Wednesday Night Bible Study
by Nathan Whitley
November 3, 2021 · First Apostolic Church of Knoxville (Knoxville, TN)
Kind: Bible study
Scripture: Proverbs 1:1-19, James 1:5, Hebrews 12:5, Proverbs 3:11-12, 1 Timothy 4:7, Deuteronomy 6:14-17

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/nathan-whitley--wednesday-night-bible-study-134
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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well praise the lord everybody always tried again praise the lord everybody [Music] it's great to be in the house of the lord here on wednesday night for worship and the word and as you can see i am not bishop mccool and uh there are large shoes to fill here tonight and large shadows that are cast here in bible class because we have the greatest bible teacher in the world right here with bishop mccool we are a blessed blessed people to hear him teach and expound on the word of the lord and it's just something that we should never take for granted and it definitely is something that i do not take lightly tonight being able to fill in for him this evening i'm thankful brothers and sisters i'm thankful that we've got pastors like we do here at first apostolic church the leadership of this church uh bishop mccool pastor mccool pastor anthony we are we are certainly blessed and they're they're in demand pastor in demand his his leadership is always in demand pastor anthony bishop mccool and i'm thankful that we have been given the the pastors that we have here at first apostolic church and we are praying for them as they travel this week and i'll try to do my very best tonight to to to teach the word of the lord and do uh justice to uh bishop mccool's great great teaching i want you to turn with me to proverbs chapter number one proverbs chapter number 1. there are certain books of the bible and particular themes in scripture that i am just consistently drawn to there's just some topics and books of the bible that i just can't seem to get away from and for the past couple of years i i have uh been drawn over and over to the book of proverbs and so i want to share something with you tonight from the first chapter of proverbs uh and before we do that i want us to pray that the lord would speak to us and my prayer today and last night in preparation was that god would stir up within us a hunger for the word of god we need a hunger for the word of god not just the word of god taught to us three times a week but we personally need the scriptures in our day-to-day life and so i want you to pray tonight that something would be stirred within you to study the scriptures and to apply them to your life so let's pray one more time tonight father we thank you for your word it's a lamp and to our feet and a light and to our path the lord we pray for every individual every family that is in here today and we pray that your spirit would stir up within us a hunger for your word to to to hunger for the nutrition from the bread of life but i pray lord that there would be an illumination to take place within our spirit as we study your word together tonight in jesus name we pray and everyone set him in so i want to talk about heavenly wisdom for earthly living heavenly wisdom for earthly living so let's look at proverbs chapter number one we're just going to kind of take a little tour through this chapter i know we won't get through all of it but we'll just take a little uh 30 000 feet flight over this chapter tonight chapter number one beginning at verse number one the proverbs of solomon the son of david king of israel to know wisdom and instruction to perceive the words of understanding to receive the instruction of wisdom justice and judgment and equity to give subtlety to the simple to the to the young man knowledge and discretion a wise man will hear and will increase learning and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels to understand the proverb and the interpretation the words of the wise in their dark things look at verse number seven we'll stop here for the moment the fear of the lord is the beginning of knowledge but fools now it doesn't stop there it continues it says but fools despise wisdom and instruction it seems wisdom is in short supply these days it seems like common sense uh is in is in short supply these days now there are certainly smart and intellectual people that we all know innovation and creativity um abound in our culture but more people are graduating with degrees and people are more educated than they ever been in this this century and we are certainly living in the information age but we still have a short supply of wisdom because information doesn't necessarily make you wise information doesn't necessarily make you wise there are five books in the bible called wisdom books we have job psalms proverbs ecclesiastes and song of solomon these books do not contain great events historical information great prophecies though there's some scattered throughout psalms but the wisdom books contain heavenly wisdom for our life psalms is a great book to feed your devotional life if you don't know what to pray open up psalms you have a hundred and fifty prayers right there at your fingertips that you can pray brother day i don't know what to say when i pray we'll open up you have an instruction manual right here if you will open up the psalms and in you will read those chapters and those psalms you can pray those and it will certainly increase your devotional life but when you get to a book like proverbs now when people tell me the bible's just not relevant to me have you ever heard people say that they'll say well it's just not relevant i don't know how it applies to where i am in life and i can certainly understand where they might be coming from but the book of proverbs is the most practical book of the bible this is this is god's instruction manual on how to live life right now not just simply back in the first century but it's as practical and relevant to us here in the 21st century if we'll take now there are there are 30 days in november