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🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 Good evening everyone. Welcome to Show to Faith Baptist Church Wednesday evening prayer and Bible study. If you would please grab a song book and turn to song number 43. Song number 43, we're marching to Zion. Song number 43, we're marching to Zion on the first. 🎵Come we that love the Lord and let our joys be known. Join in a song with sweet accord. Join in a song with sweet accord.🎵 🎵And thus surround the throne. And thus surround the throne. We're marching to Zion. Beautiful, beautiful Zion.🎵 🎵We're marching upward to Zion. The beautiful city of God. Let those refuse to seek who never knew our God. But children...🎵 Hey man. If you would just turn a page over to song number 45. When I can read my title clear. Song number 45. 🎵Music🎵 🎵Farewell to every fear and warm my weeping eyes. Should earth against my soul engage and fiery darts be hurled. Then I can smile at Satan's rage and face a frowny world.🎵 🎵And face a frowny world. And face a frowny world. Then I can smile at Satan's rage and face a frowny world.🎵 🎵Let cares like a wild deluge come and storms of sorrow fall. May I but safely reach my home, my God, my heaven, my all. My God, my heaven, my all. My God, my heaven, my all. May I but safely reach my home, my God, my heaven, my all.🎵 🎵Let cares like a wild deluge come and storms of sorrow fall. May I but safely reach my home, my God, my heaven, my all. May I but safely reach my home, my God, my heaven, my all. May I but safely reach my home, my God, my heaven, my all. May I but safely reach my home, my God, my heaven, my all. May I but safely reach my home, my God, my heaven, my all. May I but safely reach my home, my God, my heaven, my all. May I but safely reach my home, my God, my heaven, my all. May I but safely reach my home, my God, my heaven, my all. May I but safely reach my home, my God, my heaven, my all. May I but safely reach my home, my God, my heaven, my all. May I but safely reach my home, my heaven, my all. May I but safely reach my home, my heaven, my all. May I but safely reach my home, my peaceful rest. 🎵 All right, well, good evening. Welcome to Shield of Faith Baptist Church. If you don't have a bulletin or pen or anything, just raise your hand and Kayden will rush what you need to do. I'm just kidding. All right, let's go through these announcements here real quick. Front page of the bulletin, if you still have one, weekly church service time. So we have Sunday mornings at 1030, Sunday evenings at 6 and Wednesdays at 7pm. Underneath that is a list of our soul wanting times. We've got Saturday mornings at 1030. Meeting right here Sunday, Sunday afternoons at two with brother David, Mondays at 630 with brother Mauser, Wednesday mornings at 11am with brother Briley and Thursdays about 630. So if you want to go Thursday, though, don't forget to call or text just to let me know 208-391-5323. But at least for the next couple of weeks, we will be meeting here. So if you forget to call, just show up here and we'll get you out there. For October, right below that back page. So tonight or not tonight, next Sunday evening will be in Second Samuel 19. And don't forget about the chili cook off October 31st after the evening service. We'll be having our annual chili cook off. And let's see here. Saturday, November 6th at 3pm is a baby shower for David. So don't forget to shower him with all your questions about it. All right, let's see here, birthdays and anniversaries for October. So next up will be Miss Melix's birthday on the 31st. So this week's memory verse is John 1243, which says for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. We are a family integrated church and that means children and infants are always welcome in the service. If you need privacy, there's a daddy baby room which is right over here to your left and mother baby rooms right across the hallway. Over there should be all set up and ready to go for you. Ties and offerings are right below that. Don't forget to turn your phones off or place them on silent so they're not a distraction. And there are still some new things back there in the blessing rack. There's still some food on the table back there. So whatever you want to take. And the very bottom line says if people don't know the real you, then they don't know you. So we're going to have one more song before we receive the offering. All right, at this time we'll be seeing our chorus. His eye is on the sparrow. Still a new song. So let's learn it together. His eye is on the sparrow. Why should the shadows fall? Why should my heart be lonely? And long for heaven and home? When Jesus is my portion, my constant friend is he. His eye is on the sparrow. And I know he watches me. His eye is on the sparrow. And I know he watches me. I see because I'm happy. I see because I'm free. For his eye is on the sparrow. And I know he watches me. Whenever I am tempted. Whenever clouds arise. When songs give place to sigh. When hope within me dies. I turn the closer to him. From there he sets me free. His eye is on the sparrow. And I know he watches me. His eye is on the sparrow. And I know he watches me. I see because I'm happy. I see because I'm free. For his eye is on the sparrow. And I know he watches me. All right, well, let's go ahead and pray. Thank you so much, Lord, again, for allowing us to be able to meet here. And just pray that you bless the service, Lord. Continue to bless our church. And we just pray that you bless the fellowship also, Lord, after the service. And just thank you for all that you do for us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right, at this time we'll be going through our prayer sheet. If you didn't get one, just raise your hand and someone will grab you one. And if you ever have prayer requests or praises, just let myself or a pastor know and we'll gladly put your prayer or praises on the list. All right, let's all bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Dear Father God, we come to you this evening with prayer requests from our church family and praises to lift up to your holy name, Lord. We just want to start by praying for the opportunity to preach to unsafe family, friends, and co-workers. We pray for all of our church families to stay healthy and safe and to always keep their sights on the things of God. We pray for more spiritual growth and maturity as a church throughout the year. We pray for Pastor Dad's transition to the VA system to go smoothly. We pray for Briley and Marissa's sister that she can have. We also pray for Miss Patty that her sister's heart can be softened to hear in the gospel as well. We pray for more people to follow up with. We pray for more people in the community to want to become more of our converts to visit church. And we pray for expecting mothers in our church that they can have healthy babies and safe deliveries. We pray for the churches of our friends that they can also continue to grow and enduring trials and tribulations that they are growing through. For my family back in California, we also want to pray for Melissa's dad and his recovery from the COVID