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Amen the part of the chapter we're going to focus on is found in Proverbs chapter number 30 where the Bible reads in verse 24 there before things which are little upon the earth but they are exceeding wise the ants are a people not strong yet they prepare their meat in the summer the conies are but a feeble folk yet make their houses in the rocks the locusts have no king yet go they forth all of them by bands the spider taketh hold with her hands and is in Kings palaces there be three things which go well yay four are comely and going a lion which is strongest among beasts and turneth not away for any a greyhound and a he go also and a king against whom there is no rising up and the title my sermon this morning is wisdom that exceeds weaknesses wisdom that exceeds weaknesses now here in Proverbs chapter 30 the Bible highlights four different creatures that are physically small yet the Bible says they're exceeding wise now I'm gonna need you to pay attention just a little bit today because although we're gonna be preaching it's gonna be a little bit of teaching as well all right but these are things that I believe that if we apply to our lives in a practical manner it's gonna help us spiritually it's gonna help us in our homes at our jobs and just have a better understanding of life okay so these these four creatures though they're small the Bible says that they're exceeding wise and we can see throughout creation that God has instilled wisdom within animals within creatures to live or to to hunt to make homes to do things that we're just amazed by and it's true that creation does glorify God why we're able to see that and see there's a designer there's someone who created that and we can learn from these animals as well so what they lack in physical strength that make up for in wisdom now go with me for what to Ecclesiastes chapter number 10 Ecclesiastes chapter number 10 wisdom that exceeds weaknesses the Bible says in Ecclesiastes chapter number 10 in verse number 10 if the iron be blunt and he do not wet the edge then must he put more to more strength but wisdom is profitable to direct so the Bible simply saying here that when you use an axe and you're chopping at some wood if though if the axe or the iron is blunt okay it's not sharp at all you're gonna have to hit a little harder right but then it says there but wisdom is profitable to direct so what is that talking about then we need to just sharpen the the axe just a little better and it's in comparison to a spiritual interpretation or application where we can say you know sometimes it's not necessarily we need to work harder is this we need to work smarter right and how do we do that by applying the wisdom that God has given to us within his word wisdom is an essential virtue that can help us bypass a lot of our weaknesses and here's the thing a lot of Christians you know we don't come complete to the Christian life right there's things that we lack we lack wisdom we like a life experience we lack skills whatever it may be but the Bible says that in the areas that we lack we could actually apply the wisdom of God to bypass those weaknesses so what is wisdom go to Proverbs chapter number 14 just by way of introduction here what is wisdom Proverbs chapter number 14 in verse number 8 the Bible tells us here let me turn there myself Proverbs chapter 14 and verse number 8 the Bible says here the wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way but the folly of fools is deceit so what is what is wisdom wisdom is that which God gives to us within his word to help us to understand our way it's God's knowledge that he imparts into us so we know how to do things in life okay it helps us to have a better a more biblical way of doing things and of course we know that the biblical way is always the better way to do things but what is wisdom it's it's something that helps us it's a virtue that helps us to understand our way go to Proverbs chapter 1 Proverbs chapter number 1 you know and sometimes Christians you know they they love the Lord they love the Bible but often they fail in the Christian life simply because they don't apply wisdom you know you say well I love God well that's great but are you applying the wisdom that God has given to you because here's the thing you say well isn't loving God just all that's needed well in order to love God obviously you have to love God's Word and found within God's Word is the wisdom of God okay that we need to apply in our personal lives on a day in day out basis Proverbs chapter 1 verse number 7 what is the source of wisdom the Bible says here the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge but fools despise wisdom and instruction of course knowledge and wisdom are used interchangeably there and we know that word is where does true wisdom come from comes from the Lord and it comes when we fear God more than anything else Proverbs 2 6 says though for the Lord giveth wisdom out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding go to James chapter 1 James chapter 1 number 1 in your New Testaments there James chapter 1 I'm gonna read to you from Colossians chapter number 2 and verse number 2 where the Bible reads here that their hearts might be comforted be knit together in love and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding and to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge so we see here the true wisdom doesn't come from reading some self-help book right true wisdom doesn't come from reading some secular book that tries to teach you about finances it doesn't come from Dave Ramsey it doesn't come from any philosophical book where does true wisdom come from it comes from Christ and his word and look what James 1 5 says if any of you lack wisdom let him ask of God they give it to all men liberally and abraighteth not and it shall be given him what a great promise what is it saying if you lack wisdom in this life you don't have a lot of experience God says you can ask God and you'll give to you generously that's what liberally means and the Bible says that he won't abrade you what does that mean you know sometimes you get someone who asks you over and over and over again for a specific thing that's just like stop bothering me right that's what it means to abrade someone you know whether maybe it's a it's a it's your child you know can I have this can I have this is like no you can't that's what it means to abrade them right well the Bible says here that you can ask God for wisdom day in day out he's gonna gift you liberally and he's not gonna abrade you for doing that in other words it's not gonna get frustrated with you asking for wisdom every single day so you know any that goes to show is that we as Christians have no excuse why we don't have wisdom we can ask God day in and day out he'll give to us liberally and he won't abrade us for it he won't reprove us he won't rebuke us just because we're asking for wisdom we can have it and the source comes from God so what is wisdom it's something that it's a virtue that helps us to understand our way the source of wisdom of course is God and when we say God we referring to of course the Word of God that's where we can get wisdom but not only that go with me if you would to Proverbs chapter 2 what is wisdom able to do and we need wisdom today okay we need wisdom there's a lot of decisions that we need to make day in and day out and unfortunately sometimes we as Christians we lean upon our own understanding right well the Bible says lean not into thine own understanding and all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy past well Ecclesiastes what does it say that wisdom is able to direct so when we applied the wisdom of God that's how we're directed in life look at Proverbs chapter 2 verse 10 says when wisdom enter it into thine heart and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul discretion shall preserve thee understanding shall keep thee to deliver thee from the way of you of the evil man from the man that speaketh forward things so here in