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

Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Alright everybody, great to see everybody here tonight. We'll go ahead and find our seats, we'll go ahead and get started. It's great to see everybody. Welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church. Thank you for coming on Wednesday night. Once you find your seat, we'll go ahead and get started. Once you've found a seat, we'll go ahead and find a hymnal, and we'll start tonight with song number 197. Song number 197, Singing I Go, song number 197. The trusting heart to Jesus claims, nor any ill for most. But at the cross of Calvary sings, praise God for lives and lows. Singing I go, upon life's road, praising the Lord, praising the Lord. Singing I go, upon life's road, praise God as lifted my load. The passing days bring many hairs, fear not I hear Him say. And when my fears are turned to prayers, the burdens slip away. Singing I go, upon life's road, praising the Lord, praising the Lord. Singing I go, upon life's road, Jesus as lifted my load. He tells me of my Father's love and ever slumbering eye. My everlasting King above will all my needs apply. Singing I go, upon life's road, praising the Lord, praising the Lord. Singing I go, upon life's road, Jesus as lifted my load. When to the throne of grace I plead, I find the promise true. The mighty arms upholding me will bear my burdens too. Singing I go, upon life's road, praising the Lord, praising the Lord. Singing I go, upon life's road, Lord Jesus as lifted my load. Great singing everybody. Let's open up the service with a word of prayer. Lord we love you and we just want to thank you again for Steadfast Baptist Church allowing us to gather here and sing unto you Lord together. And we just thank you for the preaching we're going to hear tonight and we just ask you to bless this church in Jesus name we pray. Amen. All right for our next song let's go to song number 102. Song number 102. He hideth my soul. Song number 102. Song number 102 everybody sing it out in the verse. A wonderful Savior is Jesus my Lord, a wonderful Savior to me. He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rough, where rivers of pleasure I see. He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rough, where shadows of fibers meet them. He hideth my life in the depths of His love, and covers me there with His hand, and covers me there with His hand. A wonderful Savior is Jesus my Lord, He taketh my burden away. He holdeth me up and I shall not be moved, He giveth me strength as my name. He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rough, where shadows of dry thirsty land. He hideth my life in the depths of His love, and covers me there with His hand, and covers me there with His hand. With numberless blessings each moment He crowns, and filled with His fullness divine. I sing in my rapture, oh glory to God, for such a Redeemer as God. He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rough, that shadows of dry thirsty land. He hideth my life in the depths of His love, and covers me there with His hand, and covers me there with His hand. When clothed in His brightness, transported I rise to meet Him in clouds of the sky. His perfect salvation, His wonderful love I'll shout with the millions on high. He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rough, that shadows of dry thirsty land. He hideth my life in the depths of His love, and covers me there with His hand, and covers me there with His hand. We should have our prayer list as an insert this evening so that's how you know if you have the right one. On the front we have our Bible memory passage of the week Proverbs 31 verse 22. If you are 18 or under and quote this to myself or an usher after service you can get an ice cream. On the front left hand side we have our service times listed there as well as our church wide soul winning times. All those meet here at the building and then our regional soul winning times are listed there that meet various areas throughout DFW. Just a quick note if you go to brother Sam Foley's time you might want to get in touch with him because I know that a couple of the guys have been in the Philippines preaching the gospel so just double check if that is still going on this Monday. As always please return your soul winning maps to the bin once you complete those. We have our church stats listed there for the year for salvation and baptism. On the right hand side we have the prayer list for our expecting ladies. Then of course like I said we have our prayer list here we will go over in just a moment. Real quickly on our upcoming events we have a lot of upcoming events updated today in our bulletin. February 24th we are going to have our preaching class that's this Saturday. March 23rd we are going to have a big soul winning push as well as a hot dog cookout at a park. There will be more details coming soon about that but mark your calendars for that. On March 30th which is right before Easter we are going to have a Cedar Hill South Dallas soul winning marathon. We ordered some special Easter invites today. I think we ordered 5,000 so we are really wanting to push these Easter invites at every soul winning time you go to regardless of location. Hand these out it's going to be good to get those out for sure. March 31st is Easter of course and we are going to be taking communion as a church that day so make sure you are here for that. April 6th is a Shareefport Louisiana soul winning marathon and we do have a sign up sheet for this at the front. Of all the places I have been soul winning in the U.S. Shareefport and Detroit are right up there for the best soul winning. If you want some good soul winning this is the one you want to go to it's very receptive. We always have a great time at this one so there is a sign up sheet for that. There is also a sign up sheet for the Verde Baptist Church Youth Rally that's coming up on April 9th through the 10th. So if your teen is going to that there is a sign up sheet up front and it has some details about when and where and the age limits and do you need a parent and all that stuff. Just check the sheet for that. Lastly on our upcoming events April 29th we are having a Fort Worth Zoo day and again more details are going to come as it gets closer but this is just so you can mark your calendars for that. On the back we have our congratulations to the Chamley family and to the Warner family on the birth of Phoebe Henrietta Chamley for the Chamleys. Titus Judah Warner for the Warners. Let's give a big round of applause for both of them. And then before we go to our next song we do have our prayer list here. A couple things added. Ms. Stewart's Health, Dawn Stewart. My father had like a very minor skin cancer surgery that was removed and so I'm just praying that that returns as a positive test and doesn't spread or anything like that. So if you pray for that. And then Faith Miller, her friend Tamara's cancer treatment, we're praying for that as well. So let's go ahead and go to the Lord in prayer as a church here. Dear Lord, thank you for this day. Thank you for our church and just pray that our pastor would feel better soon and pray that she bless all those that weren't able to make it tonight, Lord. And thank you for the healing that you've given to Brother Cameron's leg. I pray that his leg would just continue to be healthy, that he wouldn't have any more issues in the future and that you'd just strengthen him and his family. I just pray for Ms. Karen for her stepdad's cancer treatment as well as my father's cancer treatment and Faith Miller's friend's cancer treatment. I pray that all those situations you'd get them the care that they need and pray that you'd heal them, Lord. And pray for Alicia's grandmother's vision for her health and salvation as well as for Ms. Tinika's mother's health. And we also pray for Ms. Dawn Stewart that she would give her better health going forward, Lord. Pray that she would heal all these people and pray that she would be with all the needs of our church. You know what they are. The unspoken requests as well and just pray that you bless these people in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Alright, so we're going to go ahead and sing Psalm 147. Psalm 147. I need you all to back me up on this one. I've got a little tickle in my throat so if you hear me pause just keep on singing. Psalm 147. Psalm 147 in your King James Bible or handout. Praise ye the Lord, for it is good to sing praises unto our God. For it is pleasant and praises from Thee, the Lord, downfield of Jerusalem. He gathered together the outcasts of Israel. He healeth the broken in heart and kindeth of their wounds. He telleth of number of the stars. He calleth them all, He calleth them all by their names. Great is our Lord, and of great power, His understanding is infinite. The Lord liveth of the weak, casteth the wicked down to the ground. Sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving, sing praise upon the heart. But to our God, who covereth the heaven with clouds, who remain. Pray for the earth, who maims, grass to grow upon the mountains. He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry. He delighteth not in the strength of the force he taketh, not pleasure in. The