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song this evening is number 406 who is on the Lord's side 406 406 who is on the Lord's
the service that everything will be done decently in an order and that you would just fill us with
your spirit as we lift up our voices to sing praise and glory to your name and your son's name
and these things we pray in Jesus name amen all right for our next hymn this evening 335
if Jesus goes with me 335
335, 335 on the first, it may be in the valley, the countless dangers hide, it may be in the
Please raise your hand if you don't have a bulletin and an usher will bring you one on the front
We are on the last verse of Galatians chapter number one
So you got all of the remainder of this week to memorize and also next week is a grace week
So you still got plenty of time there keep working on that chapter on the inside our service times are listed
Sunday morning at 10 30 a.m. Sunday evening 4 30 p.m. And our Wednesday Bible study through Proverbs at 7 o'clock
We do have all of our soul winning times listed there below and all those meet here
at the church building. Below that is our year to date statistics 259 salvation so far for the
month so praise god for that. Upcoming events next sunday or I should say this most upcoming sunday
is our next men's preaching night for the evening
Service so make sure you sign up for that man if you'd like to preach and please do bring something for the potluck
We're gonna have a potluck immediately after have some games have some fun
Then June 28th is the tinker air show coming up real quick
Brother Ben Naim will be here for that and also the next day preaching both services for us
So we're excited to see brother Ben from steadfast
August 27th through the 31st is the Fire Breathing Baptist Fellowship. If you can make it down to Texas for that week I highly recommend it
You know if anyone's listening from steadfast, please have a softball tournament again. That was awesome
I want to play baseball again. It's super fun. I'm looking forward to that conference and
October 6th through the 11th is the Bahamas
Mission trip definitely want to start ironing out your logistics and
Passports, if you haven't already done that, it does take a while.
So we're looking forward to that.
We've got some information there on the right regarding a visitor card and online giving.
But before we go to our next song, we will go to the Lord in prayer and also just make note that
This evening is going to be miss Remy's last evening with us
She's going to be moving away
And so we're definitely going to miss her sad that she's going but make sure that you tell her goodbye this evening and
Yeah, just thank you miss Remy for all that you've done and let's go ahead and go to the Lord in prayer
Or we thank you for anchor Baptist Church. We thank you for the opportunity to be here this evening
And sing praise to your name to hear your word preached and just for the freedom we have to worship you
And I pray that you would answer these requests according to your will Lord
We pray for Brother Travis for his upcoming tests that he wants to take for his advancement in his career.
I pray that you would just bless him with that, that you would give him the desire of his heart in this area.
And Lord, we also want to pray for Brother Eric and Theodore, that you keep them safe in the Philippines
and that you just help them to work really hard and just to continue to have a huge harvest over there.
And I pray that you bring them home safely to us again.
Lord, we also pray for the Hall family
that you would help them to navigate
through their home buying process,
that you would allow things to go smoothly
and in their favor, Lord,
and that you just bless them.
I pray that they'd be happy with the end result, Lord.
Also, we wanna pray for Brother Miles' health
that you bless him.
And Lord, we wanna praise and thank you
for giving Brother Alex the job that he wanted.
Thank you so much for answering that request, Lord.
And we also want to pray for Ms. Remy, a special prayer for her.
Thank you so much for the blessing that you've given to us through her and her...
playing the piano and just her being here Lord and I pray that you will bless her travels to
Where she's going and that you bless her life there that you'd keep her safe and help her to
Continue serving the Lord in the new place. She's going to be Lord. I also want to pray for
Miss Whitney and brother Zach who have loved ones that are not saved to pray that they would have their hearts softened
that they'd be receptive to the gospel.
Lord, I do pray for Anchor Baptist Church
and some of the battles that we're going through
that you would cause things to work in our favor,
that you would just look upon our works and bless us, Lord,
and also pray that you would give us more labors
for the harvest here in Oklahoma City.
We love you, Jesus, and we pray, amen.
All right, at this time, we'll go to our third song.
For our third song this evening in your white handouts,
It'll be Psalm 139, Psalm 139 in your white handouts.
Psalm 139, we'll sing there starting on the first.
We'll slay the wicked
minute this time as the offering plates are being passed turn if you would to
Proverbs chapter number 12 Proverbs chapter number
Good evening Proverbs 12, the Bible reads,
whoso loveth instruction loveth knowledge,
but he that hath ith reproof is brutish.
A good man obtaineth favor of the Lord,
but a man of wicked devices will he condemn.
A man shall not be established by wickedness,
but the root of the righteous shall not be moved.
A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband, but she that maketh ashamed is as rottenness
in his bones.
The thoughts of the righteous are right, but the counsels of the wicked are deceit.
The words of the wicked are to lie and wait for blood, but the mouth of the upright shall
deliver them.
The wicked are overthrown and are not, but the house of the righteous shall stand.
A man shall be commended according to his wisdom, but he that is of a perverse heart
shall be despised.
He that is despised and hath a servant is better than he that honoreth himself and lacketh
bread.
A righteous man regarded the life of his beast, but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel."
He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread,
but he that followeth vain persons
is void of understanding.
The wicked desireeth the net of evil men,
but the root of the righteous yieldeth fruit.
The wicked is snared by the transgression of his lips,
but the just shall come out of trouble.
A man shall be satisfied with good
by the fruit of his mouth and the recompense
shall be rendered unto him.
The way of a fool is right in his own eyes,
but he that harkeneth unto counsel is wise.
A fool's wrath is presently known,
but a prudent man covereth shame.
He that speaketh truth showeth forth righteousness,
but a false witness deceit.
There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword,
but the tongue of the wise is health.
The lip of the the lip of truth shall be established forever, but a lying tongue is but for a moment
Deceit is in the heart of them that imagine evil
But to the counselors of peace is joy
There shall no evil happen to the just but the wicked shall be filled with mischief
Lying lips are abomination to the Lord, but they that deal truly are his delight
A prudent man can sealeth knowledge, but the heart of fools proclaimeth foolishness.
The hand of the diligent shall bear rule, but the slothful shall be under tribute.
Heaviness in the heart of man maketh this stoop, but a good word maketh it glad.
The righteous is more excellent than his neighbor, but the way of the wicked seduceth them."
The slothful man roasteth not that which he took in hunting, but the substance of a diligent man is precious
And the way of righteousness is life and in the path
Thereof there is no death
That's power heads forward to prayer father in heaven. We thank you for this day in our church and our past from his family
to apply the truth of your word to our lives and in order to have more laborers join us in Jesus' time of praise. Amen.
Man, all right, we are in Proverbs chapter 12, which is continuing this section of Proverbs where it's just very punchy, quick statements that really are just standalone, great Proverbs that you could preach a whole sermon on each one, but we're going to do our best to get through chapter 12 this evening.
Verse one, the Bible says, whoso loveth instruction, loveth knowledge.
But he that hadith reproof is
brutish, so he that love ith
instruction love ith knowledge.
People who are intelligent,
who have a lot of knowledge,
who have a lot of wisdom.
It's not necessarily that they've
just been under a lot of instruction
or that they've just sat in a school
or sat in a college classroom or sat in church.
In order for that knowledge to really benefit you,
you have to do something.
It says who so love ith?
Instruction so you got to make sure that you're not wasting the opportunities in your life that you have to get
Instructed and really it does start as a young child
You know kids need to be taught to take their schooling very seriously
To take the house of God very seriously when their parents are telling them something to take those things seriously
And to actually not just be under instruction, but to love instruction because those who love instruction love
And then of course you take that mentality through with you your entire life and those who get the most out of church
There are the people who are actually
Desiring to be here right sometimes in church
You got maybe the wife that's being drug-along or maybe you got the kids that are you know
In their teenage phase that are being drug-along
You know I've seen this over the years in church the person who is just sitting there the whole sermon on their phone
With an angry face and you know what that person's not going to get a lot of knowledge
And you know whose fault that is, their fault.
