Let's all find a seat and grab a song book and let's all stand together for this first
song.
Song number 245, the old account was settled.
There was a time on earth, my name was at the top, and many things go, yes the old account
was settled long ago, and the old account was settled long ago, and never tried to
pay, but when I looked ahead and saw it so long ago, yes the old account was settled
long ago, when it was love, I'll not forget that book with pages wide as snow, yes the
old account was settled long ago, long ago, oh you enter and amen, and then if I show
long ago, long ago, pay for he washed my sins away, when the, for allowing us God
to be here tonight Lord this evening and hear your word preach unto us God, pray Lord
that you would help us to be edified Lord, help us to be attentive tonight Lord
that we would leave here, leave here, and 64 standing on the promises of God, 54
standing on the promises of God, everyone nice and loud, all ages let his praises
ring, glory in the highest I will shout and sing, standing on the promise, standing,
standing, I'm standing still, when the howling storms of doubt and fear, promises of God,
standing, standing, standing, I'm standing on the promises of God, by love's strong
cord, overcoming daily with the spirit, standing, standing, standing, I'm standing on the promises
of God, standing on the, resting, resting in my Savior as my all and all in my hand.
Please make sure that you are supervising your children in the building, no children
should be in the mother baby room alone without their parents, and just make sure
you supervise them just all around, make sure they're not being destructive and destroying
church property, keep an eye on them, obviously we have a lot of little ones in our church
and sometimes there's like a stampede of them just kind of, you know, running around
the church and sometimes they can be destructive and my children are often in that stampede
as well, okay, so I'm not just talking about your kids, I'm talking about my own,
so make sure you keep an eye on them and make sure they respect church property,
you see the upcoming church events that we have Sunday June 20th is our Father's
Day service, we're going to have a gift for all the dads who come on that day
and the service will be geared towards dads as well, and so we're probably going to have
a breakfast, an early breakfast for that day, and so just keep that in mind, Friday
June 25th there's going to be a ladies prayer night, on June 27th there's going
to be a baby shower for Ms. Stevie, and if you have any questions about that you
can see Ms. DJ, she's basically going to be the one heading that up and so you can
see her for more details about that after the service, Sunday June, excuse me, Sunday
July 4th we're going to be celebrating the July birthday breakfast and we're
going to do some special after Sunday night service on that on that day, and
then the big thing that's coming up in July is the Red Hot Preaching
Conference, amen, that's July 15th to the 18th, I hope you can make it to
that, lots of great preaching and it's just a good time of fellowship and
listening to edifying preaching, it's going to be hard preaching, it's going to be
hot preaching, and so I hope you can make it to that, and we're probably
going to have the church vehicle go up and so get with brother Ulysses on that
because I know the seating is limited on that so if you want to make it to
that it's kind of like first come first serve and no we can't put
anybody in the trunk, so you have to utilize an actual seat. Quiet time
resumes on Sunday afternoons from 3 to 4 15, of course no free to drink or
loud in the main auditorium except for water and coffee, and please make
sure you silence your phones during the preaching so as to not be a
distraction during the sermon, and then just keep in mind that there are
sermon notes, a page for sermons you can write there, just different
various needs that we have, pray for God's favor in our church, pray for the
sowing that we continue to see more people saved, and the sowing numbers
have been great, and so getting a lot of people saved, and of course a lot of
people have been baptized even this year, and so thank God for that, please
pray for the sowing teams as they continue to grow, and as our church
continues to grow, we need to add more leaders, okay, and we don't want to just
add leaders for the sake of adding leaders, but we want people, we want men
to stand in the gap, to make up the hedge, and take that responsibility, so
pray that we would have more team leaders to lead and train, disciple more
people as they come to our church, pray for our missions program, and actually
brother Milan, if you guys remember brother Milan Knezevich, he's at
Faithful Word Baptist Church now, but he actually went to Belize on Sunday with
his wife, and so he told me hey I'm gonna go up there, I'm gonna
give you an update on how that's gonna go, what's going on with the
restaurants, is there a lot of restrictions going on there, and
whatnot, and so he's gonna give me an update on that, and based upon that
I'm gonna determine whether you know we go to Belize early this year or
later on depending upon of course the restrictions, and please pray for
Cozumel, because I was thinking about Cozumel, and brother more brought it up again
today, that's a little island off the coast of Mexico that I think we
should go to, it's very simple, and the thing is, although it's
off the coast of Mexico, and they speak Spanish there, there's a lot of
English speakers there as well, because it's a big tourist spot, and so be in
prayer over that, and then you see the protection for our church, for the
families, spiritual and numerical growth of our church, and we've seen a lot of
that over the last couple of months, we might need to tear down this wall in the
coming months if our church continues to grow, just because one of the
laws, it's not obviously it's not set in stone, but they often say if you're
80% full then you're full, okay, and so you say well you know there's
a couple seats scattered here and there, yeah but here's the thing is people
don't like to sit right next to each other, you guys remember El Mani, how El Mani
was, you were literally like shoulder to shoulder, that's the only room that was
available, now you got a little bit of elbow room, you know you could put your
purse down, and you know you could actually, children can actually sit in the
seat instead of on your lap, but you know if we continue to grow we're gonna
tear down this wall and expand back, and so be in prayer over that, if that's
necessary we'll do it, more laborers, new people, leadership, pastors in
training, and some of the needs here for the for the families in our church, of
course family salvation, and I'm sure all of us have a family member that is
unsafe, or family members that are not saved, and so if you can pray for them,
families to grow, forbearing women in our church, expecting mothers, new
mothers and newborns, and then you see the rest of the requests there, and
then the Church of the Month is no longer Shield of Faith Baptist Church, we
got to take him off, okay, Pastor Joe Jones, sorry man, you only get a month, I'm
just joking, we're not gonna pray for him tonight, I'm just, we're gonna start,
we're gonna pray for Steadfast Baptist Church, and Pastor Jonathan
Shelley, we're doing a rotation of pastors in churches, and so Pastor Joe
Jones, no hard feelings all right, we love you, but please pray for
Steadfast Baptist Church, pray for Pastor Jonathan Shelley, for the
soul-winning their protection and success of the church they continue to
grow, and just for wisdom for Pastor Shelley, he has church plants
that he's in charge of, and that's a big responsibility,
different people in different states, and so, and pray that you know God will
raise up some men to take over those churches as well, and relieve
that burden from Pastor Shelley, and so be in prayer over him, and if you have
any additional prayer requests that you'd like to be mentioned on the
bulletin, you can write that at the bottom of the prayer sheet there, tear
that off, put it into the offering plate when it comes by, we'll make sure
that it gets on there, and if you say well I have a prayer request, but I
don't really want people to know what it is specifically, then what you
can do is put your name, and put right next to it, unspoken, and we'll put
that on the sheet all right, at this time we'll have Brother Maury come
on up, and he's gonna pray over the needs.
