Joshua chapter 1 and verse number 1. The Bible says, Now after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' minister, saying, Moses, my servant, is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you as I said unto Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon, even under the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites and under the great sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your coast. There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee. I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. Can you imagine what a comfort these words were to Joshua? He had seen how God was with Moses. He had seen how God had used Moses to do some amazing things. And he knew he had to have the same kind of God Moses had. And God is assuring him, just like I was with Moses, I'm going to be with you. You know, we may look at people of the past and say, look how God used them. Look what God did through their lives and look what God did in the days of old. Folks, I got good news for you today. The same God they had that was with them is with us today too. We've got the same God. Verse six, be strong and have a good courage. For unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land which I swear unto their fathers to give them. Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded thee. Turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. This Book of the Law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein. For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage. Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed, for the Lord thy God is with thee, whithersoever thou goest. Father, thank you for your precious word tonight. Thank you that we can look at it again. Thank you that it has exactly what we need, no matter what we're going through. Thank you, dear Lord, that you've given us a book that gives us all the answers. Lord, I pray that tonight you'll help me as I preach the word of God. Fill me with your power. I pray, dear Lord, that you will please use this message to strengthen us, Lord, to use it to draw us closer to you. And I pray, Lord, that when we're done tonight, whenever we leave, we'll be even closer to your word than we were whenever we came tonight. Lord, I pray that you'll renew our love for your word tonight. Oh Lord that you will please help us maybe just to hold a little bit tighter and Lord to hold a little bit higher and Just to live it and love it even more Lord. Thank you so much for giving us your precious word Please now help me as I preach Lord in Jesus name. Amen I'd like to draw your attention to the first two words of verse number eight. In between these words of encouragement and in between these commands that God has given to Joshua here, he talks about something called this book. And I want to speak to you tonight on that subject, this book. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, he says in verse number eight. And he says, if it doesn't do that, there's some things that will go along with that. And the only way, really, that Joshua could be strong and of good courage is because of this book. Somebody wrote these words. It's called The Precious Bible. And it says, though the cover is worn and the pages are torn, and though places bear traces of tears, yet more precious than gold is the book worn and old that can shatter and scatter my fears. When I prayerfully look in the precious old book, many pleasures and treasures I see, many tokens of love from the Father above who is nearest and dearest to me. This old book is my guide, tis a friend by my side. It will lighten and brighten my way. And each promise I find soothes and gladdens my mind as I read it and heed it each day. Aren't you glad you have a Bible? I was reading about a missionary by the name of Roger Riley, and this is actually in his own words. I believe he was in the Philippines, maybe. I'm not exactly sure, but anyway, he said, my favorite testimony dealing with the Bibles, they had some Bibles they were distributing in a certain place. He said there was an 11-year-old boy in the hospital on the mission field. And he said, we made frequent visits here, taking Bibles and tracts in there. We went from bed to bed praying. He said, I got on my knees and was joking with this boy. We were able to get him to laugh. I asked him if he would like a Bible. And his eyes lit up. And he said, one of my own? As we were leaving his room, As we were leaving his room, his mom stopped us crying. She said all he was asking for was a Bible to call his own and she couldn't afford one. That really hit us. Not being able to afford the Word of God would be devastating. And I'll tell you, there's a lot of people that would love to have what we have, but aren't you glad we have this book? Man, thank God for this book. Here's what somebody said. Here in America, we are so accustomed to it, but even though today the Bible remains the world's all-time bestseller with at least 20 million copies sold every year and more than 50 million copies being distributed, many people don't even have any idea what it says. There was a survey that was taken some time ago, and of all the people who say they believe the Bible to be God's Word, only 12% of them read it every day. 42% said they read it once in a while, 34% read it once a week, and 12% never read it at all. That's not atheists and agnostics. Those are people that say, when they were asked, they said, yes, we believe that the Bible is God's Word. About 67% of Americans say the Bible holds the answers to the questions of life. But less than 50% of Americans can name the first book of the Bible. More people believe Billy Graham preached the Sermon on the Mount than believe Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount. At least 25% of Americans don't really know what is celebrated on Easter, the resurrection of Christ. Listen to this, 12% think that Noah's wife was Joan of Arc. That's the day we're living in. People just are illiterate of the Bible. 