and there are 31 chapters in proverbs if you'll read just one chapter of proverbs a day and double up on this on the last day or the middle day undo two for this month you can read the entire the entire book of proverbs in just maybe five minutes a day that's it if you'll do that if you will take that book and just read one chapter i guarantee it'll change your life it will change your life and you say well brother and i just don't know if i can understand the bible i guarantee if you go and try to read the proverbs you will understand scripture it is a very proverb is a very practical book it is a very practical book now we have in the first nine chapters now there's 31 chapters the first nine chapters are invitations so if you go read those nine chapters the first nine chapters you're gonna find lots of invitations and so as you start this this journey of reading the book of proverbs go mark where you see something being or someone being invited to something because there's it's very important that you see this invitation motif in the first nine chapters and once you get out of those first nine chapters then you've got these uh compare and contrast we've got uh practical little quips and maxims that we have that fill out the rest of the book but it's important that those first nine chapters that we digest what the writer is trying to say now when we get into the very first chapter it says the proverbs of solomon the son of david king of israel we are introduced to our writer solomon is our writer and then you have his his theme or his purpose here's why i'm writing this here's why you need to read this book of proverbs now the word proverb means to rule the word proverb in the hebrew means to rule and so proverbs are these proverbs we are to govern our lives from these rules the greatest way to govern your life is with the word of god it's the greatest way to govern your life you need to be ruled by scripture you need to be governed by scripture these are words to live by like all of scripture all of it is inspired but the proverbs especially are profitable for everyone but i want you to notice something here and i've talked about this at school and i know i've got students in here who've been in my bible class and been here on monday mornings for devotions you've heard me talk about this before and you're probably tired of it but this is really important to understand who solomon is writing to when you are reading a book of the bible you need to know who the writer is and who the audience is if you know that then you can interpret it correctly if you don't and this is what's happened now your bible was not originally given chapters and verses that happened much much much much later and though that's good to help us find things in scripture what it's done for us though it's increased our biblical illiteracy because what we'll do is we'll take a scripture out of philippians and go see i could do all things through christ jesus and someone says why come and and we'll and they'll throw it on a backboard of a basketball goal and they're like oh yeah he can do anything because he can dunk it and god gave him the ability to dunk that basketball that's not what that scripture means and what we do we take a scripture out we go here's our little it's like it's like a fortune cookie and we take a little verse out here we go see this is what this means and so we don't interpret scripture through the lens of one verse instead we interpret one verse through the lens of all of scripture and it's important to know why something was written know who the writer was know who the audience is because that helps establish rules in interpreting scripture it's important it's important that you know how to do that and no now solomon is saying who he is writing to he is saying here in verse number eight we're going to go back to those earlier verses he says my son my son proverbs is a letter or a book from a father to his son why is that important because the parent here is wanting his child to be wise it should be every parent's desire and goal to have wise children our goal shouldn't be simply well i want my kid to be successful do we want our kids to be successful of course but we also want them to be wise i want my children to be rich sure but i also want them to be wise i want them to to be able to discern between right and wrong if they don't if they can't discern between right and wrong then they're it doesn't matter how rich they are there's a lot of rich fools y'all there today [Music] rich or wealth doesn't equate wisdom i know some poor people who are very wise and just let me say this too i know a lot of old fools you don't have you know just because you're old doesn't mean you're wise a lot of oh there's a lot of old fools and you don't have to be old to be wise you can be young and be wise and what we've done is we've lowered our expectations of children and say well they don't have to be wise or just kids and the issue is we're trying to relinquish our parental parental responsibility to raise wise children are you hearing me tonight i'm telling it's a practical book this is a practical book it's written from a father to his son and so there is wisdom here brothers and sisters for the young man there is wisdom here for the young woman now that doesn't necessarily mean that this there's not heavenly laws here for our sisters certainly there is we have one of the most famous chapters about women in proverbs proverbs 31 right we talk about the virtuous woman but isn't it amazing that the first 30 chapters are to a young man because brothers if you want a virtuous woman you better be a proverbs 1 through 30 man well i want me a virtuous woman well are you a proverbs man are you a wise man or are you a fool if you're a fool don't pray for a virtuous woman and if you're a virtuous woman don't you go out with some silver tongue fool well he liked my photo well does he have a job i don't know he said i'm pretty does he go to church does he have a savings account and he plays ps5 all day long brothers and