Music
Alright everybody, great to see everybody here tonight. We'll go ahead and find our seats, we'll go ahead and get started.
It's great to see everybody. Welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church. Thank you for coming on Wednesday night.
Once you find your seat, we'll go ahead and get started. Once you've found a seat, we'll go ahead and find a hymnal, and we'll start tonight with song number 197.
Song number 197, Singing I Go, song number 197.
The trusting heart to Jesus claims, nor any ill for most. But at the cross of Calvary sings, praise God for lives and lows.
Singing I go, upon life's road, praising the Lord, praising the Lord.
Singing I go, upon life's road, praise God as lifted my load.
The passing days bring many hairs, fear not I hear Him say. And when my fears are turned to prayers, the burdens slip away.
Singing I go, upon life's road, praising the Lord, praising the Lord.
Singing I go, upon life's road, Jesus as lifted my load.
He tells me of my Father's love and ever slumbering eye. My everlasting King above will all my needs apply.
Singing I go, upon life's road, praising the Lord, praising the Lord.
Singing I go, upon life's road, Jesus as lifted my load.
When to the throne of grace I plead, I find the promise true. The mighty arms upholding me will bear my burdens too.
Singing I go, upon life's road, praising the Lord, praising the Lord.
Singing I go, upon life's road, Lord Jesus as lifted my load.
Great singing everybody. Let's open up the service with a word of prayer.
Lord we love you and we just want to thank you again for Steadfast Baptist Church allowing us to gather here and sing unto you Lord together.
And we just thank you for the preaching we're going to hear tonight and we just ask you to bless this church in Jesus name we pray. Amen.
All right for our next song let's go to song number 102.
Song number 102. He hideth my soul. Song number 102.
Song number 102 everybody sing it out in the verse.
A wonderful Savior is Jesus my Lord, a wonderful Savior to me.
He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rough, where rivers of pleasure I see.
He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rough, where shadows of fibers meet them.
He hideth my life in the depths of His love, and covers me there with His hand, and covers me there with His hand.
A wonderful Savior is Jesus my Lord, He taketh my burden away.
He holdeth me up and I shall not be moved, He giveth me strength as my name.
He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rough, where shadows of dry thirsty land.
He hideth my life in the depths of His love, and covers me there with His hand, and covers me there with His hand.
With numberless blessings each moment He crowns, and filled with His fullness divine.
I sing in my rapture, oh glory to God, for such a Redeemer as God.
He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rough, that shadows of dry thirsty land.
He hideth my life in the depths of His love, and covers me there with His hand,
and covers me there with His hand.
When clothed in His brightness, transported I rise to meet Him in clouds of the sky.
His perfect salvation, His wonderful love I'll shout with the millions on high.
He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rough, that shadows of dry thirsty land.
He hideth my life in the depths of His love, and covers me there with His hand, and covers me there with His hand.
We should have our prayer list as an insert this evening so that's how you know if you have the right one.
On the front we have our Bible memory passage of the week Proverbs 31 verse 22.
If you are 18 or under and quote this to myself or an usher after service you can get an ice cream.
On the front left hand side we have our service times listed there as well as our church wide soul winning times.
All those meet here at the building and then our regional soul winning times are listed there that meet various areas throughout DFW.
Just a quick note if you go to brother Sam Foley's time you might want to get in touch with him because I know that a couple of the guys have been in the Philippines preaching the gospel so just double check if that is still going on this Monday.
As always please return your soul winning maps to the bin once you complete those.
We have our church stats listed there for the year for salvation and baptism.
On the right hand side we have the prayer list for our expecting ladies.
Then of course like I said we have our prayer list here we will go over in just a moment.
Real quickly on our upcoming events we have a lot of upcoming events updated today in our bulletin.
February 24th we are going to have our preaching class that's this Saturday.
March 23rd we are going to have a big soul winning push as well as a hot dog cookout at a park.
There will be more details coming soon about that but mark your calendars for that.
On March 30th which is right before Easter we are going to have a Cedar Hill South Dallas soul winning marathon.
We ordered some special Easter invites today.
I think we ordered 5,000 so we are really wanting to push these Easter invites at every soul winning time you go to regardless of location.
Hand these out it's going to be good to get those out for sure.
March 31st is Easter of course and we are going to be taking communion as a church that day so make sure you are here for that.
April 6th is a Shareefport Louisiana soul winning marathon and we do have a sign up sheet for this at the front.
Of all the places I have been soul winning in the U.S. Shareefport and Detroit are right up there for the best soul winning.
If you want some good soul winning this is the one you want to go to it's very receptive.
We always have a great time at this one so there is a sign up sheet for that.
There is also a sign up sheet for the Verde Baptist Church Youth Rally that's coming up on April 9th through the 10th.
So if your teen is going to that there is a sign up sheet up front and it has some details about when and where and the age limits and do you need a parent and all that stuff.
Just check the sheet for that.
Lastly on our upcoming events April 29th we are having a Fort Worth Zoo day and again more details are going to come as it gets closer but this is just so you can mark your calendars for that.
On the back we have our congratulations to the Chamley family and to the Warner family on the birth of Phoebe Henrietta Chamley for the Chamleys.
Titus Judah Warner for the Warners. Let's give a big round of applause for both of them.
And then before we go to our next song we do have our prayer list here.
A couple things added. Ms. Stewart's Health, Dawn Stewart. My father had like a very minor skin cancer surgery that was removed and so I'm just praying that that returns as a positive test and doesn't spread or anything like that.
So if you pray for that. And then Faith Miller, her friend Tamara's cancer treatment, we're praying for that as well.
So let's go ahead and go to the Lord in prayer as a church here. Dear Lord, thank you for this day. Thank you for our church and just pray that our pastor would feel better soon and pray that she bless all those that weren't able to make it tonight, Lord.
And thank you for the healing that you've given to Brother Cameron's leg. I pray that his leg would just continue to be healthy, that he wouldn't have any more issues in the future and that you'd just strengthen him and his family.
I just pray for Ms. Karen for her stepdad's cancer treatment as well as my father's cancer treatment and Faith Miller's friend's cancer treatment. I pray that all those situations you'd get them the care that they need and pray that you'd heal them, Lord.
And pray for Alicia's grandmother's vision for her health and salvation as well as for Ms. Tinika's mother's health.
And we also pray for Ms. Dawn Stewart that she would give her better health going forward, Lord. Pray that she would heal all these people and pray that she would be with all the needs of our church. You know what they are.
The unspoken requests as well and just pray that you bless these people in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Alright, so we're going to go ahead and sing Psalm 147. Psalm 147.
I need you all to back me up on this one. I've got a little tickle in my throat so if you hear me pause just keep on singing.
Psalm 147. Psalm 147 in your King James Bible or handout.
Praise ye the Lord, for it is good to sing praises unto our God.
For it is pleasant and praises from Thee, the Lord, downfield of Jerusalem.
He gathered together the outcasts of Israel.
He healeth the broken in heart and kindeth of their wounds.
He telleth of number of the stars.
He calleth them all, He calleth them all by their names.
Great is our Lord, and of great power, His understanding is infinite.
The Lord liveth of the weak, casteth the wicked down to the ground.
Sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving, sing praise upon the heart.
But to our God, who covereth the heaven with clouds, who remain.
Pray for the earth, who maims, grass to grow upon the mountains.
He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry.
He delighteth not in the strength of the force he taketh, not pleasure in.
The legs of a man the Lord taketh, pleasure in them that fear Him.
And those that open His mercy praise the Lord.
Jerusalem, praise Thy God, O Zion, praise the Lord, O Jerusalem.
For He hath strengthened the bars of the gates He hath blessed.
Thy children, whom Thee may get peace in Thy waters and filleth thee.
With the finest thou, we descendeth, forth is commandment.
