MVP

turn to Joshua chapter 1 Joshua chapter 1 it's good to be back in Sunny Hawaii uh it was cold in Minnesota and uh the day we got there the temperature dropped about 30° and then uh halfway through we got 7 Ines of no most snow they've had all year long and then the day we left the day after we left the temperature went back up 30° I think the Lord is punishing us for living in Hawaii all this time making sure we remembered how good we have it I'm not sure uh I had a great uh appointment there at Mayo Clinica they're they're just fantastic really treat you well there and uh they were able to give me three different possibilities to deal with my cluster headaches and one is a preventative and

the other two are uh Curative when I have them uh the third one is the option I do not want to have to resort to and that's where I have to stab myself in the leg three times with a needle and so uh I'm praying I don't get that far but I am thankful that there's at least some possible answers and I will be dealing with my local doctor to figure out exactly what we're going to do there and so I appreci appreciate your continued prayers my goal was to pray for each one of you at at least once while we were gone and I believe I hit that goal and tried to text you when I did that and uh sometimes it was late at night so my text may not have gotten through every case with the right number but I

tried to let you know I'm praying for you because I did miss you and I did want to pray for you and that's one of my goals is regularly pray for each member and each guest in our church as well but we're going to what I'm going to do today is I'm not going to go back to the series from Hebrews chapter 11 just yet uh the last two sermon I preached before I left I preached about uh being pro- Christians talking about the Pro Bowl and we need to be pro- Christians and and then I talked about the Super Bowl and how we need to learn to hold on to what we believe and not let those uh big 300 lb tackles knock us down if they do get right back up and keep going for that next down and keep working

your way and getting that touchdown and and so I use those illustrations so I wanted to use one more football illustration before we finished up here and I want to talk about the MVP you know every game they pick out the most valuable player whether it's football or basketball or baseball and how can you and I be the MVP in Joshua chapter 1 by the way I want to say something too I appreciate uh we're full upstairs we're full downstairs I'm thankful for those that are downstairs as well and for your your willingness to be a part of our service and want you all to participate fully I've got some things for you down there as well as we go along but Joshua chapter 1 beginning with verse number

seven it says only be thou very strong and very courageous that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded thee turn not from it to the right hand or to the left that thou mayest Pro Prosper withs soever thou goest this book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth but Thou shalt meditate therein day and night that thou mayest observe do according to all that is written therein for then Thou shalt make thy way prosperous and then Thou shalt have good success have not a commanded thee be strong and of good courage Be not Afraid neither be thou dismayed for the Lord thy God is with thee withersoever thou goest you know the MVP they're the the best

player of the game they're the ones that made a difference and I want to be the MVP and the M first of all stands for two words and that's to memorize and meditate to memorize and meditate if you want to be the mvtv you've got to learn to memorize and meditate upon the word of God go over to Psalms uh chapter 19 Psalms chapter 100 I'm sorry chapter 119 Psalms 119 and I want to look at verses 9-1 Psalms 119 and beginning with verse number 9 Psalms 119 and verse number n says wherewith all shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according to Thy word Thy word have I with my whole heart have I sought thee oh let me not Wander from thy Commandments Thy word have I hid in my

heart that I might not sin against thee you see if we want to be the MVP we got to hide God's word in our heart we've got to memorize it the the word hide there means to hoard to protect to cover you know like the the football player grabbing that ball and holding on to a tight but even more it's just to to to cover over to protect to hide it in in job chap 23 and verse2 it says neither have I gone back from the Commandment of his lips I have seen the word of God the word words of his mouth more than my necessary food you know when you think of memorize and meditate I think of M&M's and I don't know about you but like M&M's and uh you know when you get the M&M's you want to you want to hold

on to them if you got kids you know if you have any candy they think that belongs to them you know and you want to kind of hide it from them and hold on to a tight and uh in fact what I've done right now is I've hid some M&M's around the church and both downstairs and upstairs and so if you'll reach right under the front of your chair there and see if you're one of the lucky ones that has some right in the middle of your chair right under the front right in the middle there uh right on the front side not the side but right under the front reach right in the middle there if you find some M&M's hold them up anybody found some yet there we got some all right got some right over here all right

good anybody else got some all right good you know uh and uh there you go you got to keep those M&M's and uh and you know when you find some hidden food just hidden chocolate like that's it's a good thing isn't it and and you want to you want to have the M&Ms of God's word you see God wants us to enjoy the word of God it's not just good for us it's good to us as well in Psalms chapter 104 and verse number 34 it says my meditation of him shall be sweet I will be glad in the Lord and God wants us to enjoy the sweetness of his word through memorizing and meditating upon the word of God you see the Bible is God's invitation to his table of blessings in John chap 21 and verse number 12 it says

