[0:00] Let me give you seven steps to go from the text from Monday morning to Sunday morning. Seven steps to go through on the text. We'll come back through.
[0:10] We'll circle around, but just so you have in your notes. Number one, selection. Selection of a book. Selection of a passage. If it's a funeral, selection of what expositional unit, what paragraph, what passage you're going to preach.
[0:25] Selection. Saturation. Reading it, rereading it, bathing in it. Investigation. We did a lot of block diagramming last year, and I don't think we're going to do as much block diagramming as much as a couple other ways to pull themes out of the text.
[0:50] Observation number four. Interpretation number five. Which is not coming up with another version.
[1:08] It's just rewording, paraphrasing to kind of a central theme, kind of a organization. And then finalization.
[1:24] If you guys have heard me preach at all, I should have alliteration in there somewhere, but I don't yet. So, eventually I'll get that work in there.
[1:35] One of the things that I struggle with, and to be honest with you, I think we all do if we were very transparent.
[1:46] And we may not be transparent, but we may not struggle with it, all of us. And the phrase, I want to be original or nothing. And usually the person is both, original and nothing.
[1:59] But an unwillingness to stand on someone else's shoulders. Spurgeon said there's two errors in study. The refusal to take anything secondhand.
[2:11] Number one. The refusal to take anything secondhand. Number two. The second error is taking everything secondhand. And so, we'll talk about where commentaries fit in and how much do we lean on.
[2:30] But to be honest with you, whether we realize it or not, nothing is stick-built from the ground up. We can but speak the things that we have heard and seen. Something like that.
[2:41] It's close. I wrote this one sermon that I thought, man, this is, as far as I know, original. An original thought.
[2:52] You know, and it's not, you know, the next new thing. I'm not trying to find. But just, man, the approach, just original. And preached it. It went great. And then about two months later, I pulled this book off from my library that I'd read years and years ago.
[3:06] And he stole my thought. But just he stole it prior to me, ten years ahead of time. Because sometimes we don't realize. You'll hear a sermon that, man, that just grabs you. You get that philosophy, that idea.
[3:17] And obviously, there's extremes on both sides. Trying to be original. I mean, just not considering anything other than what you gain.
[3:34] And the other extreme would be going to Sermon Central and then cutting and pasting. So, you know, we all fall somewhere. Okay.
[3:45] I just want to make sure we're being transparent. If you get far enough to that extreme, you might as well just put the video of the guy preaching the sermon that you're preaching for him at your place. But so, it's kind of like having someone over Sunday morning for a sermon.
[4:07] Having someone over for a spaghetti dinner. We all have some decisions we have to make. How far back are we going to go and stick building the entire thing? Okay.
[4:19] If you're going to have noodles and then you're just going to open the can of ragu sauce and dump it on and then serve it. It's not bad.
[4:29] It's still spaghetti. Is that right? It's still spaghetti. You can go a little bit further with it and add to that ragu, you know, add some of your own flavoring and maybe some more tomatoes.
[4:43] So, you're taking something that someone else has already prepared and prepackaged and you're not just warming it up. You're adding to it. Or, do we have anyone in here that has a wife or you make the sauce from scratch?
[4:57] Anybody in here make the sauce from scratch? Anybody in here? Does anybody have any idea what I'm talking about making the sauce from scratch? Has anyone had spaghetti here before? Anyone? Oh, good. One. I should have used a different illustration.
[5:09] And so, you'll have someone that prides themselves. I don't just add stuff to the ragu. I started from, you know, the very beginning. But to be honest with you, you can go further back than that and you make your own noodles.
[5:24] There's choices to make in there somewhere where, you know, we obviously don't want to, we want to be a voice, not an echo, right? John the Baptist, I'm a voice, the one crying to the wilderness.
[5:36] We don't want to be an echo. We don't want to be a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy. But to be honest with you, I have staff that I'll give my sermons to and they can preach the exact same sermon.
[5:50] I can preach the exact same sermon and it'd be totally different. Totally different. Just because of the hearts and personality. I'm not trying to okay cutting and pasting.
[6:00] But I am saying, eventually we got to, you know, with the spaghetti dinner, do you make your own noodles? There's people that will take the flour and the water and they'll, whatever you do to it, and they'll spread it out and then they'll cut those noodles and then you hang the noodles.
[6:17] Is anybody following the illustration at all? He prides my own noodles. Hey, well, if you really want to be proud about your preparation, you can make your own flour. You need to plant the wheat.
