Men, I want to look back at verse number one and the Bible reads very famous verse through
desire a man having separated himself, seeketh an inner metallist with all wisdom and this
conference is a mighty men's conference.
And so the title of my sermon this evening is this mighty through desire mighty through
desire.
Now go if you would the 2nd Samuel for a moment go to 2nd Samuel 23 and we're going to find
a list of the mighty men, you know, they're describing the Bible as David's men and when
we think about someone being mighty what we think about as synonyms we think about strength
right you think about someone who's strong someone that can handle themselves someone
that's fierce in battle someone that you don't want to mess with someone that's you know
definitely proven themselves in some way and when we look at the mighty men of the
Bible the Bible kind of gives us some descriptions as to why these men are mighty but look at
verse number 8 2nd Samuel 23 look at verse 8 the Bible says these be the names of the
mighty men and David had the tachmanite that sat in the seat chief among the captains the
same was a dino the s night he lived up his spear against 800 whom he slew at one time
now when you read this entire chapter you're going to come across a lot of different people
and a lot of different names and a lot of different things about them but what is it
that it's really trying to emphasize in correlation to the fact that this is a mighty man it's
how many people he killed at one time right it says that his spear against 800 whom he
slew at one time now when you read the stories of the Bible like this there's definitely
a spiritual aspect here or supernatural aspect to some of these battles that these men are
going through because no man is going to be able to literally lift up his spear and stab
somebody 800 times by their own physical strength it's obviously a picture of these men trusting
in the Lord and the Lord giving them this drink but what I want to draw from this is
the fact that deciding this man's mighty is tied to something it's tied to the number
of men he killed what if it said this guy was a mighty man he killed a buddy one time
you know he killed a cockroach one time he killed three cockroaches you know we'd be
like really but 800 men that's a pretty big feat right and it's a quantifiable feat it's
something that we measure and we look at and that's how we determine that this person's
mighty is by looking at something that's very quantifiable it's something that you can look
at and if we were to look at men today and we're just deciding that this guy is someone
who's mighty and I'm not saying biblically I'm just saying in general right if you're
gonna look at someone and say this guy's really strong this guy's really mighty how would we
quantify that typically we would say something like this guy can bench press 400 pounds right
we'd say something like that someone who can lift 400 pounds on the bar you know on a bench press
that's a lot that's a lot of weight that's not a normal person on a normal man that's someone
that we would say is mighty right whether that be a bench press whether that be a squat or whether
that be dumbbells or or whatever this guy can do a thousand push-ups you know they have strong men
competitions what are they doing it's how many things they can lift or they push big heavy balls
how quickly they can do it and so they're being measured by the things that they're doing now for
someone to get to this position they have to do a lot of things it takes a lot of effort it takes
a lot of dedication it takes a lot of time and they slowly build up and they get that strength
but whenever you're desiring to be this strong man or you're desiring to be this mighty man what do
you have to constantly do you have to constantly measure yourself you have to go to the gym and say
okay how much can I bench press right and you say hey I want to get the 400 you go and you bench
press and you lift 50 you're like okay well I'm not very close right but you get that instant
feedback and you say all right now I'm gonna go for 75 next week I'm gonna try and do 75 and then
100 150 then 200 and you start working and building up but what's needed is that instant
feedback what if someone says I am the strongest guy ever it's like what do you lift I've never
lifted well how do we know you're strong just trust me you know I just I just know that I'm
really strong well it wouldn't that have to be measured in some way wouldn't there be something
to kind of look at and really the people that get to this position they're constantly looking at
themselves they're measuring themselves they're going in there they're testing how many reps can
I do how much weight can I do how many push-ups did I do how long did I run you know they're
looking at all these elements and they're measuring themselves and they're looking at
what they're doing in their performance and that's helping them push themselves to go to
new limits to new heights to constantly get better and better and better and it doesn't happen
magically it doesn't happen just automatically no that person actually desires to improve and
so they're constantly measuring themselves and measuring themselves and ultimately you know it's
very painful process it's very lengthy process they say no pain no gain why because if it was
easy to be super strong wouldn't everybody do it yeah but it takes a lot of work to get there no
one is a very strong person a very strong man instantly it takes a lot of hard work and in fact
some of the men that I've met that are actually very strong you know they're not just a normal
person and I've either witnessed them or worked out with them or talk with them or whatever what
I notice is they're always looking for ways to improve you know that they'll go and they'll look
at somebody that also is strong and they'll say like oh what's this exercise you're doing or
they're looking for tips or ways to improve or you know they say like I've been plateauing in
this area of you know building muscle or doing whatever hey do you have any ideas of what I
could do another workout or another way to improve in this area they're constantly looking at how to
get better and they're trying to seek how to get stronger you know new tweaks new workouts new tips
and things like this and because it takes so much effort very few do it right we think about in the
military you know the commercials I remember it was the few the proud the Marines now it's a
bunch of trainees or something but the few the proud the Marines but here's the thing why is it
that it was said the few the proud the Marines isn't it because they had a really high standard
in order to become or each they had certain things that you had to do physically in order to even be
qualified to become a marine you know they take a lot of physical and I don't know all the specifics
but you know so many push-ups you have to run so many miles you have to do it so quickly yeah I
mean you have to do certain amount of pull-ups and just all kinds of different physical endurance
factors and many of the people that try even fail they have a desire but here's the thing they didn't
get to that certain threshold that objective threshold and they didn't push themselves high
enough and so because they didn't get there they're not the few they're not the proud they're not
mighty physically okay and at the end of the day you know the Marines while they've had a lot of
valor in the past that they kind of just started to deteriorate people don't have as much respect
for them but you would say why because they lowered their standards that's why it's not as
hard to be a marine anymore all you have to do is be a woman and claim your dude and it's like okay
well you can do girl push-ups and you know you can do that they lower their standards so now
they're not as mighty though when you lower your standards you're less might when you have high
standards you're gonna be more mighty more even more strength and you're gonna have more respect
you know just our military our schooling our society our country it keeps lowering its standards
and you know what that does it's causing our country to be less mighty yeah less strong the
higher the standards that you have the more you're pushing yourself and measuring yourself and trying
to figure out how to get better and improve the mightier you're going to be when you constantly
go down to the lowest common denominator then everybody's just a weak a feminist boy
so you want to be mighty it takes being different than everybody what was that verse that I talked
about through desire a man having separated himself seek of an inner medal of the law
wisdom you know a marine has separated himself in a sense from other soldiers because he has
a higher standard he can do things that other men can't do it now I'm using this to really just kind
of help you understand the basis for my sermon it's very carnal application but it's a very
true application but here's the reality the same is true spiritually if you want to be
mighty spiritually it's going to be the same process of constantly seeking to improve having