legs of a man the Lord taketh, pleasure in them that fear Him. And those that open His mercy praise the Lord. Jerusalem, praise Thy God, O Zion, praise the Lord, O Jerusalem. For He hath strengthened the bars of the gates He hath blessed. Thy children, whom Thee may get peace in Thy waters and filleth thee. With the finest thou, we descendeth, forth is commandment. Upon earth, earth runneth very swiftly. Snow like molding, scattereth the poor, frost like ashes. He casteth forth His eyes like morn, souls who can't stand before His cold. He senteth out His word and melted them, because it with wind to blow. And the waters flow, He showeth His word unto Jacob, his statutes in. Israel, not dealt so with any demand as for His judgments. They have not looked and received the Lord. All right, great singing, everybody. Now, as the offering plates are being passed around, go ahead and turn in your Bibles to Proverbs chapter number one. That's Proverbs chapter number one. Proverbs chapter number one. Proverbs chapter one will read the entire chapter as is our custom. Proverbs one, the Bible reads, the Proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel, to know wisdom and instruction, to perceive the words of understanding, to receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity, to give subtlety to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion. A wise man will hear and will increase learning, and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels, to understand a proverb and the interpretation, the words of the wise and their dark sayings. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother, for they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head and chains about thy neck. My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not. If they say, come with us, let us lay weight for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause, let us swallow them up alive as the grave and whole as those that go down into the pit, we shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil. Cast in thy lot among us, let us all have one purse. My son, walk not thou in the way with them, refrain thy foot from their path, for their feet run to evil and make haste to shed blood. Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird, and they lay weight for their own blood, they lurk privily for their own lives. So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain, which taketh away the life of the owners thereof. Wisdom crieth without, she uttereth her voice in the streets, she crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates, in the city she uttereth her words, saying, How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? And the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge. Turn ye at my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you, because I have called, and ye refused, I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded. But ye have said at naught all my counsel, and would none of my reproof. I also will laugh at your calamity, I will mock when your fear cometh. When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind, when distress and anguish cometh upon you, then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer. They shall seek me early, but they shall not find me. For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord, they would none of my counsel, they despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil. Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer. Father in heaven, we just thank you for brother Dylan Oz and his family, and I pray that you fill in with your spirit now, and enable him to preach with boldness the sermon you've laid on his heart. And Lord, I pray that you would soften hearts in the room, and open ears as well, so that we can receive the preaching of your word, and glorify you in everything we do. We love you, in Jesus' name I pray, amen. Amen. All right, well thank you Pastor Shelley for allowing me to preach tonight, and we're here in Proverbs chapter 1, one of the most famous books of the whole Bible actually, a lot of times even when you just buy a New Testament, it'll have the book of Proverbs at the back, and that's because the book of Proverbs was written to give us wisdom. Look at Proverbs chapter number 1, look at verse number 1, it says, the proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel, to know wisdom and instruction to perceive the words of understanding, to receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity, to give subtlety to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion. So here the Bible is explaining that this book is given to us, so that we can gain wisdom. So this is a great book for those that are new in the faith, and old in the faith alike, because everybody needs to constantly be seeking to get wisdom. You can never arrive at a point in your life where you've gotten enough wisdom, or enough knowledge, or enough understanding, so the book of Proverbs is an essential part of the Christian's diet spiritually. Look at verse number, flip over to Proverbs chapter 8, Proverbs chapter number 8, and we're going to look at some of the benefits, starting off here, of wisdom in our lives. Proverbs 8 verse 13, the Bible says, The fear of the Lord is to hate evil, pride and arrogance in the evil way, and the froward mouth do I hate. Counsel is mine and sound wisdom. I am understanding, I have strength. By me kings reign and princes decree justice. By me princes rule and nobles even all the judges of the earth. I love them that love me, and those that seek me early shall find me. Riches and honor are with me, yea durable riches and righteousness. My fruit is better than gold, yea than fine gold, and my revenue than choice silver. I lead in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judgment, that I may cause those that love me to inherit substance, and I will fill their treasures. So right off the bat we can see how much wisdom benefits our lives. It's saying that by wisdom kings rule, by wisdom princes make their decrees, by wisdom is the increase of wealth and prosperity even physically speaking. And of course it says and righteousness as well. Being someone that's wise that's going to cause you to be a righteous person. And obviously every single person in here wants to have wisdom. But go back to Proverbs chapter number 1 and look at verse number 5. Proverbs 1 verse 5 it says this, Proverbs 4 verse 5, Get wisdom, get understanding, forget it not, neither decline from the words of thy mouth, forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee, love her, and she shall keep thee. Wisdom is the principle thing, therefore get wisdom, and with all thy getting, get understanding. So notice here, wisdom is just constantly being emphasized in the Bible. So much so that the Bible is saying of everything that you're going to get, of everything that you're going to seek in life, wisdom is the most important thing you could ever seek. It's the most important thing you could ever find in life is wisdom. And when I hear that I want to think, hey, I want to become wise then. I want to get some wisdom. I want to get wise. And the title of my sermon is 3 Steps to Becoming Wise. 3 Steps to Becoming Wise. Go back to Proverbs chapter number 1. Proverbs chapter number 1. And Proverbs 1 verse 5 gives us 3 steps on how to become wise Christians. Notice what it says. It says, A wise man will hear and will increase learning, and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsel. So number 1 this evening, to become wise you must listen more than you speak. This is something that all wise people have in common. If you spend time around wise people, if you observe their lifestyle, they listen more than they speak. Why? Because it says in verse 5, a wise man will what? Hear. Go to Proverbs chapter number 10. Proverbs chapter number 10. Wisdom comes from listening, not from speaking. Fools are known by the abundance of the words that come out of their mouth. When you hear someone that's stupid, they're constantly just talking all the time. Just spewing out foolishness out of their mouth. But look at Proverbs 10 verse 19. It says, In the multitude of words, there wanteth not sin, but he that refraineth his lips is wise. If you like to take notes in your Bible, you can just write social media next to this verse. Because just in the multitude of words, when every single person is telling you everything that's on their mind, every stupid thought that comes into their brain, there wanteth not sin there. Meaning there's not a lack of sin. And the Bible says that even the thought of foolishness is sin. And so when a lot of people are talking, there's a lot of foolishness going on. The Bible's saying that no, the wise person is actually the person that refrains or holds back their lips. And you know, it used to be that in order to have a platform, in order to be someone that people listen to, you used to have to be someone that's built a reputation by your character or by your works or have been someone that's been proved for someone to care about what you think about anything. But now, because of social media, every single person in the world can reach millions of people no matter how stupid they are. And sometimes, in fact, the