(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.) 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Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, Good morning and welcome to Verity Baptist Church. Let's find our seats, take our song Blessed be the name, 159, sing it out on the first All praise to Him who reigns above In majesty supreme Who gave His Son for man to die That He might then redeem Blessed be the name, blessed be the name Blessed be the name of the Lord Blessed be the name, blessed be the name Blessed be the name of the Lord 159, sing it out on the second His name above all names shall stand Exalted more and more And God the Father's your right hand For angel hosts adored Blessed be the name, blessed be the name Blessed be the name of the Lord Blessed be the name, blessed be the name Blessed be the name of the Lord All right, let's sing it like we mean it on the third Redeemer, Savior, friend of man Once ruined by the fall Good, thou hast defied salvation's plan For thou hast died for all, sing it out Blessed be the name, blessed be the name Blessed be the name of the Lord Blessed be the name, blessed be the name Blessed be the name of the Lord unto the last His name shall be the counselor The mighty Prince of Peace Of all earth's kingdoms conquer earth Whose reign shall never cease Blessed be the name, blessed be the name Blessed be the name of the Lord Blessed be the name, blessed be the name Blessed be the name of the Lord Amen, of course we want to welcome you to the Sunday morning service Let's go ahead and open up with a word of prayer Heavenly Father, we ask that you would meet with us here today, Lord That you would bless the singing, the preaching, and the fellowship today, Lord That you would receive glory for all things done And we pray in Jesus' name, in your name, in Jesus' name, Amen Alright, go to song number 21 Song number 21 What a wonderful Savior, let's sing this one out Song number 21 Christ has foreseen atonement paid What a wonderful Savior We are redeemed, the price is paid What a wonderful Savior What a wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Jesus What a wonderful Savior is Jesus Good, on a second Praise Him for the cleansing blood What a wonderful Savior That beckons of my soul to God What a wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Jesus What a wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Lord He cleansed my heart from all its sin And now He reigns and rules therein What a wonderful Savior What a wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Jesus What a wonderful Savior is Jesus On the fourth He gives me overcoming power What a wonderful Savior Triumph in each striving hour What a wonderful Savior What a wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Jesus What a wonderful Savior is Jesus We'll sing it out on the last To Him I've given all my heart What a wonderful Savior The world shall never share a part What a wonderful Savior What a wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Jesus What a wonderful Savior is Jesus Good singing Amen, let's take our bulletins in, we'll look at some announcements If you did not receive a bulletin, please put your hand up, and Anashua will come by and bring you a bulletin The verse this week, Proverbs 16, 3, it says, commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established That's a good verse there, and just keep your hand up, Anashua will come by and bring you a bulletin If you open up your bulletin, we have our weekly church service times, of course Sunday morning is our main service at 10.30 AM We also have a Sunday evening service at 6 PM, and a Wednesday evening Bible study at 7 PM as well We have so many times, our main so many times is on Saturday morning at 10 AM And there's additional so many times on Thursday, Friday, and Sunday, all at 2 PM And if you're running late to those times, please call or text us at the number there And if you're our first time guest, if it's your first time at Verity Baptist Church, we want to welcome you this morning And we have a gift that we'd like to give you, as you walk out of the service, you'll see a table And on that table you'll see these gift packs set up, please grab one on your way out as a gift from us, to you, for being our guest this morning And there's several resources we want you to have, but the one that we like to highlight is this documentary, it's called Being Baptist It's about what we believe, where we come from, it's very well made, very educational, we want to give this to you as a gift this morning So if you're a first time guest, please grab one of these on your way out as a gift from us, to you And if you are a first time guest, we ask that you please take a moment to fill out this communication card, which is inserted in your bulletin If you need a pen, you can just put your hand up, and one of the ushers can come by and bring you a pen We want to be a blessing to you, but we need your information, so if you can, just please fill this out And as the offering plate goes by, just slip this into the offering plate, or just hand it to one of the ushers if you would So take a moment to fill this out if you're a first time guest And we are a family integrated church, what that means is that we keep the kids together, we don't separate kids from the parents We do have a couple of mother baby rooms on this side, a mother baby room on this side, and also a daddy and baby room on this side And all the rooms have comfortable seating, they have monitors set up so you can watch the service and follow along So you can use those if you need some privacy And if you look at the announcements and upcoming events, of course this morning there is a UK mission strip And please be in prayer for Pastor Jimenez and his family, as well as other church members that are in the UK this week And I know that Pastor Jimenez preached this morning, he's preaching again on Wednesday night And they're having soul-wanting times, soul-wanting marathons, and I'll just read the note there It says Pastor Jimenez is preaching at a mission strip in the UK, please be in prayer for Pastor and his family As well as several church members who are in the UK, Pastor Jimenez and his family returned this week And we'll be back for next Sunday's services, so Pastor Jimenez and his family are away this Sunday morning But please be in prayer for them and the great work in the UK And they do return this week, so they will be back for next Sunday's services So just please be in prayer for them as they return this week and the great work there in the UK And this morning, as you can see we have a special guest preacher, Pastor Jared Przarnski from Holdfast Baptist Church in Fresno, California Is preaching for us this morning, and of course we're excited to have him with us He's a great friend of Pastor Jimenez, a great friend of our church, and we're excited to have him with us this morning So make sure you say hi to him after the service And we have our family Friday coming up on Sunday September 10th And we ask that you join us on that day as we celebrate our church's 13 year anniversary And you should have one of these cards in your bulletin This is as a reminder for you and for you to invite a friend or family member to join us for our big day on September 10th There's a lot of cool stuff going on, we have free lunch after the morning service A free anniversary mug for every family Candy sucker for all the kids and special music from the choir and orchestra So please take this and invite a family friend to our big day on Sunday September 10th for our 13 year anniversary And we do have a soul-winning push leading up to family friend day And if you can come out, we'd love to have as many soul owners as possible And that of course is on Thursday September 7th, Friday September 8th at 6pm And also Saturday September 9th at 10am So please make note of that and we'd love for you to join us for those soul-winning times And we have some more exciting news, evangelist Matthew Stuckey and his family will be with us in September It says there are evangelists in the Philippines, Matthew Stuckey will be preaching for us on Sunday evening September 10th Wednesday evening September 13th and will be ordained as