Sunday, April 28, 2024 - 6:00 PM - Pastor Tom Barlament | We'd love to have you join us for our livestream this evening at 6 PM. Follow the link below, and click on the Sunday PM service to view. We hope to... | By Landmark Baptist Church | Met a pegger became so poor and he said was Jesus she wasn't on the guest list she didn't come to eat she only came to worship at the savior's feet her tears and her perfume were all she had to give desperate for for the life that she had they said she wasn't worthy girls like her she found the love of Jesus and living in the palace starting dining Lazarus was a beggar miserable and hungry rejected and diseased longing for the crumbs that a rich man threw relying on god's mercy to get him through oh my Jesus loves the faithful even when they're down and out he sent the angels down for Laza walking with the lion and the lamb by the tree of life and the promise land living the dining with the king now I'm standing on his balance learning with the king starting with the king when I think of all my faults and my failures when I consider see I have found it is a priceless gift about Jesus now my soul has Good evening and welcome to Landmark Baptist Church. This is all stand as we sing our first song this morning. Song number 203 in your hymnals if you have it. The Windows of Heaven. It's a course so just one verse together. One does a hand on our falling tonight joy in my heart gave up my all ladder I'm happy tonight welcome to church tonight. I'm glad that you're here. Hey, we got some folks trickling in that were not here this morning. I appreciate that. We had a great day this morning. Uh I think between the bus routes and junior church, I think we had fourteen saved today. Amen. Amen. 14 saved. Uh we had three baptisms. We had a good day. We had a good day. I'm thankful for it and we had a a good crowd this morning considering all of the ladies that were skipping church today. Uh no, no, no driving back. Well, well, he says but I'm glad everybody is making it back safely, alright? Let's go to lord in prayer as we get started tonight. Heavenly father, it's Sunday night and lord, it's always good to be in the house of the lord with fellow believers that are desiring the same thing and lord, we want to hear from heaven tonight. We pray again for the Holy Spirit to fill us, to fill our hearts, lord, that we might be able to hear the word of god exactly the way we need to hear it tonight and I want to be an encouragement and help each and everyone this evening. Bless the service we pray now in Jesus name. Amen. You may be seated. His throne somewhere and as is thy name is constant that there is when imagin just wait till I run that video. Run that video. Just run that video. I'm not going to get up there and say what brother Spencer says. Hello and welcome to Landmark Baptist Church. We are so thrilled to have each and everyone of you here today whether you're a long-time member or joining us for the very first time. We want you to know what's coming up next for Landmark Baptist Church. Attention all Landmark ladies. Come enjoy food, fellowship, and fun at this year's Ladies Luncheon. We'll be having this spectacular picnic on the grounds of our family center on Saturday, May 4th at 10 AM. Purchase your tickets today at guest services after any one of our services. The Lama Baptist School is having a super spectacular spa dinner fundraiser on Friday, May 10th from 6PM to 9 PM. Located here in the Family Center. Come have fun creating your own baked potato where you can top it off with several delicious toppings and sides. There will also be a silent auction to follow. You can scan the QR code at guest services or on our announcement slides to purchase your tickets. Join us to celebrate our landmark baptist school kindergarten graduation on May fifth at 6: 30 PM right here in the Family Center. Let's honor our young learners achievements and cheer them on as they take their next steps. Join us for a day of joy and fellowship as we celebrate the 23rd anniversary of Landmark Baptist Church on May 19th. We'll have a special service at 11 AM and then have a picnic on the church grounds followed by an afternoon sing inspiration featuring our special guest, the West Coast Baptist College Tour Group. If you're a visitor with us today, a special warm welcome to you. We love to connect and get know you better by having you fill out a guest card that you receive inside your welcome packet. Please drop that card off into the offering plate as it goes by. Now, please enjoy the rest of the service. If you have your hymn, no song number three hundred and twenty-eight. I want that mountain. We're going to sing three verses of the song together on that first. Dino prayerlessness upon the mountain high he laughs so hard at my abandon so I cried I want that mountain it belongs to me I want that the mountain that my lord has taken Great singing. Go ahead and welcome your neighbor to church this evening. Alright, as you find your seats, we're going to continue singing. I want that mountain song number three hundred and twenty-eight. We'll go ahead and start off on that second. Was a giant of laziness who said I wouldn and witness for the one who set me free I'll come from out the wilderness a witness now I know I want that mountain it belongs to me I want that mountain where the milk and honey flow where the grapes of Esco grow I want that mountain I want that mountain the mountain that my lord has given me alright let's move on to our next song this morning song number three hundred and forty-four this is also another course that we're going to be singing together we're going to go ahead and sing this twice three four four, four, fresh on me. Spirit fresh on me me fresh on me. Alright, sing it one more time. Fall fresh on me use for fresh on me great singing our last song this evening. Song number one