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

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Actually, you know, before we go on, go to Acts chapter 24 real quick. Acts chapter 24. I think this is equally as important here. Because what Solomon's trying to teach us here is that, you know, you want to keep your foot, you want to keep your way when you go to the house of God so that nobody knocks you off track here. But also, you want to be able to understand what true worship is. Okay? And isn't that ironic that in these churches that have this Jesus is my homie attitude, they're just always focused on the sensation part of the service. It's worship, right? You go look around the town, okay? And go look at all the church signs that have, oh, it's worship. We worship at this time. To them, worship is the music. It's the loud music. It's the theatrics. It's all of that stuff that appeals to the flesh, okay? Now, I'm not saying that having instruments is bad. I've talked about this a million times. If you know how to play an instrument, get up here and let's go do it. Let's play it. We don't have a problem with that. What we have a problem with is trying to make our music ministry look exactly like Slipknot or like some Christian rock band or Metallica or something like that. That's what we've got a problem with. That's what a lot of these churches out here do. And does that distinguish us from the world? No, it makes us look the exact same. Violation of scripture, Romans chapter number 12, okay? And so what Solomon wants us to understand is how to properly worship. If I were to give you a test right now and say in your own words, write down the definition of worship. How many of you would get it right? Don't raise your hand. I'll give you the answer right here. Okay, so Acts chapter number 24. This is Paul's defense before Felix. Agrippa, I'm sorry, not Agrippa. This is Ananias, the high priest who's come down. Paul's on trial and he's basically answering questions. He's given his testimony and he's giving his defense, okay? And he says this here in verse 13 as he's giving his defense. So these guys basically brought down this wonderful orator. His name's Tertullus. I call him tortellini. The guy's a typical suck-up kind of guy and he's just like, I'm going to be able to orate Paul back into prison and take, you know, make sure that we read ourselves of this problem. And so Paul's like, yeah, whatever. Verse 13, look what he says. He says, neither can they prove the things where they now accuse me. So they're accusing him of all sorts of stuff. Insurrection, the usual stuff people, you know, want to accuse of. Look at verse 14. He says, but this I confessed unto thee that after the way, which they call heresy. So, and here it is, look at that word, worship I, the God of my fathers. Now look what he says here. Okay? So he says there's a way, okay? And there's a way in which he worships the God of his fathers. So this has always been true. Believing. You see that word there? Believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets. So a church that says we're really worship central. I mean, we're all about worship. Hey brother, does your church, hey sister, does your church have worship? The answer is yes. And the answer is your church actually doesn't. How could you say that? That's not true. We have worship. We have a drummer. We have a worship pastor. And she's got short hair and she's really... Spare me. Spare me. Stop right there. You don't have worship because you don't believe the word of God. You don't believe the Bible. You believe that we have the best that scholars have given us. You believe that the NIV, the ESV, the HIV, the AIDS Bible, all of those things are valid until something else is dug up out of the ground that proves them incorrect. That's what you believe. You believe in man. You're no different than a Catholic. You're no different than somebody who goes to a priest for confession or a priest to have them tell you what God has said. There is no difference whatsoever. They are not worshiping God. Worshiping God is what, according to this verse here? Believing all things which are written in the laws and in the prophets. I had a guy the other day, you know, our church, you know, I go to, I'll just call him out. Come get me. Heritage Bible Church over here off of, whatever it is, I think it's Emerald. And he's like, you know, but this, this King James only, and I'm not too sure about this. And it's like, okay, you know, I wasn't trying to be rude to the guy, but he's just like, well, what do you think about the last part of Mark? Scholars say that doesn't belong in there. And you know, he's just trying to give me some things. And we had a decent conversation. Nobody got mad, but I just thought to myself, like, you don't worship God. To question that chunks of scripture don't belong in the Bible is to suggest that God has failed at preserving his truth unto all generations. Therefore, you don't worship God, right? You look, there's only two options. There's two religions. There's human achievement. There's