All right, please bow your heads, dear Lord
Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to have a church to go to, and thank
you for just opening the door for us to be able to be around like-minded
believers, and allowing us to be able to have such a great church like this,
and Lord we just thank you for the King James Bible, and and all the
blessings that you give us Lord, and Lord we want to pray for our
church, we want to pray that you continue blessing our church, allowing our
church to grow, and obviously we're having an issue that was a great
issue to have, is our church is growing Lord, and we just pray that your hand
is over our church, and we continue working for you, and serving
you, and doing the things you want us to do, doing the first works
Lord, Lord we want to pray for the soul winning teams, we want to pray that the
teams are growing, and that the teams are fruitful, and that men and
women are trained on how to give the gospel Lord, and Lord we just pray
that you continue blessing our efforts, bless the soul winning captains, so
that they can as well continue doing a great job at what they're doing, and
Lord we also want to pray for missions, we want to pray for the island
of Cozumel Lord, we just pray that the door remains open, that the people
remain receptive, and we're able to go over there and do a great work for
you Lord, and Lord we just pray that the door is open for us Lord,
Lord we want to pray for new people, we want to pray that the new
people that come to church, they get plugged in, they start going to church,
they start reading their Bible, they start praying, they start growing closer
to you Lord, and Lord we just pray that you continue working in their lives, and
they desire to grow closer to you Lord, we want to pray for the
leadership in the church, we want to pray for Pastor Mejia, and as he's
leading our church, and in a way that's honoring and glorifying to you
Lord, and Lord we just pray that you continue blessing him, bless his family,
Lord be with him as he's walking through this world Lord, and just
allow him to continue being a great leader as he has been Lord, and
Lord we want to pray for the salvation for family members that potentially
hasn't been able to hear the gospel from us, Lord we pray that you
put it on their heart that they want to come to church if we're not
able to give it to them Lord, and Lord we just also want to pray for
families to grow, Lord please continue blessing our families, and allowing
our families to have more children, and Lord we just pray that we continue
walking with you Lord, and Lord we also want to pray for the unspoken request,
and Lord we just pray that you work in the lives of the people that
have these unspoken requests, and even for the requests that maybe aren't
on here, but they're going to put a request on here Lord, we just
pray that you're able to answer that need that they have Lord, and
then Lord we also want to pray for the church of the month with
your steadfast Baptist church, Lord we pray that you continue blessing
his church, blessing Pastor Jonathan Shelley, allowing him to be able to
do a great work for you, bless his ministry Lord, and Lord we pray
that you continue allowing him to put out great content, and preaching
your word, and Lord we just pray that you continue growing him
in his ministry, Lord we want to pray that you continue growing
his church, but also allowing his church plants to thrive, and Lord
we pray that you raise up a man there to help take the burden
off of Pastor Shelley, and Lord we just pray that you continue
blessing his church, allowing protection and success for his
ministry, and soul winning efforts, and his church members Lord, and
also I want to pray that you bless his family, his wife, and his
children Lord, and Lord we just pray that you continue walking
with him as he continues walking with you Lord, and Lord thank you
for just giving us the ability to go to church, and Lord we pray
that the fellowship that follows is great as well, and we pray
that we have hearts that are willing to hear the preaching, and
grow thereby Lord, and we pray that you have a name, amen.
Alright, please turn your hymnos to song number 114, The Great Physician, 114.
Song 114, The Great Physician, song 114, The Great Physician,
Everyone nice and loud all together on that first verse.
The Great Physician now is near The sympathizing Jesus
He speaks the drooping heart to cheer Oh hear the voice of Jesus
Sweetest name on seraph song Sweetest name on mortal tongue
Sweetest carol ever sung Jesus, blessed Jesus
Your many sins are all forgiven Oh hear the voice of Jesus
Go on your way in peace to heaven And wear a crown with Jesus
Sweetest note and seraph song Sweetest name on mortal tongue
Sweetest carol ever sung Jesus, blessed Jesus
All glory to the dying lamb I now believe in Jesus
I love the blessed Savior's name I love the name of Jesus
Sweetest note and seraph song Sweetest name on mortal tongue
Sweetest carol ever sung Jesus, blessed Jesus
And when to that bright world above We rise to be with Jesus
We'll sing around the throne of love His name, the name of Jesus
Sweetest note and seraph song Sweetest name on mortal tongue
Sweetest carol ever sung Jesus, blessed Jesus
At this time the ushers will collect the offering and we'll be in Ecclesiastes chapter number 10.
Good evening, we're in Ecclesiastes chapter 10 and the Bible reads
Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth the stinking Savior
So does a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honor
A wise man's heart is at his right hand but a fool's heart at his left
Yea also when he that is a fool walketh by the way
His wisdom faileth him and he saith to everyone that he is a fool
If the spirit of the ruler rise up against thee leave not thy place for yielding pacifieth great offenses
There is an evil which I have seen under the sun as an error which proceedeth from the ruler
Folly is set in great dignity and the rich sit in low place
I have seen servants upon horses and princes walking as servants upon the earth
He that diggeth the pit shall fall into it and whoso breaketh in hedge
A serpent shall bite him, whoso removeth the stone shall be hurt therewith
And he that cleaveth wood shall be in danger thereby
If the iron be blunt and he do not wet the edge
Then must he put to more strength but wisdom is profitable to direct
Surely the serpent will bite without enchantment and a babbler is no better
The words of a wise man's mouth are gracious but the lips of a fool will swallow up himself
The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness and the end of his talk is mischievous madness
A fool also is full of words
A man cannot tell what shall be and what shall be after him who can tell him
The labor of the foolish wearieth every one of them because he knoweth not how to go to the city
Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child and thy princes eat in the morning
Blessed art thou, O land, when thy king is the son of nobles
And thy princes eat in due season for strength and not for drunkenness
By much slothfulness the building decayeth
And through idleness of the hands the house droppeth through
A feast is made for laughter and wine maketh merry
But money answereth all things
Curse not the king, know not thy thought
And curse not the rich in thy bedchamber
For a bird of the air shall carry the voice
And that which hath wings shall tell the matter
We thank you, Heavenly Father, for your precious words, dear God
We thank you for our wonderful church
And we ask that you please bless our pastor tonight as he preaches your word
In Jesus' name we pray, amen
Amen, alright, we're in Ecclesiastes chapter number 10 this evening
And look down at your Bible at verse number 1
It says, dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savor
So doth the little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honor
So we continue with this concept of folly
And another word, folly is not necessarily a word that we use today
You know when we talk about someone being stupid or acting foolish
We don't say hey that person is acting with folly
Or there's folly in that individual's reputation
But that's what it means, it means something that is foolish or even stupid
And that's what it's talking about here
And we see that this is a constant thing that is being brought up in the book of Ecclesiastes
And the reason for that is because
King Solomon is trying to let us know hey how dangerous and how detrimental foolishness can be in the life of a person
What it can do to you
The effects of foolishness upon the life of a person can have devastating consequences
So he goes on to talk about that
And in fact in chapter number 9 and verse 17 it says
The words of wise men are heard and quiet more than the cry of him that ruleth among fools
Wisdom is better than weapons of war but one sinner destroyeth much good
So we see that contrast constantly being spoken of here in Ecclesiastes
We see wisdom and folly
Wisdom and foolishness, prudence and wisdom, knowledge and then there's folly and ignorance
And he's basically trying to let us know the severity of having folly in your life, the result of it
So the first thing that we're going to look at here is what folly does to your reputation
And what it does is that it can tarnish your reputation
Now look what it says in verse 1 again
It says dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking saver
Now a fly is something that is very small, we would consider to be insignificant
But we see here that when it falls into the ointment of the apothecary it could actually make a very big stink
And he says so doth a little folly to him that is in reputation for wisdom and honor
So what's the comparison that Solomon is making here?