Upon earth, earth runneth very swiftly.
Snow like molding, scattereth the poor, frost like ashes.
He casteth forth His eyes like morn, souls who can't stand before His cold.
He senteth out His word and melted them, because it with wind to blow.
And the waters flow, He showeth His word unto Jacob, his statutes in.
Israel, not dealt so with any demand as for His judgments.
They have not looked and received the Lord.
All right, great singing, everybody. Now, as the offering plates are being passed around,
go ahead and turn in your Bibles to Proverbs chapter number one.
That's Proverbs chapter number one.
Proverbs chapter number one.
Proverbs chapter one will read the entire chapter as is our custom.
Proverbs one, the Bible reads, the Proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel,
to know wisdom and instruction, to perceive the words of understanding,
to receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity,
to give subtlety to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.
A wise man will hear and will increase learning,
and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels,
to understand a proverb and the interpretation,
the words of the wise and their dark sayings.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,
but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother,
for they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head and chains about thy neck.
My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.
If they say, come with us, let us lay weight for blood,
let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause,
let us swallow them up alive as the grave and whole as those that go down into the pit,
we shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil.
Cast in thy lot among us, let us all have one purse.
My son, walk not thou in the way with them,
refrain thy foot from their path,
for their feet run to evil and make haste to shed blood.
Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird,
and they lay weight for their own blood,
they lurk privily for their own lives.
So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain,
which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.
Wisdom crieth without, she uttereth her voice in the streets,
she crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates,
in the city she uttereth her words, saying,
How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity?
And the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge.
Turn ye at my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you,
I will make known my words unto you, because I have called, and ye refused,
I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded.
But ye have said at naught all my counsel, and would none of my reproof.
I also will laugh at your calamity, I will mock when your fear cometh.
When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind,
when distress and anguish cometh upon you,
then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer.
They shall seek me early, but they shall not find me.
For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord,
they would none of my counsel, they despised all my reproof.
Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way,
and be filled with their own devices.
For the turning away of the simple shall slay them,
and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely,
and shall be quiet from fear of evil.
Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer.
Father in heaven, we just thank you for brother Dylan Oz and his family,
and I pray that you fill in with your spirit now,
and enable him to preach with boldness the sermon you've laid on his heart.
And Lord, I pray that you would soften hearts in the room,
and open ears as well, so that we can receive the preaching of your word,
and glorify you in everything we do.
We love you, in Jesus' name I pray, amen.
Amen.
All right, well thank you Pastor Shelley for allowing me to preach tonight,
and we're here in Proverbs chapter 1,
one of the most famous books of the whole Bible actually,
a lot of times even when you just buy a New Testament,
it'll have the book of Proverbs at the back,
and that's because the book of Proverbs was written to give us wisdom.
Look at Proverbs chapter number 1,
look at verse number 1, it says,
the proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel,
to know wisdom and instruction to perceive the words of understanding,
to receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity,
to give subtlety to the simple,
to the young man knowledge and discretion.
So here the Bible is explaining that this book is given to us,
so that we can gain wisdom.
So this is a great book for those that are new in the faith,
and old in the faith alike,
because everybody needs to constantly be seeking to get wisdom.
You can never arrive at a point in your life where you've gotten enough wisdom,
or enough knowledge, or enough understanding,
so the book of Proverbs is an essential part of the Christian's diet spiritually.
Look at verse number, flip over to Proverbs chapter 8,
Proverbs chapter number 8,
and we're going to look at some of the benefits,
starting off here, of wisdom in our lives.
Proverbs 8 verse 13, the Bible says,
The fear of the Lord is to hate evil,
pride and arrogance in the evil way,
and the froward mouth do I hate.
Counsel is mine and sound wisdom.
I am understanding, I have strength.
By me kings reign and princes decree justice.
By me princes rule and nobles even all the judges of the earth.
I love them that love me,
and those that seek me early shall find me.
Riches and honor are with me,
yea durable riches and righteousness.
My fruit is better than gold,
yea than fine gold,
and my revenue than choice silver.
I lead in the way of righteousness,
in the midst of the paths of judgment,
that I may cause those that love me to inherit substance,
and I will fill their treasures.
So right off the bat we can see how much wisdom benefits our lives.
It's saying that by wisdom kings rule,
by wisdom princes make their decrees,
by wisdom is the increase of wealth and prosperity even physically speaking.
And of course it says and righteousness as well.
Being someone that's wise that's going to cause you to be a righteous person.
And obviously every single person in here wants to have wisdom.
But go back to Proverbs chapter number 1
and look at verse number 5.
Proverbs 1 verse 5 it says this,
Proverbs 4 verse 5,
Get wisdom, get understanding, forget it not,
neither decline from the words of thy mouth,
forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee,
love her, and she shall keep thee.
Wisdom is the principle thing,
therefore get wisdom,
and with all thy getting, get understanding.
So notice here, wisdom is just constantly being emphasized in the Bible.
So much so that the Bible is saying of everything that you're going to get,
of everything that you're going to seek in life,
wisdom is the most important thing you could ever seek.
It's the most important thing you could ever find in life is wisdom.
And when I hear that I want to think, hey, I want to become wise then.
I want to get some wisdom. I want to get wise.
And the title of my sermon is 3 Steps to Becoming Wise.
3 Steps to Becoming Wise.
Go back to Proverbs chapter number 1.
Proverbs chapter number 1.
And Proverbs 1 verse 5 gives us 3 steps on how to become wise Christians.
Notice what it says. It says,
A wise man will hear and will increase learning,
and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsel.
So number 1 this evening, to become wise you must listen more than you speak.
This is something that all wise people have in common.
If you spend time around wise people, if you observe their lifestyle,
they listen more than they speak. Why?
Because it says in verse 5, a wise man will what?
Hear.
Go to Proverbs chapter number 10. Proverbs chapter number 10.
Wisdom comes from listening, not from speaking.
Fools are known by the abundance of the words that come out of their mouth.
When you hear someone that's stupid, they're constantly just talking all the time.
Just spewing out foolishness out of their mouth.
But look at Proverbs 10 verse 19. It says,
In the multitude of words, there wanteth not sin,
but he that refraineth his lips is wise.
If you like to take notes in your Bible, you can just write social media next to this verse.
Because just in the multitude of words,
when every single person is telling you everything that's on their mind,
every stupid thought that comes into their brain,
there wanteth not sin there.
Meaning there's not a lack of sin.
And the Bible says that even the thought of foolishness is sin.
And so when a lot of people are talking, there's a lot of foolishness going on.
The Bible's saying that no, the wise person is actually the person that refrains or holds back their lips.
And you know, it used to be that in order to have a platform,
in order to be someone that people listen to,
you used to have to be someone that's built a reputation by your character or by your works
or have been someone that's been proved for someone to care about what you think about anything.
But now, because of social media,
every single person in the world can reach millions of people no matter how stupid they are.
And sometimes, in fact, the algorithms are actually created to boost stupidity on the Internet.
A brother from church was showing me the other day
this YouTube channel that has hundreds of millions of views
that is about robots destroying toilets.
Fake toilets.
Hundreds of millions of views.
People spending their time watching toilets being destroyed online.
That's the type of world that exists on the Internet.
Stupidity.
Foolishness.
Idiots.
But those that refrain their lips are wise.
Go to James chapter number one, James chapter number one.
We need to get back to the time where in order for your opinion to even matter,
you should have to have built something or have been tried through something
or have shown people that you're worthy of being followed.
Don't just follow every person you see online.
They're not necessarily worth following.
James chapter one, verse 19, it says,
Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.
So notice, if we're going to follow God's instructions,
we need to be swift to hear.
