[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. It is our prayer that you will be blessed by the preaching of God's Word. Well, tonight we have my friend, Michael Staley.
[0:10] He's the pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Toccoa. And the picture behind me is half of a good-looking picture. The lady half is a nice-looking lady.
[0:21] She married Mike. And that's all I can say, man. I think I've told you that Mike used to, there was a time when Mike was improving. Everybody would just run and chase him down the streets.
[0:34] They called you Tom Cruise, didn't they? Yeah, he loved that, I think. But he actually got so frustrated because, you know, you're the only white guy.
[0:45] And he got so frustrated he ran into a store and was hiding behind the stuff because he's tired of everybody looking at him and hollering at him in the years he served to improve. But he's a good man. And God's used to.
[0:55] Come on, Brother Mike. Thank you for being here. Good friend of mine. His daughter over there, I've known her. I've known the family 21 years. And I am honored and privileged to have him preach here tonight.
[1:07] Enjoy this, brother. Thank you very much. It's a pleasure to be here. Always a pleasure to come to Vision. I thank the Lord for the opportunity to be here with you tonight. And I just thank the Lord for your pastor, his friendship throughout the years.
[1:20] I did have this water. I probably do need a drink, but I'm afraid Ed's probably put something in it. So I think I'm going to have to pass on that. So I can't drink anything tonight.
[1:32] But I pray for Ed. Pray for the missionaries here. I ask you to pray for us. We're having our missions Sunday, this coming Sunday. Paul Talby will be with us and two other missionaries.
[1:47] They're not with Vision, so we won't mention them. But we'll be with us. And then the week after that will be our faith promise. And so I ask you to pray for us in our church that we would do what God wants us to do for missions.
[1:57] And I pray that we can reach out and reach more people with the gospel around the world. And so appreciate that. I wanted to tell Eric, right?
[2:09] Okay, Eric, I wanted to tell you you did a good job leading singing, all right? Now, I don't give that compliment out to everybody. But I'm a real stickler on music. I mean, I'm real funny about it. I know good music. I know bad music.
[2:21] And so I don't give that out to everybody. So I want you to feel honored that I would say that. My dad used to tell me when I sung in the shower that whenever I'd start to sing, the water stopped.
[2:31] So he said, you better stop singing. But that's just the way it is. But we appreciate each and every one of you will be praying for Bo. I was asking Bo, and I'm getting older, so I don't hear as well.
[2:42] And so when Bo came in and said he was having celebration Sunday, I thought he said salvation Sunday. I said, man, that sounds like a good thing. How do you have that? I need that at our church. But I pray for Bo and the work he's doing there, and I pray God's going to use him mightily.
[2:58] I want you to turn your Bibles, if you would, tonight to Psalm 119, Psalm 119 this evening. Psalm 119. And we know Psalm 119 is about the Word of God.
[3:10] The Word of God. And I read this the other day. Now, let me say this. I was looking on your website. I'm always looking for new ideas and new things going on.
[3:21] And so I was looking at your website, and I seen some of the things you had going on this year, the ladies' fellowship, and you guys have a nice screen for that, and some of the different things you have going on in your website.
[3:32] And then I seen you had s'more night. And I was real intrigued about that. And I was like, s'more night? That sounds like a good thing. I guess you go to the new property, and you have a bonfire, make s'mores.
[3:45] But I'm telling you, I think you guys got some competition here at Vision Baptist Church. Because it seems that church right down before you get to Vision, they're also having s'more night.
[3:55] I mean, have you seen their sign yet? It said, bring your spiritual marshmallows. Our pastor is on fire. And I almost didn't even make it to Vision. I just wanted to go there tonight, I tell you.
[4:07] I just wanted to see what was happening. Amen? But that's pretty exciting, and I'm glad to be with you tonight. And I count it an honor and a privilege to be here with you tonight. But I seen this.
[4:18] I read about this sign that was in an automotive shop. And the sign said this. If you bring in your car before it breaks down, so we can do the maintenance, the rate is $30 an hour.
[4:32] If you wait until it breaks and then you bring it in, the rate is $50 an hour. And if it broke and you tried fixing it yourself, and now you bring it in, it's $120 an hour.
