Number eight, part two of two, concerning the messenger's testimony. That's the other part of our lives that God uses. Not just what we say, but how we live, what we do. And it's very important that we always try to maintain a good, proper testimony. Not only because of what God wants us to do, because of the impact we can make in people's lives. So to get started, I want you to Turn in your Bible to the book of 1 Peter 1. And we'll kick off with a couple of these verses because I believe these verses are so important. In 1 Peter 1, it says this in verse 23, being born again, not a corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God. So the Bible tells us that God's word is incorruptible. He says, which liveth and abideth forever. And then he says this, in comparison, our first birth, when we're born of the flesh, is like grass. And the glory of man is a flower of grass. And we get old and then we fly away. But the word of the Lord endures forever. So the person who is born of God has a new birth. It endures forever. So your new birth is incorruptible. The only thing that's corruptible about us is our first birth, the flesh birth, not the new birth. The new birth is when you trusted Christ as Savior. God gave you a new birth. He didn't change the old one. And this is where most people get this all mixed up. And it's hard to discern the scriptures when you don't rightly divide the scriptures. And so he makes a statement here in verse 25, but the word of the Lord endures forever. And then he says there in verse two of chapter two, as newborn babes desire that sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby. So it is the will of God that we study and desire the milk of God that we may grow and become stronger Christians. So it's hard for a person to grow in the Lord without the word of God. So when people, God's people, forsake the assembling of ourselves together where the word of God is taught, then it's going to be easy for them to, well, have their growth stunted. They're not going to be as strong and mature as they ought to be. And then if you look there in 2 Timothy and chapter 3, notice what it says about the Word of God. In verse 15, it says, and that from a child thou hath known the Holy Scriptures. So do you believe it's God's will that children know the Word of God? I believe so. And then he makes this statement because they're able to make them wise unto salvation because without that, they're not gonna be wise on how to be saved. In verse 16, all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, that means what's right, for reproof, that means for what's wrong, and for correction, how to get it right, and then for instruction and righteousness, how to teach it right. So the word of God is given to us so that we as God's children can do these things and be equipped for all good works that God wants us to do. Now if you look in your notes there, and any scriptures that I perhaps will bring out that are not in your notes, you can just write them on the side because it's good to have these notes. These notes one day might be worth a dollar. So you want to really hang on to these notes. They may have some value down the road. So the Christian soldier, which is what we are. When you trust that Christ is your Savior, you are God's child, and then it's an option. You can enlist into the service of the Lord, or you can run from the responsibility. But you will be accountable for your decision. So in Ephesians 6 and verse 17, it says this, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. So you and I want to do battle for the Lord in this old wicked world. Well, there's something that God gave to us to use and that's the sword, but the sword of the spirit is the word of God. So the Holy Spirit indwells us. And the Holy Spirit teaches us the Word. So as you learn the Word, that's the sword that God used. So it's hard for a soldier to accomplish much if he doesn't use the sword. Know the Word of God. Know the Bible. This is one of the reasons that in 1964, I felt a little, well, inadequate to do what I believe God wanted me to do. So there's two kinds of frustration. There's a frustration of desiring to do something and then lacking the motivation to do it. And then there's some people who are motivated to do things, but they lack the knowledge. So you need the knowledge and the zeal, and both together, you'd be surprised what a person can do with their life. But if you want the Holy Spirit to use you, in a great way, that means to have more influence in people's lives than it's because you're using the Word of God. So you must know the Word of God. in order for you to use the Word of God. And as you speak the Word of God, you're supposed to believe that God, through the person of the Holy Spirit, is going to take the sword, the Word, and use it for His honor and glory, and to believe in that His Word does not return void. So in 119 Psalm, and I read this back in 1963, I guess it was, And I was reading through the 119th Psalm and it says, how at all shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed according to thy word? Thy word is a light unto my path. It lights the way that we're supposed to go, gives us the knowledge. And then he talks about the entrance of thy word, giveeth light. And so therefore, if you want more light, you need more of the word of God. But remember this, Knowing the word of God and obeying the word of God, it's two