But tonight, look with me at Nehemiah chapter number eight tonight. Nehemiah chapter number eight, we talked about last week, was collecting the data, getting the information. As we read, we are collecting the data of God's word into our hearts, into our minds, and we're gonna continue down that vein and see that there is a, I guess, a steps to studying, or there's some practical things we can do, but what are those idea of controlling the variables tonight? Controlling the variables. Nehemiah chapter number eight, if you're there, say amen. Amen. If you're glad I didn't call on you, raise your hand. I should have called on one of y'all. Amen. Y'all doing it real quick. Amen. I remember being in Bible college and there was a fellow sitting there. Every Monday night we had practice preaching in our second class. We'd come in. We'd come to our first class, learn something interesting about the Bible, go eat potato soup that was absolutely delicious. We'd come into our second class and there was practice preaching. So, you knew that there was a possibility of Brother Robbie Burton calling on you to preach for five minutes. And so you always came prepared. And I still remember, I was sitting there one night and this fella had his Bible open. I mean, his knees were twitching. He was just trying to read his Bible. Now, all I remember, Brother Robbie Burton walked by and said, son, it's too late to study now. But look with me at Nehemiah chapter number eight tonight. Look at verse number one. All the people gathered themselves together as one man in the street that was before the water gate. And they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord God had commanded to Israel. Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation, both of men and women, and all they could hear with understanding upon the first day of the seventh month. And he read therein before the street that was before the water gate, from the morning until midday, before the men and the women, and those that could understand, and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law. And Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood, which they had made for the purpose, and beside him stood Mathaniah, and Shema, and Ananiah, and Uriah, and Hilkiah, and Maziah, and on his right hand, on his left hand, Paddai, and Mishael, and Malchiah, and Hesham, and Haspadanna, Zechariah and Meshalem. And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people for he was above all the people and when he opened it all the people stood up. Do you see the imagery there? It looks a whole lot like what we're doing tonight. He's on a wooden pulpit above the people with the Word of God open. verse number six, and Ezra blessed the Lord and the great God and all the people answered, amen and amen with the lifting up of their hands and they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. Sounds like what we just got done doing. And Jeshua and Bananai and Shurban and Jamin and Acob and Shabbatai and Hadijah and Mesai and Kalida and Azariah and Josabath, Hanan, Peliah, and the Levites. cause the people to understand the law and the people stood in their place. And so they read in the book of, excuse me, they read in the book in the law of God distinctly and gave the sense and caused them to understand the reading. And Nehemiah, which is the Tereshatha and Ezra the priest and the scribe and the Levites that taught the people said unto all the people, this day is holy unto the Lord your God. Mourn not nor weep for all the people wept when they heard the words of the law. Then he said unto them go your way eat eat the fat and drink the sweet and Send the portions unto them who have nothing is prepared for this day is holy unto the Lord Neither be sorry for the joy of the Lord is your strength sounds like a fifth Sunday. Amen. They've worshipped they've preached and now they're eating And so the Levites stood all the people saying, hold your peace for the day is holy, neither be ye grieved. And all the people went their way to eat and to drink and to send portions and to make great mirth because they had understood the words that were declared unto them. And on the second day were gathered together chief of the fathers of all the people and the priests and the Levites unto Ezra the scribe. even to understand the words of the law. And they found written in the law, which the Lord had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh month. they that should publish and proclaim in all their cities and in Jerusalem saying go forth unto the mount and fetch olive branches and pine branches and myrtle branches and palm branches and branches of thick trees to make booths as it is written. So the people went forth and brought them and made themselves booths and every one upon the roof of his house and in their courts and in the courts of the house of God and the street of the water gate and the street of the the gate of Ephraim. As a matter of fact if you go to an Orthodox Jewish community during the Feast of Tabernacles you'll still see this take place of people building booths and living in those booths while that feast is going on. And all the congregation of them that were come again out of the captivity made booths and sat under the booths and for since the days of Jeshua the son of Nun unto the day had not the children of Israel done so. And and there was a very great gladness. Verse number 18, also day by day, from the first day unto the last day, he read in the book of the law of God, and they kept the feast seven days, and on the eighth day was a solemn assembly according to the manner. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we do ask you and we do thank you again for tonight. Lord, thank you just for the wonderful testimonies of God's you, meeting people with your word in their life. Lord, even though we flipped the Bible open randomly, God, you were still faithful to share some truths. And Lord, comfort our hearts. Lord, help us to deal with things that we're going through. But Lord, you've also called us and commanded and instructed us to study the Word of God. And Lord, help us tonight to take these simple truths and not apply them to our life. Help us to become skilled in your Word. Lord, it is a benefit to us. It is a blessing to us. Lord, it is a need in the life of every Christian to be able to be skilled in studying the Word of God. We know it starts with reading, God, but help us to build upon that into studying the Word of God tonight. Lord, we love you, we thank you in Jesus' name we pray, amen and amen. Now, when I was preparing this, I mean, I've been excited about this series, I can't tell you how long I've wanted to preach on this and teach on this and the Lord gave me the green light and and I was getting stuff together for that and I thought who in the world turns to Nehemiah to teach about studying the Word of God. Normally when we go to Nehemiah we're talking about leadership, building walls up, beating up the enemy, right, fighting with the one side and and doing all that kind of stuff and but we come here to Nehemiah chapter number 8 and We're gonna see here tonight that there's this idea that there are certain things in our study of the Word of God that we are to control, right? We are to be in charge of. And I know that sounds weird. Give me a few minutes. Let me explain it to you. Now, when it comes to a science fair experiment tonight, we talked about that first step is collecting data, getting the information of what you're gonna do, how you're gonna do it. But you're gonna find out that every experiment that you do, whether it's, you know, whatever science experiment it is, it has a thing called variables. Now, every science experiment has two kinds of variables. It has a controlled variable and an uncontrolled variable. Preacher, I didn't come from a science lesson. Bear with me tonight. It'll make sense. It has controlled variables. Those are the things that you can control in the experiment. Let's say your experiment is how fast will a plant grow? You can control what kind of plant it is. You can control what kind of soil it is. You can control the size of the pot, how much water that you give it out of a water pot. There's things about the experiment that you are to control. It must be done so if you're going to have an accurate experiment. However, there's also a thing called uncontrolled variables. These are things that you can't control. That same plant that you have sitting outside, you cannot control the temperature of outside. You cannot control how fast the wind blows or does not blow. Those things are out of our control. So you have to factor those in. How do you deal with those things that you cannot control by controlling the things that you can control? And making sure those are accurate. And the same is true when it comes to studying our Bible. There are things in our life that are outside of our control. Right, there are things that happen in our life on a daily basis that we have no say-so in, that we have no ability to control. They just come at us. We deal with them as we come. But there are aspects of our life that if we are going to have a meaningful study of God's Word, we are going to have to learn to control tonight. And so I want you to notice, number one, tonight as we look at this idea, I want you to notice, first of all, there was the desire. There was a desire of the people to hear from God's word. Verse number one, the Bible said, all the people gathered themselves together as one man in the street and was before the water gate and they spake unto Ezra. It wasn't Ezra going to them and say, hey, bless God, y'all better study your Bible, y'all better get together, come here, let's read it, y'all ain't been here all day, y'all are terrible, let's start reading and studying the Bible. That's not what happens. And I can tell you this, that's not effective. Right, that's how we approach it. You're gonna go, I ain't doing that. In spite, I ain't gonna talk like that, I ain't gonna do that. But rather, the people are coming to Ezra and saying, we want to hear the word of God. Now, context here, they have begun reconstructing the walls and also the temple, and in the process of that, that they have discovered the law of God, the word of God has been rediscovered, and now they're wanting to hear the word of God. You've got to realize tonight that you'll never make it to studying the Word of God until there is a firm desire in your heart to read God's Word. Right? You've got to have a desire. I can't make you, I can't show up to your house at whatever time you're going to read your Bible and call, did you read your Bible today? Right? Are you going to read your Bible today? No, that is something that has to start within you that says, you know what? I'm going to read and then when I read, I'm going to study and I'm going to get what God has for me. This is not Ezra going to the people. This is the people going to Ezra. And can I say tonight that had to have been encouraging in the life of Ezra that people come to him and say, go get the book. read it to us. They came with a desire to hear so they may understand. Look at verse number two. The Bible said, an answer of the priest brought the law before the congregation of both men and women and all that could hear with understanding. There was a desire