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

Let us talk of all this wonder, love, and care Then when all of life is over and our work on earth is done And the world is full of yonder, I'll be there When the world is full of yonder, I'll be there When the world is full of yonder, I'll be there Amen. I ask for the diggin' if you want to put up a board of care please. Dear only Father of God, we thank you, Lord, for bringing us here tonight to send praises to your name. We pray fear the gospel, and we just ask for the unity of our pastor, including the boldness that is necessary, Lord, for each of you to be a part of it. And for it to give an impact on the health of some of our lives. We just thank you and encourage you to do the same. Amen. Hymn number 165 is next. Oh worship the king, hymn number 165. Oh worship the king, all glorious above, number 165. Singing out his first birds. Oh worship the king, all glorious above And gratefully sing his wonderful love. Our shield and defender, the ancient of days, A million in splendor and girded with praise. Oh tell of his might and sing of his grace, Whose robe is of light, whose canopy stays, His chariots of gravity thunder clouds form, And our business that on the wings of the storm Thy bountiful care, one tongue can recite, It breathes in the air, it shines in the light, It streams from the hills and descends through the rain, And sweetly distills in the dew and the rain, Well children of dust and feeble as trail, In thee do we trust, nor find thee to fail, Thy mercies, how tender, how firm to the end, Our maker, defender, playkeeper and friend. Alright, this time we'll go through our announcements together. If you don't have a bulletin, slip up your hand nice and high. We'll get to you with one. On the inside we have our service time. Sunday mornings at 1030 is our preaching service. Sunday nights at 6. Wednesday nights at 7 is our Bible study. Tonight we're in Ecclesiastes, chapter number 10. We've got the soul winning times listed there below, as well as salvations and baptisms. Across the page, thank you to all who participated in the Small Town Soul Winning. We've been having a lot of great trips out into the higher elevations, get out of the heat a little bit, and win souls in these small towns. The next one is coming up on Saturday, July 24th, and so that is just a week from this Saturday. So if you're interested in coming along, then you can get the details and sign up right over here. And then we've got, you know, these things coming every weekend or almost every weekend. And then below that, we've got the note, if you're coming to the Red Hot Preaching Conference and you're using the church's transportation, who's using the church's transportation to go to the Red Hot Preaching Conference? You guys are all getting up really early, right? Everybody getting, all right? So you know what you're getting into. Shoot for being here at 3.30 a.m. because the bus is leaving at 4 a.m. sharp, all right? So because, you know, they've got a long way to go and there's no room for any error here, okay? Because we want to make sure that we have time for Murphy's Law, traffic, breaks, snacks, Chipotle, Panda Express, frozen yogurt, whatever, right? So be sure to be here on time. Don't be that guy. And then below that, Bible Memory Passage, the deadline for that is this Sunday. There's a camping trip coming up at Riggs Lake on Mount Graham down in southern Arizona. Space is limited, so be sure to sign up. You can see Brother Raymond for details as well. That's in September. And then on the back, we're doing a new thing, Mexico Mondays. So the first Monday of every month starting on August 2nd, Brother Segura is going to be taking a group down, soul winning in Nogales. It's about two and a half hours to the border, and they're just going to do it as a long day. You know, just start early, drive down there, cross the border, do a few hours of soul winning, drive back. So if you're learning Spanish and you want to practice your soul winning in Spanish, then you are more than welcome to come along. And the tacos alone are worth it, all right? The tacos down there are wonderful, and so that's a fun thing you can do, and also you're serving God winning souls. Keep praying for our ladies that are expecting that they'll have a safe and healthy pregnancy and delivery. Also, the yearbooks are in stock, so if you haven't gotten one, see one of us and we'll get you one. And that's about it for announcements. Let's go ahead and count up the soul winning for the past few days, going back to Monday. Anything from Monday to report? Okay, three for the surprise crew. Anything else from Monday? How about Tuesday? Okay, anything else from Tuesday? And then today, I know we had two in the van. Anything outside the van? All right, very good. Keep up the great work on soul winning. Be praying for the Red Hot Preaching Conference, because not only is there going to be preaching going on, but there's going to be soul winning that's going on, a lot of fellowship that's going to be going on, and so we just hope that it'll be a great week as far as the work of the Lord is concerned, and that it will be blessed, that God will bless the event. And also, I believe you should be able to watch all of these online. I saw some kind of a video pop up that said where to watch the Red Hot Preaching Conference being livestreamed. I didn't click on it, but apparently the instructions are out there, all right? So it's not going to be on anybody's main channel, because that would be a suicide mission for that channel. So it's going to be on other auxiliary channels. You know, I know personally that my sermon that I'm planning on preaching is not going to be allowed on any channel. So it's a for sure deletion of a YouTube channel. But I've made my peace with that, so. Anyway, if you want to tune into some of those sermons, there's going to be evening sermons, there's going to be a few morning sermons as well, and so tune in. All right, I believe that that's it for announcements. Let's go ahead and sing our next song. Come lead us. All right, we're going to sing Psalm 81. You should find that incident in your hymnal there if you don't have one. Gather the general love as an art with the psaltery Blow up the trumpet in the new moon In the time appointed on her salty stay For this was a statue for his new handle on the God of Jacob This he ordained in Joseph for a testimony when he went out Through the land of Eden where I heard a language that I understood not I removed his shoulder from the burden His hands were delivered from the bust Now false as trouble I deliver thee I answer thee the secret place of thunder I burn thee at the waters of Merimah See the hero my people And I will testify unto thee O Israel thou wilt hearken unto me This shall no strange God be in thee Neither shall thou worship any strange God I am the Lord thy God which brought me out of the land of Eden Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it But my people would not hearken to my voice And Israel would none of me So I gave them up unto their own hearts thus And they walked in their own counsels O that my people had hearkened unto me And Israel had walked in my ways I shall soon have some do their enemies Hands earned by and against their adversaries The haters of the Lord should have submitted Should have submitted themselves unto him But their time should endure forever He should have fed them also With the finest of the leading with honey Out of the rock should I have satisfied thee O Israel thou wilt hearken unto me O Israel thou wilt hearken unto me O Israel thou wilt hearken unto me O Israel thou wilt hearken unto me O Israel thou wilt hearken unto me Christ the great Commander of the world Harris the king, House we possess the land Through loyalty, loyalty, loyalty to Christ And hearing bring us sound that moves the earth