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

pray amen amen okay we're continuing this evening with the book of ecclesiastes and tonight is actually a part two of chapter seven last week we we covered the first couple of verses verses one through ten or verses one through fourteen actually of uh chapter seven and so there's enough content that i believe that i should have just i should just cut it into two parts and last week we basically went over why or the better way to live and talked about why is it better to go to the house of mourning than the house of feasting why is it that the day of one's death is better than the day of one's birth and it went over these negative aspects that said this is far more a superior way of living than the positive way to live right which is feasting joy uh birth and all these things but the the the principle that psalm is trying to get across is the fact that we learn more in adversity we learn more in trial and tribulation we learn more through failure than we do through success feasting and joyful times and so he's basically saying look this is a better way to live don't seek to live in pleasure and in joy and in feasting all the days of your life because then you're not going to learn anything you're not going to learn how to overcome adversity you're not going to learn how to withstand in the evil day having done all to stand adversity is good for your life having difficulty in trial is good for your life it makes you a stronger person and if you're a christian it makes you just a stronger christian right draws you closer to the lord helps you to depend on god to read the bible more to pray more this is a better way to live now the second half is really him talking about a more balanced way to live so the first part is a better way to live the second aspect of the chapter is we're talking about a more balanced way to live look at verse number 16 if you would of ecclesiastes chapter number 7 it says be not righteous over much neither make thyself over wise why shouldest thou destroy thyself be not over much wicked neither be thou foolish why shouldest thou die before thy time it is good that thou shouldest take hold of this yea also from this withdrawal not thine hand for he that feareth god shall come forth of them all so the first thing that we're going to talk about this evening uh regarding these three verses is the value in moderation okay the value in moderation so again it's talking about a more balanced way to live and a good way to live when it comes to balance is having moderation in your spiritual life and this is basically giving us a warning against being too extreme okay now the bible is an extreme book right to the world it's an extreme book okay and maybe you know before you got saved or maybe right when you got saved you know there's some things in the bible that seemed a little extreme to you but you know at the end of the day it was it's normal to god and the more you read it the more you recognize what the bible actually says the more you conform your mind to the bible itself the more you had a renewing of your mind the more you close the gap between what you your preconceived ideas to what god actually says you recognize actually this is very normal now to the world we're extremist right they'll look at our beliefs and you know our views and what we preach and what we teach and how we live and they'll say that's extreme you know yeah are you trying to have all those kids that's extreme you know no that's normal okay uh oh man your your wife dresses and long dresses that's a little extreme no that's actually normal it's modest and it's normal it's not it's it's not normal for women to wear pants actually okay oh man you guys are clean cut and you guys uh you know uh live holy lives you don't party on Fridays you don't party on Saturdays that's a strange thing you know doesn't the bible tell us that that people think it's strange that we run out with them you know to the same excess of riot right no that's actually weird that's actually wrong what's normal is to live a life that's pleasing unto the lord not involved in alcohol not involved in fornication not involved in the in the rioting and the revelings of this world that's actually normal but when the world looks at us it looks at us as though we're extreme we're weirdos and we don't really care you know a lot of christians do care though right they care what the world thinks and they think you know oh we need to make sure we compromise and we need to make sure that we are uh you know not looking too weird or extreme well obviously we don't want to be weirdos you know um in the world's eyes if it's not a biblical thing but if it if it has to do with bible doctrines standards you know we need to obey the word of god and if they think they think we're weird then they could go jump in the lake who cares what they think okay but what the world would call extreme is actually normal now the thing is is that you know there's people that will take normal biblical teachings and they'll make them extreme okay now what do i mean by that well you know they kind of go outside of the extremities of the bible and they start getting into other weird stuff this is what the world would refer to as or a secular term would be you know going down the rabbit hole okay haven't you ever heard that term before oh you're going down the rabbit hole and just you know red flags should go up when you hear that term okay i don't want to go into any hole right no bro you gotta get into you gotta go down the rap no i want to go down into the bible i want to get the deep things of god from the bible you know if you really want to be red pilled and based you need to get into the word of god okay this is to be you know forget red pilled this is bread pilled and based right okay because typically people who are red pilled and base are typically people who have gone down the rabbit hole and they run into all sorts of weird teachings out there and extreme teachings and unfortunately they use the bible to try to back that up okay they think that because evil exists that automatically means that every conspiracy is true you know this is where you find you know the flat earthers right flat earthers and vaccines are the mark of the beast and qanon is real trust the plan and you know all this nonsense you know them i know them this is a this is a reality to them okay and unfortunately they come under the cloak of christianity i mean how many people have you met that try to use the bible to say that the earth is flat you know and then when you when you pull up the verses and you show them they just completely ignore it and they think that we're just completely blind to the truth and all these things they're blind okay they they have a blind spirit to the actual truth you know they think that vaccines are the mark of the beast and here's the thing is vaccines are wicked the the coronavirus covid 19 vaccine is is wicked obviously it's it's killing people it's stupid that people that christians would even think to take such a thing obviously we understand that that's not good to put that into your body but then people take it to an extreme and say well but it's also the mark of the peace you know oh and to that i want to say well you know do you see that these people who are taking the vaccine worshiping the antichrist no uh does anybody who had the covid 19 vaccine in their body are they able to buy and sell with that thing no as far as i know i haven't taken the covid 19 vaccine i'm still able to go to raising canes and purchase a meal if i want i can still you know purchase and i can do everything i just live my life as normal as possible i'll tell you why because it's not the mark of the beast well that's symbolically representing because zero six zero six zero six is the new like what you know leave the bible to the professionals folks okay you know all these red pilled and base people you know and by the way some of them are very