Church Of The Harvest | Sermon Podcast | Cleveland, TN
[be]sciple Week 4 - Pastor Chris Goins
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Hello Church of the Harvest. It's great to see you tonight. It is awesome to see you tonight. Let me let you know about something. If you can bring up the first slide next Wednesday and Thursday, and actually it's on Thursday that your pastor will be speaking, we're doing a two-day conference at ISO. Actually, it's not next Wednesday, it's the week after. September 11th and 12th, called This We Believe, we're covering the basic doctrines of the Christian faith. Your pastor is doing a session on the doctrine of redemption. It's going to be an awesome session that she kicks things off Thursday morning. So if you have a limited amount of time, come out, support your pastor on that Thursday morning. It's 9.30, straight up and down, you'll want to be here. The doors open at 8.30, but at 9.30, Pastor Rhonda will hit the stage. But the entire conference, if you've got any kind of leeway, we start with the doctrine of Scripture on day one with Dr. Brian Cutshaw. We go right into the doctrine of God with Dr. Tim Heel. I'm doing the doctrine of humankind, of mankind, and then we've got other people lined up. It's going to be an exceptional, it's basically a systematic theology in two days, a course that we're recording. But we're especially excited about your pastor. So you have Pastor Rhonda big hand. Hey, let's say a prayer and dig in. Jesus, thank you so much for Church of the Harvest, all that you're doing at Church of the Harvest. I love this church. I love the heartbeat of this church. I love the fact that this church is for whosoever. And this world needs places that are for whosoever. So tonight, anoint us to speak your word and anoint the people to hear. It's in Jesus' name that we pray. And if you're comfortable in saying amen, say aloud amen, hey, take out the notes. You can see they're quite extensive. I'm not certain that we'll finish it, finish them. So let me give you that heads up right now. We don't have to finish it. But if we do, that's fine too. So let's jump in. Jesus set the pattern for every great teacher who would ever follow when he wrapped up a 15-minute masterpiece of a message with an incredible illustration and challenge. Now, we could read it in a lot of translations. I love the way the paraphrase, the message reads. So let me read it in that paraphrase. It reads like this, Matthew 724. These words I speak to you are not incidental additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are, everybody say those next two words if you're reading along. They are foundational words. The next line, words to build a life on. And then this next line, if you work these words into your life, say that again, it's if you work these words into your life once more. If you work these words into your life, you're like a smart carpenter who built his house on solid rock, rain poured down, the river flooded, a tornado hit, but nothing moved that house. It was fixed to the rock, but if you just use my words in Bible studies and don't work them into your life. You are like a stupid carpenter who built his house on the sandy beach when a storm rolled in and the waves came up, it collapsed like a house of cards. Jesus has just finished greatest sermon ever, the sermon on the Mount. And as he finishes, he wanted to make certain that everyone who heard him, his disciples, the crowd, the religious critics, the curious, even me and you. He wanted to make certain that we understood that once you hear the kind of truth Jesus taught in that sermon, it's impossible to remain neutral. Get this, not in your notes, but you might want to jot it down. Truth always demands a response. Truth always demands a response. You can't hear God's word and remain the same. You have to take action. That's why in the NIV it reads like this, verse 24, "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and hears the NIV puts them into practice." The message renders that works them into your life. That person is like a wise man. Another translation says, "Everyone who hears these words and does them." Here's what Jesus is saying. He's saying, "The truth I just unpacked before you." It's more than motivational quotes for you to post on your social media wall, for you to hang in your home. These words I speak are not home-honored improvements to your standard of living. In other words, this isn't a choice between Formica, Quartz, or Granite countertops. Truth is an optional. What I just said is essential. He lets us know the importance when he says this phrase, these are foundational words. Anybody here know the importance of a foundation? Jan and I were on the precipice of buying a house on an occasion. We love the house. We love the location. We love the land. We loved everything about the house. We could see ourselves growing old in that home until we did the inspection. During the inspection, the inspector called me back with him into the crawl space and demonstrated that the foundation, literally because of the way the house was situated. The house was at the bottom of a hill where water was coming down the hill and it was eroding. He showed me the foundation was being eaten away. He said, "Chris, somebody has got to face the hard reality that this is going to collapse. It cannot stand." But he says, "If you build your life upon a foundation, you'll be like a wise man who built his house on a rock." Jesus is straight up saying that hearing and putting into practice his teaching will lay a solid foundation that will give you support, stability, structure, strength. But it's not enough, notice this, it's not enough just to hear these words, to hear them being taught in a Bible study, a sermon on Sunday morning, shared in a small group. We