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Welcome to First Works Baptist Church. Let's all find our seats. As you find your seat, go ahead and pick up a song book. Turn to song number 129. Song number 129, Rock of Ages. Let's all stand together for this first song, if you're able. Song number 129, Rock of Ages. All together nice and strong on that first verse. Rock of ages, cleft for me. Let me hide myself in thee. Let the water and the blood from thy wounded side which flowed be of sin, the double cure. Save from wrath and make me pure. Could my tears forever flow? Could my zeal no languor know? These for sin could not atone. Thou must save and thou alone. In my hand no price I bring. Simply to thy cross I cling. While I draw this fleeting breath. When my eyes shall close in death. When I rise to worlds unknown. And behold, be on my throne. Rock of ages, cleft for me. Let me hide myself in thee. Amen. Wonderful singing. Let's start our first service with a little prayer. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for giving us this day that we can come to your house, Lord, and thank you for giving us this night and for all the souls that were saved this afternoon. I ask that you would please just be with us during this service, Lord, that you would please bless every aspect of the service. I ask that you would please bless the singing, that it would be pleasing into your ears, Lord. And I ask that you would please fill past my heel with your spirit as he preaches unto us and give us ears to hear your word, Lord, and apply those things which he teaches unto us to our lives. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. You may be seated. Please turn your songbooks to song number 255. Song number 255, Come and Dine. Song number 255. All together on that first verse. He who fed the multitude turned the water into wine. Come and dine, the disciples came to land. Thus obey Christ's command. For the master called unto them, Come and dine. There they found their hearts desire, bread and fish upon the fire. Thus he satisfies the hungry every time. Come and dine, the master calleth, Come and dine. You may feast at Jesus' table all the time. He who fed the multitude turned the water into wine. To the hungry calleth now, Come and dine. Soon the lamb will take his bride to be ever at his side. All the hosts of heaven will assemble be. Oat will be a glorious sight. All the saints and fathers white. And with Jesus they will feast eternally. Come and dine, the master calleth, Come and dine. You may feast at Jesus' table all the time. He who fed the multitude turned the water into wine. To the hungry calleth now, Come and dine. Alright, great singing. Thank you for being here this evening. Just a few announcements here. Before we see our next song, which will be 355. What a friend we have in Jesus. Song number 355. If you want to get that ready in your song books. Just a few announcements. Of course, our Sunday morning service is at 1030. Sunday evening at 5 p.m. And then our Thursday night Bible study at 7 o'clock. You see the soul winning times and teams and the list of expecting mothers. On Monday, January 30th, we do have our Barstow soul winning. And we've been going out there over the last couple of months. It's been very receptive. A lot of people are getting saved. And now we have a church van. Amen. And so we finally got our church van. We can cross that off the prayer list there. So we're going to be using that to head to Barstow. If you're interested in participating, we meet at the building at 1130. And we'll have lunch. And then we'll go out for a couple of hours. We'll have dinner there as well. If you would like to go in the church van with us, you can see brother Ulysses Hernandez for more details. But that'll be on Monday, January 30th. And then the ladies' prayer breakfast is coming up on Saturday, February 4th. We have Miss Angela's baby shower on Sunday, February 12th. You can see Miss Franceschini for more details. And then please be in prayer for the Belize missions trip coming up February 26th through March 5th as well. We get a lot of people saved, collect a lot of information and prepare for November. As we have plans to go there and have a preaching service. And so we're looking forward to that. You see the regular reminders there at the bottom. Please make sure you silence your phones during the preaching so as to not be a distraction during the service. Let's go ahead and take some soul union numbers from this past week. Salvations from Monday to Thursday. Any Salvations from Monday to Thursday? Ten. Ten? Anybody else? How about Friday and Saturday? Salvations for Friday and Saturday? One for Riverside. One for Riverside. Anybody else? How about this afternoon? Salvations for this afternoon? Two for Brother Morrie's team. Three for Brother Hikes team. One for Brother Marcus' team. Anybody else? Did I miss anybody? Once, twice, thrice? Okay. Let's go ahead and sing our next song. Song number 355, What a Friend We Have in Jesus. Song number 355, What a Friend We Have in Jesus. All together nice and strong on that first verse. What a friend we have in Jesus. All our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry. Everything to God in prayer. Oh, what peace we often forfeit. Oh, what needless pain we bear. All because we do not carry. Everything to God in prayer. Have we trials and temptations? Trouble anywhere. We should never be discouraged. Take it to the Lord in prayer. Can we find a friend so faithful? Who will all our sorrows share? Jesus knows our every weakness. Take it to the Lord in prayer. Are we weak and heavy laden? Precious Savior, still our refuge. Take it to the Lord in prayer. Do thy friends despise for save thee? Take it to the Lord in prayer. In his arms he'll take and shield thee. Thou will find us all is there. Amen. Wonderful singing. At this time the ushers will come forward to collect the offering. You may turn in your Bibles to Hebrews chapter number 13. Good evening. Tonight we're in Hebrews chapter 13. Hebrews chapter 13 and the Bible reads, Let brotherly love continue. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers for their Bibles. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers for their Bibles. Let brotherly love continue. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers for their Bibles. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers for their Bibles. Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them, and then which suffer adversity as being yourselves also in the body. Marriage is honorable and all, and the bed undefiled, but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. Let your conversation be without covetousness, and be content with such things as you have. For he hath said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee, so that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God, whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation. Jesus Christ the same yesterday and today and forever. Be not carried about with diverse and strange doctrines, for it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace, not with meats which have not profited them which have been occupied therein. We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle. For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp. Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. For here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come. By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name. But to do good, and not to communicate forget not, for with such sacrifices is well pleased. Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves, for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account. That they may do it with joy, and not with grief, for that is unprofitable to you. Pray for us, for we trust we have a good conscience, and all things willing to live honestly. But I beseech you, though rather to do this, that I may be restored to you sooner. Now the god of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. And I beseech you, brethren, suffer the word of exhortation, for I have written a letter unto you in few words. Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty, with whom, if ye come shortly, I will see you. Salute all them that have the rule over you, and all the saints, they of Italy salute you. Grace be with you all. Amen. Let's pray. Dear Lord God, we thank you for every soul that's in this church building right now, Lord, and thank you for the church you've given us, and thank you for pastor as well, Lord. I pray that you bless him right now, and fill him with the Spirit as we preach his word, Lord, and I pray, Lord, that us and the congregation are edified by the preaching of your word, Lord, and that we go away changed, and just bless this time. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Okay, we're in Hebrews chapter 13 this evening. Look down at your Bibles at verse number 20. It says, Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Verse 22, And I beseech you, brethren, listen to this, suffer the word of exhortation, for I have written a letter unto you in few words. And the title of my sermon this evening is Suffer the Word of Exhortation, or another title could be How to Take Advice. How to take advice. Here in Hebrews chapter 13, and of course throughout the book of Hebrews, the apostle Paul is writing to the Hebrews. Obviously, these are believing Jews who essentially are part of different congregations, and he's writing to them, and obviously he's teaching a lot of doctrine, he's giving a lot of instruction, and really a lot of things that would go against the grain of what they would previously believe. And even in chapter 13, he tells them to make sure that they remember them, who have the rule over them. He tells them not to occupy themselves with strange doctrines, and you know, meats and drinks and so on. And then he even goes on to say in verse 21, excuse me, he goes on to say in verse 17, Obey them to have the rule over you. So he's giving a lot of instructions, he's giving a lot of corrections, but really what this is is an exhortation. Now what is an exhortation? Well an exhortation, another way of saying it is just he's giving advice. We think of something that if you're being exhorted, you're being built up, right? You're given advice or counsel that's going to eventually build you up. And really that's what preaching should do, right? I mean the Bible tells us preach the word, be instant, in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, and it says, and exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. So some of the elements to preaching should have the pastor rebuking, reproving, and obviously those are two negatives, so there should be a lot of that going on. But then he also says to exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. What does that mean? Well it means that as we preach God's word, as we give counsel, as we advise the people of God, we should do it with patience. Why? Because not everyone is at the same spiritual level as everyone else in the building, in a church, some people are babes in Christ, other are more mature in the Lord, and so he says, hey, be longsuffering, but also make sure that you're doing it with longsuffering and doctrine. So don't say, well, you know, I don't want to offend anybody so I'm not going to teach these deep truths. No, we're supposed to reprove, rebuke, and exhort with longsuffering, with patience and doctrine. And so exhortation is an important element of preaching. Exhortation is an important element when dealing with other Christians, when discipling others, not just from the pulpit, but even on a one-on-one basis that we should exhort one another, advise one another. And what he says in Hebrews chapter 13 is this, suffer it. What do you mean by that? Allow it. Do it. Take the advice. Take the counsel. Don't reject it. Don't be obstinate. Make sure that you're taking it, you're suffering the word of exhortation. Don't say, well, this is for someone else. Don't say, hey, you know, this is not for me. Don't say, I already know this. Suffer the word of exhortation. And this is something that needs to be done every single service, right? So when the pastor gets up, when I get up and preach God's word, whether you're guilty of what I'm talking about or not, suffer the word of exhortation. Embrace the truth. Despise not prophesying, the Bible says. But, you know, I'm not the only one who exhorts in our church. Other people exhort other individuals in our church through one-on-one discipleship, counseling, and, you know, as I mentioned, exhorting can mean to advise, to give someone advice or counsel. But, you know, not everyone takes that exhortation, though. You know, sometimes people have a hard time taking advice. They have a hard time taking counsel. You say, why would people have a hard time doing that? Well, because often when advice is given, it's given to a person who is wrong in a certain area. And the last thing we like to do as human beings is admit that we're wrong, right? But in order for us to be exhorted, to grow, to be built, we have to recognize that we have certain flaws, that we're wrong in certain areas, and so it would do as good as God's people as Christians to allow people to advise us, to counsel us in areas that we need to work on, okay? And put our pride aside and not allow ourselves to become arrogant or obstinate and say, well, you know, I don't want to hear this, or I already know this, or this is for someone else. Don't get offended. Suffer the word of exhortation. You know, any time I preach a really hard sermon against this particular sin, for example, I don't know, like video games or something like that, suffer that word of exhortation. Don't get mad and say, oh, man, the pastor is just getting on us teenagers. He's mad at us. He just needs something to preach on, and he just wanted to beat the crap out of that Xbox or whatever in front of everyone. You know, that's all he wanted to do. No, why don't you just go ahead and just suffer the word of exhortation and embrace that truth and allow it to change your life, right? Any time I preach on fornication or drunkenness, greed, covetousness, gossip, and maybe you're guilty of that, hey, suffer the word of exhortation, embrace that truth, and allow it to change you to make you a better Christian. And the truth is, you know, we can't grow as Christians if we don't suffer the word of exhortation, if we don't embrace the preaching of God's word. You know, if I talk about marriage, okay, and areas in marriage that we need to work on, don't say, well, you know, what do you know? You've only been married for X amount of years. No, suffer the word of exhortation. Learn from it. Get wisdom from it. The Bible says in Ecclesiastes chapter 12, you don't have to turn there. Turn with me, if you would, to the book of Proverbs, though. Go to the book of Proverbs. Ecclesiastes 12 verse 11 says this, the words of the wise are as goats. What is a goat? It's referred to a prod, right? You see, when someone exhorts you, they're essentially pushing you to do right, right? Pushing you in the right direction. You see, someone going in the wrong direction, the words of the wise are like a prod that jabs them in the side and helps them to get back on track. You know, you start deviating from God's road and the ways of God. You need someone in your life to come with a rod and kind of probe you and say, hey, you're going the wrong way. And you know, the little prod, it's annoying, right? It's just like it jabs you, it feels uncomfortable, but we all need that, okay? And the words of the wise are like goats, and it says, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies which are given from one shepherd. So it's saying, you know, the words of the wise are like that, that prodding for that beast, but they also fasten you as nails for the masters of assembly. They establish you in the faith so that you're not carried about with every wind of doctrine, so you're not like a wave of the sea tossed to and fro. It helps you to have some stability. We need the words of the wise. The Bible says in Proverbs 13, go to Proverbs chapter 26. We're going to jump all over the place in the book of Proverbs, so just keep your finger there. Proverbs 13 verse 10 says this, only by pride cometh contention, but with the well-advised is wisdom. So when you're well-advised, when someone gives you good counsel, you're going to glean wisdom from that. It's going to benefit you in the long run. And this evening, I want to just talk about, I want to give you some practical tips on how to receive advice, okay? When someone gives you advice, how is it that you should receive it? What kind of attitude should you have? How should you respond to the counsel that is given unto you? Now, before I get into that, by way of introduction, let me give you a couple points here. First and foremost, let me say this. To those who are giving advice, number one, never give advice to a fool. So let's just say that right off the bat, okay? Look at Proverbs 26 verse 4, answer not a fool according to his folly, why? Lest thou also be like unto him. So the Bible's warning us here and it says, hey, when you see a fool saying stupid, foolish things, don't answer him according to that folly because you're going to sound as foolish as he sounds talking to you. So sometimes it's best to just let a fool talk and not get involved with the fool because at the end of the day, he's going to get you in the flesh, he's going to get you upset, and you're going to say some pretty stupid things that's going to cause you to look like a fool. Now, this is not a contradiction, but look at verse number 5. It says, answer a fool according to his folly, lest it be wise in his own conceit. So if there's a fool who seems to, is trying to espouse wisdom or show that he has wisdom and is trying to lead other people astray, well, that fool needs a response. That fool needs his folly to be made manifest so that others may fear and recognize that he's wrong in his so-called conceits, okay? But we're never to advise a fool. Look at Proverbs chapter 9, if you would, Proverbs chapter 9. Now, you know, a lot of conflicts in life can be avoided if we just know how to recognize the fool and not talk to the fool and not try to advise the fool, okay? Look at Proverbs 9, verse 7. He that reproveth a scorner geteth to himself shame, and he that rebuketh a wicked man getteth himself a blot. Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee, rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee. So the Bible tells us here, when we rebuke a fool, also known as a scorner, you know, also known as a wicked man because he's unwilling to listen to wisdom, the Bible says that person is just going to hate you even more, okay? It's not going to benefit the relationship. He's not going to respect you because of your wisdom. What is he going to do? He is essentially just going to hate you. You say, well, you know, what about times when you're preaching from the pulpit and you're preaching at fool's, are they going to hate you the more? Yeah, but you know what? They chose to come here though. So I can't really do it. When you come here, you're coming here understanding that I'm going to preach the word of God unto you and you're probably going to hear some things you don't want to hear. It's going to rub you the wrong way, so that was your choice, okay? You coming here is you basically telling me I want some biblical advice, right? But what the Bible is telling us here is that we shouldn't necessarily go out of our way to look for a fool to advise him because the fool will hate us and he's not going to love us. We're going to get ourselves a blah, and then it's going to result in shame on our part because anybody who's ever talked to a fool and walked away from that conversation, you feel like you just wasted your time. Your spirit is vexed. You're just like, man, why did I even get into it with that person? You know, we've all been there when we're out sowing and some fool, right, just wastes our time arguing about the flat earth or whatever. You know, they want to talk about nonsense, vain jangling, and you kind of get caught up in the flesh and you rebuke him and he's not willing to listen and you start arguing and then it just turns into this huge fight verbally and then you walk away and you're just like, man, I could have knocked out so many doors that I could have knocked on, but I wasted all my time here speaking to this fool. I answered that a fool according to his folly. Anytime I run into a fool out in public when I'm preaching the gospel, I'm just like, see ya, I'm out of here. You know what I mean? Because I don't want that person to waste my time. Look at Proverbs 15. So don't waste your time talking to a fool, which would mean that you have to recognize when you are talking to a fool. Proverbs 15 verse 12 says, A scorner loveth not one that reproveth him, neither will he go unto the wise. So here's the good thing about the fool, I know that sounds kind of weird, but there is one good thing about the fool, is that he's not going to come to you for advice. The only way you can really get caught up in a situation like that is when you go out of your way to go talk to a fool. You understand? Because he's not going to go to the wise and he's not going to love you for reproving him. You see, we as God's people, because we have the Bible, we understand the benefits of being reproved, we understand the benefits of being rebuked, of being corrected, therefore when someone does it to us, we love them so much the more because we recognize they're doing it for our benefit, to exhort us. Whereas the fool, he takes it personally. When you rebuke a fool, they feel like it's a personal attack on them, that you just don't like them, so they'll end up hating you the more because of your rebuke. Go to Proverbs chapter 29, if you would, Proverbs chapter 29. Matthew chapter 7 verse 6 tells us, Give not thou which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet and turn again and rend you. Now, this is teaching us that what we have to give are wisdom, you know, knowledge of the Bible. It's actually pretty valuable in God's eyes, and it should be valuable in our eyes. So that means we're not going to just distribute it to just any Tom, Dick, and Harry who just wants to listen. We want to give wisdom and knowledge to people who actually want it. And God says, don't give thou which is holy, referring to the knowledge of God's word, you know, your pearls before swine or before dogs because they're not going to appreciate the knowledge that you're giving to them. Okay, look at Proverbs 29. This is for anybody who is just having a hard time correcting an individual, and you're just like, I just keep correcting them, I just keep correcting them. Now, let me say this. Obviously, if you have a child who's a fool, you have to keep correcting that, and that's a different arena, okay? Because that's your responsibility. This doesn't apply to you as parents when it comes to your children, okay? But, you know, sometimes you'll talk to someone, and you rebuke them, and then they're just being foolish, not willing to listen, and you're rebuking them again, and you come up with a better argument, you just keep rebuking them, and they just seem to be getting worse. Why is that? Well, look at verse 1. So, a fool who's constantly corrected but not willing to change, what does it mean when he hardens his neck? It means he's going to become more stubborn and more obstinate. He's not going to listen, okay? He's just going to tighten up his neck and, you know, establish himself in this foolish nonsense, and he's not going to change, but the Bible says that he's going to suddenly be destroyed, though, that without remedy. So, the Bible's teaching us here that if we reprove a fool often, it's not going to change him at all. He's going to end up getting destroyed because of the knowledge that he's receiving and that he's rejecting, okay? Now, go with me, if you would, to go to Matthew chapter 7. Hold your place there in Proverbs because we're going to come back to that. So, never give advice to a fool. Learn to recognize who the fool is, but also, listen to this, never give advice about something that you're guilty of, okay? You know, don't try to be the expert in an area that you're not an expert in. Don't give me child-rearing advice if you've never had children. Don't give me marriage advice if you've never been married, okay? Don't give me any advice of things that you have not yet succeeded in, you understand? Look at Matthew chapter 7 and verse number 1. Judge not that ye be not judged. Now, a lot of liberals would just like the chapter to finish there, but we need to read on, amen? Verse 2 says, For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged. In other words, you're going to be held accountable for the judgments that you're putting forth. And with what measure ye meet, it shall be measured to you again. And why behold the style of the moat that is in thy brother's eye, but consider's not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the moat out of thine eye, and behold, the beam is in thine own eye? He's basically saying, how are you going to help someone in an area where they have a little moat in their eye when you have this huge redwood in yours? You know, it's just like, how are you going to tell me how to have a marriage, how I should raise my kids, how to be a good Christian when you're not even in church? You know, how are you going to tell me, you know, how to teach doctrine when you don't know doctrine? It's like this guy on YouTube, this NoHope, what's his name, Diamante, okay, who just recently made another video about yours truly, you know, about calling upon the name of the Lord and all these things and saying that I'm teaching false doctrine because of the fact that I say to people, oh, well, if you believe this in your heart, let me assist you in telling God what you already believe in your heart. He's like, see, he's saying it right there, what you already believe in your heart. But let me just say this, that's just an embarrassing attempt to justify heresy right there. Because the Bible clearly tells us that we're to assist people in calling upon the name of the Lord. Sorry, you know, I'm going to go with the Bible on this, not with some guy who's not even a pastor, he's a YouTuber, he's some Christian YouTuber with no credibility. You say, how do you know he doesn't have any credibility? Because of the fact that he's teaching you shouldn't call upon the name of the Lord. If he's attacking that doctrine, you just strict yourself of all credibility. And here's the thing, it's just like, well, why talk about him? Well, you know, the question I have is like, why is this guy talking about me? I thought we're like, you know, I thought the new IFP was like the furthest thing from his mind. I thought he's not even a part of this movement. But yeah, he sees fit to continue to bring us up. Well, obviously, because we live rent-free in his head, apparently. But you know, this guy is just trying to teach me doctrine while he himself can't even receive just the most basics of doctrines. Which means you have to call upon the name of the Lord to be saved. You know, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And you know, he has beef with that, but he needs to take it up with God and stop being such an idiot. You say, well, have you answered him? No, because I'm not to answer a fool according to his folly. And so, the point that I'm trying to make here is that you can't correct someone in an area that you yourself haven't mastered yet. And I'm not saying you have to have your ducks in order in order to help someone in that area. But if it's out of your area of jurisdiction, out of your area of expertise, you probably shouldn't advise someone in that area. You know, if you've been saved for three months or something like that, you probably can't show another person how to just make it into Christian life for the next ten years because you're still trying to figure