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

What I don't want you to do is come and just confess to God, like, I'm going to do this, and I'm going to make this vow that I'm never going to make a foolish vow or something to that effect, right? And it's kind of like, that, that, might be a foolish vow. I've already broken your vow by making a vow. And what I don't want to do is cause people to be making foolish vows. I want you to learn, I want you to understand, and I want you to obey God. And I want you to get the understanding of the word of God and have that change your life. Amen. And everyone here, you can have God's word change your life without having to make a vow or a promise unto the Lord. He's not asking you for that. Now, people make vows and promises before God. And like I said, they're not just all bad or all wrong. You just have to be really careful with them. You have to understand that if you're going to do this and make this vow, then you better keep it. In turn, if we go to Matthew, chapter five, we're going to see Jesus basically teaching the same thing that's being taught here in Ecclesiastes, chapter five, that it's better not to vow than to vow and not pay. And this is a truth that's consistent in scripture, Old Testament, New Testament alike. In Matthew, chapter five, we're going to start reading in verse number 33. Matthew 5, verse 33, the Bible reads, again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths. So now he's talking about what we've already been reading in the Old Testament, not to forswear thyself, not to lie. When you say something, then it ought to be true. But you need to perform what you've said, what you've made an oath for. Verse 34, but I say unto you, swear not at all. You're saying, you know what, just don't swear. We use the word swear. It's not like a cuss word or something like that. The Bible's talking about swearing. It's talking about making an oath, making a promise, making a vow. Not the same thing as saying some four-letter word or something, right? That's not what it means. And I thought about that when I told my sermon, swear not at all. I'm getting it from what Jesus said here. Some people are probably going to click on the link thinking, like, oh, he's talking about using curse words or something. That's not what I'm talking about at all. I'm talking about making a vow or making a promise unto the Lord. That's where you're swearing. And people will say this all the time. I swear to God. If you have a habit of saying that, I encourage you to stop. I do, I encourage you to stop. I mean, Jesus said, swear not at all. And look, he says, neither by heaven, for it is God's throne, nor by the earth, for it is his footstool, neither by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. But let your communication be yea, yea, nay, nay. For whatsoever is more than these, cometh of evil. That's Jesus' advice. You know what, just say yes or say no, and let it be at that. And be true to that, but just let that be whatever you have to say. Someone asks you something, or you're trying to testify to something, you don't have to say, well, I swear to God. I swear on my mom. I swear on my, you know. Look, first of all, you don't have control over that. And that's why God's able to swear by himself, because he's almighty. You're not almighty. Don't be swearing by God. Don't be swearing by anything at all is what Jesus is saying. You just say, yep, yes, no, and leave it at that. And that's what's wise. That's a wise thing to do.