everybody here tonight seats we'll go ahead and get started great to see everybody welcome to
steadfast pappas church thank you for coming on wednesday night once you find your seat we'll go
ahead and get started once you found a seat we'll go ahead and find a hymnal and we'll start tonight
with song number 197 song number 197 i go let's open up service we're working under you lord
together thank you for the preaching we're going to hear tonight and we just ask you to
bless this church in jesus name we pray all right for our next song let's go to song number 102
song number 102 he hideth my soul song number 102 no two everybody's singing out on the verse
if you don't have a bulletin go ahead and raise your hand and usher can bring you one
should have our prayer list as an insert this evening so that's how you know if you have the
right one on the front we have our bible memory passage of the week proverbs 31 verse 22 if you
are 18 or under and quote this to myself or an usher after service you can get an ice cream
on the front left hand side we have our service times listed there as well as our church wide
soul winning times all those meet here at the building and then our regional soul winning times
are listed there that meet various areas throughout dfw just a quick note if you go to brother sam
foley's time you might want to get in touch with him because i know that a couple of the guys have
been in the philippines preaching the gospel so just double check if that is still going on this
monday as always please return your soul winning maps to the bin once you complete those we have
our church stats listed there for the year for salvations and baptism and then on the right hand
side we have our prayer list for our expecting ladies and then of course like i said we have our
prayer list here we'll go over in just a moment uh real quickly on our upcoming events we have a lot
of upcoming events updated today in our bulletin so february 24th we're gonna have our preaching
class that's this saturday march 23rd we're gonna have a big soul winning push as well as like a
hot dog cookout at a park and there'll be more details coming soon about that but mark your
calendars for that on march 30th which is right before easter we're gonna have a cedar hill
south dallas soul winning marathon and we're we ordered some special easter invites today
so we i think we ordered 5 000 so we're really wanting to push these easter invites at every
soul winning time you go to regardless of location you know hand these out it's gonna be uh good to
get those out for sure march 31st is easter of course and we're going to be taking communion as
a church that day so make sure you're here for that april 6th is a shereveport louisiana soul
winning marathon and we do have a sign-up sheet for this at the front and of all the places i've
been soul winning in the u.s shereveport and detroit are right up there for the best soul
winning so if you want some good soul winning this is the one you want to go to it's very receptive
it's going to be we always have a great time at this one so there's a sign-up sheet for that
there's also a sign-up sheet for the verity baptist church youth rally that's coming up
on april 9th through the 10th so if your teen is going to that there's a sign-up sheet out
up front and it has some details about when and where and the age limits and do you need a parent
and all that stuff just check the sheet for that lastly on our upcoming events april 29th we're
having a fort worth zoo day and again more details are going to come as it gets closer but this is
just so you can mark your calendars for that april 29th on the back we have our congratulations
to the chamley family and to the warner family on the birth of phoebe henrietta chamley for
the chamleys titus juda warner for the warners let's give a big round of applause for both of
them and then before we go to our next song we do have our prayer list here's a couple things added
miss stewart's health don stewart my father had like a very minor skin cancer surgery that was
removed and so i'm just praying that that returns as a positive test and doesn't spread or anything
like that so if you pray for that and then faith miller her friend tamra's cancer treatment we're
praying for that as well so let's go ahead and go to the lord uh in prayer as a church here dear lord
thank you for this day thank you for our church and just pray that our pastor feel better soon and
pray that she bless all those that wouldn't or weren't able to make it tonight lord and
thank you for the healing that you've given to brother cameron's leg i pray that his leg would
just continue to be healthy that he wouldn't have any more issues in the future and that you just
strengthen him and his family just pray for miss karen for her stepdad's cancer treatment as well
as my father's cancer treatment and faith miller's friends cancer treatment just pray that all those
situations you'd get them the care that they need and pray that you'd heal them lord and pray for
alicia's grandmother's vision for her health and salvation as well as for miss tinika's mother's
health and we also pray for miss don stewart that she would give her better health going forward
lord pray that you'd heal all these people and pray that you'd be with all the needs of our
church you know what they are the unspoken requests as well and just pray that you bless
these people and just pray amen all right so we're going to go ahead and sing psalm 147 psalm 147
y'all to back me up on this one i got a little tickle in my throat so if you hear me pause just
keep on singing psalm 147 psalm 147 in your king news bible or handout
singing and plates are being packed proverbs chapter number one custom was one the proverbs
of solomon the son of david king of israel to know wisdom and instruction to perceive the words of
understanding to receive the instruction of wisdom justice and judgment and equity to give subtlety
to the simple to the young man knowledge and discretion a wise man will hear and will increase
learning and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels to understand a proverb and
the interpretation the words of the wise and their dark sayings the fear of the lord is the
beginning of knowledge but fools despise wisdom and instruction my son hear the instruction of
thy father and forsake not the law of thy mother for they shall be an ornament of grace under thy
head and chains about thy neck my son if sinners entice thee consent thou not if they say come
with us let us lay wait for blood let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause let us
swallow them up alive as the grave and hole as those that go down into the pit we shall find
all precious substance we shall fill our houses with spoil cast in thy lot among us let us all
have one purse my son walk not thou in the way with them refrain thy foot from their path for
their feet run to evil and make haste to shed blood surely in vain the net is spread in the
sight of any bird and they lay wait for their own blood they lurk privily for their own lives
so are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain which take it away the life of the owners
thereof wisdom cryeth without she uttereth her voice in the streets she cryeth in the chief place
of concourse in the openings of the gates in the city she uttereth her words saying how long ye
simple ones will ye love simplicity and the scorners delight in their scorning and fools
hate knowledge turn you at my reproof behold i will pour out my spirit unto you i will make
known my words unto you because i have called and you refused i have stretched out my hand
and no man regarded but ye have said not all my counsel and would none of my reproof i also will
laugh at your calamity i will mock when your fear cometh when your fear cometh as desolation and
your destruction cometh as a whirlwind when distress and anguish cometh upon you then shall
they call upon me but i will not answer they shall seek me early but they shall not find me
for that they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the lord they would none of my counsel
they despised all my reproof therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way and be filled
with their own devices for the turning away of the simple shall slay them and the prosperity of
fools shall destroy them but who so hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely and shall be quiet
from fear of evil that's by our heads for a word of prayer father in heaven we just thank you
