Now I wanted to focus on verse 17 here in Daniel where the Bible read as for these four children
God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom and
Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams now. I actually believe this verse very literally
I believe that Daniel was given wisdom. He was giving understanding
He was given skill in all learning not just the things of the Bible
But in every area of life, this guy was very skillful. This guy was very wise
I mean the king looked at this guy and said he's 10
Times better than all the other guys and they were learning the same subjects
They were all being educated in the wisdom of the Chaldeans
But I think that Daniel was given the knowledge from God in all learning and wisdom
Turn if you would to Exodus chapter 36 if you would think this is an interesting verse
But today how do people get wisdom? How do they get knowledge? How do they get understanding?
A lot of people go to school
They go to some place where they teach something or they go to some church or they go they've all kinds of different places
And they're learning from other people
look at the Exodus 36 verse 1
then brought bezel eel and a holy ab and every wise heart of man and whom the Lord put wisdom and
Understanding to know how to work all manner of work for the service of the sanctuary
According to all that the Lord had commanded. It's interesting this guy bezel eel
He was given cunning skill and work by God to make all kinds of things in the sanctuary
To create the ark of the Covenant to create all kinds of you know curtains to create all these
Wonderful things we're going to the sanctuary God gave him skill and understanding how to create those things how to make those things how to
Be skillful and we see that skill actually comes from God knowledge and stuff come from God
Not just the wisdom of man not the wisdom of this world and the title of my sermon tonight is is college
Necessary is college necessary now a lot of people they go to college. They learn a lot of things
Maybe they go to school. They learn a lot of things
but is it really necessary is it really necessary was it necessary for
Daniel to learn the wisdom of Caledon's to get all that knowledge and skill
Was it because he was studying the wisdom of the Caledon's and their their information that he became really wise
Now the Bible says God gave him that image that understanding God gave him that skill
And we see there was a lot of other people learning that wisdom. There was all these children
They're all learning the same subjects, but he found Daniel ten times wiser. Why was Daniel ten times wiser?
Why did he have more knowledge? Why do you have more understanding?
It wasn't because of the schooling that he was getting and if you look up college in a dictionary
It's defined as an educational institution
Or establishment. So even though it wasn't really a college that Daniel and these guys went to it was just a learning institution
It was just a place where they were going to learn the wisdom of the Caledon's but the question is is it really necessary?
But today kids are growing up and they're just being brainwashed and just so you got to go to college
You got to go to college, I mean four and five year olds
Hey, you don't want to do like that. You want to be able to go to college someday?
You can't get out of school because you gotta go to college someday
Hey, you gotta start saving money now to go to college someday. You see all the billboards
They're like you gotta go to college go to college. I saw one college billboard. It said it'll change everything
I mean, there's all these billboards are saying you gotta go to college. You gotta go get a degree. You gotta get these things
My question is is it necessary?
Now it's interesting because when I was talking with some of my family and we were talking about just kids and talking about family
I was that I had one kid at the time
I believe I can't remember was pregnant or not
But we're talking about having more kids and they said so how many kids you're gonna have, you know
Two three not like four and I was like, we're just gonna keep going
We're just gonna have a kid and kid and kid and they're like, whoa
Why are you how are you gonna afford college?
That was like the first thing that came to their mind of me just saying I want to have a lot of kids
Their first thing is well, how are you gonna afford college? And I said really point blank
I said look, I don't care if my kids go to college or not
I only care if they get saved and they go to church and they living for God
I care way more about that than them ever going to some college
I don't really care if they go some to college, but it was like I killed the sacred cow
I mean they freaked out. They're like you don't care about college. I mean, that's everything
How are they ever going to succeed? How are they gonna do anything great with their life?
And they make it where college is so necessary
They make it where college is just a requirement to be a good person or to make money or to have a good life
But I have eight reasons why I think Daniel got knowledge and skill from God and let's see is college
Necessary to get those things because I think there's a lot of principles in the Bible of how you get wisdom
Of how you get skill of how you get knowledge and that's what Daniel probably applied himself to actually get that's going that learning
It wasn't just from his own understanding or going to this school. No, it's from God's Word
Turn if you would to Exodus 24
Exodus 24 I looked up some statistics
There was a college a career builder website that I looked up and it said that they surveyed several workers in the workplace
In America, they said that
47% of college graduates did not find a first job that was related to their college major
They're saying look these people are graduating from college and with some type of degree
Doesn't matter what it is. And then the next job they get has nothing to do with that degree
It didn't even help them. It's saying almost half of the people going to college
They didn't even get a job that had anything to do with a degree
It says that only
56% of students even earn degrees within six years
So of all the people that actually start going to college only 56% of them even have a degree after six years of going
Which most schools are like a four-year college or maybe a two-year program. So after six years, you're probably not going to do it
You're not gonna finish. I
Actually, there was a person in my family. I think they graduated in like seven or eight years
So they're kind of an anomaly to that statistic
But I think the first way that we gain skill to get the way we gain knowledge is through reading
It's through reading look at Exodus 24 verse 7
says that he took the book of the Covenant and read in the audience of the people and they said all that the Lord half
Said will we do and be obedient? So notice he said he read in the audience of the people
How is anybody gonna hear the Word of God and you can't read it to them if you can't even read it for yourself
How are you gonna share the Word of God and you know, I think in my early days, you know
Someone asked me do you enjoy reading? I would have said no
And I even think I took a word as a badge of honor. I said, you know, I just like watching TV
I like playing video games
I like getting on the computer and I kind of looked at reading is it's kind of just entertainment, you know
Well, some people like to read I like to play video games. Some people like to read I'll go play outside
But reading is crucial to education
Reading is crucial to getting wisdom
Reading is crucial to getting skill. How are you gonna ever learn God's Word?