also, you and I have a role, you and I have a responsibility. We have to take the time to apply these words with energy and effort to our lives. Work them into your life. Well, how could those disciples work those words into their life? How can we work these words into our life? I brought along with me a copy of the Bible. I wanted to bring an actual sword. I didn't have access to one. But I did bring along a copy of the Bible. And this Bible looks really good. In fact, it's practically brand new, it's hardly been opened and that's the problem. If God's word is going to work, you have to put it to work. The great preacher, one of my favorite quotes, I included it for you in your notes, Charles Spurgeon said, "A Bible that's falling apart usually belongs to a person that isn't." See, just the idea that the Bible is a really important book won't give you strength and stability when the storm strikes. Just pointing to the Bible, a lot of people have one of these displayed on a coffee table, on a bookshelf. But just pointing to the Bible won't make an impact on the enemy when he's attempting to destroy you or devastate your family, your kids, your marriage, your life, your career, your finances, your faith, your health. If you're going to put the word to work, you have to be able to take up what Scripture itself calls in Ephesians 6, the sword of the Spirit. You have to get a grip on God's word. You have to allow God's word to begin to shape your thoughts, form your attitudes, guide your life. And when you begin speaking it, praying it over your life, it has the power to defeat the evil one, the power to change your circumstances, the power to bring healing, the power to bring deliverance, the power to establish God's kingdom on earth as it's already established in Ephesians. Word these words into your life. So I want to give you an illustration that is not original with me. Group called the navigators. Came up with this illustration several decades ago. I don't know how long ago. But they imagine that the Word of God is the sword of the Spirit. So how do we grip a sword? You know, when you grip a sword, all four fingers, the thumb and your palm are necessary to firmly grip a sword. It takes all of them. And I want you to look at that illustration that I gave you in your notes and we're going to walk through these and I want you to help me with this and then we'll get to fill in the blanks. The navigators wanted us to realize this, everybody hold up your index finger, your index finger. They said when you think of the index finger, if you're going to grip the sword of the Spirit, we want the index finger to remind you that you need to read the Word. Just think of this. We often use our index finger to trace lines on a page when we're reading. So the index finger reminds us to read it. Everybody say read it. Hold up the index finger with the middle finger. We're not going to hold up the middle finger alone. You might feel like it, but don't do it. The middle finger reminds us we need to hear it. We need to hear the Word. Now everybody holds up the third finger. It looks a little bit like the middle finger, so people might get a little nervous. That's our ring finger, right? On this hand, it's the finger I wear my wedding band on. Whenever I touch the wedding band, it reminds me of the promises I've made to my wife. So the navigators said when you think of the ring finger, meditate on the Word. So we've got read it, middle finger, hear it, ring finger is what, meditate on it. The little finger, everybody hold up your pinky, your pinky finger. That reminds us, anybody recall when you were a child making pinky promises? This reminds us that the little finger reminds us that God has given us exceedingly great and precious promises, and we need to take them to heart by memorizing those scriptures. Now let's go to that blue collar, digit on your hand, the thumb. I mean that's the working digit right there. That thumb is the hard working digit of the hand. And that reminds us, the navigator said whenever you think of the thumb, it reminds us that we need to study the Word. I want you to get your head around this. I've never forgotten it after years and years. I go back to it again and again. Ring finger means what, read it. Middle finger means what, hear it. Ring finger means what, meditate on it. Little finger means what, memorize it. The thumb means what, study it, do the hard work, study it. But that's not enough because holding them all together is the palm. And that reminds us that we need to put it into action. We've got to apply it. See it's practically impossible to maintain a grip on the sword without all of those digits. And that's why I want to encourage you. This is one of the things I'm so passionate about. So often we're at the turn to an expert for insight into God's word. And I'm so thankful for the gifts God's given the body of Christ. I don't want you to hear me at all minimizing those gifts because we know from Ephesians that God has placed the five full ministry gifts in the body of Christ to equip the body of Christ that they might do the work of the ministry. We know that it's beautiful. We should never minimize those who've been called and gifted to teach and to share and to preach and to prophesy. But you also need to know this because you are a child of God. The moment you placed your faith in Jesus Christ, the moment you placed your faith in Jesus Christ. You were washed in the blood of Jesus Christ. You became a totally brand new person with a brand new mind. And further, the author of Scripture himself, the Holy Spirit, took up residence and he now lives in you. And one of the purposes that the Holy Spirit serves is to illuminate the Word of God to the people of God so that they can become all that God imagines them to be. Amen? So tonight is