not just to hear. They didn't want white noise. They didn't want just a fiddler in the background. They wanted to hear and understand. For you and I, it is I want to read and understand. Because it can become discouraging when we read and we don't understand anything. Now, tonight we must acknowledge the fact that the Bible is a spiritual book, right? A man who is, or a person who's not saved by the grace of God, this is just words on paper. But right, for those of us who are saved by the grace of God, the Holy Spirit dwells, the author lives inside of you tonight, that you have the ability not just to read, but to understand those deep spiritual truths tonight that God has placed in his word for you and I this evening. But we see that there is a desire. Their desire prompted Ezra. Ezra, go get the book. Read it to us. We will understand it. I ain't got time for that. No, that joker probably ran. I said, I'm gonna go get it now. I'm gonna go get it. You want it? I'm gonna go get it now. And I can identify with that tonight. Listen, here's the thing tonight. Thank God for amens, hallelujahs, whatever you say while I'm preaching to egg me on. Thank God for that. It's encouraging, it's a blessing, but you know tonight that the most encouraging thing to a preacher is when people come hungry for God's word. They're hungering, they're thirsting for it. Why? It's easy to feed hungry people. Right? I didn't walk over to the table at camp and be like, oh, I'm not eating that. It'd probably been the one week out, now don't try this. It'd probably been the one week out of the year I'd have ate peas with no problem. Well, I came to the meal, I'm hungry. I mean, been out in the sun and the heat all day and all of that kind of stuff, and I was hungry. It didn't take much to impress me, amen? I just put something on my plate, let me, I'm hungry. Right? I'm hungry. And hungry people are easy to feed. Now, it's easy to feed hungry people. You just have to put food out in front of them, they'll scarf it up. Right? How many of y'all raising teenagers know that to be true? They stay hungry. They just make sure it's there and they'll take care of it. Get out their way. You might lose a finger. But you know what? It's aggravating to feed picky people. Yeah, I only want chicken nuggets. Sometimes Silo says, Dad, why do you cook such disgusting food? I go, this food's good. You just don't know it yet. That's aggravating to feed picky people. It's discouraging to feed people with no appetite. Why aren't you hungry? It's disheartening when you want to feed people who aren't there. You prepare a huge meal and they don't show up. Boy, that's discouraging, ain't it? God's prepared something for us. And if we're hungry for it, boy, we're gonna enjoy it. We see tonight there was a desire that was seen in the people. It wasn't Ezra making them, y'all sit down, be quiet and listen while I read God's word. They said, oh Ezra, go get the book and read it to us. We want to understand. Let me ask you, how does your desire line up with these Israelites found in Nehemiah chapter number eight? Oh, I just, I want to read it and I want to understand it. That desire that is there. We see there's a scene, desire, notice number two, there are some variables that are controlled in this text. There are just some decisions that are made that I think are productive, not just here, but will be so also in our life. Right, this is the next step. We started randomly. Now we're gonna build upon that tonight. And we've already found out, even when I just flip my Bible open to somewhere, somehow, someplace, sometime during the day, God is faithful and God will show us some truth. And he'll help us out with those things. But we also know that there are certain things tonight, when you read it the first time, you thought, I have no idea. and what in the world's going on here? This random chapter in a random book at a random time, it's just not making any sense. What's the answer to that, preacher? Study. Right, that's the answer that comes to that. But we see there's some variables that are controlled. Now, when these variables are controlled, it produced a certain outcome. Right, we'll see this tonight. And I was reading, I was like, man, how long has this chapter been in my Bible about studying the Bible? I was over there just trying to hang out in 2 Timothy 2.15. You better study God's Word. What does that look like? Give me a practical example of it, and that's what we find here in Nehemiah chapter number eight. Notice, first of all, the variable of location was controlled. The variable of location was controlled. Look at verse number three. And he read therein before the street that was before the water gate, not Nixon, This was a gate after the construction of the walls, the reconstruction of the walls, they put in, they say outside of that gate was the Gihon Spring, that was the natural spring that supplied the water to the entire city of Jerusalem. And so, and I just thought it was interesting that they got into the water of the Word of God near the water spring that fed Jerusalem. We come here this evening and they had a specific location, right? Interesting geographical facts are wonderful. Southeastern part of Jerusalem is where this would have been found on the wall right next to the, that's interesting tonight. But the thing we can pull out of this tonight is that they had a specific place. They were controlling that variable, right? Because here's what happens. I'll get to it when I get to it. Often leads us not to getting to it. But notice there was a specific location that they went. They knew that is where the word of God was going to be read. There was