How are you gonna get the knowledge of the truth if you can't even read it?
Reading is the most foundational part of getting any kind of education about any understanding of having any notes
You gotta be able to read it's so important
So foundational, but I hope that people aren't starting to learn how to read when they get into college
I mean you need to be able to read much younger than that
I mean children should be learning how to read from their parents from an early age
They should be instructed on how to read and a lot of times people they just take for granted that their kids can't read
They take for granted that maybe school teach them or somebody else to do it and they don't teach them and there's a lot of
People today that are just poor readers. Maybe they could sound out the sounds they could make the words
But then they have no comprehension
They can just read something and it just goes one just they say it, but they didn't hear it
They don't even understand what they just said. They're just parodying go to Matthew chapter 21
the Bible says in Joshua and
afterward he read all the words of the law the blessings and
Curses says in Matthew 12 when Jesus was talking to the Pharisees
But he said to them have you not read what David did when he was hungered?
He was rebuking them for not read and Matthew 12
It says same thing or have you not read in the law?
How that on the Sabbath days the priests in the temple were vain the Sabbath and are blameless
Jesus were rebuking the Pharisees for not reading because reading is important. Look at verse
2016 in verse 21 in chapter 21 and he said to them here is that what these say and Jesus saved them
Yay, have you never read out of the mouth of babes and sucklings that was perfected praise. What a shame
What an embarrassment to say you're a master of Israel
You're a master of God and you haven't even read some part of the Bible now you've never read
He's like I just don't understand you guys mr
Sun never read the Bible because I keep giving you Bible and you have no idea what I'm saying
So either they read it and they didn't even understand it or they just never read it
But either way, they're not getting any knowledge
They're not getting any wisdom because they're not reading go to Deuteronomy chapter 17 if you would
says in Ephesians 3 whereby when you read you may
Understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ. God wants us to understand what we read, too
He doesn't want us to just be able to look at the page and see some text on it
He actually wants us to understand it. That's the point of reading is to understand what it says
It seems like I'm such a basic point, but there's a lot of people that can't even understand what they're reading in
Revelation 1 it says blessed is he that readeth and
They that hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written therein
And Deuteronomy 17 look at verse 18
the Bible says and it shall be when he sit upon the throne of his kingdom that he shall write him a copy of this
Law and a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites 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 is God to keep all the words of this law and these statutes to do them
So the Bible is talking about the king of this really saying look if y'all rebel against me
You set up a king in the future
The Kings should write him a book and he needs to read it every single day of his life
He's saying the king needs to read the Word of God. Well, go ahead and flip to Revelation if you would
Turn to Revelation chapter 1
It's interesting because I'll read verse I'll read verse 20 from you from that
It says that his heart be not lifted up above his brethren and that he turned out aside from the commandment to the right hand
Or the left to the end that he may prolong his days in the kingdom
He and his children in the midst of Israel we read the Bible to keep us humble
We read the Bible so we can know how to live a good life
How we can prolong their lives how we can we can do good things
Look at Revelation 1 verse 5
It says and from Jesus Christ is the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead and the Prince of the kings of the
Earth unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood and that made us
kings and priests
unto God
So we're Kings so if I'm a king and he's saying hey kings need to read the Bible every single day in their lives
So they'll be humble that's talking to you that's not gonna mean he wants us to read the Bible every day in our lives
It's not just for the one special guy. That's the king of Israel
No, he's made us kings and priests in the New Testament and we're supposed to read the Bible
So we're not lifted up in pride that we can be humble
But the question is is college necessary for reading
I mean you have to go to college to be able to learn how to read
No, I hope not I hope that from a young child you learn how to read
I hope your parents can show you how to read they can show you the Bible that you can get a lot of books and
Then you can read through them. That's so important and has nothing to do with going to college now
Of course, I would say that in college a lot of people are encouraged to read other books
They're encouraged to read certain things
But is it necessary is it really necessary to go to some institution to read books?
No, and many times the books that they're recommending are very good that if you actually just go online or you go somewhere else
You can find better books and a lot of times I experience is a lot when you go to college
Some brand new textbook comes out where they change like three periods in it and now it's a hundred and fifty dollars
Whereas last year's edition is like ten bucks, but you got to go buy the new version
You got to go spend 150 bucks in the bookstore just to get their book
When we shouldn't be concerned with you know
Necessarily happening to go to college to learn we should learn for ourselves by learning how to read and reading is such a fundamental thing
It's such a foundational principle that it doesn't matter if you go to college or not
You should learn how to read
Reading is important and you should do a lot of reading in your life to gain wisdom and knowledge
Whether or not Daniel is learning the wisdom and the Calvians it didn't matter
He was going to be reading his Bible and that's where he got the wisdom
We even know that Daniel read his Bible because later it says that when he was reading about
Jeremiah he found out when they would return into the land. So we know he was reading his Bible and he was understanding it
Yeah, so it's so important that we read our Bible
We understand it and you don't have to go to college to learn how to read
You don't have to get some kind of that fancy education. You don't have to go some fancy building
No, but you should be reading your Bible. You should be reading books. That's how you're gonna gain wisdom
That's how you're gonna gain knowledge
That's how you're gonna gain skill go to Deuteronomy chapter 17 go all the way back again
To where we were I should have told you to keep a finger there. I'll read for you in verse 18 and said
Same verse he said and it shall be when he says upon his throne of his kingdom that he shall write him a copy
So notice the Kings not only supposed to read it
He was supposed to write himself a copy and we see that writing is another foundational principle to learning
We can go to the Bible we can learn hey reading and writing are important
It's not because the public school says it's important. It's not because Barack Obama says it's important
No, God said it was important. God said that we should be able to read that we should be able to write
That's how you get wisdom. That's how you get knowledge. That's how you grow its skill
And we see the what's the whole purpose of people even going to college? Why do people say?