hundred and nineteen, till the storm passes by. Song number one hundred and nineteen. We're going to sing three verses. When we get to that third verse, we're going to stop. Brother Barrows is going to come on up and sing that solo and then we're going to join him in on that course. On the first. In the have I often my face when there's may the crowd precious lord hear my cry passes by till the storm passes over sounds no more till the from the sky hold me in thy hand till the storm passes by Satan whispered there is no end of sorrow thou art with me and where the storms never darken till the storm passes over forever from the the storm. Alright, brother Barrows, come on up and sing that third verse for us. Night has ended and the storms come no more let me stand in thy presence on that bright peaceful shore in that land where the tempest never comes lord may I dwell with thee oh when the star passes by till the storm passes over till the thunder sounds no more till the clouds roll forever from the sky hold me fast let me stand at the hollow of thy hand saved till the storm passes by Whoo. That was good. I like that. Uh that was good. Ushers, if you would come and I didn't want to make mention of this. You know, brother Spencer normally does the announcement part of it but two things. Uh one, don't forget the Spud dinner. Uh that's coming up May tenth, May 10th and buy a ticket for you for your neighbor, for your long-lost relatives, even those that you don't talk to anymore, support the school and the spa dinner this year and then also the ladies luncheon is coming up this coming weekend, April, excuse me, May fourth, May 4th and you ladies will want to your place. They've got a great activity planned for all the ladies, alright? And let's be faithful with our our ties this evening. Let's pray. Lord, take these tithes and offerings this evening. Bless them, Lord. Use them for your glory, for your kingdom. Lord, as we serve you here at Landmark Baptist Church, we pray in Jesus name. Amen. You may be seated. Peter chapter number one. Second Peter chapter number one in your Bibles. Thankful that Joneses are back in church this evening. They were sick this morning. So, thank you guys all for praying for him and my in laws made it back this evening as well. And the titles as well, the lady titles as well. So, praise the lord for that. Second Peter chapter number one. If you will please stand for the reading of god's word. We're going to read verses five through number fourteen. We'll read the odds together and then I'll read the evens. Second Peter chapter number one verse number five. Let's read it together. Ready? Begin. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith, virtue, and to virtue knowledge and to knowledge, temperance, and to temperance, patience, and to patience, godliness, and to godliness, brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness, charity. For if these things be in you and abound, they make you that, you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our lord Jesus Christ but he that lack at these things as blind and cannot see afar off and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore, the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you shall never fall. For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly unto the everlasting kingdom of our lord and savior, Jesus Christ. Wherefore, I will not be an neglect neglectant to put you always in remembrance of these things, though you know them and be established in the present truth. Yey, I think at me as long as I am in this tabernacle to stir you up, putting you in remembrance. Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle even as our lord Jesus Christ has showed me. Let's pray. Dear lord, we thank you so much for today, lord and we thank you just for answering our prayers, for bringing our folks back to church, lord, who are way in Colorado Springs. Lord, we thank you for bringing them back safely. Exercise. So, you just continue to watch over us as a church. Lord, allow us to continue to grow but by you and not by our own our own works, lord and I just thank you for the faithfulness of all of our members who go out on Saturday and just reach the lost. Lord, we thank you for our pastor who has a vision. Lord, many pastors are out there just trying to put on a show but we thank you for our pastor who just preaches your word and has a vision for our church. Lord, I just ask that you just watch over em as he preaches tonight. Lord, just give him the words to speak to his people. Allow us to be respect receptive of your word, lord. Bless it in Jesus name. Amen. You may be seated. It's a mighty good life when you're walking with Jesus living for Jesus everyday with us knowing his love will never sweet happiness I said that sweet us all the way call that sweet happiness I said that sweet happiness walking in the light of his sweet love each day it's mighty good life let me tell you tell you how Jesus saved my soul filling my life with forgiveness filling my heart with joy untold I call that sweet happiness I said that sweet happiness of Jesus all the way I call that sweet happiness I said that's sweet happiness walking in the light of his sweet love each day I might think about how he how the savior cares for me I just want to sing sing and shout want to tell the world how I'm filled with sweet happiness I said that's sweet sweet happiness I said that sweet happiness walking in the light of his sweet love each day shame. You know, that's a couple there that love the lord. Amen. I I appreciate the barrels and all that they do here at Lamar Baptist Church. Uh they're a sweet couple. They love the lord and I appreciate them. So, tonight, I I want to I'll bring a message. You know, you know, we always think that the problems that we faced today are much different than the problems that you know, we're