around Tis loyalty, loyalty, loyalty to Christ eride to bear it new, bring out the wanton truth of loyalty, loyalty, yes, loyalty to Christ. On to victory, on to victory, rise our great commander on. Who will let his command, who'll soon possess the land, who'll loyalty, loyalty, yes, loyalty to Christ. Come join our loyal throng, who'll walk the giant throng. There's loyalty, loyalty, yes, loyalty to Christ. Where Satan and his love will send the humble love of loyalty, loyalty, yes, loyalty to Christ. On to victory, on to victory, rise our great commander on. Who'll move that instrument, who'll soon possess the land, who'll loyalty, loyalty, yes, loyalty to Christ. With strength the new can lay, as Jesus came today. There's loyalty, loyalty, yes, loyalty to Christ. Where gospel will proclaim, throughout the world's domain, of loyalty, loyalty, yes, loyalty to Christ. On to victory, on to victory, rise our great commander on. Who'll move that instrument, who'll soon possess the land, who'll loyalty, loyalty, yes, loyalty to Christ. Alright, this time we'll pass our offering plates around quickly and turn our Bibles to Ecclesiastes chapter 10. Ecclesiastes chapter number 10, as we always do, we'll read the entire chapter beginning in verse number 1. Follow along silently with brother Dan as he reads Ecclesiastes 10, starting in verse number 1. In Ecclesiastes 10 the Bible reads, Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savior. So doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honor. A wise man's heart is at his right hand, but a fool's heart at his left. Yea, also, when he that is a fool walketh by the way, his wisdom faileth him, and he saith to every one that he is a fool. If the spirit of the ruler rise up against thee, leave not thy place, for yielding pacifieth great offenses. There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, as an arrow which proceedeth from the ruler. Folly is set in great dignity, and the rich sit in low place. I have seen servants upon horses and princes walking as servants upon the earth. He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it, and whoso breaketh an edge, a serpent shall bite him. Whoso removest stones shall be hurt therewith, and he that cleaveth wood shall be endangered thereby. If the iron be blunt and he do not wet the edge, then must he put to more strength, but wisdom is profitable to direct. Surely the serpent will bite without enchantment, and a babbler is no better. The words of a wise man's mouth are gracious, but the lips of a fool will swallow up himself. The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness, and the end of his talk is mischievous madness. A fool also is full of words. A man cannot tell what shall be, and what shall be after him who can tell him. The labor of the foolish wearieth every one of them, because he knoweth not how to go to the city. Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child, and thy princes eat in the morning. Blessed art thou, O land, when thy king is the son of nobles, and thy princes eat in due season, for strength, and not for drunkenness. By much slothfulness the building decayeth, and through idleness of the hands the house droppeth through. A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh merry, but money answereth all things. Curse not the king, no, not in thy thought, and curse not the rich in thy bedchamber, for a bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter. Amen. Lord, please help us apply this sermon to our lives, and we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Ecclesiastes chapter number 10, beginning in verse number 1, the Bible reads, Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savor. So does the little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honor. Now remember, we're just coming off of verse 18 of chapter 9. If you just look right above chapter 10, it says, Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroyeth much good. So just as one sinner can destroy much good, also within the individual, one act of stupidity, one act of folly, can actually ruin your reputation. Okay, you could have a great reputation and then just do one really stupid thing and ruin it. So keep your finger there in chapter 10 and just go back a couple pages and look at chapter 7 verse 1. It should just be one page to the left in your Bible. It says, A good name is better than precious ointment. So the good name there is talking about your reputation. And it says it's more valuable than a precious ointment. And then over here in chapter 10, he's again talking about your reputation and he's again using the ointment illustration. So in chapter 7, you think of a very expensive ointment and today we might think, well, ointment's pretty cheap or whatever. I guess it depends on where you shop or whatever. But in ancient times, these type of spices or ointments or medicines and perfumes and things were a little bit harder to come by than they are now. There wasn't just a drugstore on every corner where you could buy these type of things. And so the Bible talks about these things as being extremely valuable. So it'd be like saying that it's like gold or it's like rubies. It's something that's very expensive. So he's saying having a good reputation is extremely valuable. You want to have a good reputation and you should guard your reputation and it's valuable like a very expensive perfume or ointment or whatever would be valuable. But what he's saying is, it's very easy to ruin a good reputation. It could take decades of building a reputation, but you could destroy your reputation overnight. I mean, think about it. I've pastored now for 15 years. How many days would it take for me to destroy my Christian testimony if I set out to do that? I mean, it would take less than one day for me to go out and destroy my Christian testimony. I could do it in a matter of hours. But yet it takes years and decades to build your name, your reputation, who you are publicly. And so we need to stop and think about the fact that doing one stupid thing could have consequences that could last a very long time. Now, especially in the age of the internet, this has never been more true than it is right now in 2021 because here's the thing about the internet. The internet doesn't forget. You know, when we were young, thankfully we could go out and say stupid things and do stupid things and eventually people forget about it because it wasn't just engraved in marble the way it is right now. And let me tell you young people something. If you post something online, you might as well get out a chisel and a hammer and you might as well just engrave it into marble because you are creating a permanent record there, okay? You know, it's like this is going on, you're a permanent record. Well, you know, when teachers told us that as kids, they were blowing smoke at us. But here's the thing, we're not blowing smoke now because of the fact that the internet will remember. You know, you post some picture of yourself drunk or scantily clad or doing some sinful act, guess what? That stuff's gonna be online. And by the way, let's say you're just saying stupid things. And doing stupid things and you're not filming yourself. Oh, don't worry, somebody else is filming you. Your friends are filming you and they will post it online. They will take a picture of your stupidity and your sin and your idiocy. And so be careful, my friend, okay? Obviously, the best way to protect your reputation is to actually be right, okay? To be right, that's the easiest way to have a good reputation is to live a good life and to follow the Bible and to be a good Christian. That's the most important step because you're not gonna be able to fake it all the time. If you're acting one way at church and then you're acting a totally different way around worldly friends, that will eventually be found out. Eventually, it's