43. We're marching to Zion. Be sure to sing it out. Number 43, 43, we're marching to Zion.
43 there, come we. This time we'll open with the word of prayer. If you'll bow your heads with me.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day and for your many blessings. We just thank you
to have an opportunity to freely gather together to sing out praises and to learn from your word.
And Lord, though that's a frequent prayer, it's not in vain or a repetition. We should be thankful
and just we are thankful every single time that we have this opportunity. To that end, Lord,
I pray that you would just incline your ear as we sing praises to you, that you'd fill pasture with
your spirit, and that everything for the service would be done decently and in order. These things
we pray in Jesus' name, amen. All right, for our second hymn this evening, turn to 224,
"There Shall Be Showers of Blessing." 224, 224, "There Shall Be Showers of Blessing." 224 on the first.
We'll go through our announcements. Please raise your hand if you need a bulletin,
and Usher will bring you one. On the front, you'll see our Bible memory passage of the week,
Galatians chapter number one, verse 14, still about two months-ish to do this, so plenty of time.
On the inside, you'll see our service times are listed there, Sunday mornings at 10 30 a.m.,
Sunday evenings at 4 30 p.m., and our Wednesday evening Bible study at 7 o'clock. Below that,
you'll see all of our soul winning times listed there as well as our upcoming nursing home
ministry preaching schedule, and also we have our year-to-date soul winning statistics. Praise the
Lord for 210 so far this year, and we definitely want to keep pushing that number up and preaching
the gospel. Next Sunday evening, April 13th, we're going to have our men's preaching night.
Please do sign up today if you're going to be preaching for that, that we have an idea of how
many people are going to be preaching for that evening, but that's going to be our evening service
followed by a potluck, so please do bring something to share, a main dish or dessert,
any of those are fine. April 19th, that is not this upcoming Saturday, but the one after,
is our soul-winning marathon. We're meeting at Frederick Douglas Park right by the Willa D.
Johnson Rec Center. It's a really nice park, it's a good area for soul-winning, so we're excited for
that. We'll be getting some food catered for lunch and there'll be plenty of opportunities, of course,
to preach the gospel. After that, April 20th, of course, that's Easter Sunday, we'll be taking
the Lord's Supper for our evening service for that day. May 16th through the 18th is the King James
Conference at Shur Foundation Baptist Church. Man, I'm really looking forward to listening to
these sermons because I unfortunately listened to a debate from James White and it just made
me angry and I'm just ready to hear some truth about the King James Version, so I'm looking
forward to hearing those sermons. May 31st is the Durant Oklahoma Soul Winning Marathon
where we're specifically teaming up with Steadfast, so there'll be a ton of soul winners
for that event. Please do join us for that. June 28th, this whole weekend is going to be great. We
have our Tinker Airshow Fellowship Day where we're just going to hang out and have a good time as
families at the air show and the next day Brother Ben Naim is going to be visiting us and preaching
both sermons for us on Sunday. August 27th through the 31st is the Fire Breathing Baptist
Fellowship. It's going to be a great conference. I know a lot of people were really hopeful for
Red Hot this year and it didn't pan out so get your hard preaching fix at the Fire Breathing
Baptist Fellowship. October 6th through the 11th is the Bahamas Mission Trip. Greatly looking forward
to that. On the back you will see our prayer list and some information about giving and as always if
you have any prayer requests or updates please do email me. If you need a private prayer request
email me. I'd be happy to pray for you myself but at this time let's go to the Lord in a word of
prayer. Lord we thank you for this evening. We thank you for the blessing of Anchor Baptist Church
and the folks that are here this evening. I pray that you would bless this time that you would
keep our hearts soft to the word of God and to the will that you have for us in our lives.
We pray also for the requests of our church members here this evening, Lord, that you would
incline your ear and answer these according to your will. We pray for Brother Miles for his
health to improve and also that you would just strengthen Miss Rhea during a difficult time
of caretaking and dealing with these issues. We pray that you please bless their family, Lord.
We also pray for Brother Alex for his job situation that he's in right now and pray that he would be
able to find a job that's suiting for him. That would be your will, Lord, that you bless him
financially in his search for a great career. We also pray for Miss Remy that her travels would
go well, that you bless her while she's away from us, that you keep her safe, Lord, and we pray that
she'd be able to bring her safely to us again soon and bless her time with friends and family.
We also pray for Miss Whitney Reed for her brother Cole's salvation, that she would soften his heart
to the gospel, that he'd get many chances to hear the word of God preached. Also pray for those in
our church who are not feeling well. We pray that they would get better soon, Lord, and we also pray
for brother Zach for his lost family members. They as well would have a soft heart towards the gospel
and that they would get many opportunities to hear it again, Lord. We love you and pray that
you bless the service. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. All right, that's going to be it for
announcements this evening. We'll go ahead and go to our third song. All right, our third song this
evening, if you'll grab your white handout. Our third song is "Holy, Holy, Holy" in your white handout.
"Holy, Holy, Holy" in your white handout. "Holy, Holy" there on the first.
As the offering plates are being passed, turn if you would to Proverbs chapter number three.
Proverbs chapter number three. Good evening, Proverbs three. The Bible reads,
"My son, forget not my law, but let thine heart keep my commandments. For length of days and long
life and peace shall they add to thee. Let not mercy and truth forsake thee. Bind them about
thy neck, write them upon the table of thine heart. So shalt thou find favor and good understanding
in the sight of God and man. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own
understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in
thine own eyes, fear the Lord, and depart from evil. They shall be health to thy navel, and marrow
to thy bones. Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with the first fruits of all thine increase.
So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine. My son,
despise not the chastening of the Lord, neither be weary of his correction. For whom the Lord loveth,
he correcteth, even as a father, the son, and whom he delighteth. Happy is the man that findeth wisdom,
and the man that geteth understanding. For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise
of silver and the gain thereof than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies, and all the things
thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her. Length of days is in her right hand, and in her
left hand riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.
She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her, and happy is everyone that retaineth her.
The Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens;
by his knowledge the depths are broken up, and the clouds drop down to dew.
My son, let not them depart from thine eyes; keep sound wisdom and discretion;
so shall they be life unto thy soul, and grace to thy neck.
Then shalt thou walk in thy way safely, and thy foot shall not stumble.
When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid; yea, thou shalt lie down,
and thy sleep shall be sweet. Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of
the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh. For the Lord shall be thy confidence in thy,
and shall keep thy foot from being taken. Withhold not good from them to whom it is due,
when it is in the power of thine hand to do it.
Say not unto thy neighbor, Go, and come again; and tomorrow I will give thee,
when thou hast it by thee. Divide not evil against thy neighbor, seeing he dwelleth
securely by thee. Strive not with a man without cause, if he have done thee no harm. Envy not
thou, envy thou not the oppressor, and choose none of his ways. For the foward is abomination
to the Lord, but his secret is with the righteous. The curse of the Lord is in the house of the
wicked, but he blesseth the habitation of the just. Surely he scorneth the scorners,
but he giveth grace unto the lowly. The wise shall inherit glory, but shame shall be the
promotion of fools. Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer. Father, God in heavenly thanks
for this day in our church. Amen. All right, we are in Proverbs chapter number three,
and for those of you that like to take notes, I try to do my best to separate these into sections.
So if you'd like to do that, number one this evening, don't forget God's law. Look at verse
number one of Proverbs three. It says, "My son, forget not my law, but let thine heart keep my
commandments." And I want to focus in on that word law, because sometimes the law could mean a
couple different things in the Bible. In one way, it could just be referring to the 10 commandments.
