you
to get service started. If you would in your hymnals turn to number 452 all I need 452 452
Father, we thank you for this day, for the opportunity that we had to go out and preach
the gospel.
I pray that you would just be with those souls that the seeds that we attempted to plant
this evening, Lord, that you would just water and give the increase also.
I also pray, Lord, that you would just be with us for the service this evening, that
everything would be done decently and in order, that you would be with those that are not
able to make it.
And those even that are here this evening that just need your special hand of protection
on each of our lives.
These things we pray in Jesus' name, amen.
All right, for our next hymn, number 13,
must Jesus bear the cross alone?
hymn number 13,
one, three, must Jesus bear the cross alone?
13 there on the first.
passage of the week Galatians chapter number one verse 24 we're in our grace
week so you got about half a week still to memorize and quote this we do have in
the inside our service times listed Sunday morning at 10 30 Sunday evening at
4 30 and our Wednesday evening Bible study at 7 o'clock
Below there, we do have our sole winning times,
but make note that we're taking a pause this Saturday.
So we have our Sunday time and Wednesday time still going,
but this Saturday there is a pause for the sole winning.
Below that we do have our year-to-date statistics as well as the month of June
360 this month, which is again another record-breaking month. So praise Lord for that. That's the third one this year
So we're thanking God for how receptive it's been lately
We do have our upcoming events just a reminder this Saturday is the tinker air show and it's gonna be really hot
So make sure you prepare I would start drinking a ton of water now
And if you're like me, you're gonna need sunscreen and you know shade and all that stuff
But I'm really looking forward to it.
My wife and I are planning on getting there nice and early,
like 7.30.
So we'll try to drop a location pin of where
we're hanging out.
It's totally on your own.
If you want to walk around, do whatever you want.
You're free to.
If you want to join us as well, then of course we'd love that.
But again, it's totally free events.
Everyone is welcome.
June 29th, that Sunday, brother Ben Nyeem
will be preaching for us both services.
Really looking forward to having him this weekend.
Then we have July 27th,
is our next men's preaching night and potluck game night.
August 27th through the 31st
is the Fire Breathing Baptist Fellowship.
I think an itinerary is coming out for that real soon.
So keep your eye on Pastor Shelley
and said fast social media platforms.
and there should be an announcement pretty soon.
October 6th through the 11th is the Bahamas mission trip.
Looking forward to that.
On the right, we have our visitor card
and information about online giving.
Also, before we go to our third song,
we'll go ahead and go to the Lord in prayer.
Lord, we thank you for Anchor Baptist Church.
Thank you for the opportunity to be here
and meet together freely, to preach the word of God
and to sing praises to you.
I pray that you'd answer these requests, Lord,
according to your will.
I just pray that you'd be with anyone in our church right now.
It's just having a rough time, that you just bless them, Lord.
Also, we want to pray for Brother Eric and Theodore,
that you would give them safety in the Philippines
on their mission trip, that you would just continue
to allow that door to be opened unto them over there,
that you'd strengthen them, help them to work hard
and also to have fun while they're over there, Lord.
And we just thank you for the great harvest
that they've already had.
I pray that they would still win many more souls
as they're over there.
We also pray for the Hall family that you bless them during the home buying process,
that you'd allow things to go according to plan and things to go in their favor, Lord.
We also pray for the Hausbergs that you bless, Myles Health, that you bless Miss Rhea as well,
Lord. And we pray for the families in our church who have unsaved loved ones and that they would
just have a heart that's softened to the gospel, that they would get many chances to hear.
And Lord, we just want to pray for our ministry here in Oklahoma City that you would allow us to do even more soul winning for you.
That you would give us more laborers for the harvest here.
That you would just allow the people of Oklahoma City to have their hearts softened to the gospel and to the truth.
I pray that you'd help Anchor Baptist Church to be a bright and shining light in this city.
We love you in Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.
Alright, at this time we'll go ahead and go to our third song.
All right, our third song this evening will actually be in your white handout. It is Psalm 15
Psalm 15 in your white handout
Psalm 15 we'll sing they're starting on the first
Lord, who shall abide in thy tact.
Turn if you would to proverbs chapter
chapter number 13 a wise son here at his father's instructions but a scornor here is not revue
a man shall eat good by the fruit of his mouth but the soul of trends of the transgressors shall
eat violence he that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life but he that openeth wide his lips shall
And hath nothing, but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat.
A righteous man, hate it lying, but a wicked man is loathsome, and cometh to shame.
Righteousness keepeth him that is upright in the way, but wickedness overthroweth the
sinner.
There is that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing.
The ransom of a man's life are his riches, but the poor hear if not rebuke.
The light of the righteous rejoice it,
but the lamp of the wicked shall be put out.
Only by pride come with contention, but with the well advised is wisdom.
Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished, but he that gathereth by labor shall increase.
Hope deferred make it the heart sick, but when the desire cometh it is a tree of life
Who so despises the word shall be destroyed?
But he that feareth the commandment shall be rewarded
The law of the wise is a fountain of life to depart from the snares of death
Good understanding give a favor, but the way of transgressors is hard
Every prudent man dealeth with knowledge, but a fool layeth open his folly a
Wicked messenger
Folleth in a mischief, but a faithful ambassador is health
Poverty and shame shall be to him that refuses instruction, but he that regardeth reproved shall be honored
The desire
Accomplished is sweet to the soul, but it is abomination to fools to depart from evil
He that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but a companion companion of fools shall be destroyed
Evil pursuers sinners, but to the righteous good shall be repaid a
Good man leave it an inheritance to his children's children and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just
Much food is in the in the tillage of the poor, but there is that it that is destroyed for wants of judgment
He that spareeth his rod, hateeth his son, but he that loveth him, chaseneth him betimes.
The righteous eateth to the satisfying of the soul, but the belly of the wicked shall want.
Let's pray.
Gracious Lord, thank you so much for our church.
Thank you, Lord, that we have these gathers today.
All right, good evening. We're in Proverbs chapter number 13 verse 1.
The Bible says a wise son heareth his father's instruction, but a scorner heareth not rebuke.
Now, what is a scorner? A scorner is basically a person that treats someone or something with just contempt or even it could be someone that just mocks at something.
hearth, not rebuke.
What does that mean?
It means that a scornor cannot be corrected
even if you're yelling at them and screaming at them
and like being really harsh on them,
showing them facts, showing them things in the Bible.
A person that is a scornor is just a person
who unfortunately is a fool
that oftentimes cannot really be helped.
This is why the Bible teaches the concept
that when we go out soul winning,
we should go to people who are receptive.
you know, in heretic, after the first and second admonition, reject.
You know, I heard from Brother John and Brother Cameron today
that Brother John was showing the doctrine of the deity of Christ
and this woman kind of like literally laughed and mocked.
Like, oh, is that what you came away with from the scripture?
Oh, is that your idea of Jesus Christ?
It's like, what is that person?
That person's a scorner.
someone who would just treat the truth of the Bible with contempt or just mocking the Word of God.
You know, we ought to never be this type of person.
You know, there's some things,
obviously that we can mock and treat with contempt,
but they're called lies.
That's what will mock and condemn.
You know, lies, false doctrine,
you know, stupidity, bad ideas.
I'm all for you, scorning stupidity, please.
But let us not be the type of people
that scorn the Bible.
Or that scorn, fact, and reality.
You know, it really pisses me off,
the type of person that just scorns facts,
that doesn't want to hear truth,
that doesn't want to face reality.
You know, it doesn't even matter what the subject is.
It doesn't matter if it's something spiritual or carnal.
I just don't like scorners.
And God doesn't like scorners.
That type of person is a fool.