80% think the Bible says God helps those that help themselves. Actually, Benjamin Franklin said that. It's a pretty good statement, I guess, but 80% of people thought the Bible said that. Only 37% of people, I believe in America, could name all four Gospels. Only 42% are able to name five out of ten commandments correctly. 38% of Americans believe that the entire Bible was written several decades after Jesus went back into heaven You know, that's one of the reasons we believe the Bible is the Word of God It was written over a period of about 1600 years by over 40 by about 40 different authors They were on three different continents Most of them never even met each other and yet the Bible fits together just like pieces of a puzzle We know it couldn't have been those men's word. It's God's Word that he gave to them and then 49% of them believe the Bible teaches that money is the root of all evil. Ever heard somebody say that? Money's the root of all evil. Never says that. The Bible says the love of money is the root of all evil. The lack of Bible knowledge is so prevalent in America that, listen, what a man named George Lindbeck, he's an ecumenicist and actually the father of post-liberal theology. I mean, here's a guy that probably not, he may not even be saved. I can't see his heart, I don't know if he is or not, but he's an extreme liberal guy. Here's what he said about college youth. He had surveyed them himself, I guess, and he said those who came from non-religious backgrounds knew the Bible better than most of those who came from church-going families. Even though we've been given access to the truth so readily, most people know so little about it. How often do we read this book? Man, I'll tell you what. The Bible says to whom much is given of him shall be much required. What a blessing to have the Word of God. How much time do we spend with it? We get so used to it. We get so accustomed to it. It sits around on the coffee table. It sits on the shelf. Oh, yeah, we have it in a case. We carry it to church or something and maybe we pick it up and we open it up during the preaching time. But between Sunday and Wednesday, between Sunday and Sunday, how much time on our own do we open it and do we spend time with it? You know, this is not just a book. Yes, it's a history book, but it's not just a history book. It's a science book, but it's not just a science book. It's a wonderful piece of literature, absolutely the greatest piece of literature in all of human history, but it's not just a piece of literature. This is the living, breathing Word of God, and whenever we read it, God speaks to us just like He did to those people that He spoke to audibly whenever He was here on this earth. We get to have God's word in our language. I want us to look at some things about this book. Look with me if you will at verse number eight again. First of all, number one, this book is the law. This book is the law. Look where it says in the first sentence of verse number eight, this book of the law, this book of the law. You know what, the Bible says we're supposed to be law-abiding people. The Bible says that in Romans 13 verses 1 through 7. It says we're to submit ourselves to every ordinance of man and God has established human government that we're supposed to be submissive to. But I'll tell you what, the foundation of our country was not government. The foundation of our country was this book right here. And whenever the law of the land begins to contradict the law of God, we've got to obey God rather than men. We've got to do it. I'm thinking about some people called the Waldensians. They were called the people of the book. And they were descended from a man named Peter Waldo. And anyway, or Pierre Waldo, I believe his name was, actually. But anyway, these people were called the people of the book. And when it was highly illegal to have a Bible, the Catholic Church said, look, you're not allowed to have Bibles. They would copy God's word for themselves and for others, I guess. And so as they were trying to just have God's word in their language, the Catholic Church said, you're not allowed to have Bibles. You better stop doing that or else. And they said, we ought to obey God rather than men. And they continued to try to copy the word of God and to do whatever they could to have the word of God in their language. So the Catholic church said, all right, have it your way. And they began to persecute and torture those people called the Waldensians. They would take babies and toddlers, and literally by brute force, they would rip their arms and legs off. They would take children and cut their heads off and tie their heads around their dad's necks and make their fathers