for brother dylan aus and his family and i pray that you fill him with your spirit now
and enable him to preach with boldness the sermon you've laid on his heart and lord i pray that you
would soften hearts in the room and open ears as well so that we can receive the preaching of your
word and glorify you in everything we do we love you in jesus name i pray amen amen all right well
thank you pastor shelly for allowing me to preach tonight and we're here in proverbs chapter one
one of the most famous books of the whole bible actually a lot of times even when you just buy a
new testament it'll have the book of proverbs at the back and that's because the book of proverbs
was written to give us wisdom look at proverbs chapter number one look at verse number one it
says the proverbs of solomon the son of david king of israel to know wisdom and instruction
to perceive the words of understanding to receive the instruction of wisdom justice and judgment
and equity to give subtlety to the simple to the young man to the young man knowledge and
discretion so here the bible is explaining that this book is given to us so that we can gain
wisdom so this is a great book for those that are new in the faith and old in the faith alike
because everybody needs to constantly be seeking to get wisdom you can never arrive at a point in
your life where you've gotten enough wisdom or enough knowledge or enough understanding so the
book of proverbs is an essential part of the christian's diet spiritually look at verse number
or flip over to proverbs chapter 8 proverbs chapter number 8 and we're going to look at
some of the benefits starting off here of wisdom in our lives proverbs 8 verse 13 the bible says
the fear of the lord is to hate evil pride and arrogance and the evil way and the forward mouth
do i hate counsel is mine and sound wisdom i am understanding i have strength by me kings reign
and princes decree justice by me princes rule and nobles even all the judges of the earth
i love them that love me and those that seek me early shall find me riches and honor are with me
yay durable riches and righteousness my fruit is better than gold yay than fine gold and my
revenue than choice silver i lead in the way of righteousness in the midst of the passive judgment
that i may cause those that love me to inherit substance and i will fill their treasure treasures
so right off the bat we could see how much wisdom benefits our lives it's saying that by wisdom
kings rule by wisdom princes make their decrees by wisdom is the increase of wealth and prosperity
even physically speaking and of course it says and righteousness as well being someone that's wise
that's going to cause you to be a righteous person and obviously every single person in here wants
to have wisdom but go back to proverbs chapter number one and look at verse number five proverbs
one verse five it says this get or sorry proverbs four five i'm sorry proverbs four five get wisdom
get understanding forget it not neither decline from the words of thy mouth forsake her not and
she shall preserve thee love her and she shall keep thee wisdom is the principal thing therefore
get wisdom and with all thy getting get understanding so notice here wisdom's just
constantly being emphasized in the bible so much so that the bible saying of everything that you're
going to get of everything that you're going to seek in life wisdom is the most important thing
you could ever seek it's the most important thing you could ever find in life is wisdom and when
i hear that i want to think hey i want to become wise then i want to get some wisdom i want to get
wise and the title of my sermon is three steps to becoming wise three steps to becoming wise go back
to proverbs chapter number one proverbs chapter number one and proverbs one verse five gives us three
steps on how to become wise christians notice what it says it says a wise man will hear and will
increase learning and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsel so number one this evening
to become wise you must listen more than you speak this is something that all wise people have in
common if you spend time around wise people if you observe their lifestyle they listen more than
they speak why because it says in verse five a wise man will what hear go to proverbs chapter
number 10 proverbs chapter number 10 wisdom comes from listening not from speaking fools are known
by the abundance of the words that come out of their mouth when you hear someone that's stupid
they're constantly just talking all the time just spewing out foolishness out of their mouth but look
at proverbs 10 verse 19 it says in the multitude of words there wanteth not sin but he that refrain
at his lips is wise if you uh like to take notes in your bible you could just write social media
next to this verse because just in the multitude of words when every single person is telling you
everything that's on their mind every stupid thought that comes into their brain there
wanteth not sin there meaning there's not a lack of sin and the bible says that even the thought
of foolishness is sin and so when a lot of people are talking there's a lot of foolishness going on
the bible saying that no the wise person is actually the person that refrains or holds
back their lips and you know it used to be that in order to have a platform in order to be someone
that people listen to you used to have to be someone that's built a reputation by your character
or by your works or have been someone that's been proved for someone to care about what you think
about anything but now because of social media every single person in the world can reach
millions of people no matter how stupid they are and sometimes in fact the algorithms are actually
created to boost stupidity on the internet a brother from church was showing the other day
this uh youtube channel that has hundreds of millions of views that is about robots destroying
toilets fake toilets hundreds of millions of views people spending their time watching toilets
being destroyed online that's that's the type of world that exists on the internet stupidity
foolishness idiots but those that refrain their lips are wise go to james chapter number one james
chapter number one we need to get back to the time where for in order for your opinion to even
matter you should have to have built something or have been tried through something or have shown
people that you're worthy of being followed don't just follow every person you see online they're
not necessarily worth following james chapter one verse 19 says wherefore my beloved brethren let
every man be swift to hear slow to speak slow to wrath so notice if we're going to follow god's
instructions we need to be swift to hear meaning that when there's an opportunity to get knowledge
when there's an opportunity to learn something we want to be right on that ready to listen
because if there's an opportunity to learn something that means there's an opportunity
for us to become more wise there's an opportunity for us to become better people better christians
and what is the best place on earth to learn it's church that's the best place this is the
pillar and ground of the truth the local new testament church is supposed to hold up the truth
nice and high like a light on a on a shining hill to show the world what the truth is that's what
church is and when you want to learn something the best place you can do is come to church go
to Ecclesiastes chapter number five Ecclesiastes chapter number five but here's the thing it's not
enough just to come to church because notice what these verses have been talking about hearing
listening so if you come to church but you don't pay attention if you come to church and your ears
are not attentive you're not ready to hear the word of god church profits you nothing and you're
just as wise or just as foolish as when you walked in the doors in order to have benefit you must
listen look at ecclesiastes 5 1 it says keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of god
and be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools for they consider not that
they do evil notice how hearing is being compared against the sacrifice of fools which is what just
the abundance of words right and a lot of times unfortunately if you're going to a bad church
you're going to listen to the preacher giving the sacrifice of fools but that's not how this
church is right we have the king james bible we have a pastor that studies the word of god
and if you come to this church you're going to get fed spiritually no one in this room has the