sincere and some of them know a lot about vaccines but when they start trying to delve trying to use the bible to teach end times bible prophecy and mix it with vaccines and say that the vaccine is the mark of the beast at that point at that point you just it sounds stupid okay that's why kids you don't go down the rabbit hole you don't go down the right oh are you trying to keep people from getting information yeah i'm trying to keep you know get people from from listening to the stupid information because it's that crowd that makes christianity look stupid okay you know alex jones becomes a point of reference of truth instead of the bible it's funny but it's true is it not you know people who want to talk about what's going on in the world today they'll reference alex jones but they won't necessarily reference the bible okay you know q anon trust the plan well yeah it looks like that plan fell through at the beginning of the year right oh no biden trump is actually biden and it's a it's a hologram or something you know youtube conspiracy videos replacing bible reasoning this is what happens when christians take things to an extreme okay and we never want to be extreme outside of the bible's extremes okay so i'm not saying hey don't be an extremist because all you have to do is be a biblical christian and the world will see you as an extremist okay but then you have people who want to go beyond that and get in you know believe in reptilians and all this nonsense believe that the earth is flat it's nonsense okay so christians begin to think that they can figure out information that god hasn't divulged yet you know god this is the source of all truth this is our epicenter of the truth and of wisdom and discernment it has everything that pertains to life and godliness the bible says but yet people think that there's sources out there outside of the bible that can tell you the truth about the bible you're just as bad as the bible college professor who thinks they can go to the commentary to get teachings on the bible but what why is this well it's a result of being extreme and not exercising what moderation okay you know the bible tells us that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men and cunning craft in this whereby they lie in wait to deceive and there's far more men of this caliber doing this the sleight of men because of the internet okay because of youtube and the internet and all these resources that are out there you know the false doctrine and and foolish extremism can has it has avenues and different ways to get to people the information to people because of that and that's why you have all these people believe in these things okay the bible tells us let your moderation be known unto all men the lord is at hand so what is he telling us to be moderate in according to this chapter well be moderate and by the way look let me just say this is that you know some conspiracies are true they're true and you know we're not saying that they're not true because they are you know jews are wicked the nation is wicked they do run the banking system they are running hollywood and all the pedophile rings duh but you don't need to go to the rabbit hole to find that out it's like on the surface they're not hiding it you don't have to stick your hand into the rabbit hole to find that out it's pretty simple to find out you don't you know you would have to have blinders on not to see that okay you'd have to be in complete denial to see that okay you know the conspiracy of the pre-tribulation rapture or the fact that you know that jesus might come at any moment that's that's a conspiracy that's not true okay he's not going to come at any moment the antichrist is coming that's imminent not jesus christ there's plenty of things that vaccines do kill people oh you guys are conspiracy theorists well that conspiracy is true it's proven by the data that it destroys people's lives there's plenty of people who can attest to that and there's plenty of people just in 2021 that have died already from covid 19 vaccine okay so obviously i'm not saying that all conspiracies are not true obviously some of them are but when you start delving into conspiracies that are just completely unfounded have no information whatsoever they're just based off of instagram and facebook posts and in mark it down there's people that literally learn everything that they know about conspiracies and biblical information or whatever from posts from youtube from facebook from instagram that's literally where they get it and they don't they're not doing their own research let me give you proof of this you know i saw one time on instagram uh there's this post about these this these group of men i think it was like five different individuals that were killed for some information that they knew right and they posted these pictures of these men who died they were killed and it was a QAnon of course post Q post they had the Q on there and everything and i looked and i said that's pastor anderson so i messaged the guy i said you're a liar this is my friend i was like this pastor the third one you have on here is a pastor his name is pastor stephen l anderson that's not his name the one you have on there you use this picture i said you just lied didn't message me back and i said hey i'm talking to you you need to change your poster take it down because this person is not dead he's a pastor he's my friend and you're you're you're lying about this they didn't respond at all okay you think and by the way you think that's an isolated incident i'm sure that happens all the time but the reality is people don't fact check these you know so-called conspiracy theorists and they have hundreds of thousands of followers and hundreds of thousands of likes and that is their you know that's their resume oh how could this person lie they got hundreds of thousand followers yeah hundreds of thousand idiots who don't who don't actually fact check the thing how many i would guarantee you there's hundreds of people who like that post not even knowing that the person who he used was a was a pastor who had nothing to do with that situation who's still alive it's nonsense be moderate in knowledge look what it says in verse 16 be not righteous over much neither make thyself over wise why shouldest thou destroy thyself now this doesn't mean don't obtain wisdom okay or don't get a lot of wisdom what it's really basically what it's saying when it comes to moderation is that you need to be you need to obtain wisdom in moderation why because sometimes you can only handle so much okay a babe in christ is only able to handle so much wisdom and righteousness obviously we understand that we're to follow after righteousness we're to seek the kingdom of god and his righteousness and these things shall be added unto us but here's the thing you can only handle so much though as a baby in christ now what happens if they start obtaining or let me let me let me backtrack a little bit how do they obtain so much wisdom today well the internet right so what happens is you know they get the word of god but then they have the internet they have all these things feeding them all these resources and information and they get it before they can really handle that information and then they become proud okay and that's why it says why shouldest thou destroy thyself why because something that precedes destruction is pride a haughty spirit and you get all this information you're not spiritually mature you don't even know your biblical role in life you don't have spiritual disciplines now you don't even discipline yourself to read the bible every day to pray every day to do the basics of the christian life but yet you have all this extra knowledge right you can destroy yourself by doing that that's why it says be not righteous over much neither make thyself over wise okay this reminds me of james chapter 3 verse 1 where it says my brethren be not many masters knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation so a good incentive to make sure you pace yourself with knowledge pace yourself with wisdom pace yourself with righteousness is the fact that god is saying you're going to be held accountable for those things because to whomsoever much is given of him shall be much required oh yeah it's big stuff when you know those things and you could regurgitate that information but what what when god actually holds you accountable to what you actually believe right he says you're going to be you're going to receive the greater condemnation because of it for in many things we offend all if any man offend not in word the same as a perfect man and able also to bridle the whole body there's actually a danger in avoiding moderation especially when it comes to knowledge now this is common like i mentioned amongst new believers growing up in a world where information is at our fingertips you know through the internet it can produce a prideful arrogant individual and you know what's important is that when you first get saved that you just learn the basics yeah but i want to learn all these other things too yeah but those things could wait i want to learn about the deep intricacies of end times bible prophecy well great but can you explain salvation first do you know what the trinity is do you know what it is to work hard and not be lazy do you know how to overcome sin do you know what your biblical role is as a son as a daughter as a husband as a wife you know those are things that you should probably master first okay how to keep under your body how to cast down imaginations how to live a life that's pleasing unto the lord how to soul win how to preach the gospel these are actually things that are far more important than the latter okay and that's to say that the other things are not important it's just that these are more important for you to master first okay and so moderation and learning these things is great because as you learn spiritual disciplines you can with moderation learn the new information of the things of this world or righteousness or anything for that matter okay the bible says in hebrew chapter 5 verse 12 for when for the time you ought to be teachers you have need that won't teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of god and are become such as needed have need of milk and not of strong me for everyone that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness for he is a babe but strong me belong to them that are full age even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil look not saying don't be knowledgeable about secular things i'm just saying if you're a christian you should probably know these things more and you know i experienced this actually today with someone uh i made a post about vaccines and just people messaging me and typically when i put a post on instagram about vaccines i get all kinds of different individuals that contact me that are not new ife at all it's just like all right here it's like it's like risky you know what i mean to post because i already know what's going to happen it's like i'm going to get a lot of good people i'm going to get a lot of weirdos too i'll say and in sprinkle there's going to be some flat earthers around here too you know because unfortunately they're kind of mixed in there but we were like this is the mark of the beast the fraction is the mark of the beast i'm like no it's not like how do you know that because i read the bible i said do you even know where the mark of the beast and i wasn't trying to be argumentative with them i'm just actually initially i was just like no the mark i said and they said this well the vaccine you know the patent zero six zero six zero six and you know that it's going into your body and all these things and and i was like yeah that's that's definitely evil obviously it's super wicked but it's just not the mark of the beast i get what you're saying i get it it's just that it's not the mark of the beast they're like how do you know that and it's just like come on they're like it's unclean and you know it could damn you and i'm like the vaccine is bad but it's not that bad it's not able to damn anybody okay and i said look the vaccine the mark of the beast uh is rolled out towards the latter end of three and a half years known as the tribulation in the bible okay and that's towards the latter end of those three and a half years i mean let's if we're to be specific the last 75 days of great tribulation okay and so uh that hasn't happened yet okay and they're like um they're like yeah but you know it's just it has all the elements of what the mark of the beast could be i'm like no it doesn't because i can still buy and sell and i said the mark of the beast is for people i was like it hasn't even nothing to do with your with your physical body necessarily it's more of a spiritual thing because it's given to people who worship the antichrist and there's christians today that have taken the vaccine they're not damned and they're not worshiping the antichrist and they're like well you know i think you're wrong about that i'm just like well do you know where the mark of the beast is in the bible like well yeah well it's obviously you know somewhere in the book of revelation or something like that i'm like it doesn't sound like you know very much of the mark of the beast i said i agree with you on the vaccine it's really bad it'll destroy your body and and you know it's wicked and obviously there's a there's a financial agenda behind that and you know i'm sure it's being used to depopulate the the earth and all these things and those things are true but don't become so extreme about it that you try to use the bible to fit in your little agenda against vaccines because i told them look the mark of the beast is far worse far worse it will damn a soul to hell and then i just made them even more mad i said in fact no christians will ever take the mark of the beast no it's impossible how can that be impossible they're like i know christians who took the vaccine you're doing you're mixing them up again it's not the same thing but here's the thing those individuals they know a lot about vaccines i'm sure if if if you know i personally talked to one and i said tell me everything you know about vaccines they would be able to ak 47 all that information to me like nothing and i guarantee you they call themselves christians they believe in god they believe in the bible and they believe in yahweh yeshua you know because that's typically the crowd that you know is often in that crowd okay as soon as they tell me yeshua here we go again and they'll tell you look if you tell them to divulge all the information about vaccines i'm sure they have they're extremely knowledgeable about that but you tell them book chapter and verse of where the mark of the beast is they won't be able to tell you when is it rolled out at what day at what time at what time period during daniel's 70th week is the mark of the beast rolled out and why is it rolled out how long does it last what does it do for you what is it about who is the antichrist they won't be able to answer those questions and i know a lot of that stuff is sort of deep but i mean all you got to do is go to revelation chapter 13 it's all right there right you know but they don't know the basics of those things yet they want to school people who know what the bible says about that what are these these are extremists who try to use the bible to prove their point okay same thing with flat earthers i don't know flat earthers know anything but you know i'm sure i'm sure they're out there i'm sure they know some stuff okay but they'll try to use the bible to try to school you that the earth is flat it's like come on man i don't do you really want to do this right now but the saying is true that if any man think that he knows anything he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know okay i like david's attitude king david's attitude when it came to moderation he said in psalm 131 