======================================================================== A REVIVAL OF GOD'S WORD by Jose Muniz ======================================================================== Summary: This sermon emphasizes the importance of prioritizing the Word of God in our lives, highlighting personal testimonies of transformation through reading and obeying the Scriptures. It challenges listeners to make reading the Bible a daily habit, seeking wisdom, guidance, and strength from God's Word for all aspects of life. Duration: 1:06:55 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DESCRIPTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This sermon emphasizes the importance of prioritizing the Word of God in our lives, highlighting personal testimonies of transformation through reading and obeying the Scriptures. It challenges listeners to make reading the Bible a daily habit, seeking wisdom, guidance, and strength from God's Word for all aspects of life. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Well, it's good to be here this afternoon and I'd like to start off with letting you guys know a little bit about Jesus True Street Ministries. Actually, one day, me and three of my brothers were just sitting at a city park, mining our own business, smoking some joints, and God sent this old man to come tell us about Jesus. And, of course, I really didn't receive it, but one of my brothers, it hit him just dead on. And over the course of the next couple of months, we saw a change in my brother's life. He just didn't want to smoke weed. He didn't want to be chasing girls. He just totally got away from everything. He just wanted to go. We see him carrying this book. And, of course, we didn't grow up in church. As a matter of fact, I didn't know anything about Christ. Can you imagine that, living here in the United States of America? But over the course of several months, my brother, he invited us, he was inviting the whole family to go to this little home church. It was the pastor, his wife, and another pastor that would come visit, and my brother. That was it. And after a couple of months of just kind of just pestering me, you know, come on, you got to go, you got to go, they're saying some really good things, you know, and I would see him everywhere he went. He was walking around, and I'd see him with this book, and I'd see him walk into the park, and he had this book, and he was reading it. And then one day, I saw him with a little bitty book, and I said, hey, we have some of those at home. And years ago, before, you know, it got all crazy here in the United States, when the Gideons would come in to the schools and hand out New Testaments, well, there's six brothers and one sister. So when the Gideons would come every year, I mean, we got five, six of them a year. Well, we didn't know what it was. I flipped through it, and I'm like, man, this is boring. You have no pictures in there. Yeah, you know, so we just put it in the shelf. Well, being the drug addicts that we were, you know, I started smoking weed when I was about seven, the first time, and it's not real hard to do when you have two uncles that are actually dealing drugs for the Mexican Mafia, and they're actually your babysitters. So we got to see things, you know, like I remember seeing my uncle pop the trunk, big old bundles of grass, and he'd drop one off, and, man, I'd see this money flipping. I'm like, man, that's some expensive grass. So I remember as a kid, me and my brother, we actually played, like we'd get little bags and put grass from our front yard, and with Monopoly money, we would sell grass to each other. During this whole time, no Jesus, nobody told us about God, but I remember when I was 10 years old, our next-door neighbor, I'd see him walking to the church every Sunday. It was him and his wife, then the older brother, then the younger brother that actually went to school with me, and then, of course, his sister was the last one. She had to do all her makeup stuff, and I remember, 10 years old, looking through the window. We were waiting for the Dallas Cowboys to play. You know, my dad was a big Cowboy fan, and I grew up watching Roger Stalbeck, and, you know, back in them days, and, but I would, I'd ask my dad one time, hey, where do those people go every Sunday? I see them walking, you know, over there. What do they do over there? And my dad, you know, it doesn't matter, and I thought, okay, it doesn't matter, but I grew up with that thought in my mind. It wasn't until I was 14 years old, we got a call that one of my uncles had gotten killed in Mexico in a bad drug deal, and that was actually one of the first times that I had actually been in the church. Didn't know, I didn't know the difference, but it actually happened to be a Catholic church, and I remember they had the body up in the front. Me and my brother sat in the back, and I remember there was a life-size crucifix hanging on the very top, and then they had some statues of men. There was six on each side, and me and my brother, you know, I mean, my grandmother was up front, my aunts, and they're all crying, and, you know, we're in the back. We're stoned out of our mind because the first thing that we did when we got to South Texas, we went to my uncle's room, and we took his stash. He had, like, you know, coke and pot and stuff, so we're sitting in the back, stoned out of our mind in this Catholic church, and I remember I nudged my brother. I said, hey, I