algorithms are actually created to boost stupidity on the Internet. A brother from church was showing me the other day this YouTube channel that has hundreds of millions of views that is about robots destroying toilets. Fake toilets. Hundreds of millions of views. People spending their time watching toilets being destroyed online. That's the type of world that exists on the Internet. Stupidity. Foolishness. Idiots. But those that refrain their lips are wise. Go to James chapter number one, James chapter number one. We need to get back to the time where in order for your opinion to even matter, you should have to have built something or have been tried through something or have shown people that you're worthy of being followed. Don't just follow every person you see online. They're not necessarily worth following. James chapter one, verse 19, it says, Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. So notice, if we're going to follow God's instructions, we need to be swift to hear. Meaning that when there's an opportunity to get knowledge, when there's an opportunity to learn something, we want to be right on that, ready to listen. Because if there's an opportunity to learn something, that means there's an opportunity for us to become more wise. There's an opportunity for us to become better people, better Christians. And what is the best place on earth to learn? It's church. That's the best place. This is the pillar and ground of the truth. The local New Testament church is supposed to hold up the truth nice and high like a light on a shining hill to show the world what the truth is. That's what church is. And when you want to learn something, the best place you can do is come to church. Go to Ecclesiastes chapter number five. Ecclesiastes chapter number five. But here's the thing, it's not enough just to come to church. Because notice what these verses have been talking about. Hearing, listening. So if you come to church but you don't pay attention, if you come to church and your ears are not attentive, you're not ready to hear the word of God, church profits you nothing, and you're just as wise or just as foolish as when you walked in the doors. In order to have benefit, you must listen. Look at Ecclesiastes 5.1, it says, Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they consider not that they do evil. Notice how hearing is being compared against the sacrifice of fools, which is what? Just the abundance of words, right? And a lot of times, unfortunately, if you're going to a bad church, you're going to listen to the preacher giving the sacrifice of fools, but that's not how this church is, right? We have the King James Bible, we have a pastor that studies the word of God, and if you come to this church, you're going to get fed spiritually. No one in this room has the excuse that many other people try to give of, well, I wasn't being fed at that church. Look, if you're not being fed at steadfast Baptist church, it's because you are not listening. It's not because the preaching is boring or it's lacking Bible or anything like that. The preaching at this church is saturated with scripture, and it's given by a wise pastor from behind the pulpit, and so if you're not being fed, look in the mirror because you're the problem. You have to open your ears to benefit. So here's some practical tips to help you pay attention. You say, I struggle with paying attention in church. Here's a practical tip. Turn off your phone or put it on Do Not Disturb. I use this feature all the time. When I'm writing sermons, I put that thing on Do Not Disturb because I don't want to get out of the zone, right? And so if you're wanting to really take in what the preacher's saying, if you want to really learn the word of God, turn that thing on Don't Disturb. Because even if you're not on the phone, sometimes you just feel it buzzing in your pocket and you're like, I wonder what that is. And you ignore it, it's no big deal. Then it buzzes again and you're like, what's going on? I'm wondering what's going on, right? And your brain is now being taken away from the preaching of God word and your sports scores are notifying your phone or your ring camera is notifying your phone or just all this random stuff that's distracting you from the preaching of God's word. So just put that thing on Do Not Disturb. Now I understand maybe you have a job where you're on call and sure, that's the exception. But for the vast majority of people, there's nothing that important going on that you can't just turn your phone off while you're in church. This is the most important thing going on in the world right now is the preaching of God's word. Turn off your phone. I'll read for you Hebrews 12, 28. It says, Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. What is reverence? It's extreme respect. Like reverence is how an ambassador would treat the prime minister of a foreign nation or the president of a nation. You would call him sir. You would look him in the eyes when he's talking to you. You would shake his hand. You'd be reverent towards that person. And the Bible's saying that when we serve God, we should do so with reverence and godly fear. And you know what is not being respectful? It's scrolling Facebook during the preaching of God's word. You know, I've been to a lot of churches and I've walked around congregations and I've seen people scrolling Facebook, scrolling Instagram, scrolling eBay. I've seen people scrolling eBay. I've seen people checking emails. Just stop. Just put it away. Just focus on the preaching of God's word because it's more important than anything else. And man, our society is becoming addicted to our phones to the point where I walk into men's public bathrooms and there's dudes using the urinal and they're literally holding their phone while they're taking a piss. That's how addicted our world's becoming to their phones. Woe unto you if you're that addicted to your phone. Put the dang thing away and listen to the preaching of God's word. Turn it off. Here's another thing that can help you is taking notes during a sermon. This is something I really like to do and I usually use my laptop to do this because I don't lose the papers and I could just go back at any time in the future and reference, oh, what did Pastor Shelley say about Revelation 12, right? And I could check that out years in the future because I'm using that tool to take notes and it also just helps keep my mind engaged in the preaching. If I'm saying, hey, here's Pastor Shelley's points. Here's the Scriptures that he's going to. And maybe at some point tonight I'll be rambling on in my sermon but I promise you I'm going to give you three very clear, distinctive points that you can walk away with that if you wrote those down, that could help you in your life. If you were taking notes, that could help you to pay attention. Here's another thing. Go to Proverbs 29. Proverbs 29. Here's something that can help you pay attention in church and that is disciplining your children at home. Disciplining your children at home because if you are disciplining your children at home and you're having them get used to preaching at home or the Bible at home once they come to church, hopefully you wouldn't have to be correcting them as often. Now, of course, everyone's going to have to correct their kids during church. Every kid is occasionally going to get loud or upset. I get that. But if your two, three, four, five, six-year-old is driving you so crazy that you can't pay attention to the preaching of God's Word, that's a problem. That's a discipline issue that you're failing at at home. Look at Proverbs 29, verse 17. It says, correct thy son and he shall give thee, notice, rest. That's how I want to be at church. I just want to be sitting in my seat and unless there's crazy protests going on and police I've got to deal with, I just want to rest in my seat and pay attention to the preaching of God's Word, right? And that's how it should be for all of you too, but in order for that to happen, notice what you have to do. Correct thy son. And it's not during the preaching that's going to make the change, it's what you do at home that's going to make the change for your children. So, like for my house, and maybe you have your own plan that works for you, but we like to have Bible time at night, where we read a chapter of the Bible, the kids have to sit on the couch, they have to be quiet, they can't talk to each other, or they will get spanked. Then, we do prayer time, where I pray, my wife prays, and then the kids pray, each one of them. Then we memorize the scripture of the week after that. And that is teaching them the discipline of being in church, right? Because they have to, not every single night, I'd like to say that I do it every single night, hopefully I have the character to do that someday, but when we do this, man, it does make a difference in how they behave at church. Because they're doing it at home. And so if you want your kids to behave at church, make them behave at home. Don't only just discipline them here, that's not going to work. Go to Hebrews chapter number 4, Hebrews chapter number 4. What are we talking about? We're talking about how to get wisdom, you have to listen more than you speak. And in order to listen in church, you can't be