excuse that many other people try to give of well i wasn't being fed at that church look if you're
not being fed at said fast baptist church it's because you are not listening it's not because
that the the preaching is boring or it's lacking bible or anything like that the preaching at this
church is saturated with scripture and it's given by a wise pastor from behind the pulpit and so if
you're not being fed look in the mirror because you're the problem you have to open your ears to
benefit so here's some practical tips to help you pay attention you say i struggle
with paying attention in church here's a practical tip turn off your phone or put it on do not
disturb i use this feature all the time when i'm writing sermons i put that thing on do not disturb
because i don't want to get out of the zone right and so if you're wanting to really take in what
the preacher's saying if you want to really learn the word of god turn that thing on don't disturb
because even if you're not on the phone sometimes you just feel it buzzing in your pocket and you're
like i wonder what that is and you ignore it it's no big deal it buzzes again you're like what's
going on i'm wondering what's going on right and your brain is now being taken away from the
preaching of god word and your your your sports scores are notifying your phone or your ring
camera is notifying your phone or just all this random stuff that's distracting you from the
preaching of god's word so just put that thing on do not disturb now i understand maybe you have a
job where you're on call and sure that's the exception but for the vast majority of people
there's nothing that important going on that you can't just turn your phone off while you're in
church this is the most important thing going on in the world right now is the preaching of god's
word so look turn off your phone i'll read for you hebrews 12 28 it says wherefore we receiving a
kingdom which cannot be moved let us have grace whereby we may serve god acceptably with reverence
and godly fear what is reverence it's extreme respect like reverence is how an ambassador would
treat the prime minister of a foreign nation or the president of a nation you would you know call
him sir you would look him in the eyes when he's talking to you you would shake his hand you'd be
reverent towards that person and the bible saying that when we serve god we should do so with
reverence and godly fear and you know what is not being respectful is scrolling facebook during the
preaching of god's word you know i've been to a lot of churches and i've walked around congregations
and i've seen people scrolling facebook scrolling instagram scrolling ebay i've seen people
scrolling ebay i've seen people checking emails just stop just put it away just focus on the
preaching of god's word because it's more important than anything else and man our our society is
becoming addicted to our phones to the point where i walk into men's public bathrooms and there's
dudes using the urinal and they're literally holding their phone while they're taking a piss
that's how addicted our world's becoming to their phones woe unto you if you're that addicted to
your phone put the dang thing away and listen to the preaching of god's word turn it off
here's another thing that can help you is taking notes during a sermon this is something i really
like to do and i usually use my laptop to do this because i don't lose the papers and i could just
go back at any time in the future and reference oh what would what did pastor chile say about
revelation 12 right and i could check that out years in the future because i'm using that tool
to take notes and it also just helps keep my mind engaged in the preaching if i'm saying hey here's
pastor chile's points here's the scriptures that he's going to and you know maybe at some point
tonight i'll be rambling on to my sermon but i promise you i'm going to give you three very
clear distinctive points that you can walk away with that if you wrote those down that could help
you in your life if you were taking notes that could help you to pay attention here's another
thing go to proverbs 29 proverbs 29 here's something that can help you pay attention in church
and that is disciplining your children at home disciplining your children at home because if you
are disciplining your children at home and you're having them get used to preaching at home or the
bible at home once they come to church hopefully you wouldn't have to be correcting them as often
now of course everyone's gonna have to correct their kids during church every kid is occasionally
gonna get loud or upset i get that but if you're two three four five six year old is driving you so
crazy that you can't pay attention to the preaching of god's word that's a problem that's a discipline
issue that you're failing at at home look at proverbs 29 verse 17 it says correct thy son
and he shall give thee notice rest that's how i want to be at church i just want to be sitting
in my seat and unless there's crazy protests going on and police i got to deal with i just
want to rest in my seat and pay attention to the preaching of god's word right and that's how it
should be for all of you too but in order for that to happen notice what you have to do correct
thy son and it's not during the preaching that's going to make the change it's what you do at home
that's going to make the change for your children so like for my house and maybe you have your own
plan that works for you but we like to have bible time at night where we read a chapter of the bible
the kids have to sit on the couch they have to be quiet they can't talk to each other or they will
get spanked then we do prayer time where i pray my wife prays and then the kids pray each one of them
then we memorize the the scripture of the week after that and that is teaching them the discipline
of being in church right because they have to not every single night i'd like to say that i do it
every single night hopefully i have the character to do that someday but when we do this man it does
make a difference in how they behave at church because they're doing it at home and so if you
want your kids to behave at church make them behave at home don't only just discipline them here that's
not going to work go to hebrews chapter number four hebrews chapter number four what are we
talking about we're talking about how to get wisdom you have to listen more than you speak
and in order to listen in church you can't be distracted by your phone you can't be distracted
by your kids being bad no you need to have that taken care of so that you could focus and listen
of the preaching of god's word why look at hebrews 412 it says for the word of god is quick
and powerful sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul
and spirit and of the joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart
notice how powerful the word of god is described and you know if you read the bible you know how
true this is if you've been serving the lord over the last several years or maybe even decades you
know how powerful god's word really is when you've heard preaching that's changed your life you know
how powerful god's word is but in order for that to actually take effect you have to be listening
to it we all can think of probably sermons that have changed our lives sermons that have moved us
look in order to get the benefit from that you must be listening this is a powerful tool right
here it's the sharp two-edged sword cutting and dividing us under soul and spirit the joints and
marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart i mean that's that is a
powerful tool right there but if you're not paying attention when it's preached you're not going
to benefit from it i'll read for you mark 4 9 says and he said unto them he that hath ears to
hear let him hear why did jesus have to say that because people aren't paying attention because
people aren't listening so look let us that have ears tonight hear the sermon when pastor shelly's
preaching let us that have ears listen to what he's saying right there's people that are literally
deaf on this earth that would love to be able to listen to preaching or listen to the word of god
being read and some of us are too busy scrolling instagram during church some of us are too busy
on facebook during church hey if you've got ears to hear hear listen why because it's going to make
you wise and if you want to be a wise person you must listen more than you speak go back to
proverbs chapter 1 proverbs chapter 1 and of course we're talking about church but this goes