He's basically saying just as when a fly flies into an ointment of apothecary
And then it just smells rotten, smells disgusting, it smells gross
In like manner, a little bit of foolishness, a little bit of stupidity to your reputation could just completely damage you
And why is that?
Well here's the thing, it's because of the fact that your reputation is actually very fragile
It's very fragile and it holds a lot of value but it can be ruined very easily
And the Bible places a very heavy emphasis on your reputation
Now some people try to have a good reputation because they're just worried about what people think about them
They try to have a good reputation before the world because they're concerned about what the world thinks of them
But when it comes to that, forget that, forget what the world thinks of us
Because no matter what we do as Christians, the world's always going to hate us
The world's always going to look at us like we're crazy, like we're just radical, like we're just a bunch of nut jobs
So who cares what the world thinks? What we care about is our reputation before who? Before God
We want to make sure that we live a life that's pleasing unto the Lord
That we have a reputable reputation not only before God but also before other Christians as well
Because we want to be an example unto them
And the Bible even tells us in earlier chapters, it tells us in chapter 7 and verse number 1
That a good name is better than precious ointment
It also says in Proverbs 22 verse 1
A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches and loving favor rather than silver and gold
You know it's actually better to have respect than to have riches?
It's better to be respected and have a good reputation before individuals than to be a person of wealth, a person of riches
You think of all these rappers out there and these movie stars and these rock stars
You know a lot of people admire them and they love them
But it's only because what? They're famous
It's because they have a lot of money, right?
But the reality is 10 years prior to them being a movie star, a rock star, a rap star
No one even cared who they were
Why? Because they find their value, they find their reputation and how much money they make
Whereas the Bible is actually telling us that a good name is rather to be chosen than great riches
A good reputation is not something you can buy
Respect is not something that you can purchase, it's not something that you can buy
It's something that you have to earn, you understand?
It says a good name is rather to be chosen than great riches and loving favor rather than silver and gold
But we see here that folly or foolishness can mar that reputation, it can tarnish your character
Now think about this, you know it takes years, it takes years to build up a good reputation
A good reputation at your job, a good reputation at your church
A good reputation just in general takes years to kind of build up
You know you got to build up confidence in others and your abilities and your integrity and all those virtues
But here's the thing is that the unfortunate thing is that it actually takes only but a moment to ruin it
So you can actually spend years building up your reputation and one foolish move, one moment of folly can completely destroy your life
So it shows you the severity of that folly
I mean think about this, what about the great men in the Bible?
Let's talk about King David for example
David was a man after God's own heart, he wrote the majority of the Psalms
He is the Old Testament picture of Jesus Christ, one of the biggest Old Testament pictures of Jesus Christ
But yet what did he have in his life that everyone knows about?
That little folly of what? Adultery
The fact that he committed adultery with Bathsheba
He had that little folly, although it wasn't really little, of murder, right?
Conspiring to murder, he has this blemish upon his record as an individual
And anytime we talk about David, we can talk about the great works that he did, the great Psalms that he wrote
But that little folly tarnished his reputation
And we see that actually even after he dies
Later on in the historical books when it talks about David, it talks about how great he was and all the things that he did
And then it talks about the matter of Bathsheba and Uriah
He says how he loved the Lord, he was obedient to God, and how he served the Lord except for in the matter of Bathsheba and Uriah
What is that? That's that little folly that basically sent forth a stinkin' savor on David's reputation
What about Samson? I mean Samson was one of the strongest men in the Bible
I'm sorry, he was the strongest man in the Bible
It's not because he was deadlifting 600 pounds or anything like that
He wasn't hitting the gym, and in fact, I think Samson was just like a regular
I'm not going to say he was scrawny or anything like that, but maybe he was, I don't know
He probably looked like an individual who wasn't very strong, let's just put it like that
He wasn't the rock from the movies that they put out
Anytime Hollywood puts out a movie about some biblical character, he's always roided out
That's not Samson
Samson, because they think, well, it says that he's strong and he's able to rend things
Or rend lions and tie fox's tails and he's whipping all these Philistines
He must have had some muscles and just really strong
No, the reason he even had that strength was not because of his muscles or his ability
It's because the Spirit of God would come upon him and would give him this supernatural strength to do those things
Every time the Spirit of God would come upon him, he would have these supernatural abilities that other people did not have
And he was supposed to be used as a great man, a great example of someone who is filled with the Spirit
The Bible says be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might
So he was supposed to exemplify that from a literal perspective, but what happened?
Well, he got involved with Delilah
He had a little folly in his life
And he ended up finishing his life very poorly
And in fact, he committed suicide
And when we talk about Samson, we can talk about all his great exploits that he did
And all the funny stories that are attached to him
And the foxes and the Philistines
And all these things
But at the end of the day, we also talk about what?
That little folly
That really tarnished his reputation
You think about Solomon, who's the one who's actually writing this
Hey, why don't you take your own advice Solomon?
He's over here writing the book of Proverbs
He's writing the book of Ecclesiastes
Talking about wisdom, I mean this is the wisest man that ever lived in the Bible
In the Old Testament, other than of course Jesus Christ
God endowed him with prudence and wisdom and knowledge
And not only that, but he gave him riches and wealth
He was an amazing king
But at the end of his life, he had hundreds of concubines and hundreds of wives
So I guess that's not necessarily a little folly
That's a lot of folly
He's adding wives to himself
And what happened when that took place?
It took his heart away from God
Because a lot of these wives that he was marrying
They were heathens, they believed in different gods
And so he stopped serving the God of the Bible
And he began to serve false gods
Not because he believed in these gods
But simply because he's being carried away with the women that he married
And so that little folly that was in his life
Sent forth a stinking savor to his reputation
So it kind of shows us there
That hey, you need to protect your reputation
And beware of the folly
Beware of the foolish decisions that you could potentially make
How about Peter?
Peter was a great man
Peter did a lot of great things in the New Testament
He was one of the leaders that you would say of the disciples
People looked at him for leadership
But yet he had a little folly
What was that little folly that he had?