[6:28] You need to make sure you get the ground. You cultivate the wheat and then you harvest. Is anybody following the silly illustration besides? And so, in total transparency, when I first started doing expository preaching, I would say at best it was ragu sauce in, put it in the microwave, warm it up.
[6:48] I was clueless how to approach a passage. I didn't have one hermeneutics class. The homiletics classes I had didn't teach this type of homiletics.
[6:59] And so, it was, I had to figure it out as I went. I had to learn as I go. I started it out of convenience because I was a young pastor, 30 years old, when I took the church 16 years ago.
[7:14] And it was more just, man, thinking up something new, something new. And I would still be Bible heavy because I was so young. I didn't want them to say, thus saith the pastor.
[7:26] I didn't want them to hang their hat on my word, which man's word is a fleeting mist that evaporates. The word of the Lord shall stand forever.
[7:38] I wanted them, Bible, Bible, Bible. But what I did is, on Wednesday, I just took a service and said, okay, just to simplify things, I'm going to teach through the book of Ephesians. We finished the Bible this last summer.
[7:56] Gone through Revelation. I'm towards the end of it now. And then I'm going to go 1st, 2nd, 3rd John. The first time I went through it, we started out of convenience, but somewhere along the line, I developed a conviction in, it's a good thing to use the Bible while you're preaching.
[8:13] Anybody agree with that? And Bible preaching, Bible preaching, even expository. And I do it sequentially, which means the next passage, the next passage, the next passage.
[8:26] Which, funerals, you're not going to do it, you're not going to teach through a book of the Bible, okay? The missionaries, you're not going to go in and present your ministry preaching through a book of the Bible, but you are going to plant a church somewhere.
[8:40] You are going to be preaching at a church somewhere. And I do think Titus would be a great place for this cause, left-eyed the encrete, and then to ordain elders, and talking about the whole, you know, the whole gamut of, but I started out of convenience, and it ended up becoming a conviction for me that this is the right way to do it.
[9:00] But I also started out Sunday morning, one book, actually Wednesday, and then expanded to Sunday night, but it was always Sunday morning, one book, Sunday night, a different book, Wednesday night, a different book. This time through, I'm going wherever I, Criswell used to, and I think Pastor Gardner, wherever the passage I left off on Sunday morning, the next passage will be Sunday night, the next passage will be Wednesday night, which I thought it would carry a whole lot more people to Sunday night and Wednesday nights.
[9:29] It didn't. So, I'm teaching through Revelation, and then from there I'm going to 1st, 2nd, 3rd John, which same author, the Apostle John. And so I think there's going to be a little bit of a tie in there.
[9:42] And then after that, I'm going through Ephesians, which is the first book I preach through. And it's pathetic. So, I redid the whole thing.
[9:53] I took it and said, John Phillips, thank you for all the help you gave me on that first time through. And we co-pastored together for a while. We're being transparent.
[10:05] Remember, we're being transparent? You know, what stays in here, stays in here, stays in here. But as I continue to do it, there's still going to be some passages where it's tough.
[10:17] Man, I need more help on this one. I can't. Ezekiel, I'm dying. I'm dying in here. Or the genealogies. But to be honest with you, it'll surprise you some tough passages that God just opens up.
[10:29] He just opens up. He gives clarity. And personal discovery, firsthand observation is the most powerful sermons you'll ever preach.
[10:40] Firsthand discovery. When God teaches it to you first, it's just you're more passionate about it. You get up for it. It's big.
[10:52] Boy, God showed this to me. Just like the guy that harvested the wheat, ground the flour. He ended up making the noodles. He went all the way to the, you know, you're going to be passionate about, I promise you, you harvest your own wheat, you're going to be passionate about your spaghetti sauce.
[11:07] But firsthand discovery, the first changed life in our preaching should be this life. This life.
[11:20] You ever hear preachers that, I mean, are just bold, bold, but you wonder why they're so bold because they don't live what they preach. You ever, I struggle.
[11:33] If I'm not good with whatever the passage is that God has taken me through, I get timid because I just have guilt when I'm going strong about something that I'm still working through and trying to struggle through.
[11:47] Does anybody else get that way? And when God deals with me on it and I get on that, man, you just end up, that personal discovery, that firsthand observation, boy, it's a powerful thing.
[11:58] And it's the same way as, and so when you're first starting, you may decide for dessert to go get an Intamin's cake off of the Intamin's cake aisle that's already prepared.