different things. So that's why in James in chapter one, it says, be ye doers of the word and not hearers only. You may hear what to do. You can go to church every day of your life and you can hear the word of God, but you never do anything. You don't know the Bible until the Bible controls your life. So that's why I said, and I believe it's in my notes here also, that the Bible reads you while you are reading the Bible. And that's why it can help you to discern things and it reveals things to you about yourself. And that can be very convicting. So keep that in mind. In Hebrews 4.12, look what this verse says in your notes. Knowledge of God's word is your greatest weapon in witnessing. For the word of God is quick. That means it's alive and powerful. Remember, the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. And sharper than any two-edged sword. So remember, whatever the Word of God is, is what it can make you. So the Word of God can make you alive, powerful, and sharp. Now, who wouldn't want that in their life? You only get one trip through life. Therefore, know the book. Know the book. When I went down to Florida Bible College, I thought I had a you know, good knowledge of the Bible. Until they started giving me all these tests and memorizing all these verses and then studying all these different books in the Bible, I found out how little I did know. So I had a lot to learn. But those four years that I spent in Bible college learning the Bible has helped me for the last 61 years since then. So I'm glad that I did go and spend some time in my life to learn something that would be of value for the rest of my life. So this little statement, the Bible reads you as you read the Bible. That's why the Bible can discern your thoughts, your motives, your attitude, reveal things to you that otherwise you're not going to know. And you can deceive yourself by reading the Bible and then not letting the Holy Spirit convict you. Be teachable. Be teachable. Let God teach you. Sometimes we always want to learn something because we can explain it to somebody else. But sometimes God wants you to learn something so you can apply it to yourself. You and I are supposed to be the exhibit of what the Word of God means. You and I are living epistles. In 2 Corinthians chapter 2, it mentions that. We are known and read by all men. People are reading you Do you teach the Bible by the way you live, the things that you do, the places you go? Very important. When you are talking to someone who says he doesn't believe the Bible, you don't just throw your Bible down and stop using it. If you was in a battle somewhere, and here's a guy who's got a gun, and you've got a gun, and he says, your gun doesn't work. Oh, I'm sorry. Don't throw your gun down. Start pulling the trigger. And if they say that you don't know what you're talking about, just take the sword, the verses, and keep cutting with it. You can't know you have eternal life. You know, the Bible says in John 3, 16 that, and you quote the verse, or you can't know where you're going to go when you die, that these things have I written unto you that believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. Just keep cutting with the sword. Don't throw it away. It's better not to try to use human philosophy and reasoning and logic. There's power in the word. And long after you have gone, the Word of God will remain. So understand the Word is power. And the more of the Word of God that you use and explain and keep it simple, the more people you can affect. You can have an influence in people's lives. But you need to be an example of the believer. Now, you must not chase rabbits. You say, how do you chase rabbits? Well, when I used to go hunting, and I killed a lot of rabbits, usually a rabbit will start running, and then it cuts, and then it'll cut. Well, when it starts running, wait till it cuts, then, and then blow it away. Otherwise, and what people do is you start talking about the Lord, and they say, yes, but where did Adam get his wife? Who made God? There could be questions that you can't really answer. Or, did Adam have a navel? Oh, that's a very intelligent, spiritual question that everybody needs to know the answer to. But you see, when you answer that question, or try, well, let me show you when you go to the Bible, and then before you can even answer it, they go, yeah, but what about, yeah, but what about, you ever witnessed sin somebody? Yeah, but what about James chapter two? Yeah, but that's a good question, and we'll get that in just a second. But now look back here at Ephesians 2, 8, and 9, and go over Ephesians 2, 8, and 9. Otherwise, they become the leader, and you become the follower. You want to lead a man to Christ, you have to do the leading. And you can let them ask a question. Now, that's a good question. Remind me when we get to it. I'd like to answer that for you. But look right here, it says this in Ephesians 2, 8, and 9, or 1 John 5, 13. You be the leader, and don't chase rabbits. Look what he says here. The apostle Paul was highly educated by the finest instructor of his day, and yet he said, my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom. So if you want to just argue somebody, outsmart somebody, using your wit that you can trap them, prove them wrong, make them feel guilty, show how smart you are, you're not going to be a good soul winner. Because you want to win the person to the Lord. And you