We're going to read Psalm 119 verses 10 to 16. With my whole heart have I sought thee. Oh, let me not wander from thy commandments. Thy word have I hid in mine heart that I might not sin against thee. Blessed art thou, O Lord, teach me thy statutes. With my lips have I declared all the judgments of thy mouth. I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies as much as in all riches. I will meditate in thy precepts and have respect unto thy ways. I will delight myself in thy statutes. I will not forget thy word. Thank you, Lord, for the Word of God that changes lives. And, Lord, thank you for this manual we call the Bible, which gives us direction for life. I pray, Father, may we never be ashamed of serving you, living for you each day. It's the best life we can live, is the Christian life. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. You may be seated. Well, the title of the message this morning is, Do I Value the Bible? Do I value the Bible? I remember when I was in college, a few years back, one of our teachers showed us a church on the ground in China. and the reason why because he wanted to to emphasize the Bible actually about how the Bible came to be or how the translation of the Bible we have today it was that type of class and he showed this church on the ground well this church on the ground is like a like a basement if you know what a basement looks like in New England right there was no windows were like a box and there was one entrance one a few a little entrance with the a big heavy door they would come down and in the middle of this room there was a big wood box I don't know how the box got there but somehow they made a fit in there and there was Bibles in there and the ironic thing about it is this the man they opened the box with the crowbar and this box is like about this good size like that maybe 48 inches wide something like that and about this high like that was full of Bibles And one thing that really touched my heart. People were crying. People were hugging the Bible. People were kissing the Bible. Because they never had one. And here in America we have many Bibles. But do I value the Bible? Do I value the Word of God? That's what we're going to look at this morning. There was a time in this land where people were known for their character and for their integrity. A time where people stood behind their words and strived to be true to others. A time where a person's word was of great value. A time where most people stood by their word. But unfortunately, those days have passed by to a point that we don't even trust people's words anymore. They don't have character. They don't have integrity. That's the world that we live today. So that across this land, there's so many people who don't stand behind their words. You know what they say? I've changed my mind. For almost 16 years, I work on management. And I can tell you from experience I'm not making this up, that from both the people that work with me or work for me and the people that I dealt with from outside the company, character and integrity was very hard to find. I saw the integrity of a young man and the character of a young man. I went to pick up some cobblestones and it was $2 a stone and I pick up $100. I did my math wrong because I gave him $400 and I left. Then when I realized I gave him too much money, I said, well, I want to contact him. Guess what? He contacted me before I contacted him. He put his phone number and then said, call me. So when I called him, he said, how many rocks you got? I said, 100 rocks. He said, you gave me too much money. This is a young man, probably 22, 23 years old. And he said, you know, just come get your money. So I did. And guess what? The money was right there. They call integrity, right? Character and integrity. We still have people like that in our world with integrity and character. But unfortunately, there are many people who don't have it. You cannot trust them. So Like I said, in the workplace, hard to find. Lying, greed, and deception is the name of the game in many job sites. In other words, I had to deal with liars and deceivers on a daily basis. You know how many people who came in, in my position I work, would say to me, if you give me some work, I give you this. If you give me some work, I give you this. I was like, this is not mine to give. I have a boss that I have to answer to. I can't do this. I have to be a person with no integrity and no character to deal with that. Unfortunately, that goes both ways many times. We live in a society where people don't keep their word like people of the past used to. Because of that contrast, contracts have to be made and signatures have to be signed. When we as a society abandon the principles of God's Word, making it of our unknown effect and denying that to be true, the result is a society that they don't want nothing to do with God anymore. So what we did today, we live in a society that God is taken out of the public arena. We live in a society where God is taken out of schools, out of courts. Why? Because we don't want the Word of God there. We want to do what we want to do. When we as a society abandon the principles of God's Word, we are in trouble, folks. We live in a society where people