a pastor on Sunday September 17th So we ask that you please make plans to be with us And so that's exciting news to have the Stuckey family with us in the month of September BBC choir, there's choir practice for family and friend day today at 5pm Ladies weight loss accountability group, there is no meeting this week due to the UK emissions trip The meetings will resume on Wednesday September 6th, so ladies please take note of that Cleaning crew, you can see if your name is there for the cleaning crew If you look at the back of the bulletin, birthdays and anniversaries for the month of August this week or today Is Justice Usher's birthday, August 27th This week brother Vladi Vukulcik's birthday is on August 30th Brother Jacob and Ms. Sarah Saboian have an anniversary on August 30th Brother Fred Ramirez has a birthday on August 31st Brother BJ Nathan has a birthday on August 31st Ms. Dagmar Holiday has a birthday on August 31st Ms. Karen Jimenez has a birthday on September 1st Wu Jin He has a birthday on September 1st And Ms. Calista Gibbs also has a birthday on September 2nd Praise report and money matters are there for you to look at So that is it for the announcements, at this time brother Matt will come up Lead us in one song as we prepare to receive the offering, thank you Turn to song 121 One, two, one Like a river glorious, 121 on the first Like a river glorious, 121 on the first Is God's perfect peace, 121 on the first Over all victorious, 121 on the first In its violent peace, 121 on the first Perfect let it flow, 121 on the first Color every day, 121 on the first Perfect let it flow, 121 on the first Deeper all the way, 121 on the first Stayed upon Jehovah, 121 on the first Hearts are fully blessed, 121 on the first Fighting as He promised, 121 on the first Perfect peace and rest, 121 on the first Hidden in the hollow, how His blessed hand Never folk and follow, never traitor's hand Not a surge of worry, not a strain of fear Not a blast of worry, just a spirit there Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blessed Fighting as He promised, perfect peace and rest Good, on the last Every joy or trial, lawless from above Traced upon our dial by the Son of God We may trust Him fully, helpful us to do We may trust Him fully, guide Him how we do Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blessed Fighting as He promised, perfect peace and rest Heavenly Father we ask that you would bless these tithes and authorings Lord I pray that you would bless both the gift and the giver And that you would use them for the furtherance of your kingdom Lord we love you in Jesus' name we pray, amen We pray that you would bless both the gift and the giver And that you would use them for the furtherance of your kingdom Lord we pray that you would use them for the furtherance of your kingdom Lord we pray that you would use them for the furtherance of your kingdom We pray that you would use them for the furtherance of your kingdom Lord we pray that you would use them for the furtherance of your kingdom Lord we pray that you would use them for the furtherance of your kingdom Lord we pray that you would use them for the furtherance of your kingdom We pray that you would use them for the furtherance of your kingdom Lord we pray that you would use them for the furtherance of your kingdom Lord we pray that you would use them for the furtherance of your kingdom Lord we pray that you would use them for the furtherance of your kingdom Lord we pray that you would use them for the furtherance of your kingdom Lord we pray that you would use them for the furtherance of your kingdom Lord we pray that you would use them for the furtherance of your kingdom Lord we pray that you would use them for the furtherance of your kingdom Lord we pray that you would use them for the furtherance of your kingdom Lord we pray that you would use them for the furtherance of your kingdom Lord we pray that you would use them for the furtherance of your kingdom Lord we pray that you would use them for the furtherance of your kingdom ... ... ... ... ... Turn your Bibles to Proverbs chapter 11 Proverbs chapter 11 If you do not have a Bible please raise your hand and an usher will bring you one Proverbs chapter 11 We will read the entire chapter as our custom Proverbs chapter 11 Proverbs chapter 11 the Bible reads A false balance is abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is his delight. When pride cometh, then cometh shame, but with the lowly is wisdom. The integrity of the upright shall guide them, but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them. Richest profit not in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivereth from death. The righteousness of the perfect shall direct his way, but the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness. The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them, but transgressors shall be taken in their own naughtiness. When a wicked man dieth, his expectation shall perish, and the hope of unjust men perisheth. The righteous is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked cometh in his stead. And a hypocrite with his mouth destroyeth his neighbor, but through knowledge shall the just be delivered. When it goeth well with the righteous, the city rejoiceth, and when the wicked perish, there is shouting. By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted, but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked. He that is void of wisdom despiseth his neighbor, but a man of understanding holdeth his peace. A tale bearer revealeth secrets, but he that is of a faithful spirit concealeth the matter. Where no counsel is, the people fall, but in the multitude of counselors there is safety. He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it, and he that hateth suretyship is sure. A gracious woman retaineth honor, and strong men retain riches. The merciful man doeth good to his own soul, but he that is cruel troubleth his own flesh. The wicked worketh a deceitful work, but to him that soweth righteousness shall be a sure reward. As righteousness tendeth to life, so he that pursueth evil pursueth it to his own death. They that are of a froward heart are an abomination to the Lord, but such as are upright in their way are his delight. Though hands shall join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished, but the seed of the righteous shall be delivered. As a jewel of a gold and a swine snout, so is a fair woman which is without discretion. The desire of the righteous is only good, but the expectation of the wicked is wrath. There is that scattereth, and yet increases, and there is that withholdeth more than his meat, but it tendeth to poverty. The liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that watereth shall be watered also himself. He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him, but blessing shall be upon the head of him that selleth it. He that diligently seeketh good procureth favor, but he that seeketh mischief, it shall come unto him. He that trusteth in his riches shall fall, but the righteous shall flourish as a branch. He that trebleth his own house shall inherit the wind, and the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart. The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he that win its souls is wise. Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth much more than the wicked and the sinner. Let's pray. Father God Almighty, thank you for this day. Thank you for this opportunity to come together. Please bless Pastor Pazarski and the message. Let it bring glory and honor to you. In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen. Amen. Good morning. Good to see you all. Keep your place there in Proverbs chapter 11. That's where we're going to begin this morning. First, I want to say thank you to Pastor Jimenez. As Deacon Oliver said, a great friend of mine, of course, ordained me and started our church in Fresno. I saw many of you at our two-year anniversary just a couple of weeks ago, so good to see you all again. Thank you to Deacon Oliver for all the accommodations and the hospitality, getting here last night and everything. It's just been great. It's always an honor to be here. It always will feel like coming home to me and my family, so it's always good to see your faces. Good to be here, and it's an honor to be able to preach to you this morning. So this morning, let me start out with a bold statement. The topic of the sermon this morning could quite literally make you or break you. You know, a lot of people, I'm trying to get you to sit up in your chair this morning and pay attention, but we're going to talk about something that's very important this morning, and down in Proverbs chapter 11 in verse number 14, you'll see the verse that we're going to focus on this morning where the Bible says in Proverbs 11, 14, the Bible says, Where no counsel is, the people fall, but in the multitude of counselors there is safety. So the Bible here is telling us that counsel is good, that many counselors are good. The problem is, though, before I even give you the topic, the title of the sermon this evening, the problem is that this world that we live in is full of information. You know, we're living in, actually turn to Daniel chapter 12, one of my, I love Daniel chapter 12 in verse number 4, but let me give you the problem statement this morning, and then we'll talk about the sermon title. But look at Daniel chapter 12 in verse number 4. You know, it's been said that the age that we're living in, since maybe the late 20th century, or even the mid-20th century, some people say, is called the information age, meaning there's all this information available. There's, I mean, basically anything you could ever want to know about anything is available. And I think, actually, that this verse in verse number 4 of Daniel chapter 12 is probably, look, I don't know if we're in the end times, I don't know if we're going to see the end times in our lifetime, and that's not really what the sermon's about this morning, but if there's evidence that we're in the end, you know, that the end times will be in the near future, it's Daniel chapter 12, verse number 4, in my opinion. Look at what the Bible says. It says, But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book even to the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, talking about traveling back and forth, we see that today, but look at this, and knowledge shall be increased. Never has there been more knowledge. And when I mean, when I say knowledge in Daniel chapter 12, verse number 4, I think it's talking about just information, alright, just information. There's so much information available today that anybody could learn anything, anybody could know anything, and as a matter of fact, there's a lot of people vying for your attention with information. In Proverbs chapter 11, verse number 14, the Bible is saying that a multitude of counselors is a good thing. The problem is, though, that there's a lot of information out there that's not correct. There's a lot of information out there that's bad. There's a lot of bad information out there. So we need to be able to sort between the bad and the good and get to the truth. And what I want to talk about this morning is bad counsel. There's bad counsel. So in order for Proverbs chapter 11 and verse number 14 to work for you, you need to be able to distinguish between good counsel and bad counsel. Because there's a lot of counsel out there, there's a lot of people out there trying to tell you things, trying to get you to do things, and this morning I want to give you three categories to watch for bad counsel in. I want to give you three types of people that will try to give you counsel that is not good counsel. So that's the topic of the sermon this morning. The title of the sermon is just bad counsel. Look, if you follow bad counsel, it will destroy you. If you follow good counsel, it could literally make you spiritually and in this world. It could make your family, it could break your family. It could make your spiritual life, it could break your spiritual life. We need to understand the difference and have that discernment between good counsel and bad counsel. The Bible in Proverbs chapter 11 verse number 14 is saying it's implying that you know the difference between good counsel and bad counsel. So I'm going to give you three sources this morning of bad counsel. Turn to 2 Peter chapter 2 and let's look at the first one. 2 Peter chapter number 2. There's a lot of bad ideas out there folks. There's a lot of false information out there. This is why there's so much information available, yet the truth eludes so many people today. It's because we're flooded with information and a lot of it is bad information. A lot of it's fake news as the term goes today. Look at 2 Peter chapter 2. Let's look at the first source of bad counsel you need to look for today. This is a big one especially in our country, in our culture today. Look at 2 Peter chapter 2 and look at verse number 1. The Bible says, So here you have these people that are teaching false things. I actually have a sermon series going at the whole fast Baptist church right now called Damable Heresies. We're looking at specific heresies that are common in our culture today. I'm not going to look at the heresies part of it this morning, but I want to just show you that there's false teachers there. There's false teachers that are out there and these false teachers, the problem is they bring swift destruction upon themselves. But guess what? They also bring swift destruction upon anyone that follows them. Look at verse number 2. Because it says, it'd be one thing if there's a false teacher and everyone's like, whatever. You're a fool. You're a moron. You don't make any sense and nobody follows them. But the reason the Bible is telling us about it is because of verse number 2. It says, This is that bad counsel right here. Look at verse number 3 now. You say, why do they do it though? Why are these teachers teaching these false things? And this is where you're going to get at point number 1 this morning. It says, So the first thing that you have to look for, the first category that you need to look for when it comes to bad counsel, is people that are trying to make merchandise of you. Say, what does that mean? Turn to Proverbs chapter 21. People that are trying to make money off of you. People that are trying to rip you off. Well, let me tell you something. Everybody's trying to rip you off today. Everybody's trying to make money off of you today. Look, all this culture that we live in with this constant advertising, this constant, you know what that is? That's advising. That's counseling. All this stuff being put in front of your face, you know, telling you to just spend all your money and more. That's counsel. If you follow that counsel, you will be destroyed. It's advising you to take out all kinds of debt. All of this advertisement, I was just at, we got into town last night and I went to Bass Pro Shop with my daughter last night. I don't know who actually buys things there, but I like to walk around the place. It's nice to look at things. I was walking through the brand new boat section. I told my daughter, because every single one of the brand new boats has a pedestal with a price tag on the front of it. I was telling my daughter, what's the one number that you see on this pedestal that pops out at you? We're standing in front of this brand new boat. And she says, you know, she looked at the one number, there's a number that's like really big. And it's $660 a month. And then you look and there's a really tiny little number down in the corner that says $86,000. You know, but everyone's like, oh, $660. You know, this is a culture that's trying to make merchandise out of you. You could go there and you could have $4.20 in your checking account. You couldn't afford to buy a bag of gummy bears at the checkout and they will sell you an $86,000 boat. You'll sign everything and they'll sell it to you if they'll find any possible way to make that work. You know what they're doing? They're making merchandise out of you. It's everywhere that you see. I'm on an airplane the other day and they're advertising take out a credit card and buy your peanuts or whatever they're selling through this credit card. On an airplane. It was like a 45-minute flight. They're trying to make – like I want to pay 26% interest on a bag of peanuts. Yet there's people. Because you get a free