The Bible says in verse 2,
a man shall eat good by the fruit of his mouth,
but the soul of the transgressors shall eat violence.
When it's saying that a man shall eat good,
you can kind of think about just this person's state in life.
kind of the consequences of the
decisions that they have made.
You know, eating good.
I kind of picture like, hey,
life's going pretty well for this person.
They've got good food.
They've got the things that they need in life.
And notice what it comes by.
It says a man shall eat good by
the fruit of his mouth.
You know, the words that we say and the way that we speak and communicate with people matters a lot and will affect your life.
And people who are, you know, successful and doing well in life, it's usually because they also have a lot of good friends and good people that they're around.
And you know how to destroy friends is not being able to control your mouth, saying stupid things.
Then you're not really going to be eating good. You're going to constantly be in trouble.
shall eat violence so you got one person who by the fruit of his lips he's
eating good he's reaping the benefits of you know being able to get along with
people having friends speaking well with other people the other person the
transgressor he eats violence he reaps just destruction in his life and often
it's from his mouth the Bible says in verse 3 to kind of further prove this
point he that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life
but he that openeth wide his lips shall have destruction.
So notice if you're somehow able to control your mouth
and obviously no one can do this perfectly.
The Bible says the tongue no man can tame.
But you know, obviously some people do this
a lot better than others.
And you got some people today
that just want to mouth off to everyone
and can't respect anyone
and can't get along with anyone.
And that person is a fool.
You want to see what that person is like, just look at any police badge cam footage.
Anytime a police officer is like arresting someone and it was posted on YouTube,
it's probably this type of person that just can't control his mouth,
can't control what he's saying, and you know what, you often reap violence from that.
You often reap destruction, but he that keepeth his mouth
keepeth his life.
You know, it's kind of just a grave thought
to think about how with our mouths,
the Bible talks about how the power of life and death
is in the tongue.
And if everything's going well for you
and your life is going good, yet with your tongue,
you could destroy everything very quickly.
You know, you could have a great friendship with someone and you can cut that down pretty quickly by bringing in railing, evil surmising, lies.
You know, you could be a great pastor for years and years, but you get up and teach damnable heresy, you could destroy your ministry pretty quickly.
or you know you could be a backstabber or have some major character issues coming from the things
that you say that could destroy your influence just really really quickly. We ought to remember hey
he that keep it his mouth keep it his life. You know the words that we say or sometimes don't say
are very important and this is kind of a disease in 2025 America where people think that they just
And, you know, everyone has the platform and everyone's been told your opinion is valid,
your emotions are valid, you know, your voice is valid. Some people need to learn to keep their
peace and to shut their lips because he that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life.
You know, it's a good just rule of thumb that in general silence isn't going to hurt you in general of course
There's exceptions to that notice what the Bible says in verse 4 the soul of the sluggered
Desireth in half nothing, but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat
So notice in verse 2 you got you have a guy who's eating good by the fruit of his mouth
And you've got a guy who's keeping his life by keeping his mouth. Then you have this sluggered
Who notice he desire it so the slugger he wants all the same things that all of us want in life
And you know all of us as human beings we pretty much have the same needs and the same wants often time and the slugger
It is no different. What's a slugger? Just a lazy person
The Bible says the slugger desireth and hath nothing.
What's the difference?
But the soul of the diligent shall be made fat.
Now this is a good kind of fat.
We don't necessarily want our bodies to be fat, but we do want our souls to be fat.
What does it mean for your soul to be fat?
It just means you're well taken care of, it could mean that.
Or just that you're kind of like filled in life, you're just satisfied, you have the
things that you need.
Shall be made fat. So notice it's not enough just to want things in life
You kind of have these like worldly attitude like you just got to want it enough you got to manifest like if you heard this like
Oh, I just got to manifest reality. I got to manifest myself into this new job
I got to manifest my career or this investment. Yeah, that doesn't work
Because the Bible talks about how the slugger desire ith, you know, he wants those things
But it's the diligent person who's going to be made fat and what does diligent mean whenever I see the word diligent
I just think of this word discipline
That's a word that I really like is that word discipline.
It just means like, hey, you're doing the right things,
regardless of circumstance.
A person whose diligent is doing the right things,
regardless of how they feel or what's
going on in their personal life.
The diligent person, when it comes
to providing for your family, you're
just going to wake up early in the morning.
You're going to get dressed.
You're going to get out the door and go to work,
regardless of how you feel.
And you know, for some reason in our weak, crazy society,
this is becoming like a foreign concept to men even.
And our lives in the workplace has kind of gotten so easy
and so coddled that at the smallest inconvenience,
people will just call out of work, call in sick,
give up on the job.
But you know, that's gonna lead to want.
That's gonna lead to lack.
You know, that can lead to you getting fired.
and not being able to provide for yourself.
And guess what, you're still going to desire all the same things.
But you know what? It's the hand of the diligent.
His soul will be made fat.
You know, it makes me think of these bums that I see every single day in Oklahoma City.
Every single day, I walk by these bums, and you know what's funny?
They're constantly desiring things.
You know how I know?
Because every time I walk past them, hey, you got some spare change, hey, can you buy me
some food?
It's like, hey, look, there's the sluggered.
He desireth yet he hath nothing.
Why?
Let me tell you why, because he's lazy and he's not diligent.
Because what does the Bible say right here?
That the soul of the diligent shall be made fat.
You're going to be super hardworking.
You're going to be diligent.
You're going to have character and you're still going to end up starving to death on the streets.
No, that's not what the Bible teaches.
The Bible teaches that when you are diligent, when you work hard,
yeah, you might never be rich.
And guess what?
The Bible says we shouldn't even desire to be rich.
So that should be off the table in your mind as something that, like,
a goal I have to reach is be rich.
But you know what we should want is to have the things that we need to take care of
our you know carnal needs and even some wants God wants to bless us. You know we live in a very
rich country and we live like kings compared to the rest of this world and it's like if you are
on the street starving begging for food in the United States of America it's because you're lazy.
And Christians today have just like forgotten this message.
For some reason, many churches have like a bleeding heart and a soft spot for the homeless.
But let me tell you something, the majority of homeless people,
they are not just people that are down on their luck.
They are not people that are just having a rough time.
They are serial drug addicts, serial alcoholics,
usually involved in all sorts of crime,
and they're just sitting there like a slugger
begging you for food.
You know the Bible says that if a man will not work,
neither should he eat, the Bible says.
So someone just refuses to be diligent,
to have a little bit of their discipline in life,
to work one job.
I mean, a lot of us guys in this inflation, we're working like 60-hour weeks, two jobs, three jobs.
It's like, can you just work one job and pay for yourself?
You homeless bum? I'm not giving those people food.
It's a bad idea to give those people money or food or anything like that.
The Bible says in verse 5,
but a wicked man is loathsome and cometh to shame.
Now, of course, you know, lying is just like
one of the most basic sins that we know is wrong.
And it's kind of just like on the surface.
Of course, lying is wrong.
And I'm thinking about, man, what do I say about lying?
Cause it's just kind of so obvious.
But I like how this verse is highlighting something.
A righteous man, hadith, lying.
So notice, a godly person, they do not just abstain from lies, they despise and hate when
people lie.
And, you know, I don't know about you, but it just blows my mind when people have such
little fear of God, how they could just flippantly lie about you.
And that's something that, you know, I'd seen in the ministry for a long time, and then
I became a pastor and it kind of just ramped up a ton, and it just kind of blows my mind
how people lie.
You know, that's one thought I had about this, but I also thought about this.
Joshua chapter 2 because you know a few years ago I heard a pastor teach
something that I just thought was crazy but I thought at the time like hey
this is a good guy just you know ignore it let it go it was Pastor Jones who
recently just gone absolutely insane and is constantly preaching this hyper grace
nonsense but a few years ago he preached a sermon about lying and he got up and
taught that it's sometimes okay to lie
And this was a few years ago, like before he really came out with all his heresy.
