(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. If you know this song, please sing it out loud. If you know this song, please sing it out loud. If you know this song, please sing it out loud. If you know this song please sing it out loud. If you know this song, please sing it out loud. If you know this song, please sing it out loud. If you know this song, please sing it out loud. If you know this song, please sing it out loud. If you know this song, please sing it out loud. If you know this song, please sing it out loud. If you know this song, please sing it out loud. If you know this song, please sing it out loud. If you know this song, please sing it out loud. If you know this song, please sing it out loud. If you know this song, please sing it out loud. If you know this song, please sing it out loud. If you know this song, please sing it out loud. If you know this song, please sing it out loud. If you know this song, please sing it out loud. If you know this song, please sing it out loud. If you know this song, please sing it out loud. If you know this song, please sing it out loud. I am a C-H-R-I-S-T-I-A-N and I have C-H-R-I-S-T-N my A-G-A-R-T-N I will L-I-V-E-E-T E-R-N-A-L-L Y Alright, you all did pretty good, but it needs to be a little louder than this, alright? Now, we're gonna go faster, so you gotta keep up, alright? I am a C I am a C-H I am a C-H-R-I-S-T-I-A-N And I have C-H-R-I-S-T-N, my H-E-A-R-T, and I will L-I-V-E-E-T-E-R-N-A-L-L-Y. All right, we're going to see how fast you can go, okay? Are you all ready? I am a C. I am a C-H. I am a C-H-R-I-S-T-I-A-N. And I have C-H-R-I-S-T-N, my H-E-A-R-T, and I will L-I-V-E-T-E-R-N-A-L-Y. All right, good job, kiddos. You all can sit down. If you need a bulletin, lift your hand nice and high. One of our ushers will come by and get you a bulletin. We have our service soul winning times as well as our church stats. Is there any soul winning that needs to be reported for the last few days that missed the soul winning captain by chance? All right. And then we also have our expecting ladies and prayer lists. Continue to pray for them. We have our upcoming events. We have the Arlington Soul Winning Blitz. October 29th, October 30th will be our Sunday Sundays. October 31st is our Texas Chili Cook Off. There will be prizes for those who enter the competition and win. No participation trophy. And if you bring beans, you're automatically disqualified and we'll call you a heretic. Number fifth, music recital from two to four. You need to sign up by Wednesday night. November 10th through the 12th, we have our Matamoros Soul Winning Trip. Please make sure to sign up for that. November 23rd is our Thanksgiving Desert Fellowship. December 2nd is the ladies' Christmas party. Also, please sign up for those, or for the Christmas party when we get a sign up sheet for that. Business meeting, we are having a business meeting next Sunday night, October 16th, immediately following the evening service. So if you are a member, I would ask you to please attend. And our music recital, again, the notes are there. It is for the ages between five and 18. So just make sure that you sign up, and we'll get you a time slot for our rehearsal. It's October 22nd. And so that's pretty much all I have as far as bulletin concerned. Thank you so much for everybody who's helped participate in our conference. It's a lot of fun to host these things and to kind of celebrate our kiddos and try to help them to have a good time. And I also like doing a lot of these competitions, and we have the spelling bee competition in a lot of these events, just to kind of help all of our kids to learn how to compete, yet have a good attitude. And sometimes feelings are hurt. That's okay. That's just a good opportunity to help kids to learn that life is not fair. And you need to learn how to deal with wins, losses, and everything. Some people are good at winning. Some people are not good at winning. Some people are good at losing. Some people are not good at losing. Yet it is life, and so we want people to learn how to do these things. Also, I think competition brings up the best in all of us. And if you realize it, the Bible teaches that even our Christian life is a race, and only one receive it the prize. And so we're supposed to run the Christian race the best that we can. There's rewards to be had in heaven, and God doesn't hand out participation trophies. He hands out those for those who actually bear the fruit, and are diligent, and have a good heart. And so while you may not like competition, that's just the reality of the world you live in. And we all will be judged one day, and stand open before God, and be judged according to our works. And so it's important to learn how to perform under pressure, how to handle certain situations, learn how to prepare, study. And those who handle themselves well will be rewarded in heaven. Now, for the kids that show up to the last service of the conference Sunday night, they're going to be rewarded because there's even cooler prizes now. So now there's like a sword, and there's like an axe, and there's like, there's a ninja sword, okay? So, I mean, there's some cool stuff. There's some cars up here. But, again, it's a competition. So, you know, I'm hoping you kids are going to compete, all right? Now, it's going to be the same rules, only one prize per session, but we're going to have some more Bible trivia, and we're going to have some sword drills. Now, I've been flip-flopping, so it was the youngest got to go first on Thursday, oldest on Friday, youngest in the morning, so it's going to be oldest this evening. The middle, you know, sorry you all are always in the middle, all right? Life's not fair. Sometimes the first is last, sometimes the last is first, all right? So, now how this works is any child, though, can answer the question. It's not only old kids that can answer the question. So if you five-year-olds can outpace these other kiddos and go for it, okay? But everyone gets to participate. So I'm going to ask two questions. And, yes, you have to be a child, okay, Ethan? No, I'm just kidding. And anybody that can answer the question right gets to come on down and get a prize, okay? Now, if you know the answer, lift up your hand, because if you shout it that you don't get to win, you have to lift up your hand, right? So it's the first hand up that I see that can answer the question correctly that will be rewarded. Here's my first question. What is the name of Adam's first son? Kang, she got it. Come on down. Good job. All right, this one's going to be a little bit hard. These are supposed to be a little harder questions, okay? How many children were killed by bears that mocked Elisha? No. No. Nope. I couldn't hear your number. No. All right, it was a tough question, okay? It was forty-two, all right? That was close, okay? We'll ask, we'll ask, that was my hard question. We'll ask Dylan's hard question, because we got lots of hard questions, all right? What was the name of the city that Lazarus was risen from the dead from? And, all right. I didn't think anybody could come up with this one. Probably not even the sound booth, all right? Okay, all right. Well, I'll ask another question. Name one of the ten plagues of Egypt. Leprosy is an incorrect answer. Locust, there we go, all right. Come on down. All right, now we're going to do a sword drill. Everyone can participate. So, it's the first one to get it, stand up. Now, some of you smaller kids, your parents might have to point if you stand up, okay? But, if you got your Bible out, or if you could just quote it. John chapter 1 verse 14, go. Third time's the charm, come on down, all right. Elise is eager, all right, I like it. Next, next sword drill. Psalms 139 verse 14. Psalm 139 verse 14. I will praise thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made marvelous are thy works and that my soul knoweth right from thee. Very good, she is fearfully and wonderfully made, come on down. Remember, you can quote it, all right. It's the last one for the older group. Leviticus 20 verse 13. Liam. Nailed it, man. This search they can quote John 3 16 and Leviticus 20 13, all right. Now, we're going to 13 and under, all right. So, you older guys, you got eliminated by Liam, so sorry. 13 and under. What is the name of the book of the Bible that we first learn about Moses? Exodus is the right answer, come on down. All right. What is the name of the Jewish queen that saved the Jews? Ruth is incorrect. Nailed it, come on down. All right, here's our sword drill. John chapter 1 verse 12. Nailed it, good job, come on down. All right, here's our next one. Acts 16 verse 31. Nailed it, good job, come on down. All right, here's the last one for the 13 and under. First Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 22. First Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 22. Ms. Lauren. Abstain from all parents, nailed it, come on down. Now we're going to just eight and under, okay. Eight and under. My first question, who tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden? Who? Satan, come on down. Great question. How many of each animal did Noah take on the ark? Elizabeth. Sorry. Two, nailed it, all right, come on down. All right, here's, we got three Bible verses, okay. You little guys, you got it. I believe in you, all right. Romans 10 verse 13. All right, Ms. Morgan. Nailed it, come on down. All right, I got two more. Proverbs 1 verse 1. Proverbs 1 verse 1. It's open for the taking. Proverbs 1 verse 1. John wants to enter the competition. It's not, all right Kent, we got it. Good job, come on down. We got one more, all right. So all you kiddos, you got plenty of time. You got this. 1 John 5 verse 7. 