it out yourself. You know? And so, we need to make sure that we're not just giving advice about something that we're not experts in, we don't necessarily know, we're kind of ignorant about. Learn in that area and then advise another individual. He says in verse 5, thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye, and then thou shalt see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye. Okay? Next one, never give unsought for advice to someone who is not under your authority. Okay? Bible says in Romans 14, you don't have to turn there, verse number 4, who art thou that judgest another man's servant to his own master he standeth or falleth? Yea, he shall be holden up for God is able to make him stand. So, what am I saying here? Well, you know, you probably shouldn't correct another man's wife. You probably shouldn't correct a parent's children because you're not their authority. Okay? And so, never give unsought for advice to someone who isn't under your authority. That's just plain wisdom. Okay? And let's say this, maybe they're not necessarily under your authority but they're not necessarily under anybody's authority. Well, here's more advice. Just take this into account. Unsought for advice is seldom heeded and often resented. Let me say that again. Unsought for advice is seldom heeded and often resented. No one likes to hear advice when they never ask for it. Right? Like, I got some advice for you. And then you give them advice and they're just like, well, number one, I'm not going to listen to that. And number two, I'm going to resent you for trying to give me this advice. Okay? So, before you decide to distribute your wisdom and your prudence upon another individual because you know you can help them so well in that area, you got to recognize that more than likely that person is not going to listen to you and then they're going to resent you for thinking that you're something great of wisdom. Okay? You're a source of counsel and wisdom. Now, obviously, you know, the Bible tells us that faithful are the wounds of a friend, right? And we need friends to correct us. And in fact, I would say, you know, ditch your lame friends out in the world, your contemporaries who are poison for you, who are essentially just going to encourage you to do wrong and sin and get you some friends who are going to encourage you to just be in church and go soul-winning and read the Bible and, you know, rebuke you when you need it. Right? Like, we all need a friend who can just tell us how it is every once in a while and just say, hey, Gio, stop thinking about steroids so much, Gio. You know what I mean? Get TRT off your mind, Gio. You know, stop it, Gio. The thought of foolishness is sin, Gio. What am I doing? I'm wounding him, you know? But here's the thing, though. Let's just be real honest. Gio and I have a great relationship. And obviously, I'm joking. I know he's not going to do steroids, especially not now, you know. But, you know, him and I have a great relationship. And I think I'm comfortable enough around Gio that I can just rebuke the crap out of him and he's not going to hate me for it because I think he knows that I love him, that I have his best interest in mind, and that when I wound him, I'm doing it as a friend, not as someone who has a personal vendetta against him or something like that. So we all need a friend like that. And it's not always going to be me. Maybe it's someone in our church who is older in the Lord than you, who loves you enough to just tell you how it is. And I'll just be honest with you. Maybe it's because of my spiritual gift. I love it when just people tell me how it is. I liked when someone just shoots it to me straight. I don't like when people sugarcoat it for me and they just, you know, they just kind of beat around the bush. Just tell me what I need to hear. If I did wrong, just tell me I prefer that. And even if you're not wired that way, you should have that disposition because of the fact that if we have friends who truly love us, they're going to help us out. A shallow example would be this. If you have a booger on your face, you're just kind of chilling on the tip of your nose, and you're like the center of the conversation. You're telling a story, and that thing is just like. Shame on that group who doesn't pull you aside and say, hey dude, you got a huge booger on your nose. You're like, I did tell them, but I told them after the story was done though. You should be able to tell your friends, hey, you got something on your nose. You got a booger right there or whatever. You got something on your face. That's a really shallow example. But sometimes we need to be told when we are wrong in a certain area, and we need friends like that. But let me say this, is that you should never give advice to someone you're not really that close to. And if you want to give advice to someone that you're not close to, before you advise them, you should learn to win them over first as a friend. Go over to Proverbs 29. I'm going to read to you from Proverbs 18 and verse 19. Again, the point is, never give advice to someone you're not close to. The Bible says in Proverbs 18 and 19, a brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city, and their contentions are like the bars of a castle. So if you say something to another brother or sister in Christ that you're not close to, and you risk offending them, and you do offend them, just kiss your opportunity to ever advise them ever again goodbye. Because it says that they're harder to be won than a strong city. They'll resent you for that, they won't accept it. And even if what you're advising them to do is true, even if your correction is true, your rebuke is true, it's biblical, it's what they need, you have to understand that sometimes you have to be able to win the hearts of the people first so that they trust that what you're telling them is for their benefit, and not just because you have something against them or something. But if you offend them, they're going to be harder to win than a strong city, their contentions against you are going to be like the bars of a castle, and they're going to remember it for a long, long time. Especially if they're a girl. Look at Proverbs 29 for years to come. Look at Proverbs 29 verse 19. A servant will not be corrected by words, for though he understand, he will not answer. Seeest thou a man that is hasty in his words? There is more hope of a fool than of him. Listen to this in verse 21. Great, great proverbial advice here. He that delicately bringeth up his servant from a child shall have him become his son at the length. So how do we apply this? Well, it's basically stating if you care for someone, you delicately bring them up as a son in the faith, as a friend, right? They see that you love them, they see that you care for them, well eventually the relationship will end up becoming like a spiritual father and a spiritual son, where now you have the privilege of correcting that person to whatever extent. Now, I'll give some examples. One of them being Brother Ulysses Hernandez. I've known Brother Ulysses Hernandez for years, and I feel like I've had years to win him over. And obviously he's my employee, but even prior to being my employee, we were friends for a really long time. And I've advised him, I've given him counsel, I've helped him for many years, and he's one of those guys that I would say I've delicately brought up in the faith, so now I can just rip his face off whenever I want. He knows that I don't mean anything mean about it. I can tell him as hard as it is, and he's never going to be like, man, pastor hates me or something. Another example would be Marcos. And the reason I point these guys out is because I was their Bible college teacher, I've known them for many years, but Marcos would be one who I've rebuked many, many, many moons. I mean, long before this church started. He can probably give you some stories where I probably made him cry or something. It's probably happened. In fact, he brought up an example one time of an email that I sent him, and he was just like, man, that was so mean, you just got on me so hard. And I don't remember, I'm just like, oh wow, that's funny, I don't remember that. But here's the thing, I would say that I delicately brought him up, so that now, years later, as a church member, if I wanted to, if I felt like there was something in his life that was going to be detrimental or hazardous to his spiritual growth, I can just freely tell him, Marcos, you're being an idiot here. You need to get this right, stop being stupid. And he's not going to be like, well, I'm going to go to another church then or something. Because he obviously sees that I genuinely love him, that I don't mean anything bad about it as far as I'm not trying to attack his character, I don't have a personal vendetta against him. I truly want what benefits him spiritually, you understand? But let me say this, I've probably known both of these guys for over a decade. So it's taken a long time to do that. So it's not like, you know what, I'm going to start doing that to someone too. But you've only known him for like a couple months or something like that. It takes time to delicately bring someone up to the point where you can rebuke them and exhort them and teach them so that you don't offend them. The point that I'm making is that you don't want to do that to someone you're