faith. Obviously, it's a different time. It's a different age. Uh there's no doubt about that but some of the same things that you know that Paul and John and Peter spoke about as far as you know, what was going on in the church as far as the people were you know, people are people. Times changes, locations may change but most of the time, in general sense, people are people. People are people and so what we find here in second Peter is that Peter was trying to keep the people stirred up. He's just trying to keep him stirred up and I think sometimes, you know, one of the things that, you know, pastors have to do from time to time is just to remind the people, help the people, to keep their hearts stirred up for for the lord and you know, my my wife and I, we we make this. It's a it's a soup. You know, it's it's we call it turmeric potato. It's very flavor. It's really really good, right? And and we make it but we've learned something. Normally, we make a lot of our soups in, you know, Instapots. You guys, maybe some of you got Instant Pots. Maybe you don't have any but making soup and Instant Pots a wonderful thing. You just push it, you know, put all your ingredients in, push the button, and voila. You know, it's done in just a few minutes and it's done the same way all the time. It's cooked the same. It's good stuff. But we learn that with the the coconut cream that we put in that soup, it settles to the bottom and the Instant Pot doesn't work and it just kind of burns the the soup there on the bottom and so we learned that you have to make it on the stove top and the reason you have to make it on the stove top is every now and again, you gotta stir it. You you gotta stir it up. If not, it'll settle and it'll burn and so it's something that has to be stirred. And sometimes you and I as Christians, isn't it true that we need to be stirred up every once in a while? I'm so thankful for for Pastor Skillo and Bible Baptist Church in Olathe and the revival that he had and and brother Brown, he's he's a good preacher, you know, and his preacher on Monday night. Uh you know, god is god. No matter what you're going through, it was great and then on Tuesday night, he preached a message on prayer. That was powerful. It was power. It was just a message on prayer and in my heart, my heart was stirred up. Uh it it's good to be stirred up. Now, let's look at this here and you'll see that the apostle Peter here, he is making reference to keeping the people stirred up and we're we're going to go through this quickly and then I just got two points this evening and we'll head to the house here but if you notice verse number eight for if these things be in you and he's talking about all these different things that we need to add to our and then he says, for if these things be in you and abound, they make you that you shall notice. Neither be barren nor unfruitful. He's saying, listen, if you do these things, you're going to be successful in your Christian life. You're you're going to stay stirred up where you're going to be a fruitful Christian and by the way, the Bible commands us as Christians that we are to bring forth fruit and we are to bring forth an abundant amount of fruit and we are to bring forth fruit that remains. That's the command given to to to god's people but then look at verse number nine but he that lacketh these things is blind. He can't see afar off and hath forgotten that his sins had been forgiven. In other words, you got to a place where you're not stirred up anymore and you've forgotten where you came from. You forgotten that your sins were forgiven. Then, in verse number ten, if if we do these things for if you do these things, the last part there, you shall never fall. In other words, you're not going to backslide. You're not going to go backwards. Why? Because you're keeping yourself stirred up. You're you're keeping those things that you supposed to be doing. Then, in verse number twelve, wherefore, I will not be negligent to put you. always. Notice this, in remembrance of these things, he said, these are some things that you need to remember. Why? They'll be good for you. They're going to keep you stirred up where you you know, you don't burn out. You know, you don't burn on the bottom. You gotta be stirred a little bit and there's just some things in life that we know that we need to stir up. Uh my wife taught me how to make grits, alright? And if you know anything about grits, I I I who would have ever thought that a Yankee from Wisconsin would ever eat grits, alright? But I I love grits, alright? Some of you are like, grits. Is that like cream of wheat or something? It's like, no, no, no, it's not. I've learned that it's not. But anyway, in order to make grits, guess what you gotta do? You gotta stir em. If not, they come out lumpy and you don't want lumpy grits. Some of you have no idea what I'm talking about right now but some of you do, alright? So, you gotta stir it. Uh stir it up there. Uh then in verse number thirteen, notice what he says, yea think it meet as long as I am in this tabernacle. He's talking about as in this body to stir you up by putting you in remembrance. So here in just a few weeks, we'll have Landmark Baptist Church's twenty-three-year anniversary and it was made mention, you know, brother a foe when he was praying, you know, a pastor with vision. I still have a vision for Landmark Baptist Church. I I do. I I I still have goals for Landmark Baptist Church and I still want to press forward. You say, why? Uh the Bible says that we are to occupy till he come and that means occupy means to be to be busy, to be active, to be doing the lord's work until he come and I don't know about you but when the lord comes, I I don't want him to find me being lazy. I don't want him to find me sitting around, sulking, you know, sucking on my thumb and just be whining about this and whining about