Jesus saith to them come and dine and God wants us to come and enjoy the word of God go over to Second Peter chapter 1 second Peter chapter 1 and look at verses number 3-8 second Peter chap 1 and veres 3-8 it is according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of him that called us to glory and virtue whereby are given us those exceeding great and precious promises that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption of the world through lust and besides GI giving all diligence add to your faith virtue and The Virtue knowledge and the knowledge Temperance and the temperance patience and

the patience godliness and the godliness brotherly kindness and the brotherly kindness charity for if these things be in you and abound they make you that you should NE be Barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ when we were on the mainland we got to go with my wife's brother to an all you can eat Mongolian Barbecue it had it had not only Mongolian barbecue but it had everything else from fried I don't know where Fried Chicken comes in Mongolia but they had fried chicken and french fries and pizza and salads and all kinds of stuff and man you just got everything you wanted and that's what God is inviting you and I to he's inviting us to come to his table that's full

of blessings in verse number five it says and by the besides this giving all diligence add your faith virtue virtue knowledge and so on the idea of that word add is like when you're going through that line you know at the all you can eat restaurant and and you have your plate there and you're just going down I don't if you're like me but I'm just add a big pile of this and a big pile of that and just keep going there's more than I can possibly eat but it's all right there for my taking and that's what faith is folks faith is your plate when you come to church what kind of plate do you come with do you come to receive this kind of blessing or do you come to receive this kind of blessing see

the blessing we get from the word of God is not limited if I walked out of that restaurant hungry it wasn't the restaurant's fault they provided all the food if I didn't like this then there was that and if I didn't like that then it was this and it was everything I could need or want in that restaurant it was up to me to fill my plate and and to come there with faith and so if you go to your word when you go to the Bible when you go to the word of God you need to go seeking in faith to seek God to speak to your heart and to fill up your plate with his blessings in Jeremiah 15:16 says thy words were found and I did eat them and Thy Word was onto me the joy and rejoice in my heart for I'm

called by thy name oh Lord God of hosts and so we need to if we want to receive a blessing from the word of God we need need to memorize and meditate but we need to RSVP you know when you get an invitation somewhere right at the bottom it says RSVP I I don't know what that stands for it's some kind of French words but it basically means tell me if you're coming tell me if you're coming and we when we go to the word of God we need RSVP first of all we need to read look at 1 Timothy chapter 4 1 Timothy chapter 4 and look at verses 13 through6 says till I come give attendance to reading to exhortation to Doctrine neglect not the gift that is in thee which was given thee by Prophecy with the

laying on the hands of the presbyter meditate upon these things give thyself holy to them that thy profiting may appear to all take heed unto thyself and un the doctrine continue in them for in doing this th shall both save thyself and them that hear thee you see God wants us to read the word of God to to read it to to study it to learn it uh because that's where we get the blessings from you see the the Bible says uh in Psalms 1:2 but his Delight is in the law of the Lord his law that he meditate day and night see it's more than just reading your Bible but it's meditating upon your Bible it's thinking about what you're learning and and and and we need to open up the books of the word of God

open up the books of the Bible and and then not only to read but also to study the S RSVP is to study 2 Timothy 2:15 study to show thyself approved unto God a Workman that needs not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth you you can't just read your Bible you need to study your Bible in in Hebrews chapter 5 it says strong meat belong to those who by reason of use have exercise you've got to use your Bible see folks you're not going to get a blessing from the Bible if you're not reading it if you're not studying it and and and the Bible talks about in 2 Timothy chapter 3 how that from a child that was known scriptures and that's what we want to teach our children is to open up the

word of God to read the word of God to study the word of God to love the word of God God but they're not going to learn that if you don't have it and so we've got to read we've got to study and then we've got to visualize in Proverbs 29 verse number 18 it says where there is no vision the people perish but he that keepeth the law happy is he we need to have a vision from the word of God see a lot of us what we do is the reason we don't get much from our Bible is because we read it but we don't visualize it and and and we need to visualize it first of all for understanding in Psalms 119: 130 it says the entrance of thy words giveth light it giveth understanding unto the simple you know I have