have no shame for their sin, neither have any fear of God at all. A society where many people have no respect for their fellow man, authority, or God's Word. God is not in the mind of many people, or if He is in the mind of some people, they look at Him as weak, irrelevant, and far from the affairs of man. As a result of all this, we come to the sad reality of where many people don't see how can they have a relationship with God, and how can the Bible have a difference in their life. You know what? Let me put it this way. The Bible's been around longer than you and I. It's the Word of God. And we will die in a Bible that was still around. I'm not talking about the paper. I'm talking about the words of the Bible. All right? You can have your Bible in your phone, in your iPad, in your computer. It's not paper. But it's the Word of God. Don't you know that the Word of God has changed thousands of lives to this very day? Don't you know that the Word of God has the power to change your life and mine? It does. How can the Word of God change my life and your life? By applying His Word. By making His Word something that you value. For an example, I value my grandfather. I value my father, their words. because the stand that they took and I learned from them so when I do and I know the stand that they took and by doing going along with what they did I valued their words the thing is the bible is not just a book the bible is the word of our living god and it transforms people's lives If it doesn't transform your life, you're not reading, you're not applying. I mean, you can be reading, but not applying. We got to make application of God's word. That's how it changes our lives. And if you don't believe me, try it, test it, and you will see. So our world today have no value for God's word. No value for a church. No value for God's people. They look at us as weak. They look at our church as a place that they don't want to be. They're entertained. Left and right, Satan entertains people. Don't you know that? But let's look at God's Word. Is God's Word valuable? Can I use God's Word in my life? Can I apply this Word to my life? Can this Word make a difference in the life that I live? Can it or cannot? let's look for several points number one the value of God's word in my life look what it says right here in verse 10 of Psalm 119 with my whole heart have I sought thee the psalmist says right here to you and me it's not just a half of my heart I said all of me everything that I have I sought thee or let me not wander from thy commandments I said now that I sought you my heart I found you let me not wander away look what it says thy word have i hidden in my heart that i might not sin against thee so how you hide god's word in your heart memorization that's how you hide god's word in your heart you memorize god's word so pastor i'm too old to memorize no no you're not i heard that uh uh birthdays is just a number just a number so if it's a number guess what listen The Bible is not hard to memorize. Why should I memorize God's word? If God has that value in your life, if God's word has that much value in your life, memorization is something that I want to do. I want to do. You know why? Because it's wonderful because it helps me live my life. It helps me tell others about the great Savior. Usually when we protect or take care or hide something it's because has value to us. For you and I for an example that we have might have things in our home that are of great value to us even though they might not have any value in price at all or somebody might look at it and say oh well you follow what I'm saying you might have something in your heart maybe a meanless little thing that in the eyes of somebody would say oh that but to you is very valuable. For an example When I went to Portugal three or four years ago, I went to a beach. I had to kind of drag Joseph along because he didn't want to go. But he came along with me so we went to this beach. We have to go through the mountains and it's a beautiful place. It has big waterfalls and has big natural springs and then there is the salt water right there. So when I got there, I got this rock about this big, like this, about this big. Very smooth, very nice little rock. And I went to look for a shellfish. A little, like not a quahog, but similar to that. I never seen it here in America. It's just in the reefs there. So because I grabbed one, you know what I did? I treasure that because it remind me of my childhood. So I came to America and when I come here I took it to work actually I glue the shell to the rock and I date it. I put the date there and it's still if you go to my house I can show it to you. You look at that you're like that's a little rock with a little shell. But you know what? I don't care what you say. It's valuable to me. I treasure that little thing. Some people, you know, if I die tomorrow, my kids might throw that thing in the trash. But you know what? Today is very valuable to me. Same thing, you know what? If God's word have that much value to me, then I treasure what's in here. I spend time with him. I memorize his word. Oh, I see this because you were preaching. No, it's not that. Let me ask you a question. What do you have hidden