Reading 2 B Read

You ready for something new , something that will challenge your thinking and heart ? Are you willing and ready to unlearn in order to learn , willing to tear down so God can rebuild ? Good , let's get up and go . People are waiting for us . Let's go fishing .

For some of you , if you were like us , you were in the throes of this Hurricane Helene and you know , yes , it could have been worse and yes , it could have been better , but God is still good , praying for those who don't have power , those who may have lost loved ones or lost things in this tragic situation .

But we know that God does all things well and regardless of what we've been through and regardless of what we've encountered , and regardless of what we've been through and regardless of what we've encountered , we are grateful for just another day .

The fact that you're here , you're breathing , you're living , means you still have purpose , means you still have a place and God still has a plan for you .

It's been , from a personal standpoint , one of the toughest things we've ever had to encounter , not as much personal , but just seeing the whole region devastated Trees down , power lines down people in the dark . Our neighborhood was in the dark for about from last Friday till Wednesday of this week . It was tough .

I mean , you know , we were blessed that we have a daughter who lives 10 minutes away from us who was fortunately not affected by the hurricane , you know , with the exception of the internet being down , but she had power . So we were grateful . You know , yeah , we didn't have the warmth and comfort of our beds , but we had a place to stay .

But we realized , in coming back to the neighborhood every day , that everyone didn't have the warmth and comfort of our beds , but we had a place to stay . But we realized , and coming back to the neighborhood every day , that everyone didn't have that . People had to sleep and stay in a house with no lights , no air conditioning , no , anything .

But you know , in the midst of that , god provided a cool breeze throughout the whole week . It was not hot , it was nice , but it still was something that was disconcerting and disturbing and disruptive . But we're good . Thank you for those who prayed for us , thank you for those who called to see about us , who texted us , emailed us , just to check on us .

Thank you to my brothers in the group I belong to , thank you to our church who looked out for everyone . We have a pretty large church , but we have an awesome pastor , awesome leadership who looked out on everyone and thank you to those who were just neighbors , just checking on each other . There know , there was a lot of good .

We saw Kids were outside playing , people were talking who didn't talk at all before or never even spoke to each other . People were kind . People were kind and considerate and I don't think it's specific to the South where , you know , people are more hospitable overall , but people are good people . No matter where you live , people will .

Things like this kind of expose where people are more hospitable overall , but people are good people . No matter where you live , people will . Things like this kind of expose where people are and for the most part , it was good to see that there are a lot more good people than difficult people , I'll put it that way . So I'm grateful for that .

I'm really grateful for my wife , angelia , and how she kept things together . She was the glue , making things move and going out of her way to do things to get our family where we needed to go to , thankful for my daughter , kay , who opened up her house to us and was such a gracious host to all five of us , or four of us .

So it was a challenge and there's more people to thank , but I'm just going to leave it at that . I want to get into this word Again . For those who may have seen my post on IG or Facebook , this is going to be a powerful word . I am preparing for it . I recorded it .

Wow , and you know , when I looked at the , when I finished writing , what the Holy Spirit gave me , I had to pause for a couple of days because it hit me , it penetrated me deep . There were things that I had to stop and say , wow , I need to get this right because this was for me first . The mailman gets mail first and I got mail first .

And you know , sometimes , when you start out for those who are preachers or who speak the word , you know in a public setting , you know what I'm saying .

Sometimes you get the word , you have a , a pretext of what you think it's going to be like and then , all of a sudden , while you're writing or preparing , the holy spirit takes you down a path that exposes you , that opens you up and makes you sit there , say I can't go another step before I get this . Uh , get cleansed , get , because you're exposed .

You're exposed and I'm sorry , I don't know why I keep getting this beeping , but I don't know If you hear the beeping , it's my computer doing something crazy , maybe it's whatever , but bear with it .

But in any way , I just want to say to you , before we get started , be open to what's about to be said , be open to what's here , because this is life-changing Word . I'm just going to be honest with you . It's life-changing Word and we all need to have our lives kind of upended and rocked in a lot of ways . Sometimes we have .