And oftentimes people will complain about how, you know,
they're not learning at church,
they're not getting fed at church,
but really it's just that you don't love instruction.
Because what's funny is when I listen to preaching
from other preachers, I'm a pastor
and I'm just learning a ton
every time I listen to other preachers.
Why?
Because I actually want to be instructed.
I actually want to get more wisdom and more knowledge
than I have right now.
And you know, you should always be hungry for wisdom.
You should always be hungry for truth and never think you've gotten to this place as a Christian where you've just arrived.
You will never arrive.
I don't care if you read this Bible through cover to cover a hundred times, you will never arrive.
You will never know it all.
But he that hadith reproof is brutish.
Brutus just means stupid.
You know, it's like animalistic,
like a brute beast.
And one of the attributes of a fool,
of a stupid person, is that they hate reproof.
And today there's this disease in our culture
where people just hate being told that they're wrong.
They hate being corrected so much so that I even see this type of culture in the workplace where it seems like
manager managers and bosses have kind of been stripped of their power and of their authority and
Are just always walking on eggshells when they talk to their subordinates and how has this happened?
Well, it's come from a whole generation that just hates reproof that hates being corrected
But let me tell you something if you don't want to be corrected you are an idiot
You are a fool according to the Bible and you know what?
We just need as people to humble ourselves and realize that you don't know it all right now and you will never know it all
I love what Pastor Jack Hiles once said he said all men know something that I don't
Therefore all men are my teachers
You know that's a great attitude to have to realize that hey people in this world have different strengths and skills and areas of expertise and hey you might be really great at your job and you know a pastor might be great at what he does, but none of us know everything right and we can learn from each other.
That's why it's important to be around other Christians to get that instruction.
A good man obtaineth favor of the Lord, but a man of wicked devices will he condemn.
So you know, God is working actively in our lives as Christians.
God is not some impersonal distant God that doesn't really have his hand in creation.
You know, this is some, this is kind of what some of our founding fathers thought as deists.
but his hand has kind of been removed actively from creation.
But really the Bible is saying here that good men obtain favor of the Lord.
So God's looking down, He's looking at every decision we make,
He's looking at the thoughts and intents of our heart.
I mean, God is able to read our thoughts,
He's able to know who we are at our innermost core,
and you know what, there's no hiding from God.
And, you know, it's important to realize that, hey, it is not a vain thing to be righteous.
It's not a vain thing to follow the Lord and keep His commandments because a good man
obtaineth favor of the Lord.
Kind of connecting this to verse one.
Think about it.
You know, God is testing you when He gives you instruction.
You know, if you get instruction, children, through your parents, or if we just get instruction
from people in our lives, God sees how you react to that.
God sees if someone reproves you, if you just kind of cringe in your heart and get all upset
and mad and bitter, God sees those things and he will reward you accordingly.
A good man, obtain a favor of the Lord.
But a man of wicked devices, will he condemn.
So, you know, a lot of the outcomes that we achieve in life are as a result of whether
or not God's favor is on us or not.
And rather than having a bunch of money, rather than being the tallest or the strongest or
whatever, you know, this world thinks that they want to achieve in life, what's more
important than all of that is having God on your side.
The Bible says in verse 3,
a man shall not be established by wickedness,
but the root of the righteous shall not be moved.
So established here kind of implies
that you're gonna be secure in the long term.
Because sometimes I think Christians get frustrated
because we often see people who are wicked
appear like they're prospering.
and appear like things are going really good, and appear like things are secure for them,
yet the Bible says a man shall not be established by wickedness, but the root of the righteous
shall not be moved. And again, I think the key to this verse is understanding that word
established, meaning like, hey, it's not going to be, you're not going to be set and secure in place
for a long time if you see the wicked prospering, know that that is temporary. And you know, that
inform our decisions in life and make us realize, hey,
it's never a good idea to cut corners.
It's never a good idea to try to hide our sin
or to try to do things the way of this world
because if we do, even if we do have temporary success,
even if things seem like they're going okay for a while,
it says a man shall not be established by wickedness.
But the root of the righteous shall not be moved.
That implies a more permanent security.
You think about a large tree.
It's got those roots that go way,
way, way down deep into the earth.
And man, that tree can withstand a lot.
I mean, it's crazy.
The storms that we get in Oklahoma,
even just last night, the winds at my house
was just absolutely crazy with that thunderstorm.
And yet the trees, though they're getting blown around
and there's all this noise and commotion,
those roots are just planting that sucker.
right there in the ground and it's not going anywhere.
And you know, that's like the Christian
who actually goes through life,
fearing God, doing that, which is right.
Obviously we're never gonna be perfect.
Obviously we're always gonna have sin,
but those of us that are at least striving to do right
and striving to please God,
those are the people that are going to be rooted.
And it reminds me of Psalm chapter one.
Turn to Psalm chapter number one,
this verbiage about being rooted.
and thinking of trees.
Look at what Psalm 1 verse 1 says.
The Bible says, 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 day and night.
That's a dedicated Christian right there.
You know, they don't care what this world has to offer.
They're not walking in the counsels of the wicked.
They're not living life according to.
the philosophies and ideas of this world, you know, but rather their delight, their joy,
is in the Bible. They actually like the Bible. And you know, I don't know about you. I like the
Bible. And I want to be around Christians that actually like the Bible. When I went to an old
IFB church, one of the most discouraging things for me was I was a teenager at that time and I
was in the youth group. I was around all the teens. And what was so discouraging is how few
and actually cared about the Bible.
And I was like literally made fun of
for being the guy who cared about the Bible.
For like being the guy who actually
was excited about the Word of God.
But I'm telling you, if you like the Bible,
and if you meditate there
in day and night, that's the person who's going to be
blessed. Not these people
that are just dragging their feet through
Christianity. That's not how you get rooted.
That's not how you get grounded
deep into the earth. The Bible
says, and he shall be like a tree
planted by the rivers of water.
Notice, that tree is just planted.
It's just, it's stuck there and it's by the rivers of water.
So it's got a source of water to be able to give it life and strength and nutrients and
all the things that it needs.
It says that bring it forth his fruit in a season.
His leaf also shall not wither and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
Hey, everyone would press that button if they could of saying like, hey, I want the
everything that I do prospering button.
But you know what it comes from?
of God in your heart.
And here's what I've learned is that you cannot
just like transfer this to people.
You can't just force people to love God.
You know, we could preach the word
and try to stir up your spirit.
But at the end of the day, loving God and loving the Bible,
it has to truly come from within.
And that is a place that if you get to, you will prosper.
You will be blessed by God.
Go back to Proverbs 12.
The Bible says in verse number 4,
a virtuous woman is a crown to her husband.
But she that make of ashamed is as
rottenness in his bones.
Man, this is quite a comparison here,
where it's saying like hey,
if things are going well in your
marriage, a virtuous woman is a crown.
to her husband? What is a crown? It's like an adornment to make you look better, right? Or to,
you know, exude power or authority or some sort of status. And the Bible is saying, hey, if you've
got a virtuous woman, that's like a crown to her husband. And, you know, the Bible says who can find
a virtuous woman for a price as far above rubies? And you know, men, if you've got a virtuous wife,
you've got a very special thing. And we ought not to take our wives for granted.
and just, you know, not appreciate them or love them the way that they deserve to be loved.