people tell me Well Pastor I I guys can't understand the Bible the Bible says you can understand it even if you're simple you don't have to be smart you don't have to have a college degree you don't have to have Bible College training but you do need to study the word of God you need to you ask God help me to understand what I'm reading in Psalms 143 in verse number five it says I remember the days of old I meditate on all thy works I Muse on the works of thy hands now the word muse means to think to ponder uh by implication is it means to converse with oneself and hence uh uh to utter aoud even it's to commune to complain to declare to meditate to Muse to pray to speak to talk the idea is

you got to talk back to yourself see a lot of us we come to church and then we walk out the door and we never disc discuss what we've learned and and you could talk about it with your wife you can ask your children what did you learn in Sunday school today you can even talk about it with yourself you can mutter and and and discuss it with yourself so you can understand it and the same thing when we read our Bible we read the words and then we close our Bible and we're all done and we don't stop and Muse or to think on what we've read and and so we want to visualize we want to understand what is it I'm reading and how does it apply to my life and then the P of rsbp is to plan in Ezra chapter

7 verse number 10 it says for Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it and to teach in Israel stat and judge statutes and judgments he said listen I'm going to prepare myself before I read the Bible and whatever I learn that's what I'm going to do and that's the order Joshua talked about that Josh talked about that in the Sunday school class a little bit with his verse from U proverb or Psalms was prover Proverbs 16:3 and and we need to take this say God show me what it is I need to know and then I'm going to put that into practice in my life and and we got to plan to put into practice and that starts with prayer go to Philippians chapter 4 Philippians chapter 4

and look at verses 6-9 Philippians chapter 4 beginning with verse number six be careful for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving let your request be made known unto God and the peace of God God which passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and Minds through Christ Jesus finally Brethren what s of things are true what s of things are honest what sort of things are just what sort of things are pure what sort of things are lovely what sort of things are good report if there be any virtue if there be any praise think on these things those things which you have both learned and received and heard and seen in me do and the God of Peace shall be with you

you see we need to start out with prayer and say God as I come to church today would you teach me would you show me what I need to learn learn we need to open our Bibles and when we open our Bibles pray God as I read show me what it is you want me to learn and and make a commitment to the Lord what you show me that I'm going to do and then we need to apply it go over to James chapter 1 James chapter 1 look at verses 22- 2 James chapter 1 beginning verse number 22 but be a doers the word and not hears only deceiving your own s for if any be a hear the word and not a doer he's like unto a natural he's like unto a I'm sorry for if any be hear of the word and not a doer he's like unto a man

beholding his fa natural face in the glass for he beholds himself then goth his way and straight way forget what manner of man he was and and but thou who so look at the perfect law of Liberty and continue therein he being not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work this man shall be blessed in his deed see too often we we come to church and and we see a problem but we walk out and do nothing about it the other day we were getting ready to go out and uh I looked in the mirror and saw that I need to shave but then I I got busy and I didn't shave and I got we got in the car we got halfway there and my wife looked me said you didn't shave this morning see I looked but I didn't behold I didn't

get close up and deal with that issue and so often that's what we do is we don't look at the problem we don't see the problem and if we see the problem we don't deal with it in our lives and we've got to apply what we're learning and then we've got to yield in Romans chapter 6 Romans chapter 6 turn over there Romans chapter 6 and look at verse number 13 Romans chapter 6 and verse 13 it says in Romans 6113 it says neither yields your your members as instruments of unrighteousness Unto sin but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God look at verse number 16 know ye not that to whom you yield yourselves servants to

obey his servants you are to whom you obey whether of sin unto death or obedience unto unto righteousness and then look at verse number 19 I speak after the manner of men because of the INF infirmity of your flesh for as you have yielded your memb servant to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity even so now yield your memb servants to righteousness and un Holiness see folks if you notice there's an acronym here prayer apply and yield you got to pay the price see the reason we're not getting something out of the word of God is we're not paying the price we're not saying Lord I I I want you to show me when I open my bible and read it I want you to show me when I go to church help me to see

what it is I need to do because I'm committed whatever you show me that's what I'm going to do and then I need to apply the word of God to my life how does this apply to my family how does this apply to my marriage how does this apply to my job how does this apply to my relationships with others how can I apply what I'm reading in my life today or this week and then we've got to yield our elves you know it's not easy but we got to say Lord I'm going to do it and we got to be willing to pay the price and so if you want to be an MVP it starts with memorizing and medita upon the word of God and so you got to be willing to RSVP and that means that the first thing you need to do is to read your

