right on the first thank you for this church time that you would bless lord as we sing and fill us
with your spirit thank you also for all the salvations that this evening lord be with all
of those that were saved lord and work on their hearts lord in jesus name i pray amen for our
next song if you would turn in your hymnals to hymn number 220 jesus is all the world to me
hymn number 220 go ahead and start there right on the first jesus is all in the morning at 10 30
sunday evening in our wednesday bible study at so have all of our soul winning times listed there
below it's a quick praise report the soul winning this evening had nine salvations so praise god for
that groups of kiddos are great opportunities to get lots of salvations so praise god for those
numbers there we do have our year to date totals below there as well and also upcoming events i'm
super excited for the remainder of this year there's just so many awesome events and you'll
see there's some new ones first of all of course we have the bahamas mission trip which is october
6th through the 11th coming up real soon make sure you keep that in prayer just keep all the travel
logistics in prayer that everyone would be nice and healthy and strong and be able to just give
it their all when we're over there in the bahamas and of course just praying for safety as well when
we return we'll have a men's preaching night for the evening service of october 12th there is a
sign up sheet back there is already a couple guys signed up make sure to sign up there and then we'll
order some pizza for that evening service then october 18th we're going to do a fall family
fun day really really excited about and this is a great opportunity to invite your friends
co-workers or family members as well just to be able to hang out with our church for an event
and hopefully encourage them to come to church on sunday after but on the right you'll see
we have the details for our fall family fun day that's october 18th we're going to meet at
the ore family farm at 10 a.m and of course it's going to be free admission is going to be paid
for by the church but there's a sign up sheet in the back if you please just indicate how many
people in your group that are two years and older are going to be going anyone younger than that
gets in free but it's really really important that if you sign up you come so only sign up if
you're planning on coming because this isn't necessarily going to be the cheapest event but
we're going to get what we pay for because it's going to be an awesome time great time of fellowship
hanging out as a church the fall is probably my favorite season and i just love events like this
so i'm really looking forward to the weather changing and all that so also we're going to have
a special guest in town for that weekend he's going to be joining us for the family fun day
that's pastor aaron thompson and lord willing miss sherry as well his wife will be tagging along
and he's going to be preaching for us october 19th both services on sunday so it's just going
to be a really awesome weekend please do sign up and indicate how many will be coming then october
31st we'll be having our chili cook-off then november 22nd our oklahoma city soul winning
marathon marking the one year anniversary of anchor baptist church and the next day
pastor jonathan shelley will be preaching both services for us so we've got some awesome guest
preachers two months in a row and really looking forward to that november 26 little ways out there
but just wanted to put that on our coming events is also our pie fellowship now on the right we
have our prayer list if you have any updates throughout the week please email our church and
i'll add that for you but before we go to our third song let's go ahead and pray as a church
family this evening lord we thank you for anchor baptist church we thank you for the work that
you're allowing us to do here i pray that you please bless the efforts that we are doing i pray
that you would help us to reach more people with the gospel of jesus christ i also pray for the
requests of our church members this evening that you just answer these according to your will
pray for brother eric's job interview tomorrow that you just help him to do a good job and find
favor in the eyes of the interviewers that you just bless this opportunity for him we also want
to continue to pray for miss lola at faithful word that you would strengthen her and comfort her and
just help her find this new life that she finds herself in god is pray that you would heal her
and give her comfort and strength lord and that she would of course be with everyone at faithful
word who's missing a friend right now i also pray lord for brother paul weathers at steadfast
baptist church that you would just bless his body that you'd help him healthy lord i also pray for
brother fedor for his last few weeks over in the philippines that you would keep him safe that you'd
help him just to keep working hard during this final push and i pray that you just bless him
greatly for all the work that he's been doing over in the philippines and pray for all those that are
in the path of a upcoming storm in the philippines that you keep pastor stuckey and his people
evangelist urbanic and his people all safe during this time and that you just bless in that situation
and we also want to pray for brother miles she bless his health and bless miss ria who's taking
care of him just pray that you give her strength during this difficult season of her life lord
just pray also that you'd be with the loved ones of church members that are not saved and i just
pray that those people would have soft hearts to the gospel and that we would just preach them
the gospel many times that they would someday be saved lord we love you and you see me pray amen
right for our next song if you would at this time take your white handouts and turn to psalm chapter
139 psalm chapter 139 in the white handouts go ahead and start there right on the first
psalm the man has a kai king of juda copied out it's the glory of god conceal a thing
but the honor of kings is to search out a matter the heaven for height and the earth for depth
in the heart of kings is unsearchable take away the dross from the silver and there shall come
forth a vessel for the finer take away the wicked from before the king and his throne shall be
established in righteousness put not forth thyself in the presence of the king and stand not in the
place of great men for better it is that it be said unto thee come up hither than that thou
shouldest be put lower in the presence of the prince whom thine eyes have seen go not forth
hastily to strive lest thou know not what to do in the end thereof when thy neighbor hath put
thee to shame debate thy cause with thy neighbor himself and discover not a secret to another
lest he that heareth it put thee to shame and thine infamy turn not away a word fitly spoken
is like apples of gold and pictures of silver as an earring of gold and an ornament of fine gold
so is a wise reprover upon an obedient ear as the cold of snow in the time of harvest
so is a faithful messenger to them that send him for he refresheth the soul of his masters
whoso boastseth himself of a false gift is like the clouds and wind without rain by long forbearing
is a prince persuaded and a soft tongue breaketh the bone hast thou found honey eat so much as is
sufficient for thee lest thou be filled therewith and vomit it withdraw thy foot from my neighbor's
house lest he be weary of thee and so hate thee a man that beareth false witness against his neighbor
is a maul and a sword and a sharp arrow confidence and an unfaithful man in time of trouble
is like a broken tooth and a foot out of joint as he that taketh away a garment in cold weather
and as vinegar upon niter so is he that singeth songs to an heavy heart if thine enemy be hungry
give him bread to eat and if he be thirsty give him water to drink for thou shall heap coals of
fire upon his head and the lord shall reward thee the north wind driveth away rain so doth an angry
countenance a backbiting tongue it is better to dwell in the corner of an house top than with a
brawling woman and in a wide house as cold waters to a thirsty soul so is good news from a far
country a righteous man falling down before the wicked is as a troubled fountain and a corrupt
spring it is not good to eat much honey for so men to search their own glory is not glory he
that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down and without walls
then proverbs 25 verse 1 the bible says these are also proverbs of solomon which the men of
hezekiah king of juda copied out this verse kind of stands out because of course everything we've
been reading so far has been written by solomon but i think one of the lessons we can draw out
already from this verse is kind of getting an understanding of how we got the word of god how
the word of god was compiled because there's kind of this idea by some baptists i've read you know