soda or something. I don't know what they're – you know, I'm sure they're offering something. But all these people are trying to make merchandise out of you today. You look at somebody who's going to – you know, you look at the student loan advisors. You could go to a student loan advisor, a college advisor, and say, I want to get a degree in bagging M&Ms or whatever. A degree that has no possibility of paying back any kind of loan at all. You know what they'll do? Sign here. Come with us. We'll take care of it. They'll let you borrow tens of thousands of dollars, yay, hundreds of thousands of dollars. Why? Because they're making merchandise out of you. They make money on this. This is the culture – everyone's a car salesman today. Just trying to sell, sell, get you to just buy, buy, buy, borrow, borrow, borrow. It's constant. If you gave everybody $25 a month that wanted $25 a month, you'd be broke. I've told the kids since they were this tall, it doesn't matter how much money you make in this world, you can spend it all and more. People think, if I could just make a few more dollars, but then they go and they spend it all and then they spend more. You'll never be successful that way. It's bad advice. It's bad counsel. Are you in Proverbs 21? Remember what the Bible says? In Proverbs 21, verse number 20, the Bible says there is treasure to be desired and oil in the dwelling of the wise. The Bible is saying, in a wise person's home, you'll find valuable things. You'll find oil, you'll find things that are there to sustain them, value, but a foolish man spendeth it up. It's a foolish person that spends everything that they have. Go to one chapter over to Proverbs 22. A lot of people think, oh, you know, we don't have servitude today. We're so much more refined today. We don't have masters and servants today. That was 250, 300 years ago in America. No, there's servitude today, folks. Look at Proverbs 22. Look at verse number 7. The Bible says the rich rule over the poor, but look at this, the borrower is servant to the lender. That is a universal truth right there. You go out and you fall into this bad advice and you take all this bad counsel and you take out every single loan you possibly can and you finance all these nice things, you finance your TV and your couch and your kitchen table chairs and all this kind of stuff because it's zero interest for six months or whatever it is and you go and do all these things, you're going to be a servant. That is a universal truth. It doesn't matter where you live. It doesn't matter what form of government you live under. If you go and you borrow and you become a debtor, you are going to be a servant. This is what our entire culture that we are living in in America today is based upon. It's this kind of bad counsel and it's there to just make merchandise of you. This idea that our whole culture in America, this could just be a sermon in itself, is just based on constant consumption and spending, not saving. But the Bible is saying the opposite. As a matter of fact, you know, products are made this way on purpose. Products are made to break. You say, you're crazy. You're a conspiracy theorist. You know, there's something called the great light bulb conspiracy. You ever heard of this? In the 20s, there was literally a group of light bulb, I mean, electrification was just happening. There was literally a group of people that got together in the 20s, maybe even a little earlier than the 20s, light bulb manufacturers, and they decided we need to bring the lifespan of light bulbs to a thousand hours. You know, in Livermore, California, there's a light bulb that's been burning in a firehouse for over 100 years. Like, what? A hundred years ago, they knew, yeah, they knew how to do it. A hundred years ago. They burn out all the time because they're designed to burn out all the time, so you have to keep buying them and you keep consuming them. LED light bulbs. An LED lasts 120,000 hours. You do the math on that, it's like 20 plus years. How many of you have had to replace an LED light bulb? Like, I thought this thing was supposed to last 20 years. It's designed that way. The LED does last 120,000 hours. They design other things to break inside it. All these semiconductors and these chips, I used to build these things. They designed them to last about five years. Seven years. On purpose. A TV used to last, you shouldn't have a TV anyway, but a TV used to last 30 years. Now they last five years. Why? Because we designed it that way. You have to keep buying new TVs. Zero percent interest. Twelve dollars a month. They're making merchandise to you, folks. How many have a printer in your home? Raise your hand, I'm taking a poll. We'll see if this poll works. Raise your hand high. How many of you own a printer today? Now, same raise of hands. How many of you have ever been to the printer parts store? How many of you have ever bought parts and replaced parts and repaired your own printer? None of you. Why? Because they're designed to break and you have to buy a new printer. Every single error code. I'm like, why do I even look at these error codes? Because it says, oh, you need a new printer. E002. I'm like, Google it. Maybe there's a fix or something. Buy new printer. Why is design this way? It's design. Why? To make merchandise of you. Look, so many things operate under this same theory. You think about things like, think about the military industrial complex. Which is real. What do they do? They make machines. They make bombs. What? That are designed to what? Be destroyed. They don't make money by making a tank that lasts forever and you never have to buy a new tank. They make money by designing things and then feeding them to get blown up and destroyed. But guess what? Men's lives have to drive those tanks. And have to get blown up by those bombs. What are they doing? They're making merchandise of human life. It's wicked as hell. Any industrial complex works this way. The military industrial complex. You think about, we were just in a brand new hotel last night. I could see this everywhere. You just got to look for industrial complexes in your life. We're in a brand new hotel last night and I'm texting my son this. There's an exit sign every 20 feet or something on the ceiling now in this new hotel. And then there's exit signs down on the ground. Like right in the hallway. There's like, in this hallway there's like 20 exit signs in the hallway on the ground. Why? Because building codes just keep, they just add to the building codes and add to them and add to them and add. It's the building industrial complex. You used to be able to build a hotel for X, now it's X times two. But guess what? Now it costs you more money for a hotel. Costs somebody more to start a hotel. Whatever it is, that all feeds to you and they're making merchandise of everybody. It's all a racket. It's all a racket, folks. You think of the politicians. You think of the politicians. You think to yourself, why in the world do you think these politicians, they were going into an election year. And they're going to run on all these promises. I don't care, Democrat, Republican, whatever you're looking at. They're going to run on all these different promises. And then when they get elected, I mean look at what's happening today. Literally everything that's going on today has nothing to do with the interests of any American. You're just like, what in the world? Why? Because they run on promises and then they work for lobbyists and industrial complexes. That's what they do. Why? Because they're making merchandise of you. It's all the same thing. The medical industrial complex, I can go on forever on this. What do they do? They make pills and they make shots. They need someone to take those pills and take those shots. And they got to make new pills and they got to make new shots. They don't make any money by creating these things that nobody takes. They're all making merchandise. And they don't care if they're making merchandise of you and it costs you your life. They don't care. So there's a lot of bad counsel out there that is literally out there just to make money off of you. This is the first one that you need to understand. But look, good counsel says that you need to save. You need to consume less. Hey, buy things that don't break or that you can fix. Don't give into this, you know, just throwing your money away at things that you have to throw away. You know, look at not doing that in your life. If you save more and you consume less, you know what that means? That means you will have options because you're not following this bad counsel that's just trying to make merchandise of you. Because they don't care if you spend and go in debt and become in servitude. It's just bad counsel. It's all bad advice. Watch for it. Turn to 1 Timothy chapter 1. Turn to 1 Timothy chapter 1. Let's look at the second one. So the first one is just people that just want to make money off of you. People that just want to, you know, make merchandise out of you or they're going to try to give you a lot of advice. They're going to try to tell you things that make them money, that cost you money and make them money. Look at 1 Timothy chapter 1 and verse number 5. 