Well he denied the Lord
He denied the Lord, the cock crew
He backslid
He said I go fishing
The disciples said we also go with thee
And he has that little folly in his life
And that's why he's in every single Sunday school lesson
In class and preaching service
Ever since the last 2000 years
Talking about that little folly
That marred his reputation
We can go on and on and on
Regarding different reputation
And ask God for wisdom
And avoid foolishness
And folly
Bible tells us that
They're the little foxes
That spoil the vine
The little folly that can destroy you
Verse number 2 says
A wise man's heart is at his right hand
But a fool's heart at his left
Now what is that talking about
When he says a wise man's heart
Is at his right hand
But a fool's heart is on his left
He's not talking about
Different locations of a person's literal heart
Smart people typically have
Their heart located on the right
Dumb people have it on the left
When it talks about the right hand
Or the left
The symbolic nature behind this
Is basically referring to the position of honor
That you have
Often when you study this phrase
It's often referring to a position of honor
A position of nobility
Jesus Christ is sitting on the right hand
Of the Father
He has a position of honor
Nobility and respect
And so that's what it's referring to
So a person who has wisdom
Will have his heart on the right side
His heart is filled with honor
God is honoring him, he's honored by other individuals
He's respected by people
Whereas the individual who has his heart on the left
Because he's not practicing wisdom
People often despise this individual
And we all grew up
With someone that we thought
This person is foolish
We've known someone in high school
Or at her job
And we think to ourselves this person's heart is on their left
Obviously
They're just a very foolish and stupid person
They say dumb things, they offend people
They just don't have a filter in their mouth
They just kind of let it fly
That's a person who has their heart on the left
Not necessarily a heart on their right
They're not a person of honor
Who is worthy or merits honor
It says in verse number 3
Yea also
When he that is a fool walketh by the way
His wisdom faileth him
And he saith to everyone
That he is a fool
Now I don't think this is referring to
Like a person who's just like
Hey I'm a fool
He's just walking around, I'm a fool
And just kind of saying like, I'm stupid
I don't think that's what it's referring to
I think it's kind of exaggerating a little bit here
And it's given us an exaggerated
Example is to say that
Basically when this person walks into a room
Everyone knows
That he's a foolish person
Now how do you know
That he's a foolish person
Because he allows himself to be heard
Right
He basically opens his mouth way too much
And that's what it means
There when it says his wisdom
Fails him
And he saith to everyone
That he is a fool
How does he say to everyone that he is a fool
By just opening his mouth
And the Bible tells us
That wisdom resteth in the heart of him
That hath understanding
But that which is in the midst of fools
Is made known
You don't have to look for a foolish person
All you have to do is just
Listen sometimes
The person you have to look for
Is the person who has wisdom
Because often the person with wisdom
Doesn't open their mouth at all
They often retain knowledge
They retain the wisdom that they have
They retain the prudence that they have
And they're not out there expelling it
The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 5.3
For a dream cometh through a multitude of business
And a fool's voice
Is known by the multitude of words
You know the more you say
The more likely it is that you're going to offend someone
The more you talk
The more likely you're going to say something really stupid
In a public setting
This is common
You're just talking and talking in a group setting
You're with your family
You're at your job
You've got the talk of the lips going on
And you're just talking and talking
Eventually you're going to say something that later on you're going to regret
How many of you could say
I've said something in a public setting
That I regretted later on
Raise your hand
Everyone else is wise I guess
You know
I think all of us have done that
I've done that
And then you think about it later
Maybe I shouldn't have said that
Maybe that was really stupid to say
And if you're the person who's like
I've never had that happen
You're probably the person it happens to the most
Think about that right
Because if you think you're always saying good things
You're like nah I say wise things all the time
I'm just a wellspring of knowledge
I'm a wellspring of wisdom
Everyone loves when I talk
It's probably the exact opposite
You see wisdom
Says wisdom understands that we're
Eventually going to slip up and say something dumb sometimes
And wisdom should also say that we should be humble and recognize that
To say yeah I've said some pretty stupid things
In the past I'll probably say stupid things
And in the future as well
Because we're not perfect
And that happens
In marriage
Where this matter of
Familiarity comes to pass
And you're just comfortable around your spouse
And you just say something really offensive
And you don't really think about it until afterwards
You're like man maybe I hurt my spouse by saying that
Maybe I shouldn't have said that to my spouse
Maybe I shouldn't have said that to my wife
Maybe I shouldn't have said that to my husband
And you regret it later but here's the problem
It's already been said
The words have already exited your mouth
And so wisdom
We pray for wisdom on a daily basis
We ask our Lord give me wisdom
To know what I ought to say
To expound on prudence and wisdom
To know when to shut my mouth when I need to shut it
And obviously I preached a sermon on that a couple weeks ago
Called Shut Your Mouth
If you guys remember that sermon
It's a very memorable title
You could go on YouTube and just type in
Shut Your Mouth by Pastor Bruce Mejia
And it'll come up
And I'm pretty sure everyone can learn from that
Because we've all had issues with that
You're like I think you were preaching about me
Yeah I was
Because it's for everyone
You understand?
And so here we see that a fool is known
When he speaks
And what is the remedy to that?
The remedy to that is simply this
This is the best way to avoid this
You just close your mouth
Sometimes you just gotta close your mouth
The Bible says in Proverbs 17 verse 27
He that hath knowledge
Spareth his words
And a man of understanding is of an excellent spirit
Even a fool when he holdeth his peace
In other words
When it says hold your peace
That's Hebrew for when they shut up
Holding your peace means you just shut up
That's what that means
He says even a fool
When he holdeth his peace is counted wise
And he that shutteth his lips
See I'm not just saying that
Says it right there
Shutteth his lips is esteemed a man
Of understanding
So typically the person who has knowledge
And wisdom doesn't really like to expound
On it very much
You have to go to that person
And pull that knowledge out of that person
You have to ask that individual
Because they're not willing to just
Blurt out every single ounce of knowledge that they have
They understand that their words are valuable
Life and death are in the power of the tongue
The Bible says
Whereas the fool just kind of lets it fly
Think about what he or she says
The person who has knowledge
Spares their words
So obviously we see
Here in Ecclesiastes chapter 10
That this is kind of a redundant
Kind of a subject right? Because you constantly hear about wisdom
And folly wisdom and folly
So what does that tell us?
When something is redundant in the Bible
When it's constantly being emphasized in the Bible
Is it because God is just running out of material
To talk about? He's just like you know what
I don't know what to talk about let's just talk about foolishness and folly
And wisdom
No he's basically telling us the importance of it
When something is constantly being repeated
In the Bible
We should never see it as well this is just boring
It's just the same thing over and over again
We need to recognize the reason God has placed it in his word
Is because of the fact that he wants us to give heed to it
You understand?