authors that have written books on this this idea of mechanical dictation that basically the only
way that scripture is being inspired by god kind of like taking over a person's consciousness
and physically moving their mouth for them and moving their tongue for them that they're kind
of just like this empty vessel that god is able to just say exactly what he wants through them
but i believe the bible teaches more of what's commonly known as like dynamic inspiration
of course holy men of god spake as they were moved by the holy ghost
so here solomon he is one of the authors of the bible and everything that made it into your king
james bible i believe was writings that were inspired by god now here's the thing that does
not mean that everything that solomon ever spoke in his life or everything that he ever wrote down
or even all of the proverbs that he wrote in his entire life were inspired by god why do i say
that well if you will go to first kings and of course keep your place there first kings chapter
number four first kings chapter number four we'll start reading in verse 30 the bible says in
solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country and all the wisdom
of egypt for he was wiser than all men then ethan the ezra height and he man and calcol and darda
the sons of mayhol and his fame was in all nations roundabout notice verse 32 and he spake three
thousand proverbs and his songs were a thousand and five so you know solomon is just this epic
author where he's just writing tons and tons of stuff i i believe that the person who's written
the most words published in the english language is winston churchill all facts check that later
but i believe that's the truth on that well it's like solomon is kind of like the winston churchill
of his day as far as his publishing where he's just writing tons and tons of proverbs and tons
of tons of songs yet of the songs of solomon what do we have in our bible just one we have one song
of solomon he wrote all these songs one made it into the word of god he wrote 3 000 proverbs yet
we have what we have in our book of proverbs today what does that mean that means that all of the
stuff that solomon wrote that was 100 percent without error and was the inspired word of god
has made it into our bible today you know if you believe the doctrine of preservation
that god promised to preserve his words from this generation forever if you believe psalm chapter
12 today then you must believe that we have all of the inspired words of god that solomon wrote
you know man shall not live by bread alone but by every word of god that's funny how that verse is
twisted in the modern versions to just say man shall not live by bread alone and it just leaves
it at that kind of an incoherent incomplete thought people will say oh man the modern
versions are so much easier to understand well that verse makes no sense just like man shall
not live by bread alone it's just an incomplete thought whereas the king james bible says but by
every word of god so here is the thing about the king james bible is that do we have every word
that solomon ever spoke in his entire life no and you know what you should be thankful for that
because we would have a much larger book to carry around even this in the book of john the ending
of the book of john talks about how if we wrote down all the things that jesus said and taught
it would fill the whole world so here's the thing of course jesus is the word of god but what we
have is what god wants us to have and we have every word of god we have everything that god
wants us to have but it also excites me to know that hey there's going to be a lot for us to
learn in heaven too that there's a lot more works that jesus did that we can learn about in heaven
now why am i talking about this with proverbs 25 go back there because it talks about hey these
are the proverbs of solomon which the men of hezekiah king of juda copied out what i believe
this is saying is like this is a new section of the book here what i believe is that the proverbs
that we have in our hands today came from likely three documents maybe even four documents because
you know if you read proverbs one through ten it has a very similar style and those chapters were
very easy to preach through because i like identifying themes and statements and able
to go through those and it was very very organized and thematic and each chapter was like telling a
story or having one complete thought whereas chapters 11 through everything that we've been
going through the last several months has just been like spitfire random verse after random verse
has a much different style now he's saying hey these are the Solomon are the Proverbs of Solomon
which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied out so hundreds of years later when Hezekiah's king
his men are going through and they're finding some of the writings of Solomon and guess what
that stuff got preserved and since it got preserved you know what that means that was the word of god
now i'm sure Solomon had lots of really other great proverbs but you know what these proverbs
proverbs are the inspired words of god and at the end of proverbs it introduces two different
authors so that's why i say it probably came from three maybe even four different documents
but regardless of like which documents they came from all i know is that now this is the perfect
word of god and you know i feel bad for the people that are the original manuscript onlyists who act
like well we can't know what the bible says unless you go back to the original manuscripts
first of all the original manuscripts forever oh lord thy word is settled in heaven
psalm 119 says that's the true original manuscript second good luck finding the original manuscript
that solomon wrote you know at the end of the day if you're going to believe that god is powerful
enough to create the universe and to create you and to die on the cross it's insane to believe
that he's not powerful enough to preserve his word it's absolutely insanity and really these
people these modern textual critics what they are at the end of the day is they're putting their
trust in man it's dangerous doctrine it's a dangerous belief because we put our trust
the word of god when we say the bible is our final authority we actually mean that as king
james onlyists we actually mean that we submit ourselves to what this says because we believe
this is perfect whereas the textual critics they don't believe that any bible is perfect
without error and so what they do is they say well we go back to the greek if you go back to
the hebrew and then the preacher is just going to tell you what it means and you just have to
trust him we don't do that you know i'm not against going back to the greek just to kind of
learn just get some extra facts but at the end of the day i'm not going to build a doctrine
solely by going back to the greek i'm not going to preach a sermon where i'm like hey i learned
this truth just by going back to the greek or going back to the hebrew because guess what i
don't speak those languages okay so it's just crazy the ideas that people have out there but
you know what god inspired solomon solomon wrote it down and you know what hezekiah's men copied
that down they preserved it and guess what that's been preserved from those generations
all the way to us today i believe that we have exactly what he wrote verse number two the bible
says it is the glory of god to conceal a thing but the honor of kings is to search out a matter
the heaven for height and the earth for depth and the heart of kings is unsearchable of course
there's a lot of things in the bible that are very surface level and very easy to grasp you have
things like the milk of the word and praise god for that we need that because when someone gets
saved what do they need the milk of the word they need the gospel they need to learn about baptism
they need to learn about church attendance but the cool thing about being a christian is that
we're not just reading the same things that we've read over and over and it's only surface level
stuff and we're kind of like yeah we know salvation is by faith every time we read through the bible
we're finding more and more things more hidden truths why because it's the glory of god to conceal
a matter some things he's made very plain in the bible very easy to understand other things are a
little hidden and take some work take some effort take some study to learn in the bible and that's
great because i want to be reading the bible my whole life and i want to be learning things
my whole life and he uses this illustration this carnal illustration he's like the heaven for height
and the earth for depth so these are things that god has concealed and the heart of kings is
unsearchable you know when you think about heaven and what i mean by that is like outer space the
galaxies the universe planets all these different things that exist in space you know the depth of
our knowledge as human beings is probably so you know infinitesimally small compared to what
