were reading the bible and hey
obviously the unsaved they can't understand the spiritual truths of the bible but they can understand
what noah's ark is they can understand what putting people to death means you know they
can't understand the spiritual thing but they can understand the facts of the bible and even
if our nation just implemented the coronal truths of the bible do you know how much better our nation
would get it'd be unbelievable and so right off the bat he's just destroying false religion he's
ridding the sodomites out of the land why because he read because the law of god was read to him it
was able to give him that knowledge he was able to apply that knowledge and he made his kingdom a
great kingdom look at verse number 25 verse number 25 speaking of king joseph it says and like unto
him was there no king before him that turned to the lord with all his heart and with all his soul
and with all his might according to all the law of moses neither after him arose there any like him
he goes down as the best king god just gives him this great stamp of approval and you know where
it all started with him reading the word of god with him actually just reading what the bible says
and hey it was it was brought to him he didn't even seek it out but that just goes you to show
you the power of reading and the power of knowledge imagine what we could do in our lives if we actually
just seek knowledge and seek wisdom and try to just read it as much as we can and get wisdom hey
we can end up making a lot of good decisions in our life but you know what would have happened if
king joseph never read the law you think this verse would be in the bible that there was none like him
that followed the law of moses no that verse would not be in the bible if he had never read
because then he would have never gotten that knowledge he would have never applied that
knowledge he wouldn't have gotten the sodomites out of the land he wouldn't have taken the the
false religion out of the land he would have been a failure his nation probably would have been
destroyed because remember the wrath of god was on his nation he didn't even know it he would have
been destroyed you know what was the difference between him and his nation being destroyed
and him being the greatest king reading that was the difference that is the power of reading i'll
read for you hosea 4 6 it says my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge go ahead and
turn to first timothy 3 because thou has rejected knowledge i will also reject thee that thou shall
be no priest to me seeing thou has forgotten the law of thy god i will also forget thy children
so why were god's people destroyed for lack of knowledge because they had forgotten the law of
god and so now god is going to forget their children i mean that is not what i want happening to my
children i want to fear god and how do i fear god it's by learning by reading the word i mean
they were told hey read this so that your children will learn to fear god that comes by reading it
does not come any other way we have to be readers here's another person you want reading how about
your pastor first timothy chapter three let's look at the qualifications of a bishop verse one it
says this is a true saying if a man desire the office of a bishop he desire a good work a bishop
then must be blameless the husband of one wife vigilant sober of good behavior given to hospitality
apt to teach not given to wine no striker not greedy of filthy lucre but patient not a brawler
not covetous one that ruleeth well his own house having his children in subjection with all gravity
for if a man know not how to rule his own house how shall he take care of the church of god now
page pay attention to this not a novice lest being lifted up with pride he fall into condemnation of
the devil you know the pastor sounds like a really great person that you want to have read a lot
because the bible says if someone's a pastor who's a novice they're going to get lifted up with pride
and fall into condemnation of the devil and so when it comes to the leaders that are the kings
or leaders as husbands or leaders as parents or leaders as a pastor well that's one of the most
important things reading reading and you know what else is funny notice the king was supposed to read
all the days of his life so that his heart is not lifted up above his brethren right and in first
Timothy 3 the pastor's not to be a novice lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the
condemnation of the devil so notice these these people they both have to read so that they don't
get prideful and you know what's funny isn't it funny how you run into a lot of people that don't
read they don't know anything about the bible and you see how prideful they are isn't that hilarious
we go out soul winning we knock and we ask some question hey are you you know are you sure that
you go to heaven if you die today and they're like yo absolutely i'm sure and it's like okay well what
do you think it takes to get to heaven oh you know just be a good person repent of all my sins you
know get baptized go to church and you're like well actually you know the bible doesn't teach that
can i show you how easy it could be and they're like i've read the bible i know what it says it's
like you idiot you're not saved you don't know the bible i'm here to show you because we've
actually read the roman's road we've read all the salvation verses we're trying to save you but you
know what you're not gonna get saved because you're too prideful you know what that's why the king
needs to read so his heart is not lifted up above his brethren that's why the pastor has to not be a
novice so he's not lifted up with pride hey when you actually read a lot and study a lot you realize
how much more there is to know and how you're not even close to knowing what you should know and
every time you read through the bible cover to cover you're just like i don't know much about the
bible you know it's like seems like every time you read it it just gets deeper and deeper to you and
you realize man i'm never gonna figure this whole book out there's so much to know but yet the person
who goes to church on easter and christmas you knock on their door and they know for sure they're
going to heaven because the bible says something about faith and works i think and james too i
