Welcome to Anchor Baptist Church. We're gonna go ahead and get started this evening. If you would, at this time, take your hymnals and turn to hymn number 210, Wonderful Grace of Jesus, hymn number 210, and start there right on first.
Your spirit as we sing, is to understand what we're singing, Lord, your spirit as he preaches for us from your word. Give us a ten of years as well to receive the message and to apply the message to our lives. Jesus, they might pray. Amen.
For our next song, if you would, turn in your hymnals to hymn number 44. We'll work till Jesus comes. Hymn number 44 in your hymnal. Go ahead and start there, right on the first.
Didn't get to go. Each day of the conference, the previous attendance record was broken. So it was a lot of fun, a little bit sore from all the activities. It was a great time.
But I do have to say, though I did have fun there, and it was great seeing everyone. Really missed Oklahoma, and I missed Anchor Baptist Church, and I'm definitely glad to be back in the real promised land here in Oklahoma.
But at this time, we'll go through some announcements. If you don't have a bulletin, please raise your hand, and an usher will bring you one.
On the front there is our Bible memory passage of the week. That's Genesis chapter number one, verse 10. Keep working on that chapter.
If you'll open up your bulletin on the left, our service times are listed there. Sunday morning at 10.30, Sunday evening at 4.30, and our Wednesday Bible study at 7 o'clock.
And I do want to thank the guys who filled in this last week. I listened to all the sermons. They were very good. So I appreciate your guys' hard work on that.
Also, we have our soul winning times listed there. All those meet here at the church building. Below we have our year to date soul winning statistics.
We're at 1838 for the year. And then, of course, this Saturday we'll take a one week pause on our soul winning rally because we have a soul winning marathon in Ardmore, Oklahoma.
And I did make an event on our church's Facebook page where you can sign up for that.
For those who have not already signed up on Facebook, would you just raise your hand if you're planning on going? You haven't signed up, so I have an idea of who extra.
All right. Appreciate that. I think some people from steadfast are coming as well. And it's been a really receptive area in the past.
We're looking forward to a great weekend. Then September 7th. That's this Sunday for the evening service.
We're going to have a men's preaching night. The sermons will be 15 minutes each for that.
And then following the service, we'll have a potluck and game night and just fellowship evening with each other.
Then coming up real soon, about a month away, is the Bahamas mission trip. So we're really excited for that coming up on the right.
We do have our online visitor card. If you scan that and fill out some information, we can keep in touch with you,
send you some sermons and just events that our church is doing.
We also have a QR code for our online giving if you'd like to help us with that.
Then on the right, we have our prayer list. And the only addition that I added right there is Brother Paul Weathers.
I'm not sure how many people here know him, but he's been a member at Steadfast Baptist Church for a very long time.
And he's in the hospital. And so if you would pray for his health, I'd definitely appreciate that.
And before we go to our next song, let's go ahead and pray as a church family this evening.
Lord, we thank you for Anchor Baptist Church. Thank you for the brethren that are here.
I pray now, Lord, that you just answer these requests according to your will.
I pray for our members who are out sick right now. I know a lot of people are at various churches from this last conference.
I pray that you would just restore the health of our members, that you'd bring them back to us this Saturday and Sunday with all of our events going on.
I pray that you would mightily bless this upcoming soul-winning marathon in Ardmore,
that you would just send your spirit before us to touch the hearts of the people we're going to preach to,
that you would allow it to be very receptive, that you'd open the door for us.
And we want to pray for Brother Paul Weathers in the hospital.
I pray that you would just help him, that you heal his body, Lord, that you be with his family during this difficult time.
And we also want to pray, Lord, for Pastor Enrique Reyes of Spring Crest Baptist Church,
that you would just help him with his shoulder surgery recovery,
and that you would give him strength so that he can get back in the pulpit as soon as possible, Lord, if he's not already.
And we also want to pray for Theodore's grandmother for her shoulder surgery recovery as well,
that you would heal her, and pray for Brother Theodore as he's getting close to the end of his trip in the Philippines,
that you would just bless him this month of September, that you keep him safe,
help him to keep working hard over there, and just help him to continue to have a great door that's open to him of receptivity, Lord.
We also pray for Brother Miles for his health and for the family members in our church who have unsaved loved ones.
Lord, I just pray for the success and prosperity of our church, that you bless our desire to do your will and to preach the gospel to every creature.
I pray that you just enlarge our coasts Lord, and that you be with all the faithful pastors in our movement, in our country, and that you just establish their churches and bless them in their work as well.
We love you in Jesus name we pray, Amen.
Alright, at this time we'll go to our third song.
Alright, for our next song, if you would at this time, take your white handouts and turn to Psalm 67.
Psalm chapter 67 in the white handouts.
Go ahead and start there right on the first.
God be merciful unto us and bless our face to China.
This evening as the...
Proverbs 22. Proverbs 22, follow along silently.
The Bible reads, "A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches and loving favor rather than silver and gold.
The rich and poor meet together, the Lord is the maker of them all.
Prudent man foreseeeth the evil and hideeth himself, but the simple pass on and are punished.
By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches and honor and life.
Thorns and snares are in the way of the foward, he that doth keep his soul shall be far from them.
Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.
The rich ruleeth over the poor and the borrower is servant to the lender.
He that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity and the rod of his anger shall fail.
He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed for he giveth of his bread to the poor.
Cast out the scorner and contention shall go out, yea strife and reproach shall cease.
He that loveth pureness of heart for the grace of his lips the king shall be his friend.
The eyes of the Lord preserve knowledge and he overthroweth the words of the transgressor.
The slothful man saith, "There is a lion with thou, I shall be slain in the streets."
The mouth of strange women is a deep pit, he that is abhorred of the Lord shall fall therein.
Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child, the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.
He that oppresseth the poor to increase his riches and he that giveth to the rich shall surely come to want.
Bow down thine ear and hear the words of the wise and apply thine heart unto my knowledge.
For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee, they shall withal be fitted in thy lips.
That thy trust may be in the Lord I have made known to thee this day even to thee.
Have not I written to thee excellent things and counsels and knowledge that I might make thee know the certainty of the words of truth,
that thou mightest answer the words of truth to them that send unto thee?
Rob not the poor, because he is poor, neither oppress the afflicted in the gate.
For the Lord will plead their cause and spoil the soul of those that spoil them.
Make no friendship with an angry man, and with a furious man thou shalt not go, lest thou learn his ways and get a snare to thy soul.
Be not thou one of them that strike hands, or of them that are sureties for debts.
If thou hast nothing to pay, why should he take away thy bed from under thee?
Remove not the ancient landmarks which thy fathers have set.
See thou a man diligent in his business, he shall stand before kings, he shall not stand before mean men.
[inaudible]
Man, all right, we are in Proverbs chapter 22, verse 1, the Bible says,
"A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches and loving favor rather than silver and gold."
And when the Bible here is talking about a good name, it's kind of talking about your reputation as a person.
And, you know, there's kind of different veins of thought when it comes to your reputation.
Some people have this idea that, you know, you shouldn't care about your reputation at all whatsoever.
Then you have people that are just way too into themselves and just care, you know, overly about their reputation.
But notice how it says, "A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches."
There is a good, healthy amount that you should care about your reputation.
There's multiple reasons for this, one being the fact that we represent Jesus Christ.
You know, we are ambassadors for Christ, and so by virtue of us wanting to respect and honor the Lord,
we ourselves want to have a good testimony and walk with a good Christian conversation in our life,
because anything that we do represents Him.
Just like when you're on the job and you're wearing the boss's uniform, the company uniform,
you're representing your boss, you want to have a good testimony while doing that.