verse 1 lord my heart is not haughty nor my eyes lofty neither do i exercise myself in great matters or in things too high for me now i would say david knew a lot i mean he's the man after god's own heart he was used to pen down a large portion of the book of psalms i mean he's a picture of jesus christ i'm sure he knew the word of god in and out that's why he loved the lord right but even even he said himself i'm not going to exercise myself in matters that i just don't understand things that are too lofty for me i'm not going to talk about things that i don't know and act like i know about those subjects what is he saying i'm just going to be moderate not to be in excess just whatever i know and you know that's it you know don't try to act like you just know everything i'm sure the individuals who are around david respected him for that because they said well you know he's the king he's the leader yet he himself knows that he doesn't know everything there is to know he says it right there i'm not going to exercise myself in matters that are too high for me like things that i things that i just can't understand i'm not going to act like i know them okay moderation the solution is to be moderate and know your limitations okay and again i'm not saying be stupid be ignorant don't research do all that do all the research get information i hear a little ringing brother adam on the mic for some do you guys hear a ringing maybe i'm getting old um no okay i'm getting old um the solution is is to be moderate to know your limitations think about this what about you know a good example of this is is aside you know we talked about david but how about when david was going up against goliath okay he's going up against goliath and what is what does saul do he gives him his armor he puts on the armor he assays to go and then he says i have not proved it you know i can't go with these for i have not proved them and and he put them off from himself okay so saul gives him his armor to go to battle with goliath and he and look the armor is great that's what you need to go to war but but but david's so young that he knows he can't handle that weight on him at that moment and obviously we understand that later on he becomes a man of war a grown man of war i'm sure he's using armor at that time he has a sword he knows how to wield it but at this time he said i've not proved it so i'm not going to use it now this did that hinder him from being effective no because he still had the stones and the sling and he still conquered goliath he knew his limitations though right he was moderate he knew his limitations and he was still successful okay and so it's important for us as christians to learn moderation in information in righteousness and in wisdom and again you know it's being in a church like this you know we know uh a good amount of things not only in the bible but just the world in general and so there could be a danger to becoming like a know-it-all and thinking that because you have a corner of a truth of some secular subject or whatever it may be that all of a sudden you just know everything okay and there's no room in the christian life for that attitude be humble don't be haughty be moderate and just recognize this is that when you please god he actually gives you more light right the more you are a good steward of the knowledge he's already given to you the more likely it is that he's going to give you more knowledge that's how god works so if you want to know more of the bible you want to get the deep things of god be a good steward of that which is already revealed to you not through youtube not through facebook not through instagram oh man i got this deep truth but you you got it from like some social media platform you know that's using like other versions of the bible by the way right yeah a lot of these conspiracy theorists who supposedly have a corner of the truth you actually go on those posts they're right they're using the niv the esv they're using some modern perversion of the bible and you know let me just put king james on this real quick it's nonsense be a good steward of the knowledge that god gives you so he says hey be not over much righteous over much wisdom and then he also says you know be not over much wicked now that's not saying like hey it's okay you know you could sin a little bit sin a little bit you know a little wine for their stomach's sake and you know a little sin never hurt nobody you know just get involved in a little sin just don't go overboard on it okay be a good old catholic or something where you drink a little bit of wine and not get drunk that's not what it's referring to it's saying hey be simple concerning evil be wise into that which is good and simple concerning evil the bible says why because if you're not then you're going to vex your righteous soul from day to day okay and you actually become more profitable when you're wise into that which is good and simple concerning evil he says in verse 18 it is good that thou shouldest take hold of this he's like hey if you get it's like it's like our version of saying this if you get anything get this it is good for you to take hold of this yea also from this withdraw not thine hand for he that feareth god shall come forth of them all he says if you fear god you will safeguard yourself from both extremes so it's like man how do i how can i make sure that i'm moderate in my christian life well fear god and you will safeguard yourself from both extremes okay maintain a good fear of god this is a balanced way to live and again you know i'm not saying don't be extreme if the if the bible is issuing an extreme view but just know this once you are already adopted that belief it's no longer extreme to you it's not extreme to us that sodomites can't be saved it's just duh it's like you know it's not extreme to us that jesus said that jews are of their father the devil and the lust of their father will they do it's in the bible it's like that's right there you don't even have to go very far you don't have to go down a rabbit hole to find that out now i get it you know some people actually they came to the knowledge the saving knowledge of jesus christ because they went down some sort of rabbit hole right you know they're researching the jews they're researching uh you know 9 11 they're researching some sort of wicked agenda who's running hollywood and then they see that satan is real and then they realize well satan's real god must be real so i need to find the truth of what the bible says about god and they end up getting saved because of that okay i don't know if if everyone's ever come to the saving knowledge of jesus christ because they're researching the flat earth i've never heard a testimony like that um and anybody who actually messages me and says that that's so they're just lying because because you can't get the truth from a lie folks okay and so you know the bible says we have to respond to the light that god gives us right like when we go when we when we when god gives us lights because we've responded to the initial light that he gave us and flat earth is not light it's not i feel like i need to talk about the flat earth just a little more okay and there's a reason for that because it it's like a plague in churches sometimes okay and you know what people who believe in the flat earth who go into churches typically keep their mouth shut because they know they know that it's bad they know that it causes controversy they know they have a wrong attitude about it and they know that i hate it and so we've had people come into our church that believe in the flat earth i'm talking about full-blown flat earthers and they just kept shut about it because they know it's wrong they know it's wrong but they've gone they went down that rabbit hole and they got stuck in that rabbit hole okay anyways the value of moderation is the fact that moderation safeguards you from unbiblical extremes and so if you get anything get this is make sure you're moderate