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

I was never in band, but I've been to a lot of them. How are you? I haven't talked to you in a while. I haven't talked to you in a while. Good evening, everyone. Welcome to our services this evening here at Faith Ward Baptist Church. It's a joy to see you all here this evening. Let's all take our hymnals, please. Turn to hymn number 41. We'll begin this evening with hymn number 41 in the suite by and by. Really lift up your voices together on this first verse. Hymn number 41, there's a land that is fairer than day. Singing on this first verse together, hymn number 41. There's a land that is fairer than day. And I think we can see it afar. For the Father waits over the faith to prepare us a dwelling place there. In the suite by and by. We shall meet on that beautiful shore. In the suite by and by. We shall meet on that beautiful shore. We shall sing on that beautiful shore. The melodious songs of the blessed. And our spirit shall sorrow the Lord. Not a sky for the blessing of rest. In the suite by and by. We shall meet on that beautiful shore. In the suite by and by. We shall meet on that beautiful shore. To our bountiful Father above. We will offer our tribute of praise. For the glorious gift of His love. And the blessings that hallow our days. In the suite by and by. We shall meet on that beautiful shore. In the suite by and by. We shall meet on that beautiful shore. Amen. I ask for the Kevin to be word up to some of the word of prayer. Father and Kevin, thank you for the opportunity to be here in church tonight. I pray that you will bless the song worship and the rest of the services and please bless the preaching as well. In Christ came my prayer. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Hymn number 263. Verily, Verily, hymn number one, or 263, 263. Hymn number 263. Oh, what a Savior that He died for. Hymn number 263. Oh, what a Savior that He died for me. From condemnation He hath made me free. He that believeth on the sons and he hath everlasting life. Verily, Verily, I say unto you. Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, I will sing aloud in the morning. Psalm 92 verse 1, It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High, to show forth thy lovingkindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night, upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltery, upon the harp with the solemn sound. And so we see again singing in the morning. Now, I'll tell you something that I often do. Is that every once in a while, I'll be tempted to do something else other than reading my Bible first thing in the morning. You know, I wake up in the morning, I acknowledge God, I pray, and then sometimes there's a temptation to just jump into something else, just to do something else, when the next thing I ought to be doing is reading my Bible. So, here's what I do. Whenever I'm tempted to do something else, I always sing myself a song to remind me why I need to read my Bible first. I always sing the song, Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. Hallelu, hallelujah. And every time I'm done singing that song, I'm reading my Bible. I never sing that song and just be like, no, I'm still not gonna read it. So, whenever I catch myself starting to do something else or wanting to do something else, that's the exercise I go through. I sing that song to myself quietly, but I sing it out loud. I just don't belt it out through the whole house because I don't want to wake up the whole house. But I do quietly sing that song to myself and by the time I'm done with that song, I realize why I need to read my Bible first and I grab the Bible and that's the first thing I do. That leads me to my fourth point, read the Bible. So, number one, you start out the morning by acknowledging God. Number two, you pray to God. Number three, you sing if appropriate. I'm not saying to just in your apartment complex or something, you just get up at five in the morning, go out on the balcony. This is my story, this is my song. It might not be appropriate depending on your living situation, but I highly recommend singing praises to God. God tells us how many hundreds of times in the book of Psalms to sing praises unto Him, to lift up our voices, to make a joyful noise unto the Lord, to be filled with the Spirit, speaking to ourselves in songs and hymns and spiritual songs. It's important to sing praises to God. It really puts us in the right frame of mind and helps us to put on the new man. This is part of why we sing at church. We're not just singing at church as some sort of an exercise. Or, well, it's just what we've always done so we just keep doing it. The purpose of singing is to get us in the right frame of mind for church, you know, to get kind of out of the worldly distractions and start singing praises to God and get in the Spirit for the preaching. So that's why we sing and that's why we sing at the end. It's an important part of our services. And so after you're done acknowledging God, praying, perhaps sing a song, then you read the Bible. It's important to read the Bible first thing in the morning. Go, if you would, to Deuteronomy chapter number eight. Deuteronomy chapter number eight. Now, one of the reasons why it's so important to read the Bible first thing in the morning is because that way you know that you're getting it done. A lot of times our days can just get busy and they just keep getting busier and