Same thing when it comes to just our daily life as Christians.
We want to have a good name.
Also, having a good name will be very beneficial to you in life.
In fact, more beneficial than having a bunch of money.
You know, people today, they find security in having a bunch of money.
There's some truth to that.
But, you know, I think that it's better to have a good reputation
and to have good favor to be liked by good people rather than just to have a bunch of money.
Because look at the second part of that verse, it says, "And loving favor rather than silver and gold."
See, it's good to have favor from other godly Christians so that if you did come on hard times,
if you are going through something difficult, you have people there who love you,
who care about you, who could help you in those hard times.
And you know what, that's more of a sure thing in my mind than money.
Because if you didn't know, money is devaluing every single day with inflation.
And whereas friendships can be something that lasts a long time,
and hopefully lasts our whole life, that would be great.
But go to, if you would, Luke chapter 16.
Luke chapter 16, I think there's a parable that connects to this idea of having a good reputation
and being able to have good relationships with other people to help you during a difficult time.
Luke chapter 16 verse 1, the Bible says, "And he said also unto his disciples,
There was a certain rich man which had a steward, and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods.
And he called him and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee?
Give an account of thy stewardship, for thou mayest no longer, thou mayest be no longer steward."
So you have this employer and employee and the Bible's highlighting the fact that this is a bad worker.
This is a bad steward, a bad employee, and the boss is sick of it and he's coming down on him
and he's saying, "Hey, you're fired." He says, "Make an account," what's the exact wording that he used here?
He says, "Yeah, give an account of thy stewardship, for thou mayest be no longer steward."
So he's not necessarily just sending and packing right that second.
He wants him to give an account of the work that he's done.
Sometimes, even today, when people get fired, the boss wants them to close the accounts,
turn in the keys, tighten up the spreadsheets, and not just leave people hanging high and dry.
So that's kind of what he does here. Look at verse number three.
"Then the steward said within himself, 'What shall I do? For my Lord, take it away from me, the stewardship.'
'I cannot dig. To beg, I am ashamed.'"
So, you know, he's perplexed that he's getting fired here, and he's saying,
"Hey, I don't want to do manual labor. You know, I don't want to be some sort of blue-collar worker."
This guy's lazy. He's like, "I can't dig." And he's like, "Well, to beg, I'm ashamed.
I'm too proud to get on the side of the road and beg and do something like that."
And so notice what he says, "I am resolved what to do, that when I am put out of the stewardship,
they may receive me into their houses." Who's the they? Keep reading.
"So he called every one of his lord's debtors unto him, and said unto the first,
'How much owest thou unto my lord?'"
So what is he doing? He's going to the customers, the clients of his boss,
and he's going for them, for help in this situation. He's asking how much they owe the boss.
And he says, verse number six, "And he said, 'In hundred measures of oil.'
And he said unto him, 'Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty.'"
So what is he doing here? He's being dishonest. He's cooking the books.
The client owes a hundred. He says, "Hey, how does half off sound?"
And of course, to the customer, they're saying like, "Wow, this is great."
Of course, you know, "Let me quickly write that down. Sounds good. I'm getting fifty percent off."
That's wonderful. Verse seven, "Then said he to another, 'And how much owest thou?'
And he said, 'A hundred measures of wheat.' And he said unto him, 'Take thy bill and write fourscore.'"
So it went from a hundred to eighty. He's getting a discount.
And notice the boss's reaction here, "And the Lord commended the unjust steward because he had done wisely,
for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light."
A lot of people get confused about this story because it's so clear that this steward is doing wrong.
But then it says that the Lord commended that unjust steward.
First of all, we have to realize that the Lord here is not God.
It's talking about the Lord, the boss.
The boss is commending this unjust steward.
Notice the Bible says that he's unjust.
The Bible's not saying what he did was right, this is good, this is some sort of recommendation.
But the boss kind of sees the wisdom in what he's doing.
He says, "You know what? That's kind of smart. It kind of takes one to know one.
I see what you're doing there," and he gives him some props for what he's doing.
Verse 9 says, "And I say unto you," notice, "Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness,
that when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations."
What is this parable teaching?
It's good to have some safety nets in your life through relationships with people.
And so even though this unjust steward did wrong, and Jesus isn't saying, "Go do this wrong thing,"
but what he is highlighting is that this guy at least had some people to fall back on in hard times.
He did not burn all of his bridges. He did not have this attitude where he just couldn't get along with anyone.
You know, today we live in such a low-trust society.
We live in a really low-trust society where neighbors don't even speak to each other anymore.
People in general just don't even speak to each other anymore.
And part of the reason I think for that is we're constantly seeing people betray and backstab and talk crap about people in public.
We see that happen.
And in addition to that, we see people cheering on that behavior all the time.
And so you're thinking like, man, if these people are backstabbing each other all the time and they know each other,
or it's like father and son, or it's like husband and wife, what are they going to do to me, a stranger?
So that's one of the reasons I think we kind of have like this low-trust society.
But you know, Jesus is saying here that we should, and it's wise,
to make to ourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness,
that when you fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations.
You know, it's good to just get along with people, live peaceably with all men,
because when you need help, you never know who you're going to need to call on.
And when you need help, you want to be able to reach that person
and your communication be effective to where they'll actually help you out.
You want to know how you do that?
You do that by having a good reputation.
Where if it's like, hey, brother so-and-so is asking for help,
I know that brother so-and-so is a hard worker.
I know he's not some mooch.
I know he's not just trying to rip off the church.
He works hard to provide for his family.
He goes soul winning. He's three to thrive.
I can know like, hey, if this person's down on their luck,
if they're having a hard time, you know,
they're not just trying to screw me for lack of a better term.
They actually are a faithful person. They have a good reputation.
I'm willing to help someone like that.
Having a good reputation helps you in life.
And, you know, it's nice when you go through issues
to just have someone you can call.
You know, for example, when I worked at Steadfast,
we constantly had our building vandalized by sodomites.
And there was a space of a few months
where we had to replace our front door, like, five times.
And let me tell you, I got to know that glass company.
And they got to know us. And it was nice that I had a glass guy.
You know, I knew the Bedford Glass Company.
God bless you, Bedford Glass Company.
You know, we had them. They were our guy.
We had rapport with them.
And whenever we needed them, they were there for us.
You know, we paid them on time. We were good customers to them.
They were good to us. It's good to have that relationship.
Even when you're, like, you know, castigated in the news as some terrible hate church.
They know us personally.
They gave us good service because we had that reputation with them.
So, you know, us as Christians, whatever area of life, you want to have a good reputation.
And let me say this, don't just be so quick to burn bridges in your life.
You know, some people, they get saved, they get really zealous, which is great.
They start coming to church, they start learning all these great things in the Bible that they didn't know before.
And what they think is like, well, this information that I just learned,
I'm just going to take it to all my unsaved family members and brothers and coworkers.
And then when they don't immediately accept it, you're just like, what's wrong with these wicked people?
I'm cutting you out of my life.
No, you need to be very slow to end those types of relationships,
especially when it comes to your parents.
Your parents, you should strive with every fiber of your being for that to be a lifelong relationship.
And look, husband and wife, that's a lifelong relationship.
Doesn't matter what examples you want to give, it's till death do us part.
But your parents, your brothers, your sisters, your family members,
there should be a certain amount of loyalty that you have to those people
that you're not just willing to burn them at the drop of a hat.
And you know what, you never know, someday when you need help,
you want to be able to call on people that you love and that love you
and they'll actually be there for you in a time of hardship.