Bible if you're not having daily devotions if you're not in church Faith come by here and hearing by the word of God you got to read the Bible and then you've got to study the Bible uh you can't just read it but you got to study it and and then visualize it how does this apply in my life I want to understand what I'm reading I I want to be able to think about this and not just when I close my Bible I'm going to keep thinking about what I read so that I can then plan on how I can put it into active in my life but the next part of MVP is that word v and that's going back to that word visualize what do what do I mean when I say to visualize go to Isaiah chapter 55 Isaiah 55 and look at verses

8- 11 Isaiah CH 55 and verse number8 the Bible says for my thoughts are not your thoughts neither are my ways your ways sayith the Lord for all the he as the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts for as rain cometh down and the snow from Heaven return not thither but water the Earth and maketh bring forth and and um and forth in Bud that it may give seed to the sewer and bread to the eater so shall my word be that goth forth out of my mouth it shall not return unto me void but it shall compass that which I shall please and it shall prosper the things where I set it sent it you see we've got to visualize and when I talk about

visualize it goes back to that word meditate in Psalms Psalm 19 and verse1 14 it says let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight oh Lord my strength and my redeemer so what does it mean to meditate you know we think of the word meditate we think of you know getting down and crossing your arms just kind of moan meditating that way but the word meditate means to moan to mutter to murmur to moan to mutter and to murmur now think about that word and that's exactly what meditation is to think about it last night about 6 o00 I remembered I forgot got to go out and buy M&M's for the sermon today so I I panicked and I I I I looked up Costco was already closed

cuz I wanted to get the cheaper price but Sam's was still open so I went to Sam's to get the M&M's there and I got there in time to do it but on the but I forgotten my wife had the Sam's card so on the way there she calls me says you don't have the Sam's card and so then I had to download the Sam's app and I finally got in there and and I went over there where the M&M's are at and I saw the M&M's and I I like M&M's but right next to the M&M was a salted sea salt caramel chocolate this what's M&M's to shame you know when you take a bite of one of these things they're good they're really good oh that's good you know what I think I Fair you know there's an advantage to sit in the front row

folks all right I not keep you there all right I guess I got to give it the whole front row here now I'll come back to you guys all right you know what I'm talking about when you buy one of these they're good by the way do not tell my wife I bought these but that's what the word meditate means the word meditate means to moan to mutter to murmur you know kids don't know how to eat chocolate they eat chocolate it's it's gone before it even gets to their taste buds but when you grow up you don't get chocolate as much anymore and then you really get to enjoy it and you want to make it last and to meditate on the word of God in Psalms chap 1 veres 1-3 it says blessed is the man that walth not in

the counsil of the ungodly nor stand the way of Sinners nor sth the see of scornful but his Delight is in the law of the Lord and his law that he meditate day and night it should be like a tree planted by the rivers of water who bringeth forth his fruit in his season his Leaf also shall not wither and whatsoever he do it shall prosper learn to meditate upon the word of God learn to not just close your Bible and leave it there learn not just to leave the sermon in church but to take it with you all day long all week long and as you go through life just to bring back that pleasure oh wasn't that good and to and to think about it again and again and again what should we meditate on first of all

we should meditate on our Salvation in Hebrews chapter 2 and verse number three it says how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation which at first began began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us that heard him by them that heard him you see he wants us to meditate at upon this great salvation that God has given us verse one of Hebrews 2 says therefore we ought to give the more Earnest heed to things which we have heard lest we at any time we should let them slip and it's good just to go back and meditate upon our Salvation you know one of the best verses to memorize is John 3:16 for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in

him should not perish but have everlasting life have you ever just stopped and thought about the fact that God loved you so much he sent his son to die for you he sent his son to the cross for you that you could be saved and have eternal life and God has given us our salvation and it's not something we should take for granted but it's something we ought to meditate upon and think about how great our Salvation is can you remember when you got saved turn over to 1 Corinthians chapter 15 1 Corinthians chapter 15 I'm have another bite of this chocolate that's good that's good see that's the way it is with the Bible these this little chocolate thing will sit in my my P my pantry and it calls to

me I'm watching the news and says come get me I'm I'm lonely I want you right now and that's the way the word of God ought to be it ought to be just calling onto you look at look at 1 Corinthians chapter 15 look at verses 1-4 it says moreover Brethren I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you which also you have received and wherein you stand by which also you are saved you keep in memory what is preached unto you unless you have believed in vain for I delivered on you first of all that which I also received how that Christ died for our sins according to scripture and he's buried and then he rose again the third day according to scriptures can you remember when you first