wonder who these guys are, you know, because there was one, like, right close to us, and we're trying to just whisper, and my brother said, oh, I think, I think these guys are the presidents of the United States, and I thought, oh, yeah, that guy kind of looks like Abraham Lincoln, so as we sat there, because it took, I mean, we probably were there for a couple of hours, then the life-size crucifix, so, you know, my brother, he's a year younger than me. He was 13, and I was 14 at the time, so, I mean, he seemed to know a lot of things, so I just asked my brother, I said, hey, man, who do you think that guy is, the one up there in his underwear? Now, you have to remember, we're unchurched, you know, I mean, heck, who is this guy? As a matter of fact, I thought it was a Mexican, literally, because when I saw the crown of thorns, I thought it was a bandana, you know, so my brother said, man, I don't know, but he must have done something really bad, and we laughed. We didn't know anything about it. So here we are, five years down the road, sitting at a park. I'm facing 10 years in the state pen for assaulting an officer and, you know, drugs and drug dealing and all the stuff that goes with it, and I remember, at night, crying. Just in, you know, when you grow up going to church, you're taught, you're taught, hey, you know, if you're going through hard times, well, just talk to God. But guess what happens when you don't grow up going to church? I mean, you're hopeless. There ain't nobody to talk to. You can't even talk to your dad or your mom. Nobody has a relationship with God. And I remember just laying there, just crying. Man, what am I going to do? And then on top of that, not only am I facing 10 years in the state pen, but I've drank so much alcohol that my skin's turning yellow, my eyes are yellow, I mean, I'm just dying. I mean, I'm rotting from alcohol. So I'm thinking, man, I've got about a year to live. I'm going to probably die in prison. I mean, heck, it's all messed up. But that was a normal thing. That's how you grew up. Several of my uncles were there, cousins were there. You know, you go to school, you get kicked out or you drop out, and then, you know, you just go and hustle around, see what you can do and steal here and there and just make the best of it. But I remember that night, I'm just laying there, and I mean, my pillow was soaked. But I was just in despair. I'm like, man, what am I going to do? God, you know, who do you talk to? Who do you talk to? It's like you're talking to yourself. I don't want to die. I don't want to go to jail. Somebody, please help me. That was what I was saying to myself at 17. Then God sends this old man. He was about 4'11". His name was Brother Van Meter. Everybody thought he was just a weirdo in town. He had a cross around his neck that was about that big, had it around his neck with a leather strap, and he'd walk by our house. He would walk by our house a couple of times a week talking to himself. Of course, he was actually praying. He was prayer walking. And he'd walk by. And what do you think when you see somebody walking down the street talking to themselves? Man, he's really messed. No wonder people are saying that. But he was a godly man. And over the next few months after my brother became a Christian, I remember I went to this little home church that they had, and it was them four and me. I walked in. I remember I smoked half a joint on the way to the Bible study. And I remember I walked over there, and I sat in the back row. I mean, it wasn't real big. And as I sat there, I can't even tell you what he was preaching about. I don't remember because I was stoned out of my mind. I actually had an appointment in a couple of hours, so I was just going to kill some time. And that way, my brother would shut up and quit asking me to go to church or to this little home group that they were having. So I went, sat there about an hour and a half. I'm just kind of guessing I was there about an hour and a half. All of a sudden, something, Holy Spirit, hit the top of my head. Physically, I felt it. And it was a heat, like something warm. And is it like, if I could describe it, like if you took a drop of hot syrup this big and just dropped it on your head. And it just ran slowly. And I remember I was looking around. Then it was going down my arm. And I'm like, man, what in the world is this? And all of a sudden, I'm in my right mind. The high went away. So then I started crying. Man, what's going on? I mean, I'm freaking out. I've done all kinds of drugs. Nothing had ever done this to me. As I sat there, it went all the way down to the soles of my feet. And at that time, Brother Van Meter said, if you're out there, it was me. Everybody else was saved. If you're out there and you want God to change your life, come up to the front right now. And man, I'm like, I got up. And I walked to the front. I was there probably an hour and a half, two hours, just weeping. And I remember the other pastor that was there. His name was Brother Deaver. He came over there and just laid his... I mean, he put oil on his finger. I've never seen anything. I'm totally new to this. I mean, I'd been to church... I mean, I started calculating. Let me see. I've been to church nine times in my whole life from the time I was born until then. Nine times. Three times was funerals, and the other six times was breaking and entering. Literally. I mean, that was my church attendance record. And