1 John 5 verse 7. John's already got it, so. 1 John 5 verse 7. All right, I'll give you a few more seconds, otherwise all the kids get a chance. All right, I'm going to count to three, and as soon as I get to three, anybody can answer that's a kid. 3, 2, 1. Everyone, Ethan West. Nope. 1 John 5, 7. Right here. Nailed it, all right, come on down, good job, good job. Thank you for participating and having some fun with us. Let's go to another kid's song. We're going to go to Ho Ho Ho Hosanna, all right. We're going to have you kids stand up, okay. Ho Ho Ho Hosanna. First. Ho Ho Ho Hosanna, hallelujah. He saved me and I've got the joy of the Lord. Good job. All right, let's do one more. I'm in the Lord's army, all right. This one we've got some good motion going, all right. Here we go on the first. I may never march in the infantry, ride in the cavalry, shoot the artillery. I may never zoom or the enemy, but I'm in the Lord's army. Yes, sir. I'm in the Lord's army. Yes, sir. I'm in the Lord's army. Yes, sir. I may never march in the infantry, ride in the cavalry, shoot the artillery. I may never zoom or the enemy, but I'm in the Lord's army. Yes, sir. All right. Good job, kiddos. Let's go to 1 Kings, chapter number 3. We're going to read the entire chapter, as we always do. 1 Kings, chapter number 3. Follow along. Let's go to 1 Kings, chapter number 3. We're going to read the entire chapter, as we always do. 1 Kings, chapter number 3. Follow along in your Bibles, and we'll pass the offering plate. 1 Kings, chapter 3. 1 Kings, chapter 3. The Bible reads, And Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh's daughter, and brought her into the city of David, until he had made an end of building his own house, and the house of the Lord, and the wall of Jerusalem round about. Only the people sacrificed in high places, because there was no house built under the name of the Lord until those days. And Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statues of David his father, only he sacrificed and burned incense in high places. And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place. A thousand burnt offerings did Solomon offer upon that altar. And Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, Ask what I shall give thee. And Solomon said, Thou wast shewed thy servant David my father great mercy, according as he walked before thee in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with thee. And thou hast kept for him this great kindness, that thou hast given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. And now, O Lord my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father, and I am but a little child, and know not how to go out or come in. And thy servant is in the midst of thy people, which thou hast chosen, a great people that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude. Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad, for who is able to judge this I so great a people? And the speech pleased the Lord that Solomon asked this thing. And God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life, neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thy enemies, but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment, behold, I have done according to thy words, lo, I have given thee a wise and understanding heart, so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee, and I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches and honor, so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days. And if thou wilt walk in my ways, to keep my statues and my commandments, as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen thy days. And Solomon awoke, and behold it was a dream, and he came to Jerusalem, and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and offered up burnt offerings, and offered peace offerings, and made a feast to all his servants. Then came there two women that were harlots unto the king, and stood before him. The one woman said, O my Lord, I and this woman dwell in one house, and I was delivered of a child with her in the house. And it came to pass the third day after that I was delivered, that this woman was delivered also, and we were together. There was no stranger with us in the house, save we too in the house. And this woman's child died in the night, because she overlaid it. And she arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while thy handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom. And when I rose in the morning to give my child suck, behold it was dead. But when I had considered it in the morning, behold it was not my son which I did bear. And the other woman said, Nay, but the living is my son, and the dead is thy son. And this said, No, but the dead is thy son, and the living is my son. Thus they spake before the king. Then said the king, The one sayeth, This is my son that liveth, and thy son is the dead. And the other sayeth, Nay, but thy son is the dead, and my son is the living. And the king said, Bring me a sword, and they brought a sword before the king. And the king said, Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other. Then spake the woman, whose the living child was unto the king, for her bowels yearned upon her son, and she said, O my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it. But the other said, Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it. Then the king answered and said, Give her the living child, and in no wise slay it. She is the mother thereof. And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged, and they feared the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to do judgment. Let us bow our heads for prayer. Father, we thank you for this great church. We thank you for our pastor and his family. I pray that you'll fill in with your Holy Spirit, and I pray that the children will take heed to all the great preaching, and realize the pitfalls of life and the devil, and take heed to your word, Lord, and have understanding through the sermon tonight, and we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. So we're here in 1 Kings chapter number 3, and I want to look at one verse and then kind of explain a little bit about this chapter, but it says in verse 7, And now, O Lord my God, thou hast made thy servant king, instead of David my father, and I am but a little child. I know not how to go out or come in. And Solomon in the Bible is describing himself as being a little child. Now, I do believe this is to some level hyperbole in the sense that Solomon's not like a 5 or a 6 or a 7 year old in this portion of scripture. His exact age, I don't know that I can point to exactly how old Solomon is. A lot of people have hypothesized various ages. I've kind of always thought he was about 18 years old, but he could be 20, he could be maybe even a little bit older than 20. A lot of people kind of assume he's around the 20s mark, but at least in perspective of everyone else, he feels like he's just a little child. He's so young and he's so inexperienced, yet he is already appointed king, and not just king, king of the most powerful nation on the earth at this point in time. David has conquered virtually all of the other areas, laid up enormous amounts of wealth and money and riches, and we have to realize is that Solomon, starting here at 18, he's not just starting from scratch as a Christian, he's grown up to be this important figure in his life and at this point in his life, he's already a very godly person. And the Bible describes him as someone who, look at verse 3, And Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of David his father. So notice, it's not like Solomon just started trying to be godly when he became king. He has a pattern of having been godly his whole life, and really, you can be a Christian at a very young age. Not only can you be a Christian, not only can you be a Christian, you can be one who walks in his statutes, and you can become a very godly person. And what's very interesting is Solomon becomes one of the wisest people on the planet as a very young adult, meaning someone who is very young can already be wiser and more intelligent than most, if not all, adults. And you say, that's kind of incredible when you think about it. Now, you know, in this conference, we've done a lot of fun things. We've thrown some candy. You know, we've hit people with candy. We had prizes, jokes, all of that fun stuff, okay? And we've sung a lot of silly songs. And to kids, toys are like the coolest things ever. I mean, they'll captivate all of your attention. I mean, kids up here were going through all kinds of strenuous activities just for a few bites of candy. And to them, these little nuggets and stuff are kind of a treasure to them. And what is treasure? Treasure in the dictionary is something of great value or worth, a precious thing, rare or wealth. And what's funny is that to a child, if you offered them a cheap little toy or a $100 bill, they'd probably pick the cheap little toy because they don't really understand the value of things. They don't understand what's truly a treasure or what truly has value, okay? My dad would always joke when he was older because he was the oldest of his siblings and his cousins. And whenever they would come into town, you know, back then, money was not what it is today. The Jews have had their way with it. But, you know, back then, to give somebody a nickel or a dime or something was a lot of money. You could buy, like, hamburgers for, like, five cents, okay? So it's not like it's nothing, right? Today, a burger's, what, 10 