vaccine, Lord. You know all the details in that situation, Lord, we pray for that. We also have an unspoken prayer for Brother Skolk and we pray for his trip to South Africa that it goes smoothly, Lord, and that you protect him. And that all the soul-wanting plans over there, that you bless their efforts over there, Lord. We also want to pray for Brother Joe Maples that his vaccine exemption would get approved. And we also pray for Brother Joe Maples' healing for his ear and health. And Lord, we also have praises to lift up to your holy name, Lord. We praise you, Father God, for our church members being in good health. We praise you for all of our new church members and the family members we've been able to get saved and their continued growth in the Lord. We praise you, Father God, for the freedom to continuously preach the gospel every week and for the Lord keeping us safe during the battles that we all fight each and every day. And we also praise you, God, for Baby Aiden, Lord. We just praise you for the safe delivery and keeping Miss Patty healthy. And we just pray that you bless the Truett family through these times, Lord, and be with them. And Lord, we love you and we pray all these things in the matchless name of Christ. Amen. All right, let's turn our Bibles to Ecclesiastes chapter number one. Ecclesiastes chapter number one. I just want to thank everybody who's been praying for my wife Patty and Baby Aiden and all that stuff. We're excited that he's here and just thanks again for keeping us in your prayers. So we will turn to Ecclesiastes chapter one. Ecclesiastes or the preacher beginning in verse number one where the Bible reads. The words of the preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher, vanity of vanities, all is vanity. What profit hath a man of all his labor which he taketh under the sun? One generation passeth away and another generation cometh, but the earth abideth forever. The sun also ariseth and the sun goeth down and hasteth to his place where he arose. The wind goeth toward the south and turneth about unto the north. It whirleth about continually and the wind returneth again according to his circuits. All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full. Under the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again. All things are full of labor, man cannot utter it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be. And that which is done is that which shall be done. And there is no new thing under the sun. Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? It hath been already of old time which was before us. There is no remembrance of former things, neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after. I, the preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem, and I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven. This sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith. I have seen all the works that are done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit. That which is crooked cannot be made straight, and that which is wanting cannot be numbered. I communed with mine own heart, saying, Lo, I have come to great estate, and have gotten more wisdom than all they that have been before me in Jerusalem. Yea, my heart had great experience of wisdom and knowledge, and I gave my heart to know wisdom. And to know madness and folly, I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit. For in much wisdom is much grief, and he that increaseth knowledge, increaseth sorrow. Brother Mike, will you pray for us, please? Yes, thank you, Lord, for this mid-week service. Give us a chance to get away from the world and come back to your knowledge. Thank you. We pray this unto you, and listen to the passage that has been passed all the way. Yeah, just bless God that you did this message. Amen. All right, amen. Ecclesiastes chapter number 1. Look down at verse number 14. Verse number 14, it says this. I've seen all the works that are done under the sun, and behold all is vanity and vexation of spirit. Now keep your place there, because we're going to come back and take that apart here in a little while, but go to Luke chapter number 17. Luke chapter number 17. Matthew, Mark, Luke. So the title of the sermon this evening is The Whispers of the World. The Whispers of the World. And what we've been doing on Wednesdays is we've been going through a series called Voices in My Head. Voices in My Head. And I think this is part 3 of that series. And so the first one we took a look at how sometimes in the Bible you'll see this pattern where we don't have forgiveness in our hearts towards our brother and sister, and God delivers people over to torment as a form of chastening. And so we looked at that and talked about the importance of forgiving one another to not let that bitterness and that torment just build up and be trapped or plagued by that. And last week we talked largely about fasting. We talked about the demonic realm and so on and so forth and how that impacts the believer and how to overcome those things. But today we're going to talk about the voice of the world, because you know as Bible believing Christians it can just seem like we're bipolar sometimes. And Paul talked about that, you know. He's like, I want to do what's right, but I've got this old man inside of me that's like, no don't do that. And we all struggle with that. But sometimes there are other voices, and it's very important for us to understand the source of these voices and exactly what to do with them, how to get them out of our heads so that we can be successful for Christ, and you're going to see why that's so important tonight. But just as a way of introduction, I wanted to look at something here in Luke chapter 17. I want to show you what Jesus said the conditions of the world would be like in the last days as the end approaches. So if you would, look at verse number 26. It says this, it says, And as it was in the days of Noah, that's Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of Man. So again, people were asking him, hey, what's it going to be like before the end of the world? And he's basically saying, hey, you know, like you read about in Genesis with Noah, that's exactly what it's going to be like in the end. Look at verse 27, towards truth, period. OK, they were numb to warnings. They're just like, you know, you've been saying that Jesus is going to come back for, you know, 2000 years. He hasn't come back yet. So you're going to see that attitude basically permeate society. Now, keep your place. I'm just gonna read for you Genesis six, five, because I think this does a very good job, obviously, of answering the question here. What was it like in the days of Noah and what's it going to be like for us? So Genesis six, five, it says this. And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth. So during the time of Noah, God says that he looked down and wickedness, evil was great. OK, he's not endorsing it. What that word great means is large, meaning it was spread throughout the entire earth. It was very prevalent in society. And then the verse goes on to say this. And that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And