[12:13] A step better is going to be getting a cake mix and some frosting that you have to spread it. A step better is going to be making the cake from scratch and still maybe the frosting, add some cream cheese in it and mix it up a little bit.
[12:27] And even a step better is going to be making the thing from scratch. But again, it's not really from scratch because you didn't harvest the wheat, you didn't grind the flour. But we all want to get better and better and better.
[12:43] I know I do. I've been doing it for about 15 and a half years. I need to get better at it.
[12:53] I'm still working at it. It's Lord willing, we will. Let me give you three words and then we'll build off them.
[13:10] I'm going to put them backwards though. So, exegesis is what the Bible says. Exegesis, and that's more syntactically the interrelation with the words, what it says.
[13:31] Exposition is built on top of exegesis.
[13:43] And where exegesis is what the Bible says. And I know some people that, in fact, I heard about this unsaved guy that can quote volumes of Scripture, but he's unsaved.
[13:58] He may have the exegesis to an extent. He may be able to, but he doesn't have the exposition because he misses the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins, paid the penalty for.
[14:09] Exegesis is what it says. Exposition is what the Bible means. Exegesis, what it says.
[14:22] I misspelled it. Exegesis, what it says. Exposition, what it means. And then the top wrong if you want to put communication, if you want to put expository preaching, if you want to put preaching.
[14:38] I'm going to put communication. Because we basically go through the same process if you're teaching a Sunday school class, if you're doing a funeral, if you're doing a devotion, a men's Bible study, if you're doing a exegesis, what it says.
[15:02] Exposition, what it means. And then the communication, what does it mean to them. How do you make it practical and personal? How do you communicate that?
[15:14] What it says, what it means. How to communicate what it means to them. It's the expository pyramid.
[15:32] What it says, what it means, what it means to them. I will assert that you'll never be a better preacher of the Bible than you are a student of the Bible.
[15:47] The order in Timothy is study to show thyself approved unto God. Study.
[15:58] Study to show thyself approved unto God. And we're not talking about stick building every sermon here. We're talking about Bible reading this morning. We're talking about spending time in the word of God, basking and bathing in the word of God.
[16:11] Joseph was a fruitful bow, even a fruitful bow by a well. By a well, by a well, whose branches ran over the wall. Boy, Joseph blessed so many, but he was deeply rooted in Psalm 1.
[16:27] His delight shall be in the law of the Lord. And in that law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in his season.
[16:39] His leaf also shall not wither. But it's all about Joseph planted. That's where the fruit comes. The psalmist delighting in the word of God. A tree planted by the rivers of water. Boy, that's where the leaf doesn't wither and that's where the fruit comes from.
[16:53] You're never going to be a better preacher than you are a student of the word of God. And so being a student of the word of God.
[17:04] And by the way, I think part of this, if I was going to put a layer underneath this, maybe along with this is your life.
[17:14] And as you're reading the Bible, studying the Bible, as newborn babes desire the censor mug of the word, that they may grow thereby. As you are meditating on it day and night and God is blessing you with it, I never really appreciate.
[17:33] Is it going worldwide or just are we given access to? Can we pause it a minute, Robert? Can we pause it a minute? We did that a lot the last time, didn't we? And I won't do that a lot.
[17:44] But I did a funeral with a fellow the other day. And he's not necessarily a Bible preacher. And I don't mean to say my way is the only way.
[17:59] By no means. But if it's just, if all you're doing is garnishing your message with a verse or two, you know, you're making the meal, my story, my illustration. There's been some colossal collapses recently.
[18:13] If anyone has seen the landscape of churches. churches, but I would like to propose to you that those colossal collapses aren't a Christian falling.
[18:27] Well, that Christian has fallen a long time ago. It was a slide. It was a slide. It was a process. And they kept repainting and they kept re-supporting that false front and trying to re-project themselves to be something that they aren't.
[18:40] But in here, they were like, why did sepulchers on the outside, but within they were full of dead men's bones? Cleanse first that which is within. That's down here, a student of the Bible.
[18:53] Cleanse first that which is within. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed according to thy word? Cleanse first that which is within the cup, that the outside may be clean also.
[19:05] And so, by the way, it is from within, right? Out of the heart of men that proceed fornications, adulteries, evil thoughts. Correct? It's from the heart. That's why we're to keep our heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life.