at the workplace too you know if you want to be a good worker listen more than you speak i mean
customer service today absolutely sucks and you go somewhere and you're surprised if they listen
to you well enough to get your order right right so you will literally just stand out in the
workplace by just listening just listening to instructions just listening to the customer
just listen it'll make you a better person here's point number two to become wise
constantly be learning constantly be learning look at proverbs 1 5 it says a wise man will
here that's point number one notice point number two and will increase learning increase learning
and you want to know what the best way on earth is to learn it's to read reading is how you learn
you want to know why god gave us his word in written format because that is how you learn
watching videos is not the best way to learn it's reading the bible that is how you learn
and i talked about earlier how man we live in this weird social media age where everyone's a
teacher and no one is a student but what would be great is if people stopped talking so much
and just started reading and listening because why is it that the internet is just flooded
with false prophets it's because our world is flooded with people that don't read the bible
because if you've read the bible when some idiot gets online and wants to teach you about the
nephilim when some moron online wants to tell you about repenting your sin salvation you're gonna
say no because i've read the bible so look you want to get understanding you want to get knowledge
you want to get wisdom you must read the bible that is the best way to do it now let's turn to
psalm chapter number one so basically in order to learn there's two things that every single person
must read if you want to become a wise person every single person must be reading these two things
number one of course what is it the king james bible if you're an english speaker you must be
reading the bible every single day if you do not read the king james bible every single day you are
not a wise person because this is god's word and a wise person would want to listen to what god said
obviously right psalm chapter number one notice blessed is the man that walketh not in the council
of the ungodly nor standeth in the way of sinners nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful but his
delight is in the law of the lord and in his law doth he meditate notice day and night and he shall
be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit and his season his leaf
also shall not wither and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper what a promise that is in god's
word don't we all want to be prosperous don't we all want to be successful in our lives carnally
and spiritually we all want to be that way right how do you get there by meditate by loving the
law of the lord and meditating there in day and night the most wise people on this planet are the
people that spend the most time reading the bible not listening to videos about the bible not reading
books about the bible reading the bible meditating on the law of the lord and what's funny is even
unsafe people even people that are just carnally successful in this world or that have achieved
great statuses of power and renown in history when they utilize the principles taught in the bible
it helps them to be successful as well and here's the thing anyone that knows anything about anything
knows that this is the most powerful book of all time i'm going to prove that to you okay i'm going
to give you some quotes from some former u.s presidents and listen i'm not saying that these
guys are godly or that they're saved my whole point is that even if you're not saved and you
hold the bible in high regard in your life and you meditate there on day and night you're going
to have success in your life you're going to prosper in your life this is what john quincy
adams said he said the first and almost the only book deserving of universal attention is the bible
president andrew jackson said that book sir is the rock on which our republic rests abraham lincoln
said in regard for this great book i have this to say it is the best gift god has given to man
ulysses s grant said hold fast to the bible as a the sheet anchor of your liberties write its
precepts in your hearts and practice them in your lives to the influence of this book are we indebted
for all the progress made in true civilization and to this we must look as our guide in the future
that's a great quote right there any progress that's been made in civilization anywhere on earth
it's been because of the wisdom found in god's word benjamin harrison said if you take out of
your statutes your constitution your family life all that is taken from the sacred book what would
there be left to bind society together what a what a prophet that guy was because our society is
completely unraveling because the bible has been taken out of our laws the bible has been taken
out of our families the bible has been taken out of our social structures and we're living in a
hellscape more and more every single day but back when people were wise in america even the president
gave esteem and honor to the bible and let me tell you something the president is not usually the
most godly person in the nation okay usually when you're reaching that level of power and influence
it's often done by wicked means now i'm not saying every single time i don't know but i'm just going
to guess that most of these guys aren't safe okay but you notice what they're saying about the bible
still woodrow wilson he said the bible is one of the supreme sources of revelation of the meaning
of life the nature of god and spiritual nature and needs of men it is the only guide of life
which really leads the spirit in the way of peace and salvation america was born a christian nation
america was born to exemplify that devotion to the elements of righteousness
which are derived from the revelations of holy scripture so there you go you have a u.s president
saying that we are a christian nation calvin coolidge said this the strength of our country
is the strength of its religious convictions boy is that true i don't care how much money america
has i don't care how great our military is i don't care if we have the best bombers and the
best nukes the strength of our country lies in the wisdom of its people by heeding to the bible
by listening to the bible being preached and by reading the bible that's what makes america strong
and if we don't have that america will be weak franklin roosevelt said this we cannot read the
history of our rise and development as a nation without reckoning with the place that the bible
has occupied in shaping the advances of this republic where we have been the truest and most
consistent in obeying its precepts we have attained the greatest measure of contentment
and prosperity doesn't that sound like psalm chapter number one basically saying that the
closer you follow the bible the more prosperous our nation has been that's reality and the only
reason our nation is prosperous now is because we're literally riding on the spiritual coattails
of our forefathers back when our nation had way more saved people or had way more godly preaching
than it does right now that's why we're so prosperous today but if we continue the route
that we're going this place is going to be unrecognizable when i'm old it's going to be
unrecognizable it is not going to be the same place harry truman said this the fundamental basis of
this nation's laws was given to moses on the mount the fundamental basis of our bill of rights comes
from the teachings we get from exodus matthew isaiah saint paul if we don't have a proper
fundamental moral background we will finally end up with a totalitarian government which does not
believe in rights for anybody except the state there you go that's prophetic as well ronald reagan
who was featured in our film the preserved bible where he was kind of making fun of the modern
versions of the bible he said this inside the bible and we know he's even talking about the
king james bible inside of the bible's pages lie all the answers to all the problems man has ever
known it is my firm belief that the enduring values presented in its pages have a great
meaning for each of us and for our nation the bible can touch our hearts order our minds and
refresh our souls i find that pretty interesting i find that pretty interesting that as we look
at our nation now when it is just a cesspool of sin and debauchery and people are just becoming