divine accomplishment. There's probation. There's salvation. You're, you know, people say, oh, King James only. Why? Why? We get that all the time. Why are you King James only? Why does it say that? Because you're either original manuscript only or you're preservation only. And to be preservation only means to be King James only because in the English language, all of the other versions have been changed because of copyright laws and monetary gain. That is why, okay? So enough of that before I change the sermon and go back to the King James conference, go back to the Ecclesiastes chapter number five, and let's get moving on here. So verse number two, again, notice the stuff here with the mouse. So the first seven verses, Solomon's really trying to put into check what a fool does and what he sacrifices. What he sacrifices is discretion. He sacrifices listening. He sacrifices understanding. Okay? Verse number two, be not rash of the mouth and let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before God. For God is in heaven and thou upon earth. Therefore, let thy words be few. And this is, you know, somebody was telling me this like a year ago. Okay, I'm not going to say what it is. Nobody in this church, but a family member. I was like, oh, well, that was a real quick prayer. It was a prayer before dinner, you know? That was a really short prayer for a pastor. Really short prayer. Well, first of all, I'm hungry and I'm a Baptist. There's something genetic there. There's some spiritually kind of genetic there. We like to eat food and we like to eat it now. We don't want to be waiting. So that's one thing. I'm just joking. But who is it that loves to make long, flowing prayers in front of other people? It's the Pharisees, the Sadducees. They love doing that stuff. What did Jesus say? Hey, keep it short. Keep it sweet. Get right to the point. Okay? Don't be out there just trying to give this elegant, poetic view. It's just real quick. Thank God for the food. Eat. Simple. Okay? But they're just like, oh, really short prayer for a pastor? Okay. I got you. You're right here. You know those maps? You are here. Well, guess what? You are here and you need to insert your name under or next to you full. Be not rash with thy mouth. Let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before God. What did James say about the tongue? That no man can tame it or some men can tame it? Yeah, that's what I thought. For God is in heaven and thou upon earth. Therefore, let thy words be few. Why do you think that Romans chapter 8 talks about the Holy Ghost interceding in our prayer life? Because we don't know how to really pray. That's why. So he takes care of that and he takes our prayers and filters out the fleshly elements of it and sends them up to God. Okay? So as a result, therefore, let thy words be few and let God take care of the rest. Let's go on. Verse 3. For a dream cometh through the multitude of business, and a fool's voice is known by what? The multitude of words. So when a fool just talk and talk and talk and talk, he sacrifices discretion, he sacrifices listening, he sacrifices understanding. That leads to him being evil. Okay? And I'm not saying he lost your salvation, but what you're doing is evil in the house of God. Because we're supposed to be more ready to hear than to offer the sacrifice of fools, which is our opinion, our words, our verbal word salads, if you will. Okay? So verse 4, he says, when thou vows to vow unto God, defer not to pay it, for he hath no pleasure in fools. Pay that which thou hast vowed. Verse 5, better is it that thou shouldest not vow than that thou shouldest vow not pay. So that's the thing. Okay? The Bible has a lot to say about vows and we see that quite extensively in the word of God. And the wisdom here, the idea here is, hey, okay, less is more. And this church definitely does not have a problem with that. A lot of times I can tell when everybody's here, when I come out of the office, there's like no sound. I'm like, is anybody even in church today? And there's like a bunch of people here. Everybody's just quiet. Like you guys need to talk a little bit more, like if anything. Okay? So just keep that in mind. So I'm not singling anybody in here out or anything like that. Okay? But verse 5 again, better is it that thou shouldest not vow than that thou shouldest vow and not pay. So obviously before you, you start making these crazy, you know, promises and things that you're going to do for God. Think, can I actually do that? Do I have a history that I can actually do that? Or just say, you know, I'm going to give this a shot and this is not a vow. I'm just, it's what I like to do. Hold me accountable, please. And you're good to go. Verse 6, suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin. Neither say thou before the angel that it was an error. Wherefore should God be angry at thy voice and destroy the works of thine hand? So if you're reading this back in the Old Testament, what does that mean, you know, before the angel? I've done studies on this. If you look up our sermon series, I think it was 