sometimes the whole day can slip away and next thing we know, we went to bed and we haven't read our Bible. And so getting it done first thing in the morning is a way to guarantee getting it done because it's the most important thing so we make sure that we actually get it done. But not only that, but reading the Bible is also going to put us in the right frame of mind for our day. It's helping us put on the new man, walk in the spirit, deny self, get ready to live a good day. So there are a lot of reasons to do this first thing in the morning. Now, the Bible illustrates this with the manna that was on the ground for the children of Israel where they would go out every morning and gather manna. And if the sun came up and waxed hot in the sky, then the manna was no longer there, it would melt. So they had to actually get up before the heat of the day and get out there and gather the manna before it's gone. And this is the way it is with reading our Bibles is that getting up early and reading our Bible, that's where that spiritual manna is there waiting for us. And remember, if we don't get it, it's gone. It'll never come back. You could never go back and recover the manna that was not gathered. It was forever lost. Look what the Bible says in Deuteronomy chapter eight, verse three, and he humbled thee and suffered thee to hunger and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know that he might make thee know that man did not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord did man live. And so the manna was actually to illustrate the word of God. The lesson there, he fed them with manna so that they would know that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God. So there's actually a lesson about getting up early and reading the Bible. That's actually what was being taught with the manna. Go over to Deuteronomy 17, just a few pages to the right there. You're already in Deuteronomy eight. Go to Deuteronomy chapter 17. And I believe that in the morning, God has something for you waiting in your Bible. There's some important truth. There's some advice that you need. There's some encouragement you need, some rebuke that you need, some counsel that you need. Waiting in your Bible. And if you don't read your Bible, you're missing it. And then you're not gonna know what to do. You're not gonna know how to live. You're gonna make mistakes. You're gonna make bad decisions because you didn't get that little piece of advice, that guidance, that counsel that was there in the morning. You say, well, I'll read double tomorrow. It's not gonna be there anymore. The Bible is a living book. God is communicating with us. God is speaking to us through the Holy Spirit. So it isn't just a static book that just stays the same. Thank God the words stay the same if you're King James. Thank God it'll still say the same thing a year from now that it says right now. But it's not gonna speak to you in the same way a year from now as it speaks to you today because the Holy Ghost is gonna take those words and he's gonna speak to you the need of that hour, the need of that day, the need of that month. And it's gonna be different a year from now. You know, the Bible says different things to me now than it did 20 years ago. Now obviously the text has not changed. The word has not changed. But God is applying different things to me because I'm at a different stage of Christian growth, a different stage of life. And so I need different nutrition from the Bible than I needed at another stage. And so you don't wanna just say, well, I'm just gonna binge on the word of God once a month. That's not how you eat food. You know, you don't just eat a really big meal and then you're kinda good for the whole week. You've gotta do it continually. You've gotta keep getting a small enough amount to actually digest. It's the same thing with the Bible. You know, you wanna read the Bible every single day. It says in Deuteronomy 17, 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 of 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 to do them. Here's the key to reading your Bible, having your Bible with you. Notice, it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life. If you don't have your Bible with you, it's kinda hard to read your Bible, isn't it? Now, thankfully, we got the smartphone, but the problem is, from the time that you pull the smartphone out of your pocket and start heading for that Bible, oh, I got some notifications here, you know, and it's pretty easy to get sidetracked into something else, or you're reading your Bible, it's like ding, ding. Now, I do sometimes use my phone to read the Bible, not often, I typically use a physical book or listen to audio of the Bible, because I do like to do a lot of audio Bible, but, you know, if I do read the Bible on my phone, I use this wonderful feature called airplane mode. My phone is on airplane mode right now, my phone is on airplane mode for more than 50% of my life. Okay, I live on airplane mode, okay, and it's not that I fly on planes all the time, it's just that I live on airplane mode because of the fact that I don't wanna constantly be distracted by this thing every couple minutes, because an email's coming in, a text is coming in, a call's coming, you know what, sometimes I just need to shut this thing up and just study my Bible for a few hours, or spend time with family, or talk to people, or do what I need to do, and not just be at the beck