He's placing an emphasis
On this specific teaching
And so we should give heed to that
Look at verse number 4
We're going to look at the result of wisdom
As the conflict arises
Now
Verse number 4 will help you so much
It can do
Wonders in a relationship
Marriage
Friendships
Fellowships in church
Any type of conflict
Don't read it, don't read it
I'm trying to build it up here
Any type of conflict that you can have
I promise you
If you do this
I would say about 85% of the time
The conflict will be resolved
Okay
Cause here's the thing
When people get into a conflict
With another, your spouses
Relationships, friendships
The conflict escalates
When either party doesn't want to admit
That they're wrong
And obviously we know
One person has to be wrong
But the point is that no one is willing to admit that
So what? They just keep adding on
Adding on to the conflict, adding on to the argument
Well you did this, well you said this
And then it just blows up
Okay
And then later on you just kind of regret it
And you're like man, why did we let it get that far
Well if you just exercise
This specific principle
I promise you
85% of the time
The conflict will be resolved
And you can move on and live happily ever after
Cause isn't that what you want
Don't you just want to be happy
Look what it says in verse number 4
If the spirit of the ruler
Rise up against thee
Leave not thy place
For yielding pacifieth
Great offenses
Okay
So here we see the example of a ruler
This could be a king
Or a lord of some sort, a boss
A superior
And the Bible is telling us here that this person's spirit
Rises up against thee, what does that mean?
They're angry with you
They do something you're supposed to do
You offended them in some way or manner
Okay
He says look, the worst thing you do is just leave your place
You know, avoid conflict
And here's the thing
A lot of people, you know what they do?
They want to avoid conflict
So instead of resolving conflict
They just run away from conflict
But that's not the right thing to do either
You can't avoid conflict in your marriage
You can't avoid conflict with your children
You can't avoid conflict in church or relationships
You got to deal with it
You know, you got to face the person
You know, face your accuser
Face the person who's offended you
Or vice versa
And deal with it, don't run away from it
You're like man, I think I offended that person at church
I'm just not going to show up for like four weeks
And hopefully
On the fifth week they just already forgot about it
Because I just don't like to deal with that stuff
I don't like conflict
That's not the proper attitude to have
And they're not going to forget
You're going to come back, they're going to be so mad
They're still going to be bitter
Okay, so what do you do?
You just deal with it immediately
Don't leave your place
If the spirit of an individual
Rises up against you
They're angry with you for whatever reason
Don't leave your place
And look what it says here
For yielding pacifieth
Great offenses
What does it mean to yield?
Well, you know the New Testament says this
You deal with thine adversary
Quickly
You said this
And you call me fat
It's like, man, you're right, I did
I'm really sorry about that
Okay, well, you know, I'm not that mad
I'm just saying, you just said that
But, I mean, you're right, I am a little fat
I just didn't like the way you said it
When you yield
Okay?
When you yield, when you agree with your adversary
Quickly
When it happens, you actually pacify that anger
What does the Bible say?
A soft answer
Turneth away wrath
Okay?
And so if your spouse is angry at you
And just starts yelling at you
And, you know
You know, there's just that
Problem there
You know, my wife is yelling at me
She's just like, I'm not taking out the trash
And I keep asking you
Over and over, my wife never does that
And I never take out the trash
No, I'm just kidding
You know, she's like, you never take out the trash
She starts yelling at me
My wife has never yelled at me, okay
And sure enough, tonight might be the night or something
But, you know, she's like yelling at me
You know, it won't help if I just start yelling back
The Bible says, don't render railing for railing
Right?
So, you never put out a fire using fire
It's like, I see what you said
You know, I'm gonna one-up you this
Okay, I see that railing
Or that insult you gave me
Here's another insult, okay
Well, yeah, well, you don't wash the dishes
You don't throw out the trash
Yeah, but you haven't washed my clothes
You know
Well, I didn't wash your clothes
Because, you know, you didn't put it in the dirty hamper
Well, I didn't put it in the dirty hamper
Because you haven't made my dinner yet
Your dinner yet
That does not help at all
All you're gonna do is just go to bed mad
Back to back
Not facing each other
Just angry
And the Bible says, letting out the sun go down upon your wrath
It's actually bad when you do that
Okay
So, yeah, yeah, you might get the last word in
In that relationship
But who are you gonna brag to?
Like, if you win that
You know, a conversation with your wife
Who are you gonna brag that to?
You gonna call your boys?
Yeah, I told her what's up
Did she wash your clothes?
No, but I told her, though
You should have seen the way I told her
Like, what does that do?
Nothing
It's childish, it's stupid, it's foolish
It's folly
Okay
Whereas, what does wisdom say?
Just agree with them quickly
Like, what if I'm
What if, you know, I'm not wrong, though
What if they're wrong?
Well, you can still yield
And still appeal your side
The point is this, is that you give a soft answer
If they yell at you
You're not gonna win the argument
Or do anything for the discussion
By raising your voice and yelling back
What actually helps is when you
Yield, you give a soft answer
You seek to placate
Your spouse
You understand?
And look, isn't it better to just resolve something
So you can be friends again and move on
Rather than just continue to argue and fight
I mean
Isn't this the best relationship
You ever experienced here on this earth?
As your spouse, right?
But you know what, this not only
Applies to marriage, it applies in church as well
Okay
Cause we're brothers and sisters in Christ here
And you know, there's gonna be fights
There's gonna be
You know, conflict
There's gonna be offenses
And you know, if you plan to stay in our church
For any length of time
Decades upon end, which I hope you do
I plan to
You know, you gotta live with these people
You're gonna see this person's face
Sunday morning, Sunday night, Thursday evening
So it's better
To just try to placate your adversary
Okay
Your brother in Christ who's offended
Agree with them quickly
So that you can resolve the conflict
Because you know what, at the end of the day
Your relationship with your brother in Christ is far more valuable
Than you being right
I mean, you ever think about that?
