[0:00] She works for Disney in the wintertime, just part-time, and that's what her and Fred used to do. They'd go from there and then back to Houston. When I see her, we'll usually go to visit Disney maybe a day, and free passes get in, different things.
[0:16] But I'm always convicted when I go to Disney. And from driving onto the property, their signage that they have, the shrubbery, how they keep it so well, the landscaping that they do, the lawns are always immaculately mowed, the ticket taker at the parking lot, I mean, just the greeting, the smile, the on time, the very present.
[0:42] Just a systematic way they park you, very organized, very thought out, very pre-planned. And then always having a, willing to explain, willing to make sure they point, they take.
[0:54] Then the tram's coming around, and you don't have to wait a long time for the tram. I mean, the thing is not something that they just mail it in. This is something that they really are passionate about.
[1:05] Something that they've really given themselves to. You get on the tram, and they have, you know, announcements, different things on the tram as you're going in. And then when you get there, they have enough staff to where it's not a terribly long wait.
[1:19] It's not an awfully long wait. You go through the ticket line, and then once you get into whatever park it is, they're never out of those guides, those, you know, your resource for what you're going to see at the map.
[1:32] And they're always filled. It's always very going out of their way to get all of that. And then they have, as you're walking through, they'll have little side show.
[1:42] I hope no one's against Disney in here. But anyway, little side shows where someone's playing the guitar and just, you know. Others are, they have the character signings and everything.
[1:54] And then one of the shows that we went to, now, keep in mind, the day before we got there, there was 75,000 people there. 75,000 people through the parks.
[2:05] They need 25,000 people to go through the parks every day to break even. 25,000. Day before they had 75,000. We were there on a Monday, Tuesday.
[2:16] There wasn't, you know, I doubt if they had half of that, 25,000. I'm sure that, who knows, it was just, we went to one of the shows, Lion King. Just the person we were with, my mom wanted to go, and I'm against all of them.
[2:32] But anyway, we went, and the, it was amazing to me. It was on Tuesday morning at 11 o'clock when we went.
[2:44] And the amphitheater wasn't even all the way filled. And they brought it. They brought it. They didn't mail it in. And it wasn't a down day to where they can just, you know, we'll save the good stuff for when we have that Friday night, and the thing's jammed, and it's filled.
[3:01] And boy, that's when we'll be fully engaged. And that's when we'll put out a great presentation. I mean, if you didn't know better, you would think that this was the premiere, that there were people that were singing for their jobs, that they, I mean, they were all in.
[3:15] They did not mail it in. They brought it. A couple people that worked there afterwards, we went out a side to where you meet the characters. And I always wanted to meet, you know, a Pumbaa.
[3:27] Anyway, so on the way out, it was just, they're dripping with sweat. The energy and the effort and all that they put into it. And the thing that I was convicted about was, you'll never have that 75,000 on the big days if you're not bringing it during the 10,000 on the down days.
[3:46] And if all you're doing is mail, and I know they do it to obtain a corruptible crown. They do it to obtain a corruptible crown. Hey, if they're all in for that, I think we should be passionate about what we do.
[3:59] We should make sure that when people show up on Mother's Day Sunday night, I mean, one of the worst Sunday nights of all time, or Easter Sunday night.
[4:09] I mean, where'd everybody go? Easter morning was huge, and then nobody. And, I mean, if we don't give them something to come back for that consistently good, and I'm not talking about a performance, a production, anything else, especially as we're talking about this one segment of the church service.
[4:28] Now, obviously, I want to make sure that our guys are wide awake, our staff, and we don't build the church. God builds the church.
[4:39] But understand, the most important Sunday we have is not Easter Sunday or Christmas Sunday. It's this next Sunday. That's the most important Sunday that we have. And there's, for, well, Disney, you know, there's people that travel all across the world, and they save up money for months, if not sometimes years.
[4:59] I mean, for some of them, this is a once-in-a-lifetime trip that they make. And that Tuesday morning at 11 o'clock, there's going to be someone there that has never been there before. And, I mean, this is the biggest deal to them. And so they bring it because of that.
[5:11] Understand, this Sunday morning, we're going to have a visitor who absolutely needs to hear from the Lord, whose marriage is stressed and strained. And, boy, this is that opportunity that God has given to us.
[5:24] Boy, that window, that effectual door of opportunity. Boy, we need to make sure that this Sunday morning, if we don't give them something to come back for, they're not going to come back.
[5:36] If we don't give them something to come back for, they're not going to come back. And if we mail it in on those Tuesday morning at 11 o'clock, those Monday afternoons, it's not that big of a crowd. Hey, I'll just roll in late, and I'll be half prepared, and I won't really dig it out, and I won't really be all in in this thing.
[5:55] Shame on us if Disney is more passionate about Pumbaa, and, you know, the whole shame on us. If they're more passionate about that than we are about God's Word, God's Kingdom, God's work.
[6:10] Boy, God's sending people that need to hear never-dying souls that God makes us stewards of on that one day. Boy, we need to make sure that we have some kind of a process where we're giving, preaching, teaching, presenting, a consistently, and I want to be careful how I word it, but a consistently good message, Bible message, the Word of God, boy, to where someone leaves, and they have an actionable item, boy, they can put a handle on that thing, take it home with them.
[6:42] They have something on their to-do list. Boy, they have a reason to come back the next Sunday. By the way, I think that's one of the reasons why sequential expositional preaching is a big deal, because there is a cohesiveness.
[6:54] There is an attraction about it. And so, let's have a word of prayer, and then let's jump into reviewing some, and then we'll get into...
[7:09] Let me make sure I'm dialed in real quick. Then we'll jump into it. Lord, thank you for today. I do pray that you'll bless the men, you'll help the men, you'll help us to focus, and Lord, you know I don't have the answers.
[7:25] I just am trying to work it out, trying to get better at it, trying to represent you in a better way, your word. Lord, I pray that you'll sharpen us, as iron sharpeneth iron, so a friend sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.
[7:39] And as we come together, and we're all passionate about preaching the book, preaching the word, we all want to do a better job at preaching the book, preaching the word. And God, help us to be consistently well-prepared, and studied, and be able to communicate the word of God to the people that you've sent our way.
[8:01] And they don't come to hear what I have to say. The people at Rosedale Baptist Church, as Joe Blackburn said, Pastor, I didn't come to hear what you have to say. I came to hear what God has to say. God, I pray that we'll give them the word on a consistent basis.
[8:15] And God, we will be careful to give you the praise. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Okay, everybody remembers the diagram, the pyramid. Everybody's got the pyramid.
[8:26] You got that down? The pyramid on its exposition. Exegesis. Exegesis is what it says.
[8:38] Exposition is what it means. Expository preaching is how we say it. Okay? Everybody remembers that? Do you have that? It's a triangle. Exegesis, what it says.
[8:52] Exposition, what it means. And then expository preaching, or Bible preaching, or communication, or Bible teaching, how to say it.
[9:02] How to communicate it. And again, if we're not digging it out, if we're not going back to that ground level, and we'll hear things that capture our attention, and boy, we took them away, and man, I'm going to use that.