walk to their death with the heads of their kids hanging around their neck. I mean just satanic, diabolical, demonic things that only somebody who's demon possessed could come up with. And they would do that kind of thing all because those people said we've got to have the Word of God. It's better to obey God rather than men. You know, the reason we have a King James Bible tonight in our language is because of a man named William Tyndale. Again, it was illegal to try to copy the Bible for the common man. And William Tyndale said, look, I want a Bible to be in the hand of every plowboy in England. I want every common man to be able to read God's Word for himself. And so they hunted him and he had to live in hiding and he lived on the run all the time. But most of our King James Bible is the work of William Tyndale as he translated it into our language so that we can understand it. He was so hated when they finally caught him, they strangled him to death. And as if that wasn't enough, once he was already dead, then they burnt his body at the stake too. He was a hated man. But he was a man that said it's better to obey God rather than men. This book is the law. This book is the law. I'm telling you what, I thank God that there's a law in our land today. When it's good laws, most laws are here to protect us and most laws are to keep us from having anarchy in our society. But I'll tell you what, there is no law like the law of God. The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul, the Bible says. and I thank God. I think about what the psalmist said, oh how love I thy law. It is my meditation all the day. Thank God for the law. Now I'll tell you what, as I mentioned earlier, it's better to obey God rather than men. I don't know if you saw it or not, but that the The little elf of doom, Dr. Fauci, is back. Did you see that? Man, yesterday I saw it. And he came, somebody was interviewing him, and here he was again. He said, yes, he said the next sickness that comes out, it's gonna be a respiratory disease. It's gonna have a high level of morbidity. Anybody that listens to that guy now, I would question your sanity. Okay. I mean he even came out himself I don't mean to beat a dead horse here, but he even came out himself and said yeah Basically, we made up the six-foot social distancing thing and all that and all that stuff was not based in science and all that Why anybody would believe him now? I have no idea. All I know is this I would believe it that they may they created the first one and they can create another one and And I'll tell you what, remember what they did last time, whenever they said, you're not allowed to meet, you're not allowed to worship God, you're not allowed to be around other people. I'll tell you what, thank God for some people that said it's better to obey God rather than men. And if that time comes again, if that time comes again, by the grace of God, we need to say, Hey, we respect the government and we want to be law abiding citizens, but we have a higher law than the law of the land. God has told us to meet and assemble. God has told us to be in the house of God. God has told us to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. And I'll tell you what, Dr. Fauci can go and do whatever he wants to do. I'd rather obey Dr. Jesus, wouldn't you? And listen, it's better to obey God rather than men. You know what? There's so many precious promises in the Word of God. Think about those wonderful promises that we find here be strong and of a good courage the Lord is my shepherd I shall not one they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles Lo I'm with thee always even under the end of the world. Oh, we could go on and on about all the precious promises I can do all things through Christ which strengthened of me I but my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Thank God for the precious promises we find in God's word. Every single need we have has a promise attached to it from God's word. But I'll tell you what, let's be careful we don't ignore the clear commands too. There are some commands in the Bible, and while we wanna claim those precious promises, and it helps us through the hard times, and we can stake our claim, and as we sang earlier, we can stand upon the promises of God. Hey, let me tell you something, folks. There's some clear commands in the Bible too. And here's the thing about those laws. I love what God said over in Hebrews chapter number 8 and verse number 10. Listen to what he said about his people. He said, For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my laws into their mind and write them in their hearts. And I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people." Let me ask you tonight, this law of God, is it just something that's in your mind? Is it just a set of rules that you say, I've got to do this because I'm a Christian, and I can't do that because I'm a Christian? That's a miserable way to live. God never intended for his people to live in that kind of bondage where they just say, oh, here's rules that I have to obey. Oh, no, the law of God is not just a bunch of rules that's supposed to be in our mind. It's something that's supposed to be in our heart. God gives them to us for our good God gives us these laws because he loves us and God says we need to obey those laws Hey, listen, we need to do everything