a desire to get better having a desire to improve and those that don't desire to improve physically
will never make it those that don't desire to be mighty spiritually will never be mighty
spiritually it's through desire you actually get better and you actually become someone
might when you don't have this desire what it does is it starts you it plateaus you get to a
certain level of contentness you get to a certain level I don't want to get any stronger I don't
want to get any faster I've reached where I want to go as soon as you get content what do you do
you stop getting better what causes you to constantly improve is a desire to get better
is the idea of constantly having new goals and constantly trying to improve good a second
Corinthians chapter 10 good a second Corinthians chapter number 10 if you want to be mighty the
best vehicle is going to be through desire you're not going to accidentally become a giant
spiritually on accident you will not be a mighty man spiritually without pushing yourself setting
goals measuring yourself thinking about how to get better you can't do it unless you want to do
it no one is just going to accidentally look like Arnold Schwarzenegger and look no one's going to
accidentally look like Arnold Schwarzenegger spiritually yeah it takes desire that person
it through desire separated himself notice he didn't just separate himself no it took
something because you said why does it take desire because it's hard yeah just as hard as
it would be to go to the gym every single day and constantly lifting the weights and going through
all the pain and the exercise and not eating because you want to get you know those guys
that are super strong they don't eat in fact whenever they're going to go perform for their
little show or whatever they typically eat like nothing for a few weeks virtually and they're
only they're just eating like chicken and broccoli and not with cheese on it you know I'm just like
you know it's just like just raw chicken not just without bland chicken or whatever they cook it I'm
just saying but like maybe there's nothing with it just like chicken and broccoli chicken and
broccoli and they're just like oh man I'm sick and tired I want some McDonald's you know or they
want some fries they want some pizza or they want some look they don't accidentally look like that
it takes so much sacrifice and hard work and dedication and here's the thing if you want to
be someone mighty spiritually it takes the same amount of desire and strength and endurance and
pain and separating yourself and saying no to things you don't just magically become a mighty
man spiritually look at 2nd Corinthians chapter 10 verse 3 for through for though we walk in the
flesh we did not war after the flesh for the weapons of our work were not carnal but mighty
through God to the pulling down of strongholds casting down imaginations and every high thing
that exalted itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every spot to
the obedience of Christ and having a readiness to revenge all disobedience when your obedience is
fulfilled now I don't want you to get the wrong idea and say okay well I can be super mighty on
my own no everything comes through God and obviously the mighty men in the Bible they
weren't able to do the task that they did physically without God's strength there yeah
guiding but I guarantee they didn't look like some soy boy Richard Simmons or something walking
you know no I'm sure they look really physically tough I'm sure they were really strong too yeah
but it's just here's the thing by your own strength you can make it here's the thing when
you have God on your side you can well here's the thing you need to still improve yourself you
need to still try to be strong and do the best that you can and God will be there to fill in
the gaps but notice what it has that's two really important aspects here of becoming mighty okay
and in our warfare here what is the fact that in verse five casting down imaginations now
here's the thing who does that you do that who's in control can I control your imagination it's
not inception here okay you know look obviously I can influence your thoughts and obviously I
could try to manipulate you and obviously the TV and news they try to put ideas in your mind but
the end of the day you're in the driver's seat yeah you get to decide what's flowing through here
and at the end of the day if you want to be mighty you have to decide I'm gonna cast down imaginations
I am going to what bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ you say that
sounds hard yeah we're not talking about things that are easy here yeah being mighty is not
automatic yeah being a mighty man spiritually someone that's willing to say you know what I do
want to take my thought life and put it in control I am wanting to say you know what I need to do
something I need to put forth some effort and it takes a desire to say I want to have a pure mind
that's good verse six and having a readiness to revenge all disobedience not I just love how this
is worded because it's saying you're ready to revenge all this will be the same like when you
screw up you're ready to fix that right away like you're mad at yourself you're like man I'm ready
to revenge this is obedience yeah I'm not just like I screwed up whatever no you're like that
was terrible yeah you know you look at sports athletes you look at these people that are really
great whenever they have something off in their shot or they do something wrong they make some
kind of a mistake they think wow I need to fix that I need to practice more I need to do more
wraps or I need to do something to fix this because that was a horrible mistake that I made
you know the quarterback keeps throwing interceptions like I need to pick something right and he's ready
to revenge himself rather than just being like oh just whatever you know it's just not my day
or night someone's saying you know what I'm gonna do better yeah I'm gonna fix these things and at
the end of the day you have two ways that you can really get better yourself and harkening
into instruction right someone can tell you something to do better to do it or you can tell
yourself to do something better and you can choose to do that right and when I think about this is
like there's a lot of men who say you know I want to be a pastor but when I think about this and I
think about looking at men deciding you know is this guy someone that could be a pastor this is
one of the most important things that I think of when it comes to someone being a pastor it's number
one is how well does this man improve when instructed when he's told something that he's
doing wrong there's some way that he can get better how good is he actually taking that
advice and then doing it yeah that's good because at the end of the day if you're supposed to take
the word of God and hear God's instructions and then implement them if you can't implement
instruction you're gonna be a failure in your life you know someone that can't take instruction
and actually follow that instruction is not going to be a good leader it's not going to be someone
who's mighty it's not someone that should be in charge of others and it's it's frustrating because
some people can be told straight to their face what they need to do and how they need to improve
you just won't do it but that someone's not that person's not a mighty person you wouldn't say that
no person's a rebellious person when you say that are lazy person or stupid frankly I mean if you're
doing something wrong and someone can point it out to you and make it clear to you and then you
still make that same mistake wouldn't you look at your stupid or something or you're lazy or your
rebellious I mean there's not a good attribute to that person when you give someone clear instruction
and then they just don't do it do that you know you identify a problem and you try to help them
by giving them clear instruction but they don't want to take that instruction and then most
importantly is this how well does this man improve when not being instructed and look if
someone cannot improve themselves without me having to tell them I would never be a pastor
why because as soon as they become a pastor now they answer to God they're not going to have
someone going around telling them what to do they have to have a desire in their heart to improve
themselves and become in the pastor someone could be so filled with pride in their heart
and think like why right now I've made it no one needs to tell me what to do now but here's the
thing we all need to constantly be told by this book how we need to get better and if you can't
even lead yourself how are you going to lead others if you can't even improve yourself how
are you going to improve others yet I think many people today many men today they never honestly
look at their life on a daily basis and think how can I improve they're not just thinking like I
need to get better today I need to do something better you read the Bible and say wow I'm not
doing that I need to fix something and then coming up with a plan or an idea of how to fix that say
