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Amen. For a scripture reading, please open your Bibles to the book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah chapter 8. Nehemiah chapter 8. You have 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Nehemiah chapter 8. And we will read the entire chapter as our custom. Nehemiah chapter 8. Please say amen if you're there. Amen. Nehemiah chapter 8 verse 1. And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the Watergate. And they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded to Israel. And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation, both the men and women, and all that could hear with understanding upon the first day of the seventh month. And he read therein before the street that was before the Watergate from the morning until midday before the man and the woman and those that could understand and the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law. And Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood, which they had made for the purpose. And beside him stood Matathiah and Shema and Aniah and Urijah and Elkiah and Massiah on his right hand. And on his left hand, Pediah and Mishael and Elkiah and Hashun and Ashbedanah, Zechariah and Meshulam. And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, where he was above all the people. And when he opened it, all the people stood up. And Ezra blessed the Lord the great God, and all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. Also, Jeshua and Benaiah and Terabiah, Jaman, Akkub, Shabbethai, Horijah, Massiah, Philaita, Azariah, Josaphat, Hanan, Pilea, and the Levites, caused the people to understand the law, and the people stood in their place. So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense and caused them to understand the reading. And the Hemaiah, which is the Tershothah, and Ezra the priest described, and the Levites that taught the people, said unto all the people, This day is holy unto the Lord your God, morn, not, nor weep. For all the people wept when they heard the words of the law. Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fats and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared. For this day is holy unto our Lord, neither be sorry, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. So the Levites told all the people, saying, Hold your peace, for the day is holy, neither be ye grieved. And all the people went their way to eat and to drink and to send portions, and to make great mirth, because they had understood the words that were declared unto them. And on the second day we gathered together the chief of the parties of all the people, the priests and the Levites, and to Ezra the scribe, even to understand the words of the law. And they found written in the law which the Lord had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh month, and that they should publish and proclaim in all their cities in Jerusalem, saying, Go forth into the mountain, and fetch olive branches, and pine branches, and myrtle branches, and palm branches, and branches of thick trees, to make booths as it is written. So the people went forth and brought them, and made themselves booths, every one upon the roof of his house, and in their courts, and in the courts of the house of God, and in the street of the water gate, and in the street of the gate of Ephraim. And all the congregation of them that were come again out of the captivity made booths, and sat under the booths, for since the days of Joshua the son of Nun unto the day, had not the children of Israel done so, and there was very great gladness. Also day by day, from the first day unto the last day, he read in the book of the law of God, and they kept the feast seven days, and on the eighth day was a solemn assembly, according to the manner. Blessed be God's word, let us pray. Lord God in heaven, we thank you Lord for this day that you've given to us, I pray that you would please bless the Lord for this day, thank you Lord for this wonderful and great congregation Lord that you have before us, and I pray that you would also bless the preacher, and the preaching of your word, Lord, this day. We love you, in Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Alright, we're in Nehemiah chapter 8, and the name of the sermon is, How to Listen to Preaching. How to Listen to Preaching. And you could also apply this, you know, when you're reading the Bible, how to read the Bible, but basically you need to understand that when it comes to our church, our church is not like, well you know, I showed up to watch a movie or a TV show for entertainment purposes. That's not the purpose of church. The purpose of church is not to be entertained, the purpose of church is to learn. That's the main purpose. Now of course, I should strive to preach in an entertaining or dramatic way, but the most important thing is, what am I teaching? Okay. And when it comes to listening to preaching, how do we listen to preaching? Well point number one, pay attention. Pay attention. Notice what it says in Nehemiah 8 verse 1, And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the water gate, and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded to Israel. And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation, both of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding upon the first day of the seventh month. And it says from morning to midday, this is a long period of time where the word of God is being read. And I was told before by someone who graduated from Bible college that the perfect length for a sermon is 21 to 23 minutes. And they said it's been scientifically proven that people cannot pay attention more than 21 to 23 minutes. Well, I'm sorry, but I didn't get my Bible college degree like you did, but when I'm reading the Bible here, they paid attention for hours. And if people can't pay attention for more than 20 minutes, either they've got a problem with too many video games and TV and electronics, or it's just a boring person preaching and they can't pay attention. But look, you can pay attention for hours if you choose to. It's not just 21 minutes and then it's impossible to pay attention. That's a very short sermon. That's what I like to call a sermonette. Okay? 21 minutes. That's a sermonette. It's not a sermon. Okay? That is a short sermon. They paid attention, and you have point number one in how to listen to preaching, pay attention. You say, why? Because you're here to learn, not to be entertained. I mean, if you watch a movie, which I really don't recommend, but you're doing it for entertainment purposes, you don't really have to pay that much attention. But if you're here to learn, you need to pay attention. And you say, well, Brother Stuckey, I don't know, it's so hard to pay attention for a whole hour. Look, if you're in college and you've got a class that you need to pass, what do you do? You pay attention and take notes if you don't understand