Hey, what's the point of going to college?
They always say to get a good job to get to get a good paying job to get you know
Have a good career, but if you can't read and you can't write you're never going to have a good career
I mean you're not going to succeed unless you just have a physical manual labor job
Or you just do no reading and no writing which I don't even know if it exists today
I think even just the most menial tasks today. I mean being a plumber being electrician
You still got to be able to read
I mean the electrician better know what color the wires are and be able to read the panel and be able to you know
Communicate effectively reading and writing is crucial to every part of your life
It's going to help you succeed no matter what job you have
But having a college education having a piece of paper that he says he went to some institution
That's not going to give you wisdom. That's not going to give you knowledge
No being able to read and be able to write that is going to give you wisdom
Put back a couple chapters go to Deuteronomy 6
in Exodus 17
The Lord said unto Moses write this for a memorial and a book and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua
Moses wanted or God wanted Moses to write down what he is what he read
What do you told him so that he could rehearse it in Joshua's ear so he can keep giving himself if he never write anything
Down then you can never read it
So we got a real to write look at Deuteronomy 6 verse 6 and these words which I command you this day shall be in
Heart and thou shalt teach them diligently under thy children and shall talk of them when thou sittest in thine house
And when thou walkest by the way and when thou lies down and when thou risest up thou shall bind them for a sign upon
my hand and they shall be as frontless between my eyes and thou shalt write them upon the post of thy house and on my
Gates God wanted you to write the Word of God in your house. He wants you to have the words everywhere
He doesn't want you to have some fake picture of some faggoty Jesus
No, he wants you to write his words that says why don't you write Leviticus 20 13 up there instead?
That'll be a lot more glorifying than the Lord Jesus Christ and some pictures some sodomite
Hey, that's something, you know, Renaissance painter painted
No, we're supposed to be able to write and we're supposed to be able to write God's Word
Go to Deuteronomy 11 go a couple chapters of forward says in Deuteronomy 31
Now therefore write ye this song for you and teach it the children of Israel
Put it in their mouths that this song may be witness for me against the children of Israel
We're supposed to read and write well so that we can teach our children how to read and write. Well, it's very important
I wish that my parents had taken the time to set me down and to teach me how to read and how to write
Well at a young age
I know that even when I was in the third grade that I had to be put in some special class
And learn how to read better because I just couldn't read well
I had to go to some special program that a whole summer
I had to go to school because I had to learn how to read well and now I
After getting, you know a lot of exposure and just getting and reading a lot of books
I became a very good reader, but it just takes practice. No one just can read and write just out of the womb
Nobody just knows how to write really well sent really well in spoken senses and all these things and even in high school
I still wasn't a very good writer. I remember I had this history class
And at the end of every single test there was a written essay and so you had to kind of answer some questions in this
Like one or two page essay and I remember we'd always get our grade and then the teacher would always ask a few students to
Read their essay somebody that got like a hundred or got a really good score and now I always got a hundred
I always got the questions right on my essay, but she never asked me to read and I think one day
I was just getting really irritated because somebody like didn't even get all the questions
I think like a 90 or 95 and they were asked to read and I said I got a hundred
Why do you never asked me to read and she says well, you know, you answered all the questions, right?
But there was a lot of run-on sentences and didn't really make very much sense
And you're just not a good writer and it kind of was like a shock to me. I was like, oh man
I I need to be a better writer. I thought I was writing really well, but I had no I wasn't writing good sentences
I was making run-on sentences and I know a lot of times I would get so far ahead of myself in my mind
That when I was writing I would just like leave out a whole phrase of a sentence or something
You know, I would think it but then I wouldn't have I wouldn't let my hand catch up to my mind
And I'll just write all these sentences. I'd go back and read it wouldn't make any sense
I remember one time I asked my dad to proofread a paper I had written and it was just it was like missing
The verb complete it just said like the cow car
Didn't make any sense
It didn't say like the cow went to the car ran into the car didn't say anything and so he goes well
Where's your verb in the sentence?
The cap
Because I was just joking but it's it's a real thing that people don't know how to read and write not because they're unintelligent
Not because they're not capable but because they're not being told to do it because there's not being instructed by their parents
They're not being instructed by anybody. Now. The question is do you really need to go to college to get that instruction?
Do you really need somebody to tell you to do it a lot of times when you go to college?
They just expect you to know how to do these things. They don't actually teach you they just have high requirements
So you actually have to learn it somewhere else, but it's not important for you to go to college to prove yourself
Go to
Go to Psalms chapter 1 but reading and writing is just a shame today
It's just a shame
I'll read for you what other place in Exodus is and he gave unto Moses when he'd made an end of communing with him upon
Mount Sinai two tables of testimony tables of stone
Written with the finger of God so God wrote I mean if God's writing maybe it's important enough to me
Even in the New Testament when it's talking about Jesus Christ
It's talking about the limit that was taken in adultery
It says that he was writing in the sand
So we know that the Lord Jesus Christ the New Testament and the God of the Old Testament same God
He was a writer. He was someone who wrote and
I even looked up some statistics
it said in
1994 they did a study about the literacy of adults in America and then they compared that with
2012 and they found out that people have declined in literacy that the adults in America had become
More less intelligent less literacy and even a new numeracy is what they call it
Just math skills just the skills of being able to read and being able to study math and these type of things and perform
Calculations they were getting worse. But if you look at how many people are being enrolled in college, it's only gone up
So we have more people going to college
But then less people can read and write and I would blame a lot of different things maybe technology maybe TV maybe movies
But the thing is people aren't getting in the Bible and saying how important it is to read and to write and learning
Hey, I need to learn right because the Bible said so I don't need to go to some college to learn because there's more people
Going and they're not learning. I mean, it's an epidemic today. How many people can't spell?