Proverbs chapter 2 it tells us that when we have wisdom it actually it's able to preserve us and when it says keep that means what protect it's able to guard us from making stupid decisions you know I've met a lot of Christians to make a lot of dumb decisions they think they're using their they're using the wisdom of this world and they make a lot of dumb decisions why because they're not applying the wisdom of God and the Bible says here that wisdom will preserve us understanding will keep us and it will deliver us from evil men you know if you're the type that's just always fearful like man what if you know there's evil people out there what if I ever come in contact with one what if something ever happens to me well the Bible says that wisdom will protect you from that because wisdom will tell you not to be around people like that right wisdom will tell you not to associate with people like that and if you don't associate with them you don't have to worry about ever being delivered into the hands of evil men wisdom that's what it's able to do and again in Ecclesiastes says but wisdom is profitable to direct you need guidance in life use the wisdom of God use the Word of God read the Bible read Proverbs read Ecclesiastes read the whole Word of God it's able to direct you to make the right kind of decisions that you need to make and look often the reason why people make bad decisions is because they make it too hastily you guys know what that means and you just on a whim right I'm talking about big decisions okay sometimes we do to make we do need to make decisions on a whim or it's just like you know something a decision needs to be made right now we need to do it we need a we need to pull the trigger on this then that's that's different but sometimes we just make bad decisions because we're just we're too impetuous right it's just like no we got to make it why don't you just sleep on it sometimes you when you want to make a decision it's like man I need to do this oh if it's not urgent sleep on it pray about it think about it read the Bible meditate a little bit get some counsel about it and then make the decision but often bad decisions are made simple because we don't ask for someone's opinion we don't ask God for the wisdom that he's willing to give to us liberally so wisdom is important we're gonna go through each creature and see how we can apply a spiritual application to each of these strengths now go back to Proverbs chapter 30 Proverbs chapter number 30 and as we study these animals these creatures we're gonna be able to apply like a there's a lot of things that we can say about it but we're gonna focus specifically on some of the spiritual aspects of what we can see here in verse 25 this the Bible says here the ants are a people not strong yet they prepare their meat in the summer so the weakness of the ant is their lack of physical strength right now it's said that ants are able to actually carry about a thousand times its actual weight over its head so in comparison to another ant it's pretty strong okay but here's the thing in comparison to me it's not that strong okay ask any five-year-olds with a magnifying glass they'll tell you they're not that strong okay and you know you you have a line of ants and it's just they're they're infesting your house what do you do you just step on them or you smush them you do whatever you raid or water whatever you do they're not that strong they're small creatures right but the Bible says here that what they lack in their physical strength of their prowess what do they make up for in wisdom how they prepare their meat in the summer okay now preparation is a very important thing go to Proverbs chapter number six Proverbs chapter number six so the wisdom that God has given to these creatures is to prepare because obviously you know we can go from here to the grocery store using a vehicle walking whatever it may be overing it whatever it has to be but ants I mean it takes them like weeks right just to get like across the room or something you know takes a long time so what do they have to do they have to prepare beforehand you know they know it's gonna take them a certain amount of time to get to their destination to gather their food to make it back they know that winter is coming therefore they use all of summer to prepare for that winter look at Proverbs 6 6 says go to the ant thou sluggard sluggard means lazy slothful so on and so forth consider her ways and be wise which having no guide overseer or ruler provided her meat in the summer and gathereth her food in the harvest so then we see that the end here doesn't have a guide doesn't have an overseer or ruler what does that mean they don't have someone cracking the whip on them say hey go get the food go get the food go do what you're supposed to do no they just do it so obviously my answer a little mature right they have the wisdom the discernment that God has given to them to prepare and to do what they're supposed to do when they're supposed to do it okay and look this isn't the message even for this aspect but it's good to talk about we need to be prepared Christians okay don't wait till the last minute to make big decisions all right and here's the thing for church we need to be prepared we shouldn't be running around last minute trying to prepare to get the church okay we need to be prepared people Sunday's coming we need to be prepared look there's a there's a I don't agree with any of the Baptist popes okay but sometimes even the ant has wisdom okay and so do these Baptist popes I remember one Baptist Pope he said I have my family even I have my wife he said put the put the spoon in the bowl of cereal you know the night before so then the morning you just pour in the milk they're ready to go for Sunday they eat it and we're ready for church you know but what happens sometimes on Sunday morning people just wait last minute for everything amen no we need to be prepared okay and here's the thing Sunday's important day actually it's the most important day of the week right and look we get prepared for work you know and look works important right because it pays the bills but here's the thing is church is important too so we need to make sure that we're prepared we're getting things ready but also in a practical aspect as far so when he look we need prepared when we go out sowning as well whether it's preparing our hearts by praying ask him for boldness ask him for God to fill us with the Spirit or just preparing by memorizing verses right reading the Word of God getting prepared mentally getting prepared physically getting prepared with your Bible getting ready to go out there to preach the gospel and see people safe but preparation is a wise attribute to attain it saves you a lot of heartache when you're prepared but let's step off of that for just a moment go to 2nd Chronicles chapter 19 look ants don't need someone micromanaging them you know they just know what they're supposed to do when they're supposed to do and they get it done okay but this is where we're gonna take this as far as spiritually speaking we can learn a lot from this what's one thing we can learn what we see that the ants weakness is the fact that it's not very strong but its strength is that it prepares 2nd Chronicles chapter 19 in verse number one the Bible says here in Jehoshaphat we're gonna look at someone who had a strength and also a weakness and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah returned to his house in peace to Jerusalem and Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him and said to King Jehoshaphat shouldest thou help the ungodly and love them to hate the Lord therefore is wrath upon thee from before the Lord now this is a very familiar portion of Scripture right we all know this scripture and it's a great principles taught here that when you help the ungodly you love them to hate the Lord you will suffer the consequences of it okay wrath is upon you when you help those who are ungodly and you love them to hate the Lord the Bible says clearly right there the wrath is upon you so what