Your relationship
With your brother in Christ
Is far more valuable than you being able to
Walk away being right
Winning the conversation
It's childish folks
To have that type of attitude
You know what, you're right
I did you wrong, I'm really sorry about that
Let me go buy you a meal
Let's be friends
Like I don't know man, that's kinda like
Kinda being a sissy there or something
Well yeah, in the world's eyes
But you know what, that's why the world's
Marriages are failing
That's why the world is failing at
Friendships and relationships
And all those things because they don't have
The Bible, we have the Bible
We have the truth, we have the solution
We know what the Bible says in this regard
And look, if you're wrong, there's nothing wrong with you saying
You know what, you're right, I'm wrong
I was actually wrong about that
And you know, going back to my
First point about a reputation
Being respectable, you know more people
Would respect you
If you actually admit that you're wrong
Hey husbands, you know wives would respect you
More if you actually admit that you're wrong
Because here's the thing
Husbands don't like to admit that they're wrong
Okay
Thank you for that personal testimony right over there
I hear that voice
I'm just joking
It's true, you know
We don't like to admit that we're wrong
You know, and so
But here's the thing is that
Our wives know though
So even though we like
Get the last word in
And we win the conversation
She's still cooking our food
And cleaning our clothes or doing whatever
And we come out on top, she still knows that we're wrong
So you know what
We want our wives to obviously follow us
Not just because they have to
But because they want to
And you know how you can get your wife to want to follow you
Is when you humble yourself
And recognize, you know I was wrong for that
I'm really sorry about that
You were actually right about that
I apologize, that was wrong of me
That was stupid, that was foolish
And then you know what happens
Not only do you restore the relationship
You actually cause your wife to actually
Respect you that much more
Okay
And vice versa
Why you should admit that you're wrong too
Okay
Oh man, we got revival going on
Amen, amen
Dang
Got some conflict in here, park it
These guys
I mean
We're both wrong, right
We're both, you know
We're sinners
We make mistakes, and there's going to be times
When both parties are wrong
The point is this, is that we need to pacify
Great offenses
We pacify great offenses
By yielding, by giving a soft answer
And at the end of the day you just need to
Recognize what's more important, me being right
Or salvaging this aspect of my relationship
With my wife
Salvaging this aspect of my relationship with a church member
What's more important
Is my friendship with this brother
My friendship with this sister
And I want to make sure that we keep that relationship
So if I have to be defrauded
And just admit fault
And be wrong, so be it
At least I gain a brother
Right
Because gaining a brother is actually far more valuable
Than gaining an adversary
Ain't that true
It's far more valuable to gain a brother
Who's going to have your back
Who's going to love you, who's going to respect you
You draw closer to one another
You know, all these things
Than gaining an adversary
Which will obviously not result
In a happy ending
Okay
So great wisdom here in verse number 4
Yield, sometimes you just got to yield
Put your pride aside
Put your arrogance aside
And just admit that you're wrong every once in a while
Okay, and then you can tell your boys
I told her I was wrong
But she's actually the one wrong, but don't tell her I said that
I'm just kidding, don't do that either
If the spirit of the ruler rise up against thee
Leave not thy place for yielding pacifieth great offenses
There is an evil which I have seen under the sun
Horses and princes walk
A chapter on communism
I actually used these verses to talk about that
Look at verse number 8
He that dicketh the pit
Shall fall into it
And whoso breaketh the hedge
Shall bite him
Whoso removeth stone
Shall be hurt therewith
And he that cleaveth wood
Shall be endangered thereby
So this is actually two schools of thoughts here
I'm going to give you the main interpretation
Of what this is actually referring to
And then the spiritual application that underlies it
First and foremost
The first thing that we see here
The application is the reality of taking risks
When you work a job
Because all these are actually talking about
Maybe a specific work that someone is doing
Someone is digging a pit
For whatever reason, maybe that's their job
They're digging pits for whatever reason
When you dig enough pits
Eventually you're going to fall into one
That's just like the law of numbers
You're digging pits, you're digging for whatever reason
You're eventually going to fall into one
It happens
Whoso breaketh an hedge
A serpent shall bite him
So an hedge is basically you're clearing the hedge
You're clearing foliage
You're clearing vegetation
And the more you do it
Especially in this part of the world
The more likely it is that some sort of animal
The example that we see here
Is a serpent will come out and bite you
If you're in Arizona
Where all kinds of scorpions are
People get bit by scorpions
All the time
I don't think I've ever seen a scorpion here
What do we have here?
We have snakes?
What? Where do you guys live?
I've never seen this
You know what we have is raccoons
That's what we have
We don't have snakes
We have raccoons that live in the sewers that come out
You guys ever seen those family raccoons that come out?
Freaking things are huge
And I just learned that you're never supposed to approach a raccoon in the daytime
You guys ever heard that?
They say never approach
If you ever see a raccoon in the daytime
It's really bad
The rabies infested
Cause those are the only ones that will come out during the day
And they'll actually attack you
See you learn something in church all the time
I just saved your life
Cause you know you see that right
Oh it's the daytime you know
I just bite you and then you have to get a tetanus shot in your stomach
Or a rabies shot in your stomach
Why am I even talking about that?
Oh the hedge
Hey you know a raccoon might bite you
If you're clearing out a shed
And you're working with vegetation
There's animals that are typically potentially there
They can come out and bite you
What does it tell you?
Hey when you're doing a job
There's risk involved
Oh actually Marcos you do pest control
So you know what's up with that
He's probably going to get bit
He's going to get all kinds of attacks
In the coming year
I just prophesied of your doom
Who so removeth stones shall be hurt there with?
You know you're removing stones in these days
A lot of the houses were made of stones
They were made of rocks
Putting stones together
Well you know when you're working with stones
And you're carrying them, you're moving them around
One of them is going to fall on your foot
It's going to hurt right
And he says and he that cleaveth wood
Shall be in danger thereby
What does it mean to cleave wood?
Well cleave can mean to part
But it also means to
Excuse me it can mean to bring together
But it also means to part as well
So you know you have someone who has an axe
And is just chopping wood
If you chop enough wood
You know maybe one day the head of that axe
Is going to fly off and hit you in the face
Or a piece of wood is going to fly off
And hit you in the face too
I mean
Lumberjacks I'm sure can attest to this
Is anybody a lumberjack in here?
Going once
Going twice
I'm going to say this and no one will contradict
What I'm saying here
He that cleaveth wood shall be in danger thereby
So the thought is this
Is that no matter what job you do
There's always a risk involved
Right
Now the lazy person will say
Well there's a line in the street
A line is without
You know they don't want to even take the risk
They're like no I don't want to go work because you know
There might be a line outside or something like that
They're just making excuses
Because he's in the middle east
There's animals out there
There probably is a line without but I guarantee you
That more often than not
You're not going to run into the lion
Especially here
Okay
Unless you're working in the hills where there's mountain lions
Or something like that
But even then I guarantee you God's going to protect you
What I'm saying is this is that every job comes with a risk
If you're an electrician
We have an electrician over here
Won't you get shocked every once in a while?
I'm sure he can attest to that
You cross the wires
You stick your finger or whatever
You do something and you're like I got it and then boom you get shocked
That comes with the job
Okay
There's a risk involved in that
Isn't there a risk with breathing in the fumes every once in a while
Brother Marcos
You welcome it aren't you
You're getting thrown out
This weekend then
Drunkard
There's a risk in everything
Hey when you do construction
Brother Albert
He's a construction worker
He's a general contractor
He's worked in construction
For many years
There's obviously a risk in that you're going to get hurt
At one time or another sometimes
Accidents happen
It's just part of the job
So that should not keep you from saying
Well I'm just not going to attempt anything
I'm not going to ever get a job
I'm not going to ever do anything because
There's too much risk involved
That's how life is
Hey when you become a pastor
There's a lot of risks involved
You might get your church blown up
Your car stolen
Get your life threatened
People want to kill you
People are approaching me at the mall now
People are approaching me out soul winning
People are trying to jump me
I mean these are the risks
That are involved with being me
Now most pastors don't have to worry about that
But hey if you're a pastor who's preaching God's word
You're actually saying what the Bible says
You're not standing down
You're standing up to Satan
And the rules of the darkness of this world
That comes with risks
You have a target on your back
But even then
As a pastor there are risks involved
Because of the fact that
People will hurt you in church
People will backstab you
People will hurt you
People will slander you
People will seek to want to take you down
But you know that should never be a reason why we should say
Well I'll just never be a pastor
I can never do that
Why? There's a risk in everything you do
Folks there's a risk when you get in the car and drive
Right?
Oh man I never want to drive because it's just so scary out there
All the freeways
I mean there's a risk in everything
Your risk when you drive
You ever think about that?