more and more stupid and apathetic and lazy and just everything about our country is just
declining like america is a country in decline even if right now we're still at a better state
than other countries the problem is we are on a decline so what's it going to be in five years
what's it going to be in 10 years right but when i look at these quotes from men who like i said
probably weren't even saved what did they do they gave honor and respect to the word of god
righteousness exalted a nation but sin is a reproach to any people the bible says so if we're
going to be a nation that's exalted we need to be wise and read this book every day read it every
single day and don't you dare get upset about the direction of america when you don't even read the
bible how dare you you're part of the problem you think just because you sit inside steadfast
baptist church you think that just because you wear a suit and tie that you're what makes america
great no if you don't read the bible you're why we're in this position you christian that
does not read the bible that's why we're in the position that we're in go to deuteronomy chapter
number 17 deuteronomy chapter 17 but i find it interesting that these men of power they were
wise in a sense because they had to have been to achieve success and greatness in their life even
if it's only a carnal wisdom the bible even talks about in the new testament about the children of
this world being wiser sometimes than the children of light but what did they all have in common
they still all recognize that this is the ultimate source of truth and that this is the ultimate
source of blessing and advancement in our country and this is no surprise look at deuteronomy 17
verse 18 it says and it shall be when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom talking about a
king the king of israel that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is
before the priest the levi's notice the king had to hand copy the bible by hand you know how much
time that would take you know i took a law enforcement class in high school we had to
hand write the entire bill of rights the entire declaration of independence and the entire u.s
constitution and it took forever and that is like a sliver compared to the bible but yet the kings
had to do this they had to write it by hand notice and it shall be with him and he shall read therein
all the days of his life that he may learn to fear the lord his god to keep all the words of this
law and these statutes to do them that his heart be not lifted up above his brethren and that he
turn not aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left to the end that he may prolong
his days in his kingdom he and his children in the midst of israel so think about this the king had
to hand write a copy of the bible and he had to read therein all the days of his life why because
didn't we read in proverbs by me speaking of wisdom kings reign so if you're going to be a
king of a nation don't you think that you're going to need a lot of wisdom to make a lot of
judgments and how are you going to get that wisdom is it just going to come from human psychologists
are you going to listen to dr jordan peterson you're going to listen to frederick nichet you're
going to listen to all these vain philosophers and deceivers no you've got to get it from the bible
you've got to get it from the word of god and you have to read there in all the days of your life
and notice what happens it says that his heart be not lifted up above his brethren you know reading
the bible will cause you to be humble because it'll make you realize how much you don't know
and it'll make you realize how messed up you are and how messed up i am right when i'm reading
this book i'm not thinking like man i am just really killing it i'm doing great i'm just thinking
like wow thank god salvation is by faith alone wow thank god salvation is by grace right because
none of us deserve it none of us can live up to it go to second kings 22 while i read for you
first timothy 4 13 says till i come give attendance to reading you know god wants us
until jesus christ returns to give importance to give attendance to pay attention to the reading
of god's word second kings chapter number 22 verse 3 we're talking about the reign of king jessiah
it says in verse 3 we're going to read a lot of scripture here it says and it came to pass in the
18th year of king jessiah that the king sent shefan the son of azaliah the son of mishulam
the scribe to the house of the lord saying go up to hilkiah the high priest that he may
sum the silver which is brought into the house of the lord which the keepers of the door have
gathered of the people and let them deliver it into the hands of the doers of the work that have
the oversight of the house of the lord and let them give it to the doers of the work which is in
the house of the lord to repair the breaches of the house so there's some construction going on here
verse six unto carpenters and builders and masons and to buy timber and hewn stone to repair the
house albeit there was no reckoning made with them of the money that was delivered into their hand
because they dealt faithfully and this is the verse that i want to really focus on it says
and hilkiah the high priest said to shefan the scribe i have found the book of the law in the
house of the lord and hilkiah gave the book to shefan and he read it so notice hilkiah is saying
i just now found the word of the lord so it kind of insinuates to me that king joseiah had been
reigning for 18 whole years without reading the word of god because he's saying like hey we just
found the law right look at verse 9 and shefan the scribe came to the king and brought the king
word again and said thy servants have gathered the money that was found in the house we took
care of the construction project and have delivered it into the hand of them that do the work we paid
the workers that have the oversight of the house of the lord and shefan the scribe showed the king
saying hilkiah the priest hath delivered me a book and shefan read it before the king so again this
kind of seems like this is new information to king joseph like he hadn't heard this before look at
verse 11 and it came to pass when the king had heard the words of the book of the law that he
rent his clothes again this is really pointing to the fact that this is new for him this is
something that he has not been reading every day like the bible said he should have been when he
heard god's word in his ears he rent his clothes he's angry he's upset and look at verse 12 it says
and the king commanded hilkiah the priest and ahikam the son of shefan and akbor the son of
mika'iah and shefan the scribe and asa'iah the servant of the king saying go ye inquire of the
lord for me and for the people and for all judah concerning the words of this book that is found
notice this for great is the wrath of the lord that is kindled against us because our fathers
have not hearkened unto the words of this book to do according unto all that which is written
concerning us so he's saying please go and inquire of god for us right now because i didn't realize
that the wrath of the lord is kindled against us right now and you know this stupid retarded
saying that people say ignorance is bliss ignorance is not bliss my friend just because you don't know
that the anger of the lord is kindled against you doesn't mean that it's not so and so when you
realize like oh man the bible says this and i didn't know man you really should have been reading
it then jessiah because now god's wrath is kindled against your nation and you've gone 18 years
without this here's the thing there's things in the bible that if you are ignorant of can either
bless your life tremendously and cause you to have great success and cause you to have lots of
rewards at the judgment seat of christ or there's things in the bible that if you are ignorant of
can destroy your life forever oh i was ignorant that adultery was wrong yeah and you get a divorce
and your kids have to deal with that garbage and you're financially ruined from getting a divorce
you you don't realize what the bible says about alcohol yeah and you die a young man like toby
keith of stomach cancer because you were drunk your whole life oh you know i didn't know what
the bible said about fornication well guess what the sds are coming your way anyways because it
doesn't matter if you knew or not reality is reality and ignorance is not bliss so don't be
afraid of the bible like oh i don't want to find out about that because then i might have to make