does this talk about specifically with Jehoshaphat well he teamed up with the wicked King by the name of Ahab and this is an ungodly King and God was not pleased with his association with this King therefore the Bible says wrath was upon and he was gonna suffer the consequences of that right now what was his weakness his lack of separation okay his bad association was his weakness now look at verse number three nevertheless okay nevertheless that means in spite of this which is a pretty big thing right because wrath is upon you you're helping them to love the ungodly you know loving them to hate the Lord but the Bible says in verse number three nevertheless there are good things found in thee Wow and that thou has taken away the groves out of the land and has prepared thine heart to seek God Wow so even though he his weakness was not he didn't have the discernment to just get away from the wrong people not associate with bad people the Bible says that nevertheless he had some good things in him why because he had prepared his heart to seek the Lord now what does that have to do with the scripture because when J who came and reproved him because he had prepared his heart he changed you see so when we have weaknesses in our life when is this like well you know I have this I don't have the wisdom sometimes I act like a fool and I'm around the wrong kind of people guess what if you prepare your heart to seek the Lord when you come here and you're preaching of God's Word you're gonna change that but if you're proud and you're arrogant you think you know everything you're not willing to change guess what the uh he that walketh with wise men shall be wise but a companion of fools shall be destroyed the Bible says you will be destroyed however if you have a prepared heart to seek the Lord you want to do that which is right you're just not that wise when you come to church you'll hear the preaching of God's Word you'll get reproved you'll get rebuked you'll get all these things and you say I need to change that it's time to change that man God I'm sorry nevertheless yeah you might have done wrong you might have you might have uh you know prayed for Israel or something you know you might have been a Zionist at one time you know and believed in the pre-tribulation rapture and all these things nevertheless because you and by the way that goes to show that I mean who here be honest okay who here used to be a pre-tribulation rapture person right here okay all right okay but now we're both sure right why because the people here obviously prepare the heart to seek the Lord so when they were told the truth they would they didn't buck at it you know it's hard for thee to kick against the pricks they didn't kick against it they just said they're right you know I'm wrong who here believed that the Jews were God's chosen people to be honest okay all right all right okay but you know there came a time when we were told differently what the Word of God says and we had to humble ourselves but why because there is a people who the Bible says prepare the heart to seek the Lord so when they're when they were shown what the Bible actually says they changed that you see what I'm saying but on a practical aspect this is just good for life because we're not always gonna be right you know maybe you might have some friends who you know if you struggle with whatever kind of sin the first thing you need to do is just get away from the wrong kind of people okay and don't think you're so air don't be so arrogant and prideful do you think that well you know I can put up with it I'm strong enough no you're not the spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak the Bible says and look it's easy to sin it's easy to do wrong when you have someone encouraging you encouraging you to do it you know and it's even easier to do right when you have a group of people who are doing right encourage you to do right so don't think that well you know I can I can hang around with my friends my old no those are the ones who gotta go and here's let me let me just give you a tip real quick if you want your family you want your friends to just go all right you need to be living right you need to live a radical life be zealous for the Lord because often what happens is when you're zealous for the Lord people will just separate from you that's just the way it works you just become annoying to them I don't want the salt salt on a womb hurts right and so what happens is if you're doing right you're zealous for the Lord often your family or your family or friends will separate from you now we shouldn't have the goal it's just like man I just want everyone to just forsake me no obviously we want to win them to the Lord we want them to come to church we want them to get right with God right but look some of your friends are a bunch of losers okay some of your uncles your deals and your cousins your primos they're all losers and they're only gonna help you get involved in your old sins even more and look if you haven't won them in two years you're probably not gonna win them okay you need to just pray for them all right pray that God softens their heart that they would seek the Lord obviously right and that they would get right with God because often we think that we're like the Savior of our friends like you know I'm gonna be able to get them you know that our once a week meeting at In-N-Out or whatever it's gonna get them you know no it's not gonna happen you know you're gonna be destroyed you're gonna end up going backwards okay so what do we need to do we need to realize that often our weaknesses are the wisdom of God could exceed our weaknesses okay you're like man I struggle in this area well apply the wisdom of God prepare your heart just like the end does be someone who is prepared to seek God that when you come here you're not so arrogant excuse me that you would but the wisdom of God and they say well you know you're excuse me you're younger than me what do you know yeah but I'm preaching the Bible okay and this is the wisdom of God's Word and these are timeless principles that will help everyone okay no matter what age you are but Jehoshaphat man that's a perfect example because we always use the verse in the beginning right therefore wrath is upon thee from before the Lord but then verse 3 says nevertheless there was some good things about this guy why because he prepared his heart to see the Lord now go with me for what's the second chronicles chapter 27 he was humble he was willing to receive instruction okay be willing to be someone who receives instruction be teachable okay don't think you know everything look I haven't I haven't apprehended I haven't attained none of us have we all need to be learning and growing and how do we keep going forward how can we succeed in life is by learning right learning from God's Word 2nd Chronicles chapter 27 in verse number 1 the Bible says here Jotham was 20 and 5 years old when he began to reign and he reigns 16 years in Jerusalem his mother's name also was Jerusha the daughter of Zadok and he did that which is right in the sight of the Lord according to all that his father Uzziah did how be it he entered not into the temple of the Lord and the people he did yet corruptly so we see here that Jotham who was a king he was a bad example I mean he wasn't necessarily a good leader I mean we're not when you're not going into the temple of the Lord and then the people who you're leading are doing corruptly it's like he wasn't obviously you know laying down the hammer you know he wasn't correcting his people he wasn't reproving it he was basically a really bad example okay he was a bad leader that was his weakness we would say we would look at Jotham and say man you need some help on your leadership skills you need to reprove your people you need to bring righteousness to the land you can't let your people behave themselves corruptly verse number three he built the high gate of the house of the Lord on the wall of Ophel he built much moreover he built cities in the mountains of Judah and in the forest he built