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

Here we have Proverbs chapter 8, and you know this is a chapter that I don't know very many people, it would be very popular, something that people know as well, but I think it's a really good chapter and I think there's a lot of good stuff in this chapter, and I kind of wanted to build up to Proverbs chapter 8, just kind of give a refresher. In the book of Proverbs we have verse chapter 1 telling us the importance of wisdom, how important it is to get that wisdom, and then we move into Proverbs chapter 2, it gives you practical steps on how to get that wisdom. Then we see in chapter 3 it's saying that you shouldn't forsake the law, you know, even though you know it, even though you've gotten that, you shouldn't forsake it. And then chapter 4 is talking about not forgetting it. And then we get into 5, 6, and 7, and we kind of get a trilogy talking about the strange woman, talking about fornication, talking about adultery, and you know, isn't that just one of the biggest problems we see in America? You know, God's just building up this wisdom and he started giving us, you know, examples of why we should have this wisdom, how it's going to affect our life. And we get into chapter 8, the Bible says, Does not wisdom cry, and understanding put forth her voice? She standeth in the top of high places, by the way the places of the paths. She cry at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors. You know, and I was thinking going back to Proverbs chapter 1 if you just flip back, the Bible talks about wisdom crying. The Bible talks about wisdom, you know, speaking her voice out, wanting to be heard, wanting you to get that wisdom. And in Proverbs chapter 1, in verse 2, it says, To know wisdom and instruction, to perceive the words of understanding. And he's saying there, what are Proverbs? Proverbs are to know wisdom and instruction, to perceive the words of understanding. How do you get this wisdom? From the words of God. So we know that the Bible's saying that we get wisdom from the words of God, and it's saying that this wisdom is crying out, that this wisdom is lifting up her voice. She's trying to be heard in the gates, she's trying to be heard in the streets, she's trying to be heard everywhere. And even in verse 20 in Proverbs chapter 1, it says, Wisdom crieth without. Now the word without there is meaning outside, meaning, you know, the term without can mean two different things, but we don't usually use without in our modern vernacular that way, but a lot of times when it uses the word without, it's just meaning outside. So if I said I was without the building, I'm just meaning I'm outside of the building. And it's saying wisdom is crying without. She uttereth her voice in the streets. Well where are these words of God coming out in the streets, they're in the gate, they're everywhere? That's soul winners. That's people going out and going to the highways and the hedges and preaching the gospel. Preaching the word of God. Preaching the whole counsel of God. And we see, does not wisdom cry? When you have the truth in your heart, when you know the wisdom of God, don't you just want to get out there and tell people, don't you just want to cry it out? And we see, what is the, what is Jesus Christ? Well he's the word of God, right? Why don't you turn to John chapter seven. We see that the Bible is saying that the word of God gives us wisdom, and the Bible is saying that this wisdom is crying, this wisdom is speaking her voice out. That's why it's so important for churches to go out and preach the gospel, because we need it in the streets, we need it in the gate of the city, we need it everywhere. We need it in the high places, we need it in the way of the places of the paths, in the gates, we need it at the entry of the city, we need it at the coming of the doors, we need it everywhere. And that's what Proverbs is saying. But if you turn to John chapter seven verse 28, we see it says, then cried Jesus in the temple as he taught, saying, ye both know me and ye know whence I am, and I am not come of myself, but he that sent me is true, whom ye know not. But I know him, for I am from him, and he hath sent me. Then they sought to take him, but no man laid hands on him, because his hour was not yet come. And many of the people believed on him and said, when Christ cometh, will he do more miracles than these which this man hath done? I mean, we see when Jesus Christ was out in the temple, was he just whispering the gospel? Was he like, hey, get saved, hey, you know, come follow me? No, he's crying. He's saying, you know, you both know me. You know that I'm Christ. You know that I'm God. You know that I'm the truth, the way, the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. He's crying to these people. He's saying, believe on me. Believe on me. Go down to verse 37, it says, in the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. We see Christ is pleading unto people. He's crying unto people. Believe on me. I'm living water. You can have that living water. And you say, what? Wisdom's crying without. Well, Jesus Christ is the Word of God, and how do you get that wisdom? By the Word of God. We see Jesus Christ himself, the man, become flesh. The flesh, the Word became flesh in twelve among us, right? Jesus Christ is preaching out his Word. That's why it says in Isaiah 58, verse 1, cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgressions, and the house of Jacob their sins. Flip over a couple more chapters to John chapter 12, verse 44. We see this again. It says in verse, chapter 12, verse 44, Jesus cried and said, he that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me. And he that seeth me, seeth him that sent me. I am come at light into the world that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. And if any man hear my words and believe not, I judge him not. For I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him the word that I have spoken. The same shall judge him in the last day. For I have not spoken of myself, but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. And I know that his commandment is life everlasting. Whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father hath said unto me, so I speak. So we see Jesus Christ is saying, these words, I'm going to preach them, because God gave them to me, and so I'm going to go out and speak them. You know, I had somebody tell me, when we went out in Seoul, when we were leapfrogging, so we were just going, you know, house to house, and they told me that they were kind of pretty close to me. And I said, man, when you were preaching the gospel, lady, I heard every single word. And you know what I think, amen. I'm not going to be ashamed. When I come and preach the gospel, I'm not going to whisper unto these people. I'm going to preach it boldly. I'm going to preach it loud. I'm going to make sure they hear the words of God, just like Jesus Christ did. He didn't hold anything back. He cried, and he spared not, and he lit up his voice like a trumpet. So let's go back to Proverbs chapter 4, I'm sorry, Proverbs chapter 8 verse 4, and let's keep going with this thought. It says, "'Unto you, O men, I call, and my voice is to the sons of man. O ye simple, understand wisdom, and ye fools, be an understanding heart. Here, for I will speak of excellent things, and the opening of my lips shall be right things. For my mouth shall speak truth, and wickedness is an abomination to my lips. All the words of my mouth are in righteousness. There is nothing forward or perverse in them. They are all plain to him that understandeth, and right to them that find knowledge.'" So you see there at the beginning he's saying, what he's crying is unto men. What he's saying is unto the sons of