that. Be actively engaged as a soldier for Jesus Christ. I want to be running my race and and I want to run my race well. Why? Because I want to finish well and and that ought to be your goal and my goal in this life that we finish well and that that we work hard and that's going to require us to stay stirred up. You you gotta keep yourself stirred up. You I I say to the staff all the time, please don't expect me to be your cheerleader. You have to learn to be your own cheerleader sometime. Uh you have to learn how what what what stimulates you to stay stirred up for the lord and here here's the interesting is you don't have to stir people up to to go to the mountains. Yup. You don't have to stir people up to go hunting or fishing or boating or skiing. You don't have to stir people to to do any of those things. They do it because they want to do it Uh they find that stimulating. They find it enjoyable. I just happen to think that the Christian life and serving the lord is all of those things also. It is enjoyable and it is good to be able to serve serve the lord but it's true. Let's let's be honest. Every now and again, we need to be stirred up, don't we? We need to just be pushed a little bit, maybe prodded a little bit for the things of the lord and we need to be mindful that we need to be stirred up. Can I just say when you come to Landmark Baptist Church and you see someone like this afternoon, I was texting, I text four people this afternoon that I didn't see in church today. You want to know why? Just trying to stir it up a little bit. Hey, where were you today? Missed you today. What's going on? I haven't seen you for a couple of weeks. Just try to stir em up. Oh Pastor, we had some this going on. We had that going on but we'll be in our place next Sunday They just need to be stirred a little bit and you know what? I I'm not the only one that's supposed to be doing that. You realize that? Amen. We're supposed to be encouraging one another and so much the more as we see the day approaching and it's not necessarily that you're prodding or trying to be unkind. It's just trying to keep people to a place where they're stirred up for the things of the lord and that we stay busy in the work of the lord because time is short and we don't know how much time we have left. We want to finish well. So, we need to remember some some things. I I still, you know, remember when I first got saved. I remember about reading the Bible for the first time. I remember going to church a church like this church for the very first time other than Catholicism. Let me tell you something. It is vastly different. I can't express to you how different it is to be in a Bible preaching church than to go to a Catholic service At a Catholic service, I I agree, you fall asleep. It's boring. Uh but here, you know, it ought to be lively. Why? Because the people of god ought to be stirred up about the things of god. We know this, that the world and all that the world has to offer for us. It'll drag drag you down. It will wear on you and we need to we need to reckon. I mean, I I don't think that is bad to recognize the fact that sometimes we kind of go through periods of yeah. We go through lows. I don't know what that means, a low. We might get in a rut so to speak Sometimes, we need a little push to get out of that rut. So that we can continue to advance for the for the lord and for his glory. Have you ever gotten to the place? Come on now. I'm just being honest and I'm sure how it's happened to me. We're reading the Bible in prayer. It was just like ugh. And you do it because you're scheduled to do it and you're not doing it because you're excited about reading the Bible? Can I be honest with you? There's some sections of the Bible that I speed read. Like second Chronicles fourteen and you get I think what is there six and seven where you get like three chapters of genealogy and you can't pronounce 10% of the names. Brother Foley you know what I'm talking about don't you? He get, he just can't pronounce, pronounce the words and it's tough but we need to continue to plot through. We need to just keep on moving through. So, let me give you two things tonight that I have used over the years and by the way, this isn't this isn't like, I was telling the fellas in the prayer time that we had this evening. This is going to be like just really really simple but it's true On how to keep yourself stirred up. Number one, I got two points tonight and we'll finish right on time. Number one we need to learn to remember remember We need to learn to remember. Now, look with me in second Peter chapter one verse number thirteen. Yey, I think it meet as long as I am in this tabernacle. Peter is saying, as long as I'm in this body, to stir you up by how? By putting you in remembrance. He's saying, he's saying, listen, the way you get stirred up is you reflect. You remember Alright. Now, look with me in second Peter chapter three. He doesn't go very long and he's trying to say the same thing. Verse number one. This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance. Remembrance. Can you remember and I got a couple things underneath this idea of remembering but can you remember when god move in your life and you recognize the fact that god moved in your life? Can you go back and you can you reflect on that? Can you go back and remember when when god was close to you and you knew he was close to you and he was working in your life life in some fashion. Hey, you you want to get stay stirred up because you remember how you felt back then? You remember how you were excited about the things of god back then? You remember how the Bible was squeaked back then? Remember how the songs of the singing the songs and the hymns. Again, for me, I got saved when I was 20 years old. It was all new and fresh for me. I wish I woulda got saved as a three-year-old or a four-year-old