[9:17] That's just, it's a new way to shed light on to show. But if we're totally leaning on rehashed messages, and not trying to take that ragu process a step back, and trying to dig in a little deeper, and become a little more involved in that, baking that cake from scratch, then all we're doing is echoing, and it's going to have a limited, a very limited impact.
[9:48] And so, make sure you get back to that, to that place of exegesis. The other one that, that we looked at is, is, we start on the ground level of exegesis, what it says, and the exposition, what it means, and then as far as we're preaching, how to say what it means.
[10:06] The other, that I hope you get, is that bridge. There's a, the original audience, or the original author, trying to get that, and then there's the intended audience, and that's who we're preaching to Sunday.
[10:28] But there's, there's a big gap between these two. Uh, Moses would, would, would tell us in Leviticus, um, if, if you sin, uh, if you sin, when you sin, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves.
[10:43] Truth is not in us. Uh, Moses in Leviticus would say, when you sin, here's the process to take. Um, and he would go into the sacrifices, whether it's an animal sacrifice, or a grain sacrifice, or an oil sacrifice, whatever that sacrifice is, um, that's, that's, you know, that's, uh, the original, boy, we're trying to, uh, uh, recognize, uh, over here, recognize, we're trying to put ourselves in the shoes of, to direct, try to get a feel for, uh, the historical surrounding.
[11:17] Um, um, for instance, uh, a few things that we can't really, uh, unless we, we get into that context, it'll make no sense to us. Paul, when he's talking about the dual loss, the slave, uh, type, uh, for us today, that's just, it's foreign to us, or at least foreign to me, and I have a hard time unless I'm trying to get myself back into that cultural context.
[11:42] Um, uh, Esther, when, um, when, uh, uh, uh, Mordecai sent her into, to the king, and, and, uh, Queen Esther, boy, unless he, uh, lowers his scepter to me, um, you know, what does that mean?
[12:00] Getting into that, that, the, the, the, the, uh, cultural, the historical, um, and then the, the literical, uh, is it poetry? Is it a narrative?
[12:11] Is it didactic? Um, is it prophetic? Um, and, and that's all the rules of, of hermeneutics trying to figure out how do we interpret, um, for instance, the narratives tell you what happened, but it doesn't tell you whether it was right or wrong, what happened.
[12:29] Um, and, and I think that the judges where, um, uh, the, the fellow's concubine was, was abused at the threshold, hold of the door.
[12:40] He cut her into 12, um, pieces, remember that, and, and sent her out. Uh, that's not going to have a direct, um, you know, if, if we're preaching that directly to our people, you're going to be in for some anyway.
[12:51] Uh, it, it, it tells us what happened, um, but it doesn't necessarily tell us, and that's where we compare spiritual with spiritual, um, and you always interpret the obscure by the obvious.
[13:04] You always interpret the obscure by the obvious. Uh, the, the narratives, uh, especially if you're going into pictures of, um, uh, the, the picture of Moses and his rod and his staff, that's not a proof text, but it may give color to, um, what we're talking about on, on, um, uh, you know, if, if, if we, uh, how can we say that we love God whom we have not seen and hate our brother whom we have seen?
[13:34] Um, first John paraphrase, uh, that would be the proof text. Uh, our relationship this way is interconnected. Uh, first great commandment, uh, second great commandment, uh, love God, love your neighbor.
[13:47] Um, um, all those, those stories are, and, and I'm for illustrations, but, but if I can use a Bible illustration rather than a personal illustration, I'm for personal illustrations.
[13:59] Um, but if I can use a Bible illustration rather than a personal illustration, man, I'm for using Bible illustrations. I'm for, to me, a great truth is a truth that you're going to be able to start in Genesis and just, I mean, so many Bible illustrations all the way through.
[14:14] To me, that's great preaching. Um, and there's historical, uh, historic illustrations. There's humorous illustrations. There's, there's video illustrations.
[14:26] Um, we will use, we, we have three big screens behind. And remember the illustration. If you heard the illustration about Jerry Kramer, the ice bowl, when, uh, they were on the two yard line, Green Bay Packers, and they needed to push it across to win.
[14:42] If they get the touchdown, they, they win. If they don't, they lose. And last play of the game, Vince Lombardi calls over, uh, Bart Starr and Jerry Kramer. They, they huddle up and, and, um, he says, we're going to run a quarterback draw over Jerry, over your position.
[14:58] Uh, you make the block. We win the game. You make the block. We win it all. You don't make the block. You don't win the game. Uh, we don't win the game. And so they went out and they snapped the ball and Jerry Kramer picture, perfect block.
[15:11] I cock roast the guy on his back, just blew open a hole that Bart Starr could have walked through. Uh, and I mean, the crowd is just roaring as they win the game, cheering as they win the game.
[15:22] And, and I mean, the whole place is just wrap. I mean, excited. This is, we want it. And, and, and Jerry Kramer, uh, half expected as the crowd is cheering a name.
[15:32] He was, he was half expecting to hear Jerry, Jerry. Uh, but when he got up, he realized they weren't, they weren't chanting Jerry. They were chanting Bart Starr, Bart Starr. And, um, he's a little disconcerted as, as the person that was carried off the field wasn't Jerry Kramer.
[15:48] Hey, he won the game. He made the block. Uh, it was Bart Starr carried off the field. And, and boy, here he is. The crowd is following the quarterback and Jerry Kramer, the, the right, uh, tackle guard, um, is, is a little dejected, a little discouraged until he looks over at the sideline and he sees his coach, Vince Lombardi.
[16:07] And Vince Lombardi caught his eyes and he gave him the thumbs up. Boy, the one that needed to know, boy, did know and acknowledged what was done.
[16:19] It's a great illustration. And I've used it before. Um, the last couple of times we've used it, we've gotten the black and white clips of Jerry Kramer making that block. And I don't, I don't say, Hey, look at the screen and let's watch, you know, as this, what happens is our, our audio visual guys up in the, in the booth, as I get into the illustration, they'll just, the, the video will come up.
[16:40] It'll start playing. And silently, as I'm telling the illustration this way, uh, audibly, and it's a powerful thing. I mean, it just adds a dimension that is just, wow.
[16:52] Um, and I'm not, you know, another one that I've used before is, is the Olympics. That guy that blew out his hamstring. Um, and, and he was pulling up and his dad came out of the stand.
[17:05] Remember that story? Does anybody remember the name of the guy? Um, if he was a golfer, you'd know, Brother Staley, but I, anyway, what is it? Derek Redman? Redman. His dad came out of the stands and at first he was pushing him away until he realized he was coming out to, because he didn't want to give up.
[17:20] He was going to limp across that finish line. Um, and, and it's just a, wow, type of a, um, I got clips of that, and, and as I'm telling that on, on cue, they'll, they'll hit that illustration in the back.
[17:33] Um, one that I do, I have said turn and let's watch video illustration is, um, when we're through revelation, the biometric or the FD, uh, the, the, uh, identification chip, uh, um, uh, that's going to be under the hand, uh, the mark of the beast in the hand, the mark of the beast in the forehead, um, as I'm preaching on that passage, uh, you know, that's, it's foreign, it's foreign, it's foreign until we showed current news clips, uh, a current news clip of the vice president, uh, in the John Roberts, uh, vetting out for the Supreme Court, uh, saying, uh, in your, uh, uh, judgeship, you're going to have to rule on, can identification devices be put, uh, under the skin for, for, for tracking.