If you've got a virtuous wife, that is a huge blessing from God.
But you know what I've seen over the years is that marriage can often be just the best
relationship in your life.
It could be just the most wonderful experience.
Or I see people where it is the bane of their existence and it's the hardest cross that
they carry in life.
And in fact, you know what it's talked about here?
But she that make it ashamed is as rottenness in his bones.
So, notice the comparison here.
It's not like, hey, a virtuous woman is a crown.
And then, you know, she that make it the shame is like a TV dinner.
No, it's not like that.
It's like this really wonderful thing,
a crown or like one of the worst things
you could possibly imagine.
Rottenness in your bones.
I mean, if you had bone and cancer,
you would do anything to be cured of that.
I mean, people who go through that
are in such excruciating pain,
just their bones rotting from the inside.
Well, that's what it is like with a woman,
with a wife that makes her husband ashamed.
It's like rottenness.
in his bones. She's either the greatest thing and she's a crown and she's just a wonderful treasure,
or women who are wicked, women who are ungodly, have the ability to make their husband's life
absolutely miserable. You say that's your opinion. No, it's not. I mean, this is what the Bible is
saying here, that it could be rottenness in your bones.
says she that make it the shame.
You know, what are some ways that
women can make their husband ashamed?
Well, I think one way is that she
could just be like openly defiant to him.
Openly defiant, openly disrespectful.
You know, that's going to make him
ashamed and that's going to be like
rottenness in his bone.
You know, here's another thing that
I think men often are ashamed of is
when their wife is a big gossip and
you know that is something to be ashamed of.
But you know, ladies, you shouldn't be going around house to house like first Timothy five says, being a gossip, being a tatler, being a busy body, because you know what you're going to do?
You're going to bring shame to your husband.
Or how about this?
Here's a shameful thing to do that brings shame to your husband, dressing like a whore.
I mean, it's such a shame when a married woman is dressing like a whore.
It's like, what are you showing off?
Like, who are you trying to attract?
You're already off the market, honey.
You're already married.
All it is, it's just like, well, this is just a shame.
This is just embarrassing.
You know, and of course, there's probably a thousand different things that people can do to make their spouse ashamed.
But the bottom line is this, ladies, don't be a shame to your husband.
Be a crown unto him.
You know, be a blessing unto him.
Let me remind you that the Bible says that the woman was created for the man.
We live in this feminist world that thinks I literally saw a post on Facebook the other day of this woman giving marital advice
And she said, you know men when you come home
Don't sit down and relax jump right into work and immediately pick up the kids and start changing the diapers and start cleaning the bottles and
Ask your wife what you can do just to help her. Let me tell you something. That is stupid advice
You want to know why?
because the Bible says that the woman was created as the help
meat for the man, not vice versa.
My wife exists to serve me.
I do not exist to serve her.
Now, of course, I love her and I do things for her.
And sometimes I will help with things around the house.
But let me explain to you, any job I do around the house
is me going above and beyond.
It's not me meeting some expectation.
I don't have any expectations at home.
My expectation is to go make money and pay the bills
and to provide protection
and to be the spiritual leader at home.
My job is not to come home and change diapers.
I expect to thank you because I'm going above and beyond.
But these women today are insane and like we live in this feminist world where ladies,
and I'm not saying that the women in here are like this, thank God we're not like this,
but some ladies in this world want to enter a marriage where they provide nothing.
They're like, you know, they're even holding the physical relationship and like that's
a treat.
That's a treat that's got to be earned.
And then they want their husband to come home and just be like, ma'am, what would you like
me to do for you right now?
It's like, that's not how marriage works, folks.
Men are in charge, the woman was created as the help meat.
And you know what?
You ladies should be focusing, am I being a help to him,
an asset to him, a crown to him,
or am I as rottenness in his bones?
Am I being a pain in the neck?
And you know, just don't go down that road.
It's gonna make things terrible in your marriage.
Look what it says in verse five,
the thoughts of the righteous are right.
But the counsels of the wicked are deceit, you know
I love the surety that we could have as Christians and
In the attitude that we have towards the Bible
It just pisses off people that are unsaved and of a false religion because of things like I just said that the man
Is in charge how do you know that because the thoughts of the righteous are right?
And it's not my thoughts if I'm saying something that is based on what the Bible says
I'm right and if you disagree with what the Bible says guess what you're wrong
So the thoughts of the righteous are right.
Well, that's just your opinion on how a marriage should be run.
No, that's what the Bible says.
The Bible says, wives obey your husbands and the Lord.
The Bible says, children obey your parents.
The Bible says, husbands love your wives.
These are not optional things that are for debate.
No, no, no, I'm just right about these things.
The thoughts of the righteous are right.
Why?
Because we have the Word of God.
But the counsels of the wicked,
are deceit. You know, going to the unsaved, going to just worldly people for advice on things relating to how you to live your life.
I'm not talking about going to a baseball coach to learn how to play baseball. I'm talking about people that will go and get marriage counseling from unsaved people.
People that get marriage counseling from, you know, Dr.
Scheinberg or something like that.
You're an idiot, folks, because the Bible says
that the councils of the wicked are deceit.
Not all counsel is good.
You know what, the thoughts of the righteous are right.
You want advice on how to live your life
when it pertains to marriage and child rearing
and all these things,
you know who you need to go to, the saved.
Because what I've seen in counseling people
over the years with marriage issues
is I've seen people go to worldly marriage counseling
and their marriage get way worse, way worse.
Because you got this worldly person
that's pulling wife aside and saying like,
you go girl.
You know, this is a narcissist.
This is abuse, blah, blah, blah.
Because they don't have the mind of Christ.
They're not giving them advice like, hey, husband,
love your wife, you know, do things for her,
sacrifice for her, show her that you love her, you know?
And ladies, obey your husband, give him respect.
Stop talking crap about him to your friends.
Stop mouthing off to him.
You know, they're not getting that good, righteous advice.
They're getting just the world's wisdom.
And you know what it does?
It harms people.
That's why it says the councils of the wicked are deceit.
You know, be careful about sending your kids to counseling.
That was a big thing when I was a kid.
When I was in public school,
we were forced at least once a year in public school
to go to the school counselor.
Be careful with that kind of stuff,
especially with your kids being young and impressionable.
You know, kids and all of us, really,
we need to be filling our minds with this
and we need to renew our minds with the word of God,
because you know what?
Our flesh,
We don't have wisdom of ourselves.
The only reason why we're right
is because of the righteousness of the Bible
and the righteousness of His precepts.
Notice what the Bible says in verse 6.
The words of the wicked are to lie and wait for blood.
but the mouth of the upright shall deliver them."
So wicked people, they're conniving, they're conspiring,
they're lying in wait to catch you with something.
And when I read this verse, I immediately think of the Pharisees and the Sadducees
that were just following Christ around.
And it says that they were constantly trying to catch him in his words.
And you know, that is the same tactic today that the wicked of our world,
is using is that they want to try to catch us with our words and there's people today that hate
our preaching hate the message of the word of God want to get us in trouble for these things
but you know what those that lie in wait for blood are wicked the bible says but the mouth of the
You know those who are upright those of us who are Christians when we speak we're speaking the words of life
Right, and when we go out soul-winning, what are we doing?
We're literally delivering people we're saving people from hell by them putting their faith in Christ
And even just sermons that are preached that causes people to make a change in their life
Hey, when we're forsaking our own ways when we're forsaking our own ideas and we're gonna change to what the Bible says
You know, that's delivering that person
from that evil road that they were going down.