hey this is a problem in my life I need to try and look maybe you fail one time but then you say
well I'm gonna try another one I'm gonna try something else and you say what what's that key
ingredient desire because if you don't desire to be better here's the thing you won't improve
no one's just gonna automatically do it and you know it takes it takes self-awareness now think
about going in the gym how do you do that self-awareness 50 pounds all right 50 pounds
right you look at it and measure it you weigh it you look at things so when you look at the Bible
when you're reading the Word of God and you're saying okay well this is what the guy's supposed
to be doing look at yourself and say am I doing that yeah how much am I lifting what does my life
look like in comparison to the Word of God to the men of God to what the Bible's telling me to do
and you say well I never do that well let me tell you something you're not improving right I never
have these thoughts you're not getting better you're not you know Moses his boss was God right
but he still needs to improve he still needs to get better but at the end of the day you know when
you get to certain positions in your life it may just be God's the one that's over you hey if you're
a small business owner you own your own business I mean there's no one to tell you what to do and
even in a church like a church or small business yeah you have to be you know accountable to your
customers but your customers in your church can't tell you what to do and a real church okay obviously
you could just tell your customers take a hike you could tell your church take a hike right at the
end of the day so you need to have a desire to improve in a pastor with an attitude that they
don't need to improve is dangerous a pastor with an attitude that they don't need to improve is
dangerous anything it's dangerous for any person but especially that person now think of some
people that are great go to first Kings chapter number three go to first Kings chapter number
three what's a person that finds himself in this position where they answer to God there's no one
to tell them what to do how about Solomon how about a king wouldn't that be someone that's in
a position where no one's going to tell Solomon what to do at the end of the day Solomon gets to
make every single decision however he sees fit he's the top of the food chain okay now why would
God want Solomon to be at the top of that food chain I'll tell you why because of what was in
his heart now look at first Kings chapter 3 verse 5 and give you on the word appeared to Solomon in
dream by night and God said ask what I should give thee Solomon said that was showing my servant
David my father great mercy according as he walked before the in truth and righteousness and
then a brightness apart with me now it's kept for him this great kindness that was given him a son
to sit on his throne as it is this day and now Lord my God that was made my servant King instead
of David my father and I am but a little child I know not how to go out or come in now stop
yourself does Solomon have self-awareness how could he make this statement he says I'm a little
child he's looked at his years he says I'm not an old person I don't have much life experience
and he says I don't know how to go out I don't know how to come in I don't know how to do these
things he's assessed himself and realized I'm not the person like I suck what I am a novice I am
weak I don't have the skills that I need but didn't God put him in a really important position and
here's the reality obviously he has some character he has some knowledge he has some level of
understanding it's not just zero but at the end he even sees himself as someone who needs so much
more wisdom and so much more knowledge and to me this would be the idea a person that becomes a
pastor they look at themselves and like all right why would that person look like I don't know how
to do this I still need to improve I still need better having a strong self-awareness of what this
person needs he says in verse 8 and my servant is in the midst of thy people which thou has chosen a
great people that cannot be numbered or countable to do give therefore thy servant an understanding
heart to judge thy people what does he want he wants to know more he wants to understand more he
wants to get back does Solomon think that he is the is the best at this point or is he say I need
to get better he has a desire to be better and to be the right person to leave he understands the
importance of his role the importance of the job that he has and he's saying I need to get better
I need to have more understanding I need to have more knowledge I need to have more wisdom and so
that's what yeah God says you can have anything Solomon what does he want I want to get better
and that what he says he doesn't want the spoils of life he wants to get better he could have
anything and here's the thing we need men today that look to God and just say I just want to get
better I mean what is it that you want in your life well I want more money I want to have more
prestige I want more fame I want more honor I want that promotion I want to have this house I
want to have these things how about this how about just being better spiritually having that desire
these things won't get there unless you have that desire look at chapter 4 and look at verse 32 now
what does God do God gives that to him and then he gives them everything else on top of that but
look at Solomon and think about our first verse through desire a man having separated himself
okay well look at something about Solomon first Kings chapter 4 look at verse number 32 and he
spake 3,000 problems and it's wrong for a thousand five now does anybody know how many problems are
in the Bible in the book of Proverbs how many verses they guess 915 versus now I don't know
how the Bible quantifies this okay I don't know because sometimes proverbs in the Bible are like
two verses right sometimes it seems like maybe it could have been counted as multiple per verse
I don't know how God quantified it but to me you would have to say this 3,000 was more than what's
written in the book of Proverbs now does anybody in this room have every single proverb memorized
but think about this yeah he's beyond that he's at 3,000 isn't that different than you and I
isn't that a little bit different than the normal person he had a desire to get better he had a
desire to have understanding not only does he speak 950 probably 3,000 problems that doesn't
happen overnight that doesn't happen accidentally right it took a lot of effort and taking a lot of
diligence it took a lot of study to get to that point and then God like this is the wise guy well
why do you think that happened he didn't just wake up one morning just like I'm the smartest
guy now no one proverb two proverbs three proverbs thousand two thousand three thousand I mean this
is some incredible amount of effort that Solomon had to go through and look hey you want to be a
great preacher it's gonna take some effort some people like why I'm not good at preaching it's
like well how much effort are you including how much time do you spend working on becoming a
better preacher and let me tell you this you want to become a better preacher listen to your own
sermons why you say well self-awareness listen back and here's the thing when I listen back to
the sermon and I try to listen I don't listen all of them but I listen to a lot of them you know
what I'm doing the whole time thinking how I can get better that's the only thing I think I don't
wow really good point I'm thinking like that was kind of a dumb thing to say why do I have
that filler word you know or this is what happened there's tons of times when I'm preaching and a
thought kind of is creeping up in my mind if I can first that I want to go through or something
I want to say but it's just not sharp enough and so I ignore it but then when I listen back to my
sermon I remember that thought and then I can go look it up and sharpen it so I can have in the
future or I miss quote a verse or I miss do some kind of a reference or something and then I look
it up and I make sure I get it exactly right every single staff every single word every single verse
every single thought that I say how can I get better and you say well why would you do that
why wouldn't I do that if you want to be better at something and look whenever we do a men's
preaching class you know what I do when I listen to the guys preaching I think how can this get
better sometimes it's really obvious how about this how about listen to someone that you think
is a great preacher or he knows a lot better at preaching than you and try to figure out what it
is that they're doing and do what they're doing it's good yeah good I mean if you went to a
strongman competition do you really think that they would look very different from each other
they all look about the same I mean they have about the same looking pecs and biceps and trying
I mean it from you and I to them they all look the same all right I mean it's all kind of look