we're starting to see that on a very large scale today. It seems like most of the people that are in politics, for example, it seems like every imagination, every thought that they have is in some way, shape or form evil. And you might think to yourself, yeah, but I know this politician is for the Constitution is for this. Yeah, but he's not for the King James Bible. She's not for the King James Bible. They're not for salvation by grace through faith. And according to the Bible, if you're not for those things, that is wicked in and of itself. It's vanity in its vexation of spirit is what it is. Look, I've been saying this for years and you guys all know this. There's only one way to fix the world, and that's to ride it out until Jesus comes back. OK, that is the way to do business. And so God lets us know that most people during that time frame, every thought that they had, every desire that came out of their mouths came from their hearts, which was evil, which was hurtful, which was very, very wicked. You know, my brother Mike shared an article with us the other day about how Newsome wants to ban, what is it, all gas cars and, you know, gas lawnmowers, chainsaws, weed eaters, four wheelers, just all of these different things. It's like, why? Why would you do something like that? Do you know how many families that's going to hurt? You know how many businesses that's going to take down? That's absolutely absurd. And that's just a small thing. You know, another thing that he signed into law is that he wants to make every toy store, wants to force every single toy store to have a gender neutral section inside of it. OK, what does that tell you? And that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continue. Look, every time these people open their mouth and they write out a bill and they try to pass some kind of a law, it is only evil and hurtful across the board. That is what it is. So let's keep reading here. Luke 17, look at verse number 28. The Bible says this. Likewise, also, as it was in the days of Lot, they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded. But the same day the law went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Verse 30. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. And so this is the time frame that we're headed to. And I think it's very interesting that when Jesus is asked this question, you know, what's it going to be like in the last days? He says it's going to be just like it was in the days of Noah, where most people are going to be wicked. Mankind in general, you know, whether he be king, governor, just your local store manager, is probably going to be very evil. Everything they do is going to be against the Lord God. How do you think it's going to be possible for the Antichrist to come on the scene and most people will worship him? It's because people's hearts will be like it was in the days of Noah, but then he immediately jumps forward in the Bible to the times of Lot. Well, we all know what that's about. You know, he's basically letting us know there's going to be a bunch of sodomites around. There's going to be a bunch of that filth and garbage, which is always a result of people rejecting God across the board. And so I just wanted to bring that up because with that being said, go back to Ecclesiastes chapter number one. What do you think the voice of the world is going to be like in 10, 15, 20 years from now? I mean, just learning about how evil society is becoming all the time. I mean, during the days of Lot, during the days of Noah, even today, what did you see? A lack of judgment, people numb to warnings, apathetic towards God, sodomites everywhere, all these different horrible things are increasing. And so with the world in this present state of mind and only getting worse, we have got to make sure that we are on par, that we understand the voice of the world and how to get it out of our heads because it affects us all. Jesus said, yeah, we're not of the world, but we are in the world. We do have to use this world. We have to go to work. We have to function. We have to navigate in this world. Right. You know, you always get these guys that want to start these cults, real cults, where they just want to move out into the woods and just set up shop out in the mountains and the hills and stuff like that. But that's not what we're called to do. We're called to be ambassadors for Christ. We are called to get people out of this world. And the only way to get somebody out of this world is to get them saved, to get them on fire for the things of God. OK, so the world's voice is always bad, but it's going to be especially bad as each day goes forward. So look at verse number 12. We'll start off here this evening. It says this. I, the preacher, was king over Israel and Jerusalem. So Solomon is the one who wrote this book here and he's letting us know, hey, I was king. And because I was king and because God gave me all this wisdom, I decided to apply it to understand every little facet and detail of how the world works. Look at verse 13. He says this. And I gave and I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom. Now, don't miss this concerning all things that are done under heaven. This sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised there with. And so obviously, when you're reading through the Bible and you start in Genesis Chapter one, you see that the you know, at the end of the chapter, for example, God finished making mankind, finished making the earth and the heavens and all of these things. And it says in the beginning of chapter two that God rested on the seventh day. What happened in chapter number three? Well, the fall of man. Right. And so that's what we're dealing with here. And that's what Solomon is saying. Hey, I wanted to seek out and kind of figure out what makes what what I want to figure out why people are so evil. What causes them to go, you know, just completely bonkers, for example. And that's what he did concerning all things that are done under heaven. And notice what he calls it there in that verse. This sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised there with. Why is that? Well, because we live in a fallen world, because mankind sinned. Right. And so the result of that is obviously a fallen state. Now, obviously, there's a lot of beauty left that God created. You look at the mountains when they got the snow on them or even without them. You know, I mean, that's just a beautiful sight. The sunrise, the sunset, the moon, the heavens, the ocean, you know, these bodies of water. There's some beauty in the world that we look to and we can observe. And sometimes, you know, we can just kind of forget. You know what? Though we see that beauty, this world is in a fallen state. You know, and that is very important. You don't have to turn there. But the Bible says in Romans 822, for we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. So the Bible is saying that the world as we know it right now is almost as in the same kind of state that a woman is giving birth. Just pains, right? And that's really, when you look past the mountains, you look past the ocean, you look past all