think it says something in there you know they're like i know what the bible says i don't want to
hear it it's like come on so prideful and because of that what happens destruction my people are
destroyed for lack of knowledge and you know what the world is destroyed for lack of knowledge too
people's lives get destroyed for lack of knowledge all the time and you know a good example of this
i think is like with this coronavirus shot this coronavirus shot which obviously is not a
salvation issue it's not like you know if you take it you're taking the mark of the beast or
anything like that but all day every day we hear the same garbage about this shot that it's safe
and effective safe and effective safe and effective and if you you deny science if you don't want to
take this coronavirus shot you're just a bumpkin you don't know anything and it's funny because this
week i read three science journal publications one by international journal of infectious disease
one international journal of clinical practice and one nature microbiology journal okay this is not
info wars.com they can't just come at you saying oh you're just listening to conspiracy theorists
this is just reputable bona fide science journals that everyone would point to and say that this is
credible information and in all three of these journals they're warning about the dangers of
something called antibody dependent enhancement by this coronavirus vaccine and they're saying that
you know this is a legitimate threat with taking this vaccination which basically coronavirus the
ade antibody dependent enhancement in the most basic terms it's just saying that when you get
the coronavirus the second time if you get antibody dependent enhancement it attacks you like 10 times
harder than if you were never vaccinated so here's here's the definition of this phrase
antibody dependent enhancement is a mechanism by which certain antibodies actually enhance viral
viral replication by promoting entry of the pathogen into immune cells example would be
macrophages resulting in worsening of the infection so these articles are saying like you are at a risk
when you take this vaccine of when you get the virus in the future it being way worse and your
cells could possibly replicate this virus way more than if you were never vaccinated and these
these articles are not saying don't take the vaccine one of them was just pushing for an
informed consent form just letting these people know that are in these trials that this is a
danger to them because this vaccine hasn't been approved it's emergency approved by the FBI FDA
it's not even thoroughly tested it's just like a brand new emergency thing and it's like is this
so crazy to ask for an informed consent form for a vaccine that you can't sue anyone for
it hasn't been tested it's emergency approved but you know what what's funny about that why don't
people know this because they don't read that's why because all they do is listen to the news tell
them safe and effective safe and effective safe and effective but they've never actually read
anything they don't actually know anything all they know is what cnn and fox news and tiktok and
facebook shoves down their eyeballs all day long because they're not actually reading anything at
all they're not reading the bible and they're not reading actual medical literature and i'm
no medical expert i don't i don't have any medical history whatsoever but even i was able to find
this information and just three quick articles gave it a read and it's telling you here's a
legitimate danger ade antibody dependent enhancement and then yet these people that don't read they're
prideful aren't they they'll say oh you deny science you're just an idiot you don't know
anything when really they're the ignorant ones and they can be destroyed by their lack of knowledge
my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge and so a lot of people unfortunately may take this shot
and may experience this along with the other side effects we're not even talking about
and they could possibly be destroyed their families could possibly be destroyed because of lack of
knowledge just because they didn't know and it's sad because here's what you're going to see you're
going to see people sadly get this vaccine and maybe they they get this issue and then they're
dying of the coronavirus and you know what they're going to say man if only more people had gotten the
vaccine if only more people had worn their masks i would have been just okay not realizing that
they're dying because of that vaccine and my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge because they
didn't read and so god's people in our in our spiritual lives all the time people's marriages
are destroyed for lack of knowledge because people aren't reading you know wives obey your husbands
they're not reading husbands love your wives they're just hearing 50 50 relationship because
they're not reading and so they get destroyed people's finances all the time get destroyed
people's child rearing all the time gets destroyed because they're hearing you know you shouldn't
spank your kid but the bible talks about you know he that spares his rod hates his son and so people's
lives all the time whether in carnal matters or spiritual matters are destroyed by one thing
lack of knowledge where does knowledge come from it comes from reading and so we need to be people
that read whether it's spiritual obvious obviously we need to be reading our bible every single day
you know we should we should do more than just read our bible we should learn about the way this
world works and the systems in this world and we should learn about science and math and reading
and finances and not be people that are simple and not be people that can just be easily manipulated
by every anderson cooper that comes on the tv you know we need to be people that are intelligent
let's go to proverbs chapter number eight proverbs chapter number eight look at verse 11 look at verse
12 i wisdom dwell with prudence and find out knowledge of witty inventions the fear of the
lord is to hate evil pride and arrogance in the evil way and the froward mouth do i hate
counsel is mine and sound wisdom i am understanding i have strength by me wisdom kings reign and
princes decree justice by me princes rule and nobles even all the judges of the earth i love
