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... ... ... ... Praise God from whom all blessings flow, Praise Him all creatures here below, Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts, Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, Praise God from whom all blessings flow, Praise Him all creatures here below, Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts, Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. ... In the resurrection morning, when the trump of God shall sound, We shall rise, we shall rise, And the slaves will come rejoicing, and your tears will e'er be found, We shall rise, we shall rise, In the resurrection morning, when the prison bars are broken, We shall rise, we shall rise, In the resurrection morning, what a meaning it would be, We shall rise, we shall rise, When our fathers and our mothers and our loved ones we shall see, We shall rise, we shall rise, We shall rise, we shall rise, We shall rise, in the resurrection morning, When the prison bars are broken, We shall rise, we shall rise, In the resurrection morning, blessed thought it is to be, We shall rise, we shall rise, I shall see my blessed Savior, who shall freely die for me, We shall rise, we shall rise, We shall rise, we shall rise, We shall rise, in the resurrection morning, When the prison bars are broken, We shall rise, we shall rise, In the resurrection morning, we shall meet Him in the air, We shall rise, we shall rise, And be carried up to glory, to our home so bright and fair, We shall rise, we shall rise, We shall rise, we shall rise, We shall rise, in the resurrection morning, When the prison bars are broken, We shall rise, we shall rise. Chapter 4 Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel. For the Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood. Therefore shall the land mourn, and everyone that dwelleth therein shall languish with the beasts of the field and with the fowls of heaven. Yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away. Yet let no man strive nor reprove another, for thy people are as they that strive with the priest. Therefore shalt thou fall in the day, and the prophet also shall fall with thee in the night, and I will destroy thy mother. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge, because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me. Seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. As they were increased, so they sinned against me. Therefore will I change their glory into shame. They eat up the sin of my people, and they set their heart on their iniquity. And there shall be like people, like priest, and I will punish them for their ways, and reward them their doings. For they shall eat and not have enough, they shall commit whoredom and shall not increase, because they have left off to take heed to the Lord. Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart. My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them. For the spirit of whoredoms hath caused them to err, and they have gone a whoring from under their God. They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and elms, because the shadow thereof is good. Therefore your daughters shall commit whoredom, and your spouses shall commit adultery. I will not punish your daughters when they commit whoredom, nor your spouses when they commit adultery, for themselves are separated with whores, and they sacrifice with harlots. Therefore the people that doth not understand shall fall. Though thou Israel play the harlot, yet let not Judah offend, and come not ye unto Gilgal, neither go ye up to Beth-aven, nor swear the Lord liveth. For Israel slideth back as a backsliding heifer, now the Lord will feed them as a lamb in a large place. Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone. Their drink is sour, they have committed whoredom continually, her rulers with shame do love, give ye. The wind hath bound her up in her wings, and they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices. The congregate has won in Jesus' name. Father, we ask you to take care of Pastor Anderson, and Brother Raymond Cooper, sir. We ask you if you bring them back to church, Lord, we miss them, we love them, we love you, Father. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Really quick, I know we have won baptism, so that is going to happen. If you want to be baptized, we can still make it happen after the service, so come see me. If you're interested in being baptized, I know we have at least one. You know, so if you have your Bibles, you're right there in Hosea. I'll go to verse number six, so I just want to read verse number six really quickly. It says, My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge, because thou hast rejected knowledge. I will also reject thee, and thou shalt be no priest to me, seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God. I will also forget thy children. The title of my sermon is simply this, Wisdom and Destruction. Wisdom and Destruction. And the first thing we see here in Hosea, it says, My people are destroyed. So I want to tell you my sermon, Destruction and Wisdom, but it didn't sound that cool, so I switch it to Wisdom and Destruction. But we're going to start with Destruction first, then we're going to get into how to get wisdom, then we're going to talk a little bit about the benefits of wisdom and putting some effort into getting wisdom, because it does pay off. Amen. And one way that it's going to pay off is that you're not going to destroy your life for no reason. Now, of course, you serve the Lord, you will suffer. The Bible says, will suffer persecution. So it's not like your life is going to be perfect if you serve the Lord. Hey, the Bible makes it very clear that if we serve the Lord, if you're living a righteous life, there's going to be wicked people out there, and the wicked do still hate the upright. Amen. That has not switched. That is in the Bible. So get used to it. It is what it is. We're living in crazy times. The government hates Christians. I'm pretty confident that you probably work with someone. If not, you probably will down the road, that they're not going to be very happy when they find out that you're a Christian. Am I looking at you a little funny? I know I did when I was in high school. We grew up Catholic in my family, and every single time we had a student, it turned out they were Christian, we kind of looked down on them. We despised them because they weren't dresses and they weren't as cool as us because we were able to do everything that the world obviously says is fun and they're not because their parents were strict on them. But, hey, we were the ones that were dumb and they were not. We were the ones destroying our lives and they were not. Amen. So, obviously, if you look at the verses here, it says that they rejected knowledge. And that knowledge is the knowledge of God. And so if you do that, hey, here's a warning. It says God can also reject you. The Bible says if you get so tired of listening to preaching, the Bible says even your prayer will be an abomination unto God. And I don't know about you, but that's a scary place to be. When God says, I'm not going to listen to you. Are you serious? You didn't even listen to me. You already know you shouldn't forsake the assembly of yourselves. That's church, amen. Contrary to what people believe. Some people think it's two or three gathering. They're like, hey, man, that's right. They're like, hey, man, that verse applies to this. Hey, this is church. Who's