In other ways, it could be referring to the commandments in the Old Testament. Sometimes
it could be referring to just the word of God in general, God's law. But I want to focus in on this
idea that God tells us not to forget his law, meaning the commandments of God. Because today
there's kind of a push in liberal churches to want to ignore everything in the Old Testament,
not want to have God's criminal statutes or moral statutes, and kind of just get away from the law
of God. But here in Proverbs, which is obviously a timeless book that's applicable to all time
periods of humanity, the Bible's telling us not to forget God's law. Go to Matthew chapter number
five, Matthew chapter number five. And Jesus teaches this exact thing because people want to
turn the teachings of Jesus on its head and teach like Jesus came and wanted us to forget about the
do's and the don'ts and the thou shouts and the thou shouts nots. But really nothing could be
further from the truth. Look at verse 17. What Jesus said, "Think not that I am come to destroy
the law or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill." See, the New Testament was not
given to us so that we could forget about thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not commit adultery.
That was not the purpose of Jesus coming, but Jesus did come and fulfill the law. There's a
lot of things in the Old Testament law that was ceremonial or were purely a picture of the coming
messiah. And what did he do? He came and fulfilled those things. And in the book of Hebrews, the Bible
gives us very specific things that are done away in the New Testament, right? So the Sabbath day,
the carnal washings, certain dietary restrictions, these things were fulfilled by Christ and are no
longer a thing. But you know what? God still wants us to remember his law. He wants us to preach his
law. He wants us to preach the thou shouts and the thou shalt not. Look at verse 18. "For verily I
say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law,
till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments
and shall teach men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven." Right? So if you are saved
and you break the commandments of God and you teach people to break the commandments of God,
you're still saved, but what are you? You're going to be least in the kingdom of heaven.
And you know, I do think, sadly, there are some saved people that get into this false doctrine
that basically just everything in the Old Testament was done away with. And look,
I think those people are still saved, but really they're setting themselves up to be least in the
kingdom of God. And they're setting up their congregation, their church, to be least in the
kingdom of God, because you know what? Salvation is by faith, but God judges us according to our
works, and He's going to reward us in heaven according to our works. What are those? Keeping
the law of God, doing what is good according to the Bible. But the verse says, "Whosoever shall
do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." I don't see how
preachers and pastors all over America are not seeing this verse where Jesus is specifically
highlighting doing and teaching. Teaching what? The commandments of God. So it's my job to do
and teach the commandments. We should be a people that doesn't disdain God's law, doesn't shy away
from the Old Testament. We should be people that embrace it and love it. And a bunch of the Psalms
are just talking about how we love God's word, how we love God's law. If you haven't noticed,
all of our Bible studies have been in the Old Testament. I'm not ashamed of the Old Testament.
I don't want to shy away from it. I love the Old Testament. It's God's word. It's God's law.
We should love it. Go to Romans chapter number three. But what I've noticed is that people who
are the most clear on salvation, being by faith alone, are coincidentally also the people that
preach the hardest on the law of God. And that is not a coincidence. You'll see that the apostle
Paul did the exact same thing. Romans chapter three, verse 31, he says, "Do we then make void the law
through faith? God forbid, yea, we establish the law." So no one's preaching salvation more
clear than the apostle Paul, but he kind of asks this theoretical question that people might be
asking. Well, I mean, are you just saying you could just do whatever you want? Right? That's
what people ask us all the time. Oh, so you're just saying there's no consequences for sin
whatsoever and you don't even need to keep the commandments. You don't need to keep God's law.
It's like, no, no, no. We're saying salvation is by faith. Salvation is not by doing those things,
but are we just getting rid of the law of God? No, we're establishing the law. No, we're saying
you should keep all the commandments. And in fact, God's standard is so high, it's not even funny.
But people that want to believe a works based salvation, what they do is they lower the bar.
They lower the standard of righteousness as they sit here and claim you got to do the works. You
got to keep the commandments. We're over here saying you don't have to do any of those things
to be saved, but we actually do believe the law of God. See works salvationists, they would be
terrified by Leviticus, by Leviticus 20 verse 13. They would be terrified by Leviticus chapter 20,
talking about in verse 10, the death penalty for adultery. A lot of people would just shy away from
that. We're over here saying like, yeah, we established the law. We love the law of God.
We want to keep that stuff alive. Go to Titus chapter two, Titus chapter number two. But,
you know, you can have both. And if you rightly divide scripture, you understand, hey, salvation
is not of works. It's not of the law. It's not by doing good. But God still wants us and expects us
to do those things to please him, to have a good relationship with him. It has nothing to do with
salvation. But people will say, oh, but we're under grace. And so therefore the words of God
in the Old Testament, the commandments, none of those things matter. Really, because Titus 2 11,
look at the Bible says, "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
teaching us, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly,
righteously, and godly in this present world." See, the grace of God did not come to tell you,
no big deal, you could drink, no big deal, you could live with your girlfriend,
no big deal, you didn't even have to go to church. I mean, this is a big movement nowadays.
Church isn't even a thing. You don't even have to go to church. You can just have the best
relationship with Jesus in your house, just thinking about him. No, no, no. Actually,
grace came to teach us that we should deny ungodliness, that we should turn away from
worldly lusts, that we should be, how about this, sober. That's a big one. I mean, it's not very
many Christians who are absolute teetotalers, but you know what? We are, and we believe that you can
be saved and drink till the cows come home, but yet I will say that to be right with God,
you have to drink this much. Zero. And I drink this much. And I want people in this room to drink
this much, but I could also say if someone drinks and they believe in Christ, they're still saved.
If someone drinks alcohol every single day, but they believe in Christ, they are still saved. This
is how we say, hey, of course, salvation is by grace, but are we going to get rid of the law? No,
we'll establish the law. We want to keep the commandments of God and we do it because we love
God. Go back to Proverbs chapter number three. And of course, the carnal mind can't understand
how we do this out of love for God, because to them, it's just fear of hell and they're wanting
to do good works and not do terrible things. The only thing that's restraining them is hell.
And we're over here saying like, oh yeah, you could do all those things and still be saved.
And they're like, but then why are you not doing them? Oh, because we love God,
because we fear God. We want to be pleasing in His sight. Look at verse two. It says for length
of days and long life and peace shall they add to thee. So notice the law of God is not a burden.
It's not something that God gave us to punish us. The law of God is a blessing. The law of God is
going to give you long days and peace you're going to have in your life in general. You know,
because some of the things that God tells you not to do in the word of God, if you do them,
could literally kill you. And so by keeping God's commandments, you could kind of prolong
your days in that sense, right? A very easy example, of course, is people getting drunk.
People die getting drunk all the time. I mean, the amount of just accidental deaths that happen,
or the amount of time someone literally just binge drinks themselves to death where their
heart just stops, or they'll die earlier in life because of liver failure, heart failure,
throat cancer, you know, stomach cancer, all these things is directly related to that sin.
