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. . . . . . . . Oh, I need thee Every hour I need thee Oh, bless me now, my savior I come to thee I need thee every hour Stay there out nearby Temptations lose their power When I need thee Oh, I need thee Every hour I need thee Oh, bless me now, my savior I come to thee I need thee every hour Enjoy your pain Come quickly and Come quickly and abide For life is vain I need thee Oh, I need thee Every hour I need thee Oh, bless me now, my savior I come to thee I need thee Most holy one Oh, make me thine indeed Thou blessed Son I need thee Oh, I need thee Every hour I need thee Oh, bless me now, my savior Amen. Alright, brother Marcel, do you mind praying for us? Amen. Turn to your next song, song 169. Song number 169, Come Thou Fount. Now on the first. Come thou fount of every blessing to my heart to sing thy grace streams of mercy never ceasing call for songs of loudest praise teach me some melody of sonnet sung by flaming tones above praise the mountain fixed upon it mount of thy redeeming love here I raise my nevanizer hither by thy help I'm come and I know by thy good pleasure safely I'll arrive at home Jesus sought me when a stranger wandering from the fold of God need to rescue me from danger interpose his precious blood hold to grace how great a debtor daily I'm constrained to be let thy goodness like a fetter find my wandering heart to thee prone to wonder Lord I feel it prone to leave the God I love take my heart oh take and seal it seal it for thy court's above alright good singing alright so if you go ahead and pull out your bulletins we'll go over the announcements for the evening if you don't have a bulletin go ahead and raise your hand in the air we have brother Eli and brother Brandon pass them out to you and on the top left we do have our service times we have that Sunday morning service at 10 30 am and that evening service at 5 30 pm we do have that midweek Bible study on Thursday at 7 pm we have the soul winning times listed underneath that and we also have our totals listed we finished out last year with 593 and so far this year we have 58 with that goal of a thousand so we went out today we had the van with one salvation and we have two more to report so we have a total of three to mark down kind of in a rough neighborhood right now we're kind of get that map filled in alright got to knock all those doors so good job soul winning we are still in Proverbs chapter number one we completed the chapter but Pastor Shelley he's given us another grace week alright we're having that ice week so you have another week to get that memorized if you can get that whole chapter memorized we're perfect you will receive a special prize so keep working on that some upcoming events right around the corner on March 6th which is a Saturday we have that Galveston soul winning marathon the plan is we're going to meet here at the church house we're going to kind of organize here and then we're going to head out from the church house to Galveston but as more details come we'll definitely let you know and there on the next page we do have a congratulations for the Rogers family they just had Brielle Grace Rogers born on Friday February 12th at 1.13 p.m. weighing 6 pounds and 14 ounces so congratulations to them it's pretty exciting and then just be in prayer for all the expecting mothers on that list underneath there just be in prayer for all the babies and all the mothers that everyone stays healthy and just lastly we have our preaching schedule listed today February 21st we had Pastor Bruce Mejia from First Works Baptist Church it's been a blessing having him thank you for coming out if you haven't thanked him definitely thank him for coming out it's been a great day today next Sunday February 28th we have Brother Dylan Oz coming back with us he's going to be preaching to both services March 7th we'll have Pastor Jonathan Shelley and March 14th we'll have Brother Blake Rincon coming from Sure Foundation Baptist Church so again once these gentlemen come and preach for us give them a big thank you for coming to help us out and lastly if you do have any prayer requests always email those into the church at purewordsbaptist gmail.com Pastor Shelley goes over all those prayer requests during that midweek service and we can just be in prayer for everybody help everybody out with whatever they need but that is the announcement for the evening go ahead and pull your hymnals back out we'll have Brother Mo lead us in our third song alright turn to song number 49 song 49 Meet Me There song 49 Meet Me There they're on the first On the happy golden shore Where the faithful park no more When the storms of life are o'er Meet me there Where the night dissolves away Into pure and perfect day I am going home to stay Meet me there Meet me there Meet me there Meet me there Where the tree of life is blooming Meet me there On the happy golden floor Where the happy golden shore Where the happy golden shore Meet me there Here our fondest hopes are vain Dearest links are ending twain But in have no throb of pain Meet me there By the river sparkling bright In the city of delight Where our faith is lost inside Meet me there Meet me there Meet me there Meet me there Where the tree of life is blooming Meet me there When the storms of life are On the happy golden shore Where the faithful park no more Meet me there Where the harps of angels ring And the blasts forever sing In the palace of the king Meet me there Where in sweet communion play Armed with heart and friend with friend In a world that ne'er shall end Meet me there Meet me there Meet me there Where the tree of life is blooming Meet me there When the storms of life are On the happy golden shore Where the faithful park no more Meet me there Alright turn your bibles to Acts chapter number 7 Acts chapter 7 we're gonna have brother Jeff read for us oh you're good Acts chapter 7 The Bible reads Then said the high priest Are these things so? And he said Men, brethren, and fathers hearken. The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia before he dwelt in Karen. And said unto him, Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall show thee. Then came he out of the land of the Chaldeans and dwelt in Karen, and from thence when his father was dead, he removed him into this land wherein he now dwell. And he gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to get his foot on, yet he promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child. And God spake on this wise that his seed should sojourn in a strange land, and that they should bring them into bondage and entreat them evil four hundred years. And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage will I judge, said God, and after that shall they come forth and serve me in this place. And he gave him the covenant of circumcision, and so Abraham begat Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day, and Isaac begat Jacob, and Jacob begat the twelve patriarchs. And the patriarchs moved with Enby, sold Joseph into Egypt, but God was with him, and delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house. Now there came a dearth over all the land of Egypt, and Canaan, and great affliction, and our fathers found no sustenance. But when Jacob heard that there was corn in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first. And at the second time, Joseph was made known to his brethren, and Joseph's kindred was made known unto Pharaoh. Then said Joseph, and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred, three score and fifteen souls. So Jacob went down into Egypt and died he and our fathers, and were carried over into Sychem, and laid in the sepulcher that Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Amor the father of Sychem. But when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt, till another king arose, which knew not Joseph. The same dealt subtly with our kindred, and evil entreated our fathers, so that they cast out their young children, to the end they might not live. In which time Moses was born, and was exceeding fair, and nourished up in his father's house three months. And when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up, and nourished him for her own son. And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds. And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel. And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian. For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them, but they understood not. And the next day he showed himself unto them as they strove, and would have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren, why did ye