actually exists in the universe right so it's kind of the it shows the glory of god like the
vastness of the universe and just how amazing his creation is that here we are we have you know
astrophysicists and people that study this stuff and you know nasa we got nasa working on this
stuff and you know people are just spending billions of dollars exploring space going to
the moon you know taking pictures of other planets and yet we know virtually nothing
compared to what there is to know in space and what does that show us it shows us the glory of
god how foolish it is for man to be prideful for people to be atheists like oh we know so much
about outer space and look at what we've accomplished as human beings we know nothing compared to what
there is to know and just the vastness of the universe it's just the glory it's the glory of
god to conceal a matter and even it said the earth for depth you know even this planet that
we live on there's so much of this planet that cannot be explored there's so many deep caverns
in this world in dark places deep in the ocean and how about the mantle of the earth and how
about the core of the earth and all these places that no human eye has ever seen and the depth of
the earth what does it show it shows the glory of god that god has concealed these things and you
know what what's reality is if you're actually intelligent and if you actually are searching
for truth the more we learn about science the more we learn about the natural world the more
we learn about space and galaxies and the universe and the ocean and all the creation of god smart
people go wow there is a creator wow you know god is magnificent and powerful and and people
who are actually seeking truth they come to that conclusion why it's the glory of god to conceal a
matter to conceal a thing but the honor of kings is to search out a manner a matter so the king
is a man of authority he's a man who carries a lot of responsibility he's someone who should
be taking his job very seriously and what should a king constantly be doing he should be constantly
trying to understand knowledge and to get wisdom so that he could be a better leader you know that
would apply to even people today in positions of leadership how it's so important for you to really
be digging deep into this bible and trying to learn more and study more and get more wisdom
from god and of course we're kings and priests unto god and his father all of us should be really
searching the scriptures daily whether those things are so verse number four take away the dross
from the silver and there shall come forth a vessel for the finer so you have finers whose
job it is to purify silver and in the purification process of silver there's this scum and worthless
material that comes to the top known as dross and that dross is scraped away and then they refine
it again they bring all the scum to the top and they scrape that off and of course this is very
similar to the process that we undergo as christians as god's children is that god is
constantly going to be purging us god is constantly trying to make us a better vessel you know talks
about in first timothy how there's that that vessel that's meat for the master's use and that's
the vessel that's been purged into a nice pleasant vessel just like when you have thanksgiving or
christmas dinner you bring out the nice drink cups or whatever the nice glassware and i always like
to say you don't use your kids sippy cups because that is disgusting and gross and you just throw
that stuff away it's nasty right you know my kids are so good at losing these things i go walk in
the backyard and it's like oh these have been living with chickens for six months yeah time
to throw these away right but you know the nice glassware for that sparkling cider on thanksgiving
that's the one that you want to use and who god wants to use is that nice silver vessel that's
been purged of the dross and the funny thing about silver is that usually and really any
precious metal it's not going to be refined to 100 just like how we are never going to be sinless
in this body we're never going to be absolutely flawless absolutely perfect but it is true that
the more we clean up our lives the more that we get sin out of our lives the more that god wants
to use us and the more that god can use us in a really big way that's not to say that god can't
use you know people that are farther back on their christian life of course if you're saved if you
have the spirit of god god can use you in some way what is one way that god can use absolutely
every christian preaching the gospel don't think oh i'm too sinful to preach the gospel oh i sinned
this week i'm not going to go soul winning no it doesn't matter if you have a pulse and you're
saved go soul winning now of course there's other things in the bible that have qualifications the
pastor the bishop right the elder then you have the deacon you have you have even qualifications
for example for widows to be taken care of by the church talks about how she had to have been
washing the feet saints or sorry the saints feet she had to have brought up children she
have to have been hospitable and a godly christian her whole life like the the qualifications for a
widow to get financially taken care of of the church at very high standards right so god has
standards and qualifications for some things but you know what for soul winning if you have a pulse
and you're saved you can go soul winning but we should desire to be the best vessel we can to be
the nicest vessel we can to be that vessel that's meet for the master's use verse five take away
the wicked from before the king and his throne shall be established in righteousness just like
when a finer is refining silver you want to take out the crap you want to get the dross out you
want to scrape that crap off so that the silver can be nice this is in the exact same way you know
if the king wants to have a nice kingdom if he wants to have a nice reign he's got to take the
wicked away and man oh man do christians need this message today that we are not to love everyone
and get along with everyone and just let the wicked run wild in our nation in our churches
in our homes you know the righteous king the wise king scattereth the wicked and bringeth the wheel
over him you know for example i've heard governor kevin state i don't know a lot about him but i i've
heard him say a lot of great things and he's done a lot of great programs in oklahoma but one thing
i saw that he said last week i could not disagree with more he was just kind of asked about the
political climate in our country right now and one of the things he said he goes i believe that just
the vast majority of democrats are just really good decent people you know i could not disagree
with that more i think at this point in america a huge portion of democrats are evil god-hating
freaks where they're sitting here celebrating cold-blooded murder and you know more ice agents
were shot by a sniper today in dallas texas there's just all this violence coming from the
radicalized psychotic communist left not to mention the millions and millions of babies
that's been murdered usually by cold-hearted leftist democrat women you ask democrat young
voters young women what's their number one issue that they're voting for what do they constantly
say oh murdering babies they don't call it that they call it abortion but let me tell you what
abortion is it's murdering babies and i'm sorry i'm just not down with this idea that at the end
of the day the people behind these sick ideologies of bringing in transgenderism bringing in faggots
and trannies in front of kids reading them story hour bringing in faggot marriage to our country
allowing faggots to adopt children i'm just not down with saying that these are just great people
at the end of the day they're evil they're wicked they need to be fought against and you know what
we need the pulpits of america to be raging hot in the spiritual battle against the wickedness of
our nation today and it's so foolish to just ignore the problem and act like everybody is
just a normal joe in america today look there's been times where the majority of our country
was normal joe you know i live in a neighborhood where i feel like my neighbors are normal joes
normal americans are they all saved probably not can we reach them though probably we go out
soul winning we talk to normal joes all the time but there's also this just sickness and cancer in
our country today of people that think it is totally fine to murder babies and then beyond that
they think it's totally fine to just murder adults so long as they think your views are
reprehensible you know what what are the reprehensible views that charlie kirk had
which is a milk toast moderate compared to us compared to what the bible teaches a milk toast
moderate what did he believe in uh get married start a family love your wife have kids work hard