And if they would have just obeyed God's commandments and been sober, they would have
had a longer life. Okay, then of course, on top of that, since we actually believe in God and
believe that God can move and work in our lives, there's also the supernatural element of God just
blessing you. And so that's why you should always keep God's commandments, whether your flesh likes
it or not, whether you personally agree with the Bible or not, whether you understand why God gives
you those commandments or not. It's for your own benefit, and God's going to bless you in your life
for keeping those commandments. Go to if you would. Let's just look at verse number three. It says,
"Let not mercy and truth forsake thee, bind them about thy neck, write them upon the table of thine
heart." So by forsaking God's commandments, what you're kind of doing is you're forsaking
mercy and truth. You're kind of like begging for God not to be merciful to you when you just
completely disregard God's commandments. When you keep them, when you fear God, the Bible's talking
about how mercy and truth is going to be around you, but those that scorn, scoff at God's word,
don't listen to it. It's like you're asking mercy and truth to forsake you. Then it says in verse
number four, "So shalt thou find favor and good understanding in the sight of God and man." So
again, on one side you have the spiritual aspect of having God be pleased with you, and that's
obviously the most important thing. That's what we should be seeking in our lives, is to have God's
stamp of approval on us, God's hand with us. But notice also how the Bible says that you're going
to be approved in the sight of man too. And you know, people could say whatever they want about
Christians and Christianity. But everyone knows that Christians that actually follow the Bible
are the best people. Everyone knows that. And a lot of times, you know, people in their youth,
they'll obviously be really stupid and ignorant. But a lot of times when people mature and life
starts to hit them, they'll be like, Oh man, my grandma was right. Like some of us may have seen
this meme where it was like, when you are like 25 and you realize your grandma was right about
everything being gay and satanic. It's like, you know, a lot of youth are mocking. Oh, grandma's
crazy. You know, crazy. She says everything's satanic and gay. And then you just like you wake
up one day and you're like, this world is super gay and satanic. It's just like grandma was right.
And it's like the Bible's right about everything. And people who are not hypocrites, not bad
examples, not people who are, you know, taking the name of Christ, but just doing everything
opposite of what the Bible says, people who actually live the Bible, everyone looks at
those people and says, that's the real deal. That's a happy life. That's a successful life.
You know, the world, when they actually see a godly woman, look, the whores on every street
corner of the Bible says, but the virtuous woman who can find. So when there's a virtuous
woman, when there's the Proverbs 31 woman and people see that they're just like, Whoa,
this is amazing. How did you find this? How did you get this? Right. And the answer is
following God's commandments. It's going to make you stand out. We are the children
of light in this dark world. And the more that you keep God's commandments, the more
that you're going to have favor in God's eyes and in man's eyes as well. And oftentimes
what happens is, you know, we end up getting hated and persecuted and lied about, but it's
often for just the words of Christ or, you know, a sermon, your pastor preach or what
the Bible says. But usually, you know, Christians have a great testimony with people that they
know as far as like, Hey, this person's a hard worker. This person's really good at
their job. At least you should have that testimony. And if you are hated by your employer and
it's not because of your beliefs, you should repent. You need to become a better worker.
You need to work hard and not complain and show up on time and have good Christian character.
Because if you actually show up to work and work not to please man but to please God,
in the process, you're going to please man. But your goal should be to please God. Stay
there in Proverbs 3. I like this Psalm. Psalm 111 verse 10, the Bible says, "The fear of
the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. A good understanding have all they that do His commandments.
His praise endureth forever." Because, you know, in verse 4 it talks about how you find
favor and understanding in the sight of God. And man, what did we talk about last week?
Those who do the commandments of God are the ones who understand the most. The Bible's
backing that up there. Number 2 this evening, "Trust in the Lord." Look at verse 5, it
says, "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding."
This is one of the best verses in the Bible. And something that is just true about human
nature that the world does not understand is that every single person by nature is very
sinful, very sinful, very corrupt. The Bible talks about how our heart is deceitful above
all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? And you know, what you need to understand
about yourself and what I need to understand about myself is that my heart is not good.
Do you hear that? Your heart is not good. You are not a good person, okay? This is reality.
But people that are prideful, they think, "My heart's telling me what's right. My heart's
leading me in the right direction." But those who've actually read the Bible realize how
we feel sometimes is not necessarily what's right. Our emotions, because what is it talking
about your heart? You know, don't trust in your heart. That's your emotions. That's how
you feel. And here's the thing, the feeling of your heart can be very strong. And that's
why the Bible says it's deceitful. Because your feelings are real. You're having real
feelings. But a mature person, someone that understands this proverb, can recognize that
even though I'm having certain feelings, it doesn't make it right. And you should have
the Christian character to sometimes look at your feelings and say, "Yes, I'm having
these feelings. Yes, I want to go this certain way, but you know what? I'm wrong." And how
do you know that you're wrong? Well, you have to trust in the Lord with all thine heart.
How do you trust in the Lord? You take the words of God and you actually believe them.
That's what trusting in the Lord is. And by the way, this is a great reason to be King
James only, because when you're King James only and you actually have a final authority
standing before you, you could take the words on your page and just say, "Conversation over,
heart. The Bible says this. I'm going to trust in the Lord. I'm not going to trust in my
heart." It's kind of hard if you don't believe that this is the perfect word of God, because
when your heart is conflicting against the Bible, you can have that thought in the back
of your head, "Well, is this even what the Bible said?" Because my pastor said you got
to go back to the Greek to get the real meaning and that this is just the closest thing that
we have and even though they've come out with like how many editions of these modern versions,
right? It's constantly changing. No, you need to have some solid foundation in your life.
It needs to be the King James Bible and you need to be able to put the Bible there as
the foundation and you need to constantly auditing your heart and realize, "Hey, is
my heart in tune with what the Bible says?" Know that I need to trust in the Lord with
all my heart. And of course, you can apply this just so many different ways. You know,
I like to think about when someone starts reading the Bible for the first several times
through cover to cover, yay, honestly, your whole life, you're not going to understand
everything in it. You're not going to understand every single chapter, every single verse.
And I like to think about this verse when I come to a passage I don't understand, because
you know what I don't do when I come to something I don't understand? I don't sit here and wonder,
"Is this true? Is this right?" I realize, "Hey, I'm a sinner. I have bad understanding
at times. I am flesh. Here's what I know. Okay, I don't understand this passage, but
I do believe God's Word is true, and so I'm going to trust in the Lord with all my heart
and rely on what the Bible says, even if I don't fully understand it." Oftentimes when
you have that mentality, the next couple times you're coming through the Word of God, God
sees that you actually trust Him. He gives you that knowledge. You're praying and asking
for wisdom. God countless times in my life has done that, but you need to not go to the
Word of God as some sort of, you know, don't approach the Bible like any other book that
you would read. Like any other book that you would read, you're going to need to be like
hyper vigilant if the information that you're getting is correct, but you should realize
like the Bible is right and it has to be able to correct us. You have to have that level
of humility to get a profit out of it. Look at verse number six. It says, "In all thy
ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths." So the idea of God directing our paths,
again, it kind of goes back to this idea that we as human beings are just so naturally sinful
and simple that we don't on our own just know what the right path is. We don't know where to
go in life. We don't know how to do all these things just naturally. And so what we have to
have is God directing our steps. And that's a big blessing. I'll read for you Jeremiah 10 verse
23. The Bible says, "Oh Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself. It is not in man
that walketh to direct his steps." The Bible's saying like we don't even know what we're doing.
We don't even know where we're walking as human beings. And it's just I feel so bad for people
that go through this life without the Bible. I mean it's got to be just miserable. I mean people
are just randomly seeking anywhere for information and just trusting everything they hear. And who
knows if it's right? Who knows if it's wrong? You need someone to guide your steps in this life.
Otherwise it's going to chew you up and spit you out. And the sooner and younger in life you could
get a bunch of Bible in you, the better your steps are going to be. The more God's going to guide you.