we literally broke into a church and stole the speakers. I mean, anything that six Mexicans can haul out, we took it. And I'm thinking, man, what's he doing? But it smelled. It was a sweet aroma. And I just wept and wept and wept. And he started praying over me. He said, you will be a witness to thousands and thousands. And I'm like, I didn't know what he was doing. I had no clue. But I know that when I left there, something had happened. Something had happened right here. And man, I felt so good. And I remember I went into the house, went to my room, pulled off all the posters, Van Halen, Iron Maiden, you know, all the bands from the 70s, early 80s. The pastor didn't tell me to do that. But it was a spirit that was in me now. It just didn't, you know. And man, I remember I pulled everything off. And then I grabbed this, you know, box of stuff. And I went to the alley and drug the 55-gallon barrel, drug it right to the back steps. It was kind of like this, probably like where that stand is. Man, I dumped everything in there, went back, and I took all my eight- track tapes, albums, vinyl albums. I mean, heck, back then, the CD wasn't even out yet. But I remember, you know, just dumping it all, about four or five boxes full of stuff, drug paraphernalia, a pound and a half of marijuana, pills, syringes, everything. And then my brother went and got a gallon of gas and dosed it, and just boom. And as we're sitting there watching this burn, well, it wasn't too long before the marijuana started burning. Well, then since we had the window in our room open, that created a vacuum so all the smoke starts sucking into the house because it was the doors, the back doors here and the barrels there. So my dad comes out, what are y'all doing? Y'all crazy? Y'all going to get the whole neighborhood stoned? So I'm like, oh, well, man. So we went and put water in it. Well, it made more smoke. So then we're like, well, man, get a shovel. So, man, we're like throwing dirt on it, and we finally got it done. And my dad said, what are you doing? He said, man, Jesus saved me. And, you know, it went over my dad. He didn't know what I was talking about. See, my dad worked with several people for 25 years or so, 30 years. Deacons, elders of different churches. Never been invited to church. Nobody gave him a gospel tract. Nobody told him what Jesus Christ had done for him on the cross. He was totally clueless. So I got the opportunity to share the gospel with my dad. And then it went from there. So from drug dealing, dope head, got kicked out of school. At 16 years old, my wife now, Amy, we've been together for 29 years. She moved in with me. She was 13 years old. And, man, was it rough. Godless. She didn't know anything about Christ either. Well, that year in 1984, during the Christmas season, actually it was on Christmas Day, we got invited to a party at her aunt's house. And I took my Bible and I went over there and went into the back bedroom. And as I was reading the real Christmas story, I was just crying. I was like, man, nobody ever talked about this. All you think about is presents and trees and lights and food. I'm like, man, this is the first time I'm reading this. And Amy walks in there and says, why are you crying? Look what I got for Christmas. A quarter pound of marijuana. Man, look what I got. Come on, let's go party. And I'm like, no. She sat there on the bed and she said, you know, in the last couple of months I've seen God do some things in your life and you're different. And I want what you have. And that night I prayed with her. And she got born again. And, man, it's been awesome since. It's amazing. Well, after my conversion to Christianity, I started noticing some things. Man, my mentor, Brother Van Meter, he said, okay, man. Man, he loved passing out tracts and sharing the gospel. He said, well, let's go. I said, where are we going? Man, we're going to go preach the gospel. So I just jumped in his van. We took off. There we go. And we drive down the street. Bad neighborhood. Bad neighborhood. And he said, oh, man, look at that. There's plenty of people there. I said, Brother Van Meter, you don't want to stop there. There are bad people. Ah, there ain't that bad. You know, weren't you bad before? I said, well, yeah. So he swung around. I said, man, are you serious? You're going to stop there? They're going to beat you up? Ah, they're not that bad. I mean, he's 4'11", retired World War II veteran from Navy. Man, he got off. And I remember I sunk in my seat. And I can barely see. I'm like, dude, they're going to. And some of those guys knew me. So I'm ashamed. I'm like, dude, you know, I'm hiding behind the dash of the van. And I kept looking up. And every time I look up, he's talking. And, man, there's like 30 of them. All homies, you know. They're all barbecuing and drinking some beer, smoking weed. And, man, then I look up, and they're all putting their beers down. Man, what's he doing? So I looked up again. Now they're all holding hands. And I'm like, man, this is crazy. Man, this is some power here. You get 30 Mexicans holding hands? So I looked up again. And now everybody's got their head bowed. And he's praying. And he got done. Man, he reached in his back pocket. Every single one of them got a gospel tract. And then he jumps in the van. Man, that was good. Let's go find somebody else. So this is a guy I'm hanging out with. My first assignment was to read the Gospel of John 10 times. He gave me this