them that love me and those that seek me early shall find me riches and honor are with me yay
durable riches and righteousness so you know when it comes to finances people's lives are often
destroyed for lack of knowledge and the bible says that with wisdom is riches and honor durable
riches and righteousness a lot of people the reason why they're rich is because they're wise
and they're hard working that is the reason why a lot of people are rich and the reason why a lot
of people are poor is because they're not wise and they're lazy because they're unintelligent or
uneducated and lazy and that is just the reality and when i was writing this sermon i was thinking
like when it comes to wisdom and finances i was thinking i bet you that the people who play the
lottery if you just did a poll of the literacy level of people that play the lottery i bet you
would find a lot of people that don't read i bet you'd find a lot of people that have not read
much in their life and i actually found that there was an article on it the article is called rich or
poor who plays the lottery more okay who thinks that the rich plays the lottery more who thinks
that the poor plays the lottery more yep that's the truth i wonder why that is let's read a little
bit of this it says probably isn't a surprise but poor people are the leading participants of
lottery games in the u.s. as concluded by a 2011 study from the journal gambling studies
the results showed that the lowest fifth in terms of socioeconomic status had the highest rate of
playing the lottery so the lowest fifth the poorest fifth of people in america played the lottery the
most and had the most numbers of days spent gambling while those in the higher status averaged only
about 10 days of gambling it seems that households with lower income are more willing to spend their
money no matter how little they have betting on lottery games in 2014 alone lottery ticket sales
in 43 states reached 70.5 billion dollars 70.5 billion dollars whereas other entertainment sectors
like sports movies video games and books books only gathered a fraction of that amount so lottery
tickets beat out all the money gathered by sports movies video games and where you get wisdom books
is that any surprise people that would spend their money and instead of books are going out
and buying lottery tickets that the poorest people is because they don't read it's because
they're not smart because the lottery is designed is a predatory system it's designed to prey on
poor people they don't have that because they love you they have that system because they make a bunch
of money off it they make 70.5 billion dollars off of it it's not because they just really want to
help the poor person climb out of poverty no it's because they know that the poor person is usually
not wise enough to not play that stupid game and i'm not saying that every poor person is is stupid
or unintelligent because obviously you know our lord jesus christ was poor but you can't get any
smarter than the lord jesus christ and you know what he read the lord jesus christ read i'll read
for you proverbs 13 11 it says wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished but he that gathereth
by labor shall increase so there's some wisdom that we can get from the bible that says wealth
gotten by vanity will be decreased so if we get money by something stupid like winning the lottery
god's not going to bless that money but when you earn money by hard work according to what the bible
says god's going to make that money last god's going to make sure you can take care of your family
but if you're just playing the lottery even if you do win which you won't god's going to make sure
that movie just that money just decreases and gets destroyed and so obviously there's a lot
of ways we can apply this to our life but i mentioned just a minute ago how jesus christ
read i want to read to you luke 4 16 it says and he came to nazareth where he had been brought up
and as his custom was he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day and stood up four to read
so our lord jesus christ had a custom meaning he did it over and over and over
of reading in the sab or in the uh in the temple and so what's funny is like that's a lot more than
other religions can say about their founders like islam i mean the prophet mohammed was completely
illiterate the guy could not read and it's like no wonder a guy who could not read created such a
stupid book in such a stupid religion because the guy couldn't even read whereas jesus christ is the
word of god and you read the word of god and it's amazing it's amazing literature it's powerful
it's wonderful words of life you know it's great book because jesus christ was not illiterate
here's another person that was a reader the apostle paul i'll read for you second timothy
413 it says the cloak that i left at troas with carpus when thou comest bring with thee and the
books but especially the parchments so he's asking them to bring him the books and the parchments
which the parchments are probably just scripture it's usually just scripture so he wants the books
and the scripture meaning he wasn't only reading scripture he was also reading other things
the apostle paul he was a smart person he read he was not uneducated or stupid so number two
reading is the key to knowing and serving god go to daniel chapter 11 reading is the key to knowing
and serving god so not only is reading just going to give you knowledge that's going to help you
make better decisions you know ignorance leads to destruction not only is it just going to help you
there but reading is absolutely key to knowing and serving god daniel chapter 11 when you're there
look at verse 32 it says and such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries
but the people that do know their god shall be strong and do exploits and they that understand
among the people shall instruct many yet they shall fall by the sword and by flame and by
captivity and by spoil many days. So in the end times who are the people that are doing great
exploits? Who are the people that are instructing many? Those that know their god and those that
understand. Those that understand are going to be instructing many and those that do know their god
are going to do exploits. So the question is how do you know god? Or better question is who is god?