in your christian life don't take a unbiblical extreme and look don't compartmentalize god's word either oh yeah this is true i mean it has nothing to do with the bible even though you're using biblical principles and biblical uh um parallels and all these things folks if the world says this is true and it has anything to do with the bible and you go with the bible and the bible says something opposite of that you go with the bible's teaching the way it always works oh but the data i don't care i care about the data and god's work now if the data in the secular realm matches up with the bible then i believe it verse 19 wisdom strengthened at the wise more than 10 mighty men who which are in the city for there is not a just man upon earth that do with good and sin is not and what he's telling us here is that wisdom is one of the greatest weapons and assets you can attain it's actually you know its effectiveness is superior to that of 10 men with might so he's placing the emphasis on wisdom telling you hey telling us get wisdom okay you need to get wisdom because wisdom will help you uh not only become successful in life it'll help you with your relationships it'll help you in your business it'll help you with work it'll help you with learning it'll help you with everything it's far more effective than 10 men who are mighty and he says in verse 20 for there's not a just man upon earth that do with good and sin is not that this is typically a verse that we use out soul winning i use it a lot when i go out soul winning i use this to show like you know people who try to justify themselves i'll say look there's not a just man upon earth that do with good and sin it's not they do both okay and what it's in context of verse 19 is basically telling us that wisdom helps us to deal with imperfect men okay and so far greater than the knowledge of the conspiracy far greater than the knowledge of you know uh the damages of vaccine is just having the wisdom of god to make the right decisions it's very important and don't undermine that wisdom because in fact god says it's far more valuable than rubies any treasure any gold that you can desire god says wisdom is far more valuable than that okay and he tells people he tells us that his people you know get wisdom with all that getting get he says wisdom is the principal thing with all that getting get wisdom search for it that's for hit treasure you know if i were to tell you here at your home at your house there's 10 million dollars hiding somewhere below the earth but it's in your on your property you would you'd go home and not even sleep probably you're like we're not you'll get a couple pack of red bulls and coffee you know uh we're gonna find this 10 million dollars or something you would look for it like for a treasure well god says actually the wisdom is far more valuable than those 10 million dollars and you should search for wisdom as though you would search for 10 million with the same fervor why because you can't even put a price on it because it's it's an asset that only comes from god you know if any of you lack wisdom let him ask of god who giveth all men liberally and abraitheth not he says if you lack wisdom god you just ask god and he'll give it to you the world doesn't have wisdom the wisdom of god has the wisdom of this world only by god can you get that godly wisdom where you can become successful and and please the lord and live a life of of success live a life that is pleasing unto god you know become successful in your marriage become successful in your childhood and successful at your job and have success with the relationships that you have around you you can't money can't buy that and so he's telling you hey wisdom is what you need you know in your daily prayer list you should pray god give me wisdom lord grant me wisdom as i read the bible give me the wisdom to discern the bible all right not to just read the bible for information but actually gain wisdom as i read it learn the deep meanings learn what you're trying to teach me to be able to quiet my mind and open up the scripture the scriptures and be able to glean the wisdom of god's word that you may teach me these unsearchable riches that are in the word of god that's what you should pray for amen and if you don't if you don't pray for wisdom you're gonna learn wisdom one way or another sometimes you can learn it with wise men right he that walketh with wise men shall be wise but a companion of fools shall be destroyed or you'll learn wisdom through a stupid thing that you do sometimes you do something stupid and then you have you you you pay for it and hopefully if you're smart enough you'll learn from that and now you've gained wisdom what's sad is that you know something like that happens and you don't learn it experience is valuable but more so valuable than that is learned experience because some people experience pain all the time some people experience failure all the time some people experience the the consequences of their stupid actions all the time and they still don't learn from it you understand so it's important that we learn from those experiences that we ask god for wisdom that we are around wise men hey that's what's important young men you get around the right type of people hang out with your high school buddies hey do you believe the bible or not the bible says that a companion of fools shall be destroyed you will be destroyed along with your buddies if that's all you hang out with if you hang around with a bunch of stupid young teenagers that's exactly what you're going to be i want to be wise so therefore i'm going to hang out with wise men to learn the experiences of life to become successful not to be around my cool little e-buddies these e-boys i learned a new word last week these e-boys and you know all that all right the sheesh boys right you know you need to be around wise people you know people wonder why homeschool children are far more superior than the children who actually go to public school sometimes it's because the children have no one to talk to but adults that's why they're so smart sometimes because they have conversations with their mom with their father and their you know mom and dad are not like goo goo gaga all day they're speaking to them normally and therefore they become superior in their knowledge and you know their understanding you understand but you want to raise a sheesh boy then you got to be around foolish people with no knowledge hey i tell you this for your own good young men say this because i love you okay and i don't want you to be destroyed i was in high school at one time and you know i was around a lot of bad people and they talked there's no good thing that came from those relationships no good thing whatsoever a lot of bad habits were learned a lot of bad experiences a lot of bad relationships it was not good and i guarantee if you talk to those guys oh yeah there's so many good memories though no there weren't not at all i guarantee the vast majority of those guys are losers today it's not doing anything having children out of wedlock playing xbox while their wife works or something lazy as the day is long you know thank god for the bible thank god for salvation that when i got saved i learn manhood biblical manhood i learned how to work i learned my biblical role in life and i got around wise men to be to become wise but don't you want to be cool no i want to be wise i'm already cool just kidding i'm just kidding so wisdom helps us to deal with imperfect men look at verse 21 so he tells us to be moderate in our knowledge but also be moderate in the information you're gathering from others look what it says in verse 21 also take no heed unto all the words that are spoken lest thou hear thy servant curse thee for oftentimes also thine own heart know it that thou thyself likewise has cursed others now what is he saying don't be an eavesdropper isn't the bible so relevant don't be a nosy person that's what he's saying right let's read