bucks? So imagine your uncles or aunts coming around giving you 10 bucks. That's pretty nice, right? But back then, it's like a nickel or a dime or whatever. My dad would always joke that he would always get the dimes over the nickels because the nickel's bigger than the dime. So did the little kids. They would want the bigger coin even though the dime was technically worth more. And so they got the first pick, and he's like, oh, you want that big one. You want that big nickel, right, you know, or the big penny or something. And he's like, I'll take the measly old dime here. And he's kind of tricking them into realizing what the value is. Well, the same is with the devil in the sense that the devil wants to trick you, little children, into what's actually important in life. And what's not important in life is toys and candy. You know, the real treasure in this world is the Bible, is the Word of God. And, you know, we come to church, and we try to have fun. And I hope that you like church. I hope that you enjoy church. I hope that you were excited to sing certain songs and you were excited to get candy and you were excited for the donuts and everything like that. But children, you have to realize that the real treasure here is the Bible, is the Word of God. And this is the true treasure of life to the point where when you become a young adult, 18, 19, and 20, you can be one of the smartest people in this world even at 18, 19, and 20. And I fully believe that. I fully believe that the children in this room could be potentially smarter than virtually 99% of all people in this world at 18, 19, and 20 if they will understand what Solomon understood and they're gonna understand the point of the sermon. So the title of my sermon this evening is just Hidden Treasures. Hidden Treasures. And I want you kids to try and pay attention to the stories and pay attention to the Bible verses here because, you know, that's really the most important thing that you get is that you learn that the Bible is the most important value. I like taking on the sword, but the sword of the Spirit is better. I like the battle axe, but, you know, the battle axe of God's Word is more beneficial. And it's fun to have some candy and stuff, but it's better to be smart and you can buy all the candy you want when you're an adult. Okay? That's what I get to do now. So I get as much candy as I want. But why? Because I actually paid attention in school, I paid attention in church, and I have the ability to go out and make money and provide for myself. And these are important skills that you have to learn, every single one of you. Now, in 1 Kings chapter number 3, Solomon's taking over, and he loves the Lord, and he's trying to walk in his ways. He offers all these sacrifices. And look at verse 5 again. The Bible says, And Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, Ask what I shall give thee. And Solomon said, I want a bunch of ninja swords. And Solomon said, I want that fidget spinner. No, Solomon is given a carte blanche. I mean, he's given a blank check by God at a very, very young age, and the response that he gives is the most mature response that you could ever have, and it's not coming from a vacuum. It's because he already understood what's really important. And what did he understand was already important? Understanding itself. Look at how he responds. Verse 7, And now, O Lord, my God, I will read verse 6 to you, just to have it. And Solomon said, Thou hast showed unto thy servant David my Father great mercy, according as he walked before thee in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with thee. And thou hast kept for him this great kindness, that thou hast given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. And now, O Lord, my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my Father. And I am but a little child, I know not how to go out or to come in. And thy servant is in the midst of thy people, which thou hast chosen a great people, that thou cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude. Give, therefore, thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad, for who is able to judge this by so great a people? And the speech pleased the Lord that Solomon is a great servant, the Lord that Solomon had asked this thing. So, according to the Bible, Solomon is given by God in a dream an opportunity to ask for anything that he could possibly want. And what is the one thing that Solomon asks for? He asks for an understanding heart. He wants to understand what is right. He wants to understand what is wrong. He wants to understand the right decisions to make in life and the wrong decisions in life and to be a good leader for the children of Israel. You know, every single child in this room, and adult, but specifically we're talking about the children, should desire to have an understanding heart. We should all pray for this. And, you know, I heard this story so much growing up. You know, I went to not a very good church, but they still taught a lot of Bible verses, and this is a story that actually was brought up often in my church. And, you know, they would summarize it and Solomon asked for wisdom, which is similar to what is worded here, this understanding. But I remember, you know, as a child growing up, that was a constant prayer that I had because I felt like that's what the Bible teaches and it's not just that Solomon is giving this carte blanche because here's the reality. God will give you whatever you want if you pursue his statutes and his judgments. You know, it's not that Solomon's the only one that can have a really understanding heart. It is there on the table for anyone that will ask. I believe that every child in this room, if they ask God and they get on their knees and they pray at night for God to give them wisdom and they search the Scriptures, they can have an understanding heart and not just a normal one beyond measure, one that most, every normal person would have an awe for, even when they're still a little child. You know, it's funny to me how many adults I run into and I'll ask them what Bible they use and they'll bring up the NIV or something or the ESV and I ask them why or I said they were King James only. They say, oh, that's too hard to understand. Yet it's funny to me that the children in this room can already understand it, let alone when they become 18, 19, 20, you'll already understand the most difficult book to ever be understood. You know, and it's silly because, honestly, the King James Bible, while it is a, you know, it's a higher level in the sense that it has some difficult words in there. I mean, there were some kids in our spelling bee yesterday that got all the words on the list. Right. You know, and it is funny to me because think about all the adults out here. If we just grabbed some adults off the street, if we just went to the burger joint, if we just went down the street and we said, hey, can you spell prognosticators? Can you spell concupiscence? They wouldn't even know a word I said. They probably wouldn't even be able to pronounce it. Yet we have kids in this room spelling those words because the cap should not be the public fool system. The cap shouldn't be the SAT scores. You know what, the cap is the wisdom of God. And, you know, we should strive to teach our children how to have understanding hearts and how to know the Bible and understand the Bible. And, you know, it's funny to me because I've even looked up some of the high level, you know, spelling bee competition stuff, and most of the time they're using King James Bible words. Because they're some of the best words to use and they're really difficult, yet they're still very familiar. You can find them in a modern dictionary today. And so it's funny to me that when they want to have a competition on wisdom, they go to the King James Bible. You know what they're not using is the weird words found in the NIV. You know, satis traps or whatever, or surdis traps or, you know, surdisands or satraps or these other kind of weird words that, you know, you don't find in the King James Bible. So point number one of the hidden treasure is the number one hidden treasure in the world is understanding. Understanding is a hidden treasure that most people are not after. They simply don't care. Most people don't care to understand things in the Bible. You know, you'll bring up things in the Bible and they'll say, I don't understand it, I can't read it. You know, the Bible warns about a people and I think it's Isaiah, but there's a people that they're basically asking about the Bible or Jeremiah, I can't remember. They're like, I can't understand it. You know, I can't read it. And that's what it feels like our culture today. You know, you hand them the Bible and they can't understand it. They can't even read it. And then they try to make fun of it due to their own insecurity. You know, the King James Bible is not something to be scoffed at. You know, they'll be like, well, I don't just speaketh that awayeth. And it's like, neither does the King James Bible. You weirdo. There was a man sent from God, his name was John. Was that really, I mean, is it, it wasn't like there was a manetha that was sentetha from a godetha, you know, his name was Johnetha. It's not like that, okay? That's just silly. And why do they make fun of it? It's because they are actually foolish. They're actually, they're actually a stupid person themselves. And so instead of actually getting some smarts or getting some understanding, they make fun of things that they don't understand. They make fun of the things that they don't know anything about. But the children