Meaning that when there's an opportunity to get knowledge,
when there's an opportunity to learn something,
we want to be right on that, ready to listen.
Because if there's an opportunity to learn something,
that means there's an opportunity for us to become more wise.
There's an opportunity for us to become better people, better Christians.
And what is the best place on earth to learn?
It's church.
That's the best place.
This is the pillar and ground of the truth.
The local New Testament church is supposed to hold up the truth nice and high
like a light on a shining hill to show the world what the truth is.
That's what church is.
And when you want to learn something, the best place you can do is come to church.
Go to Ecclesiastes chapter number five.
Ecclesiastes chapter number five.
But here's the thing, it's not enough just to come to church.
Because notice what these verses have been talking about.
Hearing, listening.
So if you come to church but you don't pay attention,
if you come to church and your ears are not attentive,
you're not ready to hear the word of God,
church profits you nothing,
and you're just as wise or just as foolish
as when you walked in the doors.
In order to have benefit, you must listen.
Look at Ecclesiastes 5.1, it says,
Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God,
and be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools,
for they consider not that they do evil.
Notice how hearing is being compared against the sacrifice of fools,
which is what? Just the abundance of words, right?
And a lot of times, unfortunately, if you're going to a bad church,
you're going to listen to the preacher giving the sacrifice of fools,
but that's not how this church is, right?
We have the King James Bible, we have a pastor that studies the word of God,
and if you come to this church, you're going to get fed spiritually.
No one in this room has the excuse that many other people try to give of,
well, I wasn't being fed at that church.
Look, if you're not being fed at steadfast Baptist church,
it's because you are not listening.
It's not because the preaching is boring or it's lacking Bible or anything like that.
The preaching at this church is saturated with scripture,
and it's given by a wise pastor from behind the pulpit,
and so if you're not being fed, look in the mirror because you're the problem.
You have to open your ears to benefit.
So here's some practical tips to help you pay attention.
You say, I struggle with paying attention in church.
Here's a practical tip.
Turn off your phone or put it on Do Not Disturb.
I use this feature all the time.
When I'm writing sermons, I put that thing on Do Not Disturb
because I don't want to get out of the zone, right?
And so if you're wanting to really take in what the preacher's saying,
if you want to really learn the word of God,
turn that thing on Don't Disturb.
Because even if you're not on the phone,
sometimes you just feel it buzzing in your pocket and you're like,
I wonder what that is.
And you ignore it, it's no big deal.
Then it buzzes again and you're like, what's going on?
I'm wondering what's going on, right?
And your brain is now being taken away from the preaching of God word
and your sports scores are notifying your phone
or your ring camera is notifying your phone
or just all this random stuff that's distracting you
from the preaching of God's word.
So just put that thing on Do Not Disturb.
Now I understand maybe you have a job where you're on call
and sure, that's the exception.
But for the vast majority of people,
there's nothing that important going on
that you can't just turn your phone off while you're in church.
This is the most important thing going on in the world right now
is the preaching of God's word.
Turn off your phone.
I'll read for you Hebrews 12, 28.
It says, Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved,
let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably
with reverence and godly fear.
What is reverence?
It's extreme respect.
Like reverence is how an ambassador would treat
the prime minister of a foreign nation or the president of a nation.
You would call him sir.
You would look him in the eyes when he's talking to you.
You would shake his hand.
You'd be reverent towards that person.
And the Bible's saying that when we serve God,
we should do so with reverence and godly fear.
And you know what is not being respectful?
It's scrolling Facebook during the preaching of God's word.
You know, I've been to a lot of churches
and I've walked around congregations
and I've seen people scrolling Facebook,
scrolling Instagram, scrolling eBay.
I've seen people scrolling eBay.
I've seen people checking emails.
Just stop.
Just put it away.
Just focus on the preaching of God's word
because it's more important than anything else.
And man, our society is becoming addicted to our phones
to the point where I walk into men's public bathrooms
and there's dudes using the urinal
and they're literally holding their phone
while they're taking a piss.
That's how addicted our world's becoming to their phones.
Woe unto you if you're that addicted to your phone.
Put the dang thing away
and listen to the preaching of God's word.
Turn it off.
Here's another thing that can help you
is taking notes during a sermon.
This is something I really like to do
and I usually use my laptop to do this
because I don't lose the papers
and I could just go back at any time in the future
and reference, oh, what did Pastor Shelley say about Revelation 12, right?
And I could check that out years in the future
because I'm using that tool to take notes
and it also just helps keep my mind engaged in the preaching.
If I'm saying, hey, here's Pastor Shelley's points.
Here's the Scriptures that he's going to.
And maybe at some point tonight
I'll be rambling on in my sermon
but I promise you I'm going to give you three
very clear, distinctive points
that you can walk away with
that if you wrote those down, that could help you in your life.
If you were taking notes, that could help you
to pay attention.
Here's another thing. Go to Proverbs 29.
Proverbs 29. Here's something that can help you
pay attention in church
and that is disciplining your children at home.
Disciplining your children at home
because if you are disciplining
your children at home
and you're having them get used to
preaching at home or the Bible at home
once they come to church, hopefully you wouldn't have to be
correcting them as often.
Now, of course, everyone's going to have to correct their kids during church.
Every kid is occasionally going to get
loud or upset. I get that.
But if your two, three, four, five, six-year-old
is driving you so crazy
that you can't pay attention to the preaching
of God's Word, that's a problem.
That's a discipline issue that you're failing at
at home. Look at Proverbs
29, verse 17.
It says, correct thy son
and he shall give thee, notice, rest.
That's how I want to be at church.
I just want to be sitting in my seat
and unless there's crazy protests going on and police
I've got to deal with, I just want to rest in my seat
and pay attention to the preaching of God's Word, right?
And that's how it should be for all of you too, but
in order for that to happen, notice what you have to do.
Correct thy son.
And it's not during the preaching that's going to make
the change, it's what you do at home that's going to
make the change for your children. So,
like for my house, and maybe you have your own
plan that works for you, but we like to have
Bible time at night, where we read
a chapter of the Bible, the kids have to sit on the
couch, they have to be quiet, they can't
talk to each other, or they will get spanked.
Then, we do prayer time,
where I pray, my wife prays, and then the kids pray,
each one of them. Then we memorize
the scripture of the week after that.
And that is teaching them the
discipline of being in church, right?
Because they have to, not every single night,
I'd like to say that I do it every single night,
hopefully I have the character to do that someday,
but when we do this, man, it does make
a difference in how they behave at church.
Because they're doing it at home.
And so if you want your kids to behave at church,
make them behave at home.
Don't only just discipline them here, that's not
going to work. Go to Hebrews chapter number 4,
Hebrews chapter number 4.
What are we talking about? We're talking about how
to get wisdom, you have to
listen more than you speak.
And in order to listen in church, you can't
be distracted by your phone, can't be distracted
by your kids being bad. No, you need
to have that taken care of so that you can focus and
listen of the preaching
of God's word. Why? Look at Hebrews 4
12, it says,
For the word of God is quick and
powerful, sharper than any
two-edged sword, piercing
even to the dividing asunder of soul
and spirit, and of the joints
and marrow, and is a
discerner of the thoughts and intents
of the heart. Notice how powerful the word
of God is described.
You know, if you read the Bible,
you know how true this is. If you've
been serving the Lord over the last
several years or maybe even decades, you know
how powerful God's word really is.
When you've heard preaching that's changed your life,
you know how powerful God's
word is. But in order for that to actually take effect,
you have to be listening to it.
We all can think of probably sermons that have changed our
lives, sermons that have moved us.
Look, in order to get the benefit from that,
you must be listening.
This is a powerful tool right here.
It's the sharp two-edged sword,
cutting and dividing asunder soul
and spirit, the joints and marrow,
and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents
of the heart. I mean, that is
a powerful tool right there.