gonna come and haunt you, especially in the age of all the electronics and the photos and the videos, the internet. So you've gotta, so step one is be real. Be the real deal, be the same everywhere you go and realize every time, and here's step two. So step one is be the real deal. But step two, realize that when you say stuff to people, there's always a chance that they're recording you, filming you, and you don't know it. And especially for me as a pastor, look, I talk to people on the phone all the time, and you know what? I'm not stupid. I know that some of them are probably recording the phone call, which, and let me say this, okay? I think that recording a phone call with someone without their knowledge is an act of hostility. That's what I think. Now, have I ever recorded a phone call with someone? Yeah, but it was someone that I considered either an enemy or a dangerous person. It was someone with whom I had enmity or hostility. Friends don't record their friends on the phone without letting them know that they're doing that. Maybe that's a little bit extra biblical, but that's my opinion. I think that that's a hostile act for people to record you without you knowing it. But I guarantee you there's people who do that to me. I'd be willing to bet anything. And so here's what I've learned. Anytime I talk on the phone, I just assume that I'm being recorded and broadcast to the entire world. You know what I mean? Because that could be happening. So here's the lesson. Number one, be real, be a good Christian, be legit and be the same everywhere. Don't be two-faced and acting one way around church people and then acting totally different around people that are not from church. But number two, don't say things on the phone or don't text things or don't put things on video that you don't want to be broadcast to the whole world because you can't really control whether those things get broadcast to the whole world because one of your friends is very likely to just take that, you text it to them, they could screenshot that, they could screenshot that email, they could record that phone call. And so you better watch out what you say and do because it's going to come back to bite you and especially you need to be careful with how you act on social media because the internet does not forget. And to tie in with that same idea, look at the last verse of the same chapter, Ecclesiastes chapter 10 verse 20, it says, Curse not the king, no, not in thy thought, and curse not the rich in thy bedchamber, for a bird of the air shall carry the voice and that which hath wings shall tell the matter. This is where that expression comes from, a little bird told me. Have you ever asked somebody, how did you hear about that? Well, you know, a little bird told me. That comes from this Bible verse where the Bible says, you better watch out what you say. Even in your bedchamber, you're in your bedroom, the doors are shut, be careful what you say because a little bird is going to go tell that person that you're talking bad about and that you're speaking ill of behind their back. He says, don't curse the king, not even in your thought, not even in your bedchamber. And folks, this is before smartphones. This is before surveillance cameras. This is before the government was tapped in and listening to everything you're saying, okay? And Solomon is still telling you, look, be careful when you start blowing off your mouth because it's going to get back to that person. How much more in the digital age did this verse just become just 100 times more relevant? Ecclesiastes 10.20 just became 100 times more relevant than it was before. And it was already relevant. You want to talk about the Bible being obsolete or outdated? No, no, no, the Bible is right on point and very relevant to our lives. Be careful what you say, a little bird is going to tell them. But what I love here at the beginning of verse 20 is that it says, curse not the king, no, not in thy thought. He said, come on, some of you read my mind? But let me tell you something, the stuff you think about is eventually going to come out of your mouth. And so if you start thinking these thoughts, eventually you're going to blurt something out, you're going to blurt it to the wrong person, and then it's either going to be recorded or reported. Somebody's going to tell that person or whatever the case may be. And so this comes back to point number one, be real. Be the real deal, and then you don't have to worry about, oh, no, people are going to find out what I'm really like. Well, just be the real thing, and then if they find out what you're really like, it's not that bad because you're all right. You're an OK guy, all right? So anyway, this is important. Our reputation, understanding in the digital age that people are recording us, they're filming us, they're getting our audio, they're screenshotting things that we send them, and even our so-called friends could treat us this way. Verse number two, a wise man's heart is at his right hand, but a fool's heart at his left. This is just symbolic of the left hand symbolizing treachery, you know, because they're expecting the right hand and then you're maybe reaching for a weapon with the left hand or whatever. This is just a symbol of treachery. Verse three, yea, also, when he that is a fool walketh by the way, his wisdom faileth him, and he saith to everyone that he's a fool. I can't even count how many times I've quoted that verse. This is a verse that comes up a lot because foolish people have a way of exposing themselves as complete idiots by saying stupid things. And again, in the age of the internet, it's very well documented when they say stupid things. Verse four, if the spirit of the ruler rise up against thee, leave not thy place for yielding pacifieth great offenses. As you can see, Ecclesiastes 10 is a little bit different than the rest of the book of Ecclesiastes because he's kind of just hitting us with Proverbs. Don't we kind of feel like we're in the book of Proverbs right now? Chapter 10 is like that. He's just kind of hitting us with Proverbs and words of wisdom. And in this verse, we're getting the same idea as the proverb, a soft answer turneth away wrath, but grievous words stir up anger. Or also, Jesus' words in the Sermon on the Mount, agree with thine adversary quickly, whilst thou art in the way with him, yielding pacifieth great offenses. What the Bible is saying here is don't fight every battle, and especially, you can't fight City Hall. Okay, you've probably heard that expression before. You can't fight City Hall. My old boss used to say, don't ever get in an argument with someone who prints their own money. You know, you're not going to win an argument with someone who prints their own money. And that's what the government does, right? And so, you don't want to get in these pointless battles that you can't win. A lot of times, you have to know which battles to fight and when to just walk away. And not just when it comes to fighting City Hall or fighting the government, but also just in our lives, it's not worth arguing every single time someone says something wrong or does something wrong. We don't always have to get in there and prove that we're right and argue, especially not with an authority figure. Because in this verse, we're specifically talking about the ruler, right? It says in verse number four, if the spirit of the ruler rise up against thee, leave not thy place, for yielding pacifieth great offenses. The great offense is either what you did wrong, you did a great offense, or the ruler thinks that you did a great offense. And maybe you didn't even do anything wrong, but, you know, they see it as a great offense. But yielding pacifieth great offenders, great defendants, great, excuse me, offenses. What does it mean to yield? To yield. Okay, think about what we're driving in traffic, and there's a sign that