and call of this thing all the time. Now, if you have a job where you're on call, I'm not recommending that, obviously you need to do what your boss is telling you to do, but what I am saying is that having the Bible with you is critical to reading your Bible, and that's why it's good to have a New Testament in your lunchbox, because then chances are you might read a chapter or two over lunch, you might have five minutes, couple minutes to read it. Having a Bible on the back of the toilet has literally revolutionized the Bible reading of some people, and it's not a joke, because it's just there. And you know, I personally, I like to have Bibles kinda laying around, always have my Bible with me, because if it's with me, then chances are I might just whip it out and read a little bit. Now, the hardest thing about being consistent with anything is staying motivated. So part of the way that you're gonna stay motivated to read your Bible is by keeping track of what you read. If you don't keep track of what you read, there's no motivation. It's hard to get motivated, you know, whereas if you're keeping track of what you read, if you have a goal, if you have a plan, then you're motivated. Hey, I got five minutes. I bet I can crank out a chapter of the Bible. You might not necessarily do that if you have no goal, no point, no direction. It's sort of like going to the gym and you have no plan, and you didn't keep track of what you do. You know, people that are serious about weightlifting or any other kind of physical training, they log what they do. People who are serious about running, they log their mileage. They're training for swimming. They log yardage, right? You keep track of what you do. You know, when I would lift weights a lot, I would log exactly how much weight was on the bar, how many reps I did, because then next week when I go to work out, I look at that and I say, okay, that's what I gotta beat. You know, I wanna try to do one additional rep, try to do a little bit better, add a little bit of weight to the bar or what have you, because logging things, keeping track of them, checking them off helps keep you motivated to keep moving forward. You have a goal, you have a destination. Well, with the Bible, you've got to log your Bible reading. This doesn't have to be difficult or complicated. It can just be as simple as the table of contents in your Bible. You know, people who've seen my Bibles and looked at the table of contents of the Bibles that I actually read from, this is my preaching Bible, but the Bibles that I read from, they'll see it's the ugliest table of contents ever. It looks like a schizophrenic with their crayons in a mental institution just went crazy or something, okay, because of the fact that I have an elaborate system for logging my Bible reading just right in the table of contents. And so here's how I do it. And by the way, you know, I don't think you necessarily have to read the Bible in order, because that can get a little bit hard sometimes, you know, when you're like, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Judah, you know, some books are funner to read than others, but not only that, sometimes a book that's not very fun today, you know, a month from now, you're gonna be like, man, that book sounds good. You're in different moods, right? Some days you feel like Psalms. Some days you feel like Isaiah. Some days you feel like reading Luke. You know, you have different preferences based on what's going on in your life and how you feel. And so I find that I read more Bible if I read what I wanna read. If it's fun, if I'm enjoying it, if I read what I want, I read more. So what I typically do is I have several books going at a time and I read what I want. I read what I feel like reading, but you want to log your read because then you can have a goal, reading through the Bible cover to cover, reading it through a second time cover to cover, right? Try to get through it five times cover to cover. Those are the kind of goals that you have that keep you reading, you know, making sure you read it at least once per year cover to cover and maybe even go beyond that and keep track of it. That helps motivate you. Now, personally, like I said, I do have the method that I use in the table of contents where what I do is let's say I start reading the book of Mark and let's say I read the first couple chapters of Mark. I read Mark one and Mark two. Well, then what I do is I go to the table of contents and next to Mark, I just write a three there. And that's just telling me start in chapter three. You're on chapter three. You've done one and two, you're on three. Then let's say I read chapter three, I cross it out and put a four. Cross it out, you know, I keep crossing it out. Then when I finish the book, I'll either underline it or circle it or highlight it or whatever. And I'll do various things like the first time I read through it, I'll do an underline. The second time, I'll circle it. The third time, I'll highlight it. Fourth time, I'll add a different color, you know, and that's why it gets pretty wild after a while. And so, you know, have some way to log it. But not only do I mark it in the front of the Bible, I also have Excel spreadsheets. Yes, I am a nerd like that. So I have all kinds of these Excel spreadsheets for actually every area of my life, not just for Bible reading, but I have Excel spreadsheets for a lot of things, people. And so I've got all these