not close to. Because again, you can offend them and then there goes your opportunity to be a blessing to them by advising them because they're not mature enough to understand that you mean it for their benefit. Now go to Proverbs chapter 3 if you would, Proverbs chapter 3. So those are the people we should not rebuke, we should not correct, and we need to give heed to that advice. And here's the thing is that you may have a lot of advice, a lot of wisdom, but what I've learned is the person with the most wisdom is often the one who doesn't try to give it out a whole lot. The person who's always trying to give out wisdom probably doesn't have a whole lot of wisdom. She or him, they're just trying to give it to every person they run into. We should value the amount of wisdom that God has given to us and sparingly give it to those who we think should get it or are worthy of it. Now let's get into the main points here, that's all introduction by the way. How to take advice, how to suffer the word of exhortation, it's a very simple, very practical sermon. Number one is with humility. Don't act like you know it all. When someone gives you advice, so let's say they pass all those tests, you're close to them, you know, it's your mom or it's your dad, it's an older person in the Lord, an elder so to speak in the church, and they correct you on something, the first thing that should come into your mind is this, I need to be humble about this and not get upset and not become prideful or have this attitude of I already know. Here's the worst thing you could ever say to someone trying to give you advice, I know, I know, I know, I already know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know that, I know. What does that show? It shows that you're not humble. Because if someone is advising you, it obviously shows that you don't know. Bible says in 1 Corinthians 8, 2, if any man think that he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing, yet as he ought to know. So it's just like, I know, I know, no you don't. And look, obviously we all know something, right? But when someone, you got to understand something, when someone gives you advice or counsel, they're always giving it to you from a perspective that you may not see, right? There's someone on the outside looking in, and it's always good to get someone's advice who is not going through what you're going through, and it's just like a different perspective, okay? And if you go for someone for advice and they tell you something you don't want to hear, they'll be like, oh, I know that, alright, I already know, I know. I mean, they're going to give you a perspective that you need to hear, be humble about it, and recognize that you don't possess all the wisdom necessary to succeed in life. You need someone else to help you, okay? Look at Proverbs 3, verse 5, trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. And although I always acknowledge him, he shall direct thy paths. Listen to this in verse 7, be not wise in thine own eyes. Fear the Lord and depart from evil. Don't be this person who you just think you're wise. You're just wise in your own eyes, and you just think you got it all together. When you get counsel, when someone gives you wisdom, when they give you advice, be humble and recognize this person is going to give me something that I don't know as of yet. Or, if I do know it, I'm not putting it into practice as I should, okay? Proverbs 12, verse 15 says, the way of a fool is right in his own sight, in his own eye, excuse me. But he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise. Look at Proverbs 25, if you would, verse 12. And then we're going to go to James chapter 4, hold your place there in Proverbs. Look at Proverbs 25 and verse number 12. It says in verse number 12, as an earring of gold, and as an ornament of fine gold, so is a wise reprover upon an obedient ear, the Bible says. So you think of an earring of gold, an ornament of fine gold, as something that's not only valuable, but it's actually pleasing to the sight, right? You look at it, it's something that's beautiful, it's attractive. And the Bible is saying here, when there is a wise reprover, in other words, an individual who is rebuking another person who they know, care about, are close to, that's a wise reprover, right? But it's upon an obedient ear. That makes that individual, whether the reprover or the ear, attractive, okay? Attractive for who? For anybody. We like to be around humble people. Prideful people is something that we kind of, that kind of repels us, right? People are often repulsed by a prideful, arrogant individual who thinks they know it all, who lacks humility, we don't like being around people like that. Because, you know, what have we to talk about that you don't already know? Whereas someone who readily recognizes their lack of wisdom, their lack of understanding, that's an attractive person. And we don't mean attractive as in like physically, we're saying attractive as in, this is the kind of people that I want to be around. I want to be around this person because I see them as being smart, intelligent, and understanding, but they also realize that they have not yet arrived. That's very attractive, right? And I mean, we're not talking about physical attraction, but hey guys, don't be a prideful person because women hate prideful people. I mean, we all don't like prideful people just in general, but you know, if you're a guy, a single young man, okay, I'm not talking to the married people here. You know, us married people, apparently we got the Riz because we got married. All the married folks in here, we got that Riz, okay? Riz is short for charisma, okay? But you single people, hey, you know, be humble and don't try to impress the girl that you like by showing how much you know, okay? By just, and by the way, when you talk to someone of the opposite sex and you're talking to them, you know, don't always talk about yourself, about all your successes and how many heads you've chopped off or whatever and, you know, you collected all these foreskins of the Philistines, you know, about all your exploits. The best thing to do is for you to talk about them, right? You say why? Because people like to talk about themselves, okay? So, you know, you need to not talk about yourself and talk about them. If you're talking about yourself, it often shows a prideful, arrogant attitude because you like to talk about moi, you like to talk about yourself. You think yourself is so great, okay? And so be an earring of gold and an ornament of fine gold and so when someone rebukes you or corrects you, obey it, listen to it, be humble about it. Look at James chapter 4 and verse number 6. It says in James 4 verse number 6, But he giveth more grace, wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded. Be afflicted and mourn and weep. Let your laughter return to mourning and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and he shall lift you up. Sounds to me that God also finds humility attractive. To the point when a person humbles himself, he's willing to exalt them in the eyes of others, whether at his job, in a church, whatever it may be. Okay, look at James chapter 1. James chapter 1 and verse number 4. It says, But let patience have a perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting, that word wanting means lacking, nothing. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally and abraighteth not, and it shall be given to him. So obviously this requires humility. To go to God and ask him for wisdom is essentially recognizing I don't possess wisdom. And so we need humility when someone gives us advice. And I mean, let's just be real honest here. All of us, to a certain extent, have been given advice by someone, advice that we've already heard, that we already know. But wouldn't you agree that we need to be reminded of those things that we already know, though? I mean, don't we all need to be reminded of marriage principles? I mean, we forget things, right? We all need to be reminded of how to go soul winning. We all need to be reminded of marriage principles, of child-reading principles, of Bible reading. These are things that are already stowed away in our minds that we've learned in times past. But what I do is we bring out the Rolodex and say, hey, remember this? And it's just like, oh yeah, I knew that, but I forgot about that. So if someone gives you advice about something you already know, who cares if you already know? You need to be reminded once again. Like, oh, I've heard this sermon already. Yeah, but I'm preaching it because you need to be reminded. And so we often need to be reminded, and that's why advice is so important. When someone gives you advice, you may already know it, but you know, knowledge and putting knowledge into practice are two different things. So if someone corrects you in an area, they're not saying you don't know it. They're probably saying you've forgotten to put it into practice. Okay, go back to the book of Proverbs, if you would. Talk about how to suffer the word of exhortation, how to take advice, how to take counsel when someone gives it to you. Number one, of course, as we mentioned, is, I'm going to read it here, with humility. Number two, by going to the right people. You need to go to the right people when you get advice, okay? Look at Proverbs 15, verse 23. A man hath joy, Proverbs 