and raised in a Christian home but listen, I remember where I was when I got saved and I remember my salvation. I remember getting saved November 7th, 1980. I just shared this with you. We went back to see my my sister-in-law, my wife's family. Pray for my wife. She is not well at all. She's all dizzy. You know, she's dizzy and last night was terrible. Uh she was not, she got sick. She was really, really sick last night. So, just pray for her. You know, she's just not feeling well right now but anyway, I got, I remember when I got saved, when we went back home, we always go to Yule Bible Baptist Church. Yule Bible Baptist Church is where I got saved. I got baptist and I got married and we always go to little grave side that they have. They have a graveyard there at the church. I always wanted that for landmark and we had bought that five acres over there in D Road. My goal was to put in a little grave site where god's people could be buried. He didn't have to pay. We just, you know, you have your own plot. You know what I mean? And we go back there and we always gather around the graveside. We talk about my mother-in-law who was a dear saint of god And we remember but more than that, we always drive over and and for this year, my wife didn't get out of the vehicle but I got out of the vehicle and I walked up to the doors and I looked inside where I used to sit in that little chapel. Now, they built a bigger auditorium and I remember, I where I got saved. I remember where I got baptized. I remember when my wife walked through those doors and I stood at the front of the auditorium and she walked down the aisle and I got married and manage. It's just good to remember those things. Why? It stirs you up. George Whitfield at the age of sixteen became deeply convicted of sin. He was 16 years old. He tried everything possible to erase the guilt through religious activity. He said, this is what he said. I fasted for 36 hours twice a week. I prayed formal prayer several times a day and almost starved myself to death during Lent but only felt more miserable, miserable. Then, by god's great grace, I met Charles Wesley who put a book my hand which showed me from scripture that I must be born again or be eternally lost. Finally, by the work of the Holy Spirit in his heart, Whitfield came to understand Jesus' words in John three three, you must be born again. He believed, was gloriously saved. He became a preacher. He spoke over a thousand times on the subject. You must be born again. Why? He was remembering what god did for him and his salvation. You know, what it did for him? It stirred him up. It stirred him up and so we need to remember those things. Then, the letter B I got underneath. Remember, remember your teachers. Remember your teachers. Go to second Timothy chapter one. Second Timothy chapter one. And verse number five When I call to remembrance, this is Paul speaking to Timothy here. He says, when I call to remembrance the unfained faith that is in thee, which dwell first in thy grandmother, Lois, and thy mother, Eunice, and I am persuaded that in thee also, he's saying, hey, Timothy, remember what your mom and your grandma taught you? Do you remember what they taught you? Remember that. I I remember, I remember my first King James Bible. I know any better. I got saved. I said, hey, everybody brings a Bible to church. What a novel idea. I want to be like everybody else. I'm going to go buy a Bible. I bought an NIV Bible. It shocks you, don't you? Alright? Cuz I I despise the NIV Bible, right? I bought the NIV book and I remember, his name was Don Stiller who was the assistant pastor in the church. He said, Tom, let me see that Bible you got there. And he looked at it, immediately went to the, the front of the, the Bible there and he says, here's what he said, he's so gracious and he was so kind to me. You know, he could have said, hey, dummy, why'd you buy that? You know, get get get a different Bible but he didn't He said, is this the way he did it to me? He said, and this is what I do to people too. Now, today, I he said, you don't want to memorize scripture from this Bible. He says, what you need to do is get a King James Bible and memorize scripture out of that. So, I thought, oh, I need a King James Bible because that's where I want to memorize. I didn't know anything about the Bible at that time other than I knew that I wanted to bring a Bible to church and I I I remember my teacher, Don Stiller, who taught me the importance of memorizing the Bible. From a King James Bible. I remember Lynn. GL Wynn was the pastor at Yule Bible Baptist Church and I've given this comparison before but you remember, you know, you see the guy in that, he's seated down in that couch and he's got a scarf on and he's going, he's got speaker right in front of him. I think it's a boss speaker and you can see his scarf float. When I sat in church, that's what it was like to me. I'm like, wow. This guy has followed me around all week and now, he's telling everybody what I've been up to. And was just so impressed with that preaching. I remember Geo N. I remember when he taught a series on the Book of Revelation, I was just flabbergasted. I I was just overwhelmed in in in his handling of the word of god and making it so real and I was so much of a nug, a nug, the new ugly guy but I was so excited and I was I was trying to gather as much information as I could and I remember going to work and and trying to relay what I had learned on Wednesday night on Thursday morning and just slaughtering it. But I was excited. I was so stirred up from the teaching and the preaching of the word of god. I remember that. I remember the truths of Doctor Howes that he taught me. I remember when Tom Malone was preaching at a pastor school and I I walked the aisle and I surrendered my life to the lord. I I remember where just about where I was seated in nineteen