don't usually do that good if all you want to do is argue with somebody, try to prove them wrong. And sometimes people just, they came into college one day and in chapel and said, everybody I talk to winds up in an argument about evolution. So they watched him, and after the ranch meeting was over with and Ray spoke, people trust the Lord, and they go up and talk to somebody. First question they ask him, you believe in evolution? Well, now you're going to have an argument, but where are you going to go? You're going to spend how much time arguing about evolution or creation? Spiritually, what will it accomplish? Well, there might be a time and place for that, but when you're trying to lead somebody to the Lord, Don't get into arguments. Avoid those as much as possible. Rest in what God's Word says because He can give them what the Bible says. And so, because you don't want people's faith to stand in your wisdom that you gave them that's not scriptural. You want them to stand on what the gospel says, what the wisdom of God says, but the power of God in that verse. So Paul was concerned that his children in the faith might not always keep their message simple and warned them against Satan's tactic. Wouldn't it be great if we could have already won the world to the Lord? But have we? You think we're being outnumbered? And yet for 2,000 years, that's plenty of time. We could have even done the job by now. But because Satan is alive and he destroys a lot of God's children by getting them to devour their time. by the things of the world, and that roaring lion is out to who we can consume. And consume your time with things that are not necessarily wrong, but it just gets you sidetracked from the job that you're supposed to be doing. Most people today, believers, are not so conscious. They're survivalists, trying to find out, what does it take for me to survive? And so they got all these things that we have to do and survive. But why do I want to survive? I need the purpose. I want to live so that I can do what God wants me to do. I want to win souls. I want to get as many as I possibly can to trust the Lord. The other day, I got an email from somebody in Russia that trusts the Lord. I thought, that's wonderful. I like that. And then another person, they called me, one from Utah, and I had another call from another state. And so it's wonderful. I enjoy getting them. I think that is greater joy than somebody gave you $1,000 because that's forever. That $1,000 somebody gives you, you spend it like that because it don't go very far. But you'd be surprised that when you win somebody to the Lord, it can't be undone. And that's why it's such a wonderful thing. So Satan will use his subtlety in order like a fox to lead you astray. Did you try to be just a smart cookie where you can debate with anybody? I've often had people say, Yankee, would you debate, debate, debate? I said, I want to state what I believe, but I'm not interested in debating what I believe. Now I can debate. I believe I know enough of the Bible and my position well enough, but I don't want to just waste my time debating people. I'll say, this is what it says. You can accept it or reject it. Now, somebody who's got an honest question and want to answer, I don't mind that, but they always want you to prove this, prove that, prove that. It's like I'm supposed to be able to reach up there, get ahold of God, bring him down here and say, there he is. Well, I can't do that. So there's things that I don't let people guide me. I want to do the guiding. So I think it works better that way. So Satan will use his power to lure you into trying to be cunning like a fox. You're smart. You know all the answers. But sometimes I find out that kids that came to ranch and trusted Christ as Savior, they In one week, they're able to explain the gospel to somebody else and they trust the Lord. And yet there's people who have gone to church for 20 and 30 years and they haven't got a clue how to win somebody the Lord. Because it's so deep to them. They don't know how to be clear and simple. And yet some kid who just heard knows enough to tell it, well, what he heard. And sometimes they're more fired up to do something. And after a while, see, we get complacent. There's nothing to motivate us. Whatever we'll be, we'll be. It doesn't really matter. And Christians go to sleep. And there's a sermon that I preached years ago, and wow, they slept. The believers, Satan sowed tears among them. So there's always something going on. Satan won't say to you, hello, this is Satan, please complicate the gospel by using technical words or having a philosophical discussion or by adding man's work. He's not going to tell you to do that. He will be cunning like a fox and get you to say, you know, that's going to be offensive. They're not going to understand this grace thing. And you know, everybody ought to serve the Lord. So why don't you just go ahead and tell them that and that they should do this and do this and do that. And next thing you know, you got people. Satan messes with your mind. He messes with the believer's mind. If Satan can't stop your zeal, he'll kind of control your message. So you've got to fight the zeal and the message and keep it straight. Satan comes in with a sweet, quiet voice and may say, look, this person's a very moral, intelligent, up-to-date citizen. If you start talking to him about the Bible, sin and Jesus, blood and heaven, faith, he