15, verse 23. A man hath joy by the answer of his mouth, and a word spoken in due season, how good it is. Look at chapter 20, if you would, chapter 20, and verse number five. Counsel, verse five of chapter 20, counsel in the heart of a man is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out. What does that mean? Someone who truly has counsel and wisdom, they're like a well of wisdom. And often those who have the most wisdom have the deepest wells. And so a person who truly wants wisdom needs to go to the right wells and draw out that wisdom. You understand? What am I saying here? You need to go to the right wells. Whenever you're struggling in a particular area of life, you need to know who to go to for advice. You say, well, what are you talking about? Well, go to 1 Kings chapter 12, if you would, 1 Kings chapter 12. Hold your place during the book of Proverbs. You know, you shouldn't be going to a therapist. Let me just blatantly say it. I'm like a sugarcoat. Just don't go to a therapist. And you know what? There's plenty of people, unfortunately Christians and non-Christians, who depend on therapists to fix spiritual problems. But folks, therapists can't fix spiritual problems because they're not even saved, most of them. It's just like, oh, I need help with my marriage or something like that. They're going to tell you, you need me time. That's not what the Bible says. You know what therapists do? They make you more selfish, self-centered, and a lover of self. That's what they do. And I know this by personal experience, not because I've ever had a therapist, but I have family members who have had therapists for years. And I just see family members just degrade into becoming just the selfish, self-centered, just the world revolves around them type of people because that's what their therapist is constantly telling them to do. Oh, you need to cut off your family from you and you need me time. You need, you know, do your own thing. Get away from your children. Get away from your spouse. Get away from your family. It's all about you. And it just makes them selfish. And one of the worst things you can do to yourself is be a selfish person. Now, does everyone need a little me time? Of course. We all need to just get away, you know, to just kind of unwind or whatever and go eat a chocolate or something or go to In-N-Out or whatever. We all need some alone time in isolation so we can spend time with God and kind of clear our minds. Well, we can't live in that, right? Like, we all need a vacation. Let's just be honest. We all need a vacation every once in a while where we can just like, all right, let's chill out, enough to rejuvenate, to recreate. Recreation is to recreate so we can get back to doing what we're supposed to be doing, right? But, folks, the therapist's advice is not that. The therapist's advice is just like live in recreation. Just live that way. Stay that way. What they're doing is they're building up an appetite for escapism, to escape reality, to escape responsibility. It's not the route to go, my friends. You know, if you have a spiritual problem, you need to go to a spiritual leader, you need to go to a spiritual book and go to what the Word of God says and not to some psychologist or whatever who thinks they have a grasp on life and they're probably divorced. They probably don't believe in the Lord. And if they do, they probably never read the Bible cover to cover. They're not qualified to give you life advice. And you know what, that needs to be preached way more because too many Christians are depending on people like that. And they're wasting all this money to have you lay down on some couch and have you bring up all these traumatic experiences on a weekly basis of everything that's ever happened to you as a child and then you just come out as a mess with tears and you're just worse and worse and worse. You know, it's just like, oh, your spouse is doing this, divorce them. That's like the advice they give. It's wicked, my friends. If you're going to get advice, this is how you take it. Get it from the right people. Okay? You know, school counselors. Be careful with school counselors. And obviously there's the exception to the rule, okay? There are good school counselors out there, all right? Not going to point any elbows or anything like that. But you know what? I'm sure they can tell you that there's some pretty bad school counselors out there who don't lead you in the ways of righteousness and lead students astray. You know, I remember being in high school. Man, all my school counselors were fags. It's like, well, how can they even lead me anywhere but to hell? That's the only direction they know how to go in. I mean, I had a school counselor. She would just tell me to take a stack of detentions and suspensions every time I saw her. It's like, she wouldn't help me with any problems. You're like, take a stack of detentions. And then she was like the biggest fag there. The funny thing is, let me tell you, this is funny. In Long Beach, there's a street called Broadway. And Broadway was a street for sodomites. It's a street designated for only sodomites, which is funny because it's like, broad is the way. And my counselor, her name was Miss Broadway. It's like, perfect. But this lady hated my guts because maybe she knew in the back of her mind who I was going to be one day, you know? But I'll tell you this, there's not one single piece of advice or counsel that those people ever gave me that ever benefited me in the long run or even in the short term. It just made me bitter towards school. I'm like, I hate this school. I hate these people. They're making my life a living hell. What I'm saying is, go to the right people. Don't go to the world, hey, you know, don't go to Jordan Peterson on how to overcome depression when that guy has the biggest beam in his eye of depression. That guy hasn't gone over depression. Have you seen him? The guy looks miserable. He looks like just, he's a miser. The guy is just a miserable person. He never smiles. He always looks upset and grumpy. That guy doesn't have the joy of the Lord in his life. You know, when you're teaching the book of Genesis, how does he teach the book of Genesis when the guy doesn't even believe the Bible? But you know how Christians go to these people for advice, they can't give you any advice because the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them, for they are spiritually discerned. Oh, yeah, but he's for manhood. So was the Bible. Go to the Bible. The Bible's more manly than that guy. You know, they're over here asking him, you know, how have you been under your depression? And he's like, well, ever since I got on carnivore, it's gotten a little better. A little better? It's like, dude, I know people who are super unhealthy and they're happier than you. Because at least they have the joy of the Lord in their life. I mean, I'm not against carnivore. Carnivore is great. You know, eating meat is great. And you know what? Sometimes people do need to eat meat. OK, and that's one of the reasons why people are so depressed because they don't have enough meat, red meat in their system. OK, but this guy's getting obviously a lot of red meat and he's still miserable. So why would you go to him for any type of advice or counsel on spiritual matters when it doesn't seem that he's overcoming depression or anxiety or whatever he's going through? He's not the poster boy for joy, for sure. That guy doesn't never looks happy. You know, I saw one of his clips where he's teaching about the Book of Genesis. It's just fluff. Bunch of fluff, the vain words. He's like a cloud without water. He's all show. He's all thesaurus. You know, he uses all these huge extravagant words to deter attention from the fact that he doesn't know the Bible at all. OK, you know, be careful who you go to for advice. You know, there are many voices out there and none of them are without signification, the Bible says. And you've got to be aware of the voices you're listening to. You know, there's so many podcasts out there and shows and YouTube channels. There's so many people trying to grab your attention and give you ungodly advice. You need to be able to filter through all those. And if you're incapable of doing so, then shut it off and stick to the Bible. Shut it off and stick to preaching until you get the discernment enough to be able to decipher that and not listen to the idiots of the Jordan Petersons of this world. The Andrew Tates of this world or whatever. Yeah, but he's going against what's that girl's name? Greta. He's going against Greta, though, you know, they're both wicked, though. Yeah, they're both idiots. Both of them can't give you any God. That guy can't give you any godly advice. Look at first Kings Chapter 12, verse number six. Let's look at an example of this. In verse number six says, And King Rehoboam consulted with the old man that stood before Solomon, his father, while he had lived, and said, How do you advise that I should answer this people? Now what he's talking about is that the people came to him and said, Hey, your dad essentially whipped us pretty bad, you know, and he was like really hard on us. So here's our advice to you. Treat us good and we'll follow you, love you, we'll obey you. Some pretty good advice, right? So he goes to the old men. He consulted with the old man, and he's asking for advice. What did they say? Verse