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Proverbs chapter 20 Get my timer out here Okay, Proverbs chapter 20 Starting there in verse 11 Even as child is known by his doings whether his work be pure and whether it be right The hearing ear and the seeing eye the Lord hath made even both of them love not sleep lest thou come to poverty Open thine eyes and thou shalt be satisfied with bread. Let's pray dear God. Thank this opportunity to preach I thank you for your word Lord I preach you'd give me clarity mind to preach your word help me to preach the truth in Jesus name. I pray amen Alright, tell my sermon is love not sleep. Love not sleep. Go back in your Bibles to Proverbs chapter 1 and Chapter 1 tells us why the book of Proverbs was written Proverbs chapter 1 in verse 1 the Proverbs of Solomon the son of David king of Israel to know wisdom and instruction To perceive the words of understanding to receive to receive the instruction of wisdom justice and judgment and equity So God gives us the book of Proverbs to learn wisdom to get instruction to learn judgment equity You know just the the quality of God what God would have us to know what God's wisdom is for our life That's why the book of Proverbs is written and there's so much wisdom in this book that sometimes we can just read Sense by sense and things will just go over our head Little itty-bitty statements sometimes that we just read and we don't actually think about how important they are And I think one of those is there in Proverbs chapter 20 Verse 13 where it says love not sleep Sometimes we're just reading there like okay. Yeah, I love not sleep, but we got to realize that every word of God is pure Everything is in the Bible for a reason and God gives us this so that we could have wisdom in our life So that we can really have a better life That's why God gives us our command his commandments so that we can have a better life Okay, and so this sermon will not apply to everyone because there's some people in this room that do not sleep enough Okay, you know if brother Aaron or Remy ever watched this sermon this sermon does not apply to you guys Okay, you guys need to take a nap every once in a while All right But some people sleep too much and some people are Goldilocks Baptist and sleep just perfect and that the sermon won't apply to you either Maybe that'll be an exhortation to you. Okay, but this concept is important to know it's important to remember Why because it's the wisdom of God it's gonna help us in our life and especially as a child This is a habit that you need to get right now because the habits that you form as a child will go with you into your adulthood whether good or bad and if they're bad habits They're gonna be a lot harder to break once you're an adult Okay, and there's a physical application to this and like with most things in the Bible There's also a spiritual application to this of not loving sleep. So first the physical application Look there ever again at verse 20 verse 13 love not sleep God tells us why lest thou come to poverty number one loving sleep will make you poor Especially as a man loving sleep will make you poor go to Genesis chapter 3 Genesis chapter 3 talks about the curse of man and what our job is as men Genesis chapter 3 verse 19 in the sweat of thy face Shout thou eat bread till thou return unto the ground for out of it. What's thou taken for dust thou art And unto dust shalt thou return You know the curse of man is to work hard by the sweat of your face and provide for your family no matter what? That's good. That's man's curse. That's what we've been given. You know, it's kind of hard to work up a sweat It's kind of hard to work by the sweat of your face when you're sleeping Unless you have some weird sleep disorder or something. You're not gonna be sweating in your sleep Okay, love not sleep lest thou come to poverty the Bible says you love sleep You want to hit the snooze button every morning? You're one of those guys that's always late to work That's how you come to poverty and in today's snowflake millennial generation It's really easy to stand out at work just by being on time You know the Millennials cannot show up to work on time Sebastian was telling me the guy he works with Consistently every day three minutes two minutes late to work. Just he's so consistent He would just move his schedule back two or three minutes He'd be on time, but it's easy today to stand out just by showing up on time You know and how do you do that you have to wake up you have to wake up early you have to love not sleep Go to Proverbs chapter 6 Proverbs chapter 6 verse 4 Give not sleep to thine eyes nor slumber to thine eyelids deliver thyselves Deliver thyself as a row from the hand of the hunter and as a bird from the hand of the fowler So I want what I want to point out there is that when you're giving not sleep to your eyes You're delivering yourself from something that's hunting you something that's coming after you something that's looking for your harm You know it compares it to a hunter or a fowler and what is that? That's poverty you know give not sleep to thine eyes because poverty is coming for you wake up Something's coming for you go to the ant thou sluggard consider her ways and be wise which having no guide overseer or ruler Provideth her meat in the summer and gathered her food in the harvest how long without sleep o sluggard When wilt thou arise out of thy sleep yet a little sleep a little slumber a little folding of the hands to sleep So shall thy poverty come as one that travel at and I want as an armed man Notice there the Bible is saying hey This is important if you just give a little too much sleep to your eyes just a little too much slumber Just a little too much folding to your hand. That's when the poverty is coming for you Just a little bit, so it's not something that you have just huge amount of grace from Bible says love not sleep It's an important thing It's an important statement Why it says that thy poverty will come upon you as one that travel it and I want as an armed man Your want talking about your necessities your daily food and the thing is is God has promised