around I mean you wouldn't expect to go to the strongman competition see someone that just looks
way different than everybody else I mean they all kind of generally look about the same and you
think from a spiritual picture let me tell you what they're all going to kind of look the same
go to matthew chapter 16 go to matthew chapter number 16
there's an interesting thing in the bible where whenever they're looking at other men of god
they're constantly confusing them you say well why would they be constantly confusing them
because they're really similar yeah because they're going for the same attributes the
same characteristics
look at matthew chapter 16 verse 13 when jesus came to the coast of caesarea philippine
he asked his disciples saying whom do men say that I the son of man am and they said
some say that thou art john the baptist some alliance and others jeremiah's or
one of the prophets he's like you know who's all really similar
elias john the baptist jeremiah's in fact they're just pretty much like all the other prophets and
they're like hey elias is like elijah and they just are constantly like the same person and then
the same attributes and you say what were they doing they're all copying jesus it's good that's
good and you say why because it's the same spirit right it's the same spirit yeah look if you're
filled with the same spirit of god that other men of god are filled with you should be really
similar that's why when i hear preaching from pastor i'm like i don't recognize that spirit
that's not the spirit of god hey when they're preaching false doctrine that's not the spirit
of god that's coming out of the mouth it's a different spirit it's a false spirit at best
it's them being carnal right at worst they're filled with a different spirit right yeah because
at the end of the day whenever you have the same holy spirit and you're trying to be like christ
you know what we're all going to be pretty similar so if i look at a guy and say this guy is filled
with the spirit of god and this guy's striving to follow christ you know what i would try to be like
that guy you know you can't accuse me of trying to somebody like hey pastor anderson sounds a
lot like jack isle's oh i wonder why you think that he takes that as a negative thing that's
a compliment can you imagine someone's like you're like elijah you sound a lot you're like great
you're like jeremiah's cool you're like john mappins you're like yeah sweet why would that
be an insult right that would be a compliment wouldn't it look at the guys that you think and
have respect for and say well i need to take on some of their characteristics and try to be
like them wouldn't it be pretty uh awful if they said man you remind me a lot of total esteem
this is my bible and i am what i say is it him
you sound a lot like kenneth Copeland you remind me of kenneth Copeland
oh what is like you're preaching it just reminds joyce my
oh you're preaching sounds a lot like jack isle's it's like great yeah why would i want why would i
want them to say anything else yeah yeah what is the other comparison and look at the end of the
day you know you're going to work it out somebody's like you're working out like short snake or you're
working out like this other of course because there's going to be a lot of similarity there
and if you want to get better look at the people that are really great and try to be like them
look at the sports athletes today what do they do they try to be like their idol they try to be like
michael jordan they try to be like the greats the wayne gretzky's or the tiger woods or whatever
they try to emulate their swing they try to emulate their mental characteristics and their
work habits and their practice routines and all the things that they do because they say how are
you so great and they're like i practice 12 hours a day i need to practice 12 hours a day
right but they're not going to go and like paint their skin black okay that's not going to make
you like mike but if you pick up their personal you know uh uh practice routines and habits and
the disciplines and the things that look you can borrow from other great men look at what they're
doing ask them questions say like what do you do yeah right and try to be like that person or
identify things that they're doing you know whenever i was wanting to be a preacher or a
pastor i looked at uh pastor and i went to his church i trained to be with him i looked at him
and i said you know what i really like about his preaching he's constantly quoting scripture
and you know what i did i heard he says he memorized like 140 chapters of the bible before
he ever became a pastor do you think that's different than your average person you think
this is different than your average pastor yeah i would be surprised if all the other
baptists in arizona collectively have 140 chapters
but through desire men have been separating themselves
seeketh and intermet with all wisdom he said why is pastor anderson such a good preacher
he's just naturally gifted how about memorize 140 chapters of the bible and then come back to me
and see what your preaching is like yeah that's good amen it's like why do i suck at preaching
it's like well have you read the bible cover to cover no do you have any bible
verses memorized no do you ever study no it's like i know why you suck at preaching
like it's not rocket science okay it just takes a lot of hard work and dedication and getting better
go to proverbs chapter number three proverbs chapter three and you say well i don't want to
be a pastor i don't want to be a preacher okay but here's the thing you should desire to be
a spiritual person right a spiritual man and a leader you say well i'm never gonna be king
well guess what you're king of your cows yeah you're king of your castle yeah who makes the
decisions in your house above you yeah no one you answer to god there's the myth do you look at your
job and your house as important as solomon did his job i mean isn't your wife's life important
aren't your children's lives important how about your brothers and your cousins and the people that
look up to you and your fellow church members that are looking to you and looking at your example
and the influence that you have in their life are you taking that as serious do you have a desire to
be better for them amen proverbs chapter 3 verse 13 the bible is happy as the man that finds wisdom
and the man that get it understanding you know one thing that robs me so wrong is when people
are content with being stupid content i'll never learn that language i'll never study that i'll
never look it's like i don't want to be better why would you go around and brag about not wanting
to be better that's the worst attribute in the pastor yeah someone that does not desire to get
better is going to get worse go to proverbs chapter four and look at verse five the bible
commands you first five get wisdom yeah anybody arrived yet i haven't get understanding forget it
not neither decline in the words of my mouth forsake or not and she shall preserve the lover
and she shall keep the wisdom is the principal thing therefore get wisdom and with all that
good and good understanding exalt her and she shall promote me and she shall bring me to honor
when that doesn't embrace her hey you want to be mighty get wisdom hey you want to be
mighty spiritually get understanding it says it's the principal thing what does that mean
the primary thing the most important thing he's saying this is what's really important
get some wisdom better proverbs chapter 16 proverbs chapter 16
but what do these verses underpin the importance of what a desire to be better don't they because
getting wisdom is something you don't already have something you're striving for you're trying
to attain until you're trying to get more of more understanding more wisdom please ask this
chapter 7 look at verse 19 wisdom strengthen that the wise more than 10 mighty men which are in the
city notice it's an attribute of what strength of being mighty and he says wisdom is better
than 10 physically strong men he said you want to be truly mighty wisdom is better than physical
strength amen yeah let me prove that go to please ask chapter nine please step right let me prove
this to you look at verse 13 please ask chapter nine verse 13 this wisdom have i seen also under
and it seemed great underneath there was a little city and few men within it and there came a great
king against it and besieged it and built great bulwarks against it it was found in a poor wise
man and he by his wisdom delivered the city yet no man remembered that same poor man then said
i wisdom is better than strength nevertheless the poor man's wisdom is despised his words are not
the words of wise men are heard in quiet more than the cry of him that rule is among fools
wisdom is better than weapons of war one center destroys much good
what is the bible telling us it's telling us that wisdom is actually better than strength
but here's the thing it's rare it's rare that men will seek wisdom over physical strength yeah
it's easier to find a lot of mighty men physically than to find a lot of mighty men spiritually