And I'm just so sick and tired of living in this society
where people just constantly turn on each other all the time.
It's so frustrating, it makes it hard to trust people.
And it makes you always wonder like, is this person just going to immediately burn me
as soon as it's convenient for them?
It just seems like everyone's in it for themselves.
So few people want to truly serve and be humble
and invest in someone else and love someone else.
And you just see people constantly turning on each other
and people constantly cheering it on.
You know, last year we see kids rebelling against their parents
and people cheering it on.
We see wives leaving their husbands and people cheering it on.
It just makes me think like, there's no loyalty in this society.
Like, who can you trust anymore?
Black-pilling, but you know what, I'm not going to allow myself to get black-pilled.
We should still give people the benefit of the doubt.
But you know, kind of a worldly example, I saw something in the news this week.
Probably most of you know who Alex Jones is, he's a radio talk host.
If you don't know who he is, he built this radio talk show.
He's one of the biggest radio talk show hosts in America.
He built this huge platform called Infowars.
And he's had this employee for like 10 years named Owen Shroyer.
He's like one of his side hosts, he does his own show.
And Owen Shroyer out of nowhere this week made this video called "Why I'm Leaving Infowars".
And here's the thing, when you work for a job, you're not married to them.
You can leave, you can go do your own thing, you know.
And there's nothing wrong with leaving a job.
But here's this guy that was handed a platform by Alex Jones who built the platform,
who took the risk, who built the business, who paid this guy, who promoted this guy.
And then this guy Owen just quits and he just subtly attacks and crap talks his boss
and makes all these accusations against him. And then he launches his own podcast
and he already had all the merch made. He has the podcast infrastructure set up.
He was planning this for a really, really long time. And he's just accusing Alex Jones of controlling him.
Bosses can control you, buddy. Even if your accusation was true that, "Oh, Alex Jones was controlling me."
Yeah, that's kind of a boss's right. Oh, he was giving me a news article that he wanted me to read.
Oh, boo hoo. You're getting paid like $200,000 to do a show, and you're getting here just crying, lying about Alex Jones.
He's like, "Oh, I haven't gotten a raise since 2018." Alex Jones is like producing the documents.
Like, "Here's all the raises he's gotten. Here's the $80,000 raise he's gotten."
You know, you just see like an employee who's just so ungrateful. He's given so much.
He wouldn't have any fame, any notoriety, any platform if it wasn't for his boss that invested in him.
And just as soon as it's inconvenient for him to work for his boss, as soon as he wants to be a big shot,
he just turns on him, he just judices him, and he doesn't just leave peaceably, he just attacks his boss.
And you see all these conservatives online right now, you know, just lambasting Alex Jones
and supporting Owen Schreuer in his rebellion and crap-talking against his boss.
And look, this isn't about these people as individuals because Alex Jones has a lot of problems,
believes a lot of stupid things, says a lot of stupid things.
But you know what? I just don't like seeing people rebel against authority.
And I don't like seeing Christians backing that kind of stuff up.
Because it's the same exact thing like with a lot of the ex-New IFB
and just pastors that have turned on us throughout the years.
It's like they get all this notoriety and platform from Pastor Anderson or another pastor.
You know, they're given a church by Pastor Shelley.
They're given $30,000. They're given 40 church members.
And then they just immediately turn and crap talk and call them cult leaders and lovers of money and wicked false prophets.
You know, as soon as it's not convenient for them, then they just trash talk and betray.
You know, what a wicked society we live in where just like everyone's out for themselves.
That's a dangerous society. Just everyone's out for themselves.
Everyone's just willing to burn anyone at the drop of a hat.
You know, I even saw on this thing Alex Jones's own son and wife were online talking crap about Alex.
And it's like, you should never crap talk your husband for any reason.
Wives should always stand by their man.
They shouldn't go online being a loud mouth, rebuking their husband, criticizing their business decisions.
You know, that's crazy. Sons just, you know, again, his son, he was given a talk show by his dad.
Who would he be without his dad? No one.
And he's getting there, crap talking to his dad.
You know, it's just gross behavior. It's gross behavior.
We need to bring back some loyalty to America.
And you know, here at Anchor Baptist Church, we need to be loyal to each other.
And not just, as soon as it's convenient for you,
just air out all the grievances publicly
and every negative thing you could think about people.
Don't be that person.
And by the way, don't be the person that listens to that stuff either.
Where it's like, ooh, I want to hear all the juice of,
ooh, this person quit church and they're going to make an expose of every bad thing that ever happened to them.
That's a wicked person that would do something like that.
You shouldn't listen to individuals like that.
Go back to Proverbs chapter 22. So he's saying, hey, it's better to have a good name.
A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches and loving favor rather than silver and gold.
What does everyone want today? They want riches. They want silver and gold.
But look at verse two. The rich and the poor meet together.
The Lord is the maker of them all.
Here's the thing. People today get so caught up with getting rich and having status and keeping up with the Joneses,
making sure they have such a nice car and nice clothes and going out to all the nice restaurants and nice vacations.
But you know what really matters is the riches that you earn in heaven.
Because pretty soon, the rich and the poor are going to meet together.
And you know, on the other side, some people today are poor, they struggle financially,
and it's just like all they could think about, all they could focus on,
and they can't find any joy in life unless they're rich.
But you know what? Pretty soon, the poor and the rich are going to meet together,
and there's not going to be that much of a difference.
And you know what? Money, while it has its place, it has its importance in our life,
we need to make money, we need to provide for our families,
we should try to provide for our families as best as we can.
At the end of the day, our heart shouldn't be set on those things.
And if you struggle financially for the rest of your life,
blessed be the name of the Lord.
And if you rent for the rest of your life, well, praise God and serve God,
because none of that's going to matter when you enter eternity.
None of that is going to matter at the judgment seat of Christ how much money you made.
You know what? You're all going to meet together at that point.
Go if you would to Job, chapter number one.
When I read this verse, it made me think of Job's situation,
how the rich and the poor, they meet together, sometimes in the same lifetime.
Sometimes you go through life and you're rich one moment and you're poor the next.
But notice after Job lost his children, his health, his financial wealth, his servants, his assets,
he lost everything. Notice the attitude that he has.
Look at verse 20, "Then Job arose and rent his mantle and shaved his head and fell down upon the ground and worshipped."
Now that would not be people's first reaction today.
If your bank account was drowned, you know, drained to zero today, if you lost your house,
if you lost your car, if you lost your business, you know, this would probably not be your first reaction.
But this is the example of what you should do though.
Notice what he says, verse 21, and said, "Naked came I out of my mother's womb,
and naked shall I return thither the Lord gave, and the Lord hath blessed me the name of the Lord."
You know, that's the attitude we ought to have.
Whether we go through life super comfortable or even rich or middle class or dirt poor,
you know what, the Lord gives, the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord.
The Bible says, "Having food and raiment, let us be there with content."
Anything on top of that is a blessing, is a cherry on top.
And you know, we like to do things, we live a great life in America.
And you don't have to have a ton of money to have a quality of life well above the rest of the world.
You know, you don't have to be rich to go out to eat every once in a while here in Oklahoma.
And we get to enjoy those things and praise God for that.
But you know what, if there comes a time where you need to cut back a lot more,
you should say, "Blessed be the name of the Lord."
And you should say, "Hey, I have the King James Bible."
And you know what, instead of focusing so much on your job and on your business,
realize that it's all going to be burned someday.
It's all going to be gone. All of it's vain.
You know what matters? Serving God. That's what matters.
And here's the thing, you say, "Well, you know, I want those things."
Okay, work hard, pray, but you know what?