[4:48] And you might laugh at that being a mechanic, but I think every pastor could probably put that in their office. Because if you would just do and obey what the pastor says and what the pastor preaches, many times our life would be a lot easier, and we would not have the complications that we have.
[5:07] But so many people, they treat the Word of God, and they treat God's Word that it's only when they have a problem. It's only when they're going through a trial. It's only when they're going through a situation.
[5:18] They run to God's Word and they say, God, what do you have to say for me now? But the truth is, if we got in God's Word on a daily basis and we applied God's Word in our heart and in our life, it would make a difference in our life each and every day.
[5:34] And so I want to just share some things with you tonight about the Word of God. And so let's begin reading tonight, Psalm 119. Let's begin reading in verse number 9.
[5:46] Psalm 119, verse number 9. If you found your place, say amen. The Bible says this, Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way?
[5:58] By taking heed thereto according to thy word. With my whole heart have I sought thee. O let me not wonder from thy commandments.
[6:11] Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. Blessed art thou, O Lord. Teach me thy statutes.
[6:23] With my lips have I declared all the judgment of thy mouth. I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies. As much as in all riches.
[6:35] I will meditate in thy precepts. And have respect under thy ways. I will delight myself in thy statutes. I will not forget thy word.
[6:50] There's a lot of things that stick out to me in this passage of Scripture. Written by the psalmist. First off, I see that verse in verse number 11. Thy word have I hid in my heart.
[7:03] And I'd like to ask you tonight, when is the last time you memorized a verse of Scripture? When is the last time you memorized God's Word? Now see, the sad part about in our Baptist churches is this.
[7:16] We think memorizing Scripture is for children. But really, it's for all of us. Amen? And it's for our benefit. The Bible says here very clearly, Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee.
[7:32] And so when we have a problem with sin, and when we are battling sin, God's Word says to hide His Word in our heart. And that way, when we are confronted with that sin, God's Word will come back to us.
[7:45] God's Word will be in our mind, and we can get the victory over that sin. But then I see something else in verse number 1. It says, Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way?
[7:58] How can a young man be clean? How can a young man cleanse his way, his path? And the Bible says here, By taking heed thereunto according to thy word.
[8:10] But I want you to notice verse 16. And this is where we're going to spend our time this evening on this last phrase. It says, I will delight myself in thy statutes.
[8:23] I will not forget thy word. If I went around to you tonight, and I asked you this question, What did you read in your Bible today?
[8:38] What would be your answer? Have you read your Bible today? Did you understand something that you read in God's Word today?
[8:50] Could you tell me in an instant, Yes, this is what spoke to my heart today. See, the truth is, many times we read our Bibles, we check off the box we read our Bibles, but if somebody asks us throughout the day, What did you get out of your Bible today?
[9:07] What did God speak to you? We don't have a clue. And my purpose tonight, and I want to be very practical, I want to be very helpful to you tonight, I want to help you, to give you a way, and I'm going to teach you how to do this, this is something I've just recently started, but in my own life, and I'm trying to be faithful to this, because I want God to speak to me.
[9:31] You know, we record a lot of things in life. We write down a lot of things. We keep a record of a lot of things in life. One thing we keep a record of is, hopefully you keep a checkbook log.
[9:44] You have, every time you write a check, you write down the check, and you write who you wrote that to. And that helps you say, Hey, I spent this much money, I gave this much money, and you have a checkbook log.
[9:56] Some people, they track how many calories, they eat in a day. I would never even attempt to do that. I can't even count that high, in the thousands, the hundred thousands of calories a day.
[10:09] But people track those things, and they keep a record of those things. When I was running on a regular basis, I would keep a running log, and every day I would write down, how the weather was, what shoes I wore, where I ran, how many miles I ran.
[10:25] And I kept a mileage log. Some people, they keep, when they have a baby, they have a baby first book. And every time their child does something for the first time, they write in that log, and they remember what happened, and what took place.
[10:43] I'll never forget, we were home, and my mom was cleaning out some things, and she said, Do you want your baby first book? And in that book, she had my first haircut, and she had some clippings of hair stuck in that book.
[10:54] And I thought to myself, How gross? I mean, why would you keep some hair clippings? Why would you do that? My daughter, when she was taking piano lessons, she kept a piano practice log, how many minutes she practiced, what song she practiced.