heard that at least five times going so many? Five times. Who's heard that at least ten times going so many? Who's heard that at least fifteen times going so many? Look around. Who's heard that a hundred times? No, I'm just kidding. You will. Hey, but that's out there, correct? But listen, I don't want anybody here to get destroyed. So while you're obviously listening to me, go to Ecclesiastes chapter number two, verse 26. Go to Ecclesiastes 2, 26. While you go there, the Bible gives us many ways to get wisdom from the Lord. Many ways. Here's the clue. John 8, 31 says this. This is Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, if you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed, and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. And I don't know about you, but I do not want to live a life of lies. Isn't that earth, amen? Hey, there's a lot crazier stuff out there, but that's one of them. Seriously. But here it says very clearly that if you continue in God's word, obviously that's his word, amen? Hey, you're not going to be in darkness. You know, you're not going to be in bondage. You're going to know the truth. You're going to live a free man. If you suffer, you're going to suffer righteousness. And the Bible says to rejoice and leave for joy, for great is your reward when you live for the Lord, You know, but we know already the Bible tells us that we continue in his word. God will allow us to prosper. We'll get knowledge from him, not necessarily because you're going to find some information in the Bible that's going to help you to live life, you know, to the fullest, because let's face it, sometimes we have seven minutes to read the Bible, sometimes 15, sometimes 20. We get busy. I get it. We totally understand it. But here's the thing. Sometimes we read, and when we're done reading, how many of you guys kind of say, hey, I don't even remember what I read? You're like, that was a waste. That was a waste. But hold up. It really isn't. Because who gives wisdom? God. And we'll get into it later. And God says that if you're pleasing him, you're right there in Ecclesiastes, correct? Let's take a quick look. It says for God, give it to a man that is good in his sight. And let me ask you this. Read in your Bible, good or bad? Good. Obviously, amen. So guess what? Keep doing things that are good, and the Bible says you're going to be good in his sight, not your sight. And that's what you want to do, is be good in the Lord's sight. A lot of times, our heart deceives us, and we think we're pretty good people. We're doing really good. We're wonderful or whatever. But then when you keep reading God's word, you come across verses that are like, wow, that's a sin. Man, I just did that last night. Man, I'm not as good as I thought I was. So the goal is to be good in God's sight. And what is he going to give people that are good in his sight? He's going to give them what? Wisdom. And if I were to say, what is the number one reason why you read your Bible? Somebody would ask me, why do you read your Bible? My mom, my brothers, friends, whoever. Why do you read your Bible, present girl? What do you get from it? The number one answer I think I will give them is that if I don't, I'm going to destroy my life. I'm going to destroy it. Not just mine, but we'll see my family's life and maybe even those around me. Because guess what? Your sins can affect people's lives. Not always, but it can. And so my goal when I read my Bible and always tell myself when I'm tired, man, read it. Read it, because if you don't, you're going to destroy your life. And who exactly here can say, I read the Bible every single day without stopping since I've been saved? I'm pretty sure no one. But I guarantee you guys have probably gone, you know, some time reading your Bible. You're like one week straight, two weeks straight, a month straight, three months, four months, five months, six months, and then you kind of crash a little bit and then a week goes by, two weeks go by, and then you notice, man, I'm a little bit more sinful than usual. Who kind of notices that? Let's just be honest. All right, one guy's honest, amen? I appreciate that, brother. But that's what happens, because if we don't continue in God's Word, Christ says very clearly, hey, you're going to forget the truth. And why was it so mad, Jose? It says because you have forgotten the law of the Lord. And I don't know about you, but I'm blessed with short-term memory, amen? So when people offend me, I barely remember the next day. And people are like, wow, I wish I had good memory. I don't. I'm like, I don't want to have like super amazing memory. I want to have short-term memory loss, amen? But when it comes to God's laws, guess what? Hey, I don't want to forget those, so I'm going to read the Bible, because I know that if I don't read, I'm forgetting, I'm forgetting what I read. And then my fear tends to start to disappear when I stop reading the Word, and I forget about how God takes sin seriously. And when I stop seeing people being punished in the Bible, I tend to forget how God is. And this is what it says. Hey, you've forgotten the law of thy God. And God says, I'm also going to forget you, meaning, hey, their children are also going to suffer. You know, but if you've got your Bibles, go ahead and go to Exodus, chapter number 5. I'm going to show you one guy, one guy who not only destroyed his life, he destroyed his family's life, not just his family's life, he destroyed his nation's life. All because of lack of knowledge. So while you're going there, I'm going to read from Proverbs 4-7. Wisdom is the principle thing, therefore get wisdom. So it's a commitment for us to get wisdom. And one of the ways is to continue in God's Word. You're like, don't really know that. Well, great. I'm just here to remind you. So if you're there in Exodus, chapter number 5, if not, I'll give you a little bit more time while I drink my water. Yes, it is water, not coffee. Let's take a look at this knucklehead. Exodus 5. Don't be this guy. And afterwards, Moses and everyone went in and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Let my people go that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness. And Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord? Who is the Lord? Who is the Lord that I shall obey his voice to let Israel go? That's the atheist, maybe even the Muslim, and whoever else is like, who is the Lord? I'm Buddhist, bro. Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice? Well, let's go to 10. Go to Exodus 10. I'll give you a second. While you go there, I'm going to read from 2 Peter 3. 