[18:22] When they hear the vice president say that, and then you have, uh, different, uh, other, uh, news, CNN, uh, talking about, uh, the, the techno tattoo that they wear and they can track, and, and the biometrics that now they're supermarkets just with a fingerprint, that's all they need.
[18:38] Um, all of a sudden that, oh yeah, it's another sermon, oh, another sermon about conspiracy theory. Hey, when they, when they see that up there, all of a sudden it becomes more of a real deal.
[18:51] Okay. So I'm not against illustrations. I'm for illustrations. Um, however, uh, to me, if you can use a Bible illustration, rather, especially if you're, if you're the hero in every one of your illustrations, uh, I kind of have to question your, your integrity and your honesty.
[19:09] Um, and it's, it seems like you're believing the hype, but anyway, uh, don't believe your own press. All right. So, um, uh, and it's not a bad thing to tell them self deprecating humor is the best in my opinion.
[19:21] I come from a, probably a low self esteem type introvert. And so take this with a grain of salt, but to me, self deprecating humor and, and, you know, it's disarming.
[19:32] It's disarming rather than, you know, so anyway, uh, Bible illustrations, um, use those, the bridge from, uh, getting over to this side, recognizing, uh, the intent, recognizing, uh, the cultural differences, recognizing the, the, um, uh, historical differences.
[19:54] Boy, this river here is, is pretty broad. And if all we're doing, uh, now, the other part of it is we definitely, when we get, when we get that, that, uh, uh, command or principle that was for them at that time, and then we have that trans temporal, trans cultural, that's for all people at all times, it's going to be a very broad principle here.
[20:19] Um, but then if we're preaching it to teens, if we're preaching it to, to, boy, we want it to be more specific, more, more pointed. Uh, in fact, turn to Ecclesiastes chapter 12, Ecclesiastes chapter 12.
[20:33] It's not expositional if it's not applicational. Ecclesiastes chapter number 12. Let me see if I can find it. Ecclesiastes.
[20:47] Yeah, Ecclesiastes chapter number 12. Look at verse number 9. Ecclesiastes. In application, um, uh, in, I'm, I'm probably a little light on application just because I think, the Bible principle, we preach the Bible principle, I don't have to say vote Republican, okay?
[21:09] And, um, I think when, when we've preached through the sanctity of life and we've preached through financial, um, responsibility and we've, we've preached through those things, uh, I think our people are smart enough to get it.
[21:21] Uh, and I think a lot of times we don't give, uh, I haven't given credit enough for, for people to be thinkers and understand and, and working out their own salvation with fear and trembling for it's God that worketh in you, both are willing to do of his, of his good pleasure.
[21:34] And so, as we're preaching the Bible, so a lot of times, if I make, if I, if I air, it's preaching from this part of the bridge here. Um, but I do think that, that there's times you need to get right down where they live.
[21:49] Um, uh, especially, um, teenagers and, and when there is that huge problem with, with my space and Facebook and different things, um, you may, you may need to make the connection for them at times.
[22:04] Um, you may need to, to make sure that it's very, um, not communicating in a way that they understand it, but communicating in a way that they can't possibly misunderstand it.
[22:17] Um, you know what I'm saying with that? There's times when you need to be very pointed. Um, look at Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes chapter number, number, uh, 12, verse number nine.
[22:28] And moreover, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge. Yay.
[22:38] He gave good heed. Exegesis, exegesis, boy, digging it out and sought out. He sought out, give good heed and sought out exposition, set in order.
[22:49] Many proverbs, he gave good heed, the exegesis of it, um, and sought it out and set in order, the exposition of it, set in order communication. The preacher sought to find out acceptable words, how to say it.
[23:01] The exegesis, what it says, uh, the exposition, what it means. And then he sought to find out acceptable words, how to say it effectively. Uh, look at the next phrase.
[23:13] Uh, the preacher sought to find out acceptable words, how to say it effectively. And that which was written was upright, even words of truth. The words of the wise are as, the two things I want you to notice, are as goads, and as nails, and as nails, and as nails, fastened by the master of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd.
[23:32] Um, uh, the, the exegesis, what it says, the exposition, what it means, the, the communication, uh, how to say what it means, uh, and it describes it as goads, goads, uh, which was a sharp, uh, prong to get cattle moving, to goad, to goad, something.
[23:52] Um, very pointed, by the way, both of them are very pointed, goads and nails. Nails, where, where goads are more for conviction, more for, for that pointed preaching.
[24:05] Um, nails are more for, for a calming, uh, a securing, by making sure that something is, is, is solid, is secure, it's nailed into place.
[24:16] Um, but to me, this speaks of, um, you know, if, if, if, if, if we don't ask, uh, if we don't ask the question, so what?
[24:29] Uh, okay, I preach through this passage, so what? So what? So, so what? How does it impact my life? Revelation was a big, um, uh, one of my very deliberate approaches to Revelation was, um, uh, it, it's not the revelation of, of current events, it's not the revelation of, of how soon, it's not the revelation of naming the Antichrist, the revelation of Jesus Christ.
[24:52] It's also a very blessed book, we have that blessing, the first, uh, three or four verses, um, but, but making it practical, by making it practical, so what? So what?
[25:02] So what? If you don't answer the question, so what? You'll be preaching to a people that says, who cares? Okay? If you don't answer that, so what question, well, you'll end up having a people that say, who cares?
[25:15] Because we're not giving them nuts and bolts, we're not giving them goads to move them forward, or nails to comfort and to calm, and to help them out, well, it's not expositional, uh, until it's also applicational, and, um, a side note, and we're getting scattered, I'm going to come back, we're going to block, diagram some stuff, and then interact some, um, with, uh, three, three things on, on each point that, that I try to do, or at least throughout the sermon, uh, explanation, uh, illustration, and application, and this is, this is not new, uh, explanation, um, illustration, and application, uh, explanation talks to the mind, illustration talks to the emotions, application talks to the will, uh, explanation is head, illustration, heart, application is actions, um, uh, explanation is, uh, we need to live for an audience of one, uh, illustration is Jerry Kramer looking over to the sidelines, and seeing Vince Lombardi give the thumbs up, uh, application is, so now when you go to, go to the workplace tomorrow, and everyone is standing against God, well, you need to make sure that, that you do right, because we don't live for those around us, it's bringing it down to that, that application area, um, explanation, explanation educates, illustration motivates, uh, application applicates, it applies it to that person's life, um, uh, but, uh, make sure that, make sure that you bring application, and, and the way you do that is not preaching from this side of the bridge, the middle part of the bridge, make sure you get all the way, uh, across the bridge, um, uh, when you're preaching.