dangerous for me and it's dangerous because of this. I can veg out on this stuff. I love it. What I'm going to share has revolutionized my life. But not everybody gets as excited about it as I do. So if I see your eyes sort of glossing over, we'll just call it a man and we'll come back after Queen for a day. The next Wednesday night we're gathered. How's that? Okay? So let's go. Read it. Six ways to go. So we're just going to go through all five digits and the palm. And I'm going to give you some thoughts about how to do this. First of all, read it. I love the way Augustine thought about Scripture. You said the Holy Scriptures are our letters from home. Isn't he right? The great British theologian. He said the Bible is the book of my life. It's the book I live with, the book I live by, the book I want to die by. Read it. Listen to the blessing Jesus announced upon those who read it. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy. Most of those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it because the time is near. Blessed is the one who does what? Reads aloud. One of the things the church really needs to recover in 2024 is the public reading of Scripture. Do you know there was occasion in the book of Ezra where the people came together and for hours they just stood and listened as the priest read the book of the law for hours and they stood to listen as the word of God was read. I wonder what kind of revival would take place. If we return that kind of preeminence where there was a hunger that just weld up in us, we knew, yes, I can read it at home. Yes, I can read it at my own time. But oh, when the body of Christ gathers to hear another brother or sister in Christ read those words and to hear someone beside me affirm it with yes and amen. You know, God was so serious about reading the word, he thought that the regular consistent reading of his word was so important that he gave these instructions to future kings in Israel. This won't come up on the screen. God just put it for you in your notes. Listen to what God directed for kings in Israel. If you were going to be a king, God said, this is protocol. This is what you do. When the future king sits on the throne as king, he must copy for himself this body of instruction on a scroll, the Torah, verse 5 books. In the presence of a Levitical priest, why? The Levitical priest was there to ensure that the king didn't leave out something he didn't like. He must always keep that copy with him and read it daily as long as, wait. He must always keep that copy. He must always keep that copy with him and read it daily as long as he lives. That way, he will learn to fear the Lord, his God, by obeying all the terms of these instructions and decrees, this regular reading will prevent him from becoming proud and acting as if he is above his fellow citizens. It will also prevent him from turning away from these commands in the smallest way and it will ensure that he and his descendants will reign from many generations. That was God's protocol for kings. Those verses are packed with promises. God said that reading his word daily, will, did you get it, cultivate reverence in the life of the reader? It will inspire a person to obey and honor God in their attitudes and their actions. This is not in your notes. Three, it will serve as a preventative against pride and help a person develop humility. You ever feel like that? I mean, you're selling alone and then you read scripture and it's like, I've got so much growing to do. It will help you keep your life on track and on course. It will ensure future blessings and prosperity. God was so serious about future leaders in Israel that he said, I want your life shaped by the daily reading of scripture. These were the instructions. You can fill in the blanks now. He exhorted the leaders in Israel. Write your own personal copy of God's word in the presence of a Levitical priest. The presence of the priest was for accountability. Write your own personal copy. The priest was there to make certain nothing was omitted. Everything was there. Two, second bullet, always keep that personal copy of God's word with you. It was meant to remind them that you're absolutely dependent upon the word of God. For your life and your leadership, it was to remind them of something Jesus would later say when he said, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. It was to remind those kings that your life is not in your power or prestige. Your life is in me. Three, he said read it daily. Dallas Willard, he's gone on to being with the Lord, but Dallas Willard before his death said this, few people arise in the morning as hungry for God as they are for cornflakes or toast and eggs. Job was a guy who was hungry for the word. Here's what he said, Job 2312, I have not departed from the command of his lips. I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. Job was under a severe attack from Satan when he spoke those words. But even under severe attack, he said, I've treasured his words as more important than necessary food. Even though the attack of the evil one was relentless and severe, Job knew this, I'm better equipped to remain steadfast and faithful if God's word is the foundation of my life, not a nutritious breakfast. So if it comes down to breakfast or God's word, I'm going with God's word. Christine came. She nailed it when she described 21st century Christians like this. She said, we want a drive-through scripture to try and sustain us forever. Keep it under 140 characters. A verse a day will keep the devil away. You've got to be kidding. In the day and the age in which we live, you had better be feasting on the Word of God. Christine is right. We tend to think of food as essential to health. God's word is essential to our health. A few suggestions on how to read God's