men. This book is written for you. This book is written unto man. He wants you to hear the wisdom. He didn't just write, I mean the word of God isn't just for fancy things or to hang it up on some wall. No, he wants men to read this book and get the wisdom of God. Why are we here? To get the wisdom of God, to hear God's words so that we can live a successful life, so we can go and do what he said. And he said, "'For I will speak of excellent things, and the opening of my lips shall be right things. For my mouth shall speak truth, and wickedness is an abomination of my lips.'" Turn to Proverbs chapter 30, and I'll read Psalms chapter 12 verse 6. It's probably one of my favorite places in the Bible. The Bible says, "'The words of the Lord are pure words, as silver tried in the furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O Lord, thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever.'" We know that the word of God is pure. In Psalms 119, 140 it says, "'Thy word is very pure, therefore thy servant loveth it.'" We know that every single word in this book is pure. You would never have a filthy mouth when you're quoting this book. You will never say anything perverse when you're saying the words of God. And we need to have that confidence, we need to have that understanding that the word of God is always pure. It's always right. And sometimes we have to un-brainwash ourselves from the world and what they say is pure and what they say is right. You know, when you're reading Leviticus 20, 13, probably a verse that's not necessarily instantly like, oh, that seems pure. But the word of God is pure, even in all the laws, even in all the judgments, in every place. And in Proverbs chapter 30 verse 5 it says, "'Every word of God is pure. He is the shield unto them that put their trust in Him.'" He didn't say every sentence was pure, he didn't say every thought was pure, he said every word. And that's why you need a King James Bible, you need an every word by Luke chapter 4 verse 4 says, "'Man doth not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.'" You know, I want to ask all these people that don't believe in a perfect Bible, how do you live by every word? I mean, if you say, oh, the NIV is my Bible, well, do you live by every word? They say, oh, I don't believe there's a perfect word, I think there's something lost in the translation. So that means you can't live by every word. Either God gave us a perfect Bible with every word perfect so that you can live that way or the whole thing's a lie. But I believe that this book is every word of God, cover to cover, it's the word of God and we can put all our faith and trust in it. Turn, if you would, to Psalms chapter 7. But he says He's pure, but he says there at the end of verse 7 he said, "'And wickedness is an abomination to my lips.'" So we see that Christ, He's not soft on sin, He's not soft on judgments. I mean, the most harsh things about sin come from this book. You probably can't ever say anything to somebody to condemn them more than just quoting this book. There's no way with your words, with the wisdom of man, that you could condemn somebody more than Jesus Christ does with His word. And that's why he says that, he says, "'Wickedness is an abomination to my lips.'" You know, some people might criticize us for, you know, judging people or saying that certain things are a sin, but unto Christ, wickedness is an abomination. That means He hates it. That means it's disgusting. And it says in Psalms chapter 7 verse 11, "'God judgeth the righteous and God is angry with the wicked every day.'" He said, "'God's not mad at me.'" No, He's not mad at you every day. If you're wicked, if God's angry at you every single day, every single moment, if you don't have Jesus Christ in your heart, if you haven't been born again, the wrath of God abideth on you. And in Proverbs chapter 15 verse 26 it says, "'The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord, but the words of the pure are pleasant words.'" What does Christ want you to speak? He wants you to speak His words, because they're pleasant words. Christ loves those words, but He hates wickedness, He hates sin, He hates filth, and we see at the end of this section that I read, it says in verse 9, "'They are all plain to Him that understandeth and right to them that find knowledge.'" You know, I was looking at the dictionary definition of the word plain. It was said, "'precise and clear.'" Isn't that so good? You know, some people attack the King James, they say, "'Oh, I can't understand it.'" Well, probably because you're not saved, because the word of God is plain. It's precise, it's clear, it has power. When you say, "'For all the sin that comes short of the glory of God,' there's not anywhere to miss that. It's so precise, it's so clear. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." So clear, so precise, and you can understand the words of God because they're plain. That's why I believe when you go out soul winning, you need to quote the Bible perfect. You need to quote the Bible with authority, with power, because this book is plain. You want to get someone saved? Give them plain words. Give them clear words. Give them precise words. Let's go back to verse 10 and we'll read on a little bit further. It says, "'receive my instruction, and not silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold. For wisdom is better than rubies, and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it. I wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil, pride, and arrogance. In the evil way, in the forward mouth, do I hate.'" So if y'all turn to Job chapter 28, we see that God's comparing wisdom unto riches. We see in Job chapter 28, it's an interesting question, and this is Job speaking. Sometimes you kind of have to be careful with what Job's saying, but this is Job speaking, verse 20, it says, "'whince then cometh wisdom, and where is the place of understanding? Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living, and kept closest from the fowls of the air. Destruction and death say, we have heard the fame thereof with our ears. God understandeth the way thereof, and he knoweth the place thereof. For he looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth under the whole heaven, to make the weight for the winds, and he weigheth the waters by measure. And he made a decree for the rain, and a way for the lightning of thunder. Then did he see it and declare it. He prepared it, yea, and searched it out. And unto men he said, behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and depart from evil is understanding.'" So the question is, when's cometh wisdom? Well, it comes from the fear of the Lord, and it says to depart from evil is understanding. You say, I'm wise. Okay, well how much do you fear God? Because you want to have wisdom? It comes from the fear of the Lord. You say, well, you know, I know it says not to lie in the Bible, but I was in this situation and, you know, it was really inconvenient, and I felt like it was just better to just kind of say something else, maybe lie a little bit. It's not a big deal. No, you have no fear of God if you're going to justify sin, and you have no wisdom. You can't say that you're wise if you're going to disobey God's commandment. The creator of the heaven and the earth, the one that's all powerful, has all knowledge, he told you not to do something, you say, well, I think I'm going to still do it. That's complete foolishness. You have no wisdom. The wisdom is to fear the Lord. But then look at the second part. He said, and to depart from evil is understanding. Not just understanding it, but doing it. That's what understanding means. When you realize, hey, I shouldn't lie, I shouldn't do these things, and I fear God, if I actually