The Grove 10 Years – Week 2

Well, good morning church. Good morning. What a privilege it is for us to gather together freely in this nation and to worship the Lord and to spend time in his word. I'm so thankful for the people of The Grove and the great time of celebration we had the last couple of weeks just remembering God's goodness to us these past 10 years. And so, but now it's time to move forward. Right? And the celebrations are over and the proclamation begins. And so we enter into our beginning of our ministry year, and we have worked through planning out our preaching calendar that begins today and ends next August.

And we're excited about what is in store and what we've got laid out in front of us. But let me just begin this morning, if you will, and just be mindful of the mission here at The Grove Bible Chapel. And our mission is this, that we exist to glorify God by making disciples of Jesus Christ who bear much fruit. That's why we're here. That's what we exist to do, that we would glorify God by making disciples of Jesus Christ who are fruitful followers of the Lord Jesus Christ and bear much fruit.

So let's just break that down in three segments if you will. We exist to glorify God. Isaiah chapter 43, verse seven says this, it says, "Everyone who is called by my name and whom I have created," for what? "For my glory." You see, even the Creator himself has reminded us that the very creation that he has created is for his glory. We exist to glorify God, and therefore everything that we do in this place, and as a byproduct of this ministry, ought to be with the mindset of glorifying God by making disciples of Jesus Christ.

Matthew 28, verse 16, it says, "But the 11 disciples proceeded to Galilee to the mountain which Jesus had designated. And when they saw him, they worshiped him. But some doubted. And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, 'All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to keep all that I commanded you.

And behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.' " The great commission of the Lord Jesus Christ to his people, and he sets it up by saying, "Hey, all authority has been granted to me." He had the authority to mandate upon every blood-bought believer in the Lord Jesus Christ that we would go therefore and make disciples. So how are we doing? It is what we exist to do, and in doing so, glorify God. How about this? Who bear much fruit in our mission statement.

Who bear much fruit. Now, our name was derived from John 15:8. John 15:8, which says, "My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and in doing so, prove to be my disciples." We want to be a church that exists to glorify God by making disciples of Jesus Christ who bear much fruit. You say, "Well, how they do that, Pastor?" We do it by abiding in the Lord. Look what he says, "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit from itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in me.

Just as the Father has loved me, I have also loved you. Abide in my love." Abide, it means to remain steadfast in. Did you know that this used to be an orange grove right here where we stand today? This was a thriving orange grove, and it was fruitful. It's also another reason why we wanted to be known as The Grove Bible Chapel because we wanted to be a fruitful ministry for the Lord Jesus Christ. And so this morning we're going to spend time, the next few weeks looking at what our DNA is as a church.

We're going to look at our four pillars, biblical preaching, purposeful discipleship, intentional worship, and persistent prayer. And then come January, we're going to be studying the Book of James verse by verse. We're going to walk through the practicals in James. And then we're going to look at a series called Famous Last Words, where we get to see many of our biblical heroes and their last words to their apostles, to their disciples. And so with that in mind, we believe that it is the word of God which was written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that is given to transform people's lives for the sole purpose of the glory of God and that alone.

Can we agree on that? So therefore it's been our highest calling for 10 years now, if you will, to be a church that preached the word of God in an honorable fashion at every gathering, and with one goal, the goal that you would leave this place with a higher view of God and his word, a greater appreciation of Christ and his work, and a stronger conviction of the Holy Spirit and its worth in your life. Because here at The Grove we love the word of God.

Do you love the word? Yes. Is it penetrating your heart? There's mysteries of love and grace on every page of the scripture. In fact, it is a thriving soul that finds the word of God growing more and more precious in their lives. Is that you? I pray that God would inspire each of us that that would become the people of God at The Grove. That we would be people who thrive on the reality that we grow more and more precious in our study of the word of God.