The Bible says in verse seven,
the wicked are overthrown and are not,
but the house of the righteous shall stand.
When it says the wicked are overthrown and are not,
it's like saying they're dead, they're toast.
You know, they got smoked,
but the house of the righteous shall stand.
Makes me think of Matthew chapter seven.
Let's go there to Matthew chapter number seven.
Really famous passage.
Thinking about the house of the righteous, standing.
Look at verse number 24.
Jesus said this,
therefore, whosoever here at these sayings of mine
and do with them.
I will liken him unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock."
So the wise person hears the instruction of Jesus Christ, but notice they didn't just
hear it, they also do.
They hear the sayings of Jesus and do them.
Just like verse one is saying, hey, he that loveth instruction.
Not just him that hears it, but him that is actually doing it, that's the wise person
a rock and the rains descended and the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that house
and it fell not for it was founded upon a rock. You know, we're all thankful that our homes are
built on a foundation.
because man in Oklahoma you got that clay that just seems to never dry and it doesn't matter if it hasn't rained for a week
I'll go out in my yard and my foot will just sink. I'm just like what is with Oklahoma with the ground here
But man, imagine if we had no foundation on our homes that would be crazy
We'd be sliding all over the place
But it says in verse 26 and everyone that heareth these sayings of mine and do with them not shall be likened unto a foolish man
which built his house upon the sand.
And the rains descended and the floods came
and the winds blew and beat upon that house
and it fell and great was the fall of it.
Hey, that jives exactly with what Proverbs 12 is saying,
the wicked are overthrown and are not,
but the house of the righteous shall stand.
You know, we want to withstand the storms of life.
We don't know what is going to come to pass in our lives
tomorrow, you know, even just when things go well.
If you were to tell me five years ago that I'd be where I am now in life,
living here, doing what I'm doing, you know, that would be kind of shocking to me.
And I would be maybe a little bit apprehensive and anxious about it.
But hey, the storms of life are going to come.
But if you're founded on the rock, God will get you through those times.
You got to put in the work now though.
You don't start building the foundation when the tornado sirens go off.
Oh, the tornado sirens are going off.
You know, let's start, you know, constructing our house.
That's a bad idea.
Now is when you do the heavy labor of making a sure foundation, putting that anchor down,
then when the storm comes, your house will stand.
Go to verse 8 of Proverbs 12.
The Bible says a man shall be commended according to his wisdom and he that is of a perverse heart shall be despised.
Right? So we're going to give praise and honor to people who we esteem as wise.
That's normal for human nature. You know what else is normal for human nature?
The Bible says he that is of a perverse heart shall be despised.
Man, there's some people out there today that are just despicable.
That are disgusting. It's those of a who are of a perverse heart
You know the perverts of this world today like the sodomites they are to be despised. They're disgusting
You know, it's funny. I saw some freak tranny leave a comment on one of my videos recently
And they're like well, you know if I don't deserve to live you don't deserve to live either
And I'm like that's the mentality of every single tranny school shooter
You are so disgusting and you hate yourself so much
and you realize you're despicable and you don't deserve to live
because you don't, because that's what the Bible says and so you're so sick and
depraved
that in your mind well no one else deserves to live either.
It's like thanks for proving my point that your heart is just filled with murder.
That you're implacable, that you're unmerciful
to sit here and say well I'm a disgusting freak, I'm someone who's not worthy of life
therefore no one else is either.
Thanks for just proving our point.
You know what those people are?
They're perverts.
He that is of a perverse heart shall be despised.
There's something wrong with you if you like perverts.
There's something wrong with Christians today
that wanna stick up and stand up for pedophiles.
There's something wrong with the church
when one of their staff members gets busted
for being a sodomite and they have a meeting
where they're like, let's all pray for this person.
Hey, any of us could fall into sin, right?
Not those type of sins.
Because to do those type of sins you have to be turned over to a reprobate mind.
You have to be despicable. You have to be of a perverse heart.
So no, those people don't deserve any prayers other than a quick death.
Because the sooner they're out of this world, the least amount of people they're going to harm and pervert and rape and kill.
That's how the Bible describes them anyways.
Verse 9, the Bible says this,
He that is despised and hath a servant
is better than he that on earth himself
and lacketh bread.
So notice, the person of a perverse heart
is going to be despised.
And also it says, well, it's better
Let me read it again here.
It says he that is despised and hath a servant is better
than he that honoured himself and lacketh bread.
Notice how both of these people are despised.
And this is kind of what I get out of this passage
is that going through life, you will never make everyone happy.
There's not going to be a time where everyone likes you.
It's like the pervert is going to be despised because they're a sick pervert.
Even someone who is wise and gets success in this world, and obviously this person has
some financial success because he has a servant, notice he's despised by people too.
Whether you're making wise people angry by being a pervert, that's going to make wise
people angry.
fools will despise you too.
That just tells me, hey,
just get used to people despising you.
Be, get comfortable with it.
Don't be one of these people pleasers
that thinks you're gonna go through life
making everyone happy.
You know, people that try to do that,
they're miserable because they can't be themselves.
They can't just stand on their beliefs.
They can't just be comfortable with who they are.
They're constantly having to be chameleons
to change around people.
Don't be a people pleaser.
Just realize, hey, people are going to despise me.
Let it be the wicked that despise me.
You know, I'm just going to be righteous.
I'm just going to do what the Bible says.
I'm going to stand on God's commandments.
And if people despise me, hey, I'd rather be despised and it sucks for you.
You know, if you're one of these people where it says, he that honoreth himself and lacketh
bread.
So notice, this person is a fool.
And, you know, that is what fools love to do.
They love to honor themselves and talk about how great they are and think they're so great
in their mind, yet they're objectively failing in life.
And they'll despise people who are succeeding just because they're a squirter.
They're just people that despise others, but you know what, it's better to be successful
and be hated.
Verse 10 says this.
A righteous man regarded the life of his beast, but the tender mercies of the wicked are
Cruel so righteous people are going to regard the life of their beast
You know, of course animal cruelty is just something that's weird
And it's usually like a common pattern with people who become like serial killers
Is that they were really into like torturing animals and so obviously that kind of stuff is is weird and not okay
It says that a righteous man regardless the life of his beast now
regard doesn't mean that
Animals are like at the top of what we regard.
It means that we just give some thought to it.
We give some care to it.
You know, if we're going to slaughter an animal,
we're going to do it humanely.
We're not going to torture animals,
but it doesn't mean that we regard animals over people, right?
You know, I regard my own hunger more importantly
than animals because God said to Peter, rise, kill and eat.
He's like, hey, pray for your food, give thanks and eat, right?
And so just this weekend, I slaughtered a bunch of chickens.
And you know what?
I don't care.
I'm going to have some rooster
laudas and that's totally fine.
But at the same time,
hey, did it real humanely?
We're not going to torture the animals.
That's weird,
but it says that the tender
mercies of the wicked are cruel.
You know, wicked people,
even when they're being merciful,
quote unquote,
it's still cruel compared to a normal person.
Verse 11, he that tilleth his land
shall be satisfied with bread,
but he that followeth vain persons
is void of understanding.
So, how are you going to be satisfied and have all the things that you need?
It's through tilling your land, the Bible says.
He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread.
Now, to me, this implies that there's some level of patience going into providing for
yourself, because you're not going to go till your land and put the seed in and water it,
and then just be like, ah, give up on this field, I'm just going to go do it again.
and you put seed in, oh, you just give up.
To me, this is kind of like people
that just career hop all the time.
You know, it's he that tilleth his land
shall be satisfied with bread.
Why?