I just remember thinking like, that's a super big red flag.
That's really weird.
And, you know, he's not the only person that I've heard say this.
I've heard many, many people teach this over the years.
And let me tell you something.
That is false doctrine.
It is never okay to lie.
Okay?
And people bring up like the most stupid, you know, pedantic examples.
is in Joshua chapter number two.
I'll get to those examples in a second
while I was speaking of.
But let's just read verse one.
It says, in Joshua, the son of none,
sent out of Chateaume two men to spy secretly,
saying, go, view the land, even Jericho.
And they went and came into a harlot's house
named Rahab and lodged there.
So Joshua is sending his soldiers
on this covert mission, top secret mission.
He sends them to the house of Rahab,
The harlot, the Bible does not mince words, right?
So saying this woman is a whore.
Now she's not a terrible person because in Hebrews 11,
she's actually in the hall of faith.
So Rahab is saved, praise God for that.
But they get sent to this whore's house.
It says in verse two,
and it was told the king of Jericho saying,
behold, there came men in hither tonight
of the children of Israel to search out the country.
So the king knows, he finds out about this mission somehow.
And the king of Jericho sent under Rahab saying,
Bring forth the men that are come to thee, which are entered into thine house, for they become to search out all the country.
So she's busted. You know, there's some bad operational security in this mission here, and it's just blown wide open.
This king knows, hey, these guys were in your house, and he kind of surmises like, hey, they're here to spy out the country.
And he's right. He's right about that.
And said thus, there came men unto me, but I whisked not whence they were, and it came to pass about the time of shutting of the gate when it was dark, that the men went out, whither the men went, I wot not."
That's a lie right there. She's saying, I don't know where these guys went.
pursue after them quickly, for ye shall overtake them, but she had brought them up to the roof of the house
and hid them with the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order upon the roof.
And the men pursued after them the way to Jordan unto the fords, and as soon as they which pursued after them were gone out, they shut the gate.
So it's an example here of...
Rehab the harlot and what did she do? She did lie. That is just a certain fact about the story. She did lie
And here's the thing people will see this story and they'll say well, you know, God dealt favorably in this situation
Therefore that means lying is okay sometimes, but let me help you with a Bible study tip
Don't base your doctrine off of stories
Base doctrine off of clear statements. You know, it is a clear statement a righteous man hated lying
Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord.
Like, there's all these statements that are just saying like,
lying is wicked, don't lie, God hates liars.
And then why would I look at this story and just see an example of a woman who lies,
granted a whore who lies,
and just say like, well, here's a whore who lies, therefore lying is okay sometimes.
Eh, that's a bad way to interpret the Bible.
Now, here's the thing.
On a human level, I can sympathize with her.
And I could sympathize saying, hey, she's in a tough spot.
I can rationally understand why she lies.
But just because I can understand why people send,
does that make sin OK?
Like, this is what people do.
They just think like, well if I was in her situation, I would do the same thing, therefore
let's just lower the bar of righteousness.
No, folks.
You know what that is?
Pride.
You know, I would have more respect for someone who just said like, yeah, I lied because
I was scared.
I was in a terrifying situation and I lied and I scared and that was wrong.
You know, I'd rather have more respect for that person than says like, oh, yeah, you know, it's sometimes okay to lie.
No, that's twisting the Bible.
Okay, notice what Jesus' attitude is.
Let's go to Revelation chapter number two.
And as you're turning there, think about this.
You know, it's a really dumb idea to look at this story and say like, well, God bless this situation.
And God blessed Rahab, and Rahab spake positively of Rahab in Hebrews 11, therefore it's okay.
Well let me ask you this, has God ever been merciful to you when you did wrong?
Has God ever blessed you in your life while you were in sin?
Let me answer that for you.
Yeah, all the time.
So we can't just look at Rahab's circumstances
and say like, she lied and then God did good unto her.
Therefore, what Rahab did was right.
No, how do we base what's right and wrong?
What the Bible says.
Show me the verse that says, it's OK to lie
in a life or death situation.
Because recently you had this Jordan Peterson debate
with atheists.
I don't know if anyone saw that.
And this idea was brought up about, like, well, what if you're living in Nazi Germany
and the Nazi knocks on your door and says, ha Stuhl ein Juden hier?
And what are you supposed to say?
You know, do you have any Jews here?
And this is, I mean, who's heard this argument before?
It's like one of the most common, like, hypotheticals.
Oh, is it okay to lie if Nazis are asking on your door?
Let me tell you what, it's never okay to lie.
It's never okay to lie, not even in a life or death situation.
Let me prove that to you.
Notice what Jesus said.
Look at verse number eight.
And unto the angel of the church and Smyrna, right.
These things say at the first and the last,
which was dead and is alive.
I know thy works and tribulation and poverty,
but thou art rich.
And I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews
and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.
Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer, Behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison
that ye may be tried, and ye shall have tribulation ten days, Be thou faithful unto death,
and I will give thee a crown of life.
Does Jesus say like, Hey, if it gets too hard, if it gets too scary, you know, you can go ahead and just deny me to escape the persecution?
Or does he say, Oh, death's coming? Well, be thou faithful unto death.
Now, look, I could recognize that, hey, I have the flesh, I'm a human being, and I could recognize that, hey, if I was in this situation I might be tempted to want to lie, but God willing I wouldn't do that.
Like God willing I would be strong in the Lord and just continue to do what's right. There's a difference between what people do and what is right.
Can we recognize people lie? Can we recognize people lie under very difficult circumstances? Yes, but here's what I also recognize, it's still wrong.
Okay? And so another hypothetical people talk about, kind of like the Columbine shootings,
the shooters of Columbine High School, you know, the story goes that they were walking around
to people asking them, are you a Christian? Do you believe in Jesus Christ? And if people said,
yes, they would execute them by shooting them in the head.
And you know people debate this like what should I do? I mean if I lie maybe I can you know live longer and serve Christ longer
Let me tell you exactly what you should do be thou faithful unto death
And if you deny Christ if someone has a gun to your head and says are you a Christian and you lie you just sinned
You just did wrong now. I could sympathize you with you as a human and say that sucks
It's a horrible situation, but I'm not gonna change what the Bible says
And you know, when you actually understand this and internalize this,
hopefully it'll cause you to build down some roots and strength
so that God forbid if we're ever in a situation like that,
that we do stay strong.
Because how embarrassing would it be like you deny Christ and then you get killed anyways and then there you are in heaven
It's like how'd you go out denying Jesus?
I mean that that's that's how you go out in this world, you know death is real quick, right?
You just pass from life from leaving this body into heaven, you know, I'd rather not deny Christ
And look, I'm not saying like, I'm super spiritual and I'll never do anything wrong, I'll never lie.
But I'm saying is like, that's what we should strive for.
And not just already check out mentally by giving us this excuse like,
well, if it's life or death, we could just go ahead and lie.
No, the Bible says in Proverbs, a righteous man,
hadith lying.
I spent some time on that verse because I think that's just a really important concept to cover.
Go to verse 6 of Proverbs chapter number 13, Proverbs 13.
Proverbs chapter 13 verse 6 the Bible says righteousness keepeth him that is upright in the way
But wickedness overthroweth the sinner
So notice it's not enough to at one point in your life to have been upright
To be following God's commandments and doing that which is right in the Lord the Bible says righteousness keepeth him
That is upright in the way.
So when it comes to our Christian life,
of course salvation is just one moment in time,
putting all of our faith and trust in Jesus Christ.