But if you're not paying attention when it's preached, you're not going
to benefit from it.
I'll read for you Mark 4-9 says,
And he said unto them, He that hath
ears to hear, let him hear.
Why did Jesus have to say
that? Because people aren't paying attention,
because people aren't listening. So look,
let us that have ears tonight
hear the sermon.
When Pastor Shelley's preaching, let us that have ears
listen to what he's saying.
Right? There's people that are literally deaf
on this earth that would love to be able to
listen to preaching, or
listen to the word of God being read.
And some of us are too busy scrolling
Instagram during church.
Some of us are too busy on Facebook
during church. Hey, if you've got ears to hear,
hear, listen.
Why? Because it's going to make you wise.
And if you want to be a wise person, you
must listen more
than you speak. Go back to
Proverbs chapter 1.
Proverbs chapter 1. And of course
we're talking about church, but this goes
at the workplace too. You know,
if you want to be a good worker, listen more than you speak.
I mean, customer service today
absolutely sucks. And you go
somewhere and you're surprised if they
listen to you well enough to get your order right.
Right? So you will literally just stand out
in the workplace by just listening.
Just listening to instructions,
just listening to the customer,
just listen. It'll make you a better person.
Here's point number two to become
wise. Constantly be learning.
Constantly be
learning. Look at Proverbs 1.5. It says
a wise man will hear, that's point number one,
notice point number two, and will
increase learning.
Increase learning.
And you want to know what the best way
on earth is to learn?
It's to read.
Reading is how you learn.
You want to know why God gave us his
word in written format? Because that
is how you learn.
Watching videos is not the best way to learn.
It's reading the Bible.
That is how you learn.
And I talked about earlier how
man, we live in this weird social media
age where everyone's a
teacher and no one is a student.
But what would be great
is if people stop talking so
much and just started reading
and listening. Because why
is it that the internet is just flooded
with false prophets? It's because
our world is flooded with people
that don't read the Bible.
Because if you've read the Bible,
when some idiot gets online
and wants to teach you about the Nephilim,
when some moron online wants to
tell you about repenting or sin, salvation,
you're going to say, no, because
I've read the Bible.
So look, you want to get understanding, you want to get knowledge,
you want to get wisdom,
you must read the Bible.
That is the best way
to do it. Now let's turn to
Psalm chapter number one.
So basically
in order to learn, there's two things
that every single person
must read. If you want to become a
wise person, every single person
must be reading these two things.
Number one, of course, what is it?
The King James Bible. If you're an English speaker,
you must be reading the Bible every single day.
If you do not read the King James Bible
every single day, you are not a wise person.
Because this is God's word
and a wise person would want to listen
to what God said, obviously, right?
Psalm chapter number one, notice,
Blessed is the man
that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly,
nor standeth in the way of sinners,
nor sitteth in the seat
of the scornful, but his delight
is in the law of the Lord,
and in his law doth he meditate.
Notice, day and
night, and he shall
be like a tree planted by the rivers
of water, that bringeth forth his
fruit and his season. His leaf
also shall not wither, and whatsoever
he doeth shall prosper.
What a promise that is in God's word.
Don't we all want to be prosperous? Don't we all
want to be successful in our lives?
Carnally and spiritually, we all want
to be that way, right? How do you get there?
By meditate, by loving the law of the Lord
and meditating therein day
and night.
The most wise people on this planet
are the people that spend the most time
reading the Bible.
Not listening to videos about
the Bible, not reading books about
the Bible, reading the Bible.
Meditating on
the law of the Lord.
And what's funny is even
unsaved people,
even people that are just carnally successful
in this world, or that have
achieved great
statuses of power and renown
in history, when they
utilize the principles
taught in the Bible, it helps them to be
successful as well. And here's the thing,
anyone that knows
anything, about anything,
knows that this is the most powerful
book of all time. I'm going to prove that to you.
Okay, I'm going to give you some quotes from
some former US presidents. And listen, I'm not
saying that these guys are godly, or that they're
saved. My whole point is that even if you're
not saved, and you
hold the Bible in high regard in your life,
and you meditate there on day and night, you're
going to have success in your life. You're going
to prosper in your life. This is what John Quincy Adams
said. He said,
The first and almost, the only book
deserving of universal attention
is the Bible.
President Andrew Jackson said,
That book, sir, is the rock
on which our republic rests.
Abraham Lincoln said,
In regard for this great book, I have this
to say, it is the best gift
God has given to man.
Ulysses S. Grant said,
Hold fast to the Bible as the sheet
anchor of your liberties. Write its
precepts in your hearts and practice them
in your lives. To the
influence of this book, are
we indebted for all the progress
made in true civilization?
And to this, we must look as
our guide in the future. That's a great
quote right there. Any progress that's been
made in civilization anywhere on earth, it's
been because of the wisdom found in God's
word. Benjamin
Harrison said, If you take out
of your statutes, your Constitution,
your family life, all that
is taken from the sacred book,
what would there be left to
bind society together? What
a prophet that guy was
because our society is completely
unraveling because the Bible has been
taken out of our laws, the Bible has been taken
out of our families, the Bible has been taken
out of our social structures, and we're
living in a hellscape more and more
every single day. But back when
people were wise in America,
even the President
gave esteem and honor to the Bible.
And let me tell you something, the
President is not usually the most godly person in the
nation, okay? Usually when you're reaching
that level of power and influence,
it's often done by wicked means.
Now I'm not saying every single time, I don't
know, but I'm just going to guess that most
of these guys aren't safe, okay? But
notice what they're saying about the Bible still.
Woodrow Wilson, he said the Bible
is one of the supreme sources
of revelation of the meaning of life,
the nature of God and
spiritual nature and needs of
men. It is the only guide
of life which really leads the Spirit
in the way of peace and salvation. America
was born a Christian nation.
America was born to exemplify that
devotion to the elements of righteousness
which are derived from the revelations of
Holy Scripture. So there you go, you have a US
President saying that we are a Christian nation.
Calvin Coolidge
said this, the strength of our
country is the strength of its religious
convictions. Boy is that true.
I don't care how much money America
has, I don't care how great our
military is, I don't care if we have
the best bombers and the best nukes,
the strength of our country lies
in the wisdom of its people
by heeding to the Bible,
by listening to the Bible, being preached
and by reading the Bible.
That's what makes America strong and if we don't have that,
America will be weak.
Franklin Roosevelt said this,
we cannot read the history of our rise
and development as a nation without
reckoning with the place that the Bible
has occupied in shaping the advances
of this Republic.
Where we have been the truest and most consistent
in obeying its precepts,
we have attained the greatest measure of
contentment and prosperity. Doesn't that sound like
Psalm chapter number one?
The closer you follow the Bible,
the more prosperous our nation
has been. That's reality.
And the only reason our nation is prosperous
now is because we're literally
riding on the spiritual coattails of our
forefathers. Back when our nation
had way more saved people
or had way more godly
preaching than it does right now. That's
why we're so prosperous today. But if
we continue the route that we're going, this
place is going to be unrecognizable
when I'm old. It's going to be
unrecognizable. It is not
going to be the same place.
Harry Truman said this, the fundamental
basis of this nation's laws was given
to Moses on the mount. The fundamental
basis of our Bill of Rights comes from the
teachings we get from Exodus, Matthew,
Isaiah, Saint Paul.
If we don't have a proper fundamental
moral background, we will finally end
up with a totalitarian government
which does not believe in rights for anybody except the state.
There you go.
That's prophetic as well. Ronald
Reagan, who was featured in our film The Preserved
Bible, where he was kind of making
fun of the modern versions of the Bible,
he said this,
inside the Bible, and we know he's even
talking about the King James Bible,
inside of the Bible's pages lie all the
answers to all the problems man has
ever known. It is my
firm belief that the enduring values presented
in its pages have a great meaning
for each of us and for our nation.