that beauty, and you look to mankind. What do you see? You see sore travail. You see trouble. You see that which is crooked that cannot be made straight. That is what we are seeing here. Now look at verse number 14. He says this. I have seen all the works that are done under the sun. And don't miss this. And behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit. All is vanity and vexation of spirit. And so we're going to take a look at those two principles today. Because, you know, if you're going to preach a sermon about the voices of the world, right? You can't do it without consulting Solomon because he was the wisest man who ever lived. He had the resources. He had the power. He had the wisdom to actually go forth and seek those things. So that's what I'm saying. We're going to study the Bible tonight and we're going to look at what he said the world was like. And really it all boils down to this. You know, if you're starting to have this wrestling match inside of you, right? And you're maybe not sure, should I do this? Should I do that? You know, one way to kind of recognize whether it's the voice of the world or the voice of the flesh, which we'll talk about next week. But specifically, the voice of the world always, always, always will boil down to one of these two things, vanity or vexation of spirit. Now, keep your place there in Ecclesiastes and go to the Book of Colossians and the New Testament, Colossians chapter number two, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Colossians chapter number two. And so what is vanity? What in the world does that mean? What if you say someone is vain? What does that mean? Well, it means they're conceited. It means they're obsessed with their appearance. You know, maybe somebody like Absalom, for example, right? Absalom, a guy who grew out his hair real long, you know, had no blemish and actually every year pulled it. So he weighed his own hair and people came by and saw that and they were like, wow, how much do you think his hair is going to weigh this year? Oh, this is great. That's all vanity. Okay. And what else does that produce? Well, it produces vexation of spirit because you know that in that time, just like there are today, you know, a lot of ladies and, you know, guys even probably that showed up to that, man, I wish my hair was that thick. I wish there was some kind of cream I could put in my hair to have that thick hair, right? You know it's true. Everybody in here knows that's true. And so that, my friend, is a very good example of being vain. But it just means to be inflated with pride in yourself or your appearance, just empty, just completely valueless, okay? Absolutely valueless. Now you're there in Colossians chapter number two. Look at verse number eight. Colossians two, look at verse number eight. It says this, beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and, don't miss this, vain deceit after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world and not after Christ. And so you can see that struggle here even within this verse. What does it say? It says beware. So Paul's telling the Colossians and obviously telling us and all believers everywhere that we need to pay attention to these philosophies, these teachings, which are rooted in what? In the rudiments of the world. You see, the Bible has foundations that we are to live by, you know, like salvation and all, you know, the word of God, prophecy, I mean, just all, you know, manner of living life and doctrine, all of these things. And we look to this book for our foundations for the Christian faith, right? That's how we are supposed to operate. But the world has their foundations too, which are rooted in two things, vanity and vexation of spirit. That's it. That's what he's saying here. Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy, okay? This is so important because we have to be in the world. We have to go to work. We have to earn a living. We have to earn our wages. We have to live life, right? But here's the thing. When you go to your job and you get your new hire orientation, guess what they tell you? They're going to put something across your computer's training like this. It says, okay, if two guys are making fun of Ralph who just came out of the closet, what would you say? You know, they're going to give you four chance or, you know, four choices. I always pick the one that they say is wrong, by the way. That's just me personally. That's what I do. You know, there's almost always one that says, tell them to get back in the closet. I always pick that one. And I've never gotten in trouble and if I get fired, big deal, I don't even care, okay? Because I want to beware lest somebody spoil us through the philosophy, through the teachings, in the vain to see which are rooted in the tradition of men, man apart from Christ. We have to be careful of that and, you know, and just realize that just about every facet of life, you're going to have something like this come at you, right? You know, we should get some, you know, updates for the news, for example, right? But almost every, I mean, show me an independent fundamental Baptist news network, you know, that's out there. You're not going to find it, right? Does that mean we should just not know what's going on? No, we should know what's going on. We should be able to watch the weather and, you know, get updates on politics so we can kind of know what's going on and know what to pray for and know how to handle ourselves, right? But you have to realize that with all of that comes an element of vanity and vexation of spirit. And knowing that and realizing that and taking Paul's advice and being aware of that can really protect us from having the voice of the world come into our minds and just absolutely destroy us. Now go to Matthew chapter number six, Matthew chapter number six. And so I just want to give you three things here real quick to kind of consider about this verse. So Paul said, hey, beware lest anybody spoils you through philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition of men, you know, and talks about, you know, the rudiments of the world, which are what? Vanity and vexation of spirit. Well, I did some research and I was just kind of looking up like, I wonder how much people spend globally. Is that even, you know, possible to find out? How much do people spend globally on fashion, right? And guess what do you think the number is? $1.9 trillion US in the year 2019. That's how much people spend globally. Now, I think it's probably more because you have a lot of sales, you know, on Craigslist and things like that that aren't tracked, Facebook Marketplace. But generally speaking, they're saying that retail, I'm sorry, no, this is just for America. This is just for the US. $1.9 trillion. Think about that for a second. How much money is our nation indebted to China for? You know what I mean? Maybe we could kind of help out if we just wouldn't be so vain and just, you know. They expect that number to go far above $3 trillion by the year 2030. So I just thought that that was interesting. And it also mentions here that in the European regions, in Asia, that all of these