John 1 says in the beginning was the word and the word was with god and the word was god. You know
how you know god? Through the word of god. I mean jesus christ is the word of god. Do you know how
you know jesus christ? By reading the bible. That is how you know the lord. And so in the end times
those that do know their god shall do exploits. It's those that know the bible well. Why is it
that we don't see you know all these lame watered down churches that don't you know study the bible
that have 15 minute sermons about god's grace every week. Why do we not see them right now doing
great exploits for god because they don't know god because they don't even know the bible. They
don't read the bible. Jesus Christ is the word you must know the word of god to know god. Go to John
chapter number four John chapter number four John four and look at verse number 23. But the hour
cometh and now is when the true worshipers shall worship the father in spirit and in truth for the
father seeketh such to worship him god is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit
and in truth. So worshiping and serving god is not just a free for all it's not just do whatever you
think is best serve god worship god any way you think is best. Jesus said you have to worship god
in spirit and in truth. Now you don't have to go there but I'll read for you John 17 17 where it
says sanctify them through thy truth thy word is truth. So Jesus said you have to worship the
father in spirit and in truth and in John 17 17 it says thy word is truth. So how do we worship
God? It's directly connected to the word of God. We cannot we cannot effectively serve God know God
or worship God if we don't know the Bible. You cannot do it. These things are inseparable you
must have it. Here's a good example. Let's say someone just doesn't know God. They don't know
the Bible but they think I want to win someone to Christ. I want to help someone become a Christian
but they don't know the Bible. How are they going to do that? Well maybe they're going to pray
and say God I just pray that this person would get saved. Was that how God ordained for people
to get saved? No. You know how we get people saved? The Bible tells us how to get people
saved. Go to Romans chapter number one. Romans chapter number one. I'll start reading in verse
15. It says, "So as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also.
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to
everyone that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of
God revealed from faith to faith as it is written. The just shall live by faith." You know how someone
gets saved? It goes from a saved person preaching the gospel and that faith from going from faith
to faith. So we're thinking, oh, let's worship God. Let's go soul winning. Well, it better be done in
spirit and in truth. Thy word is truth. So the Bible tells us how we do that. We don't just come
up with our own way of serving God. We don't say, oh, you know, I want to win souls this way. I want
to worship God this way. No, it has to be according to what the Bible says. Does that make sense? When
you think about in the end time, those that do know their God shall do exploits. The people that know
what the Bible says about soul winning, the people that know the word of God are going to be doing the
most for God. Think about this, a woman pastor. Oh, she just wants to worship God. She just wants to
serve God. It's like, well, it's not according to spirit. It's not according to truth. So you don't
know God and you're not serving God. You're not worshiping God because it's not according to what
the Bible says. Bible says, let the women keep silence in the church. Bible says that they're not
to usurp the authority over the man. I suffer not a woman to teach. So if a woman thinks that she's
going to go worship God by being a pastor, well, she's not doing it according to spirit and she's
not doing it according to truth. So she doesn't know God in that sense. Positive only preaching
is a good example. Maybe a pastor just wants to really worship the Lord with 365 days of grace
only preaching. It's like, well, that's not according to truth because the Bible is just
full of negative messages and the Bible instructs pastors to preach negative messages as well.
I am the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh unto the father, but by me. How are you
going to know the truth? It's Jesus Christ. Who is Jesus Christ? The word of God. Well, how do you
know that by reading it is so simple, but this, this little fact of knowing God through reading
the Bible is attacked by liberal Christianity where it's not about, it's not about putting in
a lot of time reading the Bible. It's just by having a special feeling about Jesus Christ.