[19:16] Hey, people can't see your heart. All they can see is, boy, do you look the part? Do you act the part? Do you talk the part? Do you seem the part? Can you have this part here down?
[19:29] Boy, long before we get to here, the order in Timothy is, study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing.
[19:42] In the Greek, it means, you know, you've seen it, make straight cuts. Make straight cuts. It's a mason's word where the marble blocks, the stone blocks, they want to make straight cuts.
[19:58] The skins of an animal where they're putting them together, sewing them together, but they want to make straight cuts. Rightly dividing the word of truth. Next chapter is when it says, all scripture is given by inspiration of God.
[20:11] Still down here. All scripture is given by inspiration of God. It's profitable, doctor, reproved, correction, instruction, rights, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. It's not until two verses later that we get up here where it says, preach the word.
[20:25] Boy, preach the word. You'll never be a better true preacher than you are a student of the word and you are a Christian in his walk.
[20:38] Does everybody have that down? Exegesis, what the Bible says. Exposition, what the Bible means. And then expository preaching.
[20:50] And let me switch that, correct it a little bit. Down here is the grammar, exegesis. The syntax would be in the exposition where you start relating words with words and then relating verses with verses and then interrelating.
[21:04] Interrelating, not isolating. Not isolating. That's eisegesis. Isolating. And the more you isolate a phrase or a verse, the more of a chance you'll have to go sideways with that verse.
[21:20] Because you're standing, you're trying to put your whole sermon on the very tip of one pin, but the more you have interrelation versus comparing, how's that go?
[21:34] Comparing spiritual with spiritual. The more you have interrelation, the more of a sure foundation you have for that sermon. I'll give you an egregious example, and I hate to even give this one, but we'll even do this online.
[21:47] So, Brother Hiles' sermon that he had duty, the one in Ecclesiastes 12, where it starts out saying, remember now thy creator in the days of thy youth.
[21:59] And then it goes on to talk about the aging process throughout all of chapter 12, and the last verse says, let us hear the conclusion, last couple, let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God, keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
[22:11] You know the passage? Does anybody know the sermon? One word was taken out, and the only reason he's passed, and I don't mean to besmirch or anything, and please forgive me with that said.
[22:25] The word duty, I mean the whole sermon was not, it's your duty, it is your duty, it is your duty. And it was a sermon not based on a chapter.
[22:36] It was a sermon not even based on an expository unit. It was a sermon not even based on one verse, it was a sermon based on one word, and that word was an italicized word.
[22:55] And I don't mean to go there, because I, you know, okay. However, if he was preaching out of the Greek, the word's not even there. So, it was one that was added by the translators.
[23:06] The emphasis isn't on the duty, the emphasis is on the whole. Fear God keeps his commandments, for this is the whole, the wholeness of man. Boy, this is what makes your life complete.
[23:17] When you have a God-shaped whole, and it's not until God fills that hole, you'll be incomplete until then. And so, that's where, because that sermon on just the head of that pin, boy, that's where it just gets, and where a Bible-based sermon should have the witness of the rest of the 66 books, the threat of truth should be seen without.
[23:41] Boy, instead of having the love of Christ constraining us, and the goodness of God leading us to repentance, duty! It's your duty to do it! Boy, it's almost at an unhealthy push from behind, boy, that production mentality, rather than, um, so, anyway.
[24:00] Um, the, does anybody have any comments on this? Besides, you took way too long to, to, uh, let me give you another one. Um, the, this, exegesis is the material, the material.
[24:16] Exposition is the meaning. Got the material, exegesis, the material. Exposition is the meaning, um, the material, the material, what the Bible says, the meaning, uh, the meaning, exposition, uh, and then the message is the expository preaching, the communication.
[24:39] Turn to your Bibles, by the way, you've seen the, the, you've heard the illustration on, on, a, a, we should be a tree, Psalm 1 says, rather than a pipe.
[24:52] A tree rather than a pipe. A tree rather than a pipe. Both of them are conduits for water. A tree rather than a pipe. A pipe is a conduit for water that will take the water and just shoot it through.
[25:05] Uh, and yeah, maybe it's some cleansing of the pipe, but, but it has no beneficial quality, characteristic of the pipe. Um, the water goes through. A tree is a conduit for water also, but we're to be like a tree planted by the water.
[25:18] Boy, we're to soak it up first. To drink it in first. We're to assimilate it first. The engrafted word of God that's able to save your souls. To be engrafted.