1 Corinthians 11. I get into a lot of that behind the scenes stuff and what that means. But as an Old Testament saint to be reading this here, what Solomon's saying is, hey, don't tell the Levitical priests because angel can either mean an angelic being or it can mean messenger, okay? It can mean either one. So with that understanding, he's saying, hey, don't go to the angel and say, it was an error. And if you want some extra reading on this, just write down in your Bible or write down in your notes Leviticus chapter 5 verses 1 through 5. I think it's 4, but just read the first half of Leviticus chapter number 5 and it deals with an offering, a trespass offering that the priests would do if you swore something and it just, it has a way to sort that out. But Solomon is warning you that, you know, if you made this vow and you had the Levitical priests do that and take care of that for you, it ain't over, okay? Look at the verse. He says, neither say that before the angel that it was an error. Wherefore should God be angry at that voice and destroy the work of thine hands? So he's saying, even though you want to say, oh, it was an error, I made up, I messed up, I shouldn't have swore it, shouldn't have vowed it, God still would destroy the works of your hands. Remember, God chasteneth every son whom he receiveth. Now, look at verse number 7. He says, for in the multitude of dreams and many words, there are also diverse vanities, so many different type of vanities, vain things, empty things, but fear thou God. Okay, so the first five, I'm sorry, first seven verses there, they're dealing with how to act in the house of God, which for us, we're always in the house of God, the temple of God, so on and so forth. We're always moving towards the house of God. We get that. Keep your foot. Don't let people trip you up, take you out of church, move you away from your path, the path that is right. Okay, be steadfast in your walk with God. So we've got foolish people here described for us in the first seven verses. Now you're going to get to see what those foolish people have potential to go and actually do. Okay, and what happens to a lot of foolish people, and you might be surprised, is they actually get put into leadership positions. Okay, so let's take a look at how that plays out. Verse number 8. If thou seest the oppression of the poor and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter, for he that is higher than the highest regardeth, and there be higher than they. Okay, what is he saying here? So what he's saying here, you look out in town, look out in the Treasure Valley, you look out in the United States of America, you look at these different cities. This is how this applies to us. You say, boy, Detroit sure is crazy. Can you believe what's going on in California? You know, they're protecting pedophiles. They're oppressing people. They're allowing violence to flourish. They're promoting it. What Solomon is saying here is you better understand that the people in charge regard it. They know this. They understand this. They're doing this for a reason. And he's also saying this, that the people that are higher than them, they also regard it. They also understand it. They also endorse it. Now, keep your place right there. Go backwards. Two books in your Bibles to Psalms. Not Proverbs. I almost said Proverbs, but Psalms chapter number 12 deals with this very subject here. Psalms chapter number 12. Look at verse number one. So David here, he says this, Help, Lord. Verse one, Psalm 12. Help, Lord, for the faithful fail from among the children of men. They speak vanity, everyone with his neighbor, with flattering lips and with a double heart. Do they speak? So what's going on here? First, two verses. The faithful people, the good man, the saved man. They have basically ceased. They have been reduced in number. And this attitude has now come up and where people are speaking vanity with their neighbors, they're not understanding like chapter five, verse one, how to behave themselves in the house of God because you're always in the sight of God. Verse three. The Lord shall cut off the flattering lips and the tongue that speaketh proud things who have said with our tongue, we will prevail. Our lips are our own. Who is Lord over us? Verse five. For the oppression of the poor, for the sign of the needy, now will I arise, saith the Lord. The Lord cares for the oppression. That's another thing that we all need to understand. This oppression that is being brought to this nation and to the western part of the world, it's in the whole earth. But really, for the first time, we're seeing it on a very high scale in our society. God sees it. God understands it. It goes all the way up the chain of command. God definitely knows it and he cares for those people. And he's going to do something about it at some point. So verse five one more time. For the oppression of the poor, for the sign of the needy, now will I arise, saith the Lord. I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him. Who is him that puffeth at him? It is that fool that never learned