18. It says, By growing grace and in the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to him be glory for now and forever. Amen. Another commandment, to grow in grace and in the knowledge. Why do I read my Bible? Number one reason, because obviously I don't want to destroy my life. Number two, because it pleases the Lord. Whether I retain anything that day, guess what? Doesn't really matter, because I know it's pleasing the Lord that I read it. Whether it's seven or fifteen minutes, and yes, I say seven minutes. Why? Because sometimes I listen to the audio Bible, and it's pretty fast, and it helps me to kind of speed up myself. Try it. You're like, you read the daily portion in seven minutes? Only with the audio Bible. I can't do it without it. I read slow, I'm sorry. But with the audio Bible, on 1.5 speed, try it. It's easier than you would think. And that's how I can get it in seven minutes. Amen. So I figured if I got a ten minute break, I'll read it for seven minutes, what are you going to do with the other three? Pray! Ha ha! Then I go back to work, amen. Tip of the day. So what happened to Pharaoh? Because who is the Lord that he should obey his voice to let Israel go? Cocky fool. Exodus 10. Well let's see what it says now. And Pharaoh's servants said unto him, How long shall this man be a snare unto us? Let the man go, that they may serve the Lord their God. No, is thou not yet that Egypt is what? Destroyed. Destroyed. So whatever your motivation is to read your Bible, whatever it is, read your Bible. I know if you know the Lord, you're going to know how he is, you're going to know what he likes, dislikes, you're going to get to know the real Jesus Christ, and there's a good chance you're not going to destroy your life, or the life of those around you. Because that's what he did, did he not? He destroyed the lives of him, of those around him. So go to 1 Corinthians 2, 6, 8, and a lot of people in the Bible did a lot of wicked things. Why? Because of lack of knowledge. Perfect example, the Lord Jesus Christ, was he not crucified? And even though he was crucified, and they were mocking him, yet he still said, Father forgive them for they know not what they do. Why were they committing such, I mean, they were crucifying God in the flesh, the Son of God. Yes, we believe in the Trinity here. Jesus is God and the Son of God. You don't like it? Leave. But they crucified him, and he said, Father forgive them for they know not what they do. And if you know the story, you know that they railed on him, they said, hey, his blood be upon us and on our children, once again because of the lack of knowledge. They not just brought sin upon themselves, they brought sin upon their children, and isn't that what sin usually does? It kind of takes you down and those with you. Pastor already preached how Peter took people with him when he went back fishing. And guess what? As fathers, when we leave the church, or whatever the case, because we're the leaders, hey, we're not just taking ourselves down, we bring our wives and our children with us, and we'll get into a guy named Achan who ended up doing that. So why did they do it? It says, for they know not what they did. And 1 Corinthians 2, 6, 8 says the same thing. If you can join me, right there it says, How bet we speak wisdom among them that are perfect and not the wisdom of the world, nor the princes of the world that come to naught, but we speak the wisdom of God in mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory, which none of the princes of this world knew, for had they known, known they have no wisdom. What did God say? Father forgive them for they know not what they do. It says right here in 1 Corinthians, for they had, for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. Go to Joshua 6, 2. Joshua 6, 2. Another example of what happens when you obviously don't follow the Lord, you lose that fear of the Lord, you know, when we lose that fear of the Lord, we kind of get into more sin, you know, but it's not just knowing the word. You know, even if you know it, it's about obeying it. And the Bible says that the fool has said in his heart, there is no God, but those aren't the only fools in the Bible. The Bible makes it very clear, he that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed. Why? Because they're going to become a fool as well. So here's what the Bible says. It says the heart of the thief above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? We've got to be careful trusting our emotions. Trusting our heart. Making decisions with little to no Bible because you will destroy yourself. It will happen. Even when you hear God's word, let's just be careful not to be like this guy Aiken because guess what? He did hear God's word, but yet he didn't have the fear and last time I checked, the Bible says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. So I'm not just here to tell you, read your Bible and that's it. No, no. I'm saying read it. Do whatever it takes to also get God's word in you to get that fear of the Lord. That's where preaching comes in because it's not just the Bible. God also has preachers to what? Preach the sin out of us. Amen? But if you're in Joshua 6 2, let's take a quick look at this example. So when it comes to wisdom, wisdom is super important. It's not something you should take lightly. It's something you should be praying for every day and that's another way to get it. We'll get into that later. But I want to see what happens when people just let go of wisdom or they flat out just reject wisdom because isn't that what God's problem was? He's like, hey, you have rejected knowledge and I'm going to reject you. And here's an example of that. Joshua 6 2 says, And the Lord said unto Joshua, See, I have given it to thy hand, Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty man of valor. And Joshua had command in verse 10. Go to verse 10. That was verse 2. I'm sorry. Joshua 6 10 says this, And Joshua had commanded the people, saying, You shall not shout nor make any noise with your voice, neither should any word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I bid you shout. Then show you shout. Now go ahead and go up to 16. Joshua 6 16 says, Then it came to pass that the seventh time when the priest blew with the trumpets, Joshua said unto the people, Shout, for the Lord hath given you the city, and the city shall be accursed. So what do we see so far? We see Joshua being commanded to take Jericho but here's how you're going to take it. You know, Joshua tells people, Hey, this is how we're going to take the city. Now in verse 16, they're taking the city. But look at what happens. Verse 17. It says, Then the city shall be cursed. So the people know that. They say, Okay, we're going to destroy Jericho. This city is going to be destroyed. It's going to be a curse. So they're getting God's word. His instructions. And it says it's going to be a curse, even it and all that are therein to the Lord. Only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all that are with her in the house, because she has hid the messengers that we sent. And ye and any wise keep yourselves from the accursed thing. So they're being preached to. They're being told what God wants them to do. They're hearing God's word. He says keep yourselves from the accursed thing lest ye make yourself a curse when ye take of the accursed thing and make the camp of Israel a curse and trouble it. And what exactly is this curse? What's going on here? Well, verse 19 explains it a little bit more in detail. It says, But all the silver and gold and vessels of brass and iron are concentrated unto the Lord. They shall come into the treasury of the Lord. So Jericho has gold, silver, brass, you name it. Joshua's like, hey, all that stuff you're going to see is a curse that does not belong to you. It belongs to the Lord. So this isn't a lack of knowledge here. This is them getting knowledge, but because they don't have the fear, hey, guess what? They're not complete. That's what the Bible says. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. But let's take a look at the next chapter. Go to chapter number seven. Chapter number seven, Joshua 7-1. Go ahead and get there if you can. I'll start in about five seconds. Joshua 7-1 says this, But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing. For Achan the Tsar of Carmi, the son of Zabdai, the son of Zerah of the tribe of Judah, took the accursed thing, and the anger of the Lord was kindled against the children of Israel. And the men of Ai smote of them about thirty and six men, for they chased them from before the gate, even unto Shebarim, and smote them in the going down. Therefore the hearts of the people melted and became as water. Go ahead and skip to verse 11. So they end up going in there. Achan takes what God specifically said not to take. So it's not a lack of knowledge. It's a lack of fear. So he knows what to do, but he doesn't do it. And because he didn't do it, what ends up happening? Israel ends up being punished. And then God ends up telling Joshua what's going on. So verse 11 says this, Israel has sinned and they have also transgressed my covenant which I command them, for they have taken of the accursed thing and have also stolen and assembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff. Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies because they were accursed. Neither would I be with you anymore, except you destroy the accursed thing from among you. So what I want you guys to do is go ahead and go to verse number 24. Verse number 24. So what ends up happening? They go into Jericho. Achan takes of the accursed thing. He takes money. Sure enough, they end up losing. Joshua gets told Israel has sinned. Joshua tells, or God tells Joshua what's going on. Verse 27, we're already past where Achan admits this is what happened just to save time. I took shekels of silver. I took gold. I coveted them. I took these things. Even though Joshua has said before they went into the city, hey, this city's going to be accursed. We're going to find gold, silver. Those things are going to go into the treasury of the Lord. But yet he wasn't wise enough, wise enough to listen because he thought that he knew better. It's called being wise in your own eyes. So what's your point, brothers and girls? It's not just finding wisdom. It's using that wisdom which makes you wise. Amen? So that's what I wanted to point out. Yes, reading the Bible. Yes, listen to the preaching. Yes, those things will get you wisdom, but it doesn't make you a wise person until you apply it. Got it so far? This guy did not apply it, but yet he got wisdom. He got the word of God. They said it's in a cursed city. Guess what we're going to do? We're going to take it, but the gold, silver, the brass, everything you guys find, don't touch it. It's a curse. It belongs to the Lord. We're going to put it in the treasury of the Lord. But there's always a church member that thinks they know better. They think they know more than the pastor, which is Joshua, and they decide, I know that's what you said, but I don't think it's a big deal to do X, Y, and Z. I don't agree with the pastor on such and such, so I'm going to continue, and guess what's going to happen? You're going to curse yourself. You're going to destroy yourself. And look how bad the destruction was, all because Achan was not a wise person, and that's what's going to happen to you if you are not a wise person. You will destroy your life, and you're going to see people year after year make decisions that are going to destroy their lives if you haven't seen it yet. Amen? Well, let's take a look at what happened to old Mr. Achan. And Joshua and all Israel were with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, even his tent. It's like, grab all this stuff. We're getting rid of this guy. And all that he had, and he brought them up to the valley of Agor, and Joshua said, why has thou troubled us? The Lord shall trouble thee this day, and all Israel stoned him with stones, and that wasn't enough, and they burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones. I don't know about you, but I don't want to end my life like this. Not a cool way to die at all. Go to 2 Chronicles 1-5. But what was his problem? The problem, he was a backslider. He was among God's people. He had an amazing pastor. He was being preached God's word. He was being told what was going to happen. And yet, he didn't hearken. Made him a fool, a backslider. And the backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways, and a good man shall be satisfied from himself. He that trusts in his own heart is a fool, and that's what Achan did. But whoso walketh wisely shall be delivered. It's about walking wisely, not just knowing wisdom, having it in your hands, knowing what it is. A, applying it is what makes you wise. So it's not just wisdom. A, don't just get it. A, use it. That's what's going to make you a wise individual. The way of the fool, that's Achan, is right in his own eyes. So what am I doing? I'm trying to warn you guys not to be the fool who's doing things, and he's right in his own eyes. But everybody can see it. Everybody can see it clear as day. You may not think so, but we'll see it. I mean, I remember one time we went soul winning years back, you know. And there were a couple of groups, and they were pairing them up. And they were like, okay, I'll pair you up with such and such, and I'll pair you up with such and such. And the team leader's like, hey, I'm going to pair you up with such and such. And he's like, no, stop. He's like, you know what, why don't we do this. You know, he tells the team leader, why don't we do this. Why don't you pair up the studs together, and the other guys can go together. And I'm thinking to myself, stud, you're like one of the biggest dorks I know. You can't even tie a tie. And he's like calling himself a stud. It's like, is this guy a member or what? He's coming to Faithful Word. He's a soul winner. He comes to church three times a week, Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night. He's listening to one of the best pastors in America, yay, the world. And I'm thinking, this guy's a clown. He doesn't even see it. He's so arrogant, single, arrogant dude. And I'm saying, hey, that could be any of us. But I believe it's in Samuel. I forgot who it was. It said, don't let arrogant things come out of your mouth. You know, it's Hannah, I believe. Maybe I got it all messed up. But I like that verse. When I read Samuel, I come across it, and it's like, hey, don't let anything arrogant come out of your mouth, because a little leavened at the whole lump, amen. And just to let you know, he got bitter at pastor, left the church down the road. Big shocker, huh? Big shocker. Well, I almost guarantee you, if we were to ask that individual today, where did it all begin? I almost guarantee you it was the Bible, because it wasn't hearing God's word. He was coming to church, but yet he became an Achan. But just so you know, there was a happy ending. And if you want to know the rest of the story, I'll let you know in heaven, amen. There ain't no snitch. Did I have you go to Second Chronicles? All right, so please read your Bible. Please keep listening to preaching. I try to listen to preaching every day, because I know if I don't, I'm going to destroy myself. How do you know? Because the Bible says that he didn't just give us preachers. Hey, guess what? He gave us teachers, right? He gave us pastors, evangelists, teachers, for what? For our benefit, for our perfecting. And you don't know how many times I've listened to preaching, and I got something that helped me out. That helped me out. It wasn't just my Bible reading. I'm like, hey, let me pop some preaching, because I know it's good, even though I'm not in the mood to listen. I recommend you try to listen. We're living in 2021. If you need MP3s, hey, I'll