book right here. Same Bible. I've had it almost 26 years. He gave me this book. And I remember he said, you know what? This is the only book you'll ever need for the rest of your life. And I'm like, okay. I believe whatever he said. I was believing it. Then he said, you start reading that book. When you read the Gospel of John 10 times, come talk to me. I said, okay. So it took me a while because I got kicked out of school my freshman year. And, of course, my wife, she got kicked out in seventh grade for punching the teacher. I got kicked out for doing dope in class. You know, crazy stuff. I don't know why they get so mad. Heck, they don't even want the Bible in the school no more. But anyway, here we go. I got done. I came back. Okay, Brother Van Meter, I'm done. I said, okay, now go read Matthew 10 times. He said, golly. So I'm thinking, okay. So I went and did it. Okay, now read Mark 10 times. Now go read Luke. I'm like, man, this is dumb. Yeah, I mean, heck, they all say the same thing. So I went and told him. I said, why do you want me to read these books? They're all saying the same thing. He said, you just read it. Okay. I got done with that. So now what do I do? Start in Matthew and go all the way down to Revelation 10 times. I'm like, man, that took me a while. So then I got done. You know, then I come back. I said, okay, I'm done with that. Now go to Genesis and read Genesis all the way to Revelation and do that for the rest of your life. For the rest of your life. One of the things that I really, once I started hanging around with the church crowd, I started noticing that a lot of people don't read their Bible. And you know what? From my personal statistics, and I've been now doing this for 26 years, I found out, noticed that a lot of people that are in church today, church building today, have never read their Bible once all the way through. And I'm thinking, how can that be? I mean, after all, isn't this discipleship? So I went, and I remember I spoke at this youth conference, and there was about 700 kids, counting counselors and the whole group. I said, okay, everybody stand up. But everybody stood up. I said, if you have read your Bible one time in your lifetime, from Genesis to Revelation, remain standing. Everybody else sit down. And you could just hear, when I turned around, there was two kids standing up. A brother and sister. Homeschooled. And you know how homeschool stuff is nowadays. I mean, they kind of look down at you if you go to homeschool. But you know what? They'd read the whole Bible. All the way through. And they were actually on their second time through. That's what their parents were teaching them. And I was like, at the same time I was happy, as I saw everybody else sit down, it hurt. Like, man, we're Christians. I mean, isn't the word a priority? Isn't it supposed to be it? I mean, didn't Jesus say that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God? And I noticed that he said, it is written. So he was quoting from Deuteronomy. So the more I looked around, we're out in the street, and we see hundreds upon hundreds upon thousands and thousands of young people, like on 6th Street, Mardi Gras, all the club scenes, rock concerts. And I guarantee you that about 90 to 95% of the people that we run into the club scene actually grew up going to church. But you know, you can go to church your whole life for 18 years, graduate from high school, and then they send you off to college, UT, OU, Texas Tech, wherever, whatever your parents graduated from. And by the time you leave the house and you've been in church 18 years with your family, seniors haven't even read the four Gospels. And we want revival? With no word? I'm thinking, how in the world are these people going to survive when they get to the college class, the college atmosphere, and all they can remember is John 3.16? I'm like, no wonder they're falling apart. There's no word. There's no word. Or the other famous one, Philippians 4. I can do all things through Christ. And they learn that one whenever they have a test. Or they're playing another team. We can do it. We can do all things. Nothing to do with their spirituality. Discipleship. Or they like Jeremiah 29. I know the plans. I know them. I'm thinking, what plans? And then they get to college and hear, hey, smoke some of this. Hey, drink some of this. Hey, we're going to a cake party. And then you got the professor just bashing down anybody who has a trace of Christianity. And ridiculing and making fun of them. They don't want to speak up. And then they're at the party. And then the Holy Spirit's reaching in there. Man, I need something to throw at this temptation. Okay, here's John 3.16. It's like, dang, is that all you got? That's it? And we wonder why. The other day I was at the bookstore, the Christian bookstore. I was there to pick up a Bible for this guy that I'd been witnessing to. And this guy's in front of me, fixing to check out. He had about seven or eight books. And a couple of them were that thick. So as I'm standing there next to him, I said, hey, man. God, it's probably going to take you a long time to read all that. Oh, no. Man, a couple of months, I'll read them all. I'm like, wow. Well, man, if you can read that fast, you probably read the Bible, no telling how many times. And when I said that, something just... So then I'm like, I asked him. I mean, hey, it's a free country. I said, hey, man, so how many times have you read the Bible? He