See, a careless reader of God's truth never made a closer walker with the Lord. A careless reader of God's truth never makes a closer walker with the Lord. So how are you walking? How are we walking this morning? We believe here at The Grove that the needs of the body of Christ are to hear the word of God boldly proclaimed by men who believe in its authority. Authority doesn't come from the person standing behind the pulpit. It doesn't come because this person or the messenger has some degree or certain speaking skills or even some sort of personality or popularity.

The authority is in the word of God. God's word is the authority, for it is this that we have been called to preach in this church. And apart from the authority of God's word, whoever stands behind this pulpit carries no authority on their own. And so, we set out to be a church that was committed to biblical preaching. Biblical preaching. Why is that critical? Because our culture is going the opposite direction. Years ago, probably 20 years ago, I did a study with a number of American youth and I asked a series of questions.

Questions like, "Do you believe that Jesus Christ lived a sinful life?" And out of 106 people, only three said no. "Do you believe that you are born again?" Only one said no. "Do you believe that God is the all-powerful and all-knowing creator of the universe and he still rules today?" Only three said no. "Do you believe that salvation is a gift from God and cannot be earned?" Only... Well, there we had 10 say no. And it goes on and on. A number of series of questions about who God is and theology about God.

And then we got to some of the practical questions of their lives. "Have you used illegal drugs?" 20 out of the 106 said yes. "Do you drink alcohol on a regular basis?" 31 out of the 106 said yes. "Do you view pornography on a regular basis?" 14 out of the 106 said yes. "Have you had sexual relations?" 18. And it goes on and on and on. And this struck me, and I'll never forget it, as I was working with Americans youth, that what we say doesn't always affect what we do Studies of later studies, such such as this one in the "Social Science Quarterly," entitled "Are the Sanctified Becoming the Pornified?"

A study that was done from 1984 to 2016 with the objective of finding out, are the people who call themselves Evangelicals different than the world or similar to the world? And here was the conclusion I find very interesting. It said, "Findings suggest that, all else being equal, Americans who merely identify with conservative Christianity are indeed increasing in their pornography viewership." That's a pretty sad statement. "But among the most faithful and theological conservative Americans, they are no more likely to report viewing pornography than they were over 30 years ago."

So what is that saying? That's saying that the ones who identify Evangelically only doesn't necessarily mean that their behavior is different than the world. But the ones who identify Evangelically and are regular participants in the body of Christ and have a strong biblical commitment substantially have different behavior than the world, and that's encouraging. You say, "Well, why is that happening?" And I believe it's happening for one reason. Because those people are planted into churches that are proclaiming biblical preaching unapologetically.

Nancy Pearcey wrote a book, and in her book quoted from another author, W. Bradford Wilcox. And in Wilcox's book, he placed people into three focus groups, active Evangelical Protestant men, nominal Evangelical Protestant men, and secular unaffiliated men. And he found out some interesting facts. The divorce rate among active Evangelical Protestants, those are people who are weekly engaged in the body of Christ, who study the word, who serve in the church, who are actively engaged in mutual ministry in the body of Christ, they are 35% less likely than the baseline average of the world to be divorced.

The nominal Evangelical, in name only, who attend church frequently but not each week, don't engage in the body of Christ, aren't in small groups or ministering mutually with one another, are 20% more likely to be divorced. It goes on and it says that wives of husbands who are actively engaged in the body of Christ reported 73% more happiness in the area of affection and understanding that they receive from their husbands. Children of actively engaged fathers spend three and a half more hours a week than the children of secular fathers do.

So what are we learning? We're learning and we see that identifying as Evangelical does not equal conservative behavior. If it's just Evangelical, it's not enough. But if it's Evangelical and a conservative regular participation and a strong biblical commitment, then things are radically different. And I would submit to you that biblical clarity is brought about by biblical preaching, and it yields conviction in the heart of the hearer. In other words, belief plus biblical preaching yields conviction, and conviction produces righteousness.

Conviction leads us away from sinfulness and sanctifies us. It is the product of the Holy Spirit yielded by the teaching of the word of God. John MacArthur said this about conviction in an article he wrote to men, but I think it applies to the entire body. He says this, "Conviction is the resolute commitment to a belief or a set of beliefs that determines the action a man will take. It is being convinced of the truth to a point of guiding your life by it, even at great expense to yourself.

