Sermon Tone Analysis

Good Morning, its good to be in the house of the Lord this morning.

What a tremendous time we had at the men’s conference this weekend I was so blessed to see the men of our church turn out the way they did to hear the teaching of God’s word.

I’m telling you that multiple times on the phone the lady behind the desk as I was registering our men said wow this is a very big group!

1st Baptist Church in Chipley is a very large church but she was very surprised and impressed as I was with the number of men we were able to take this year.

I say all of that to say that what we have here is special the number of men plugging in to these small group studies with me, and the number of men who are waiting to start is truly a refreshing sight.

Many churches don’t have what we have right here at Union Hill, Johnny Hunt said MEN ARE THE UNTAPPED POTENTIAL OF THE CHURCH.

By in large when men step up in spiritual things the Bible is clear and so is the research families change, culture changes and the church becomes more powerful.

My prayer is that our men would continue to seek the Lord because good things happen when the men of God pursue God.

(Let’s pray)

One afternoon I was leaving out of the office behind my house had just finished with a time of praying and study and as i shut the door I noticed something crazy looking.

In my yard there are flower beds that were there when we got there and they are filled with rocks, you know the nice looking rocks, somebody paid alot of money at one time for these rocks and it wasn’t me thank the Lord because there are tons of them.

But this morning I want to dive into a study of the book of 1 Corinthians, the Bible teaches us that faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God.

So we are going to break it down and preach through it.

Anyway I walk out and I look and there are these huge vacant spots in the flower bed thousands of rock as were gone it looked pathetic looking looked like the flower bed had leprosy just these big black spots all around.

I thought what in the world happened to all of those rocks and thats when I saw them.

One of the things you have to do when you study a book is set a foundation to build on and understand the book.

This morning were going to be looking at the first three verses.

Next to the rock bed was two little boys dump trucks, and a red wagon filled to the gills with the rocks from the rock bed.

My two boys looked up hesitently and I said Chandler Gage what in the world are yall doing?

Raised your hand in this room if you have trusted in Christ as your Lord and Savior....

I began to tell them that they had better get all them rocks and put them back in the rock bed because i didn’t have the money to replace them....

if you look at the first chapter Paul is really dealing with the Benefits of being a saint.

When we here the word saint its hard not to think of something referring to catholics.... but that is never the Biblical meaning of the word.

That’s when it happened Chandler interrupts me and says but daddy these arent rocks they are treasure.

I said you dog gone right there treasure because itll take a fortune to buy some more now put them back.

In Catholicism if you are ensrhined into sainthood its because you have done something great or you are special in regards to your moral standards or actions.

It was amazing yall it had to have taken them hours diggin up those rocks they had that wagon slam full of those rocks.

I began to think about all of the time and effort it had to take them picking those things up one by one and loading their dump trucks and then dumping them into the wagon over and over and over again, they had to have been at it most of the day.

SAINT is defined right in the second verse of this book Paul says

That’s dedication, that’s determination.

All because they thought they were rich, all because they thought they had found something that was treasure.

You know when you find something valuable you don’t have to find time for it, there’s plenty of time when something is valuable.

For example when you were dating your spouse you didn’t have to find time to call her, aw naw you were planning on it.

Paul is clear that Saints are those who are sanctified in Christ who call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Anyone who is saved who is calling upon His name, anyone who is a true believer is a saint.

You have a divine right to that title so the next time you introduce yourself make sure you introduce yourself as saint.

According to the Bible I have been declared holy I have been

You didn’t have to make time to go watch you child being born, nothing was going to stop you from seeing your child be born.

When some of us played sports, we didnt have to force ourselves to make time to practice.

If you loved the game everything you did was practice.

Why?

Because tit was valuable to you.

This morning I want to speak with you about the Blessings of treasuring the Word of God.

What benefits do we receive from studying the word of God?

Turn with me in your copy of God’s word to .

Proverbs

Notice the King Solomon the wisest man in the world begins with the word if.

This is a conditional statement, this is a “if” “then” promise.

If you put on your seat belt then you will be safer than if you do not put it on.

Or the one I use on my kids all the time, if you stay on your best behavior then daddy will reward you.