changes in my life look if god is angry at you whether you know it about it or not it's going
to mess up your life how about salvation oh do you want to be ignorant of salvation your whole
life and just ignore that question and when you close your eyes you wake up in hell is ignorance
bliss then no you must read the bible every day because you don't know what you don't know
and there's things that you don't know that can hurt you there's things that if you know it would
help you and so the only way to fix that problem is reading the bible and let me tell you i think
that the number one indication of a christian's long-term success is whether or not they read
the bible every single day i don't think that soul winning every week is the greatest contributing
factor to that i don't think going to church is the greatest contributing factor that i think that
if i'm going to see you in 30 years 40 years 50 years it's only going to be because you read your
bible every single day and if you quit on god if you quit on church i'll tell you exactly why
because you don't read your bible especially you men because some of you ladies quite frankly can
just be dragged along by your spiritual husband if you have one but when you men quit i know why
it's because you were not reading the bible every single time so we talked about you know
we got to listen we have to read and there's two things that every person should read the bible
which we talked about that and here's the other thing people should read books of any other sort
secular books read books this is highly underrated in our society go to second timothy chapter number
four second timothy chapter number four second timothy four look at verse 13 this is paul writing
from prison and it says in verse 13 the cloak that i left at troas with carpus when now comest bring
with me notice and the books but especially the parchments so when paul is wanting to read to
learn he says especially the parchments that's in reference to god's word right that's the most
important reading if you only are going to do any reading in your life please at least make it the
bible but he also just wants books and here's the thing when you look at successful people
in your life i promise you there's a common denominator with them that they read a ton of
books it is a true saying that leaders are readers that is a true saying and i love this
quote i heard this like a decade ago this is a quote by pastor anderson and he said this he said
people who don't like to read are stupid or shallow or both which one are you you say oh i
don't like to read books okay which one are you are you stupid are you shallow or both because
that's the only reason someone doesn't like to read because they don't want to challenge their
mind because they're shallow or because they're just literally too stupid to read that's the
reality and so look as our society is becoming more and more dumbed down and as men can't even
take a piss without scrolling instagram and as people watch videos of toilets being destroyed on
youtube and our country just becomes a bunch of mindless morons please read books please stop
just scrolling on your phone and watching a bunch of garbage and doing nothing with your life and
not challenging your mind open up a book and read it the best men i know read a lot let me give you
some stats about reading according to the national assessment of educational progress only 36 percent
of fourth grade students in the united states are proficient in reading 36 percent of fourth graders
in the u.s are proficient at reading that's terrifying this is the future of america this
is what's supposed to lead our country this is what's supposed to lead the greatest country on
earth people that can't even read what a shame the national institute for literacy states that
approximately two-thirds of students who cannot read proficiently by the end of fourth grade
will end up in jail or on welfare and is it any wonder how our country is just explode the prison
population is just exploding and the people on welfare is just exploding because people are
too stupid to do anything with their life because they're not reading and so they're resorting to
crime because they can't even work the most unskilled job that exists because they can't
even read look if you work at mcdonald's you have to know how to read the most basic easy
job that you can find you need to know how to read but yet some of these people can't even do
that because they can't read there's people that are illiterate in our nation here's a stat
statistic mississippi has the lowest percentage of fourth grade students who scored at or above
persists proficiency in reading with only 20 percent so one in five mississippi students that
are fourth graders can read at the level they're supposed to or above 20 percent how sad is that
only 57 percent of adults in the united states have proficient literary literacy skills
57 according to the national center for educational statistics here's another one
nearly 32 million adults in the us are functional functionally illiterate meaning they cannot read
above a basic level or complete tasks such as filling out a job application 32 million adults
or interpreting a simple set of instructions the average american reads at a seventh to eighth
grade reading level so that's just saying of all american readers even ones that are you know
proficient in literacy the average of all americans their reading level is at a seventh
or eighth grade level and i would like to hope that it's different among god's people and i'm
not going to do this but i i feel like i would be kind of ashamed if i were to ask a raise of hand
of who has read a book in the last year i'm not going to do that but you know if it's true and
let me tell you something us as god's people need to be better than the world you know daniel the
bible talks about how he learned by books and what it was said about him was that he was 10 times
better and look i have hope at least for the next generation because a lot of these young kids when
they're doing the spelling bee i'm just like wow that's incredible like i was public schooled and
i don't feel like i got a great education so i'm just trying to catch up okay but some of these
kids man some of these kids are really well educated and are very intelligent are very smart
and look continue to encourage those kids to read books these homeschoolers have a huge advantage
where they don't have to sit for six hours listening to lessons about evolution and communism
you could just say here son here's your job you have to read a hundred books in a year here son
here's your job you have to read this many books in a year right that that's a better education
just reading tons and tons of good books that will give you a better education than a college
could ever give you reading tons and tons of good books that'll give you a better education than the
public school system of high school or middle school or anything like that and here's some things
i've heard i've heard from people that they want to read but they just don't know what to read and
here's the thing i i love reading so if that's you i will help you i will just send you a whole list
a whole reading list of books that i like or that i have read and i can just like here i i review
them too and you can see like oh this one sucks i'll skip my skip my time on that one look i'll
help you out if you need some stuff to read i will help you i'll give you a list that can help you
or another thing i've heard is that you know you just don't have time to read but here's the thing
no one has time for anything anyway so just welcome to being an adult okay but here's the
thing you know i like to just read myself to sleep at night so it's like hey i'm in bed got
nothing else to do right now just read for and then sometimes it's 15 minutes sometimes 30 minutes
sometimes i really love the book and i go longer right but i promise you if you just read a little
bit every single night you'll get to the end of year and you'll be like dang i've read a lot of
books this year and it really does not take that much time really does not take that much time and
look i am not saying you know forsake your bible reading to start reading a bunch of books that's
not what i'm saying i'm saying up your reading of both that's what i'm saying i'm saying let's
raise the standards of christians in america to where we read a lot of bible and we read a lot
of other things as well to where we're really educated in the word of god and we're really