said, well, I don't know. I said, man, that's a good question. Never read his Bible. But boy, he could zip through them books just like that. What about the Word of God? Does it matter anymore? Does it matter? Does it matter? You know, I believe, this is just my personal belief, my opinion, I guess you want to say. But I believe, coming from somebody who didn't grow up going to church and being around the Bible all my teenage years, man, when you learn how to read, here's a Bible. Read it all the way. And sit there and kind of help your kid go through there, you know. But I believe that should be something that's normal. But you know what? It's not. Because you know why? It's not important to mom and dad. They never read the Bible. And if they never read the Bible, they're not going to make their kids read the Bible. And I'm like, man, what is going on here? So then, I'm like, well, we need to start talking about this. So then I go around and I'm asking people, hey man, all the Christians that I run into, hey man, so tell me, man, how many times have you read your Bible? Oh, and you know what? This is sad, but about 99% of the people that I have asked have never read the Bible. They can't say, yeah, I read it, all the way through. You know, I was in New York City passing out tracks at the subway trains. And when the doors would shut, man, I'd start preaching. And man, I mean, where are they going? So man, after when we knew that the bus was about to stop, the train, my wife, she started on that end, I'm getting this end, we track everybody, okay, the next group comes in. And you start preaching to them people. And I remember we were almost done and this guy walks in, young guy, about 22 years old, 23 years old, and he walked in and he had a little book with him, about this size too. And when he walks in, what got my attention, he walks in and he grabs the pole where I'm at. I'm holding the same pole in the subway train. So I looked over there and I'm like, man, I don't understand the language. I said, hey, man, what is that? Is that a Bible? And he said, oh, Quran. Oh, okay. Well, hey, man, I got one of them too. But mine's Holy Bible. So I showed it to him. I said, hey, man, can I ask you a question, if you don't mind? And he stopped reading. He said, yeah, go ahead. I said, man, would it be safe to say that you've read that thing already once? Oh, more than that. Two times? Oh, more than that. Five times? Oh, more than that. Ten times? Oh, more than that. 15? 20? 25? 30? Somewhere around there. 30 times. 30 times. Do you know any Christians that read their Bible 30 times? You might find one that read it once or twice years ago. I'm like, man. And he said, oh, that ain't nothing. My grandfather reads it once a week. I'm like, wow, no wonder they do what they do. Their mind is full of this stuff. But you know, the Christian, they got John 3.16 memorized. You know, I go around, I like to ask a question. In the last four years, I started taking a little tally. I've asked 7,065 people in the last four years if they can name the Ten Commandments. Ten Commandments. That's easy. I mean, after all, God wrote those with his own finger. It should be important, right, to the church, to the body? I mean, hey, that is important, right, the Ten Commandments? Out of 7,065 people in the last four years, I've only had six that know them all. Six. Can you imagine? Six people. I think that the Ten Commandments is like the ABCs. I mean, we could all quote the ABCs, right? But unfortunately, what happens when somebody's in trouble? Oh, go buy them this book. Go get them this book. Oh, this one's a good book. What about the Word of God? What about the Word? Can we not just say, hey, here's the Word of God? No, we've got to get in this book, read that book, and don't get me wrong. I'm not against reading other books. But you know, if you're a Christian and you've been in Christ for 10, 15, 20, 30 years, surely you've been done with the Bible at least once. But you know what? That's not the case. That's not the case. You know, I just thank God for my mentor. He's gone now. He passed away in 93. I hung out with that old man for a few months and stayed in touch with him for several years until he passed. Him and Brother Robertson. At the time, Brother Van Meter was 72. Brother Robertson, a black man. Brother Deaver, a black man. 78 years old. Brother Deaver was the youngest one. He was in his 50s. I just talked to him a few weeks ago. I went and preached at his church. He's 81. 81 years old. And I'm like, wow. Thank you, Lord, for sending these men who loved your word. You know, when little kids growing up, and sometimes maybe right now you're thinking, man, my kids are already grown. They're out of the house. But if you have young kids and they're still at home, get them to read the Word of God. You know what? Taking a shower. Do your kids, I mean, if you had kids, is it a requirement that they take a shower? Is it a requirement that they brush their teeth? Is it a requirement that they eat good and healthy daily? That they do their homework? That they keep their room clean? Requirements. And they all have to do with the physical. What about the spiritual? How come the Word of God's not a requirement? Ah, I don't want to push it on them. Ah, they're going to church. That's all that matters. Really? That's all? Those are the first ones that bite the dust. Sixth Street, their freshman year, 75 to 80%. Their first year in