spreadsheets. I love spreadsheets. So on the left column, I have today's date, and then it's all these different categories of my life, everything I'm supposed to do, everything I need to work on. And what I do is when I finish them, I turn that square green. And if I didn't do it, it turns red, or if I'm behind or it's urgent, it's red. So I have multiple spreadsheets for different areas of life, you know, whether it's exercise, whether it's Bible reading, other studies, and things that I'm learning, and other goals that I have. And so I use all these spreadsheets. And then what I do is if I finish everything for that day, then I delete the whole row. So I'm constantly deleting rows. And if I finish something, I can delete a whole column. It just feels good. There's just this little endorphin cocktail that goes off in my brain when I delete that row or delete that column. Some people use a physical calendar. They put Xs on the calendar, circles, triangles, you know, whatever works for you. But I like the spreadsheets. I like the table of contents. Those are my two main methods. But get a system, get a goal. I'm not gonna ask for a raise of hands, but I guarantee you there are a lot of people in this auditorium tonight that have never read the Bible cover to cover before. This is your year, 2021, get it done. You say, well, I'll wait till January 1st. You better just get working on it right now, all right? You can still, why don't you start May 1st and end May 1st? How about that, right? There's nothing, it's no crime to start on May 1st instead of January 1st and work through that thing because you're not gonna go in order anyway, remember? Skipping around. You can also get little charts and things that you can use as a checklist of the reading, but have a goal, have a system, wake up in the morning, acknowledge God, pray to God, perhaps sing a chorus if appropriate, and then grab your Bible and read that thing, get motivated to read that thing, mark it off, check it off. I'm telling you, it's like those little Apple watches or fitness trackers. You end up walking around more when you wear those because you're like, yeah, I'm getting credit for this. You know, whatever that means. Like, you know, it makes you wanna run up the stairs a few times because it's like, yeah, I went another so many steps or whatever. And so it motivates you. You know, sometimes my wife will say, oh, let's go on a walk. It's like, oh, quick, let me grab my watch. I wanna get credit for this, walk, you know? Even though, and you say, well, it's meaningless. Credit with who? I don't know, but it just works. It just motivates you. You just gotta have goals and gotta have a plan and gotta write things down. It's just writing it down, checking it off. It just feels good to accomplish stuff. And so that can help you with your Bible reading. Go through it to Proverbs chapter eight. Proverbs chapter eight, how to start your morning. I got more stuff coming up. Now this is all, you say, well, Pastor Anderson, I already know all this. You know, obviously I'm supposed to get up and pray and read my Bible. Tell me something I don't know. Well, you know, first of all, we need to be admonished about these things. Even if we already know them, it's good to be prodded and it's good to be reminded of these things. But I'm gonna give you another tip after this that maybe you haven't thought about, that might be more revolutionary to you if you're already doing these other things. But in Proverbs chapter number eight, verse 12, it says, I wisdom dwell with prudence and find out knowledge of witty inventions. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil. Pride and arrogance and the evil way and the froward mouth do I hate. Counsel is mine and sound wisdom. I am understanding, I have strength. By me 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. This is wisdom speaking. It's a poem, wisdom is personified and speaking as a person and saying, I love them that love me and those that seek me early shall find me. Riches in honor are with me, yea durable riches in righteousness. My fruit is better than gold, yea than fine gold and my revenue than choice silver. Now look, if your goal in life is to make money, that's the wrong goal. Now obviously we do wanna make money to support ourselves and our families, but if your goal is just to make money because you wanna be rich, that's a bad goal. But let me tell you something, the key to making money is having wisdom and the key to making money legitimately, making money honestly and the key to having wisdom is the word of God. So that's why God is saying here, seek wisdom early in the morning. Look to the Lord for wisdom because basically riches in honor are with me, it says in verse 18. Oh yeah, I'll read my Bible, I'll read my Bible. Well do you want riches in honor? Because guess what, riches in honor are with him. He controls these things, he gives you the wisdom that gives you the power to do these things. Learn how to live your life and you'll always be able to make a living. Learning how to make a living doesn't necessarily mean that you know how to live your life but knowing how to live your life, you will always be able to make a living if you know how to live your life and the Bible tells you how to live your life. And so with me, wisdom says, are riches in honor, durable riches and righteousness because riches that are gotten by wickedness are worthless anyway. My fruit's