[25:29] Boy, make it a part of us. Have the word of God become a, a, a part of our fiber of who we are. Um, and then, when it, when it flows through us, it affects us.
[25:39] The first change of life, um, should be ours. Turn to Luke chapter number 24. Expository preaching. Luke chapter 24. Luke chapter number 24.
[25:56] Luke chapter number 24. Luke chapter 24. Luke chapter 24. Luke chapter 24. Luke chapter 24. Luke chapter 24. Luke chapter 24. Luke chapter 24. Luke chapter 24. Luke chapter 24. Look at verse number 27. Verse 27.
[26:11] 27. 27. And beginning of Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them and all the scriptures and all things concerning himself. He expounded. Boy, he, he, he, he made it transparent.
[26:26] He, he showed it. Look at verse 31. And their eyes were opened and they knew him and he vanished out of their sight and they said one to another, did not our hearts burn within us while he talked with us by the way, while he opened to us the scriptures?
[26:46] Tim O'Donnell preached Sunday night. He started the revival. And we had, Tim O'Donnell started Sunday night and then Kenny Baldwin preached Monday and Tuesday and then I shut it down.
[26:56] But anyway, on Wednesday. But anyway, I don't know what that means. But Tim O'Donnell preached on Sunday night and he preached from, I shut it down like no one can shut it down. But anyway, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he preached on the, one of the issue of blood.
[27:14] And the first time I ever saw two things and I just missed one, the one where she told him all the truth, told him all the truth. Just a phrase. And you, you, you read over it, you read over it, you read over it, you miss it.
[27:26] The thing that he opened my eyes to was, and I've never considered the fact that the reason she only touched the hem of his garment and wasn't looking for him to touch her is having an issue of blood, Old Testament, she would be unclean.
[27:41] And being unclean, you weren't supposed to touch other people. They weren't supposed to touch you. And just considering the fact that in her uncleanness, still wanting to get as close to the Lord as she possibly could, reaching out to touch the hem of his garment so as not to make him unclean.
[28:01] The tie-in that I like is when that man that was full of leprosy came to the Lord, he's also unclean. Unclean! Unclean! That man that was full of leprosy, the Lord who loved him did the unthinkable when he reached out and touched him.
[28:19] And to me, that just, and you, okay, but I promise you, when you see something other than that, but it's just eye-opening to you, and it's just, man, I've never seen that, and it just captures you, it grabs hold of you, to me, there's nothing like, in a sermon, that's where we're to unfold the meaning of, to unpack the meaning of a text.
[28:44] Turn to Nehemiah. Let me show it to you, Nehemiah. He opened their eyes. Look at Nehemiah chapter number 8. Nehemiah chapter 8. And to be honest with you, that the, and I, and it may be conjecturing, Moses' rod, Aaron's staff, but to me, the first time I saw that, heard that, it was, wow, I had never even considered that, seen that.
[29:19] It was one of those, huh, type moments. Look at Nehemiah chapter 8, verse 5. And Ezra opened the book, in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people, he opened it, and when he opened it, all the people stood up, and Ezra, I had someone leave the church recently, because I have the people stand up too long, for scripture reading, I don't get it.