The Bible can touch our hearts, order
our minds, and refresh our
souls. I find that
pretty interesting. I find that pretty
interesting that as we look at our nation now,
when it is just an excess pool
of sin and debauchery
and people are just becoming more
and more stupid and apathetic
and lazy and just everything
about our country is just declining.
Like America is a country
in decline.
Even if right now we're still at a
better state than other countries, the
problem is we are on a decline.
So what's it going to be in five years?
What's it going to be in ten years?
Right? But when I look at
these quotes from men who like I said probably
weren't even saved,
what did they do? They gave honor
and respect to the word of
God. Righteousness
exalted a nation
but sin is a reproach to
any people the Bible says.
So if we're going to be a nation that's exalted,
we need to be wise
and read this book every day.
Read it every single
day. And don't you dare
get upset about the direction
of America when you don't even read the
Bible. How dare you?
You're part of the problem.
You think just because you sit inside
Steadfast Baptist Church, you think
that just because you wear a suit and
tie that you're what makes America
great? No. If you don't read the
Bible, you're why we're in this position.
You, Christian,
that does not read the Bible. That's why
we're in the position that we're in.
Go to Deuteronomy chapter number
17, Deuteronomy chapter 17.
But I find it interesting that these
men of power,
they were wise in a sense
because they had to have been to achieve
success and greatness in their life. Even if
it's only a carnal wisdom,
the Bible even talks about in the New Testament
about the children of this world being wiser
sometimes than the children of light.
But what did they all have in common?
They still all recognize that this is
the ultimate source of truth and that
this is the ultimate source of blessing
and advancement in our country
and this is no surprise.
Look at Deuteronomy 17, verse 18. It says,
And it shall be when he sitteth
upon the throne of his kingdom, talking
about a king, the king of Israel,
that he shall write him
a copy of this law
in a book out of that which is
before the priests, the Levites. Notice
the king had to hand
copy the Bible
by hand. You know how much time that
would take? You know, I took a
law enforcement class in high school. We had to
hand write the entire Bill of Rights,
the entire Declaration of Independence, and the entire
US Constitution, and it took forever.
And that is like a sliver
compared to the Bible.
But yet the kings had to do this. They had to write it
by hand. Notice,
And it shall be with him, and he shall read
therein
all the days of his life,
that he may learn to fear
the Lord his God, to keep all the
words of this law and these statutes,
to do them, that his heart
be not lifted up above his brethren,
and that he turn not aside from the commandment
to the right hand or to the left,
to the end that he may prolong his days and his
kingdom, he and his children in the midst
of Israel.
So think about this. The king had to
hand write a copy of the Bible, and he had
to read therein all the days
of his life. Why? Because didn't we
read in Proverbs, by me,
speaking of wisdom, kings
reign? So if you're going to be a
king of a nation, don't you think that you're going to need
a lot of wisdom to make
a lot of judgments? And how
are you going to get that wisdom? Is it just going to come from
human psychologists?
Are you going to listen to Dr. Jordan Peterson?
Are you going to listen to Frederick
Nietzsche? Are you going to listen to all these
vain philosophers and deceivers?
No, you've got to get it from the Bible.
You've got to get it from the word of God, and you have to read
therein all the days of your life. And notice
what happens. It says that his heart be not lifted up
above his brethren. You know, reading the Bible
will cause you to be humble, because
it'll make you realize how much you don't know,
and it'll make you realize how
messed up you are, and how messed up I am.
Right? When I'm reading this book,
I'm not thinking like, man, I
am just really killing it. I'm doing great.
I'm just thinking like, wow,
thank God salvation is by faith alone.
Wow, thank God salvation
is by grace. Right? Because none
of us deserve it. None of us can live up to it.
Go to 2 Kings
22 while I read for you.
1 Timothy 4, 13 says,
I come, give attendance
to reading. You know, God
wants us, until Jesus Christ
returns, to give importance,
to give attendance, to pay attention to the
reading of God's
Word. 2 Kings chapter number 22
verse 3, we're talking about the reign of
King Josiah. It says in verse 3,
and we're going to read a lot of scripture here, it says,
And it came to pass in the
eighteenth year of King Josiah
that the king sent Shaphan, the son
of Azaliah, the son of
Adam, the scribe, to the house of the Lord,
saying, Go up to Hilkiah the
high priest, that he may sum the silver
which is brought into the house of the Lord,
which the keepers of the door have gathered
of the people, and let them deliver it
into the hands of the doers of the work
that have the oversight of the house of the Lord,
and let them give it to the doers of the
work, which is in the house of the Lord,
to repair the breaches of the house.
So there's some construction going on here.
Verse 6, unto
carpenters and builders and masons,
sent by timber and hewn stone to
repair the house. Howbeit
there was no reckoning made with them of the money
that was delivered into their hand
because they dealt faithfully. And this is the
verse that I want to really focus on. It says,
And Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan
the scribe, I have found the book
of the law in the house
of the Lord. And Hilkiah
gave the book to Shaphan and he read it.
So notice, Hilkiah
saying, I just now
found the word of the Lord.
It kind of insinuates to me that
King Josiah had been reigning
for 18 whole years
without reading the word of God.
Because he's saying like, hey, we just
found the law, right? Look at verse 9.
And Shaphan the scribe came
to the king and brought the king word again and said,
Thy servants have gathered the money that was found
in the house. We took care of the construction project
and have delivered it into the hand of them
that do the work. We paid the workers
that have the oversight of the house of the Lord.
And Shaphan the scribe showed the king
saying, Hilkiah the priest have delivered
me a book. And Shaphan
read it before the king.
So again, this kind of seems like this is new information to
King Josiah, like he hadn't heard this before.
Look at verse 11.
And it came to pass when the king had heard
the words of the book of the law
that he rent his clothes.
Again, this is really pointing to the fact that
this is new for him. This is something that he
has not been reading every day like the Bible
said he should have been. When he heard God's
word in his ears,
he rent his clothes. He's
angry. He's upset.
And look at verse 12, it says,
And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest,
and Ahicham the son of Shaphan,
and Achbor the son of Micahiah,
and Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the servant of
the king, saying, Go ye,
inquire of the Lord for me, and for the
people, and for all Judah concerning the
words of this book that is found.
Notice this, for great
is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled
against us, because our fathers
have not hearkened unto the words
of this book to do according unto
all that which is written concerning
us. So he's saying,
Please go and inquire of God
for us right now, because
I didn't realize that the wrath
of the Lord is kindled against us right now.
And you know this stupid,
retarded saying that people say,
Ignorance is bliss?
Ignorance is not bliss, my friend.
Just because you don't know that
the anger of the Lord is kindled against you
doesn't mean that it's not so.
And so when you realize like, Oh man,
the Bible says this and I didn't know.
Man, you really should have been reading it then.
Josiah, because now
God's wrath is kindled against
your nation, and you've gone 18
years without this?
Here's the thing, there's things in the Bible
that if you are ignorant of
can either bless your life
tremendously, and cause you to have
great success, and cause
you to have lots of rewards at the judgment
of the seed of Christ, or there's things in the Bible
that if you are ignorant of can destroy
your life forever.
Oh, I was ignorant
that adultery was wrong.
Yeah, and you get a divorce, and
your kids have to deal with that garbage,
and you're financially ruined from
getting a divorce.
You don't realize what the Bible says about alcohol.
Yeah, and you die, a young man
like Toby Keith of stomach cancer,
because you were drunk your whole life.
Oh, you know, I didn't know what the Bible said
Well, guess what, the STDs are coming your way anyways,
because it doesn't matter if you knew or not,
reality is reality.
And ignorance is not bliss.