it also take no heed unto all the words that are spoken lest thou hear thy servant curse thee the eavesdropper is actually the little birdie that carries her voice in chapter 10 remember in chapter 10 or are you going to see in chapter 10 you know it talks about that bird shall carry the your voice right and that which that which hath wings shall tell the matter you know you're you're you're gossiping you're saying something bad about someone the little birdie is actually the eavesdropper he's like he's listening and he's like i'm gonna go tell the matter the eavesdrop okay so you can call it an eavesdropper you could just call it a nosy person this is the person who just wants to know what's going on in every conversation okay whether at work or in church you know they're just they have their ear to the ground for everything that's going on and it's not because you know they're just you know they just want to make sure everything's in its place you know there's no false doctrines being taught they're just nosy they're just nosy people okay and you know you said why is it why why is solomon saying this to me i mean why is solomon saying this to eavesdroppers well he's saying it because what's going to happen is the more you listen to other people's conversations the more likely is that some you're going to hear something bad about you what even in church duh yeah it's going to happen all the time you're like well that's why i want to find out i want to see who's talking smack yeah but here's the thing then he follows up with this yeah but just remember you've done that before too you've cursed people you've said wrong things you've gossiped about others and so before you go on this witch hunt finding out who's saying what who's talking about who just know this you have also done the same you've been a little birdie yourself you've been a little cockatoo yourself you're a little canary yourself you're a little turkey yourself little ostrich yourself you carried that voice at one point point or another so he's saying look don't don't be like an eavesdropper don't don't be this type of person now let me just say this and don't get this please don't get this wrong this doesn't necessarily apply to me 100 of the time here at the church although i have a hard time eavesdropping i have a hard time just paying attention sometimes when people even tell me certain things because i'm just kind of like doing my own thing you know but you know there's times when i have to pay attention to what's going on i rarely like get into someone's conversation but i will say this and it may be because i'm the pastor the god will sometimes providentially allow me to walk in on a conversation sometimes sometimes you'll place me at the right place at the right time you know i'm just like and then someone you know they're strife taking place or something that's not right is being said i just you know i walk by i'm like whoa what was that what'd you say about my mama no i'm just kidding you know i hear something i'm just like and then i have to address it he said what about the other times well the other times i just depend on the birdies to come tell me the birdies to come tell me the you know the pastor you know someone said this and someone said that then i have to deal with it or whatever but i don't go looking for that information i just kind of depend on god just allowing it me to you know to find out about it or someone will come tell me about it um but i don't necessarily keep my ear to the ground even for like false doctrine for example because i just like to think that everyone in our church is just righteous or doctrinally sound they're great people and you know there's not a wolf or an infiltrator or anything like that that's just the way i believe you're like oh man that's not a good way to think why you know i'd rather just love my people and be wrong about someone i prefer to be wrong about an individual than to be right about someone right i'd rather just be wrong like yeah but then you're wrong how does that affect me though not nothing at all once i find out the person's wicked they're teaching false doctrine i correct that we move on with our lives you understand but you know don't be the individual where you know one conversation's over here another conversation you're just kind of like what's abert saying over there what's what's he saying why are those mexicans on that corner what do they talk about all the time why is ulysses marcos who is it uses marcos and uh gammy oh yeah jose sorry i almost forgot jose where are all those mexicans are they conspiring together let me go to the kitchen and act like i'm going to the kitchen just so i can eavesdrop a little bit of what they're saying over there you know don't be the kind of person where you just have to find out what's going on everywhere why don't you just enjoy church and believe in the providence of god right believe in god's providence you know so those guys don't feel left out i kind of join them sometimes too because i'm sort of brown okay yeah sorta whoever who was that i'm just kidding i'm just kidding see how that birdie just carried that over here see how i heard that the birdie was like he said sorta but what i'm saying is you know just enjoy church don't go around suspecting everyone that people are gossiping and you know this may seem like really basically you know churches actually struggle with this a lot because there's cliques in different churches and then people are gossiping about each other that should not be said of our church they were gossiping about each other that there's strife you know but again there's been times when i providentially i feel like god providentially led me into some people who were like in strife where it almost seemed as though something was going to happen i'm thinking of one particular time where like an argument was about to break out and i just so happened to walk by and i just turned i was like what's going on and they just parted ways i'm like that's what i thought i'm just kidding no i was just like i don't know what's happening and someone literally did one of one of the people told me like you came in like the perfect time because it was getting pretty ugly right okay and so um you said did things get ugly sometimes well you know you have a bunch of red-blooded men who think that they're both right you get a bunch of guys who both have strong opinions and they think that they're right you're gonna you're bound to have like an argument pop off or something it's gonna happen you say what's what what uh advice do you have for them moderation be moderate the bible says in proverbs 16 28 forward man so is strife and a whisperer separated chief friends he that covered the transgression seeketh love but he that repeated the matter separated the very friends so typically the person who's eavesdropping is not just eavesdropping they're also carrying the voice to some to someone else and if you don't like that advice well just remember this an ungodly man diggeth up evil and in his lips there is a burning fire so just know this if you're purposely being an eavesdropper trying to find evil trying to look for people saying you know bad stuff the bible calls you a an ungodly man you're just digging up evil and look if you go digging somewhere you're bound to find something the more you dig the more likely it is you're you're you're likely to find something bad to be said about you understand or about other people so what's the solution the solution is this mind your business okay proverbs 26 17 says he that passeth by and meddleth with strife belonging not to him is like one that taketh the dog by the ears this is something that's very common with children okay you know i won't say which one of my children do this uh but his last his last name is mahia and his first name begins with a b okay uh you know sometimes i'm talking talking to my wife about something he's just like i'm like mind your business i'm talking to talking to