better than gold, yea then find gold and my revenue than choice silver. I lead in the way of righteousness in the midst of the paths of judgment that I may cause those that love me to inherit substance and I will fill their treasures. You want the substance, you want the treasures, hey, God can give you what you need. He has the power to do that, he owns the cattle on a thousand hills, God's word is way more important than anything else that you have to do first thing in the morning, this is the most important thing. Jump down to verse 34, blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. And again, this reminds me of the psalmist that I kind of joked about where he said that his prayer was gonna prevent God, right? You know, this is the same picture of waiting at the gate for God, waiting at the gate for the word of God, waiting at the doors for the wisdom of God, being there bright and early, right there, ready for what God has to say, for what God has to speak because he knows everything. Look at verse 35, for whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favor of the Lord, but he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul. I mean, think about it, what is he saying there? He that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul. Who gets hurt when you don't read your Bible? Who gets hurt when you don't read your Bible? I mean, if my kids don't read their Bibles, are they hurting me? If you, my church members, don't read your Bible, are you hurting me? If I don't read my Bible, am I hurting the Lord? Who am I hurting? Look, if you sin against wisdom, if you sin against the word of God, if you neglect your Bible, you are sinning against your own soul, you're wronging your own soul. You are shooting yourself in the foot, is what you're doing. He that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul. All they that hate me love death. Love death. You know, basically, God looks down, and he sees you not reading your Bible, and it's like, well, you must just love death. You must just love being an idiot. You must just love failing in every area of life. You must just want to embrace foolishness. You must wanna fail at your job. You must wanna fail at your marriage. You must wanna fail as a parent. I bet you want to fail in school, fail at work, fail in every area of life. You must just love death. That's what he's saying. He's saying, look, you are wronging your own soul. If you want to be blessed, and have the money that you need, and have health, and good relationships, and to succeed, and in all your ways to prosper, then you had better do right by wisdom. And this is wisdom right here. This is the word of God. You know, the Bible, I don't have time to develop it, but in this chapter, it talks about wisdom, being with God before the world began and everything. Why? Because in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. Okay, so, you know, we're talking about the word of God here. When we talk about wisdom, we're not talking about the world's wisdom. We're talking about the word of God here. And this is the key to everything. And so reading this first thing in the morning, you're setting up your day for success by number one, acknowledging God, number two, praying, number three, praising God, and number four, reading your Bible. But the last point of what to do in the morning, and this is something that you may not have thought of, but this is something that I highly recommend as soon as you're done reading your Bible. After you've acknowledged God, you've prayed, you've praised the Lord, you have read your Bible. Number five, do something that is difficult or undesirable. Do something that is a pain in the neck. You say, what in the world? Why would I wanna start my day doing something annoying? But I'm telling you, this is the smartest thing to do. After you're done reading your Bible, as soon as you're done reading your Bible, do the most annoying thing that you have to do that day, the thing that you're dreading the most, the thing that you like the least. You know, and here's the thing, this could be work-related. Maybe this is something with your job. Maybe this is a chore around the house that you hate. Maybe this is some paperwork or you're doing taxes or maybe it's exercise, maybe you hate exercise. Now, I don't exercise first. I don't exercise first thing in the morning because I love exercise. So I save that for later for dessert. But most people hate exercise, then that could be something to plug into this spot right here. And you say, why would you say this, Pastor Anderson? Well, let me give you several reasons why this is wise to do. First of all, the Bible teaches a principle of suffering now so that you can enjoy later. Suffer now, enjoy later. See, a lot of people say, give me the portion of the inheritance that falls to me now. I wanna enjoy now, I wanna have pleasure now, but then they end up suffering later. It's much better to do the suffering first so that you can enjoy later. We all have undesirable tasks in our lives, things that we don't enjoy, that we don't like doing, get them out of the way because then it feels great when you look at the clock and it's seven o'clock a.m. and you're like, it's seven o'clock a.m. I've already prayed, I've already read my Bible and I've already gotten that stupid pain in the neck assignment or whatever out of the way, it's done. I got that chore done, I got that email that I've been dreading