eighty-four. 1984. When I walked the aisle, I remember attending the last sword of the Lord Conference when Curtis Hudson preached and right after that, he passed away from from cancer and and can I just say some of these are heroes to me and I remember them and I I become stirred up and there there's others. I remember when I first got saved and the brother Stiller said to me, hey, there's a Bible conference up in Atlanta, Georgia. I was, I was stationed at Fort Rucker, Alabama at that time and he said, you want to go with me? And I'm like, well, what did they do? And he said, well, let's just be preaching. I said, alright, I'm liking preaching. It's it's changing my. I remember listening to David Gibbs for the first time. This is 19 eighty-4 and I was like, man, alive. This guy can tell a story. He can still tell. he tells the same stories, amen. Uh but they're good stories and I was just moved in my heart and I was stirred up. Can I just say, I was on fire? I I on fire and they were my teachers and as I was going through this, I just want to be mindful of the teachers that helped me. Then, we are to remember our talents. Every single one of us has a talent that god gave you. Are you using your talent that god stirred you up to use? Because he wants to use you and your talent. I was approached at the end of the service on on this morning and a young man to me and he said, he said, Pastor, where can I get plugged in? And I'm thinking. Amen. That's good. That's good and I'm thinking, you know, at Landmark Baptist Church, I can plug in anywhere. But what's your talent What did god give to you that's unique? Could you be a teacher? Could you work on the buses? Could you work up in the PA? Could you be a part of the construction? crew that we have around here? Could you play in the orchestra? Could you be an usher? I, I, I struggle with the idea and the mindset that some Christians believe that God saved them just to come and sit in a pew. I struggle with that. God didn't save you just to sit. God saved you to do something for his glory. God's got a purpose for you. God's got a plan for you. Well, remember that talent that god has given to you. You say, well, my talent ain't much. Uh come tomorrow night, Monday night, play basketball. If that's your talent, be an influence on the folks that come. Do something. For the lord but remember that talent then Number next, letter D, remember the tears that god has brought you to in your life that made such an impact on you. I remember two times I went to Korea. It just about broke me both times. The first time I had been married for four months. And I went to Korea for a year. The second time I went to Korea my wife and I had three kids and I'll never forget that drive down to the airport in Colorado Springs. It's like the worst drive of my life. And I remember the tears and the weeping and the saying goodbye to my family. I remember that. And I thought you know what? I don't ever want to be in this situation again. I remember the tears shed for my parents to be saved. I remember the tears shed from my grandparents to be saved. I remember a tears for other people to be saved. I you know what it does? It stirs me up Do you remember the tears? That you shared for others? Then, number two, look at that. We're moving right through this but this has got like 50 subpoints but anyway, first Timothy chapter four, no, it doesn't. First Timothy chapter four, and notice with me verse number thirteen. Now, look, I I got an Email today. I got an Email today and basically, it was Pastor, you know, I I'm doing what I think should be right. I'm reading my Bible. I'm meditating on it but the phrase that was given to me is I want to my orb build my shield of faith. I I want to I want to and really what was being said to me was, I need something to stir me up, okay? This right here, what I'm going to give you right now will help you. But it goes against what is promoted in this day and age. So, just follow me here. In first Timothy chapter four verse number thirteen, we know the apostle Paul's writing to Timothy and he says verse thirteen, till I come, give a tendon to reading to reading he's saying this, get a book and read a book because a book will stir you up. I, I, I, I, I, yes, we ought to read the Bible. The Bible is the first book that we ought to read every single day. The Bible is something we ought to read but we ought to read books. I just got my third book this year from Brother Hoffman. Uh I just sent a book to brother Skillo down in Olathe to read and we're always interchanging books. Why? Because books will stir you up. You read something out of a book and man, it stimulates you. It it it gets you thinking about something and it will, in a lot of cases, shed some light on the word of god where it's helped someone else in an area that that you might be able to extrapolate and pull out and say, hey, I could apply that to my life. And not read the foo foo books and the fluff books and you know, how to better yourself and all that. I'm talking about spiritual books that will help you in your Christian life and so I say this, turn to biographies. You ought to read biographies. At a minimum, you ought to read one biography a month. Excuse me, one biography a year at a minimum. You understand this about reading. I've shared this with you. The the statistics are, if you read for 20 minutes a day, excuse me, 15 minutes a day, a book. You'll read twenty books a year. So, that would mean this. I I probably need to turn off the TV What's so and so doing? I just, I still don't understand that but anyway, read some books and I say this, read some biographies and we just happen to have in our bookstore, books. Now, I don't agree with every author on every single thing but all those books have been gone through and they're good books. They're good books, alright? And you know, we have a disclaimer