Because you put in the time and the effort and the energy
and then you've got to water that,
you got to fertilize that,
and then a whole season has to go by until harvest
until you could actually reap anything from that.
And so, you know, what's a wise thing to do
is that whatever career you go into, just stick with it.
You know, you should be moderately successful
pretty much in any career you pick
as long as you just stick with it.
I've seen people do this where they're like
in a great career, they're in a skilled trade
and they're on the path to be able to make a lot of money,
a lot of, you know, be able to provide
for their family really well.
And then they'll just kind of like get tired of it.
and just restart in their late 30s and like restart in their 40s.
And it's like, that's like the guy that was tilling this field,
tilling the land,
planted all this seed, did all this watering and it's just like, ah, give up.
It's like, man, the harvest was right there.
And you know, people that are really successful in their careers usually takes them a long
time to get to that, you know, level.
But here's the thing, 10 years are going to go by whether you're responsible or irresponsible.
You're going to wake, it's just like 10 years is going to go by and you're like, boom, here
I am.
I'm 30.
And so you might as well just put in that effort and stick with what you're doing.
That's going to be the best way to provide.
The Bible says in verse 12,
the wicked desireeth the net of evil men,
but the root of the righteous yieldeth fruit.
So to me, this is, you know,
talking about people that are covetous,
the wicked, they desire the net of evil men.
They see the success that men have maybe had
and even evil men,
because sometimes, you know,
people just dedicate their lives to money
and they're not even righteous.
The wicked desire that,
but notice the root of the righteous
yieldeth fruit. You know, if you do things the right way, if you follow God's commandments,
you will produce results in your life. Verse 13, the wicked is snared by the transgression of his
lips, but the just shall come out of trouble.
So the wicked they're constantly getting themselves in trouble by what they say constantly just you know
They're not able to control their anger
They're you know getting in fights out of pride and contention and stuff like that and they get themselves into a lot of trouble
Doing that the Bible says a man shall be satisfied with good by the fruit of his mouth and the recompense of a man's hands
Shall be rendered unto him
So again, this is kind of this idea that hey, God is actively judging and working in our lives
And we are going to reap what we sow, you know the recompense of a man's hands will be
Rendered unto him so we will reap what we sow then it says in verse 15 the way of a fool is right in his own eyes
But he that harkeneth unto counsel is wise.
So think about this, when it comes to someone who is a fool, someone who is stupid, foolish
and idiot, they are convinced in their mind that everything that they think is right and
that all of their ways are right.
See that's a big difference between how the Bible says the thoughts of the righteous are
right because when we read the Bible, what are we saying?
When I read something in the Bible, I'm not like wavering is that true is that not I'm just like this is right.
And sometimes in life, you know, as we grow in Christianity, we come across something in the Bible that contradicts with what we previously thought.
Now, this is the crossroads between foolishness and wisdom.
This is the crossroads that people come to where they actually grow and mature or they just remain an idiot remain foolish is when the way that you thought was right.
It becomes a contradiction with the Bible says you have to make a decision
Hey, am I gonna go with what the Bible says or am I going to stay believing what I believe, you know
This is like the Catholics
Catholics are so foolish today that hear the truth and just stick with the Roman Catholic Church despite all the things we talked about on Sunday.
No, the wise person is going to let the Bible correct them and no one, no one goes through life reading this book and just be like, oh, I already agreed with all this.
Oh, all my thoughts were already this way.
No, no, no, the Bible is going to constantly correct us till the day that we die.
And there's a difference between saying,
hey, I believe I'm right about all the things
that I'm basing the Bible on in my life
versus like all my personal opinions are right.
All my personal ways are right.
That is the sign of a fool.
Someone that, and here's the thing,
we just gotta realize, hey, right now, today,
you are wrong about something
and I am wrong about something.
And you know what the wise person does?
I wanna find out what that is as soon as possible.
And so one way to do that is read the Bible.
Also it says there.
It says, but he that Harkineth unto counsel is wise, right?
So we want to find out where we're wrong rather than staying a fool.
And so what do we need?
Sometimes we need that counsel.
We need that advice.
And you know, that's what the Word of God is primarily.
It's giving us counsel, it's giving us advice.
That's the best counsel you could possibly get.
And then additionally, you know, God's given us gifts in life.
God's given us friends and church members, pastors and mom and dad and ladies, your husband,
all these people in your life that you can get counsel from that can help you.
You know, a wise person takes advantage of those things.
A wise person actually utilizes those things and doesn't just stay in their way of foolishness.
Law, you know, I'm thinking about this lately, and attorneys, and what are they often called?
They're often called counselors.
You get counsel.
You know, it's wise to do that because you don't know what you don't know.
And have you noticed that when people try to represent themselves in court, it usually
doesn't go well for them?
It's because they're foolish.
They're just like, oh, I'm right in my own eyes.
I know all there is to know.
I'm going to represent myself.
But he, that Harkineth, counsels wise.
You know, it's good to get some advice, some people that know more than you.
The Bible says in verse 16,
a fool's wrath is presently known,
but a prudent man covereth shame.
So another attribute of a foolish person
is that they really have no control over their spirit.
When they get angry, they just have to let that out.
They have to let everyone know when they're angry.
And here's the thing,
anger in itself is not necessarily sinful.
The Bible says,
be angry and sin not so you can be angry and not be sinning.
You know righteous indignation is totally fine but if we're just honest
probably a lot of times that you and I get mad it's probably not a righteous
anger and you know it's a foolish thing when people just they blow off their
top they get upset by something and they immediately have to just let that out
and let everyone know that they're mad. You know this can harm your relationships
because sometimes
You know, there's a time and place for everything.
Sometimes someone's making you mad,
and the best thing to do is to go to them privately
and say, hey, you offended me,
you made me mad in this area.
Other times the best thing to do is absolutely nothing.
and just let it go.
And sometimes you just gotta realize like,
hey, I'm getting mad right now because of my own pride.
Or I'm getting mad right now just cause, you know,
I didn't get much sleep last night.
I didn't get enough coffee or whatever.
So I'm not gonna blow up on this person.
I'm not gonna lose my cool on this person
and maybe harm a relationship.
Why, cause that's the foolish thing to do
to just always blow your top.
You know, even if you're in a position of authority,
you know, you could use discretion
of maybe displaying your
anger or displeasement at people who are under you.
It might not always be the most appropriate thing in the world
to just come down on your children
in every situation, right?
Sometimes you got to use discretion and be like,
hey, let's go to the bathroom and spank you, you know what I mean?
And not just like, hey, we're in the middle of a restaurant
and just start swinging right there.
It's like that might not be...
a wise thing to do, sometimes you've got to control yourself and hey,
don't be soon angry, the Bible says. You can be angry, there's times to get angry,
there's things that make me angry, rightly so, but don't be soon angry.
Here we have in verse number 17, the Bible says,
he that speaketh truth, showeth forth righteousness, but a false witness deceit.
There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword.
But the tongue of the wise is health.
So the tongue of the wise is health.
It's gonna be building people up.
You know, a wise person doesn't wanna just constantly cut down
and pierce like a sword all the people that are around them.
You know, their colleagues, their teammates,
their church members, people that we're dealing with.
It's not a wise thing to do,
just always be cutting people down.
And you know, we wanna balance this like soft,
You know, snowflake generation that we live in that can't take
reproof, can't take correction.
We also want to balance it with just not being a total jerk for
the sake of being a jerk.
You know, the Bible says the tongue of the wise is health.
And every time you correct someone, you don't have to do it in the most
piercing, mean, angry way that you possibly can.