As you do those things, let the Lord decide the result,
because at the end of the day, you can work as hard as you want.
If God doesn't want to prosper you, if God doesn't think you can handle being rich,
you'll never be rich.
On the other hand, some people, God wants them to do that,
God blesses them in that way, praise God.
You say, oh man, I'm upset, I never get to eat out.
Okay, well come soul winning with us on Saturday and we'll pay for you to eat out.
We'll take you out to lunch, we'll take you out to dinner.
You say, I never get to do those things.
Hey, go soul winning, serve God.
Sometimes when you serve God, he'll bless you with those things on top of it,
but you know what? That should not be the focus of life.
The focus of life is serving God.
That's what we should care about above all else.
Go back to Proverbs, notice verse number four, or verse number three,
"A prudent man foreseeeth the evil and hideeth himself,
but the simple pass on and are punished."
Now, of course, we should be prudent people,
and I'm going to keep the theme on finances,
because that's kind of a lot of what this chapter talks about.
It is wise, it is prudent to plan ahead financially.
And yes, while we're not supposed to take thought for tomorrow,
the tomorrow will take thought for the things of itself.
You shouldn't be just overly concerned and worrying about how am I going to eat?
How am I going to be clothed? God knows you need all those things.
Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you. Amen.
But we want to have some balance here,
because some people they just want to have no planning for the future whatsoever.
You don't want to work a job, you don't want to get into a career.
Oh, but you want to have ten kids someday.
Oh, but you want to be able to travel the world and go on all these mission trips.
No, no, no, you need to have some foresight and some prudence and some wisdom and plan for those things.
I believe, young men, your priority in your teens is figure out what career you want to do
and pursue that as early in life as possible.
As early as possible, and you know what, pick something and just stick with it.
Because it doesn't really matter as much what you pick as it does just staying with something.
You know, people work like retail, but they stay with it their whole life.
They could become the manager, the general manager, they could work up the corporate chain.
But you know, there's lots of opportunities today in America.
There's great education here in this country, there's great programs.
You know, there's no reason that a young man couldn't set his mind to anything he wanted and just do it.
But you know what, you ought to have some foresight for the future, have some prudence, foresee the evil.
Let me tell you some evil that's coming. Our economy is a joke.
Our financial system is a complete fraud.
It's propped up with fiat currency that's not backed by anything.
The only reason the U.S. dollar has value is because we believe it has value.
You know, you saw a few years ago Russia just dumping U.S. currency and a lot of foreign countries aren't interested in U.S. currency.
You know, our system is very, very fragile.
We saw the 2008 crisis. We've seen recessions before.
We've seen Great Depression. Hey, this is Oklahoma. We've seen the Dust Bowl, right?
So, you know, our system is very fragile. Our trust can't be in those things, but you ought to have some foresight,
some wisdom to be able to hide yourself from that evil.
What's a really good example of this? You know, buying a house is a really good example of this.
Look, it's hard. It's so hard to buy your first house.
You know, my wife and I, we rented for seven years. It's difficult.
But you know what? When you rent, it only gets harder every year. It was so weird.
Every year I made more money. Every year that I've been married besides, you know, moving here.
But every year besides moving here, I made more money each year.
And yet, though I made more money, it seemed like it was tighter. It seemed like it was harder.
And that's because inflation is wrecking our economy.
And what happens is, oh, you know, you're renting a place and it's $1,500 a month.
And then inflation hits and then tax hikes hit. And your landlord says, oh, by the way, next year it's $1,900.
Oh, you're in it again. Oh, next year it's $2,000. Oh, next year it's $2,100.
And what's happening is your income isn't changing that much, but you're just, you know,
flushing all this income down the drain that's going towards someone else's asset.
And some people will be like, well, you know, the interest rates on loans are a fraud.
It is a fraud. It is. No doubt about that.
But at least when you own a home, you have some sort of asset behind the debt that you're in,
whereas when you're renting, you're just giving all your money to someone else for their asset.
Here's the thing about owning a home. It increases in value over time.
You want to know why? Inflation.
And I don't think inflation is going to stop anytime soon, whether it's Republicans or Democrats.
I mean, I am sure that they are both going to fail equally and that our economy will get worse under either one.
And that, you know, inflation is going to keep going up.
I mean, people who bought a home right before COVID, like COVID just sent their home value up like $100,000 in like a year.
It's crazy.
So, you know, over time, you own a home and you own it for a long time.
Eventually, you're going to win in that financial equation.
Whereas if you rent, whether it's, you know, for a short amount of time, especially over a long amount of time, you're only losing.
And it's so hard to get out of that.
And every single year, it's just going to get raised to match inflation, and it's going to seem like you could never get out of it.
You know, you have to do anything and everything you can to get into that first home because that is the evil that's coming financially.
You have to have some prudence to see ahead for those things and get into a home.
Now, of course, if you plan on leaving the promised land of Oklahoma anytime soon, buying a house isn't a great idea.
Don't buy a house and sell it within the first year or two years or three years.
With closing costs, you're just going to rake yourself over the coals.
But if you're going to stay in the promised land, a wonderful state of Oklahoma, then buying a house is a great thing.
And by the way, praise God for Oklahoma because it's some of the cheaper housing in America, even like nice areas.
I live in Yukon. I love Yukon. It's a very nice town. And the housing there is even pretty affordable.
And even DFW is pretty affordable compared to the rest of the country.
But you take a house in Oklahoma, you drop it in DFW, it's going to be $100,000 more expensive.
And then you take a house in DFW and drop it in Boise, Idaho and it's going to be like $300,000 more expensive.
Then good luck with San Diego and Seattle and all that. It's just ridiculous.
So thank God we live where we do. But we need to have some prudence financially.
Look at verse number four, "By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches and honor and life."
Here's the thing, if you're a godly Christian and your goal and your desire is to get rich,
it's probably not going to happen because the Bible says, "Labor not to be rich."
God does not want us to love money. He does not want us to set our affection on the things of this earth.
But you know what, if you do want to enjoy life and maybe you do want God to bless you with those things,
here's how you do it. It says, "By humility and the fear of the Lord." What's humility?
Realize that thinking lower of yourself, realizing, hey, you know, all this wealth that you have,
you didn't get that just by your own might, your own intellect, your own strength.
You know, God gave you every breath that you breathe.
God gives us the power to get wealth, the Bible says.
And so if you want to lose all your income, the surest way to do that is get real prideful
about how great you are and how smart you are and how much more hardworking you are than everyone else.
Rather, what you should do is be humble and realize, hey, anything that God's given me,
that's all glory to God. Thank you, Lord, for those blessings.
And notice, and the fear of the Lord.
Look, if you want to have financial success, the worst thing you could do is stop serving God.
And so many people, I see this, they're worried about money, and they go and start some business,
or they get on some career track, and then as soon as God gives them what they prayed for,
and their business starts succeeding, and they start making good money, they're just out of church.
I've seen this so many times.
And then you know what follows after that? The marriage starts to fall apart.
And the relationship with their children starts to fall apart.
And their life just starts to fall apart, because guess what? You're saved.
And if you're saved, God is going to chastise his children.
And if he sees his children living on this earth, when he's given them a purpose,
he's given them the local church, he's given them the Great Commission,
and he sees you just caring about the unrighteous mammon, about money,
not fearing God, not prioritizing church, not going soul winning.
You know, he could just take all that stuff away from you in a moment.
I don't care how big your portfolio ever gets,
never think that it's strong enough to evade God's hand.
Because God could take it all away in a moment.
He could hit you with that cancer that just wipes your finances out.
He could hit you with some car accident, giving you all this medical bill.