a specific location. And here's the thing, you can control this variable in your life. You have the ability. to choose a location that that location is where you are going to read and study God's word. I'm not saying you gotta leave outta here tonight, go to the furniture store, it'll probably close by then. I've gotta get a special chair that nobody else is allowed to sit in, it's gonna be in this place at that point, and don't you dare touch it. I'm not saying you gotta go get a specific place tonight. That's the only thing you do. Your specific place could be your recliner. It could be your couch. It could be your kitchen table. It could be your bedroom. It could be whatever, but get you a place, right? Get you a place. Think as if it is an appointment, because really it is. Could you imagine you call the doctor? Hey, I just want to let you know you have an appointment tomorrow. We'd love to see you in the office. Well, where is your location? Well, you just go wherever you want to. Excuse me? You wanna operate on me, you don't even know where you are? Just wherever you want to. Well, good luck finding that. Right, but when you have a specific place, they had a water gate that they met at and they knew when we meet here, God's word is going to be read. Now, when you're thinking of a place in your house, I mean, if you wanna get up in the morning, go to Chick-fil-A, read your Bible at Chick-fil-A, hey, call me. I'll eat with you, amen? Right, that's, I know a dear pastor, that's where he goes to study. I couldn't do it there, there's too much going on. Right, it's gotta be, no distractions when I sit down, because I can't even listen to music that has words in it. Because if I do, I'm singing. I'm not reading anymore. Right, but a place, a specific place within your house that is conducive to not just reading, but also studying. What do you mean by that, preacher? Somewhere where you can write stuff down. Somewhere where you can easily access a notebook and a pen that way as you're studying I'd encourage you as you're studying. Listen, you've already done it once this week. You've already done it for a whole week. Get you a journal, a notebook, but put it there with your Bible at that place. Right? And knowing that's when I when I get up or whenever that time is, that's where I'm going to study God's word. Take those things into consideration. I understand you've got kids. Best place may not be the living room. Because once they're up, they ain't gonna be quiet. They're kids. But the variable location was controlled by them. And that's a variable that you're gonna have to control when it comes to studying the word of God. So not only was the location controlled, but notice this, the time was controlled. time was controlled. Look at verse number 3, and when he, excuse me, and he read therein before the street that was before the water gate from when? Morning until midday. So, there was not only a specific place there was a time. In essence, when you show up at the water gate between morning and midday, you knew it was fixing to happen. Ezra's about to open up the word of God. He was about to read and read God's word to God's people. And so we see tonight, one, that there is a specific location. There's a variable location that needs to be controlled, but also the time, right? The time when you first get up. Now, I'm one of those, listen, if I get in bed at night, It is moments before I'm gone. I've learned that I can read my Bible at night, but I ain't making it through the chapter. Before I'm in the land of Nod, the Lord's gonna talk me to sleep. So I know in my life that I'm a morning person. And I like that, I like getting up before the kids are up and everybody else is up, it's quiet in my house and all that. So I get up in the morning and I've got my place, I've got my little couch, I've got my cup of coffee, amen. Coffee goes great with studying the word of God. There's probably a verse in here somewhere that says thou shalt drink coffee while you read God's word and he will bless the fire out of it. If not, I was gonna say I was gonna add it to it but I ain't gonna do that. Right, but notice this, not only was the variable time controlled, it wasn't when they had convenience. Right, it wasn't when it happened to remember about it. It wasn't when somebody reminded them. Right, some of those things, some of those services that were handed in, there was a lot of, I just forget to. I write my schedule, I'm busy, things come up. Listen, there are parts of our life that variables that are uncontrollable. And when those come, deal with them. But think in your heart and think in your mind, I'm getting back to what I can control. I'm getting back to that time. And so they knew it was gonna be red and they knew when it was gonna be red. Or where it was gonna be red and when it was gonna be red. In essence, think about it this way. If you knew tomorrow that you had a serious doctor's appointment, right, you don't figure it out where the doctor's office is. Right, finally figured that out. But you got a serious appointment. They've called you and said, listen, we need you to come to the office. We need to sit down and talk to you. Right, how many of y'all know that's normally not good news? Right, there's something serious going on there. Would you not think about that appointment all night long? Would you not, I wonder what they're gonna talk to me about. I wonder what they're gonna say to me. I wonder what kind of news that they are going to have for me. I wonder what I'm going to learn about what condition I may have now. It would control our thinking and we'd be looking forward to that appointment. We didn't take