castles and towers he fought also with the king of the Ammonites and prevailed against them and the children of Ammon gave him the same year a hundred talents of silver and ten thousand measures of wheat and ten thousand of barley so much did the children of Ammon pay unto him both the second year and the third look at verse six so Jotham became mighty why because he prepared his ways before his God so what was his weakness he was a bad leader what was his strength he was able to be mighty he was able to overcome the enemies of God he was he was good at war is what he was good at so when in other words when God says hey you need to take these people out he took them out so in one area he was weak but the other the other area he was strong but why because he prepared his ways before the Lord so again we see another person where he offset his bad leadership skills by preparing his way before the Lord and look often if we just we as Christians you know if we as Christians just just do what God says the ways of the Lord are in the Word of God obviously right and maybe you have a weakness as a father maybe you have a weakness as a leader whatever it may be if you just prepare your ways before the Lord you'll be fine okay you'll offset those weaknesses and when none of us are gonna be perfect none of us are gonna be complete right but we can use the wisdom that God has given to us within his word to overcome those things go to Second Chronicles chapter number 12 Second Chronicles chapter number 12 I mean verse 6 says that Jotham became mighty I mean he was whooping the enemies of God he was building cities he had a lot of strengths why because he prepared his way before his God Second Chronicles chapter 12 verse number 9 the Bible says here so Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem took away the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king's house he took all he carried away also the shields of gold with which Solomon had made instead of which King Rehoboam made shields of brass and committed them to the hands of the chief of the guard that kept the entrance of the king's house and when the king entered into the house of the Lord the guard came and fetched him and brought them again into the guard chamber and when he humbled himself the wrath of the Lord turned away from him that he would not destroy him altogether and also in Judah things went well so here see someone's strength what was it humility just like Jehoshaphat he humbled himself and the Lord was with them right verse 13 so King Rehoboam strengthened himself in Jerusalem and reign for Rehoboam was one in 40 years old when he began to reign and he reigns 17 years in Jerusalem the city which the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel to put his name there and his mother's name was Nama and Ammonitis and he did evil he did evil why because he prepared not his heart to seek the Lord and that stinks so he was humble in the beginning the wrath of God was not upon him why because he humbled himself but what happened in his latter years he did evil why because he didn't prepare his heart to seek the Lord so sometimes Christians can start off great you know started off doing right they're in church they're humbling themselves they're learning they're intaking the Word of God they're intaking the wisdom of God but sometimes in the latter years they just start doing evil why because they stopped preparing the hearts to seek Lord and it's a daily decision that we need to make to prepare our hearts to seek God you know you may have victory today and you may have read the Word of God you prayed you did right you kept clean you kept your mind right you kept your mouth right you came to church whatever it may be but you know tomorrow's another day and tomorrow you got to take up your cross again you got to do that which is right in the side of the Lord why because potentially you could do evil if you don't prepare your heart to see God preparations important you know and what does preparation take it takes you for seeing tomorrow and saying I'm gonna prepare today for tomorrow okay or prepare today for the remainder of the day but I'm going to prepare to have success man that's great at the end I mean during the summer it prepares itself it prepares its meat for the winter it obviously knows its own weaknesses and look where does it start you need to know what where your weekend you're like I don't I don't really have any weaknesses well I just found one it's called pride that's your weakness no then here's another one it's called lying okay yeah but I don't think there's a third one it's called stubbornness you need to figure out what your weakness is and be honest with yourself and look if you're having a hard time figuring out what your weakness is just ask your wife or wives ask your husband okay singles ask your mom and dad I don't know or ask someone else in the church okay below be willing to humble yourself and figure out let's say okay this is my because look better to know what your weakness is so you can know how to offset it then just say I don't have any weaknesses and then you do evil on the side of the Lord you know but when you know what your weakness is you can prepare for it you can offset it using the wisdom that God gives second Timothy chapter 2 verse 20 says but in a great house there are all not only vessels of gold and of silver but also of wood and of earth and some to honor some to dishonor if a man therefore purge himself from these he shall be a vessel unto honor sanctified and meet for the Masters use and prepared unto every good work you see in order to do a good work we need to be prepared for that then the Bible says here that we separate we have to separate ourselves to be vessels unto honor and sanctified so God can use us go to Ezra chapter number seven Ezra chapter number seven it is said I heard the same so I mean throughout my spiritual life there is a prepared place for prepared people and that is true okay if you want God's blessing on your life if you want to enjoy the goods of Christianity what God has to offer you you need to prepare it's not just gonna fall on your lap it comes to prepared people Ezra 7 verse 9 says for upon the first day of the first month began he to go up from Babylon and on the first day of the fifth of the fifth month came he to Jerusalem according to the good hand of his God upon him so God was leading Ezra God's good hand was upon him verse 10 for Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments so why was God's hand upon him because he had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord it doesn't just happen by osmosis you know they're just preparation involved here it takes you reading God's Word on a daily basis okay it takes you applying what you're learning from God's preaching from the preaching of God's Word that's what it takes if you want God's hand to be upon you go back to Proverbs chapter 30 so thank the Lord for the ant amen the end is something we can learn from and obviously in context it's referring to just preparing your meats in the summer you can apply that to so many different areas in your life but specifically in this area man it offsets our weakness if we just prepare for it but the second animal we see here the second creature verse 26 are the conis or well we would say the rabbits or the hares the conis are but a feeble folk yet make they their houses in the rocks so their weakness is what they're feeble what does feeble mean means weak right just weak eyes I was watching some videos the other day where some wolves are just like running after the rabbit and man they tore that thing apart I mean they're fast but they're not that fast you know but they're weak they can't fight back they're just they're very weak so they're definitely a target for predators right you know wolves or whatever it may be they want to eat them but the Bible only says that they're they're physically weak when it says feeble it could also mean like faint-hearted because I don't know have you ever held a rabbit and they're like they're like