I want to go on and thanking the people, a lot of people need to be thanked really. I want to thank the Board of Directors of the Christian Activities for having this retreat because we did boot camp for years and we haven't had one in a while. I don't know when we'll start them back again if we ever do, but I'm really glad that this kind of activity is taking part in this part of the country. I'm glad he said it's going to be an ongoing thing. I also want to thank Riffey Church for letting us use your facilities. It's been very gracious of you to do that. It's been a great place to meet. I also just thank all the kids for coming, for wanting to come to something like this, and also the parents that have gone all their way. Some of them had to drive a long way, like Brother Hugh Hardy from Texas and others. So I'm thankful for the effort that's gone, and I hope it's been, and I know it has been, for the honor and glory of God. I've got a simple sermon tonight. I'm going to give you the sermon title before I begin to kind of talk about it a little bit. And if you don't even remember the sermon, if you remember the title, it will help you out a whole lot. And then not only for this time we've been together, but anytime we go to church or hear any kind of a sermon, And the title is two words, well actually three words, hear and do, hear and do. So get that now, I won't quit right now, but if I quit right now, that'd probably be pretty good, hear and do. You've been doing a lot of hearing, I thank God for that. You've been taking a lot of notes, I thank God for that. I've gone to a lot of different things, both church and seminars, I've taken a lot of notes. I've been to a lot of Bill Guthrie seminars. I mean just right to your hand, just almost thawed off for maybe five days. I've got a whole shuffle of Bill B. Alfred books. I even went to an event seminar one time down in Texas and took many, many notes. I've been to several pastor seminars, took a lot of notes. One time I went down to Memphis at the First Evangelical Church and heard James Montgomery's voice. He gave a great seminar on renewing your mind. I took lots of notes there too. And then Brother Ivey, Brother Timothy and I got to go to a Mark Deaver seminar in Memphis a year or so ago and I took a bunch of notes there. And I think a lot of the church I'm going to take all these notes. But sometimes what I do is go somewhere and write a lot of notes down and stick a book back up on the shelf and that's the last of it. I'm sorry to say that's the truth because you can't, you won't remember everything. So I'm not saying you got to do everything that you have heard but you ought to do something you've heard because the devil doesn't want you to hear anything. but what he really gets excited about in a bad way when you do something. So let me give you several things to think about before I get out. So it's hear and do. There's a lot about hearing and a lot about doing. Now, number one, you ought to want to be motivated to do for God's glory. I want to say that first of all. That ought to be the number one motive. We know that we want to do to be better Christians and all that, and it's good for us. But number one, the main motivation that will sustain us is we want to do it for the glory of God. Let me give you two verses on that. One of them is Philippians 111. Here what Paul says, at the end of a prayer, Philippians 1-11, there's three things in this verse here. Being filled with the fruit of righteousness. You ought to be filled with the fruit of righteousness. You've heard a lot this week about the fruit of righteousness. Being filled with the fruit of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ. You may not know this yet, but I'm telling you, you can't have a lick of the snake without the Lord. We're obligated to do things, but you've got to have God. You can't do it. We've got to be determined that we do put forth human effort. But in the long run, the Lord is the one who gives us the grace to do it. So being filled with the fruit of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, and get this, the glory and praise of God. You ought to want to bear a lot of fruit, lots of fruit, for God's glory. Be an outstanding Christian for God's glory. And then the other verse, it says the same thing. Really, Christ said it himself. And Brother Mike Stewart got close to it, I think, today sometime. In John 15, 8, John 15, 8, he said, get this. Herein, if my father glorified, that ye bear much fruit. How about that? Herein, my father glorified, ye bear much fruit. So we're bearing fruit to the glory of God. We want to be obedient Christians that God may be glorified. That ought to be the number one motive. If we're just in it because we want to be blessed, that's not good enough. Now, again, I want to emphasize the fact you can't do nothing without God. You've got to walk close to God. You can't just get this stuff and say, I'm just going to do this. You've got to have a walk of fellowship with God. Two or three verses on that. John 15, 5. Again, that good old chapter of John 15. Christ speaking there. Without me, I want you to finish this for me. Without me, you can do? Nothing. That's right. Nothing. Without me, you can do? Let's do that again. Without me, you can do what? Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Without me, you can do nothing. We've got to walk close to God. We have to have fellowship with God. Not enough to just put it in the head. You've got to walk with God. You've got to have fellowship with God. So if you get out of fellowship with God, my suggestion is go to Psalm 51 and get back in fellowship with God. And I give you a verse out of Psalm 51. The whole psalm is great. That's a good psalm to go to if you get out of fellowship with God, because if we are out of fellowship with God, we just can't do what we're supposed to be doing. So in John 51, which is a penitential psalm, verse 10, create and make plain heart O God and renew a right spirit within me. I have to pray that all the time because sometimes my heart gets all messed up and I get in a bad spirit and I know I'm in a bad spirit. I'm just kind of going through the motions but I'm not really in there like I should. It's a good prayer to pray. Create in me a plain heart O God, renew a right spirit within me. But the good news is, and you know these verses very well, no I'm not giving you any new verses. The bad news was, and it wasn't for us, That means you can do nothing. The good news is, help me with this one also, Philippians 4, 13, we can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. So there are things you think you can't do, problems you think you can overcome, you can overcome them. There may be some problems some of you are involved in right now, long-lasting problems maybe. Maybe some kind of a habit you've got that you haven't been able to overcome. Maybe some kind of sin you would not want anybody to know about. Maybe some kind of weakness that you have. Brothers and sisters, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. So that's the preliminary. Now let's get down to this hearing and doing. I'm going to go to several places in both Old and New Testament. And listen carefully. I won't take very long on that probably. So pay good attention. Over in Joshua had a very hard job to do. A very hard job. Think about what Joshua had to do. He had to take those people who had been rebellious under Moses' ministry for 40 years. And had to lead them into Canaan's land. I mean, after they got into Canaan's land, he had to conquer the land. That's a tough job, right? That's a hard job that he had to do. But here's how he was able to do it. And you'll have a hard job, too. Here's how you'll be able to do it. Think about this now. Let's look at this over in Joshua, chapter 1, verse 8. A great verse. Joshua 1, 8. This law, this book of the law, which he means the Bible, that's the Bible. This book of the law should not depart out of thy mouth. You're going to be in this Book of the Law continuously. And we've heard said this week now, these last two days, you've got to be in the Bible all the time. You've heard that, haven't you? Haven't y'all heard that, kids? Every day, right? Is that right? Every day in the Bible. This summer, aren't we going to do that? Not sleep till 11 o'clock every day? Read our Bible every day, right? Every day, read it. Lifelong habit. Every day, all right. This Book of the Law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate. Hey, how about that word meditate? That's a pretty good word, isn't it? Not just reading real fast, Meditating. Meditating. You know what that word meditate means in the Hebrew? When I looked up for the first time, it just was very interesting to me. It means to mutter. Mutter. So I did a research on that. What do you mean mutter? Meditate. How did King James men, who all love the King James Bible, how'd they get that out of there? Here's how it was. You know, have you ever been in real deep thought? I hope you have been in deep thought. I hope I've been in deep thought every now and then. Have you ever been in just deep thought and you're kind of almost talking to yourself? You ever been there? Good, you've been there. Good. At your age. And a girl, too. So, don't forget that one. Sometime I goop off the poop, and I shouldn't have done that. But anyway, OK, look. You're talking, you're thinking so deeply. It's kind of like Hannah was at times. She was down at the temple, and the priest thought she was drunk. She said a deep prayer. Her lips moved, but no sound came out. So you're thinking about God's Word. You're not reading it so fast that you just got to get through your chapter today. He says that this book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, thou shalt meditate therein. How often shall I meditate? Day and night. Day and night. So that you'll just know the Bible and be able to argue with everybody and beat everybody in the debate. No, that last part was not in there. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do I said here, do according to all that is written therein, for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have success. So when I'm meditating in it day and night, it's not the party in my mouth day and night, but the reason I'm meditating, I want to do what's in there. And when I do what's in there, then he said, my way shall be proper. I have good success. So in that good, use that verse. I'm going to hear God's word. I'm going to do God's word. Here's what I'm saying now before I forget this in a practical way. If I were you, hope you will do this. You're not in school right now, most of you are not. Take these notebooks home that you've done such a good job taking notes and read them and listen to them on sermon audio and get a few things you can do that you have not been doing, you can put into practice. Well, I always do that even when you hear sermons. If we go to church year after year and not growing, there's something wrong. We're getting all kinds of information. We get good information from our pulpits. Sometimes we meet