email you 1-0-0-0 MP3 sermons tonight. I'll give you a thousand. With Brother Richard. He knows what I'm talking about. And if your internet sucks, come see me. I'll give you a flash drive. Just make sure I get it back, all right? They're expensive, yo. But I'll help you out. But even if you lose it, I'll let it go. But, keep reading, keep listening. Trust me, you may not realize what's happening, but you're keeping yourself from being self-destruct, or from destroying yourself. That's all I'm trying to do. All I'm trying to do. Remember, anything from the sermon. It's like, read your Bible so you don't destroy yourself. But it's just seven minutes, you know? I can make it up the next day. No. Please, the Lord. Start a streak. Seven minutes. Fifteen minutes. Whatever. Just do it. Why? Because it will make God happy, but more better, or better than that, it'll keep you from destroying yourself. But let's talk about getting wisdom really quickly. Where did I tell you to go? Second Chronicles? If not, go to Second Chronicles, chapter number one, verse seven, please. Second Chronicles, chapter number one, verse seven. Don't worry, I'm almost done. I think. I don't know how long I've been preaching, but a pastor goes till twelve, so I'm going to aim for that. You're like, oh. I don't want you to miss him too much. And I'm the substitute teacher, but hey, no airplanes, all right? No spitballs, Brother Madison? I'm looking around. Don't be falling asleep in my class. Second Chronicles, chapter number one, verse seven says this. In that night that God appeared unto Solomon, and said unto him, Ask what I shall give thee. And Solomon said unto God, Thou hast showed great mercy unto David my father, and hast made me to reign in his stead. Now, O Lord God, let thy promise unto David my father be established, for thou hast made me king. For thou wert a people like the dust of the earth and multitudes. Give me now wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people. For who can judge this thy people? That is so great. And God said to Solomon, Because this was in thy heart, and thou hast not asked riches, wealth, honor, nor the life of thine enemies, neither yet hast asked long life, but hast asked wisdom and knowledge for thyself. That thou mayest judge my people, over whom I have made thee king, wisdom and knowledge is granted unto thee. So reading your Bible is not the only way. Praying, amen? It's the first thing I would start doing if I wanted to get wisdom. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. I get it. But come on, how do you get that fear? Through God's word, through preaching. But sometimes we don't have the ability to like right there on the spot, bust out a Bible because we're at work or whatever the case may be. But I've been at work many times, not here, but in my last job, where I got there and I'm like, how in the world am I even going to do this job? And immediately, I'm like, Lord, you said that if I lack wisdom to pray. Sorry. To pray and you're going to make it happen. And I'm not the only one just talking to people. I'm like, isn't that crazy? Because I've heard somebody say the same thing. I'm like, hey, that's happened to me too. You're like, hey, I'm dead. It's over. There's no way. I got to call the Calvary, back up. There's no way I'm going to be able to finish this thing all on my own. And you just pray and pray. Hey, and God does answer. And I'm like shocked, like how did I even get this done? Who's had those moments? Crazy, right? You think you're dead. You're like, oh, I don't know what I'm going to do. This ain't working out. And you're like, wait a minute. The Bible says to pray. I'm going to pray. And you get to work and you're like, wow, Lord, you're amazing. And I'm not saying he's talking to you. He just guides you. One thing doesn't work. You try something else and it kind of guiding you. And then, yes, sometimes people show up that you didn't ask. And you're like, awesome. Thank you. Help me. And listen, I know you guys are all smart people. I know. I know. You guys can all get stuff done all by yourself. I get it. I get it. But isn't it awesome when somebody jumps in and helps you out? It's awesome. You know? Brother Dan, someone's like, Brother Segar, any help with anything? I'm like, bulletins, brother. I got you. Bring me some. All right. You know? We have visitors and they're like, Brother Segar, any help with anything? And I'm like, should I? Should I not? I don't know. But they said, I'm like, sure. Hey, bugs. They're like, what? Bugs. What do you mean bugs? Get the bugs out of these lights. Every one of them. And they're like, are you for reals? I'm like, yes. See all these dead bugs? Hey, you said. And they got to work. They cleaned every single one of these lights, every single one of them. Down, up, down, up, down, up. All these bugs. You guys don't notice them like I do, but they got rid of all of them. And I'm just thinking to myself, how am I going to get all these things cleaned up before a service? And I'm like, Lord, I need help with this one. Maybe there's a faster way to do it. They show up for soul winning. Where are you guys from? We're from out of town. Awesome. Let's go. Come back. Do you need us to do anything? Man, do I. That's what's up. I'm like, bugs. What? Bugs. All these bugs. Get to work. Here's some gloves. Get to work. And those are not props. Those are in my pocket all the time. Any volunteers? Oh, you got my pliers? Give me back my pliers, bro. But what do we see Solomon doing? He's praying, but he's praying not just for himself, for the benefit of others. Amen. I call it double dipping in prayer. I preached about it before, where the Bible says, what's every good thing you do? The same shall you receive of the Lord. What is that? That means if you pray for such and such to get better and healthier and protect them et cetera, et cetera, God says whatever good thing you do, I'm going to do it personally myself to you. And how cool is that? Double dipping. It's like, pastor, please. You know, Lord, help them. Help them. You know, keep them healthy. Keep them nice and strong. Well, guess what God's going to do? I'm not just going to do it for him. I'm going to do it for you. You help people out financially, God's going to say, hey, I'm going to do that to you too when you need it. And people are like, man, nobody really helps me out much. Well, have you been helping out much? Well, you can answer that. But, you already saw Solomon say, give me wisdom, Lord. That's an obvious one. Go ahead and go to 1 Kings 3, 5, we're to look at the other, the other scripture that has to do with Solomon's prayer. While you go there, the Bible says in Proverbs 2, 1, my son, if thou wilt receive my words and hide my commandments with thee, so that thou incline thy ear unto wisdom and applying thy heart to understanding, yea, if thou cryest after knowledge and lifted up thy voice from understanding, God's going to give it to you. But there is a catch and I'll talk about it later. For the Lord giveth wisdom out of his mouth, cometh knowledge and understanding. So, if you're in 1 Kings 3, go ahead and meet me and let's just go to verse 9 for the sake of time. This is Solomon praying after God said, hey, what do you want? Ask anything. Verse number 9 says, give therefore that servant that is in the heart to judge thy people that may discern between good and bad. And that's why I love reading the Bible. I'm like, hey, I want to know between good and bad. For who is able to judge this? Thy