A man's convictions, or lack thereof, will determine the kind of man he will be. Conviction underlies courage, strength, endurance, and purpose. It gives a man a backbone. It sets his direction. It makes him useful, and it maintains his integrity. Without it, a man will vacillate between opinions. He will change his mind when it's convenient. He will stand down whenever the price is too high. Therefore, conviction is essential to manliness. Because of its controlling nature, it is critical that a man has the right convictions.

The Bible must dictate what a man believes and thus what he is committed to." I love that last line. The Bible must dictate a man's convictions. That is why we preach biblically here at The Grove, because conviction is a spirit-enabled realization that our sin is a violation of God's holiness, and it is revealed to us in the proclamation of His word. Biblical preaching. We are committed to it here at The Grove, no matter what the cost. No matter what the cost.

We fear God more than we fear man, and we will continue to open up His word with a desire to rightfully divide it in a way that would honor His name. And so, with that as the backdrop, open up your Bibles with me to 2 Timothy 4, if you will. 2 Timothy 4, and we have one big idea this morning, and that is that biblical preaching is profitable. Biblical preaching is profitable. Stand with me if you're able, to honor the word of God together as I read 1 Timothy 4:1-5.

He says, "I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is the judge, the living of the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom, preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.

But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry." Let's pray. Father God, this morning, we're reminded that we are strangers in this land. And as blood-bought believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, our behavior is to be different, to stand out. And so Father, I pray this morning that you will use your word to accomplish its purpose in each of our hearts for the glory of your name. In Jesus' name, amen.

Amen. Go ahead and have a seat this morning. Paul, in some of his final words to Timothy in this situation, he says, "I solemnly charge you. I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is the judge of the living and the dead, and by his appearance and his kingdom, preach the word." It wasn't enough that he exhorted him to preach the word, but the precursor of that was amazing reminder of the fact that there is such a high calling to anybody that stands and proclaims the word of God.

Because Christ is witness to it. God is witness to it. And Christ is judging the living and the dead at his appearing in his kingdom. And so he says, "Preach the word." Remember, Timothy, the things you've been taught. Preach faithfully. And I would just say that I came into this on a different course than many pastors do. I was in business and other ministry for 20-some years and then transitioned into full-time pastor ministry thereafter, and I would just tell you that there is a heavy weight that rests upon the person that stands behind the pulpit week in and week out to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ.

And if you don't know that weight, and I don't expect you to know that weight because I didn't know that weight until I was called into this- It's not like serving in any other capacity. It is a way to rightly divide the word of truth in a way that's honorable before God and has an effect upon the hearer. And so you look at it, and you realize what James says, that you are doubly accountable for everything you say, and that's a heavy weight. And so you understand the dual accountability even here that Paul is reminding Timothy of, that it's not just him that's charging him, it's Christ that's charging him.

He says, "Preach the word." What does it mean to preach? The word preach means to herald. It means to herald. It is back in the day when somebody would give another a message, and they would take that message, and they would proclaim that message. A heralder. Any famous heralders that come to mind? How about Paul Revere? Paul Revere. On the count of three, everybody, you're Paul Revere now. You're going to be Paul Revere. Muster it up, come on. On the count of three, this is your chance, I'm going to have you shout out what Paul Revere heralded.

One, two, three. The British are coming. Okay. I'm just going to say that if that was the way that Paul Revere heralded, then we would not be sitting here as American citizens today. Okay? So let's get after that one more time. Three times I want you to shout it, three times in a row. Ready? One, two, three. The British are coming. The British are coming. The British are coming. Now you're starting to herald like American citizens. Whoo. All right.