three times a week. It's three hours a week. It's good information. But if we're not growing, something's wrong somewhere. I'm not changing. I'm not growing. See, there's something wrong. There's a disconnect there. So try to get the habit of saying, there's at least one thing I hope God will tell me today I'm going to do that I have not been doing. OK? All right, let's go to the book of Ezra now. Chapter 7. Chapter 7. I like to use this one for charges for preachers, but it's good for everybody. There's four things here in Ezra 7, chapter 7, verse 10. And all these are good for anybody, not just preachers, anybody. Ezra, he was going to teach God's Word, but before he taught God's Word, he had to do three things first. And you ought to want to teach others, but there's three things you've got to do before you can teach others. Look at Ezra 7, 10. For Ezra had prepared his heart. Number one, you have to get your heart prepared. You know, if we just sit down and just read the Bible kind of real fast and, you know, sometimes we've got to get our heart ready, haven't we? And, you know, let me tell you this, sometimes you've got to read, just keep reading a while. If you don't get much out of it, just keep reading. You'll get something out of it. I've told this story lots of times, but I'll tell it again. I think God taught me a lesson. I'm so simple-minded, he has to teach me lessons in simple-minded ways. I like to walk a lot, so one time I'm out at Galloway Golf Course where I walk. I appreciate all those rich people keeping their yard up for me so I can enjoy them. So I'm out there walking, and I've got this big coat on. I'm about to freeze to death. I'm cold and I'm shaking. So I get to walking. I walk about 10 minutes, and I've got to unzip that thing. I walk 10 more minutes, I take it off and tie it around my waist. That really happened to me one day. My blood's getting going too, right? 10 more minutes, I roll my sleeves up. Here I am in the wintertime, my sleeves rolled up walking, and I'm warm. And God would say, He's telling me something. He spoke to me. That's what you ought to do about your prayer life. That's what you ought to do about your Bible reading life. When you first start praying sometimes you're cold. Keep on praying for a while. You're reading your Bible and you're not getting much out of it. Keep on reading a while. Ask God to help you. You'll warm up. See? You got to get your heart prepared. So Ezra had prepared his heart. That's number one. Ezra had prepared his heart. To seek the law of the Lord. In other words, now he's reading now. He's got his heart prepared. Now I'm reading the law of the Lord. I'm reading the Bible. So why are you reading it? And then to do it. See, I said here and do it, not to do it. And only then, friends, that's why I like the picture you have here. Brother Idy and Brother Lewis, I believe they practice what they preach. I think they're trying to live what they're preaching. So before they teach you, they're trying to do it. And we parents ought to be the same way, shouldn't we, parents? When we want to teach our kids God's word, we ought to prepare our hearts seek God's word, do God's word, and then we're qualified to teach God's word. So hear and do is the theme of our message today. Let's go to just a few more places now. Be through before you think I will. Over in Philippians, now let's go to Matthew first of all. I love this one. This is Matthew. Now this is, we sing this at Great Chapel almost every Wednesday night with our children. Our kids love this song. But the grown-ups all love it also. It's the wise man and the foolish man. We won't do it right now. Don't get nervous. I'm not going to do the wise man. If Monty was here, I'd do it. If Monty was here, I'd do it. Because we just love to do it. Our home every day is the wise man. We just love the wise man. But we need to think about this wise man. Look at this. Now notice both these characters are hearing God's word. So like I say, it's good to go to church, but that's the first step. It's good to come to this retreat, but that's the first step. All right, let's read a bit. Therefore, in verse 24 of Matthew, chapter 7, Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, what's the theme of our sermon? Hearing and doing. Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock. And the rain just said it, and friends, I'm telling you, young people, some of you have already experienced some of this, but I want to tell you, if you live very long, there's going to be a lot of rain in your life. give you a lot of difficult circumstances. We live in a sin-cursed earth. We live in a sin-cursed earth. You're going to have trouble. You're going to have sorrow in your life. You're going to have things that happen that will shock you in your life. I can promise you that. Man is born a woman in a few days and full of what? That's what Job said, isn't it? through much tribulation, we must enter the kingdom of heaven. You're going to have them. The old people could get up here tonight and they could probably preach us a few sermons on troubles you'll have. Many of you, I say right now, admire the way you have handled your troubles. We've had people who've lost mates. We've had all kinds of stuff have gone on. So the rain's going to come, and the floods came, and the wind blew. That's pretty bad. Big crunch of rain, floods coming up, wind blowing, almost like a hurricane probably. And being upon that house, it fell not. We found it upon a rock. Here's a churchgoer who had been obeying the Word of God pretty good in practice after they got home. Now we got another fellow who went to church also, but he didn't follow through in trying to be obedient. And everyone that hears these things of mine and doeth them not. He hears them, he doesn't do them. Shall be like unto a foolish man who built his house... The Bible says he's a foolish man. So my Bible says to you and me, when we go to church and we don't do what we hear, we're foolish. That's what the Bible says. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat up on my house. It fell, and great was the fall of it." Here's somebody who just fell apart, couldn't handle it, when the trouble came. While I'm at it, I wasn't going to read this, but I am right now. Let's look at the book of James. James says the same thing, just about. Let's look at James chapter 1. He talks about the incredible importance of the Word of God. I'm going to read verse 18, down to the end of the chapter, James chapter 1. Of his own will beget he us with the word of truth, that we should be kind of firstwritten of his scriptures. That's talking about conversion, not regeneration. I won't preach a sermon on that right now if I could, out of that very same verse I could. Brother Jamie Barber wrote a great thing on that one time on James 118. So we're being converted by God's word is very important. Of his own will beget he us with the word of truth, that we should be kind of firstwritten of his scriptures. Wherefore, get this, now the context is hearing the word of God. I know this is a true principle at all times, but especially the context is hearing the word of God. before my beloved, let every man be swift to hear, slaughter speak, slaughter wrath. That's when you're in church. Don't get mad too quick when the preacher gets on your toes. That's what he's saying, really. Be swift to hear. I tell the school kids, guess what? God gave you two ears and one mouth. What do you think he's telling us? Boy, wouldn't you look funny if you had two mouths and one ear? But some people act like that's the way it is. We ought to be ready to listen. He said, Let every man be swift to hear us, as God happens to be swift to hear. Slow to speak, slow to wrath. 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 ingratitude of the word, for you are able to save your souls. But get this, but be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only. You ready for the rest of this verse? Deceiving your own selves. Deceiving your own selves. It's easy to say, well, I've done okay. I went to church. I hadn't done anything about it, but I went to church, I heard that sermon. James said, if I hear God's word and don't do God's word, I've deceived myself. I think I'm in good shape, but I'm not in good shape at all. I've not obeyed what I heard. For if any be here of the word and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass, he looking at himself in a mirror. For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, greatly forgetteth what manner of man he was. None of us can really remember very long what he looked like in the mirror. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, that's the Bible, always looketh into the mirror, continues therein. He being not even forgetful here, but he was a doer of the work. This man should be blessed in his day. Then he gives two examples here. I love the way the Bible gives an example. He gives a negative example and a positive example. Isn't that good how the Bible teaches the principle and gives examples? So here's the negative example. Here's somebody who's gone to church. They've heard that you need to bridle your tongue. Because they hear that in church, don't they? Don't gossip. Don't talk about people. Don't, when you open your mouth, edify those to whom you're speaking. If any man among you seems to be religious, and bribeth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain. That's what God said. I didn't say that. This is the best church member you've ever seen, but they flattered their mouth, caught a cold in the church, and God said, this man's religion is vain. But now the positive example is this. We've also heard in church, we really ought to take care of poor people. We ought to be useful. And you young people, I hope you'll do that. Listen, children, let me just say where I'm at this. Be a servant, even at your age now. We love to help serve you young people, but you also serve us. And remember what somebody said, I forgot who it was, very well taken point. Pay attention to older people. We live in a generation that kind of puts old people on the junk heap. Don't do that. Go to old people. Help them out. They'll love it. And if they've got a lot of wit, you'll listen to them. So, anyway, you've heard all that. So he says, so he puts this pocket around this thing. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to vent the fatherless and widows and their affliction and to keep himself undefiled from the world. So that's an example of hearing and also doing. Let's go, let's see here. We've got another one here in Matthew chapter 12. Matthew chapter 12. And the Lord's put so much emphasis on doing, not just hearing, but also doing. This is over In the 40s, this is Chapter 12, verse 46, Matthew 12, 46. Matthew 12, 46. All right, let's read the rest of that chapter. There's not very many verses there. Let's see what Jesus Christ thinks about what I'm talking about. Matthew 12, verse 46. While he gets talked to the people, behold, his mother, that was Mary, and his brethren, that's his real brothers. We know who some of them are, in fact, we know four of their names. While he talked to the people, behold, his mother and his brethren stood without desiring to speak with him. Then one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without desiring to speak with thee. Look what he said. This ought to make us feel like we can walk with him in a good way. But he answered and said unto them, Who is my mother and my brother? Who are my brethren? Who is my real family here? He stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, those people who walked with him and obeyed him, and said, Behold, my mother and my brethren, for whosoever shall do the will of my father, which is in heaven, the same as my brother and sister and mother. Isn't that wonderful? He didn't say only here, did he? He said do. He that does the will of my father, that's my mother, that's my sister, that's my brother. Isn't that sweet? Isn't that wonderful? Now let's go to one more place. Let's go to the parable of the sower and Luke 8. This is mentioned several times in the Gospels. I want to look at Luke 8. You know the parable of the sower. A sower went forth to sow his seed. He just broadcast seed. And some of it fell on the wayside. Some of it fell on thorny ground. Some of it fell among the thorns. Some of it fell on good ground. Now let me tell you something from a doctrinal standpoint, then I'll get down to a practical standpoint. Doctrinally, I want you to know this, because I love history. I love church history. My interpretation of this parable is what printed evangelists have historically interpreted it as. There are some people that don't interpret it that way today, but historically, all evangelists used to interpret this parable the way I'm going to interpret it to you today. All of them do. You read it. There's a different kind of ground here, and the only people here who are born again are the good ground Christians. That's what our forefathers taught. That's what I believe about it. Other people hear it, but they don't bring forth any proof, because their heart has not been made good by regeneration. I mean, they love that. Our old forefathers loved that in the debate. This is one of the best scriptures they had on immediate regeneration, that the word will never have an effect unless the heart has been made good. That's the truth. But still, even though that's the truth, we can all learn something from this parable, even whether you believe it or not. If you have the opportunity to interpret it, I won't argue with you. I'm still going to teach the same lesson. The point is that We need to be careful how we hear God's Word, because the devil is always trying to choke out the Word of God. Like I say, he doesn't even like you being here, but he's going to hate you a lot worse if you go and do something based on what you have heard here. OK? So let's read that interpretation here in Luke chapter 8. And I'll start at verse 11, that Jesus Christ explained the parable himself. So you think about this now. Now, the parable is this. The seed is the Word of God. So here's the Word of God being sown. All right. Those by the wayside are they which hear, then come with the devil, taking the way that word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. So the devil is, he's at church, believe it or not, the devil's at church. So the word of God is sung, the devil's trying to take it out of our hearts. Because if we have a good heart, he can't do it. This heart hasn't been made good, as we'll see from reading on later. So he snatches the word out. But he's trying to do it to you, too. Even if you have a good heart, the devil's doing everything he can to interfere with your hearing the word of God. Have you ever got sleepy at a football game? Anybody here ever got sleepy at a football game? I never have. I love football. Have you ever been sleepy at church? I have been sleepy at church lots of times. That's an honest guy there, Earl Carson's honest. The rest of y'all should have admitted that. I have got sleepy. I'll tell you something uncanny sometimes. I can't believe it sometimes. I believe the devil's in there. I'm not kidding about that. You just got one thing about it, by the way. It'll help you go to bed on time on Saturday night. That's a practical thing to do, isn't it? If you stay up all night Saturday night, you're not going to be able to enjoy church much on Sunday morning. I will say, though, if you are sleeping, get on the back bench if you're smart. The most memorable place in the church is to be on the front bench when you're sleeping. I've been there. But I'll also say this. The best place to wake up is pinch the leg on the inside of your thigh. That'll get you. We learned that in Lamar classes. Grab that inside your thigh, pinch it good, and you'll wake up. Well, that's an extra right there. All right, look. They, on the rock or the stony ground, are they which, when they hear, they receive the word with joy. Because some people hear the word with joy. It sounds good. These have no root. And after a while, I believe, and I'm tempted to fall away. They don't last very long. I've seen lots of people like that in my lifetime. I'm not judging their hearts either, but they're people like that. They just come, and they seem to be so excited, and then before you know it, they're gone. A day which fell upon thorns is a day which, when they have heard, go forth and are choked. Get this now. This is really, we need to think, they're choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life. That's things that really tend to