I mean just fell I was working for this one guy recently
I don't work there anymore, but my boss if it was more than a four-letter word. He couldn't spell it, right?
I mean you spell it differently every time if you take the word independent
Sometimes he's both an ace and I just felt like no D. I mean it was just a shame
And you know, the guy was really smart. He was a really good programmer
He was a really nice guy, but it's really hard to have respect on to somebody that came in style
That can't even spell a simple word. Okay. I mean it's understandable. Hey a word you've never seen or some big word
Maybe you might spell it a little funny, but I'm you're talking about every single sentence
This guy could not spell and we've been working in the programming world. You're writing code constantly
It's important to be able to read and write so that you can understand what's on the computer screen
Understand your code understand the comments. I mean even one character off and programming can make a huge difference
It can change the whole program. It's very important to be able to read and write. I had to turn to Psalms one
This is my third point
Look at verse one blessed is the man that walked in on the council of the ungodly
Nor standeth in way of sinners nor citizens see of the scornful
But as the light is in the law of the Lord and in his law doth he meditate
Day and night. My third point is that we should be
memorizing
Memorization is a key and skill to always having more knowledge being very skillful
Not just memorizing the Bible but memorization in your everyday life
Being able to memorize things and to keep things retained in your knowledge is going to help you succeed in the work
place
Make sure to learn how to memorize and I think one of the best ways to get this skill is by memorizing God's Word
If you can learn how to memorize God's Word, it'll change your Bible reading
It'll change your study in the Bible
But it also gives you the skills to learn how to memorize other things to memorize things on your job
I mean going back to our example of the electrician. He's got to remember which color wires go to where he's gonna remember what circus
He's got to remember what amp, you know, go to what other kind of gauge wires
He's got to keep a lot of things in his head
He can't just always be looking it up or wondering what to do. It doesn't matter what job you have
Memorization is always going to be key
There's a lot of jobs that rely on whether you're a doctor whether you're an emergency medical
I mean, would you feel really good if the doctor showed up and it was your surgery?
He said well, I really forget what I'm supposed to do
I'm gonna go look it up in the textbook real quick and then I'll come back and keep performing the surgery
Now you want this guy to know what he's doing
You want this guy to be able to retain stuff in his mind and being able to train and exercise your mind with
Meditation is going to help you in your everyday life
But you really have to go to college and learn how to memorize something
Do you really have to go to school to learn how to memorize now? There is some classes
I know that there was an art history class at the college that I went to where they
Emphasize memorization. I mean the guy that was the professor there
He would just sit there and just repeat the same facts over and over
He did you just say a fact about some artist or some fact about a painting
He just say like ten times over and over and over and over and it got to the point where everybody just memorized it
Whether they want to or not
I mean if you just get up and somebody just say the same thing over and over and over
Whether you like or not, you're gonna memorize. Yeah, I mean how many songs have you heard that you didn't even try?
I mean, you're not even trying to memorize this thing and you know all the lyrics, you know
The chorus of songs you hate I mean, there's so many songs that I hate that I know the lyrics to not because I wanted to
Because I heard it over and over and over. It's important to memorize God's Word
It's important to get the skill of memorization so that you can succeed so that you can have skill
I believe that Daniel he meditated on these things. He meditated on things
He had the he had the skill of meditation and that's why God's all
Gave him a lot of wisdom gave him a lot of knowledge through his meditation go to a Psalms 119
If you would I'll read for you another place. It says in Psalms 119
15 says I will meditate meditate in thy precepts and have respect in thy ways look at verse 97
Oh how I love thy law. It is my meditation all
the day
Now I know as a little kid
I always wondered these verses kind of mystified me because I was like well
How do you memorize something all day like how do you you know this isn't pray without ceasing and memorize
But the thing is is when you get God's Word in your heart when you have it memorized
It can be on your mind all the day
There can be all kinds of parts of the day that verses are just coming in your mind that you're just
Meditating on it that will just interject in your thoughts
That's how you get it when you love his law and you're studying his law and you're memorizing his word
It can be with you all day whether or not you have your Bible out or not
You can just be thinking about the Word of God. It's so important. It'll change your life
But let's go to Psalm 78. So my first three points reading writing memorization. I think these are just foundational
They're just very basic, but they're so important
And now I think that colleges for the most part they try they attempt to lift up these points
They say well, you know, it's important to read. It's important to write
It's important to memorize some of the classes may emphasize certain, you know things like writing or reading
But you don't have to go to college to learn those things
There's a lot of people that are very educated that can read very well
They never went to college that can write very well
They never went to college that can memorize great things and never went to college. It's not necessary
But my last five points, I think college just fails at it
I mean the things that God tells us of how to get skill of how to get knowledge
The college just utterly fails at and the fourth point is listening to parents
Harping on your parents is one way that you'll get a lot of wisdom a lot of skill in this life and
Colossians 3 says children obey your parents in all things
Ephesians 6 says children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right. Look at verse 1 of Psalm 78
Give ear all my people to my law and climb your ears to the words of my mouth
I will open my mouth in a parable
I will let it art sayings of old which we have heard and known and our fathers have told us
but it's important for the fathers to have the wisdom and the
Understanding so they can tell their children and then the children need to listen to it
But so many times kids go to college. They're not their fathers around their mother's not around
They're not harping under the parents anymore. They're just harping under their own hearts desires
They're just harping under what other professors are saying or their friends are saying where they're not getting any more instruction from their parents
And unless you're married the Bible says for this cause all man leave his father and mother and be joined unto his wife
It doesn't say go to college to leave your father and mother
No, it says because you get married that would be a reason why you would leave your parents go to 1st Timothy chapter 5