things, that fashion and all that sort of thing is just really, really ramping up into the equivalent of trillions of dollars as well. Here's another one. Digital and physical home entertainment. How much do you think people spent last year on that in America? Almost $30 billion. And that's just what these people know. It's probably far more than that. So think about it. Two examples. What do people spend on fashion? Now obviously we've all got to have clothes. We've all got to, you know, go out and have some fun. You like to go to that trampoline park every once in a while. Whatever, okay? Big deal. But for the person that's rooted after the rudiments of the world, that's a problem. Take a look at those people and what they're spending and what's on their mind. And you know what you're going to find? Vanity and vexation of spirit. Because those things are fun for us because, you know, we have a mission. We know our mission is to go out and to evangelize and to edify the brethren, right? That's what our mission is. And we get that and it's good and fun to take breaks. But the world, they don't really have a vision. They don't really have a mission. And yeah, you say, well, what about the guy who's very, you know, career driven, you know, the guy who wants to be a CEO that's working 80 hours a week, you know, and just really disciplined. Well, Solomon talks about those types of people. And he says they die the same way that the fool does. And then all that time that they spent trying to make a name for themselves is for not. Because guess what? A hundred years from now, no one's going to remember that guy. No one's going to remember the CEO of Amazon in a hundred years. Nobody's going to care. Because people are only going to be thinking about themselves, right? But Jeff Bezos, he's going to be like, oh, man, you know, I'm really somebody. I'm rich. I'm going to make sure you submit to my depopulation agenda. Here's another one. What about professional sports? Pay-per-views? What do you think the budget was on that last year? It was a hundred billion dollars. A hundred billion dollars. So just a quick example there, just three quick examples of how the world spends their money. And all that does is just prove what the Bible is teaching is true. Vanity and vexation of spirit. Now, I'm not saying, oh, don't go out and watch a baseball game or football game, whatever, you know. I'm not down on you for that. But this reflects the world. OK. And this is where we have to be where? We have to understand, you know, we don't want to be given holy over to those things. Because that's a problem. That's a big problem. And you have to understand that the world is always competing for your attention. And the world has a very close ally to every single one of us. And that's the old man. That's the flesh that we'll talk about next week. And again, this is only a small fraction of what's spent literally in our country. If we could see the number that God sees, what would that be? What if what if God were to, you know, basically give us, hey, how many thoughts? Globally, our vanity and vexation of spirits. I mean, that'd be a number we wouldn't even be able to say. But think about this. He knows all of that. And it's like nothing to him. Matthew 6. Look at verse number 19. It says this. Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal. Verse 20. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. You see that? So there's a lot to say about these verses here. I mean, first of all, in verse 19, it says, lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth where moth and rust doth corrupt. He's not saying it's a sin for you to have a boat or a jet ski or to have material goods. There was a there's a lot of examples in the Bible of people that were wealthy that serve God. Abraham's one that comes to mind. You can have those things. But here's the thing. Do you have those things or do those things have you? That's the question that needs to be asked by every single person in here. You see, that's how you determine where you're at. So if you're struggling and we all are. Right. Just to a certain degree. But if you're really struggling like your man, like, I don't know, like if this church thing is right for me or whatever, you know, or reading the Bible. Why can't I just get it could be that you're just not aware of the philosophy in the vain to see that is somewhere in your life. If we were to sit down and just talk and just kind of, OK, let's think about your day, think about your week. What kind of things are you subjecting yourself to? I guarantee you that at least one of them is going to lead back to something that is extremely vain or something that is vexing your spirit. Something that is causing annoyance to your spirit. So go back, if you would, to Ecclesiastes chapter number one. And so that's why he says there in verse 21 for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. So, again, have those things, but don't let those things have you. Make sure that you are storing up for yourself treasures in heaven. How do you do that? Well, you do that by trying to get people saved, going soloing, reading the Bible, praying for somebody, helping a brother in Christ out, helping a sister in Christ out. Doing those things have eternal consequences, which are good. That's what we want. OK. You know, we've all heard and I've done a sermon before, I'm not going to get into it right now, but about the judgment seat of Christ. The Bible talks about, you know, you're going to have your wood, hay and stubble in a pile. You're going to have your silver. You'd have your gold. However, that works out. However, that looks like we're all going to have some level of wood, hay and stubble. That's just part of life. That's just part of doing business in the world. OK. However, let's make sure that when we get up there, our pile is not just like this huge bonfire. We've got no treasures. Right. That's the idea here. You know, we need to learn how to flip the script. Right. Have the materials, have those goods, have your money, but don't let it have you. Ecclesiastes chapter number one. Look at verse number 14. It says this. I have seen all the works that are done under the sun and behold, all is vanity. OK. That's what we're talking about. That was the first part of it. You know, the voices in our head that are sourced from the world are going to be somewhat vain. You know, should I skip church today because I got, you know, I got to run this marathon. You know, I ate some junk food yesterday. I'm not going to look quite good. There are people like that. There are people like that. You know, why didn't you go to church? I was just kind of feeling bloated and I just wasn't going to look good in my suit. You know, I'm not sitting there. I don't think anybody here is like that. But I have met those people. I have met those people. Look, there was a guy who came in here last year. Right. From Treasure Valley Baptist Church. And this guy was so full of pride, like he literally wasn't even walking. He was like floating around the room, you know, just telling people about how many sins he turned from and how good he was. Do