But beyond that, there is progressive sanctification that goes on,
which is a daily battle with the flesh,
a daily battle of putting on the Lord Jesus Christ,
walking in the Spirit, denying the lust of the flesh.
And that type of righteousness is something that you have to strive for every single day.
And the Bible says righteousness, keep with him.
That is in the way so you don't want to have this you know prideful attitude of like well things
are okay now and that's all I have to worry about no you have to realize that no matter how spiritual
you are or think you are you will always have to fight to stay in the right path why because look
what the Bible says but wickedness overthrow with the sinner here's what should scare you is that
of course no you can never lose your salvation but boy can you destroy your life
Again, I don't care how spiritual you are or think you are, you can destroy your life.
If you decide, hey, I'm just done fighting the flesh, I'm not going to worry about walking
in the spirit, I'm just going to totally satisfy the lusts of my flesh, boy, it will not take
long before you destroy your life.
That should put some fear into you.
Notice what the Bible says in verse number seven, there is that maketh himself rich yet
There is that make it themself poor, yet hath great riches.
Kind of one of the themes of this chapter
is it talks about a lot of the negatives and dangers
of riches, and it even kind of focuses
on some of the blessings of poverty, which I'm not
getting up here and saying being poor in and of itself,
physically speaking, is something we should strive for.
But there kind of is some good and bad on both sides.
And it's OK to kind of look at those and recognize those.
Number one look at the first part of that said it says there is that maketh himself rich yet half nothing
You know, it's cliche, but money is not everything
And there are people in this world who just live to make money and they even succeed
The bible says there is him that maketh himself rich. He is rich objectively yet. He has nothing
Right and it's kind of just like mind-blowing thinking like you have all this riches you have all this money
You have everything you could want yet. You have nothing. How is that possible?
Well, all you have to do is look at these celebrities in Hollywood
That are constantly getting addicted to drugs and alcohol and even committing suicide
To realize that everything's not just about money because these people have money
You know Johnny Depp had money, but boy he had Amber heard and it's like talk about making you want to kill yourself is
Coming home to that
That's rough. You did what on the bed? You know, what's going on here? Like seriously like that's terrible, right?
It's like, you could have all the money in the world,
but if you have to come home to Amber Heard,
like you have nothing.
Yay, you have less than nothing.
You just have like weeping and gnashing of teeth.
It's terrible, right?
And of course, there's rich women in this world, too,
who have jacked up husbands.
It's not just a one-way street.
There's people who are super rich, like Elon Musk.
Yet he has a tranny child.
Wow, that would suck.
I mean, I would rather be poor
than any of my kids become faggots.
That is just like, I'll press that button right now, it's not even a question in my mind.
But yet, these rich people, they have all that their heart could want,
yet oftentimes they're just empty and broken and sad and just despairing of life and there's no silver lining,
there's no joy, there's no pleasure.
I mean, Solomon, he gave himself over to every desire he possibly wanted.
He wanted you know women he got women he wanted apes he got apes he wanted peacocks peacocks pools like whatever the heck
He wanted he just gave himself fully to it to pleasure to mirth to riches and at the end of it all he said
I hated life
That's some pretty powerful words from the richest man who's ever lived, Solomon.
Solomon, you know, would dwarf Elon Musk's net worth.
The richest man who's ever lived is Solomon, and he said, you know what? I hated life.
Why? Because there is him that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing.
And on the converse, there is that maketh himself poor.
Yet hath great riches.
You know, it's so silly to just focus on money as the end all, be all of your life
because the Bible is saying you could even be poor and yet have great riches.
You know what's having great riches? Salvation.
You know, if you've got salvation, boy, are you rich because you've got inheritance coming called streets of gold and endless mansions and endless food and pleasure and joy and fellowship and no sorrow, no crying, no pain, no death, no sorrow whatsoever.
I mean, that's rich.
I mean, we could just close our Bibles and go home.
Like that's the end all be all right there is salvation.
But then on top of that, there's other ways that we could just be rich in this world.
even if we don't have material wealth.
Like how about having a good church to go to?
Man, there's people that live all over India and China
and even Germany and just all over this world
that have no good option.
And there's even more places that have an option
that is like decent, they have salvation,
but like they're not soul winning,
they're not preaching hard,
they're not really, you know,
preaching the full counsel of God.
And yet we have in the United States,
We've got good churches on every corner, and we've got great churches in the new IFB.
And you know what? I feel like I'm just rich coming to Anchor Baptist Church.
I feel like I'm just rich having the friends that I have here and the fellowship,
and being like, I don't have to like, you know, get people kicking and screaming to go out soul-winning.
Like, people love soul-winning here.
People love the Lord.
Like, that is rich.
You know, you want to know how you're rich is if you have a wife and a husband that loves you.
Ladies, you got a husband that loves you, that cherishes you.
You are a rich woman.
You got a wife that is godly, that's a virtuous woman, that submits to you, that loves you.
You are a rich man.
I mean, what do you think that these celebrities and big rich people in this world, what do
you think that they would pay to have a submissive wife that just obeys them and just like is
godly and doesn't flaunt her body to other men and isn't cheating on him and being a
whore?
I didn't pay like all their wealth for that, right?
And yet many of us, we didn't even pay a dowry, folks.
I mean, I married my wife when I was poor, really poor.
And yet, hey, I'm rich.
You know what, if you've got children, you are rich.
That is a blessing from the Lord, and you should thank God for those riches.
And you ought to not just spend your whole life being stressed about money and stressed
about finances and allowing that to destroy the joy in your life when there's so much
good that you can enjoy and focus on.
And usually in your 20s, you're struggling financially, and hey, who isn't?
I'm right there with you, it's hard in this world.
But I don't want to spend my 20s just stressing about money and finances.
And then when I get old, I'm just like, man, we were rich back when we were healthy.
We were rich back when we were young and had energy and we just wasted it being all stressed about everything.
No, you know what? I'm just going to use my 20s to serve God and love my family and have a good time.
And you know what?
God's going to take care of us.
I may not have a big house,
may not have all the fancy cars,
may not be able to just afford anything I want,
but yet I am a rich man before you today.
And you know what?
If you're saved,
you've got a lot of the same things I'm talking about.
You are rich as well.
What a great verse there is that make of himself rich yet have nothing and there is that make of himself poor yet
Have great riches notice verse 8 the ransom of a man's life or as riches
But the poor here if not rebuke so again here's another downside of being someone that is rich is like that's the ransom of your life
I mean, that's what you're focused on.
That's what you're caring about.
And if something's at stake, you're
going to do everything you can to preserve that, right?
It's the ransom of your life.
But notice, the poor hearth not rebuke.
When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose, right?
And so, man, this is a philosophy
that churches need to get hammered down.
is that when you got nothing,
you got nothing to lose.
And we as a church should always be willing
to just kiss the things of this world goodbye.
because we're never going to compromise the things that actually matter.
And here's the thing.
I'm not saying that you necessarily have to do that,
because here we are at church today
that is preaching the full counsel of God,
that is going soul-inning,
that is having a King James Bible,
that is not compromising on the issues of this world today,
and yet we have the things that we need.
We have a nice place to meet.
We have air conditioning.
We've got nice invites,
and we've got programs,
and we've got fellowship events.
We've got all those things,
but let me tell you what,
I'm willing to lose all of that.
If someone's asking me to compromise on anything in the Bible and someone's asking me to compromise
on our character or the culture of our church or the doctrine of the word of God,
I'm just willing to kiss all of that stuff goodbye because the poor heareth not rebuke.
What are you going to take from us? What are you going to take us to court for and take
This pulpit. No one wants it. No one wants this independent fundamental Baptist pulpit, right?
So look, hey, just focus on the truth. And if God blesses financially, he blesses financially.