great people. And the speech pleased the Lord. Just remember that. He loves our prayers. Amen. He loves it. His ears are open unto our prayers. Our prayers are his delight, especially when you pray for other people. He loves it. And what did it say in Ecclesiastes? When a man is good in his sight, he gives him wisdom. So, guess what? Praying helps you to get wisdom. Why? Because you're pleasing the Lord and he's going to give you the wisdom that you're asking for to do his will, to accomplish his mission. Go to 2 Timothy chapter number 3, and I'll just remind you guys of crying out for wisdom. Proverbs 2, 3. That verse makes it very clear that if you cry after knowledge, lift up thy voice for understanding. If you seek her as silver and searches her as for hid treasures, you're going to get it. And what is that going to do for me besides being a smarty pants? Well, you'll be a happy guy. Because Proverbs 3, 13 says, happy is the man that findeth wisdom. Because you're not going to destroy your life. If you suffer, you're going to suffer for the right reasons, not the wrong reasons. So, this morning I'm preaching on wisdom and destruction. You're like, yeah, I know it's important, but I want to remind you why it's so important so you don't destroy your life. So, you don't mess it up. Because, hey, guess what? The world says you got one life to live, buddy. Live it up. Come on. Poor Christians, poor people in church this morning, I feel bad for them. They're missing out, but they're missing out. Because we don't have one life to live, we have one life to give. Because, hey, the second one's coming with the Lord Jesus Christ. And how do you want to live forever? Mansion or mansion? You decide. So, the first way is to pray. Second way is to seek. God wants us seeking for it. One way is through people. He that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed. Amen? And I'll just read from Isaiah 34, 16. Seek ye out the book of the Lord and read. That's one way to get it. We already talked about it. Reading. First, or John 5, 539 says this, search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me. God loves us when we search. Jesus answers that unto them. You do err not knowing the scriptures. So when people are all messed up, it's because they don't know the scriptures. And, of course, it gives a great example of how we should be in Acts 17. It says, and the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea, who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind. And that's how you should be when you come to church, all readiness of mind. Doesn't matter who's preaching, as long as they're preaching God's word. And search the scriptures daily. So it's also on you. It's not just on Paul who is preaching to the Bereans, but here it is. You know, search it. Search it to see if what I'm saying is true. If I'm lying to you, hey, I'm telling you, you'll know by searching the scriptures. You know, whether those things were so, and this is how we should be. You're in there in 2 Timothy chapter number 3, go to verse 14. It says, but continue thou in the things which thou hast learned, and has been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them, and from a child that hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise. So what does the Bible say the scriptures are going to do? Make us wise. But not only unto salvation, but make us wise when it comes to people. In Proverbs it says over and over again, these words, you know, are for you to deliver you from the evil man, from the strange woman, because there's many people out there that are evil men that will love to destroy your life, i.e., drug dealers, i.e., whatever. Sorry, drug dealers have been on my mind recently because I've been thinking of working on a marijuana documentary, and the more I think about drug dealers, the more I just get really upset. You know, but this is why we need wisdom towards these things, and I'm not going to go out for marijuana, but bottom line, it is worse than you think. But why do people do it? Lack of knowledge. See, I already knew it was bad just by smelling it. Smells like a dirty skunk. You're like, brother, how do you know what marijuana smells like? Well, I used to smoke it every day. There. Happy? Every day for 50 years I smoked it. I've never smoked it. Never once. But I will tell you how I know what it smells like, because growing up, my friends smoked it around me, trying to get me to do it, but the official answer, so nobody freaks out, how do I know what marijuana smells like? Well, through my training experience in the police academy, they burn marijuana in front of the students, so that way we can testify as experts in court. Amen? So no, I never smoked it. I know you guys were thinking, really? I knew it. I knew it. Made your day for me to confess my sins. Ha! Sorry, never tried the crap. But God doesn't want us to be stupid, amen? He wants us to be perfect. Go to Revelation 1-1. It says, Be ye perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. And if you think marijuana is not a big deal, you are lacking some serious knowledge, my friend. You really are. I don't want to get into all the details, but I'll give you a few highlights. It causes cancer, whether you know it or not. The big lie growing up is that marijuana is safer than cigarettes. Who's heard that? Safer than cigarettes. I'm thinking this person is either just willfully ignorant or he's a deceiver. Because listen, it didn't take me about 10 minutes to just search bad stuff about marijuana and guess one of the things that came up. It's worse than cigarettes. Here's why. Marijuana has no filter. All that tar is going in your lungs. At least cigarettes lacks a little bit of tar. So yes, they're both going to kill you, but marijuana, just so you know, is worse than cigarettes, according to Dr. Drew. He spoke to a bunch of young kids, from teenagers to ten, six year olds, because hey, they all wanted to know the truth. So he had them all, recorded the whole thing. Kids are like, what do you guys want to know about marijuana? Hey, our friends are saying that it's safer than cigarettes. He's like, no way. Way more tar going in your lungs. He's like, our friends are vaping. In high school, middle school. They're saying it's a whole lot better than cigarettes. And he's like, eventually people that smoke weed get into cigarettes. And why are these kids smoking it? Because of lack of knowledge. If they really knew, and it was Brother Reggie who gave me like a little brochure of what it really does to you. Hey, it does increase crime in this world. It doesn't make you better. And if you're like, oh, but I take it from my back pain. Dr. Bataglia, are you in the house tonight? Is that why you recommend to people that they smoke weed to fix their backs? He's a chiropractor, amen. One of the top guys in the nation. Hey, come see him if your back is hurting. But hey, is marijuana really going to fix somebody's messed up back? He obviously is saying that, but he really means that it's not because we're in church, amen. He's telling me the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God. But there's people that think, oh, well, this will help me physically. It's like, if your back is that messed up, go see Dr. Bataglia. He's 20 minutes away from where I'm standing. But you know what? Dr. Osler is two seconds away from where I'm standing. Just go outside, make a left, that's where his doctor office is. And he's a chiropractor as well. And he'll tell you, weed ain't doing