educated in other things as well because it's kind of a shame when you hear people talk sometimes
and they just don't know anything about anything and you're just like you're a child of god like
you're an ambassador of jesus christ that's kind of a shame don't you think proverbs go back to
proverbs chapter number one proverbs chapter number one proverbs chapter number one you know
one of my personal goals is to collect a bunch of books and be able to pass on a personal library
to my kids because i want to show them that like the bible says and all thy getting get wisdom
i want to show them like hey dad prioritizing his life the word of god dad prioritized getting
wisdom and look at all these books that dad has given to me like i want my kids to love wisdom
i want my kids to love the word of god i want my kids to love to read because if they read
they'll be successful in their lives they won't be like these idiots that go to jail
or that are on welfare because they're so illiterate that they literally can't even
put an application at mcdonald's and they can't even succeed at a job at mcdonald's people that
read our leaders that's just a reality of our world proverbs chapter number one so we talked
about listening we talked about increasing our learning by reading number three on how to become
wise is seek to be instructed by otherwise individuals seek to be instructed by otherwise
individuals look at proverbs 1 5 it says a wise man will hear and will increase learning and a man
of understanding shall notice attain unto wise counsels you know all of us in life god has created
us for community god has given us lots and different people in our lives that can help us
and as soon as we're born into this world we're born with two great counselors called mom and dad
and let me tell you something kids you would be wise to seek the advice the knowledge the wisdom
of mom and dad because i'm telling you no one on this earth loves you as much as your mom and your
dad does no one else wants you to succeed as badly as mom and dad does so if you want to be wise as a
child you need to listen the word of god you need to get increase your learning by reading but you
know what you also just need to ask your mom and dad questions when you don't know when you're
wanting to find an answer you know go to the bible go to the lord but also just go to mom and dad
they are going to want the best for you here's another person that you should go to in your life
is your pastor go to ephesians chapter number four ephesians chapter number four and as you're
turning there let me read one more verse about parents real quick proverbs 1 8 says my son
hear the instruction of thy father and forsake not the law of thy mother so notice right after
he's saying hey attain unto wise counsels what does he bring up a mom and dad right so that is
some of the best wisdom you can get in your life is from mom and dad and let me tell you if your
parents go to steadfast baptist church and they read the bible you have like the top 0.001 percent
of parents on the earth seriously i mean those of us that do not grow up in a christian home
it's funny to me how much you have no idea how blessed you are you literally have no clue and
those people that are first generation christians in this room you realize what the world is like
and you realize the things that you have to learn the hard way and when you see the kids in this
room have the things that they have you're like wow you are set just keep reading the bible
just keep following the lord and you're going to have a great life when your life is going to be
destroyed is when you don't read the bible you don't listen to what it says you don't increase
in your learning and you don't listen to mom and dad that is a quick way to destroy your life kids
you follow that path you absolutely will destroy your life but here's another great source of wise
counsel that we have in our life and that is your pastor look at ephesians 4 8 says wherefore he
saith when he ascended up on high he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men now that he
ascended what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth he that
descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens that he might fill all things
and notice it says and he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors
and teachers so notice god has given us all these people as a gift to us for what verse 12 for the
perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of christ
you know if you need help in your life if you need advice in your life a good person to go to
is your pastor because the bible literally says that these people that are in spiritual leadership
were given to us as a gift for the perfecting of the saints right so there's nothing wrong with
saying hey i need help in this area i'm going to go to my pastor and ask him for help that's part
of what he's there for and that's and of course you know our pastor wants to help the people in
this church we're blessed to have a pastor that cares about his flock and is willing to be there
for his people so look don't ever think like you can't approach pastor shelly of course you can
and here's the thing we have like satellite churches and maybe those churches only have
a evangelist but those people can help you too oftentimes you can go to brother tanner fir and
get a lot of great wisdom you can go to brother dunkiter bannock and get a lot of great wisdom
you know don't be afraid to use the tools that god has given you in your life that's called being
wise because according to proverbs one the wise man will attain unto wise counsel you know don't
get uh spiritual leadership from just random places online don't join the uh the the discord
servers with all the single guy theologians okay go to your pastor go to the word of god go to
your pastor just leave all that garbage alone here's the thing we should desire instruction from
wise people just in all areas of life find a wise person you should want and desire instruction from
that person second timothy 3 go to second timothy 3 second timothy 3 look at verse 16 all scripture
is given by inspiration of god and is profitable for doctrine for notice reproof for correction
for instruction in righteousness what's reproof that's telling you what you're doing wrong okay
correction that's telling you what's right for instruction in righteousness that's telling you
how to get it right right and that's what the word of god is for the word of god is able to
perform that in our lives but you know what men that are skilled in the word of god can help you
do the same thing of course we know that we're in dwell with the holy spirit and we can learn all
things just between us and the lord but a pastor is given to you from god to help you to go further
farther right so you can help you in life to point you to the right scriptures that can help you in
your life that maybe you weren't aware of or that you weren't thinking of but look when you come to
church i hope you're not desiring in your heart to just hear a bunch of preaching that you know
you've already got down or you just want to hear the next fire sermon on the sodomites look you
should come to church with a desire to be corrected because that's what attaining into wise counsel is
saying like i want to be instructed i want to be reproved i want someone to say here's where you're
wrong here's what's right and here's what you need to do to get it right otherwise it's just a vain
exercise otherwise we're just a club we're just like king james bible fans or something but it's
more than that like we want to grow spiritually we want to get better spiritually why so that we
could do more for the lord so that we can bring more glory and honor to the kingdom of god that's
why and so the only way that's going to happen is if you actually desire to be corrected you know
if you come to the preaching class desire correction you know when i was participating in
the preaching class i wanted to be told where i was doing things wrong and how to get better
right and you should desire that when you come to the class that's the whole point is that we can
get better so we can get correction here's another thing desire feedback from your superiors at work
to desire feedback ask your boss on areas how you can improve desire some feedback even from maybe
customers of your business owners on how you can improve your product or improve your service you
know you want feedback from people because that's attaining unto wise councils that's going to help
you become more wise i think i think a lot of times people they're kind of afraid to get council