You're so worried about the people who are going to hit you
It's actually you who people should be worried about
Your driving abilities
Right?
You know there's always a risk
In everything that we take
And what it's basically telling us is this
Exercise wisdom and just recognize
Anything you do has a risk
And the payoff is always better than the possible
Consequence of that risk
You understand?
Oh man what if a serpent bites me?
Then just shake it off and
Put a bandaid on it
To shut up the wound and just move on
At least you got a cool story to tell
I got bit by a serpent
If you
Smash your fingers with the hammer
As you're working on the construction site
Now you get to show your black thumbnail
Or your thumb or whatever
To every single individual
And say look yeah this is what I do
You know?
When you're cleaving wood you're going to get hurt
It's just part of life
And what happens is when these accidents take place
You gain experience
I'm sure you've learned through a lot of the mistakes right?
The electrical mistakes
It's like okay well I'll never do that again
Because you know this hurts
This electrocuted me
And so I'm never going to do that
Pain is a good teacher folks
So that's the first layer of application there
Basically what it's telling us
Is that anything we do
Comes with a risk
Don't let that impede you from doing
From just starting something
From getting a job
People say well I will never marry
I'll never get into a relationship
What are those guys called?
MGTOW
Men going their own way
The queerest sounding
Group of men
You've ever hear in your life
Where these guys are just like I will never marry
Just because all women are bad
You weakling
What is that?
You fearful little sissy
You afraid to get your feelings hurt
What in the world is that?
You're afraid to get your feelings hurt
So you'll never marry ever again
You'll never date ever again
I don't know if my heart is ready
To get involved in this relationship
Or something
So stupid
Everything has a risk
And if you get your feelings hurt
Just man up
Suck it up
I mean
You know people are so
Anti-pain
These days
They're just so anti-suffering
Anti-pain and anti-getting my feelings hurt
They just want to live in this bubble
Where nothing bad
Will happen
Everyone is good and just want to stay away from
Every potential danger there is
That is a boring life
Go out there
Get hurt
Get your feelings hurt
Gain experience
It's good for you
Especially if you're planning to have children
You know you got to be a strong
Example to your children
You can't be some sissified dad
You know like your son
You know this is so dangerous
Out there don't try anything
You know just like
Let them
Man it irritates the fire
Okay
You know like for example my sons
Especially my youngest one
He's getting hurt left and right
The guys getting just
He's only
He's barely like one
And the guys already had like seven stitches on his finger
Almost chopped off his finger
Cause he just gets involved in everything
You take him outside
The guy has a cup of dirt
And he's eating it
He's just like eating it
They're like what are you doing
And you know some people are like they're like
Cause that's just too risky you know
All these things in the world that we live in
And whatever
Fool you with that
Children are a blessing
Children are great
And that's why you need to be a Christian
Amen
When you're a Christian you have the word of God
You have these guiding principles that teaches you how to
Race children
Teaches you what to do when they eat dirt
Teaches you what to do when they scrape their knees
And they're growing up
That's what it means folks
But we have a generation of people
Who just want to give consolation prizes
To every single Tom, Dick, and Harry
Just so they don't get their feelings hurt
You know
Play a sport and they get a consolation prize
Everyone's a winner, you're a winner, you're a winner
Everyone's a winner kind of thing
Such a lame way to live
Folks when there's a game that's played
There's a winner and there's a loser
You know what if you're the loser
Don't be bitter
But if everyone's a winner
What's the point of training
Anyways
So that's the first application of that
Those two verses there
The spiritual application that we see there
Is the fact that
It says there, he that digget the pit shall fall into it
Now this is typically referring to
You know, what people would typically say is this
What goes around comes around
And
The Bible says in Proverbs chapter 26
And verse 27
So in other words is this
You reap what you sow
If you're trying to dig a pit
Because you're being mischievous
You're trying to hurt another individual
Just know that you're eventually going to fall into that pit as well
Okay
You're rolling a stone so you can roll it upon someone's head
Because you're
You know, you're angry with them
You're bitter at them
Eventually that stone is going to fall upon you
Okay
He goes on to say
Whoso breaketh in hedge
A serpent shall bite him
Now a hedge in the Bible
Is often, you know
In relation to protection
Okay, you think of God placing a hedge
Of protection about Job
Right, and the Bible even says
When Satan is talking to
God about Job
He says, Hast thou not made an hedge about him
And about his house and about all that he hath
On every side
Thou has blessed the work of his hands and his substance
And increased in the land
So the hedge is basically like that
Wall of protection
That God places upon your life
Your marriage, you, your finances
You know, because you have Satan who constantly wants to destroy
Those things, but he's not allowed to
Because God places a hedge of protection
About you, okay
Now here's the thing
Wouldn't it be dumb for us to know that
Say, yeah we have a hedge of protection
And then you decide to break through that hedge
Right
What's going to happen
The serpent which is
Satan
The Bible often references
Satan as being a serpent
He's going to bite you
You say, well how do we apply that
Well you know what, God has not only just given us
This invisible thing of wall of protection
Over us as individuals
But he also gives like for example
Parents are the hedge of protection
For their children
Husbands are the hedge of protection
For their wives
The pastor is like a hedge of protection
For the church
And when you decide to go
Beyond the boundaries of those
Hedges of protection
A serpent's going to bite you
You say, I don't care what my parents say
I'm just going to go do whatever I want
Okay, then you're going to break through the hedge
And the serpent's going to bite you
Well I don't care what my husband says
I'm going to do whatever I want
You know, I'm smarter than him
Okay, break through that hedge
And what's going to meet you on the other side
Is the serpent
Because any time we decide
To go out from under God's authority
His God given authority
Whether that be in marriage
Or just raising children
Or in church or whatever it may be
There's always a serpent waiting on the other side
To bite us
Okay
And so don't think, well you know
Kids, I want to just
Live wild, you know
I'm a teenager
And I want to go out there
And I'm hearing about my friends committing fornication
They have girlfriends
And it seems like they're having fun
And they're drinking and smoking weed
And they just, you know, they're just
They spend their Friday nights like hanging out
And I'm over here staying home because my parents are telling me to
This is boring
Yeah, that's a hedge though
And here's the thing
Yeah, it may look fun to go sleep around
With a bunch of women until you get AIDS or something
Until you get like an STD
Until you get gonorrhea and chlamydia
And syphilis
Then it's not so much, then it's not that fun
Now
You're stuck with some venereal disease
That you got because you broke through that hedge
See that hedge is supposed to protect you from those things
That hedge
Is supposed to protect you from being raped
That hedge is supposed to protect you
From destroying
Your life
So you decide, well, I'm going to go beyond this hedge
I'm going to break through
I'm just going to do whatever I want
Okay, then just know this
On the other side there's always a serpent waiting for you
Because Satan as a roaring lion
Walketh about seeking whom he may devour
And you know
You know who he has first dibs on?
Those who break through the hedge
That's just it
That's why the Bible says give not place unto Satan
Right?