wrong one to another? But he that did his neighbor wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us? Wilt thou kill me, as thou didst the Egyptian yesterday? Then fled Moses at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of Madian, where he begat two sons. And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush. When Moses saw it, he wandered at the sight, and as he drew near to behold it, the voice of the Lord came unto him, saying, I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Then Moses trembled, and durst not behold. Then said the Lord to him, Put off thy shoes from thy feet, for the place where thou standest is holy ground. I have seen, I have seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send thee into Egypt. This Moses, whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? The same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush. He brought them out. After that he had showed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness forty years. This is that Moses which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me, him shall ye hear. This is he that was in the church in the wilderness, which the angel which spake to him in the Mount Sinai, and with our fathers who received the lively oracles to give unto us, to whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt, saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us, for as for this Moses which brought us out of the land of Egypt, we want not what is become of him. And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands. Then God turned and gave them up to worship the host of heaven, as it is written of the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness? Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, figures which he made to worship them, and I will carry you away beyond Babylon. Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as he had appointed, speaking unto Moses that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen, which also our fathers that came after brought in with Jesus into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drave out before the face of our fathers unto the days of David, who found favor before God, and desired to find a tabernacle for the god of Jacob. But Solomon built him an house, howbeit the most high dwelleth not in temples made with hands, as sayeth the prophet, heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool. What house will ye build me, saith the Lord, or what is the place of my rest? Had not my hand made all these things? Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost, as your fathers did, so do ye. Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? And they have slain them which showed before of the coming of the just one, of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers, who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it. When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, and said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God. Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, and cast him out of the city, and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul. And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. Let's bow our heads for a quick word of prayer. Father God, we thank you for Pure Words Baptist Church, and just for the fact that we can come here and serve you, and listen to your word be preached from behind this pulpit. I pray now that you would fill Pastor Bruce Mejia with your spirit, help him to thunder forth your word, help him to preach his sermon boldly, and also help us to listen and learn and apply his sermon tonight to our daily Christian lives. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Amen. Alright, it's great to be here again tonight. And I just want to thank Pastor Shelley for the invitation to come out here and to be with you all. It's a blessing, it's a privilege, it's an honor. And so thank you so much, and thank you for the great fellowship. Thank you for the support and of course the prayers, and it's encouraging to be here to see all the folks here and the church is growing. It looks like it's doing well. And the sowing seems to be great. I mean you guys are trying to hit a thousand by what, the end of the year you said? That's great, that's an awesome goal. And so it's good to see that you guys are doing the first works, Amen. Look down at your Bibles at Acts 7 and verse 54 says, When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart and they gnashed on him with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly. Actually I forgot to do this real quick, sorry. I've got to put on the mic, right? Alright. But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God and said, Behold, I see the heavens open and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God. Then they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and ran upon him with one accord. And what I want to preach on this evening is how to respond to preaching. How to respond to preaching. It's important that when we come to church, we come to church with the right attitude regarding preaching, right? You know, the pastor's getting up or the preacher's getting up. He's preparing a sermon. He has something for you that God has something for you. It's important that you listen and that you respond correctly when someone is preaching. And here we see that the deacon Stephen, he's preaching a pretty powerful sermon. I mean, it's jam-packed with the history of Israel. It's jam-packed with a lot of scripture. It has a lot of facts. And he's given this sermon out. He's given a great sermon to a bunch of Jews. And, you know, they didn't really receive him very well, right? I mean, he's preaching a great sermon. They can't really, you know, argue with what he's saying. You know, everything that he's saying is from the Bible. It's biblical. It is what God wants him to say. He's filled with the Holy Ghost. He's preaching with power. But we see that they completely reject his sermon. And in verse 54, it says that they gnashed on them with their teeth. The Bible says they cried with a loud voice. They're just like, they can't take it. And they stopped their ears. And the Bible says that they run upon him with one accord. Now, why did they do that? Because they wanted to kill him. They just want to stop his preaching. They couldn't take it anymore. And they ended up taking his life. And, of course, God blessed that. And he was able to do a great work even in the midst of that. Now, this is obviously the wrong way to respond to biblical preaching, right? I hope no one ever does that here at Pure Words Baptist Church or at Steadfast Baptist Church. You know, that Pastor Shelley would be preaching and you would become so upset at him that you just gnash on him with your teeth. You cry out loud. You stop your ears. And you just run down the aisle like some Pentecostal, you know, Christian. And then you try to rush him. I'm sure many men in the church would rush you if you tried to do something like that. But in this passage, you know, we have all the elements that a person should not do when they're being given the truth. Now, what is the first thing that we see? Well, the first thing we see in verse 54, it says, when they heard these things, they were cut to the heart. So the first thing we see is that they were cut to the heart. Now, go to Acts chapter 5. Hold your place there in chapter 7. Go to chapter 5, if you would. Now, this is something that they can't necessarily, you know, they don't really have any power over, right? This is what happens when you get Bible preaching. This is what happens when you're being told the truth. You get some preaching of God's word. It's going to cut your heart. Look what Acts chapter 5 says. We see a similar thing here with Peter when he's preaching. It says in verse 30, the God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom He slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted with His hand, with His right hand, excuse me, to be a prince and a savior, for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are His witnesses of these things. And so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey Him. When they heard that, they were cut to the heart and took counsel to slay them. So here we see that the response is, you know, they're just cut to the heart. Something is wrong with their heart. Something is being, you know, bothered in their heart to the point that the preaching is getting to them. And it's not something that they can necessarily control. But here's the thing. This is the natural byproduct when it comes to biblical preaching. You