You know you don't want to wait until you've already gone off the trail and you've already
broken your ankle and you're already half mauled by a grizzly bear to have someone guide you back
to the trail. You know you want as soon as possible get on that trail and stay on it,
right? So we want to make sure we're teaching our kids the word of God. Verse number seven,
again remember we're talking about humility. It says be not wise in thine own eyes. Fear the
Lord and depart from evil. What is being wise in your own eyes? It's anytime someone disagrees
with the Bible. Look we could disagree with each other because we're fallible but if you disagree
with the Bible that's called you being wise in your own eyes. You're thinking I know better than
God and there's tons of people, yay even pastors, even churches that are just like glorifying
humanity. Glorifying humanism, the human intellect, the human mind. Their sermons are like a TED talk.
They're not showing you a bunch of Bible and those people are wise in their own eyes. And it
always makes me think about King James onlyism because if the Bible is not your final authority,
something has to be. Something has to be your final authority and what are original manuscript
onlyists? What's their real final authority? It's their own mind. They're wise in their own eyes.
The pastor will come to a passage of scripture that he and his flesh doesn't like and he just
gets to wiggle out of it by saying well in the greek well if you just go to this other version
look at what this version says yeah i'm pretty sure satan could gather you know hundreds of
false witnesses to give people this sense of superiority like oh i've got 500 english
translations that agree with me yeah but that doesn't make it right god's word is what's true
god's word is what determines right that's why you need to have a final authority and notice
what it says it shall be health in verse eight it shall be health to thy navel and marrow to thy
bones keeping god's commandments yes it can be tied to having a longer life and it can be tied
to having a fuller and healthier life you know god's commandments are going to give you the
best quality of life in every way possible and sometimes living a wicked life living a life of
sin can cause issues with your bones and your heart and your physical body this is why people
say oh she's lived a rough life what are we talking about we're talking about some woman
who's lived on the streets who's been a prostitute who's done meth and you look at her and she looks
like she's 70 years old but she's 35 and it's like whoa you're 35 years old yeah you've lived a rough
life and when you live a rough life it's going to take a toll on your health you know god has a lot
of great health advice in his word look at verse number nine it says honor the lord with thy
substance and with the first fruits of all thine increase so we're coming right off of a passage
where god's talking about trusting in the lord with all your heart not leaning into your own
understanding and one of the first examples that the bible gives of how you could exercise faith
and trust the lord is to honor him with your substance and honor often in the bible has a
financial connotation to it where it's talking about requiring the lord paying the lord go to
malachi chapter number three malachi chapter number three but you know we need to realize that
money wealth is a gift from god and we should show the lord honor with our finances we should
not get this idea to think that all of our money was earned by our own you know human intellect
and strength and it's ours no everything that you have that's good comes from god god gives you the
power to get wealth if you could provide for your family today yes there's an aspect that you have
to do there putting in hard work you know showing up on time doing the things you're supposed to do
but still god is carrying you through god is giving you breath in your lungs god's giving you
a strong body or a intelligent mind and if you have anything good it came from god this is why
god expects us to honor him with our finances verse number eight of malachi 3 notice what it says
will a man rob god yet you have robbed me but you say wherein have we robbed thee
in tithes and offerings so this is the opposite of honoring god with your substance honoring god
with the first fruit of your increase is robbing god and just think about the connotation with that
you know many christians would never dream about just walking down the road and seeing some lady
and just snatching her purse and running away like like could you imagine doing that could you
imagine yourself doing that absolutely not that's crazy right but how many christians refuse to honor
god with their finances what does the bible say you're not ripping off some lady you're not
ripping off grandma you're robbing god you are hurting god and in the process you're hurting
yourself too because again it's like the person who's not spiritual they think i got all my money
myself i need it me me me my my my whereas you should realize anything good i have is from god
if i if i'm doing well financially that's from god and even if i'm not it's still from god and
god can make your situation way worse at any moment i mean i'm not into the stock market but
did anyone hear about the stock market this week it's like some of the biggest crashes since covid
the biggest recovery since world war ii you know this world is not sure this world is really
volatile and you cannot put your trust in the banking system you can't put your trust in the
federal reserve in these little paper notes you can't put your trust in those things you need the
hand of god backing you up no matter what the number in your bank account says i want whatever
that number is with god's blessing i wouldn't i wouldn't trade all the money of the world for
this big big lump of cash but have god against me because god could take those things away so
quickly god could give you some prolonged terrible disease that could suck your wealth away in a
matter of a year god can oh man lawsuits god could have someone sue you not every time your suit is
it bad but man it could be a punishment right and so you want your things to go well financially
you need to honor the lord with your finances and not rob god and he's saying how are you robbing
him well by not tithing by not offering and look at the result verse nine it says he are cursed
with a curse for ye have robbed me even this whole nation and oftentimes people won't tithe
they refuse to tithe because they're scared they want to hang on to every cent that they have
but what you're trading by not tithing according to the bible is you're receiving a curse from god
that should scare you because god is a terrible god the bible says and he will invoke terror he will
invoke fear he can judge and punish his people greatly and i don't want his hand against me
what's the solution verse 10 bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse that there may be
meat in mine house so what is god's priority financially is the house of god you want to know
why god has blessed the united states for so long is because of how much churches how many
churches how much work for the lord has been happening in this country and how many missionaries
have been being sent out out of this country into the world you know we're kind of incentivizing god
to bless our community financially when anchor baptist church is here we're we're incentivizing
god to bless america if every church is just preaching the gospel and preaching hard on sin
and being a bright light you know that's going to incentivize god to bless a nation
but when god sees that oh the people of the land aren't even prioritizing my house well then why
would he want you to have a swimming pool why would he want you to have a three-car garage
why would he want you to have a nice piece of land or a nice retirement fund when you're not
even prioritizing god's house shouldn't god's house be the best thing in the world the thing
that we're most invested in it should be the institution that we want to see thrive more than
anything else and it's just if you just realize the truth you'd realize when god's house thrives
everything else thrives around it when we in god's house is blessed everyone around it is blessed
look at what it says uh in verse or the latter part of verse 10 it says prove me now herewith
say it the lord of hosts if i will not open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing
that there should not be room enough to receive it and i will rebuke the devourer for your sakes
and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground neither shall your vine cast her fruit
before the time in the field saith the lord of hosts see by not honoring god with your substance
you are hurting yourself in in this idea to try to hold on to everything you have hold on to every
cent you're hurting yourself and you're you're holding god back from giving you great blessings
you know i believe truly that someone who tithes someone who lives off the 90 will be financially
better off in their life than people who do not tithe i believe that they will be better off
in life in general because again there's the spiritual aspect of things of god seeing you
trust him seeing you not make an idol of money where it's the number one in your life where
you're just like okay god you gave this to me no problem give it back to god's house now there's
some people that have a big problem with tithing and you know i'm not ashamed to talk about it
because i love all of god's word and i love god's house but there are people that have a
big issue with tithing in fact you know before i was a pastor i would just preach you know every
now and then i preached probably i don't know probably well over 150 sermons before i was
ordained but i never had a situation happen to me where someone comes up to you after the sermon
and just starts ripping about all the things that they didn't like you know i've heard like this
happens does it really though but it happened to me one time and it happened after i preached a
sermon and i think i mentioned tithing like in passing it wasn't even like the point of my sermon
but this person just talked to me for like an hour about how bad tithing is how it's not biblical
how it's not something that should be preached it's not something god's people should do and