will think you're absolutely nut. And you don't want people to think you're like that. So therefore, you're going to set that aside because that offends some people. What I find out is the most offensive part of my whole ministry is teaching eternal security. Once saved, always saved. That really offends people. Why? Because that is the gospel. All the other stuff, if it doesn't let you know positively you have eternal life and know that you're going to heaven when you die, then what good is it? I'm not interested in getting people to God or getting people even to Jesus Christ without them understanding how to go to heaven. Because if you don't get people into heaven, you didn't get people. If you didn't get them into heaven, you didn't get them to Christ. Now we can witness and do all the things that we can do, but our goal is to draw the net. Get people to trust Christ as their savior. Persuade, persuade, persuade. That means you got to learn what to do and how to do it. And many people don't want to take that time. Let somebody else do it. I told Betty this morning, we're sitting there, and I'm drinking me a cup of coffee. I said, honey, think about this. Who would have ever dreamed that this little 18-year-old kid that trusted Christ as Savior in Athens, Georgia and never finished high school would have somebody come along and Give him the gospel and he trusts Christ as Savior. And then since that time, he decided just to learn the Bible. And the question most people have in mind is, how are you going to make a living? How are you going to live? I mean, how do you live? I mean, I know the Bible, how do you live? I had no clue I'd ever be a pastor, or an evangelist, or a missionary, or president of a school, or Christian school, or start churches, travel around the country, and I've been everywhere. Why? Because I learned one thing, the book. You see, all that other stuff since then is because I learned this. And this is what's helped guide me all my life. You take that aside. What am I going to use to guide me? If I don't know the Bible and don't believe the Bible, and I don't study the Bible, I don't have God's Word permeating my mind, and if sinners entice thee, consent thou not. I don't know all those verses. What's going to determine what I do? And so then just like Muslims, everybody just does whatever they want to do. Just like in the book of Judges, every man did that which was right in his own mind. Everybody does whatever you want to do. But if you know the book, then the book can control the way you think. And that's why it's so important. He must possess divine wisdom. Now this divine wisdom comes from all the way over there in the book of James, where it talks about the earthly wisdom versus the divine wisdom. And so there's human wisdom. You can be smart, a lot of wisdom. But that doesn't make it divine wisdom. God's wisdom is from God's word. You can listen to everybody in the world and gain all the knowledge you want to and forever learning and never come to the knowledge of the truth. Or you can bypass all of that and go straight to the book. Go straight to the source. This is why studying God's Word is the most powerful thing you can ever do in your Christian life because you can't grow without it. You can't guide yourself without it because that's what the Holy Spirit in you uses to convict you of things you're doing or not doing. Where you can grieve the Lord. And that's not what God wants us to do. So he says in the book of Colossians in chapter two in verse six or verse eight, beware, lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world and not after Christ. So who's going to have to be the one that determines what you learn and don't learn? And so you have to be careful kind of a person you set yourself under. Are you listening to somebody who knows what the Word of God says, what it is? Now, one of the things that I thought was wonderful, because I know that the day is coming. I'm getting older. I'm going to be passing off the scene. And I saw somebody that I thought was being very wise. And everything that I gave him to do, he did it wonderfully. He did it like you're supposed to. He was faithful. And so whenever Jesse was ready, I had no problem moving aside. And God has blessed him and he uses God's word. He has a lot of wisdom, not just philosophy. But I believe God has blessed him because of that. And like David, he was wise. He said he behaved himself. He behaved himself wisely. He behaved himself more wisely. And that's what we do when we grow in the Lord, as God uses us. So that the gospel is the power of God that he uses to save people. You should adapt your illustration examples to interest the person. You should witness with this background in mind. This is why a lot of time when I go to different places, they don't know who I am. And of course, everybody wants to know, how'd you get the name Yankee? Well, God has blessed me, given me a very unique name. It was a swear word originally. He called me a blankety blank Yankee. Don't use my first name. I just used my last name Yankee. But anyway, my mama called me Yankee boy. My daddy called me the other. And then we moved down to Georgia, and I've been shot at from both sides for the last 83 years. But I use part of my testimony, because I don't want people thinking that you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth, and you don't know what it's like to be on