college, they bite the dust. And then their second year, they're just atheists. Ah, I don't believe that stuff. And you know what? Almost every single person that's out there that claims to be atheist, almost every single one. Well, I grew up in church. And every single one that I've asked, none of them read their Bible at least once. But they're against it. They never even had a chance. And then the ones that didn't grow up in church, the ones that are true atheists, if there is such a thing, those are the ones that read the Bible two or three times. Ah, I read it. Yeah, it ain't all that. I'm like, wow. Isn't it sad? Isn't it sad where we're at right now? And you know, my goal is to get people, brothers and sisters, back to the basics. Back to the simple Word of God. You know, when I was driving up here this morning, had my headphones on, and I listened to Hosea, to Amos, Obadiah, Habakkuk, Nahum. I listened to it. Man, we don't have no excuse. You can even listen. You can jam out to it. It's so out there. But, hey, have you read this one? Have you read that one? Well, I'd say, you know what? Man, let's get back. Like I said, you know, hey, read all the books you want to. But you know what? We need the Word of God. It says in Psalms, Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path. This Word is nothing else. This Word. And then you wonder why the divorce rate among the church is just the same as the world. No word. They don't know what to do when the enemy comes and attacks. And when we think about it, the armor, the sword, it's really the only thing that you can go at it. We got everything else. We got the belt. We got the breastplate. We got the helmet. We even got the shield. But no sword. So what happens? What happens now? You're always defending yourself. And then the Word of God says that faith comes by hearing. So if you ain't hearing, that means your faith is... you're hiding behind a shield this big. And the enemy's pulling out his arrows. 120 miles an hour. Can you imagine trying to block it with that little shield? How many of them are going down? Man, we got to get back to the basics. The Word of God. You know, I said, well, man, how do we do this? How do we get people to get back to the Word, to hearing from God? Well, you know what? If you read, if you start today, actually, you'd be surprised how fast you can go through the Scripture. Oh, man, I don't understand it all. I don't... Just read it. Just read it. Let the Holy Spirit teach you what He wants to teach you. Because you know what? The Word of God, you can read it a thousand times and you'll never understand it all. Just read it. Brother Van Meter, we're sitting at a restaurant and I'm asking him, hey, well, man, I can't understand this. And he said, okay, stop. Put your hamburger down. I put my hamburger down. He said, man, you got about halfway done. We've only sat here for a couple of minutes. Do you know the ingredients in that thing? Uh, no. You know what they put in there? No. Well, you just eat it, right? You just put it down. Do the same thing with the Word of God. Just take it. Take it. Take it in. And you know what? The Holy Spirit, it'll do, it'll bring it up. And when the enemy comes up, oh, boy, you better be ready. Because I'm going to take you out. Hey, I got a sword. You know, man, I even dropped my... You put your shield down, dude. You want some of me? But when you ain't got the sword, you ain't got no choice. Oh, man, he's coming. What do I say? Call the pastor. Call brother so-and-so. And you're freaking out because you don't know what to do when the enemy's coming. But we just got to hide that Word. We just got to hide that Word. We just got to take it in. Take it in. And you know, throughout all the travels and places, you know, that is actually a weak area in the body of Christ and the discipleship. You know, we'll go through this book and that book and this book and that one and this one. I'm like, man, can't we just start in Genesis and go all the way through? I mean, is the Word of God not enough? It's enough for me. And you know what? That's the only book I ever read. So when people talk about this book and that book and I don't know what they're talking about. I've never read it. None of them. And people's given me books before. Yeah, I can just put it on my shelf. Because you know what my pastor told me? This is the only book you ever need. Is he wrong? Was he wrong? Now, I believe you can get blessed by other people's testimonies and things like that. But when it's all said and done, heaven and earth shall pass away. But my Word, says the Lord, my Word shall endure forever. So, I'm just investing in something eternal. Something eternal. Something that's forever. I run across this guy in Los Angeles. And he's like, man, you know, you guys are so narrow-minded. You know, he was an atheist guy. He's probably in his mid-fifties. Man, you guys can't even answer my questions. You know, I said, well, okay. Well, come on, man. What's your question? What's the big deal? Well, it's like this. When a baby dies, he goes to hell. Because he never repented. And I'm like, wait a minute. Two-month-old baby dies and goes to hell? Well, let me ask you a question, man. Would you send the baby to hell? No. So, you're better than God? You're good? You're nicer than God? Well, uh... So, next question. He didn't answer that one. So, what's the next? Oh, man, where did the dinosaurs come from? I said, well, I got