[11:11] See, we keep lots of logs. We keep a mileage log. We record our receipts. And when I played a lot of golf, before I became a pastor, I had a lot more free time.
[11:23] I know you think we only work on Sundays and Wednesdays. It's not true. Amen? There's a lot of other things that go on. I used to keep track of every round of golf.
[11:34] I would put my score, I would put how many fairways I hit, how many bunkers I was in, how many putts I had on the green. I mean, I recorded all that. I wanted to know if I was improving. I wanted to know how I was doing.
[11:47] And we keep those records. We keep a log for our checks. We keep a log for our calories, our mileage, our exercise, our babies first, our piano practice, our expenses.
[11:58] But I want to ask you this question. But where do you keep a record of what God has spoken to you? Where do you write down what God showed you in His Word?
[12:12] Where do you keep a record and say, Hey, today, God showed me this verse, and this is how it spoke to you? Now, I know us men, we say, Oh, I don't journal. That sounds like something for the ladies.
[12:23] Is it? Here, the psalmist said in this verse, he says, I will not forget thy word. And if you don't want to forget something, what do you do?
[12:36] You write it down, don't you? You make a memory. You make a note. You write it down. And so I want to challenge you as we look at this and how to do that.
[12:49] Listen, more important than how many miles you ran this week is what has God said to you? More important than how many calories you ate this week is what has God spoken to you this week?
[13:01] Hey, more important than, Hey, what is your last golf round or what is your last exercise routine? It's more important, Hey, what has God said to me this week?
[13:13] Somebody said this, if you engage in only two spiritual disciplines, make them praying and reading God's Word. Praying and reading God's Word.
[13:25] Now, prayer is when we talk to God. Reading His Word is when God speaks to us. Recently, I read this quote that 80% of those that call themselves Christians only read the Bible once a week.
[13:40] And we wonder why we're anemic. We wonder why we're not growing spiritually. It's because we're not getting enough of God's Word in our hearts and in our lives.
[13:53] So let me share some things with you. And I know most of you thought this present was for you and you were hoping that your name was on this present. But actually, I wrapped this present for myself. And actually, it brings me back to, I had a great grandmother.
[14:08] It was great grandmother Moore. And I don't remember a lot about her, but I remember going there the first Christmas and she had a present for us. And you know how, as a kid, you just can't wait.
[14:19] You're getting a present. You're so excited. You're like, yes, I'm going to get a present. And then when I opened it up, I said, oh, it really wasn't that great a present.
[14:31] And I went back the next year and she had a present for me. And I said, man, I hope great grandma Moore has done better this year. I hope she's improved this year. And you know what? She got me the same present.
[14:44] I went back the third year and I said, oh man, hopefully grandma Moore, she found something else on sale. Hopefully she got me something different this year. And guess what? She got me the same present.
[14:59] And I had all this stuff collected in my drawer. And so I brought this and I wrapped this up to remind me of grandma Moore. And I want to use this tonight. And so I wrapped this gift and here is what grandma Moore got me.
[15:14] Now you got to understand, I was probably about eight or nine years old, I believe at this time. And this is what grandma Moore got me. It kind of got messed up.
[15:26] Brute 33. Now if you've never tried brooding, you're a young person, you come up after the service, I'll help you out with that, alright? She would give me the aftershave kind.
[15:37] I was nine years old. I didn't even know what shaving was. And she got me the brute 33 aftershave. Now if you've never spelled brute, you're in for an awakening.
[15:52] But always in that box, there was something else. There was some soap. And it wasn't just regular soap. It wasn't just normal soap. I mean, it was brute 33 soap.
[16:05] Now, brute 33 soap is a collector's item now. It sells on eBay for about $35. I was not paying $35 for brute 33 for a sermon illustration. So this is generic brute 33.
[16:18] But it was soap. And here's what it was. It was not only soap, but it was what they call soap on a rope. Now how many of you have ever had soap on a rope?
[16:29] Now, I'm not really understanding what you're supposed to do with soap on a rope. I really don't get it. But I mean, it was soap on a rope.
[16:43] And she got me that three years. I mean, I had my clock toss it. I mean, I had brute 33, brute 33, brute 33, brute 33. I had all kinds of brute 33. I don't even like the smell of brute 33.