It's by just wearing a t-shirt that says, all I need is a lot of coffee and a little bit of Jesus.
It's like, that's not worshiping God. I'm sorry. It's not what worshiping God is, is reading and
knowing the Bible. And people want to make fun of fundamentalists for being so about the Bible
and everything has to be exactly what the Bible says. Absolutely. I love what Pastor Jimenez
always says. If the Bible is your boss, you're a Baptist. This is a Baptist church. This is not a
new international version fun center church. This is where we believe the King James Bible
and we believe every word that it says. Why? Because we want to know God. And how do we do that?
By actually reading it. You can say you're King James only all day long, but if your King James
Bible sits on the shelf and you never read it, what does that profit you? Absolutely nothing.
We've got to be reading the Bible. Go to Matthew chapter 12. I'll read for you. Second Timothy 2
15. It says study to show thyself approved unto God. What is studying? Studying is a lot of reading,
isn't it? And it says a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
You know who the real workmen for God are in this world? Those that are studying the word of truth.
Those that are reading the Bible, those are the real workmen today. And so Jesus Christ,
many times in the Bible, actually rebukes people for not reading. And there's too many to go through
all of them. So I just want to real quick, let's just run through all of them that are in the book
of Matthew alone, okay? This is just all the times where Jesus Christ rebukes someone for not reading.
Matthew chapter 12, and we're getting close to finishing up here. Matthew 12, look at verse number
two, "But when the Pharisee saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not
lawful on the Sabbath day." So they're accusing Jesus Christ. But look in verse number five,
"Or have ye not read in the law how that on the Sabbath days the priests in the temple profane
the Sabbath and are blameless? But I say unto you that in this place is one greater than the temple.
But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice.
You would not have condemned the guiltless, for the Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath day."
So they're coming in accusing Jesus Christ and he addresses their problem, "Have ye not read?"
Why is it that you do not understand I'm the Lord of the Sabbath? I mean the Sabbath is the picture
of Jesus Christ resting for salvation. God did all the work for us and so he's the Lord of the
Sabbath and he's saying, "Have you not read?" Why is it that you don't understand? It's because you
have not read. Look at Matthew chapter 19, Matthew 19 verse number three, "The Pharisees also came
unto him tempting him and saying unto him, 'Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every
cause?' And he answered them and said unto them, 'Have you not read that which he made them at the
beginning, made them male and female?' And said, 'For this cause shall a man leave father and mother
and shall cleave to his wife, and they twain shall be one flesh.'" These people are just saying, "Hey,
can you just divorce your wife for any reason?" It's like, "Have you not read he made them male
and female?" By the way, that's a good question to ask all these liberals that don't know the
difference. Have you not read that God made them male and female? It's like, you haven't even read
Genesis chapter 5? You haven't even read the first couple chapters of the Bible? Have you not read
Jesus is insulting these people because of it? Matthew 21, look at verse 15, "And when the chief
priest and scribe saw the wonderful things that he did and the children crying in the temple and
saying, 'Hosanna to the son of David,' they were sore displeased and said unto him, 'Hearest thou
what these say?' And Jesus said, saith unto them, 'Yea, have ye never read out of the mouth of babes
and sucklings. Thou hast perfected praise.'" He's like, "Why are you so ignorant? Have you
not ever read? That's why you're ignorant, because you have not read." Matthew chapter 22, flip over,
flip over to Matthew 22, look at verse 29. And remember, we're just going through all the
mentions in Matthew. I may have missed some, this is what I could find, but Matthew 22 verse 29
says, "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because ye build the tombs of the
prophets." I'm sorry, I'm in the wrong chapter there. Verse, chapter 22 verse 29, "Jesus answered and
said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God." And so these
two things are inseparable from each other, knowing the power of God and knowing the scriptures.
"For in the resurrection, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of
God in heaven. But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken
unto you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham." And so many, many times people come and ask a
stupid question or just are completely ignorant. And what is the reason? Because they did not read.