distracted by your phone, can't be distracted by your kids being bad. No, you need to have that taken care of so that you can focus and listen of the preaching of God's word. Why? Look at Hebrews 4 12, it says, For the word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Notice how powerful the word of God is described. You know, if you read the Bible, you know how true this is. If you've been serving the Lord over the last several years or maybe even decades, you know how powerful God's word really is. When you've heard preaching that's changed your life, you know how powerful God's word is. But in order for that to actually take effect, you have to be listening to it. We all can think of probably sermons that have changed our lives, sermons that have moved us. Look, in order to get the benefit from that, you must be listening. This is a powerful tool right here. It's the sharp two-edged sword, cutting and dividing asunder soul and spirit, the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. I mean, that is a powerful tool right there. But if you're not paying attention when it's preached, you're not going to benefit from it. I'll read for you Mark 4-9 says, And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Why did Jesus have to say that? Because people aren't paying attention, because people aren't listening. So look, let us that have ears tonight hear the sermon. When Pastor Shelley's preaching, let us that have ears listen to what he's saying. Right? There's people that are literally deaf on this earth that would love to be able to listen to preaching, or listen to the word of God being read. And some of us are too busy scrolling Instagram during church. Some of us are too busy on Facebook during church. Hey, if you've got ears to hear, hear, listen. Why? Because it's going to make you wise. And if you want to be a wise person, you must listen more than you speak. Go back to Proverbs chapter 1. Proverbs chapter 1. And of course we're talking about church, but this goes at the workplace too. You know, if you want to be a good worker, listen more than you speak. I mean, customer service today absolutely sucks. And you go somewhere and you're surprised if they listen to you well enough to get your order right. Right? So you will literally just stand out in the workplace by just listening. Just listening to instructions, just listening to the customer, just listen. It'll make you a better person. Here's point number two to become wise. Constantly be learning. Constantly be learning. Look at Proverbs 1.5. It says a wise man will hear, that's point number one, notice point number two, and will increase learning. Increase learning. And you want to know what the best way on earth is to learn? It's to read. Reading is how you learn. You want to know why God gave us his word in written format? Because that is how you learn. Watching videos is not the best way to learn. It's reading the Bible. That is how you learn. And I talked about earlier how man, we live in this weird social media age where everyone's a teacher and no one is a student. But what would be great is if people stop talking so much and just started reading and listening. Because why is it that the internet is just flooded with false prophets? It's because our world is flooded with people that don't read the Bible. Because if you've read the Bible, when some idiot gets online and wants to teach you about the Nephilim, when some moron online wants to tell you about repenting or sin, salvation, you're going to say, no, because I've read the Bible. So look, you want to get understanding, you want to get knowledge, you want to get wisdom, you must read the Bible. That is the best way to do it. Now let's turn to Psalm chapter number one. So basically in order to learn, there's two things that every single person must read. If you want to become a wise person, every single person must be reading these two things. Number one, of course, what is it? The King James Bible. If you're an English speaker, you must be reading the Bible every single day. If you do not read the King James Bible every single day, you are not a wise person. Because this is God's word and a wise person would want to listen to what God said, obviously, right? Psalm chapter number one, notice, Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate. Notice, day and night, and he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit and his season. His leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. What a promise that is in God's word. Don't we all want to be prosperous? Don't we all want to be successful in our lives? Carnally and spiritually, we all want to be that way, right? How do you get there? By meditate, by loving the law of the Lord and meditating therein day and night. The most wise people on this planet are the people that spend the most time reading the Bible. Not listening to videos about the Bible, not reading books about the Bible, reading the Bible. Meditating on the law of the Lord. And what's funny is even unsaved people, even people that are just carnally successful in this world, or that have achieved great statuses of power and renown in history, when they utilize the principles taught in the Bible, it helps them to be successful as well. And here's the thing, anyone that knows anything, about anything, knows that this is the most powerful book of all time. I'm going to prove that to you. Okay, I'm going to give you some quotes from some former US presidents. And listen, I'm not saying that these guys are godly, or that they're saved. My whole point is that even if you're not saved, and you hold the Bible in high regard in your life, and you meditate there on day and night, you're going to have success in your life. You're going to prosper in your life. This is what John Quincy Adams said. He said, The first and almost, the only book deserving of universal attention is the Bible. President Andrew Jackson said, That book, sir, is the rock on which our republic rests. Abraham Lincoln said, In regard for this great book, I have this to say, it is the best gift God has given to man. Ulysses S. Grant said, Hold fast to the Bible as the sheet anchor of your liberties. Write its precepts in your hearts and practice them in your lives. To the influence of this book, are we indebted for all the progress made in true civilization? And to this, we must look as our guide in the future. That's a great quote right there. Any progress that's been made in civilization anywhere on earth, it's been because of the wisdom found in God's word. Benjamin Harrison said, If you take out of your statutes, your Constitution, your family life, all that is taken from the sacred book, what would there be left to bind society together? What a prophet that guy was because our society is completely unraveling because the Bible has been taken out of our laws, the Bible has been taken out of our families, the Bible has been taken out of our social structures, and we're living in a hellscape more and more every single day. But back when people were wise in America, even the President gave esteem and honor to the Bible. And let me tell you something, the President is not usually the most godly person in the nation, okay? Usually when you're reaching that level of power and influence, it's often done by wicked means. Now I'm not saying every single time, I don't know, but I'm just going to guess that most of these guys aren't safe, okay? But notice what they're saying about the Bible still. Woodrow Wilson, he said the Bible is one of the supreme sources of revelation of the meaning of life, the nature of God and spiritual nature and needs of men. It is the only guide of life which really leads the Spirit in the way of peace and salvation. America was born a Christian nation. America was born to exemplify that devotion to the elements of righteousness which are derived from the revelations of Holy Scripture. So there you go, you have a US President saying that we are a Christian nation. Calvin Coolidge said this, the strength of our country is the strength of its religious convictions. Boy is that true. I don't care how much money America has, I don't care how great our military is, I don't care if we have the best bombers and the best nukes, the strength of our country lies in the wisdom of its people by heeding to the Bible, by listening to the Bible, being preached and by reading the Bible. That's what makes America strong and if we don't have that, America will be weak. Franklin Roosevelt said this, we cannot read the history of our rise and development as a nation without reckoning with the place that the Bible has occupied in shaping the advances of this Republic. Where we have been the truest and most consistent in obeying its precepts, we have attained the greatest measure of contentment and prosperity. Doesn't that sound like Psalm chapter number one? The closer you follow the Bible, the more prosperous our nation has been. That's reality. And the only reason our nation is prosperous now is because we're literally riding on the spiritual coattails of our forefathers. Back when our nation had way more saved people or had way more godly preaching than it does right now. That's why we're so prosperous today. But if we continue the route that we're going, this