you know Treasure Valley Baptist Church? No. I've never been there. I don't care about it at all. I only care about what's going on right here. And the mission that we have and rightly dividing the word of truth and don't even get started on that garbage. So look at the next part of that verse there. Vexation of Spirit. So this is another source of the voice of the world. Not only is it vain, not only is it empty, valueless, right? It gets your focus off of what is eternal and onto what is temporal. But it's also vexation of spirit. You say, well, what in the world does that mean? What's a vexation? Well, it's an annoyance. Right. It's trouble. The Bible says that Lot was vexed by the filthy conversation of the wicked. OK. And we've all been there. You go to work today, you're getting vexed. OK. I don't care. You start a business, you go to the grocery store. Anywhere you go, you are getting vexed. Why? Because we are approaching the days of Noah. That's why. We're not supposed to be scared. We're not supposed to go hide and go start some little called out in the woods. No. We're supposed to draw the line in the sand and be comfortable with the voice that God's given us, which is the word of God, and be able to still function in the world. Look at verse 15. It says this. That which is crooked cannot be made straight, and that which is wanting cannot be numbered. OK. Go to Ecclesiastes chapter number two now. Ecclesiastes chapter number two. And so he says that which is crooked cannot be made straight. And then he also mentions this thing that which is wanting cannot be numbered. Well, what does that mean? Let's start with that. What is wanting? Well, there's all sorts of things. There's always going to be problems in this world. There's always going to be taxes. There's always going to be toxic people. There's always going to be danger. There's always going to be your past. That's always going to be there. You're always going to remember that. There's always going to be the need to work. You're always going to age. Right? There's always these types of things. How about this one? Nutrition plans. There's always going to be different nutrition plans. Mine's better than yours. This one's better than that. And you know, we all know that's science that I don't think anybody's ever going to figure out. gonna figure out. There's always gonna be politicians, power-hungry people, there's always gonna be these things that are crooked, okay, and there's always gonna be things that are lacking or wanting. You fix two problems in the world and there's 200,000 more that will just spring out, okay, that is the world that we live in. There's this vacuum in the world, okay, and you can devote your entire life to try to plug the different holes and the breaches in the system only to figure out that right on the other side there's another breach, there's another problem overflowing, and what this does is it causes a vexation of spirit. It causes people to get worried, it causes the world to get troublesome, and so the voice in your head will start to say things like this, why even try? Just give up. It's pointless, right? Who's ever heard of a story of somebody who's devoted their life to try to solve the world hunger problem or world peace? What usually happens towards the end of their life? They get extremely discouraged and sometimes even wind up committing suicide because they realize, they get to a point where they realize, I've done all this work, I've devoted my entire life, and it's like I didn't even make a dent. So as God's people, right, we don't want to get sucked into that trap to we're just trying to, oh let's just go make sure we we get every single homeless person fed and all this stuff. Look, Jesus said you would always have the poor with you, and in today's day and age a lot of these poor people or seemingly poor people out there, they're of a working age. They could be working, you know. I don't know who, somebody was telling me a story, they were somewhere downtown and saw a guy holding a son, and this guy was telling me that his son was like, well daddy how come we're not gonna give him some money? He needs help. He's like, that guy can work harder than I can. That guy is healthier than I am. What are you talking about? He needs to go get himself a job. And that's true, you know. Here's another voice that will pop into your head sometimes, hey it's the rich person's fault. Let's blame the rich, right, or one of my favorites, let's blame the new world order. Because they are to blame, you know. And then all of that stuff, if it goes unchecked, it always leads to this, which is where the devil takes over, let's just get high. You can't fix the problems, you can't solve the world's problems, just get high, just get drunk, just cover your pain, just get some pain, man, just get some kind of chemical relief, and that will help you. Why do you think the drug industry is so powerful and so popular and generates more money than anything I've already mentioned? It's because the world and its problems and the things that are crooked and the things that are lacking or wanting lead to vexation of spirit. Now I'm not saying we shouldn't try to help people out, you know, try to help people out that are poor, whatever, you know, amen. I'm gonna help the house of God first because that's what the Bible commands, okay? But I'm not gonna get distraught, we aren't gonna get distraught just because the world's going to hell in a handbasket, Christ told us that's exactly how it's gonna be, so at least we can eliminate that voice because we are of Christ. Here's another way, though, that you can hear the voice of the world. Age is just a number. Now if you're born again, that is, there is some truth to that. If you're born again, if you're saved, you're only gonna be old temporary because you're gonna get a new body, you're gonna be with Christ and take away all that pain, all that frustration, and you don't have to worry about that. Being old is only temporary, but to the world, what are they always saying? Down here to this clinic here and get this these Botox shots, you know, and I know saved so many people that are on that stuff, I'm not knocking them, okay? I do, and that's not what he's saying. He's saying, but for the believer, that's what this really means. There's no prophet under the sun. Jump down to verse number 15. So he's basically saying, like, I poured my life into trying to make my wives happy, right? By building their gods, temples, and statues, and idols, you know, all these different things. And he's like, wait a minute, I'm at the end of my life here. I'm about to give up the ghost, and I'm gonna die just like the fool who had nothing. So the point is, why spend your life doing something that is full of vanity and vexation of spirit? Just to make a name for yourself. Oh, they're gonna remember my name. Isn't that a song? Remember the name, remember my name? I'm sure it is. I'm sure it is somewhere out there, you know. Remember my name, boy, you're gonna remember me. Yeah, people remember you for a little while, and then one generation passes, another one rises up. You might make a history