1 Timothy 1 and verse number 5. The second one is this. I'm going to call this one vain jangling. But let me just explain to you what it means. There's a lot of people out there that have failed in a particular area that think that they want to give you a lot of advice. These are vain janglers. Look at 1 Timothy chapter 1 and verse number 5. I mean, it's counterintuitive, right? Some of this is just a complete failure in this area, but they want to tell you everything about it. The Bible warns us about this. Look at 1 Timothy chapter 1. Look at verse number 5. I'm going to give a lot of examples on this one. I'm not trying to beat anybody up this morning. Like if you're like, oh, I've made some of those mistakes. That's not the purpose of what I'm going after here. But I'm telling you that, you know, you should look at the source of the counsel that you're taking. Look at 1 Timothy chapter 5. Or 1 Timothy chapter 1, look at verse number 5. The Bible says, You're like, what is vain jangling? Look at this. It kind of explains it in verse 7. Isn't that an interesting comment right there? Who in the world would want to be a teacher of something they don't understand? I mean, who would want to read a book? Who would want to read like a manual on something and they just have like no idea? Like they read a manual on their lawnmower and they have no idea what it says. They're like, I have no idea what that's all about. And then they want to teach people how to run their lawnmower. That's exactly what people do though. Why? Because they're vain. They don't care about you. They just have this desire to teach people things. The Bible here is talking about people that just really want to teach for themselves. Look, if you want to teach people, if you have a desire to teach, if you have an aptitude to teach people, you should want to teach people for other people. I've always said that a good teacher can take something that's very complicated and make it simple for people to understand. That's a really good teacher. Whereas like a bad teacher is somebody that gets up and they're like, well, you know, the cybernetic oscillator and all this and they're like, whoa, he said cybernetic oscillator. What's a cybernetic oscillator? I have no idea. Neither does he. But he sounds smart. These are vain janglers. For their own vanity. They're jangling. They're trying to get attention. Why? To themselves. A great example of this I just preached a sermon on is like the history of dispensationalism. This is just full of vain janglers. It's just this idea, this false doctrine, because nobody would ever read the Bible with themself and the Holy Spirit and come up with this garbage. You say why? Because it's not in there. It's a bunch of vain janglers that are wanting people to think, oh, man, look at that diagram that that guy came up with. That's really smart. What does it mean? I have no idea. It's people that want to have the preeminence over other people. They desire to be teachers but they're not qualified to be. This is Darby. This is Schofield. This is Ruckman. These guys were vain janglers and if you look at 1 Timothy chapter 3, we'll go there in a second, and you look at the qualifications of a pastor, these guys were criminals. They didn't meet the first qualification in verse number 2. People should have just been like, whoa, you're not qualified to be teaching anything that has to do with the Word of God and walked away, but that's not what happened. But guess what? These people, these vain janglers that know nothing about the Bible, nothing about what they're talking about, nothing how to be successful in any area they're advising you, these people will be happy to give you counsel. You need to stay away from vain janglers. There's two ways. There's two ways. I'm going to show you how to recognize a vain jangler. But look, what it comes down to is people, many times, people that have failed in areas in their life will be willing to come and give you counsel in those areas. You need to watch out for that. Most times these people are going to come and they're going to be unsolicited advice givers, meaning you're not asking them for advice and they're just coming and they're telling you about this. Think about things that I've seen many times in my life. Like I said, I'm not beating you up. If you've been divorced, I'm not beating you up for being divorced. I'm just saying the guy that's been married several times should not be giving marriage advice. Yet I see this all the time. I see this all the time. Somebody that's been married several times telling people, don't get married. Telling young people, don't ever get married. Look at me. Yeah, look at you. Why are you talking right now? Not only giving people advice to not get married just because they had a bad experience getting married, but literally giving people marital advice. It's crazy to think about it, but it happens all the time. It's vain jangling. It's somebody that's prideful, that's vain, and desires to teach something that they do not understand. No one wants to hear how successful your fourth marriage is. I literally read a news title that said, actor shares success of his fourth marriage. I'm just like, is that real? But it's real. It's vain jangling. How about this one? Child rearing. People that have kids that are train wrecks are just like, they want to tell everybody how to raise their kids. It's like, hey, you know, consider the source. They're just giving advice constantly. Health is another one. People that just are not healthy or have nothing, they're not qualified to give health advice on any level are people that are constantly giving health advice to people. Why is that? Never give unsolicited health advice or medical advice. I think that's one of George Washington's rules of etiquette, actually. You just never give unsolicited medical advice. But look, you should consider the source of the advice that you're getting. The first one, how to avoid this. Here's the first one. Turn to 1 Timothy chapter 3. Turn to 1 Timothy chapter 3. How do I recognize somebody that is a vain jangler? Turn to 1 Timothy chapter 3. The first one is this. You need to understand, is this person qualified to be giving counsel in this area? This is why if you're new to a church or new to a situation, especially in a church, you should probably just stick to the pastor and the deacon if you don't know anybody. Because there's safety there. There's safety there. There's safety there for two reasons. The first one is the pastor and the deacon has the same qualifications as the pastor, but if you're in a church where the pastor is qualified to be the pastor and you are, then you should stick to the pastor and stick to the deacon. Because there's safety there. There's safety for two reasons. Number one, they're qualified. Look at 1 Timothy chapter 3 in verse number 1. And look, these qualifications are no joke. 1 Timothy 3, look at verse 1. The Bible says this is a true saying. If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. A bishop must then be blameless. There goes your dispensational teachers right there. There were all a bunch of criminals that had failed marriages, that abandoned their families, that were committing fraud and extortion all over the place. It kind of gives you an idea of why they did what they did. Why they wrote, you know, why does someone write a new Bible? If anyone comes up to you and they're like, hey, I made my own Bible. You're like, get out of there. But why do they do it? Why do they make their own Bible? Because they want to go to hell? You know, they make their own Bible, it's a wicked thing to do and they're going to go to hell. But they make their own Bible because the King James Bible is the best selling book they've ever done in the last 450 years. And they want to jump on that bandwagon. Why? To make merchandise of people. They want to make money. A bishop must be blameless. The husband of one wife. There's your marriage advice right there. Vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach. Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre. That means he's not going to make merchandise of you. But patient, not a brawler, not covetous. Again, merchandise. One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity. Now verse number five explains the qualifications here of kind of what I'm talking about. For if a man not know how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God? That's why, you know, the Bible is saying, like, you should consider the source. I want to give you a pastor that knows how to do this thing right. And that way, you know, he won't mess you up. Because if he can't raise his own family right, how's he going to tell you how to raise yours right? Not a novice. He knows the Bible. We'll talk about that in a few minutes. Lest being lifted up with pride, he fall into condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must have a good report of them which are without. Lest he fall into reproach from the snare of the devil. Turn to Hebrews chapter 13. Hebrews chapter 13. Hebrews chapter 13, look at verse number 17. So the first one is to root out the vain janglers is you should go to the pastor because he has safety in two areas. First safety is that he's qualified. He's qualified to be giving you the advice, the counsel that you need in that situation. And the second reason is in Hebrews 13, there's something extra that the pastor has as well. Look at verse number 17 of Hebrews chapter 13. The Bible says obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves. Look at this though. For they watch for your souls. The pastor has this unique responsibility. As they must give account. You know who they have to give account to? They have to give account to God. Look, let me tell you something. The pastor of this church has a greater responsibility than anyone in the building to give counsel that is correct for you. To what? To watch out for you. Your buddy may watch out for you but he does not have this responsibility. Your buddy is not going to stand before God and tell God how good of a job he did protecting you. But your pastor will. That is a massive responsibility. He has the responsibility to God for the flock. You are the flock. So when you go to him, and this is why many times the pastor will give you different advice than your buddy. This is why, you know, I've said, and I don't know if your pastor has said, but I've said to my congregation, I'm not really your friend. Because I'm probably going to tell you some things that your friend wouldn't tell you. Why? Because I have this responsibility for you. I may tell you things, your pastor may tell you things that you don't want to hear. Both from the pulpit and to your face. But it's what you need to hear. Because he has a responsibility that is over your personal self-interest. He's going to stand before God. He's not doing it out of personal gain. Many times it will hurt him. For him to tell you the things that he tells you, but he has a responsibility to still tell you. Even when it's awkward, even when it's uncomfortable. He's doing it out of duty and out of servitude. No one else in this building except the pastor and the deacon have that responsibility over you. It's, ultimately it's love. Friends don't have that responsibility to God, folks. And these qualifications and this responsibility that they have, it's a tall order. It's a tall order, but it's necessary for you to know the motive of the pastor. And that's why there's more safety in the pastor than anybody else in the building. When it comes to counsel. Turn to Psalm chapter 1, let's look at the third one. Psalm chapter 1, we're looking at people, categories of people that you should be aware of where bad counsel will come from. Turn to Psalm chapter 1, we looked at people that are going to make merchandise out of you. People that just want to make money out of you. People that don't care if they destroy you financially, personally, whatever it is puts you into servitude. They just want you to sign the dotted line. They'll use up your life to make merchandise out of you. They're looking at vain janglers, people that just want to be a teacher. They don't want to be, they don't know what they're talking about. They want to be a teacher so you think that they're great. They want to be a teacher so they can have preeminence over you. The third one is this, the third one is this, ungodly people. Look at Psalm chapter 1 and verse number 1. You need to be aware of counsel from ungodly people. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. Notice it doesn't say unsaved, it says ungodly. There's plenty of saved people out there that are not godly. Plenty of saved people out there that aren't living godly lives, that aren't walking in the walk of the word of God. The Bible says ungodly, I'll prove it to you, turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 6. There's plenty of ungodly saved people out there. But you should not walk in their counsel, the Bible is saying. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 6 and look at verse number 1. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 6, look at verse number 1. The Bible says, dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust and not before the saints? He's talking to the church at Corinth here. They were suing each other, they were taking each other to court outside of the church. He says, do you not know that the saints shall judge the world? If the world shall be judged by you, are ye, talking to the church, the people in the church. Look, these people are in church. He says, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye not that we, the people in the church, shall judge angels? How much more things do they, things that pertain to this life? He's saying, why are you going to all these outside ungodly people when the people in the church have much better judgment than anybody outside would have? Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 3. This is what he's talking about in 1 Corinthians chapter 3, just a couple chapters back. He's saying that the wisdom of the world is, I mean, look at what the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 3. It says, no man deceive himself, if any man among you seem to be wise in this world, let him become a fool that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. He's saying, why are you going outside the church when the wisdom of the world is foolishness? He's like, the people in the church, those are the ones that are walking according to the Bible, why wouldn't you use that judgment? Instead you go to the ungodly council of the world, which is foolishness. I mean, how true is this today? You look at just the foolishness of everything happening in this world today. Today, I mean, people buying into the fact that you can literally change your gender just by thinking you're a different gender. People literally walking around thinking that they're animals at this point. You need to make sure that you are the only ones giving counsel to your children. Because these wicked, worldly, evil, satanic people will be trying to teach all this garbage, this foolishness to your children. Which is exactly what we see today. Look folks, we, the entire Western world has become a gazing stock. It's a laughing stock today. Countries in Africa and India and China, all over the world, they're laughing at us. They're not even godly. And they're looking at us going, we don't want to be like them. Like, that's crazy what's