know, when you have a pastor up here and he's preaching God's Word, he's telling you the truth, you're going to get your heart cut. Now, why is that? Well, you know, the Bible says that the Word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of thunder of soul and spirit, joints in the marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart. The Bible says that the Word of God is like a sword that pierces all the way to your heart. It pierces and it divides your heart. It divides your soul, your spirit. It gets to the heart of the matter. Okay? That's what the Word of God is supposed to do. And let me say this. That's why a man of God needs to be preaching the Word, not some limp-wristed softy out there. You know, he's not piercing anything. Okay? When he's preaching, you know, his preaching is basically bouncing off the walls. People aren't necessarily even listening to that. But when you get a preacher up here, like Pastor Shelley, when you get a preacher up here who's preaching God's Word, you know, that's going to pierce your heart. It's going to go right through. Why is that? Well, turn with me if you would. Go to Judges chapter 3, if you would. Judges chapter 3. Hold your place in the book of Acts, and specifically Acts chapter 7. We're going to go back to that. Let me read to you from Revelation chapter 2, verse 12. It says, And to the angel of the church of Pergamos write, These things saith he that hath the sharp sword with two edges. I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is, and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days where in Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you where Satan dwelleth. But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate, repent, or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. So what is he saying here? Well, he's basically telling them, hey, here's some things that I agree with you, but here's some things that are really bad about your church. And if you don't get right with God, if you don't repent of what you're doing, then I'm going to come to you with the sword. And what does the sword do? It divides. You know why there's a lot of church split sometimes? It's because God is bringing the sword and is bringing division between the truth and the lie, between that which is biblical and that which is not biblical, between that which is truth and that which is a lie. And let me say this, is that any time God's word is being preached in a church, it always divides. It can divide a church. It can divide an individual. It is a discernment between the thoughts and the intents of your heart. It can divide you from your preconceived ideas and the truth. It distinguishes what is real, truth, and what is not. It goes without saying that God's word divides. And in fact, Matthew 10, 34 says, Think not that I have come to send peace on earth. I came not to send peace, but a sword. You know, this is very contrary to what mainstream Christianity wants to teach, right? Oh, peace and love and everything is just hunky-dory in the bed of roses, whereas Jesus says, I'm not going to send peace. I came to bring a sword. And a sword divides. It'll divide you between you and your family. It'll divide you and your father-in-law and your mother-in-law. It'll divide you and your brother. It'll divide you and your family because of the fact that that's exactly what it's meant to do. He says in Revelation 2, 23, And I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts. What does that mean? It means it'll prick. It'll cut your heart. When the word of God is being preached, it's searching what you really believe, what you really think. It'll go to the inner recesses of your heart. And this is why the people here are cut to the heart. You know, Stephen, Peter, they're both shining light on what they've done. And really, in context, why are they cut to the heart? Because they know they're a part, they're adhering to a religion that killed Jesus. That's why. They're adhering to a religion that adheres to and praises the death of Jesus. So they're like, well, this is the religion that we're a part of, this is what we worship, yet this guy's telling us that we're wrong, and it's pricking them in the heart, it's cutting them straight to the heart. And look, this is the kind of preaching we need today, right? You know, we need preaching that cuts to the heart, that when a brand new person comes to church, you know, they are judged according to God's word. Then when they come, they say, whoa, hold on a second, this guy's talking about my sin, he's talking about the areas of my life that I need to fix, he's talking about me, he's stepping on my toes, he's preaching against me, and the answer is yes. Anytime someone comes to me and says, hey, you're preaching about me, oh, I said yeah. Yep, absolutely. But what they mean is this, you had me in mind when you were preaching this sermon, but that's not what I mean. You know, when I'm preaching God's word, it's directed towards every single individual that's in that room, and if the shoe fits, right? John 3, 20 says, for everyone that doeth evil, hateth the light, neither cometh the light, lest his deeds should be reproof. Hey, you should recognize that when you come to church, you're coming to be reproofed. You're coming to be corrected. You're coming to be exhorted. You're coming to be built up, but you will be reproofed, right? But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. So you know, when you're living a righteous life, when you're living a life that's pleasing unto the Lord, you come to church, you hear some preaching, you're like, amen, I'm glad I'm living that way. Amen, I'm glad I'm reading the Bible. Amen, I'm glad I'm praying. Amen, I'm glad I'm sowing in it. Amen, I'm glad I cleaned up my life because I can relate to this, okay? So when the Word of God is being preached, it cuts the heart. And a great illustration of this is found in Judges Chapter 3. Think about this. You know, when you're in this world, your heart can become fat and dirty and filled with a lot of the filth of this world, you know? Because we live in a sin-filled world, right? So what's the solution to that? Well, let's look at the story here. Judges Chapter 3, verse 22. Verse 20, excuse me. Eud here says in verse 20, And Eud came unto him, referring to Eglon, and he was sitting in a summer parlor, which he had for himself alone. And Eud said, I have a message from God unto thee, and he arose out of his seat. And Eud put forth his left hand and took the dagger from his right thigh and thrust it into his belly. Okay? This is the message. He's like, I got a message for you. The guy gets up. You know, by the way, the Bible says that Eglon was a very fat man. Okay? So he's probably thinking, oh, he's bringing food. He's bringing a meal or something, right? Eud takes out the dagger, and he thrust him through. Look at verse 22. And the haft also went in after the blade, and the fat enclosed upon the blade. This is how big he was. He was so big that the fat swallowed up the blade so that he could not draw the dagger out of his belly. He's like, that's my favorite knife. I wanted that back. He could not draw the dagger out of his belly, but look what it says here. And the dirt came out. And the dirt came out. What is the result of him just kind of stabbing this guy through? Dirt comes out. And you know what? I think this is a great picture of God's word, is it not? Because when the sword goes in, the dirt comes out. You read the word of God, the truth goes in, the dirt comes out. You know, if your mind has been filled with the filth of this world, and you need a reforming of your mind, you need a renewing of your mind, you put the word of God in, and you get the dirt out. Oh, man, but I got saved later on in life. I have so many bad memories and bad habits and bad this and bad that. Well, if you put the word of God in, you can get the dirt out. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according to thy word, the Bible says. Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee. We need to put the word of God in, allow it to cut our hearts in order to get the dirt out. Okay? Go back to Acts chapter 7. Acts chapter 7. So they're preaching a pretty fiery sermon. I mean, they're preaching replacement theology is what they're preaching. They're preaching against Zionism. And these guys are bold because, you know, they can die. I mean, Stephen did die. He's going up against all these Jews, and he's preaching against their religion. He's preaching against, you know, what they've done. He's preaching Christ and Him crucified, and it cost them his life. It cut their heart. It got to the heart of the matter. Look at Acts chapter 7, verse 54 again. So obviously that's not something that they can control. It says, when they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth. That's an interesting statement there. Okay? What does it mean to gnash on someone with their teeth? It's basically like, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh. Okay? Now, think about this. The only other people in the Bible, who are the only other people in the Bible that gnashed their teeth? People who are in hell. Who weep and wail and gnashed their teeth. Now, why are people weeping and wailing and gnashing their teeth? Because they're in pain. Do you know what that tells me? Is that the Bible, you know, actually causes some people to go in pain. It's uncomfortable. Right? It's a discomfort to people when they hear God's word. Why? Because, you know, you hear the phrase, stepping on their toes. Right? Like, oh man, that kind of hurts a little bit. Oh man, you're talking about me. You know, you start preaching about pants on women. And some of the women are like, ugh, ugh, ugh. They start gnashing a little bit. You start preaching on effeminate men. What happens? You go, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh. It's a little more high-pitched, you know what I mean? A little more high-pitched, you know, they can't really get there low enough. But it pains them. It bothers them. But that's what the Bible does. Why? Because the Bible is completely the opposite of what we have been taught. Right? His ways are not our ways. You know, His thoughts are not our thoughts. There's a gap between the way we think and the way God thinks. And what we need to do is close that gap. And how do we know when we need to close that gap? Well, when the preaching of God's word hurts you. When it bothers you. When it... And by the way, I'm not talking about, like, false doctrine. Right? False doctrine should obviously bother you. And when someone's preaching false doctrine, you know, you should just walk out if they're preaching some damnable heresy. I'm talking about when the truth is being thundered forth. You know, and they start preaching on fornication and on adultery and divorce and all these things that are not popular today to preach on. When you start hearing those things, don't gnash at the preacher with your teeth. Don't get mad. The Bible says in Acts chapter 24, in verse 24, it says, And after certain days when Felix came with his wife, Jerusalem, which was a Jewess, he sent for Paul and heard him concerning the faith in Christ. And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, the Bible says, and answered, Go thy way for this time. When I have a convenient season, I will call for thee. So what is he saying? You know, Paul is preaching God's word. He's giving him the gospel. And you have this guy, Felix, and he's just like, Whoa, this is too much for me. You know what? Go back in your cell. And when I'm ready to hear the truth, then I'll come get you. This is not a proper response. Today is the day of salvation, Felix. If it's bothering you today, you need to get it right today. You know, and we don't have this luxury. God is not giving God's people this luxury to say, Well, yeah, Pastor Shelley, this is too much for me. Preach this at another time, okay? Preach this at a different time when I can actually handle it, when I'm mature enough to receive it. Folks, if he's thundering forth the word of God and it's the truth and it's bothering you today, it could mean that God has it for you today. He wants you to change today. And who's to say you even have tomorrow? Who's to say you even have next week? You know how many people are planning to live next week? They wouldn't even make it to tomorrow. Think about that. But they gnash on him with their teeth. You know, an improper way to respond to the preaching of God's word is that you get mad. Who's that guy to say that? Why are you saying that? Who do you think you are? The pastor? Who do you think you are to just rip on the man of God? What makes you think you just talk about sin and homos and all these things? You know, I don't agree with any of that. What do they do? They're gnashing with their teeth. They're angry. They're uncomfortable with the message. But this is not a proper response. It goes on to say in verse 57 of Acts chapter 7, Then they cried with a loud voice and stopped their ears and ran upon them with one accord. I mean, this is crazy. All he's doing is preaching. He's not even getting physical with them. But the preaching is so powerful and so potent that they literally had to yell to overcome what he's saying. To kind of shut him up. Yell with a loud voice and stop their ears like, I don't want to hear this anymore. And run upon him and basically kill him. You know, the Bible says despise not prophesying. OK. And look, we shouldn't be surprised when unsaved people are, you know, they despise God's word. They despise the preaching of God's word. The Bible says for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. But unto us which are saved, it is the power of God. But it should never be said of God's people that we would ever close our ears and cry out loud and just say, I don't want to hear the truth. I don't want this. Go to Acts chapter 2, if you would. Acts chapter 2. So how should we respond to biblical preaching? And let me say this. This is important. This is an important truth because, you know, maybe you came to church because you got saved on the Internet. Or, you know, you heard about Pastor Anderson or Pastor Shelley. You came to church. And sometimes people could come to church because, you know, the preaching was entertaining. It was like, wow, hey, this is this is very entertaining. And look, there's nothing wrong with that. You know, a lot of people hear about our sermons because they're entertained by them. OK. They're like, wow, that guy's crazy or whatever. You know, he preaches some crazy stuff. I want to go hear some more of what he has to say. I mean, even Herod, you know, heard John the Baptist gladly. You know, he was glad to hear it. He wanted to listen to him. And we're willing to preach to whoever wants to listen. Amen. But after a while, you know, once you get saved, you get plugged in, you have to build some maturity in your ears. And not just come to church to be entertained, but come to church to be taught. OK. Come to church to learn the word of God. And whether that's, you know, a sermon on systematic doctrine or it's a topical sermon or it's just, you know, going through the Bible. You need to build an appetite for preaching just in general. OK. No matter how loud it is or how quiet it is, as long as it's the Bible, you need to build an appetite for that and respond appropriately. Look at Acts chapter two, verse thirty seven. It says, Now, when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart. And sent it to Peter and to the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do? Goes on to say, Then Peter said unto them, repent and be baptized, ever one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. And you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you and to your children and to all that are far off, even as into many as the Lord our God shall call. And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation. Then they they gladly received his word were baptized. And the same day they were added unto them about 3000 souls. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of bread. Now, this is a group of people that heard the word of God, but they actually responded appropriately. I mean, they actually benefited greatly because of the preaching and they ended up getting saved. They continue steadfastly in the apostles doctrine. They're involved in fellowship, breaking in bread and in prayers. You know, end of story. They live happily ever after, in other words, right? Now, how do they get to this point? Well, number one, they responded with the receptive heart. Look what it says in verse thirty seven. Now, when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart. Now, the insinuation there is this. They had a tender heart. If they're able to get pricked in their hearts, that means their heart is not hardened. OK, the implication is that their heart is still soft. They still possess a tender heart for God's word. Now, obviously, these people were not saved and then they got saved. But let me say this is that even after salvation, you can still harden your heart towards the truth. And I met people I've been, you know, been around Christians that have been saved for decades, and they just have hardened heart towards the word of God. OK, you know, whether because of the fact that they have the world in their heart, their heart is as fat as grease. The Bible says they just love they have a love for this world. They have a love for the things of this world. And therefore, you know, the word of God is choked out of their hearts and they become unfruitful. The Bible says that can happen. And we as Christians need to protect ourselves from that. Right. We need to make sure that we keep a tender heart for the things of God, for the preaching of God of God's word and not harden our hearts, not say, well, you know, I've already heard this. Oh, man, it's just I've heard this before. Oh, man, you talk about false prophets again. OK. Oh, you're going to expose another false doctrine. OK. Oh, you're going to talk about this doctrine. Oh, you said that last week. Oh, you said that last month. That's a hardened heart. The tender heart receives God's word no matter what season it is, because it's tender. It can be pricked. It can be pierced through. It wants the truth, no matter what platter you serve it on. OK. And obviously, we understand that the word of God can divide no matter what. But a tender heart is a heart that is ready to just hear God's word and obey God's word and wants to learn. OK. Now, go to James Chapter one, if you will. I'm sorry. Go to Acts Chapter nine, Acts Chapter nine. I'm going to read you from James Chapter one, verse 20 says for the wrath of man, worketh not the righteousness of God. Wherefore, lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness and receive with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save your souls. You know, when you come to church, you should come to church humble and meek and receive with meekness that engrafted word. Don't come like a know it all to church. I already know this. I already know this truth. Here we go again. No. Why don't you just receive with meekness the engrafted word? And by the way, we want to learn new things. But did you know that as Christians, we just easily forget certain things? Even some of the most fundamental truths in the Bible we can forget. And therefore, those truths need to be reinforced over and over and over and over again. That's not to say we're not going to preach not necessarily new truths, but truths that are encapsulated in new parables that we learn about in the Bible. You know, you know, whether it's a nugget of truth that we see in the Bible, you know, it's end times Bible prophecy in the Old Testament. We're obviously going to learn new things. But the vast majority of the Christian life is repetition, continuously listening to, adhering to and teaching the same things over and over again because people forget. And you know why these churches out there have apostatized? You know why these churches out there have become liberal? Because they stopped teaching the basics. They stopped reinforcing the same things over and over again. Because why? Because people became dull of hearing. I'm bored with that. Oh, this is boring. Oh, this is so dull. Are you talking about the Trinity again? Are we going to talk about Manly Perry again? Are we going to talk about false prophets again? Yes! Because you forget. Why do you think the average independent fundamental Baptist church does not talk about false prophets at all? You know, there's a time maybe when that pastor talked about it and then the people became dull of hearing. He's like, well, I'm not going to talk about that again. Now we're just going to talk about grace, grace and more grace. Love, love and more love. And then you have a church that is just filled with people that are ignorant about false prophets, ignorant about false doctrines. They think that, you know, they don't think that false prophets even exist or something. You need to receive with meekness the engrafted word. Anytime, it doesn't matter if Brother Nick comes up, Brother Dylan comes up and he preaches God's word, you need to receive with meekness the engrafted word. Don't be a respecter of people. If it's God's words being preached, you need to receive it. Let me read to you from Ezra chapter 7 verse number 9 says, For upon the first day of the first month began heat to go up from Babylon. And on the first day of the fifth month came heat to Jerusalem according to the good hand of his God upon him. For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments. Think about that. The Bible says that he began, he prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord. And look folks, in order for you to learn in church and keep growing in your Christian life, you need to prepare your heart to seek God and his word. How do you prepare? Well, how about this? Just read your Bible throughout the week. Reading your Bible, studying your Bible, memorizing your Bible, meditating and ruminating upon God's word. That's how you prepare your heart. But if you're filling your heart with the things of this world, you're just watching television and movies and listening to godless music or doing things that are just not pleasing to God, that's not preparing your heart. Because then you're going to come to church and you're just like not paying attention. You're just like, one's dinner, did we break attendance again? I don't know if they're going to get that pizza again or something. And you're just not listening. Why? Because you didn't prepare your heart. But see the prepared heart is hungry for the word of God. It's hungry for righteousness. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled. Build an appetite for God's word by preparing your heart. Even when you come in through these doors and we're praying together and the man is up here praying for the service, pray thus within yourself and ask the Lord to prepare your heart for the sermon. God, teach me something new, reinforce something that I already know. Help me to glean wisdom from God's word, from the preaching of God's word. Help me to just esteem the word of God right now. Prepare your hearts before coming to church, before listening to the preaching of God's word. You should stir yourself up for the message that God has for you. Look at Acts chapter 9 and verse 3. It's referring to the Apostle Paul on the road to Damascus. It says, And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus, and suddenly there shined around about him a light from heaven. And he fell to the earth and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And he trembling in astonishment said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, go into the city and it shall be told thee what thou must do. Notice that he says it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. Think of a mule or some donkey or something, right? And you're just pricking him to move and it's just he's kicking against that. He's just kicking, he's just kicking. And Jesus is saying it's hard for you to kick against these pricks. God is trying to get a hold of you, Paul, is what he's saying. And look, again, even after salvation, you can still be like this. Where you come to church and maybe you're bitter towards an individual. Maybe you're mad at someone in the church. You know, you're mad at someone because they looked at you, you know, weird or they made a comment about you or they made fun of you or something. And said X, Y, and Z about you and you're just kind of still bitter at that individual. And God's word is being thundered forth or, you know, a preacher comes up and preaches on forgiveness. Right? Forgive your brother. And you're just like, oh. What are you doing? You're kicking against the pricks. Because if it bothers you, that means it's for you. Right? You know, the pastor gets up and talks about pants on women. You should wear pants, not just in church, but even when you go home. Even when you're out there in the world, you're supposed to be a Christian 24-7 and you're just like, oh. Well, you know, he don't know what he's talking about. That's that's his interpretation. You know, you read the Bible and then it's like, well, that's your interpretation. Well, I just read the Bible. I didn't even interpret it. I just read it. And you get mad. You know what you're doing? You're kicking against the pricks. Right. You're just like kicking like a mule, kicking like a donkey. And you're not willing to adhere. Don't kick against the pricks. When you get pricked, change right away. As soon as you feel that prick, you know, hit your heart, prick your heart, you feel the word of God piercing through you. The immediate attitude should be, I need to change this. And look, you might have the attitude like, yeah, I