shaking they're like scared you know it's true it's like they they tremble because they're feeble but the Bible says this how do they offset that they make their houses on a rocks on the rocks right I believe there could be a dual interpretation of this go back with me if you went to Matthew chapter 7 I'm gonna give you the first one Matthew chapter number 7 I'm gonna give you a dual interpretation of this that I think both of them are good and both of them are biblical but I'm gonna give you the first one here verse 22 this is the famous passage of false prophets obviously and and those who would come before the Lord and obviously not just false prophets but I believe a lot of people are gonna go before the Lord and say something like this right they'll think they've done many wonderful works verse 22 says many will say to me in that day Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name have cast out devils and in thy name done many wonderful works and then all professing to them I never knew you depart from me ye that work iniquity so in other words what is the same it's talking about in context obviously of being saved or going to heaven right and those there are false prophets and not just them who are gonna come before God and say look I've done many wonderful works I prophesied in thy name I was street preaching you know whatever it may be and you know Lord Lord and what does God say he says I never knew you depart from me ye that work iniquity verse 24 therefore because of these things whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and do with them I will liken him unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock so what's that talking about it's talking about doing the sayings of God is not talking about keeping God's commandments okay because the sayings that it's talking about it's talking about believing on Christ obviously right which is the will of the father for us to believe the whosoever seeth him and believeth on the Sun shall have everlasting life right verse 25 and the rain descended and the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that house and it fell not for it was founded upon a rock and everyone that hear these sayings of mine and do it them not shall be likened unto a foolish man the one who says I've done many wonderful works right which built his house upon the sand and the rain descended and the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that house and it fell and what great was the fall of it so those who built their house upon the rock are those who trust in Christ right it's a good picture of salvation you built your house upon Christ in other words you've trusted in Christ for salvation now go to Romans chapter number five those who built their house upon the sand are those who are like in verse 22 trust in themselves right they're the ones who are saying well you know I prophesied I've done many wonderful works I've done this what are they doing they're trusting in themselves but when you build your house upon the rock upon Christ that's how you can be saved but I find it interesting the the the comparison with the Koneys why because the Bible says they're feeble and because they're feeble they build their house upon the rock now look what Romans 5 6 says for we excuse me for when we were without strength in due time Christ died for the ungodly so just like the Koneys who are feeble they're without strength what do they do they built their houses upon the rock just like the sinner who's without strength they can save themselves what do they do they trust in Christ for salvation go to Luke chapter number six we're gonna go to a parallel passage to Matthew chapter 7 Luke chapter number six so that's the first interpretation amen and what it's a wonderful thing to build our house upon the rock spiritually speaking in a sense of salvation we trusted in Christ we're not trusting in ourselves we know we're too feeble to save ourselves we can't keep God's commandments we can't keep the Ten Commandments we can't keep any of the commandments entirely we've sinned against God there's none that do with good no not one therefore we need to trust in Christ 100% but I believe a duel into another interpretation of this is obviously after salvation guess what we still need a trust in Christ not for salvation but for the things of this life right to to succeed to to prosper spiritually we still need a trust in Christ look at Luke 6 46 says and why call you me Lord Lord and do not the things which I say whosoever cometh to me and here in my sayings here's my sayings and do with them I will show you to whom he is like he is like a man which built an house and dig deep and lay the foundation on a rock and when the flood arose at the stream beat vehemently upon the house and could not shake it for it was founded upon the rock but he that doeth excuse me but he that hearth and doeth not is like a man that without a foundation built a house upon the earth against which the stream did beat vehemently and immediately it fell and the ruin of that house was great now go to Colossians chapter number two I believe that even after salvation not for salvation but after we get saved we still need to keep building right we need to increase our faith in God we need to build our faith how do we do that by reading God's Word by growing in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ what do we have to do we gotta dig deep right have some depth to our spiritual lives because obviously people who we get saved even today right we're gonna get saved today some of them are not gonna come to church a good majority of might not a good majority of me never even pick up a Bible right they may never even step into a Baptist Church what are they gonna get they're gonna get nothing when they get to heaven they won't have a strong a house they won't have any rewards when they get to heaven but we as God's people who are listening to God's where we're applying God's Word guess what there's a reward that awaits us if we apply it to our personal lives look at Colossians chapter 2 verse 6 says as he have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk in him so tell me how do we receive Christ by what by faith right so how are we supposed to walk by faith we walk by faith and not by sight so God is appliances look just as you've trusted Christ you've placed your faith in him guess what don't forsake the faith even after salvation you need to keep walking in that faith keep trusting in God keep trusting in Christ faith cometh by hearing hearing by the Word of God obviously right and the Bible says that without faith it is impossible to please him okay verse 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith as he have been taught abounding therein with Thanksgiving so God wants us to abound in the Christian life how do we do that by growing in our faith so we as the Kony's though sometimes we're feeble we have weaknesses you know you may come with baggage right from maybe you got saved later on in life whatever it may be well the Bible says here man we need to walk by faith not by sight we need to grow in our faith in the Lord how do we do that by reading God's Word go to 1st Corinthians chapter number 3 brother David can you turn on the AC me a little warm in here 1st Corinthians chapter number 3 so let me say this you need to have some depth to your Christian life you know these these fun centers liberal fun centers they don't encourage that they talk about the depths of life right to know God and to love but what are they talking about they talk about this emotional just Pentecostal charismatic type thing where it's just like you're raising your hand you closing your eyes and you're feeling the spirit that's not depth that's dumb right there's no depth to that just stupid it's foolish it's charismatic it's not spiritual at all death comes when we read the Word of God we dig into it we start applying it to our personal lives we apply biblical disciplines to our life and we commit our lives to the Lord on a daily basis by taking up our cross right by