and he's saying even though it's actually better people are more interested than the other thing
and often in verse 17 says the words of the wise are heard in quiet more saying hey i want to go
to the big church where they have all the fancy stuff yeah but are the words of the wise there
how much better of a person are you going to become listening to roasty
james joyce meyer you're going to become a better man listen to joyce meyer
she tries a little hard to make herself a man but you know what she's not your role model she's not
the right person to make you win why don't you go and find someone that can make you a better person
and go listen to what they have to say unfortunately you say
i don't you know that doesn't sound as much fun it's not
it's not as much fun to be told that you are in need of improvement that you're doing things wrong
and it oftentimes will cause people to get very offended when they hear problems that they have
but the reality is that we all have blind spots in our life and as much as we need to
strive to have self-awareness and try to encourage ourselves to be better oftentimes we need others
there to help us in the areas of blind spots that we have things that we don't see in ourselves
things that we need to work on weaknesses that we have and in fact in today's age if someone has
enough courage to point something out that you're doing wrong it's probably really wrong
because most of the time when you think someone's doing something wrong you just kind of like keep
it to yourself when someone actually verbalizes something that they don't like about you or
criticize you in some way it's typically it's got to a point that they were just like i just
have to say something yeah yeah and obviously there's some people walking around criticizing
everyone but i'm just saying when someone criticizes you you should take that as an
opportunity to say i might have something seriously wrong with me yeah this might be
something that i can actually improve on and what does that do it encourages good growth
it encourages you into an area where you can actually get
better going to hebrews chat number five hebrews chat number five
we need other people to help us understand issues that we have so we can be
we can have a full vision we can have that perfect look at ourselves because oftentimes you can't
see yourself for who you are you can't see your weaknesses for who you are because it's a weakness
because it's a weakness you probably aren't noticing it and when someone else is able to
point that out or give you some kind of advice you shouldn't just immediately excuse that or get
offended but look at it as an opportunity to get better look at hebrews chapter 5 verse 13 for
everyone that uses milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness for he is a babe but strong meat
belongeth to them that are a full age even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised
to discern both good and evil now in hebrews chapter 5 is talking about people in church that
have been there for a while yet they haven't really grown they haven't gotten better frankly
speaking they haven't applied the instructions that they've been getting and they haven't been
developing and getting more understanding and more wisdom and so what uh whoever the author is
basically explaining them well i would like to give you something else i'd like to go on and
move on and give you strong meat something better more nourishing but you can't handle it
and look a baby cannot eat steak no matter how good steak is no matter how tender it is i mean
a baby with no teeth it just can't do it it still has to happen it has to grow and it has to get
better and here's the thing there are certain people that you look at them and they have not
spiritually grown so if you were to point out something that they need to work on and improve
they would just be offended and they would never grow they wouldn't be able to
handle it just like a baby couldn't handle steak and it's frustrating when you look at people and
you think i i want to say this or i want to talk about this issue and i'd like to help this person
but i feel like they can't handle that right now they're on a different stage they haven't
grown to this point and you and i both know there's people you look at you like this guy
has this problem but if i say something there he's not gonna be my friend anymore he's gonna
be mad at me he's gonna take it the wrong way he can't handle criticism can't handle being told
he's doing something wrong let me show you an example of this a lot of them are chapter four
mark chapter number four they can't take the heat they can't take the pressure
they succumb to any kind of outside force there's certain people that i look at and i say they have
a serious problem in their life but if i told them what they need to hear they'd probably leave
they'd probably quit now at the end of the day as a pastor as a preacher you have to be a pastor
first and a pal second yeah you have to be a boss first and a buddy second so sometimes
that's what happens sometimes you just basically it gets to that point you say look this needs a
fix or you need to change this we preach something and there's like and then they leave but you know
at least they got to hear it yeah how i do it now look at mark chapter number four verse number 16
is the parable of sower and these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground when
they have heard the word immediately receive it with gladness and have no root in themselves
and so endure but for a time afterward when affliction or persecution arises for the word's
sake immediately they are offended so saying there's a group of people they love the positive
things of the bible but they don't root themselves now what would be a rooting yourself spiritually
growing in knowledge growing in wisdom having a desire to become more strong spiritually and
because they're not strong spiritually any kind of outside force that comes upon them immediately
destroys them immediately gets them out of the word of god immediately offends them in this case
it's saying persecution affliction but look even criticism can have the same effect on people
where they can't handle the preaching you and i both know someone some visitor comes in
and it's not the right sunday morning they can't handle the preaching again
did he just say faggot
it's like back it back it back did he just say four did he just call someone a bastard
why isn't he wearing two masks up there
look you look at someone with two masks on in the store they can't handle any criticism that you
would give them could they right now right why because they're so far from wisdom they're so
far from understanding they're they're not even a spiritual baby and the same can happen to us
when you're not desiring to improve when you don't have a desire to improve you can't handle
criticism can you it's good you're already robbing yeah i'm already there i don't desire to get
better pastor why would i come in here or how i could get better yeah i'm already the best
church member you've got go to isaiah 50 for a moment and here's the thing sometimes people
look at someone and they think they're spiritual well they're going to church or reading the bible
or doing these things but let me tell you something someone can't take criticism is not
spiritually mighty it's not a spiritual person if you cannot take criticism
you will never be a mighty person for god you want to know how many you want to talk about
Christmas how about just every man of god in the bible yeah do you think there was Moses ever
criticized by anyone i think anybody was upset with anything that Moses did and look men of the
god a lot of times their criticism was faith was false it wasn't even a real criticism but here's
the thing whenever you're a leader whenever you're trying to do something right you will face
criticism you as the man of your house wanting to serve god will face criticism from who your
mother-in-law from your aunts from your uncles from your dad from your brother from your friends
and your cousins anybody they will press why do you want to go to that church why do you want to
wear that shirt why do you want to read the bible why do you go out solely why you're going to
constantly go so winning you'll get criticized all the time do anything spiritual and you're
going to be criticized up and down yeah you're going to constantly be attacked and persecuted
and afflicted and look criticism can only be positive if you have the right mindset
because if it's false rewards if it's true then i have an opportunity to get better
so please explain to me why criticism is bad
yeah i think a lot of people don't realize how poorly they take criticism hey if someone gives
you bad advice who cares but if someone gives you good advice isn't that the one that usually stings
a little bit the one that's kind of true something that you're doing that's not right and you want
to talk about someone who had a lot of criticism and deserve none of it how about jesus yeah how
much criticism did jesus deserve wouldn't it be zero yeah i mean there's nothing to criticize