i learned that day that i'm never going to give someone that much time to critique my sermon ever
again it was very annoying and what they were saying was just wrong and bad but i'm just like
what is wrong with someone like why would you sit here and be a part of a church and we're all
reaping great spiritual blessings for being a part of a great church on top of oftentimes carnal
blessings too i mean look if you come to our easter service you're going to get blessed
spiritually and you're going to get blessed carnally carne meat we're bringing in the barbecue
all right and guess what that stuff costs money and it's like who's actually upset by that like
who's upset by a church thriving financially i often see god hating homosexuals and leftists
being upset by that oh god take away the tax exemption from the church you commie you wicked
person and then it's like christians want to get on you know again you got to look at who's with
you on the battle line if it's like fags and commies and feminists it's like you might be
on the wrong side of things but look it's just common sense it's literally just common sense
that tithing is a good thing because unless you just literally know nothing about the world
you understand that an operation like this it is a business folks it is a spiritual business
but we must be about our father's business this place gets run like a real business we've got
expenditures we've got income we've got bills to pay we've got things that we're doing we've got
long-term plans that we're saving for this is a business here and guess what it takes money it
takes money to print invites to have a building to have lights to have staff like these are just
normal expenses and if you have a problem with that to me it just shows like you don't really
esteem god's work very highly like you don't esteem god's work god's man god's you know kingdom
as something that's to be respected and honored it's not even worth the almighty dollar like
that's what you're saying oh god's work isn't even worth my money what is money like who cares about
money we're not sit here and love money the love of money is the root of all evil so you should
honor the lord with your substance you should tithe that's not something i'm ashamed to say
but think about this like tithing was done before the law even existed because abraham gave tithes
to melchizedek that was before the law was even instituted so some people would say like well
tithing was one of those things that were done away in the new testament because we don't have
the levitical priesthood anymore but it's like okay but the levitical priesthood wasn't the only
place in the bible where someone was tithing abraham was tithing before the law and so that's
something that's existed from the very beginning why because it's common sense how could we have
the new testament church how could we go out and do great works for god how can we go out and do a
big great commission fulfillment without tools we need to do that we need to have money it's a
good thing and of course as well if you actually read the bible which we're not going to go here
this isn't going to be a study of tithing this evening but if you actually read first
Corinthians chapter 9 you know that those who preach the gospel are supposed to be living of
the gospel pray tell me how full-time pastors evangelists deacons are going to exist in this
world without tithing and just so you know when that happens you always see more laborers more
staff more godly pastors what do you see you see the work increase you see the numbers increase
you see the soul winning increase so for me my whole life it's always been like a no-brainer
i want god's house to thrive i want more salvations i want more good sermons i want more good for work
for god to be done so i'm gonna tithe and i fear god and i want him to bless me as well it's not a
hard concept it is biblical people that that get weird about money in church have a bad heart
you know who really cared about the money judas judas was the one who wanted to put on a show
and get angry and saying oh this ointment should have been you know taken and sold and given to
the poor but the bible says he didn't really care for the poor he actually just had the back himself
he wanted to bag the money himself he wanted the prophet himself and i've just noticed almost
without fail people that gripe about tithing and say it's wrong they almost always get exposed to
be a wicked person and it's like even even the guy that did that to me i'm not going to say his name
but he's not in a good church right now i'll tell you that right now not a coincidence look at verse
number 10 it says in proverbs 3 verse 10 it says so shall thy barns be filled with plenty
and thy presses shall burst out with new wine see god's house blessed you blessed that's that's the
formula there number three this evening the chastening of the lord look at verse 11 my son
despise not the chastening of the lord neither be weary of his correction so of course we are
human beings we are sinful and there's going to be times all the time where we're not fully trusting
in the lord with all of our heart where we kind of are from time to time leaning on our own
understanding and we do sometimes go down the wrong path and sin and mess up and you know what
the result of that is going to be is god punishing us god chastising us and the bible says there to
not despise the chastening of the lord what does it mean to despise you know i think it could mean
just refusing to correct refusing to take the reproof that god gave you through his word
through a preacher through your parents through whatever the authority is despising the correction
could be just refusing to get it right refusing to change refusing to repent or it could literally
mean like you're just angry at god for correcting you and of course you know that is a terrible
attitude to have to be angry at god for correcting you why because when god corrects us he does it
out of love for us how do i know that verse 12 for whom the lord loveth he correcteth even as a father
the son in whom he delighteth you know those of us who are fathers in the room know that we
discipline our children not out of hatred that's insane we do that because we love and delight in
our children and we want to see them improve we want to see them go down the right path
and get better and the bible says that god loves those that he corrects and of course this should
also inform us that spanking is a good thing that parents should be doing because here we see what
does god do he corrects and the bible says even as the normal father would do so that is a good
example of a father is one who corrects their children go to proverbs 19 really quick proverbs
chapter number 19 but think about it even if you do despise the correction like if you don't get
things right right away or you're kind of angry at god is god just going to stop punishing you
or is he going to keep punishing you if you're safe what's he going to do he's going to keep
punishing you now this should tell us as parents what we should be like because look at proverbs
19 verse 18 chasing thy son while there is hope and let not thy soul spare for his crying see if
the child is crying part of the reason sometimes is because they're despising the correction they
don't want to receive the correction or they don't like it or they don't agree with it or they're
just obviously they don't want the pain and so they'll cry but what are we as parents supposed
to do we're not supposed to not punish them just because they're crying we see okay you're crying
you're despising this punishment too bad here's some more punishment because that's exactly what
god is going to do for us if we're just going to not listen he's going to keep correcting us
because he loves us he's going to be long suffering he wants to see us get it right
he doesn't want us to see us destroy our lives so he'll keep giving us that rod we need to make
sure we do the same for our children go back to proverbs three number four this evening the joy
of wisdom notice what it says happy is the man that findeth wisdom and the man that getteth
understanding you know i believe that the happiest people in the world are people that read the bible
people that keep god's commandments and it's funny because sometimes people's impression of
christianity can only be like what the pastor is behind the pulpit but god gives very specific
directions to preachers to cry aloud spare not lift up your voice like a trumpet but oftentimes
if you interact with tons of i mean i can give you a bunch of examples tons of pastors outside of
the pulpit they're always so happy like the guy i'm immediately thinking of is pastor anderson
like every time i've interact ever interacted with him pastor anderson is happy he has the
joy of the lord you know the bible says rejoice ever more you know our default as christians in
our hearts should be joy now i'm not saying you got to walk around like a joker like joel osteen
with a weird smile on your face but you should have some inner joy and inner peace in your heart
that should be the default of your life and you know what is going to give you lots of joy reading
the bible i'm just telling you it's true you know even today during my lunch break cracked open the
bible i started reading it and i just felt great i just was happy i just love god's law and those
of you who actually read the bible know what i'm saying is true you know that god's word it'll make
you happy happy is the man that findeth wisdom you know when you find out that salvation is by
faith when you find out it's a free gift when you find out you can never lose it what does that
make you happy that's why it's a great gift it's the gospel it's good news it's glad tidings it
makes you happy and you know what those of you love god those people in this world that love god
everything in the bible makes them happy even the even the dark stuff even the negative stuff you
know what makes me happy pedophiles getting bullets in their head it makes me happy it really does why
because i love kids i love seeing god the righteous judge execute judgment on the wicked it makes me
happy why because i love god and i love his ways and i love everything that he does and i love
everything that he says and i love everything that he tells us to do and it just makes me happy how
i'm just constantly seeing that the bible is true it makes me happy it makes me joyful look at verse