number seven, they spake unto him, saying, If thou wilt be a servant unto this people this day, and wilt serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be thy servants forever. Pretty good advice. He's like, look, if you do this, you're going to be a happy king. It's going to be great. You're going to have a great relationship with your people. This is what you have to do. Verse eight, But he forsook the counsel of the old men which they had given him, and consulted with the young men that were grown up with him, and which stood before him. So all his buddies. And he said unto them, What counsel give ye that we may answer this people who have spoken to me, saying, Make the yoke which thy father did put upon us lighter? And the young men that were grown up with him spake unto him, saying, Thus shalt thou speak unto this people that spake unto thee, saying, Thy father made our yoke heavy, but make thou it lighter unto us. Thus shalt they say unto them, My little finger shall be thicker than my father's loins. And now, whereas my father delayed you with the heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions. So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day as the king had appointed, saying, Come to me again this third day. And the king answered the people roughly, and forsook the old men's counsel that they gave him, and spake to them after the counsel of the young men, so on and so forth. So he just completely forgets the counsel of the old men, which is very wise, and he goes with the advice of his friends who grew up with him. He's like, I like that. I'm not going to push over. I'm going to whip them with scorpions. I'm going to tell them who's boss. Well, you know, Rehoboam, now the kingdom is split. So yeah, that's what you get for listening to your buddies. And you know, I'm going to say this to the cows come home. And that is, you know, you young men need to get advice for spiritual matters, not spiritual matters necessarily all of them, but life in general from older men. And don't always go to your buddies to get advice on areas that they have not yet succeeded in. Okay. Don't be like Rehoboam and be like, you know, that sounds good actually, you know. You know, my father used to say, peers typically poison. And I agree with that statement to a certain extent because obviously there's peers that don't poison. They exhort you to continue in the things of the Lord and their great influence. But when it comes to matters of just like giving advice on things they just never experienced, yeah, they can poison you. I mean, Rehoboam was poisoned here and he took really bad advice and the kingdom ended up getting split. There's all types of problems. And so be careful who you go to for advice. And you young men, if someone comes to you, your contemporary comes to you for advice and you know that you don't know, don't act like you know. Don't be like, well, he's asking me so I'm going to build more credibility by just giving him some crazy advice. I'm just going to make something up real quick. Don't even say, you know what, I don't really know a whole lot about that. You should go to the pastor, you should go to Brother Ulysses, you should go to Brother so-and-so because I really don't have any knowledge about that. But I'll pray for you about that. Let me know how it goes. And in fact, you'll build up your reputation as a wise person if you give an answer like that. Because then people will say, oh, this person's pretty smart, pretty wise to see how unwise he is in certain matters. Okay. The Bible says in Proverbs 20 verse 29, The glory of young men is your strength, listen to this, and the beauty of old men is their gray head. It's not referring necessarily to the color of hair, it's the indicator that this person should be wise when they get older. Because gray headed is often associated with wisdom. Don't go to a therapist, don't go to worldly counselors for spiritual advice, don't go to the world, don't let some ungodly therapist who just wants you to be all about you spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit. Okay. And again, I've seen this personally where people have just, they think that they can fix their inner turmoil and problems by just isolating themselves from everybody for months on end, even years. Just focus on yourself and it's all about you and, you know, forget your family and, you know. And by the way, I'm all for removing toxic people from your life. I'm talking about like real toxic people though. I'm talking about like fags and stuff. But you know what, those people are like remove toxic people and toxic people are just like everyone. It's like anybody who doesn't agree with you or, you know, anybody who's religious, all those people are so toxic. You know, get rid of your mom, she's so toxic. Your father, they're so toxic or whatever. It's just like, they're just breeding these weenies who are incapable of dealing with problems in a proper manner. Okay. Go to James Chapter 1. Stay there in Proverbs. I'm talking about how to take advice with humility. Take advice with humility by going to the right people. Here's something very novel. This is how you can take advice with the intention to follow it. Right? You know, it's just, oh man, that's great advice. And you just never do it. Oh, thank you for that. I appreciate that. Not going to do it. Just wasting my breath on you. People are just going to waste their breath on you. It's one thing to say, great sermon. It's another thing to say, I'm going to follow that sermon. Okay. So I hope you follow this sermon. Amen. Like, man, that was really good. And then you just never take advice. You just, you're still prideful and arrogant about it. Have the intention to actually follow it. Not just trying to find some ally or someone who agrees with your plan. Let me say this. Sometimes people go for advice because they're looking for someone to agree with their plans. It's not that they want advice. They want someone to essentially put the stamp of approval on what they want to do. This is why they go to different people. It's like they go to one person and the person just gives them advice that they don't like. And then they go to another person. What do you think I should do? And they go to like five different people until one person just kind of gives them a little bit of the answer of what they want to hear. It's like, okay, yeah, that must be from God for sure. Look, in the multitude of counselors there is safety. Amen. And what that means is that if you have a church with varying levels of people or with people of varying levels of wisdom, that's a great thing. That's a cabinet of counselors. That is a group of people who are wise in different arenas of life. And there is safety in that, right? That verse is not saying go to your cabinet of counselors until you get the answer that you want. Go to someone who's going to tell you the truth and then intend and actually execute, follow and do what you're advised to do. Look at James 1, verse 22. So what is he saying? Don't be the person that looks in the mirror and you see a booger in your face. You've got the eye booger still. Your hair is out of place. You've got food in your teeth. And you see it and you're like, oh, man, I've got to fix that. And then you walk away and just don't fix it. You want to be the type of person that when someone gives you advice you actually follow through. Because let me say this. If you don't, you will lose credibility with people. And then people will no longer want to advise you because you never follow through on their advice. If you go to someone for help, for advice, and they give it to you, do your best to actually follow through. And here's a bonus. When you follow through, go to the person and tell them, hey, I follow through on that advice. Because what happens is you'll gain more wisdom and you'll gain the respect and credibility of the individual who's giving you advice. Because they'll say, wow, this person actually followed through on what I told him to do. But a person who's just like constantly asking for the same thing, never following through, is a person who's just deceiving their own selves. Either they have their own agenda of what they want to do or they're just too lazy and they just never follow through. And so when someone gives you advice, actually do it. Actually put into practice what you're doing. And again, a bonus is keep the person who gave you advice posted on what you're doing. Keep them updated. Like, hey, remember when we talked about this? I actually did that and these are the results of that. I mean, that'll get you a lot of credibility in the eyes of others. And you essentially open yourself up to having wise counselors all the time. Because they know they're willing to invest in you because you're willing to take advice and actually execute it. Go back to the book of Proverbs, if you would. We've got two more points and that's it. How to take advice. With open ears to the truth. Don't just hear what you want to hear. Just be willing to listen to whatever it is that they're willing to tell you, even if you don't like it. Okay? Look at Proverbs 9, verse 8. Reprove not a scorn, lest he hate thee. Rebuke a wise man and he will love thee. So obviously this is a reiteration of a lot of what I've said tonight. But just recognize this. When you go to someone from counsel, more than