You know, that's not necessarily beneficial at all times.
You know, the tongue of the wise is health.
You could build people up and look a rebuke can build people up correction can build people up, but I just think like our default in life is that we should be kind and gentle, especially with the people that we love.
Especially with our friends and our family and our church, you know, people in this room when we're dealing with each other, especially on an individual base basis.
Our default shouldn't be like, you're the dumbest idiot, biggest retard I've ever seen in my life. You know, that was the worst thing you've ever said.
It's not really showing a lot of charity.
You know, we could speak to each other
in a way that's health and not always
like the piercings of a sword.
People that always have to speak
just to everybody like that.
It's almost like there's some sort of insecurity going on.
Like we just have to cut everyone else down
so that I could feel big and strong.
It's like, no, you know what a real secure person does
is they want to build other people up.
Why? Because, you know, if I'm on a baseball team, I want my teammates to be as good as possible so we could win, right?
Hey, we're in a spiritual battle. We're soldiers of the Lord.
I want my fellow soldiers here to be the best soldiers they could be so we can go out to war and win.
Not just me be a big fish in a small pond. That's what some people want.
That's what some leaders want. They want to just cut everyone down so that they could feel special.
You know, this is what people do. Leaders that are insecure, they want to cut down other leaders too because they're insecure.
Don't listen to anyone else.
You can only listen to me.
You know, I have to be your favorite pastor.
I'm, you know, pastor's going their own way.
Pig towels, right?
These guys are like insecure, whereas you know what we should do?
Man, we should build up other churches,
build up other pastors, build up other works for God.
Oh, you know, you listen to Pastor Shelley,
Pastor Anderson, Pastor Thompson, awesome.
I do too.
They're great pastors, you know?
We should build each other up
and not be afraid of other Christians having success.
If you're a boss, don't be afraid of your employees having success.
If you're a pastor, don't be afraid of your preacher men in your church preaching a great
sermon and having success, praise God for that.
Don't be afraid of someone else getting ordained and then succeeding in the ministry.
That's great.
We're all on the Lord's team because it's all about Christ.
Jesus is who I care about succeeding really at the end of the day.
And all the people that are serving Him, I'm on your side.
I want to build you up.
The Bible says in verse number 19, the lip of truth shall be established forever, but
a lying tongue is but for a moment.
You know, this verse is really important to me as a pastor, because when I think about
the philosophy of...
how to run a church.
There's a lot of people in the modern church movement
where they want to be seeker sensitive, right?
We want to have the nicest building possible
and we want to bring out the dancers and the music
and the movies and the soft sermon
and the 15 minute sermon, right?
It's really seeker sensitive,
but is that really going to be established
at the end of the day?
No, it's not you know, it's going to be established the lip of truth shall be established
You know what is going to make a church successful and actually
Planted and have a strong foundation and be able to weather storms is when it's built on the truth
That's why you know what the most important thing for anchor Baptist churches
It's that we exalt that we preach that we defend the truth
It doesn't matter if it's popular,
it doesn't matter if it gets the media angry at us
or get protesters mad, what matters is the truth.
That's what we have to defend.
That's what's going to be established.
But it says in verse 20, deceit is in the heart of them that imagine evil.
But to the counselors of peace is joy.
So notice those who are imagining evil, they're not built on the truth, they're not caring
about the truth.
It says that deceit is in their heart.
And you know, of course, for all of sin and come short of the glory of God, we've all
lied in here before.
And when you lie, you know what you feel.
You feel uncomfortable.
When we lie, it's stressful, right?
We have to kind of keep track of the deceit
and making sure that we're being convincing, right?
This is what people do, this is what humans do.
But it says that deceit is in the heart of them
that imagine evil, but to the counselors of peace is joy.
See, if you're just focused on the truth and being upright
and just having the mentality of let the chips fall
where there may, you know the Bible says you have joy.
And it says that we're the counselors of peace.
I love that description of Christians,
is that we're the counselors of peace,
because that's not what the world would describe us as.
The world would describe us as hateful and mean,
and these fundamentalists are so backward,
and they're living 1,000 years ago.
No, no, no, we're the counselors of peace.
We're trying to bring peace to this world.
Hey, we go out and go soul-winning,
and yeah, we might sting you.
We might hurt you feelings when we tell you,
hey, the Catholic Church is a wicked church.
And if you believe they're doctrine, you will go to hell.
That might sting you a little bit,
but really, if you believe the gospel,
if you believe the message, you know what you're going to have?
Peace.
We're bringing you peace by allowing you to escape the fires of hell
through faith in Jesus Christ.
You know, people think that we're so mean when we preach against things like alcohol.
But let me tell you something, if you stop drinking alcohol, you know what's gonna happen
is you're gonna have peace in your life.
You're not gonna be falling all over injuring yourself when you're blacked out drunk.
You know, people waking up from their party the night before realizing, hey, where did
my front two teeth go?
Why do I have this cut?
Why am I in a hospital?
Why is my friend dead?
Hey, why is my girlfriend dead? Why is my wife dead right here in this car?
Because you're drinking this poison this garbage that's gonna ruin your life and sometimes you just need the counselors of peace
To love you enough to tell you the truth and you know that'll actually bring in the long run joy
People think that fornication will bring them joy.
No, you know what will bring you joy?
Getting married and staying faithful to your spouse.
You know what people think?
Oh, you know what will bring me joy?
If I spice up my life a little bit and go have an affair.
No, that won't bring you any joy.
That will destroy your life.
Getting divorced, it'll destroy your children.
It'll destroy your home.
You know what, when we bring you the word of God
and we stand on what Jesus says,
we are the counselors of peace.
The thoughts of the righteous are right.
We are the counselors of peace.
The Bible says in verse 21,
there shall no evil happen to the just,
but the wicked shall be filled with mischief.
Now, kind of on the surface, you read this,
it says that no evil will happen to the just,
and I'm just thinking like,
man, we've had persecution, we've gone through this,
and you could probably say the same thing in your life,
that you've gone through something hard,
illness, relationship problems, financial problems,
persecution, you're like,
what do you mean no evil can happen to the just?
You know, we're constantly getting persecuted.
We're constantly getting hated.
You know, my mom and dad think I'm in a cold or something like that.
But here's what I think this is saying.
Think about the word evil.
Evil means harm.
And I think what this is saying is that in the long run of things,
hey, no weapon formed against us shall prosper.
There will no evil happen to the just.
There's not a person in your life that could cause you
to lose your relationship with God.
You know, if you just do what's right, yeah, you could get persecuted, yeah, you could lose
your job, yeah, you could lose your money, yeah, you could lose your reputation, yeah,
you can go through all these things.
But you know what, no one can ever take the love of God away from you.
No one can ever take your relationship and you being right with the Lord away from you.
No one can do that, even if they kill you, they can't do that.
And so it's like, oh, you kill me?
Guess what?
No evil happens to the just because there I am straight in heaven.
Oh, you persecute us.
Oh, you know, we're going through a hard time.
Still no evil could happen to the just
because the more they afflicted them,
the more they grew.
And the Bible says it is good for me
that I have been afflicted,
that I might learn thy statutes.
You just can't beat us.
You know, if you're right with the Lord,
no one can beat you.
God is just a secret weapon that the world doesn't have.
And if you are just rooted and grounded in the Bible
and you're actually serious about serving God,
nothing can defeat you.
People can come after us.
People can come after our money, our building, our jobs,
whatever, but at the end of the day,
there will be no evil that happens to the just.
We will always win in the long run
and they will always lose.
That's why it says,
but the wicked shall be filled with mischief.