something. Right? You say, why? Because you want to get a good grade on that test. What's the same thing with the Word of God? I mean, our bulletin is not the most exciting bulletin in the world, but it is practical. Because on the back, you can take notes on the sermons that are being preached. That's the whole purpose of that. Pay attention when the Word of God is preached. Verse 4, And Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood, which they had made for the purpose. And beside him stood Mattathiah, and Shema, and Ananias, and Uriah, and Hilkiah, and Messiah on his right hand. And on his left hand, Padiah, and Mishael, and Melchiah, and Hashim, and Hashbadanah, Zechariah, and Meshilim. And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people. And when he had opened it, all the people stood up. So when he opens the Bible in front of everybody, and it says he's above the people, it mentions a pulpit, he's above the people because there's basically an elevated stage. Which is actually a practical thing because, you know, a platform. If you're speaking to a lot of people, you're not going to be seen, you know, if you're preaching to a thousand people. So you have like a platform and a pulpit, which is how he was preaching. And he was above all the people, the Bible says. And what the Bible says is when he opened the Bible, the people stood up. Now look, I'm not saying you have to stand up when I'm preaching or when the Bible's read, but I have been to churches when the Scripture is read, they have everybody stand up, and they base it on the Scripture. But why did the people stand up? It doesn't sound like they're forced to stand up. What I like to think of is a sporting event. Imagine you're sitting down in your seat, you're watching a basketball game, and you know, you're watching whomever. I know Michael Jordan doesn't play anymore, but he's the easiest. Michael Jordan, okay? You're watching Michael Jordan play, and then all of a sudden he just does this amazing steal and slam dunk. What's the reaction of everybody? They stand up and they're like, wow, I've never seen anything like that before. Because they're amazed with what took place. And it's the same thing that's being mentioned here. When the Word of God was read, they're so excited, they stand up out of reverence and excitement for the Word of God. Now in 2022, many people consider church as like something they have to do, it's not that entertaining, it's like I just want to play games or have fun, especially kids at a young age. They consider church to be more of a chore than actually a blessing to them that they get to go to church. And we need to make sure we train our kids that, you know what, church is not just about entertainment. Of course we have games, we have fun, right? We have activities, we have fun with those things. But church is about learning. And church is important. And life is not just entertainment. Life is not just fun, fun, fun. It does not make sense to me when you have these churches that are not family integrated. Where basically you have the main congregation, and then you have the nursery, and then you have like junior church or kids church or whatever they call it. And what they do at junior church or kids church is they basically just do these kind of goofy Sunday school songs, they give out a lot of candy, it's all games. And here's the thing, I love activities, we do those activities at our church, not during the church services. It's like, yeah, we're going to have our kids day in October again, and you know what, we'll have games and fun and fellowship, it'll be a carnival-like atmosphere. Not during the 10am service. Not during the 1130 service. I'm excited about the chess tournament, we're not doing it during the service. It's going to be after soul winning. You say, wow, we're not skipping the things that are most important, that is what our church is actually about. But what they do at these churches is they have junior church and these kids are at this church until they're like 10, 11, 12 years old or whatever. Then all of a sudden they go from fun, fun, fun to actually sitting through a church service. It's like, it doesn't make sense, why not do that at a young age? Because they're being trained at a young age to think that church is about entertainment and fun. And obviously that is not our setup at our church. And look, I know a lot about this because I've preached for over a year, I was the primary junior church preacher at my old church. Even though I don't really agree with them doing that, you can still be a blessing to something you don't fully agree with. Many people went to Baptist churches before and maybe you didn't agree with all the ministries, but you're just trying to help out the church. Nothing wrong with that. But I'm just explaining to you that is the way junior church operates, where basically kids are acting up, while the parents aren't there to spank them or punish them, so let's just give them candy. And it's like, you know, it's this major problem that they never deal with and it's like, you know what, they should just be in the main congregation like you see in Ezra 8 hearing the word of God preached. And what takes place is the parents teach their kids if they're acting up, hey, pay attention during the service. Now of course, that's a difficult thing to do. It's tough to get your kids to pay attention. It's hard on the parents to do that, but you know, we need to do that because they need to hear the preaching too. They need to learn these things at a young age. Instead of waiting until they've made a lot of mistakes, why not learn ahead of time preventive maintenance instead, right? Not Ezra, Nehemiah 8 verse 6. Nehemiah chapter 8 verse 6. And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. Also, Jeshua and Bani and Shurabiah and Jaman and Acheb and Shabbathai and Hodigiah, Messiah, Kelita, Azariah, Joseph, Hanan, Paliah, and the Levites, caused the people to understand the law and the people stood in their place. So they read in the book of the law distinctly and gave the sense and caused them to understand the reading. Why do we operate like we do at our church? Well, they read the Scriptures and then they explained the Scriptures. They had a pulpit. I mean, it's just like what we're doing here. This is what God's system is. Why is it we don't just let anybody come up here and preach every Sunday? We're just a random draw, you know, like our chess tournament. Random draw, who's your opponent? Alright, today's preacher is... right? Why don't we do that? Well, you need to be organized for one, but number two, the idea would be the person preaching probably has read their Bible a lot or at least hopefully. They probably have been spending time in their sermon so they can actually teach you something. Right? And so this is the system you have in the Bible where someone who's read the Bible many times, leads a church, preaches a sermon, and we can all