place is going to be unrecognizable when I'm old. It's going to be unrecognizable. It is not going to be the same place. Harry Truman said this, the fundamental basis of this nation's laws was given to Moses on the mount. The fundamental basis of our Bill of Rights comes from the teachings we get from Exodus, Matthew, Isaiah, Saint Paul. If we don't have a proper fundamental moral background, we will finally end up with a totalitarian government which does not believe in rights for anybody except the state. There you go. That's prophetic as well. Ronald Reagan, who was featured in our film The Preserved Bible, where he was kind of making fun of the modern versions of the Bible, he said this, inside the Bible, and we know he's even talking about the King James Bible, inside of the Bible's pages lie all the answers to all the problems man has ever known. It is my firm belief that the enduring values presented in its pages have a great meaning for each of us and for our nation. The Bible can touch our hearts, order our minds, and refresh our souls. I find that pretty interesting. I find that pretty interesting that as we look at our nation now, when it is just an excess pool of sin and debauchery and people are just becoming more and more stupid and apathetic and lazy and just everything about our country is just declining. Like America is a country in decline. Even if right now we're still at a better state than other countries, the problem is we are on a decline. So what's it going to be in five years? What's it going to be in ten years? Right? But when I look at these quotes from men who like I said probably weren't even saved, what did they do? They gave honor and respect to the word of God. Righteousness exalted a nation but sin is a reproach to any people the Bible says. So if we're going to be a nation that's exalted, we need to be wise and read this book every day. Read it every single day. And don't you dare get upset about the direction of America when you don't even read the Bible. How dare you? You're part of the problem. You think just because you sit inside Steadfast Baptist Church, you think that just because you wear a suit and tie that you're what makes America great? No. If you don't read the Bible, you're why we're in this position. You, Christian, that does not read the Bible. That's why we're in the position that we're in. Go to Deuteronomy chapter number 17, Deuteronomy chapter 17. But I find it interesting that these men of power, they were wise in a sense because they had to have been to achieve success and greatness in their life. Even if it's only a carnal wisdom, the Bible even talks about in the New Testament about the children of this world being wiser sometimes than the children of light. But what did they all have in common? They still all recognize that this is the ultimate source of truth and that this is the ultimate source of blessing and advancement in our country and this is no surprise. Look at Deuteronomy 17, verse 18. It says, And it shall be when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, talking about a king, the king of Israel, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests, the Levites. Notice the king had to hand copy the Bible by hand. You know how much time that would take? You know, I took a law enforcement class in high school. We had to hand write the entire Bill of Rights, the entire Declaration of Independence, and the entire US Constitution, and it took forever. And that is like a sliver compared to the Bible. But yet the kings had to do this. They had to write it by hand. Notice, And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them, that his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, to the end that he may prolong his days and his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel. So think about this. The king had to hand write a copy of the Bible, and he had to read therein all the days of his life. Why? Because didn't we read in Proverbs, by me, speaking of wisdom, kings reign? So if you're going to be a king of a nation, don't you think that you're going to need a lot of wisdom to make a lot of judgments? And how are you going to get that wisdom? Is it just going to come from human psychologists? Are you going to listen to Dr. Jordan Peterson? Are you going to listen to Frederick Nietzsche? Are you going to listen to all these vain philosophers and deceivers? No, you've got to get it from the Bible. You've got to get it from the word of God, and you have to read therein all the days of your life. And notice what happens. It says that his heart be not lifted up above his brethren. You know, reading the Bible will cause you to be humble, because it'll make you realize how much you don't know, and it'll make you realize how messed up you are, and how messed up I am. Right? When I'm reading this book, I'm not thinking like, man, I am just really killing it. I'm doing great. I'm just thinking like, wow, thank God salvation is by faith alone. Wow, thank God salvation is by grace. Right? Because none of us deserve it. None of us can live up to it. Go to 2 Kings 22 while I read for you. 1 Timothy 4, 13 says, I come, give attendance to reading. You know, God wants us, until Jesus Christ returns, to give importance, to give attendance, to pay attention to the reading of God's Word. 2 Kings chapter number 22 verse 3, we're talking about the reign of King Josiah. It says in verse 3, and we're going to read a lot of scripture here, it says, And it came to pass in the eighteenth year of King Josiah that the king sent Shaphan, the son of Azaliah, the son of Adam, the scribe, to the house of the Lord, saying, Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may sum the silver which is brought into the house of the Lord, which the keepers of the door have gathered of the people, and let them deliver it into the hands of the doers of the work that have the oversight of the house of the Lord, and let them give it to the doers of the work, which is in the house of the Lord, to repair the breaches of the house. So there's some construction going on here. Verse 6, unto carpenters and builders and masons, sent by timber and hewn stone to repair the house. Howbeit there was no reckoning made with them of the money that was delivered into their hand because they dealt faithfully. And this is the verse that I want to really focus on. It says, And Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord. And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan and he read it. So notice, Hilkiah saying, I just now found the word of the Lord. It kind of insinuates to me that King Josiah had been reigning for 18 whole years without reading the word of God. Because he's saying like, hey, we just found the law, right? Look at verse 9. And Shaphan the scribe came to the king and brought the king word again and said, Thy servants have gathered the money that was found in the house. We took care of the construction project and have delivered it into the hand of them that do the work. We paid the workers that have the oversight of the house of the Lord. And Shaphan the scribe showed the king saying, Hilkiah the priest have delivered me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king. So again, this kind of seems like this is new information to King Josiah, like he hadn't heard this before. Look at verse 11. And it came to pass when the king had heard the words of the book of the law that he rent his clothes. Again, this is really pointing to the fact that this is new for him. This is something that he has not been reading every day like the Bible said he should have been. When he heard God's word in his ears, he rent his clothes. He's angry. He's upset. And look at verse 12, it says, And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahicham the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Micahiah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the servant of the king, saying, Go ye, inquire of the Lord for me, and for the people, and for all Judah concerning the words of this book that is found. Notice this, for great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book to do according unto all that which is written concerning us. So he's saying, Please go and inquire of God for us right now, because I didn't realize that the wrath of the Lord is kindled against us right now. And you know this stupid, retarded saying that people say, Ignorance is bliss? Ignorance is not bliss, my friend. Just because you don't know that the anger of the Lord is kindled against you doesn't mean that it's not so. And so when you realize like, Oh man, the Bible says this and I didn't know. Man, you really should have been reading it then. Josiah, because now God's wrath is kindled against your nation, and you've gone 18 years without this? Here's the thing, there's things in the Bible that if you are ignorant of can either bless your life tremendously, and cause you to have great success, and cause you to have lots of rewards at the judgment of the seed of Christ, or there's things in the Bible that if you are ignorant of can destroy your life forever. Oh, I was ignorant that adultery was wrong. Yeah, and you get a divorce, and your kids have to deal with that garbage, and you're financially ruined from getting a