[27:07] Walter Kaiser said, too often the Bible is a little more than a book of epigrammatic sayings, and springboards, that give us a rallying point, around which to base our editorials, but where did we get the audacious idea, that God would bless our opinions, or judgments, who wants to hear another point of view, as an excuse for a Bible study, or a message from the word of God, as an excuse for that, who said God would bless our presentations, or our programs, or our alliteration, uh, for the church, or our ramblings on a general area announced by the text, surely, this is a major reason why the famine of the word of God, continues in massive proportions, in most places in North America, uh, there is a famine of land, not a bread or a water, but of hearing the words of the Lord, uh, they're running to and fro, seeking a word of the Lord, boy, don't miss that part, where there, there's a destabilizing, because they don't want the words, boy, the whole council, all scripture, this inspiration of God, uh, all that's profitable, they're looking for that next topic, that next sensational, that next word, that next word, that next word, uh, and if you're building in your people, an appetite for the next shock jock message, the next top this message, the next, the next, uh, uh, uh, word, um, then, uh, you're gonna have a heart, it's actually counterproductive, because what happens is, you build in them an appetite, for the sensational, and so, okay, to keep them, to keep them,
[28:31] I gotta be more sensational, okay, okay, to keep them, I gotta top that, and pretty soon, uh, church becomes the WWF, okay, and, um, we're bringing out the next, and the next, and the bigger, and here we go, and, um, uh, Joe Blackburn, I, I alluded to it, um, I don't come to church to hear what you have to say, pastor, I come to church to hear what God has to say, and he says that in a complimentary, uh, setting, as far as encouraging, encouraging, encouraging, uh, I had another fellow that went to a, a, a conservative Baptist church, independent fundamental Baptist church, um, uh, about 15 minutes from us, and, uh, it was his home church, they went through stuff, and they lost the pastor, and just, it was, and he came to us during a very, understandable time, was in church about five years, and that church started to stabilize, boy, it was his home church, grew up in, and, boy, he wanted to go back, had a heart to go back, and, and, um, and I said, uh, brother Rex Road, um, uh, you know,
[29:33] I love you, I want what's best for you, you ever notice how it's God's will when God sends someone to our church, but it's not God's will when he takes someone out of the, and you ever notice that, is that just me? I don't know, but anyway, um, and so, um, I said, but brother Rex Road, we, it, my, my opinion on that is, uh, if someone's leaving, I need to love them in such a way that, that the door is so wide open that they'll be willing to come back.
[29:57] Um, we've had, uh, family after family after family come back, and, and a couple of things it does, um, one, they usually come back stronger, because they realize that elusive, perfect church, uh, isn't out there.
[30:12] Uh, the other thing that it does is, um, it settles that question inside of them, so it calms them. Uh, the other thing that it does is, it speaks volumes to those that, that there's no perfect church.
[30:22] Um, we're an imperfect church, imperfect people, imperfect pastor. We serve a perfect savior. He's perfecting us. Hey, we're all in the same boat. Uh, we're all trying to work this thing out, and, um, and, and, and we shouldn't be, uh, condescending.
[30:37] I like how Paul said, let us draw near. Let us hold fast. Uh, let us consider one another. He didn't say, you need to, you need to, you need to.
[30:50] Anybody see the difference there? Boy, that, that condescending tone that, that are, that, uh, permeates a lot of pulpits, um, uh, it's one step mitigated from you.
[31:03] It's let us, um, and I do think it needs to be, but anyway, um, uh, he went down to the, the church, and, uh, he came back after about three months, and, and I said, Brother Rex wrote, I said, you know what, he said, they're starving to death down there, and they don't even realize it.
[31:23] They're starving to death down there, and they don't even realize it. Uh, when you develop an appetite, in your people, for, for, next passage, next passage, next passage, with the word of God, um, when you develop an appetite, in your people, for, uh, boiling out all the fluff, all the stories, all of the, the commentary, all the editorials, all the personal, boil it all out, ask yourself, how much Bible did I get, during this sermon, and you'll answer the question, how much real preaching, did I hear, during this sermon, and when you develop that, in your people, you do it a couple of ways, you do it by, by, teaching, uh, the primacy, of the word of God, in preaching, the priority, of the word of God, um, you know, it's very easy for me to say, I'm not your final authority, for faith and practice, but I sure hope, if the Bereans, search the scriptures daily, to see if what Paul, had to say was so, I sure hope, that you're not just taking me, uh, at face value, I hope you're digging in, and searching it out also, um, but when you, develop in them, that, that, that appetite, for the word of God, um, you know, it's, it's a good thing, it's a good thing, and to be honest with you, uh, it, it, there's not a whole lot of, we're not in competition, with anybody, however, it sets you apart, when you're preaching, the word of God, okay, because there's not a whole lot, of churches out there, that are preaching the word of God, and I don't mean that, in a negative tone,
[32:49] I just mean that, and there is a famine in the land, not of bread, not of water, um, and as soon as, as you start going Bible heavy, Bible heavy, um, we teach it, the other thing we do, is we model it, we model it by, by next chapter, next chapter, next chapter, uh, the next thing we do, because we're exhausting it, going through every passage, there's some passages, that I'll preach through, that does more, for the church, long term, than it does, for any piece of the church, short term, um, you know, there, there's some passages, where, yeah, that was, okay, yeah, yeah, but the fact that we're taking, the next portion of scripture, speaks volumes to the church, on our priority, to the word of God, uh, and I'll try to make it, as, as, as applicable as I can, um, and if nothing else, I'm going to say, hey, all scripture is given by inspiration, that's why you need to read these, we need to, tomorrow morning, wake up and read the Bible, uh, if, if nothing else, boy,
[33:50] I'll highlight the fact that, every word, that precedeth out of the mouth of the Father, uh, is what we live by, and the amount that your church is hearing, of every word, uh, that's going to be the same amount of life, your church has, um, so anyway, uh, I forget where we were, with all of that, but, um, um, make sure that, that, uh, that, that you're getting out, uh, Walter Kaiser, uh, who said God would bless our presentations, and programs for our church, uh, or our ramblings, which I kind of just did, or, or a general area announced by the time, surely there's, that's a major reason why there's a famine of the word of God, in massive proportion of North America, surely this is why the hunger for the teaching and proclamation of God's word continues to grow year by year.
[34:38] Men and women cannot live by ideas alone, no matter how eloquently argued, but solely by a patient reading and explanation of, of all of the scriptures, line upon line, precept upon, must be upon precept, uh, chapter after chapter, and book after book, where are such men of God, that would preach the word?
[34:59] Uh, boy, we need to preach the book, the whole book, and nothing but the book. Preach the book, the whole book, and nothing but the book, and, um, someone that, that, and it's kind of funny, because I'm topically teaching on exposition, but, um, the, the, uh, someone that, that gets up, and, um, I mean, funny, hilarious, motivational, hard, firm, uh, challenging, um, uh, but 45 minutes to an hour later, and all I've gotten was just a garnishing, just a sprinkling, um, I, I don't have time.
[35:36] I don't want to waste my time. That was a big waste of time. Uh, is that too hard? Did I say that too hard? Uh, that was a big waste of time. Uh, if someone thinks that, if they so prioritize their word above God's word, uh, me thinks that you think too highly of yourself.
[35:55] And, um, if you think that your personality, uh, is the one on display, hey, Rosedale Baptist Church goes on after I'm gone. Uh, the hard part is going to be if I've so prioritized my word, and I've so magnified my personality, people have hitched their wagons to me, boy, there's going to be a problem when a pastoral change comes.
[36:19] Uh, there's going to be a problem because no one has that big, anyway, uh, and you, we've seen it, we've seen the problem, but listen, when people are hitching their wagon to the word of God and hitching their wagon, uh, and, and, and, uh, um, that he's having preeminence in the church and unto him be glory in the church.