in this room, if you study the Bible and you study the word of God and you, you know, apply yourself to the wisdom that God has for you, you can and will be smarter than all of the adults virtually in this entire area. Even at the age of 18. You know, the kids at 18 that are not having the wisdom of God, they're typically going and getting debt, going to the public, you know, college. And there, they're getting STDs. They're not even getting a real education. They're not even setting themselves up for the future. They're not gonna find a young woman that they wanna marry. They'll have bastard children. They're gonna make all kinds of really bad decisions. And you know why most of them are making those decisions? Is because they just don't understand. It's not that if you sat them down and explained the consequence of their actions, that they would probably make those decisions. It's the fact that they just don't understand. They don't know any better. And so they end up making a lot of bad decisions because they have no understanding. They drink alcohol because they don't understand. They commit fornication because they don't understand. They steal and they lie and they cheat and they don't study and they play video games and they just absorb their life on TikTok and all this other nonsense. Why? Because they have no understanding. You know, they don't wanna play a game that actually requires skill or intellect. You know, something that actually has a little bit of a value. They just wanna play some kind of a game where they just smash the button. You know, smash the button or whatever. Not really any cognitive thinking. Not any creativity. You know, they don't like reading because it takes time. Because they don't understand the words. Because it's not as engaging to them. But you know, readers are leaders. You know, there's a reason why the spelling bee is typically dominated by girls. And it was even yesterday. It's always dominated. I mean, there's very few guys that want to enter in the spelling bee or do as well. And it's because girls typically read more than boys. And because of them seeing those words so often and reading them so often, that's how you end up becoming a good speller. You know, being a good speller, there's not a secret to it. It's just that person reads a lot. Because when you see a word often enough, you end up getting it inside. Whereas, if you've never seen the word, it's very difficult to spell it correctly. You know, there are certain rules and there are certain things that you can kind of learn on how to start spelling words based on the phonetics of it. But generally speaking, people that are good spellers, it's because they read a lot. And because they are constantly exercising their brain. And so if you children want understanding, you need to be begging and praying to God and you need to be reading all the time. It says in verse number 10, let's keep reading here. It says, In the speech pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this thing, God said to them, because thou has asked this thing, and it's not asked for thyself, long life, neither has asked riches for thyself, nor has asked the life of thine enemies, but has asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment. Behold, I have done according to thy words, lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart so that there was none like thee before thee. Neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee. And I have also given thee that which thou has not asked, both riches and honor, so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days. And if thou wilt walk in my ways to keep my statutes and my commandments as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen thy days. So God says, I like what you asked for so much that not only am I gonna give you that wisdom and understanding heart, but I'm gonna give you everything you didn't even ask for. I'm gonna give you money, wealth, fame, women. He's supposed to get one, okay, folks. But he got it all. I mean, he got everything. Solomon got everything you could ever want for by simply asking for understanding. And I believe what God's trying to communicate to you is this. When you get the understanding, all the other stuff comes with it. You know, the people that are truly smart and truly have wisdom and truly have understanding in this world are going to be the ones who also just happen to have really good jobs and just happen to make really good decisions and just happen to have all the things that come with life because really the most important thing is having the understanding. You know, there's the old adage of teach a man, or I'm sorry, give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day. Teach a man how to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime. And what's the philosophy? That it's better to have knowledge and understanding than to have handouts. When has the handouts ever worked for any society? It only works for a tyrant ruling class. But if you actually love somebody, you wouldn't have to give them a handout. You'll give them knowledge. You'll give them wisdom. You'll give them understanding. And here's the thing. If we love our children, we won't have kid conferences where we just hand them a sword or we just hand them candy. No, we'll hand them the hidden treasures of God, the understanding of God's Word. That is the real treasure that they need to have and to walk away with. Now let's read this parable a little bit. It's not a parable, but it's kind of an example, a story that did happen. It says in verse 16, Then came there two women that were harlots, unto the king that stood before them. And the one woman said, O my Lord, I and this woman dwell in one house, and I was delivered of a child with her in the house, and came to pass the third day. After that I was delivered, that this woman was delivered also. And we were together, there was no stranger with us in the house, save we two in the house. And this woman's child died in the night, because she overlaid it. And she arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while thine handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom. And when I arose in the morning to give my child suck, behold, it was dead. But when I had considered it in the morning, behold, it was not my son which I did bear. And the other woman said, Nay, but the living is my son, and the dead is thy son. And this said, No, but the dead is thy son, and the living is my son. Thus they spake before the king. So we have two women, both claiming a child. Now, obviously in the story, there's not an opportunity to do a DNA test. You know, they don't have that type of technology. There's also apparently not a physical indication, both of these women probably look pretty similar. And their children, you know, are relatively similar looking, so there's not an obvious mother necessarily. And it's really kind of a perplexing situation, because how can you know who's telling the truth? They're unable to decide this. It says in verse number 23, Then said the king, The one saith, This is my son that liveth, and thy son is the dead. And the other saith, Nay, but thy son is the dead, and my son is the living. And the king said, Bring me a sword, and they brought a sword before the king. And the king said, Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other. Then spake the woman whose the living child was, unto the king, for her bowels yearned upon her son, and she said, O my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it. But the other said, Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it. And the king answered and said, Give her the living child, and in no wise slay it, she is the mother thereof. All Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged, and they feared the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to judgment. So according to the Bible, even at whatever young age you want to assign Solomon, let's say 18, 19, 20, even maybe 25, according to the Bible, they're astonished, or they're amazed at how this young man knew more than every other person. I mean, and I'll be honest, if there was a problem for our church, and there was an 18-year-old that was able to come up with an answer that was better than any of the other men in this room, that would be impressive, wouldn't it? That would be quite amazing. And I believe that it can happen when a child gives himself unto the Bible and asks for the wisdom and the understanding that comes from God, because it's not about an age. You know, God wants to give his wisdom to any vessel that's willing. Now, of course, generally speaking, wisdom comes with age, experience. The more that you study, the more you learn the Bible, the more opportunity you have to grow and to gain this wisdom and knowledge. But according to the Scripture, God's willing to impart this, you know, incredible wisdom and understanding unto a very young man. Now, I have other places in the Bible I want to turn here. Go to Psalms 119. Why did Solomon make this decision? Well, of course, the woman who's so lazy and so carefree with her child to lay on it and kill it in the night is also the same that doesn't really care if it dies. You know, some people have taken this story to get really nervous. You're not, if you love your child, you're not just going to accidentally kill it in the night. Okay? Now, I'm not saying that there couldn't be an accident. We could all make a mistake. But I'm saying that you're not going to just lay on your child, just forget that it's there or something like that. Really, you know, most likely she was probably