in your heart today? He says, thy word have I hidden in my heart that I might not sin against thee. What do you have hidden in your heart today? Anger? Bitterness? Distress? Gossip? A thirst for alcohol? thirst for drugs, pornography, what you have in your heart. You see we can hide things in our hearts that are very healthy or we can hide things in our heart that are very healthy and it'll help us along. Listen this world is in this world is good and evil right You can pattern yourself after good, or you can pattern yourself after evil. But the question is, where are you hiding in your heart? The psalmist says that he was hiding God's word. So why, like the psalmist, should we hide God's word in our heart? Why should we look at God's word? Again, not the book, I'm talking about the word of God, the words. Why should we hide God's word in our heart? Letter A, God's word is a treasure. I kind of mentioned that. look what it says in Matthew 12 34 for where your treasure is there will your heart be also if my treasure is God guess what my life is going to be after God you know there's a book out there because the pursuit of God read a good book see if God's word is a treasure I want to treasure God's word I read it and I read it and I read and I study and I study because I love it It's a treasure to me Listen, the world doesn't think that way The world doesn't think that way that the god's word is a treasure but should be a treasure for the christian the child of god So is a treasure Let it be. God's word is the source of truth. Why do I treasure? Because his truth is all truth. Don't let people say that the Bible have arrows and there's mistakes in the Bible. No, they don't want you out mistaking. There's no mistakes here. God's word is truth. Look what it says. Actually, Jesus said in John 17 says, sanctify them through thy truth. What truth is he talking about? The Old Testament scriptures. He says, thy word is truth. So why do I treasure God's word? Because it's the words of truth. God is not here to deceive me. God is not lying to me. God is not misleading me. God wants the best for me. So because he loves me, because he wants the best for me, I treasure his words. To me his words are of great value. Absolutely something that man has been searching since the beginning of time. This world through its existence have seen many philosophers, many believe it to be the sources of truth because of their high education. But many of them die without knowing the truth for themselves. Even Pilate, the man with great power of the Roman Empire asked Jesus this question. What is truth? In John chapter 8 verse 38. And he was, truth was standing next to him. and he failed to see the truth what was the truth that the messiah was there what was the truth that jesus was who said he was and people today still searching for the truth see his word always been truth and there always will be truth no matter how much people try to disprove it his word tells the truth of creation Listen, it's not a big bang theory. We didn't come from gorillas. God created us in his image. He created everything. His word tells us the truth that there is only one God. There's no other gods. He is the almighty God. He is the creator of all. He is the one I worship. I believe he's the one you worship as well. That's why we're here this morning, to worship our great creator. His word tells the truth about sin and its ramifications. Sin kills. His word tells the truth about redemption. It's through Jesus Christ that we are redeemed from our sin. He is the one who shed his blood for us. I don't see any other head of any other religion in this world that shed his blood for us. Jesus did. His word tells the truth about the reality of a literal heaven and a literal hell. There's a place of destruction, there's a place of joy. His word tells the truth about the destiny of those who reject Him. Listen, it's hard for us to grasp as human beings that people with good intentions that did great for humanity would die and go to a place called hell. Isn't that hard to grasp? But you know why they go there? Because they reject the truth. That's why they go there. Listen, folks, God doesn't send anyone to hell. They go there on their own. By the way, folks, hell is full of people with great intentions. They meant well. They meant well. They want to help their fellow man. Many spend millions of dollars helping humanity. In the end, you know what the Bible says? What accomplish a man if he conquers the whole world and loses his own soul? Many do that. His Word tells the truth about the end of days. This world is coming to an end. That's the truth. His Word is truth and reliable to those who find it, accept it and believe it. Listen, the Bible or God's Word stands. If you look at the Bible, the Bible doesn't try to defend itself. It's not an argument. It's not a fight. The Bible is the Word of God. We either receive it, believe it, or reject it. There's no way in the Bible you find God trying to convince us to believe it. How many people came to see Jesus when he preached? Many people. Some were curious, some came to fill up their bellies, and some came to the Word of God. When he stopped preaching a hard lesson, what did the people