he's perfect yeah yet they constantly criticize them up and down everything he did every move
every word they falsely accused him yeah do you know what he was like when they were criticizing
well look the bible gives us a hint look at isaiah 50 verse 7 for the lord god will help me
therefore shall i not be confounded therefore have i set my face like a flint and i know
but i should not be ashamed hey they criticize him and he does his setbacks
he didn't change his countenance he didn't get upset about it it didn't worry him he didn't
have to settle every score he didn't have to say no i really am the son of god he just kept him
around shut he knew who he was yeah if someone criticizes you if someone says something mean
about you do you have to well that's not the spiritual person what would jesus like
just looks at him in the eyes just stares him down he doesn't even have to say anything
art thou the son of the blessed i am just looks at him why he can take criticism you can hurl
anything at him they're literally he's he's been crucified and there's they're mocking him they're
railing on him when he's out there he can take it all yet we oftentimes can't take any kind of
criticism go to proverbs chapter 15 go to proverbs chapter 15 his face was harder than the flint you
want to talk about someone who's spiritually mighty jesus christ who never did anything wrong
in his entire life and he took all the criticism and all the accusations and all the railing and
all the stuff and he just took it yeah just took it like a man and you know what a man just takes
it a man doesn't have to revenge himself he doesn't have to settle every score he doesn't
have to right every wrong he doesn't have to answer every troll did you see what this troll
said about me how many trolls do you see me arguing with on facebook those of you on social
media can you find me just constantly just getting in these weird arguments with trolls
let me tell you what people that get in lots of arguments with trolls are not spiritually mighty
the stupid silly game someone that's spiritual doesn't care i don't have to go and talk to beau
ballad online and wonder everything that he says or jake strickland or seth bookout or whatever
i mean that guy made like a thousand videos against me maybe it was like
i don't have to write every single wrong who cares right did you hear what they said about
did you hear what they did who cares yeah and if it was true then i'll fix it
if it was something that was real why not just say well great i can improve on that look at
it says in proverbs 15 verse 10 correction is grievous and then that forsake of the way
and he that hated reproof shall die so notice someone that's wicked that forsakes god he hates
being corrected yeah yeah the worst thing that could happen to him but you should embrace
criticism go to proverbs nine go backwards proverbs chapter nine and look at verse eight
reprove not a squirter lest he hate me rebuke a wise man and he will love me why would someone
love you for rebuking them because you're giving them opportunity to get better if i
desire to be better you know what i want criticism hey you know when i went to faith
word baptist church you know what i beg for from everyone criticize me how can i get better what
can i do that you know hey if you see something i'm doing wrong tell me about it so i can fix it
a bad leader is someone that can't be criticized right that can't take it that guy thinks i'm
doing something wrong yeah maybe you are okay maybe you really do something bad go back to
verse 15 proverbs chapter 15 look at verse 12 a squirter love is not one that reproveth them
neither will he go unto the wise
why would you go on the wise to be reproved why would you not go into the wise so that you're not
reproved why would i go because i have a desire to to be better i want to be mighty through desire
go to proverbs 29 go to proverbs 29
say do you have like three points no i don't okay i have one point
desire to be better and you say well i don't desire to be better well you're going to just
not be a great person you're just not going to be mighty if you say i'm never going to go to the
gym i'm never going to work out i'm never going to run you're never going to look physically fit
you're never going to be really strong it's not going to no one gets really strong eating Doritos
and sleeping and working at a desk job like it just doesn't happen if you really wanted it you'd
have to do it and here's the thing if you truly want to be spiritually mighty you have to do it
you have to put in the time you have to put in the energy you have to put in that that all the
sacrifice to do and be that type of person and at the end of the day one of the worst things you can
do to yourself is not embrace all the criticism you could possibly get look what it says here in
is it verse one i think eat at being often reproved harden at his neck he'll suddenly
be destroyed in that without remedy take criticism well you know pastor anderson in his preaching
class he said whenever i criticize someone after their sermon he says if they just like roll their
eyes they can't handle the criticism they just kind of like answer what does it mean to harden
your neck they make that face right they make they can't take the criticism they get all offended
he says he'll never hire that person you say well how many times does that person have to do it once
once it's a horrible attribute in a person people that don't like correction because
they're worried it makes them inferior to the corrector but that's a foolish attitude
keep your finger to psalms 119 go to psalms 119 look just because someone corrects you doesn't
make them better than you why can't you take correction if you need to be corrected look
your wife telling you need to fix something doesn't mean she's better than you maybe really
stink yeah you need to take a shower maybe your dress kind of weird maybe you're kind of socially
awkward you know maybe you have problems and she's just there to help you and if she's bold
enough to say something she was probably thinking it many times before she said it
but you still need to work on yourself and have this desire to be better and look you can even
be better than everyone that teaches you but you have to have more desire than look at psalms 119
like verse 99 i have more understanding than all my teachers for that testimony or meditation
your teachers are not going to hold you back you're going to be back that's good you will
hold you back and if you're intimidated by someone being better or wiser than you
then you're never going to be this person hey he had great teachers he hearkened them and then he
listened to them but you know he has such a great desire to look at the bible look you want to know
what the bible is it's telling you why you suck yeah just open the bible it's everything that's
wrong with you every problem you have is right here when you say when you read the bible what
do you what are you thinking about i need to do that i need to i need to have i need to be more
upright i need to be more righteous i need that we have more faith i need to praise the lord i need
to pray more i need the same praise of the lord i i don't look at the bible and think like check
check check i mean i'm thinking like oh man i got a lot of work to do yeah so how can someone
constantly reading the bible you know without the desire to be better get better they can't
you have to have that desire first you know you're wasting time reading the bible if you
don't think you can prove or if you have no desire to prove what's the point what if i just went to
the gym and i just looked in the mirror but i never lifted any weights i'm at the gym
i have some pick it up i mean yeah it's good i watched i looked at lots of magazines about
getting strong and i thought about i drew pictures of me with big muscles
like you got to do something yeah now here's another thing when someone criticizes you that
doesn't make me better than you but even if they were who cares yeah what if someone
started a baptist church right next to us and he was a better preacher and he was a better
solar than me and his church had better programs and the chairs were more comfortable and he let
all your kids have toys in the service world it didn't smell weird and you're like i'm gonna go
to that church it had a better name somehow and every one of my church members left my church and
went to his church now let me ask you this question i'm just saying projectively he said
why would i be upset if every single person in this room if i care about them and want them to
be the best that they can possibly be and they actually found themselves in a better situation
why would it me me being upset why would that be a good thing i should actually be excited and i'll
come join you i have two options it can motivate me to be better right or accept that someone
else is better and just get on their program yeah there's nothing wrong with that why you know it's
weird to me when people look at someone that's better than them and and they they have this