let's have lower taxes i mean the guy was just a normal conservative right and it's just like oh
he's a nazi it's like do you even know what a nazi is have you read a book about nazis have you
ever read mineconf like have you even watched a document like you absolutely know nothing about
this world but these people are so stupid and why are they stupid by the way because fools hate
knowledge there's a sin issue going in someone's heart when they're so stupid when they're so
foolish and ignorant and idiotic as to think the mr milk toast conservative is a nazi you know
they're stupid for believing this but it leads them to these hateful behaviors hateful actions
and you know governor stitt needs to realize hey praise god oklahoma is pretty normal oklahoma is
a bastion of christianity and conservatism and that's great but you know what i would not say
that the vast majority of democrats in our country are just good honest people are there good honest
people that are just deceived they're naive absolutely i'm not saying every democrat is
some repurpate or something like that what i'm saying is the people bringing in these ideologies
the leadership of the democratic party and many actual democrats are super evil and wicked and
you know what the bible says take away the wicked from before the king and his throne shall be
established in righteousness obviously the spiritual battle is by far the most important
and so we need to be shining the light what the bible says and just exposing the darkness
exposing the evil and the preaching of god's word is going to have the greatest effect on anything
in our nation getting people saved getting them in dwell holy spirit of god and preaching the
whole council of god is doing more to fix america than anything a politician has ever done that's
just a fact but you know if if i were in some position of political authority or if i was
advising one of those people i would just try to tell these people like stop playing games stop
trying to reach across the aisle and placate the implacable just win just destroy them just make
abortion illegal just put the death penalty on abortion oh but they're not going to like it who
cares man they're evil destroy them that's the message that needs to be preached today and i i
believe this and this is kind of it's going to sound over the top but i truly believe this
i truly believe that our country is more divided today than it has ever been in our history more
than even during the civil war because you know what yeah there was a civil bloody civil war
fought but honestly like you read war war story accounts of the civil war and world war one and
even world war two and you know there would be like pauses in the fighting on christmas day they
would hang out and drink coffee together and smoke cigarettes together whatever have have a meal
together something like that and they would kind of stop fighting because they they still realize
like hey we're brothers we're americans or whatever and even across other nations that
happen in world war one that happened in world war two in some cases but it's like i could never
imagine sitting down and having a meal with someone that's like yeah let's murder the babies
yeah i think charlie kirk deserved to get shot and murdered it's just like i couldn't i couldn't
have a christmas meal with someone like that i couldn't hang out with someone like that you know
what the the just is an abomination to the wicked they feel the same way about us they i mean what
they have in our mind is that we're some sort of crazy notsy or something like that even though
we're speaking the words of soberness and truth and peace what do we actually want we just want
peace we just want to live in a country where sodomites cannot buy and steal children and you
know what but here's the thing we're not willing to just have peace at all costs though where we're
just going to be quiet and we're not going to preach what needs to be preached and we're not
going to say what needs to be said so that we can just you know let you do things like own children
have your little children slaves you know it's time for Christians to get a backbone it's time
for Christians to say what needs to be said and stop being so afraid and you know what it might
cost you something but you know what what would cost you more is your soul for being a weak coward
and not fighting in a moment of history where we need Christians to be loud don't let the threats
the violence the evil that's happening in our country for one second make you fearful or make
you want to slow down you know if anything it should fire us up you know i believe that god is
going to bless the churches that actually are willing to stick their necks out there and say
what needs to be said and the churches that are just focused growth at all costs financial gain
at all cost don't offend at all cost those people will fail god is not going to bless those people
those people are not going to be the ones making a difference in our world you know anchor baptist
church might be a small church but you know i believe if we have the people that we have here
filled with faith and boldness that we could remove mountains that's what i believe look at
verse number six let's move on here put not forth thyself in the presence of the king and stand not
in the place of great men for better it is that it be said unto thee come up hither than that
thou shouldest be put lower in the presence of the prince whom thine eyes have seen so now the
bible's kind of focusing on this lesson on humility not puffing yourself up not being presumptuous
right so we want to have a humble view of ourselves and when someone who is of a higher
stature than us someone in a position of leadership or authority you know a king a ruler is with you
you don't want to just put forth yourself in the presence of the king it makes me think like you
know i remember being in different classes both in school and at work where someone who is a subject
matter expert is teaching the class and like they have the knowledge they have the wisdom they're
teaching the class and you have that one you know jack wagon in the class that constantly is piping
up and correcting the teacher and you know being a loud mouth and that's so annoying and obnoxious
and it's like hey don't put forth yourself in the in the place of the teacher let the teacher teach
let the king rule let the let the leader lead stuff like that and when you just put yourself
in positions of authority you're being presumptuous oh i know more than the teacher i know than the
more than the pastor you're really just being prideful and you're making yourself look like a
fool right so it says also stand not in the place of great men so i'm thinking like hey there's a
great man that's teaching me or something like that i'm there to listen i'm there to learn i'm
not there to take over the show it reminds me growing up i played baseball a lot fall winter
summer spring i played all year every year pretty much of my life until i graduated high school and
my parents would send me to summer camps and some of these summer camps you would be trained by major
league baseball players professional baseball players and it's like hey you know when the
professional outfielder is teaching you how to be an outfielder why don't you listen what he has to
say and i remember just my mind being blown at these stupid kids you know well well i do it this
way i think i should do it this way it's like bro is a professional baseball player and you are a kid
you know and it's funny the people who are the most willing to correct authority and mouth off
to authority and you know the most they're just going to comment on every sermon correcting
everything are usually the people that know the least and are the the least educated on a topic
and their comments come out and it just oozes stupidity and pride but those who are actually
wise you know what they want to do they want to learn from someone and it's like you hear a great
man speaking you want to be quiet you want to listen you want to put your fourth put forth your
place in that presence look at verse seven for better is it that it be said unto thee come up
hither than that thou shouldest be put lower in the presence of the prince whom thine eyes have
seen this could also be talking about literally physically placing yourself in the presence of
a king or a ruler and of course jesus reiterates a very similar parable where he talks about hey if
you're bidden to a wedding you want to take the lower seats so that hey if someone says come up
higher come up to us then you're going to have honor you're going to have praise whereas you know
if you show up to a wedding and you got the bride and groom and the groomsmen and the bridesmaid
you want to just like come up and just like stand by one of the groomsmen you're just going to be
like get this bozo drag this bozo out of here you know you're going to be made to be ashamed
and look foolish and so what should we do in any situation of life we should be humble we should