says yield. What does that mean? That means let other people have their turn and you back off and wait and let them go first. Isn't that what the yield sign means when we're out driving? So yielding is basically saying to someone, hey, you're right, after you, you go first. Let's do things your way. That's what yielding is. What does pacify mean? Pacify comes from the root word of peace, right? Like the Pacific Ocean. It's quite peaceful, okay? So the pacifier is what you put in the baby's mouth so that you can have some peace, right? You pacify the baby. Basically, what are you doing when you pacify someone is you give them what they want to shut them up. Another word for this would be to placate someone, right? So you placate them, you pacify them, you give them what they want. And what the Bible's saying is, look, when the ruler gets upset with you, if the ruler rises up against you, leave not thy place. For yielding pacifieth great offenses. He's saying don't get all up in arms and take on the ruler. He's saying it's better to just pacify them, okay? And here's the thing, God has ordained authority. So, for example, you know, we could look at different spheres of authority. Let's say parents and children, okay? So, you know, your parents are mad at you and you think you're right, but here's the thing. Yielding pacifieth great offenses. Sometimes it's just a lot smarter to just not die on that hill and fight that battle, but to just say, you know what, mom, you're right. I'm sorry. You know, let me fix this. I'm sorry. I was wrong. What can I do to make this right? You know, after your mom has a heart attack, you know, she'll probably, you know, be very gentle and kind to you and it's going to go a long way with mom, that attitude. I promise you that. But what do teenagers and children typically do? They want to talk back. They want to argue. And then it just escalates. And sometimes teenagers could commit a very small infraction and then it just blows up into this yelling match and it starts from some tiny thing. Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth. And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. Right? So our tongue, we could just say something and it's that spark that just creates this giant forest fire. And I'm telling you, how many times has a giant screaming fight erupted from just one tiny dumb little thing? And it just keeps escalating. If you're smart, you'll yield to the ruler and understand my parents are in charge. God has given them authority. I need to just yield unto them in order to pacify them and not fight them, but to just humble myself and God will take care of you and bless you if you obey him. And you don't have to worry about righting every wrong and, oh, my parents are treating me so unfairly. Look, if your parents treat you unfairly and you respect them and obey them anyway, God's going to bless you for doing that. Okay? Same thing at work. You know, your boss comes down on you at work, just shut up and take it. You don't have to talk back, you don't have to argue because then it could escalate and cause you problems at work. You know, at the end of the day, I don't know about you, but, you know, I always went to work in order to get a paycheck, not to feel loved and appreciated by my boss. You know, it wasn't just like, man, I just, you know, I just, I don't feel like I'm getting enough praise in my life. So I'm thinking about getting a job just so that I can, like, find someone to, like, just see what I do and like it and appreciate me and show me love and affection. Is that why you apply for a job? Because I applied for a job to get paid, to pay the bills, to take care of my family. And so here's the thing. You know, the boss can call me whatever he wants, as long as the money is green. You know what I mean? If, you know, my boss can call me an idiot. I'm not going to take this. Okay, but where does that leave me on Friday? With all my pride and my ego intact, but now I'm making less money down the street because I can't hold down a job because every boss is making me mad and they're hurting my feelings and they're hurting my ego. And, you know, a lot of people are stuck in low-paying jobs simply because they won't take correction from a boss. They won't be rebuked by a boss. And let me explain something to you. You will be sometimes corrected by your boss unfairly. I mean, there have been times when, and I'm just talking to my employees. No, I'm just kidding. Just kidding. But, you know, that's not true. But basically, you know, I think back over my career and I can think of times when I did absolutely nothing wrong. I mean, period. I did nothing wrong. And yet the boss came down on me, cussed me out, told me, and sometimes later he realized his mistake, like, oh, sorry, never mind. That wasn't your fault, I realized. But sometimes he didn't. But you know what? At the end of the day, it was just like, hey, man, I'm sorry, let me fix this. What can I do to fix it? Let's get it right. And you know what? And I kept the job and I kept getting paid and I kept making more and more money by making the boss happy because that's how you succeed at work is by obeying the boss that God has ordained as an authority in your life. You say, well, what's there to do with God? God commands servants to be obedient to their masters according to the flesh. So the Bible tells us as employees to obey the boss at work. Now, obviously, if he tells you to do something sinful, we ought to obey God rather than men. If your parents tell you to do something that is outright sinful, you obey God, not your parents. But how often does that really happen? Virtually never. And usually there's a workaround to make both God and your authority happy. Another example of this is the husband and wife relationship because guess what? I've got news for you. The Bible says wives be obedient to your own husbands. That is what the Bible says. Now, a lot of people don't believe that anymore. That's not popular today in enlightened feminist America or whatever. But we as Christians don't care what the world does. We're going to stick with what the Bible says that wives are to submit to their husbands, that wives be obedient to their own husbands in everything. That's a direct quote from the Bible. It's found in Ephesians chapter 5. The same teaching is found in 1 Peter chapter 3. It's found in Colossians chapter 3. There's no doubt about this to anyone who actually believes the Bible. It's very clear. It's impossible to misunderstand. And so here's the thing. You know, you wives out there, understand that when King Solomon in the book of Proverbs wants to describe the worst case scenario of a wife, the one where it's so bad you'd rather live in the wilderness, you'd rather just be out like Robinson Crusoe than to be living in a wide house with this woman, the worst woman to be married to is described in the Bible as the contentious woman. The contentious woman or the brawling woman, okay? So what does that mean, to be contentious? Contention is arguing, okay? So the Bible is saying the one who is contending with you, arguing with you, brawling, fighting with you, this is the worst case scenario for a marriage, is to be with an argumentative wife. Now stop and think about that, ladies. Is that who you want to be? Do you want to be the one where God says, it's better to dwell in the corner of the housetop than with a contentious woman in the wide house? I mean, think about that. The Bible says the contentions of a wife are a continual dropping, just drip, drip, drip, just to drive you insane. So wouldn't this verse be a good verse to apply? If the spirit of the ruler rise up against thee? I've got news for you, your husband is your ruler. He's to rule his own house. The Bible even used the word, one that ruleth well his own house. The husband is to rule the house. So if the spirit of the ruler rise up