follow it, that means I have the understanding. That's what understanding is. It's actually the following out that which you know. Following out that which you have learned. Let's go back to Proverbs chapter 8. It says, I wisdom dwell with prudence and find out knowledge of witty inventions. You know, the word prudence, if you kind of lift that up, because it's not used in the Bible very often, but it means just have a thought for the future. It means that you have a plan for the future. You know, it says wisdom dwells with prudence, okay? So the man that doesn't have any plans for his life has no wisdom. You know, as a young man, you might not know where you're going to go tomorrow. You may not know where you're going to eat lunch tomorrow. You may not know what you're going to do in a year from now. You may not know who you're going to marry. You might not know all these things, but you should have a plan for your life. You should say, where do I want to be in five years from now? Where do I want to be in ten years from now? Do I want to be a pastor? Do I want to be a missionary? Do I want to do great things for God? What do I want to do with my life? Do I want to have a job where I actually make enough money to provide for my family? You know, if you want to be a pastor, you want to get married, right? You can't be a pastor unless you get married and you got to have kids. How are you going to get there? You got to have a plan. You got to have some prudence. You got to think about the decisions of your life. Is what I'm doing tomorrow going to help me get closer to that goal? You know, the Bible's not saying that you have to figure out where you're going to eat lunch every day and, you know, what you're going to do with every second of your life, but if you have wisdom, you're going to make a plan for the future. You're going to make a decision, hey, I want to be a pastor in this many years. I want to go out and start a church in this many years. You know, when I came to this church, I had a plan. I decided certain things and once you have a plan, you understand, hey, what do I have to do to get there? And so you can make other plans and say, hey, I need to read the Bible this many times. I need to read the Bible this much or I'm not going to get there. You know, I need to do certain things or I'm not going to get to the point where I want to be. And if you don't have any plans for the future, you're never going to do anything great for God. No one just stumbles upon becoming a pastor. Nobody just stumbles upon becoming a great evangelist. And, you know, when you take the prudence to plan for this, you can also change. You know, I went to school, I was going to college, I didn't know what I wanted to do. I didn't know what kind of career I wanted. And so I was like, well, I'll just get a business degree, you know, I'll get a degree in management. You know, there's a lot of people that are told, hey, it's not a big deal, you don't have to choose what you want to do. Just go to school, just start taking some classes and then just figure it out along the way. Well, you think that those people usually end up becoming the most successful? No, I ended up getting a management degree and it was just worthless. I ended up just going into a regular job that didn't require much skill and I just wasted several years in this job. And once I got to a certain point, I realized, hey, if I quit this job, I can't get another job with the same level. I'll have to start at the bottom again. Because I don't have any skills, I didn't have any purpose, I didn't have any desire, I didn't go to classes and get a good degree. And there's so many worthless degrees out there, there's so much worthless education. You know, I'm not completely against going out and learning and getting skills. I think there's a lot of good degrees that you could get, a lot of things that you could learn that would help you get skills. But you shouldn't just go to college, you shouldn't just go to school and just be like, well, I'll just figure it out along the way. You know, I'll just, I'll just, you know, just get this job here and I'll just do this. No, if you're prudent, you'll say, hey, I'm going to get a job where no matter what happens, I could get a job tomorrow. You know, if I got fired, I could get another job because I have these skills, because I have this training. You know, for whatever reason I wanted to move, I could go there because I know they have people hiring there. You know, that's why I went back to, I was going to go back to school. I was like, I need a degree, I need some skills that are going to help me just go wherever I want. And think about Brother Garrett Kirschway, he wanted to be a missionary, right? So he's read his Bible tons of times, he's memorized lots of the Bible, he's gone out soul winning, he's prepared himself, right? And now he's been deported out of Botswana. But how much is stopping him from going to be a missionary anywhere else? Nothing, right? Because he had prudence, because he had wisdom, and you need to make decisions in your life saying, hey, if this doesn't work out, do I still have the skills? Have I been doing things that are going to help me in the long run? Instead of just wandering about, wondering if things are going to work out, no. You need to be prudent. And of course the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, but you know, he's going to dwell with those that are prudent. He's going to dwell with those that have wisdom. And it's wisdom to look at where you're going and decide, hey, I need to start making plans for my future. I need to make a decision, and I don't think it matters, you know, I want to be an electrician, I want to be a plumber, I want to be a computer programmer, I don't think that that matters so much, but why don't you pick a career that has some wisdom to it? Hey, this is going to give me a lot of money, this is going to give me enough money to provide for my family. You know, it's not some deadbeat job with no skills. Or hey, this job is all over the country, I think I can get a job anywhere if I have these skills. Why don't I pick that kind of a place? That's what the Bible is saying with prudence. That's why it's saying with wisdom. It says, the fear of the Lord is to hate evil, pride and arrogance. The evil way in the forward mouth do I hate. We've already talked about this, Christ says it all over the Bible. He hates evil. He hates wickedness. He hates sin. Don't let anybody else discourage you from preaching against sin or saying, hey, it's wrong to do that because the Bible said, no, Christ hates sin. Let's keep going. Verse 14, counsel is mine and sound wisdom. I am understanding. I have strength. By me kings reign and princes decree justice. By me princes rule and nobles, even all the judges of the earth. I love them that love me and those that seek me early shall find me. Riches and honor are with me, yea, durable riches and righteousness. My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold and my revenue than choice silver. I lead in the way of righteousness in the midst of the paths of judgment that I may cause those that love me to inherit substance and I will fill their treasures. So the Bible is saying, he's comparing wisdom under riches and you know, it's kind of almost like wisdom just becomes a man and starts talking to us. He's saying, look, I am understanding. I have strength. By me, meaning wisdom, princes rule. He's saying kings reign, princes decree justice and nobles, even all the judges of the earth. You know, even if you look at just the most wicked government I can think of right now, America, you think about President Obama and you know, a lot of people might think that this is wrong at first, but even these guys have a lot of