not be haughty and presumptuous and put others before ourselves you know take the back seat in
the car you know when i worked for pastor shelly if we were ever in a situation where it was like
we've got we're picking up a pastor to do some work or some other church staff member or something
like that did you think for one second i'd just be like i'll take the front seat pastor anderson
go ahead and hop in the back that'd be just weird right be just uncomely and inappropriate and you
know these are lessons that parents should have taught their children but it seems like some
adults were never taught these things we need the bible to teach us these things but we need
to have a humble view of ourselves verse number eight another great life lesson it says go not
forth hastily to strive lest thou know not what to do in the end thereof when thy neighbor hath put
thee to shame you don't want to be quick to get into conflict or fights or strife with someone
and the first way i want you to think about this is when it comes to literally getting in a physical
fight with someone you don't want to just go forth hastily and get in a fight with someone you know
you should avoid getting in a fight with someone at all costs because here's the thing you don't know
how well trained this person is you don't know is this person looking to just insult you slap you
around beat you up or are they just going to pull out a knife and slit your throat and kill you are
they just going to pull out a gun and shoot you in the head and execute you right there you don't
know these things there's so many weird freakish people in this world and there's so much violence
in our streets that I would avoid physical confrontations with people at all costs now look
the horse is prepared unto the day of battle I think you should be ready to meet violence
with overwhelming power you should be good at using your weapons you should be ready to fight
and willing to fight but you should never want that and you should never go forth hastily to
find that you know when someone's just mouthing off to you and trying to get your pride to get
the better of you to get you to start swinging never take the bait it's such a childish thing to
do it's school yard let's meet out in the parking lot let's meet out at the playground
it's such a childish thing to do you know men should not be doing that kind of stuff
and usually the people that are just like the ones that really want to get into fights they
get their butt kicked because they're full of pride right you want to make sure you're
not going forth hastily to strive it is super dangerous and in the times we're living in right
now especially i mean look don't flip people off when you're driving don't provoke people to road
rage i'm serious people are crazy and man when i lived in texas i was constantly seeing these
road rage stories and i lived in a town called hearst one of the suburbs of dfw and i remember
reading a story about a couple that was driving down a street like right by my house where this
one guy he like flipped off someone else and the person got mad and just shot towards his vehicle
and just killed his wife on the spot it's like dude we are living in crazy times it's not worth
it if someone drives like an idiot let them drive like an idiot let them cut you off you almost hit
them all right you didn't hit them move on and look i know it's hard because people do drive
like idiots especially when they got texas plates all right it's okay we love you guys but man when
they're coming into oklahoma it's scary but don't don't provoke them don't try to get into a fight
and also of course we can think about this just in relationships we also don't want to go forth
hastily to strive we don't want to be people that are just ready to choose someone out ready to
have conflict with our brothers or sisters in christ our family members our neighbors you know
we should be striving to live peaceably with all men and you don't want to just go get in some sort
of argument hastily why you'd be shamed at the end because oftentimes when you want to get into
a fight hastily or mouth off hastily sometimes you don't know the full details and sometimes
when you just pop off at the mouth you get corrected saying like oh i didn't know that
information oh this was brought to me i didn't understand why you did that and then you could
end up looking stupid so what we should do is not strive hastily look at verse number nine debate
thy cause with thy neighbor himself and discover not a secret to another right so if you've got a
problem with someone you don't want to just go forth hastily to strive where you're not even
thinking is this the proper place is this the proper time you'll just go up to someone maybe
it's in front of other individuals and you'll just start this fight you know what you should do is
if you've got a problem with someone you go to your neighbor alone you go to your brother alone
as Matthew chapter 18 teaches and then you debate your cause with him look what it says there and
discover not a secret to another you know if you do go to your brother and sister in Christ or any
person in your life that you have conflict with if you go to them and you have an issue
and you talk things out and whether you know if you resolve let's talk about if you resolve that
issue if you've resolved that issue you don't need to go discover that to another person you
don't need to say yeah you know brother so-and-so did me wrong here and I went and rebuked him and
he corrected himself you know he corrected himself he humbled himself before me you don't need to do
that you know be a sincere friend a sincere friend you know when you're offended by someone else you
want the relationship restored and if you want the relationship restored the last thing you do
is go tell everyone your previous beefs your previous fights you know aren't you glad that
god doesn't do that to us bringing up stuff from the past no he forgives and forgets and so when
you got a problem with someone there's nothing wrong with going to your neighbor there's nothing
wrong with entreating someone there's even a time for reproof there's a time for rebuke but when
that situation is resolved then let it be resolved don't go tell other people about it leave it alone
now of course i'm not going to go into the whole matthew 18 thing but you know if it doesn't get
revolt resolved and they don't hear you the bible does give us a process on how to resolve that
that's another sermon for another time but let's keep reading here it says uh verse 10 lest he that
heareth it put thee to shame and thine infamy turn not away so you know if you are going to be a
gossip and a tale bearer you should feel ashamed and that's you know we need to bring back a healthy
culture of shame where when someone's blab in their mouth be in a gossip be in a tale bearer
that we shame them in a certain way and the bible is going to tell us how to do that later on in this
chapter but let's keep reading it says a word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures
of silver so the bible you know especially in proverbs uses all these carnal truths to illustrate
some sort of spiritual truth and when it talks about apples of gold i mean i think about like
the golden type colored apples some nice looking apples some good apples and you know those are
great when you get good fruit and maybe you're not a huge apple fan just think about whatever
your favorite fruit is when you get that it's delicious it looks good i mean fruit just looks
good right now the fruit in and of itself is good but what makes these particular apples even more
desirable and even better is the vessel that it's in notice it talks about in pictures kind of
talking about like a vessel or a bowl or something like that of silver so having good apples is good
having good food is good you know what's even better is having good apples or good food on a
nice dish a nice presentation in a nice way so what that's the carnal truth what's the spiritual
truth it talks about hey how a word fitly spoken is like that so here's the thing there's the truth
and the truth is good but presenting the truth in an effective way is even better using discretion
makes the truth even more attractive so if i do have a problem with a brother or neighbor or a
co-worker whatever you know how i approach that that situation can make a big difference and we
need to learn to use wisdom and discretion and know you know the appropriate way to talk to
different kinds of people there's a different way that you talk to your father and your mother
than your brother for example or your neighbor or something like that i'm not saying you should be
necessarily disrespectful to those people but like your your father rebuke not an elder and treat
him as a father your father you should be speaking to very kindly very meekly very graciously same
thing if you're going to correct a pastor rebuke not an elder the bible says right so you didn't