word. You ready? This is where we get into the practical weeds. And let me just say, I've been teaching the Bible for 40 years and I've been pastoring for about 35 years. And this is one of the most frustrating things to me about, about pastoring. And when I say frustrating, I don't want you to hear, I don't want you to hear a disgust for people because it's not a disgust. And giant makes great clothing, t-shirts, jeans, and more, right here in the US, creating jobs in towns and cities across the country. Support America's workers and get 20% off your first order at american-giant.com with code staple20. It's frustrating. When I hear people complain about the quality or state of their life or this or that situation, and then you give them practical tools and they ignore those tuples, it's heartbreaking. It's absolutely heartbreaking. What I'm about to share with you is not theory. Now I've tried and messed up so many times when it comes to a daily habit with God's word. And I'm going to balance out what I'm about to say as this teaching continues. But something clicked, I can't point to the exact date, I can't, I wish I could point to the exact date, I don't know when it happened. You know, I think there's something about discipleship that's like that. It's not like salvation, we can point to a moment in which we were saved. But discipleship is progressive. And often we don't see progress while it's occurring. All we see is three steps forward, two steps back, or two steps forward, and three steps back. And we wonder, am I making headway until we realize, oh, it was just the practice of doing day in, day out, what I knew to do, whether I heard angel choirs or not, that got me to a place of victory. So here are my suggestions. Number one, read God's word with a plan. Let me just tell you, you may get a few blessings, spiritually, ever once in a while by the, okay, God, I'm going to open it up wherever my finger lands. Here we go, Lord. Here we go. Here we go. Wherever it lands, that's where I'm going to read. Oh, there it is. Judas went out and hanged himself. Okay, let's give this another trilord. We're going to go back. Here we go. Wherever. Wherever it lands. What? Go down, do likewise. I think something got missed there. Read the word of God with a plan. I've listed for you in your notes several great Bible plans. Let me tell you my favorite. It's the machine a plan. It's a one year Bible reading plan. If you, if you use that plan, you'll read through the New Testament and Psalms twice every year and the entire Bible once and you're daily reading at a normal pace. I'm not talking about speed reading is about 15 or 20 minutes. That's, that's doable. It's a doable plan. And here's the other issue. Some people, I've got a friend, I believe Nick Spadden shared this with me. Nick said, Chris, I'm using the machine a plan, but I wanted to slow it down because I wanted more time in each passage. So I'm only doing half of the plan each day. Instead of four chapters each day, I do two because I want to take time with the plan. That's fine. Get it. The goal of Bible reading daily is not quantity, how much you can read. The daily is quality. The daily, the goal is this, not that you read the Bible, but you get to the place where the Bible is reading you. And let me just say to you, if you open up your plan and it's in that first reading from the plan that the Holy Spirit just captivates you and wrecks you and you can't even get past that chapter. You just accomplished the purpose. It was to meet with God. So read it with a plan, two, second thought. If you don't like this part, this is preferential. It's not gospel. Read it in different translations. I've got a logos Bible software and I love that Bible software. We'll talk about it when we get to study. And I keep about eight translations of Scripture open on my screen every time I go to read. I read daily in the NLT. It's my reading translation of choice. I love the way it flows. It's a thought for thought translation. We'll talk about translations in a moment. But I read things in the NLT. My digital Bible is all marked up. Just like a paper Bible is marked up. My digital Bible is marked up. Pastor Rhonda and I are very, very different in this way. Pastor Rhonda writes things out by hand. Here's the problem with my writing. If I wrote things out by hand after about ten minutes, I would need the gift of interpretation from the Holy Spirit to tell me what I wrote down because I wouldn't be able to read it. So years ago, I went to digital format so that I can write in a way that I can actually read and remember. I need that. Not everybody does. I gave you a few thoughts on translations. The three types of translations, do you see them? This is an extensive list. This is an exemplary list. They're word for word translations. These are called formal equivalents. These translations strive for a literal rendering of the words in the original languages. Some word choices, however, are closer to thought for thought, but they strive for a literal rendering, translations that exceed in doing this, the New American Standard, the ESV, the Amplified. Anybody got one of those old amplified Bibles with a red cover? Yeah, a very, very literal translation. Then there are thought for thought translations. These are called dynamic equivalents translations. Those translations seek a balance between what could be a stilted, awkward, unnatural literal expression and current expressions or colloquial realisms. Anybody here read the ESV, English Standard Version? A lot of people, a lot of my friends, especially my friends who went to seminary, love the ESV. They love it. Every time I read it, it stunts me because of some of the stilted ways it reads. It just reads very unnatural, and from my mind, that's difficult for me to comprehend. But