You know, I've said this, Lord willing, I'd love to have a big church someday.
I'd love to have a nice building and the nice amenities.
But if it ever causes me to be tempted to compromise, then I never want it.
I never ever wanted, because this is more important than all of that other stuff.
And I can't tell you, you know, even just the old Ivy Church that I went to,
I remember how annoying it was, every service, they had to talk about money
and talk about fundraising and talk about the building fund.
And they literally had the thermometer showing how much money they were raising
for their new, you know, volleyball court at church.
It's like, where does the Bible say, build a volleyball court?
Where does the Bible say build a Christian school?
It's like, why is it that you tell me
you can't go soul-winning in the summer because it's too hot
and you can't go soul-winning in the winter because it's too cold
but you could build a volleyball court?
Yeah, you got your priorities all screwed up
and you want to know why?
Money, that's why.
And today I see all the time, Baptist pastors making poor decisions because of the love of money.
And you ought not to think, oh, I'm saved, I'm a preacher, I'm a Christian, so I can never be influenced that way.
Yes, you can.
Because I see it all the time and so that's just my prayer to God now while we're small and humble and no one really thinks much of anchor Baptist Church
It's like Lord if you need to keep us small and humble to keep us on the right track spiritually then so be it and
Lord if you could bless us with those things that we can handle it then praise the Lord
And you know what a great example of this is is steadfast Baptist Church
Because God blessed Pastor Shelley with a building, but it's like he gets a building. He just preaches harder
And you know what he told me?
He told me, like, they need a new building, and they do.
They're bursting at the seams.
Praise the Lord.
And he's like, if we get a new building,
I'm just going to preach even harder for the next six months.
I'm just like, amen.
You know, that's a guy that God's gonna keep blessing.
Why?
Because he's never gonna compromise on those things.
But guess what?
When you compromise the truth for money, when you compromise your character and your integrity
for a building, you know what ends up happening is you end up being in danger of losing that
stuff anyways.
It's like when you're really trying to hold on to the things of this world and you care
so much about the programs and looking nice and what people think of you, you end up losing
You end up losing respect.
You end up losing your money often times.
You know what the best financial safety program is?
It's just to fear the Lord, love God, don't compromise.
I'm not interested in trying to reach
a bunch of weak, soft, effeminate, new evangelical Christians.
I want to keep them with what we win them to.
If we just build this culture of a church where everything is so perfect and soft and
the pastor never preaches hard and doesn't rip face, you know what's going to happen?
We're going to build a church full of soft, weak, effeminate men and loudmouth women and
then you're going to have to deal with that crap someday.
So I'd rather just preach this way and keep the church the way it is now and let the Lord
grow it if he wants.
The Bible says, verse 9,
the light of the righteous rejoices,
but the lamp of the wicked shall be put out.
Notice this, only by pride cometh contention.
But what the well advised is wisdom.
You know, that's a very powerful truth
that whenever there's conflict,
whenever there's contention,
someone in that equation is being prideful.
And of course, you know, if you find yourself in a fight,
the first person you should look at is yourself.
and say, hey, am I being prideful?
Am I not someone who's able to take correction
or am I the issue?
You should look inwardly first,
but regardless, it doesn't even matter
if it's your fault or not, any fight,
even a good fight, someone's being prideful.
And, you know, I talked about recently how, hey, we should fight the good fight.
We need to contend for the faith, and when you read the Bible, good Christians, real
men of God, they're always in a Bible, in a battle, rather.
But you know what?
When we're in a battle, guess who's being prideful?
The world.
We're backslidden Christians.
Like, when we get up and we preach against sins that are unpopular today to preach against,
you know, like drinking alcohol.
You know used to be like preaching against the LGBT is unpopular now. That's popular now
It's like everyone agrees with us, but you want to know what Christians get really pissed about preaching against alcohol and divorce
This will cause some strife. This will cause some fighting
You know if you get on Facebook and you share a sermon about how divorce and remarriage is adultery
Which it is by the way, if you read the Bible, you know, you might make some people mad
But let me tell you what someone's being prideful in that situation and it's the person who's not listening to what the Bible says
It's like, oh hey, let me show you in Isaiah 65, how sometimes wine is literally in the
cluster of the grape, and how the Bible teaches that not all the time is wine alcoholic.
Oh no, it's always alcoholic.
Oh, Jesus served, you know, booze at a wedding.
It's like, you are prideful.
We're contending, but it's not me that's being prideful who's submitting to what the Bible says.
It's you that's being prideful that's not accepting the review.
And you find yourself in a confrontation, you find yourself in a contention.
You ought to honestly look at yourself and ask yourself if you're being prideful.
And sometimes, you know, I've seen it countless times where someone's in the wrong, they're
being corrected, they're being rebuked, and I'm just hoping for this person, hey, just
get it right.
Just accept it.
Because you know what happens?
When you do that, people still love you and respect you because we're all human beings,
we all make mistakes.
But it's like when you're getting corrected from the Bible and it's clear you're in the
wrong and you dig in and you refuse to accept that correction, then people will lose respect
Then it's like, oh man, this person is not being godly here.
He's being prideful.
Verse 11, wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished,
but he that gathereth by labor shall increase.
Hope deferred, makeeth the heart sick,
but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.
Continuing that same thought about pride, notice this,
whoso despises it, the word shall be destroyed.
You know, you got a lot of liberal preachers today that tell you that you shouldn't fear God, right?
God's just our buddy, buddy, he's just our bro, and you know, he's our best friend or whatever.
No, the Bible says that whoso despises it, the word shall be destroyed.
You say, in what context? In every context.
You know, I wouldn't want to be a person who hears a sermon about alcohol.
I wouldn't want to be the person who sees what the Bible teaches, that it's not always alcoholic wine, and just despise it.
Not care about it. I wouldn't want to be the person who hears hey adultery is or I'm sorry divorce and remarriage is adultery
And she's like screw that I'm getting divorced remarried
You know the Bible says that person is on their way to destruction and again God is merciful God's long suffering
You ought not look at your circumstances only and think like well
You know I got divorced remarried and I'm doing great financially in my health
You know, what does the Bible say? Don't be like how these people interpret the story of Rahab. Oh, she lied and the situation went okay
Don't despise the word, because eventually it'll catch up with you.
And when that catches up with you, it's destruction.
But notice the flip side,
but he that feareth the commandment shall be rewarded.
Sounds like we should fear God.
Sounds like we shouldn't despise the word,
but rather we should fear the commandment.
And guess what?
It's not all doom and gloom, because when we fear the commandment,
the Bible says we are rewarded.
So it's, you know, two very different paths here.
Destruction, reward.
Yet today people are so simple
that they often go down the path of destruction.
They think, like, hard preaching is there to harm them.
And it's like, no, no, no.
Fear the commandment.
That's the path to reward.
That's the path to blessing.
Notice what the Bible says in verse 14.
The law of the wise is a fountain of life.
to depart from the snares of death.
So notice, where's the trap in this world?
Where's the danger of death?
Where's the destruction coming from?
It's not coming from the commandments of God.
It's not coming from keeping the law.
Keeping the law is like a fountain of life.
It's keeping you safe from the snares of death.
Verse 15.
Good understanding, give it favor.
But the way of transgressors is hard.
So notice, reading the Bible, fearing the commandment,
not despising the word, what are you going to get?
You're going to get good understanding, right?
Through the precepts of God.
And that gives you favor.
And what's funny is just anecdotally speaking,
the people I know in my life who are the happiest,
who have things like going the best for them
in the big picture of their life.
They're always saved Christians, and not only saved Christians,
saved Christians who are all sold out serving God.
That doesn't mean we don't go through times of tribulation.
We do.