against you, what should you do? Be that contentious woman? That brawling woman? That loud and clamorous woman? Or should you rather yield? Yielding pacifies great offenses. You know, there have been times when my wife did something wrong, and I just didn't even care. Just like, that's okay. You know, I mean, I don't want to bring anything up because I feel bad, you know. What can I say, you know? But where my wife, you know, let's say maybe she damaged something or made a mistake or something, you know. I'm not saying she did, it's all hypothetical, but I'm saying, like, you know. Let's just say, let's just kind of, you know, make up a real fictional example You know, let's just say that she damaged a vehicle, for example, you know. And let's just say I looked at that and just smiled and said, hey, don't worry about it, these things happen. No big deal. Okay, but let me tell you something else. There have been other times, because, you know, I've been married now for over 20 years. And there have been other times when my wife did something tiny, like just the tiniest mistake, and I just clouded up and rained on her. So what's the difference? I mean, why is it that sometimes she could maybe do something that was a bigger deal and I'm just kind of like, hey, you know what, it's no problem, no big deal. And then other times the littlest thing and it's just like, I'm all over that, right, I'm just, I'm just, I'll tell you why. Because of the fact that typically if your husband is blowing up at you about something stupid, something tiny, something small, that's probably not really what he's mad about. I'm trying to, and you know, you ladies, you could just ignore what I'm saying or you could try to learn from what I'm saying, okay, because I'm giving you some wisdom here about the fact that if your husband's blowing up at you over some tiny thing, instead of thinking, well, he just blows up at me, no, no, no, he's mad about something else. That's not really what he's mad about, okay. It's because if you're being rebellious in general, contentious in general, if you're being a pain in general, then every little thing's gonna set him up. Whereas if you're doing what you're supposed to do as a wife, you're being a godly wife, you're being submissive, you're being obedient, then if you make a mistake, it's like, hey, no big deal, why? Because yielding pacifies great offenses. Here's what the Bible say, if you are yielding, and here's another word for yielding, submissive. It's literally the same meaning. To yield is to submit. So we could just as easily say submitting pacifies great offenses. So here's what I'm saying is that if you are yielding, your husband is gonna overlook huge mistakes. You could make huge mistakes because yielding pacifies great offenses. Whereas if there's no yielding, if there's no submission, if there's continual contention, well then it's just like drip, drip, drip, and then that one drip might be like the straw that breaks the camel's back, and then your husband's real mad because of the tiniest thing, because that tiny thing was like the 10,000th tiny thing in a row, and it was the straw that broke the camel's back. I hope everybody understands what I'm saying tonight because this is important stuff. You know, you need to understand that yielding pacifies great offenses, you know, and the Bible also says that love covers a multitude of sins. So here's the thing, if there's love there, because what is the husband supposed to do for his wife? Husbands love your wives. And what is the wife supposed to do for the husband? Wives, submit unto your husbands, which is another way of saying yield unto them. If the husband is loving his wife, love covers a multitude of sins. And if the wife is submitting under her husband, yielding pacifies great offenses. So you see how if we would get these two foundational components right in our marriage where the husband loves his wife and where the wife submits under her husband, a lot of the other things will be overlooked. You know, a lot of husbands will be saying, ah, that's okay. And a lot of wives will be saying, ah, that's okay. You know, when the husband makes a mistake, if she knows that he loves her and he's a loving husband, she'll probably forgive mistakes readily. And vice versa, if the wife is submitting and yielding, you know, he's going to be more lenient. It's almost like, think of the love coming from the husband and the submission coming from the wife, it's like the suspension on the vehicle. Okay. So, you know, you're cruising through marriage and you're hitting all these bumps in the road. All of them, you know, the husband makes mistakes, the wife makes mistakes, bad things happen. And it's just like these two shock absorbers are keeping it a smooth ride. But what happens when all of a sudden the love isn't there? Or what happens when the submission isn't there and you've got an argumentative wife? Then it's just like every little bump, I mean, if you drove a car with no suspension, can you imagine what that ride would be like? And let me explain something to you. Life is not a smooth road. Life is a rough road and you don't have the suspension in place. I mean, you want to talk about marriage being on the rocks. That's what it is. And so, you know, I'm spending time on this verse because it's a great verse and it's a great truth. Understand it. Put it into practice. Let's keep moving here, just quickly blow through some of these because it's just a lot of proverbs here. It says, there's an evil which I've seen under the sun as an error which proceedeth from the ruler. Because rulers obviously make mistakes, too. Leaders make mistakes, obviously. Nobody's saying that leaders are perfect or that they don't make mistakes. But guess what? Even if the leadership makes a mistake, though, that doesn't prevent them from being the leader. You know, so if your husband's not perfect, guess what? He's still your husband. Your boss isn't perfect. He makes mistakes. He's still the boss and you still need to submit to his authority. The Bible doesn't say wives submit unto your husbands every time they're right. Whenever they're right, submit unto them. And literally, there are probably people who would argue with what I'm saying right now and it's, you know what, it's absurd to argue with what I'm saying right now because of the fact that what I'm saying is so obvious that you don't only have to but I bet you that there's probably some woman out in internet land right now who's thinking, well, if he's wrong, I'm supposed to submit to him when he's wrong? If you thought he was right, you wouldn't have to submit because we'd be doing things your way. Stop and think about that. It's impossible to submit unless there's a disagreement. It's impossible to yield unless you're both at the intersection. I mean, if I pull up to the intersection and there's no cars there, do I yield at that point? There's no way to yield to. That's the whole point of a yield sign. It's not a stop sign. It's a yield sign. That means if nobody's there, keep going. Cruise on through. The only opportunity to yield is when this guy wants to go and this guy wants to go and then somebody yields. So it's impossible to submit to your husband unless there's a disagreement. Think about this, folks. I mean, what if it's like, what if my wife wants to go to Chipotle and I'm like, no, we're going to Chipotle. And she's like, okay, you're the boss, we'll go to Chipotle. Did submission just happen? But wives are like, well, I submit all the time. I mean, you know, every time it's something I want to do. Every time it's something I was going to do anyway. That's not submission. The whole point of submission is, you know, submission is, hey, I want to go to Panda Express. It's like, no, honey, we're going to Chipotle. Okay, dear. You know, I mean, that's obviously a silly example. But there can be no submission