do? They all left him. And what did he say to his disciples? You're going to leave me too? You can see the word of God stands firm. We either receive it or we reject it. Let us see God's word is a well of value. Luke says in verse 6, Well, there was a time in my life that I worked in a place where they melted gold. Brother Tom, you did too. And there's one thing called refining gold. That's why gold has different values based on the purification of the gold. and that's what he says right here purified seven times see the word of god is pure like pure gold with great value that's what the bible is trying to say here so when we look at god's word it's purified it means as tremendous value nothing in this world can buy or can be that value as the word of god and people say yeah right i am telling you the thing is we either put value into it or we don't So it is the value of God's word to those who accept and believe. The words of the Lord are pure words, like I said, in total opposition to the words of man, which are deceitful, sinful, and impure. The scriptures are the words of God and they are pure and holy free from all human mixture and from all fraud and deceit. Nobody can convince me that the Bible is not telling the truth. The Bible is the word of God. God is not a liar the Bible says. God is not lying to anyone. God is clear. God says if you reject me you're going to hell. Is God clear? That's very clear. So nobody can say, wow, you know what? Yeah, I'm going to hell. How could you send me there? No, I didn't send you there, child. You went there on your own. You know, for those who are lost, they can say, so what can I do to go to hell? For those who are lost, just stay the way you are. And you will go there. Hell is a place. So the promise of the Word of God affirms, stable, reliable, and always true on which anyone can depend on. You can depend on the Word of God. You can live the Word of God. God will not lie to you. It is priceless because they are words of life. It is priceless because they are words of our creator. It is priceless because it will guide anyone to the ways of truth. So we see that right here, point number one, the value of God's word. Number two, the effects of God's word in my life. Look what it says in verse 11. Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee. Blessed art thou, O Lord, teach me thy statutes. with my lips i have declared all the judgments of thy mouth you see the effect of God's word if we if you and i put value in God's word if you and i apply God's word memorize God's word guess what happened it will affect your life and it will affect mine it will it will transform you because now you're not living for you you you base your life in the word of God and God said i will change you for the better, not for the worse, for the better. You see, any book after a time, we can tell that is an old book, out of date, because it's written by a human person. The Bible is never old, neither out of date, and its message is ever new because the author is God. And his goal is the human heart, on which never changes, no matter how intelligent, how sophisticated any generation may think they are. The human heart needs truth. The human heart needs God. And you know what? The Bible is right to the heart of man. Why? The book of Hebrews says that the word of God is like a two-edged sword. It trespasses the heart. What heart is he talking about? The heart of man. The heart is desperately wicked and in desperate need of God. If anything is going to change us, it is the very word of God. So letter A, God's word affects our thinking. Look what it says, that I might not sin against thee. When a person receives the Lord Jesus as their personal Savior, his mind is still as worldly as can be. Let me tell you this. All right, I don't know. Who was born in the Christian home? Here. So you pretty much went to church in your mommy's belly, right? People like me, I was not born in a Christian home. I was in my 30s when I got saved. You know what? When I received Jesus as my Savior, guess what? I knew that I received Jesus as my Savior. Ask me something about that, I had no clue. So did you? You know what? Because we're just born again. We've just been born as new babies. You know what? When we begin to read God's word, apply God's word, hear the preaching, the teaching of God's word, we begin to grow. Our mind begin to change slowly. The effects of the world begin to just walk away from our minds and we begin to put godly things in our minds. It's very dangerous to have an empty mind. Because when we have an empty mind, guess what happens? We can fill it up with anything. But as we empty our mind from worldliness, may we fill it up with God's word. That's the way it changes our thinking. It says that our mind are sin against thee. Did you ever witness of a newborn baby sitting with you at the table and have an intelligent conversation with you? Of course not, because he's just been born, right? I said, this was my granddaughter yesterday. She started walking. She was holding things. She was visiting everybody. She was going to one and we would pick her up. If we didn't have anything to give her, she would Want to go down and go to the next one. But she didn't