I like that. Amen. But you know, there's some biblical heralds, aren't there? John the Baptist, what did he have to say? Repent. "Repent." And he went over here. "Repent." And he went over here. "Repent." Repent. Yeah. Amen. That was his herald. It was repentance, repentance, repentance. Now, that's not a bad herald, right? It's not the only thing he heralded. He also looked and he said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world."

Or how about Jonah? Jonah was a different kind of heralder because he didn't want to go where God called him to go herald, did he? Because he was like, "If I go and I say the things you're calling me to say, God, guess what? It's going to have a positive effect because they're going to respond, and those people don't deserve to respond to your goodness." Ooh. Ouch. Do we ever do that? Or how about Noah? Noah. The Bible says that Noah was a preacher of righteousness, right?

How many converts did Noah have? His family. That's it. I think it's kind of the most critical, right? Like dads, your family, that's your number one ministry. But a world that judges the success of the man in the pulpit by the people in the pew is probably not a great judge of what we should be looking after because Noah had to have been a good preacher. He was warning. He's putting it out there. And so a heralder takes the message. He doesn't make the message.

It's no different than us today, right? We're to take the message. 1 Peter 2 says that you have been a chosen race, a holy priesthood, that you would go, and it says that we would proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called us out of darkness and into His marvelous light. So what do we preach, Pastor? What do we preach? We preach the word. He says, "Preach the word." Why? Because it is the power of God for salvation to all who believe, Romans 1 says.

The word of God is not a discussion starter, but rather it is a declaration. Matthew 4:4 says, "Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." What proceeds out of the mouth of God? His word. You say, "Well, how do you know that?" Because look back up in chapter 3, verse 16 for a second. A few verses back, he says, "All scripture is" what? Is God-breathed. His word is God-breathed, and guess what? He says it is profitable.

The word of God is profitable. Now, I'm certain that there's many of you in this room that have a 401 or a 403 or some sort of retirement plan that you're banking on, or that you are investing on your own and trying to figure out how to increase. But how about if I told you that we would take all of your 401 , and in six months we could double your money, no risk, 100% success, it will never be lost, 100%, I guarantee it'll be double, maybe triple.

How many of you are investing in that? Like, why are your hands not up, folks? That's a slam dunk. It's happening. 100%. You can take it and double it and triple it in six months, yeah, maybe 12, but we get there. What if I told you that the word of God is profitable? Better yet, what if God told us that it was profitable? Which He does. We just read it. So why are we not investing our lives into it? Because the return with God is like hundredfold, 70,000fold, infinity fold, right?

It's God-breathed. It's profitable. Almost 60 years ago, Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, one of my favorite preachers, warned of the drastic erosion in preaching from the pulpit. In a series of lectures he gave at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia on preaching and preachers, he gave several reasons. First among them was the loss of belief in the authority of scripture. The reason why there's an erosion in preaching is because the man behind the pulpit is losing the belief in the authority of the word of God.

It's mind-boggling to me. He went on to say this in one of his messages. He said, "While men believed in the scriptures as the authoritative word of God and spoke on the basis of that authority, you had great preaching. But once they went and men began to speculate and to theorize and to put up hypothesis and so on, the eloquence and the greatness of the spoken word inevitably declined and began to wane. You cannot deal with speculations and conjectures in the same way as preaching had formerly dealt with the great themes of the scripture.

But as belief in the great doctrines of the Bible began to go out and sermons were replaced by ethical addresses and homilies and moral uplift and sociopolitical talks, it is not surprising that preaching declined." Wow. And now, 60 years since he gave that proclamation, we see that it's even gotten worse. Nowadays, the common sermon is a short TED Talk or a life coach discussion or a political rant or a bunch of pastor's personal opinions. Why has this happened?

Well, I would suggest to you because the culture has been compromised. You say, "Well, how do you say that?" Well, look at chapter 3, the preceding chapter leading up to this solemn charge. In verse 1 he says, "But know this, that in the last days, difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, without gentleness, without love for God, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness but having denied its power."