wisdom. Now you say, well, what kind of wisdom do they have? Well, why don't you turn with me to First Corinthians chapter one, First Corinthians chapter one, and I'll read you a couple of verses. It says in Ecclesiastes chapter eight verse one, who is as the wise man and who know the interpretation of a thing, a man's wisdom making his face to shine and the boldness of his face shall be changed. Ecclesiastes nine and seventeen says the words of wise men are heard in quiet more than the cry of him that rule among fools. Ecclesiastes twelve nine says, and moreover, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge, yea, he gave good heed and sought out and said in order many proverbs. So a wise preacher is able to open the book of proverbs and set them in order. He's able to expound on them, he's able to explain them, he's able to give good direction, he's able to put them together and say this is what this proverb means. If you go to this place in the Bible, this is how you can understand this proverb. That's what a wise preacher is like, but is that the wisdom that President Obama has? Did he say that President Obama could put a lot of proverbs in order? In First Corinthians chapter one verse twenty, it says, where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For ye see your calling brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. So he says, look, most of the people that do great things for God, they're not some of these great people in the world's eyes. They don't have the wisdom after the flesh, but we know that there is other wisdom out there and these wicked rulers and these judges and these presidents, they have a lot of wisdom, but it's the wisdom of this world. I mean, it's not easy to become the President of the United States. It's not easy to take political office and to climb to these great estates and they have the wisdom to get to that place, but it's not the wisdom that we should desire. And you say, well, I think that you're just stupid. You know, they make all these rules, they're trying to take away guns so that crime will go up and they're trying to ruin our capitalistic society. They don't understand anything. You know what? It's actually, they want to do that. President Obama wants to take your guns. He wants to take your freedom. He wants to turn this into a socialistic hell and he has the wisdom to do that. But you know, a lot of people look at it and say, oh, they're so stupid. They don't know what laws they're passing. No, they know exactly what they're doing. And they have the wisdom after the flesh, they have the wisdom of this world, and by that they get lifted up. They become in great office. The Bible says that we should be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. We should have that, you know, we should understand the ways of this world. Now we shouldn't chase after the wisdom of this, of the flesh, the wisdom of this world. We should chase after the wisdom of God. But when you understand the wisdom of God, you'll understand the foolishness of this world. It's saying, look, even princes and kings reign by wisdom. Nobody that has no wisdom at all, even after the flesh, is going to become some great king, some great ruler. No, by wisdom is how you get into high places. Let's go to Deuteronomy chapter, chapter one, Deuteronomy chapter one. We see if you want to do something great, if you want to be in a high place of power, if you want to have authority, you have to have wisdom. And we see in Deuteronomy chapter one verse thirteen it says, take you wise men and understanding and known among your tribes and I will make them rulers over you. And ye answered me and said, the thing which thou hast spoken is good for us to do. So I took the chief of your tribes, wise men, and known and made them heads over you, captains over thousands and captains over hundreds and captains over fifties and captains over tens and officers among your tribes. So we see Moses is setting up wise men to rule and the same thing is with Christ. When Christ comes to reign and rule on this earth, he's going to set the wise in the places to rule. And even after the order of this flesh and this wisdom of this world, wise men are granted authority. Wise men are granted power, even in your secular job. Who's your boss going to promote? The wisest guy at your job. Who's going to get promoted in any situation? Wise men. Of course there's exceptions, I mean, there's sometimes, you know, nepotism or the dad, you know, lets his son come in and you see that he's just a fool or whatever. But usually they just ruin the business, they ruin the kingdom quickly. Why? Because people that are going to sustain a kingdom, people that are going to rule well have to have some kind of wisdom. And we see that through the whole Bible, even Joseph, he was very wise. And you know, the Bible is comparing wisdom with riches, right? If you have the wisdom of God, many times he'll give you the riches. We see that Joseph was very wise. Pharaoh was seeking out a man who was discreet and wise, he became the second ruler in all of Egypt. We see that Moses sets up who? Wise men. We see that David was a very wise man and he became what? He became wealthy. Solomon was considered the wisest man in the whole world. He's also probably the wealthiest man to ever live in the world. You know, when you seek after the wisdom of God, many times he'll bless you. Many times he'll give you the wealth that comes from God. We look at Joel, very wise man, very wealthy. So we see that wisdom will give you the things that you need. When you're very wise, very smart, very skilled, you can get jobs that pay a lot of money. You can be in positions of power. You think the pastor over at church is just the most foolish person there? No. If you want to be a pastor, you need to be very wise. And I'll go back, I want to hammer this point out, let's go to Ezekiel 28, one other place. And it kind of proved my point that there is wisdom in this world. And the rulers of the darkness of this world, they have the wisdom of the flesh. They have the wisdom of this world. And Ezekiel 28 verse 1, the Bible says, the word of the Lord came again unto me saying, The heart of man say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord God, because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a god, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas. Yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God, behold, thou art wiser than Daniel. There is no secret that they can hide from thee. With thy wisdom and with thy understanding thou has gotten thee riches, and has gotten gold and silver unto thy treasures. By thy great wisdom and by thy traffic hast thou increased thy riches, and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches. Therefore thus saith the Lord God, because thou has set thine heart as the heart of a god. So we see here he's talking to the prince of Tyrus, and many people also understand in this chapter, he's talking to Satan, and he's saying that Satan is wiser than Daniel. Now Daniel is one of the most wise men in the whole world. And he's even talking to the prince of Tyrus, he's saying look, because you're so wise, you were able to heap great riches unto yourself. You know, what has America done in the last 50 years? They've heaped a lot of riches unto themselves. What have they done? We've become such a prosperous nation because they were so wise. Now they didn't have the wisdom of God, they had the wisdom of this flesh. And oftentimes when you have that wisdom, you're going to get riches. Because with wisdom comes just prudence, becomes understanding. You can understand how to make money, you can understand how to save money, and you can begin to get rich. And what's the sin that happens often to those people? Their