We get comfortable as Christians , as followers of Christ , and it's not to say we don't have places and times and seasons where we don't enter into rest . Our rest is in him , but in this world . We rest is not a common thing . Our rest is in him , but not in this world world .

And the reality is , unless we're , if we're not under attack , we're in attack position and in either case we're moving forward , forward , advance . Sitting , still being at ease , you know , not having any things that challenge us , may be a sign that maybe you're not in the fight .

And it's not to indict you , it's to wake you up , to say wake up , put on your armor , let's go fighting forward , advance , but anyway I'll leave that alone , let's , let's get started . So the name of this episode is called Reading to be Read , and it's going to make sense to you as we go . But let me get started .

So , as followers of Christ you , I , we have been conditioned and taught that the reading of God's word is foundational to our life as Christians , and it's become a part of our daily discipline to spend time in his word . And that's a great discipline . There's nothing wrong with that .

However , beloved , have you ever taken another look at the why when it comes to reading his word ? Now , some will say it's because God instructs us to do such as it says in 2 Timothy 2 , 15 through 18 , where it says study to show thyself approved unto God , a workman that needeth not to be ashamed , rightly dividing the word of truth .

And I'm sorry , that's 2 Timothy 2 , 15 . I didn't go further than that . So again , it says study to show thyself approved unto God , a workman that needeth not to be ashamed , rightly dividing the word of truth . Now , some may say reading God's word is necessary to grow spiritually .

Even so , I imagine others will say reading his word enables us to know the will of God , because to know his word is to know his will for our lives . And all these statements are true for our lives , and all these statements are true , but could we still be missing a crucial component or reason when it comes to reading or studying God's word ?

You ready to go deeper ? Okay , let's chew on some meat . So let's look at the main scripture here , and that could be found in Hebrews 12 , I'm sorry , hebrews 4 , 12 through 13 . Again , it's Hebrews 4 , chapter 4 , verses 12 through 13 . And I'm going to be reading a lot of these scriptures out of the Amplified version .

So you know , if you don't have it , no worries , it'll go deeper . But I like to amplify it because it gets into the minutia of the word . It looks at the Hebrew and the Greek version to get more of the context of what God was saying in the scripture .

Again , I'm in Hebrews 4 , 12 through 13 in the amplified version , and it reads as follows For the word that God speaks is alive and full of power , making it active , operative , energizing and effective .

It is sharper than any two-edged sword , penetrating to the dividing line of the breath of life , soul and the immortal spirit , and of joints and marrow of the deepest parts of your nature , exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart and not a creature exists that is concealed from his sight , but all things are open

and exposed , naked and defenseless to the eyes of him with whom we have to do so . In the Amplified Bible there are three adjectives which describe the word of God . First , it says the word of God is living . This tells us that the word of God is not an inanimate thing , but it's animate and living . The word of God is a living being .

I'm going to repeat that again the Word of God is a living being who is both spiritual and physical . So some are going to ask I'm sure , where do you get that from , brother Ken ? It's right there in John 1 . John 1 , 1 through 4 , verse I'm sorry , john the first chapter , verses 1 through 4 . And also , I'm going to read it , verse 14 .

So , and I'm reading this in the Amplified Again , it's John 1 , 1 through 4 , and verse 14 . And it reads as follows In the beginning , before all time , was the Word Christ , and the Word was with God and the Word was God himself . He was present originally .

With God , all things were made and came into existence through him , and without him was not even one thing made that has come into being In him was life , and the life was the light of men Verse 14 .

And the word Christ became flesh , human incarnate and tabernacled , fixed his tent of flesh , lived a while among us and we actually saw his glory , his honor , his majesty , such glory as an only begotten son receives from his father , full of grace , favor , loving , kindness and truth . There , it is Sorry for that baby . So next , the word of God is active .

The word of God is continually moving forward according to the will of God , bringing to pass that which God ordained and appointed , according to Isaiah 55 , 10 through 11 . So again , let's go back . Next , the word of God is active . So we first found out that the word of God is living .