[36:35] But when, when, when every, all the praise is pointed, then the next guy that comes along and says, turning your Bibles to the next chapter, turning your Bibles to the next chapter, hey, they'll be able to not miss a beat.
[36:48] Yeah, we'll miss him. We'll miss him, but we're not going to miss a beat. We'll miss him. I hope it said of me, we'll miss him, but we're not going to miss a beat. Uh, anybody see the, uh, USA today, this morning?
[37:00] Anybody want to see the USA today? They deliver it to your hotel room. Um, there is a big article on Steve jobs and Apple computers. Anybody see that on the front page? Uh, and it was talking about companies that lose their CEOs.
[37:14] Um, typically if there's a, a, you know, they talk about if there's a health announcement, the stock will drop. 5%, I think of the day that it, that it's announced.
[37:24] And, and Apple is now plummeting, not plummeting, but going down to where it was pre, uh, Steve jobs before he came in and really, uh, breathe life into it.
[37:35] Um, and, and boy, the CEO, the leader, and, and, um, it's so needed. It's so, so important. It's such a huge priority to make sure that, that, that leaders there, except for the fact in church, I'm not the chief shepherd in the church.
[37:50] Anybody get that? Yeah, I would agree. Yeah, boy, you know, that pastor, we lose that pastor. Yeah. If the pastor is the one that's being promoted, yeah, that's going to be a problem. But if it's the Lord Jesus Christ, the one that's being promoted, it's his word that's being preached.
[38:03] Then it's no problem. I mean, we'll miss him. We'll miss him, but we won't miss a beat. Uh, and the biggest struggle shouldn't be, how can we find some sensational, larger than life personality?
[38:13] That's, that's just above human. Uh, and, and, and, and they've presented themselves that way. They've presented themselves that way. Uh, and, in, in college, uh, I used to get discouraged by, uh, and I paused when I graduated Bible college.
[38:29] I paused because of a low self-esteem, a spiritual low self-esteem on, cause I would hear preaching and just these stories. There was 500 people gathered around the street corner and every one of them, actually 550 got saved.
[38:43] You know, just kind of, he's just really do the math. And, um, you know, you, you would hear these over the top and I would walk away saying, well, I can't pastor because I'm not as spiritual as he is.
[38:56] Well, I'm not as superhuman as he, neither is he, neither is he. I'm not as perfect as he is. I'm not as amazing. Neither is he. Boy, neither is he. And I had to get to the point to where I realized that, that God didn't use Spurgeon because of, uh, the beard and, and, um, and because of the, you know, uh, in, in, in all of the, the idiosyncrasies.
[39:20] Boy, he used a man who put a priority on his word. Boy, and when it's the priority on the word, we point people to the Lord. Um, all of a sudden we've just become a very, very healthy church.
[39:33] It's his church. He's doing a great job with it. So, yes, sir. I can't preach a message. Uh, I can't get, it like you are.
[39:44] I know, Saturday night, so I need to give you a message. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, the, the, if, if we're, we're basing it on the burden of, of, boy, I'm really stirred up now, and I'm really, you know, now I can get into it because it's Saturday night, and, and boy, uh, I, I think that we're leaning way too much on our emotions, uh, on our discernment, on what the church, on our, on our, um, uh, I don't, I don't want to live my life, uh, he that hath no rule over his own spirit, um, I'm up, I'm down, he that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that's broken down without walls.
[40:31] He that hath no rule over his own spirit. Um, and I don't want to, to be so vital, my emotions to the sermon that, now, I prepare ahead of time, and we'll get a little more into this, I, I think, um, but one of the reasons I prepare, okay, um, how many have, have seen the four quadrants of, of, of time, the four quadrants of time, um, and it's, it's a time management thing.
[41:06] Okay, let me see if I can get this. Um, okay. Up here, is the urgent. Down here, is the, uh, not urgent.
[41:22] Okay. Over here, is the important. Over here, is the not important. I think this may be Covey, that, that, that came up, uh, not important.
[41:36] Okay. Um, urgent and important. Anybody, what we do as pastors, anything that's, it's, it's, it's not only a big deal, it's urgent, uh, important, but it's also urgent.
[41:50] Boy, we, we have to do it. Um, to me, it shouldn't be sermon preparation, because we got two hours before game time, we need to get this thing. Uh, urgent and important to me, is when the 22 year old, passed away in a motorcycle accident.
[42:04] Boy, that's, that's a big deal. That's, it's important, but it's also urgent, uh, where I need to change my flight, come back early, because it's, it's, uh, a funeral is urgent.
[42:15] It's important. Um, uh, I'll give you another one. When Baltimore County inspectors come onto our property, uh, it's urgent and important, but, um, I say, hey, can we help you?
[42:26] Is everything good? And, um, zoning, zoning, but, uh, urgent and important. Okay, so over here, like funerals. Okay, uh, urgent, but not important would be, uh, the, the, the hysterical, ultra emotional, uh, lady that, that, um, anything that happens is, is it an emergency?
[42:47] I gotta talk to the pastor. I gotta talk to the pastor. It's an emergency. It's an emergency. It's an emergency. Am I the only one to have them in the church? But anyway, um, so it's, it's urgent, but for the most part, the, the, you know, I'll have a secretary that qualifies a lot of that.
[43:01] I was telling someone if they want to get in touch with me, okay, here's how, because I have some firewalls to get through. Not that, not that I'm anything, but, but just, there is a whole lot of things that, that people deem as urgent, but not important.
[43:15] Um, uh, over here, it's important, but it's not urgent. Um, here, it's not urgent, and it's not important. Did I explain that correctly?
[43:26] Is everybody following this? Um, not urgent and not important is me getting to the next level of angry birds, all right? So, um, it's not, it's not real urgent.
[43:36] It's not important. It's a mind waste. It's doodling on paper. Um, up here, it's urgent to some people, but it's not necessarily important. And, and, and we should try to, to match the emotional level of whoever's coming in.
[43:49] Uh, if they're distraught, we should try to match that level. I think that's what the Bible means when it says, weep with those that weep. Um, and so I don't mean to downplay that, but understand if we're chasing everything that, that, that seems urgent, but not important.
[44:03] Um, and then there is urgent important. Now, the most effective use of your time as a pastor is in the important, but not urgent. Um, your creativity is in this quadrant.
[44:15] The four quadrants of time is in the important, but not urgent. Hey, the most important thing that I do, we will give ourselves continually to prayer into the ministry of the word.
[44:26] Uh, the bigger the church gets, the less I do. The bigger the church gets, the less I do. Um, and I would say that's my job description. The bigger the church gets, the less I do.
[44:36] Boy, I want to, when I was, when I first got there, boy, I had to make sure lights were on, unlock. I had to make sure that this was set up and that was set up. And, and actually after six, the deacons were to take the urgent, but, but maybe not quite as important, boy, off the pastors that are to be giving themselves, continue to prayer and minister the word.
[44:54] Boy, it's important. Uh, now understand, if, if you're over here scrambling, it's urgent and important because you made it that way. Um, what, what's that, that bumper sticker that says, or that thing that says, lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.