heart gets lifted up with pride, with arrogance, they stop trusting in the Lord. Under the prince of Tyrus, he got so prideful and arrogant, he's like, I'm God. You know, I mean, what can stop me? I'm so wise, I have so much money, and Satan is wiser than Daniel. Don't be deceived, Satan is very wise. He was more subtle than any beast in the field. And we need to understand that there is wisdom in this world, and the spiritual darkness out there, they have their wisdom. But it's foolishness with God. And we need to seek the wisdom of God. That's why it says in 1 Corinthians 3.19, for the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, he taketh the wise in their own craftiness. You know, if you chase after the wisdom of this world, you'll probably get riches. You'll probably get in a great place of power, but in the end, God's going to take you in your own craftiness. That's why we need the wisdom of God, the wisdom that he gives us. So if we got riches, so if he gave us some wealth, that it wouldn't be taken from us, we would be caught away in our own craftiness. I'm not preaching that you shouldn't desire to be rich or have great things, but God makes it clear that when you have wisdom, you're going to be a good provider. You're going to be able to have the wealth that comes from God. Let's go back to Proverbs chapter 8. Says in verse 22, the Bible kind of takes a transition here. It says, the Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning wherever the earth was. When there were no depths, I was brought forth. When there were no fountains abounding with water, before the mountains were settled, before the hills, was I brought forth. While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world, when he prepared the heavens, I was there. When he set a compass upon the face of the depth, when he established the clouds above, when he strengthened the fountains of the deep, when he gave to the sea his decree, that the water should not pass his commandment, when he appointed the foundations of the earth, then I was by him, as one brought up with him, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him, rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth, and my delights were with the sons of men. So we see here, Jesus Christ, it's such a great passage on Jesus Christ. We see that the Lord possessed him in the beginning of his way. Who is that? That's Jesus Christ. Before the works of old. You know, I was thinking about this thought of being a young earth creationist. You know, and I would say that I am a young earth creationist, but only because it's a super popular term. I actually hate that term. Why? Because every time the Bible talks about the earth, it talks about it being very old. I would say that I am an old earth creationist, because the Bible says it's very old, but we know that it's only 6,200 years. It's not millions or billions of years old, but it's such a straw man argument to say that 6,200 years is not very old. I mean, think about, I looked up some statistics. In February 14th of 1912, Arizona became a state of the United States of America. So only 100 years ago did Arizona become a state of this country. Now, I mean, man, that seems like a really long time ago, but that's only 100 years. If you look, the city of Phoenix was founded in 1861, so about 150 years ago. How about America? July 4th, 1776 is when we signed the Declaration of Independence, right? Only 240 years ago. You know, that's only, if you count all the time in the Bible, it's about 6,200 years. If you take that 240, that's only 4% of history. The entire history of the United States of America is only 4% of history. I mean, think about how far ago that was, how long ago that was. I mean, most people can't even tell you what they had for lunch last week, but 240 years ago? I mean, the human mind can't even understand those kind of numbers. In 1611, the King James Bible was completed, about 405 years ago. In 1517, Martin Luther had the Protestant Reformation by marking, you know, a letter on the church. That was almost 500 years ago. I mean, 500 years ago is so long ago. The Protestant Reformation, I mean, it says in 1492 is when most people understand the Columbus came to the Americas. So the Americas didn't even hardly exist. I mean, they had Native Americans traveling in the plains and stuff, but think about how far ago that was, and that's only 500 years ago. We're talking about 6,200 years. In 1206, Genghis Khan and the Mongolian Empire began. You know, a lot of people think, hey, how long ago was the Mongolian Empire? Oh, that was ages, that was so long ago. It was only in the last thousand years. In 1149, this one was kind of crazy to me, Oxford University was founded in England. So the oldest university was founded 864 years ago. I mean, that sounds like a really long time to me. In 1024, the Chinese issued the first paper money. So it was about 992 years ago. So about 16% of human history. I mean, we're going really far back, and then I had this one, Beowulf. It was supposedly written in about 1000 AD, so it's about 1000 years ago. You know, there's this really cool video I found of Pastor Anderson where he's talking about James White, and he quotes Beowulf. Because James White says, oh, the Bible's written in Old English, you can't understand it. Well, you can't understand Old English. I mean, when Pastor Anderson quotes this Beowulf, it's all unintelligible. You can't even understand the words, and we're only talking about one sixth of human history. I mean, if you went back just one sixth of human history, you couldn't communicate to a single person. Nobody would have any clue what you were saying, and you wouldn't understand what anybody else was saying on this planet. What about 2000 years ago? What happened? Christ was born, right? We have Jesus Christ coming to this earth about 2000 years ago. Well, if you take that in correlation to 6000 years, that's about 32.5% of human history. So it's almost to one third at this point that we've reached. And the interesting thing I was thinking about this was if you look at the first 2000 years, so we're kind of dividing it in thirds, the Bible goes from Genesis to Abraham. Abraham was born in about the year 1955, according to the Bible. So the first 2000 years are from Genesis 1 to Genesis 12. Then what happens? Abraham to Christ. If you read Matthew, the book of Matthew chapter 1, it says there was 14 generations from Abraham unto David, and then there was 14 generations from David unto the carrying way into Babylon, and then there was 14 generations under the carrying way of Babylon unto Christ. What is the majority of this book? I mean, if you say the time after Christ, how much of this book is devoted to that? Maybe just the latter parts of Revelation. So we have basically like about 10, 12 chapters in the beginning, the first 2000 years of human history. Then we have what? In the latter half, the last 2000 years of human history. That's why you could say it's in the last days. And then right in the middle, the middle 2000 years of human history is the majority of this book. Now of course every once in a while it kind of goes back and goes to the fore, so we have little different pieces. But people sometimes wonder like, why would Christ not talk about the future? Why is God not still speaking? I mean, he hardly spoke for the first 2000 years of human history. Why is it going to be any different than he speaks about the last 2000 years about the same portion? And honestly, it's probably even more. He probably talked about more the last 2000 years than the first 2000 years. And we need to have a perspective that 6000 years is very old. But I even go beyond that. They say, oh, I believe the Earth's 4.5 billion years, according to evolutionists, and