And so all the time we see so much false doctrine, so much bad preaching, so many people that say
they know God and don't. And what is the reason? It's because they have not read. It's like these
people, you know, you open a book, a kid's book, and it's Jesus with long hair. And it's like,
have you not read 1 Corinthians 11? It's a shame for a man to have long hair. You're going to tell
me that Jesus Christ had long hair. Have you not read? It's like, oh, you know, I believe that
homeless could get saved. It's like, have you not read Romans chapter one? Oh, I believe that
salvation's by repenting of your sins. Have you not read the entire book of John, the entire book
of Acts, the entire book of Romans, the entire New Testament? It's just like, have you not read?
That is why there's so many problems in Christianity. That is why there's so much false doctrine,
is people are not reading the Bible. And so you knowing God, you being filled with power,
you being, you know, doing great things for God is directly connected to you knowing God,
which is directly connecting to you knowing the Bible. And so if you want to be a Christian that's
used greatly by God, you have to know the Bible. So just in conclusion here, I'll just read these
for you, but you go to Proverbs 1. In application, number one, if you don't read, if you're a person
where you don't read much at all, you should not be content with being uneducated. Some people,
they are just content with not knowing things, and they just don't care. Oh, I just, I don't know who
Lee R.V. Oswald is or who Jesus Christ is, and I don't really care if the Second Amendment would
have changed any of that. You know, I don't really know, you know, anything, and I'm just totally
okay with that. Don't be that kind of person. Don't be a person that's just content with not
knowing. Don't be content with being a person that is a novice in the scriptures, and there's
nothing wrong with being a novice when you're starting out. There's nothing wrong when being
a child and not knowing anything, but we should constantly be diligent and be reading things,
both the Bible and history and math and science and literature and learning as much as we can
so that we're not ignorant people. I saw a King James Bible conference in Florida last year where
a preacher got up and he's like, you know, I believe the King James Bible. I may be an idiot.
I may be a loser. I may be a retard. I may not be able to understand half the words on this page,
but the half that I can read, I believe it. And the other half, I believe them too. And that's like,
he was like glorying and boasting and being stupid. And let me tell you something. That is not how we
should be as Christians. That is a shame to the Lord Jesus Christ to get up and preach like that
or to just be okay with being uneducated or being stupid. Look, if you didn't grow up and you, the
love of reading was not instilled into you, that wasn't necessarily your fault. But now you know
reading is something you should be doing. And starting today, read. Read the Bible. Read books.
Don't fall into this category where you're one of the 80% of Americans that didn't read anything in
the last year. Do not be that person. Number two, you know, if you do read a lot, don't become
prideful about it. Be like, oh, well, I read all that stuff. This sermon, I didn't need this sermon.
I read so much. I'll read for you. First Corinthians eight, two, it says, and if any man think that he
knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know. So, you know, I don't care if you
spend 20 hours a day reading, you know, the Bible talks about how if all the acts of Jesus Christ
were written, that the earth couldn't even contain the books that were written of it. So you will
never know all that there is to know. You'll never understand this Bible 100%. You can never gain all
the knowledge that is out there. And so it'd be really stupid for us if you do read a lot,
or you are a really intelligent person to just start getting prideful about that intelligence,
because then you're just going to be destroyed by pride. And all that intelligence is worth nothing
when God has to constantly just be bringing the hammer on you for your pride. So obviously, exalt
reading, exalt intelligence, but never let that cause you to be prideful or cause you to look down.
Number three, if you want to be greatly used by God, you must be reading your Bible. And I'll close
on this verse Daniel 11 32 and such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries
but the people that do know their god shall be strong and do exploits and they that understand
among the people shall instruct many and so if you want to be part of that group in the end times
where you're doing great exploits you're instructing many it's connected to how you read
it's connected to how you know god to how you know this bible and to how you understand which
is directly connected to you reading so the christian life one of the biggest parts of the
christian life is reading so let's make sure that pure words baptist church is a church that reads
let's have a word of prayer lord thank you for this day and thank you for the word of god
thank you that we have so much to read and that we can never understand all of it we could spend
our whole lives just studying it and always learning new things lord it is such a fun book
to read i pray that every single person in here would have a love of reading and that they would
want to continuously gain knowledge and gain wisdom to help them make better decisions in
their life and in jesus name we pray amen all right for our last song we've got a song 363
wonderful words of life song 363 wonderful words of life song 363 on the first sing them over again
to me wonderful words of love let you see wonderful words of love to me fader for acid once to a soul
thank you all for coming you are dismissed