just drunk. You know, she was probably just drunk and then just overlaid her child, you know, because in order to, you know, when I'm in the bed and, you know, my daughter will just kick or punch me, I wake up, like, I've never, you know, it's very obvious, okay? And, of course, mothers are ten times more sensitive than husbands. I mean, I wouldn't even be able to compare myself to her. She can, like, tell the difference in their breathing. You know, it's like, what in the world? It's like, it's alive, you know, okay? It's just like, you know, I'm worried about this breath. It's been like, you know, 0.578 seconds between breaths or whatever. It's just like, breathing, you know, whatever, you know? Just don't shake it too hard or something, right? But, of course, you know, a mother that cares about her child, she's not going to hurt it. She's not going to want to harm it. She's going to want to do good unto it. And mistakes happen. But this story is not a mistake. This woman didn't, her child didn't die because of just a pure accident or God decided to do this. This was a woman who, you know, basically doesn't even care about children. Because, as evidenced by the king saying, let's literally kill this child and she's fine with it. I mean, that's not a mother. That's not a woman that actually cares about children whatsoever. And so it became very evident to the king and to everyone else after having gone through this exercise, this is the clear mother because a mother would never agree to her child being killed. You know, and of course, if you lose a child, it's a horrible tragedy. It would be very, a grief to a mother. But for some reason, this woman is fine with killing a child. That's bizarre. That goes to show this woman's probably a reprobate. I mean, think about it. Women that are fine with their children dying, you know, if your child died and you weren't sad or didn't weep for a really long time you probably are just a wicked person. I mean, I don't think that that's possible, okay? Just like, you know, all these parents from Sandy Hook all their little five-year-olds got killed and not a single one of them cried a single time. Now that's my opinion because I don't want to get sued or whatever, but I'm just saying it's my opinion that I'm skeptical of a parent that can't even cry. There's no tears. When their little, precious five-year-old I mean, was murdered in a senseless act I mean, it's just like, come on, folks. That's not possible, okay? I would cry for sure. I mean, it's not even a question. Psalm 119, look at verse number 99. I have more understanding than all my teachers for thy testimonies of meditation. Let me tell you something, children. You can be smarter than your brother. You can be smarter than your sister. Some of you already are. You can be smarter than Mom and Dad. You can be smarter than Pastor Shelley. You can be smarter than every person on this planet. No one is holding you back except for you. Because God wants to give it to you. But you know what? If you want to be wise notice what you have to do. You can be the smartest person. And look, some of us are past that. We didn't do this as a child. No one is holding you back now either. You can become one of the smartest people on the planet and it's directly related to you studying the Bible and meditating on the Word of God. That will give you true wisdom and understanding. Go to 2 Timothy 3. And so really what I want you kids to do is to start young. Start getting understanding now. Start realizing what the Bible says now. And you know, it's not like oh, only the men need to do the Bible. No, no, no. The women need to do the Bible. Just as much. You need to know who to marry. You need to know how to raise children. You need to know what to teach your children. You're going to raise the next generation. And if we forsake our women we will also end up forsaking our men because our women are going to give birth to our men and our women are going to raise our men. And I've noticed this phenomenon that women often are almost a direct reflection of their husband. Just like the moon's brightness is dependent upon the sun often a woman's brightness is dependent upon her husband. And when they marry a man that's unwilling to lead and to serve God and to be faithful often times it'll drag women down. Now, I'm not saying that you have to be limited. If your husband doesn't want to serve God, you serve God. Okay? And I praise the fact that there are women like that. There's men like that. There's men whose wives don't want to serve God and they serve God. There's women whose husband doesn't want to serve God and they serve God. And you know what? Praise the Lord for them. But let's just be real. Most women do not serve God without their husband. Most women are drug down by their husband in a reflection of their husband. And so if you want your daughters to serve God, you need to make sure that they want to marry a godly man. That they want to marry someone that's going to challenge them that's going to lead them and not hold them back not drag them out of church, not basically enable them to serve God to the fullest of their capability. You know what I would want my sons-in-law is for my sons-in-law to go with their wives is to help them to be the most godly person they could possibly be. You know? And for their husbands to love God more than their wife. That would be the most important thing. You say, oh, but he really loves her. Yeah, but does he love the Lord? Because you know how you show love to a person by loving God? Because doesn't 1 John tell us that if a man say you love his brother and love not God, he's a liar? So if you think that there is someone out there that loves your child but doesn't love God, you're deceived because that person's a liar. The person that will actually love your spouse the most is the one who loves God the most. Those who love the Lord and care about the Lord are going to be the ones who love and care about their spouse the most. There's a direct connection and relationship there. So kids, I want you to have understanding and look at 2 Timothy 3 verse 15 and that from a child thus known the Holy Scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. Notice what the Bible's saying. Hey kids, you can become wise and you know who's able to do that for you? It doesn't say mom and dad. It doesn't say pastor Shelley. It says the Bible. It says the Bible the Scriptures are able to make thee wise. What gives you wisdom is the Bible. Not just preaching. Not just showing up and singing some songs. No, you as a child need to read the Bible. You need to read Genesis and Exodus and Leviticus and Numbers and Deuteronomy. You need to read the Minor Prophets. You need to read the New Testament. You need to have a personal Bible reading time where you sit down and you read the Bible. That is the only way you will become wise. There's a lot of independent fundamental Baptist churches that raise kids their whole life but the kid didn't read the Bible and then when they become adult they're not wise. Sometimes they're not even saved. Of course we want our kids to get saved and we assist them in that but beyond that you need to just make sure your kids are reading the Bible. You kids, no one can force you to look at the words and pay attention and to understand it and to care. You have to decide that for yourself. But I'm telling you, you want to because it's the true riches of this world and when you have understanding you can have everything else. When you don't have understanding, everything you want will be taken from you. Just like we talked about this morning. Do you want that candy to be taken from you? Now, when God takes all your candy away He doesn't reward you with a prize afterwards. You just lose it all. And one of those prizes is long life. Instead of trying to get long life, you try to get understanding and you know what comes with understanding? Long life. Instead of trying to get money you try to get understanding and you know what comes with understanding? Money. You know, having fame or having success or having good relationships it comes with understanding not with seeking those items. Go to Proverbs chapter number 4, go to Proverbs chapter number 4 what is the hidden treasure of this world is understanding? And I want you kids to realize the greatest treasure in this world is the King James Bible. This is the real treasure. And you know us as adults, a lot of us learned that lesson the hard way. Or we had to learn it later in life. But man, you read the Bible and you're just like, that's just so true. And as a child you do not have to make every bad mistake. Let me give you a secret to life, kids. You can learn one of two ways. You can make the mistake and realize the Bible is right or you can read the proverb and never have to do it. You know, there's people like Pastor Anderson, who is my sending pastor you know, he's never drank alcohol. But I'll tell you, when he preaches against alcohol, it sounds like he was a drunkard for 30 years and knows everything about it. And it always amazes me. I remember talking about it, I said, how do you understand so much about alcohol? Well, I've read the Bible a lot. And when he articulates how it is, you would think that he knows from experience. You would think he went through a college bender. You would think he's been to every party and every event because he knows exactly what it's like. He knows what people say and he knows how people behave. And it's like, how do you know this? Because I've read about it. You don't have to experience it to know it. You know, one of the dumbest