sit down in the people's laps. It's like, let me have a conversation with you. What do you have for me? There was nothing there. I mean, she's a kid. So the wonderful thing about this is that as a Christian feeds and feeds on the milk of the world or on the meat of the world, the person begins to change. You know what? The psalmist's desire was to please God with a clean life, but a clean life must start with a clean heart. That is the reason we read of his desire to hide God's Word in his heart, so he would not sin against the Lord. I remember years ago, I went to, it was Patrick and Emily and myself, we traveled to Mississippi to my father-in-law's funeral. many years ago and we missed our flight because in Atlanta, I thought that the time change there, it doesn't change there. So I missed my flight about an hour. So they put us in this little winky-dinky little plane and it was raining pretty heavy and it was lightning and thunderstorms, but we went up in the air. And I tell you, that plane went through that storm And that thing was shaking so bad. And I look at my daughter, she's next to me, and she has those big eyes looking at me. And she's looking for support. I'm holding her hand. Patrick was across the walkway with another person. He looked at me, like about to cry. And the lady that served on the plane comes out of the back, and she goes, I never see it this bad. I mean, she was scared. Here's the thing. I'm not trying to boast here. I'm quoting scripture to my children. Why do you did that? Because I try to encourage them. It just came out. It just came out. I'm not saying the Bible, this book and this verse. I'm just quoting scripture to them to calm them down and me down because believe me, I'm human. I didn't want to die. It felt like the plane was just falling out of the sky that day, but then the Lord hold it and we're still here. But anyway. So let it be God's word redirects our speech look what it says in verse 13 my lips with my lips I declared all the judgments of thy mouth did you ever heard the statement garbage in garbage out you see a child of God is prone to sin as an unsafe person because of our old sinful nature don't believe that you in this world you're going to stop sinning we always going to do because we sinners but let me tell you this we can is one thing we can do we can sin less because we have God's word and he said with my lips I declare of all the judgments you know what it's wonderful listen before I got saved my lips when I used to proclaim God's word far from that profanities, gossip, talking trash about others. That was, you know, that was a natural man. But see, as you apply God's word, as you value God's word, guess what? Then your lips, God used your lips to proclaim his word. And you can become a lighthouse with your lips to those who don't know him. You see, we'll never be that light that shines as a testimony of God's power to unsave the world if we don't have the desire to change. The reason is that it's so important for the child of God is saturated in his mind. Saturated mind in the Word of God is because once the mind is clean from all filthiness, the result is godliness in and godliness out. So God's word redirects our speech. Look what it says in Colossians 4, 6. Okay. Salt here, what does salt does? Preserves. Did salt makes you thirsty? Did you ever eat some very salty pepperoni in the pizza? And you're drinking water and water and after a little while you say, why am I so thirsty? You forgot you ate pizza and it was pepperoni pizza sauce? You know, the salt creates thirst. Well, God says that He wants our speech to be seasoned with salt when people hear us, they themselves get thirsty for God's Word. Let me give you an example about this thing. A person that saturates his mind on sports usually always talks about what? Sports. A person who loves to hunt usually speaks about? Hunting. A person that loves fishing often speaks about? Fishing. Because that's what they love. As you can see, what we feed our minds with comes out in our speech. You see, when the person spends regular time on a daily basis on the Word of God, guess what's going to happen? It's going to come out God's Word. The guy in my job, he's a hunter. He makes the beef jerks, or jerkies, whatever you call it. Jerks, whatever that beef is. And he says it's the best in the land. I try it and I'm like, it tastes like liver. I mean, the deer stuff, I'm sorry. Those guys will come to me and tell me that taste. You got a taste of mine. Same taste. Same taste. If you like sports, guess what's going to happen? Sports in, sports out. Sports in, sports out. There's a guy that works with me all day long. Sports radio station. I look at him and I'm like, don't you got time to listen to this nonsense? I mean, it's good for about a half an hour or so, but after a while he goes like, oh, good night. Okay, brother. All right. Okay. So you agree with me, but it all did. I mean, every day, 10 hours a day, 12 hours, they keep in, didn't know every little detail. Ask me, are you placed for the pitch? I don't even know. He's the coach these days anyway. oh goodness let it be god's word teaches us how to behave look what it says in verse 14 i have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies as much as in all riches It makes me very sad when I hear especially a Christian say, well, that's the way I am and that's the way it is. Those words are wrong words or words of anger and frustration. Words that don't give glory and honor to the Lord. We are the children of kings and we should behave in a way that reflects our heavenly father. Let me give you an example. I have three kids. and they know that my desire and expectations on them are for them to live and behave the way I taught them. They carry my last name with them, and I expect them to live up to that name. My dad told me the same thing. My dad told me the same thing. They are to honor my name, but I try to honor the name of my father as well. We are Christians. We carry the name of our God. We are His children. God's Word should be very important to us. Very important. Should be of great value because of the words of our Heavenly Father. So number one, we see the value of God's word. Number two, the effects of God's word. Number three, the power of God's word in my life. Luke says in verse 14, I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies as much as in all riches. I will meditate in thy precepts, and I have respected thy ways. I will delight myself in thy statutes. I will not forget thy words. We need to understand here that there is a reason why the psalmist is telling us he hides God's witness in his heart so he won't sin against the Lord. It is because he cannot do it alone. Without the Lord we are just sinful creatures who would never be able to obey and serve him without his intervention in our lives. We have to allow the Spirit of God to guide us. That's why he is in us. He dwells in us. And if we allow that little and a small voice to talk to us, He will change us. Let me ask you a question. When it comes to God and His Word, what is your greatest desire? You see, the writer of the Psalms does not complain that he cannot help himself. But what we see is a great desire in his heart not to sin against the Lord and to live for him and he knows where to find help for the desire of his heart. He found it in the power of God's Word. God's Word has power because it is the written living Word of God. Listen, I have to believe that God's Word is powerful. It changed me. It saved my soul. God's Word. That's what God's Word is doing in people's lives. If we really take it to heart and believe it, it will change our lives. God's Word has power because it's the written living Word of God. Jesus gives us an example of how important it is for us to have God's Word written in our hearts. Look at what it says in Matthew chapter 4 verse 1, And when Jesus let up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil, and when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, it was afterward a hunger. And when he was tempted, the tempter came to him with satan of course he said if thou be the son of god commanded these stones to be made bread and he answered and said it is written go down again to verse seven it says and he goes again he tempts jesus again and jesus in verse seven says again it is written thou shall not tempt the lord thy god and he said unto him in verse nine all these things i will give thee if thou will fall or go it goes again i mentioned this morning sunday school and worship me satan wants to be worshipped and jesus said unto him get thee get thee hence satan for it is written thou shalt worship the lord and thy god and him only thou should shall serve him you see what the example that jesus give us here that god's word is powerful he keeps saying it is written it is written and if we say to satan it is written guess what happened we become victorious because he cannot stand against the powerful word of god i don't care how powerful he is let a god's word have the power to transform my life do you believe that God's Word have the power to transform my life. Listen, I never dreamed that a day, the day I got saved that I would become a preacher of God's Word. I never, never even came to my mind. Listen, I'm glad, believe me, the day I got saved was such a joyful day. But I remember I was just content to go into church with a Bible and study God's Word. I was just content with that. Then the Lord began to impress me to look after the preacher, like one day you're going to be there, like me? You know, I use a thousand excuses right now, like Moses, I can't speak, I can't do this, I can't... But, you know, the power of God's Word is what it does to you. It did to many people, does to me and you. I tell you what, the problem of our world is a world without Jesus. So God's Word has power, let it be, to direct my path. psalm 17 4 says concerning the word the works of men by the word by the word of thy lips i have kept me kept me i'm sorry kept me from the path of the destroyer you see god's word has the power to direct every step that i take is a light into my feet i can walk to the darkness of night and god's going to be that light that i need to so i don't hit myself to a tree or something else along the way god's word will eliminate my path How many people will actually in this world say that God's Word is their lamp to their paths? It's not. It's not. You see, when