treat him as a father you would treat him respectfully there's a certain way that you
talk to different individuals there's a time for rebuke okay and so i'm not just saying like this
this modern you know idea of just like you can only be nice you can never yell your words always
have to be packaged so nicely no there's a time and a place for those things and you know a hard
sermon that's true from the word of god that's going to prick your heart that's going to drive
you to change you know that's like apples of gold and pictures of silver and also in the same vein
you lovingly gently correcting someone can also be exactly the same way it just depends on the
situation so some people are have this mentality it was like well you know i told them the truth
and that's all that should matter you know what you're right it is all that should matter is the
fruit good or is it not right when i go to a restaurant what i care most about is that the
food is good now what i would like though is for the waitress to not take 30 minutes to take my
order that's what i would like and i would like her to be pleasant and kind and nice and what i
would like is for her to refill my beverage when it's empty and what i would like is for the food
to be cooked how i asked it and give me the right food that i actually ordered and for them to not
talk to me every two seconds but talk to me enough to where you get the right stuff you know i'm
talking about the better job that service does it makes the industry better it makes you experience
better food is most important delivery is also important is most important and hey if someone's
telling you the truth just accept it even if it wasn't in a way you liked it but i'm just telling
you if you want to be more effective in your communication learn to use discretion and of
course you know in a position like mine as a pastor i want to try to learn to become a better
speaker because i believe it'll make my preaching more effective than if i just got up here like
read a verse just read the next verse read the next verse right we all could work on this stuff
verse number 12 as an earring of gold and an ornament of fine gold so as a wise reprover
upon an obedient ear right so a golden earring what is it it's something that's beautiful
something that's attractive something that's valuable an ornament of fine gold same thing
so as a wise reprover unto an obedient ear see if you want let's just put yourself you're the
obedient ear let's say you're a humble person and you want that reproof you know when someone
wise reproves you you're going to enjoy that because you're getting wisdom you're getting
truth you're saying thank you i appreciate that and notice it's not just a reprover it's not like
the obedient ear just likes every reprover it likes the wise reprover there's all sorts of morons
in this world that'll give us advice and reprove us and they're dead wrong but when a wise reprover
reproves you you know that is something that's valuable it's like a golden earring it's something
that you should desire and want it says in verse 13 as the cold of snow in the time of harvest
so is a faithful messenger to them that send him for he refresheth the soul of his masters now i
love this verse because i i know that god agrees with me when it comes to my love for snow because
you know some people just hate snow and they act like you know scalding in the 150 000 degree sun
is just so awesome and yay humidity is so great but the bible speaks positively of snow again god
uses carnal truths to illustrate spiritual truths what's the carnal truth man when that cold of snow
comes in time of harvest here in oklahoma city it's much later in the year but when i lived in
idaho we would always get our first snow by halloween we'd have our first snow by halloween
you'd get that first snow in time of harvest and what is it it refreshes your soul it's good so
you know what if you don't like snow you need to get right with the okay i'm kind of joking there
but you know snow is great all right don't hate on snow it's wonderful the bible says it's
something that's positive but of course what's the thing he compares it to the cold of snow is like
a faithful messenger to them that send him for he refresh it the soul of his masters so if you
are a boss if you are a manager and you have that employee where you tell him to do something you
can just forget about it because you know what's going to get done you know you there's an important
meeting oh you can't make it but i'll send my star employee he'll go he'll take good notes he'll be
a good ambassador of the company that does what that refreshes the soul of the boss because being
a manager is difficult there's not a lot of great workers out there in the workforce and someone
who's just faithful is a blessing and we should strive at our jobs to be that refreshing employee
the one that doesn't come in and be like oh it's monday do you think your boss wants to hear that
like do you think your boss is really excited that you show up to work and the first thing
you do is express how much you hate being there or do you think that he like wants to see you
walking in with a pep in your step and smile and say good morning and see you start getting your
work done that's going to be refreshing to his soul when he tells you to do something and he just
finds out that you execute you know when the boss comes up and says like hey you know you really need
to do this it's like i did that weeks ago and they're like oh okay awesome you know that is
going to make employers happy just like if we are faithful in our service for god that's going to
make the lord happy you know what refreshes god is when he sees a faithful soul winner just plugging
away saturday morning saturday morning saturday or whenever your soul winning time is you know
that's refreshing to god because there's so many lazy do nothing christians out there that every
day of their spiritual life is monday they've got a bad case of the mondays monday through monday
and they're just dragging their feet reading their bible dragging their feet going to church or not
going to church at all and god's like man this ambassador sucks you know we're ambassadors for
christ the ambassador you want him to look sharp to carry himself well to represent the nation well
to be intelligent to not be out doing a bunch of skeevy disgusting sins while he's in other
countries just like god wants us to be faithful stewards faithful ambassadors you know when he
has that faithful servant of god it's just like snow it's refreshing it's good that cold of snow
verse 14 whoso boastseth himself of a false gift is like clouds and wind without rain so
this is just talking about a person who's just consumed with what vanity what is vanity emptiness
and vain people are often prideful boasting about gifts that they don't have boasting about talents
that they don't have you know this is called job interviews these are dangerous situations because
so many people will just boast of talents and skills that they don't have you know that's so
annoying to me by the way because i believe as christians that we should not lie amen we should
never lie and so you know what you put on your resume should be truth and the experience that
you give should be truth but it's so annoying how you know in the the workplace we have to
compete against a bunch of liars a bunch of people that are just boasting themselves of false gifts
but you know what i still recommend retaining your integrity because god's going to bless you
don't allow that temptation to overcome you where you're like i know these people aren't being
honest you know what you be honest on your resume and if there's a skill you need for the job get
the skill get the experience do something work on your own time get experience but don't lie
verse number 15 the bible says by long forbearance is a prince prince persuaded and a soft tongue
breaketh the bone so again this is kind of going with that idea of having a wise delivery with
your words could be more forceful than you know being unwise and not using discretion or tact in
your speech makes me think about how esther changed the course of the future for the jews
and she went and petitioned the king to save her people and you know she didn't go in storming
like a feminist and say did you know about this problem in your kingdom and why are you allowing
this wicked hamen to do this and that she's just like all right i'm gonna get all dolled up i'm
gonna get nice and pretty i'm gonna wear my best dress put on the perfume or whatever i'm gonna go
into the king's area and just say like can i please ask you a question that's a great way to
ask ladies you know by the way your husband just can i ask you a question i need this now just like
we're already done no thank you it's like can i ask you a question that's a great way to get
a response you know you want something for your boss sir do you have a moment sir do you have can
i have a word that's how you start your conversation with your boss not just like boss i need this right