because they're kind of afraid that people are going to give them feedback that's not necessarily
true right but here's the thing first of all if an authority is giving you feedback you should be
very slow to think in your mind oh that authority is wrong about their feedback no i'm right that
person's wrong you know your boss corrects you at work just take the correction you know ladies if
your husband corrects you just take the correction your pastor corrects you just take the correction
but okay let's just say that you got a correction and you received it and you said you know what i
don't think that's right well here's what you do you just take the part that is right and you just
let the other part just fly off your shoulders and move on with your life are you going to die if
someone gives you a correction that's not true right someone says maybe that you did something
that you didn't or if someone gives you feedback that may not be exactly accurate like are you
going to die no so just take the part that's true and say you know what i'm just going to assume
that that's correct and i'm just going to examine myself and say i need to fix this in my life
that's just going to be my default right but if you know for a hundred percent fact that you're
given some sort of feedback that's not correct just let it go just move on with your life
nothing's going to happen but what could happen negatively is that god can look down from heaven
and seeing you stiffening your neck against authority and decide not to bless you god can
see see your obstinate heart wanting to shrivel up and wanting to to resist authority or not want
correction and that can make the lord angry because think about it the whole point of god's word is
said in second tippity three is to correct us to reprove us to give us instruction to give us
correction and so if you're the type of person that's not desiring that then the bible is not
even going to profit you like you have to want to change you have to want correction for reading
this to do anything for you you have to want to change prideful people that's why prideful people
don't read the bible either because they think that they don't need it or they maybe they just
think they're better than god whatever the reasons are that people don't read the bible what does it
come down to it comes down to pride go to proverbs chapter number 13 proverbs chapter number 13 you
know hey desire feedback from your soul winning captains desire feedback from people that have
been out soul winning longer than you no one's got a perfect gospel presentation we could all get
better preaching the gospel and i really i like it in someone's character when i'm soul winning
with someone they're like hey just go ahead and if you see anything just tell me right away it's
like hey that's a good person right there that's a person that wants to become a more effective
soul winner that's the attitude that we should have and myself included if i was soul winning
with someone that did something better with me i would want to know about it because i would want
to be a better soul winner myself go to people who are successful in whatever area you want to
improve in for advice no matter what area of life it is find someone say okay i want to get better
at this specific thing go to someone that's good at that specific thing look at proverbs 13 verse 20
it says he that walketh with wise men shall be wise but a companion of fools shall be destroyed
so notice the company you hang around it rubs off on you and if you want to be a wise person
hang out with a bunch of people that are wise attain unto those wise counselors so here's an
example let's say you want to learn a language you want to learn a foreign language well what
would be wise is to get advice from someone who has already successfully learned a foreign language
well right and this is with anything you want to learn how to play guitar go to someone that plays
the guitar well don't go to someone that sounds like me okay go to brother rich right just go to
find someone that does what you want to do well and attain unto that person you want to be a good
parent hey talk to the parents that have good kids not just that parents that have kids just having
kids doesn't make you a good parent no go to parents that are good parents here's thing you
want fitness advice go to someone who's physically fit it's like why are all the health ministers of
every nation these fat obese lazy whales who cares what you have to say you don't know anything about
fitness no i'm not going to attain to that counsel i'm going to go to someone that's fit hey at work
go to someone that's skilled at your craft attain unto those wise counsel avoid people with this
has anyone ever heard of this the dunning kruger syndrome has anyone ever heard of this before
okay a couple people so here's the dunning kruger effect the dunning kruger effect is a
cognitive bias in which people with limited competence in a particular domain overestimate
their abilities some researchers also include the opposite effect for high performers their tendency
is to underestimate their skills in popular culture the dunning kruger effect is often
misunderstood as a claim about general overconfidence of people so it just goes on more and more more but
it's just saying basically like people that are just kind of have been barely exposed to a topic
and they've maybe read a little bit about a topic or i mean in our culture you've watched a 60 second
reel about history i mean you know now because you saw a 60 second reel and they're ready to
teach you they're ready to give you wisdom and understanding look avoid people like this and
here's the thing if someone asks you for advice don't be fake it's okay not to know everything
and if someone asks you a question of something that you know nothing about just say i don't know
you know i have people ask me questions all the time and i'm just like i don't know i am 26 years
old and i'm okay with being 26 years old and lord willing i will live on this earth for a long long
time and i can be really diligent in reading the bible and i can read tons and tons of books and
get more wisdom and i could attain unto wise counsel and hopefully someday i will be very
very wise but right now all you have is the wisdom that you have every single person in here all that
you have is the wisdom that you have all the knowledge that you have is the knowledge that
you have and at this very moment you can't really change anything about that but you know what you
could do going forward going forward you can listen to other people going forward you say
hey i'm only at whatever age i'm at i've only got this level of wisdom and understanding that i'm at
but going forward when i come to church i'm going to listen and pay attention hey i'm going to turn
off the stupid phone maybe even take some notes and i'm going to pay attention to what the preacher
is saying that's going to make you wise not only that hey i'm going to go and just try to learn
i'm just going to increase my learning i'm going to read the bible of course but you know what i'm
also going to read another book i challenge every single person in this room to pick up a book this
week and read it start reading i'm not saying just finish it in a week i'm saying start reading even
if you just read five minutes a night just start reading a book this week do it no more excuses
read a book okay get some wisdom get some understanding no more excuses get some wisdom
and attain unto wise counsel find people that are successful find people that are qualified
find people that are very skilled and when you want to become like them ask those people for
counsel don't just go to the internet or just some bozo online no go to wise counsels all right
let's have a word of prayer lord thank you so much for this day thank you for your word that it can
guide us and direct us in life pray that every single person in here would give attendance to
the reading of god's word that they would make seeking wisdom the number one priority in their
life pray that they would just listen to pastor shelly when he's preaching that they would pay
attention to him lord and that they'd read and seek unto wise counsel and just pray that you
would help me to do the same and just pray that as we learn you would help us to all stay humble
in Jesus name we pray amen. In closing let's go to song number 47 song number 47 let the sun shine
again song number 47 shining right singing out together on the first time they spoke to shine