be edified and learn as the Bible says. Go in your Bible to Titus 2. Titus 2. Titus chapter 2. On a side point, let me just give you a quick tip on, you know, reading the Bible when you come to names you don't know how to pronounce. What you do is you read them really quickly and you just say it once and move on. You don't try to correct yourself. It's like, you know, and the reason why is because people will think you really know how to pronounce all the names. Right? The names I was just reading through, I just quickly read them. I don't know if that's how they're pronounced. You just say it once, you just move on, and then it's just like, oh, that's how you say it. Right? I really don't know. That's why Alexander Scorby existed. Right? For YouTube and listening to how he pronounces the words. But Titus chapter 2 verse 1, the Bible reads, But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine, that the aged men be sober. It says the aged men are to be sober. Okay? Verse number 4, that they may teach the young women to be sober. Verse 6, young men likewise exhort to be sober minded. Do you see how the word mentioned for the aged men, the young women, the young men, is being sober. Now of course in our modern day if you say somebody is sober that means they don't drink alcohol. Right? And of course that's part of it, but the thing about drinking alcohol is it clouds your mind. You don't know what you're doing. You're not under full control of what you're doing. Okay? And of course I believe alcohol applies to this. I don't believe that's the only thing that it's mentioning. I don't think the number one thing he's commanding to the people in church is don't be a drunk, because honestly I don't think that's the biggest sin that people at our church struggle with. Now of course, don't drink alcohol at all. Be sober meaning no alcohol. But I don't think that's the only thing it's mentioning. I mean being sober is this idea of being clear headed. Right? Where you basically have a clear head, you have a clear mind. And here's the thing, one thing people struggle with being able to pay attention in church is because they're just not focused at all. You know it's like they're staying up really late on Saturday night. It's like playing video games to four in the morning. Then they wake up. They're at church. It's like, well how are you going to pay attention to the sermon if you know basically you're not getting any sleep, and you're not taking care of your body, it's like you're not going to get anything out of the sermon. Look, I understand there's people that work through the night. That's not what I'm preaching about. But what I'm talking about is people that would willingly say, and here's the thing, you wouldn't do that on Wednesday night because you got work on Thursday. You don't do that on Thursday night because you have work on Friday, but you just have church on Sunday. So on Saturday night, why not just hang out till like two in the morning and then just all of a sudden you wake up like, oh man, ten cups of coffee. Let's see if I can get through this. How are you going to pay attention? You're supposed to be clear headed. You say why? Because you're here to learn. You're not here for entertainment purposes. I mean you shouldn't be here for entertainment. Now I get it. Other churches it's about entertainment. They've got the rock music. They've got the lights and all of these things. We're not about entertainment here. We're about learning the Word of God. People come to this church primarily because they believe in the preaching and they believe in the soul winning. That's why people are here. Now of course we have fellowship activities and things like that and all those things are good things. But they don't get in the way of the main focus of this church. And you need to be clear minded, clear headed, sober, pay attention during the services. Go to 1 Peter 1. 1 Peter 1. 1 Peter 1. Look if you don't pay attention in a class at school and then all of a sudden you show up the next day for the test, it's like oh man I don't know how to do anything. I didn't learn this. And this really applies in math classes because if you don't know the formulas it is what it is. You memorize formulas especially as you get to a certain level. I mean probably all of us you get to calculus. We no longer understand what's going on. You just memorize formulas and put in the numbers. And I got a math degree that maybe it's just me. But you get to a certain point in math where it's like I stopped understanding. I understood multiplication. It made sense. Now I'm like I don't understand. And everybody hits that point in math at some point. And somewhere along the line whether it be fractions or whatever it may be. But eventually you reach that point where here's the thing. You just memorize formulas and then you basically just put in the numbers and get the answers. That's what you do in a lot of classes. What if you don't know the formulas? Good luck. And see here's the thing. If you're not paying attention in church, it's like you're not going to learn anything. Because you're meant to be here. Hear what's being preached and you can learn these things. You need to pay attention to the preaching. 1 Peter 1 verse 13. Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind. Be sober and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought on to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. When it says gird up the loins of your mind, it says be sober, be clear-headed. What I would suggest is if you come to church and you're extremely tired, just make it a point to take notes during the preaching. That way you can look back when you're basically more focused or whatever and see exactly what was being preached. And in general you should probably take notes as it is anyway. Whether it be a mental note or physically write it down. What I would do at churches I've been at before that had their preaching online, if there was something I heard that was kind of new or I wasn't sure about it, I would go back and listen to the sermon at the point where I was either confused or it was something new. And I would search the Scriptures whether those things were correct. Because the Bible says, search the Scriptures whether those things be so. But step one is just paying attention during the preaching. And here's the thing, if you're here today and you're not paying attention, my question would be, why are you here? What's the purpose? I mean this is not about entertainment. It's not like, wow, Brother Stuckey shouted 27 times in the first sermon. You're just being entertained by me slamming the pulpit or whatever. Many people, when you saw the title of the first sermon, that's why you have a big attendance. Casting the Calvinists out of the church, is someone getting kicked out? Everyone's like, man, I'm excited. It's not about entertainment, it's about actually learning. It's about actually learning. You need to pay