dealing with, I took care of it, I took care of it, it's over. Now I can just, it's all downhill from there. It puts you in a great frame of mind to get something bad out of the way. Another reason why is because in the morning, first thing in the morning, your willpower is at its max. Willpower starts out the highest at the beginning of the day and then it typically wanes. That's why most sin happens late at night, which is why it's a good idea to go to bed early and get up early because typically, toward the end of the day is when people, their guard is down, their willpower wanes. I mean look, when are those times when you blew your diet and binged? Did you just roll out of bed and just pull out a tub of ice cream and binge? But you did pull out the tub of ice cream at 10 o'clock at night and binge. You know, I can't even count how many times I poured myself a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch at 11 p.m. or something and just went crazy. Okay, because willpower is at its max in the morning. So, you know, you can really get things done first thing in the morning, you know, so you gotta take advantage of that willpower to get something done that's hard. Get something difficult done. Get it out of the way and then you can enjoy the rest of the day because the worst is over. It's all downhill from here. Instead of saving that thing you hate, procrastinating it and then it's just hanging over your head all the time and you can't enjoy because it's just hanging over your head what you have to do. The Bible teaches us, suffer now, enjoy later. It says in Lamentations 3.27, it is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth, right? Bear the yoke in his youth. You know, when you're young, work hard, get ahead, study the word of God, sow good spiritual seeds, so that you can enjoy later. Instead of just, I'm just gonna enjoy, no! Breaking all God's rules, breaking your parents' rules, wasting your money, wasting your opportunities, wasting your 20s and then you wake up, you're 30 and all of a sudden you gotta get serious about life. It's a lot smarter to bear the yoke in your youth. Start working hard, serving God, getting serious about life when you're young. The Bible says, but you have need of patience that after you have done the will of God, you might receive the promise. You work now, you're rewarded later. The Bible says, if we suffer, we shall also reign with him. So this is a biblical principle of getting the suffering done first so that you can enjoy the reward afterward. Not going out and racking up the credit card of all the fun things you want and then okay, now I gotta go pay for all this. Yeah, it's better to go to work and pay for it and then buy things in cash. So start out the day, you know, after taking care of the spiritual needs, after putting on the new man, by doing something, I always pick whatever is, what's the worst thing I'm doing today? What's the most annoying thing I'm doing today? What's the thing that I don't wanna do the most? Get it out of the way, just rip off the Band-Aid and just finish it, get it done and I'm telling you, if you do this, I'm telling you, look, if I look at the clock and it's 8.30 a.m. and I've already read a ton of Bible, gotten a ton of work done, maybe I've even exercised, you know, I've just gotten a ton of stuff done, I've prayed, I've done it, you know, I know this is gonna be a great day. I mean, I've got 12, 13 more hours to go and you know, I got through the most important stuff and now, you know, I can just go crazy and get things done and it's just gonna, you know, you're just so productive like that but I'm telling you, other days when my morning gets off to a bad start, I didn't read my Bible, I slept in too late and I got tied up, distracted with stupid things and then I'm looking at the clock and it's 9.15 and you know, you'd think like 9.15, you still got the day ahead of you but it's like, sometimes you just feel like at 9.15, the day's just shot, it's just like, man, this day is shot, I'm behind on everything, I didn't get done when I needed to get done but I'm telling you, if you start the day right, you ride that wave of momentum and I don't understand, I couldn't show you the math behind it, there's something about getting up early and following these five steps that just works, you know, because you could say, well, I could do the same thing but I could just stay up till one and wake up at nine and do the same thing. You know, on paper, that seems like it would work but it doesn't, there's something about going to bed early, you get up early and you hit the checklist, one, acknowledge God, two, pray, three, praise God, four, read the Bible, five, rip off that band-aid, do that most undesirable activity in your life, it's gonna be different for everyone and like I said, it could be a work thing, it could be exercise, it could be chores, could be paperwork, just whatever it is, it's the biggest pain, get it out of the way so you don't have to worry about it. All right, now that I've gotten through my five points, I just wanna briefly go over some things that you should not do when you first wake up in the morning. So that was all the positive stuff, right? What you should do, here's what you don't do, sleep in late for no reason. Now look, sometimes there's a compelling reason to stay up late and then when you stay up late, sometimes you gotta sleep in to make up for that. You know, sometimes