envious attitude where they don't want them to succeed you should want every single person to
see and here's the thing if you just constantly want to get better you want to be around people
that are better than you so that you can be the best that you can be right yeah that's good
or what if i thought well i hope every pastor out here just sucks really bad so i don't even have
to improve and everybody just want to come to my church wouldn't that be a pretty poor attitude
rather than being motivated to be better what if someone in your workplace came in a new hire and
they're better than you at your job but it's going to do better for the company it's going to cause
you to work harder and become better you could think like i don't want them to be here actually
you could embrace that and if they give you criticism you could say well i can get better
yeah it's giving me an opportunity to do more and to get better and a seeming other better than
yourself you know if you really care about your family you really care about the people in
your life you're going to want what's best for them no matter what happens to you
and when someone gives you criticism look say it well this is an opportunity to be better person
or just get on their team don't be envious of vain glory don't be offended by competition
or the idea that someone's better than you because then you won't improve
and you won't be able to respond well to criticism you know we should desire
criticism scrutiny and think about it this way when you go out of soul winning
and you look at someone you ask them what does it take to get to heaven they say be a good person
and you say well the bible says something a little bit different they say oh i already
know what the bible says
no the bible literally has something different can i show you no i already i'm good what is
that person lacking they desire to get better yeah and you know what's going to do that what's
going to happen to them they're going to be destroyed yeah because if they never desire to
get better then they'll never hear the gospel and they'll never choose to believe what they need in
their life the desire to get better who are the people that get saved yeah i'd like to hear
yeah i don't know someone that's willing to admit i want to get better i want to hear something new
i want more wisdom i want more understanding but look it doesn't stop at salvation right you didn't
arise yet some people get this attitude that they've already right yet people that are very
spiritual pastors and other they can look at the congregation say like you guys need more
information you can look at people and say you need to grow you need this but if you have no
desire to get better eventually you'll just get offended by the criticisms that you receive in
the leaf why do people leave hard preaching because they stop desiring to get better
yeah they stop they stop desiring to get wisdom they stop desiring to get understanding they get
offended by the criticisms that have been pointed out in their life and here's my question if you
were criticized up and down in church well how would it benefit you to leave or to quit
look you can be doing something wrong and still be in church you can be criticized you know that
the pastor could say that you're doing something really bad and still choose to keep going to that
church it's called life i guarantee we all read the bible and think i could do better
you know looking at that perfect law of liberty go to hebrews chapter four
some people just don't want to know what they look like
but when you look in the bible it tells you exactly what you're looking
and sometimes verses they'll just describe you up and down and you're just like wow
but then they just walk away from you rather than embracing the fact that they could be better why
because pride because they don't want to look like they're inferior or something or they have
some kind of problem they have something they could work on because it shows them to be weak
in their mind but a weak person is someone that doesn't want to improve that thinks that they
already arrived a strong person never thinks that they've arrived they're always trying to get
better they're always trying to improve their desire to go above even what their teachers have
taught them how can you go above your teachers you're not even listening to your teacher
that guy's going through his teacher and he's going to the word of god and he's letting empty
his teacher the bible says in hebrew sport 12 for the word of god is quick and powerful and
sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even the dividing of the center of soul and spirit
the joints of marwin's the discernment of thoughts and intents of the heart you say well pastor
shelly i want the truth then tell me what's the truth you can't handle the truth is what i'm
telling you there are so many people i look at and i think this person needs this truth
but they can't handle it what if a pastor or me or someone walked straight up to you and just said
you're lazy would you just quit the church if someone just literally walked up and just said
you're a lazy slothful jerk that would kind of hurt with me hey the bible said piercing didn't it
let me tell you some men that come to my church are lazy
but if i just walked straight up to you and told you i don't know if you can handle it
i don't think you can handle it i'm just telling you probably can't handle it you say why because
you don't have a desire to get better or i say you're selfish you're a selfish person
or if i look you said you have no self-awareness i see your wife looking at you and making all
kinds of noises and saying things and you have no idea your wife is pissed at you and you have no
idea i can look i'm like wow you did something wrong you got some issues there buddy and they
just have no idea or you look at this person's a really awkward person but imagine you walk up
you're awkward you're lazy you're i want the truth can you handle it it's good and you say
well why can't i handle it because you don't desire to get better you could look at someone
say you're just a bad leader there's some people you're just really honestly just a bad leader
you're indecisive you're not you're not strong you're showing yourself to be a good example
you're just a bad example there's some people are looking at yourself you're literally stupid
i mean you need to improve in knowledge you need to become wise look we make fun of other
churches there's other churches that were kindreds of ours maybe not as much as more
the people getting up by the pulpit are calling themselves stupid but they are yeah
but look if someone walked up you said you're stupid you have two options
embrace the criticism or reject the criticism right but why wouldn't you embrace it if it's true
hey what if i walked up to solomon and said you're young you don't know how to go out you
don't know how to come in you don't have an understanding heart you're not ready to take
care of this people well quickly what did he say well then i'm going to ask god to give that to me
and then i'm going to study the word of god and fix that problem with my life
and here's the thing sometimes you need to come to church and hear some more preaching
so that you can fix things in your life yeah get more specific okay
some men don't know as much bible as their life that's embarrassing yeah yeah
some men wives want to go to church more than them
how can you say you're mighty spiritually don't don't make your wife drag you to church that's
that's gross yeah you should be leading the family and going to church leading the family
going the soul winning you should be the best in every area of your family and you should be
a leader you said well she's better than me at something well they get better she knows more
about finance than learning about finances she knows more about any every single task is figured
out ask the lord to give you understanding and wisdom and be the best leader that you can
possibly be you're in charge of your house you answer to god nobody can tell you look if you
get out of church there'll be no one in your life telling you to get better in your marriage
and your life or anything no one and if you have no desire then you will just plateau and you won't
be mighty and look why don't compare yourself to the men of this world that would be like saying
well i want to meet the marine standard of today why not the marine standard of 1980 and 1950
be what they used to be like or how about what the word of god says don't compare yourself to
the guy in the pew next to you or the chair next to you compare yourself to jeremiah
good yeah to solomon to jesus and say well how am i doing
there's some men that make themselves more comfortable than their family
they make themselves more comfortable than their family rather than taking the burdens
of their family onto themselves they push their burdens off onto their family how is that a leader
like if you want to be a mighty person spiritually you know you take other people's
birth did jesus come down from heaven and give you burden or did jesus christ come to earth and take