attention during the preaching. Now turn in your Bible to Romans 14. Romans 14. Romans 14. And as parents, you know what you can do with your kids is, you know what? Have your kids tell you what the sermon is about afterwards. Ask your kids about the sermon. Basically get them in the mindset to pay attention where they're actually trying to focus. That way they can tell back to you. Rather than just the kids are here for entertainment, get them to actually tell you what the sermon is about. Obviously age specific. If kids are very young, they're going to pay less attention. Understandably so. But we need to train them to pay attention. Number one, pay attention. Number two, personally apply. Personally apply. Pay attention to the preaching, but personally apply it to your life. Romans 14 verse 10. But why dost thou judge thy brother, or why dost thou set it not thy brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. The Bible says we are going to personally give account of ourselves to God. We have to personally apply this to our lives because God is going to ask us what we have done in terms of getting rewards at the judgment seat of Christ. If I preach a sermon about reading the Bible every day and somebody else does not apply that to their life, it doesn't affect you. You have to personally apply it to yourself. It doesn't matter if other people are not reading the Bible. It doesn't matter if nobody is going soul winning. It doesn't matter if other people aren't doing it. The question is, are you doing it? Are you personally applying the preaching to your life? Turn in your Bible to 1 Corinthians 3. 1 Corinthians chapter 3. And it says in 1 Corinthians 3, this is the famous passage about the judgment seat of Christ, but notice what it says starting in verse 7. So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that wateth, but God that giveth the increase. Now he that planteth and he that wateth are one, and every man shall receive his own reward according to the judgment seat of Christ. So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that wateth, but God that giveth the increase. So then neither is he that planteth and he that wateth are one, and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. And the Bible says you're going to get rewarded based on the labor that you do. Now look, just because you go to a church that has, how many salvations do we have? This year over 5,000 salvations. A lot of soul winning went into that, right? Weekly, people going soul winning, a lot of soul winning marathons. A lot of salvations, but here's the thing. It's not about going to heaven and saying, hey, I went to a church with this many salvations. It's like, well, how many salvations do you have, right? How many people have you preached to? It doesn't matter if you went to a church that was doing it, what about you? I mean, it doesn't matter if you know your friends are doing it. It doesn't matter if your spouse is doing it. What are you doing personally? Are you the one doing the work, or is it just you know people that are doing the work? Because the Bible says you're going to get rewarded based on your own labor. Now I do think we need to use some common sense with this, and I can say this with my family. We have three kids, and we have a newborn child, and you know what? We go out soul winning as a family. What it means is one person is watching the kids, and one person is soul winning, and I like to think that when I'm watching the kids, I get rewards, right? Two salvations yesterday by my wife. I like to think I got credit for one of them, you know? And I do believe that. I do believe, obviously, it gets more difficult. You have kids and things like that, but the idea is that you need to personally be involved in the labor and the work, and apply this to your own lives rather than just thinking about how does this apply to somebody else. Verse number, actually go to verse number 13. Verse 13. Every man's work shall be made manifest, for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. There will come a day when it will be manifest how much he did for God. As I talked about last week, I believe the Bible teaches you're going to shine as the stars based on how much soul winning that you do, and it's going to be manifest what you've actually done for God individually. Turn to 2 Corinthians 10. 2 Corinthians chapter 10. 2 Corinthians chapter 10. And this is Paul the Apostle speaking in 2 Corinthians 10, and he makes a statement, 2 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 12. The context of the church of Corinth in 2 Corinthians is people are criticizing Paul the Apostle, and they'd say things like basically you're mighty in word, you know, what you're writing, but he's actually kind of a pushover in public. They're kind of criticizing him, people question whether he's an apostle, does he really have authority over the church and things such as that, and basically Paul makes many statements where he basically says, you know what, the proof is in the pudding. It's like there's people here that I got saved and I baptized, he's like the proof is there, and he said these people, they're trying to compare us and bring this up, and he said, you know what, I don't need to commend myself like other people. It's not a wise thing to do to compare yourself or recommend your own self. Let another man praise you, the Bible says. You don't have to compare yourself to how other people are doing. Let's say you hear a sermon, and I preach a lot of different things in the sermon, and I preach about clothing in the sermon and reading the Bible. I don't really know how those things line up, but sometimes they go on rabbit trails. You know, what people could do is let's say they're dressed perfectly. What they could do is just think, well, you know what, so and so really needed to hear that sermon on clothing. Man, so and so, I can't believe the way they're dressed here today. And yet they don't read the Bible at all, though. But they pay attention to somebody not being dressed right, even though they're not even reading the Bible. It's like why not catch the part of the sermon you're guilty about? Why not personally apply the part that you're not doing instead of being worried about what other people are doing? It's like instead of thinking, yeah, you know what, I'm already wearing a dress as a lady, and it's like I can't believe other people are not. Well, what about the part of the sermon that you're not innocent on? What about the part that you can apply to your life? Personally apply the preaching to your life. Once again, it makes no sense to pay attention during a service, but then not apply it to yourself at all. Well, what's the point? Because you're trying to learn and make changes in your own life, right? Turn to Matthew 7. Matthew 7. Matthew chapter 7. Matthew chapter 7. Once again, this is something we can teach the kids at a young age, because let's say a sermon goes forth, and