14 for the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver and the gain thereof
than fine gold you know what would make a lot of people happy is finding silver and gold i mean
you've ever seen videos of people when they get a surprise check in the mail or when they win the
lottery i mean they're doing backflips they're screaming they're shouting they're so excited
for this temporal meaningless paper this meaningless number in your bank account they're so excited
but you know what the word of god and wisdom and truth is so much more exciting it's so much more
fulfilling it's going to give you so much more joy in your life that the bible says that the
merchandise of it is actually better than the merchandise of silver you know you think about
raise your hand if you know who mark dice is okay we got a couple people who know who mark dice is
he does these man on the street interviews where he goes to san diego on the beach there's all
these like beach bums around all these california surfer dudes and girls and he does this really
funny thing i don't know for sure if it's real i hope it is but he'll show up to like these
california smoked out pothead surfer dudes and he'll be like hey do you want this chocolate bar
or this bar of gold and you'd be shocked at how many people just take the chocolate and it's just
like over and over again he'll have like this one thing of extreme value and then just this stupid
little trinket and just over and over again people choose you want to know why i think it's real
is because what this verse says is that wisdom the word of god is way better than silver and gold
yet what do people care about so much more the thing that means nothing people will dedicate
their whole entire life in every waking moment of their existence to make more money to get more
silver silver and gold and they would never go out of their way to read the bible most people
don't read the bible folks most christians don't read the bible even less christians have read the
bible cover to cover once in their life even less read it cover to cover every year of their life
like people aren't seeking wisdom and knowledge like they would silver and gold but you know what
you ought to audit your own life and ask yourself you know if you found out that you got a million
dollars tomorrow how would you react to that versus do you actually wake up and read the bible
do you seek this like silver and gold do you treat this like a precious asset that's extremely
valuable or do you just go days weeks months without reading the word of god it shows you've
got your priorities messed up it shows that you're walking in the flesh that you're living in the
world too much you've got a worldly mindset you need to renew your mind by reading the bible and
what's funny about reading the bible it'll make you love the bible more why because it brings you
what joy makes you happy makes you excited verse 15 she is more precious than rubies all the things
thou can't desire are not to be compared hunter think about what a strong statement that is right
there all the things you could possibly desire i mean that's what solomon basically did the richest
man in the world at one point he kind of just gave himself everything in his heart's desire
and he had a thousand women and he had all the apes and the peacocks and the gardens and the
trees and everything where's brother theodore all right i hear him back there the apes all of it
right he gave himself all the pleasures that he could possibly think of but yet the bible says
that all the things that man can desire are not to even be compared to the word of god and you
know what solomon after his little trial where he gave himself all the the desires of his heart
he came to that realization he said you know what i hate life and the end of ecclesiastes talks
about how look there's nothing better but to just serve the lord serve god keep his commandments
for this is the whole duty of man that is what the bible teaches go to psalm chapter 19 and i
want to keep your place in proverbs 3 and in psalm chapter 19 but i just love this string of verses
about the word of god itself we see to remind ourselves how precious and how valuable the
scripture truly is verse 7 the law of the lord is perfect converting the soul the testimony of
the lord is sure making wise the simple the statutes of the lord are right rejoicing the heart
the commandment of the lord is pure enlightening the eyes the fear of the lord is clean enduring
forever the judgments of the lord are true and righteous all together notice the connection
more to be desired are they than gold yay than much fine gold sweeter also than honey and the
honeycomb you know the bible is more valuable than anything you could possibly imagine and i wish i
could just press a button and cause christians to read the bible because it's going to change your
life it's going to fundamentally change people's lives to read the bible if you start any spiritual
discipline in your life start reading the bible because everything follows from that someone who
starts reading the bible you know what they're going to want to start doing they're going to
want to start cleaning up their life they're going to start wanting to go to church they're
going to start wanting preaching the gospel preaching the word of god getting people saved
getting people baptized it all comes from the bible go to verse 16 of proverbs 3 verse 16 of
proverbs chapter number three says again length of days is in her right hand and in her left hand
riches and honor see it doesn't make sense to prioritize money and riches and honor because
if you actually follow god's wisdom and god's way of doing things god could bless you with riches and
honor as well it's like you can technically have both sometimes now obviously god's not god's will
is not for everyone to be rich but it is possible sometimes for people to have the best of both
worlds but if someone is living that life i could tell you one thing about them is that they
prioritized wisdom first they prioritized knowledge first and then they got those blessings as well
but those who will be rich the bible says fall into temptation and a snare and into many hurtful
lusts the bible says so if money is the main goal pain is coming your way if wisdom is the main goal
oftentimes god will bless you with those other carnal things that you desired anyways verse 17
her ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace she is a tree of life to them that
lay hold upon her and happy is everyone that notice retaineth her retaineth her you know
you think about obviously in the short term life has its ups and downs and you're constantly
going through battles you're constantly going through struggles but i believe that people who
have long term happiness in life people who have long term peace in life are those who retain
wisdom retain god's word retain his commandments what does that mean it means they didn't just try
out serving god for a week or for a month or for a year they were steadfast they continued serving
god they continued keeping his commandments even when things were hard they continued tithing even
though it looked like it was financially hurting them or like you couldn't see the light at the
end of the tunnel the people who retain wisdom retain god's commandments those people in the
long term have peace have the bible says pleasantness i mean don't we all want pleasantness that's what
everyone wants in life right is to just live a pleasant life for things to be going well to have
peace to have happiness these things the world will constantly promise you through things that
will do the exact opposite the world will promise you happiness by committing adultery or happiness
by injecting a drug into your body or happiness by whatever the world wants to throw you real
happiness comes from following god's commandments then it says in verse 19 the lord by wisdom have
founded the earth by understanding have he established the heavens go to genesis chapter
number one of course we know that god is very wise he's the most wise being he's extremely
intelligent he's extremely smart and one of the ways that we could just see that is in god's
creation in nature itself in the universe in the things that are made it's very obvious to us that
there is a intelligent creator and his name is jesus christ of course genesis 1 verse 14 and god
said let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night and let
them be for notice signs and for seasons and for days and years so all the way in genesis we found
out that we were going to be telling time based on the patterns of heavenly bodies right and god
gave us lights to differentiate that the sun we see during the day and then the earth spins because
we're a globe i don't know if i need to keep saying that just in case we're a globe the earth
spins and when the sun is on the other side of the earth we're experiencing nighttime and you know
what's amazing is that this just happens in a predictable pattern every single day and it's
just so just like clockwork no pun intended happens every single day and we always know exactly when
summer solstice is we know exactly what the longest daylight day of the year is we know
exactly when fall is going to come exactly when winter is going to come we know exactly when
lunar eclipses are going to happen to the very minute and solar eclipses down to the very minute
how are all of these things possible because god is a wise creator and god obviously created
this universe such a just majestic way to where everything is timed perfectly everything is a
system this is not a cosmic accident i mean think about the insanity of the big bang theory
like here we are just experiencing just all the time the same things we're predicting everything
in the universe it's coming to pass before our eyes and then just to think that all that happened
by accident everything came from nothing make that make sense that exploded into everything
that just so happened to be in a perfect time it's just crazy to think about and they do they do time
everything exactly to the minute i remember i was it last year when that big solar eclipse happened
was it here a 100 eclipse okay where we were it was a 100 eclipse and to the very second you could
take off your glasses and look directly at the sun and there was zero percent of the sun shining