living for God that's death by reading God's Word by memorizing it and look let me say this this year you if you have not read the Bible cover to cover you need to start okay and look you say well I read it cover to cover then you need to read it twice and if you want to be a preacher one day in a pastor one day you need to read it more than twice you need to read it over and over and over and over again because no pastor a biblical pastor just kind of reason on the whim no there needs to be some depth to it now I take that back the liberal pastors they read it on the way right they're more interested in reading books about the Bible than just the Bible itself we need to have depth to our spiritual life how do we do that by digging deep into God's Word what I have you turn 1st Corinthians chapter number 3 and verse number 9 thank you verse number 9 the Bible reads here for we are laborers together with God you're God's husband dream you're God's building according to the grace of God which is given unto me as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation and another buildeth thereon but let every man take heed how he buildeth thereon there upon for other foundation can no man lay then that is laid which is Jesus Christ now if any man build upon this foundation gold silver precious stones wood hay and stubble every man's work shall be made manifest for the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is if any man's work abide which he hath built there upon he shall receive a reward if any man's work shall be burned he shall suffer law loss yet he himself shall be saved yet so as by fire so the Bible is teaching us here when we receive when at the judgment seat of Christ okay at the judgment seat of Christ when it's time to to cash in there's gonna be some who don't cash in they don't get anything their works are gonna burn they're involved they were worldly they were carnal they're involved in sinful habits whatever it may be and guess what their works are gonna but now they're gonna be saved yet so as by fire it's like you're saved man but that's all you get you know which is a good thing obviously right everlasting life is the best thing you can get but I want to if God's offering more than that I want more than that you know if there's some more rewards to come after that let's cash in on that but the Bible says here if you don't build upon that you know how do we build upon it by knowing what God's Word says by soul winning right and look that's why soul winning will always be the most important aspect of this church why is that because what if I said preachings the most important aspect everyone needs to be a preacher but you can't preach the ladies can't preach sorry you're not gonna get that reward you know what if I said and you know preaching is the most important not everyone's gonna be able to capitalize on that you know I'm talking about preaching behind the pulpit right pastoring you're not gonna be able to capitalize on that however so winning is something that everyone can be a part of right even if you never become a pastor never become a deacon you know never become whatever fill in the blank you can always be a preacher of the gospel you could always go soul winning and get your rewards in like manner obviously and there's obviously there's other ways we can get rewards but the Bible is telling us here that there will be rewards you know given out to those who work for the Lord but you got to dig deep you got it you got to be consistent you got to be faithful to doing the things of God so the Coney's funny name the Coney's right man they're smart God is giving them wisdom they understand they're feeble they're weak so what do they do they build their houses upon the rocks okay go back to Proverbs chapter 30 Proverbs chapter 30 almost hasten almost out of time verse 27 the locusts the locusts have no King the Bible says in verse 27 yet go they forth all of them by bands okay so their weakness is not necessarily weakness per se it's more like just they don't have necessarily what it's saying there is they don't have a leader okay they don't have a king then I'm saying okay everybody this is what we're gonna do today right this is what we're gonna do and we're gonna go destroy this crop today you know this harvest no but what how do they offset that weakness that they don't have a king they just they band together they become what's called a team right and the fact is is a locust one locust can't really do a lot of damage by itself I mean you put one locust inside of a harvest it maybe it'll eat a corner of some corn or whatever but it can't cause a lot of damage but if you get a band of locusts I mean you look up on the internet how locusts have just damaged miles and miles and acres of harvest and crops this little animal can't do much but when it's together with thousands and thousands of them they can cause a lot of damage I mean that was used as one of the plagues right and that's used as almost as a judgment of God and even in the Old Testament when God would want to punish a country punish a people he would just send a locust and everything that they have all worked for throughout the years would just be done in a matter of days if not weeks right because of the locust one can't do much but a band of locusts can cause a lot of damage now go with me if you would to John chapter number four so they're weak in the sense that they don't have a king to lead them they don't have someone that can they can tell them what to do teach them you know but the fact of the matter is once they band together they create a very strong team now you and I need to be locusts okay all right what does that mean we need to team up look at John 4 34 says Jesus say them to them my meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work what is he talking about when he talks about meat talk about almost his food right so he's saying my food is to do the will of him that sent me verse 35 says say not ye there are yet four months and then come at the what harvest behold I say to you lift up your eyes look on the field for they are white already to harvest and he that reapeth receive its wages and gathers fruit unto life eternal that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together and herein is that saying true one soweth and another reapeth I send you to reap that were on ye bestowed no labor other men labored and ye are entered into their labor so just like the locusts can cause a lot of damage if they just team up together and it's just like you get one is like man this thing can't take care of this whole but you get a whole I mean thousands of them banded together they can just cause a lot of damage well you know what we can cause a lot of damage to you say well you know that church is only filled with like 50 75 on a good day no we can cause a lot of damage if we just gather together and what damage are we talking about we're not not like vandalized here anything let's go let's go break the houses of the sodomites I'm talking about damage to Satan's Kingdom right by going out and preaching the gospel is what I'm talking about you see one guy can do a good amount but not a whole lot but when we were banded together when we team up when we're striving together for the faith of the gospel a lot can be done but you know the problem is a lot of problems is this there's a lot of locusts are just not getting involved we need all the locusts of God's people to band together get together work together don't be lazy come out preach the gospel so we can cause some damage to this harvest well not damage to the harvest you know what I mean so we can reap the harvest right Philippians chapter 1 verse 27 says only let your conversation be as it become at the gospel of Christ that whether I come and see you or else be absent I may hear of your affairs they stand fast in one spirit with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel you see the gospel can be if it is a very powerful doctrine of the Bible but it has it has no power if the people aren't going out there giving it okay