But here Solomon begins by saying,

IF YOU ACCEPT MY WORDS AND STORE UP MY COMMANDS WITHIN YOU

He says if you accept my words well what does the word accept mean exactly?

It means to receive with pleasure it speaks of receiving someone or something with joy.

So for example when you have a family member that you havent seen in awhile and you find out they are coming to visit you are excited you are joyful you run to and fro excited to see them and spend time with them.

So basically Solomon is telling us that when it comes to our relationship with the Word of God we should receive his word with joy and excitement.

That we should long to hear a word from the Lord not just in a sermon but in our daily time of spending it with God and His word.

Do you know when you spend time in gods word you are spending time with God himself.

This is where God speaks to us and we can respond.

This is why we talk about the Lord wanting to have a relationship with us.

Like someone who can’t wait to see an old friend like someone who cannot contain the excitment is this the way we approach God’s word?

I can assure you that when we are right with the Lord this is exactly how we feel, we just cannot wait to spend time with Him, we can’t wait to learn from Him. BUT WHEN WE ARE DISORIENTED AND AS ADRIAN RODGERS PUT IT

WHEN WE ARE WALKING AT A GUILTY DISTANCE NOT REALLY PRESSING INTO THE LORD AND WHAT HE WANTS FOR OUR LIVES THERE IS VERY LITTLE EXCITMENT AND THERE IS VERY LITTLE TIME SPENT WITH HIM.

WE SHOULD TREASURE OUR TIME WITH THE LORD.

So a better way to phrase that might be if you treasure and recieve with joy my words and do what with them?

STORE THEM UP WITHIN YOU

THY WORD HAVE I HID IN MY HEART THAT I MIGHT NOT SIN AGAINST THEE

When you store God’s word in your heart then something begins to happen… there are benefits to spending time in Gods word!

We will get to those blessings in a minute.

So God tells us that we are to

Receive Gods word with joy

Store Gods commands within us

But notice what He tells us to do with gods word next

So let’s get real have you ever sat down to read the Bible and thought to yourself man this is hard to understand.

But you read it anyway, but you didn’t really get anything out of it.

Anybody ever felt this way?

Let me ask you a question did you cry out to God in prayer and ask Him to help you understand it?

Too many times we decide were going to do a better job of reading God’s word only to feel that way and never asking the writer of the Bible for understanding.

do you realize that you have the Holy Spirit living within you and He guides us into all truth?

He longs for you to ask Him what something means, He longs for you in the same way a Father longs to spend time with His kids He longs to reveal Himself to you and help you understand His word!

What kind of Father would God be if His children asked Him for help and He did nothing?

Not very loving at all

If you wanna know God and you want to understand His Word He isn’t just going to let you sit there watching you struggle and do nothing, He longs to give good gifts to those who ask...

So we are to receive God’s word with Joy, we are to store up God’s commands within us, we are to listen closely to wisdom....

So we are to receive God’s word with Joy, we are to store up God’s commands within us, we are to listen closely to wisdom....

Quick question how much listening do you do when you have your quiet time with the Lord.

One of the most helpful things I have found in my time with God has come from being silent.

So for example I’ll read a Bible passage and I’ll pray about it.

I’ll ask God to speak to my heart and then I’ll just sit there and wait and listen.

YOU’LL BE AMAZED AT WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU SHUT YOU’RE PHONE OFF AND SIT IN SILENCE FOR A FEW MINUTES, MEDITATING ON GOD’S WORD!

Psalm

Sit still meditate, think about what you just read and then wait for the Holy Spirit to speak to you! Listen closely, be attentive!

You don’t know what will happen if you will sit down in faith believing God will speak to you, and then wait expectantly for Him to do just that!

I SERVE A RISEN SAVIOR HE’S IN THE WORLD TODAY

I KNOW THAT HE IS LIVING WHATEVER MEN MAY SAY

I SEE HIS HAND OF MERCY, I HEAR HIS VOICE OF CHEER

AND JUST THE TIME I NEED HIM HE IS ALWAYS NEAR

HE LIVES, HE LIVES, CHRIST JESUS LIVES TODAY

HE WALKS WITH ME, AND TALKS WITH ME ALONG LIFE’S NARROW WAY

HE LIVES HE LIVES SALVATION TO IMPART