Keep away from such as these. Is that not today? Is that not the world we live in? And so the erosion of biblical preaching is only playing into the cultural shift of the people in the pew. And so I would just say that here at The Grove, we're committed faithfully to the exposition of God's truth, and we're not going to tell a bunch of stories, and we're not going to tell funny jokes all the time in an attempt to get you to leave feeling good about yourself.

But rather, we're going to speak truth, and we're going to speak truth in love because we care for you, because we know that God's Word is what is best for you, and not what I say. So that is our heart's desire. I love this verse, Jeremiah 15:16. He says, "Your words were found and I ate them, and your words became for me joy and gladness in my heart, for I have been called by your name, O Yahweh, God of Host." What does that mean, your words were found and I ate them?

Is that a reflection of your Bible study? Your diet in the scriptures? Our first thought this morning is biblical preaching expounds God's truth to me. One of the reasons why we open up God's Word the way that we do is because we believe that in opening God's Word and taking it verse by verse, we're expounding His truth to all of us. And when he says here, "Preach the word. Preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season," what does he mean be ready?

He means in the good times and the bad times. He means when it's convenient and when it's not convenient. Your circumstances have nothing to do, Pastor, in your ability to stand and preach the word. I say pastor, but I would say that Paul was giving this to Timothy so that Timothy could carry it to the Church of Ephesus and the Ephesus Church carrying it to us. And by the way, any one of us in this room can preach the word, and all of us, if you have been blessed by God to have children, have a congregation that you can preach to.

And so be ready, whether it's convenient or not so convenient, whether it's good times or bad times. The same word, be ready here, is the same word that we see in 1 Peter 3:15 when he says, "But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you." So are you ready? Are you ready for the opportunity to present itself where you could come with the word of God?

And look what it says here. He says, "Be ready in season and out of season." The first thing he says is reprove. What does it mean to reprove? It means to come alongside of somebody, another brother, in a correcting way and say, "I'm trying to help you correct a wrong action or a wrong thought," showing them that this isn't God's best for them. This happens all the time around here. And we do it in love, where we come alongside somebody and say, "This isn't God's best for you."

We expose that. In Proverbs 9:8 he says, "Do not reprove a scoffer, lest he hate you. Reprove a wise man and he will love you." And it's a big difference. But one who's open to the reproof, they will thank you profusely. It's interesting, this word ties back into chapter 3, verse 16, the word there where he says, "All scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching," and what? "For reproof." So he says reproof tied to reprove. Come alongside.

Show them their behavior is wrong. Show them the error of their way. Matthew 18 says, "If a brother sins, reprove him." Same word, reprove him, and do it in love, and do it in private, he even says. We don't do that. We see a brother in the congregation sin, and first thing, we go tell somebody else about it. And I would just say that's not tolerated here at The Grove. If you come to us and you say, "Hey, so and so has done this, and this, and this," I'll say, "Have you spoken to so and so?"

Because that's biblical. So reprove in love. Secondly, he says rebuke. And the goal here is not just showing the wrong, but actually going a step further, trying to get them to repent of their sin. Rebuke. It's reproving will expose something, but rebuking actually drives them to repentance. Help someone come face to face with their sin and show them how it doesn't meet God's standard for their life and lead them through repentance. It's an amazing time.

And then he says, "Exhort." Exhort. This is similar to the word training in righteousness. So reprove, reprove. Rebuke, correction. Exhort, training in righteousness. It is helping somebody to encourage them to step out into what is right from what they've been doing which is wrong. So how do we do that? How are we doing in that? When we exhort somebody, it's like we're coming behind them and they've fallen down, we're picking them up. We're placing them back on their feet.

You're helping to correct their ways. Practically, here at The Grove, how do we do this? Well, notice the end of verse two. He says, "With great patience and teaching." He wants us to be ready in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and teaching. It implies time. Patience implies time. It means you're walking with these people. It's life on life. It's mutual ministry. That's why I love our small group ministry. And you're doing so in a sound doctrinal way, confronting the culture with truth.