away all of your burdens right oh yeah and didn't it say that jesus is like the head of the church
and it's like his wife and what did he do for the church he took all of her work
didn't upon himself that's what a real man's like not shifting all of his burdens and all this
problem you know some people are just a burden giver just in general they come to church and
they just literally just give burden to every other person they want everybody else to fix
everything about their life and make things harder on them and give them more work to do
rather than taking burdens from other people
some people just constantly complain and look complaining is never a spiritual a mighty
spiritual person someone that's complaining to me they just like downgraded themselves so much
they say how many complaints one you know and you should also be able to disagree with
authorities that are in your life and still submit sometimes people they love coming to our church
when they agree but soon as pastor sully says something that they don't agree with
well that's not how pastor adenas does it well that's not how pastor anderson does it well
i think the bible says something different okay you're wrong or hey even if you're right you
should still do whatever the authority in life says hey if you're someone you need to tell
you to do something you do it that's good if your pastor tells you to do something you do it
and you say well i don't like that then go to a different church but don't go to somewhere where
you can't submit to the authority when you disagree when you disagree you say well i
have a better idea than that can you do something follow someone's instructions
when you even think that your idea is better can you follow their instructions still
good
some people are very presumptuous don't be presumptuous
if you want i what's a presumptive person expecting things assuming things i'm the
best church remember you got that's the most presumptuous thing i've ever heard
believing that you're the best is such a presumptuous attitude thinking that you're you
know go to galatians chapter six
say how are you going to preach for it well get better
go to galatians chapter six
look at verse number three the bible says this for if a man think himself to be something when
he is nothing he deceived himself what did this person not do they didn't check themselves they
didn't take any self-awareness they didn't think about it and have no desire to be better where
they just they're already there he thinks himself to be something rather than being solomon or being
any of the great men in the bible and never thinking that they arrived never think that
they've obtained the apostle paul i mean if you're going to say like i've reached apostle
paul's status isn't that about one of the highest uh climaxes you could get to spiritually he says
he hadn't attained yeah he was still pressing towards the mark he still desired to be better
the moment you stop desiring to be better is the moment you start getting worse
and you will not be mighty
i have a few more proverbs and one more verse i'm gonna go power 16
you know david and saul i come to mind when i think about this
and and david's considered a very mighty man physically carnally and spiritually right
but think of the difference between saul and david because while saul had his battles nobody
typically thinks of it as being as mighty as david or being as strong as david or definitely
not spiritually as might as david but when saul is confronted with his sin the bleeding of the
sheep what happens when he's confronted with error he immediately blames other people he
doesn't take responsibility for his actions he has no desire to be better but think about what
happened to david david's confronted with nathan and think about the statement he said thou art the
man yeah i mean he's like you committed adultery and murder and he's like that's you right isn't
that about the harshest criticism you can have just like right in the face yeah and what did
david do he wept he repented he took the criticism because he's a lot different person than saul
someone has a desire to be better it says in proverbs 16 verse 32 he that is slow to anger
is better than the mighty and he that ruled his spirit than he that take it a city look at a
quality or action to someone that's mighty is someone that's slow to anger hey why would you
get angry maybe someone criticized you maybe someone someone did something wrong to you but
this person's slow to get through that anger isn't he and he's ruling over his spirit he's putting
forth effort to be better look at proverbs 24 proverbs chapter number 24
and look at verse five a wise man is strong yay a man of knowledge notice this increases
strength hey you want to be strong spiritually you want to be mighty spiritually i mean the
mighty men conference is it who's going to win at the watercourse king of the hill
who just scored the most points who won the most volleyball games is that when you walk away is
that really the goal or the goal to be mighty spiritually well you got to increase knowledge
don't you a man of knowledge increases strength gaining more knowledge will make you stronger
look at verse 10 if thou faint in the day of adversity thy strength is small hey when you
finally get criticized when you finally get compared you finally have to get measured up
you perform and you don't perform well and it's a day of adversity you know there's something
going on and you quit you stop you don't have the desire to get better your strength is small what
makes someone strong they can go through something difficult they can literally kill 800 men with a
spear you don't think he was tired under the first hundred and then 200 he's like i've been
like this all day you know i mean can you imagine just killing that just like bam bam yeah i mean
even if he's killing them a rate at like 30 seconds that would take hours just that's a
day of adversity what if he quit after the first guy his strength isn't he doesn't have great
strength what gave him great strength he just kept going the closet chef one place last place
i'm gonna have you turn this evening clause in chapter number one
and look the sermon simple you want to be mighty okay desire to be better
desire to be good look at clause in chapter one look at verse number nine for this cause we also
since the day we heard it do not cease to pray for you and desire that you might be filled with
the knowledge of his will and all wisdom and spiritual understanding that you might walk
worthy of the lord unto all pleasing being fruitful in every good work and increasing
in the knowledge of god strengthened with all might according to his glorious power and to
all patience and long suffering with joyfulness so we see the apostle he's praying for these
christians he wants these colossians to be what strengthened with all might we should
want us to become stronger we should want to be strengthened we should want to be mighty that's
not a bad thing to desire it's a great thing to desire but you say well how do i get that pastor
shelley how am i going to be strengthened oh mike look at the statement right for it increasing in
the knowledge of god a desire to get better a desire to know more a desire to have more
understanding and you say well how does that work well the more you know this book the more you're
going to see all the problems that you have and have the opportunity to fix them and that's going
to strengthen you and give you true spiritual might according to what his glorious power
no you want to be mighty through god you get it through this book and you get it through the
knowledge but i'm telling you you need that desire and you say well i don't desire it well
you should pray and ask god to give you that desire because it's it's hard it's difficult
you know working out is one of the hardest things i mean i have i always wanted you know and life
looks busy but you know what's even harder than that is working out spiritually
yeah it's hard and you know the only thing that's going to carry you through that is that true
desire you get deep down in your heart and you should pray and ask god and you should seek to
be better and someone that can't take criticism i'm telling you don't have that desire you should
check yourself and think about yourself and say can i handle criticism and i'm telling you never
stop desiring to be better want to be mighty but be mighty through desire let's go to prayer thank
you have your father for all these men that have come out here and shown themselves to be seeking
you and i pray you just give these men a strong desire in their heart to increase in knowledge
to draw closer to you to separate themselves spiritually so that they can be the greatest
husbands the the greatest fathers the the greatest soul-winning leaders the greatest
church members the greatest preachers and pastors and evangelists and all the the callings that you
have in their life you give them that strong desire to separate themselves so that they
could do mighty works through your glorious power and in jesus name we pray amen