[45:13] Um, if it's in this quadrant because you don't have enough character to study, uh, you don't have enough, uh, integrity to, to be a student of the word. Um, you don't have enough direction. You're just kind of wandering, wandering aimlessly and whatever, you know, happens, happens and just, um, uh, then, then that's your bad.
[45:31] You know, you did, that's on you. Um, but if you, that may be too hard. I probably shouldn't have gone that hard. But anyway, uh, your most effective sermon preparation time is right here. Um, we talked about the emotions, um, a little bit.
[45:45] Um, there's times when I'll sit down at a computer, um, Bible, uh, sermon preparation where it flows seamlessly. I mean, it is just almost like directly coming straight from, from, from heaven, from the Lord seamlessly.
[46:04] You guys have that sermon preparation time where it's just, I mean, it is just, it's rolling. Um, there's other times where, man, I just can't, I'm, I'm struggling and I just, it's not, and it's just disjointed and just not, you know, um, has anyone else besides me had those times of sermon preparation?
[46:21] Um, when you're ahead, you, you have the luxury of when you're in that. And a lot of times it'll be because I'm distracted or because my, um, there's, you know, it may be a vague, I can't really identify, but it is, but a little disturbance in here.
[46:39] Um, um, I'm still going to be reading and praying, uh, my personal devotional time, which is separate from my sermon preparation time. I'm still going to read and pray, but when I'm hitting a wall in sermon preparation, I want to be so far out that I can just walk away and say, boy, I'm going to take, I'll take another shot at this tomorrow, uh, and figure this out, you know, uh, you know, all, all MBWA managed by walking around, um, for the next hour or two school staff levels, buildings.
[47:07] And, and, um, uh, however, when I'm in that zone, and I don't mean to, my wording may be wrong, but when, when, when the Holy Spirit is blessing my sermon preparation, when I'm in that zone, boy, I'm not going to get up from the computer and tell, tell, I mean, every single sermon that I can possibly write is written, uh, because I know me well enough to know there's going to be days where I just am banging my head against the keyboard.
[47:33] Uh, to me, there's so many reasons why you want to be ahead. Uh, so many reasons why, because the best spaghetti I make is in this quadrant right here.
[47:43] Uh, the best from scratch cakes I make, uh, is in this quadrant right here. Everybody's understanding that, right? Um, uh, so, anyway.
[47:54] Yes. Pastor. One year at the end. Yes. Um, I, mainly because I'm going through it again. Um, I'm re-stick building things, some, but not all.
[48:08] Ephesians, I built from the ground up because it was so, um, it was so ragu. We dump it in. And, um, uh, so, but first, second, third, John has been so long ago.
[48:22] I was able to reinsert. Now, my first time through, I was about three months out, three months out. Cause I would, cause when I'm in that zone, man, I'm not going to get up. And the other thing too, if you've never, if you've never taught through a book of the Bible, you don't understand how much easier it is to prepare a sermon when you're in context, studying through the book of the Bible.
[48:45] Um, um, and so, uh, when I, when I shifted to that, um, my sermon preparation time, because I'm in context, I'm in context, it's flowing, boy, I'm back referencing, back referencing, um, all of it's piecing together.
[48:58] We're able to contrast, uh, different, um, um, the only reason I can set up revelation 19 after these things, after these things, after what things, the only way I'm able to go back and, and rehearse review as, as an introduction, all of revelation with not perfect clarity, but with, with, for me, this is a lot clearer than I usually am, um, is because I've been in context for so long.
[49:27] And then when you see those things, sermon preparation becomes, uh, easier, um, and, for us, as the church grew, and I understand, you're going to go start a church missionaries, and, um, and then some churches don't have the luxury of staff members to take, uh, stuff, um, but a lot of it is as we added staff, and as I did less of other things, and just more of this, it, it became easier as we did that also.
[49:59] But, but, but understand, listen, until you drive a stake in the ground and say, I'm going to give myself continually to prayer in the midst of the word, until you drive that stake in the ground, you'll be setting up chairs till 10 years from now.
[50:14] Um, if, if someone else can do it, then why doesn't someone else do it? Um, the 80-20, there's a lot of 80-20 rules. One of the 80-20 rules is, 80% of my time should be spent doing what only I can do.
[50:29] Uh, and there's a whole lot of people that can, that can, uh, make that phone call, call, call the floor, say, a whole lot of people that can, can organize that, or set up a table, or, or push a vacuum, or a whole lot of people that can, can, and I don't, I've been there to where, back in the day, the pastor's doing it all, but eventually I have to, purposeful neglect is, is a phrase that I used for a while.
[50:55] How do you pastor? I pastor by purposeful neglect. Boy, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna, good at times is the enemy of the best. Um, uh, good at times, we become, I'm gonna do a good thing, a good thing, a good thing, a good thing, a good thing, I'm doing good things, and we so busy ourself with good things, that we're not giving our time to the best thing, and the best thing we can do as pastors, is to make sure that, this Sunday morning, uh, we give them something to come back for, and I, and I don't, I hope you're seasoning all of this with grace, the phrases don't come across right, but, but, but if they're not getting the word of God, why would they come back, our, our church is, very eclectic, very diverse, um, well, I have, um, uh, one of my main guys, is, is from, Tim O'Donnell, uh, is from, can I say, is from Sammy Allen's camp meetings, that's what he grew up, cut his teeth on, um, and so, camp meeting, which I'm anything but camp,
[51:56] I'm, I don't understand why, we can meet inside, there's air conditioning, but anyway, um, there, we, we, it doesn't make sense to me, but, um, camp meeting over here, uh, we have all the way over here, high church, we got this one family, that is, is just, uh, insistent upon us, if you've ever seen our front wall, it would be perfect for a pipe organ, a pipe organ, to where, uh, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, and, and, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm further away from that, than I am away from that, and, uh, it's very eclectic, but the common draw that Rosedale Baptist Church has, it's the word of God, it's the word of God, it's the word of God, and, and, all of those diversities, um, because of our view on, on Romans 14, there's still allowances, however, because we're preaching the word, boy, they, they start becoming more and more in harmony, and more and more, uh, unified because of the word, and I,
[52:57] I would just, I would just, whatever time you're spending studying, um, I would just, before I go back to my study, decide, I'm gonna add an hour or two, I'm gonna add an hour or two, I'm never gonna get to the point, where I can plant the wheat, I can grind the wheat, I can make the flour, I, I can, I, I may never get to that point, but I can do more than I'm doing now, I can do more than that, um, and, and, so, but three months ahead really helped me, it, it, it really, um, I, I would have them all on, all on my computer, because I'm also hyper paranoid about my computer crashing, I'd print them up, and I'd have them in three different file folders, uh, Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night, um, so, Pastor Gardner, sounds like a mode of teaching, without preaching, I can't get into it, yeah, because I need to preach, preach, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's, that would be a very pointed, that would be the go, anyway, um, if I can't get back into my sermon, um, that, that, that should be Bible heavy, that should be structurally true to the text, um, to me, not only should the, the subs, the subject of the passage should be the subject of my sermon, the structure of the passage somewhat should be the structure of my sermon, the spirit, the tone, of the passage should be the tone of my sermon, um, you don't, the Lord Jesus Christ, we don't see a lot of tone, somewhat we do, but, because we don't hear the volume, and, and the vocal, um, inflections, but the tone difference between, come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest, uh, is a different tone than, oh,
[54:51] Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how oft would I have gathered you together, as a hen gathers a brood, chicken, and you would not, which is a different tone from ye Pharisees, ye whited sepulchers full of dead men's bones, hey, there's a different tone, uh, and I don't want, and if I'm using the same tone, we used to have an adult teacher, and the, uh, and I'm sure none of this is being broadcast, so, uh, we used to have an adult teacher that, uh, I mean, he had one tone, and that was peel the paint, and I just rip, and just, and the kind of a tone, and, and I don't teach an 830 class, and so I would, I would hear it, and I would ask, um, one of the class members outside, what's he preaching on?