that God says this book is the law It's the final authority and it's not just some kind of a drudgery. It's not just some kind of a duty Oh how love I that law Hey, listen, what a joy it is to get to obey the law of God whenever it's in our heart not just in our minds This book is the law number two This book is lasting. Look with me again at verse 8, if you will. He says, this book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth. What he's saying there is you need to keep talking about it all the time. But he said it's not it shall not depart. It doesn't need to depart. It's going to be there. Aren't you glad that this book will still stand when the world's on fire? It's lasting. This book is going to be there. It will always be there. The Bible says in Psalm 119 and verse 89, forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. Matthew 24, 35, Mark 13, 31, and Luke 21, 33 all say this exact thing, heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. This book right here is alive forever. The word of God is quick, that means alive, it's powerful, it's sharper than any two-edged sword, and it will always be here, no matter what anybody tries to do to get rid of it, God's word will always stand. Because if somehow somebody was able to get rid of every copy in this world, God still has it in heaven. God's Word is established in heaven. Remember when Jeremiah had received the Word of God and they came and they got it and they were reading in the book of Jeremiah, they were reading before the King Jehoiakim. And he didn't like what they were reading. And either him or Jehudi, the guy that worked for him there, They said they took a pen knife, and they didn't like what was being read, so they cut it, and just began to cut it out, and then they threw it and burned it in the fire that was right there in the fireplace. But you remember what happened? Jehoiakim may have thought he got rid of the Word of God. He may have thought, well, hey, I don't have to worry about that anymore. That old crazy prophet Jeremiah, I don't have to worry about those words anymore. Well, that may have been true if it was the Word of Jeremiah, but it wasn't the Word of Jeremiah, it was the Word of God. And so after he burned that role, God came straight back to Jeremiah and said, Hey, I'm going to give it to you again. And God gave it to him again. And by the way, he said, he added a few more things to it, too. Hey, listen, God's word is forever in heaven. It's exactly the way God wants it to be. And God has inspired his word. He has preserved his word. I read about the Roman emperor Diocletian. He was an enemy of Christians. He hated Christians. He hated the Bible. And so he made an order. He said, I'm going to get rid of Christianity. I'm going to get rid of the Bible once and for all. And so he said, get every Bible throughout the kingdom and stack them up and let's burn every single one of them. And so they thought they did. They found every Bible they could find. And they went and they burned them all over the place. And over top of a burnt Bible, he put a sign that said, the name of Christianity has been extinguished. So he thought. He thought he had destroyed every single Bible in the empire. But 25 years later, the Roman Emperor Diocletian was dead and another Roman Emperor came to the throne named Constantine. Constantine had been moved by God to have God's word back in the churches again and to have God's word back where people could have access to it again. And so the Roman Emperor Constantine said, bring me a Bible. He said, I'm looking for a Bible. He said, I will pay somebody money if they will bring me a Bible. The very next day, 50 Bibles were brought and laid right in front of him. Diocletian thought he'd stamped it out, but you can't get rid of the Word of God. Forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. You may have heard about the old French, I guess he was an infidel, Voltaire. He made the arrogant statement, he said, within 100 years from now, there will not even be any Bible except for maybe some copy that some old curiosity seeker looks at. But basically saying the Bible will be an extinct book in 100 years. I think God has a sense of humor because in 100 years, Voltaire was dead and his house was being used by a Bible society to print and distribute Bibles. You know what? God forever, oh Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. God's word is always up to date. You know what? The devil has tried to destroy it by just outright getting people to try to burn it and by trying to stamp it out and by trying to get rid of it. But you know what? Just like back in Exodus, whenever the Bible says that the more Pharaoh persecuted God's people, the more they multiplied and grew, the more they tried to get rid of God's word, the more they just keep, it keeps on multiplying. Just keeps on growing and the more God uses it the devil doesn't give up though He doesn't give up if he can't get rid of it outright He'll try to do something maybe even more dangerous than just trying to get rid of it He'll try to water it down and he'll try to pervert it He'll try to be like they do with rat poison. And did you know that rat poison is like ninety nine point nine percent? Edible food, but they slip in just enough poison in there to kill that thing. I And I'll tell you why that's the way a