I've been working on a project and I'm just on a roll and I'm just, I'm in the zone and you know, when you're in the zone, sometimes you just don't wanna stop, especially if you're doing something creative and you're in the zone and the ideas are flowing, you don't wanna stop. You know, if I'm writing, let's say I'm writing a sermon or editing a documentary or something and you're writing something and I'm in the zone, you know, sometimes I'll stay up till one, two in the morning because I'm being really productive. I never have any regrets about that. If I then sleep in a little bit, I don't have any regrets because it was worth it. But you know what, the vast majority of times that I end up staying up too late, I do regret it because it's just usually, it's just wasting my time, falling down some stupid rabbit hole, just fooling around. You know, usually it's not worth it. So if there's a compelling reason to stay up late and sleep in, then do it. But if you're just doing it to surf social media, you're just surfing Facebook, you're just fooling around, you know what, just discipline yourself a little bit and get to bed. So don't sleep in late for no reason. Number two, you don't start the day with a bloody Mary, amen, because the Bible says, woe unto them that rise up early in the morning that they may follow a strong drink that continue until night till wine inflame them. Okay, that was a little bit of a random point, but I just wanted to get that verse in there. That verse always cracks me up. But you know, alcoholics literally do drink alcohol for breakfast, it's called a bloody Mary. Here's what else you should not do. You're like, well, I wasn't gonna drink a bloody Mary, don't worry. Well, good, I'm glad to hear that. But here's what else you should not do first thing when you wake up in the morning, don't go straight to the news. This is what a lot of people do, straight to the news. And you know, sometimes my phone tries to do this to me. I'll turn on my phone and when I'm turning on my phone, I'm typically going in the morning to do flashcards of stuff that I'm learning. So I'll do my flashcards or I'm reading the Bible or listening to the Bible or I'm doing something like that. But it always hits me with some news headline or something. That's why you gotta stay on airplane mode until you get the important stuff done because it'll hit me with Apple news. You know, Biden is, you know, sniffing people or whatever the, you know, I don't know. Let's see what's in the news right now. Oh, I'm on airplane mode, nevermind. Let's get off airplane mode and let's see what really important things. This is the kind of stuff that we need first thing in the morning, right? All right, that's thinking. I'll let that cook for a little while. You know, don't just wake up in the morning and just turn on the TV. Wake up in the morning, turn on the radio, straight to Facebook. Folks, that's what a lot of people do when they first wake up in the morning. And you know what? I've been guilty of it before. There've been times when I just woke up in the morning and it's just like, bleh, Facebook, bleh, the news. But those are the bad days, those aren't the good days. Let's get the top stories. Yoon, a mega star in her own country, just became the first Korean actress to win an Academy Award. That sounds important. Is that important, Brother J? Is that not? He's like, no, I don't care. You asked to provide vaccine components and medical supplies to India as COVID-19 spikes. A cheerleader's Snapchat rant leads to momentous Supreme Court case on student speech. Even after being fully vaccinated, many still wrestle with a fear of catching COVID. In nation's incarceration capital, a new DA is freeing people from prison. Oscars 2021, see every star on the red carpet. Reuters, Israel examining heart inflammation cases in people who received the Pfizer COVID shot. Apparently their hearts are becoming inflamed. So yeah, maybe they can have like a commercial for the COVID vaccine where they use that Rocky theme song like, hearts on fire, no, I'm just kidding, heart inflammation. How a wave of electric trucks could create millions of accidental environmentalists. And then one of them's like kind of inappropriate, so I'm not even gonna read it. Six recipes to take chicken to new heights. Today's refinance rate is 2.06%. Okay, and then this says it's for you, for you. Recommendation based on the topics and channels you read. Let's see what's being served up for me specifically. By 2030, the world will be far different. How the pandemic is speeding up global change. The dumbest tax increase. A hiker was lost and desperate in Angeles National Forest. A stranger with an unusual hobby saved him. Many animals just play dead and not just to avoid getting eaten. Another one that's inappropriate, so I'm not even gonna read it. The end of US mass vaccination is coming sooner than later. This is not based on me. It's giving me like some Hollywood news of people I've never even heard of. Trump loses weight and ditches spray tan while mulling his political future. Folks, I'm not making this up. Now look, do you think this is what I need in the morning? The Rocky theme song playing in my head? Reading a bunch of junk about COVID vaccines and COVID in India and Trump is no longer using spray tan. And Hollywood stars are walking down the red carpet and you know, animals play dead. Yeah, I knew that. Which of those was important for