from his mom and dad how to behave in the house of God. And that person grew up and got promoted and got into a position of high power. And what are these people off to do? Well, because they don't have discretion, because they can't listen, because they have no understanding, the result automatically defaults to oppressing people. To causing drama and causing issues and causing people to hurt. That's what it causes. Verse seven. Thou shall keep them, O Lord. Thou shall preserve them from this generation forever. I'll skip verse six. How can I skip verse six? Go back to verse six. The words of the Lord are pure words, as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. I think the devil tried to get me with an NIV here and just skip verses here. That's terrible. That's my favorite verse, man. But anyways, okay, verse seven. So thou shall keep them, O Lord. Thou shall preserve them from this generation forever. So again, another reference, another promise to the fact that God preserves his word. That's why we're King James, only because that descends from the preserved line of text throughout history. So we get that, we understand that. Verse number eight. The wicked walk on every side when the vilest men are exalted. And what's going on today? Has anybody ever researched Joe Biden's cabinet? He's surrounded by wicked freaks, okay? By freaks. I'm talking sick, twisted, disgusting reprobates. That is who he is surrounded by. What does that mean about him? Does that mean I need to hire some FBI? Does that mean I need to read like a thousand articles, really trying to prove whether or not he's a pedophile or whether or not he's this or that? No. I've got the answer right here in my own hand, right here in the Bible. Verse eight. The wicked walk on every side when the vilest men are exalted. That means that that man is vile, extremely vile. 81 million votes, huh? Yeah, sure thing, pal. Sure thing. Go back to Ecclesiastes chapter number five. So let's look at that again. Verse number eight. If thou seest the oppression of the poor and the violent perverting of judgment. Again, bill after bill, thought after thought. I forgot who it was. Somebody sent me this the other day. Someone's trying to outlaw breastfeeding. So that's where we're at today. That's where we're at today. You've got pornography books being pushed on kids sub-fifth grade in this country. That's what you have going on. Guess what? People see that. It's not just, oh, they just don't know. They're like the Ninevites you talked about when... No! We're way past that. We're way past that. They know. And guess what? Their bosses know. And their bosses' bosses know. And it goes all the way up to the financiers, okay? These elite people. That's what Solomon's talking about here. But look at verse 9. Moreover, the prophet of the earth is... What does that say? For all. That's what evil, foolish people hate. They hate the fact that they know because God's law is written in all of our hearts that the earth is for the prophet of all. Verse 9. Moreover, the prophet of the earth is for all. The king himself is served by the field. So what do you think happens when the fool, when the wicked understands that? Even the field, even him himself is profited by the field. Does he say, oh, you know what? I better change my mind. I better start, you know, taking people out of oppression. I better start being better. No. Because foolishness equals selfishness. That's what it does. Always. Verse 10. He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver, nor he that loveth abundance with increase. This is also vanity. So you'll see this progression. You'll see a young politician come up, or a young, big entrepreneur, and they'll be successful. They'll be foolish. Donald Trump fits this bill. The guy never shuts up. I get that things were better under him than by him. I understand that. I don't endorse politicians. I don't trust any of them. None of them. But I'm just here as an ambassador on this planet. I can't wait to get off, being honest with you. But back to what I was saying. You get these types of people, and they start to have success with money. And all of a sudden, that becomes easy. And that no longer satisfied. What comes after that? Power. Control. I've got to control. I've got to have the power over people. Okay. Look at verse 11. So obviously he tells us that, hey, that abundance that you got there, that's also vanity. Verse 11. When goods increase, they are increased that eat them. And what good is there to the owners thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eyes. So again, let's look at that one more time. Okay. So we've got this guy here. Okay. We've got this guy here. Verse 10. He that loveth silver is not satisfied with silver, nor he that loveth abundance with increase. This is also vanity. When goods increase, they are increased that eat them. And what good is there to the owners thereof, saving the beholding or the observation, the lookings, what that means, the beholding of them with their eyes. So when this foolish person gets put into power, okay, we already