and one guy can do a lot but you know what a whole church can do way more okay and we need everyone to get involved everyone to be a part of what's going on and look you go to these liberal churches that run a thousand two thousand five thousand you know the Joe Osteen's churches or even some independent Baptist churches who are running that much they don't have a lot of locusts going out and they're not causing any damage they're not they're not reaping the harvest maybe a little locusts here and there will go out but the fact of the matter is they're not doing anything but you don't want our little church our little itsy bitsy church of 75 I think we can do a lot for God I mean just look at the map of what we've done over the last four months that's a lot of harvest that we've reaped right there we've seen hundreds saved already what within just a couple of months I mean I know I spoke to a guy it was a couple years ago and he was a college student at at West Coast Baptist College okay which is Lancaster Lancaster Paul Chapel if you don't know who he is don't worry about it you're not missing much but I remember he was telling me and he wasn't even like of our brand of Christianity in a sense of you know he was he was even kind of little he was a little lukewarm let's just say that and he was just like yeah that's a great college he said a great church everything looks really nice he goes but man no one goes soul winning over there he goes he said that's a church of like 5,000 people he goes only like a hundred maybe 200 show up for soul winning on Tuesdays now for us it's like whoa 200 that's a grip but out of 5,000 it's not a lot and here's the thing he said the majority of those who were going out guess who they were college students what who are from other churches obviously right you know the labors the ones who actually want to do something for God the ones who are there because they want to learn they want to get involved in the work of God those are the ones so not even the church members of that church are even getting involved okay so it's just like you have a church of 5,000 people and only just two little locusts are going out to go reap the harvest that's a that's a sad statement but you know what there's a lot of churches that are like that you know and this is it's this mentality that we want to build the kingdom we want to build this this beautiful palace and fill it up with a bunch of unsafe people so we can get there tied and keep building more but you're not doing anything else two locusts are going out to reap the whole harvest and they're not banding together you know we could do a lot more with our 75 with our 80 you know if we just band together go to Ecclesiastes chapter number two excuse me go to Psalm 68 I'll read to you from Ecclesiastes chapter number two the Bible says two are better than one because they have a good reward for their labor teamwork and you know we need we need teamwork here okay and I'm thankful that a lot of people who are sowing here let me say this if you're not accustomed to going out sowing you need to start coming out sowing okay why because you're missing out and look we have a huge harvest to reap I mean we got a big we got to finish this map by the end of the year why because I already put that we're gonna do it on YouTube so you know it's gotta get done okay just kidding sort of we so get involved and here's the thing the biggest ministry that we that we promote here is soul winning yeah but I struggle but you got to start somewhere you know you can't say you know I just don't know how to do it well you got to start somewhere you know everyone started off not knowing how to go solo that's just how you start off and you get better as you do it but you got to start and join the team strive together for the faith of the gospel look what Psalm 68 verse 10 says thy congregation has dwelt therein thou Oh God has prepared of thy goodness for the poor the Lord gave the word great was the company of those that published it you know I like to think that faithful word Baptist Church of Los Angeles is a great company that will publish the Word of God in great multitudes a bunch of locusts just tearing it up all over Los Angeles okay and I'm gonna be honest I hope that we reach that goal far before the year ends you know I think we can but we need a band together we need to all go all go out because here's the thing would it be awesome if we just finish that thing it's just like we need to get another map we need to attack another city we need to go to the city surrounding us we just need to keep going and then we finish that one and then it's just like it's a goal keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger and before you know it he's done exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or think but we can't do it we're just a few locusts we need all get we need all band together go to Luke chapter 10 Luke chapter number 10 so the locusts the wisdom that God has given the locusts is very valuable okay yeah they have no king and look here's the thing they have no leadership but guess what church has leadership okay and even within even aside for me there's leaders within the church people who have because leadership is simply influence right someone who can influence someone someone else to do great works to do the work of God to go sewing to motivate you to give you the Word of God to teach you these guys don't even have that you know but the wisdom of the God has given to them and say hey you need to join up with the rest of the locusts if you want to eat you know you want you need to join up because that band knows what they're doing they know where the good crop is they know where the harvest is okay and that's it by the way that's another point isn't it there's some locusts out there who are some lone ranger locusts they ain't getting fed like they're the way they're supposed to well guess what you need to get with the band that is that man I love sewing it but we're not we're just not doing a whole lot of then you need to go to the band of locusts that are okay who are doing great works who are accomplishing great things who are seeing a lot of souls saved Luke chapter 10 verse 1 says after these things the Lord appointed others 70 also and set them two and two before the his face and to every city and place whether he himself would come therefore said he unto them the harvest truly is great but the laborers are few pray therefore the Lord of the harvest that he would send forth laborers into his harvest so even with the 70 I mean that's a lot of soul winners two and two 70 soul winners but even he said look the harvest truly is great but the laborers are few we need more soul winners and there there will never be a time when I'm when we were like you know what okay guys we need to tone it down on the soul in your height I know I preached that message a while back about the locust thing but we need to tone it down just a little bit don't never be a time like that we need more soul winners coming on board more and more look be an influencer okay you need to be also vocal about this within church okay that's why it's important to meet people in church and and and greet them get to know them and encourage them to come out Sony and look if you just look you say yeah but I feel bad because there's this person in the church and they've been coming for quite some time and I still don't know their name well this is how you learn it go ask them hi what's your name that's how you do look hi what's your name okay and if they say I told you last week didn't say I forgot what's your name and then look build a relationship and say hey have you gone sowing with us this with our church yeah I know why don't you come out with it look you could be Mike can you be my partner you know by the way be humble don't be like well you need to go with me yeah I like the best one no be humble say hey can you be my partner I need a soul winning partner and yeah I don't really know what it's fine you could be a silent partner you just you can just watch me