what I do, because I do know how accurate the ESV is, when I'm reading along in the NLT and I read a passage that arrests me, the ESV is one of the translations I keep open. I immediately go to the ESV, I see how it compares. Then there's the paraphrase. This is a functional equivalent. These versions of the Bible tend to convey the meaning of the text using modern expressions. We would know a very popular paraphrase is the message, Eugene Peterson, of the Passion Translation. The Passion Translation is called a translation. I know people who know Brian Simmons personally, they say he's a wonderful man, that he loves Jesus with all of his heart. I don't doubt it because to me, the footnotes in the Passion Translation are worth the cost of the Bible. The footnotes are gold. They are awesome. I mean, I love those footnotes. But the Passion Translation, let me just say, it is not a translation. It is a paraphrase. And you have to acknowledge that. And let me just say, before you read the Passion Translation and you get up with a new revelation that no other translation says, compare it. If it's the only one out there saying this, Brian took a little liberty with the text there. He's saying something that God impressed his heart with. Then there's the voice. The voice, you can find that on Bible Gateway, it's dynamic. I look at it regularly and it's amazing to me how it lights up Scripture. The living Bible, it's an older paraphrase, but still a powerful paraphrase. Kenneth Taylor wrote the living Bible because he wanted his children to be, he never intended for it to be published. He was just trying to help his children understand the Bible. So he would write them what he felt was the translation of a particular text. That's a paraphrase. Third way, third way to read the Bible, read it out loud to yourself. Well obviously place and location matters. There's power in doing this. So two days ago, I usually run with my dog, but I don't talk out loud a lot to him when we're running because he keeps looking at me and I'm afraid he's going to get us hurt. He thinks I'm talking to him. Well a couple of mornings ago I ran so early that when I went to go get him to run with me, he looked at me like I was out of my mind. It's like nope, stand right here buddy, I'm not budging. Thank God. Because it was a five mile run and I got, I go through a series of scriptural quotations every day and that day I got to say them out loud. And because I live out in the country, nobody's around, so some of them, when they really started resonating with me, I said them really, really loud. There's something, there's something about that triple sensory experience. Reading the word, speaking the word, hearing the word that somehow gets it deeper into your spirit. Some people say to me, Chris, how do you memorize scripture? Let me just say my habit is to read, speak, hear repeatedly. It's the same with names. What is it? Stephen and Christian, am I right? How did I do that tonight, that memorization? Because while I was with them, three times I said out loud, Stephen, Christian, while looking them right in the face, right out loud, now if they just told me their names and I walked off three seconds later, I'm not going to remember it. And I would be embarrassed, so the rest of the meeting, you know what I would say, it's so good to see you tonight brother. But I've learned, for me, that triple sensory experience, seeing, reading, hearing, it does something to resonate for, and I love this, I use this almost every day. Read it with audio narration from the Bible app. I love audio narration. In fact, there's some warnings, I do my time with God. Even the scripture is so rich, but I've got to go, that I just opened up my Bible app, put it in my ears, and I'll just play it again and again. I'll go with the N-L-T, the N-I-V, the message, and I'll listen to it over and over. And there's something about, that's a double sensory experience, five, fifth journal what you read. Without this practice, I would have trouble staying focused when I read. So I tend to journal practically everything I read, in one way or another, if it's worth keeping up with. And what I mean by everything, is if I read great books, I make notes in those books. When I'm reading the Bible, I make notes. And I'll learn from me, putting those notes in an accessible file is really, really helpful to me. There are some days, and I'm sorry, I just, I get bent out of shape by some of this stuff. Sunday morning, I usually try to sleep in a little bit, I go to church, but I don't tend to get up as early. Well, this past Sunday morning, I just woke up so early, and I went to open the word and oh my goodness, the Lord just met with me. And I started writing things down, and the Lord started causing me to remember other things that I'd written down in the past. So I started transferring them over, because I felt like the Lord was reaffirming those promises for this particular day. And then because I got up so early, I don't usually have time to do it on Sunday morning, I went for a prayer jog. Oh my gosh, I was just going over all those promises, I was crying, I was speaking in tongues, I was praying, nobody was out, so it didn't matter. It was only God, me, my dog, and the deer, and nobody seemed to care. I mean, I bet I saw 20 deer that morning, and I was just, and it was amazing to me, all those promises that had been journaled, they were coming back, and it leads me to the six meeting, I'd do this on a regular basis, pray back to God what you've read. That's what I did that morning. The Scriptures had so resonated with me that during that jog, I just prayed through them. And I was asking God to apply them, and then I was remembering promises that were connected to them. Seven, don't give up when you miss a day. I want you to write that