now you know come in have some discretion have some tact right she comes in she's like can i
ask you a question sure what do you want can i cook you a meal he's like all right sure we go
to the banquet and they have the banquet all right what's your request can i just have cook you
another meal tomorrow all right sounds good you know then finally she pops a question hey we're
about to die and honestly if we were going to be just slaves i wouldn't have even bothered you with
this question but you know this wicked uh hayman here is wanting to kill us can you like destroy
him and then the king's like yeah hang him on his own gallows the king just gives her what she wants
and delivers the jews why because by long for bearing is a prince persuaded and a soft tongue
breaketh the bone you know ladies you need to learn this you know how to understand men is that
you're not going to get what you want from your husband by nagging him you're just not and sometimes
i know you're upset and i know that you know those feelings happen or whatever but you got to realize
that to get what you want truly for your husband you got to butter him up you know put on the nice
dress be pleasant be kind be sweet and treat nicely and you know that soft tongues and break
the bones or break the bank one of the two but you know you're gonna get you're gonna get what
you want from your husband by that and of course us men same thing with our bosses verse number 16
has thou found honey eat so much as is sufficient for thee lest thou be filled there with and vomit
it we're not going to hit every verse this evening or i'll keep you all night verse 17
withdraw thy foot from my neighbor's house lest he be weary of thee and so hate thee this is some
good friendship advice right here is that just like how you could have too much honey you could
have too much of a good thing hey having a friend is great having friends is a wonderful blessing
but you know you don't want to ruin that friendship by you just you're not withdrawing your foot from
your neighbor's house you're coming over unannounced don't do that don't come over unannounced
unless it's like an emergency or something you know there's this thing called text you could
send a text love texts all right they're wonderful but you know you don't have to just barge by
people's houses and you don't have to just you know when someone invites you over to dinner
don't stay till midnight or 1 a.m unless it's made like abundantly clear like hey our new year's eve
party we're having a new year's eve party stay till midnight right but when someone's like hey we'd
like to have your family over for dinner and by the way we have you know five children and you know
this is like 1 a.m and she's like oh boy this is rough you know you could cause problems in that
relationship when you do that you need to have again some tact some discretion some common sense
also i highly recommend that you don't live with a roommate because i've noticed when people you
know they get their little buddy they get the little roommate single guys are going to live
together or you know college frat girls are going to live together you're just going to end up hating
each other is often what happens no no i'm in a room with my best friend how to destroy your
friendship live together you know who your roommate should be no one until you get married your wife
get married then you've got i don't want to say roommate because obviously she's your wife but
you get the idea right look at verse number 18 a man that beareth false witness against his
neighbor is a maul and a sword and a sharp arrow confidence is in an unfaithful man in time of
trouble is like a broken tooth and a foot out of joint right so you have on one hand the faithful
messenger he's like snow snow is great we love the cold of snow then you have the unfaithful
messenger and it's like a broken tooth or a foot out of joint raise your hand if you ever broken
a tooth all right a few people i've broken my tooth my teeth many times it's not fun okay
i did a pugil stick war one time as a kid and you know instead of hitting me with the padded part
they just went steel to the face and just knocked my teeth that was horrible right that broken tooth
is not fun it's a lot of pain and you know what sending an unfaithful messenger to do a job is
not fun it's not fun for your boss when you constantly fail make excuses don't get the job
done didn't iterate the message he wanted you to iterate you know it's like a broken tooth to him
or a foot out of joint don't be that person or here's another comparison as he that taketh away
a garment in cold weather and as vinegar upon nighter so is he that singeth songs to an heavy
heart so you know of course the cold of snow is good but you want to have the garment you know
cold isn't fun if you don't have clothing or you don't have sufficient clothing and when that
garment is taken away in cold weather and it's vinegar upon nighter so is he that singeth songs
to an heavy heart again this chapter just has a lot about discretion and you know what is
appropriate for the right times some you know people react to tragedy sadness depression in
different ways and some people when they're sad you know singing a happy song will make them feel
better other people it doesn't what does the bible say weep with those that weep some people if
they're weeping you know what they want your reaction to be they don't necessarily want you
to say hey cheer up pal you know what they want you to say is like i'm sorry you know what you are
going through is tragic i'm with you you know i'm i'm feeling what you're feeling as well i'm crying
as you're crying you know that oftentimes is the appropriate response and part of helping people
through hardships is just figuring out what that person needs and doing your best to just give it
to them right so if someone you know for example i did a hospital visit a while ago and making this
person laugh really helped them that's not always the case for every person right so you kind of
just figure out what does this person need right now in this person's life do your best to give
that to them you know i say i've said this before in my life everyone says this hey if you need
anything let me know and you know what if you say that i hope you sincerely mean it but better than
doing that is just providing them with something that they need without even being asked and i
can think of times in my life people even in this room have done that for me and that has been a
great blessing and it lifts the spirit up and we should try to do that as christians the bible
says in verse 21 if thine enemy be hungry give him bread to eat if he be thirsty give him water
to drink for thou shalt keep coals of fire upon his head and the lord shall reward thee so of
course not god's enemies but our personal enemies what does the bible say to do for them to pray for
them to bless them you know i would challenge you to start implementing this in your life if you
haven't already people who are our enemies but they're not necessarily reprobates you hear someone
you know they talk crap about us or whatever i would just challenge you to stop what you're
doing and pray for that person because yes there are reprobates that hate our church and may they
go to hell is how i feel about them but you know there's also some people that are just really sad
broken individuals that that literally just have horrible sad lives and like their marriage is a
train wreck their home is a train wreck their finances are a train wreck and just like everything
in their life sucks they don't have a good church to go to and like it you know i'm not even being
funny i'm being serious like their life really sucks and they just kind of take it out on people
sometimes and you know the best thing to do that person is just pray for them bless them and here's
the thing if they want to stay being wicked if they want to stay unrepentant well then they're
just heaping coals of fire on their head but you know what we shouldn't do is we should not render
railing for railing what we should not do is render evil for evil you know if someone makes some sort
of evil surmising about us some wicked post about us let's just blast them and say wicked things
about them no no just pray god i pray that you bless this person god this person must have a lot
of terrible things going on in their life they don't have a good church to go to they don't have good
you know spiritual leadership in their life they're probably backslidden lord help this person to just
get back into the word of god and get filled with the spirit help them repent of this wickedness
they're doing that could be a good prayer for people if they're people in your you know physical
contact what could you do buy him a meal you know you got enemies at work you got the work office
enemies you know open the door for them say good morning even when they scowl be super nice to them