So let me just picture that for us. So somebody's in this situation where they're in a 2 Timothy 3 living style, where they're going along, lovers of self, lovers of money, lovers of whatever, pleasures, denying the power of God, and a loving brother comes along that evangelical and says, "Reprove. Hey, listen, this is wrong in your life. You're not getting there the right way. Let me lovingly say, 'Hey, I'm exposing that in your life.' " But that's not enough.

You can't just reprove it. You got to rebuke it. Rebuke it means that that person who's been loving themself and loving pleasures and doing all of these things that they should not be engaged in, and you stop that, you reprove it, and you say, "Hey, you got to turn from that." Rebuke them to turn from that and repent, and then they start going back, and as they're walking, you come alongside and you're exhorting them. You're exhorting them to stay in the right.

Showing them what's wrong, helping them get right, and then helping them stay in the right. That's what we're called to do. That's what discipleship is. That's what discipleship is, is whether you're teaching and equipping or refuting the wayward or training the righteous or correcting the erring or leading someone to a saving faith in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Discipleship is all of this, and the source of all of that is the very word of God.

There's no other source. The power is in the word. The authority's in the word. Okay, Pastor, I get that, but why the urgency? Why the urgency in this text? Because second thought is biblical preaching exposes my hearing There is an urgency because look what he says in verse three, "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.

But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry." There's an urgency because the culture is compromised. The culture is compromised, and when we come along in that way, you know what happens often? It reveals their tolerance, their hearing. People will reject as unloving and intolerable sound doctrine. Do you know that the word sound doctrine actually is the word that we get our word hygiene from?

It's healthy. It's a good thing. We should exhort with it. But people will say it's unloving, intolerable, because you want to know why? Here's the bottom line. Here's why. It's not what they want to hear, period. Why? Because it's not how they want to live. So what do they do? Well, they self-select out of biblical churches that are faithfully teaching and preaching the word of God because they do not want to be convicted. And without coming to the feast that God provides in biblical preaching churches, they inevitably gravitate toward the drive-through lane of therapy and the trash can of moralism.

Preaching is God's merciful act where he pulls us away from the toxic self-feasts of our lives. So what happens instead? What happens is they take themselves away from the only real thing that they actually need, the very truth and the preaching of God's truth. So do me a favor right now. If you're sitting next to somebody you know and love, take your hand and just rub their ear. Go ahead, just rub their ear. Feels good, doesn't it? Let me just say this.

That is the only ear scratching or ear itching you will ever get at the Grove Bible Chapel. Amen. Okay? That's it. When it says here that they want to have their ears itched, wherever that was, that's the only one you're going to get here. We're not going to do that. We're not called to scratch people's ears, but rather to herald the only thing that has capacity to pierce their brokenness. To deep down go through the unregenerate hearts with the unapologetic preaching of God's holy word.

Look at verse four. He says, "And they will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths." And this is why people will gather in places of worship where the blessing of God and the prosperity of the gospel are taught, right? Sounds great, doesn't it? I want blessing. You want blessing? I want prosperity. You want prosperity? Sounds great. But this is also why people will gather together where his love is emphasized, but holiness and the wrath is never discussed.

This is also why people will gather together where Jesus Christ is preached as a fire insurance from hell, but then go on living the very way that they want to live. This is also why people will gather together in churches that say Savior, but not Lord. Because they would require them to be submissive and to yield in obedience. This is why people gather together in churches where salvation will be preached without the very need of repentance and to turn from sin and to turn to God.

And rather than having their hearts pierced and their sins cleansed, they will have their egos fed and their sins approved. We see it all the time. People come to us, and they want counsel, and when you give them the biblical response or the biblical counsel or the biblical teaching or preaching, if you will, they run from it. Why? Why? Because it doesn't tickle their ears. It doesn't fit the desire of their flesh, and they go find somebody that eventually they'll go from person to person to person to person till they get some weak character out there that doesn't know the word of God or is an apostate, and he gives them horrible counsel, and they rest on that counsel like it's nothing better in the world.