likely they're going to tell you something you don't want to hear. They're going to tell you something that's going to rub you the wrong way and you should expect that. Like when you go for wisdom or counsel from someone else, don't expect for them to tell you what you want to hear, but that what you need to hear. It's a very uncomfortable truth. You know, well, you know, I've been meaning to tell you. You need to do X, Y, and Z. I've noticed that you've done this. You should correct that. And you know what? That's embarrassing. It is embarrassing, right? I mean, how many of you say that's kind of embarrassing when someone tells me I'm wrong and they point out all my flaws and what I need to change? No one's like that, huh? Everyone just, you guys are all obedient ears and all that. Wow, yeah, you guys all need the sermon for sure, okay? We've all been to that point and look, it's embarrassing. It's, you know, in a sense humiliating where it's just like, man, I do have to correct that. And you get red-faced, but you know what? It's necessary. That's what we need, okay? And so, go to someone, not expecting for them to tell you what you want to hear, but what you need to hear. And then lastly, go to 2 Samuel chapter 24, if you would, 2 Samuel chapter 24. Here's the last point, is when you take advice, make sure you approach it without unrealistic expectations. What do I mean by that? This is for me or for anybody else. Let's say you just messed up. You just didn't take advice in times past and you messed up. Don't expect the person you're getting advice from to be a miracle worker. Or to give you like a one-size-fits-all solution to just fix your problem since you didn't follow the advice in the first place. Let me say this, I'm a pastor, but I'm no miracle worker, okay? I cannot provide miracles, my friends. This is not a charismatic church. I can't even fake a miracle. You know, don't expect me or anybody else to provide a miracle, to provide even, listen to this, I know this sounds weird. Don't even expect for us to provide a great solution. Or even a good solution. Or even any kind of solution that might benefit you in the short term. Because sometimes that doesn't exist. And don't get mad at me if I can't. Say, what? Then what's the point of going to you for advice? Because we're going to tell you what are your best options. That's what we're going to tell you. That's what I'm going to tell you and hopefully the people you go to, they're going to tell you, here are your best options. Okay, look at 2 Samuel 24, verse number 10, here's a perfect example of this. Verse 10 says, And David's heart smote him after he had numbered the people. And David said unto the Lord, I have sinned greatly in that I have done, and now I beseech thee, O Lord, take away the iniquity of thy servant, for I have done very foolishly. For when David was up in the morning, the word of the Lord came unto the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying, Go and say unto David, Thus saith the Lord, I offer thee three things. Choose thee, one of them, that I may do it unto thee. And he's probably thinking, all right, like, you know, cool, you know. Is it like, you know, like a son, you know, like riches, the life of my enemies, you know. So Gad came to David and told him and said unto him, Shall seven years of famine come unto thee in the land? Oh, man, let's put that in the maven pile. Or wilt thou flee three months before thine enemies while they pursue thee? Oh, hold on, these aren't even getting better. What, famine or this? The third one has to be like the best one, right? Or that there be three days pestilence in the land, now advised, and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me. So Gad says, all right, here are your three options. Ready? Famine, a bunch of people die. You flee three months from your enemies, a bunch of your people die. Or three days pestilence and a bunch of people die. What do you want? What do you want? Like, hurry up, because I got to go tell him, you know, I got to go give an answer to him, because these are the three. And he's like, what's the fourth option? This isn't even the fourth option. This is all you're getting. Seems kind of rough, right? But you know what? Sin complicates stuff, though. And sometimes the decisions that we make in life only gives us bad options. Sorry. So, you know, David's not going to go to Gad and say, well, can you give me a fourth option? Can you come up with the fifth option? He's like, hey, I'm just the messenger. Here are your only three options for your sins. Now, David, because he's wise, said, well, I'm going to just fall into the hands of the Lord. Because he says, if I fall into the hands of my enemy, they're not going to be merciful. But I know God to be merciful, so I'd rather fall into the hands of God. And obviously, God was long suffering. And although a lot of people died, it was still the best option out of all three options, even though it was still pretty bad. But, you know, I'm glad David didn't think, well, why? Why can't he just like not give me these options and just give me a better option? Well, because sin can complicate things to the point where you only have bad options to work with. And you know what? God can work a miracle, but you can't expect us to work it, though. And so when you get advice from myself or from anybody else, don't come, you know, with these unrealistic expectations to think that we're just going to solve everything. Just, you know, I have a wand or something. It's just like marriage fixed, children fixed or whatever, and job situation fixed. And this is what you got to do and what I am. You know, just like I don't operate like that. I can't. Okay. It's like, now, you say, well, how can I avoid just that whole situation? I'm glad you asked. Take advice from the very start so that you're not placed in that situation. You see, a lot of people who wait, and look, here's another thing, okay, is don't wait till the entire building has come crumbling down before you come to me or anybody else. It's just like, can you fix this situation? I just nuked this entire situation. Can you fix it? It's just like, well, thanks for telling me now. You know, you probably should have called me months before while it was in its beginning stages, and we could have done something about it. And then I'm here like, all right, well, that doesn't work. You know, it's like, I got to put the pieces together, and you can't put it together. And then people get mad at me because I can't put it together. Like, why can't you fix our problems? I mean, I'm not a miracle worker. I'm a wise master builder but only of souls. Like, I can't just, like, fix everything, you know? So follow the advice. Follow the advice from the preaching in times past. Don't take this sermon lightly. Listen to this so that you're not nuking your family, your marriage, your children, your spiritual life. Six months down the road. Listen to the advice now so you don't have to do that. And if, per se, you do mess up and you do nuke it, okay, of course we're going to help you put it back together. Of course we're going to advise you. Of course we're going to love you and help you, but don't have an unrealistic expectation and think that we're just going to get it back to the way it was. Okay? It's unrealistic. And so this is how you can take advice, my friends. And it's one of the greatest virtues. One of the greatest virtues is when a person is capable of just listening to counsel, listening to advice, and giving heed and applying it and succeeding because of it. Learn that. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your Word. Thank you for those who have advised us in times past. Help us as your people to have the humility, the prudence, and the application, Lord. And, Lord, help us to give heed to the sermon tonight, to give heed to every sermon, not think that, well, this won't apply to me. Every single sermon that's preached from behind this pulpit is for every individual in this room. And I pray, Lord, that you'd help us to give heed to it and that we would be doers of the Word, not hearers only. And, Lord, help us. Give us wisdom. We love you and we thank you. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. On a hill far away Stood an old rugged cross The embermuffs are free and chained And I love that old cross Where the dearest and best For all the lost sailors was slain So I'll cherish the old rugged cross Till my trophies at last I lay down I will cling to the old rugged cross And exchange it someday for a crown Oh, that old rugged cross Has a wondrous attraction for me For the dear Lamb of God Left his glory above To bear in too dark a burry So I'll cherish the old rugged cross Till my trophies at last I lay down I will cling to the old rugged cross And exchange it someday for a crown In the old rugged cross The wondrous beauty I see For it was on that old cross Jesus suffered and died To pardon and sanctify me So I'll cherish the old rugged cross Till my trophies at last I lay down I will cling to the old rugged cross And exchange it someday for a crown To the old rugged cross I will ever be true It's shame and reproach gladly bear Me someday to my home far away Where his glory forever I'll share So I'll cherish the old rugged cross Till my trophies at last I lay down I will cling to the old rugged cross And exchange it someday for a crown