Next , we found out the word of God is active because it's going to always move forward according to the will of God , bringing the past which God ordained and appointed . And you can find this in Isaiah 55, . And you can find this in Isaiah 55 , verses 10 through 11 . Here's the key scripture . So shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth .

It shall not return to me void , without producing any effect , useless , but it shall accomplish that which I please and purpose , and it shall prosper in a thing for which I sent it Beloved God is telling us that the word of God never returns to him without results that he intended . It always succeeds at the task God has assigned it .

So we find out number one , the word of God is living . Number two , the word of God is active . And then , finally , the word of God is full of power , operative , energizing and effective . So the question then bears itself out Well , how is it powerful ? Well , you see , in going back to Hebrews 4 , it goes to verse 13 . So let's look at how it's powerful .

It's so powerful , beloved , that it penetrates and divides your soul from your spirit . It can penetrate and separate the joints and marrows . In other words , it has the energy and power to separate the very nature of a person . So then , your question , I'm sure would be well , why would God want to do that ?

He does it so he can open you up , expose you and judge the thoughts and intentions of your heart . See , this is the power of the word of God . But I want to make sure you understand when I say judge , he's giving you the opportunity to judge yourself first . Remember , in 1 Corinthians , 11 says let a man examine himself Before God judges you .

He wants you to judge yourself , to give you the opportunity to get it right . But I'm getting ahead of myself . Let's go back and again . The power of the word of God is that it opens you up , it exposes you and it judges the thoughts and intentions of your heart . Beloved , there's not one living being .

He cannot open , expose and reveal your thoughts and intentions within your heart . These are the very things you have to give an account to before him at the judgment seat in heaven . And it's important you understand this .

He's looking at you , he is judging , he's giving you an opportunity to judge yourself , because if you don't , you're going to have to deal with this before his judgment seat .

And we see examples of how God exposes and how God judges and how God reveals the very things in your heart . For example , in Matthew , the ninth chapter , verses three through six , it says this and behold , certain of the scribes said within themselves this man , blasphemeth and Jesus , knowing their thoughts .

There it is said wherefore think ye evil in your hearts . See it's there . God opens up . There's nothing that we God is . Everything we have in our hearts is exposed before him . His word remember Jesus was the word and is the word . He opens you up , exposes what's in you , so you can judge . Otherwise he will judge . Here's another example .

My spiritual followers said have two or more witnesses to show people the truth of God's word . So Matthew 12 , verses 24 through 25 . But when the Pharisees heard it they said the fellow doth not cast out devils . But I'm in the King James version this fellow doth not cast out devils , but by Beelzebub , the prince of the devils .

And Jesus knew their thoughts and said unto them every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation , that every city or house divided against itself shall not stand . See , jesus was reading their thoughts right in front of them , because it's exposed before them to expose their evilness and their evil thoughts and ways .

Luke , the sixth chapter , verses verse eight . I'll read seven and eight . And the scribes and Pharisees watched him whether he would heal on the Sabbath day , that they might find an accusation against him , verse 8 . But he knew their thoughts and said to the men which had the withered hand rise up and stand forth in the midst .

And he arose and stood , and this is how Jesus exposes verse 9 . Then said Jesus unto them I will ask you one thing Is it lawful on the Sabbath day to do good or to do evil , to save life or to destroy it . Jesus , luke 9 . Luke 9 , 46 through 48 . Pair with me while I get there . Luke 9 . 46 through 48 . Now he's dealing with his disciples .

I'm correct on this one . Excuse me , my ear's itching , my ear's itching . Then there arose a reasoning among them which of them should be greatest ?

And Jesus , perceiving there it is the thought of their heart , took a child and set him by , set him by him , and said unto them whosoever shall receive this child in my name , receive with me , and whoever shall receive me , receive with him . That sent me , for he that is least among you , all the same , shall be great .

See , there's nothing that he can't , that . There's no living being , there's no thing within your heart that he cannot see , exposed . Because , going back to John 1 , he made you . There was nothing made that was not made by the word . So it bears itself out that , listen , if he made you no , not if because he made you , how do you think he can't see you ?