things is when people say that experience is the best teacher. Let me tell you something. Proverbs is the best teacher. The Bible is the best teacher. Sometimes it's better to learn from other people's experience. Not your own. And you know what? Most of us adults, especially when Pastor Jimenez said, who in here is a first generation Christian? You guys don't want your kids to be like you. You want them to be a second generation Christian, not a first generation Christian. And not have to make all the same mistakes. You know, I'll be honest. I'm a pastor today mostly because I did not want my children to make my mistakes of my past. Because I just genuinely thought, you know, I thought about it and I said, you know what? I was not a very good person in my college years and a lot of my youth. I made a lot of mistakes and I'm going to start having kids and I don't want them to make those mistakes. And I said, the way I'm living my life right now, my kids are going to be just like me. And they're going to do all the same things that I did. And because our world is getting worse, it probably will be worse. Not because they're worse, but just because the environment is that much worse. I said, I have to make a change. I have to seek the Bible. I have to get an understanding. And it frustrated me that no one out there virtually, it seemed like was really wanting to do the job. It didn't seem like there was anybody wanting to preach the real words of God. People were standing on the truth trying to teach their children and train their children. You know, and so it's like, that's what motivated me to even get in there. But we need to teach our children that you can get every piece of information, all the knowledge you could ever want just from this book. And Proverbs is one of the greatest places. Proverbs chapter 4, look at verse 1. Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father and attend to no understanding for I give you good doctrine. Forsake ye not my law, for I was my father's son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother. He taught me also and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words, keep my commandments and live. Get wisdom. Get understanding. Forget it not, neither decline from the words of my mouth. Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee. Love her, and she shall keep thee. Wisdom is the principal thing. Therefore get wisdom, and with all thy getting, get understanding. Exalt her, and she shall promote thee. She shall bring thee to honor when thou dost embrace her. She shall give thine head an ornament of grace, a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee. Here oh my son, and receive my sayings, and the years of thy life shall be many. I have taught thee in the way of wisdom, I have led thee in right paths. When thou goest, thy steps shall not be straight, and when thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble. Take fast hold of instruction, let her not go, keep her, for she is thy life. Isn't this incredible when you read the Bible and it just hits all the same points again? Hey, when you get wisdom, what do you get with it? You get long life. When you seek wisdom, what do you get? You get all the riches and the honor and you get life and you get everything else that you could possibly want. And you know, I wonder if Solomon already had heard these things and already understood these things before he got to that point and then God says, hey, what do you want? I already know what I want because Proverbs 4 told me I want, I want understanding. It says, with all thy getting, get wisdom, get understanding. I mean, just, wisdom is the principle thing, meaning the most important thing. The most important thing you children can get is knowledge and wisdom and understanding. You know, people are forsaking Sunday night church, but let me tell you something. Who's getting more understanding? The people not here tonight or the people here tonight? I mean, where are you going to go on Sunday night and get more understanding than church? Now, if there's a better church, go for it. Because doesn't it say with all thy getting, get understanding? You know, why do some people drive all the way over here in Watauga? I think it's because they have a desire to get understanding and they believe this is where they're going to get the best understanding. You know, if you thought you could get it somewhere else, why wouldn't you go somewhere else? I would. And of course, if I could get it from any other document, I would get that document. But you know, this is where you get all of it. You know, we're not here, we're not just here in some vain exercise. We're not just doing Sunday night church just because everybody else did it, so might as well do it. No, no, no. Wisdom is the principle thing. We're here to get more understanding. We can't get enough of it. We can't, you know, and we have so many in between because we're not just a forgetful hearer, but we're a doer of the work. Why? Because we don't want to just get that wisdom, we want to retain it. We want to hang on to it, okay? But kids, number one hidden treasure is understanding. Number two is just right here in this same passage. Let's keep reading the next verse. Look what it says in verse 14. Enter not in the path of the wicked and go not in the way of evil men. Avoid it. Pass not by it. Turn from it and pass away. So point one of the hidden treasure of this world is understanding. Point two is being undefiled. A hidden treasure of this world is being undefiled. Being a virgin is a hidden treasure. I'll tell you, the young single guys in this room that are looking for a wife, it would be a hidden treasure if the girl that they're seeking for was a virgin. None of them would say here, you know, like, I want Kamala Harris, you know. Come on, I want to be the hundredth guy, you know. No, no, they want a virgin. Why? Because it's a treasure. It's a great value. It's a great resource. And often once a man has taken that treasure from a woman, he ends up having no need for her. He disposes of her. Just like we see in the scripture with Tamar, Amnon takes the hidden treasure from her, takes her virginity, and then as soon as he takes it, he hates her. And I'll tell you this, a man that will take your treasure before he marries you is not interested in marriage. And he doesn't see that real value. You know, as a young woman, the worst thing you could do is to give up your treasure before you get married. You know, and any guy that's willing to take it is not worth marrying. A guy that's worth marrying is one who would say, I'm not going to, I'm willing to wait to have that treasure. I'm willing to, you know, allow you to be undefiled. You know, being undefiled is something that once you take it out of the box, you can't put it back in. You know, once something's dirty, it's dirty. Once you break the slinky, it's broken. Okay? There's no way to put that slinky back together. That which is crooked cannot be made straight. And as evidenced by outside, you know, there's no repair, folks. Otherwise, why, you know, it's so funny, all these churches get mad at us for not fixing all these crooked, broken things, but when have they ever done it? When did the subway sandwiches, you know, save those people? They love to pontificate about how much more loving they are. Oh, we're so loving. We give them sandwiches and take pictures and give them t-shirts. Okay, well, when did one of them get saved then? Show me your convert. Show me how it worked. You know, just like the people that say they're so loving by giving money to the homeless people, but you know what? When you give money to the one guy in the corner, you know what happens next week? There's two guys in the corner. And then pretty soon, there's five on the corner. And you know, when you give sandwiches to the freaks outside, instead of actually them decreasing, some of the people in your church end up wandering out and add to their group. Okay? They're not fixing the problem. They're not really loving. And you know, when it comes to a child, you know, as a child, if you want to have a true treasure, it doesn't come from the sin of this world. It comes from being undefiled. That is the real treasure. You know, it's easy to find a kid that's a sinner. It's easy to find a rebellious kid. It's easy today to find a kid filled with tattoos. You know what? I'm not mad if you have tattoos. But let me tell you something. I've always thought tattoos were stupid, and I never wanted them, and I'm so glad I have zero. You know how many tattoos I have? Zero. You know how many tattoos I've wanted in my life? Zero. And when people would talk to me about tattoos, I would say, that's dumb every time. I'd say, that's stupid. I don't want one. I don't like it. And you say, why are you so mean about this? Because I have tons of people in my life that come to me and say, I wish I'd never got a tattoo. You know what they needed? They needed me in their life. They needed someone to be like, that's stupid. Don't get it. And you know what? There's probably half of you in here have a tattoo. Okay? And I'm not mad at you. I really could care less, honestly. I don't even care if you have one. I'm just saying, I don't want one. And I don't want my kids to have one. And I don't want my kids to look at your tattoo and think, that's kind of cool. So I'm going to make fun of them as much as possible, okay? So, you know, I had someone at the door one time when I was going recently, they said, oh, well, I don't like this one church because they're always judging me about, you know, things and my tattoos