going on over there. Why? Because the wisdom of the world is foolishness to God. I mean, there's nothing but foolishness out there. But all these people will be happy to counsel you. There was a story, not a story, there was a sign. We were just at the coast a few days ago. And my wife, I was walking with my wife and my wife saw a sign. And the sign said, I mean, this was a serious sign. It was like right on the boardwalk of a Central Coast town. And the sign, it was on a telephone pole. And it said, don't feed the birds. It said, they'll become dependent on the food and they'll make a mess all over town. See where I'm going with this one? Our cities are trash today. I told my wife, I said, you know, the sign should just replace birds with able-bodied men. Don't feed the able-bodied men. They'll become dependent on the food and they'll make a mess all over town. You say, that sounds mean. That's the wisdom of this world, folks. You know, every one of these cities has leaders. And they're using their wisdom to lead these cities. And the cities are trashed. You say that's mean, but the homeless. Let me tell you something, as a pastor, over the last couple of years, I've had several people, because people come to churches and they want help. And I have literally gone to all the help organizations in town, the shelters and the government housing and all these different places. And I have learned all the steps that somebody that is in a bad situation, I lost my job and I don't have any money, that somebody like that could go to and receive help. Let me tell you something, there's a lot of those places. Let me tell you something that's a fact. An able-bodied man has made several wrong decisions in a row and continues to make those wrong decisions and continues to reject any counsel given. Because I've had people come to me and say, I need help. I need help. What do I do? And I go to these places and I say, you go here, you go here, you go here. And they're like, I write them out a plan. And then I go to these places and I follow up and I say, did this person come here and do this, this and this? And they're like, nope. We would have told them to go there. We would have told them to go there and they just refused to take any kind of counsel. We've got to stop feeding the birds. The wisdom of this world is foolishness, is what I'm trying to get you to understand. These cities have leaders, they're fools. And they're just continuing to feed wickedness and slothfulness and drunkenness and drugs and all these different things. Because that's really what it is, folks. That's why I'm not too worried about artificial intelligence. Because I'm not seeing a lot of actual intelligence out there. It's like, artificial intelligence, oh man, it's going to take over the world. I'm like, yeah, but in order to make artificial intelligence, you have to have an intelligent person that creates it. Where are those people at? So I'm not too worried about that. But in 1 Corinthians 6, he's talking about taking counsel, he's talking about judgment of people that are godly. He's talking about using the wisdom that is within the church and rejecting the godlessness that is outside the church. He's like, what are you doing? You're listening to fools when you have godly people. In matters that pertain to this life, you need to stick with godly people. I'm talking about family, children, marriage, world views. You need to stick to godly people on that stuff. Turn to 2 Samuel 13. Not just saved people, but godly people walking their talk. Turn to 2 Samuel 13. 2 Samuel 13. 2 Samuel 13, look at verse number 1. There's a lot of bad people out there, folks, trying to give you counsel. Why? Just because they're bad, that's why. Look at 2 Samuel 13, look at verse number 1. 2 Samuel 13 and verse number 1. You need to watch out for this type of thing. And it came to pass after this that Absalom, the son of David, had a fair sister whose name was Tamar, and Amnon, the son of David, loved her. And Amnon was so vexed that he fell sick for his sister Tamar, for she was a virgin, and Amnon thought it hard for him to do anything to her. So his conscience is getting in the way of his wicked desire here, but Amnon had a friend whose name was Jonadab, the son of Shimei, David's brother, and Jonadab was a very subtle man. Subtlety is never good. Satan is subtle. God's right in your face. The word of God's like, bam, right in your face. Subtlety is how Satan operates. And he said unto him, Why art thou, being the king's son, lean from day to day? Will thou not tell me? And Amnon said, I love Tamar, my brother Absalom's sister. And Jonadab said unto him, Lay down on thy bed and make thyself sick. And when thy father cometh to see thee, say to him, I pray thee, Let my sister Tamar come and give me meat, and dress the meat in my sight, that I may see it and eat it at her hand. So Amnon lay down and made himself sick. See, he took the counsel. And when the king was come to see him, Amnon said to the king, I pray thee, let Tamar my sister come, and make a couple cakes in my sight, that I may eat at her hand. Notice here how Amnon came to, or how Jonadab came to Amnon. Amnon didn't go to Jonadab and say, Hey, I got this problem. You have any ideas? This guy came and started just giving all this unsolicited advice to his friend in this just wicked, bad advice. He didn't ask him. He didn't ask him what he thought, but here's what you need to understand. Bad people want you to be bad with them. This is the whole idea of, you know, these criminals, or he was just hanging around with the wrong crowd. Because bad people want, sin loves company. People that are into drinking and drugs and all these things, they don't want to do that stuff by themselves. They want to give counsel for you to do the same things that they're doing. And guess what? If you start taking counsel from bad people, pretty soon you'll find yourself a bad person. Just like Amnon here. I mean, Amnon had a wicked desire, and he obviously had some problems that he followed through with this, but he became a bad person and he paid the price for it. Again, these people do not have your interests in mind. They have their interests in mind. Bad people will make you bad. I've seen plenty of people fall that way. It's one of those things where, you know, a person could have gone really good and could have gone really bad, and they just listened to the wrong person, that's the only thing they did, and they became a very bad person. Because they took counsel from bad people. So look, knowing who to take counsel from and who to not take counsel from will have a major impact on your life. That's what I'm trying to get you to see this morning. There's plenty of people out there that want to give you counsel for a multitude of different reasons. You need to check their motives. Does this person stand to gain by this counsel? Is this person trying to make merchandise out of you? You need to check the source. You need to check the source. Just like I talked to you, that's why the pastor is so safe. The deacon is so safe. Check the source. Is this person successful in the area that they're trying to count? This is an easy one. Is this person successful? Do they have success in the area that they're telling me about here? Would I like to have the results that they currently have? It's pretty easy. I was just fishing the last couple days, and one of my favorite things to do is, I have more fun doing this than I do actually fishing, is I like to go out in the dark. I like to go out early in the morning at 5.30 in the morning, 6 o'clock in the morning, when the old guys are leaving right away in the morning out of the harbor. And I like to get a cup of coffee, and I like to just go talk to the old guys heading out in the dark. You say, why? Because I also talk to people that come back in the afternoon. What do I say? I go up to the old guys that are leaving the harbor, and I'm like, you know, I'm kind of being a little nosy, but, you know, they get to know you a little bit, and they start to, they like to talk. What are you fishing for? You know, what are you using? And they just talk, and they talk, and they talk, and they'll tell you everything. They'll show you all their stuff in their