the other side. Now, let me tell you, I was on the other side, where I was living, not roads, there weren't even paths. But I'm talking about we lived way back in the woods. My daddy was in the liquor business, iron business. I mean, he stole. I mean, he sold corn in jugs. That's part of my testimony. I didn't make that. It's just that's what has happened, but I want to use it because I don't want people thinking that I'm up here when I came from something way down below. And if God can save me, if God can use me, God can use anybody. And that's why you want to find out what in your testimony can you use that can open up doors for you with other people and set them at ease. Because you don't want to just intimidate people and put down people or give them the impression that you're better than they are and you look down your long, pharisaical nose like calloused cornflakes and think you're a little bit better when you're not. God wants to use us, but you don't have to compromise doctrine. There's things that God has done for you in your life that makes an interesting story. And there's things that happens in their life. And if they tell you something and talk to you a little bit, listen. Good soul winners are good listeners. How do you study the Bible? If at all possible, it's wise to set aside a special time for Bible study and not let Satan sidetrack you to do something else during that time. One of the ways that I had to learn was going to Bible college, because they said, tomorrow you're going to have to know these three verses of that class. I got three more verses in another class, and I got two more in another class, and one more in another class. Every night I had to study and memorize verses. I got in the habit. Bible college doesn't prepare you for life. It just prepares you to study. It teaches you how to be faithful. It teaches you how to get a schedule because you got to do it for the rest of your life. It's to teach you some habits in your life so that you'll know what to do and what not to do. And you ain't got time to get in trouble. When I was going to Bible college, if I wanted to get in trouble, I'd have to schedule it. And my schedule was so fast. I mean, I had to go to work and take all those classes. I took 18 hours a semester. And I got virtually straight A's. And one time I got straight A's, but one B. And I'll never forgive that kid for giving me that B. But anyway, I'm just joking. Except every time I see them, I remind them. Anyway, you will never find time to study. You must make time. Find out what you need to do in your life and make time to do it. And nobody can schedule a time better than you can. But you got to get to where you live. Every day, remember I told you, Betty is not able to cook like she used to. I've had to change my schedule a little bit. So now I know that if she can't cook, and I refuse to cook, every day I take her out for breakfast. I took her out for breakfast this morning. I took her out for breakfast yesterday. Now, I enjoy doing that. She enjoys it too. But we had to change our schedule a little bit because of what we have to do. Now, I'm getting ready to go on another trip this coming weekend. I've had a lot of things to get done. I've had to do these PowerPoints that I'm doing, and the notes, so that people can have them on down the road. But it takes a lot of time to do all these things. I could make it very easy. I don't even have to have notes. I don't need PowerPoints. But if it helps the people to learn better, well, I want to try to use the best that I can to help them to remember what I said, because it's to influence their life on down the road. So this is why we do it. So 2nd Timothy says, study to show off. Is that what it says? No, study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman. You study because you want to do something. If you don't want to do something, you'll lose the reason for studying. And then life becomes boring. That's why you get your habit, you come to church, but you're not gonna do anything, so you don't really have to pay attention. This is a good time to catch up on a nap and go snoozing. And so I told one person, I said, would you wake up that person sitting beside you? He says, I will not. He says, you put him to sleep, you wake him up. Now, some people are just going to always have a hard time staying awake, right? So the word of God brings faith. That's why you study. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. You will use the words to edify, exhort, guide, and comfort. Preach the word, be instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all lungs. You see, all the things you're supposed to do, not just soul winning. What if we could motivate all of God's children to be found faithful to serve the Lord? You could turn the world upside down. But most everybody, let somebody else do it. Well, I enjoyed growing old, but I'm not really old yet. See, 80 is a plateau. Then you get 90, then you start, now that's over the hill. So I still got good six years to go yet before I'm over the hill. I've just reached the plateau. I think I have finally reached my peak. I'm in the prime of life. Ain't that the way you're supposed to look at it? Sure you are. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. The Bible is your defensive weapon against Satan because he traps you with a lie and you get free by believing the truth. So you're going through life and you're going to believe lies or you're going to believe truth. And Satan captures you with lies, deceives you, lies. And so that's why it's important. Here's some tips towards successful Bible study. with the intention of remembering. When I was at Florida Bible College and I went to Sunday school, her painter was a Sunday school superintendent at Stanford Church. I went straight to him, I says, if you ever have anybody who's not ready to teach a lesson or they get sick and they can't come in, I says, you just feel free to ask me. I says, I'll always come ready to preach or teach a class with about three sermons. and all I'll need in time to prepare is the time it gets me to walk from wherever I am to the front of the class." He liked that because nobody else ever did that. One day, Dr. Mark Cameron, it was his class. And he wasn't able to be there that day. At the last moment, he came and asked me, he said, would you take Dr. Cameron's class? I'm a freshman, and I'm filling in for the vice president of the college. All because of one thing. I was prepared. I didn't leave home until I had three sermons. Anyone I can use to teach the Sunday school class. And so I would do that over and over again. And I got opportunities some people didn't get. When Ray needed a Sunday school, a person to take the Sunday night youth group, I was always ready. So I went into his office and he asked me to come in. He said, would you take that class? Because he knew one thing. Yankees ready. Yankees prepared. He'll do it. And I would always had something that would be good, scriptural. And it worked. I got opportunities that many people did, but they were not prepared. Because you ask some people, hey, would you like to speak in church next Sunday morning? And you say, well, I need about three weeks to prepare. Shame on you. You ought to be ready. If this morning the preacher says, I just don't feel good, and I'm not going to be able to speak this morning, and I want to know, George, would you come up here and preach? Now, George probably could. You may say, well, I need about a week. You should be ready to go. Why? Be prepared. Be prepared. You want God to use you? Then be usable, be ready. And that's why you study the scriptures and you remember and you study, remind yourself and go over and over and over again. I'd always sit down and listen to Dr. Stanford when he was preaching. And I would memorize all of his notes, jokes, and his quotes. I wrote them down. By the time I finished in four years, I had about 3,000 notes, jokes, and quotes by Ray Stanford that I got from him. I was the only student in the college that had them. When I got ready to leave, I told Ray about them. He says, you did what? He says, you still have them? I said, yeah. He says, can I see them? I said, Ray, they're on a great big old book like this. He says, let me see them. I brought that big old thing in. He looked at them. He told Val Perry, he says, Val, take and get these things off of here. Get a copy of these things. And it wouldn't fit in the copier. You know what he did? He cut it into three parts. I'm on my notes. But I had 3,000 of them. But see, some people go and they listen, but they don't try to remember. I got to where I could listen to Ray Stanford teach, and I could tell you, I told Betty, I said, he's going to this verse next. He's going to use this story. He's going to use this illustration. I heard him one day when he was down in Texas, and he was going to tell the Jim Tengen story. And he was talking along, and I said, Betty, he's out of sequence. It won't work. Because that story, you have to have it in sequence. There's too many stories in it. It's a story made up of 100 stories. I says, he's out of sequence. He's going to have to go back up. And as soon as I said that, he says, let me back up here just a minute. But he just looked at it, and I said, I know. I know the story better than he does. Because I listened to it like I'm going to tell it. He lived it. So he could jump around him here and there, but I know the sequence that has to be told. And so I've had a lot of chances since then to tell the Jim Tengen story. But I told it one time in Colorado about 40 years ago, and there was a young kid that was sitting there listening to me. His name was Greg Steer. And Greg Steer said that story motivated him. And you ought to see what he's doing today. But you never know, but listen in order to learn. When Jesse speaks this morning, listen as though you got to preach that sermon. And you listen and you take notes as though you are going to be responsible to teach what he just taught. Can you do it? Then you'll listen and learn. Otherwise, it's just another message that comes in, goes out, nothing accomplished. You go out the door and you'll be the same person you came when you walked in. Or you could be a stronger person. You're learning something because you want to do something. And you always compare scripture with scripture, not preacher with preacher. Scripture. Who wrote it? To whom was it written? What general topic has been discussed? What does it not say? What things could it mean? Compare it with another scripture. They're always asking, yes, but don't you know about James chapter 2? Faith without works is dead. So I preach the sermon on what does it mean? Then I preach another sermon on what doesn't it mean? What doesn't it mean? So if you find out what it does mean, you'll know what it