whole lot of modern perversions of the Bible are today. I'm telling you what, they've come along and they've said, hey, we need to update it. We need to make it easier to understand. And we need to make it to where everybody can know what it's saying. Truth is, they're not that interested in just making it easier to understand. There's a whole lot of things that have happened. Hundreds of words and verses have just been removed. Doctrines have been changed. And so many things are happening to where the word of God is being corrupted. I'll tell you who's behind that. The devil is behind that because he hates the Word of God. He's doing everything he can to try to water it down, to try to get rid of the power of the Word of God. But thank God the Word of God is lasting. You know, the Bible is always up to date, always up to date. It's as up to date as tomorrow's newspaper. That's one reason we know it's the Word of God. It was written over thousands of years ago. Most of it was written thousands of years ago. And yet, when you read it, it's just like it could be happening today, what you read about. The Bible talks about the end times and what's going to happen in the end times. It's the kind of stuff that we see happening all around us right now. The very things that the Bible said would happen. It's like we're living through it right now. Let me just give you an example of this. Now this is kind of a rabbit trail. We could go down and probably devote a whole message to this sometime, but I just want to touch on it real quick just to show you how up to date the Bible is. Now I'm not trying to get political or anything like that, but there's a guy named Elon Musk. Anybody heard that name? Anybody? All right. If you live in America, you probably heard that name for better or for worse Elon Musk is under a lot of fire right now because he's trying to cut some of these government agencies and all that kind of stuff save a whole lot of money and You can have your own opinion about whatever he's doing on that I don't believe Elon Musk is the Antichrist, but I believe with all my heart that Elon Musk is Developing technology that absolutely will be used by the Antichrist in the end times. He's working on something called Neuralink it goes in in the brain and And they've already got it to where I've seen a video of this guy that's talking about how he's playing video games without even moving his eyes or using his hands. All he has to do is look at the screen and just think about it, and as soon as he thinks it, whatever he's thinking happens. They're saying that that Neuralink is going to be able to make blind people see and crippled people walk. Well, naturally, who wouldn't want that to happen? That's what Jesus did when he was here on this earth. Exactly. Exactly. When the Antichrist comes, he's going to try to imitate everything Jesus did. and that technology is going to be there. Here's something that is in the Bible that so many times we skip over. You don't hear very many people talk about it, maybe because some people don't want to be labeled as a kook or something. But in Daniel chapter 2, do you remember whenever Nebuchadnezzar had that dream of that image? Remember Daniel was the only one that could interpret the dream. The head was of gold, the chest and arms of silver, the belly of brass, the legs of iron, the feet part of iron and part of clay. Remember that? And then here comes this stone that's cut out without hands. It hits that statue, breaks it into smithereens, and then that stone becomes a great mountain. And you remember the interpretation of it. Nebuchadnezzar was the head of gold and then all of the inferior empires after him. And Jesus Christ is the solid rock as we sang about. He's the stone cut out without hands that comes and he demolishes all those world kingdoms and sets up his own kingdom that will endure forever. Well there's something that a lot of times we don't really think about too much but in Daniel chapter 2. And verse number 42, Daniel chapter 2 and verse 42. Now remember, the Bible talks about these feet being part of clay and part of iron. Iron is machinery, clay is humanity. It says here, and as the toes of the feet were part of iron and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly broken. Verse 43, and whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, here it is, plain as day. It's been there for thousands of years. They shall mingle themselves with the seed of men, but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay. You know what, more and more people are agreeing that what that's talking about is in the end times, it will be a mixture of man and machinery coming together. And that's exactly what we see happening. Let me read you a post that Elon Musk made. This was about four days ago. He said, as I mentioned several years ago, this is his own words on his social media page. As I mentioned several years ago, it increasingly appears that humanity is a biological loader for digital super intelligence. Now that's just he's an incredibly intelligent guy. And so that's above what most of us can understand really. What he's saying here is that humanity is basically just some kind of an instrument, some kind of a tool to get to all this artificial intelligence and all this stuff that they're going toward. I'll tell you what folks, we're in a time