How do you think he can't read you ? So then here's the question that I'm sure also proceeds now how does this apply to me Beloved , get this revelation . Every time you read the word of God , every time you read the word of god , every time you study the word of god , the word of god is reading and studying you .

I'll repeat that again every time you read or study the word of god , the word of god is reading and studying you . The Word of God is becoming alive in you Every time you pick it up and read it . Every time you read the Word of God , the Word of God is energizing your spirit .

Every time you read or study the Word of God , the Word of God is operating in and on you . Every time you read and study the Word of God , the word of God is penetrating and separating your soul from your spirit , and your very nature is exposed before God and you . And why is that necessary ?

Because God is exposing the thoughts and intentions within your heart .

If you are willing to submit to the word of God and allow the word to operate on you and be willing to face the beautiful thoughts and intents but , more importantly , face the ugliness and evilness of your thoughts and intentions , if you're willing to do that , he can deliver you from the judgment of your evil thoughts and intentions .

After all , you can't lie about them because it's right in front of you , open and exposed . There is no hiding from the truth . But be grateful . He is proving you , who are giving you an opportunity to confess and repent of the wickedness and be cleansed by his blood .

I can't speak for you , but I would much rather confess and repent down here than be judged because of my unrepentant thoughts and intentions before his judgment seat in heaven . Right and see . This leads to a final point I want to make . You want to know why your flesh fights so hard to you not reading the word of God .

Do you want to know why your flesh is so adamant about you not studying the word of God ? Because the flesh knows , because there's no good thing in the flesh . The flesh is nothing that can be redeemed , it is evil . But your flesh knows , the moment you open up that book or you open up that app and start reading God's word , god has you .

Now the word begins to read you , expose you and it will . It's light . Remember the word is light . John 1 , the word was the light . Let's go back to it . Sorry about that . In John 1 , john 1 , 4 , it says and him was life and the life was the light of men . What does light do ? It exposes what's in the dark and Satan's operating in the dark .

And so understand this , the reason why your flesh fights so hard for you not to read the word or study the word . Because the moment you open up that word , the light is on and it exposes the darkness within you .

It exposes the evil in you , and Satan doesn't want you to be exposed because he can't dwell where there's light , he can only dwell where there's darkness . So by you not reading the word , if you decide to resist the word and not read or study the word , you are in a sense consenting to Satan having dominion and ruling you .

You have to fight against your flesh , resist your flesh and open up that word , because the moment you open up that word , the light is on and the light will be on in every corner of your life . The light will be on in every area of your life . The light will be on in every area of your life . It will open and expose you .

So here's where we are now . Do we repent ? Do we confess and repent and get it right before God , or do we stay in the condition of an unrepentant , reprobate mind . My assumption , my presumption is you want to get it right . So let's go before the Father right now and just confess and repent now . Shall we Pray this after me ?

Lord , god , I come to you humbled and sorrowful for my evil thoughts and intense lying within my heart . You know my frame , my thoughts and intentions , which are not like you or from you . You know the wickedness , evil and sin which resides in my flesh and soul . I give you , lord , free access to do the work in me .

I allow the word of God to open me up and expose all the sins , iniquities and transgressions residing within my soul and flesh . I am sorry for giving Satan access to my person and planting these seeds and harvest of evil .

You promised me in 1 John 1 and 9 that if I freely admit that I have sinned and confess my sins , you would be faithful , just and forgive me of my sins . You also said you would clean all the unrighteousness out of me . I am bare before you , father . I am full of sin and I have transgressed your will and your way . Forgive me , father .

Wash away all this unrighteousness and cleanse me of all the evil I allow to dwell in me . Uproot , father , every evil , seed and root residing within me and give me a new heart , a cleansed soul and a renewed spirit . Renew my mind and thought life to align with your thoughts .