and the birds came out and the stars came out and the the night crickets came out in the middle of
the day and it was just like i look at this i was thinking god is so amazing like that's what any
normal person does when they see creation when they look up at the moon and the stars and the
planets and you understand science it just puts you in awe of god and makes you realize how amazing
and wonderful god is you know we're not an accident people who believe that the bible
has a word for those people fools what's the modern translation of that idiots stupid people
i mean you have to be so stupid to look at a solar eclipse and be like well that was an accident
no folks that's not what happens in accidents okay you know if you throw a grenade you're
not going to create a universe you're going to destroy stuff and there's going to be chaos
everywhere grenades explosions no that's not how the earth was created look at verse number 20 of
proverbs 3 proverbs chapter 3 verse 20 by his knowledge the depths are broken up and the clouds
drop down the dew you know i think it's a reference the depths to the fountains of the deep the bible
talks about in genesis how when the lord flooded the earth he caused the fountains of the deep to
open up and cause the the water and i'm thinking of kent hovan right now i'll get to that in a
second but it's funny like scientists have discovered big aquifers way below the ocean
floor like way deep into the earth there's all these gigantic aquifers all over the globe
and they discovered that but isn't it funny how genesis discovered that how the word of god
told you about that and you know i say that to say this we should not be afraid of science
science is not a bad word folks i love science i absolutely love it you know what science is
it's just knowledge you know what science is it's just truth it's just reality it's just god's
creation that's what science is science is the study of god's creation because god made everything
and anything that scientists are studying you know what they're studying something that god created
and to me i just say bring it on absolutely let's learn about it you know hey in homeschool don't
don't skip science teach your children science don't teach them stupidity and stupid conspiracy
theories like the flat earth don't teach them geocentrism it is retarded teach them real science
and real science is not going to make someone an atheist folks science falsely so called people try
to corrupt children by telling them you have no meaning you're a cosmic accident you evolve from
a monkey when you die nothing's going to happen it's just over that could make someone lose their
faith in god but guess what those things are lies that's not true science but any real science
it just makes me in awe of god everything in this world is so complex we understand so little of
the potential of god's creation i believe and we learn more about it every year it seems like
human beings are learning more and more things and i welcome it i love it i don't think we
should hide from science and from truth i think christians have given themselves a really bad
reputation for believing really stupid things about science and look you do not have to deny
reality to be a christian in fact i would say if you believe anything that goes against reality
time out you're misinterpreting something in the bible because nothing in the bible is going to
cause you to deny reality you know like i said before someone said rockets have never left this
earth because the tower of babel and i'm like okay hold on here's how we know that rockets have left
earth because it's happened all the time okay so that's happened so here's where we're gonna go
from here you're misinterpreting this story okay if you're looking at reality we see it happening
you're like well that can't happen because the bible whoa that's a bad interpretation whatever
belief you have that's scary no believe the truth what is truth reality is the truth science is the
truth folks the word of god is the truth and these things will never contradict each other real
science will never contradict the bible you know the fountains of the deep let me tell you what this
is not talking about kent hoven believes that the moon you look up at the moon and what do you see
scars all over it big deep craters all over it well did you know according to kent hoven the reason
the moon got its holes was during the flood when the fountains of the deep broke open the rocks
from earth were shot out at such velocity and force that it overcame earth's gravitational pull
went out of the atmosphere went shooting through space 240 000 miles smack dab into the moon
that's christian science for you this makes christians look so stupid it's not even funny
and this is why people mock christianity is because uh nowhere in the bible did it say that
there's no principle in the bible that teaches that you're just completely making that up out
of thin air and going around saying ha ha i'm a christian i believe this and then on top of that
you say okay well let's let's play his theory for a minute how does the back of the moon how did the
back of the moon get hit then well what you have to understand is the gravitational pull of the moon
brought the rocks back like a slingshot make that make sense so it's so strong that it could go
past the earth's gravitational pull which is way stronger than the moon then it goes 240 000 miles
through the space which space has no resistance it's not losing any inertia it doesn't need any
force or any extra push it's going the same speed but somehow the moon's gravity which is way less
is able to pull it back at such force again the same force that it exploded out of the earth
to hit the moon and cause the craters this is so retarded and i'm just so sick and tired of
christians making other christians look stupid i'm so sick and tired of christians denying reality
in the name of the bible you don't have to do it folks and you know what i want a cultured anchor
baptist church where we take learning seriously where we love the truth we love science we love
the bible i want people i'm just telling you my honest heart i want people to be uncomfortable
to say stupid things at this church and you know what if i say something stupid i should feel
ashamed i should feel ashamed i should feel embarrassed you know what there's some shame
that's good and you need to be shamed if you say space doesn't exist the moon landing's fake you
know the earth exploded and caused all the holes in the moon like you need to experience some shame
because let me tell you who you're shaming right now god and christians and you're making us look
really bad knock it off then it says in verse 20 and the clouds drop down the dew so again you
can see the wisdom of god just from the water cycle how it's a perfect cycle how water is
constantly evaporating it's going into the atmosphere it's condensing into clouds it's
raining down in precipitation and that just repeats over and over and over again like
clockwork why because our world was created by jesus christ because our world has an intelligent
designer it's god it's not an accident it brings honor and glory to god verse 21 notice what it
says my son let not them depart from thine eyes keep sound wisdom and discretion so shall they be
life unto thy soul and grace to thy neck then shalt thou walk in thy way safely and thy foot
shall not stumble so you're just going to have some surety in your life and it's nice to to know
where you're going in life it's nice to know that you're right it's nice to know what god wants from
you you know we shouldn't necessarily be as concerned with you know do you like the truth
is it going to feel good as just i want to know whatever the truth is and the truth is going to
give you security a sure path it's going to cause you not to stumble when thou liest down thou
shalt not be afraid yea thou shalt lie down and thy sleep shall be sweet man what a blessing
to have sleep and when you lose your sleep you remember what a great blessing it is
and oftentimes one of the ways people implement torture is sleep deprivation because it is
literally torture it's terrible being tired and sometimes you go through those seasons where
you're living in torture you know you don't want to be there very long you want to have that sweet
sleep verse 25 it says be not afraid of sudden fear neither of the desolation of the wicked when
it cometh for the lord shall be thy confidence and shall keep thy foot from being taken so think
about what we've been reading a lot in this chapter we want to not forget god's law we want
to keep his commandments we want to trust in the lord with all of our heart not lean on our own
understanding we want god to direct our ways what comes as a result of those things is that god's
going to be your confidence you're going to have you know confidence that god's on your side you're
going to be at peace knowing that his hand is upon your life that he's got you even his correction
comforts us thy rod and my staff comforts us and so what that should cause us to do is not be afraid
of sudden fear what's the sudden fear what if a bomb dropped on my head right now right what if i
lose everything what if i die tomorrow what if whatever the what if in your mind is that's
sudden fear when something unexpected happens don't be afraid of those things because sometimes
those things just happen and they're going to happen and you should expect them to happen you
should be ready for them to happen but you should know that they're going to happen knowing that
god's on your side knowing that you have peace with god that's going to cause you to not fear
the sudden whatever it is in your life knowing hey i'm willing to go through whatever god wants
me to go through because at least i know that god is pleased with me you know what would be torture
is going through a terrible situation going through the day of evil losing your kids in
a terrible way losing your spouse in a terrible way and it was your fault for being wicked there's
not going to be any peace in that there's just going to be lifelong pain and regret but you know
you could have a situation like job where the sudden fear comes the day of destruction comes
but you know what job retained his integrity he didn't curse god and die god blessed the
latter end of job more than the beginning and so there's no reason to be afraid of the evil day of