[16:55] It doesn't smell good at all. But as I was thinking about this soap on the rope, it kind of leads to how I want you to journal, how I want you to write down what God shows you in His Word.
[17:09] Because the psalmist said here, I will never, I will not forget Thy Word. I will not forget Thy Word. And so how can we not forget the Word of God?
[17:23] How can we make our devotions come alive? How can we make our devotions have meaning in our life? So that we understand something, we get something, and we can apply something to our life.
[17:34] Because is not that the goal of God's Word? That we would grow? That we would apply it in our life? Hey, it's not just to listen to the God's Word, but it's to apply it in our life.
[17:45] And so I want to use this acrostic of soap. And so every time you think about soap, and you're going to think about soap on a rope, just think about how you need to do your Bible devotions.
[17:56] And I believe if you just follow this, if you try it, it'll make a difference when you read God's Word. So here's the acrostic I want to give you real quickly.
[18:07] The letter S stands for Scripture. Hey, begin reading God's Word. I'm all for devotional books. But can I tell you that devotional books are not inspired?
[18:22] This book is inspired. It is the inspired Word of God. This is the book that should have more meaning in your life than any other book in your library.
[18:34] God's Word. It should be the first book you turn to. It should be the Word that you rely on. The Word of God. And so we have to start by reading the Scripture. You say, preacher, where do I start?
[18:46] Start in the book of John. Start in the New Testament. But read a portion of Scripture. A very important... Now, so many people, they start a devotional habit or they start a devotional life and they think, man, I've got to read all the New Testament today.
[19:01] No, start with small portions. Brother Gardner was making fun of me because I have ran a marathon. I have completed 26.2 miles.
[19:12] But I took a long break for a long time and I'm just getting started again. And so I'm on this program called From the Couch to the 5K. Now, most people are on the couch to the refrigerator, but I'm going just a little bit farther than the refrigerator.
[19:25] The Couch to the 5K. And the beauty about the Couch to the 5K, you don't start running 26 miles. You start running for 60 seconds and then you get to walk for two and a half minutes.
[19:37] I love that walk time. I can't wait for that to get out. I'm like, yes, I get to walk now. And then you run a little bit longer. Then you walk in and they build you up slowly. So do the same thing with God's Word.
[19:50] Begin with just a chapter. Begin with just a chapter and say, God, open my eyes. Show me something in your Word. Show me something that will help me today.
[20:03] So we begin with the Scripture. We ask God to bring the Scripture to our mind. And God is going to give you a verse. And you say, preacher, what do I do with that verse? Well, you get a notebook and you write that verse out.
[20:16] You write all that verse. Whatever verse spoke to your heart, you write that verse out. You say, why would we do that? Well, turn to the book of Deuteronomy, if you would. Deuteronomy chapter number 17.
[20:28] Keep your finger there in Psalm 119. We'll be back there. Deuteronomy chapter number 17. Deuteronomy chapter number 17. And look at verse number 18.
[20:43] This is some guidelines here in the book of Deuteronomy for the King of Israel. Now, they weren't supposed to have a king because God was their king. A God was supposed to be their king.
[20:54] But God knew that they were going to be like all other nations and they were going to desire a king like everybody else. And so God gave them some things that they couldn't do. They weren't to go to Egypt. They weren't to multiply horses.
[21:05] They weren't to multiply wives. But I want you to look at verse number 18. And it says, And it shall be when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests, the Levites.
[21:24] So when the king sat upon the throne, he was to make a copy of the law in a book out of that which before the priests and Levites. So he had to copy God's word.
[21:36] He would have to look at the law and he would have to make his own copy. Now look in verse 19. And it shall be with him and he shall read therein all the days of his life that he may learn to fear the Lord his God to keep all the words of this law and these statutes to do them that his heart be not lifted up before his brethren and that he turn not aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom that he and his children in the midst of Israel.
[22:12] And so the king, the king of Israel had to write down the law. And so it's good for you when God speaks a verse to you to write that verse down. That's our first step.
[22:23] The scripture. We read the scripture. We say, God, what verse sticks out? We write that verse down. Now, why are we going to use this? Because sometimes we're going to go through trials. Sometimes we're going to go through tribulations.
[22:35] Sometimes we're going to have to make decisions. And if we write these down, we can flip back through our journal. We can flip back through our book and say, hey, look what God said on this day. Look what God said on this day.