want to change, but it's hard for me to change. Well, you know, as long as you understand, first and foremost, that you need to change, at least that step number one, you got that in the bag. But here's number two is that, you know, whatever God commands us to do, he enables us to do as well. He's not going to ask you to do something that's just impossible for you to do. OK, don't kick against the pricks. The Bible says in Hebrews three fifteen, while it is said today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. You know, in my experience, one thing that I've learned that has hardened the hearts of people more than anything else is just bitterness. Bitterness towards another individual, bitterness towards their family, bitterness towards a sister or brother in Christ that's in the church, bitterness towards a leader, bitterness even sometimes towards God. They become bitter and that destroys them. That hardens their heart. And look, folks, we're all going to have experienced some sort of offense from someone that we love one time or another. It's going to happen. OK. And you need to not live in La La Land where it's just like, well, not in my life. You know, I'm King James only. I'm so winning post trip. You're going to be offended one day, too. Someone's going to offend you. Your leader's going to offend you. Your husband's going to offend you. You know, you're like, well, I know that. He does that every day. You know, your wife's going to offend you. Something's going to happen when it's going to cause you to become offended. And if you're not careful, you can start hardening your heart towards the things of God because of that. You know, you say, what should I do? Forgive that individual right away. Forgive him as Christ forgave you, as God forgave you for Christ's sake, the Bible says. And just get over it. You know, it's not worth being bitter towards an individual because of some wrong that they did towards you. You know, someone has once said this, bitterness is like you drinking poison, hoping that the individual you're bitter towards gets, you know, dies or something. You're only affecting yourself. You're only destroying yourself. Okay, don't harden your heart. You say, well, what do I do if my heart is hardened right now? Okay, it's getting there. It's getting hardened. You know, it's becoming callous. Well, that's why you're in this type of a church. The Bible says in Jeremiah 23, verse 28, the prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream, and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chapter that we say at the Lord? Is not my word like as a fire and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? He's saying, look, you know what the difference is between a false prophet and a real prophet of God? The real prophet of God preaches hard. And his preaching is like fire and it's like a hammer that just completely breaks the rock in pieces. So if you have a hardened heart, you're in the right place. Because you're going to get some hard preaching that's going to hammer that hardened heart, soften it up, get you right with God. Okay? Where you're like, you know, I'm sick and tired of being bitter. I'm sick and tired of not forgiving. I'm sick and tired of living this kind of life. I want to get right with God. Okay? Soft preaching does nothing like that. Soft preaching just hardens your heart even more. Because you're like, man, this preaching sucks. That guy sucks as a preacher. I can do better than that guy up there or something. And you become mad towards that guy. You know, it's better to be under some preaching where it's hard. Yeah, you know, it might be a little rude, okay? But you know what Paul said, though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge. Even though he was a little rough around the corners with how he delivered his message, hey, at least you knew you were getting the truth. Matthew 13, 15 says, for this people's heart is wax gross. And their ears are dull of hearing. And their eyes they have closed lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and should understand with their heart and should be converted and I should heal them. This is a step right before reprobation for some people. Because they harden their hearts and then later on we see in John chapter 12 that God then hardens their hearts. And again, obviously we understand that Christians can become reprobate. They can become a castaway. You know, they can get to a point where they become useless in the Christian life and God will cast them away. They don't lose their salvation. They're still saved. But they can become useless and God can shelve them. They can become like a saw, for example. But where does it begin with the hardened heart? They become dull of hearing. Go to James chapter 1, if you would. James chapter 1. So they were pricked in their hearts. Make sure you prepare your heart to seek the Lord. It doesn't matter how long you've been a Christian for. It doesn't matter how many services you've been to. How many sermons you've heard on YouTube. How many times you know, you know, you know, how much doctrine you know. How much end times Bible prophecy you got in the bag. How much you know the timing of the rapture. How much you know X, Y, and Z. Keep a soft heart. And always be willing to learn. Okay. Always be willing when you come to church to say, I still want to learn something. I still want to be a student of the Bible. I want to be a student of God's word. I want to keep learning. I don't want to, I just don't want to like fizzle out and die out. I want to keep a soft heart that when Pastor Shelley comes and preaches a sermon on salvation, my heart is still being pricked. I'm still learning new things. When he comes and preaches a sermon on the resurrection, on the trinity, my heart is still being pricked because I'm still learning new things. I still love God's word. I delight in the law of the Lord. Okay. But not only that, respond with action. Let me read to you from Acts 2, 37. It says, now when he had heard this, when they had heard this, they were pricked in their heart. And said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do? So they're pricked in their heart. And they weren't like the other guys who were just gnashing with their teeth. They're like, ah, shut up and kill these guys. They're more like, what should we do? What do they want? They want to take action. They want to do something about it. And again, unsaved, but this still applies to us as safe people. When you get preaching and your heart is pricked, the next question should be, Lord, what should I do? What should I change? What should I change? What should I fix? How can I apply this? By the way, this is how Paul responded, right? You know, when Jesus said, you know, it's hard for thee to kick against the pricks, what did he say? Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? He was like, tell me what to do and I'll do it. And this is a great attitude to have. And you know what? This is not only the attitude that God wants you to have, your pastor loves this attitude too. Okay. It's just an attitude of saying, Lord, I'm hearing, I'm listening to what you're saying. What's the next step? What do you want me to do? What do you want me to change in my life? Okay. Look at James chapter one. Because look, if you're getting God's word, you're like, yeah, that was a good sermon. Oh, man, that was awesome. Yeah, that was great, but you just changed nothing. Yeah, man, that sermon on alcohol was good. And then like Monday, you're just like getting yourself a tall boy still. First of all, go ahead and tell that to Pastor Shelley, so church discipline next week. You're like, oh, man, yeah, that was a great sermon on pants or whatever, but then you're still wearing your pants on Monday or Tuesday throughout the week. I agree with that, but then you don't do anything about it? What does the Bible say about that? Well, look at verse 22 of James one. But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving everyone else. No, deceiving your own selves. The only people you're deceiving is yourself. Because you're like, yeah, I'm a godly Christian because I listen to hard preaching. I'm a godly Christian because I love sermons on pants, on end times Bible prophecy, on sodomites, and I love it all. But it's just like, but do you do it all, though? That's where the rubber meets the road. It's not about what you're hearing. It's whether you're doing that what you're hearing. Oh, man, that was just a really great sermon on scripture memory, but you're just like, don't memorize any scripture. Then what good was it for you? It's like a wasted