and stuff. And I said, well, you know what? I have no problem. You can come in with your tattoos all day long, as long as I can preach as much as I want against them. I said, if you can come to church and take the preaching, I have no problem with you. If you can take no problem with me for preaching against as much as possible. Just like we have people that are divorced, just like we have people that have committed fornication, just like we have people that have committed all kinds of horrible sins in their past. You know what? I'm not going to sit here and pretend like it didn't happen. I'm going to preach against it as hard as possible. Why? Because I want your children to be undefiled. I don't want your child to commit fornication. I don't want your child to get the tattoo. I don't want your child to get drunk. I don't want your child to commit divorce. I don't want your child to get an STD. I don't want your child to knock up some stranger or to get knocked up by some loser. So you know what? I'm going to scream and I'm going to yell and I'm going to put all this uncomfortable pressure on everybody because then when the kids are out in this world and they don't have much of a chance and they're around all these weirdos and freaks that they're like, you know what? I'm going to disappoint my parents. I'm going to disappoint Pastor Shelley. I'm going to disappoint God. So I'm going to say no. We already saw how Pastor Shelley worked. Even in church I could get them pretty easy. How much more of the world? How much more of the worldly friends? You know, that's why it's important to also not let them hang out with people that are going to defile them. And you kiddos, you shouldn't hang out with kids that are going to defile you. If a kid's doing something wrong, you don't do it with them. Hey, when a kid's running on stage, you don't run on stage. When a kid's in the ice machine, you don't get in the ice machine. Hey kids, when you see kids throwing stuff in this back room, you don't throw stuff in this back room. When kids are running outside the building, you don't run outside the building. When kids are saying mean things to other kids, you don't say mean things to other kids. You be undefiled. And you say, oh, that doesn't happen here. It happens every single service. And I would, you know, even sometimes my kids are the culprit, okay? It's not like my kids are angels and your kids aren't, but some people's kids are worse than others. Let's be real. And, you know what, I don't want my kid to go down to the lowest common denominator. You don't want yours. It's very natural, though. That's why you have to teach them, hey, when they're doing wrong, I'm not. I'm going to be undefiled. You know, Daniel didn't have to eat the king's meat. Daniel was different. And what happened? Daniel became ten times wiser than all the other magicians and anthropologists and everyone, even though he was in not the best environment, because he was willing to say no. I remember going to high school and I was offered many times by the kids in high school to go and to drink and to go to parties and to do all kinds of things, and I always said no. And I'm glad that I said no. Now, unfortunately, because I went to college, you know, and there was less boundaries, less restrictions, and peer pressure works, I didn't always say no. You know what? I wish that I had had the same zeal of my high school years as I did in my college years. And let me tell you something. As a parent, you don't want to necessarily force your kid to have to always say no. Sometimes you say no for them. But we want to teach our children that there's this hidden treasure of this world that's being undefiled. Being someone that says, you know what, I don't drink, I don't drink, I don't smoke, I don't chew, and I don't go with girls that do, all right? Now, I want to go to another place, chapter five, we're just right here, and look at verse seven. Hear me now, therefore, you children, and depart not from the words of my mouth. Remove thy way far from her, and come nigh the door of her house. So there's a woman out there that you're supposed to stay away from. Look at chapter seven and look at verse 24. Hearken unto me now, therefore, you children, and attend to the words of my mouth. Let not thine heart decline to her ways. Go not astray in her paths. For she hath cast down many wounded, yea, many strong men have been slain by her. Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death. The Bible warns there's people out there that want to trap you, that want to trick you, that want to what? Defile you. And as soon as they defile you, they're done with you. You know, as soon as they can get that goody two shoes to take a drink, they're fine. They don't care to ever pressure you again, they just got you to do it. As soon as they can get you that one time, you know, it's a cool testimony when a person can say, I've never drank. I never smoked. I was a virgin. I've never seen that. I've never been there. I've never done that. That is a hidden treasure. But it, well, one time, that's way different. You know, I'm never late to church. I never miss a service. Okay, that's a hidden treasure to a pastor. I don't know if I can see that person. I'm just gonna... Go over to Proverbs 25. Proverbs 25. You know, the Bible talks about the virtuous woman who prizes far above rubies. What? Hidden treasure. You know, if you could find, I mean, if you had a church, and I said, hey, I know there's this church. There's like 25 girls. They're all between the ages of 18 and 25. They've never drank. They never smoked. They're all virgins. They're really smart. They can't wait to, like, raise a bunch of kids and teach them all the Bible. All of our single guys would be there in a heartbeat. And they're the most beautiful women, you know, on the planet. It's like, we wouldn't have a single guy in church next service, okay? They'd be like, what church? Where do I go? Now the problem is, if they didn't learn some skills, they'd come back single, okay? So they gotta, you know, they gotta improve, all right? But I'm telling you, you know, men that could find a woman like that would go anywhere. They would hunt for that, okay? Because it's more valuable than all the money out there. You know, I even bet this, most of these young student guys, if I said, hey, you can have her or you can have a billion dollars, I guarantee most of them would pick the woman, if not all of them, especially the spiritual guy. Because, what are you gonna do with a billion dollars? Now if you're Mike Murdock, you know, you would pick a hundred dollars. Because Mike Murdock, the stupid TV evangelist false prophet, he got on television and he said, I've never seen a woman more attractive than a hundred dollar bill. If that's your preacher, you need to get a new preacher, okay? He was, he was worshipping money. He was just like, it was, it was really gross, okay? And you should be afraid that he's not interested in women, you know, another problem, okay? Look at verse 25, look at verse 11. A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold and pictures of silver. Here's my last point, alright kids, it's gonna be a shorter point. Number one, you wanna have understanding, that's a hidden treasure. Number two, being undefiled is a hidden treasure. But here's number three, is utterance. Utterance is a hidden treasure of this world. Being able to speak something that people actually wanna hear. Say something that somebody wants to hear. Let me tell you something, the best thing you could ever speak is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Being a soul winner is a hidden treasure in this world. The real hidden treasure is people that go out and preach the gospel. And you know the people that do that have an understanding heart and are usually trying to live an undefiled life in this world. I mean, isn't that what pure religion is anyways, to keep myself undefiled? Unspotted from the world as it says in James? So according to the Bible, these are the true hidden treasures of the world. And notice that it says treasure because it's saying a word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver. It's saying when you need something and you didn't really know what it was and someone just drops that truth bomb on you, it's more valuable than anything else. Information and knowledge and wisdom is often always more highly sought after than actual money. People are willing to pay. There's so many people paying for counselors. There's so many people paying for psychiatrists. There's so many people paying for all this wisdom. People paying for self-help books. People paying for education. You know, it's funny to me, in the software industry there's a phenomenon where people will pay 25, 30 thousand dollars to go to a boot camp just to get a job. Why? Because that knowledge and that understanding is worth so much money. It has a literal, tangible dollar amount associated with it. And yet some people are shelling out hundreds of thousands of dollars at the public college and then they get nothing. They get debt afterwards. It didn't even help them. They get all kinds of problems and consequences. And yet they still have to shell out even more money to try and get a real job or to get anything in this life. But if you have true wisdom, true knowledge people want to pay for that. People are willing to buy that. All of that from a King James Bible for free. But once you have it then you need to deliver that through utterance. And you know, being able to speak well is a gift. Some people just can't do it. You know, I love that we have a lot of children participate in our spelling bee and even if they don't win just participating just helps them to learn how to communicate, learn how to publicly speak. Learn all of these skills because it's a true hidden treasure. You know, we need more preachers, not less. And it's a true hidden treasure when we have them in our midst. You know, I want the young... I want to have a generation of preachers from this group of children. I don't want to have all these children go to waste and say, well, none of them can speak well. No, we need to help them realize that speaking is a true treasure that they should work for. Go to 1 Corinthians, chapter 1. A lot of times in the Bible Jeremiah and Moses and other men were afraid to speak. But you know what? Someone needs to speak. Someone needs to say something. Someone needs to communicate the Word of God. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. You know how a lot of people get the treasures of this world? By someone speaking it to them. And a true hidden treasure of this world is utterance. And we need to pray for utterance. You know, the apostle Paul even prayed or asked others to pray for him that he'd have utterance. That he would open his mouth boldly to the mystery of the gospel. That he would be able to communicate well and communicate things effectively. You know, what we say is important and it matters. 1 Corinthians, chapter 1, look at verse 4. I thank my God always under your half for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ that in everything ye are enriched by him. And what's the first thing? In all utterance. And in all knowledge. You know what the apostle Paul said? He was pleased that the Lord keeps granting this prayer request that you're enriched. Being enriched is talking about something of value something of wealth, some kind of a treasure and what is that treasure? It's utterance. This is a real treasure in the world is that when you speak wisdom is pouring out of your mouth. As opposed to foolishness. As opposed to the filth of this world. As opposed to the latest rap song. As opposed to the scores of the latest football game, but rather it's real wisdom, real knowledge something of great value. This is a true treasure. And you know, having a friend that can speak these things in your life is a true treasure. You know, the faithful are the wounds of a friend. But the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. You know, you need a friend in your life that's going to tell you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear. And it's easier said than done. You know, oh yeah, I like I want to hear how to get better. But let me tell you what the Proverbs said again. Faithful are the wounds of a friend. Now who in here loves getting wounded? Any wounds out there you really embrace? No one likes a wound. So let me tell you something. The true application of this is not something you enjoy. It's not really pleasant in the moment, okay? But later it can yield that fruit, and later you can appreciate it, and later you can realize it. You know, sometimes you might come to a church service and you might not like the sermon in the moment. And that's okay. That should be the goal. In fact, in some cases I think like, man, that might hurt a couple people. But, you know what, I'm trying to help them in the long run. You know, even myself included, when we read the Bible sometimes it hurts. I mean, I've read the Bible, and I've read verses, and I was like, yikes. I wish I had read that before. I wish I had understood that better. That was something that I needed to hear. Ephesians chapter 6 verse 18, the Bible says, Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. And for me, that utterance may be given unto me. You know what, I hope you kids realize that utterance is a true treasure. That being undefiled is a true treasure. That having understanding is a true treasure. Because these are the true treasures of life. And church is a treasure, children. Don't just come here and just not pay attention. Don't just show up and not care. You know what, and this week we tried to preach sermons that you maybe can pay attention a little more, a little bit more geared towards you. But let me tell you something, every sermon is geared towards you guys. You guys need to pay attention on Wednesday night, this Wednesday. And Sunday morning, next Sunday morning. And next Sunday night, and the next Wednesday. And you guys need to read the Bible. And you guys need to study the scripture for yourself. Because there is true treasure here. And God wants to give it to you. And the only one holding you back is you. I can't spoon feed it to you. Your parents can't give you all the stuff that you need. You need to do it yourself. And just like you worked really hard for some candy today, and you sang and did all these things, you need to work just as hard for the Bible. And for the true wisdom that comes from God. And if you do, you will reap so many rewards in your life. If you work really hard now, you can enjoy all the rest of your life. If you don't work hard now, you're going to have to work hard later to even enjoy anything. You might as well work hard now and learn the Bible now, and be godly now, and it will reward you for the rest of your life. I even believe for many of us, you know, our church is a very young church. A lot of women in here have young children. And you're still having children. And you have a ton of children, and you're still having children. But let me tell you something. When you get done with all of those children, when they finally are gone, you know, it'll probably hurt because they'll be gone, your life is going to be so enjoyable. Like you're going to just basically get to enjoy for the rest of your life. Whereas those that decide not to have kids, or kill their kids, or do whatever, you know what? They are not going to have easy streets, necessarily. They may not have 15 kids to all take care of them. And you say, well, Mike, how are my kids going to take care of me? Well, did you teach them a lot of skill and a lot of understanding? I mean, do they make a lot of money? And do they love you? And are they wise? And are they going to church? You're like, how am I going to go to church? Well, if you've got 15 kids going to church, you've got 15 right options, right? You've got to realize, there's pros and cons, right? Oh, well, it was really hard when I had all the kids. Yeah, but you have a lot of strength and ability now. Later is when you get to reap what you've sown. And we want to realize a hidden treasure for you parents is your children. And you are going to reap your children. Whatever you do with them, you will reap it. Bad or ugly, you know, it's just going to happen. And I want you guys later in life to say, Pastor Shelley, I'm so glad I have all these godly children and grandchildren to look at. And not look at me and say, Pastor Shelley, my life's a train wreck. All my kids don't care about God. They're on drugs. They're getting high. They're committing abortions. They're killing my grandchildren. Now, I know people. They're saying, hey, our kids are getting knocked up and they're killing their kids through abortion and they're on drugs. What do I do? Well, you can't take them back in the house and re-raise them. Sorry. You know, it's like, well, you can pray for them. You can keep trying to be godly. But you know, sometimes the damage is done because the Bible says, chasing my son while there is hope. It didn't, you know, sometimes it just, it's over. You say, oh, dealing with these kids is so hard. Well, you can get it right now. And deal with it now. Well, going to this conference is, you know, four days. I mean, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Yeah, but you're going to reap all that in the future. And I want you to reap something of great heritage. You know, children are a heritage of the Lord. And they are a reward. Don't forget that. Thank you, Heavenly Father, so much for this conference. Thank you so much for the parents and the children of this conference. I pray that we would all realize the importance of following my commandments, of putting the Bible at the forefront of our mind. I pray that whatever memories have been made these past few days, the sermons that were preached, and especially the words of God would sink deep down into all of our hearts. That we would have just a true love and joy for our children. We would invest so much time and effort and energy into our children. That children would love their parents. That children would see that they have a great value in serving God. That they have a great and bright future if they will put forth first the kingdom of God and if they will seek after you. And I pray that you would just protect our children, protect our church from the evils and the dangers out there. And that you would just allow us to keep serving you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So our last song for the evening we're going to do, I've got the joy, or no, I will enter into his gates, sorry. I had to remember. We'll have our kiddos stand up one last time, alright? I will enter into his gates. piano plays softly piano plays softly piano plays softly I will enter in his gates with thanksgiving in my heart I will enter his courts with praise I will say this is the day that the Lord has made I will rejoice for he has made me glad He has made me glad He has made me glad He has made me glad I will rejoice for he has made me glad He has made me glad He has made me glad He has made me glad I will rejoice for he has made me glad God bless you.