[22:45] And it'll help us make decisions. Let me give you this illustration for teenagers. It says, by the time you graduate from high school, statistics say you will have watched more than 16,000 hours of television.
[23:01] 16,000 hours of television. You will have spent 14,000 hours in an educational institution. And if you go to church for just two hours a week, you will have spent under 2,000 hours getting spiritual help.
[23:19] So to draw on when it comes time to make a decision, you'll have eight times as much TV and seven times as much world and culture and education as you'll have church.
[23:32] And we wonder why our young people make bad decisions. Because they don't know God's word, the TV has influenced, and the worldly education has affected them. That's why they make those decisions.
[23:44] Because everybody else is doing it. They see everybody else doing it. So we need the word of God. So the scripture. So the first letter in our acrostic for the letter S is what? Everybody said it together.
[23:55] The letter S is? Scripture. You write down one verse. One verse. God will point one out to you. If you don't get a verse the first time, hey, read it again. It won't hurt you.
[24:06] Amen? So scripture. The second thing we do, the letter O, observation. Hey, what do I see? What is in this verse? What sticks out in this verse?
[24:17] What is God telling me in this verse? What do I see in this verse? Is God asking me to do something? Who is it written to? And so we observe. We look.
[24:28] See, we're not very observant people many times. We let people go by and we don't observe what they're doing. But we have to be observant when we come to God's word. We've got to ask ourselves, what is happening?
[24:40] What is taking place? And so the O is observation. What do I see? What is taking place in this verse? Observation. So you're looking.
[24:52] I don't know if you've ever played those games that they have in the newspaper. Sometimes they'll have one picture and they have another picture and you have to find all the things that are different in those two pictures. Hey, that's what observation is.
[25:02] You're looking for those things. What is different? What is not right? And so observe. What does the verse say? What is taking place? So S, scripture.
[25:13] O, observation. And then the letter A, application. That says, what does this verse or thought apply to me? Hey, how does this verse apply to me?
[25:26] What is God saying to me today? What is the application? How do I apply that in my life? Now, here's some questions. I'm not going to give you all these. You can look these up and many people have said these before.
[25:39] But, hey, maybe there's an example for me to follow. Let me just give you an example. Today in my devotions, my devotional thought came from the book of Deuteronomy.
[25:50] Deuteronomy. And Moses is, I think it looks like Moses is kind of complaining why he can't go into the promised land. Now, why couldn't Moses go into the promised land? Because he disobeyed God, right?
[26:03] That's why Moses wasn't allowed to go in. And Moses is kind of, it seems like he's moaning to God about it because God says, Moses, I don't want to hear about this anymore. Here's what I want you to do.
[26:14] I want you to go and charge Joshua. I want you to encourage Joshua. And I want you to strengthen Joshua. And so that was the verse I wrote down.
[26:25] See, many times we focus on ourselves and we say, hey, what's in it for me? But God's told Moses, he says, hey, Moses, I'm tired of dealing with you. I've explained this issue. You're not going to the promised land.
[26:37] But here's what you can do. You can invest in somebody else. You can encourage Joshua. You can charge Joshua to go and be a leader. And you can strengthen Joshua's hand.
[26:48] Hey, invest in somebody else. And so what is the application to me? Hey, invest in somebody else. Hey, encourage somebody else. I try when missionaries call, I try to be an encouragement, Ed.
[27:01] I know people fear to call me. Paul Tauby did not want to call me. Actually, I actually called Paul Tauby because he was so afraid to call me. He had heard stories. They're not true. I'm really nice when I answer the phone.
[27:13] What do you want? Who is it? And it's always a missionary. Right when you're in the middle of studying God's word, God's showing you a nugget. Guess what happens, Brother Gardner? The phone rings. Hello?
[27:26] Is the pastor there? Guess what I say? Yeah, usually I say yes. Sometimes I thought about saying no, but usually I say yes. It depends.
[27:37] Yes. Oh, I'm a missionary. I'm going to this country. And I say, well, I'm booked up. They say, oh, I'm sorry to hear that. I don't like that. I mean, I want a missionary.
[27:48] You know why I like that, Ed? That you say, hey, yes, I'm going to China. Hey, know where you're going. Amen? Some of these missionaries that call, I don't even know if they know where they're going. They have doubts.