understood the gospel can you remember when you first realized that God loved you and sent his son to die for you can you remember that day you called upon his name and said Lord save me a sinner if you can't remember that day and you need to start right there you need to start with salvation you see to have religion without Jesus Christ is like eating chocolate without sugar you ever had chocolate without sugar it's bitter and religion without Jesus is bitter you have to have Jesus as your savior and I wonder can you remember when you got saved can you remember when you realize that God loved you so much that he sent his son to die for you that you might have eternal life do you remember

calling upon him and and asking him to save you and if you can remember that you ought to think about that every day and say God thank you for saving me thank you for my great salvation and if you can't remember then today can be that day that you will remember for all eternity we need to meditate upon our Salvation we also also need to meditate upon God in Psalms 104: 33 and 34 it says I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live I will sing praise to my God while I have my being my meditation of him shall be sweet I will be glad in the Lord in Psalms 22:3 says for thou art holy oh thou that inhabits the Praises of Israel God inhabits when we think about God in Malachi says that he actually

writes it down in a book every time we think on his name and we ought to meditate you ought to every week every day you ought to take time to think how great our God is he's the creator of all he's the savior of all he is the god of God and the King of Kings and the Lord of lords and we ought to meditate on how great our God is Psalms 143 and verse number five it says I remember the days of old I meditate in all thy works I Muse on the works of thy hands that means we think back and remember the pro What's called the Providence of God we can look back in our life say remember when God brought us together remember when God did this in our lives remember when God provided this and to look back

and remember the things that God has done in your life and to meditate upon how good he has been and sometimes when we were in the midst of those circumstan we were saying where is God in all this and why is God doing this but now we can look back as we meditate we can see that God is the one that provided Psalms chapter 70 has an intro that is scriptural a lot of times your notes in your Bible are added by somebody else but the introductions to every Psalms is from the Bible and the introduction of Psalm 70 says this to the chief musician of Psalm of David to bring to remembrance it's just good to remember the goodness of God it's good to remember people in our lives we're going through

Hebrews chapter 11 and we're remembering all the great men and women of faith and how God worked in their lives to help us learn how God wants to work in our lives as well and and that's important when you study your Bible to stop and think about don't just read about people in the Bible but think about these are real people with real problems and and their their lives can teach us lessons in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 it says these were these were given to us as examples to help us to to do better and so we would need to meditate on these people and what what we can learn from their lives we can meditate on objects in Psalms chapter 49 and verse number four it says I will clim mine ear to a

parable I will open my dark saying upon the harp it it's thinking about objects turn over your Bibles to Proverbs Chapter 2 throughout the Bible God uses object lessons to help us to learn abstract thoughts with concrete objects he Compares it to a seed he Compares it to a sheep it Compares it to a house he uses all these objects to help us understand what it is he's trying to teach us it's one of the reasons I like to use illustrations whether it's a an illustration like a football you know how I used this the other week in the Super Bowl Sunday message and talking about how we've got to hold on to our beliefs because the world's trying to knock it out of our hands how that we've got to

keep on going even when we want to quit and we're being hit by that 300 lb tackle we go for that one more yard we go for that next first down and we just keep moving our way down the field and and it's a good illustration to help us remember what it is I just use the illustration of the plate and and and how that plate reminds us that we get as much as we make room for we get what we ask God for or maybe uh it's like this fruit juice and and how I've used illustration many times if you shake up a bottle of soda and you shake up a bottle of fruit juice when you open the soda it's going to explode and make a mess everywhere when you open the fruit juice it's is going to get better and the

difference is not the circumstances on the outside the difference is what's on inside of you if you're filled with the spirit then what's going to come out of your life when you get shook up love joy peace longsuffering gentleness goodness Faith meekness Temperance you know these are the kind of things that are going to happen but God uses illustrations all the time in our life look at Proverbs Chapter 2 look at verse number one my son if thou will receive my words and and hide thy command my Commandments with thee so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom and apply thine heart to understanding yay if Thou criest after knowledge and lift up the voice for understanding if thou seekest your