book, you know, people might be reading about Bill Gates, you know, 10, 20 years after he dies, maybe, but I doubt it. He's such a slimeball. People don't want to remember that guy. You know, but think about the guys like Muhammad Ali or, you know, Mike Tyson, right? Who was the boxing champion during Paul's day? Because they had boxing, he talked about it. Who was the toughest guy of his day? You don't know. Who is it? You know, we're not talking about him, right? Because that's the world. The world is vanity and vexation of spirit. You can go win the biggest boxing tournament, you can become a professional fighter, and get that crown, get that championship, and then get knocked off that throne, and people will turn on you quicker than turning on this corner down here on Cole in Northview. People, if you're not the current tough guy, the current champion, nobody cares, and it's only temporary. People don't care about that stuff. Oh, but I'm gonna have my name in the history books. My great-great-great-great-great grandson's gonna know me. No, they're not. You'll be forgotten. Unless you're written down in the Bible somewhere, you getting forgotten. So why even try to go down that road? It's vanity and vexation of spirit. That's what that is. You don't have to turn there. Actually, no, we need to read a couple more verses here. Look at verse 16. It says this, for there is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool. Forever seeing that which now is in the days to come shall all be forgotten. And how diet the wise man? As the fool. So there you have it. Do you believe the Word of God? Do you believe the Bible's true? Then guess what? Us spending a lifetime thinking, you know what, my great-great-great-grandson, they're gonna know. They're gonna respect me. They're not even gonna know who you are. You're gonna be so far removed. It's just not gonna happen. Look at verse 17. Therefore, so he realizes this. He realizes this now, and of course he doesn't know that he's gonna be preserved in the Bible, but look what he says in verse 17. Therefore, I hated life because the work that was wrought under the sun is grievous unto me. For all is vanity and vexation of spirit. So again, if you forget everything that I said tonight, that's okay. You just need to remember your two V's. If you're struggling with doing the right thing, you're having these thoughts in your head, in these voices, you're like, what is the source of this thought here? Ask yourself this question. Does it go back to vanity or vexation of spirit? And if it does, then you know that it's the voice of the world. Because Solomon proved that for us beyond the shadow of doubt. Luke 16, verse 13. You don't gotta turn there. I'm just gonna read it for you. It says this. No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. He cannot serve God and mammon. And the key word in that verse there is masters. What has you? Does Christ have you or does the world have you? That's what this all boils down to. If the world's got you, vanity and vexation of spirit is your language. Those are the thoughts that are permeating your mind. Look back one verse to verse 14. Ecclesiastes 2, look at verse 14. It says this. The wise man's eyes are in his head, but the fool walketh in darkness. And I myself perceived also that one event happeneth to them all. So he's saying, whether you're wise or whether you're a fool, you're gonna die. But you need to understand something here. The wise man's eyes are not external, they're internal. What does that mean? Prudence. The wise man is a prudent person. The wise man visualizes, okay, what's the future hold for me? What's the ultimate future for the believer? What's eternity? So the wise man in his eyes meditates on the Word of God and thinks, what can I do to store for myself treasures in heaven? The only prophet that's out there is above the sun. It's the prophet that is in heaven that you earn while you're on this earth. Otherwise it's vanity and vexation of spirit. Go to 1st Corinthians 7 and we are getting close to being done. We're gonna wrap this up here. Just gonna look at it. Probably four more passages and we will be done. Possibly five. 1st Corinthians chapter number seven. We're gonna answer this question. Okay, great. I get it. I know what the voice of the world is. It's rooted in vanity. It's rooted in vexation of some sorts. So how do we get this thing out of our heads? Okay. 1st Corinthians chapter number seven. Look at verse 29. It says this. 1st Corinthians 7 29. But this I say, brethren, the time is short. It remaineth that both they that have wives be as though they had none. Does this mean we just don't get married or just like, well it's all gonna end anyways. I'm just, I'm out. Sorry girl. No, that's not what he's saying. He's just saying realize that your time is short. Look at verse 30. And they that weep as though they wept not. And they that rejoice. You realize that and you pack all of that together and you realize what he says there in verse 31. And they that use this world not abusing it. Right? How do we do that? By realizing that when we get sucked into the world to the point to where it's owning us and we say okay I need to distance myself from that. I need to get out of that. Right? Then you become the master. You become in control of those thoughts. Now that doesn't mean the world's not gonna keep trying to get in because it will. Go to 2nd Corinthians chapter number 10. One book over to the right. 2nd Corinthians chapter number 10. But what he's saying there, hey use this world. Use the wisdom that's in the world. You know there are people who are not saved and I mention this all the time. That are very educated. That are very smart. That are very wise in using this world. Hey use those people and what they say. And get yourself you know get yourself some money. Get you know get a house. Get some possessions. As long as you can master that. Because Jesus told us we can't serve two masters. You can try for a short period of time but sooner or later one of them's gonna have to one out. 2nd Corinthians chapter number 10. Look at verse 5. It says this Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God. So this is how the voice of the world gets into our head again. Right? These imaginations and these thoughts and these ideas that lift themselves up above the voice of God. Okay? This is the issue that we're dealing with here. It says this and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. You know what another good application for you to do and I've done this is take something that you're struggling with and get that get one Bible verse. Okay? Put it in the notes app on your phone. Have somebody text it to you every day. Find some way that you can read it every single day until you have it memorized. Because when you memorize these things you're meditating on them. And guess what? What you're doing week by week or day by day if you have that kind of time is you're starting to change your thought pattern and you're removing those voices in your head and you're replacing them with a voice of God which is the Word of God. Go to James chapter number four. James chapter number four. So go past Hebrews go to James chapter number four. And that's you know another interesting thing about 2nd Corinthians 10 5 you know says casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God. There are so many subtle things out there and teachings that exalt themselves against God. Like the original manuscript only argument. Right? I mean how many people tonight are in a church or a small group because that's probably more likely where they're at. We're seeding. That is the voice of the world not the voice of God. But what does he say here? If we fall into that trap to where the world now is the master of us then guess what? We've become the enemy of God. You can be saved and become the enemy of God. Because you could never lose your salvation. But you could get on his bad side to where now it's like okay now I'm gonna have to chase in you. Now I'm gonna have to really discipline you. Because when you get into the world I mean you can go pretty deep and start doing some pretty crazy things to people. Go to 1st John chapter 2. 