[55:29] He's preaching, he's preaching on hell, preaching on hell, and, uh, the next week, it was the same tone, what's he preaching on this morning? He's preaching on heaven, oh, okay, and, uh, and the next week, same tone, he's preaching on forgiveness, and being kind, and it's same tone, same tone, same tone, and, um, to me, if, if we always have the same tone, um, then I'm not, I'm missing something in the tone of the text, I'm not, I'm not recreating that other side of the bridge, I'm not recreating for the people, um, what I recognized, recognized, uh, as far as the original, uh, intent, and, um, as I'm out three months ahead, um, that Monday, I, I, I pull those next week's sermons out, and I start getting myself back into that text, and that sermon, and I start meditating, and, and memorizing a passage over here, or pondering, uh, and if I can't get back into the tone, then it's because I haven't been fully engaged, um, if, if I decide first, that I don't want it to be a,
[56:36] I don't want it to be a hellfire brimstone tone, unless I'm in a hellfire brimstone passage, um, I, I, I want to be in a comfort one another with these words, if I'm in that passage, I want to be in a comfort one another, and that's not always volume of the voice, uh, sometimes it's just the intensity, or how it's presented, um, uh, and, and so, I, I get myself back into the, the tone of it, um, it, I don't know, it's, I think a lot of our, our preaching is just emotional rantings, and ravings, and, uh, we're doing a disservice to the, to the Bible, and I know there, these set up questions, some of them, but, Pastor Gardner?
[57:21] Uh, so aren't you advocating, uh, kind of leaving, preaching, and going, it's not like a Bible college. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
[57:33] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
[57:46] Yeah. it's the spirit that quickeneth the flesh profiteth nothing the words that I say unto you they are spirit and they are truth I believe we get it from God but I'm not Pentecostal and so I think that we have some Pentecostals in the church but I'm not Pentecostal I think God speaks to us in these latter days Hebrews chapter 1 verse 1 and 2 by his son who is the word of God and I want to get it from God I want to get it from God but the preparations of the hardened man and that may be three months ago and the answer to the tongue three minutes from now they're both from the Lord and every once in a while I'll come up and say turn your outlines over typically I won't go to another passage typically when I do that it'll be because there was a financial Babylon I reworked that entire thing two days before because it was just this is not this isn't
[58:49] I'm not doing justice to to the passage and that passage is the word of God that's my get my message from God that passage is the message from God that is the word of God you look at Hebrews the writer of Hebrews will quote Old Testament scripture and he'll quote it and say the Holy Spirit saith saith present tense present tense he's saying he's saying he's talking as he quotes Old Testament scripture and so boy we want to just let the text talk that's God that's God was it and I don't I don't know if it was Calvin one of those guys says when the text talks it's God speaking and I think a lot of our do we go Bible heavy exposition or not is goes back to our conviction on the the power of the Bible the power of the word of God
[59:56] I'm a firm believer that the Bible can do far more than I can do I've kind of wandered off of that but yes sir yeah yeah yeah yeah my problem is when my problem is when I'm preaching Sunday night's message on Sunday morning because I because I got like you said I'm all bottled and then and then but I'll usually stop and say and that's a that's a infomercial for tonight's message be back tonight or but but one of the it sequential preaching which is next chapter next chapter or next passage next passage to me it gives a cohesiveness too and my sermons bleed from one sermon to the other sermon they overlap and okay introductions the two places planes crash introduce take off and landing usually take off and landing usually the introduction and the conclusion are usually where the wheels will come off of our sermons the the the and I don't know that
[61:08] I remember I was going with that but the introduction to to one was a personal illustration as far as she was beaten bloodied blackened and blue the first message that I she ran a half mile to Franklin Square Hospital what was the question again?
[61:28] yeah bottled up bottled up oh they they they bleed together the the the introduction to to my next sermon a lot of times it may be a personal illustration it may be humor story maybe a current event but a lot of times it's it's now remember Revelation 119 is the the outline and our church can at this point can quote that verse can quote the the the sections of and I don't even have to hardly prompt them and and that introduction is setting the context for the sermon and so those bleed overs to me isn't a bad thing it's not a bad thing to bleed over repetitions the key to learning um and and bottled up as long as I try to govern when when um and how and and and and and then you know out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speak it that's not a bad thing anyway so any any other questions we're gonna we'll try to get more specific I appreciate the beard because
[62:31] Trent Cornwell's not here and so I miss his beard Trent Cornwell Trent who has the best beard in the whole place I think but um the where's what is that Trent Cornwell Disney World Disney World yeah oh is he is he at Disney World yeah wow wow okay any other questions we'll have more time um I'm gonna try to block diagram 3rd John for you we did it differently I'm gonna go back and try to block diagram it I did it last night so uh it's it's most of my day it's I'm not the most scheduled person which um my personality would tend towards the emotional you know type stuff um but I I have the staff do almost everything else the bigger it gets the less I do I I'm into the church by 6 o'clock in the morning ever since the 22 year old passed away my first stop is at Carl's shop uh his drink his diet
[63:39] Pepsi um sometimes he's there and I'll pray with him there at 6 6 o'clock um sometimes he's not there yet I'll leave the diet Pepsi and I call up my reminder to you that I'm praying for you and it's a it's about a 30 minute trip down and back um and for that 30 minutes Carl you are my prayer you're my prayer list um this morning when I got up because I couldn't drop it by I took a picture of a diet coke and I and I I said I'm in Georgia but I'm still praying for you here's your reminder and I I texted him a picture of a diet Pepsi but um uh I'm in by 6 uh my my personal reading prayer time is first but then I shift as soon as that's I shift to um uh either studying for and I just go as long as I can as long as I can until calls start coming in and and then uh and then it starts disrupting a little bit and and staff things but um I I don't do I
[64:40] I've been invited to we have a creativity meeting um but I don't do the staff meetings or anything at the church I I don't I don't do much so um it it gives me an allowance to uh spend those blocks of time so any other questions about um um it's it's it's it's it's it's very uh the all the classes are unique um um I encourage them to but but we we have a couple staff members that are from old school that just are still trying to get it uh the bible institute we that we have has been stronger and less but at one time Tim O'Donnell would teach um he would teach uh expository outlining um and and I try to encourage them to go through that but um there's some classes that are just purely interactive there's other classes auditorium gymnasium uh the chapel jakes class that are more preachy uh though those uh