It says in Proverbs 1 my son hear the instruction of thy father and forsake not the law of thy mother
Proverbs 4 one says hear ye children the instruction of a father and attend to know understanding
Look at verse 4 of 1st Timothy 5
But if any widow have children nephews let them learn first to show piety at home and to requite their parents
For that is good and acceptable before God now a lot of people that think well
I'm married, so I don't have to lose my parents anymore
I shouldn't even respect them, but it's saying look of a widow meaning she was married
So she was with her husband somewhere else, and then he died
She's supposed to go back under her parents, and she's supposed to require parents
She's supposed to have respect under parents, but we see a lot of people once they go to college. That's done
I don't want to listen to my parents. I don't want to harp them to them now
I'm not saying if your parents are just unsaved that you should just you know forsake the laws of God
Or you should you could go into sin
But you just still have respect in your parents and a lot of times
They can have good wisdom because they've had children because they've gone through life. Maybe they struggle
Maybe they they've seen the error of their ways, and they can give you wisdom
We should still have respect under our parents
But I think college utterly fails this so many kids they want to go to college because they won't be under their parents
Right because they won't be getting any more instruction because they won't be getting any more approved. They want the freedom
They don't want to listen to anything they have to say
Go to
Leviticus 19 if you will
Proverbs chapter 23 I'll say harken to thy father that begat thee and despise not thy mother when she is old
So the Bible says look even when your parents get old you should still have respect under them
You shouldn't despise your parents. You should still harken unto them the wisdom and the instruction. They're going to give you again
I'm not saying go against what the Bible says, but I'm saying you should still have respect in your parents even when they're old
The Bible says the rod and her proof give wisdom, but a child left to himself
Bringeth his mother to shame
There's a lot of mothers today that are shamed today because of what their sons did in college
And you know if I were to be honest about myself the worst years of my life were in college
You're talking about morality you're talking about living for God doing the right thing
I wasn't doing all kinds of sin
I would if my mom knew what I was doing she would have been so embarrassed
Should have been so ashamed of what I've done in my life because the child left himself will bring his mother to shame
And people these young kids these 18 and 19 and 20 year olds going to college. They're still children
Yeah, they're not some grown-up adult because they turned 18. They're not just a man because they turned 18
No, they still need to be respectful unto their parents
They need to harken to the instruction of their father and mother because it because when you're that young you think you're invincible
You think you're so wise and you're just gonna bring a lot of shame on your parents if they know you do
Look at Leviticus 19 verse 32
Thou shalt rise up before the war he had and honor the face of the old man and fear thy God
I am the Lord, but we're supposed to have respect unto the elderly unto the old man
We're supposed to honor the face of the old man
So I think the fourth point I have is that a lot of people they're just not harkening of their parents because they go off
To college you go to somebody to put a funnel of Baptist Church today you go to all these churches
There's no college kids there. They're all in college. I mean, they're just gone
There's just this gap between 17 year olds and like 30 year olds
I mean, there's just like no one because they don't want to harken to the instruction of their father
But go to John chapter 7
The fifth point the fifth way
I think that the Bible tells us how we can get skill and how we can get knowledge is by the Holy Spirit teaching you
It's by God teaching you in 1st John chapter 2 the Bible says
But the anointing which we received of him abideth in you and you need not that any man teach you
But it's the same anointing teacheth you of all things and is truth and is no lie
And even as it hath taught you he shall abide in him
The Bible says that the Holy Spirit will teach you all of the Bible. You don't need a man
He's saying look is it necessary to have a man no, so it's college necessary to have the Holy Spirit teach you
No is college necessary for you to harken unto your parents know in many ways. It takes you away from them. Yeah
Go to the verse 14 of John chapter 7
Now about the midst of the feast Jesus went up in the temple and taught and the Jews marveled saying I don't know this man
letters having never learned
Jesus answered them and said my doctrine is not mine
But his that sent me if any man will do as well
He shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself
We see the Jews they were mocking to the same. How does this guy know anything? He didn't go to college
He didn't get a four-year degree. How can you know anything?
Cuz the Holy Spirit taught the Lord Jesus Christ
He the Bible says that God gave the spirit without measure unto him right and John chapter 16
It says how be it when he the spirit of truth has come he will guide you into all truth
The Holy Spirit can teach you all wisdom. He can teach you all knowledge. He can teach you the Bible
You don't need to go to college to learn the things of God
You don't need to go to some Bible college to learn another Bible. Just let the Holy Spirit teach you
Just get in your Bible do the reading do the writing do the memorization
Harken unto your parents and then the Holy Spirit teach you God's Word. That's how you get skills
That's how you're gonna get the wisdom. That's how you're gonna get knowledge
I'll go to Ephesians 3 if you would
Says in 1st Corinthians 2 but God has revealed them unto us by his spirit
For the Spirit searches all things. Yea and the deep things of God God reveals us things unto us by a spirit
And if you go to Ephesians 3 look at verse 4
Whereby when you read you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ
which in other ages is not made known to the sons of men as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and
prophets by the
spirit so we understand the Bible by reading it and having the Holy Spirit teach us by giving us the wisdom and the
Understanding but you're not gonna get that if you don't read you're not gonna get that every not saved
You don't have the Holy Spirit in your heart
But you're not gonna ever get that in college is college necessary to teach you the Bible
No, what's necessary is to be saved to read it and have the Holy Spirit teach you. That's how you get the wisdom
That's how you get the knowledge
Go to Genesis chapter 30. My sixth point is that we learn by doing
James chapter 1 says but whoso looketh into the perfect law of Liberty and continue therein
He being not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work this man shall be blessed indeed
It's so true that this a day is long that no matter how much you study something
No matter how much you read it. If you don't actually do it. You're gonna forget. This is so true
I played piano like my whole life. My parents always forced me from age five
I played piano when I was five six seven eight nine ten all the way into high school and I remember every I was like
Can I please quit?