me? The what? The chicken recipes? Yeah, that's true. I mean, if you had to pick the most important thing, it was the chicken. It's like, all right, let me forward this to my wife here. Let's take the chicken to new heights, huh, baby? No, my wife could write that article. She doesn't need to read that article. But you see what I'm saying? Like, isn't that all just vanity? Like, is any of that important? And it's kind of getting you in the wrong frame of mind because right away, it's a bunch of like fear about COVID, right, so that you're just thinking about that, worrying about that, when it's really not something that's affecting us right now in Arizona, we're kind of past that. And so we're coming out of that. And so why sit around thinking about that and worrying about that? All the vaccine side effects and, hey, you gotta take the vaccine. And then the next article is like, the vaccine does some wild things to you. And then it's all this Hollywood junk. And then it's all this financial junk. So it's just to get you thinking about like money, Hollywood stars, worldliness, fear. I mean, is any of that stuff important? This is important. So that's not how you wanna start your day. In fact, I'd probably recommend just leaving that alone for the entire day. That's probably not even gonna be helpful at 3pm. But social media, come on. I mean, yeah, there's some good stuff. On my social media feed, there are people posting Bible verses and edifying things. It's also a lot of worthless junk. And so don't start your day like that. I'm telling you, start with seeking first the kingdom of God. If you have to sing the song to yourself, hey, join the club because I sing the song to myself. When I'm tempted to reach for other things, and sometimes I wanna go straight to that undesirable task. But nope, you can't skip a step. Don't skip a step. You gotta acknowledge God, you gotta pray, you gotta praise God, and you got to read your Bible first. You read your Bible first, before you go to work, before you get going. Now look, if I'm ever, sometimes you just have a bad morning, and it's like, oh, I gotta go, I'm late, I'm busy, I don't have time to read my Bible. That's where you pull out the audio Bible and you do it on the drive. But you get it done. Look, I've done that. You know, it's like, oh, I didn't read my Bible. Boom, I go to the Faithful Word app, amen. Is that, you know, it's still out there, folks. Has it been banned from all the app stores? It was banned from Google, but it's on the Faithful Word app website now, and iOS never took it down. Okay, so it's still on Apple, amen. And if Android users, you go to the Faithful Word app website, and you can still download the thing, where there's a will, there's a way. Hey, I'm constantly using that Faithful Word app to listen to the Bible. It's got a great audio Bible on there in a bunch of different languages, so I listen to the Bible on there, and that's how I get my Bible reading in frequently if something goes wrong, or maybe I just didn't read as much as I wanted to, or I just want to read more. Boom, that app is there. Or you can just go to YouTube and just type in whatever chapter. Just name the chapter, KJV after it, and boom, there's a ton of audio options. I do that frequently as well on YouTube. Start your morning right. Psalm 63, verse one. O God, thou art my God. Early will I seek thee. My soul thirsteth for thee. My flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is. Wake up in the morning and be thirsty for the things of God and satisfy that requirement first. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord. We thank you for all the blessings that you give us every day, Lord, and Lord, thank you for giving us our lives to live and help us to be good stewards of the time that you've given us. Help us to make the best use of our time and to start every day right, and in Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen. Amen, take your hymnals, please, and turn to hymn number 379. Bringing in the sheaves, hymn number 379. And number 379, sewing in the morning, number 379. Sewing in the morning, sewing seeds of kindness. Sewing in the new tide and the new eve. Waiting for the harvest at the time of weeping. We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves. Bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves. We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves. Bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves. We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves. Sewing in the sunshine, sewing in the shadows. Fearing neither clouds nor winters chill and breeze. By and by the harvest and the labor ended. We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves. Bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves. We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves. Bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves. We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves. Going forth with weeping, sewing through the master. For the wasps stay, our spirit often grieves. When our weeping's over, he will bid us welcome. We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves. Bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves. We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves. Bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves. We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves. Amen. Great singing tonight. You are dismissed. .