You know, we need to fear God.
By the way, if you're worrying about your finances,
one of the worst things you could do is not tithe.
Some people are like, "Oh man, you know, I can't afford to tithe.
I'm not making enough money."
Well, you're kind of cursing yourself when you don't tithe.
In fact, let's go there.
Go to Malachi chapter number three.
Malachi chapter number three.
And look, this isn't something we talk about a lot.
It's not something I really care to preach about a lot,
but it still is the Word of God.
And, you know, I would be doing people a disservice
if I didn't tell you what the Bible says in this area,
because there could be serious consequences for not tithing.
Look what the Bible says in verse number eight of Malachi 3.
"Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me.
But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee?
In tithes and offerings.
Ye are cursed with a curse.
For ye have robbed me, even this whole nation."
Notice, according to the Bible, when you are not tithing,
what is tithe? It's a tenth.
It's a 10% of your income. That's what that word means.
In Spanish, it's real easy. It's "Diesmo."
Just about everyone in here could count to ten in Spanish, I hope, right?
You're right. "Dies" is ten. "Diesmos." It just means the tenth.
If you withhold that tithe from God, He says, "You're robbing me."
Now look, hopefully you'd be afraid to rob anyone.
Like, wouldn't you be afraid to just walk up to someone and just steal their money?
Steal their purse? Wouldn't you be afraid you're going to get arrested?
Or that God's going to punish you?
How much more should we be afraid to rob God?
That's what the Bible says you're doing when you're not tithing.
And you have a bunch of bozos today that attack tithing.
And you know what? They're all people that attack the local New Testament church.
Because you know what? The local New Testament church is the institution
that Jesus bled and died for and gave the keys to
and gave us the Great Commission and gave us the work to do.
And you know how it works? It works through tithing.
It's how we pay for things. It's how we get things done.
You know the Bible talks about in 1 Corinthians 9
that those that preach the gospel should live of the gospel.
The Bible teaches ministers should be paid.
You better believe it's a real job. You better believe it's more than a real job.
And this attitude that's just down on church and down on ministers
let me tell you, you're just carnal and wicked.
Because this is the best institution on earth.
And it's funny how you'll give your money to stupid things like the movie theaters
and the nail salon and the hair salon.
I mean, it's all cool for them to get money.
But it's like, God forbid the church receives any financial support.
You know, the church is where our heart should be.
Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
When people don't tithe, look, I'm never going to come down on someone for that.
I'm never going to care or look into that stuff.
But you know what? There's something wrong with someone's heart that does not want to financially support the work of God.
Look, this isn't a church that's getting up here every Sunday and telling you to worship Israel.
And I'm not going to just go over the same sermons every single week.
This is a church that's serious about reaching souls.
This is a church that has almost reached 2,000 people with the gospel in the calendar year 2025.
And look, I want to do way more.
And we have a long road ahead of us.
But don't get this carnal attitude and say, "Oh, you know, God doesn't care."
No, God does care.
He says it's robbing him.
Verse 10, "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house.
And prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven,
notice and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it."
So what do you get when you withhold the tithe?
Cursed.
You're cursed with a curse.
Whereas he says, "Hey, if you tithe, you know what, I'm gonna pour you out a blessing."
I believe with all my heart that God is going to bless Christians living off the 90%,
more than Christians trying to hold every penny they have,
but you know what, the hand of God isn't on their life.
The blessing of God isn't there and yet the curse of God could be there.
What could that be talking about? Verse 11.
"And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground.
Neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts."
I mean, in an agricultural economy, imagine just all the fruits of your field,
all the grapes of the vineyard, all your cattle, the fruits of the ground being cursed.
That's your financial ruin. That is the destruction of your net worth in that case.
And he's saying, "Hey, if you tithe, then I'll rebuke the devourer for your sakes so that these things don't happen to you."
Now, here's the thing. Are there exceptions like Job where even if you're righteous and you do what's right, God could put you through a trial in life?
Yes, there is. But you know what? The rule is not the exception.
The rule is that when you fear God, when you put the kingdom of God first, when you tithe to your local New Testament church, God's always going to take care of you.
God's always going to make sure that you have the things that you need.
And look, even in this really hard economy, a lot of us are here with one income, and yeah, it's hard, and yeah, you go through seasons of life for things that are better than others.
But here we are today, and have any of us starved to death?
Nope, we're all here.
Have any of us gone without?
No, we're all healthy.
We're all blessed in this country.
And so, you know what?
Don't get this carnal mindset, this selfish mindset.
You know, I'm going to stop tithing.
I can't afford it.
You know, I know it's cliché and it's been said many times, but the truth is that you cannot afford not to tithe.
That is the truth because God's blessing on your life is more important than anything else go back to Proverbs 22
So we need humility and the fear of the Lord notice verse number five the Bible says thorns and snares are in the way of the
Froward he that doth keep his soul shall be far from them. So the froward person who again, what is that?
That's the person who's contrarian. They don't want to listen to the preacher. They want to negate everything
He says they want to negate everything the Bible says notice how life goes for him thorns and snares are in the way of the froward
Doesn't that remind you a lot of Malachi 3 where it's like the devourers coming through and it's cursing the fruit of the ground
And it's just you know harming you financially. That's what school
Well, that's what you're gonna experience in life when you're a froward person
You're gonna get all these thorns and snares in your way
But notice he that doth keep his soul shall be far from them a lot of times things go
You know you look at people's life and you know
We could just get a glimpse of people's life and sometimes we think man things go so well for them man that guy
you know
he just makes good money and you know their their family looks great and things are going well for them and
Sometimes that's just because they are fearing God loving God serving God
You know what there are blessings in serving God and while we don't want to go to this extreme
You know health wealth and you know prosperity gospel
There is some truth in the fact that when you live a godly life
God's going to bless you God's gonna remove obstacles from your life overall verse number six train up a child in the way
He should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it all the all the verses about child rearing
I'm gonna just gloss over those tonight because I'm gonna preach a full sermon on child rearing coming up soon
But the Bible says in verse number seven the rich
Ruleth over the poor and the borrower is servant to the lender
So here's the thing. It's not inherently sinful to be rich. It's not inherently sinful to be poor
Some people act like if you're poor you're somehow better than rich people
That's a bunch of garbage and some people act like well if you're rich
You're automatically more spiritual than the poor. That's not true either. But just from a carnal perspective
What's better will obviously to be rich because it says the rich rule it over the poor notice this and the borrower is
Servant to the lender. So what is this talking about being in debt?
Being in debt is a very negative thing and being in debt is something that you should avoid at all costs now
Here's the thing some preachers will preach that being in debt is a sin. That's dumb folks
The Bible does not say being in debt is a sin
But is it the most positive situation you could be in? Of course not
Are there some debts that are better than others? Of course there are you know going into debt to buy a home?
That is a physical asset that secures that loan that actually makes sense, but does it make sense?
To go into debt to buy a purse or to buy a pizza online or to buy a haircut
What am I talking about credit cards?