one down. Don't give up when you miss a day. How many of you have started a Bible reading plan in January, January 1, and you had abandoned it by the middle of February? Anybody here? And what happens? You need to know the evil one has a tactic, and that tactic is shame. So we miss a day, and isn't this interesting the way the evil one does? You miss that. Are you really going to come back to it tomorrow? So you miss another day, and what does he do with each day you miss? He just compounds shame, right? Until we finally abandon the plan altogether, "Well, I'm not as well give up. I'm never going to finish." Let's compare this to something. This may not be true of everyone, but how many of you have ever gotten so busy on a task and assignment? Maybe you went fishing something you loved, but you got so busy doing something that you forgot to eat lunch. You just fished right through lunch. You just worked right through lunch, and it wasn't like you missed it. It wasn't like you went around with a hunger pain. It's just like you were so involved and engaged that you missed it. Let me just ask you, after missing lunch and your body needs nutrition, did you say to yourself, "You know, I miss lunch. I might as well not do supper. I might as well give up. I mean, I've already missed the flow. I might as well give up." No, if you miss a meal, usually what you will do is, "Oh, I missed a meal." So I have a little bit of extra legroom in that next meal. I can eat a hamburger in half. Listen. There are days. There are days that my wife and I are so spent by the end of the day. We're just tired from a long day or whatever. The body is sort of weird, so there are some days, I can't even lay a finger on the reason for which I'm so tired. But there are days when we will lay in bed and we do a nightly ritual of prayer and those things. And there are some nights when it's beautiful. I mean, we pray about stuff, we talk about stuff, we rehearse promises. And there are other nights when it's like, "Lord, I'm so tired. All I can say is, "Blesser, I love her a lot and bless my family." You really think your father. You really think your father is up there saying, "I don't know, bud. It just wasn't enough, good enough performance. For me to answer, for me to pause what I'm doing in this world, you're gonna have to, your father loves you." Well, Chris, I've read the word in the morning and I've fallen asleep while reading God's word. I'm so embarrassed. Really? I raised three daughters. When any one of them fell asleep in my lap, I never once scolded them, "Who do you think you are falling asleep in your daddy's lap?" I just passed in that moment of beauty and intimacy of my child, being that comfortable and secure in my love that the child could go to sleep. Your father is one million times a better dad than any of us are. He understands these things. So get this, don't give up when you miss a day, refuse shame. Just open it back up the next day and number eight, just keep at it. Let me just, this is why I'm so passionate about this. You realize that depending on your reading pace, if you read the Bible approximately 15 minutes a day, you'll probably read through the entire Bible once in the next year, 15 minutes. And some of you, I know what you're thinking, 15 minutes? That's nothing. What? 15 minutes over 365 days, do you know what that amounts to? More than 90 hours. Do you think 90 hours in God's word would change you? Oh wait, let's do this. Let's do 90 hours over five years. Now we're up to 450 hours. At 10 years, we're up to 9,000 hours. Can anybody see the power and impact of just, of just starting? And here's what's cool, here's what's cool. Starting is difficult, right? Starting, I mean, anything, to start anything takes more energy than likely any, any phase of the whole expedition. Starting is tough. Like when a space rocket launches, more energy is used in that launch than in the whole mission. Starting is difficult. That's why I encourage you, start small. Don't bite off more than you can chew. If 15 minutes is too much, start with five. Start with 10. Don't set unrealistic goals. Set a goal that is achievable. Why? It is in the daily discipline of the habit. It is in that daily habit, that consistency, that habits are formed. And then here's what happens. You're successful doing 10. You know what's going to happen on some days? You're going to get so into a scripture that before you know it, oh my goodness, I've got to go to work. I've spent 30 minutes here. There are going to be some days, oh my goodness, I've got to get on with my day, I've spent an hour in this text. There are going to be moments like that that are going to be revolutionary for you that came just from reading God's Word. Does that pump anybody else up like me? Now I don't know when I started. So let's limit it to one more then, okay, because I don't want to rush it. Let's do to hear it, okay? Let's do hear it. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. If you want to grow your faith, if you really want to strengthen your grip, hear the Word of God. This is why I'm a big fan of public reading of scripture. I think it's so powerful. I didn't grow up in a liturgical church, but let me just say, it's not either or with me, liturgical church or contemporary church or liturgical church or Pentecostal church. I think we ought to take any element that is biblical and implement it regardless of what tradition it came from. And we would do well in the Pentecostal church to give more attendance to the reading of scripture and not just by the orators. For a few years at the church I pastored, in the last few years I was pastoring, we would start the year this way. We would read through the entire Bible in a week, out loud from the stage, and we would broadcast it online. We would read around the