doesn't mean. And everybody always wants to ask, you know, what it doesn't mean. Because they think it's got to mean something else. It can't be that. Contradictions. Look up words. Use good commentaries. Discuss the past with the other Christians. Because sometimes I get on the phone and I call somebody up and I ask them. I says, wait a minute. I says, what do you mean thinking about this portion of the scripture? because I've never seen a commentary that I believe teaches it correctly. I say, what's your opinion? But I don't ask the average person. I ask somebody that I know and respect, and I believe he knows what he's talking about, studies the word, and is a living testimony of what he's supposed to be teaching. Keep a notebook. Reference your Bible. If you look at my Bible, my Bible is marked. It's real marked. If you ever saw Hank Lindstrom's Bible, it was almost disintegrating. You saw Ray Stanford's Bible, it was the same way. I had to get rid of my other Bible because it was disintegrated and I couldn't, you can't even turn pages because it was all disintegrated. Because I'd done read it and so forth. It's the Bible that I had when I went to Florida Bible College. I stole it from Betty because I didn't have a Bible. So I stole her Bible, she had to get another one. And I used that Bible for years. Then they got me another one, then I got me another one, then I got me another one, then I got me another one. But see, learn and mark your verses in your Bible. There was one guy named Kurt Welch who went to Florida Bible College. I don't think he understood what all those things he underlined were, but if Ray read a verse, he marked it. Any teacher who read a verse, he marked that verse. Old Testament, New Testament. And his Bible was so marked, that he would take and find a blank page somewhere and put a page to go back to this page so he could find it. I thought, my stars. It looked like a roadmap. But that's the way he did it. But I don't know if he ever used his Bible or not, but he marked it. And some people say, well, if you're marking your Bible, you're adding to the scriptures. No, you're not. That's not adding to the word of God just because you make a note. So keep doing that. Here's the thing that's very important. You know, things are easy to do for the Lord if you love Him. If you love the Lord, doing what He wants you to do is not a hard thing. It's hard to obey someone you don't love. If you love your wife, doing things for her, that's not hard. If you don't, I told Betty one day, I said, honey, it is so nice taking care of you because you're so sweet. You're always saying, thank you so much. I love you. I'll be sitting there and my children understand, and all of a sudden she says, I love you. Now what am I supposed to say? I love you too. And then after a little while she says, I appreciate you. I appreciate you too. And she says, I'm so sorry that you have to do all this for me. And I said, I'm not. I said, I'm not at all. I enjoy doing what I do. I said, it's a blessing. And I says, and you make it so much easier because you're so sweet. Now, if you were mean and ugly and unkind, I'd still do the same thing, but it would be harder. So anyway, love. And that was 65 years ago. I think it's a keeper. God did not choose to make us puppets. Love must be voluntary. Or is it really love at all if it's not? Can you force somebody to love you? I'm not sure you can. In Romans chapter one and verse one, the Greek word doulos, it means a love slave, a love slave. In the 40th Psalm, it talks about Jesus and it says, thou hath bored my ear. It means if you chose to be a voluntary love slave, A person after they've served their time can voluntarily choose to remain a slave until they would bore a hole in their ear, make a hole. That means that they're there and they're a slave, but it's a voluntary love slave. They're doing it because they chose to be one. So that's why Paul says, thou hast borne my ear. It means because I'm a love slave. Paul says, I'm a slave because of love. And God's love for me has motivated me to do the things that I do. And so then he makes a statement Ephesians chapter four in verse one. He says, I'm a prisoner. I am a prisoner. You know, the Bible talks about this, been a prisoner thing. It's a volatile because nobody can make you. When God saved you, he set you free. Now you can be obedient or disobedient. You're free to choose. And some people choose to be obedient. Some of God's children choose to be disobedient. But if you're disobedient, are you still a saved child? Still going to heaven when you die? Yes. But God says, I want to bless you if you serve me. And if any man serve me, him with my father honor. So in John 3.16 is one of the greatest verses we use about love. It tells of God's great love. And just knowing that God loved me, the one that created the heavens and the earth, has motivated me. It's changed my whole life. And I do what I do because you can't make me do it. I do it because I want to. It's not always easy to analyze why we love someone, but when it comes to our love for the Lord, we love him because he first loved us. And that's why eternal security is the best way to teach how much God really loves you. Because He'll never cast you out for any reason. And He will allow you to misuse the freedom. It's not because that's what He wants you to do is to become unruly, ungodly. He tells us over and over again, sin not, sin