You know, the wicked,
they don't have a silver lining in their life.
They can look at us and mock us and persecute us and think, oh man, we got them, oh, we
fired them, oh, we got them in the news, oh, we got this church protested, oh, we got this
church in a lawsuit.
Yeah, but at the end of the day, you're going to be filled with mischief.
At the end of the day, your marriage sucks.
At the end of the day, you're not in a good church.
You don't get the blessing of reading the Bible, and when you die, you'll go to hell.
And you know, I don't want that for you.
I'd like you to just be wise and take correction
and get some counsel and change your mind
and believe the Bible.
And then you could be on the same boat as us, undefeatable.
Unbeatable.
Look what it says in verse 23.
It says, a prudent man concealeth knowledge,
but the heart of fools proclaimeth foolishness.
Here's another attribute of fools,
and that's definitely something that's coming up a lot
in this chapter, is that fools,
they just love to hear themselves talk.
Fools are just known as being you know jabber mouths
They're just always blabbing their mouth and their heart is just proclaiming foolishness
But a prudent man can see with knowledge, you know someone who's actually wise someone who actually has a lot of knowledge
They don't feel like this compulsive urge to just constantly hear themselves talk
Sometimes if you find a really wise person in your life,
it's almost hard to get their wisdom out of them.
You kind of have to like coax them
and ask them good questions.
And you know, if you yourself are wise
and you know someone who is wise,
you would be smart to try to pick that person's brain
and ask them questions.
Kids, when you're in school, ask questions, you know?
Because sometimes that really good teacher
is concealing knowledge
because that's just kind of how wise people are,
is the Bible saying.
Ask good questions, draw it out of him.
The Bible says, verse number 22,
lying lips are abomination to the Lord,
but they that deal truly are His delight.
So we're seeing again, this really profound thought
that we talked about last week,
how though we are dust and though we are so small
and insignificant in the scheme of this universe,
that we could actually bring delight to God.
You know, that's a pretty amazing thought.
And one way we could do that is his lying lips are abomination to the Lord, but they that deal truly are his delight.
You know, we actually bring pleasure and delight to God when we are just upright, honest people that speak the truth.
But lying lips are abomination to the Lord.
You know, God looks down from heaven and he sees you lying.
Hey, listen kids, don't lie to mom and dad.
When mom and dad ask you, hey, what happened here?
Did you do this?
Don't lie to your mom and dad because the Bible says that lying lips are abomination
to the Lord.
You know what that means kids?
That God's looking down from heaven and he knows the truth.
He knows if you're lying or not and he gets angry at you if he sees you lie.
But if he sees you tell the truth, the Bible says you're walking up rightly, then you are
his delight.
And you know it works the same thing with us as parents.
I'm like disgusted by this behavior.
But if they fess up, even if they did something wrong
and they're just honest, they just come to me in humility,
I am gonna be way more lenient when they have that attitude.
Why? Because it's like, all right, you made a mistake.
I know you're just a child.
You're just a sinner, just like I am.
But hey, at least you're dealing up brightly now.
At least now you're telling the truth.
And so then I just wanna show mercy
and I wanna be more lenient.
And it's gonna be the same way with God for us.
If God sees you trying to cover your sins, the Bible says he that covers his sins shall not prosper.
If God sees you, you know, not hearkening to the law, turning away your ear from the word of God,
the Bible says even your prayer will be made abomination to him.
So kind of the relationship between parent and son, parent and daughter, can reflect that of us and God as well.
And you know we need to be like the good kids that come to the father and say Lord I've
messed up.
I did this.
It was wrong.
I'm sorry.
Help me to get better.
You know God's going to come down way less severe on us when we have that attitude than
you just trying to think oh God doesn't see, God doesn't care.
I'm going to get away with it.
That's when the hammer really comes down.
And you know what?
You never want to have that kind of spanking from God.
You never want to have that kind of spanking from your parents when you're hiding things.
We want to be walking uprightly and being God's delight.
Verse 23, a prudent man concealeth knowledge, but the heart of fools proclaimeth foolishness.
So repeating that same thought, how fools they just like to hear themselves talk.
Verse 24, the hand of the diligent shall bear rule, but the slothful shall be under tribute.
glad. And I kind of want to revisit this thought I was talking about of how we don't want to just
have our tongue be like a sword. We kind of want to have our default way of speaking with people,
of being encouraging and lifting people up and blessing others. You know, heaviness in the
heart of man, maketh it stoop. What's that talking about? Kind of like depression. Heaviness,
right? Depression. That feeling of just sadness or depression. It makes you stoop. It makes you
Make a fit glad you know, it's pretty amazing just the power of words
How you could feel a certain emotion you could feel a certain way and in depression is something that's very heavy
It's a very real feeling that people experience, but a good word can make it glad
I mean, that's pretty interesting the power of words and like I said us as Christians our default should be to build people up
you know, it's kind of like in
any type of sport
You know growing up you had coaches that are like hey buddy you know you had a
good at bat there but let me help you with your fielding you know you kind of
are drawn more to those type of coaches than a coach that I had once who because
one of our players we had bases loaded okay I'm going old FB for a minute one
story all right we had bases loaded and a guy's at bat and a ball came right at
him and he got out of the way now if you know baseball if you would have just
stayed there and gotten hit
Then the runner would have just automatically gotten home.
They would have gotten the point and the coach was super, super angry.
And I understand that anger a little bit, but you know what he did.
The next practice is he lined us up against the wall.
It was like a 2022 pass or a sermon.
He's like, all right, you're all convicted, line up against the wall.
And he just threw baseballs at us as hard as he could.
It was just like, oh, I just love this coach so much.
No, it was not my favorite coach.
I liked the other coach that was like hey buddy good at bad but let's fix your technique at first base.
I was like alright I can work with this guy, I can practice with this guy all day.
But who wants that other coach that lines you up against the wall and throws baseballs at you?
It's like you know we want to be people that the Bible says a good word make if it glad.
Hey, when it comes to preaching behind the pulpit,
man, the Bible says reprove, rebuke, exhort.
The Bible says stamp with the hand, kick with the foot,
you know, cry aloud, spare not.
Preaching is a certain style,
but don't think like, hey, how new I've been pastors preach
is how I should interact with people on a one-on-one basis.
No, folks, you'll never see me do that in
Interactions with people. That's not how I am and if you've been around other pastors, you know that when they're talking to you
You know, it's more like a good word. Make it that glad
From behind the pulpit. I'm gonna rip on sin and I'm gonna make you feel uncomfortable and I'm gonna step on your toes
But realize that even though I'm doing that. I'm still on your side. I'm still on your team
I want you to do well. It's it's kind of like when you see a car crash that was someone's fault
You got two types of people in this world people that are like, yeah
Serves you right more on you crash and got hurt or other people who are like, yeah, that was stupid
But I still feel bad this person's hurt
Like, can't we realize, like, hey, that guy was driving like a moron, but he still is
injured and that's sad?
That's not cool?
Well, like, that's how I feel, like, as a pastor sometimes, where I'm just, like, screaming
for people to change and not do something, and they do it, and I'm just like, that is
100% your fault, but I still feel bad for you, and I still love you, and I'm still on
your team, and I'll still, you know, go call 911 and give you first aid, and I'm here for
you, I'm your friend, but you see the difference between those two things.
That's love as a Christian.
Hey, we're going to preach the truth.
We're going to preach hard.
We're going to correct things.
We're going to be sharp.
It's going to be uncomfortable sometimes.
But still know that I'm on your side.
And you know what?
When you preach, you should have that same mentality.