[27:59] They question themselves. Hey, be ready. Be on the alert. But that was my verse for today. Hey, how can I apply that? Invest in somebody else. Encourage somebody else. So we apply the scripture.
[28:12] So we have S. So when we think about soap, the letter S. What's the letter S stand for? Scripture. We're going to write down one verse. You don't have to write down the whole paragraph. One verse.
[28:24] Okay? When we write down the scripture, what's the letter O? Observation. What do we see? What's happening in the passage? And then the letter A is what?
[28:35] Application. Hey, is there an example to follow? Is there a sin to avoid? Is there a promise to claim? Is there a prayer to repeat?
[28:46] You've heard all these over and over again. It's asking, hey, how does this apply to me? And here's the real question I want you to answer. How will you live different because of what you've just read?
[29:01] How will you live different because of what you've just read? How will it make a difference when you go to school? How will it make a difference when you go to Starbucks?
[29:12] How will it make a difference when you go to Walmart? How will it make a difference in your day as you go throughout it? Hey, how is the God's Word going to make a difference? I'm not sure who said this, but I always accredit D.L. Moody.
[29:30] But I believe it's D.L. Moody said this. You're the only Bible some people will ever read. You notice that? Not everybody reads the Bible. They go by your life.
[29:42] You say you're a Christian. They watch you. They examine your life. They see everything about you. And that's what they believe a Christian is. And I wonder if people that know we're a Christian and then they read the Bible, would they say, yep, he lives up to what the Bible says?
[29:57] Or would they say, man, that's not what the Bible teaches. That's not what the Bible says. So there's application. Application. Application makes the difference between hearing his will and doing his will.
[30:12] Application is what sets us apart from being a follower and being a fan. So how will we apply it in our life? S. Scripture.
[30:23] O. Observation. A. Application. The letter P. Prayer. Prayer. In this step here, you write out a prayer.
[30:34] You say, God. And my prayer today, I'll give you an example of mine. My prayer today was this. God, help me to encourage somebody and strengthen somebody else today. Help me to apply this verse in my life and in my heart.
[30:48] Help me to be an encouragement to somebody else. And so you pray it. You write it down. So every day, I do my devotion. I start with the letter. I read my scripture. I write down the verse.
[30:59] What do I observe? And then I make the application. And then I put the letter P. I write a prayer. Two or three sentences. God, help. Lord, help me today to encourage or to strengthen somebody.
[31:11] Every day, I try to do that. Now, they say after 21 days, it becomes a habit. I've passed 21 days. And I'm excited about what God showed me. Because many times, I would just read my Bible through some years.
[31:25] And I would check off the boxes. And I'd say, yes, I read my Bible through. I have more knowledge in my head. But did it change my life? Did it change my life?
[31:37] So, let's go over it real quickly. Letter S. What's the letter S? Scripture. What's the letter O? Observation. What's the letter A?
[31:48] Application. What's the letter P? Prayer. So, the Bible says in verse number 19. Verse number 9.
[31:59] Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? Hey, how many of you have ever had your parents say this? Or you as a parent have said this to your kids?
[32:14] You send them to take a bath. You send them to take a shower. And how many of you have ever said these words? Did you even get wet? Number one.
[32:24] I mean, they're in and out in a heartbeat. You don't even think the water turned on. And then the second question was always this. Did you even use soap?
[32:37] You know, many of us read God's Word just like that. We jump in the tub. We read our verses. We jump out. And we're done for the day. And somebody comes up to us and says, Hey, what did you get in your devotions today?
[32:49] And you say, Yeah, I read in the New Testament. I read in the book of John. And if they keep pushing you, you say, Yeah, I read John 3.16. For God so loved the world.
[33:01] Yeah, God really spoke to me about that. You're lying. You didn't read your Bible. You didn't know what was in it. So, soap. So.
[33:12] Now let me conclude with this. This is where it really hits home. Whether you're young. Whether you're a grandparent.
[33:23] Whether you're a parent. Someday, we're going to die. Someday, we're going to take our last breath. And when you take your last breath or you're moved to the nursing home, somebody's going to come in your home, possibly your kids, and they're going to begin to go through your stuff.
[33:44] This just happened to my grandmother. She was sent to the nursing home. My grandmother, when she was alive and, well, she's still alive, amen? I shouldn't say that. She's still alive.