a question for you. If you can tell me where the dog came from, I'll tell you where the dinosaur came from. So, tell me, where did the dog come from? He's thinking hard. And this guy, he's read over 400 books he just told me. I said, the dog? He said, yeah, the dog. You know, like the Bow Wow dog? And he's like, well, I don't know. He couldn't tell me. I said, man, you over here jacking with the dinosaurs, and you don't even know where the dog came from. Dude, what's wrong? And then, he said, well, you just need to read other books, because you're so narrow-minded. You just read one book. I said, hey, do I need anything else? Then I asked him a question. I said, hey, man, are you married? And he didn't answer my question. I said, hey, man, I'm asking you a question. I already answered your questions. With questions. Just tell me. Are you married? Well, I used to be. He looked off and said, used to be? You mean you've read over 400 books, and you got PhD, ABC? He had all these letters. And you couldn't make this work? With all this information? Dude, you know why? Only God can make it work. And he walked away. Didn't say bye, talk to you later. Well, the next day, amazingly, I'm 30 miles on the other side, Los Angeles. And I'm walking down, and I hear somebody, hey, one book, man. So I turned around, and it's that dude. So I walked over there. I said, hey, man, you remembered my name. He said, man, thanks for answering my questions. I went and bought a Bible today, and I'm going to start reading it. Isn't that something? The Word, the Word, the Word, the Word, the Word of God. You know, several years ago, my wife, Amy, she, remember those black bras that went in front of the Trans Ams? They were real popular years ago. Well, she bought me one of those. And I was so pumped. I had a 1980 Trans Am. Man, I pulled that sucker out of the box. Had a little bitty plastic bag with like eight little bungee cords on there. Threw everything in the box, took it to the dumpster. Man. So then I start messing with it. Forty-five minutes later, I'm like, man, ovens. Instructions. I went, had to get into the dumpster, reached the box, took out the instructions that I had wadded up, because I knew how to put this on. You know, it ain't nothing. Read in a couple of minutes, I had that thing on in less than ten minutes. Instructions. Instructions. What is the Word of God? Instructions. For what? For everything. For your marriage, your kids, finances, health. I mean, it's all there. But how many people are in relationships or bad marriages where one of the spouses is hooked up with a non-believer? I mean, all they'd have to do is read where it says, don't be unequally yoked. But since they've never read that one, because that's not one of the ones that you have to memorize in church, like John 3.16, or Philippians 4.13, or Jeremiah. So that one just kind of gets discarded. It's not that important. Maybe we'll talk about that after college. No. They start dating people that's not in the faith, and before you know it, it's all crumbled. Or things that people are doing with bad habits, cigarettes, and alcohol, and all this stuff. Man, it's all in the Scripture. To take care of this temple. But you know what? Man, I encourage you. Read the Bible. Be a part of the 1%. And who knows? There might be more, but according to my statistics, 1%. And that's sad. You know, I'll make it a habit. Everybody that's on the team, we have a team in Fort Worth, we have a team in Austin, Stephenville, we have a team in the Netherlands, we have another team in Belgium, we have a team in Kitali, Kenya, we have one in Mansa, in Lusaka, in Zambia. Everybody has to read their Bible at least once a year. And if you don't want to read it, go do something else. Because if you're going to go share the Gospel, it's good if you would know it. It'd be a good idea if you would know it. Had a guy in the team, he had just started with us. We had him on a Bible reading program. Three chapters a day, 15 minutes. I mean, heck, it takes you longer to take a shower. 15 minutes, read it one time a year. We were on the street and I looked around, I said, man, where'd this guy go? He was a senior in high school. I saw him sitting on the curb. Had his head in his hands. I went over and I said, hey, dude, you okay? I had seen him earlier talking to a couple of guys. He said, yeah, man, it's been hard. I said, what's going on? Well, I just lied. I said, lied? Yeah, I was talking to those two guys. They're atheists. One of them read their Bible twice. Another one had read it three times. They asked me if I had read it and I said yes. And really, I haven't. And he was just weeping. And I said, hey, man, you know what you need to do now? I said, get up, man. Hand out some more Gospel tracts. We got work to do. You know what? It took him two months to go all the way through it. And then again, and then again. He's like in the 12th time now. Man, now when he goes out there, he doesn't share what he read in a book. He doesn't share what he heard in a sermon. He's sharing what God told him. It's personal. Man, I'm telling you what God told me. I'm the ambassador. Can you imagine an ambassador from a nation? And that ambassador don't know the rules from the country? Or the ordinances, or the constitution, and all this stuff. And he's representing? Well, you know, unfortunately, there's a lot of ambassadors, and they don't know. It's like, well, I think it says that. It's in there