now, we've been talking about the last few days, AI and Grok and chat GPT and all that kind of stuff. I'm telling you what, it's unbelievable, the amount of knowledge where we're living today. In fact, the same book in the book of Daniel, the Bible prophesies at the very last of the book here, Daniel chapter 12. And let's see here, I didn't plan on reading this, but I wanna find the verse here. Daniel chapter 12, and it says here, Oh, let me find it. Verse number, oh man. Yes, here we go, verse number four, Daniel 12, verse four. But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, even to the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. Travel is gonna be accelerated like crazy in the end times. We got people now talking about reviving all these supersonic things. I see it all the time, these people talking about how we need to even make Air Force One supersonic. I mean just people traveling at faster than than than they ever have before and people many many should run to and fro and then and knowledge shall be increased. The amount of information that is going to be available in the end times it's going to be unreal. Folks we're living in a time that is actually it's going to change humanity. All this AI stuff, I heard a video, or actually, yeah, it's a video, but I heard audio the other day, and it was, the media just took it and ran wild with it. They said, oh, man, look, there's trouble in paradise. Man, everything's going crazy. And it was an audio of JD Vance, the vice president, bashing Elon Musk, supposedly behind closed doors. And he was saying how he was so against him, and he's trying to steal the limelight and all that. Boy, the media jumped on it. They said, oh, man, here's what we need. We can drive a wedge and all this kind of stuff. And come to find out, it was what they call manipulated audio. It was AI. Somebody just created it. But I'm telling you what, it sounded exactly like, have you ever seen pictures now? And you look at those pictures, and people absolutely believe it. My wife was with somebody just not long ago in another state. And it's a lady that's in her 80s, you know? And this lady was absolutely convinced. She had seen this video. It's kind of comical, really. I won't tell you what it was. But she had seen this video. It was 100% AI. But my wife could not convince her that it was fake. She was totally convinced. She said, oh, no, it's real. I saw it. I watched it. What do you think that's going to do to the court of law in this country? How can they present evidence? Because all they have to do is say, hey, look, we have recorded evidence. This person said it. They admitted it. Somebody says, oh, it's just AI. It's just made up. I tell you what, Jesus is going to have to come back to save mankind from himself. The world would just self implode probably if he didn't come back. All that just to say that was written thousands of years ago. Thousands of years ago. We find here where he's talking about being mingled with the seed of men, half man, half machine. Have you seen that new Optimus robot that they've come out with, that Tesla has come out? I'll tell you what, Elon Musk said, I want to put one of those in every home. Not my home, buddy. I'm not having one of those in my home. I'm telling you what, it walks like a man, talks like a man, moves like a man. I've never seen it. It's unbelievable what's going on. All that's just to prove that what the Bible said thousands of years ago, it's lasting. It's just as up-to-date as tomorrow's newspaper. It's accurate. The Bible absolutely predicts what's going to happen. And instead of going to all kinds of blogs and podcasts, all we got to do is read this book. We know what's going to happen. The Bible tells us what's going to happen. And so it's a lasting book. It's always correct. It's always been. It always will be. This book is the law. This book is lasting. Number three, this book is to be lived. Look at verse number eight again. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night. that thou mayest observe, he doesn't say just to hear according, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein. For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Remember what it says in Psalm 1, blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night. Revelation 1.3 says this, In Revelation 1-3 the Bible says, James says it like this in James chapter 1 and verse number 22. For if any be a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass. For he beholdeth himself and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his day. God says we're not just supposed to hear the Word of God. We're not just supposed to read the Word of God. We're supposed to do what it says. Being a doer of the Word, living what the Bible says. Hey, it's wonderful to read the Word of God, but we need to heed the Word of God. It's wonderful to love the Word of God, but we need to live the Word of God. The Bible says here that we need to not just hear, but we need to do what the Bible says. I love this here. This book contains the mind of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners, and the happiness of believers. Its doctrines are holy, its precepts are binding, its histories are true, and its decisions are immutable. Read it to be wise, believe it to be safe, and practice it to be holy. It contains light to direct