to provide for us Bible says I've never seen the righteous forsaken or a seed begging bread You know God promises to bride for our daily needs our daily bread But just as much of a promise as it is for him to provide for us it's just as much as a promise that if you give sleep to your eyes if You have a little sleep a little slumber a little folding of the hands of sleep. So shall thy poverty come so you say Oh, I'm a Christian. So I have a free slate to have God provide for me No, you know you Bible says the righteous, right? So you have to be obviously saved and you obviously have to be obeying this command to not sleep because if you're sleeping all day You're not at work You're not gonna be fed and it's when it's talking about your want It's not talking about your want of a Lamborghini or your want of a new boat. It's talking about your daily needs So, let's see here go to 1st Corinthians chapter 13 or chapter 10 You know, but the thing is that this takes discipline this is not something that's easy Everybody has the temptation to sleep in everybody feels tired You know Everybody loves to give their excuses of why they can't serve God Why they can't go soul winning why they can't show up to church and it's because I'm tired. I'm tired I'm tired, but hey, everybody is tired. We are made of flesh and this flesh is weary You know, we're all tired 1st Corinthians 10 13 there hath no temptation taking you but such as is common to man You know, this is not something that only you experience everybody experiences this but it doesn't give you an excuse to disobey God's commandment To love not sleep, but if this is something you struggle with this is something you must correct as a man This is something you have to get right. You will not be able to provide for your family You say well, I'm a lady so I'm out of this is fine. I don't I can love sleep then No, go to Proverbs chapter 31 Proverbs chapter 31 This is not something that only applies to men men are not the only ones that should be waking up early and working hard God sees it as a righteous aspect of a man and a woman to be a hard worker Proverbs chapter 31 Verse 15 she riseth also while it is yet night and giveth meat to her household and apportion to her maidens This woman isn't loving sleep if she's raising up when it's still nighttime to feed her family She's not eating the bread of idleness. She's waking up and she's working hard The Bible praises a hard-working woman in Proverbs 31. This is God's ideal woman This is a godly woman and part of the reason why she's praised is because she wakes up while it's night to do her work You say well if I if I wake up too early and if I sleep in then I'll get all my stuff done too soon And I'll be bored all day Well, you ought not to be bored all day. I don't care if you're a single girl. I don't care if you're a single guy There's always something to be doing, you know, most likely if you're a woman you have kids You don't have this issue of running out of stuff to do I'm guessing you have plenty of stuff to do but there's lots we could do in this life You know, if you're a woman you run out of stuff to do at home read a lot of Bible, you know I don't believe in this mediocre Christian mentality of reading the Bible for 15 minutes a day I think that's a mediocre goal for a Christian to read the Bible for 15 minutes a day I think if you read the Bible through one time year to year, I think you're barely making it as a Christian I think a full-time working man should read the Bible cover to cover more than one time a year And if you're a woman at home that has no kids and you're not reading the Bible more than that shame on you There's something wrong with you If you're not reading the Bible for more than that, you know Keep things clean around the house learn new recipes get a hobby get a side business Be a prayer warrior, you know, is there not a lot to pray for right now in 2018? Is there not a lot to be in prayer for for our movement for this church for souls that are being saved For the work of God going on How's your prayer life as a woman if you have nothing to do if you get bored so fast at home? You know that you want to sleep all day. Why don't you be in prayer? Why don't you be in prayer? How about go soul winning exercise do something, but don't sleep all day You do not have an excuse just because you're a woman to sleep all day I don't mean obviously you probably don't have to sleep as little as the husband does, you know That's that's implicit of course, but you don't get to sleep all day Proverbs chapter or wait stay there in Proverbs 31 look at verse 27 real quick She looketh well to the ways of her household and eateth not the bread of idol idleness It's kind of hard to look well to things when you're asleep You can't look at anything at all when you're asleep go to Proverbs chapter 14 verse 1 Actually turn to Ecclesiastes chapter 11 I'll read for you Proverbs 14 1 every wise woman buildeth her house But the foolish plucketh it down with her hands, you know If you're a wise woman, you're gonna harken unto the commandment to love not sleep And if you're a foolish woman You're gonna end up being the woman that plucks down her house with her hand because she's not being Vigilant because she's not looking well to the ways of her house Ecclesiastes chapter 11 Verse 9 You say well, I'm a child. So this doesn't apply to me here No It applies to you to Verse 9 and chapter 11 says rejoice Oh young man in thy youth and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth and walk in the ways of thine Heart and in the sight of thine eyes, but know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart and put away evil from thy flesh for childhood and youth are vanity Look, your childhood is vanity. Your your game playing is vanity Most of your childhood is complete vanity. So listen take advantage of your childhood You have all this free time to learn how to serve God to the best capacity you can wake up early Especially if you're a young boy learn how to wake up early and work you say I have nothing to do ask your parents They'll give you something to do. Don't just wake up having no plan