divorce. You don't realize what the Bible says about alcohol. Yeah, and you die, a young man like Toby Keith of stomach cancer, because you were drunk your whole life. Oh, you know, I didn't know what the Bible said Well, guess what, the STDs are coming your way anyways, because it doesn't matter if you knew or not, reality is reality. And ignorance is not bliss. So don't be afraid of the Bible, like, oh, I don't want to find out about that, because then I might have to make changes in my life. Look, if God is angry at you, whether you know it about it or not, it's going to mess up your life. How about salvation? Oh, do you want to just be ignorant of salvation your whole life, and just ignore that question, and when you close your eyes, you wake up in hell? Is ignorance bliss then? No. You must read the Bible every day, because you don't know what you don't know. And there's things that you don't know that can hurt you. There's things that if you know, it would help you. And so the only way to fix that problem is reading the Bible. And let me tell you, I think that the number one indication of a Christian's long-term success is whether or not they read the Bible every single day. I don't think that soul winning every week is the greatest contributing factor to that. I don't think going to church is the greatest contributing factor to that. I think that if I'm going to see you in 30 years, 40 years, 50 years, it's only going to be because you read your Bible every single day. And if you quit on God, if you quit on church, I'll tell you exactly why, because you don't read your Bible. Especially you men. Because some of you ladies, quite frankly, can just be dragged along by your spiritual husband if you have one. But when you men quit, I know why. It's because you were not reading the Bible. Every single time. So we talked about, you know, we got to listen, we have to read, and there's two things that every person should read. The Bible, which we talked about that, and here's the other thing people should read, books of any other sort. Secular books. Read books. This is highly underrated in our society. Go to 2 Timothy, chapter number 4. 2 Timothy, chapter number 4. 2 Timothy 4. Look at verse 13. This is Paul riding from prison, and it says in verse 13, The cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with me, notice, and the books, but especially the parchments. So when Paul is wanting to read, to learn, he says, especially the parchments, that's in reference to God's word, right, this is the most important reading, if you only are going to do any reading in your life, please at least make it the Bible, but he also just wants books. And here's the thing, when you look at successful people in your life, I promise you there's a common denominator with them that they read a ton of books. It is a true saying that leaders are readers. That is a true saying. And I love this quote. I heard this like a decade ago. This is a quote by Pastor Anderson, and he said this, he said, People who don't like to read are stupid or shallow or both. Which one are you? You say, oh, I don't like to read books. Okay, which one are you? Are you stupid? Are you shallow or both? Because that's the only reason someone doesn't like to read. Because they don't want to challenge their mind because they're shallow or because they're just literally too stupid to read. That's the reality. And so look, as our society is becoming more and more dumped down and we can't even take a piss without scrolling Instagram and as people watch videos of toilets being destroyed on YouTube, and our country just becomes a bunch of mindless morons, please read books! Please stop just scrolling on your phone and watching a bunch of garbage and doing nothing with your life and not challenging your mind. Open up a book and read it. The best men I know read a lot. Let me give you some stats about reading. According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, only 36% of fourth grade students in the United States are proficient in reading. 36% of fourth graders in the US are proficient at reading. That's terrifying. This is the future of America? This is what's supposed to lead our country? This is what's supposed to lead the greatest country on Earth? People that can't even read? What a shame. The National Institute for Literacy states that approximately two-thirds of students who cannot read proficiently by the end of fourth grade will end up in jail or on welfare. And is it any wonder how our country is just exploding? The prison population is just exploding and the people on welfare are just exploding because people are too stupid to do anything with their life. Because they're not reading. And so they're resorting to crime because they can't even work the most unskilled job that exists because they can't even read! Look, if you work at McDonald's you have to know how to read. The most basic, easy job that you can find, you need to know how to read. But yet, some of these people can't even do that because they can't read. There's people that are illiterate in our nation. Here's a stats statistic. Mississippi has the lowest percentage of fourth grade students who scored at or above proficiency in reading with only 20%. So one in five Mississippi students that are fourth graders can read at the level they're supposed to or above. 20%? How sad is that? Only 57% of adults in the United States have proficient literacy skills. 57% according to the National Center for Educational Statistics. Here's another one. Nearly 32 million adults in the U.S. are functionally illiterate. Meaning they cannot read above a basic level or complete tasks such as filling out a job application. 32 million adults or interpreting a simple set of instructions. The average American reads at a seventh to eighth grade reading level. So that's just saying of all American readers, even ones that are proficient in literacy, the average of all Americans, their reading level is at a seventh or eighth grade level. And I would like to hope that it's different among God's people. And I'm not gonna do this, but I feel like I would be kind of ashamed if I were to ask a raise of hand of who has read a book in the last year. I'm not gonna do that. But you know if it's true. And let me tell you something. Us as God's people need to be better than the world. You know, Daniel, the Bible talks about how he learned by books. And what was said about him was that he was ten times better. And look, I have hope at least for the next generation because a lot of these young kids when they're doing the spelling bee, I'm just like, wow that's incredible. Like, I was public schooled and I don't feel like I got a great education, so I'm just trying to catch up, okay. But some of these kids man, some of these kids are really well educated. And are very intelligent and are very smart. And look, continue to encourage those kids to read books. These homeschoolers have a huge advantage where they don't have to sit for six hours listening to lessons about evolution and communism. You can just say, here son, here's your job, you have to read a hundred books in a year. Here son, here's your job, you have to read this many books in a year. Right, that's a better education. Just reading tons and tons of good books, that will give you a better education than a college could ever give you. Reading tons and tons of good books, that'll give you a better education than the public school system of high school or middle school or anything like that. And here's some things I've heard. I've heard from people that they want to read, but they just don't know what to read. And here's the thing, I love reading, so if that's you, I will help you. I will just send you a whole list, a whole reading list of books that I like or that I have read, and I can just like, here, I review them too and you can see like, oh this one sucks, I'll skip my time on that one. Look, I'll help you out. If you need some stuff to read, I will help you, I will give you a list that can help you. Or another thing I've heard is that you know, you just don't have time to read. But here's the thing, no one has time for anything anyway, so just welcome to being an adult, okay? But here's the thing, you know, I like to just read myself to sleep at night. So it's like, hey, I'm in bed, got nothing else to do right now, just read for and then sometimes it's 15 minutes, sometimes 30 minutes, sometimes I really love the book and I go longer, right? But I promise you, if you just read a little bit every single night, you'll get to the end of the year and you'll be like, dang, I've read a lot of books this year. And it really does not take that much time. Really does not take that much time. And look, I am not saying, you know, forsake your Bible reading to start reading a bunch of books, that's not what I'm saying. I'm saying up your reading of both, that's what I'm saying. I'm saying let's raise the standards of Christians in America to where we read a lot of Bible and we read a lot of other things as well. To where we're really educated in the Word of God and we're really educated in other things as well. Because it's kind of a shame when you hear people talk sometimes and they just don't know anything about anything. And you're just like, you're