unless there is first a disagreement or first one person wanting to do one thing, you know, and somebody has to say, okay, hey, let me yield to you, let me submit to you. Does everybody understand that? So here's the thing. It could be possible for you to obey your husband a bunch of times, but zero submission to have taken place. Because submission only takes place when you say, you know what, that's not really what I want to do. I don't think he's necessarily right about this. I think it'd be better if we go this other way. But you know what, he's the boss, so we're going to go his way. Congratulations, you have just submitted. So now you can, like, put a single tally mark of submission one, okay? And you've been married for decades. No, I'm just kidding. You know, that's what it means to yield and to submit. There has to first be a disagreement. There has to be two cars pulling up to that intersection that both want to go through. You can't submit by yourself. Or you can't submit when you're doing what you wanted to do anyway, okay? Anyway. And again, I'm not saying, now, if your husband tells you to sin, then yeah, you don't sin. That's not what we're talking about though. But this is not, 99.99% of the time, that's not what we're talking about, is it? If your husband says, hey, I want you to cook dinner, that's not a sin. Right? Take me out to dinner, you know. Go cook dinner. He's not telling you to sin. He's just telling you what needs to happen, okay? Anyway, and I'm using silly examples because I don't want to get all personal and I don't want to get into all these really specific. You know what the examples are in your own life. I don't need to relate to you like that, okay? But you get the point. It says in verse 6, Folly is set in great dignity and the rich sit in low place. I've seen servants upon horses and princes walking as servants upon the earth. You know, he's just upset that things are so backwards in the world. There are things that are backwards. And it says in verse 8, He that diggeth the pit shall fall into it, and whoso breaketh in hedge, a serpent shall bite him. Whoso removeth the stone shall be hurt therewith, and he that cleaveth wood shall be endangered thereby. Let me sum those two verses up in one statement. What goes around comes around, is what he's saying there. You dig a pit, you're going to fall into it. You know, remember when Haman created the gallows and then he and his ten sons were hanging on those gallows? So you reap what you sow, what goes around comes around. Here's a verse, another verse that I absolutely love. And you know, Ecclesiastes 10 just has so many great verses in it. You can't really do this in a Wednesday night sermon. Each verse is like a whole sermon. Each verse could spin out into a whole sermon. But it says in verse 10, this is a powerful truth. If the iron be blunt and he do not wet the edge, then must he put to more strength, but wisdom is profitable to direct. If I were to put that into our modern vernacular, I would say work smarter, not harder. Right? Because he's saying, if you sharpen your axe, you don't have to swing the axe as hard to cut the tree. And wisdom is that sharp axe. The smarter you get, the more wisdom you get, the more you learn the word of God and apply the word of God and become a wise individual, the sharper your axe is. And you know, you see some people and they go through life and life is just so hard. You know, one reason for that, obviously life's hard for everybody, I get it. But one reason the Bible says the way of transgressors is hard. But God has a way of opening up the path for us when we serve him and just kind of like opening doors for us and making the way plain unto us. Whereas the Bible says the way of the slothful man is as a hedge of thorns. Like they're trying to go through blackberry bushes. You can go through life either on a well trodden path with Christ guiding you or you go through life trying to bushwhack through the blackberry bushes. I made that mistake one time. I needed to go from here to right over there and I could spend a half hour hiking around or I could cut through the blackberry bushes. And I just thought like how bad could it be? And you know, I just got all cut up and slashed up and it was a nightmare because there's just so many thorns and everything. And that's how some people go through life. And obviously I'm not saying that we don't go through bad things just because that's life. Everybody goes through them. But you know, people that are foolish, they really have problems and life is really hard for them. And a lot of it just has to do with their own foolishness, their own stupidity, you know. So we need to invest in actually getting smarter, gaining wisdom, knowledge, and understanding so that our life can actually be a little bit easier so that we're not just spending our lives chopping with a dole axe. And it's so amazing how having the right tool can make all the difference. You know, you guys that work in construction or trades at all, I mean, you could have the wrong drill bit and you're just pushing and sweating and toiling. Or you can get that quality drill bit. It's just like a hot knife through butter. It's just a few seconds, just zzzz done. That's how life is. You know, back then they sharpened their axe. We could think of a sharp drill bit, you know, to bring this up to date. Thinking of, what did you do? The SDS drill. This message has been brought to you in part by SDS drills, whatever that means. But anyway, I used to have, I'll tell you the bit that I loved, the unibit. It was like those little, the metal cone, you know what I'm talking about? Where you drill holes in metal and it's like a little cone-shaped deal. It's like a little step thing. The step bit, we always call it a unibit. I think that might have been a brand name or something. But yeah, that step bit, and you know, one time the TSA stole my step bit and I'm still a little bitter about it. But those bits are the greatest invention ever. And they just cut, just like a hot knife through butter. It's just so wonderful to use that tool. When you have the right, it's a beautiful thing, like it brings tears to the eyes. It's like people would go and look at a beautiful painting and get emotional. You know, using the right tool for the right job, just like using that drill bit and it just cuts that perfect hole and it's just like, ah, you know, it's a beautiful thing. You know, you have a moment there, okay? And that's how life is. You know, so you're not wasting time. Well, I don't have time to read the Bible. Reading the Bible is sharpening your ax. And a woodsman never loses any time when he stops to sharpen his ax. You're never wasting your time stopping. No, no, I don't have time to sharpen my ax. I just got to keep chopping. No, no, no. You are saving time by sharpening. You know, I'm not going to go buy the right tool. I'm just going to get through with this tool three hours later, five hours later, six hours. You get the right tool, it's five minutes. And so that's how wisdom is, okay? And so children, learn, be smart, gain knowledge. Adults, be a lifelong learner. Keep gaining wisdom and knowledge and above all, keep studying the Bible because that is the ultimate source of wisdom. Listen to preaching, read your Bible, learn stuff, right? Because that stuff is going to save you a lot of blood, sweat, and tears. And look, I'm for working hard, but you know what? Work smarter, not harder is what the Bible is saying here. Wisdom is profitable to direct. Surely the serpent will bite without enchantment and a babbler is no better. You don't have to ask stupid people to say stupid things. They just do. The words of a wise man's mouth are gracious, but the lips of a fool will swallow up himself. The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness. That's a start for him. He starts by being an idiot