silver and searches for his hid treasure then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord and find knowledge of God and so some sometimes it's good to stop when we're reading the scriptures to meditate why did he use a coin here why did he use this Parable why did he use that story what's the what's the idea when he Compares it to this animal or whatever else it is those are things that we can visualize that we can meditate upon in Psalms 119:48 says my hands also will I lift up under thy Commandments which I have loved and I will meditate in thy statutes oh how I love thy law it is my meditation all the day we need to meditate upon the word of God we can meditate also on Words 2 Timothy 3:16

all scriptures given by inspiration of God as profit for Doctrine for reprove for correction for instruction and righteousness in Matthew 5:18 for verily I say unto you till Heaven and Earth pass one jot or one TT shall no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled on Wednesday night I'm teaching a series on biology how do we know the Bible is the word of God how do we know the complete Bible how do we know the right Bible and we need to understand that the Bible is inspired every word of the Bible is important and that's why when you read your Bible you need to meditate upon the words what does this word mean there's a word like conversation let your conversation be uh be right and the

conversation is not just how our words speak but how our life speaks or words like transformed in Romans chap 12 to be transformed by renewing of your mind and the word transformed comes the Greek word metamorph which means like a caterpillar to a butterfly in second Timothy it talks about exercise th rather unto godliness and and the word exercise comes from the Greek word gymnazo which we know what that word means gymnasium exercise spiritual exercise very much like physical exercise uh Josh and is hoping to establish a gym over in in uh CH in Micronesia so that they can use it an Outreach to their community and and he's going to sh help them see that physical exercise bodily exercise is

good but it's better to exercise your spiritual side as well and so when you read your Bible look at the words and meditate on it think about them don't just read them and close your Bible you see to meditate means to think on it and that means all day long I'm going to go out and have another little bite another little taste to think about my salvation to think about my God to think about the the words that are used for the or the objects or the people that are in the Bible so that I can understand these things so we need to memorize we need to visualize or meditate and then we need to personalize in Psalms 119 verse 105 it says Thy word is the lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path you

see when you come to church and you hear the message don't just walk out and say it was great message I hope people were listening but personalize it what did God want to say to me today when you open your Bible and read your devotions each day and I hope you do that open it say God tell me what I need to understand what I need to do what does God want from me we looked at the life of Sam uh Samuel in 1st Samuel chapter 3 we see that uh God called Samuel and uh and it says in verse number one that the word of the Lord was precious in those days there was no open vision they didn't have much of the word of God in those days but you know what you and I we have the word of God we have the

complete word of God this Bible ought to be precious to you but it's not rare many of you have two or three or four Bibles in your homes but you haven't read them and you've got to read the word of God you got to listen let God call unto you let God speak to you personally and say God I want to personalize this I want you to speak to me in Psalms 119:9 7 says oh how I love thy law is my meditation all the day in verses 147 and 148 says I prevented the dawning of the morning and cried I hoped in thy word mine eyes prevent the night watches that I might meditate in thy word you see he said I'm not going to stop thinking about this and that's the key it doesn't mean you spend all day just doing

nothing but thinking about the Bible but it means that all day as you go through life you stop and think about okay what I read today what I heard this week how does it apply in this situation how should it change how I react to this coworker how should it change how I how I deal with my children how how should it affect my financial decision right now and we apply these things we're thinking about it and and applying Our Lives I want to close by going to Deuteronomy chapter 6 Deuteronomy chapter 6 Deuteronomy the fifth book of the Old Testament chapter 6 I want you to look at verses 3-9 says here therefore oh Israel observe to do it that it may be well with thee that you may increase

mightily as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promis thee in the land that flow with milk and honey here o Israel the Lord our God is one Lord and thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thine heart with all thy soul with all thy might and these words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart then it goes on to say you need to teach your children and it says in verse number seven teach it when they're walking by the way and when Now lies down when now Rises up you see it's it's not just a one time a week Thing by coming to church it's not just a one time a day thing by reading my Bible and closing it and put it back up on the Shelf but to be the MVP you've got to read the word

of God you got to open it up you got to have time in the word every day you've got to be in church Faith come by here and hearing by the word of God you got to memorize it and put in your heart because that's that's what the Holy Spirit uses in your life and then we've got to visualize it and that's the idea of meditate upon it think about it don't just put it away take this sermon with you throughout this week and every day this week stop and think okay the sermon pastor preached on Sunday how does this apply in my life right now and visualize it meditate upon it think about it and then to personalize it make it mine so it's going to change your life when you're sitting down when you're standing up when you're walking by the way everywhere we go we take it with us and that's the challenge that we need to have