I don't want to play piano anymore
Please let me quit and I think I just wore on my mom just over and over and finally like I think I was like
15 she just said that you don't have to play anymore. Wait, there your teachers kind of done with you
She says that your skill levels not really increasing with her anymore. We'd have to find another teacher
So she just let me quit and that was a bad decision on her part
I wish she had just forced me to keep going but now today if I try to go play the piano
I can't do it very well. I
Struggle why because I haven't been doing it anymore and I forgive it
Because anything that you've learned no matter how well you've learned it
You're gonna knock you're gonna lose it either use it or you lose it
Now, of course if you did it for a long time if you're really good at it and come back quicker
I mean some people say it's like riding the bike, but even somebody that's not ridden the bike for ten years
They're gonna be a little wobbly at first. You're probably gonna make some mistakes
They're not gonna be as good as they were they probably can't go as fast
You know, even with piano it's way worse
I mean, I basically came all the way back down the level just everybody that's never played with him
It's just like hey, I'm just banging on it like everybody else
but if you're not doing it, you're never gonna learn it look at a Genesis 30 verse 27 and
Laban said unto him I pray thee if I found favor in thine eyes
Terry for I have learned by experience
That the Lord has blessed me for thy sake
Laban learned by experience is college necessary for you to learn by experience
Now many times you go to the classroom and you just theorize what it's like to do the work
You just learn from somebody that doesn't even actually do the work themselves. You're just learning
Hey, this is what you're kind of supposed to do or this is what people do or this is what it's supposed to be like
But you don't actually do the work. I mean people that go to become a doctor
They spend four or five years learning stuff in the classroom. They don't do any work
You say how long you've been studying to be a doctor five years. Well, what do you know? I
Know a lot of biology and anatomy. Well, could you do anything? No
It's not they're not learning anything by experience
They're not learning anything by doing
You could you can send a guy in classroom and teach them eight hours a day for several years how to plumb
How to do electrical work, but if they've never actually done it, I guarantee they're not going to be a very good plumber
They're not very good electrician
but if you actually train them on how to be a plumber or an
Electrician by experience or someone that builds houses or builds fences or do any kind of work
They're going to be really good after four or five years. They're going to know it great because it's not learning in a classroom
That's the best way to learn. It's learning by experience being a doer of the work now, of course
That's not the sake you're reading. That's not the sake your memorization and even memorization
You got to be a doer of the memorization
Because there's a lot of passages of the Bible where I've memorized it and I can quote it and I can do word perfect
But then I just stop I didn't quote it for a long time. It's been a while and I can't quote it now
Why because I'm not doing it and even though being a soul winner. I remember one week
In when I was early doing soul winning
I stopped going so waiting for like two or three weeks and I had out all the verses memorized that I used out solving before that
And when I got there, I wasn't sharp anymore. I wasn't sharp as a two-edged sword
I couldn't quote all the verses that I usually would get I could I was stumbling
I was struggling to go through why because I wasn't doing and if you're not doing it, you're gonna lose it. There's no middle ground
Jesus said he that
Not gathered with me is scattering abroad if you're not doing the work
You're actually going against and if you're not, you know, just like getting muscles
I mean you could work out your whole life and then quit for two years and it's gonna be like
You never worked out why because everything is either going you're either going in one direction or the other there's no neutral middle ground
Look at go to John chapter 9
I'll read for you
One of the places that though you were a son yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered
Jesus Christ learned obedience by suffering by going through and doing the suffering by tempting being tempted in the wilderness by Satan
He actually learned because we've learned from experience is one of the best teachers
You can't teach like experience you can't I mean you can tell your kid
Hey, don't put your hand in the fire. You can tell them a thousand times
But the first time they burn themselves, oh man, they're never gonna put their head back in the fire
Why because experience is one of the best teachers you can express out
Explain soul into somebody over and over
And they probably won't ever get it but they go out and do it now
They're gonna soul wonder why cuz you learn by experience
But my seventh point is that we have to learn from someone who actually does the work, too
Hey when you go to college, you're not learning from people that usually do the work
Learning from people that never did the work. They just studied about it
I mean you go to school and you learn about somebody I got a business management degree
And I'm learning from people that haven't owned a business
They've never been a manager they've never been in any kind of a position in a business
It's like what in the world are you gonna teach me? You didn't even do it yourself
They were just in school their whole life and became a professor
And they're just gonna teach what the book says and they don't even know what it means
Why because if you're not a doer of the work, you're not gonna understand it at all
Look at John 9 verse 4
I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day the night cometh when no man
Can work why is Jesus Christ our best example because he did the work
Why was he so effective at teaching his disciples because he did the work. He said I must be about my father's business
He said many good works have I showed you from my father
He said in John 14 believe me that I am in the father the father and me or else believe me for the very works
Sake, I mean he worked night and day. He was constantly doing the work
That's why he was such a good instructor because he was doing the work
But is it necessary to go to college to learn from these people?
No
I think college fails at that many times is called professors are not successful business leaders and successful businessmen and
Successful in their occupation because if they were could there be an augmentation making a lot of money
They're not going to take a big pay cut to go teach a bunch of bratty kids
That are on their cell phones all day and aren't going to read the material aren't going to do the writing
They don't want to do that. No, they're just gonna stay in their business and make a lot of money
It's the failed people that go the people that never really did well that don't want to do the work
They're the ones that teachers often times and I'm not saying there's not a good teacher out there
I'm just trying to speaking in generalities
But it's so true if you go to college and I took a lot of college courses
And it was very true of all the teachers that I had
But look at Paul Paul said I labored more abundantly than they all why was Paul such a good instructor to Timothy?