know they lack discretion, lack listening, they lack understanding. They get put into power. They just push and push and push their agenda. They get successful monetarily, materialistic. They gain money that doesn't satisfy. Then next up, they say, okay, well, I need to gain stuff. Buy this. I'm going to buy up all this real estate. There's tons of guys on social media. You need to invest in real estate, buy these apartment buildings and buy this. And I'm not down on that. That's cool, as long as that stuff doesn't take control of you. But what does that lead to? It leads to more people profiting. It leads to more people profiting, just kind of like this nation. Obviously founded after some of the principles of God. I'm not denying that. I'm glad I was born here. I'm glad we live in America. God much rather lived a long time ago, but we can't do anything about that. We're here. But as this country became more and more successful, a very small group of people began to increase their wealth beyond what is being reported. We call these people the elites. And what they do is they behold, and they say, wait a second. There's more and more people taking advantage of this. There's more and more people getting wealthy. More and more people are eating. More and more people are having families. More and more people are breeding. Uh-oh, what do foolish people do? What does foolishness lead to? It leads to selfishness, okay? So with that in mind, follow the train of thought here. Look at verse 12. The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much, but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep. It will not allow him to sleep. And so why can't he sleep? Because he's thinking about how to gain money, how to gain more power, and what to do about these people they're beholding with their eyes. Because the king realizes that even the field itself, even the earth itself, has to supply his food. And so they get these ideas like Bill Gates and his eugenics program and these people that want to reduce the population of the earth. And you have people that cook up these cocktails and say, hey, just inject this into your body. It's good for you. Don't ask any questions. In fact, it's so good for you, we're going to force it on you, okay? You see the train of thought here? Population reduction. That's what Solomon's trying to hint at here as well. Verse 13. There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt. Let's look at that again. There is a sore evil. You just got done explaining that to us. There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt. This is why these rich elite people want to decrease the population. It's because they are scared after beholding so many people partake of the system that was built here, and it scares them. That's why when they see truth popping up on certain social media platforms like, whoa, whoa, whoa, we've got to stop that. We need to do something and squash that down. We need to go after these other companies that aren't, you know, playing by our narrative, okay? It scares them, and obviously it does this to their hurt. Verse 14. But those riches perish by evil travail, and he begetteth a son, and there is nothing in his hand. So he's saying eventually all that stuff is going to cease. God is going to take that from you, and you're not going to even be able to pass that on. Verse 15. As he came forth of his mother's womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labor, which he may carry away in his hand. And so Solomon is also here just talking about, hey, the person that just wants to spend their life just heaping up this, this money, power, materialistic goods, all of these things, it's not going to fill that hole that is inside of man. We were created in the image of God. We were created to be with God and to be saved by God and to be worshiping God, and nothing else will ever take the place of that. Verse 16. And this is also a sore evil that in all points as he came, so shall he go, and what profit hath he that he hath labored for the wind? So you get these guys like, oh, man, it was raining sideways 32 degrees, and I'm out there making money. I'm making more than you. They're just bragging about this stuff. God's like, you're going to die and leave this earth the same way you came in, and you lived a miserable life. You never partook of the true blessings that are established on this earth to actually help you out because you were too worried about being this alpha boss, cool guy that just, oh, I sleep three hours. I wake up at four o'clock every single day. I do a thousand pushups, and I don't eat anything bad, and I'm just this monster. Well, without Christ, you're going to hell. It would be better for those types of people to just live it up. Honestly, it'd just be better for them to just have a little fun and just relax a little bit, but they don't get it because they don't have discretion. They don't listen, and they do not have understanding, and the foolishness always leads to selfishness. Here's the conclusion. We're almost done. Last three verses. Look at verse 18. Behold