in front of em that, you know, we don't agree with everything that these people might but they're they're going to be helpful books to you. When's the last time you got a good book and you read a book. I'm talking a biography. I'm talking about a bio. Have you ever read the biography of Billy Sunday? You want to get stirred up? Read about Billy Sunday. He's amazing. Read read about Billy Sunday. There there's a book a biography about George Mueller. We have it in the bookstore. I believe that I believe we have that book in the bookstore. Read the biography of George Mueller. Read about how he would pray and he's trying to feed the orphanage and the milk truck would break down right in front of the orphanage and he was praying that they would have some kind of food or something like that and the guy comes in and says, listen, I don't want it to go to waste. You want it? I mean, just read out that stuff and it's just mind blowing about how god intervened on his behalf. I mean, it's just amazing stuff and it'll stir you up. Read about George Mueller. Read about William Carey who would be the father of missions today. Read about his life. Read about Adonaiam, Judson, who was that baptist missionary and his life changed on those those boats. Read about Susanna Wesley. Uh read read about these different people and and you'll think, man, alive. Boy, that is good stuff and you know what? You'll say, well, they went through stuff that I never went through but they made it. They stayed fired up all the way to the end. Maybe I could glean something there that would help me say stirred up all the way to the end. You should read books about soul-winning men to stay stirred up. Mark Twain said this. This is what Mark Twain said. The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them. Have you ever heard the phrase, readers are leaders? It's true. Readers are leaders but they're because they're they're soaking in things They're acquiring information that they can apply as far as successful traits and attributes and character from others that they can apply to themselves and it will help them. Do you know that the Russian and Chinese governments produce over four billion books a year? There's eight billion people right around 8 billion people on the planet That means they produce a book for every other person in this room right now. That and plus what they're putting out on social media and I mean you have read the whole TikTok thing and and what they're putting out as far as what people are reading on the internet. You say why? Because it's the battle for the minds and hearts of people. And whether you realize it or not, you're soaking in communist agenda. And it it's being absorbed into our society. It's true They say, well, that's conspiracy. Whatever. I think that the devil is highly active in the world trying to win the hearts and minds of people and he's doing it through books and or technology as far as what is being read by people. And I know this, books are a source of motivation Good books will keep you stirred up. Good books will get you meditating for a long, long time. Read biographies. My wife was so good about this. Okay, listen. Uh I'm going to Some of you get mad at me right now. Some of you kids just plug your ears. You're really going to get mad at me. My wife was so good about this because we knew that we wanted our kids to be readers. And so we didn't buy him video games We didn't think that taking him a park was going to be the best thing. You know, I I get it. You know, there's quality time and we need to have that with our children. I get all that but we want to what we wanted our kids to be was to become readers. We wanted them to enjoy reading books. And so we had different times that they had to sit down during the day and read a book. He said, that's me. No. All my kids read books today. Read books and they'll text dad, you know, hey, I'm reading this book or you know, I I I've put this book and I've read this book. I, when I go and visit them, I'll look through the books that they're reading. Some of em like that going in the garbage in that one. No. But but we taught them to be readers. They need that from you to help them to learn, to read. I love a good book. I just enjoy. It it stirs me up. It it's so good to to have different books that that you have in your the Bible says this, how does it, I can't, it's in Proverbs. Uh buy the book and sell it not or something like that. Where we buy the book. In other words, you ought to increase your library. You ought to have a growing library. I knew this would be foreign to some of you. You mean to tell me to make my kids instead of playing a video game or watching TV or playing on their phone that you're saying that you should have everybody just sit down and read a book together? I am. You want to know why some young couples show up in my office and they'll say, Pastor, I don't know what to do with my money. I don't know how to manage my money and it goes like this, ding, ding, your mom and dad never taught you or you have never been introduced to any books on how to manage money. Some people, you know what I require for my counseling? I'm counseling in a young couple right now in marriage. You want to know how to tell 'em? In order for me to complete this counseling, you have to read a book. By the way, I grabbed the book out of the bookstore and I gave it to him. I need to make sure that you got that. You gotta read a book. And then I say this to him. You gotta read it together. Some do, some don't. The readers do, the reader, the, you know, the people that don't read, don't, and they're not helped. Cuz here's the truth, I know that if they'll read the book, they're really going to be helped. Because that author can say it in such a fashion, I can't. That author can get him to move in such a way that I'll never be able to get him to move in that