God , holy Spirit , dwell , rule and reign within me now , lead and guide me into all truth in God's word . I thank you , lord , for another chance to live for you and for you to dwell within me . I submit my life as your child , disciple and follower to you and you alone . In the name of Jesus , I confess my freedom and deliverance . Amen . There it is .

He has washed your sins beloved into a sea of forgetfulness . He has cleansed you of all the unrighteousness . You now have a choice , and here's your choice Stay there or get up , and I am encouraging you to get up , take up your bed and walk in the newness of life In Christ Jesus . You are no longer condemned , you are not even convicted .

You are free to walk in him . Don't let anything , anyone and especially your thoughts , to say to you . You're not forgiven . You are forgiven , you are free . You are cleansed . Now go forth and sin no more . Walk in your freedom , amen . Well , listen , I'm so happy for you , I'm so happy for what God is doing in your life .

I'm so happy that you are a new creature in Christ . All things have passed away . Behold , all things have become new . New creature in Christ . All things have passed away . Behold , all things have become new . You are amazing and you are loved . As I said , this was meat , this was not milk . We've done a season of milk Beloved .

Now , as you're no longer a babe in Christ , you are a disciple and disciples have to endure harder things , and disciples have to now start to eat meat . Disciples don't crawl , we walk . Sometimes we get knocked down , but we get back up , we get in the fight and we fight until he comes for us .

And even after that we're going to be fighting , and that's saying we're going to come back and reign . Amen . Oh , this is a good word . I thank God for his word and his truth . I thank God for his heart , for his people , and I know it's been a few weeks but I have to . I don't apologize for it .

I don't believe in just jumping off for the sake of jumping on and doing something just to keep up with the pace . I'm not a big person that is into you know , being , you know , culture driven , being driven by numbers . I do watch the numbers because the numbers give me a good gauge on what I'm hitting , what I'm missing .

I do watch the numbers because the numbers give me a good gauge on what I'm hitting , what I'm missing . But even with that being said , I still submit to the Holy Spirit and to what God says to me through His Spirit on what to do .

It's not always going to be something that may be conducive to the numbers and to those who follow , but it is needed and I find this to be true . There are some times God gives me a word to put out there on an episode and it may not have a lot of hits , and that's cool .

I used to struggle with that , but God said to me I didn't do it for the hits , I did it for that one sheep I was trying to get to , and if that one person heard that episode , then I accomplished what the Father said . You know , it just so happens . In the last month , though , we have seen a huge spike in fellowship .

I mean , a lot of people have been downloading and listening to in the last seven days to a month and , honestly , I don't know what's happening . But I thank God for it , because that means the Great Commission is being accomplished and the word's going out , for sure . It's definitely in places like Germany . Germany's really exploding in terms of followership .

I don't know if there's a military base or what , but God is good . I thank God for those in Hamburg , germany . It's really been awesome . I'm trying to pull up some of the places that are new to us . Um , wow , look at God . Uh , for sure , united States always uh , but new cities in the United States are really doing .

Uh , amazing , uh , as far as following us , um , I want to thank uh , the following , not people , but uh . But let's look at the locations here . I'm on my app , so for sure . Germany , and I know it seems weird , but Russia's actually gotten us .

I don't know who it is in Russia's list of us , but there are Christians in Russia , so I'm not going to say anything . Spain , israel , mexico , singapore I don't know what's that , sashilis , czechoslovakia , japan , but for sure Frankfurt , germany is great , queen Creek , arizona , of course , south Carolina , love y'all . La is picking up big time .

Singapore , houston , texas , concord , north Carolina , mexico City , mexico , madison , wisconsin , new York , new York , yeah , shinobi , kumamoto , japan I killed devils . North Carolina I don't know where . Cumbria oh it's . Columbia . Columbia , south America , chicago , illinois All these countries and cities have been really faithful followers and I'm grateful .

Listen , I'm nobody special , I'm just not going . I'm not trying to be a false humility , but you know , it's just . You know God is doing something and I've learned not to fight it . I've learned just to say thank you Lord . Oh , don't let me forget my people in Avon , indiana , thank y'all .