that same mentality and say, you know what, at this time, at this place, I got an appointment with God. I wonder what he's gonna teach me. I wonder what he's gonna show me. I wonder what he's gonna give me out of the word of God as I study it. That same excitement, that same desire to see those things. Now you guys remember, you are in control of what time you will go and study the Bible. You're in control of that. That's your choice to make. Now, you may have to adjust it here and there as life changes come along. But remember, you are in control of it. But Ty, you've got some big changes coming wherever you are. There he is, way back there. He's got some big changes coming in his schedule, in his daily life. But when you sit down and think about it, there's still going to be time for you, Ty. You're going to look at your schedule and say, all right, I can control this part of it. I know drill sergeant's going to come in at 3 o'clock Wake me up even though I don't want to get up. I know there's going to be a lot of variables that are out of my control. But God, help me to control those variables that I can't control. Look at those things and say, all right, look at my schedule. I know what I've got going on. Here's the time. I know that I can do this. Well, preacher, I mean, here's the thing. You're going to go home tonight and say, well, you know what? I got to get up at 4 o'clock in the morning tomorrow. I have to get up at 4 o'clock in the morning. You're going to get up at 4 o'clock in the morning, you're going to be like this. Because your body ain't used to it. do I do? Preachers start waking up incrementally earlier. Add five minutes. Add ten minutes. Right? Ten minutes of study of God's Word is probably more than maybe you did yesterday. So you build up to those times and you get to the place, right? You know, you don't just quit cold turkey. You don't just start in that sense. But begin to build those times. But look at your life and say, you know what? I've got this time here. I know it's gonna be quiet. I know it's going to be still. I know it's gonna be peaceful. And so instead of just letting that time go to waste, that is my time. And here's where I'm gonna go do this. And I'm gonna set my Bible there. I'm gonna set my notebook there. I'm gonna set whatever study materials I may need there. And I'm gonna have it all ready right there. That way when I get up whenever that time is I've limited my distractions. I've limited my excuses I'm in control the time I'm in control location, but notice this as well tonight. This is very interesting to me Under these these variables that were controlled verses 1 and 8 we find out the portion was controlled The portion was controlled Look at verse number one. And all the people gathered together themselves, together as one man in the street, and was before the water gate, and they spake unto Ezra, the scribe, to bring the book of the law of Moses. Then go with me down to verse number eight. And so they read in the book, in the law of God. Now typically, when we find in our Bible, we see the phrase law of Moses, law of God, it's referring to what they may, some may call the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, right? Genesis, Deuteronomy, right? Those first five books of the Bible, right? There's, is typically what's being referred to there. But notice what they said. They didn't say go get the law of God. They said go get the book of the law of God. In essence, they are referring to one book out of that, right? They're referring to one book out of the law of Moses. And so both times we see the phrase, the book to signify, there was a certain one of those books. Now, reading the rest of the chapter, it was more than likely either Deuteronomy or Leviticus, right? Because what is done here, the action that takes place is found in those two books of the Bible. And so they're saying, hey, don't just start reading anywhere. Don't start reading everywhere. Go get us one of the books and begin to read that book to us. They desired to look at a specific part of the Bible and looked at it until they had some understanding of it. Get us a part, start there, and read until we understand. In essence, we're not moving on to the next part until we understand this part. And so maybe you got some help through the random Bible reading this week. Why, God sure is good, isn't he? He honors you reading his word. But when it comes to studying the word of God, it is taking a specific portion of scripture. and reading it and reading it and reading it until we come to the understanding of it. What is the Lord teaching here? What is, what is this portion of scripture all about? Now, let me ask you tonight, how controlled or how much control are you in tonight of those things that ought to be controlled in your life? Now we see here tonight that there are, uh, And here's the thing, if we're not in control of those things tonight, we have to ask ourselves, why? Why am I not in control of the time that I get up? Why am I not in control of where I study my Bible? We are to be in control of those things this evening. Now we see tonight that there is a result, number three, a result of a controlled study. Result of a controlled study. I'm not talking about your flesh is in charge, I'm talking about you are. taking those things that we know we ought to do and putting them into practice. We know we ought to have a time. We know we ought to have a place. We know we ought to have a portion of scripture that we read. Now in verse number eight, we see that they read the word of God, but it didn't stop there. Look at verse number eight, the Bible said, and gave the sense. of an essence, here's