they say, oh, the universe is like 17 or 16 billion, who knows what number they make up these days. But I believe it's from everlasting. How far does that go? I mean, the Earth is about 6000 years, but God existed before that. And that's what the Bible's saying, the Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way. Let's turn to Genesis chapter 1. And we're going to kind of walk through Genesis chapter 1 with this Proverbs chapter 8, so if you want to keep your finger and kind of flip back and forth. But we have in verse 23, he says, I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, wherever the Earth was. What does the Bible say in Genesis 1-1? In the beginning, God. So what was before the beginning? God. What was before the beginning? Jesus Christ. What was before the beginning? The Word. We see in verse 24, it says, when there were no depths, I was brought forth. So we look at Genesis chapter 1-2, it says, the Earth was without form and void. It says, when there were no fountains abounding with water. We see the latter part of verse 2, it says, and the darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. So he's saying, look, before the Earth was without form and void, before the waters, I was brought forth. He says, before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth. We see in Genesis chapter 1 verse 9, it says, and God said, let the waters under the heaven be gathered together in one place, and let the dry land appear. And it was so. And God called the dry land Earth. And the gathering together of the waters called these seas, and God saw that it was good. So God's just giving a description of all creation, he's saying, look, before the land, before the sea, before the heavens, before the Earth, was I brought forth, and I was with him. We see there, he says, in verse 20 and 30, he says, then was I by him as one brought up with him. So he's saying, look, in the beginning of God, and let's go to Revelation, I want to point this thing out because some people get confused. They say, well, Christ is a created being. Christ, you know, had a beginning. Christ had an origin. On Revelation chapter 3, I'm sorry, Revelation chapter 3 in verse 14, the Bible says, and unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, these things saith the Amen and the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. So the Bible says that Christ was the beginning of the creation of God. You say, well, how does that make sense? Because I thought Christ was from everlasting. I thought he was God. That is true. So we have to go to Colossians chapter 1 to understand what he's saying there. We need to go to Colossians chapter 1 and I'll read from Micah chapter 5 verse 2. It says, but thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be among, belittle among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me, that is to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from old, from everlasting. We know that Christ is from everlasting. We know that Christ is God. But in Colossians 1 verse 15 it says, starting verse 13, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us unto the kingdom of his dear Son, and whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. So what happened? Before the beginning of the heaven and the earth, Christ became the image of the invisible God. He's saying that he was brought forth. That's why we have in Proverbs chapter 8 all this language of him saying, I was brought forth. But he's saying before any of the other creation. Before the creation of the heavens and the earth, before the water, before the seas, before the land, was the image of the invisible God brought forth. Christ had a plan to save all the world before it even began. That's why he created Christ. That's why the image of the invisible God. Now that doesn't mean that Jesus didn't exist, no, Jesus always existed. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. What did Christ say in Abraham? He said, I am. Well, if you take out time, what is there? It's just, I am. Christ just exists. God just exists. But the image of God was the firstborn of every creature. And so we don't want to confuse that to say, oh, Christ, you know, Jesus Christ had a beginning in the sense that, you know, he wasn't God. No, he was always God. But the first creation, according to the Bible, was the image of the invisible God. And, you know, I'm not necessarily ashamed to be a young earth creationist, but I believe that this world is from everlasting. And I believe the earth is very old. I mean, I can't even understand 6,000 years. To say that I can understand 4 billion years or trillions, nobody can understand those kind of numbers. I just think about 100 years ago, I can't even contemplate what Arizona looked like back then. But let's go back to Proverbs chapter 8, and we'll finish the rest of this chapter. And there's a lot in these last few pieces, so I want to read this and then we're going to still look at a lot of places. It says in verse 32, Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children, for blessed are they that keep my words, hear instruction and be wise, and refuse it not. Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. For whoso findeth me find his life, and shall obtain favor of the Lord. But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul. All they that hate me love death. So if you'll turn to Romans chapter 8, we have a lot of pieces here at the very end, but we see that Christ is saying that if you find him, you find life. And I think this whole chapter focuses around that point of finding life. Why is wisdom crying without? Because Christ wants you to find life. Why is it that the Bible is saying that there's pure words, that there's nothing perverse in them? Because he wants you to trust in his words so that you'll find life. Why is it that he's comparing wisdom as better than rubies? Because what's better than finding life? I mean, life is so much more precious than money and riches. Why is he talking about him being brought forth? He's just trying to verify, look, why in the world are you going to chase after the things of this world? I was brought forth before this world. I'm so much more precious than this world. I was set up for you. I gave my life for you, and whoso findeth me, findeth life. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. We need to seek after God with all our heart. Why do we care about the things of this world? He was before him. He was brought forth. We should look unto God with so much reverence, with so much respect. We should seek after God, the creator of all things. We shouldn't worship the creation. We shouldn't look at the land. And he said he wants us to be in the habitable part of the land. He rejoices to be with us. Christ wants to be there with us. He wants us to enjoy our lives with him. In Romans chapter 8 verse 5 it says, For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are after the spirit, the things of the spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is imminently against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. What is the Bible saying here? It's saying if you mind the things of this world, if you mind the things of the flesh, you can't please God. You have to get this book. Why did he say that he said the words of the, the thoughts of the wicked are abomination unto him? And he says he likes those that speak pleasant words. He likes it when you speak these words. He likes it when you follow his commandments. He likes it when you have the understanding to take the wisdom that you've learned from this book and do it. That's what Christ likes. And to be carnally minded is death. Why do I not want to watch TV? Because it's death. Why do I not want to watch all the film on even the computer? Because it's death. Why do I want to listen to secular music? Because it's death. Why do I want to spend my whole life keeping up to myself riches and chasing after women and chasing after all these things? Because it's death. But if I chase after this Bible, if I chase after the wisdom of God, it's life. Whoso findeth me, findeth life. You know all these weak neo-evangelicals say, oh, you can, you can do it every while. You can, you know, watch these movies and it's not going to affect you and do all these things. No, it's death. Don't get that confused. To be carnally minded is death. That's the thing, thinking of this food, thinking of money, thinking of your job, thinking of sports, thinking of TV, thinking of Facebook, if those are the things you're desiring, if those are the things you're chasing after, you're carnally minded. Don't be confused about what that is. It's not spiritual things. Focus on the words of God. The Bible says in Isaiah 22, 13, it says, And behold, joy and gladness, slaying oxen and killing sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine. Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. Those that don't believe in Christ, those that don't believe in the Bible, what are they chasing after? They just want to eat a good meal, they just want to drink and party, they just want to do that because they're like, we're going to die. So they chase after the things of this flesh. But how will you, being saved, having the Spirit of God in you, know those things are just vanity? How much more should you serve God? How much more should you desire, hey, I'm going to spend my life seeking after God. I'm going to be prudent. I'm going to pay attention to my life, where I want to go, what do I want to do? Because at the end, when it's over, when you stand before God, how much joy are you going to take? Oh man, I watched every football game, oh man, I watched every TV show, oh man, I listened to every song. No, you're going to be thinking, man, I wish I had gone out so many more. Man, I wish I had gone and preached the Bible. Man, I had a chance to be a pastor and I just never took any time to care for it. I didn't want to find a wife, I didn't want to read my Bible, I was too nervous. No, why don't you get filled with the Spirit by reading this book and become a great man of God and do great things? I'm not going to get anything out of it, but I'm trying to warn you, look, when they stand before God and you have nothing to show for it, the Bible says you suffer loss. You're going to suffer loss for all the vain things you chase after in this world. So why don't you chase after the things of God? Let's go to Matthew chapter 10. Well, you don't have to go there. Go to Leviticus 20. I'm going to focus on the last part of this verse, or this chapter. It says, Think not that I am come to sense peace on earth. I came not to send peace, but a sword. We see the last version that says, All they that hate me love death. And isn't this so true throughout the whole Bible? We see that the witch of Endor does what? She inquires of the who? Of the dead. We see that she has familiar spirits. We see in Leviticus 20 verse 1 it says, And the Lord spake unto Moses saying, Again thou shalt say to the children of Israel, Whosoever be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers of the sojourn in Israel, that giveth any of his seed unto Molech, he shall surely be put to death. The people of the land shall stone him with stones. And I will set my face against that man, and I will cut him off from among his people, because he hath given of his seed unto Molech to defy all my sanctuary to profane in my holy name. And if the people of the land do anyways hide their eyes from the man, when he giveth of his seed unto Molech, and kill him not, then I will set my face against that man, and against his family, and will cut him off, and all that go whoring after him, to commit hoarding with Molech from among their people. And the soul that turneth after such, and hath familiar spirits, and after wizards, to go whoring after them, I will even set my face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people. Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy, for I am the Lord your God. What does Christ want you to do? He wants you to stand against abortion. He wants you to stand against death, and if you decide, hey, I'm just going to turn my face, no, God's going to look at you, and he's going to turn his face from you. He's going to turn his face from your family. Look, it's a serious thing. We should not just say, oh, you know, if I talk about abortion, it's really not popular. No, we need to make a stand, we need to be God's people, we need to be holy. God hates wickedness. It's an abomination unto him. And we need to take a stand and say, that's wrong. These people need to be put to death. Anybody that has anything to do with abortion should be put to death. A mother willing to kill her own child should be put to death. And the abortion doctors, they're so wicked, they're so evil, they love death, and they should be put to death. And we see through the whole Bible, the sons of Belial, the first kings, what do they do? They lie about Naboth so that he can be killed. We see in 1 Peter chapter 5, it says, be sober and diligent because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour. Those that hate God, they love death. Why should we have the death penalty? Because these people love death. They're seeking to kill you, they're seeking to harm you. These people that hate Pastor Anderson, these wicked reprobate sodomites, they love death. That's why these righteous governments should stand up and take these people out and execute them because they love death and they're implacable and they're never going to stop. And the Bible warns over and over and over that these wicked people, they love death. Don't be confused, don't be deceived, don't think that these people, oh I hate Christ. That person loves death. Don't be deceived. What do we think about in Matthew chapter 27? Why don't you flip there and I'll read for you Revelation chapter 11. And the nations were very angry and thy wrath has come in the time of the dead that they should be judged and that they should give their reward unto the servants the prophets and to the saints and them that fear thy name, small and great. And shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth. We say that there's people in this world that want to destroy this earth. There's people that are going on their way to destroy this earth through what? Through abortion, through euthanasia, through vaccination, through GMOs, through 9-11, just directly killing people. Then starting some war where they kill millions more. These people love death. Our government loves death and President Obama loves death and he should be put to death because he hates the Lord. We see the wars in Iraq, we see all these kinds of things why these people love death. They surround themselves with death. That's why the Georgia Guidestones, what does it say? They want to keep the population at 500 million. Well how do they get there? With a lot of death. These people love death. What do we see in Matthew chapter 27 verse 25? Well let's see back at one verse, verse 24. When Pilate saw that he could reveal nothing but that rather atonement was made, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person. See ye to it. Then answered all the people and said, his blood be on us and on our children. What kind of wicked person says that? Someone that loves death. They wanted to see the Lord Jesus Christ die. Don't be confused. These haters of God, they love death. They want to see you die. They want to see this world die. They want to see precious children die because they love