[65:53] I encourage exposition um but but probably some are still uh we're gonna have five weeks on on a financial type seminar it's not it's gonna be our own that we we do more to just um and I don't know that that can get expositional if you're going nuts and bolts of finances you'll you'll take topics out of proverbs and stuff um but for the most part to me if you don't have a way to go from genesis 1 to revelation 22 you have to have some way and if all it is is your wednesday night you did okay from now on my wednesday night I'm gonna go through the whole counsel of god if you don't have some um approach some vehicle uh by by which you're delivering every every passage you need to get it and and i'll go as far and i'm not saying this is the only way um for me it's the best way i will go so far as to say if you don't have an approach that gets genesis 1 to revelation 22 you're missing you're missing something in in your ministry uh and and again i'm not saying my approach but you have to have some approach that's gonna preach the whole counsel of god all scripture that's given by inspiration god every word that precedes precedes you know what i'm trying to quote okay so uh you need some approach and um the sunday school teachers i try to encourage but they they don't all i you know some things i'm harder on and i'm hoping that they would get i think most do um but but some don't so all the way back in studying and studying um i'll use just about whatever tool is out there to help me um but i'm for putting the commentaries in towards the back of the whole process if if you have your commentaries too early in the process uh it's coincidentally why i have the same outline that he had and um it it just kind of uh it it influences you too much at the beginning um logos word search which have a whole lot of other commentaries but they have maps they have also uh lexicon type uh uh diagramming in them um there's one uh in logos which i finally figured out how to how to find the block diagramming uh in a different format is in the logos uh uh bible software um but but then i will i'll use i'll use commentaries i'll use some that are alliterated some that are sermon type commentaries others that are just um like pink some commentaries that wouldn't be um uh that wouldn't lend to a sermon and then um i'll even listen to other sermons i'll throw them on my iphone and just uh whether it's an approach the way someone presented something but all of those things should be back loaded they shouldn't be early on if they're early on um you may get an illustration from someone's sermon in that passage it's just or even a bible um man i never even thought that blew me away i've never connected those dots um uh if there's a resource out there i'll all you know it's if i hit a wall you know i'll even call a pastor and just say help me with this thing you know i'm not i'm not getting this i'm am i not seeing it am i not approaching it correctly um but i'm i'm for using um they they they great preaching is is made by obscure resources no i'm just kidding and um but it's those resources that would be you'd be too tied to make sure that you're back loaded on those okay so if you if you copy uh one person it's plagiarism if you copy a lot of people it's research so uh make sure that those are are are again i think we've all
[69:53] used you know uh we're trying to move back to where we stick build it from the ground up more i'll use whatever resource i can but i'll use more resources that would be more organic in the process um uh and i'll use the ones that would be more uh uh pre-influencing and approach use them towards the back so should we take a break any other questions i don't want to dismiss questions are good that way um if all if all we're getting is what i have to give we there's so much more in this room there's some pastors that that for the does what's going to uh Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[71:05] Yeah, but some of them take more time than others, in my opinion. Some of them were tough to crack, tough to open.
[71:16] I struggled with Ezekiel. There's not a whole lot of commentaries out there on Ezekiel. To be honest with you, the numbers was pretty easy. And I don't mean that. Please bear with me with those type terms.
[71:28] I don't mean them to. And I tell everyone, the second time through, we're going to get everything that we missed the first time through. But I would devote whatever amount of time I needed to.
[71:40] And there's times where it took two, three days to write a sermon. Typically, if things are flowing, I'm able to build a sermon in about a day, typically.
[71:54] But that's after I've set the groundwork. And so if it's a short amount of time to get that passage right, and I need a longer amount of time there, I'll devote whatever time I need to to make sure the one is up to speed.
[72:10] Is that... Do you try to not mind chapters that kind of mind? I try to get in my mind, because some of this we are showing mechanically.
[72:21] And I haven't shown it real clear yet. But we'll do it mechanically. But a lot of it you can do intuitively. Especially people with crisp minds. I try to make sure that I have an overall view of the book.
[72:35] And then I... The chapter I will break up. Okay? It's three expositional units. I'm going to devote a sermon to each one of those paragraphs. I try to keep all of those in mind.
[72:47] And of course, the ones we've already done, you already have in the back of your mind for back-referencing and making sure you're headed in the right direction. But I would at least go a chapter, depending on...
[73:00] And every once in a while, I would make sure I step out of it and get that overview again to make sure that my moorings are correct. That I'm not drifting one way or another away from the theme of the book.
[73:14] And then... I have outlined all of Ephesians. And I haven't even started preaching Ephesians yet. So, when I get towards the back, if I realize, man, I'm not sure that I approached that early one as well as I should have.
[73:34] I'll go back and I'll tweak it and rework it and different things. Especially with pistols. Are you concerned with finding what they might be enjoying and carrying that theme off and out?
[73:47] And trying to squeeze that theme to every... I'm not... Some of them... Some of them are more conducive to that than others.
[74:00] And... But I'm not for superimposing it. I'm not for pressing it in where... If I feel like I'm trying to force something... That's kind of a flag for me that I'm...
[74:11] Even if it's a good thing. Even if it's that theme of the book. Trying to push it in. I'll still call Philippians... I forget what I call it. Joyous Christian Life. Joy something.
[74:23] I'll still call that... The series that. As I'm teaching through Philippians. But I won't... The overview... Philippians, I did do a first sermon.
[74:33] Second Peter, I've done a first sermon that overviews the whole book. You know, I'll beat the drum of that theme on that sermon. And then anytime it presents itself again in a passage, I'll go back.
[74:46] But if it's not presenting itself, I wouldn't... You know... I wouldn't... Not too much. There's far less of them that I'm able to do it. There's far more of them that I can't do it.
[74:59] Just because they cover so many other topics. Rather than Leviticus, holiness. Holiness. Are you... Am I able to keep that theme throughout? Not... Not always.
[75:10] Genesis. Beginnings. Not... Not... Not always. So. I prefer...
[75:24] Tell... Tell me the second one. I like...
[75:37] I like one book. All three services. It's so much easier on me. It is just easier on me. And I'm in it. I'm in it. I think the sermons are better because I'm in it.
[75:48] Because I'm not trying to, you know, get back into it for that... From Sunday morning to Sunday night. And it's such a change. You're in it. Which fits your people better? I think the people prefer the other way.
[76:01] Just because there's some people with work schedules on Sunday night that... And we put some of the sermons up online. We've discontinued revelation online because I'm killing the Muslims as far as the beheadings.
[76:15] In my opinion, the Muslims are coming. That's going to be a part of the end times because they're going to be beheaded. The Catholics. I'm killing the Catholics on... And so there's some things that I don't want to be out there necessarily.
[76:29] And I'm not hiding them because I'm still preaching them. I'm just not publicizing them online. I've had a big uproar from people that don't make all three services on... Pastor, you stop putting them up.
[76:40] So I think the people appreciate different book each time. That way they're able to get all of one book even if they are working. It's a big medical community.
[76:51] A lot of nurses that have weird schedules. And it's also a big blue collar community. So there's shift work also. And people... I think the people prefer the other.
[77:02] I prefer being in the same book the whole time. Because you live in the context. You live in it. Should we take a break?
[77:14] Any other questions? Take a break? Let's take a ten minute break.