mom here you know and then he just walks over and acts like he's playing with toys or something he's just like it's not just my son i'm sure some of yours is due to or used to do it it's just a common trait okay they're sometimes nosy don't be nosy mind your business and um all will go well verse 23 all this have i proved by wisdom i said i will be wise but it was far from me that which is far off and exceeding deep who can find it out he's basically saying you know there's never an end to getting wisdom okay so don't think you ever arrived when you get wisdom it's deep you can't find it out there's there's it's it's it's it's unsearchable the bible says you can continue to look for wisdom and get wisdom and you'll never arrive the end of that trail okay now here's the interesting thing is that uh solomon he's like i'm searching for wisdom i'm trying to get wisdom and it's exceeding deep and all these things and then he falls over verse 25 i applied my heart to know and to search and to seek out wisdom and the reason of things and to know the wickedness of folly even a foolishness and madness so what's the conclusion you come up with solomon and i find more bitter than death the woman i'm like wait hold on a second so as you're searching for wisdom you're asking god for wisdom you're searching wisdom well let's let's read that again he says he's applying his heart to know and to search seek out wisdom the reason of things and to know wickedness of folly even a foolishness and madness and i came to this conclusion that i find more bitter than death the woman man whose heart is snares and nets and her hands is bands who's so pleased that god shall escape from her but the sinner shall be taken by her go to promise chapter two you said solomon dang bro are you seems a little much i thought you're going to talk about you know the the wisdom of science and the stars and the moon and you know all these the creatures no no no this is the conclusion that i got something that's more bitter than death is this woman right here but what about like you know all the creatures of the sea and you know how the the planets work and the solar system and all these deep things yeah that's good but i'm just telling you when i searched out wisdom this is the conclusion that i came to a lot of the time and this isn't the only time we said something like this okay because solomon also wrote the book of proverbs look at proverbs 2 verse 10 when wisdom enter into thine heart and knowledge is pleasant into thy soul discretion shall preserve thee understanding shall keep thee to deliver thee from the way of the evil man and from the man that speaketh forward things who leave the paths of a brightness to walk in the ways of darkness who rejoice to do evil and delight in the forwardness of the wicked whose ways are crooked and they forward in their paths to deliver thee from the strange woman so he says when you get wisdom you know one of the first things that it does for you it delivers you from the whore it delivers you from the strange woman even from the stranger which flattereth with her words which forsake at the guide of her youth and forget at the covenant of her god go to proverbs chapter 6 like hold on a second i thought if i get wisdom i'm gonna be able to understand end times bible prophecy i thought i was gonna be able to understand like daniel's 70th week and all this stuff like yeah you you'll be able to understand that what he's saying i'm gonna give you this first though because if you don't get this you might never even get to the point where you could read the bible and understand revelation and end times bible prophecy look at chapter 6 verse 23 for the commandment is a lamp and the law is light and reproofs of instruction of the way of life to keep thee from the evil woman so it seems as though this is really important to god right he's like i want to give you wisdom light instruction you're like bible knowledge and end times bible prophecy no to keep you from the evil woman to keep you from that wicked woman over there who's trying to destroy your life so this tells me that one of the greatest adversaries of a man is the evil and strange woman if he's if he's saying like this is the conclusion of wisdom and knowledge that it'll keep you and protect you from this evil woman it shows you that this is important to keep thee from the evil woman from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman lust not after her beauty in thine heart neither let her take thee with her eyelids for by means of a whorish woman oh man that's like a bad word huh it's not for by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life so you know what that tells me first and foremost it tells me that god considers your life precious so precious in fact that he would give you so much wisdom that you would be able to discern to stay away from that evil foreign wicked strange woman the whorish woman that's what he's saying so by process of elimination those who have been giving themselves over to strange women and whores and all these things according to the bible they're not wise god didn't give them wisdom go to proverbs 5 so and in fact in ecclesiastes it says i find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets and her hands is bent whoso pleaseth god shall escape from her man he's talking about her like she's some sort of like beast or something like if you please god you'll be able to escape from her clutches from her bands and look ladies if this offends you're like i don't know this is kind of like offensive what do you mean this is protecting your son this is protecting your husband right these are the kind of things you should be showing to your children these are the kind of things you want to show to your child and say this is who you need to stay away from son the evil adulterous woman who will destroy your life they're hunting for your life they want to destroy it they want to bring it to nothing they want to bring it to a morsel of bread they don't care about you get wisdom so you can stay away from such a woman he said it doesn't really take that much wisdom to know that folks have you ever met a teenager who fell in love or should i say have you ever been that teenager who fell in love i'm serious right when you're a teenager and and you're in love i mean it's like you good luck with that one good luck trying to separate your teenager from the person that they're in love with it's it's it's it's it's near impossible sometimes okay so what's the solution we'll teach him the word of god teach him about the whorish woman so he's able to discern and look obviously this is for the men but it's also uh for yeah for the men but it's also for the women because it says to keep thee from the evil man keep thee from the e-boy right because ladies you need to stay away from the e-boy queer little sissy e-boy you know the tick-tock boy who knows how to pop lock and has a hundred thousand views on tick-tock but can't seem to do a hundred thousand hours of work for years you know they just don't know how to do anything but do tick-tock and and wear tight clothing and and put on makeup because you know those guys put on makeup ladies need wisdom for that girls need wisdom for that yeah but he's so cute get get first of all get a puppy if you want something cute right get yourself a puppy and and let me say this this is a rabbit trail we're not going down the rabbit hole but this is a rabbit trail you know mothers and fathers should should help mold the appetite of their children of what type of you know spouse they should be looking for right they should mold that help assist them to mold that appetite so they're not looking for the tick talker the e-boy they're not looking for the the the whore on instagram they're not looking for the the strange woman they know how to discern and say this is not what god wants from me i don't want this this is not right you know what i mean i want a virtuous woman i want a virtuous godly man and