we see value in God's Word, when we understand the power of God's Word, guess what? We can put it in our lives and can change our lives for the better. Okay, this man who's unsaved, he's an unsaved man, he said to me, so you want me to go to church? I said, yes. Of course I want you to go to church. What am I going to church for? What would you say? Amen. Learn about God. Worship God. What am I going to church for? I'm like, you know what? There is a great God that loves to see you there. Look what he said. I have no like for church. has no value there for me you see the difference when we have put value in some things it becomes very valuable to us the gods were not just valuable but it's powerful as power to transform our lives how you think you got saved by the power of God's word It's a miracle that somebody gets saved. It's a miracle. I mean, you can't talk with a person and you put your heart out to that person and say, listen, and you begin to teach him and to teach him. And a half an hour later, that person still didn't get it. And you keep going. And finally, that person bows his head and accepts Jesus as Savior. What happened there? A miracle. A miracle. but it's the power of God's word. I conclude with this. You see, we serve a holy God who deserves the best from each one of us. He is our savior, our protector, our God. He loves us with an everlasting love. To make him first priority in our life should be our number one goal. Listen. Here's another guy that said to me this. If I go to church, if I read the Bible, If I do like you do, I'll be miserable. I mean, I'm not putting this, bringing this up. I'm telling you, that's what I hear, you know? I'm like, miserable, why you should be miserable? Well, you know, I don't do the things that I'm doing. And it was like, well, probably some of the things you won't do, but it's for your good. It's for your good. All right. My dad one time said to me, he approached me, my dad was a nephew. I don't know if you know my daddy, but if you met my daddy, you know he's not a guy of many words. He was kind of a quiet guy. He said to me like, you know what, I don't want you to hang in that street. I was a teenager. Why did he say that? Because he didn't want me to get hurt in that street because he saw something that I was not seeing. I look back today, I mean I got my shoulder, I can understand why my dad didn't want me to go over there, because now I understand, you know what? But I listened to the words of my dad, put value in his words, and obeyed him. Saved me from headaches. And that's what we do, you know what? We get the Bible, God's word, which some people think is out of date, and we make application of it. God's word shall not lie, don't lie. I shall not steal. Don't steal. You follow that? God said, I put value on God's word. And because I put value, I'm not going to do those things. Is that better for our good? God loves us. And you know what? Imagine for an example, you are at work. Okay. And you got caught stealing. What's going to happen? See the loss? So don't steal. So God has our best interest. Don't steal. So be honest, a person of integrity. I don't take things that don't belong to me. I'm just using a silly example of how we apply God's word to our lives, how powerful God's word is. We have to take at full value and say, Lord, I understand your word. I'm going to live it. I have a Christian man one time told me. And I was a young Christian. And I began to, I forgot what passage I was talking about. He looks at me and he said to me, listen, you can't really live by the book. It's not, it's old. This is a guy that's been in church for years. It broke my heart because I was just a young Christian. I wanted to obey the Lord. I didn't listen to him, believe me. I thought he was wrong. I prayed for him that the Lord would change his heart. You know, I saw him the other day. He's not, he doesn't go to church anymore. His life is a mess. I believe if he put, if he had put value in God's word, he would not be in the situation that he is in today. I don't believe he was, he would be. But what happens when we don't value the word of God and we put our value in the things of this world? A lot of times we end up hurting ourselves. That's right. Remember, God wants the best for us. This is the words of our father. You know, if we listen to our father, we'd be well. We'd be well. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, for the Bible, the Word of God. Thank you, Lord, that we have your word for direction in our lives. Thank you, Lord, for this powerful word that continues to change people's lives. It changed mine, changed the life of every person here in this room this morning. And some online are watching us as well. And I pray, Father, may your word go forward today. Here and online, may we put value in your word. May we desire to live for you, Lord, in these days that we have left. May we desire to please you. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. If you could stand, please. We're gonna sing a song of invitation. And it's page, page something. What is it? Face to face? 489. Page 489. Oh, it's already there on the screen. You know, sometimes I forget we have screens and you guys are looking at the screen and I'm supposed to look at that little one over there. But a lot of times I forget that is there. That one thing was put there for me. But I forget it's there. 