If you get the opportunity to preach, don't use your opportunity to preach to, you know,
get your personal vendettas that you have with people and really, you got axe to grind
with someone.
No, no, no.
Love the people that you preach to.
Love the people that you preach to and hey rebuke is loving but it better be coming from a place of love. That's what I'm saying
The Bible says in verse 26 the righteous is more excellent than his neighbor, but the way of the wicked seduceth them.
The righteous is more excellent than his neighbor, but the way of the wicked seduceth them.
I think this is kind of like from the perspective of someone who's not necessarily a Christian.
They're kind of one of these people that's hanging in the balance.
It's not like they're super evil. It's not like they're saved.
Well, it says the righteous is more excellent than his neighbor.
This person can kind of either go two ways it seems like.
They could go towards the righteous,
or they could go towards whoever this neighbor is.
Now, what's the right choice going with the righteous, right?
The righteous is more excellent than his neighbor,
but the way of the wicked seduceth them.
So, even though going with Christianity is always the right choice, going to a fundamental
Baptist church over a liberal fund center is always the right choice.
The righteous is better than this neighbor, but the way of the wicked seduced them.
You know what 2 Peter 2 says is it talks about false prophets?
It says that they allure through the lusts of the flesh.
is the independent fundamental Baptist Church
that has the right doctrine, the right preaching,
but often times people get deceived
or seduced into going the wrong way.
This is why it's so important for us to warn
against false prophets.
For us to warn against false religions
because it is deceiving people.
I mean, you guys do it all the time out soul-wining.
What are you doing when they say,
hey, I'm a Catholic, you're gonna say,
hey, the Bible says something different.
I know you're seduced, I know you're deceived right now,
but let me tell you the truth.
The Bible says something different, can I show you?
And so, you know, people are in the balance.
We gotta make sure that we warn against the false prophets
because they do allure through the lust of the flesh.
Most people, they wanna go to church
when it's close to their house,
when it has a kid's program, let me tell you,
when it has a daycare.
People want a church that has a daycare.
Why? Because people just hate their kids so much
because they don't spank them enough
and they're so fed up with their kids
that they don't even want to go to church
because they care about the sermons
or the word of God or the soul winning.
There's like, where can I drop off this demon?
That's like the attitude that a lot of people have.
And some people will literally drop their kids off to church
and not even go to church.
they'll just like have a date outing,
just dropping their kids off.
Like a lot of times this is what's in people's mind.
And so these people are seducing,
these types of churches are seducing people all the time.
We got the big fancy buildings.
We've got the nice music program.
We've got the pastor that never yells,
never raises his voice, never says faggot,
never stoopes over his word, you know?
Never, you know, messes up in a sermon
or something like that.
Yeah, but it's like,
but you don't have any meat on the bone.
But where your soul winning numbers where's the mission strips? Where's the fruit that's happening from this?
You know, that's why we got to warn against it because real people get enticed by this stuff all the time verse 12 or far
sorry verse 27
The slothful man roasteth not that which he took in hunting, but the substance of a diligent man is
precious. So again, these chapters are kind of hard to preach because it just seems like random stuff
just popping out of the chapter, but it's kind of a crazy thing to think of of someone who would go through all the trouble of
hunting an animal and killing an animal and then you don't even roast that what you took in hunting.
I mean that is crazy, but that's what these lazy people are like.
their bad stewards of the things that God gives them, but the substance of a diligent man is precious.
Hey, when you're faithful with that which is least, then you'll be faithful
in much. If you can kill a deer and actually process it and eat it,
you know, then maybe God will give you an elk next year or something like that, all right?
Verse 28, last verse, the Bible says this, and this is kind of a good way to sum up the
And in the pathway thereof, there is no death.
Really what I think this final thought comes down to,
and if you would turn to 1st John chapter number five,
1st John chapter number five,
it really comes down to faith.
You know, the way of the righteous, hey, the way of God's commandments, the way of what
the Bible says is life, and in the pathways thereof, there is no death.
That is actually going to take real faith from you, because let me just tell you the
reality of what happens when you do strive to serve God with all your heart, when you
do get on fire and get plugged in and get to a good church, all those who are godly
And so what happens is people are going through life and they start making good changes in their life.
They start cleaning up their life, stop drinking, stop fornicating.
You know, they start doing the right things. They go soul winning. They're three to thrive.
And then things won't just immediately get better in their life.
Then they'll start getting persecution from their family and mom and dad aren't cool with them anymore
and their siblings are estranged from them and they start having you know all these issues and trials and they think like this
Must be wrong because I'm going through things that are hard
But again, you have to realize that in Christianity
It's our life is just a vapor and you often have to look at the long term
What is the long term results of you being plugged in?
being faithful to the Lord,
the long term results of those are gonna be life.
I'll tell you that right now.
Hey, who's gonna have a better result
in your child rearing?
The person who goes to church Sunday morning,
every once in a while,
gets in and in church, out of church,
in church, out of church,
or the person who's just steadfast?
The person who just parks it here
and serves God for 20 years
as you're raising those kids,
who's more likely to have the better outcome?
Look at what first John chapter five says in verse number two by this
We know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep his commandments
For this is the love of God that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not
grievous
Realize that anytime you are doing what's right and you perceive that things are not going well
That is not because God's word doesn't work anymore or that you should doubt what you're doing
It's like hey all that live God in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution
But you know what if you stick with it in the long run
It'll be life to you and I could think of several times in my life where
I was discouraged and I thought like man maybe I should go do something else
but you know what I stuck it out and I'm glad that I did and I'm just getting
started you know I've got a lot of life ahead of me and I'm sure that ahead of
me there's gonna be dark days where I have those same feelings in my flesh
but I got to remind myself no the pathway of righteousness that's where life
is what's what's getting off the trail gonna do really like what out what is
there out in this world to look forward to nothing folks
Our lives are just a vapor, and you just think about our fathers and grandfathers that have come before us, that have been born, they've lived their life, and they're dead, and there's nothing they could do to change, and realize that pretty soon, we're going to be just like them, dead and in the ground.
And how we spend our life is all the works that you could do on this earth.
and all just the vain things that people get obsessed with today,
their career, money, sports, gym obsessions, gun collected,
whatever it is that's just vain in this world,
just realize that that's not going to matter in a hundred years,
and it's dead sure not going to matter in a thousand years.
But you know what? God's commandments are not grievous.
If you're suffering when you're doing right,
hey, praise God, suffering for righteousness' sake.
But don't get off the trail.
Don't think like, oh, I'm suffering while I'm doing right.
Therefore, I should stop.
No, no, no, the ways of righteousness is life.
Let's pray.
Lord, we thank you for your word.
We thank you for this chapter.
I pray that you'd help us to have faith in you
as we go through life and as we strive to do what's right
and keep your commandments.
That even when things are hard,
we would continue that we'd be steadfast.
And I pray that you would just help us to the best we can
to serve you and be pleasing in your sight.
Jesus' name we pray.
At this time, we'll turn to our last hymn for the evening, number 46, My Savior First of All,
hymn number 46, My Savior First of All.
46 there on the first when my life work is ended and I crossed the spelling
time when the bright and glorious morning I shall see I shall know my
I shall know him, and redeemed by his side I shall stand.
I shall know him, I shall know him, by the print of the dales in his hand.
O the soul.
rapture when I view his blizzard face, and the luster of his kindly beaming eye. How
my goal heart will praise him for the mercy, love, and praise that prepare for me a mansion
I shall stay
I welcome home, but I long to be my savior.
First of all, I shall love...
I shall know him, I shall know him, And bring team by his side, I shall sing.
and you are dismissed.