boat. But then you watch the guys that come back in the afternoon, and you watch the guys that come back with fish. And then I put those pieces, I connect those two things. I'm like, yep, I talked to this guy, and I remember what he was doing, and I remember where he even, a lot of times, I'll even tell you where they're going to go. I never tell people where I go. But then I connect those two things. I check the source. I'm like, this guy came back with these huge halibut or this, he caught a bluefin tuna. I'm like, I'm going to listen to that guy every single time I talk to that guy. That guy's like gold right there. But you've got to check the source. Do I want the results that this person is getting? Now you've got the guy that comes back, and his boat's all busted up, and he didn't even make it half a mile, and he broke down and almost drowned, and probably not going to take advice from that guy. Not that that can't happen to anybody. But you've got to check the source. Do I want the results that this person giving me advice is? And here's the last one I want to show you. Here's the coup de grace right here. Turn to 2 Timothy 3. This will help you. This is like your shield for bad advice right here. Turn to 2 Timothy 3, and we'll land the plane here in a few minutes. 2 Timothy 3, look at verse number 16. The third one that will protect you here as we just wrap things up is to know the Bible. Knowing the Bible is kind of a self-fulfilling protection, because if you know the Bible, you're probably going to need less counsel, first of all. But if you don't know the Bible, not only will you need counsel, but you won't recognize bad counsel as easily. But look at verse number 16 of 2 Timothy 3. The Bible says, This is your ultimate protection right here. The word of God. This is the highest power. Romans 13, talking about obeying the higher powers. This is the highest one. When somebody says, hey, you should do this, and it contradicts what you know is in here. This is the highest power. But if you don't know it, you can fall into a trap. You can receive bad counsel. See, folks, a lot of counsel sounds good. A lot of things that people will tell you, it sounds good to you. But you shouldn't be ruled by how you feel. You shouldn't be ruled, especially men. This is pitiful if this is you. If you're ruled by your emotions, you're not a man. Like, ah, it doesn't feel good. Become a man. You follow the word of God even when it makes you feel bad. This is hard. This is tough. This is not what the easy way is. Become a man. That's why God puts you in charge of your family. It's not about your feelings. This is why a lot of times people will go to their friends that know that they will give them the right answer that they want to hear. And they won't go to their pastor because they know that their pastor is going to tell them what they don't want to hear. Because they're in sin, they're ruled by their emotions. Grow up. Other people depend on you. It's not about what you want right now. Someone in sin, think of it this way, someone that make us, the Bible says, make us hate to be rich. Someone just wants to get rich really fast. They're going to be really easy for someone to make merchandise of. People that make merchandise of other human beings are looking for that person. That wants to get rich without hard work. They want to be successful. They want to get a nice car and a nice house and all these things and they want it right now. They don't want to work. There's people hunting you. There's people especially in this society that we live in that are looking for you. I used to have a, before I moved to California, I used to have kind of a side business that was an internet consulting business and one of the main parts of that business was getting people out of messes that they got themselves into with scammers. Which people that convinced them to give them their account numbers and convinced them to buy into something or told them that something's wrong with your computer, give me all your passwords and I'll fix it for you. Or you can make a lot of money if you just do this and follow me here. And people want to make a lot of money and they've lost a lot of money. Why? Because they make it safe to be rich and there's all kinds of people hunting them to make merchandise out of them. You've got to watch for bad counsel. If you can recognize good advice and throw away bad advice, and I think the bad advice is going to be more prevalent than the good advice in your life. Because if you look at all these different criteria that I gave you this morning, you're sitting here and you're like, godly people, qualified people, people that aren't trying to make merchandise for me and just the pastor and the deacon and all these different things. I mean, the Bible says God gave you pastors and teachers. But I mean, Pastor Pizarncy, you're kind of limiting my sources of counsel here. It's like, who in the world could I take counsel from? It should be a short list. I'm the pastor of a church and there's people giving me advice all the time. Every other day an email and people telling me how I should do things, how I shouldn't do things. The people that I actually take counsel from, I can count on one hand. It's a short list. Who I trust to receive counsel. Your pastor is one of them. Who I trust to take counsel from in this life. And you should have a short list. And that will be safety to you. And if you have more than one of those people, great, that's what Proverbs 11.14 is talking about. A lot of people are going to try to give you advice today, folks. And the reason that I narrow it down for you so much this morning is because most of that advice is bad. And if you can kick out all that bad stuff and listen to the right people, you're going to do just fine. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, I thank you for the Bible. I thank you for this great advice in the Bible, Lord. I thank you for the great protection that the word of God gives us. Lord, I thank you for our pastors. I thank you for our deacons, our teachers, our evangelists, Lord. I pray that you would just help us to just filter out all the areas of our life where we're receiving bad counsel. Just filter out all the noise of this culture that we live in. Lord, and just protect us from all this evil, wicked counsel that's trying to draw us away from you, away from your word, away from our families, and ultimately, Lord, away from the truth. Lord, we love you and we ask that you bless the rest of today and church this evening. In Jesus' name, amen. Turn to Psalm 145. One, four, five. It is well with my soul. 145. Sing it out on the first. When peace like a river a dead end did fly away When sorrows like sea billows roll Whatever my love, thou hast taught me to say It is well, it is well with my soul It is well, it is well with my soul It is well, it is well with my soul Good. On the second. Oh, Satan should love him Oh, trial should come Let this bless the surest control That Christ has regarded By helpless sustain His own blood for my soul It is well with my soul It is well, it is well with my soul My sin on the breast of his glorious God My sin not in part but the whole Is nailed to the cross And I bear it no more Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, oh my soul It is well with my soul It is well, it is well with my soul Alright, you're singing well. Let's end it strong on the last. And Lord, haste the day when thy faith shall be signed The clouds be rolled back as a scroll The trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend Even so, it is well with my soul It is well with my soul It is well, it is well with my soul Amen. Good singing. Before we leave here, if anybody has questions about salvation, church membership, or baptism, Deacon Oliver will be at the door. He'd love to talk to you or direct you to someone who's trained to talk to you about that. I'm going to ask out. Brother Graham, would you close a prayer for us? Father God, thank you for this message. Thank you for our pastor who could give us good advice and please keep us away from those who would give us the bad advice. Bless the rest of the day and bring us back tonight. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Amen.