clot literally. Why? We wanted, we believe, and we would read in the microphone because we wanted to declare the Word of God over our campus. We wanted it to go out so that over our campus people were welcome to come and sit just as, and people would come and sit as the Word of God was being read, and then they would go to work. And we had, we had old people read, we had children read. One morning Joseph Mungdai is a king and friend of mine. His son RJ came up to help his mother Esta, read the Word of God out loud. Folks, you could hardly peel me off the carpet, because when that child began to read the Word of God in that room, there came a holiness over that place. It was just as if God himself stepped in. This is the pattern in scripture, Exodus 24, not in your notes, but you might want to jot it down. Moses read scripture to the nation of Israel on Mount Sinai. Deuteronomy 31, 9-3, Moses commanded the nation of Israel to read the Torah, first five books at a gathered assembly at the end of every seven years during the festival of shelters. Joshua 834, when Israel renewed their covenant with God after an initial defeat and ultimate victory at eye, Joshua read scripture to the gathered nation. Second Kings 23-1, when King Josiah began to turn to God, he gathered the intarnation and read the entire Torah to the gathered nation of Israel. It launched one of the greatest revivals in Israel's history, Nehemiah chapter 8 after the rebuilding of the broken down walls in Jerusalem, as the people assembled Nehemiah and the gathered exiles asked Ezra the priest to read scripture publicly. He stood and read for hours, six hours, to be exact as the people reverently listened. It's not an accident that Jesus actually launched his ministry by doing what? Publicly reading scripture, Isaiah 61, "The spirit of the sovereign Lord is upon me and he has anointed me." Paul challenged Timothy, 1 Timothy 4, 13, until I come devote yourself to the public reading of scripture. In other words, here's what the writers are saying. He needs to read while the congregation hears, right? So what are a few ways to hear? I didn't put this for you in your notes, but I'll go over them again. Use the audio narration on the Bible app. I love that. I use it practically every day. Start a regular practice of reading God's word out loud to yourself. Yes, out loud to yourself. Or sometimes I'll just open the scripture and I'll pace in my home reading the scripture out loud. Start a regular practice in your family of having a family member read God's word out loud while the rest of the family listens. Then let family members ask questions, discuss what was read. If you're not already part of a small group, form a small group and let somebody in that group. Every time you gather, you know, we didn't have many guidelines for small groups when we did small groups as a church, but we had a few guidelines. First of all, when you get together, you got to read God's word. Otherwise, you're not a small group, you're a social club. You read God's word. Secondly, you pray. There's got to be prayer at some point in that group gathering. Third, you got to fellowship. You just got to hang out. And fourth, you need some kind of mission or activity. Every once in a while, you need to get your hands dirty and serve somewhere. If you're not serving, all you're doing is receiving. And that's not a fully, fully developed believer. Next, listen as God's word is being taught by your pastor. I've said this a bunch, but your pastor is a gifted teacher of God's word. The Bible says this, "Those who serve the church well especially in doctrine are worthy of double honor." So could you give Pastor Rhonda a little double honor? And then let me just encourage you to do this. And I pulled Pastor Rhonda this week. I said, "What are the podcasts you listen to?" If you want a sermon that it reaches your soul, and it was interesting to me, we listened to a lot of the same people. But check out excellent podcasts where gifted teachers teach God's word. I mean, every week I listen to Bill Johnson teach every week. I'm going to listen to Bethel Sermon of the week. And if it's not Bill, it's Dan Fairley, or it's Chris Valleton, or it's some other guest, but I love to hear Bill. And if Bill's not teaching, and the person they got feeling in for Bill isn't good, I just go back and find a Bill one and listen to Bill again, because I just love to hear that man teach. Your Adam Bauer, praise community church in York, Pennsylvania, has become one of my favorite speakers. I love to hear Pastor Bauer. He just teaches Jensen Franklin. I'm amazed. Oh my goodness. I love to listen to Jensen. And there are so many days that if I'm listening while I'm working out or running, it just gets me so fired up. That dude is so anointed. Tim Keller, isn't this amazing? I go from Pentecost of the Presbyterian. And I get fed by them all. I'm amazed. I get fed by them all. Chris Valleton. I love to hear Chris. I love to hear Chris, because Chris regularly says something and then has to go back and correct it. And that just makes me feel so much more human. I'm like, oh, thank God, there's another pastor on the planet who says stuff that he shouldn't have said and needs to fix it. But he's so gifted in teaching, but every week I listen to teachers, why? Because my faith needs it. You know, I'm not going to mention the name, because the name would be suspect and suspicious. I really do get tired of the judgmentalism in the body of Christ these days. But I happen, God gave me a word about three or four, maybe two months ago. I was running in Florida before it was to speak on a Sunday morning and I was rehearsing Ephesians 3-20 on my run, just going over and over and over it. And I was going over it in the Passion translation. I wanted to memorize that. And right