you, food to support you, and comfort to cheer you. It is the traveler's map, the pilgrim's staff, the pilot's compass, the soldier's sword, and the Christian's character. Here, paradise is restored, heaven is opened, and the gates of hell are disclosed. Christ is its grand object, our good is its design, and the glory of God its end. It should fill the memory, rule the heart, and guide the feet. Read it slowly, frequently, and prayerfully. It is given you in life and will be opened in the judgment and will be remembered forever. It involves the highest responsibility, will reward the greatest labor, and will condemn all who trifle with its sacred contents. Oh, listen, I'm telling you what, this book is our owner's manual. You know what, when you buy a new car, they have an owner's manual. At least the old ones used to, maybe now they just say YouTube it, you know, find out what to do. But oh man, when you buy something new, there's an owner's manual with it. It tells you what to do. It tells you how to do it. It tells you how to take care of it. It tells you everything you need to know about that product. As you know, God didn't put us on this earth without an owner's manual. We belong to him and the owner's manual is this book right here. God tells us how to live. He tells us what to do. He tells us all the answers for everything that we're going to encounter in this life. I'll tell you what, a pilot has a checklist that he goes through. And this pilot, when he gets in there, before he takes off, he'll go down through that checklist to make sure everything's working right. I'll tell you, before we hit this old world, before we go back on Monday and go back into the world and all the things that it holds, I'll tell you what, before we go into the world every day, we need to find somewhere to get in the checklist, find somewhere to get in the manual. and spend time in it every single day. You say, I'm just too busy to spend time in the Bible. Well, I'm trying to be kind, but you're just too busy. You're just too busy. If you don't have time for the Bible, you shouldn't have time for anything else. I tell you, if you don't have time for the Bible, you shouldn't have time for the phone. If you don't have time for the Bible, you shouldn't have time for the computer or the TV. Hey, listen, if a Christian is too busy to get in God's Word every single day, that Christian is just too busy. You say, oh, I kind of know what the Bible says. I've read it before. Oh, it's not like any other book. Once you read it, you put it on the shelf and it's done. I'm telling you what, George Mueller, he said, I've read through the Bible a hundred times and every time it got better. Increasing delight every single time. On the front page of a newspaper was a story about this compact car was driving down the road and a big semi truck came and just cut them off, didn't even signal, just cut off that compact car, cut right in front of it. Man, it made that compact car driver so mad. Finally, they both came to a stoplight and that car was right behind that truck. Silently, the person just got out of the car, went back to the trunk, popped the trunk, grabbed a big wrench out of the trunk, and walked straight up without saying a word. And there was the rear view mirror right there, right up above him, took that wrench and smashed the mirror on that truck. The driver of the truck rolled down the window and looked, and the guy said, if you don't use it, you don't need it, and turned around and walked back to the car. The driver of the truck just said, well, I deserve that. You know what? We laugh about that, but if we don't use it, what good is it? People have died for this book. They've shed their blood for this book. Oh, God wants us to have this book. By the way, we spend so much time preaching, exalting the name of Jesus, and we should. It's a name above every name. At the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow one day. Every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Oh, we exalt that name. His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. There's never been another name like Jesus' name. And we do exalt His name. But did you know the Bible says God has exalted His Word even above His name? If God holds His Word that high, how much more should we hold it that high? This book is to be lived. And lastly, this book is life-changing. One more time, look at this if you will. He says, I want you to observe that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein. And what's going to happen if he does? For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. People go to all these seminars. They take college courses and all that kind of stuff to learn how to be a success, to learn how to be prosperous. It's all written right here in God's Word. God says if we read the Word of God, if we heed the Word of God, if we live the Word of God, if we acknowledge it, and if we hold it in a place of high regard in our lives, and we build our homes upon it, and we build our marriages upon it, and we build our lives upon it, God said it's a given. If you will do that, you will be prosperous. It doesn't mean you'll be a multimillionaire, but it means God will supply your needs and God will bless you abundantly and give you more than you ever even dreamed. And it says, then thou shalt have good success. You say, yeah, but I'm not that interested in that. I'm more interested in reading things online about how I can do this field of study that I'm interested in. I'm more interested in how to find out how to make a good living. That's great. We need to know how to, people need to know how to make a good living. There's nothing wrong in the world with that. But I'll tell you what, the place to go, if you want to be a success, the number one place to go every day, no matter what other textbooks you read, is this book right here. God promised that good success would follow. 