for your day Get up, you need a list to ask your parents for a list They'll give you a list get up and work boys Get up and work girls get up and read your Bible and take advantage of the youth when you don't have all this stuff taking Up your time. How great would it be if before you have your first job? You've already read the Bible through cover to cover ten times That's easy to do if you start in your childhood and you take advantage of your time But if you're sleeping all day and you waste it like I did then you're gonna have to catch up later Don't do that learn to serve God to the fullest in your youth Psalm 63 turn there You Psalm 63 and spiritual application of this is that God wants to us to seek him early He wants us to seek him early in our life He wants us to seek him early in the day. God wants to be the first fruits of all that we have Okay, so Psalm 63 verse 1 Oh God thou art my God early Will I seek thee my soul thirsted for thee my flesh longeth for thee in the dry and thirsty land where no water is To see thy power and thy glory So as I have seen thee in the sanctuary because thy loving-kindness is better than life my lips shall plays praise thee Thus while I bless thee while I live I will lift up my hands in thy name Bible says early will I seek thee look when you wake up? The first thing you should do is to be praying and to be reading the Bible I do not think it is right for the only time for a Christian to get their Bible reading done is in the evening I think you should be reading the evening, too But the Bible says early will I seek thee why look at verse verse 2 to see thy power? Who wants the power of God on their life who wants the hand of God on their life? Wake up early get God in on your day get God in on your life And you're gonna have the power of God upon you You don't want to wait until the evening and he says thus will I bless thee while I live We're not gonna live physically forever. We're not gonna have the opportunity to sit down and have a long time with God forever I mean we'll be with God in heaven of course But take advantage of the time you have wake up early and see God early My Bible says one of my favorite chapters in the Bible in Psalm 1 there's a blessing with seeking God early Blessed is the man that walked not in the counsel of the ungodly nor stand the way of sinners nor sit in the sea The right of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law doth he meditate day and night So don't just read at night. Don't just read it in the day meditate there in day and night But it's kind of hard to do that when you love sleep So number two the the second spiritual application is Ezekiel 33 If you'll turn there Ezekiel 33 in verse 4 then whosoever hear at the sound of the trumpet and take if not warning if the sword come and take him Away his blood shall be upon his own head He heard the sound of the trumpet and took not warning his blood shall be upon him But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul But if the watchman see the sword come and blow not the trumpet and the people be not warned if the sword come and take Any person from among them he is taken away in his iniquity But his blood will I require at the watchman's hand we have to be awake We have to love not sleep when it comes to being a watchman for souls How many missed opportunities have we had to preach the gospel to someone not because we knew we should preach that person the gospel We just decided not to do it, but just because we weren't thinking about it Just because we were asleep at the wheel, you know We are the messengers and ambassadors and priests and kings of God We are the people that have been entrusted with the ministry of reconciliation and people's souls are depending on our willingness and our Awakeness to preach people the gospel and when we miss those opportunities people can go to hell as a result of our our missed Opportunities, you know, are you willing to live with that? Do you want that kind of blood on your hands? You need to be awake spiritually when it comes to souls We need to be awake spiritually when it comes to being a watchman against sin first Peter chapter 5 verse 8 says be sober be vigilant because your adversary the devil as a Roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour You know in 2018 is not the time to be asleep, you know, I believe we're in the falling away We're in the last times the devil's walking around seeking who he could destroy what church he could destroy what family he can destroy And you know us as a church got to be looking out for sin in the church We have to be looking out You know parents have to be looking at sin in their home and even in your own life You have to be aware of it You have to be awake and looking for these things because the devil does want to destroy us and then lastly We have to be wide awake as the watchman against false doctrine Titus 1 9 Holding fast the faithful word as he had been taught that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince The gainsayers it's a job of Preachers and of churches and of men leaders of the home to be on watch against false doctrine and not to allow You know false doctrine to come into a church or a family that's running rampant today And now is not the time to be asleep physically now Is not the time when it's harder than ever to provide for a family on one income To be sleeping in every day and not showing up to work now It's not the time when we've been under more spiritual attack, then you know it's definitely one of the greatest Generations of spiritual attack probably there's ever been and if we see the tribulation definitely will that will ever be you know? This is the time that we need to be awake. We need to be in our Bibles We need to be physically physically awake and spiritually awake. Let's pray dear Lord. Thank you for this day Thank you for that truth in Proverbs versus love not sleep Help us not to just pass over verses in our Bible and just not give them much thought Lord You gave that verse to us for our wisdom and to make our lives better I pray that you'd help us apply it to every area in our life. Jesus name. I pray amen