now I'd probably blow it. Let's see. Never doubt God's mighty power to work in you to accomplish all this. He will do, see, I've already forgotten that particular translation. But it says something about, "He'll outdo your wildest imagination." And I was going through that and I felt like God spoke to me, "Chris, I want to set your imagination on fire." And I felt that, in fact, I went right off that run. I don't do this ordinarily. I went and taught on that that morning. I didn't have a developed sermon. Somehow the Lord blew it up, it worked. I mean, the Lord did it that day because I'm so nervous about not having notes. I've got 50 pages of notes with me tonight. So I get so nervous, but I went in there and I just taught that thing. So I started looking for a resource on imagination because God had said to me, "I want to set your imagination on fire." And I ran across this book on imagination and it's by a guy that I've heard some people say, "You know what? He's one of those faith teachers or whatever." And yesterday I'm listening to the audio of that book. And, oh my goodness, the Lord just lit me up. And it was like, "Chris, that's you," when you put that into practice and it was a specific word for me that I needed at that moment. So hear it. Here are two essentials and then we're done. That way we can take back up in two weeks where we left off. When it comes to hearing God's word, Jesus gave two essentials. Pay close attention to what you hear. What you hear relates to content. It's important to be wise and discerning when it comes to content. Leviticus 8 describes the anointing ceremony for Aaron and his sons in ministry. Contains an interesting picture of what God wants to do for every follower of Jesus. It says this, "Then Moses took some of its blood and applied it to the lobe of Aaron's right ear, the thumb of his right hand, the big toe of his right foot. The blood applied to Aaron and his sons ears was a symbol of consecrated hearing. The blood applied to their thumb was a symbol of consecrated service. The blood applied to the toe was a symbol of a consecrated walk." In this day I want to tell you what I've got to have is consecrated hearing. I don't know about you, but it's really easy for me to get sucked into a new cycle. Especially in an election year, I can get so sucked into seeing who's leading the poll, who's saying what, who's doing this, who's doing that. Before you know it, I've allowed the news media to dictate the state of my spirit instead of the word of God dictating the state of my spirit. I want God's word to be the first word and the last word on what's going on in my spirit to take heed what you hear. For some of us, the best thing we could do, in fact, I was talking to a man in my office this morning. He said, "You know, when it comes to politics, I just have to shut it off because my mind can get so fixated and focused that I obsess over it. I obsess and I can't control it. I just obsess." He said, "So for me, I've just shut it off. I'm not going to be engaged. I'm not going to watch. I'm not going to listen to because my mind has to be directed by the word of God and I know my tendency to obsess. Pay close attention to what you hear and then here's what Jesus said as well. Pay close attention to what, how you hear, how applies to the attitude." So remember last week, I'll close with this, I gave you ways and I really, I love being a champion of pastors these days because I know how hard this is to week after week, get up and feed the flock. So let me just encourage you. If it's at all possible, and by the way, if it's not possible, listen, I'd rather, when I was a pastor, somebody would say, "Pastor, I'm so sorry I was there late." I'm like, "Hey, you were there." And there are some people, I understand why they're late. In fact, there are some people what they go through to get there, I'm surprised they came. I'm just glad they got there, right? But if it's possible to arrive early, walk through this place, walk through this place just speaking over it. Walk over that outer, that outer parking lot speaking over it. Feel your heart by engaging in worship, you want your heart to be fertile soil. Sunday morning, let me just tell you, "Whew, Sunday morning I had that time with God. Remember I told you about?" Well my brother was speaking, my little brother, at Watts Bar Community Church. So I went up there and all the way up there, all I'd done in the truck is unpack with Janet, what God had been pouring down into me. "Man, we were having church in the vehicle on the way to here, Casey." Then we got to that church and they were singing that song by Maverick City. Can you imagine all of the faith in the room what the Lord will do, what the Lord will do? It's going to happen just like the man way make a through. He's going to move, he's going to move, anything is possible and those drums are hitting anything. I'm telling you man, I go, my watch is asking me, do you want to record this workout? That's how crazy I'm getting into it. Well, because it was like I had prepared my heart, I got to church and God was there to meet with me. You'll be surprised what God can do. When your pastor is speaking, I just want to say this, be engaged with the pastor. Smile, nod, say amen, take those notes. I mean, there's an energy that comes in something powerful. Jesus said, "If any two will agree together," there's some aspect of that that's present. He's asked, "Holy Spirit, what are you saying to me?" And then put it into practice. That's the first two, okay? Read it and hear it. Everybody hold up your index finger and say, "Read it." Hold up that middle finger with your index finger. Don't you give me a half-piece sign after this teaching? Say hear it. Amen. Pastor Rhonda, God bless you. Two weeks we'll be back and we'll finish this one.