1st John chapter 2 we're almost done. 1st John chapter 2 then we're gonna go to the Gospel of John. But 1st John chapter number 2. Look at verse number 15. There's some more application for us this evening here and we will be done. 1st John chapter 2 look at verse 15. Love not the world neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him. Now does that mean you lost your salvation? Absolutely not. You have to realize that 1st John is a book of fellowship with Christ. Not necessarily all salvation here. Look at verse 16. For all that is in the world the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the Father but is of the world. What do all those things point back to? Vanity. Vexation of spirit. So you have to understand that there is a distinction between the voice of the world and you'll see in a couple weeks the voice of the flesh or I'm sorry the voice of the devil and the voice of the flesh. Look at verse 17. And the world passeth away and the lust thereof but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. Well the will of God is labeled in John chapter 6 and it's to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. It's to believe God. It's to trust him for salvation. That's the will of God. Right? But when we take that and we're like okay you know I'm good to go I'm gonna take the grace and just run. Take my faith you know take the salvation I've got and just run. Never do anything for Christ. Well guess what? You're reaping unto yourself vexation. Go to John 17 and we're done. This is the last passage we're gonna look at. John 17. You know I got I've told you guys this story before I got somebody saved and when this church first started like the first week it was over in Caldwell. Year later we go to Emmett. Do a soul winning deal over there. Guess what? Knock on her door. What are the odds of that? That she moves literally like I don't even know how far that is. At least 40 minutes right? 50 minutes something like that. I don't know. But what are the odds that we would knock on her door later? You know and before I realized who it was one of the things that she said is just yeah you know I had to move over here life just hasn't been great and this and that. I'm like okay yeah you know and hey if you died today she's like oh yeah somebody already came and asked me that and I got saved. I was like when? You know what I mean? Like when? It was last year. I was like that was me because it just all of a sudden just clicked for me. That was me. But then I realized yeah you know she got saved. She was excited right? She was like I'm gonna come to your church you know. She you know when we went through that whole mess with a Boise bench you know she left a comment on her page you know I'm thankful for that church and that they came to my door and got me saved and if I lived closer you know I'd come to church. But the point is she's not going to church. She's not reading the Bible. So what are the benefits? There are no benefits right? So what's the result of that? Vanity and vexation of spirit because something is going to be in your head and if it's not the Word of God it's gonna be the voice of the world. That's how this thing works. The voice of the flesh all these things we've been talking about last passage here John 17. Look this is what Jesus says while he's praying here. He says this, I have given them thy word and the world hath hated them because they are not of the world even as I am not of the world. See you can't help this. If you're saved if you're born again you're baptized into Jesus Christ. You are placed into him. You are part of him and he is not of this world right? So you can sit here and try to play the world game all that you want to it's not going to go well for you. The person who's not saved it's going to go better for them and there's nothing that you can do to try and change that. And to even try is vanity and vexation of spirit. Look at verse 15. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. You see this should be our prayer that we would be delivered from unreasonable and ungodly men. That's our prayer. Not that we go hide out in some island in the Pacific. No but that we stay right here and God protects us and shows himself to the world magnificent by protecting us against the tyrannical government and talk about that. And so let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Thank you so much Lord again for all your troops. Did you just have the answer to every single problem under the Sun above the Sun no matter where it is Lord? And we just pray that you would help us to recognize this worldly voice Lord that just creeps into our our minds Lord through work through our neighbors family all over the place Lord. Just help us to be aware of these things and help us to remember that the source of it is vanity and vexation of spirit and I just pray Lord that you would help us to overcome those things so that we can go forth and get people saved and edify one another and make disciples Lord and grow the kingdom of God as much as you say is possible for us Lord and pray that you use as mightily Lord out in the community. Thank you again for all that you do for us in Jesus name I pray. Amen. Amen. Please grab your songbooks one more time this evening and turn to song 44. Song number 44. We'll work till Jesus comes. On the first. O land of rest for the ice I went the moment come when I shall lay my armor by and dwell in peace at home will work till Jesus comes will work till Jesus comes will work till Jesus comes and we'll be gathered home to Jesus Christ I've let for rest he may be seized to roam and lean for suckler on his breast till he conduct me home will work till Jesus comes will work till Jesus comes will work till Jesus comes and we'll be gathered home I sought at once my savior's side no more my steps shall roll with him our brave deaths chilling tight and reach my heavenly home will work till Jesus comes will work till Jesus comes will work till Jesus comes and we'll be gathered home amen brother victor would you close the service out in a word of prayer please focus on you