and the end of his talk is mischievous madness. A fool also is full of words. A man cannot tell what he shall be and what shall be after him who can tell him. And you know, what I take from this where it says, you know, the beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness and the end of his talk is mischievous madness is that, you know, if your children are saying stupid things, it's good to correct them before the stupid things that they say turn into mischievous madness. You know, correct the stupid things that are... You know, I remember somebody was talking about a certain person's parents and they said, you know, the thing I love about their parents is that you could show up at the dinner table and pretty much say anything and they wouldn't freak out. They would just be like, oh, okay, you know. So why do you think that? And, you know, I was thinking about that show Coast to Coast AM with George Norie, okay, which is a show that comes on in the middle of the night on the radio. So I used to drive 80,000 miles a year and after I'd listened to all the Alexander Scorby and all the preaching and everything and I was just down to the bottom of the barrel of entertainment and it was 1.30 in the morning and I'm driving down the road, you know, you get to the bottom, the real bottom of the barrel and you turn on Coast to Coast AM with George Norie. Who's been there? Can I get a witness? Whoa, hands all over the building. All right, I'm among friends. Now, I don't know what this show is like now because I haven't heard this show in over a decade so I can't vouch for it, but back then it was just weird stuff. It was like aliens, UFOs, conspiracies. It was just anything super weird and paranormal and whatever, but this is what was so funny. People would call into the show and the host would never, ever, like, tell them that they were wrong or tell them that they were lying or he just believed every single thing that they told him. So people would call in and just be like, you know, these aliens, you know, they abducted me and, you know, they took me onto the ship and, you know, they just go in this big story and, you know, they drilled into the back of my neck and they were probing in there with this little device. They left this thing. You just go into this big, crazy thing and then they're done after, like, just five minutes of just going on and on and on about all this wild stuff and then there's a pause and sometimes you're wondering, like, are these people trolling him? Like, do they really believe this? And it's just, like, a pause and you're wondering, like, what's he gonna say? And this is what he would say. He would just be like... There's, like, this pause and you're like, what, you know, and he's just like, so why do you think they put it in the back of your neck? Like, that's the kind of question he would always, like, everything was just assumed true and, I mean, that, like, the way I'm describing it is not even as weird as it really was. Okay. So they could just, they could say anything to him. Just the craziest things and he's just like, oh, okay, yeah, all right. All right, hey, thanks for the call. Yeah, wow, good stuff, yeah. And, you know, a lot of people, that's what they want. They want their parents to be like that. But, you know, honestly, if my parents said something really stupid, or not my parents, good night. I hope my parents don't say stupid stuff. Hi, Mom and Dad, don't say stupid stuff. But anyway, no, I'm just kidding. But, you know, if my kids, if my kids said something absurd or stupid or foolish, you know, I might just come right out and tell them, you know what, son, that is a really stupid thing to say. You shouldn't even say that. You know, and you say, well, I don't know, Pastor Anderson, I think it should just be an open forum for whatever the idea. Okay, well, hello, Flat Earth. Why do we have this Flat Earth phenomenon? It's people whose parents never told them, son, that's stupid, son. Right? If their dad would have told them like, son, I'm sorry, but that is a stupid thing to say, don't say that stupidity. You know, sometimes children need to be corrected for just foolish things pouring out of their mouth. Or sometimes kids will just talk nonsense, and I often tell my children, I say, hey, listen, stop talking nonsense. Do not say foolish things. And I've heard my wife say many times, you know, and she'll quote these verses about, you know, the fool's mouth, you know, uttering foolishness and feeding on foolishness, and she'll quote these verses, I'll quote these verses, and we're constantly telling our kids, hey, don't talk nonsense, don't say stupid things. And that's why my children are not gonna grow up and be a Flat Earther. Okay? Because it's like these people never found a boundary. They just kept saying dumber things, and then they found a bunch of people who would just like accept them in all of their stupidity. And it's just this big happy family. But you know what? We as parents need to correct the stupidity that comes out of our children's mouths. Because guess what? Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child. That's what the Bible says. And out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. Kids are going to say stupid things. And it's our job to tell them, hey, don't talk that way. Don't say things like that. Not just like, well, every viewpoint is valid. All views are valid, you know? I mean, if that's how you feel, son, just, you know, just tell us how you feel. No, no, no. We need to tell our children what is acceptable and what is not acceptable. Because let me explain some to you. There are certain opinions that aren't acceptable. Since when did just every viewpoint become acceptable to have or okay to have? Guess what? There are a lot of views that aren't acceptable. And look, there are certain things today in our world that even unsaved people and worldly people would agree are not acceptable in our world, even as they claim to say, like, oh, well, all viewpoints are valid. You know, they pretend like they accept all views, but it's funny, they don't accept my views. Okay, but here's the thing. You know, there are certain things where we would agree with society. Like, is it acceptable for children to basically say racist things and basically talk bad about other races and think that they're better because they're white or whatever? Is that acceptable or is that stupid? It's a stupid thing to say. That should be dealt with. Or to say, as a man, to say woman-hating things or as a woman, to say man-hating things. That is stupidity that should be punished or that should at least be rebuked. Amen? I mean, we don't want to raise our children to have stupid ideas. You know, or if people say something that is blasphemous. What if our children say something that is blasphemous? And sometimes they don't really mean anything by it. They're not trying to be wicked or something. They might just say something blasphemous. They might just get careless with how they use the Lord's name or careless with, you know, maybe joking about Scripture, but they cross the line and they're being irreverent and blasphemous. Hey, shouldn't we shut that down and tell them, hey, that is not acceptable. Do not say things like that. And, you know, depending on the seriousness, they should even be punished. Not just like, well, you know what, there's no such thing as a dumb question and, you know, you can just come to us with anything. You can just say anything. And this is a safe space for you. No, it's not. Okay, because society needs to have boundaries. All of society needs to have boundaries. The church needs to have boundaries and our homes need to have boundaries. And so, you know, our home is not just a place where you just say anything. In our home. No, there are things that are not acceptable to say. And so the beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness. You