Credit cards is a foolish way of going into debt and look I understand people have them as emergencies
Sometimes you go through seasons of life where you've got to use it I get that but let's just be honest
It's not ideal and we should try to avoid it as much as possible
And you know, we should get this mentality of trying to live below our means, you know
That's what we do as a church. We we have a credit card to build credit at our church
But we're not just running a balance for our church
We're not just being charged interest on our you know, fellowship events and our soul winning materials and our gap
What all this different stuff, you know, we're not doing that
You should avoid that at all costs and even things like college. There are some college
Investments that could be wise, you know things like doctor lawyer
Aeronautical engineer, you know software stuff stuff like that can be wise
But it's like I saw on the University of Oklahoma website today that they have a major
They have a degree in feminist studies, you know, you always hear the the trope like Oh underwater basket weaving
There is literally a degree in feminist studies at OU talk about a stupid reason to go into debt
Yeah, let's go $80,000 into debt a hundred thousand dollars into debt that has all these high interest rates for your feminist studies
Degree, that's stupid folks
And you know what we need to make sure as we're raising the next generation that we give them some of this wisdom
Because I think that a lot of young people have it in their head that they're just gonna graduate high school
They're gonna just load themselves up with a hundred thousand dollars of debt to get this mediocre degree
And then all of a sudden right out of college. They're just gonna get this amazing rock star suit and tie
High power high speed high-paying job. It doesn't happen
You know how I know that because I don't have a college degree
But I work with almost all people who do I don't make that much money to be honest with you and these people
They went into all this great debt to get their fancy degrees and it's like look the rich and the poor meet together my friend
You know, it's just like was it worth it for those people. No, so be careful
Don't just be foolish and just old just get a piece of paper
You just got to get a piece of paper not necessarily and look I am NOT a hundred percent against college
Some people are I think it could be a wise decision for a lot of people
I don't don't have this idea just like all college is bad. Look there's great trades
There's also great degrees, but you know what be wise about it
Don't just think like oh, I'm 18 load myself up with a hundred thousand dollars of debt
Then I'm gonna get this great job and I'm gonna buy the same house that my parents live in in their 40s
It's like that is not reality. You are gonna be slapped in the face by life so hard
It's not even funny. You know, what's better is to just not go into debt as much as possible
It's better to just work super hard live below your means live humbly
Thank God for the things that you have and you know what if you want to go into a trade school
That's a wise idea. If you want to get a really high paying career and a high valuable marketable
Degree that could be a good idea too, but we need to have some wisdom about these things notice verse number
Eight the Bible says he that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity and the rod of his anger shall fail
So this principle you see throughout the Bible that you reap what you sow
You know kind of like a credit card you could you swipe that thing but eventually there comes a day you have to pay it off
And with God spiritually you for sure will reap what you sow. There's no bankruptcy to get you out
There remaineth no more sacrifice for sins
there's a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation and
Realize that if you just live this empty life just sowing iniquity. What are you gonna reap vanity emptiness?
Nothingness and the rod of his anger shall fail, you know kind of the same train of thought of just thinking about the young generation
Thinking about people coming up so many of them have not grown up in church
They are not hearing hard preaching and they're spending their entire youth sowing iniquity
Not only are they just ruining themselves financially, but on top of that at the college
They're not just diligently doing their schoolwork being great students working super hard working a job on the side
They're out there getting drunk. They're out there sowing iniquity drinking a bunch of alcohol, and you know what you're gonna reap vanity
You know what you're gonna reap sleeping around committing fornication. You're gonna reap a bunch of STDs
You're gonna reap a bunch of bastard children. You know you got this great plan for your life
You think oh, it's gonna be so great college. Oh, just kidding you got knocked up by some loser now
You're a single mom at 18 years old boy how life changes really quickly
This is why we ought to be humble and fear God and realize that hey God's commandments are for our benefit
They will help us, but you know what you better be careful not to sow iniquity or you'll reap vanity
Stay with God's commandments verse number 9 he that hath a bountiful eye
Shall be blessed for he giveth of his bread to the poor
What does it mean to have a bountiful eye it kind of defines itself here in this verses for he giveth of his bread
To the poor so notice that what is this teaching the generous person is the person who's most likely to be blessed by God
The people who are real stingy or people who are robbing God by not tithing
You know, that's not the type of person God's usually gonna bless in this area
It's those who have a bountiful eye and if you are blessed financially if things are going well for you
You know what I would be doing is I would just constantly trying to
Sew into other people be a blessing to other people when you can you know that that's our philosophy as a church
We're not just trying to be as stingy with money as possible and just you know
Lay up all these treasures on earth where moth and rust of crap, you know
We want to be financially responsible
but we also want to use our money use God's money to invest in people to go out and preach the gospel and
You know what to serve God joyfully, you know
One of the things is about having a smaller church as you could do small church things that big churches can't necessarily do
You know big churches it's like all right, we're gonna have a fellowship event and we're gonna cater food and it's gonna be like
$5,000 ask me how I know and it's gonna be like happening every once in a while, but it's kind of cool as a small church
We're like, hey, we're gonna have a fellowship day after church. We're just gonna take everyone out to eat. That's a blessing
You know, we could serve God joyfully
We could use those things to bless God's people and of course the most important thing is the spiritual work that we do
The soul winning the missions trips all those things, but you know, we don't want to just be like these overly stingy people
It's not a good idea
Look at what the Bible says in verse number 10 kind of switching gears here says cast out the scorner and
Contention shall go out. Yay strife and reproach shall cease. What is a scorner?
It's very similar to a foward person. They hear truth. They hear instruction. They hear correction
There's like oh, I don't want to hear that don't tell me that I don't care or you know, they'll kind of oh
Is that what the Bible says, you know?
Let's kind of like sweep things off their shoulder not really care not let the word of God sink into them
The Bible says cast out the scorner and contention shall go out there
The Bible does not teach because you got two extremes one is let's burn every bridge
Let's just sever every relationship unless their new IFB and is and as spiritual as me, right?
But then there's the other people where it's like they will never cut people out of their life
There are pastors who will never kick people out of church
Even when they violated things that the Bible says to cast out that wicked person from among you for you
There is a time to cast out the scorner and by the way, this applies in every area of life, you know in church
There's a time to cast out wicked people, you know, we need to have unity in this church
We are supposed to mark and avoid those that teach doctrines contrary to what we've received
We need to have unity here if someone's going around and just teaching damnable heresy and spreading that we're gonna cast that person out
Cast out the scorner and contention shall go out, you know, it's funny throughout different churches. I've been through there
Sometimes there's contention their strife and then some big section of the church leaves or some wicked people get kicked out and all of
a sudden there's peace and unity in a church why because there were some scorners there you cast out the scorners then
Contention will cease. This is the same thing at work
You know at work if you're a boss you can't allow you know
You can't allow yourself to have a culture where all your employees are like plotting against you talking crap about you
You know harming the company stealing from the company going against the culture of your company
You know if someone's a scorner, you might try to work with that person
You might try to coach them and correct them
But eventually there might come a time in your company where you just need to cast out this corner and a lot of businesses can
Be destroyed by the destruction of the culture by just wicked people crept in same thing for church
By the way same thing for family members now
Of course, we should strive to be at peace with our family
But there can come a point where even amongst family members you need to just cast that person out of your life
What would be an example? How about sodomites in your family? I mean, this is just obvious. This is easy, right?