Doesn't mean that, you know, your parents won't still die someday.
They will.
Doesn't mean you will get sick.
You could still get sick.
But I'm just saying like the big picture of your life is always better serving God,
fearing His commandments, than the way of transgressors.
The Bible says the way of transgressors is hard.
You know, you want a reality check?
We do our SWAT team soul winning,
where whenever there's like a homicide or a fire,
some sort of tragedy into our community,
we go to the location where that happened
and we try to preach the gospel to the people involved
or around that area.
And, you know, so I read these police reports all the time.
Like we've had, I think like 38 homicides so far this year.
And you just read that, you read like the quick.
A depiction of what happened in that story.
You watch the body camp footage and you just realize like,
wow, the way of transgressors is hard.
You know, people will sit there and make fun of you
and call you a goody two shoes
for living a clean, straight-laced life.
But yet the Bible says, hey, that's a fountain of life.
Here we are today. We're happy. We're blessed.
We've got our loved ones around us.
We've got the King James Bible. We've got the Holy Spirit.
We've got Anchor Baptist Church.
Like, hey, things are good.
But yet this week there was a young 18-year-old girl who's now dead and it's like why were you hanging out at 3 a.m?
in the dark downtown city doing Lord knows what,
drinking who knows what, injecting who knows what.
You know, why are you doing that?
Why are you around a bunch of foolish people?
You know, you probably thought like,
hey, this is fun, hey, we're free, hey, no rules.
No, no, no, it's a snare, it's a trap.
It leads to death oftentimes, literally.
Keeping God's commandments, hey, keeps you safe.
Keeps you safe.
You know how many men I wonder in this world
have been literally killed for committing adultery?
I wonder how many times someone has walked in
on their wife with another man and that man was just killed or beaten to a pulp.
And it's like, oh man, you thought it was so freeing going and committing adultery,
yet here you are getting your butt beat. Or here you are, oh, you just got your head chopped off.
Remember we read that news story? Man, that literally happened. Getting your head chopped
off or committing adultery, you know what? Hey, keep God's commandments. That's where safety is.
The way of transgressors is hard.
Notice what the Bible says,
every prudent man dealeth with knowledge.
But a fool layeth open his folly.
So someone who's prudent, I like this verse,
they're gonna deal with knowledge.
Facts, reality, Bible verses really matter
to a prudent person.
But a fool, they just lay open their folly.
They love to just expose how stupid they are
and how foolish they are.
They just lay it out for everyone to see.
The Bible says a wicked messenger falleth into mischief.
but a faithful ambassador is health.
So when I think of a messenger,
I kind of think of like in our modern terms,
an employee, like a boss is sending an employee
to do something.
The Bible says a wicked messenger falleth into mischief.
And you would think like if someone keeps falling
into trouble or bad times or bad issues on the job,
you think like, oh man, this person just has bad luck.
But yet the Bible is saying, no, oftentimes that's really not the case.
Often it's the wicked messenger that falls into mischief.
You know, I've seen this on the job, on the workplace many, many times.
It's like the laziest guy on the job site always has the most problems.
You know, he's always having issues with his equipment.
He's always having issues with his truck.
And it's like, it's not necessarily
that you just have the worst luck.
It's just that you're a wicked messenger.
And people who want to find excuses, they often do.
People who want to find problems at work, they often do.
But notice what the Bible says,
a faithful ambassador is health.
It's refreshing to be around someone who is faithful, someone who is going to get the
job done, someone who is going to do what they said they will do.
That is refreshing.
And you know, when I think about that, I think about how we are ambassadors of Christ.
Bible says, a faithful ambassador is health, you know, I want to be that messenger or that
ambassador that Jesus looks down on and he gets pleasure from my life, joy from my life.
Of course I'm falling short of the glory of God, of course I'm going to need chastisement
from time to time, but I don't want to be like this wicked messenger who's just constantly
falling into mischief.
I want to be that good ambassador, that faithful ambassador that is health, that brings joy
to the Lord Jesus Christ.
talked about this idea of how we could bring joy to Christ.
We could, you know, make him please.
That's a really, really cool thought.
Notice what the Bible says.
Poverty and shame shall be to him that refuses instruction.
So, carnally speaking, if you refuse to be taught anything,
you refuse to learn anything,
you refuse to be corrected by your bad work
and your bad behavior.
Well, you know what's coming for you?
Poverty and shame.
Because in order to grow in life, you're often going to have to get corrected.
You're often going to have to get rebuked by the boss.
But you know what? It brings growth. It makes you better.
And then your earning potential is better.
Same thing spiritually.
You know who's going to be very poor at the judgment seat of Christ?
It's going to be those that refuse instruction.
People who are going to be very poor in heaven and not have many rewards.
It's going to be those who refuse to open their Bible and read it.
It's going to be those who refuse to go to a church where it was actually being preached.
Man, I wish I could just put into people's head, eternity is real.
It's coming for us soon.
Our life is a vapor and as real as our lives are right now is as real as eternity in heaven
is going to be.
As real as you can see me right now is as real as you will stand before the Lord Jesus
Christ and give an account for your works, not your husbands, not your wives, not your
pastors, your works.
And you're going to be rewarded according to those works and all the woodhane stubble
And the silver and gold and precious stone is going to remain and you know what is such a key component to getting to that point and finding out like, hey, I've got riches, I've got rewards, is that you actually regard instruction.
You cannot, cardinally speaking, or spiritually, achieve anything, get great gain, great sum without receiving instruction. It's impossible.
And so the prideful of our world, even the safe prideful people, man, they're going to be poor in heaven.
But notice what the Bible says,
but he that regardeth reproof shall be honored.
And you just have to, this takes some faith
because in our human flesh, we think like,
man, if I get corrected, if I get reproved,
or if I get rebuked, I'm gonna look weak,
I'm gonna look small, I'm gonna look dishonored
or degraded, and that's kind of like a hit to our ego.
It's a shot to our pride.
But notice what the Bible actually says though,
it says the exact opposite.
He that regarded for proof shall be honored.
You know what's funny is like,
the employee that the boss could just like chew
into the hardest and correct the hardest,
but they stay faithful, they keep at it,
they keep going, they improve.
Like over time, that's gonna be the employee
that the boss honors and loves and adores and respects.
But the person who like they think, oh, I know I do my job so well.
I'm so smart. I know everything.
And then like the lightest correction, they're just like offended and turning red
and changing their countenance towards you and changing their attitude.
We're all thinking like you're weak, you're pathetic.
And it's like, it's the same thing in church.
Like, look here, you got to understand is like my job is to help you be a better
Christian first and foremost.
And yeah, I want to be friends.
And yeah, I like you guys on a personal level.
I will like you less if you're offended by hard preaching.
It's just the truth.
Like if you just take the hard preaching and grow,
it's like, hey, I'm right there with you.
Because I got this when I was writing the sermon.
I got this when I was reading the chapter.
Like we're right there together growing.
But it's like I preach a sermon.
I have to be like, OK, fix your face.
Fix your face.
It's like I'm upset.
I'm annoyed.
I'm thinking not as honorably of you as I was before and look,
it's the same thing from God who that's who should really be worried about is
that God's looking down from heaven and when you get corrected,
when you get instructed, he wants to see not your face, your heart.
And look, you could fool other people.
Some people are really good at it, but you know you can't fool is God.
God knows the thoughts.
What are the thoughts that you're thinking, ladies, when your husband corrects you?
Does your husband even correct you?
I hope he does.
Man, this feminist world we live in, are you thinking like, oh, man, I'm angry at him.
Poisonous food?
No, I'm just kidding.
What am I going to do to him to get him back?
God hears that.
God sees that.