meal. Verse 23, 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 forgetteth what manner of man he was. So this is like the guy who goes to the mirror, and he's got a booger on his face, he's got spinach in between his teeth, and he's just like, oh, man, I gotta fix that. And he just walks away and doesn't fix it. That's what it's like. I mean, the mirror is there to show you your flaws. It's not to check yourself out, okay? It's there to show you that you got a booger on your face, you still got the crust in your eyes, you know, you just, you look like trash, okay? And then you recognize that you look like trash. You're like, I look like trash. But then what if you just walk away and just don't change anything? Well, what was the point of going to the mirror, narcissist? That's what God is saying. When you go to God's word, it shows you your imperfections. It shows you the areas that you need to work on. And, you know, when you hear God's word being preached, it's showing you what you need to fix. It's reproving and rebuking you in those areas. But if you're like, wow, that was a great sermon, but you don't change anything, you're deceiving yourself. Because you think you're a good Christian because you're listening to good preaching. And that's deception. But whoso, verse 25, looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. So this also teaches us that when we do the work, we don't become forgetful in the doctrines that we hear, right? You know, when we hear a sermon on soul winning, or holiness, or repenting of your sins, you know, to live a life that's pleasing unto the Lord, and you actually put those things into action, you actually don't forget those things. Why? Because you're living out the Bible. You're actually putting it into practice. So it's not just the head nausea you have, it's like, well, you know, I'm putting my hands to the plow in this thing. So I'm not gonna forget it. If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain. He's like, look, if you claim to be religious, but you don't even know how to bridle your tongue, you don't know when you keep your mouth shut, you know, and not opinionate on every single little thing. Your religion is vain. You just want to open your mouth, and just think you know everything, and just disrespecting everyone, and you're just saying all these things. Your religion is vain. Why? Because the very religion that you're adhering to teaches to bridle your tongue. If you're not doing it, your religion is vain. Pure religion, and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. Go to 2 Timothy chapter 4, if you would, 2 Timothy chapter 4. So how do you respond to biblical preaching? Well, number one, keep a tender heart. Prepare your heart to hear preaching. It doesn't matter who is behind the pulpit, okay? Don't be a respecter of people, and look, I'm preaching to the choir here, I know, because obviously, you know, Pastor Shelley's the pastor here, but he can't be here all the time, and I know he's a little more free now, and he comes a little more often. You get other preachers, hey, you should appreciate any preacher that comes through these doors, because they are preparing sermons, they're filled with the Spirit, they're preaching God's Word, you need to prepare your heart and just learn from whatever's being preached there. Obviously, if it's biblical, and the man of God is preparing, he's filled with the Spirit, I mean, it'll be great, okay? Prepare your heart to seek the Lord, but also, make sure that when you hear it, all right, now, how can I apply this to my life? What do I need to do now? I need to change something. How can I apply this, because I don't want to forget this sermon? How can I apply this truth, because I don't want to forget this truth, okay? Don't be like the Pharisees that tell other people to do something, they don't even do it themselves, okay? What's the next thing? Verse 41 continues to say in Acts, chapter 7, you're in 2 Timothy, chapter 4, so these people, you know, they're pricked in their hearts, they ask, what should we do? Peter's preaching to them, and what do they do? It says in verse 41, then they that gladly received his word were baptized, so they gladly received it. Obviously, they end up getting saved, they get baptized, they get added to the church, and they live happily ever after in the Christian life, but I want you to notice that it says that they received the Word of God with gladness. What does that mean? They had the right attitude. They had the right attitude. And look, when it comes to preaching, you need to have the proper attitude, okay? 2 Timothy, chapter 4, verse 2 says this, preach the Word, be in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine, for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. What does that mean? They can't put up with just sound teaching. But after their own lust, shall they heed to themselves teachers having itching ears. Now, think about this. Let me finish this. Verse 4, and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned into fables. What do you think about when you think of someone having itching ears? What does that sound like to you? What animal in the animal kingdom, yeah, a dog, right? A dog is an animal that has itching ears. And what do they want? They want you to scratch them behind the ears just to satisfy them. They just want to be satisfied, right? So what he's saying here is this. When you get a group of people who can no longer endure sound doctrine, what's going to happen is you're going to develop people who just want to hear things to be satisfied. They just want to just satisfy me. Just tell me what I want to hear. Just don't even give it to me straight. Just tell me what I want to hear. Scratch my ears a little bit. Oh, right there. Right there. Yeah. Yeah. Stick to the book of John. Yeah. Proverbs. Oh, yeah. The love of God, please. Right there. That feels great. Okay. And this is why Paul tells Timothy, no. You need to preach the word begins to end season out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. Now, look, there are certain doctrines in the Bible that are very satisfying for us. Right. We love Romans one. It's a great chapter to preach through. We love the book of Revelation. That's great. Now, for other churches, that's not. For other churches, if a pastor got up and opened Romans one and started talking about faggots, I mean, people would lose their minds. They were like, you're not scratching our ears. You're tearing our ears off. You're making our ears bleed. But here's the thing. Also, I want to say this is that when you come to church, you know, those truths are important, like the reprobate doctrine, but other times, sometimes we need to talk about things that are not very popular. Even amongst our churches. Right. Yeah. Because here's the thing. Isn't it, you know, it could get to a point where all everyone wants to talk about is reprobates. Right. Right. Now, we have to definitely preach on it because it's important. We were dealing with it today, but it can't be every sermon. Right. Right. And if the only time you get excited about God's preaching is when that topic comes up, that shows you you're getting itching ears there in that regard. Right. Getting kind of quiet in here, man. You know, you should be satisfied with hearing a sermon on Leviticus chapter one because it's still God's word. Well, yeah, but I want to be satisfied, though. Like, I just want you to scratch my ears and just let's let's bash on the preacher rapture for a while. Hey, I like that. OK. But here's the thing is, is we need to preach the entire counsel of God. And let me say this is that we need to be satisfied with the entire counsel of God, too, and not be this kind of Christian where you only have this great attitude regarding this hard preaching. But when it comes to other topics in the Bible, it's just like, oh, I guess we really need to talk about that. You know, that's kind of boring. You know, the life of Jacob. We're going to talk about the life of Jacob. You know. Oh, you know, we're going to go through the book of Acts or we're going through the book of Judges. I mean, I guess as long as you talk about like these particular topics, though. No, we need to be satisfied with everything. Yeah. And I'm not saying you're going to be hanging off the chandeliers when you go through Leviticus chapter two or something like that. But what I'm saying is the attitude should be that you receive the word of God with gladness. Amen. You know, when Pastor Shelley gets up and he comes and he says, hey, I'm going to preach through, you know, the book of Deuteronomy. You