To Titus to Philemon to all these people because he was a doer of the work and he said that he not labored in vain
Go to the second Thessalonians chapter 3 if you would
Jesus said he that is not with me is against me and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad
But Jesus Christ said the let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father
Which is in heaven people seeing you do the work people seeing you work hard it's contagious
It gets people, you know excited even in the workplace if you're doing the work if you're working hard
It's going to encourage other people. They're gonna see you're the works. They're gonna get excited
They might learn something from you
You really want to go to the workplace and learn from the guy that just sits on his phone and just wait
So it's 459 to leave the building. I mean doesn't really do any work takes a two-hour lunch comes in late
No, you want to learn from the guy that showed up at 6 a.m. He's been working super hard
He's getting the job done. His boss is really pleased with him. Hey, why don't you teach me how to learn?
We should learn from the people that work hard. That's gonna give you skill
That's gonna give you knowledge and if you really want to get a good job, it's not the piece of paper that matters
It's having skills. Why does so many people graduate from college and they struggle to get that first job?
It's because they have no skill
Skill is the key to getting a good job
Why do you want a good job for the Lord? Well get some skill. Why don't you memorize the word?
Why don't you read the word once we able to write the word? Hey, I want to be used greatly by God
Well get some skill and you know what he'll make the wise he'll make simple wise
You don't have to start out with anything just apply God's principles and you'll give you the wisdom
He'll make you ten times better than all the other people and college isn't necessary to get you there
I don't even recommend college for a lot of reasons
I'm not saying that it's wrong to go to college or to sin or it's bad
But I think in a lot of ways that going to college is probably not the best decision
It's probably foolish and there's some degrees that require a college degree
I mean, I think you know if you're going to be an accountant or if you're going to be an engineer
They're gonna be a doctor. They're gonna be a lawyer
I mean you basically have to have a degree to get one of these positions
And so if you want to get a job that's a very skilled position that requires some certification or some kind of education
Go for it. I don't think that's necessarily wrong. But most degrees today. Oh, I'm gonna study history
I'm gonna study literary sciences. I'm gonna study, you know, all these things that don't have any value
They don't have any skills you graduate from college. Like what can you offer me? Well, you know, I went there
Hey, I got this piece of paper
That's why they're struggling to get a job because they have no skill and even in the career that I have today
I worked as a software developer
It really doesn't matter where you went to school. It doesn't matter what you learn
It matters zero. They only care. What do you know? What can you do? Can you work in this language?
Can you program this have you ever done this technology? Can you implement this? I mean you go get a job as an electrician
Do they really care if you went to college?
No, they don't care they say hey, you know, let's just oh, yeah
I know everything about gauges and the amps and I know wires none
I've wired all kinds of buildings and I know all the codes
I know the codes for Phoenix and I know the codes the federal regulations that doesn't hey this guy's still let's get him a job
But the guy oh, I got a degree. I got a green beer bong. You know, I got a
study, you know
Something stupid some hippie science of evolution. No, that's not gonna ever get you a job
Hey, I know everything about evolution. Good luck getting a job. I'll see you at McDonald's when I get a burger
I mean having skill is what gives you jobs
We should be focused on getting skill and wisdom and learning and then God will bless us
You're gonna be you're gonna be way more successful in this life
By getting skills and knowledge and learning than ever just chasing some degree or chasing some piece of paper
I got a degree in management. I mean, what was that? This is worthless
It was worthless as the piece of paper that's written on if I had just gone straight into the workforce and got a job
In the career that I'm in now, I would be way better
The guy that I worked for at my last company making tons of money never went to college
Didn't go if you couldn't even spell but he was really skilled in programming
I mean he had at least one thing right and you know
If you do you apply yourself to God's wisdom if you play it up to yourself to God's learning and knowledge
Then you'll be successful
Why do people struggle to make money or have a good job or provide it's cuz they have no skill
It's cuz they have no skills you go. Well, what can you do? Well
And they just struggle that's why they go into the workforce and have a bad job because they're just like everybody else
There's no distinction, but when Nebuchadnezzar looked at Daniel
He said this guy's ten times better than all the rest why because he's applying himself into God's wisdom God's knowledge
so my eighth point is
That we need to be able to provide for our family
But you need to go to college to revive your family
I actually my first roommate that I went to school with
He went he started in college and he was one of the statistics where after six years
He didn't have a degree because he just went one semester and they gave it up and just went straight into the sales
Now he went straight into sales he was making like fifty or sixty thousand dollars a year his first year
I mean that's decent money. That's good enough money to provide for a family or provide
I mean, especially when it was like ten plus years ago back when we didn't have all this Obamacare and all this junk
You know weighing down and causing us to have no money destroying the middle class
But you don't have to have a college degree to even make decent money and by the time I graduated
He was making even more he was probably making like 80 or
$90,000 a year in his sales job where he had a lot of skill
We had a lot of knowledge about all the equipment that he sold. He knew a lot about tractor equipment about
Heavy machinery. He was very well versed. He could he had a lot of skill in what he was doing
You know when I got a job I had this paper that said I had a degree and I had no skills
I mean they're like, well, I guess you can work at this bank job or you know
Anybody off the street can basically work there and I was making like $30,000 now
Tell me why in the world someone would go pay a whole bunch of money to get a worse job and have no skills
I mean, it doesn't make any sense. And if anybody had any love for me, they would have said
Degree and so many degrees in college are just worthless but kids just want to go to college
So they can go drink so they go for a cake
So they can get away from their parents so they can be away from God so they can get just live in sin
They're not going to get a good job or get an education. Don't believe the lies
College is the biggest whore there ever is. They're just taking in money and selling kids sex
Just selling kids on beer pong selling kids. I'm just living it up just getting away from all their life and responsibilities
That's not what you should do and I'm not saying that getting an education or learning is wrong
I think it's great
But don't go to college because you think it's just going to automatically give you a good job
No
If you actually want a good job
You got to get some skills get skills by learning how to read get skills by learning how to write how to memorize
Harken unto your parents follow God's commandments do what he said learn by doing
It's way more important to just get job experience and learn some kind of skill
Learn that's why the people that make good money. They're very skilled somebody off the street can't do their job
They can't do their job in two weeks. They can't do their job in six months
They can't even do their job in a year. This person has four or five years experience or ten years experience
They're very skilled and you can't just take someone off the street
That would be a good career
If I was going to give somebody some advice about how to have a good career
Pick something that's going to be very skilled something and somebody out the street can't just do
It doesn't mean you have to have super high level of you know
Intelligence as far as just in the wisdom of this world like being a computer programmer some people say well, I'm just not that smart
It's not that hard anybody could do it
But even it just being a plumber being electrician being a carpenter do something has a skill
Something that somebody can look at and say hey, that's not something just came out the street to do
That's what kind of job is what kind of career you should look for
Look at second modians chapter 3 wide you turn
Says for even when we were with you this we command you that if any would not work neither
Should he eat the Bible makes it clear that we're supposed to work hard so that we can eat so that we can provide for
Our family, but why in the world would I want to work twice as hard to make less money?