489. 489. Oh, I surrender all. 489. Let's sing. Mean what you're saying. I surrender, oh Lord, all my life, everything about me, I surrender all to you, Lord. I get the handkerchief out, and Lord, I surrender. You know what surrender is? I don't belong to me anymore. I'm yours, Lord. Use me for your honor and glory. Do whatever you want with me, Lord. I'm okay. I surrender all. All to Jesus I surrender All to Him I freely give I will ever love and trust Him In His presence daily live I surrender You know, that's what Jesus wants from you. You know what He wants? He wants your heart. You know what He wants? He wants you to put value in His words. He wants you to believe that what He's saying is true. You know a lot of times by the way we live our lives we deny the truth and the power of God's word. And God says believe me, my word is true. Grab it, live it, and you will be blessed. This world needs Jesus folks. We need Jesus. We need the word of God in our lives. Listen, don't ever think, you know, I read enough. I know enough scripture. No, don't ever think I arrived. That's a wrong thing even to say. You know what? As we continue to live our lives, may we continue to be students of God's word. May we continue to memorize and most of all, may we make application of it. God's Word is powerful, folks. Listen, if you don't believe me, live it, and you see it, and you tell me, live it this year, and tell me by the end of next year if it transformed your life or not. It will. Let's put value in God's Word. The psalmist said that. You know, he valued God's Word. If a few chapters in Psalm 119, he says, I know more than my teachers know. Obviously, he was a good student of God's Word. Let's sing one more verses, our last verses. Oh, to Jesus I surrender. Humbly at his feet I bow. Worldly pleasures all forsaken. Take me, Jesus, take me. I surrender all. I surrender all. All to Thee, my blessed Savior, I surrender all. That's what the Bible says. If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and follow me. Matthew 16, 24. If any man will come after me, we have to die to self. That's how we follow the ways of God. Die to our own ambitions. Die to our own desires and say, Lord, I'm yours. And believe me, you're not going to be the most miserable person on the earth. Believe me, you're not. And if you don't believe me, just look at me because I love every minute of the Christian life. Just enjoy my life as a Christian when changing for nothing. What a blessing to know that I'm saved, that I'm going to heaven when I die. What a blessing to know that I pray to a God who loves me and cares about me. And what a blessing to know when this life is over, I'm going to be with Him for all eternity. What a joy. What a joy to know. Listen, it's a hope that goes beyond that cold grave. Goes beyond that. In the presence of the Lord. What a glorious thing even to think about. And it is a new heaven and a new earth for God's people. Isn't that great? Tell you what, I don't know what I'm going to do there, but I don't care what I'm doing there. I'm just going to serve the Lord there. You know? What a blessing to know that. I tell you, God is good. God is good to us, isn't He? What a great God we serve. He's so good to us. Let's praise His name throughout the week. Don't forget God. Sing the songs of Zion. Put your voice up in the workplace and sing. Don't be ashamed. Don't feel like, what are they going to say? I have some guys that, oh, we have church here. Praise the Lord, we have church here. Let's sing it, you know. Oh, on the phone, you know, when you wake up in the morning, you have a song in your heart and you go through the day. You ever have that happen to you? All day long, you're singing the same song. And you go, why am I singing the same song? And you keep singing the same song again. All right, I'm glad you with us this morning. What a blessing. We have a special day with us I know how we do it that door. We're gonna open that door. Just go there form a line Just make your way through pick up what you want sit in the back and There's plenty of food there folks. I don't think we're gonna be able to eat the whole thing There's one thing there It's something called octopus. It's my favorite. Please don't touch it. Okay? I Everybody's gonna grab some. You know, those little octopus, little thing, little, little, what is it called? When you eat it, they grab into your mouth and... If I hear you screaming, I know what's going on. I'm just kidding. All right I'm just kidding. Let's pray. Let's pray for the food. You can you know, make a line go over there What a blessing being God's out Heavenly Father. Thank you Lord for the fellowship of God's people Thank you Lord for the time we can spend and break bread together and rejoice in Christian fellowship Lord the world don't know what the world is missing But I pray, Father, for the food that you bless it as nourishment for our bodies. I pray for the fellowship that you bless, bless our conversation, our words, bless our time together. Lord, in Jesus' name I pray. Amen.