a child of God? Like, you're an ambassador of Jesus Christ? That's kind of a shame, don't you think? Proverbs, go back to Proverbs chapter number one. Proverbs chapter number one. Proverbs chapter number one. You know, one of my personal goals is to collect a bunch of books and be able to pass on a personal library to my kids. Because I want to show them that, like the Bible says, in all thy getting, get wisdom. I want to show them, like, hey, dad prioritized in his life the Word of God. Dad prioritized getting wisdom. And look at all these books that dad has given to me. Like, I want my kids to love wisdom. I want my kids to love the Word of God and I want my kids to love to read. Because if they read, they'll be successful in their lives. They won't be like these idiots that go to jail or that are on welfare because they're so illiterate that they literally can't even put an application at McDonald's. And they can't even succeed at a job at McDonald's. People that read are leaders. That's just a reality of our world. Proverbs chapter number one. We talked about listening. We talked about increasing our learning by reading. Number three on how to become wise is seek to be instructed by other wise individuals. Look at Proverbs one five. It says, a wise man will hear and will increase learning and a man of understanding shall notice attain unto wise counsel. So you know, all of us in life, God has created us for community. God has given us lots of different people in our lives that can help us. And as soon as we're born into this world, we're born with two great counselors called mom and dad. And let me tell you something, kids. You would be wise to seek the advice, the knowledge, the wisdom of mom and dad. Because I'm telling you, no one on this earth loves you as much as your mom and your dad does. No one else wants you to succeed as badly as mom and dad does. So if you want to be wise as a child, you need to listen to the word of God. You need to increase your learning by reading. But you know what? You also just need to ask your mom and dad questions. When you don't know, when you're wanting to find an answer, you know, go to the Bible, go to the Lord, but also just go to mom and dad. They are going to want the best for you. Here's another person that you should go to in your life is your pastor. Go to Ephesians chapter number 4. Ephesians chapter number 4. And as you're turning there, let me read one more verse about parents real quick. Proverbs 1 8 says, My son, hear the instruction of thy father and forsake not the law of thy mother. So notice right after he's saying, hey, attain unto wise counsels, what does he bring up? A mom and dad. Right? So that is some of the best wisdom you can get in your life is from mom and dad. And let me tell you, if your parents go to Steadfast Baptist Church and they read the Bible, you have like the top 0.001% of parents on the earth. Seriously. I mean, those of us that did not grow up in a Christian home, it's funny to me how much you have no idea how blessed you are. You literally have no clue. And those people that are first generation Christians in this room, you realize what the world is like. And you realize the things that you have to learn the hard way. And when you see the kids in this room have the things that they have, you're like, wow, you are set. Just keep reading the Bible, just keep following the Lord, and you're going to have a great life. When your life is going to be destroyed is when you don't read the Bible, you don't listen to what it says, you don't increase in your learning, and you don't listen to mom and dad. That is a quick way to destroy your life, kids. You follow that path, you absolutely will destroy your life. But here's another great source of wise counsel that we have in our life, and that is your pastor. Look at Ephesians 4 says, Wherefore he saith when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens that he might fill all things. And notice it says, And he gave some apostles and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers. So notice God has given us all these people as a gift to us for what? Verse 12, For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. You know, if you need help in your life, if you need advice in your life, a good person to go to is your pastor. Because the Bible literally says that these people that are in spiritual leadership were given to us as a gift for the perfecting of the saints. Right? So there's nothing wrong with saying hey, I need help in this area, I'm going to go to my pastor and ask him for help. That's part of what he's there for. And of course, you know, our pastor wants to help the people in this church. We're blessed to have a pastor that cares about his flock and is willing to be there for his people. So look, don't ever think like you can't approach Pastor Shelley. Of course you can. And here's the thing, we have like satellite churches, and maybe those churches only have an evangelist. But those people can help you too oftentimes. You can go to Brother Tannefer and get a lot of great wisdom. You can go to Brother Duncan or Bannock and get a lot of great wisdom. You know, don't be afraid to use the tools that God has given you in your life. That's called being wise. Because according to Proverbs 1, the wise man will attain unto wise counsel. You know, don't get spiritual leadership from just random places online. Don't join the Discord servers with all the single guy theologians, okay? Go to your pastor. Go to the Word of God. Go to your pastor. Just leave all that garbage alone. Here's the thing, we should desire instruction from wise people just in all areas of life. Find a wise person, you should want and desire instruction from that person. 2 Timothy 3, go to 2 Timothy 3. 2 Timothy 3, look at verse 16. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for notice, for proof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. What's reproof? That's telling you what you're doing wrong, okay? Correction, that's telling you what's right. For instruction in righteousness, that's telling you how to get it right. Right? And that's what the Word of God is for. The Word of God is able to perform that in our lives. But you know what? Men that are skilled in the Word of God can help you do the same thing. Of course, we know that we're indwelled with the Holy Spirit and we can learn all things just between us and the Lord. But a pastor is given to you from God to help you to go further farther. Right? So he can help you in life to point you to the right scriptures that can help you in your life that maybe you weren't aware of or that you weren't thinking of. But look, when you come to church, I hope you're not desiring in your heart to just hear a bunch of preaching that you know you've already got down or you just want to hear the next fire sermon on the sodomites. Look, you should come to church with a desire to be corrected. Because that's what attaining unto wise counsel is. Saying like, I want to be instructed. I want to be reproved. I want someone to say, here's where you're wrong, here's what's right, and here's what you need to do to get it right. Otherwise, it's just a vain exercise. Otherwise, we're just a club. We're just like King James Bible fans or something. But it's more than that. Like we want to grow spiritually. We want to get better spiritually. Why? So that we could do more for the Lord. So that we can bring more glory and honor to the kingdom of God. That's why. And so the only way that's going to happen is if you actually desire to be corrected. You know, if you come to the preaching class, desire correction. You know, when I was participating in the preaching class, I wanted to be told where I was doing things wrong and how to get better, right? And you should desire that when you come to the class. That's the whole point is that we can get better so we can get correction. Here's another thing. Desire feedback from your superiors at work. Desire feedback. Ask your boss on areas how you can improve. Desire some feedback, even from maybe customers of your business owners on how you can improve your product or improve your service. You know, you want feedback from people because that's attaining to wise counsels. That's going to help you become more wise. I think a lot of times people, they're kind of afraid to get counsel because they're kind of afraid that people are going to give them feedback that's not necessarily true, right? But here's the thing. First of all, if an authority is giving you feedback, you should be very slow to think in your mind oh, that authority is wrong about their feedback. No, I'm right. That person is wrong. You know, your boss corrects you at work, just take the correction. You know, ladies if your husband corrects you, just take the correction. If your pastor corrects you, just take the correction. But okay, let's just say that you got a correction and you received it and you said, you know what? I don't think that's right. Well, here's what you do. You just take the part that is right and you just let the other part just fly off your shoulders and move on with your life. Are you going to die if someone gives you a correction that's not true? Right? Someone says maybe that you did something that you didn't. Or