So don't be afraid of the Bible,
like, oh, I don't want to find out about that,
because then I might have to make changes in my life.
Look, if God is angry at you,
whether you know it about it or not,
it's going to mess up your life.
How about salvation?
Oh, do you want to just be ignorant of salvation
your whole life, and just ignore that question,
and when you close your eyes, you wake up in hell?
Is ignorance bliss then?
No.
You must read the Bible every day,
because you don't know what you don't know.
And there's things that you don't know
that can hurt you.
There's things that if you know, it would help you.
And so the only way to fix that problem
is reading the Bible.
And let me tell you, I think that the number one indication
of a Christian's long-term success
is whether or not they read the Bible every single day.
I don't think that soul winning every week
is the greatest contributing factor to that.
I don't think going to church is the greatest
contributing factor to that.
I think that if I'm going to see you in 30 years,
40 years, 50 years,
it's only going to be because you read your Bible
every single day.
And if you quit on God,
if you quit on church, I'll tell you exactly why,
because you don't read your Bible.
Especially you men.
Because some of you ladies, quite frankly,
can just be dragged along by your spiritual husband
if you have one.
But when you men quit, I know why.
It's because you were not reading the Bible.
Every single time.
So we talked about, you know, we got to listen,
we have to read,
and there's two things that every person should read.
The Bible, which we talked about that,
and here's the other thing people should read,
books of any other sort.
Secular books.
Read books.
This is highly underrated
in our society.
Go to 2 Timothy, chapter number 4.
2 Timothy, chapter number 4.
2 Timothy 4.
Look at verse 13.
This is Paul riding from prison,
and it says in verse 13,
The cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus,
when thou comest, bring with me, notice,
and the books, but especially the parchments.
So when Paul is wanting
to read, to learn, he says,
especially the parchments,
that's in reference to God's word, right,
this is the most important reading,
if you only are going to do any reading in your life,
please at least make it the Bible,
but he also just wants books.
And here's the thing, when you look at successful people
in your life,
I promise you there's a common denominator with them
that they read a ton of books.
It is a true saying
that leaders are readers.
That is a true saying.
And I love this quote.
I heard this like a decade ago.
This is a quote by Pastor Anderson,
and he said this, he said,
People who don't like to read are stupid
or shallow or both.
Which one are you?
You say, oh, I don't like to read books.
Okay, which one are you?
Are you stupid? Are you shallow or both?
Because that's the only reason someone doesn't like to read.
Because they don't want to challenge their mind
because they're shallow or because they're just
literally too stupid to read.
That's the reality.
And so look, as our society
is becoming more and more dumped down
and we can't even take a piss without scrolling Instagram
and as people watch
videos of toilets being destroyed
on YouTube, and our country
just becomes a bunch of mindless
morons, please read
books!
Please stop just scrolling on your phone
and watching a bunch of garbage and doing nothing
with your life and not challenging your mind.
Open up a book and read it.
The best men I know
read a lot.
Let me give you some stats about
reading.
According to the National Assessment of Educational
Progress, only 36%
of fourth grade students
in the United States are
proficient in reading.
36%
of fourth graders in the US
are proficient
at reading. That's terrifying.
This is the future of America?
This is what's supposed to
lead our country? This is what's supposed to
lead the greatest country on Earth?
People that can't even read?
What a shame.
The National Institute for Literacy
states that approximately two-thirds of students
who cannot read proficiently by the end of fourth
grade will end up in jail
or on welfare.
And is it any wonder how our
country is just exploding?
The prison population is just exploding
and the people on welfare are just
exploding because people are too stupid
to do anything with their life.
Because they're not reading.
And so they're resorting to crime
because they can't even work the most unskilled
job that exists because they can't even read!
Look, if you work at McDonald's
you have to know how to read. The most
basic, easy job that you can find, you
need to know how to read. But yet, some
of these people can't even do that because they can't
read. There's people that are illiterate
in our nation.
Here's a stats statistic.
Mississippi has the lowest percentage
of fourth grade students who scored
at or above
proficiency in reading with only
20%. So
one in five Mississippi students that
are fourth graders can read at the level
they're supposed to or above. 20%?
How sad is that?
Only 57%
of adults in the United States
have proficient
literacy skills.
57% according
to the National Center for
Educational Statistics. Here's
another one. Nearly 32
million adults in the U.S. are
functionally illiterate.
Meaning they cannot read
above a basic level
or complete tasks such as
filling out a job application.
32 million adults
or interpreting a simple set
of instructions. The
average American reads
at a seventh to eighth grade
reading level. So that's just saying
of all American readers, even
ones that are proficient
in literacy, the average
of all Americans, their reading level is at a
seventh or eighth grade
level. And I would
like to hope that it's different
among God's people. And I'm not gonna
do this, but I feel like I would
be kind of ashamed if I were to ask a raise of hand
of who has read a book in the last year.
I'm not gonna do that. But
you know if it's true.
And let me tell you something. Us as God's people
need to be better than the world.
You know, Daniel, the Bible talks about how he
learned by books.
And what was said about him was that he was
ten times better.
And look, I have hope at least for the
next generation because a lot of these young
kids when they're doing the spelling bee, I'm just like, wow
that's incredible. Like, I
was public schooled and I don't feel like I
got a great education, so I'm just trying to
catch up, okay. But some of these kids
man, some of these kids are really well
educated. And are very intelligent
and are very smart. And look,
continue to encourage those kids to read
books. These homeschoolers have a
huge advantage where they don't have to sit for
six hours listening to
lessons about evolution and
communism. You can just say, here son,
here's your job, you have to read
a hundred books in a year. Here
son, here's your job, you have to read this many
books in a year. Right, that's a better
education. Just reading
tons and tons of good books,
that will give you a better education than a college
could ever give you. Reading tons
and tons of good books, that'll give you a better education than the public
school system of high school or middle school
or anything like that. And here's
some things I've heard. I've heard from people that
they want to read, but
they just don't know what to read. And
here's the thing, I love reading,
so if that's you, I will help you.
I will just send you a whole list, a whole
reading list of books that I like
or that I have read, and I can just
like, here, I review them too
and you can see like, oh this one sucks, I'll skip my
time on that one. Look, I'll
help you out. If you need some stuff to read,
I will help you, I will give you a list that can help you.
Or another thing I've heard is that
you know, you just don't have time to read.
But here's the thing, no one has time for anything
anyway, so just welcome to being an adult,
okay? But here's the thing, you know, I
like to just read myself to sleep at night.
So it's like, hey, I'm in bed, got nothing else to do
right now, just read for
and then sometimes it's 15 minutes, sometimes
30 minutes, sometimes I really love the book and I
go longer, right? But I promise
you, if you just read a little bit
every single night, you'll get to the end of the year
and you'll be like, dang, I've read a lot of books this year.
And it really does not take that much time.
Really does not take that much time.
And look, I am not saying, you know,
forsake your Bible reading to start reading a bunch
of books, that's not what I'm saying. I'm saying
up your reading of both, that's what I'm saying.
I'm saying let's raise the standards
of Christians in America
to where we read a lot of Bible
and we read a lot of other things as well.
To where we're really educated in the
Word of God and we're really educated
in other things as well.
Because it's kind of a shame when you hear people
talk sometimes and they just don't know anything
about anything. And you're just like,
you're a child of God? Like, you're an ambassador
of Jesus Christ? That's kind
of a shame, don't you think?
Proverbs, go back
to Proverbs chapter number one.
Proverbs chapter number one.
You know, one of my
personal goals is to
collect a bunch of books and be able
to pass on a personal library to my kids.
Because I want to
show them that, like the Bible
says, in all thy getting, get wisdom.