Why? Because it feeds to their flesh. The word of God doesn't feed to our flesh. The word of God convicts our flesh. It exhorts our flesh. So we have to examine our ears. How's our hearing? Do I love to hear and understand sound doctrine? Do I seek out preaching that makes me feel good about my choices all the time? Do I prefer to listen to what I'm comfortable hearing? Do I want to be entertained at church? Do I believe God's Word to be authoritative in my life?

Do I avoid talking about some topics of God's Word? Do I believe all roads lead to heaven? There's one for you. Do I believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God? Do I prefer positive thinking over self-examination? Do I believe a prosperity gospel? How's your hearing? What are you listening to? So if you don't want to turn aside from the truth but choose rather to submit and yield yourself to the word of God, then where do you go? What's the result? The result is our third thought, biblical preaching.

Biblical preaching equips me for every good work. Look at verse five. He says to him, "Be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry." That's just a carry-on from chapter one verse 13, a couple pages back. He says, "Hold to the standard of sound words which you have heard from me in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you."

What's the treasure? Look back to 1 Timothy 1:11 for a second. What's that treasure? "According to the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have entrusted you." The treasure's the gospel. The gospel's the treasure that we have. Look at chapter two of 2 Timothy, verse 15. He just carries on. "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth." Chapter three verse 17, he says, "All these things, all Scripture is God-breathed, is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, training in righteousness."

Why? Verse 17, "So that the man of God may be equipped, having been thoroughly equipped for every good work." You want to know why we spend so much effort and time in preaching the word of God verse by verse, is so we can equip you to go therefore and make disciples. That you would be the ministers that God would use in the community for his glory. Ephesians 4:11 it says, "And he himself gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to a measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ, so that we are no longer to be children, tossed here or there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every aspect into him who is the head, that is, Christ."

Get equipped. Find a Bible biblical preaching church and become equipped and get out there and make disciples. That's the goal of all believers, that you would get equipped. Five quick ways to get equipped. It says this, time in the word, meditate on the word of God, act on the word of God, memorize the word of God, accept the word of God. What's the common denominator? The word of God. That's why we're going to preach the word in this church. You say, "Well, Pastor, then how do I know if I'm digesting spiritual food?

How can I confirm that the knowledge of God's word has instructed me, and it's growing in my heart a grace upon grace?" Well, I would say this, does it lead you to a more fervent communion with the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you have a greater submission to his word? Two marks, and I'll leave you with these. Two marks of evidence that the word of God is penetrating your life. You'll have a growing spirit of thanksgiving, gratitude in your heart, and you'll have a growing spirit of confession over sin.

And that's why we do what we do here at The Grove. That's why we're committed to biblical preaching. That's why you're going to hear over the course of this fall, a little bit more about biblical preaching, a little bit more about persistent prayer, a little bit more about intentional worship, and a little bit more about purposeful discipleship. And maybe you're here this morning, and you've never even yielded your spirit to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Maybe you're here this morning, and you've been reproved, and the error of your way has been revealed to you by the teaching of the word of God. Might I rebuke you? Repent, as John the Baptist said. The Bible says that if you confess your sin, that Jesus is faithful and just to forgive us. He loves you. He died for you. Believe unto him, confess your sin, that you might have life and have it abundantly. And then get involved in a church that's serious about the word of God.

That's willing to open it up week in and week out, and to reprove and rebuke and exhort you. Disciple you, equip you to become your own minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That's our heart's desire this morning. Let's pray. Father, we do thank you for your love. We thank you for the ministry of the Gospel. We thank you, Father, for your word. And God, I pray that as we, as a church body, commit ourselves unto that, that we would do so faithfully.

Even in a nation where there are more evangelical churches, more megachurches, more Christian resources, more Christian music, more Christian conferences than ever before, and yet we aren't seeing the proportionate transformation in the moral and relational lives of the American evangelical. Help us, God, to be faithful to the text that you've given to us. And be transformed to the newness of life. In Jesus' name. Amen.