bother us, isn't it? Isn't it? I see a lot of heads nodding on that one. The word is choked with cares, and riches and pleasure of life, and they bring forth no fruit to perfection. They really don't bring forth any fruit to perfection. It's like what the farmers call a nubbin, a corn that just doesn't ever fully develop. It looks like it'll develop, but it doesn't develop. But they on the good ground are they which in an honest and good heart. Who made the heart honest and good? God did in regeneration. He made it honest and good. But they on the good ground are they which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, they keep it. And they bring forth fruit with patience. And of course, other prayers will say some 30 fold, some 60 fold, some 100 fold. So my friend, we need to hear and do. Let me give you now, my brother Mike taught a great lesson on strategies to overcome temptation. I'm going to tell you one. This could embarrass me. It ought to embarrass me, but it does a little bit. But I've got to just tell it. I did it to the kid down at camp. You know, how do you put the word of God into practice? Well, I'm going to give you one example. This will help you if you'll remember it. Write down these three letters on your sheet. P P capital D dot capital P capital P DPP. Okay, this is very good. Write down DPP. And DPP, here's what it stands for detecting problem patterns. I got that from Jay Adams, detecting problem patterns. So you can make your own DPP sheet up on anything you want to. I can tell you about it in a minute. I've done it lots of times. But here's what this all about. See, we are sinners. We are great sinners. We all are. So here we are. It said in Jeremiah 17, 9, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? So our heart, and even it said in Psalm 19, Lord, save me from secret faults. Those are thoughts we're not even aware of. So I've got a fault. I'm aware I've got a fault. Some kind of a problem I've got to overcome. I've been trying to overcome it. I just can't overcome it. So there's strategies, as Brother Mike said, there's strategies to overcoming it. So here's what Adam says. He says a lot of things we just do unconsciously, and we do. Do you remember tying your shoes this morning? I don't remember tying mine. I know I've tied them, but they're tied. But I'll tell you, when I first learned how to tie shoes, it was pretty tough. You ever had to teach a kid how to tie shoes? It's kind of funny, but it takes a long time. I don't wear... You know, just the first time, how about a tie? I can even tie a tie without even thinking about it. Sometime I've got to do it until the tie comes out wrong, and I get kind of irritated about it. But I can kind of do it. Well, see, you develop a habit pattern. If we didn't have habits, we couldn't do anything. You learn how to shift a gearshift car. The first few times, you just... My papa, he taught me how to drive a gearshift pickup truck. And one time, you know how you pop that clutch by the claw that comes jumping on you? And I almost had a wreck and papa's fist went up all over the windshield. He was really excited. So, but anyway, after a while, you learn how to shift gears, you just shift them. You don't even think about it. So we do things we don't even think about. But if you detect a problem pattern, then you can do something about it. Let's give an example. Let's say you get mad about something. You're married, you get mad at your wife. And you wish you hadn't done it, but it happened. And then you just do it a lot. So here's what you need to do on a DPP sheet. You start, every time you get mad, you write it down. Now, it takes effort to do that. The very fact you've got to do it is going to help you quit doing it. I did this with Judy. And we kind of got to be a joke and said, Judy, I'm just too lazy to write down because I'm going to get mad. I'm not kidding. That happens sometimes. But if you do get mad, write down what made you mad. See? And then, if you do it again the next day, write that down too. Before you know it, you'll see a pattern developing. And you can develop a strategy to overcome that habit right there. Well, here's the embarrassing one. I hate to say this, kid, but I'm just going to let it all hang out like Lewis Socrates does. I used to cuss. I hate to admit that. That's terrible for a preacher. I used to cuss. If I quit cussing out loud, I'd cuss out of my breath. I'd stomp my toe and, brother, I'd cuss. And I'm not going to do anything. So I knew it had to stop. I knew it wasn't right. So I got a DPP sheet on my computer at home. And every time I'd cuss, even say something out of my breath, I'd write it down. And you know what? I quit cussing. And my life is a lot better. And I don't even get upset anymore. I'll tell you the acid test. Now, you're going to take a look at this. Here's the acid test. I'm over at Grand Chapel. And I'm getting my lunch up. I had a great big glass of tea, just like I like it. I had some lime juice in there. I had some of that real sweet stuff in there. I asked men, I'll be sitting right there. I knock that cotton poker over. And you know what I said? I wish I had done that. I knew I had it licked in, brother. I knew I had it licked in. But I'm serious about that. That makes me sound kind of silly. But I overcame, by God's grace. That was a real problem for me. For years I tried to quit that. I said, Lord, I know this is horrible. But if I finally got a strategy, we can use strategies to overcome sin. So that's my message, precious friends. Let's here, let's also do.