Sodomites in your family. You should have zero fellowship with them reprobates. You should not hang out with them
You should not text them. Merry Christmas
You should have nothing to do with them passed out this corner and contention will cease, you know
And here's the thing can two walk together except they be agreed
I want to be close with the people that believe like me Paul when he's writing his epistles
He's like hey greet those that love us in the faith. He's like hey say hi to the real ones out there
You know
I want to be closest with people that are like us that share our doctrine that share our vision and when people just scorn
Us they hate me. They hate anchor Baptist Church
That is someone that you should separate with and you know
There probably needs to be a whole sermon on how to deal with church discipline because we've never had to do it
But we'll probably have to do it someday
But you know what the whole point of church discipline is that when someone is marked when someone is identified when someone is kicked out
Of church and again, this doesn't apply to anyone that we know because it's never happened here
But if someone was kicked out of church, you should cut fellowship with that person until they repent
You say but I love them if you love them
You want them to be right with God because someone being kicked out of church, you know Satan's curse is on their life
It's delivering them unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh first Corinthians 5 says and so someone who is
Kicked out of church has the curse of God on their life
Who would you be to stand in the way of God's punishment against them? It's evil
It's wicked and here's the thing church discipline. It works when it's done
Collectively because here's the truth a lot of people especially as the church grows and there's just way more people to hang out with
A lot of people go to church not because they are friends with the pastor
Not because they even really know the pastor that well a lot of people come to church because they have other friends in the church
That they really love and by the way, that's a healthy church. That's a good thing
You know, it shouldn't be like everyone thinks they have to be the pastor's best friend
That's that's kind of weird pastor doesn't have enough time or just human, you know emotion to give to hundreds and hundreds of people
Okay
but here's the thing if if someone gets kicked out of church and they weren't really my friend and they weren't really
Eric's friend and they weren't really Travis's friend, but they were brother Zach's friend. I'm gonna pick on you bro Zach, but Zach
He's just a bleeding heart for these people. No, he would never do this
That's why I'm saying it, you know
He the person kicked out doesn't even like us but they really like Zach and so separating fellowship from us means nothing to them
Because they weren't in here for us. They were here for brother Zach. That's why people come to Acre Baptist Church
All right, but here's the thing if he just kept fellowship with them, then what punishment was inflicted on them? Nothing
Nothing, but actually what would humble them and make them say wow, maybe I'm wrong. Wow. Maybe I need to change my life
Wow, maybe I should stop railing. Wow. Maybe I should stop fornicating is when even their friends cut them off
And here's the thing. I don't I don't speak this as some sort of hypothetical
I have done this I have had people that were my friend that I liked
and guess what when they were marked by the man of god and when the
Constitution that God gave authority to mark them and kick them out and deliver them unto Satan. You know what I did
I did the same thing. I did the same thing. Oh how hateful no, no, I love that person
I wanted them to get right. That's why I did that and look I'm not saying you can't text person and say hey, brother
You need to get right with God. I love you, but until you get things right, you know
Our friendships over that could actually make a good impact on them
But just continuing a friendship continuing to hang out
Continuing to be best buddies when they're marked by their local New Testament church, it's foolish. It's wicked
You know, you're not supposed to have fellowship with them
You're not even supposed to eat with them first Corinthians 5 says so what do you do cast out the scorner and contention?
Shall go out verse number 11 he that loveth pureness of heart for the grace of his lips
The King shall be his friend the eyes of the Lord preserve knowledge and he overthroweth the words of the transgressor
The slothful man saith there is a lion without I shall be slain in the streets. This is a really funny verse and
Here's the truth about life. Is that people who make excuses?
Usually just always make excuses
like people who get things done and just overcome adversity and just overcome issues they're typically the people that just always get things done and
Always overcome adversity and always overcome issues. They're a faithful person, but you know, everyone will proclaim his own goodness
But a faithful man who can find you know, what's normal. This is normal giving excuses
He gives this excuse like oh man. There's a lion without I shall be slain in the streets
It's like okay, I would understand if this was a child
I would understand if this was a woman but you know what the man does the man goes out and hunts the lion
You know that God gave us Dominion over the beasts of the earth. You know that throughout all of human history
we've been able to make weapons to subdue and
Overcome animals even the lion look if you've got work to do and the lions out there
Here's what you do you go inside and you get the 44 Magnum and you shoot it in the head
That's what you do. You don't make this excuse like always a lion in the street now
What's funny is I used to live in Idaho and there were times where bears would come into Boise into the town
It's like this was kind of like a possible a remote possibility for us
But here in Oklahoma, it's like come on. Is there gonna be a lion?
Is there gonna be a bear if anything you just gotta watch out for the crack heads
If anything you just gotta watch out for the homeless bums now those people just take a wide berth around them and get to work
I mean, I literally have to walk over crack heads every day. Just like I can't get to the front door
There's crack heads in the street. Sorry. It's just like bro walk over the crack heads and get to work. All right
Well, what's the moral of the story? Don't be someone that makes excuses
I hate hearing excuses God hates hearing excuses
But boy people just love it because it makes them feel good about themselves
Because the only person you're really tricking when you make excuses is yourself. Oh, it's okay that my health is terrible because my parents
Well, it's okay that I struggle financially because my job. Well, it's okay that I don't go soul winning cuz man pastor Anderson
I mean somehow people just blame pastor Anderson Anderson for stuff. It's true. Just stop making excuses in life
Just take some ownership of your life be the type of person that just gets things done that overcomes obstacles without complaining
Without making excuses be steadfast. Just continue to do right verse number 14
The Bible says the mouth of a strange woman is a deep pit
He that is abhorred of the Lord shall fall therein
So the mouth of a strange woman it's pictured as something that's like alluring to you through her flattery
Through her words, but in reality, it's like a deep pit
what's a deep pit something you can't escape from something dangerous something that's gonna kill you and
Realize that the strange woman the adulterous that would hunt for the precious life
That is danger and looks can be deceiving but you know what fornication adultery will destroy your life
And you know while the Bible focuses on women here, of course same thing with men ladies
You know some man wants to try to get with you when you're not married
That is a deep pit as well. That is danger coming your way
You'd be wise to stay away from it verse number 15 foolishness is bound in the heart of a child
But the rod of correction shall drive it far from him
He that oppressed at the poor to increase his riches and he that giveth to the rich
Shall surely come to want so again this chapters talks a lot about
Finances first the part of this verse saying that he that oppressed at the poor to increase his riches
And he that give it to the rich shall surely come to want so those that would oppress the poor to get more money man
What do I think of immediately?
Usury which the Bible defines usury as one percent. I believe that in America usury is
Defined at 30% maybe someone could fact-check that but I believe 30% America is
Criminal is illegal is usury. The Bible says 1% is usury and usury is a weapon. It is horrible
People will go to the you know, try to take advantage of the poor through like these payday loan these advanced payment
Checking places where they'll just cast your check early, but you pay this huge interest or this huge fee
You know, that's a kid that's evil and God will judge those people also. It says don't give money to the rich
That's a foolish thing too. Why because you're gonna come to want again. I have to think about credit cards
What are you doing? You're just giving your money to the banks to the Jews through interest, you know
Checking account fees just being irresponsibly financially over drafting your account paying all this money to the bank
You're going to come to want because you're giving your money to the rich. The wise man retains his riches
verse 17 bow down nine ear and hear the words of the wise and
Apply thine heart unto my knowledge, you know, I love this verse because it's it's telling listener
Hey bow down your ear and hear and man, that's great to listen
But he also says to apply and let me tell you in the Christian life
You need both of these things you need to hear the Word of God
You need to hear the preaching of God's Word
But you also need to apply the preaching of God's Word and James chapter 1 talks about the foolish person
Who is a hearer of the Word and it's like he's looking into a looking glass
He's looking into a mirror and he's seeing all these issues that he has and he just walks away the same way
That is the person who is just a hearer of the Word
The Bible says that we should be doers of the Word and not hearers only
Deceiving our own selves a lot of people today are deceived into thinking that they are so much better than they are
You know, this is why by the way, we need heart preaching and why you need
Someone in your life that can actually correct you you need someone in your life that you don't just brush off their criticism
brush off their
Rebuke to you that you actually take things to heart because a lot of people are
Self-deluded in their mind today and pride is a very blinding sin where we often think as human beings that we are way
Better than they are and you know what if you read the Bible, you'll realize no, you're not
We have big problems as human beings and it's so funny you preach a super hard sermon and the people who are doing really well
In reality, they usually just get a little bit better
But the people who suck in that area they just get mad at the preacher for preaching to them
Those are was that about me? Yeah, I was and here's the question when you ask, you know, was that about me?