do it but I do need someone to go with can are you available today you know be kind you know but but encourage them to come out with you why because we need to band together to do this great work now go back to Proverbs chapter 30 Proverbs chapter number 30 Proverbs chapter number 30 so the ant very wise prepares right the coney's very wise to build their houses upon the rock the locusts very wise they just band together to team up lastly the spider verse 28 says the spider take hold with her hands and is in Kings palaces now let me just start off by saying I hate spiders anybody hate spiders here okay good I'm not the only one right I hate them they're just disgusting looking things you know I just gotta get that off my chest so the Bible says here the spider taketh hold with her hands and is in Kings palaces now obviously when it talks about taking hold with her hands it's talking about making webs right and you go to any house you always find webs like in the far corners of the house or something like that and even I mean I've just the other day we're out sowing anything was with brother Marcos right I saw this he thought I was going crazy he was knocking on a door and I just saw this huge spider web from the tree all the way to the ground and I was looking I was like wow look at this thing and I kept going like this you know but you can't see the web so he's like what are you doing you go have you gone crazy so it just looks like I'm just going like this like to the air you know but webs are very strong and it takes a lot of work right obviously for these spiders to do that now go to Proverbs chapter 22 Proverbs chapter 22 and the Bible says here that they take hold with their with their hands and they're in Kings palaces so even the most you know palace looking home even the biggest castle no matter where you go they'll always have spider webs right why because spiders are just diligent they know how to build these webs even in the highest of places the most expensive places no matter where you go Proverbs 22 verse 29 says see is thou a man diligent in his business he shall stand before Kings he shall not stand before mean men so the Bible saying here is if you're diligent and what you do you're gonna stand before Kings those who are who have status so to speak right and he shall not stand before mean men now what does it mean when it says mean men it doesn't mean like like I'm not gonna be around like angry people no mean simply means average okay like mean medium mode in math you know mean means average so in other words the same when you're diligent in your business by the way I heard someone interpret the Bible that way you know they're like you won't stand before me man you won't have to run into angry people there's like go to the dictionary but the Bible says here look if you're diligent you're not gonna be among average people right and talk about it's the context always talking about business but you can apply this to the spider the spider because they're diligent with their hands they stand before what Kings right now go to second Peter chapter number three so the weakness of the spider is that it's not strong enough to hold up my foot when I smash it okay it's a small little thing but the strength of the spider is that it's diligent okay let me say this diligence is a very important quality to have consistency it's good to be diligent all right and if you don't know if you say I don't want to be an average Christian then apply this matter of diligence to your life okay verse 13 says nevertheless we according to his promise look for the new heavens and the new earth wherein dwells righteousness wherefore beloved seeing that you look for such things be diligent that you may be found of him in peace without spot and blame and stand before who Christ who's the what the king of Kings and the Lord of Lords now obviously this diligence is not referring to be diligent to stay in the faith because they that endure to the end the same shall be saved we don't believe that obviously but there is a matter of being blameless and spotless and living a clean holy and righteous life why because one day we are gonna stand before Christ right and we don't want to stand him before him ashamed we want to make sure that we when we get to the end obviously we live the life that was pleasing unto God but the what how is that done by diligently living for him every single day by diligently keeping the commandments every single day doing that which is right inside of the Lord every single day the Bible says in 2nd Corinthians chapter 8 verse 7 therefore as ye abound in everything in faith and utterance and knowledge and in all diligence and in your love to us see thee abound in this grace also so the Bible is teaching us here the diligence ought to be a character quality that we abound in okay and a lot of the times Christians struggle in their Christian life simply because they haven't applied this matter of diligence you see when you have zeal in your Christian life it's easy to do what you're supposed to do because you're just excited to do it but you know what zeal sometimes dies out you know what you need you need diligence it's called character character is diligence it's doing what you're supposed to do even when you don't feel like doing it you know reading the Bible is like man this is great I'm loving the book of Matthew right now it's January you know the book of John's great and then like you start February March I'm gonna go after Leviticus you know which I think Leviticus is a great book it's interesting to me but for maybe for a brand new Christian they're just like you know second chronicles you know all the names you know then you're like all right you know I'm just gonna skip today you know I'm just gonna read tomorrow but you know what if you're not diligent tomorrow never comes and then the next day never comes and then before you know it a week a month has gone by and you haven't even read your Bible and then you hear a sermon about the spider being diligent and you're like oh yeah I gotta start reading my Bible again you know no just build this matter of diligence in your personal life and look success comes when you're diligent with the things of God Hebrews chapter 6 verse 9 verse 11 says that we desire that every one of you do show same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end the Bible says in 2nd Peter chapter 1 verse 4 whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust and beside this giving all diligence add to your faith virtue and to virtue knowledge so on and so forth what is it saying we need to be diligent and can't be consistent that's the way we can have success in the Christian life to be like the spider who is working with their hands being diligent so when we stand before the king okay we'll be found blameless we'll have rewards to inherit because of the work that we put in in this life so what's the proof what's the lesson for today's from today's sermon look we need to apply these this wisdom to these creatures show us the ant prepared right the coney's the builder house upon the rock okay you have the locusts they band together we have the spider it's diligent okay and all these are very important aspects and virtues of the Christian life that we need to apply personally so we can have success in the Christian life as well amen as bar has and have a word of prayer follow me thank you so much for your word we're thankful for creation that can teach us a lot of things and just observing creation just in general can we can see a lot of biblical principles fleshed out and we're thankful for Proverbs chapter 30 and the animals you highlighted there and the wisdom that we can glean from them I pray you help us to apply that today tomorrow and throughout this year so we can see exponential success in our personal lives in our church and help us to band together like locusts to just reap the harvest here in El Monte but also in the surrounding cities and may you do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask her think in Jesus name we pray amen