help mold those appetites okay and obviously i have young children but i've learned from from men who have raised successfully raised godly children and one of the ways that they did that to to assure that um that they would not follow after an evil man or a strange woman is that you know they they spent time with their children and not only that but they also uh spoke kindly to their children and the mom would tell the the the the young man that he's handsome so he's not looking for that those type of compliments somewhere else the father tells the daughter you're beautiful you're pretty and takes them out on dates and whatnot so they're not looking for that in another place okay and so uh it's important look at proverbs 5 20 and why will thou my son be ravished with a strange woman embrace the bosom of a stranger for the ways of a man are before the eyes of the lord and he ponder with all his goings his own iniquities shall take the wicked himself and he shall be holding with the cords of his sin he shall die without instruction and the greatness of his folly he shall go astray go back to ecclesiastes chapter 7 so he says you know i find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets and her hands as bands whose pleaseth not god shall escape from her but the sinner shall be taken by her so if you if you fall for one of these people the strange woman or the evil man according to this by according to this verse you're not pleasing god because god wants to keep you from those things but if you reject god's word then god says all right i'll give you what you want and you're going to find out death would have been better than this that's extreme oh trust me i'm sure there's people out there who got married who in their heart they're saying death would have been better than this relationship it's true and so give heed to that young men give heed to that young ladies this is not a joke this is not me just going on a rant this is a biblical teaching that god wants to protect you from destruction and often destruction comes by means of what type of spouse you find okay you need to make sure you find the right spouse and look what it says in verse number 27 behold this have i found saith the preacher counting one by one to find out the account what yet my soul seeketh but i find not one man among a thousand have i found but a woman among all those have i not found he's basically saying there's a scarcity of righteous men and women all right 2021 it's hard to find good young ladies and good young men but thankfully there's a bunch of them here there's a bunch of good young ladies and a good young man at this church and you know we just got to convince them to get married once or another one day okay why are you laughing john talking to you son i wasn't going to say the name but since it's here i'm just kidding i'm kidding john knows i love him you know um hey he's the one in a thousand you know there's not many young men like this in this world today okay you know most young men how old are you john 23 most young men will be on tick tock doing pop locks and you know lip syncing to a stupid song or something instead john is just playing this weird instrument in the church he's not lip-syncing he's putting his lips on this instrument so he can play you know hey he's a responsible young man young man and he's doing a great job you know he loves the lord this is a one of a thousand it's not very common okay and the same thing with the ladies in our church as well in fact on sunday um my mother who's in her 70s she she came to me or what was it i think she came on sunday but i saw her this week and she said i just want to say that i'm so impressed with the young men in your church now i know you young men you don't want to necessarily you know have this said about you about a 75 year old woman you know like i want to hear like a young lady say this about me but you know just to let you know she said this she said they're so respectful they you just don't see this anymore you know because someone came up to her and i think it was miss carmen and just basically said you guys ladies need some coffee did you enjoy the service is there anything that you need you know and they're just kind of taken back like wow you know that you don't really see that anymore and you say why would she make that comment because most young men that age are little prats they're little punks they're disrespectful they disrespect their authorities they disrespect the elderly they they spend their time just mocking people and not being respectful but we want to raise young men who you know go to everyone in the church and say is there anything you need there's servants in the church they love the lord and and don't don't and by the way don't think don't have this attitude well don't nice guys finish last well yeah nice guys do finish last they do so don't be nice just be godly there you go don't be nice nice guys finish last because they're pushovers pushovers sissies they're they're they're they are the uh the soy boys those people finish last yes don't be like that be a godly young man be a man of spiritual war be a man who loves the lord be a man of fortitude okay and of resolve be a man who knows the bible be a man who loves the lord loves souls loves the church love his church members is willing to sacrifice his life for the greater good of god's will be that type of young man you you will not finish last god will put you first if you do those things because remember seek the kingdom of god and his righteousness and these things shall be added unto you and so you know there's a scarcity of righteous men and women and so we need to make sure that we raise them in our church okay he says in verse 29 lo this only have i found that god hath made man upright but they have sought out many inventions he's basically saying there should be many righteous people out there people of morality because god made man upright but they have sought out many inventions and that's why there's a scarcity of them so if you learn anything from the book of ecclesiastes chapter 7 is this don't be nosy don't be an eavesdropper okay uh do things in moderation get information in moderation um you know and and and young men young women make sure that you mature correctly okay and put the things of god first you want to be blessed of god don't just go for every you know uh e-boy on the internet or think man i hope i can just develop this relationship with this person and maybe i can change them or something you know maybe i can change them to become a fundamental baptist what you need to do is just develop yourself right spend time in god's word follow your authority pray to that end and and be godly and god will provide a spouse for you one day and just notice this you know before you get all oh man what's going to happen to me just know this you're the precious life not them people in this world are not the precious life that god is talking about you're that precious life if you're a young man young lady in our church you're the precious life that god is talking about and so uh don't fall prey to the wolves of this world who see you as an opportunity to hunt that precious life okay be godly let's pray lord thank you so much for your word thank you for chapter seven lord and all the wisdom therein help us to do all things in moderation lord information in moderation and not to take these unbiblical extremes lord and to not be no at all help us help us to to grow at a reasonable pace that we would learn the bible seek to read the bible and leave that other stuff for someone else lord at the right appropriate time we can handle that information i've i've met people who learned a lot of information but it's almost as if they learned it prematurely and their mind their spiritual inner man can't handle all that and so lord help us to gain information that our inner man would grow far beyond our physical man's intellect lord so we can handle the information of this world and and