nothing if I'm messing you up. Quit pretending, you're addicted to it. It takes almost 30 days before you can even begin to quit that mess. So it's very harmful, very addicting. It messes with your mind, it makes you suffer psychosis, paranoia. And I've noticed that among my friends. And as slow as your memory, you don't really know what's happening. You don't even know what's happening. And it can cause you to make a big mistake. Quick story, I was in high school, lunch break, everybody decided to go smoke weed. We all go to the practice field where nobody can see us. I'm like, all right, whatever, I was a dummy, I went with them. Obviously I didn't want to be the loner, so I decided to go with them. Hey, they all started smoking weed. Sure enough, lunch is almost over. One of my friends, his name was Marco, he's high as a kite. And guess what he ends up doing? Getting in a fight. He got in a fight. This guy was one of the calmest guys probably in the whole entire school. But marijuana didn't make him that calm and made him paranoid immediately. We were 14 or 13, but it didn't help him one bit to be a chill dude. Somehow he became more violent, and sure enough, he ended up getting arrested. And sure enough, he ended up getting probation. And sure enough, he had to do drug tests from then on, you know, for a couple of years. And all it took was just one joint. One joint. But it calms you down and this and that and whatever. Well, hopefully I do a good job on that documentary, so pray for it, amen. So, so, Revelation 1-1 says this. I'll just go to verse 3 because I'm running out of time. Blessed is he that readeth and they that hear. Why? Because God's going to bless you seeing you put in the work. You don't read for 15, 20 minutes an hour and you're like, man, I didn't get anything of it. I could barely remember what I read. Yeah, but you put in the work that places the Lord and who gives wisdom? The Lord. The Lord. And what is the wisdom going to do for me? Besides make you smarter. Keep you from destroying your life. Besides obviously seeking it through reading, through people, obviously listening is going to help grow your wisdom. If you've got your Bible, go to Ephesians 4. Ephesians 4. I've got 15 more minutes. 15 more minutes. I started at 10.45, so I'm going to do a Pastor Anderson in 11.45, amen. Because these are good reminders. I just can't help but say, hey, man, we need a reminder to take it serious and beg for it every day, pray for it every day. When you go days without praying for it, it's like we forget the value of it and the danger is you're going to make decisions that aren't wise. You just got to earn the right to give wisdom and how do you earn it? By pleasing the Lord, by being good in His sight. So I'll just read from Proverbs 8. It says, does not wisdom cry understanding put forth her voice? She standeth in the top of high places by the way and the place of the paths. She cries at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in, at the doors. Unto you, O man, I call. My voice is to the sons of man. O ye simple, understand wisdom and ye fools, be of an understanding heart. Here, for I will speak of excellent things and the opening of my lips shall be right things. Hear instruction and be wise and refuse not. So why come to church? Why you go to church, brother girl? Because I don't want to destroy my life. Because I know if I go, God's going to be happy. And if He's happy with me, He's going to give me wisdom and joy, the stuff that you're looking for. Mr. Heathen, Mr. Backslider, the things that you think are going to bring you happiness that I don't participate in, guess what? Your fears are going to come out. The Bible says the fear of the wicked, they shall come upon them, but the desire of the righteous is going to be granted. So my answer to anybody that says, church three times a week? Really? Yes, because I'm afraid. Of what? That I'm going to destroy my life. So I'm going to do everything in my power to be here every single time the doors are open. Why? Because the Bible says, and so much the more, so much the more, as the end times approaches. I know I've kind of gave my own verse, but you guys know what I'm saying. Sorry, I'm not Pastor Anderson, you all probably figured that out. Ephesians 4 and 11 says this, and he gave some apostles, some prophets, evangelists, some pastors and teachers. That could be a five-year-old boy. If he's in the Word, he says something, hey, God can use a five-year-old, a ten-year-old. How many times has a pastor given a story where his grandpa, his grandpa, you know, decided to go to church because some kid has some good wisdom, was spitting out verses that he couldn't even believe a kid can even retain, and it was enough to get his grandpa saved, and we all benefit today. Because a little five-year-old boy decided, I'm going to please the Lord at age five, and I'm going to do my best to make him happy and go soul winning and please him. And guess what? He probably didn't know even one percent or ten percent of what Pastor Anderson knows, but hey, y'all should thank that little boy once in a while. Because who knows if Pastor Anderson or Faithful Word would even exist had that little five-year-old boy decided, hey, I'm not interested in the Bible. It's not something that can benefit me. Just think about that for two seconds. I think we all owe that five-year-old boy when we see him in heaven a high five, right? Hopefully this will be 105, but just imagine had that not happened. We're going to meet that kid one day and it's going to be because of you, buddy. Faithful Word came into existence. Your witness to his grandpa. His grandpa said, wow, look at the wisdom in this boy's heart. I'm going to go check out his church. And the rest is history. Amen? So teachers can be kids. Kids, get into the Word as well. Pray for wisdom. Teenagers, pray for wisdom. Figure out what you want to do in life by praying for it. Amen? As opposed to the opposite, Proverbs 28 and 9, He that turneth away his ear from hearing the Lord, even his prayer should be an abomination. So do you want to be an A-star Christian in God's eyes, or do you want to be an abomination in God's eyes? But that's why churches are important so we can get the fear of the Lord. That's what it says in Deuteronomy. You know, that's what it says in Ecclesiastes, you know, chapter 12 says, hey, the conclusion of the whole matter is to fear God and keep his commandments. Why? Because that's the wisest thing you can do in your life. Exodus says, moreover, you know, they wanted to pick men, men that fear God. You know, they were not covetous. They hated covetousness. They were used by God heavily. You know why? Because people that fear the Lord are wise people, people that win souls, whatever reason, because you want God to bless you, you don't want God to curse you. The Bible says clearly he that win his souls is wise. So guess what? Hey, winning souls is going to make you wise, not because you're going to run into an instructor who's going to give you a Bible class lesson right there on the spot. It's because, once again, it goes back to pleasing God. And that's how soul winners get wiser because the Lord is pleased with them and he says, hey, these are going to be the smartest people on the planet. That's what I'm going to do for these people that sacrifice their time to go knock on doors when they're being hate on, despised on, and now it's getting harder because we're going to Mesa and Mesa's pretty big and we're going to be there