know, it starts out just saying something stupid, but then, you know what, if that's left unchecked, what does it turn into? It turns into mischievous madness. Now, what does mischievous mean? Mischievous means now you're actually causing problems. Mischief is like causing harm or it's causing damage. You know, foolishness. I mean, somebody could just say something stupid and it's like, okay, that was stupid, but it didn't really hurt anybody. But what happens is if you indulge that and allow people to just keep saying stupid things, it's gonna degenerate until they start actually saying things that are harmful or damaging and then it gets to the point where it's just insane. Mischievous madness. What's madness? Insanity. Crazy. And look, our world today, there are just some outright insane things that are being said in the media and everybody just acts like it's normal and just crazy things. And there are things that are being said that are very hurtful and damaging and harmful and things that are being done that are damaging and harmful because the foolish talk was not nipped in the bud. And so we need to make sure that we nip the foolish talk in the bud before it devolves into mischievous madness. Let me hurry up and finish here. A fool also is full of words. A man cannot tell what shall be and what shall be after him. Who can tell him? The labor of the foolish wearieth every one of them because he knoweth not how to go to the city. You know, the foolish man is constantly tired. And doesn't wanna work. And he's too tired to work. But he hasn't really done anything to get tired. You know what I mean? And let me explain something to you. Sitting around and watching TV, sitting around playing video games makes you tired. It's not like you're sitting on the charger or something. And then like, well, I've been sitting on my rear end for the last eight hours. You know, I'm just ready to go there. Yeah, I'm super charged. I'm super charged. Ready for an eight hour day at work. No, no. Sitting on your rear end makes you more tired, which makes you wanna sit on your rear end more, which makes you more tired, which makes you sit on your rear end more. That's how things work. Have you ever heard people say you exercise to get energy? And it's like, huh? Exercise is gonna take energy. Yeah, but guess what? You expend energy exercising and then your body realizes, hey, we need energy to do stuff like this. Let's make more. And then you enter, you know, so activity begets activity and laying around begets laying around, okay. So that's why the labor of the foolish weariest every one of them because the foolish man and the slothful man are usually interchangeable in the Bible because those two things often go together. Being stupid and being lazy typically are connected. And so, because the same person that's too lazy to actually work physically is typically also too lazy to learn stuff. That's why those two things are so hard to separate in the Bible. Verse 16, woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child and thy princes eat in the morning. Blessed art thou, O land, when thy king is the son of nobles and thy princes eat in due season for strength and not for drunkenness. By much slothfulness, that's laziness, the building decayeth and through idleness of the hands, the house droppeth through. And by the way, this is also referring to your body. It's using a metaphor. It's describing your body as a building. You know, if your body's idle, it's gonna also need repair. Have you ever noticed that a car, if you just let a car sit, you'd think like, oh, low miles, but actually driving the car keeps it in better condition. Living in a house keeps it in better condition. If you just abandon a house for six months, the critters take over and everything decays. You gotta use stuff, right? If you use stuff, it lasts better. And then this ties in also with verse 19. A feast is made for laughter and wine maketh Mary, but money answereth all things. A lot of people have been confused by this verse because they think, you know, well, the love of money is the root of all evil. Is the Bible just telling us that money's the answer for everything? Is that what it's saying? It's not saying that money is the answer for everything. That's not what it's saying, okay? Obviously that would go against the teachings of the Bible that teach us not to love money and obsess over money. What the Bible's saying is, okay, you've got three choices. Party, booze, or go to work and make money. Okay, these are the three things that are being brought up in this verse. What's the context? This is why you have to read the Bible in context. What's the context telling you to do? Go to work. He's talking about a lazy man in verse number 15. He's talking about lazy people in verses 16 and 17. He's talking about laziness in verse 18. So what do you think is the setup here for verse 19? He's talking about people that instead of actually going out and doing gainful work and actually being gainfully employed and making money going to work, I mean, isn't going to work 40 hours a week and getting paid a virtue? Is that what God wants us to do or not? Okay, does he want us skipping work for the party? Skipping work for booze? This is what he's saying. He's saying, you know, a feast is made for laughter. Yeah, if you go to that feast, if you go to that party, you're going to laugh and have a good time. If you drink that wine, you're going to make Mary. You're going to be smiling and laughing and woohoo! But if you go to work and make money, you can also make Mary. You can also laugh. You can also have a good time. You can also have fun, but you're also putting a roof over your head. You're also putting food in your mouth. So money does the things that the partying and the drinking does, but it also does other stuff too. Going to work is what sustains us, okay? Obviously, we must have money in our lives in order to exist, right? I mean, otherwise we have no food, clothes, we need shelter, we need water, we need food, we need clothing, we need these things. Money is what gets us those things. And money can also provide entertainment and merriment as well. But we got to first go to work and earn the money. That's going to take care of our other needs and not just go straight for the smiles at the party. So I hope that helps you understand this verse that has been difficult for some. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for this great chapter, Lord, and I pray that its words of wisdom would sink down into our ears, Lord, and that we would not be foolish about the way we live our lives, Lord. Help us to be wise in the area of obeying authority in our life, Lord. Help us to submit to authority and not have so much ego and pride where we have to just die on every hill. And Lord God, please just help us also to just be smart, to gain wisdom, to work hard, not to be lazy, Lord. Just help us to follow all this great advice from Ecclesiastes 10. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen, let's take our hymnals, please, and turn to hymn number 315. Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to thee, number 315. 100 and 15. Let's sing it on this first verse altogether, number 315. Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to thee. Take my hands and let them move at the impulse of thy love, at the impulse of thy love. Take my feet and let them be swift and beautiful for thee. Take my voice and let me sing always only for my King, always only for my King. Take my silver and my gold, not of my wood I withhold. Take my moments and my days, let them fall in ceaseless praise, let them fall in ceaseless praise. Take my will and make it thine, it shall be no longer mine. Take my heart, it is thine own, it shall be thy royal throne, it shall be thy royal throne. And thy great King's line, Lord, is this. Thank you.