give them great service and hey if they want to be a jerk back to you then that's just heaping
coals of fire on their head but you are walking in your integrity you're above reproach and god
is going to bless that verse 23 the north wind drive it the way rain so does an angry countenance
a back biting tongue so when i was talking about earlier about how you know there should be some
healthy shame in our society for people that are gossips and tail bears the bible tells us how to
respond when someone is gossiping to us being a tail bearer it's like hey as the north wind drives
away rain so does an angry countenance a back biting tongue so you know someone pulls you aside
oh did you hear about what brothers so-and-so did they start talking crap about our brothers in
christ people in this church your pastor that's a red flag you need to respond not with oh really
oh is that right you know some people some people are just too they're too much of people pleasers
and let me tell you going through your life as a people pleaser would be super stressful people
who are just people pleasers to the max are just living really stressed out lives because they're
so worried about making everyone happy you know you just need to stand up for yourself and do
what's right and when someone gossips to you just do the hard thing and just give the angry look
it's not fun correcting people is not fun even correcting people in such a minor way is the look
on your face honestly for me it's not fun you know the the sermons where it like it's really
getting spicy and you know people know or whatever that's not fun it's not but you know what it's
needful it's loving and you know what here's the thing when you do this once to someone hopefully
that's the only time you ever have to do it because you know who people love to gossip to
people pleasers and then you're just gonna have to keep hearing the gossip that you don't even like
oh you don't even like it you don't even want it but you just have to keep putting up with it
because you won't stand up for yourself just do it just give the angry look and here's the thing
if someone stops being your friend because they didn't want to go sin with you then that doesn't
sound like a very good friend to me sounds like someone that you didn't really lose much of
so someone's going around being a gossap being a tail bear trying to bring division in the house
of god which the person that sows division amongst brethren is called an abomination
and something that god hates in proverbs six you know if you're just allowing that into your life
you're going to be miserable you're going to be dragged drug down with them no just give that
angry look don't go down that dark road and here's the thing what's nice about when you actually do
this is that you end up having quality friends you know some people they get destroyed by the
friends that they have you know a wise person walks with wise men but a companion of fools
shall be destroyed and there's some people you just you know them over the course of years
or decades and it's just like this woman is just a gossip and it's just like it's been a decade and
she's just a gossip this is just how she is it's like i want to distance myself from that person
or if this guy was that way or whatever you know and here's the why are that way why are they that
way oftentimes for so long is because they didn't have people that loved them enough to give them
that angry look thank god i don't feel like we have this clicky gossipy church you know that
would be horrible i feel like we have a lot of great unity but you know what let's keep it that
way and if someone tries to bring in the gossip and the tail bearing and the railing you know we
need to make sure that we're good stewards of our organization here by driving it away with that
angry look. Verse number 24, it is better to dwell in the corner of the house top than with a brawling
woman and in a wide house. It cracks me up how Solomon just drops this at the most random times.
He's just like by the way you know it's better to dwell in the corner of a house top with than with
a brawling woman and in a wide house. Again this really fits with the theme of this chapter where
it's talking a lot about discretion you know having that soft tongue having wisdom and how
you talk to authority and here's the thing the brawling woman the wife that you come home to
and it's just nagging and complaints and fighting and you always do this and you never do this bro
just wants to hide that's that's like his natural feeling now don't do that right lead your family
you at times you have to correct your wife at times you have to correct things going wrong in
your home you're the man you've got to set the tone for your family but what what you want to do
is you want to go to the corner of the house top because it's quiet and hanging out with the black
widows can be better at times than hanging out with an angry and brawling woman and so of course
what's the lesson for ladies is don't be that way don't be that brawling an angry woman and you know
if you're not then your husband isn't going to feel this way you know it's it's like those those
reels you see where the man gets home from work and just like parks his car in the driveway for
hours that's weird like there's a problem there i don't i don't do that i'm excited to go home
because my wife isn't an angry brawling contentious woman my wife greets me with a happy attitude a
hug and a kiss food i mean it's great coming home i love coming home to my wife and kids
but it's like why is a man in his car for hours probably because you know the the beast awaiting
him in the lair is ready to tear him to shreds and he'd rather be at work or he'd rather be
in the wilderness or he'd rather be in the corner of the house top verse 25 as cold waters to a
thirsty soul so is good news from a far country verse 26 a righteous man falling down before the
wicked is as a troubled fountain and a corrupt spring it is not good to eat much honey so for
men to search their own glory is not glory he that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city
that is broken down and without walls and i want to close it with this you know this last thought
about someone just you know searching their own glory they're super prideful they can't control
their pride they can't control their arrogance he that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a
city that is broken down and without walls what uh what is a lot about what this chapter is telling
us it's telling us to act wisely to have discretion to speak to people a certain way and here's the
thing you know you could go through life the easy way or the hard way you could go to your job every
day and you could be a bad steward and you could have a bad attitude and you could demand things
of the boss and be disrespectful to the boss and you know you could just have a hard life you just
have a hard career and you cannot get promoted and your boss cannot like you and you can have all the
strife with people you could be this person that you can't control your spirit so what do you do
you go forth hastily to strive and you become shamed at the end thereof when you get your butt
kicked or when you learn information and realize you just went off half cocked and you yelled at
someone you shouldn't have yelled at you rebuked someone that didn't need rebuke right or you know
it could be that wife at home that doesn't have rule over her own spirit and she's just angry and
brawling and contentious you know what you could have a hard marriage you could have a hard home
you know or we could actually humble ourselves and realize that God has given us the perfect way to
live our lives and that though you know feminists want to tell you be large and in charge and loud
demand things of your husband and be the employee that joins the union and goes against your boss
and pickets against your boss you know the world can tell you do all these things but at the end
of the day following God's way of doing things being humble being gracious having discretion
that's actually going to make you live the most effective Christian life and carnal life and
that's really what it's about you know you could go through the hard way or you could actually be
effective in your relationships your job in your marriage in the Christian life let's pray Lord
thank you so much for this great proverb and for all the wisdom that's found in this book I pray
that you'd help us to keep learning new things as we go throughout this Bible study help us to
examine our own lives and see where we're coming short help us to make changes where we need to
make changes I pray that you would bless our church this evening that you'd help everyone to
get home safely we love you in Jesus name we pray amen go ahead and sing one last song to
conclude the service if you would at this time take your hymnals and turn to hymn number 304
nothing between hymn number 304 go ahead and start there right on the first nothing between my soul