what God is saying. Here is what the Bible is teaching. Here is the truth that needs to be applied and gained into my life. And so my implication, now here's the interesting thing, that phrase to give sense means to be successful. but in the sense of being succeeding and gaining the insight or the understanding of what they had just read. Read it and help us to succeed in understanding what is being read. And the Bible says it calls them to understand. They were able to discern and consider what had just been read. They came to understand how it applied to them. Now, the great purpose of studying your Bible tonight isn't so you can gain Bible knowledge and one day hopefully make it onto Jeopardy and all the categories do with the Bible. No, we gain it so we can learn how to apply God's word to our life. How to make sense of it, how to make the understanding of it, but learning how to apply what you just read to your life, that's the purpose of studying God's word. Notice the results that came when they understood what was being read to them. Notice number one, under this point, it changed their attitude. Look at verse number nine and 10. And Nehemiah, which was the Teresithon, answered the priest, the scribe, and the Levites that taught the people, said unto all the people, this day is holy unto the Lord your God. Mourn not, nor weep. Right, for all the people wept when they heard the words of the Lord. They realized, we ain't been doing what we're supposed to be doing. We hadn't done what was about to be done since the days of Joshua. We've been so messed up, so wrong, and they're weeping over there. Now there needs to be maybe a repentance and a confession there. But Ezra goes, no, listen, you don't understand how good this is. You can now do what God wants you to do. It changed their attitude. They weren't walking around ignorantly no more. They were walking around with an understanding of what God desired out of their life. It changed their attitude. The word of God, here's the thing. The word of God isn't just for correction and rebuke. No, it does that, and it does it well. The word of God is our source of joy in the Lord, and the joy of the Lord is our strength. When we begin to study this, it'll help us to understand how we truly live the Christian life, what God truly desires out of our life, what he's done for us, and how he's provided for us, and his blessings in our life, and it'll bring a changed attitude. Those that I have found to be students of the Word of God are some of the most joyous people you can be around. They know what God's Word says. They've studied it. It's their firm foundation, what they built their life on. I tell you what, I study the Bible. I'm mad all the time. Might be time to pick a different portion. Right, it changed their attitude. Notice this, it changed their actions. It changed our action, verses 13 through 17, the Bible said the second day, this time the fathers of all the people come, the priests and the Levites and to Ezra the scribe, even to understand the words of the law. Isn't that interesting? These are the fellows who are supposed to know. They're coming and saying, can you teach me? Can you read it so I can hear? Can you teach me what needs to go on here? They realized that they were supposed to build these booths during this time of the year, during this Feast of the Tabernacles. And the Bible said they hadn't done that since the days of Joshua. And so what did they do? went out and they got all those different kind of branches, palm branches, and olive branches, and myrtle branches, and branches of thick trees, amen. That poor fella. Yeah, you got to go cut them off a thick tree. You're going to be there a while. They begin to build these booths and these houses. They begin to praise. They begin to worship the Lord. And it changed the actions that they were doing. It changed their actions. Notice the greatest benefit of studying the Bible for yourself is that you'll learn what the Bible truly says and how to implement it in your life. And the lack of great, great, great gladness in your life is probably from a lack of scriptural understanding, which is from a lack of studying the scriptures. Right, because it goes on to say in verse number 17, after they changed this, look at verse number 17, the Bible says, and there was a very great gladness. That sounds like a good time. A very great gladness. Right, because they had learned, they had read, they had heard, they had learned, they had studied, and now they're applying, and God is blessing, and there's a great gladness that comes when we learn to control these variables. It calls a continued practice, verse number 18, in day by day, right? We see the initial in verse number one. They went to Ezra, hey, read us the word. Go get us the word. When they began to understand the word of God, they said, you know what, how about we do this every day? And so we see here tonight and see when we just randomly flip, it can become discouraging because we may not know what we're reading in that moment. We don't may not know the context understanding of it. And maybe because we've lived longer in the Christian life, been around preaching, been around teaching longer than maybe somebody else. We're like, Oh, I know what's going on here. But when you begin to study this word and you begin to control those variables, you get day by day, by day, by day, by day, it'll become a part of your life that results in great gladness. You'll face problems in life. You'll say, I know what's going on here. I studied this. I know how to discern this because God's taught me some things from his word. It comes through this day by day by