way. But read a book Read a book. Hey, here's what it is. By the truth and sell it not. That's the verse. Buy the truth and sell it not. You you buy the truth, buy a book, and sell it not. Keep a book and and build a library but anyway, my wife was so good about this is we wanted our children to be readers and what what she would do is they would go to the library, okay? Once a week. And my wife like my my my oldest daughter, she liked the Nancy Drew mystery books and different things like that. She read all those books and and different things like and we bought books, you know, through the different sort of lord and different things like that. We're always buying books. Every year for Christmas, we the kids would get different books and immediately, it they didn't go for anything else. They would grab their book and read their book. I I think I've shared this before when we would travel we would we would go to the library and they would all get books Can I help you parents here? They're quiet. They're not fighting with one another. They're reading a book It's a wonderful concept but she would take em to the bookstore and or to the library and what she did is my wife started them off on stuff that they would enjoy. My one daughter liked to read about horses and horse stories and my other like that. Ryan, you know, he would read about sports and and he was really into that. In in fact, brother Ras and many of you know brother Rasmussen at the college. Uh he he would send Ryan books all the time. Send Ryan books. Uh about like Vince Lombardi and trust and all these character traits. I just love that. I just love that. But reading books. It'll keep you stirred up. It'll keep you stirred up. Get your children to read books. Just have them sit down. I know it's foreign. I know it's like different for you. But once you light that fire I think it was Thomas Jefferson said about education and and and and once you you light light the fire of education, all you have to do is sit down and watch it burn because they enjoy learning and and it's so good, alright? So, how do you do that? Number one, set a schedule to read. Get your kids on a schedule to read. Every week, they sit down, they can't go outside and play, they can't run around and terrorize anybody. Uh they can't terrorize one another. They can't break anything. They gotta sit down and read a book. Take em to the library. Find out what their interests are. Let them pick the book that they want to read and every week, you take em back and you get another book. Buy books out of the bookstore but set a schedule to read. Have your kids on a schedule. You too be on a schedule to read a book. Number two, only read books written by people you can trust. I'd be very careful with the books because a book, have you ever been out soul winning? I have. Talking to someone about the lord. Now, come up with some weird, weird doctrine and I'll say, where'd you read that? Well, I read it in so and so book. There you have it. So, you're going to base all your eternity on some man's book that he wrote? Only I I would very much guard this as far as books your children. Sometimes my wife and I, they would pick the books up out of the library. And we would go through those books. Before we would ever let our kids read the books and a lot of times, you know, they were serious because we don't want curse words in there. They, we don't want immorality in there. We didn't want people carrying on and the kids would ask all these questions that they need not be asking us. Alright? I, number three, read biographies. Read biographies. Read about people that have done something great in their life. It is fun reading. It's exciting reading. Number four, build a library as I made mention of that. Uh they need that and I think if we do those two things here, if we learn to member and we learn to read. You don't need Pastor to keep yourself stirred up You don't need me to come and stir you up. You already got an internal mechanism to stay stirred up. A lot of time pastor, people say to me, well, I I just I'm just not a good reader and this is what I say to you that are are folks that are not good readers is, okay? Then, listen to sermon tapes. Listen to preaching You say how often? Once a day. Put a sermon tape in there. Listen to a sermon. You'll learn a lot. You'll learn a lot. Now, don't don't go to some Pentecostal guy and listen to a sermon tape and say, hey, Pastor, I heard this preacher. We ought to be you know, speaking in tongues. Uh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Don't do that. But you know, you can, there there are, there are websites like from when I mow the lawn. alright? Uh I'm I'm listening to something. I'm listening to something. Not to pass the time. Keep myself stirred up. I can listen to a Jack Hiles tape and I can go 2 weeks and I think, man, alive. That preacher can stir me up. But if you can't read, you're not a good reader. Find some. My wife, it's music. I don't get it. But she's constantly listening to music. It it it stirs her up. Find something that stirs you up. And it'll keep you stirred. Heavenly father, help us to remember, help us to read, help us to stay stirred up for you, lord and so often, we need to be prodded maybe and be stimulated by someone else and we can't do it ourselves but I really do believe, lord, if we'll put these two things into play, we can keep ourselves stirred up. Sure, there's times that we need to be encouraged. Sure, there's times, lord, we know that we need one another to encourage one another but lord, These are some areas that we could apply right away to stay stirred up for you. Lord, be with the invitation. Of course, lord, decisions to be made and lord, I pray that some would make decisions to stay stirred up for you in this world that we live in today. We pray now in Jesus name. Amen. Let's go and stand to our feet and