So in other words, don't let Satan just come in and mess with your life
Don't do that
By breaking through the hedge of your protection
Which is your husband
You know, just disobeying your husband
Like, well, I know he said this, but I'm going to do something else
Okay, break through that hedge, see what happens
You're the hedge of your parents
Your mom and your dad
And kids, both mom and dad
Listen to your mom
Have wisdom, if your mom says, no, you're not allowed to go out
Don't go ask someone else
Who will give you permission to go out
Right?
Don't try to pin your parents against one another like that
Have wisdom
You're a Christian, you have the Bible
You know what's right
That's what you should do
Don't break through the hedge
Just so you can go sow your wild oats
And do whatever you want
There's a consequence to that
There's a serpent on the other side that will bite you
It'll inject its venom in you
It'll destroy your life
Afterwards, thy mouth shall be filled with gravel
The Bible says, you'll regret it
Whoso breaketh the hedge, a serpent shall bite him
And verse 9, whoso removeth stone shall be hurt therewith
He that cleaveth wood shall be endangered thereby
There's not necessarily a spiritual application to that
But it goes into verse number 10
Where it says, if the iron be blunt
And he do not wet the edge
Then he must put to more strength
But wisdom is profitable to direct
So what we see here is basically he's telling us to work smarter not harder
Obviously it's important to work hard
But sometimes it's better to work smarter
To be more efficient in what you do
Than to work harder
I actually gave this example on the podcast
That just came out today
We're talking about an individual
A lumberjack for example
Who's chopping down a tree with an axe
With a dull axe
May have to do it like a hundred times
And I'm just throwing that number out there
Let's say he has to do it a hundred times
Because the axe is dull
Well the person with wisdom says this
Well why don't you just sharpen the axe
And you don't have to swing a hundred times
It's not that he's lazy
It's just that he has more wisdom
So he's actually becoming more efficient
Because he understands
Well instead of chopping the wood
With a dull axe
And you're spending all this time trying to break down that tree
Wisdom says
Sharpen the axe
Sharpen the iron
So that you don't have to chop so much
And then you can actually chop more trees
You understand
That's basically what it's telling us there
Surely the serpent will bite without enchantment
And the babbler is no better
Verse 12 says
The words of a wise man's mouth are gracious
But the lips of a fool will swallow up himself
The beginning of the words of his mouth
Is foolishness and the end of his talk
Is mischievous madness
A fool also is full of words
A man cannot tell what shall be
And what shall be after him
Who can tell him
The fool again just having a lot to say
Verse 15
The labor of the foolish wearieth
Every one of them because he knoweth not
How to go into the city
Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child
And thy princes eat in the morning
Blessed art thou, O land, when thy king
Is the son of nobles
And thy princes eat in due season
For strength, and not for drunkenness
Now I want you to notice he says
Woe unto the land
In other words, it's a curse to a land
Now it's not referring to like
Literally they're putting a child
As a king
So what is this talking about?
What is this talking about like Joe Biden for example?
Who has the mental acuity
Of a child
Okay
And you know that might offend some people
But it's just watch the videos
Just listen to his speeches
You can see that
And what does the bible say?
Woe to the land when that's the case
When you have children who rule over you
And in fact, this is a curse upon a land
According to the bible
Because Isaiah chapter 3 verse 4 tells us this
I will give children to be their princes
And babes shall rule over them
Verse 11, woe unto the wicked
Or verse 12 says, as for my people
Children are their oppressors
And women rule over them
O my people, they which lead thee
Cause thee to err and destroy
The way of thy paths
So he's basically saying
It's not a good thing when you have immature people
In places of authority
Such as the president of the United States
Okay
And I'm just gonna read through these last verses
And we'll finish up
By much slothfulness the building decayeth
And through idleness of the hands the house droppeth through
A feast is made for laughter
And wine maketh merry
But money answereth all things
And verse 20 will help you not to be a gossiper
Curse not the king
Know not in thy thought
And curse not the rich in thy bedchamber
For a bird of the air shall carry the voice
And that which hath wings
Shall tell the matter
In other words it's saying you know
Don't be a gossiper because here's the thing
There's always this little bird
And the little bird often comes in the form of a tailbearer
Who will eavesdrop on your conversation
And go tell it to someone else
That's why parents
It's always good to watch what you say around your kids
Cause kids are often like little birds
And they'll come to church and tell a pastor
About all the things that you guys have been fighting about
My dad was yelling at my mom this morning
You know about this and that
It was just like whoa okay
Thanks for telling me that
You know cause kids don't have a filter
And you know they'll just repeat a matter
Like it's nothing
Okay
My mom hit my dad
It's like whoa
You know my mom slapped me
And I was like whoa
You know my mom
Slapped my dad yesterday
He was crying like it's like whoa
Okay you know
Pastor can you pray for my parents
You know just like sharing prayer requests
Okay
So it's good not to curse the king
Place a person of authority
Not in your thought
Not in your bedchamber why
Cause the little birdie knowing that your child is gonna carry that voice
Or someone else
Someone can eavesdrop on that
And then you got a major problem
On your hands
At which point what do you do
You know when that person confronts you
You yield right
You agree with your adversary quickly
You give a soft answer
To turn away wrath and the cycle continues
Just like that
So Ecclesiastes 10 is a great chapter
A lot of good stuff on reputation
A lot of good things on the practicality of wisdom
And a lot of good things
On just conflict
And solving conflict in our lives
And that's pretty much it guys
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer
Father we thank you so much for your word
And we know that Thursdays is simply a Bible study
Just practical teaching
Verse by verse
I pray that you'd help us to continue to glean wisdom
From the book of Ecclesiastes
And that we would apply it Lord
There's so much wisdom
We would save ourselves a lot of heartache
And trouble
And just in our relationships and marriage
We adhere to these principles
They're so simple and so easy to do
But sometimes we over complicate things
And I pray God that you would give us wisdom
Help us to avoid falling
In Jesus' name we pray, Amen
Song number 90
For our last song
Jesus, lover of my soul
Sing one last song
Song number 90
Jesus, lover of my soul
Song 90
Jesus, lover of my soul
All together nice and loud on that first verse
Jesus, lover of my soul
Let me to thy bosom fly
While the near waters roll
While the tempest still is high
Hide me, O my Savior, hide
Till the storm of life is past
Safe into the haven guide
O receive my soul at last
Other refuge have I none
Hangs my helpless soul on deep
Leave all, leave me not alone
Still support and comfort me
All my trust on me is safe
All my health from me I bring
Cover my defenseless head
With the shadow of thy being
Thou, O Christ, art on my way
Thou, O Christ, art all I want
More than all indeed I find
Raise the fallen, cheer the faint
Heal the sick and heed the blind
And the symphony is thy name
I am all of righteousness
Far and full of sin I am
Thou art full of truth and grace
Grant his grace when he is found
Grace to cover all my sin
Let the healing streams abound
Make and keep me pure within
Thou wilt wipe the fountain hard
Freely let me take of thee
Spring thou up within my heart
Rise to all eternity