somewhere. Now, do I know everything? No, of course not. Man, I got kicked out of school, man, my freshman year. In high school. And man, I had zeros everywhere. I actually graded my own papers. My name, date, zero, then made a little sad face. Oh, zero again. I gotta go outside and smoke some weed. And then to top it off, Brother Van Meter, he gives me a King James Bible. So I'm like, dude, what in the world is this? But you know, James does say, if any man lack wisdom, I'm like, God, I need a lot of it. I need a bunch of it. And you know, that's what we all read, King James. That's what we were given. I didn't know that there was other translations. I thought they was all the same. And you know what? This is really crazy. Remember all those little Gideons that we had at the house? We had about 40-something of them. And did you know, and you know what? This is sad. But we were using those to roll marijuana joints. Man, we didn't know. So man, I smoked all the Gospels. Literally. All the way, even the Revelation. But I didn't know. Nobody had told me. I didn't know. I had no clue whatsoever. So, 15 minutes a day, you read the Bible once a year. 30 minutes a day, about 30 minutes a day, you go through it twice. 45, every 15 minutes, it's another time. My schedule right now, 60 minutes. So I'm on schedule right now to read my Bible four times this year. And before that, I was at two. But you know what? Is it important? Is it important? Is the Word of God important? Is it important enough to put 30 minutes into it? Of course it is. Oh, I don't have time, I'm so busy, this and that. I'm like, dude, we'll start cutting some stuff off. I don't care what it is. Chop, chop, this out of the way, this out of the way. I'm going to have time. I'm going to make time. Because you know what? How many meals do you miss? Not very many, huh? As a matter of fact, if you skip breakfast, man, your stomach's already screaming at you. Come on, dude, you're going to feed me or what? It's about that time. But, what about the spiritual man? Man, we're starving that poor dude to death. Anorexic, drying up. But hey, you know what? That's the way it is. Today, I pray that the Word of God will have something, some time, some schedule. Put it on your iPhone, on your calendar. You know what? My phone, it goes off at 3 o'clock. Three. I got it every single day. Beep, oh, it's time to read. Hey, you put it on your schedule. Put a little reminder. I mean, you remind yourself for everything else. Oh, insurance payment. Oh, got to meet with this so-and-so. Oh, got to do this. Oh, my dentist. Oh, my doctor. And if you have to, put the Word in there. I recommend it first. Start off, hey, is Jesus first? Well, then the Word is first. And then talk to God. But see, we talk to God, and then we wonder why He doesn't talk to us. Oh, man, one of the main reasons is that we're not opening His Word. We don't know if He's saying anything or what. So it's a one-way relationship. Communication, just, okay, Lord, this and this and this, and this, God, and okay, amen, in Jesus' name. Okay. Oh, but would you please open my Word so I can tell you, so I can teach you, so I can give you some wisdom, so I can give you some knowledge and some understanding, so I can give you some discernment? Will you please open it? Please? I mean, after all, it's for our good. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. The Word of God, the seed is the Word of God in Luke 8, 11. The seed is the Word of God. So let's start planting. Let's start planting. Let's pray. Lord, we are so thankful, God, that You've given us Your Word, Your God-breathed Word, Lord. God, I just ask You right now, Lord, that You would help us, Lord, make Your Word a priority in our life. God, will You please help me? God, will You help me to rearrange my priorities? Will You help me, Lord, to cut away some of my lunch appointments, some of my breakfast appointments? God, will You please help me? Because, God, I want Your Word. I want Your Word, God. I want You to speak to me. God, we're so blessed to have Your Word. And, Lord, like Brother KP said earlier today, that there's pastors, Lord, on the other side of the world that they don't even have a full Bible. And, God, here we have two or three or four or five, Lord, just sitting around. Oh, God, help us. Help us, God, come back to Your Word. Help us, Lord, to make Your Word a priority in our life. Help us, Lord, we need Your help. We need Your help, Lord. God, as we sit down and we read Your Word, I pray, Lord, that You will give us, Lord, understanding, wisdom, knowledge. Lord, give us what is required, Lord, to receive what You want to teach us and show us from Your Word. Speak to us, Lord. Speak to us, Father. Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. God, I'm tired of stumbling and tripping because, God, I don't have Your Word to light my path. God, help us, Lord. We ask You, Lord, for all the people, even those who are watching, Lord, and everybody here, God, You remind us, Holy Spirit, of the importance of Your Word. Remind us every single day. And we ask You, Lord, all of us, in agreement, in Jesus Christ's name, Amen. ======================================================================== Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/nj_KAl105xQ.mp4 Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/jose-muniz/a-revival-of-gods-word/ ========================================================================