I want to show them, like, hey,
dad prioritized in his life the
Word of God. Dad prioritized getting
wisdom. And look at all these books
that dad has given to me. Like, I want my
kids to love wisdom. I want my
kids to love the Word of God and I want my kids to
love to read. Because if they
read, they'll be successful in their
lives. They won't be like these idiots that
go to jail or that are on welfare
because they're so illiterate that they literally
can't even put an application at McDonald's.
And they can't even succeed at a job
at McDonald's. People
that read are leaders. That's just a
reality of our world.
Proverbs chapter number one.
We talked about listening.
We talked about increasing our learning
by reading. Number
three on how to become wise
is seek to be instructed by
other wise individuals.
Look at Proverbs one five. It says,
a wise man will hear and will increase
learning and a man of understanding shall
notice attain unto wise
counsel. So you know,
all of us in life,
God has created us
for community. God has given
us lots of different people in our
lives that can help us. And as soon
as we're born into this world,
we're born with two great
counselors called mom and dad.
And let me tell you something, kids. You
would be wise to seek
the advice, the knowledge,
the wisdom of mom and
dad. Because I'm telling you,
no one on this earth loves you as
much as your mom and your dad does.
No one else wants you to succeed as
badly as mom and dad does.
So if you want to be wise
as a child, you need to listen to the
word of God. You need to increase
your learning by reading. But you know what?
You also just need to ask your mom and dad
questions. When you don't know,
when you're wanting to find an answer,
you know, go to the Bible, go to the
Lord, but also just go to mom and dad.
They are going to want the best
for you. Here's
another person that you should go to
in your life is your pastor. Go to
Ephesians chapter number 4.
And as you're turning there, let me
read one more verse about parents
real quick. Proverbs 1 8 says,
My son, hear the instruction of thy father
and forsake not the law
of thy mother. So notice right
after he's saying, hey, attain unto wise
counsels, what does he bring up? A mom and
dad. Right? So that is some of
the best wisdom you can get in your life is from
mom and dad. And let me tell you, if your
parents go to Steadfast Baptist
Church and they read the Bible, you have like
the top 0.001%
of parents on the earth.
Seriously. I mean, those of us that did not
grow up in a Christian home, it's
funny to me how much you have no
idea how blessed you are. You
literally have no clue. And those people that are
first generation Christians in this room, you
realize what the world is like.
And you realize the things that you have to
learn the hard way. And when you see
the kids in this room have
the things that they have, you're like, wow, you are
set. Just keep reading the Bible,
just keep following the Lord, and you're
going to have a great life. When your life
is going to be destroyed is when you don't read the
Bible, you don't listen to what it says,
you don't increase in your learning, and you don't listen to mom
and dad. That is a quick way to destroy
your life, kids. You follow that path,
you absolutely will destroy your life.
But here's another great source of
wise counsel that we have in our life, and that
is your pastor. Look at Ephesians 4
says, Wherefore he saith
when he ascended up on high, he
led captivity captive, and gave
gifts unto men.
Now that he ascended, what is it but
that he also descended first into the lower
parts of the earth? He that descended
is the same also that ascended
up far above all heavens that he might
fill all things. And notice
it says, And he gave some apostles
and some prophets, and some
evangelists, and some pastors
and teachers. So notice God
has given us all these people
as a gift to us for what?
Verse 12, For the perfecting
of the saints, for the work of the ministry,
for the edifying
of the body of Christ.
You know, if you need help in your
life, if you need advice in your life,
a good person to go to is your pastor.
Because the Bible literally says
that these people that are in spiritual
leadership were given to us
as a gift for the perfecting
of the saints. Right? So
there's nothing wrong with saying
hey, I need help in this area,
I'm going to go to my pastor and ask him for help.
That's part of what he's there for.
And of course, you know, our
pastor wants to help the people
in this church. We're blessed to have a pastor
that cares about his flock and is willing
to be there for his people.
So look, don't ever think like you can't
approach Pastor Shelley. Of course you
can. And here's the thing, we have like satellite
churches, and maybe those churches only have
an evangelist. But
those people can help you too oftentimes.
You can go to Brother Tannefer and get a lot of
great wisdom. You can go to Brother Duncan
or Bannock and get a lot of great wisdom.
You know, don't be afraid to use the tools that
God has given you in your life. That's called
being wise. Because according to Proverbs
1, the wise man
will attain unto wise counsel.
You know, don't get
spiritual leadership
from just random places online.
Don't join the Discord
servers with all the
single guy theologians, okay?
Go to your pastor.
Go to the Word of God. Go to your pastor.
Just leave all that garbage alone.
Here's the thing, we should desire
instruction from wise
people just in all areas of life.
Find a wise person, you should want
and desire instruction from that
person. 2 Timothy 3, go to 2 Timothy 3.
2 Timothy 3, look at
verse 16.
All scripture is given by inspiration of God
and is profitable for doctrine,
for notice, for proof,
for correction, for
instruction in righteousness.
What's reproof? That's telling you
what you're doing wrong, okay?
Correction, that's telling you what's right.
For instruction in righteousness,
that's telling you how to get it right.
Right? And that's what the Word of God is
for. The Word of God is able to perform
that in our lives. But you know what? Men that
are skilled in the Word of God can help you do the same
thing. Of course, we know that
we're indwelled with the Holy Spirit and we can learn all
things just between us and the Lord.
But a pastor is given to
you from God to help you to go further farther.
Right? So he can help you in
life to point you to the right
scriptures that can help you in your life that maybe
you weren't aware of or that you weren't thinking
of. But look, when you come
to church, I hope you're not desiring
in your heart to just hear a bunch of preaching
that you know you've already got down or you just want
to hear the next fire sermon on the sodomites.
Look, you should come to church with a desire
to be corrected.
Because that's what attaining unto wise
counsel is. Saying like, I want
to be instructed. I want
to be reproved. I want someone
to say, here's where you're wrong,
here's what's right, and here's
what you need to do to get it right.
Otherwise, it's just a vain exercise.
Otherwise, we're just a club.
We're just like King James Bible fans
or something. But it's more than
that. Like we want to grow
spiritually. We want to get better spiritually.
Why? So that we could do more for the Lord.
So that we can bring more glory
and honor to the kingdom of God.
That's why. And so the only way that's going to happen
is if you actually desire to
be corrected. You know, if you come
to the preaching class, desire correction.
You know, when I was participating
in the preaching class,
I wanted to be told
where I was doing things wrong and how
to get better, right? And
you should desire that when you come to the class.
That's the whole point is that we can get better
so we can get correction.
Here's another thing. Desire feedback
from your superiors at work.
Desire feedback. Ask your boss
on areas how you can improve.
Desire some feedback, even from maybe
customers of your business owners on how you can
improve your product or improve your service.
You know, you want feedback from people
because that's attaining to wise counsels.
That's going to help you become more wise.
I think a lot of times
people, they're kind of afraid
to get counsel
because they're kind of afraid that people are going to
give them feedback that's not
necessarily true, right?
But here's the thing. First of all, if an authority
is giving you feedback, you should
be very slow to think in your mind
oh, that authority is wrong about their
feedback. No, I'm right. That person
is wrong. You know, your boss corrects you at work,
just take the correction. You know, ladies
if your husband corrects you, just take the
correction. If your pastor corrects you, just
take the correction. But
okay, let's just say that you got
a correction and you received
it and you said, you know what? I don't think
that's right. Well, here's what you do.
You just take the part that is right
and you just let the other part just fly
off your shoulders and move on with your life.
Are you going to die if someone gives you
a correction that's not true?
Right? Someone says maybe
that you did something that you didn't.
Or if someone gives you feedback
that may not be exactly accurate,
are you going to die? No.
So just take the part that's true
and say, you know what? I'm just going to assume that
that's correct. And I'm just going to
examine myself and say, I need to
fix this in my life. That's just
going to be my default, right?