[29:44] But anyway, I tried to, it's not, he thought I was doing it on purpose, you know, just to get them, but I don't, anyway, you can't keep everybody, just, I guess that's a side lesson, but look at verse 6, and Ezra blessed the, and I took him to this passage, saying, I'm just, but anyway, I'm trying to let it go, so, and Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered, amen and amen, with the lifting up of hands, they bowed their heads, they worshiped the Lord, their faces to the ground, and also, Jeshua, Bani, a few other guys that are hard to pronounce, the Levite, caused the people to understand, they caused the people to understand, in my opinion, you can teach without preaching, but in my opinion, you can't preach without teaching, because at that point, all you're doing is, anyway, pushing, and the people stood in their places, so they read in the book of the law of God, distinctly, they read, distinctly, the exegesis, and gave sense, the exposition, they gave sense, and caused them to understand the reading, well, exegesis, what it says, exposition, what it means, expository preaching, communicating it, how does it, what does it mean to them, what does it mean to them, let me give you another drawing,
[31:11] I'll give it to you when we get back, but look at verse number, verse number 13, of Nehemiah chapter 8, and on the second day, they were gathered together, the chief, the fathers, the people, the priests, Levites, unto Ezra the scribe, even to understand, the words of the law, listen, if I don't give the people, something to come back for, they're not going to come back, if I don't give the people, something to come back for, they're not going to come back, if I don't give the people, something to come back for, they're not going to come back, sheep go where the food is, sheep go where the food is, if I don't give people, something to come back for, they're not going to come back, even to understand the words, they came back, they gathered together again, come back, to understand, and they found written, in the law of the Lord, commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel, should dwell in booths, 16, so the people went forth, and brought them, and made themselves booths, by the way, I don't think it's an expositional sermon, if it's also not an applicational sermon, if there's no application,
[32:17] I don't think there's really, truly been exposition, because, as far as the preaching, because exegesis is what it says, exposition is what it means, expository preaching, is what does it mean to them, what does it mean to them, and we can get into application later, turn back to Acts 28, Acts 28, Acts 28, unfolding the meaning, unpacking the meaning, opening the eyes, helping the understanding, exegesis is understanding the text, exposition, organizing the text, expository preaching, is communicating the text, look at Acts chapter 28, and when they had appointed him a day, there came to him, into his lodging, there came many to him, into his lodging, to whom he expounded, he expounded, and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them, concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, out of the prophets, it was Bible he was preaching, the whole counsel of God, from the law of Moses, from the prophets, from morning to evening, and some believed the things were spoken, and some believed not, let me give you one more, and then we'll stop, look at Matthew chapter 13,
[33:43] Matthew chapter 13, Matthew chapter 13, we don't, selection, saturation, we don't read the text, in order for us, to be able to dominate the text, we read the text, in order for the text, to dominate us, by the way, one of the, one of the best ways, in my opinion, to, and you remember last year, I feel like, if I say in my opinion, I feel like I can say, whatever I want to after that, so anyway, in my opinion, one of the best ways, to preach, is to memorize the text, the one I've been working on, for funerals is, because you can communicate, it's so much better, that ye sorrow, we sorrow, we do sorrow, not as others, which have no hope, Christ in you, the hope of glory, he's our blessed hope, ye sorrow, not as others, which have no hope, for if you believe,
[34:43] Jesus died, and rose again, even so them also, which are, which sleep in Jesus, will God bring with him, for this we say unto you, by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive, and remain unto the coming, of the Lord, shall not prevent them, which are asleep, they sleep in Jesus, which are asleep, for God, for the Lord himself, shall descend from heaven, with a shout, the Lord himself, the Lord himself, shall descend, with a shout, the voice of the archangel, the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ, shall rise first, then we which are alive, and remain, shall be caught up, together with them, with those that are asleep, which those that are dead, will be caught up, together with them, with them, will be together, with them, in the clouds, to meet the Lord, in the air, so shall we, caught up together, with them, collectively, we, that reunion, so shall we, ever be with the Lord, wherefore comfort, one another, with these words, and it just, rather than reading it, for me, it's easier, and that may not, have been a good illustration, but you can nuance it, you can, you can, show it easier, that way, look at Matthew chapter, 13,