death. That's why haters of God, that's why someone would blaspheme the Lord Jesus Christ. We see in the Old Testament was what? Put to death because these people love death. They want to seek after death. And I read this wicked article that got me pretty fired up. It says, the terminally ill child was euthanized in Belgium, becomes the first minor to die by physician assisted suicide. We see that the European countries, they love death so much, they're so much haters of God that they pass laws that children can decide to kill themselves now. By physician assisted suicide. In 2014, Belgium passed a law that legalized euthanasia by lethal injection for children of any age. It said so long as the parents agree, it says but the 17 year old who was suffering with, you know, some kind of a condition, he said that he desired to end his life and they put him to death in September 18. The article was written just recently. So they passed this law a few years ago saying, look, we're going to allow children to decide to kill themselves if they feel like their quality of life is not there. And by two years later, what happens? A child decides to do it. Now what happens with all this vaccination, with all these GMOs, with all this junk in our population? We have a lot of people that are becoming, what, autistic or having, you know, some kind of ailment. What happens when the world decides, hey, these people don't have a good quality of life, let's just end them. Let's just get rid of these people. We see that it's so wicked and so evil. That's why in 1 John chapter 3 and verse 14, it says we know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. If you don't have the love of God, if you don't have the love of Christ, it says you abide in death. In Psalms 9, why don't you all turn to 1 John chapter 4 and we'll finish there. It says in Psalms chapter 9 verse 13, Have mercy upon me, O Lord, consider my trouble which I suffer of them that hate me. Thou that lifteth me up from the gates of death. Look, he's saying, when you deliver me from those that hate me, you're delivering me from death. Why? Because the people that hate Christ, that hate God, they want you to die. I hate this coexist bumper sticker. They say, oh man, we just, all the Muslims and the Christians and all the Ethiopians and the Hindus and, you know, the atheists, we can just coexist as long as we kill all the Christians. That's what it really says. They want to tolerate their religion. They want to tolerate the religion of Satan, but they hate Christianity. They hate God and they want to put you to death. That coexist bumper sticker is the most foolish thing I've ever seen. Anybody that promotes that job is a fool. Says in Psalms 139, Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? Am I not grieved with those that rise up against thee? It's not a wrong thing to hate those that hate the Lord. I mean, these people love death. They love putting children to death. They love putting children that, you know, say, oh, I want to die, just kill them. Just kill the old people. That's where euthanasia comes from. They want to kill the Lord's people. You know, it's not a wrong thing for you to hate the haters of God, according to the Bible. Now, just because someone hates you or decides that they don't like you doesn't give you the right to hate them back. Now, we should love our enemies. We should love them that curse us even. But you know, these evil, wicked, reprobate people that are trying to just murder our country, murder everybody, we don't have to love them, according to the Bible. It says in Psalms 14, Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge, who eat up my people as they eat bread, and call not upon the Lord. We see that the beginning of Psalms 14 says, The fool has said in his heart, There's no God. Those that hate God and have rejected God, they don't want to hear the gospel, says they eat his people up as bread. This theme is through the whole Bible. Those that hate God want to kill you, and you need to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. That's when you go out soul winning, you should pay attention to your surroundings. You should pay attention when you preach the gospel. You should have prudence. And we saw many times, Saul had to be very wise and prudent to keep his life, to be able to preach another day. And the Bible says it will be perilous times in the end. We should keep a wise head on our shoulders. We should go soul winning in a group, in pairs. Why? Because these people want to kill you, my friend. And I'm not saying you should be fearful. We should have complete boldness that the Lord will be our shield. He said under Jeremiah you'd make him a defense city. When everybody in the whole country wanted to kill him, he survived. God will keep you if you are bold in his word if you're preaching the gospel, but we should be prudent and we should be wise. And in 1 John chapter 4 and verse 7 it says, Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God. And everyone that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love. We see that those that love are born of God, and those that are not born of God do not love. Be not deceived. Those that are not saved do not love. They have no love in them, because love is of God. What is love? Love is when you decide, I'm going to love this person, I'm going to do good under this person no matter what they do. I'm going to completely sacrifice myself for them even if they reject me. Isn't that what Christ did? He died for the sins of the whole world, even them that didn't believe on him. He was the propitiation for our sins, and not for our sins only, but the sins of the whole world, because Christ loved the whole world. When you love your spouse, you say, hey, I don't care what happens, I'm going to love you, I'm going to treat you good, I'm going to do good things for you because I love you. But the unsaved, they can't have that love. They're too selfish. They don't have anything to live for. So they have to live for themselves, and when the rubber meets the road, they would always choose themselves. But someone that has the love of God, they could actually choose someone else above themselves. They could actually choose to sacrifice themselves, and the ultimate sacrifice was Jesus Christ. That's where we get love. And those that hate God, what do they love? They love death. They can't have a love for a human, they can't have a love for another person. The way you get that is from God. So what is this chapter saying? It's saying wisdom is crying for you. You have the pure words, you have the wisdom that's better than riches, you have Christ as before all creation, and if you find Him, you find life. And those that find Him have joy, they have peace, they have prosperity, they have life. But those that hate Him love death. We should not be deceived by the cunning craftiness of Satan. Let's close in prayer. Thank you God for your word, thank you God for this chapter. So much deep knowledge and wisdom. I pray that all of us would take your wisdom and we'd also have understanding by doing it. That we'd take prudence in our lives and decide where we want to go and start making decisions for our lives with that wisdom that you've given us. I pray that we would just continue to cry aloud, preach your word into the streets and the highways, and that we'd lift up your pure words. And that we would be careful and that we would understand that there are people out there that want to destroy us and harm us. And I pray that you would just have a hedge of protection over everyone in this room. That we could go out and preach the gospel boldly and know that you are there, you are our strength, you are our shield in our time of need. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.