But if you know for 100%
fact that you're given some sort of feedback
that's not correct, just let it go.
Just move on with your life.
Nothing's going to happen. But what could
happen negatively is that God
can look down from heaven and seeing
you stiffening your neck
against authority and decide not to
bless you. God can
see your obstinate heart
wanting to shrivel up and wanting
to resist authority
or not want correction and that could make
the Lord angry. Because think about it,
the whole point of God's word is said in 2 Timothy 3
is to correct us,
to reprove us, to give us
instruction, to give us correction.
And so if you're the type of person
that's not desiring that, then the Bible's
not even going to profit you. Like you
have to want to change, you have
to want correction for reading this
to do anything for you. You
have to want to change.
Prideful people, that's why prideful people don't
read the Bible. Either because
they think that they don't need it,
or maybe they just think they're better
than God. Whatever the reasons are that people
don't read the Bible, what does it come down to? It comes down
to pride.
Go to Proverbs chapter number 13.
Proverbs chapter number 13.
You know, hey,
desire feedback from your soul winning captains.
Desire feedback from people that have been out
soul winning longer than you. No one's got
a perfect Gospel presentation, we could all get better
preaching the Gospel. And I really
I like it in someone's character
when I'm soul winning with someone, they're like, hey, just
go ahead and if you see anything, just tell me right away.
Hey, that's a good person right there. That's a person
that wants to become a more effective
soul winner. That's the attitude that we should have.
And myself included,
if I was soul winning with someone that did something
better with me, I would want to know about it.
Because I would want to be a better soul winner
myself.
Go to people who are successful
in whatever area you want to improve in
for advice. No matter what
area of life it is, find someone, say,
okay, I want to get better at this specific thing.
Go to someone that's good at that specific
thing. Look at Proverbs 13,
verse 20, it says,
He that walketh with wise men
shall be wise, but a
companion of fools shall be
destroyed. So notice, the company you hang
around it rubs off on you.
And if you want to be a wise person, hang out
with a bunch of people that are wise. Attain unto
those wise counselors. So
here's an example, let's say you want to learn
a language, you want to learn a foreign language.
Well, what would be wise
is to get advice from someone who has
already successfully learned a foreign
language well. Right?
And this is with anything. You want to learn how to play
guitar? Go to someone that plays the
guitar well. Don't go to someone
that sounds like me. Okay, go to brother Rich, right?
Go to find someone that does
what you want to do well
and attain unto that
person. You want to be a good parent?
Hey, talk to the parents that have good kids.
Not just the parents that have kids.
Just having kids doesn't make you a good parent. No,
go to parents that are good parents. Here's the thing.
You want fitness advice?
Go to someone who's physically fit.
It's like, why are
all the health ministers of every
nation these fat,
obese, lazy whales?
Who cares what you have to say?
You don't know anything about fitness?
No, I'm not going to attain to that
counsel. I'm going to go to someone that's
fit. Hey, at work, go to
someone that's skilled at your craft.
Attain unto those wise counsel.
Avoid people with this. Has anyone ever
heard of this, the Dunning-Kruger
syndrome? Has anyone ever heard of this before?
Okay, a couple people. So here's
the Dunning-Kruger effect.
The Dunning-Kruger effect is a
cognitive bias in which people
with limited competence in a particular
domain overestimate their
abilities. Some researchers
also include the opposite effect
for high performers. Their
tendency is to underestimate their
skills. In popular culture, the
Dunning-Kruger effect is often misunderstood as a
claim about general overconfidence of people.
So it just goes on more and more and more. But it's just
saying basically like people
that are just kind of have been barely exposed
to a topic and
they've maybe read a little bit about
a topic or I mean in our
culture, you've watched a 60 second reel
about history. I mean you know
now because you saw a 60 second reel and
they're ready to teach you. They're ready to give you
wisdom and understanding. Look, avoid
people like this. And here's the
thing, if someone asks you for advice
don't be fake.
It's okay not to know everything.
And if someone asks you a question of something
that you know nothing about, just say
I don't know. You know
I have people ask me questions all the time
and I'm just like I don't know.
I am 26 years old
and I am okay with being 26 years old.
And Lord willing, I will live on
this earth for a long long
time and I can be really diligent
in reading the Bible and I can read
tons and tons of books and get more wisdom
and I can attain unto wise counsel
and hopefully someday I will be
very very wise but right
now all you have is the wisdom that you have.
Every single person in here, all that
you have is the wisdom that you have.
All the knowledge that you have is the knowledge that you have.
And at this very moment
you can't really change anything about that. But you know what you
could do going forward? Going forward you could
listen to other people.
Going forward you say, hey I'm only
at whatever age I'm at. I've only got this
level of wisdom and understanding that I'm at
but going forward when I come to church
I'm going to listen and pay attention.
Hey, I'm going to turn off the stupid phone
maybe even take some notes and I'm going to
pay attention to what the preacher
is saying. That's going to make you wise.
Not only that, hey I'm going to go and just
try to learn. I'm just going to increase
my learning. I'm going to read the Bible of course.
But you know what? I'm also going to read another book.
I challenge every single person
in this room to pick up a
book this week and read it. Start
reading it. I'm not saying just finish it in a week.
I'm saying start reading. Even if you just read
five minutes a night, just start reading
a book this week. Do it.
No more excuses.
Read a book.
Okay? Get some wisdom.
Get some understanding. No more
excuses. Get some wisdom and attain
unto wise counsel. Find people
that are successful. Find people
that are qualified. Find people
that are very skilled and
when you want to become like them
ask those people for counsel.
Don't just go to the internet or just some bozo
online. No. Go to wise
counsels. Alright? Let's have a word of
prayer. Lord, thank you so much for this day.
Thank you for your word that it can
guide us and direct us in life.
Pray that every single person in here would give
attendance to the reading of God's word.
That they would make seeking
wisdom the number one priority in their life.
Pray that they would just listen
to Pastor Shelley when he's preaching.
That they would pay attention to him, Lord.
That they'd read and seek unto wise counsel.
And just pray that you would help me to do the same.
And just pray that as we learn you would
help us to all stay humble. In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Alright, in closing
let's go to song number 47.
Song number 47.
Let the sun shine
again.
Everybody sing it out together in the verse.
I remember
the time when
I first knew
the Savior
when the sun
lighted
a blessing
so flooded
my heart
oh the sweetness
of first love
with
my heart
the first love
with Jesus so
near me
and I thought such
repulsion
would never
be gone
let the sun shine
again
let the flowers
bloom again
stir the emperors
of love in my heart
Holy
Spirit
recruit
then grace me
again
let the sun shine
again in my heart
then how sweet
were the
scriptures
they spoke to me
namely how they
guided my steps
but my zeal
did not last
and the sweet place
of prayer where I
met with my
Savior
unelected and so
soon my joys
were all past
let the sun shine
again
let the flowers bloom
again
stir the emperors
of love in my heart
Holy
Spirit
recruit
then embrace me
again
let the sun shine
again in my
heart
oh I love
well to walk
in the way
with God's children
when we met with
Flat Heart and
a fellowship
sweet but
the pull of the
flesh and some
worldly companions
in the path
of food pleasure
attracted
by me
let the sun shine
again let the
flowers bloom again
stir the
emperors of love
in my heart
Holy Spirit
recruit
then embrace me
again let the
sun shine again
in my heart
oh I love now
again for
forgiveness and
blessing as
my limited child
I am seeking
my peace
for the blood pain
my death and
the spirit within
me
living lost to my
father I'm
wandering to cease
let the sun shine
again let the
flowers bloom
again stir the
emperors of love
in my heart
Holy Spirit
recruit
then embrace
me again
let the sun
shine again
in my heart
great singing
everybody you always missed
you