You know are you the employee man at work where your boss corrects you just like what a jerk
I can't wait to go home and cry to my wife like a hab
It's like you're weak man
Just take it and you know what comes from that honor and hey
If I'm speaking honestly, even pastors sometimes are going to need to be corrected.
Now obviously the Bible says rebuke not an elder, but in treat him as a father.
It's not your job to go correct pastors.
But you know, I've heard preaching before, even while being a pastor, I'm like,
oh, I might have said something wrong there.
Oh, I might have been off on something on that.
And you just change and then you know what you retain, your honor.
But you know how to lose your honor very quickly is to despise reproof, despise correction.
It doesn't matter who you are, from a man of high estate to a lowly servant, you will lose respect,
you will lose honor by being someone that cannot take reproof.
Verse 19, the Bible says,
The desire accomplished is sweet to the soul, but it is abomination to fools to depart from evil.
Now this is kind of a funny verse just thinking like it kind of sounds hyperbolic, but it's the Bible. It's true.
The desire accomplished is sweet to the soul.
You know when you work hard and you accomplish something for people who like to work and do things, it's sweet.
It's exciting. It's enjoyable when you work hard on a project and it comes to fruition.
It's satisfying, but notice it is abomination to fools to depart from evil.
You know, what are some things that are just abominable to us?
Well, let's talk about God first, right?
Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord.
People who are swift to shed blood are an abomination.
People who would sow division amongst brethren are an abomination to God.
You know, sodomy is an abomination to God.
witchcraft, like all these just insanely wicked things are just abominable to God.
And it's like, that's how the stupid person feels about actually changing their life,
about getting their act together and departing from evil.
It's like the fool is just like, I could never, ever give up alcohol.
And like, look, there's people who are saved.
who don't go to church, I promise you there's thousands of these people in America,
they are saved and they don't go to church because they will never give up alcohol.
You are an idiot if that's you.
You are a fool if it's just abomination to you, it's just unthinkable for you to give up evil.
No, rather we should love God and say like,
hey, anything that I need to give up, I should be willing to strive to do that.
Not just like, well, here's something I'm just never going to change.
No matter what I hear, no matter what I see from the Bible,
no matter the sermons that are preached, I'm just never ever changing.
I'm never getting this out of my life.
You know, that is a fool that is like that.
It's like abomination to fools to depart from evil.
Verse 20 man, this is a great verse he that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools
Shall be destroyed. I really love verses like this where it's like, you know, a righteous man hated lying
It's not just important that you don't lie. It's not just important that like you don't go rail against people
It's important that you hate lying and then notice it's not just important that you are not a fool
That you are not an idiot, but it says he that walketh with wise men shall be wise
So hey, it's not just important for you to be wise though. It is it's important for you to walk with wise men
It's important for you to have friends
that are wise people but a companion of fools shall be destroyed. Notice not just the idiot is
going to be destroyed, it's all of his friends too. And you ought to realize that the company you keep
is so much more important than our culture makes it out to be.
People today act like, you know, the company keeps no big deal, be friends with whoever you want,
and look, be friends with whoever you want, but not fools though, okay?
It's like, oh, I'm gonna be friends with, you know, this Mormon, bad idea.
That person is a fool. That Muslim is a fool. That Catholic is a fool.
Like, step one should be salvation, that we have that down.
But even beyond that, there's some, you know, very silly, safe people out in this world.
And you ought to realize that, hey, he that walketh with wise men shall be wise.
You know, that's what I want to do in life, is I want to surround myself with mentors
that are wise, so that I could be there someday too.
And not just like, I think people think in their mind, well, I'm wise, so I'm just going
to always rub off on everyone else, it's usually not the case.
It's very few people that are like that.
Usually you're going to become the people you are around.
He that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed."
One other application I want to think about with this verse is when it comes to who you get married to,
it's very, very important that the Bible teaches that we're equally yoked, we're not to be unequally yoked together with unbelievers.
And of course, the obvious truth of that is that you shouldn't marry an unbeliever, but also...
you should marry someone who's on the same spiritual wavelength as you, right?
Because you don't want to be married, like you're on fire for reading the Bible,
you're on fire for soul winning, you want to be three to thrive,
you want to homeschool your kids, you want to spank your kids,
you want to do things according to the Bible.
And then it's like, well, my husband saved, but he really loves his, you know, beer and football
and all that stuff. It's like, you really want to be a companion of fools.
Now look, once you're married, you're married.
and you can never divorce your spouse.
Don't come to me saying, like, oh, my husband's a fool.
I'm just going to say, stay with him.
Oh, my wife's a fool.
No, stay with her.
You already made a vow.
But before you get married, you ought to think about this.
Like, hey, this is my companion for life right here.
He that walketh with wise men shall be wise.
You know, especially ladies, you have more at stake
when you get married because I'm signing up as a man to lead.
You're signing up to obey this person
for the rest of your life.
And so it's like, hey, you want to at least see this person is on the trajectory of wisdom.
You know, when you get married, especially young, you know, you as a woman haven't really arrived,
and you as a man haven't really arrived, but you know what you ought to at least look for is the trajectory of your life.
Are you walking in wisdom? Are you going the right path at least?
That could be a good sign that, hey, this could work out.
But if they're already showing foolishness, they're already on the bad path,
don't think that they're going to change after you get married.
If anything is going to get worse,
if anything they're putting on their best foot forward,
you know, during that dating period.
Notice what the Bible says, evil pursueth sinners,
but to the righteous good shall be repaid.
A good man leaveeth in inheritance
to his children's children,
and the wealth of the sinners laid up for the just.
Much food is in the tillage of the poor,
but there is that is destroyed for want of judgment.
This is a pretty interesting verse
because when you think about poor people,
I don't really think immediately about like much food.
Oh, like poor people, much food, lots of stuff, right?
You kind of think the opposite,
but notice the Bible saying much food
is in the tillage of the poor.
What's tillage?
It's like, you know, you're tilling the ground,
you're working the ground, you're farming the ground.
Much food is in the tillage of the poor kind of like how there's him that make
it himself poor yet have great riches. You know, if you're poor,
but you're working honestly,
you still can have a lot of food and a lot of sustenance and things to make you
satisfied in life to where you could look at it and say like, Hey,
this is much. Now it might not look like much to someone who's greedy and
covetous and loves money, but in reality it still is much. And like,
here's the thing. If you have food and Raymond, you have much and beyond.
Let me be honest.
No one in here has just food and raiment.
I mean, we all have at least an apartment or a home to live in and a car to drive and
nice food and nice coffee and ice cream and desserts and all these wonderful things.
It's like, we have a lot.
Even if, you know, your socioeconomic status isn't all the same in this church, regardless
of where you're at, you have a lot.
for want of judgment, so you could have a lot and destroy it all by being a bad judge and again,
I think about this spiritually in the context of a church, you know, we could be poor.
in comparison to other churches.
But you know what, if we're tilling the ground,
if we're doing the first works,
if we're out sowing the seed,
if we're out preaching the gospel,
we could still look at the things we have
and say, hey, this is much, right?
I mean, hey, this right here,
the amount of salvations we've had this year, 839,
this is much.
This is cool.
I mean, this is awesome.
I'm excited about that.
And it's like, yeah, but you guys meet in a storefront.
Yeah, but we still have more than your church somehow.
How does that work?
Oh yeah, it's the tillage of the poor.
But oh, you have all this great stuff,
but you lack judgment and it's like nothing.
Oh, you have some great beautiful building.
You have all this money, all these programs.
But at the end of the day, it's a big nothing burger
because the judgment has gone away.
We need the judgment.
We need the tilling of the ground to have much.
Verse 24 says this,
But he that loveth him, chaseneth him, betimes.