your kids are thinking, yeah, a lot of people in the church needed that. It's just like that might be true, but the kids need to learn, no, wait a minute, what part of the sermon did you need? Instead of just focusing on other people, why not focus on the part that you need to apply to your life? Matthew 7, verse 1. Judge not that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged, and with what measure ye meet, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but consider'st not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye, and behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye, and then thou shalt see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye. And the Bible speaks, it does not say that judging is wrong, but what it says is people tend to judge other people when they're actually guilty of major, major things. And when people have a beam in their own eye, it's amazing how they see all the small problems that other people actually have in their life. And the idea would be this, you know, why not just personally apply it to yourself first and fix the problems you have instead of worrying about what other people are doing? But what the tendency is, is to basically focus on other people's problems instead of applying the preaching to yourself. Why? It's a lot easier to do that. You don't have to feel guilty. It's like, man, look at that person, what they're doing wrong. It's like, well, what about all the problems that you have, right? Turn your Bible to Luke chapter 8, Luke 8, Luke 8. I would say also that, you know what, if you're really striving to live for God in general, it's not like you're really spending a lot of time judging other people because you kind of look at the mirror for yourself and realize, you know, I've got a lot of problems in my own life, right? I've got a lot of catch-up spirit on my face to fix, right, before I worry about, you know, the way other people are. And it's just like, and I'm being honest, I preach sermons and preach what the Word of God says, but on an individual level, I don't just go around and think about what everybody else is guilty of, right, what people need to make changes, because I just look at my own life, I've got a lot of things to work on. And so instead of focusing on other people, I try to apply the preaching to myself. You read the Bible, pay attention, and personally apply it to yourself, right? I mean, and it's like, you know, it's very easy to find things where it doesn't really apply to you. It's like, can you believe that Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus? But then there's other things that you're guilty of that you're just letting go over your head. You just want to focus on Judas. It's like, okay, we get that. You didn't betray Jesus, right? You're not a reprobate. Good job. How about the parts that you need to change in your life, right? Number one, pay attention to preaching. Number two, personally apply the preaching. Number three, have a pliable attitude, a pliable or bendable or moldable attitude. Luke 8, verse 15, But that on the good grounds are they which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience. Now, this is a parable. It's a soul winner's parable, and there's basically four groups of people, and the first person does not get saved, and the second and third get saved, but they don't really serve God their whole lives. This is not a salvation parable, though. It's a parable about soul winning, and the person who stays a soul winner is in verse 15, group number four. It says, in an honest and good heart. Then it says, having heard the word. Having heard the word is past tense. So basically, you have an honest and a good heart after having heard the word. That is not in reference to when you hear about salvation. Now, you could apply it to salvation, but it's about being a soul winner your whole life. It's not a salvation parable. What the Bible's saying is, every time you hear the word, you have an honest and you have a good heart. And what's that referring to? It's referring to personally applying the preaching and having a pliable attitude. Have an honest heart about the preaching. So if you hear something and you're guilty, don't be stubborn about it. Don't pretend like everything in your life is perfect, if it's not. Have an honest heart to the preaching. And have a good heart, which indicates you're actually making a change. What's the result? Well, keep it and bring forth fruit with patience. You'll be a soul winner until the day you die, the Bible says, if you hear the word as much as possible and have an honest and good heart as a reaction to it. Look, all of us in this room have heard sermons before where we're guilty and we need to make changes. Every single person in this room. I've been saved for almost 20 years now. And when I first got saved, believe it or not, I was a lot different as a person than I am now. Right? Which, if you've been saved for 20 years, hopefully you're a much different person than when you first got saved also. I got saved, I was a college student, and I watched everything that everybody watched. I listened to everything that everybody listened to. Same music, same movies, and all that stuff. But I got saved because I was afraid of going to hell. I heard the gospel. Free gift. I don't know why anyone would reject that, to be honest. I was very thankful. It's like, wow, that's great. Free gift, and I got saved. But as I started going to church, there were a lot of things that I heard that I was not innocent on. Things that I was guilty about. I still remember when I got rid of all the bad music and movies that I listened to, and I was listening to a sermon online, and basically I felt really guilty during the preaching. And I was at home, I wasn't at church, but I was listening to a sermon online, and I remember thinking, you know what? I need to quit listening to this music and quit watching these movies. It's wrong. I feel guilty about it. I need to get this out of my life. You know what I did is I paused the sermon. I immediately threw it all in the trash. I bundled up the trash and threw it in the garbage bin, because basically I said, you know what? Right now, I've got a very clear head on what's right and what's wrong. But here's the thing. If you wake up the next morning having not fixed the problem, guess what? You don't really feel the same way anymore. Right now, and I said, you know what? I want to make it to the point where it's impossible to go back to my sin. I mean, I literally put it in the trash can, I tied up the trash, and I threw it in the big garbage bin. It's like, okay, it's too late. Even if I want to go back to that music, I'm not crawling in a dumpster to get my old music back or whatever. It's like, there's all the money I wasted on all this stupid stuff. Right? It's the point of no return. And you say, why did you do that, Brother Stuckey? Because I had an honest heart to the preaching. It's like, love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. And then you're watching movies where they use the Lord's name in vain. I mean, come on. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that that's wrong. Do you really believe that if Jesus was around physically in the flesh today, and you're watching these movies where they use the Lord's name in vain, watching these movies where they promote drunkenness and drugs and fornication and all these things, do you really believe that Jesus Christ would sit down on the couch and laugh at the same jokes that you laugh at? Do you really think he'd listen to the same music that just blasphemes God and mocks the things of God? I don't think so. You can't tell me that what you can tell me if you have an honest heart is, Brother Stuckey, you're right. I'm just having trouble getting rid of that for my life. Anyway, I would respect that. I would respect it if you said, Brother Stuckey, you're right. This is wrong, but I'm struggling with it. Rather than just being stubborn and saying, no, there's nothing wrong with it. Right? I mean, it's just a joke. It's just a movie. What's the big deal? Right? You cannot tell me if you have an honest heart that God would actually approve of that. So how do you know that, Brother Stuckey? Because God gave us the Word of God. Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. And look, if that steps on your toe right now, I would just say, have an honest heart. You know I'm right about this. You know the things that you're watching and the things you're listening to are not right. You know that on the inside. Have an honest heart. Have a pliable attitude, as the Bible says. You say, why is that so important? Well, if you want to stay a soul winner until the day you die, you need to have a pliable attitude. Go to James 1. James 1. James chapter 1. James chapter 1. But that's not the normal reaction people have. The normal reaction people have is when they're told they're wrong about something, they, you know, bristle at it. You know, tell a kid that they're wrong about something. You know, tell your son. Tell your daughter. You know, don't do that. That's wrong or whatever. The first reaction is, uh-uh. You know, they're not happy. That's the natural reaction that kids have. You know, it's honestly the natural reaction that adults have. They just usually don't do it on the outside. Just on the inside, it's like, you know, they're really angry about what you say. That's the reality. Because it seems so basic. How do you stay a soul winner until your whole life? Hear the Word of God as much as possible and just have an honest heart to the preaching and make the changes. Very, very simple. But do most people stay soul winners until the day they die? No. Say why? Because they're listening to preaching wrong. When you listen to preaching, you should be listening with the intent of making changes in your life. And if you don't plan to make any changes, why are you listening? I mean, paying attention but not making any changes doesn't make any sense. You personally apply the preaching to yourself and have a pliable attitude to what's being preached. James 1, verse 22. James 1, verse 22. And it says, But be doers of the Word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. Now, how can you deceive yourself by being a hearer of the Word? Well, you could be like, I go to Verity Baptist Church Manila. I mean, this is a church that's standing up against, you know, repentance of sin, standing up against the LGBT. Man, I'm going to this church, so that means I'm automatically right with God. Really? Is that the way it works? That just because you sit in one of these seats that means you're right with God? I don't claim to know your heart. What I'm saying is, do you have an honest and a good heart? Because that actually determines whether or not you're right with God or not. The Bible says, Don't deceive yourself. It says, For if any be a hearer of the Word and not a doer, he is like unto a man, beholding his natural face in a glass, for he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetth what manner of man he was. And what the Bible's stating is that if you are hearing the Word of God but you're not doing it, it's actually deceiving you. It would actually be better not hearing it. Because if you hear it and don't do it, you're actually lying to yourself. You're deceiving yourself. You think you're right with God for simply hearing what was preached, but you're not. And so it makes no sense to hear and not to apply it and not to have a pliable attitude. You're not doing yourself any favors. Go to Jeremiah 17. Jeremiah 17. Jeremiah 17. One reason why it's so foolish to compare yourself to other people, I mean, there's many reasons. I've actually preached a whole sermon on that before back in Sacramento many years ago. But one reason why it's so foolish to compare is just simply you honestly really don't know what people are like on the inside. I mean, the Bible highlights an honest and a good heart. Just because you see actions on the outside, that doesn't really tell you what's on the inside. So what are you comparing? I mean, it's not like you can actually see their heart, you know, symbolically speaking, right, and actually see how right with God they are. I mean, literally, we don't know in this room who's the most right with God or who's really serving God. I mean, you don't know. So you compare yourself versus someone, you don't even know what they're really like. You don't really know what their heart is like. And so instead of focusing on them, you should have a pliable attitude to yourself and say, do I have a good heart? Do I have an honest heart? Because God's going to make manifest the secret things one day. And He's going to manifest all the things, and the question is, is your heart right? The Bible says in Jeremiah 17, 9, it says, The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart. I try to reigns even to give every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings. The Bible says the heart is deceitful. And, you know, if you cross reference, you don't have to turn there, but I often quote that verse where it says lie not against the truth. And the Bible says the heart is deceitful. Well, deceit is the opposite of the truth, right? Lying is the opposite of the truth. And the Bible says lie not against the truth. And it seems very basic. Why would you lie against the truth? But yet your heart is deceitful, the Bible says. And our natural tendency when we hear preaching is to actually deny it. We don't want to accept it. And when you hear the preaching and you don't do it, the Bible says you're deceiving yourself. And so the question is, do you have an honest heart? Do you have a good heart? And if you do not have an honest and good heart, you're not going to stay serving God your whole life. At some point, you will drop out because when you hear the preaching, you need to make