if someone gives you feedback that may not be exactly accurate, are you going to die? No. So just take the part that's true and say, you know what? I'm just going to assume that that's correct. And I'm just going to examine myself and say, I need to fix this in my life. That's just going to be my default, right? But if you know for 100% fact that you're given some sort of feedback that's not correct, just let it go. Just move on with your life. Nothing's going to happen. But what could happen negatively is that God can look down from heaven and seeing you stiffening your neck against authority and decide not to bless you. God can see your obstinate heart wanting to shrivel up and wanting to resist authority or not want correction and that could make the Lord angry. Because think about it, the whole point of God's word is said in 2 Timothy 3 is to correct us, to reprove us, to give us instruction, to give us correction. And so if you're the type of person that's not desiring that, then the Bible's not even going to profit you. Like you have to want to change, you have to want correction for reading this to do anything for you. You have to want to change. Prideful people, that's why prideful people don't read the Bible. Either because they think that they don't need it, or maybe they just think they're better than God. Whatever the reasons are that people don't read the Bible, what does it come down to? It comes down to pride. Go to Proverbs chapter number 13. Proverbs chapter number 13. You know, hey, desire feedback from your soul winning captains. Desire feedback from people that have been out soul winning longer than you. No one's got a perfect Gospel presentation, we could all get better preaching the Gospel. And I really I like it in someone's character when I'm soul winning with someone, they're like, hey, just go ahead and if you see anything, just tell me right away. Hey, that's a good person right there. That's a person that wants to become a more effective soul winner. That's the attitude that we should have. And myself included, if I was soul winning with someone that did something better with me, I would want to know about it. Because I would want to be a better soul winner myself. Go to people who are successful in whatever area you want to improve in for advice. No matter what area of life it is, find someone, say, okay, I want to get better at this specific thing. Go to someone that's good at that specific thing. Look at Proverbs 13, verse 20, it says, He that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed. So notice, the company you hang around it rubs off on you. And if you want to be a wise person, hang out with a bunch of people that are wise. Attain unto those wise counselors. So here's an example, let's say you want to learn a language, you want to learn a foreign language. Well, what would be wise is to get advice from someone who has already successfully learned a foreign language well. Right? And this is with anything. You want to learn how to play guitar? Go to someone that plays the guitar well. Don't go to someone that sounds like me. Okay, go to brother Rich, right? Go to find someone that does what you want to do well and attain unto that person. You want to be a good parent? Hey, talk to the parents that have good kids. Not just the parents that have kids. Just having kids doesn't make you a good parent. No, go to parents that are good parents. Here's the thing. You want fitness advice? Go to someone who's physically fit. It's like, why are all the health ministers of every nation these fat, obese, lazy whales? Who cares what you have to say? You don't know anything about fitness? No, I'm not going to attain to that counsel. I'm going to go to someone that's fit. Hey, at work, go to someone that's skilled at your craft. Attain unto those wise counsel. Avoid people with this. Has anyone ever heard of this, the Dunning-Kruger syndrome? Has anyone ever heard of this before? Okay, a couple people. So here's the Dunning-Kruger effect. The Dunning-Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which people with limited competence in a particular domain overestimate their abilities. Some researchers also include the opposite effect for high performers. Their tendency is to underestimate their skills. In popular culture, the Dunning-Kruger effect is often misunderstood as a claim about general overconfidence of people. So it just goes on more and more and more. But it's just saying basically like people that are just kind of have been barely exposed to a topic and they've maybe read a little bit about a topic or I mean in our culture, you've watched a 60 second reel about history. I mean you know now because you saw a 60 second reel and they're ready to teach you. They're ready to give you wisdom and understanding. Look, avoid people like this. And here's the thing, if someone asks you for advice don't be fake. It's okay not to know everything. And if someone asks you a question of something that you know nothing about, just say I don't know. You know I have people ask me questions all the time and I'm just like I don't know. I am 26 years old and I am okay with being 26 years old. And Lord willing, I will live on this earth for a long long time and I can be really diligent in reading the Bible and I can read tons and tons of books and get more wisdom and I can attain unto wise counsel and hopefully someday I will be very very wise but right now all you have is the wisdom that you have. Every single person in here, all that you have is the wisdom that you have. All the knowledge that you have is the knowledge that you have. And at this very moment you can't really change anything about that. But you know what you could do going forward? Going forward you could listen to other people. Going forward you say, hey I'm only at whatever age I'm at. I've only got this level of wisdom and understanding that I'm at but going forward when I come to church I'm going to listen and pay attention. Hey, I'm going to turn off the stupid phone maybe even take some notes and I'm going to pay attention to what the preacher is saying. That's going to make you wise. Not only that, hey I'm going to go and just try to learn. I'm just going to increase my learning. I'm going to read the Bible of course. But you know what? I'm also going to read another book. I challenge every single person in this room to pick up a book this week and read it. Start reading it. I'm not saying just finish it in a week. I'm saying start reading. Even if you just read five minutes a night, just start reading a book this week. Do it. No more excuses. Read a book. Okay? Get some wisdom. Get some understanding. No more excuses. Get some wisdom and attain unto wise counsel. Find people that are successful. Find people that are qualified. Find people that are very skilled and when you want to become like them ask those people for counsel. Don't just go to the internet or just some bozo online. No. Go to wise counsels. Alright? Let's have a word of prayer. Lord, thank you so much for this day. Thank you for your word that it can guide us and direct us in life. Pray that every single person in here would give attendance to the reading of God's word. That they would make seeking wisdom the number one priority in their life. Pray that they would just listen to Pastor Shelley when he's preaching. That they would pay attention to him, Lord. That they'd read and seek unto wise counsel. And just pray that you would help me to do the same. And just pray that as we learn you would help us to all stay humble. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Alright, in closing let's go to song number 47. Song number 47. Let the sun shine again. Everybody sing it out together in the verse. I remember the time when I first knew the Savior when the sun lighted a blessing so flooded my heart oh the sweetness of first love with my heart the first love with Jesus so near me and I thought such repulsion would never be gone let the sun shine again let the flowers bloom again stir the emperors of love in my heart Holy Spirit recruit then grace me again let the sun shine again in my heart then how sweet were the scriptures they spoke to me namely how they guided my steps but my zeal did not last and the sweet place of prayer where I met with my Savior unelected and so soon my joys were all past let the sun shine again let the flowers bloom again stir the emperors of love in my heart Holy Spirit recruit then embrace me again let the sun shine again in my heart oh I love well to walk in the way with God's children when we met with Flat Heart and a fellowship sweet but the pull of the flesh and some worldly companions in the path of food pleasure attracted by me let the sun shine again let the flowers bloom again stir the emperors of love in my heart Holy Spirit recruit then embrace me again let the sun shine again in my heart oh I love now again for forgiveness and blessing as my limited child I am seeking my peace for the blood pain my death and the spirit within me living lost to my father I'm wandering to cease let the sun shine again let the flowers bloom again stir the emperors of love in my heart Holy Spirit recruit then embrace me again let the sun shine again in my heart great singing everybody you always missed you