for years and guess what? It's pretty rough. Amen? It's pretty rough, that area that we now have that's white on the map, which is great because we're knocking out stuff and we're trying to mix it in with trips to Nogales, trips to Mexico, you know, just to break it up a little bit because it's hard, right? It's hard going to places that are not receptive. But, hey, I think that will give you a double portion of your blessings if you just have character enough to just go knowing that it's a rough area and these people don't like us, they hate us, they're hardcore Mormons or whatever. But we always find someone in those neighborhoods that wants to hear the Gospel. Amen? So keep on pleasing the Lord. Keep on seeking. Keep on wanting to please Him. And that's how we can all get the wisdom that we need so we don't mess up our lives, destroy our children, so we're not like Aiken or like Pharaoh. So obviously I already said, hey, seeking it, praying for it, obviously hearing it. All these things are going to benefit you. They're all going to give you wisdom. I already mentioned being good multiple times. Those things are going to help you to obviously please the Lord and that's going to bring wisdom in your life. But let's talk really quickly about the benefits, the benefits. So coming on, just coming out telling you what you got to do to get it. I'm sure there's other things you guys can think of that can help you get wisdom. But let's not remember it's never in vain. Searching the Scriptures, reading your Bible, pleasing the Lord, coming to church, going out knocking doors, living a great life for the Lord. Hey, those things will benefit you in these ways. It says a wise man is strong and who doesn't want to be strong? You know, you'll understand things when others don't. It says they shall now understand righteousness, this is Proverbs 2, 9, and judgment and equity, yea, and every good path. It's going to deliver you. You know, when God gives you wisdom, you're going to be strong, you're going to understand things, you know, you're going to be delivered. It says it's a delivery from the way of the evil man, from the man who's speaking forward things. You're going to be happy. Happy is the man to find the wisdom and you're going to live a long life. A wise individual is going to make decisions that are going to help him live a long life. So that's a great thing. Living a long life is a great thing. Proverbs 3, 16, like the daisies in the right hand and in her left hand, riches and honor. Who doesn't want safety in these crazy times, amen? Hey, the Bible says in Proverbs 3, 23, then thou shall walk in thy way safely and thy foot shall not stumble. Who doesn't want to be as bold as a lion? Well, nothing causes fear in your heart. Proverbs 3, 24, when thou lies down, thou shall not be afraid. Yea, thou shall lie down and thy sleep shall be sweet. It brings glory unto God when you're a wise individual. And it even helps you financially. Proverbs 8, 18, riches and honor are with me. Yea, durable riches and righteousness and it's going to please your prayers and that's going to help you to live a long life. Proverbs 10, 1, the prophets of Solomon, a wise son maketh a glad father but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother. It's going to put you in favor with people around you and most of the people is the king's honor but in the want of people the destruction of the prince and you'll accomplish more or less when you're a wise individual. Ecclesiastes 10, 10 tells you that. You know, so to sum it up simply this, if there's any reason to take wisdom serious it's because I want every single one of you guys to do a lot for the Lord and not mess up this golden opportunity that we all have. So we have to be careful not taking this serious and becoming individuals that are wise in our own eyes. Remember the stud? Don't be the stud. Y'all forgot the story about the stud already, right? Alright, well it is what it is. Other than that, I'll finish it up with this. And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains and have not charity, I am nothing. So it's not just about being a wise individual, fearing the Lord. Hey, if you don't have charity which is love towards your brothers and sisters in Christ hey, just remember, wisdom what I love, the Bible says you are nothing. You are nothing. And why am I finishing up on this one? Because my plan was to preach on charity tonight but Brother Corbin's going to be the one preaching tonight. So I'm taking this lesson to Tucson with me tonight, amen? But just remember, don't just be a wise guy, aim to be a loving individual. A loving individual. That's what it says. Hey, if you have all the gift of prophecy, you understand everything, you're a wise person, you can make good decisions, you know what the Bible teaches and listen, the Bible makes it very clear, if you have all mysteries, you know everything but you don't have charity, you're nothing and that was Aiken's problem. He didn't have enough love, he didn't care enough about his family, about his children, even his animals for crying out loud. He decided to take the gold and silver, why? Because yes, he knew, he had the wisdom, God told him what they had to do. But guess what? He didn't mix it in with love and he decided, hey, this stuff is worth stealing from God and he didn't realize how bad it was going to end and let's just remember these people so we don't become them, amen? Let's pray. Dear God, we thank you for all that you've done. Lord, we love you and we ask you, Lord, to be with us and grant these people wisdom and not just that, their father. You know, we ask you to really just help Raymond and help Pastor Anderson. Nobody likes to be sick and obviously Raymond is in the hospital and the bills are going to come, all that stuff is going to get crazy but we ask you, Lord, you know, to just do something about it and it doesn't hurt to pray for individuals, you know, so we ask you, their father, to be with them, heal them up and I know, dear Lord, that you're not going to, you know, you're not going to withhold good things from them if they obviously, Lord, love you and keep your commandments but for people that are here, bless them from coming this morning and Father, I try to be a blessing, I try to just help them out, you know, I try to encourage them and I try to remind them to bottom line, just don't give up and keep moving forward and keep the basics and keep walking with you, Lord, because that's ultimately what we have to do, you know, if we want to be right with you. So I ask you to bless everyone here. In the name of your son, just Christ, amen. The Bible is really clear on salvation. It's not based on how good you are. A lot of people think they're pretty good, you know, and yeah, they're going to get to heaven because they're pretty good but the Bible says from all his sin, they come short of the glory of God. The Bible says as it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. I'm not righteous, you're not righteous and if it were our goodness that would get us into heaven, none of us would be going. Because the Bible even says in Revelation 21a, it says, but the fearful and unbelieving, the abominable and murderers and sorcerers and foremongers and idolaters and listen to this, and all liars shall have their part of the lake that's burning and firing for its own second death. I've lied before, everybody's lied before. So we've all sinned and we've done stuff worse than lying, let's face it. We all deserve hell.