Now, seemingly kind of a random verse that pops up,
but it's just kind of how this section of Proverbs work,
things are just popping up.
But I was thinking about it, you know,
so much great wisdom has been given by Solomon
to his son so far in this book,
especially these last couple chapters.
And we know that, you know, the Bible says,
foolishness is bound in the heart of a child.
but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him."
Like, hey, if you want all this wisdom to sink in,
if you want to pass these great truths down
to the next generation,
physical discipline is an important aspect of that.
And yes, we ought to emphasize reading this
and memorizing this and preaching this,
but you know what you also should do?
You also should be spanking your children.
Notice what the Bible says,
he that spared his rod hated his son.
Let's talk about people that just don't spank their children whatsoever.
This is another one of those, you know, topics that gets people fired up and I was literally in the elevator the other day listening to some woman complaining about how her friend took her kids out of public school and she's homeschooling them and she's probably spanking them.
And I'm just like, sounds like mom loves you. I'm just like looking at this woman like, gross, you know, just like nasty conversations.
But I'm just like, sounds like a great woman. Sounds like she loves her child because the Bible says he that spareth his rod, hate if his son.
It is evidence that you do not love your child when you are not giving them the rod.
And today people want to preach the exact opposite, that it's child abuse somehow to
spank your children to implement physical discipline on your children.
No, no, no.
Physically disciplining your children is loving and is an act of love from parents.
It's just as loving as telling your kids I love you, giving them a hug.
You also need to give them a spanking.
physical discipline.
So, we talked about people just don't spank at all.
Now, let's look at what the Bible actually says again.
He that spareth his rod.
Hated his son. It doesn't even say they're like he that doesn't spank his child at all hates his son
What does it mean to spare? It's like you're not giving what's fully deserved there, right?
There's something that's owed to that child the rod and you're kind of like holding back whether that's holding back in
Frequency or whether that's holding back in severity. I mean, I have heard people give spankings before and it's just like a joke
Where are you not? You're in the bathroom and you hear the dad come in and it's like
It really should not take that long to spank your kids, folks.
And I've heard that stuff literally.
And it's like, you are a man.
Like, it should take like one,
especially like these young kids.
Like, I've seen people do that to like young kids.
It's like, it should take like one, two, three.
As they get older, obviously that could increase.
But it's like, if you're doing this little tap thing
for 20 seconds in the bathroom,
and then your kid is like,
ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, it's like you have failed.
You've like, epically, epically failed.
You're obviously like, sparing the rod.
Here's like, just a tip.
If your kid gets mad at you after you've spanked them,
you did not spank them hard enough.
Because like, when I spank my kids,
they're like, ready to hug me.
It's like, yes, sir, I love you, daddy.
If they got mad at me,
then they would just like, go up seven times hotter
than it was want to be heated, okay?
I don't know, I'm like paraphrasing.
You know, it's like, you, oh, you want a mouth off
after spanking?
You want to laugh after a spanking?
You want to get mad at me and try to hit me after a spanking?
Oh, it's on.
It's on.
That will never happen again.
And I've seen parents where, like, that's the norm.
They spank a kid, and then their kid's just, like, mad and throwing a worst fit.
And I'm just, like...
What was the point of that?
Like, you must win there.
You must conquer that child.
You must not spare the rod.
Oh, I gave the rod.
I touched the rod to his body.
Yeah, but are you sparing the rod?
Because if the behavior is not being corrected
from a little child, then you're not doing it right.
Obviously, teenagers is a different story, I'm not even talking about that, I haven't
been there in life, but I have been there with little kids, and if you're spanking
of a little child, does not fix the behavior, you are spanking wrong, okay?
Spanking works, don't think like, oh, I'm the exception, I'm the exception to everything.
No, no, no, no, no.
You're the rule, and if you cannot rule a little child.
and correct a little child's behavior and correct a little child's attitude,
you are not spanking hard enough. It's just my opinion, observing people
in church over the last decade is that most parents do not spank their children hard enough.
They do not spank their children hard enough. Notice what the Bible says,
chasing of him, but times.
You know what that means?
Early.
I have also observed,
and this is more of my personal opinion.
I'll tell you when I'm given my personal opinion.
The Bible just says early.
Does it give an age there?
No, it does not.
But it is my personal opinion
that most people wait way too long
to start spanking their kids.
The Bible says early.
I think that if you're waiting
to start giving them any physical discipline
until they're two, three, four,
that's not early.
That's not the times and look obviously a one year old baby is not the same level of spanking as a 6 year old child.
But like babies when they start getting old enough to understand the word no.
You know they're crawling around and touching stuff. You're able to interact with them.
Children are way more smart than people give them credit for.
And I think the reason why oftentimes people don't really discipline that harshly on their children is because they have such low expectation for their own children.
It's like, do you think all kids are just dumb or something like that?
Now, I know they're foolish. I know that they're not wise, that they don't have, you know, wisdom.
But children are smart. They really are.
They understand more than you realize. They pick up on more than you realize from a very, very young age.
And so the Bible says, hey, if you love your children, you're chasing them.
but times.
I would rather start a little on the early side
than wait until it's an uphill battle, right?
Discipline should be happening
very, very, very, very early in life.
Anyone who tells you to start spanking your kids
at four, five, six years old,
I think that that's bad advice.
Take my opinion for what you'd like.
Verse 25, the Bible says,
the righteous Edith to the satisfying of his soul,
but the belly of the wicked shall want.
And the Bible kind of, this chapter ends on
this thought of being satisfied
versus someone lacking or wanting.
And, you know, the thought I want to close on is this, that
If you strive to be righteous, if you strive to actually regard God's commandments,
regard instruction, regard reproof, fear the commandments of God, fear the law of God,
you know, at the end of the day, you're going to eat to the satisfying of your soul.
You're going to be able to look at your life and in general say, hey, I'm satisfied.
I am satisfied.
And you know what?
There is a peace that passeth all understanding, and it's not even based on your circumstances.
Because I could show you men in the Bible, like Paul, who's going through extreme persecution,
where things from a fleshly perspective look terrible and not fun, and he's just like,
none of these things move me.
You know what he is?
He's just satisfied.
He's not coveting some other ministry, some other man's life.
He's not desiring all these, you know, love of this world and lusts of this world.
He's just, hey, none of these things move me, neither counting my life, dear unto myself.
He's just, he has joy.
He's running his race with joy, he has peace, and you know what, I love serving God, and I love being a Christian because no matter what things are going in life, if I'm anchored in the Word of God, if I'm praying, if I'm soul winning, if I'm striving to do what's right, I just have a peace in my life.
I just have a sincere joy in my life.
Isn't that true of you as well?
The times in your life where you're far from God,
you're not reading like you should,
you're not soul winning like you should,
your heart isn't in it,
you're playing around all church service,
not paying attention.
You know, those are the times
where you're probably having the most anxiety.
fear and problems. But you know what? When you're doing what's right, the righteous
eateth to the satisfying of his soul. But the belly of the wicked shall want.
You want to have a life where you're just constantly empty and constantly
desiring and constantly uneasy and not at rest and never satisfied? Well, that's
the path of the wicked. The path away from God's commandments. How do we get
that peace? Hey, regard reproof. Take the correction. Fear God, God's commandments.
fear his law. Let's pray. Lord we thank you for Proverbs chapter number 13. I pray
that you would help us to internalize these truths, to be people that want
instruction and correction from your word, and from our brethren, our
authorities in our lives. Help us to strive to be righteous, that we could
have peace, and be satisfied in our lives. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
evening will be number 363 wonderful words of life him number 363 363 wonderful words of life
363 we'll sing they're starting right on the first
Sing them over again to me. Wonderful words of life.
Let me pour out their beauty, see. Wonderful words of life.