the sudden fear when god is on your side number five this evening christian behavior the rest of
this chapter just kind of talks about some good principles of how we should behave as christians
verse 27 says withhold not good from them to whom it is due when it is in the power of thine hand
to do it you know you could spend a lifetime applying this verse because whatever is good
whatever it is that you can do that's good you're supposed to do it you're supposed to
not withhold it from other people and you know obviously i think immediately here about soul
winning don't withhold good from someone to whom it is due who is the gospel due to the lost of
this world we owe this world the gospel of jesus christ christ commanded us he gave us the great
commission the power is in our hands we have this treasure in earthen vessels right and so it's our
duty it's our job to go out and warn people of the fires of hell and to offer them the free gift
of salvation we should not withhold good from those people verse 28 say not until thy neighbor
go and come again and tomorrow i will give when thou hast it by thee so notice don't delay doing
good when you can do good now don't delay preaching someone the gospel when you have the opportunity
right now you know i've had people in my life that i just when i was really close to them when i spent
a lot of time with them i was young and unsaved and so obviously i couldn't have preached them
the gospel and later on in life you know we lived very far apart from each other and i never got the
opportunity to give that person the gospel and unfortunately that person died and went to hell
and you know it causes me a lot of pain to think about that and shame because you know what i
could have called him up i could have made an effort but you know what unfortunately in my own
selfish youth and immaturity and not thinking about the future in the way that i should have
you know i missed that opportunity and that opportunity is gone for forever and i can never
change that but you know what i could do going forward is that hey when the opportunity presents
itself when i do have the ability i'm not going to withhold good from who it's due you know when
we get visitors coming in our church we should be preaching them the gospel ladies come and visit
ladies please approach them and and offer them the gospel ask them if they were to die today
are you 100 sure they'd be going to heaven men same thing you know it'd be a shame it would be
insane for someone to walk into an independent fundamental baptist church and then walk out
unsaved not because they rejected the gospel but because they didn't even hear it that would be a
shame that would be sad and you know what you've got loved ones i've got loved ones we've got a
whole city of people here in oklahoma city that need the gospel let's make sure that we give that
to them let's make sure we don't withhold that from them verse number 29 devise not evil against
thy neighbor seeing he dwelleth securely by thee so this is talking about your neighbor in a very
physical sense your people who are in a close proximity to excuse me your house be at peace
with your neighbors your physical next door neighbors in your neighborhood be at peace with
them if at all possible you don't want to have you know hatfield mccoy situation going on
you don't want to have battles you want to be extremely long-suffering to your neighbors
because man when neighbor feuds happen it can get ugly and it was weird this must have happened in
my neighborhood before i moved in because when i moved in when i met the neighbors the first
thing they told me is just like wow the peoples who you just bought that house from had a rough
divorce and we're just like okay like i really don't want to be hearing this but it wasn't just
one neighbor the next neighbor we met and the next neighbor we met and then they're telling us
about all the neighbors that they hate and that they fight with and like we almost came to blows
with this person you watch out for this i was like what is going on here and i'm just like all right
babe we need to be at peace with our neighbors you know because you don't want to deal with that
friction when you have to live there every single day and you don't want to move out in the whole
neighborhood just like yes that was the worst divorce ever it's like divorce is ugly how bad
was it when the whole neighborhood is going out of the way to tell us like wow be at peace with
your neighbors verse number 30 strive not with a man without cause if you have done me no harm of
course as christians we should be peacemakers right the servant of the lord should not strive
we should not be out looking for a fight out looking for a battle now we should be ready and
willing to fight for the faith and ready and willing to fight for a worthy cause whenever
whoever that is no problem but you know it shouldn't be our desire to have conflict with
other people as much as life in us let us live peaceably with all men when i go soul winning
i want to like this person i want to get along with them i want them to agree with everything
that i say and what the bible says i want to call upon the name of the lord of them and leave on a
good note that's what i want i don't want to get in some arguing shouting match with them i don't
want to you know rebuke them and look tough or anything like that i want to get along with them
and i want them to get saved and you know what that should be our attitude just everywhere
like i want to get along with my co-workers i want to get along with my boss i want to get
along with my family you know if you are just constantly in strife with everyone every sphere
of your life work church neighborhood marriage you're probably just a foward person you're
probably just a man that loves strife and you need to realize that hey don't strive with a man
without cause there needs to be a serious reason to fight not just over petty carnal things verse
31 envy not thou the oppressor and choose none of his ways for the foward is abomination to
the lord but his secret is with the righteous number six this evening last point the curse
of the wicked look at verse 33 the curse of the lord is in the house of the wicked but he blessed
the habitation of the just surely he scorneth the scorners but he giveth grace unto the lowly
the wise shall inherit glory the shame shall be the promotion of fools and you'll often see in
the proverbs god ending the chapters like this where god is just giving you so much great wisdom
so much instruction and reproof and he kind of often ends these chapters like by giving you a
choice by showing you two roads two sets of people and the the life that that leads to
and on one hand you've got the wicked and who are the wicked there are the scorners they are the
foward right so the people that hear these commandments hear these instructions and they
don't want to listen to it they think that they're wise in their own eyes right they trust in their
own heart they're going to lean on their own understanding they're going to reject these
things what's the end of that life the curse of the lord god's hand being against you then he
compares that with the just what does he do to the just he blesses the habitation of the just
and all throughout this chapter it talked about god blessing those that are righteous with peace
with even riches and honor talks about in this chapter all these you know pleasantness all these
blessings on one hand and god wants you to make the right decision but he's kind of showing you at
the end of this look you've got a choice to make blessed the habitation of the just who are those
it's the lowly in verse 34 describes how those that are just are those that are lowly and of
course that makes perfect sense with everything this chapter has been telling you because what
does it mean to be lowly it means that you're not going to trust your heart you're not going to put
your own thoughts above what the bible says even if you don't understand something you're going to
submit yourself to god's word when you're chastised and corrected by god you're going to take that in
stride and not despise the correction of the lord that is the lowly those are who are blessed by god
the wise shall inherit glory but shame shall be the promotion of fools what is the world going to
look at what are you going to think when you look at someone that's rejected god rejected his
commandments not followed his paths you're going to say what a shame you're going to say this
person's life is a shame their marriage is turned into a shame their child rearing is a shame
everything about them is a shame that's the end of these things and i want to read one more time
before we close proverbs chapter 3 verse 5 trust in the lord with all thine heart and lean not
unto thine own understanding in all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths
that's what we should want from god it's for god to direct our paths you know we should not look at
the law of god as a hindrance to our lives or something that is there to constrict us or hurt
us but realize that keeping the commandments of god not forgetting his laws that's going to cause
god to direct your steps and you know what those steps are directed towards peace pleasantness
honor riches in some cases glory blessings all these things the bible says are on that path
or those who are forward those who don't hearken those who trust in their own heart you know what
they have to look forward to the curse of god and you know what christians their lives can be really
messed up by god too the unsaved who reject god they've got the curse of god you know what the
saved can make a lot of stupid decisions too i don't want my life to be cursed by god i want
the blessings of him i don't want to see your lives destroyed by god you need to trust in the
lord with all your heart let's have a word of prayer lord thank you for this beautiful chapter
and for your great wisdom and i just thank you for the beauty of your creation how we could see
your glory and greatness and everything that you've made i pray that the people here under the
sound of my voice would fear you would not forget your commandments would trust in you
and would follow your ways and your path please guide us lord we love you in jesus name we pray
amen you will grab your hymnal our last song for this evening it's number 105 all that thrills my
soul hymn number 105 105 all that thrills my soul 105 there on the first