[33:55] But my grandmother in her prime, she loved to scrapbook. Now, I know you're thinking about scrapbook. You paint pretty pictures and you put nice things. My grandmother's idea of scrapbooking was this.
[34:08] If one of her grandkids was in the newspaper, she would clip it out and she would paste it in the scrapbook. If somebody was getting married, she would cut out that announcement and put it in the scrapbook.
[34:20] And that's what I always remember about my grandma doing. She was a scrapbooker. She'd always cut out the newspaper and she'd put it in this book. Well, my mom and my aunt just cleaned my mom's house.
[34:33] Can I tell you how many scrapbooks she had? 25 scrapbooks. My aunt said, I don't want them.
[34:44] My mom said, I don't really want them, but I can't throw them away. And I said, I would like to look at them because I think some of them are about me. I would just like to live the glory again, amen? I mean, I don't want to store them in my house, but I'd like to see what I did, why I got in the newspaper.
[34:59] But the truth is, nobody wanted those scrapbooks. Nobody wants to have them in their house.
[35:10] Nobody wants to put them in their closet. Why? Because it's just newspaper clippings. It's not really that important. And someday your kids are going to go through your stuff and they're going to look at your book and they're going to see how many miles you ran that week and they're going to look and say, oh, look, dad ran six miles.
[35:31] Dad ran seven miles. Dad ran two miles. Oh, dad pulled a hamstring. And dad did this. And they're going to say, they're going to find your book and it says, hey, how many calories you ate?
[35:43] And they say, oh, look here on this day, mom, she really, she had Oreos and she had Thin Mints. Man, she didn't do very good on that day. And they're going to just throw that aside. They're going to look at your checkbook log and they're going to say, man, he wrote a check this day and he wrote a check that day and he wrote a check that day and they're going to throw that aside because it doesn't mean anything to them.
[36:04] They're going to look at your golf record and of the days you play golf and they say, oh, dad had a bad day that day. Dad had a good day. Dad had... And they're going to throw it aside. But can I tell you there's something they would not throw aside?
[36:17] If you had a record of the things God spoke to you about in your devotional life, I believe that would be a valued treasure.
[36:30] If they found a book and it had on it March 7th, Scripture, Deuteronomy chapter 3, whatever verse, and then they had an observation that you had made about that verse, and then they had an application how you were applying it to that verse, and then they had a prayer, they read a prayer that you had prayed to God and said, God, help me to be that kind of person.
[36:58] I believe that would be a treasure that would stick with your kids forever. Forever. The psalmist said this, I will not forget thy word.
[37:15] Hey, have you been forgetting the word of God? Hey, how about starting a journal? How about getting a notebook? How about beginning to write down and say, God, what is it you are speaking to my heart about today?
[37:30] When I preached this at my church, I brought in my owner's manual from my car. Now, my church is weird because when I asked how many people had read the owner's manual, there was about 10 people that had read the owner's manual of their car.
[37:47] Now, that's a weird church. I'm telling you, brother, I've never read, the only time I read my owner's manual, when I need to fix something or when something's broke, I find my owner's manual. That's the only time. But you know what the purpose of the owner's manual is?
[38:03] The owner's manual is for two purposes. Number one, when things are broken so you can get them fixed. And number two, to make your car run efficiently. Hey, you know what this book is for?
[38:15] It has two purposes. Number one, to make your life run efficiently and according to God's plan. And second, when things go wrong, to be a place you can go and find help and encouragement.
[38:28] And you can go to the Word of God. And so I ask you tonight, hey, have you been forgetting what God's speaking to you? Or when your kids go through your stuff someday, are they going to find anything that would be a treasure that they would say, Dad, thanks for the scripture you left behind.
[38:51] Thank you for God's Word. Thank you for this blessing that we have. A. Soap. Soap.
[39:02] S. Scripture. O. Observation. A. Application. P. Prayer. I believe it will transform your life.
[39:15] How shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to thy word. Hey, make the Bible more than just a book that you have on your nightstand.
[39:27] Make it a part of your life each and every day. This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfredo, Georgia. For more information, log on to www.visionbaptist.com where you can find our service times, location, contact information, and more audio and video recordings.
[39:46] Thank you.