2 Timothy 3.16. Oh, let me read that to you here real quick. 2 Timothy 3.16. Oh, I love what the Bible says here and what a wonderful promise from God. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all Good works. God has given us this book. He's inspired it. He's preserved it. It's life changing. Remember when King Josiah, they came to King Josiah, he was just an eight year old king. Can you imagine that? An eight year old boy sitting on the throne and they came to King Josiah and he said, this man came and he said, Hey, I found the book of the law in the house of the Lord. That's an interesting place to find it, isn't it? There's a lot of places that pass for a house of the Lord today. They have the name church on their sign. They need to find the book of the law again. They've lost it. They said, we found the book of the law in the house of the Lord. They brought it, and they read it before Josiah. And that young man grabbed his clothes, and he ran his clothes. He said, man, we're in big trouble. We got problems. We've disobeyed the law of God. And he proclaimed, I believe he proclaimed a fast all throughout the land. And he said, look, we're going to turn back to this God. We're going to obey the word of God. And oh man, what a great revival came in that place. I'll tell you what, if we want revival in our home, I believe we're starting to see revival in our church. If we want revival in our nation, oh my, as I mentioned last week, that man didn't know English very well. He prayed, oh Lord, revival us again, revival us again. That's when revival will come and we fall in love with this book again. Oh my, how we ought to love this book. We ought to love this book. I like what somebody wrote. It's a well of pure water when I'm thirsty and dry, and bread when I'm hungry and worn. When the battle is raging, it's my faithful sword, a shelter in life's troubled storm. It's a lamp to my pathway, a light to my feet. When this world gets so dark, I can't see. And I've not made a change in one word that it says, but it sure made a change in me. Hey, when I think what it costs just to hold it in my hand, I'm reminded that I owe a great debt to all the martyrs who would go to the stake and quote it till their dying breath. Now, it's critics are many, believers are few, but one thing I found to be true, if you find when you read it that there's something wrong, there's something wrong with you. The Course says this blessed old book that I hold in my hand, it's true from beginning to end. It's a solid foundation where I firmly stand. Sin kept me from it, but now it keeps me from sin. If you have a Bible, and I'm not trying to be cheesy or corny or something like that, but if you have a Bible, would you just lift it up like that? What a book. What a book we have. Folks, look around. We are so blessed. Almost every country in the world would not be able to do this right now. You can put them down. Thank you so much. I've got a video on my phone. Travis is just a little bitty guy. And I held the Bible down to him and he took it and he kissed it. You might say, oh, that's pretty corny. That's pretty corny. It's just leather and pages and ink. No, it's much more than that. It's much more than that. This is God's love letter to us. Oh, listen, if God was going to write us a love letter, he would write, dear, and put your name right before Genesis 1-1. And then he would put love, God, right after the last verse of Revelation. God wrote this to us. How much time do we spend in it? Let me just ask you that don't answer out loud, of course But how much time have you spent in this book in the last 24 hours? How much time have you spent in this book in the last week? I'll tell you if you're having trouble in your home if you're having trouble in your marriage if you're having trouble in your personal Christian life It's not because of somebody's personality that may not help or something, but it's not because of this or that I'll tell you the number one reason people have problems in their lives as Christians and Trouble in their marriages in their homes is because they don't make this book have first place This book is where it's at. This book is important I'll tell you what if your house burned down first thing you ought to go and grab is this Bob this book right here And bring it with you this book I just prayed that God would use this simple message tonight To help us as we leave this place tonight to hold this book a little bit tighter Hey listen to hold it a little bit closer to our heart just to love it and to leave this place tonight realizing how good how good it is and how good God was how blessed we are to have this book and If you want to be prosperous you want to have good success whatever area of life it is We got to get back to giving this book first