changes in your life when necessary. Same thing is true when you read the Bible. When you read the Bible and you find out you're guilty and you've got to make a change, apply it. Have a pliable attitude. Turn in your Bible to Proverbs 29. Proverbs 29. Proverbs chapter 29. I mean, it's pretty basic, right? I mean, it's not that complicated. Pay attention to the preaching. That should make sense to us, right? I mean, isn't that an important part of preaching? Just pay attention. Personally apply it. Well, that should make sense because, you know, in many ways, churches like a hospital, you come here to fix the problems that you have. You've got to personally apply it to yourself. Have a pliable attitude. You know, basically be moldable, be changeable. Well, of course, that makes sense. Number four, though, plan ahead. Plan ahead. Proverbs 29 verse 18. The Bible says where there's no vision, where there's no plan, the people perish. The people are destroyed. And what the Bible says is, you know what? If people do not have a plan in life, they'll end up getting into problems. They'll end up being destroyed. They won't accomplish anything. If you're guilty of something and you hear the preaching against it, obviously you struggle with that sin for a specific reason, meaning you need to make some changes. You need to come up with a plan. But what you see is people will be in church for 20 years and they struggle with the same sin year after year after year after year. I mean, I know people that go to churches and they'll basically be at church for a couple months. They're excited. They're zealous. Addicted to drugs for a few months. Back at church for a few months. Back to drugs. Back to church. Back to drugs. And they obviously want to get rid of the drugs because they come back to church like, man, I need to get this out of my life. And yet it never happens. And I get it. Addictions are hard to break. But here's the thing. Maybe you just don't have a good plan on how to get it out of your life. Because I've seen a lot of these same people, they have this attitude, I'm going to kick it this time. But it's all emotion. There's no real plan. And yes, when you're excited about it, you're not going to do it. But what about when you have a weak moment? See, that's why you need a plan ahead of time so you don't screw up. Don't say that you really struggle with spending too much money. Every time you go out, you just spend all of your money at the mall, all of your money at whatever. It's like, brother Sucky, I need to quit spending money. I need to save up. What can I do? Here's what you can do. Just don't bring a lot of money with you when you go out in public. Bring the 12 pesos for the gypney ride. And that's it. If you constantly are spending just a thousand, man, I spend another thousand pesos a day. Every single day you just spend it on something. It's like, just don't bring much money with you. Not that complicated. But people just assume they can do it all based on emotion and then they don't try to actually make any real logical plan to fix it. A common thing you can think of is actually turn your Bible to 1 Samuel 18. 1 Samuel 18. 1 Samuel chapter 18. Probably everybody in this room that's not a young child has done some sort of diet before in their life. Trying to either lose weight, gain muscle, make changes. Probably everybody. I'm actually a big person on dieting and doing different things and stuff like that. But if you're trying to go on a strict diet and just cut out all sugar from your diet or something like that, well, here's the thing. You might be very excited and emotional about it, but let me help you out with how to do that. Get rid of the cookies in your house. Right? I mean, if you're going to go on a big diet to not eat any sugar, then get rid of the junk food. Otherwise, I'm just trying to tell you, it's probably not going to work. Because whenever I go on big crash diets or whatever, I'm trying to eat really healthy, I get rid of anything that I know I could end up just... For me, it's usually crackers. Where I could just literally eat like 100 crackers at one sitting, I was like, man, there goes my diet for the last several weeks. For some people, maybe it's rice. I don't know. Whatever it is that you struggle with on the diet you're trying to go on. But you've got to get rid of the thing that you're trying to do. Otherwise, it's just not going to work. Right? First Samuel 18, we'll look at one last place. I'm going to read the Bible. He is my favorite character to read about the Bible. Very interesting. First Samuel 18, verse 1. And it came to pass when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was made the soul of David. And Jonathan loved him as his own soul. And Saul took him that day and would let him go no more to his father's house. And then Jonathan and David made a covenant because he loved him as his own soul. And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him and gave it to David and his garments, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle. And David went out whithersoever Saul sent him and behaved himself wisely. And Saul set him over the men of war and he was accepted in the sight of all the people and also in the sight of Saul's servants. Now, to give you a general idea of what's going on in this story, First Samuel 17 is the story of David and Goliath that everyone's familiar with. First Samuel 16 is the chapter before David and Goliath where basically David is going to be the next king. He's anointed to be the next king because Saul has already been rejected. Saul's son is Jonathan and, of course, he wants Jonathan to become the next king after him. Jonathan becomes best friends with David who's actually the one that God chose. Okay. Now the reason why Saul is getting replaced is because he becomes very arrogant. When he started, the Bible says that he was actually you know, based in his own sight. He was a very humble person when he started but he got lifted up full of pride. He becomes very envious at the success of David. And one application you can make is that even if you're right with God now if you start being right with God and somebody else is very right with God you're going to have a natural tendency to be envious of that person because you know what you're doing is wrong. You feel guilty but you don't want to accept it and you basically look down on other people that are doing more righteous things than you. Right? That's kind of the root of envy. That's what we see with Saul. Notice what it says in verse 7. And it came to pass as they came when David was returned from the slaughter when David was returned from the slaughter of the Philistine that the women came out of all cities of Israel singing and dancing to meet King Saul with tablets, with joy, with instruments and music. And the women answered one another as they played and said, Saul has slain his thousands and David is ten thousands. Now Saul did not slay thousands