[35:50] Matthew 13, but he that received seed, into the ground, the good ground, is he that, he heareth the word, he heareth the word, what does the text say, and, understandeth it, what does the text mean, exegesis, exposition, he heareth the word, and, understandeth it, I don't know about you, but there's times, where people will walk out, of the auditorium, and just be clueless, as to what I was trying, to get across, you ever have people like that, and I'm the biggest critic, I have in preaching, I don't know if that, does that come with the territory, you're the biggest critic, I have, but anyway, I'll have people, that walk out, and they're just, you know, it'll be totally, I gave the illustration, the other day, of, of, I don't even know, that I could get the verse, but anyway, the person was just, just missed it, and, so, in our personal observation, personal discovery, but also communication, heareth the word, understandeth it, the same, is that which also, beareth fruit, and, bringeth forth, some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, and some, thirtyfold, what does it mean for me, what does it mean for me, what does it say, what does it mean, what does it mean for me, we need interrelation, rather than isolation, we need personalization, rather than imitation, and only then, will we have transformation, rather than just conveying, more information, did we start late, let me give you one more, one more diagram, okay, one more diagram, preaching, in my opinion, is, is, we want to, have a bridge, it's the Francis Scott Key Bridge, and, we want to have a bridge, there's, there's two audiences, in preaching, there's actually three audiences, in preaching, the first audience, in preaching, is going to be the original audience, the original audience, and, at best, the text is written to us, secondly, secondly, at best, through the, revelation, it was,
[38:16] John, to the seven churches, it's to the seven churches, which are in Asia, of those seven churches, so at best, we're the second audience, that's the first audience, Paul, to the Corinthian church, to the church, which is at Ephesus, but what we need to do, is we need to, get across that bridge, in the, the barriers in the bridge, there's a literical barrier, there's a historic, and a cultural barrier, and a grammatical barrier, a literical, a grammatical, similar, historical, cultural, but, what we need to do, is we need to, recognize, recognize, what the text, meant to them, what the text, meant to them, and, and I think, some of this, may be hermeneutics, I don't know, but, we need to recognize, what the text, means to them, and we need to, cross that bridge, and then, that it's going to be, a very narrow, principle to them, and then the bridge, is going to be a, a, a, a broader, a, a trans temporal, a, trans cultural, not just to them, at that time, but we want to make, a principle, that is for all people, at all times, okay, we cross that bridge, we recognize, we recognize, what it meant to them, but then, on the other side, of the bridge, there's the, the, intended audience, and I don't want to use that word, but congregation, we need to recreate it, for them, and that's going to be, application, okay,
[40:08] I'll give you a couple examples, on, I think it's in numbers, when, when, if a man thinks, that his wife, has committed immorality, you take her to the, tabernacle, the temple, the priest, then takes holy water, and dust, and puts it in there, he mixes it together, he has her drink, this, this bitter water, and she drinks, this bitter water, and if her belly, swells, she's guilty, of immorality, then you take her out, and you stone her, okay, does that apply, directly to us, yes or no, anybody want, okay, yeah, okay, though it would be fun, but anyway, and if we're going to, preach the whole, counsel of God, that's part of the, counsel of God, what we have to do, is understand, okay, to that people, at that time, what's, what's the principle, to that people, but then we have to figure out, okay, what's the general principle, to all people, at all times, and then we need to come over here, and apply it to this people, at this time, for instance,
[41:18] I have a couple servants, that I'll preach at, at a, out in someone's church, and I'll also preach them, to a teen group, and then, I'll also preach them, to a married couples, a couples retreat, am I going to apply, that sermon differently, yes or no, yeah, but the principle, is going to be the same, whatever the principle is, that's preached from that passage, it's going to be a, trans temporal, a trans cultural, for all people, at all times, but then I'm going to make, application to that people, at that time, I'll give you one, to think about, and then we'll come back, and we'll talk about it, a little bit more, okay, Romans chapter 14, is meat offered to idols, this, this, this, this, stronger brother, will eat that meat, offered to idols, the weaker brother, doesn't eat the meat, offered to idols, is that correct, I'm not misstating that, right, and so, one eats the meat, the other does not, eat the meat, that's offered to idols, let not, him that, eateth, despise him that, eateth not, let not him, that eateth not, judge him, that eateth, let every man, be fully persuaded, in his own mind, and then it goes, to respect of holy days, one respects, the holy day, and the stronger brother, esteems every day alike, every day unto the Lord, the weaker brother, sets aside holy days, and okay, it's different, more rules, and different things, and let not the one, despise, let not the other, judge, my question is this, is it a direct application, meat offered to idols, do we have a problem, with that today, meat offered to idols, and should a brother eat, should he not eat, meat offered to idols, do we have that problem today,
[43:10] I was teaching this, in a different setting, and there was a Korean pastor, Filipino, Korean, Korean pastor, who said, oh yeah, in my culture, they have those sacrifices, and they have that, direct application, when you went to McDonald's today, did they have a little section, that said, this is meat offered to idols, does that apply, directly to us, directly to us, yes or no, no, not directly to us, however, there is a principle, that says, I don't want, if my meat makes my brother to offend, I'm not going to eat my meat, as long as the world stands, for all things are expedient unto me, but all things, that if I not, all things are, I'm misquoting the verse, but there's a lot of verses, that will qualify, and yeah, we have the liberty to do it, but my love, is going to limit my liberty, a Christian, because a weaker brother, may stumble, on your exercising, of your liberty, does anybody agree with that, am I in deep waters, that I can't get back from here, would someone go like this, every once in a while, and so, the question I have, is how do we make application today, what are some of those meat offered, if I thought it was quiet before, now it just zipped, but what are some of those meats, offered to idols today, how do we apply that today, and let's take a 10 minute break, we'll come back, we'll talk some more about that, we'll start interacting.