say, amen. And I'm glad. That's awesome. I can't wait to hear that. You receive it with gladness. You have the right attitude no matter what the book is. It's like, well, are you going to preach the Romans? All Romans want? Come on, dude. Come on. You're going to preach the Revelation? Yeah. But then it's just like, well, I'll preach through first and second Peter. All right. I guess. No. No. No. Receive the word with gladness because it's still the word of God. Yeah. And look, folks, you know, if God didn't want you to know these other portions of the Bible, he would have just left them out, right? But he left them in there for a reason. Okay. Develop an appetite even for things that you may not even think are popular. Okay. Now I'm glad I can preach the Romans one. I'm glad I can preach the Revelation. And the vast majority of the people in my church are just excited about it because that's The same cannot be said of other people out there, okay? Other people out there, if you go to the book of Daniel, I mean, you're gonna lose your entire church. This is not very interesting to them. You go to Daniel chapter seven, or Daniel chapter 11, I mean, you're gonna lose a lot of people. But what I'm saying is this, is no matter what is being preached, you need to receive it with gladness, okay? Hey, maybe it's just a basic sermon on soul winning, right? Reinforcing soul winning practices, or on marriage, right? Well, I'm single, I'm not married or anything. Well, then take notes for the future then, right? If it's a basic sermon on child rearing, you should receive that with gladness, and say, man, I'm thankful for that sermon. You know, I have guys in my church, they're single, and sometimes I'll preach a sermon on marriage or something, or on child rearing, and they come up, and they're like, man, thank you so much for that sermon. That was great, like I really, I took notes, and I'm gonna remember some of those things, and I know I need some of those things for the future. That's a person who's receiving it with gladness, okay? Thy testimonies have I taken as in heritage forever, for they are the rejoicing of my heart. Jeremiah 15, 16 says, thy words were found, and I did eat them, and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart, for I am called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts. You know, John eats the word of God in the book of Revelation, and his belly is bitter. Jeremiah eats it, and he's like, mm, that's good. Like raising canes good. Mm, that's delicious right there. Get a sermon on Leviticus one, mm, that's good. I like that. Get a sermon on Daniel chapter 11, mm, that's really good. It's a little rough around the edges, but it's good. Different texture, but it tastes good. Tastes like Mediterranean food or something, you know? Get some hummus. You get a sermon on the book of Psalms. It's like, wow, mm, that tastes great. A little different, but it tastes good. Why, because it's God's word, okay? You know, you need to develop a pallet, a spiritual pallet for different topics in the Bible, okay? And rejoice over every single one of those things. Go to Revelation 22, and that's pretty much the sermon right there. The way you receive God's word should be that you prepare your heart to seek the Lord. You prepare your heart for biblical preaching, okay? That's why it's being pricked. Secondly, you ask yourself, what should I do now? How should I apply this now? How can I develop a greater appetite for it now? And the third thing is this, have a right attitude. Receive it with gladness, okay? And look, I guarantee you, if you just have the right attitude, your pastor will appreciate that so much, the more. Because it's great preaching to a group of people to just get excited about God's word, no matter what's being preached. Now let me read to you from Psalm 1, verse 1. It says, blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord. And in his law doth he meditate day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit and his season. His leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. So you say, look, if you delight in God's word, you're gonna be like a plant, a tree planted by the rivers of water, you're gonna be fruitful, you're not gonna wither, and whatever you do is gonna prosper. Now with that in mind, look at Revelation 22, in verse number one. This is in the new heaven and the new earth. Look what it says in verse number one. And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clearest crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare 12 manner of fruits, and yielded her fruits every month, and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. Now my personal belief is that this is referring to Christians, okay? And the reason it says that the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations, I don't believe it's referring to at that moment in Revelation 22, in the new heaven and the new earth. I believe what it's referring to is the fact that the leaves of the trees, which are the Christians, were for the healing of the nations during the millennial reign. Because it's in my opinion that basically, during the millennial reign, Christians, resurrected people are rebuilding the nations. You say, why? Well, because God just got finished destroying it. You know, it's been lit with fire, it's just burned. And so Christians are out there, they're ruling over these different parts, and they're healing the nations with their leaves, so to speak. And I don't believe that's exactly how that would look. But here's the thing is that that's not now, necessarily. You know, we're not the trees of life now. But I will say this is that the person who delights in God's word in that preaching, it's like preaching that's healing for the nations. You know, what are you doing when you come here to hear preaching of God's word, you're being healed. What are you doing when you're preaching it? You're healing the nations. You're healing your family, you're healing, you know, the stuff that you went through with your family in times past, the past that you've had, maybe you had a traumatic experience growing up or an upbringing, or you run into people who have had that upbringing. What are you doing? Well, you're healing the nations with the leaves of your tree if you're delighting in God's word. So a good motivation to just delight in God's word is that you become useful. You can benefit others, right? You can now begin to help others bear their burdens, help others grow, excuse me, help others to heal in their trials and tribulations. And so, you know, I hope this sermon was an encouragement to you, but more than that, I hope that you would apply it. And I guarantee you, whoever's preaching to you every week, whether it's Pastor Shelley or others, that's what they want for you. They want you to not just enjoy the sermon, they want you to have a right attitude towards it, and they want you to say, so what shall we do now? What shall I do now? Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word, and God, thank you for the preachers that were in my life, Lord, growing up, and even within recent years that have helped me, Lord. I pray, God, that you would continue to help us to have the right attitude towards the word of God being preached. And I've been saved for 14 years, and even when I hear a basic sermon, I still learn, Lord, I never wanna have a heart that is hardened towards those things or that is dull of hearing. Help us never to develop that type of a spirit, that type of a heart. Help us to rejoice in any topic. Obviously, we love hearing about replacement theology. We love hearing about the reprobate doctrine. We love hearing about end times Bible prophecy. Those are my favorite subjects. But we need to develop a delight for other topics as well, Lord, and I pray, God, that you'd help us to do so. We love you so much, Lord, and we thank you. Pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. Amen, turn to your last song. Song number 50. Song 50, Peace, Perfect Peace. There on the verse. Peace, perfect peace, in this dark world of sin. The blood of Jesus whispers peace with them. Peace, perfect peace, in this dark world of sin. The blood of Jesus whispers peace with them. Peace, perfect peace, with sorrow searching ground. On Jesus, the sound of what come is found. Peace, perfect peace, the future of God. All are known, Jesus, we know, and he is on the throne. Peace, perfect peace, death shall wing us and ours. Jesus has conquered death and all its powers. It is enough, a struggle soon shall cease. And Jesus, call us to have perfect peace. All right, great singing. You guys have a good night.