Ashburn , virginia , washington , virginia , charlotte , north Carolina , dallas , texas , piedmont , south Carolina , fairburn , georgia , levittown , pa , miami , florida I think I know who that is All y'all . Just really thank you for being a blessing . Sao Paulo , brazil , oregon , boardman , oregon I think that's my niece . I'm not sure Sao Paulo is really growing .

Jakarta , all you places and for those who I may not have mentioned , it's is really growing . Jakarta , all you places . And for those who I may not have mentioned , it's not that I don't love you , it's just that there's a lot of cities here . Wow , god , you are doing the work .

I just want to thank you for just being faithful and following us over the past years . Add another look podcast years at another look podcast . I want to thank my , my daughter Jaquela , and my wife Angelia , who's really been uh , my um pushers to keep going . Um , I've been through seasons anybody who does a podcast or anybody who preaches .

You know you go through seasons where you feel like you're not making an impact and you kind of pull back , but they will not let me do that . God used them to say get up , get up , man . And this was not the reason for the last time .

Last time I just was going through some personal growth and time of just consecration and setting myself aside to grow , because the word was challenging me to grow , and I'm thankful for that .

But to all of you who are listening to us out there , whether you are new , whether you've been faithful over the years , whether you've been periodically listening in , I just want to say thank you . You have been a blessing to me , you've helped me and challenged me to grow as a disciple of Christ and as a man .

As a disciple of Christ and as a man , you know , I'm now a better person , a better father , because of y'all . God , using you , made me more accountable , because you know you can't teach and not be accountable . You can't be . You know title is not it .

Titles come and go , but when you are called by God my mother taught me this a long time ago and hopefully this will bless someone , and I think it's for someone out there . I don't know who you are , but my mom used to say to me titles mean nothing compared to the anointing .

Anytime you have your call to something , the anointing will be evidence of your call and the title will follow afterwards . She said the danger is , if the title is there and you don't have the anointing by God to do it , you are going to be under attack by Satan constantly and lose constantly .

See , I've learned this over the years that whatever I was anointed to do , I was doing before I got a title , and if I didn't get a title , I never stopped doing it because I was called by God to it . And understand this , y'all . The biggest title you can have in God's eyes is servant . Well done , my good and faithful servant .

Thou hath been faithful over a few things . Let me make you rule over many . I am a friend and I'm a servant of the Most High . I'm a son and a child of the Most High .

That title alone makes me grateful , and I know it makes you grateful , because God , out of all the people in the world , chose you and we are a family not based on political affiliation , not based on melanin of skin , not based on region or where we live or who our parents are .

It's because we have one father and we were redeemed by one Son and we are led by one Holy Spirit . Just want to say I love you . God bless you . Look forward to the next time we get together on another Look Podcast . Love ya . Hey , thank you for listening to another podcast .

For now we're going to offer the call of salvation and I'm going to offer you two scriptures . The first one is Romans 10 , 9 . Because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead , you will be saved . The other one Ephesians 2 , 8 , 9 .

For , by grace , you have been saved through faith , and this is not your own doing . It is the gift of God , not a result of works , so that no one may boast . So now I'm going to ask you to pray this with me in faith , and I want you to believe that everything you pray is true and God will answer . So pray this after me .

Lord , I admit I am a sinner . I need and want your forgiveness . I accept your death as the penalty for my sin . I recognize that your mercy and grace is a gift you offer to me because of your great love , not based on anything I have done . Cleanse me and make me your child by faith .

I receive you into my heart as the Son of God and as Savior and Lord of my life . From now on , help me live for you , with you in control . Help me live for you With you in control . In Jesus , precious name , amen . Welcome to the family .

Feel free to give us a shout out on our Facebook page or our Instagram page , or you can email us , alp trinity one at gmailcom , or you know . However you choose to reach out to us , but we want to know if you received Christ .

We want to make a formation and materials available to you , if you have for your next steps and if you need a help finding a faith-based Bible teaching Bible , believing church home , we have resources available to you . So we look forward to hearing from you . We are excited for you . Welcome to the family . We love you and God bless you .