You shouldn't be thinking was that about me?
You should be thinking is this true and just like brother John preached on Sunday
Someone that rebukes you is someone that loves you, you know, the person that hates you that flatters you that tells you you don't got any problems
There's nothing going wrong because here's the thing flattery just allows you to sit in your stagnated
Self-deceitful state of life where you're not growing where you're not progressing
You know what that leads to it just leads to you staying the way that you are and having the same problems that you always have
And they don't get better year after year. You just stay the same same issues year after year
You see some people they just struggle in the same areas of life doesn't matter. How many sermons are preached doesn't matter
How many years go by that is a person that is a hearer of the word only?
You need to come to church and not just hear the preaching
But you need to apply the preaching and stop getting so emotional about the preaching stop getting so offended
When it steps on your toes, you know people act like they like hard preaching. No, they don't people don't like hard preaching
Okay, you know, it's funny you preach against feminism that gets people really upset
You don't get people really upset preaching sermons on child-rearing. But here's the thing
You know if there's something wrong and we're gonna preach a sermon on child-rearing real soon
If there's something wrong with with my parenting, you know what?
I want to know what that is because I love those kids with all my heart and if I'm doing something that's that's
Stifling their growth or that could be harming them or that could cause them not to grow up to be the greatest Christians
They could possibly be wouldn't you want to know that wouldn't you want to be able to help them with that?
But it's just like oh my kid would never how dare you talk about my kid my little Johnny
Your little Johnny's a brat and someone needs to tell you that and instead of getting so defensive and just saying no
My kids great look if someone is willing to correct you they waited a long time. They love you
They want the best for you. They want the best for your kids
You know, I'm using the kids example, but it goes in any area of preaching when something steps on your toes
Stop being such a baby. Stop being like when the preacher preached against me. Why don't you thank the preacher for once?
Why don't you thank God, you know, the Bible says rebuke a wise man and he will love thee, right?
But the scorner don't rebuke the scorner because he'll hate you is what the Bible teaches
Don't be that scorner today be someone that actually receives the Word of God and applies it verse 18
Why for it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee they shall with all be fitted in thy lips
Notice life is pleasant when you're doing things God's way, you know, the way of transgressors is hard
But when you get rebuked when you get shown from the Word of God when someone loves you enough to show you the right path
That's gonna be nothing but pleasant unto you and people act today like preaching is such a burden and cleaning up our life is such
A burden look when you when you do it, it's hard. Don't get me wrong. It's hard work. But once you get there
It's a pleasant thing. We're all gonna have sins that we struggle with but you know what?
I'm venturing to guess that there's some people in here that have overcome an area of life that they used to struggle with
Isn't it better before maybe maybe before you're lazy and you never read your Bible and maybe now you get through that thing
Once a year, isn't that a pleasant thing? How would you like to go back? You wouldn't so here's the thing
Just like you wouldn't want to go back to being a fool
Then there's things that you're foolish about now that need correction that need improvement and a wise person would want to hear those things
Why verse 19 that I trust may be in the Lord notice
I have made known to thee this day even to thee he's talking to you. Is this proverb about me?
Yeah, he's like look I've made it known to you this day verse 20
Have not I written to the excellent things in counsels and knowledge. It's not like God's given us
Slop here has he not written to us excellent things isn't the law of the Lord perfect converting the soul
Isn't the Word of God like honey, isn't it sweet to the taste? Isn't it? Isn't it wonderful? Isn't it beautiful?
It's not like God has given us a bunch of garbage here like the Quran
He's given to us excellent things in counsel and knowledge
You know what the preaching of God's Word today here at anchor Baptist Church at new IFB type churches
We're not giving you slop. We're giving you the truth. We're giving you excellent things. Why because it's the Word of God
That's excellent. And what type of a foolish person would just listen and not apply when what's being said is true
When what's being said is there to help you is for your benefit
Don't be that type of person verse 21 that I might make thee know
The certainty of the words of truth that thou mightest answer the words of truth to them that send unto thee
So notice this and we'll probably have to to close it here this evening
God wants us to not just be hearers only he wants us to be doers of the work doers of the word
That's gonna be profitable for you
It's gonna allow you to grow spiritually and it's gonna take you from this place in your Christian life
Where you're only this like input only?
Christianity where you just come to church and people serve you you come to church and people preach to you and you're constantly you're getting fed
You're getting ministered unto you're getting loved. You know as you mature as a Christian you want to transition to?
Just only getting fed and people ministering to you to where you actually can minister to others
That is actually what Christianity is about is us giving our lives for each other us
Serving the loss by preaching them the gospel us carrying one another's burdens and not just living this selfish
Christian life, you know who's really selfish babies are selfish. Let me tell you what babies are so selfish
I mean, they have no no sense of social norms, you know, for example Heidi today. She just rips off her diaper
She at home. She's just ripping off her diaper. She's like this close to getting potty trained
I think just ripping eyes like who does that who just rips off their clothes?
Okay, babies cuz they're selfish because they don't have any social expectations. They're just thinking about themselves. They scream when they're hungry
They cry when they're tired, right? Okay, a lot of Christians when you first get saved
What are you? You're a babe in Christ and you know what you are. You're immature and you're often selfish
And look that's it to be expected out of a baby. We're not mad at babies for being babies
It's kind of funny when they're babies, but you know, we're mad at adults that act like babies
We're at we're mad at teenagers that act like babies, you know, Heidi ripping it off is different than anyone else in here ripping it off
Okay, that'd be a you could get out of here. Right? All right, but you know what I mean like as Christians
I understand someone gets saved man. They just want to be ministered on to they
Want to be loved on they want to be fed and that's great. That's what we're here for
That's what we want to do
But you know what is better is when someone goes from just being fed to you know
What they're listening to the Word of God
They're applying the Word of God and notice this that thou mightest
Verse 21 that thou mightest answer the words of truth to them that send unto thee, you know
Eventually, you want to be able to dispense the Word of God to people
You don't have to be a pastor or a preacher to do that
You know, I believe that man woman boy and girl should be a soul winner you yes
I'm preaching about you. You should be a preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ
You should go out with us door to door
You should make known the mystery of the gospel to those that are lost and you know beyond that just in everyday life
We could have opportunities to even save people save family members save co-workers
People you meet where you could just drop some scripture on them give them some wisdom
You know, what about when brothers and sisters in Christ in this room are going through a hard time
You know, are you able to help them?
Are you able to minister unto them or are you just this, you know stunted?
Selfish baby in Christ, you know, that's what a lot of people are today are babies in Christ
We don't want that to be the case at anchor Baptist Church. So what do you got to do?
You got to listen to the Word of God. Hey read it every day come to church every time the doors are open
But you know what else you have to do. You have to apply it. Don't be so sensitive. Don't be so offended
Realize yes, the preaching is for you and actually apply those things to your life. Let's pray Lord
Thank you so much for a Proverbs and all the wisdom that's found in this great book
I pray that you would continue to bless our study as we go through that you would reveal
Truths to us out of your word
What I pray that every single person in here when they hear God's Word preached when they read your word in the Bible
That we would be thinking about ourselves that we would have a humble heart that we'd be
Receptive to criticism especially from authorities in our life
I pray that we wouldn't be offended by God's preaching
But we know that everything in your word is there to help us help us to apply it to our lives
In Jesus name we pray amen