not, sin not. Now He knows you're going to sin. But the will of your father still is you don't. God doesn't want us living a rebellious life. So we love him because of what he's done for us. And then in Galatians 5 and verse 22 says, the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace. Those are some wonderful things, qualities that you and I ought to have in our life. And they're things that should go hand in hand with your desire to want to witness. You want to tell people how to have eternal life and go to heaven. So the results, of letting your life be controlled by the Spirit, by obeying God's lady, it really brings love into your life. You can't think of a better way to prove to somebody you love them than how you serve them. If it's a lost man, taking him to gospel is a way of showing love. Because you want to reach him, you give him that message. Because you want them to know how much God loves them, paid for all of their sins. See, we are messengers of the love of God. We are to manifest the love of God, and we do that mainly because of the message we give. And some people never share the gospel. It's a shame, but there are people who won't do it. Because we're saved as a gift of God's grace, we feel such an overwhelming debt of gratitude to the Lord that just anything we can do for Him is a real pleasure. You see, you can't make people fall in love with the Lord. You can't make people give to God's work. It's because if you love the Lord and you love souls and you love what's going on, you want to be a part of it. I had a man call me up and he says, I want to start donating to your ministry. I said, sir, you don't have to, just pray for us. He says, no, I want fruit that may abound to my account. I says, one thing that we do is we try to have as much food as we possibly can. And God knows, I didn't even know who the guy was. So whether he does or not, it would be wonderful to hear. But how could we possibly begin to repay God for what he has done for us? You can't. You can't repay him. But you can show appreciation and thanks to the Lord for all that He's done for us. So Christ explains that one who has been forgiven of much sin certainly loves much. Haven't we therefore much capacity to love the Lord? Now get this, stop and think. God saves you by His grace. keeps you by His grace, leads and guides and enables you by His grace, rewards you in heaven for serving Him on earth. That's grace because God didn't have to leave you here. God didn't have to let you have the Holy Spirit. God didn't have to let you have the opportunities. So we serve the Lord and reward you here with love and joy and peace. It's a wonderful thing. And then he says in the Psalms 116, I usually use this verse for a funeral, but it's more than just a funeral. What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me? So once you trust in Christ the Savior, you are God's child, you have eternal life. But it's the will of God for his children to learn his word. That's why you hear me say sometimes, if you're a child of the king, you should learn the language of the court. Learn to speak God's Word. Tell people what God says. It's always about what God says, and it'll be of great benefit. Look up here. This hand represents you and me, and the wallet represents sin. Because all of that's good, but you've got to get the message right, too. But God says that He loves us, but He hates our sin, and we're all sinners. And to pay for sin is eternal separation from God in hell. But God loves us, wants us to go to heaven, and that means we have to be perfect, but nobody's perfect. We've all come short of God's perfection. That's missing the mark. So God says, by your works, you'll never be able to hit the mark. You still can't live a perfect life. So we need a Savior. This hand represents Jesus Christ. He's God in the flesh, came into the world because He loves us, hates our sin, because our sin separates us from Him. So Christ, who had no sin, didn't have to die. But because He loved us, He took all the sin of all the world, paid for it on the cross, came back from the dead, and said that if we would believe that He did it for us, that He would give us as a free gift everlasting life. I'm going to heaven because Christ paid for my sins. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever would believe it, that He paid for my sin, should not perish but have everlasting life. best news in the world. Let's pray, shall we? With heads bowed and eyes closed, no one looking around, if you're watching by internet, on the online, college, I pray that you'll trust Christ as your Savior. But if you're here today and you've never trusted the Lord, in the quietness of this moment, if what I've said made sense to you, say, preacher, that made sense to me, and I will trust Christ as my Savior, friend, would you do so right now? And if you won't trust the Lord, I'm not gonna have you forward or embarrass you, but right where you're sitting, Would you let me know by just slipping your hand up very quickly, put it right back down. And by that, I'm accepting the fact you're trusting Christ as your Savior. If you've never done it before, but you do it right now, would you let me know, anyone at all? Father, we thank you so much for this time together. Bless each one here. And Father, those that'll be watching online. And we also thank you for this day. Bless the service to follow in Christ's name. Amen.