day. When you learn to study and glean truth for yourself, nobody is going to have to stay on you to get into God's word. You will want to keep doing it yourself. Tonight, if I gave you a pickaxe and a bucket and you went into a mine, and you come back with a big old chunk of gold, And you said, you know what, that's all I want. Oh, there's a whole thing down there. But I just want this little nugget right here. I'd call you crazy. Give me your pickaxe and bucket. Amen. I'm going to call some folks who've got dump trucks, excavators. Amen. Welcome to Wagner's Mining. Right, because I know if there's gold, if you had a nugget and there's a whole nother, I'm gonna keep digging down there. There's got to be more down there. And when it comes to the word of God, listen, when God gives you that first nugget, when that first truth pops off the page, don't sit there and say, oh, I did it, I'm done. Say, oh, that's there. I can't wait to find what else might else be in there. Amen, get excited. Be like old Yukon Cornelius. Amen. Only a fool would say, I'm done. I'm done digging. No, I'm going to keep digging, because there's got to be more in there. All right, so preacher, how are we going to put this into practice? Well, I'm so glad you asked tonight. That little paper that they handed out to you tonight has got what I want you to do this week. Now, you've read randomly once a day for the past week. Here's what I want you to do as we go through it tonight. Before you go to bed tonight, before you go to bed tonight, or if you do your Bible reading at night, before you start tonight, choose a place. Choose a place that for this week, this is gonna be where I study God's word at. Get you a notebook, get you a pen, put your Bible there, and set it down and say, got an appointment there. So pick your place. Now if you've already got a place, I'm not saying you gotta go pick another place. But go to that place. and then choose a time. Sit down, you're in control of your schedule. You're in control of your schedule tonight. So you're gonna have to take charge of that. You're gonna look at it and say, you know what? That'd be a great time. I'd encourage you from personal experience to start your day with the word of God. That way, because you never know what you're gonna face in the day, but God does. As you're studying, he may help you with that, what you're about to face. But choose a place, choose a time, make sure it's a place that allows for study. You got a front porch, you got a back porch, you got a little creek running by. I might show up at your place. Pick your place, get you a time. And then here's what I want you to do this week. I want you to pick a portion. Choose a portion on this handout, I've given you four portions. Now that I want you to read all four portions every day, I want you to pick one of these four portions and read that same portion every day this week. That make sense? So if you pick the Ten Commandments, you're gonna read Exodus 20, one through 20 every day. All right, so you have the Ten Commandments, you got the 23rd Psalm, you got the Beatitudes in Matthew, and then we have the works of the flesh and the fruit of the spirit in Galatians chapter number five. Pick one of those when you go to your place this week, I'm not saying whatever else you do during the day, whatever else you have in your program, continue that, right? But know at this time, at this place, I'm going to read this portion of scripture. And as I'm reading it, I'm going to ask myself the following questions, right? Study, study is reading the word of God with questions in mind. and writing those questions down and writing those answers down. John Phillips calls this the devotional rule, that we're to read it in a sense of where we meditate on it methodically and look at how do we apply it in our life meaningfully. But as you read the text each day, ask yourself the following, does it present me with a sin that I must avoid? Does it present me with a blessing that I can enjoy? Does it present me with a command that I must obey? Does it present me with a victory that I must gain? Does it present me with a lesson that I must learn? Does it highlight a certain characteristic or a certain truth about God the Father, God the Son, or God the Holy Spirit? Does it teach a certain truth about Satan or sin? Does it teach a certain truth about man or this world? Does it contain any words that I'm not sure about the meaning of? And if you get there and you're like, I don't know what that word means, write it down. Write it down. Does it clearly present, does it have a clearly presented subject? Does it contain any words that are repeated? Does it contain any form of symbolism or type of the Lord Jesus Christ within those? So write down your answers, observations, and questions in a notebook or journal, right? That's something I want every, I think every Christian ought to get in the habit of, I understand maybe you jot it down on your tablet, whatever it may be. I know we live in the 21st century. I understand that this evening, but get in the habit of writing those things down tonight. And so we meet back up next week, right? We're gonna go over it and see if there was an element that was added to this. As we control those variables in our life, take control of those variables. I've got a time, I've got a place, and I've got a portion. And every day at this time, at this place, I'm gonna read this portion of scripture and read it with questions in mind. Lord, what are you trying to say? What are you trying to show me? What do I need to apply to my life as I read through this portion of scripture at the same place, at the same time, every day?