and David did not slay ten thousands. So it's just kind of a goofy song or whatever that they're singing. But they're actually complimenting King Saul. Right? I mean they're saying they're saying thousands. That's actually a compliment what they're saying. Right? I mean if somebody said you got thousands of people saved that's a compliment. But it's not as much as ten thousands. And see Saul heard something that was actually a compliment but he gets mad about it because David is put here and then someone else is put here. Right? I mean if somebody said, you know, you're like the second greatest at this and so and so is the greatest. It's like, well it's actually a compliment if you're the second greatest. Or you're really good at something but somebody else is better than you. But the natural tendency is to be envious if somebody else is getting more praise than you and that's what we see in this story. And it says in verse 8 And Saul was very wroth and the saying displeased him and he said, They have ascribed unto David ten thousands and to me they have ascribed but thousands. And what can you have more about the kingdom and Saul eyed David from that day and forward? From this moment Saul seeks to kill David. And it says in verse 10 And it came to pass on the morrow that the evil spirit from God came upon Saul and he prophesied in the midst of the house and David played with his hand as at other times and there was a javelin in Saul's hand. And Saul cast the javelin for he said, I will smite David into the wall with it. And David avoided out of his presence twice. Now I'm not sure how this actually looks in real life. He avoided him twice. I don't know if a javelin got thrown twice or once. Right? I mean basically David's there playing his instrument and Saul's like boom and then David misses it. And then all of a sudden he comes back in later on it's like whoa he threw again. Right? It's like I'm out of here. I'm not really sure. But Saul gets so mad that he tries to murder David. And Saul is a saved person. Right? The Bible says Saul is in heaven. Even though he gets into major sin and commits suicide is the last thing he did. Saul is in heaven. And yet he gets so envious and so mad he tries to kill David. But here's the thing keep reading 1 Samuel. What you're going to see is that basically Saul feels guilty about this many times. Where basically he fails at killing David. David has a chance to destroy Saul. And then Saul's like I can't believe I did this. And then all of a sudden the next chapter I can't believe I did this again. Next chapter I can't believe I did it again. I mean it's a very entertaining section. Everyone's favorite character should be King Saul. Right? Very interesting. But it's just like nothing ever changes. And you know as crazy as it seems that's the way people are at church. It's like year after year after year after year. Same problem. Same problem. Same problem. Same problem. Why? Well it might be because you have no plan. I mean if you're struggling with something. If you say brother Stuckey I really really really struggle to read the Bible. I know I should read it every day and I just really struggle. It just doesn't happen. I lose sight of time. There's so many distractions. You know, brother Stuckey. And then I preach a sermon on Bible reading and you feel motivated. I'm going to start reading the Bible every day. But it doesn't happen. And usually it doesn't. Usually when you get excited and emotional about something it doesn't actually fix the problem. You feel like it will but it doesn't. And then you keep going. It never changes. You say why? Probably because you don't have a plan. We call it a Bible reading plan. It's a plan. And what it tells you is hey, today you read these chapters. And what you should do is personally just pick a time. Pick a place. Right? With no distractions. I mean just basic things. And I'm just using that as an example. But it goes this way with any sin or any problems or anything that you want to make changes in your life. You've got to have a plan. And so when we're listening to preaching it's not complicated. Number one pay attention to the preaching. Number two personally apply the preaching to your life. Point three have a pliable attitude. A moldable attitude. And point four plan ahead. You hear the preaching. You realize you're guilty about something. You've applied it to yourself. You have that pliable attitude. Okay that's great. What's your plan? How are you going to get rid of that problem? Because if you go off merely on emotion it's not going to last. And look I wish it was that simple. I wish you just heard something you felt guilty and then you never did it again. It doesn't work that way though. It actually requires work and planning and organization. And if you want to make changes in your life you've got to have a plan to do that. It's not a complicated sermon but you know what if you would be willing to listen to preaching the proper way and have an honest and a good heart you could bring forth fruit with patience until the end of your life. Let's go to the word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father thank you for allowing us to be here today and getting to see your word on this topic. And I ask you to help us all to be able to do this. Help us to listen to preaching the right way. Help us to all pay attention. To personally apply it. Have a pliable attitude. And help us to plan ahead in the areas where we are struggling with God. We pray these things in Jesus name. Amen. Amen for our last song. Let's sing to hymn number 180. Hymn number 180. Let's sing the song Isn't the Love of Jesus Something Wonderful? Hymn number 180. Is it the love of Jesus Something Wonderful? There will never be a sweeter story on the first ready sing There will never be a sweeter story a story of the singers that we find love and glory come the rings of glory just to see my sight goes on like wine is the love of Jesus Something wonderful wonderful wonderful is the love of Jesus Something wonderful come what is already found us as the universe around me is the love of Jesus Something wonderful is the love of Jesus Something wonderful is the love of Jesus Something wonderful is the love of Jesus Something wonderful is the love of Jesus Something wonderful is the love of Jesus Something wonderful is the love of Jesus Something beautiful wonderful Let us all pray, we are proud to thank you Lord for this service Lord, we thank you O God for preaching the Sermon on God and I pray that you will also help us O God to be determined to listen to your word and apply it in our lives O God and have a plan and I pray that you would continue to bless each and every person here O God and that you would guide us all the way Lord and I pray that you would also give us a good letter for this afternoon and that you would take care of us and in our temporary separation O God. We are asking all of these things in Jesus' name we pray, Amen.