Why would I want to work?
60 and 70 hours a week
Then I didn't make as much money as some guy who works 40 or 50 hours a week
Because I would rather spend my time, you know with my family or going to church or going soul-winning
I would rather spend more time working for the Lord
Yeah, and the only way I'm gonna eat is if I do some real work
But you know the into the job workforce and do something so I'd rather have a skill
Where I don't have to work as hard as the guys well to be able to provide
I gotta work 80 hours a week because I got a general studies degree
And nobody will give me a job because I have no skills and I don't I can't read well
And I can't write well, and I didn't harken in my parents
Go to
Deuteronomy chapter 8 and we'll finish there the Bible says labor not to be rich
The Bible makes it clear that we shouldn't you know?
Necessarily desire to go to college you say well if you go to college you can get one of these
You know half a million dollar jobs or million dollar jobs one of these big things
I'm not looking to get super rich, but at the same time I don't want to go work for $8 an hour
I don't want to go clean toilets for five bucks an hour
I would rather work a job where I'm actually get paid a decent wage
Ways that I can actually see my family and spend time with them
So I'm gonna do a job that has some skill and the Bible says give me neither poverty nor riches
Is what the words of agar said I think that's what wise
Words I want to get a job where I'm not going to just be poor
I don't want to just struggle and have to work 80 90 hours a week just to get by
I'd rather have a job where I can actually you know live a life with my family
I can spend time with others I can go to church and read the Bible like about soul winning
I don't want to just struggle. I'm not saying that you should
Try to get all this wisdom and skill and knowledge so you can get super rich
But if you just work really hard and you have a lot of skill you'll make good enough money to revive and
Then you can focus on the things of God. The Bible says the the sleep of a laboring man is sweet
Bible says in Proverbs 30 remove me far from banning lies. Give me neither poverty nor riches
Feed me with food convenient for me. So our hearts aren't supposed to be desirous
I'm getting all this money, but that's why people go to college like well you go to college
You get a good job, but you can make plenty of money without ever going to college
It's college necessary to provide for your family
No, I know tons of people that make plenty of money that can provide for their family that never went to college
It's not necessary
It's college necessary to learn how to read to write to memorize
To target the instruction of your parents for the Holy Spirit to teach you to learn from experience to learn from
You know people that actually do the work
To be able to revive your family no, it's not
Necessary, right? So we need to get a different mentality or mind and say hey
I'm not focused on the back of my kids have to go to college that I just have to go to college now
I'm not saying that it would be a sin or it's wrong
Hey
If you want to learn more if you want to be educated if you want to go learn something go do it
I think it'd be great to go to school and learn, you know Spanish learn how to speak Spanish or to learn
You know more history or to be a better communicator
I think those are good things to do but I should go there with a purpose
I should go there for a skill in mind a skill that I'm going to use
I'm not going to go there and learn, you know, some dead language
I'm not going to go there and learn some things that nobody speaks that I'm never going to use
It's going to be worthless, but most degrees today are just worthless people are just going just throwing all this money away
I'm on loans and student loans and guess what they can't get a job because they have no skill
Nobody taught them that skills was important. God gave Daniel a lot of skill in all knowledge and always
Look at Deuteronomy 8 verse 16
Who feed thee in the wilderness with manna which thy fathers do not that he might humble me and that he might prove to do
The good at the latter end and that's not saying that heart by power and the might of my hand
Have gotten me this wealth
But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God for it is he that giveth thee power
To get wealth that he may establish his covenant which he swerved his father's that it is this day
God is the one that gives us the power to even making money
It's not college, but people worship college like it's some God like that's gonna give them the career
That's gonna give them the money. That's gonna give them a good job. No, it's God
That's the one that gives us the power to get wealth and if we seek first his kingdom and his righteousness
All these things we have done if we seek his wisdom and we seek his instruction and we seek his plan
We found ten times better than all the heat even if we go to the same school
Even if we go to the same institutions and we're being instructed in the same ways and we apply his methods
If you apply his ways, they will get the skills necessary to be able to be successful
He's the one that will give you the power to make wealth. Let's close in prayer. Thank you God for your word
Thank you for the fact that you give us the ability to go out and get money to work hard
I think you that you've given us so many
Examples in the Bible how we can learn how we can grow in knowledge and now we can get skills to be successful in this
life
Not just spiritually but even just in our daily life
How your word just applies in all areas of life for all knowledge for all learning
I pray that people would just just realize the importance of reading and writing
And getting in their Bible and just being instructed from the words of God. Thank you for all you give us in Jesus name we pray
Amen