that which I have seen. So the preacher comes back now, okay, and he says, hey, here's what you ought to do. Behold that which I have seen. It is good and comely for one to eat and to drink and to enjoy the good of all his labor that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life, which God giveth him, for it is his portion. Look, which you work for, you should be able to enjoy. You should be able to enjoy that, obviously responsibly, but that is a gift from God to you, and of course there's these people that are just anti-fun, anti-anything, and it's just like, no, you can't do that. You can't. Oh, you go camping. Oh, you want to go fishing. Oh, that's not really a question. You were supposed to go fishing for souls. Like, yeah, I get that. Our church have people going sowing every single day. Can I not go catch a bass? I mean, come on, man. I mean, there's people out there like that, okay? It's unwise. It's not wise, okay? Verse 19. Every man also to whom God hath given riches and wealth and hath given him power to eat thereof and to take his portion and to rejoice in his labor, this is the gift of God. So there are people on this planet where God gives them because they can handle it. He gives them riches. He gives them wealth. He gives them their portion for their benefit, and we don't have time to get into it, but you already know this. The devil also has his people whom he gives those things to as well, and that's obviously a subject for another day. Kind of squeeze them into what we've already talked about. Last but not least, verse number 20. For he shall not much remember the days of his life because God answereth him in the joy of his heart. So again, the more joy that you can wisely bring to yourself, the better life you're just gonna have. You're gonna get to the end of your life, and you're just gonna be like, it was good. It's good to go. I understood it, right? Well, you go talk to these monks type people on their deathbed, you know, these asceticism kind of guys. These guys are just like, all I did was live, breathe, and eat sermons and hymns. First of all, you're lying. First of all, you're lying. When no one's looking, you're doing something. I don't care how tough you project yourself. We're all sinners. We all have issues. We all have problems. I'm telling you right now, if you don't learn how to balance life, you will destroy yourself. I promise you, you will destroy yourself. One thousand percent. Five and a half years I've been pastoring, and I cannot begin to tell you how many times I have seen that. It is okay to take the money that God has given you, and it is okay to enjoy things. It is okay to go fishing. It is okay to do certain things. It is okay to profit from the wealth that God has given you. And again, this always goes back to this. There's nothing wrong with joy. There's nothing wrong with these things. When it becomes a problem is when those things have you and take your footsteps and get you out of the way of the path of going to the house of God. That is when it becomes a problem. So, stop there. Do chapter six next week. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Thank you again, Lord, for this church, for all that you do for us. Just pray you bless. Fellowship after the service, Lord, and travels home. Pray that you bring us back again safely next week. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. All right, one more song, and then we'll be dismissed. I forgot to put the book up there. All right, everyone. Hopefully you all still have your song sheets and lose them somehow. We're going to be singing Mansion Over the Hilltop. We start that out on the first verse. Sing it out. I'm satisfied with Just a cottage below A little silver And a little gold But in that city Where the ransom will shine I want a gold one That silver line I've got a mansion Just over the hilltop In that bright land where We'll never grow old And someday yonder We'll never more wander But walk on streets that Are purest gold On the second Though often tempted Tormented and tested And like the prophet My pillow was torn And though I find here No permanent dwelling I know he'll give me A mansion my own I've got a mansion Just over the hilltop In that bright land where We'll never grow old And someday yonder We'll never more wander But walk on streets that Are purest gold On the last Don't think me poor or Deserted or lonely I'm not discouraged I'm heaven bound I'm just a pilgrim In search of a city I want a mansion A harp and a crown Sing it out! I've got a mansion Just over the hilltop In that bright land where We'll never grow old And someday yonder We'll never more wander But walk on streets that Are purest gold Alright everyone, let's bow our heads and dismiss ourselves in a word of prayer Dear Lord, think of this time we had to hear your word be preached I ask that you please help us to remember these things and apply them to our lives I also ask that you please bless the fellowship after the service and everyone's travels home this evening In Jesus' name I pray, amen, we are dismissed Amen. Amen.