sisters that's a fool i don't care how good looking he is how tall he is or how much hair he has or does not have if he is if he is a fool he does not deserve a virtuous woman because what you're going to have is a virtuous woman turning into a foolish woman marrying a foolish man they're going to have a bunch of foolish kids are you hearing me i'm talking this is a practical book brother nate we need to talk about some heavenly things this is heavenly god wants you to be successful here on earth and he's given us proverbs to rule our life with i wish somebody said amen i know i'm supposed to be teaching them i'm starting to feel my preach come on a little bit maybe i'm just going to preach now [Music] james tells us that if any man lacks wisdom he can ask god and god will give it if you want a sure prayer listen to me if you want a sure prayer to be answered james tells us in chapter number 1 verse number 5 if you ask for it he will give you wisdom you're not going to get wisdom unless you ask god for it and if you want it he's going to give it to you if that will be your prayer if that will give you if you will pray that earnestly god and let me tell you what we need right now we need some wisdom we need to be as wise as serpents jesus said and harmless as doves we need some wisdom to how to deal with this world we need wisdom on how to navigate through the foolishness that we're living in brothers and sisters we are living in a foolish age where up is being called down and down is being called up we need wisdom to navigate through the foolishness of this world that we're living in and if you want wisdom god will give it to you i'm i'm way off my notes let's go back okay now i'm going to help you he says look at verse 2 here's why i'm writing it here's why i'm writing it so almond tells us why he's writing it to no wisdom and instruction if you have a pen if you'd like to highlight in your bible or something like that or make notes on your device here's i'm going to give you a little couple things here to circle or underline if you'd like to do that kind of thing i like to do that kind of thing look at verse number two it says to know all right to know wisdom and instruction to perceive the words of understanding look at verse number three now underline this one again to receive so he says to know to perceive to receive the instruction of wisdom justice and judgment and equity now underline this one in verse 4 to give subtlety to the simple to the young man knowledge and discretion so underline that so you see the benefits of wisdom what's the benefit brother nate what's the benefit of all this what are you talking about what's what am i going to get out of this solomon tells us right here in his opening i'm telling you what you're going to get if you will read and apply this book first of all he says to no to no wisdom and instruction to perceive words of understanding let's look at these three words here together number one wisdom wisdom this can be defined as skill in living skill in living that's wisdom instruction the word instruction in the hebrew here means [Music] discipline number three understanding means knowledge okay so we've got skill and living discipline and knowledge do you see a theme here i noticed it as i was studying this this little section here that this takes the posture of humility if you're going to be wise you must be humble you hear that you must be humble for one to be wise they must first be teachable teachable people who aren't teachable will not be wise you have to be teachable those who refuse to be teachable never come to the knowledge of truth paul talks about that ever learning but never coming that means they can just sit in front of their computer and digest all this information and never come to wisdom you must be teachable you must come with a posture of humility then there's discipline instruction there's two ways discipline is applied here number one there is the discipline of the lord the chastening hebrews the writer of hebrews another book that i'm infatuated with right now the writer of hebrews quotes proverbs chapter number 3 verses 11 through 12. let me read hebrews hebrews 12 and 5 says and ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children my son despise not thou the chastity of the lord nor faint when thou art rebuked of him he's quoting proverbs 3 11 through 12. let me read that my son despise not the chastening of the lord neither be weary of his correction whom the lord loves he corrects remember that that father and son motif that's happening here in proverbs so he's saying as the father chastens us a father a parent chastens their child not because they're angry they're doing it to teach them they're teaching them something we're trying to help you not be a fool we're teaching you how to live wisely we do our children a grave disservice if we don't correct them because as they grow up and they're undisciplined they're going to get in social settings and they're going to be ignorant well this is how mom and dad do it how they do it we have no rules and then they get into the workplace or they go to school and there's rules and they can there and they wreak havoc why because the father and the mother didn't correct them you do a disservice to your children if you don't have some discipline in their life some regimen in their life some boundaries in their life no rules that's chaos brothers and sisters that's chaos and your children are going to be fools and they're going to be made fun of them and while they're climbing the walls in the classroom won't sit down won't listen won't pay attention and and all the other kids are sitting there learning they got one child who's got some type of hippie parents who never want to put any rules in their life i'm so sorry i say that out loud i'm from bloomington indiana where they live it's some kind of cool thing there's all there's no rules man yeah and they won't get a job you got to have some discipline now is there discipline from the lord yes he will discipline those he loves but there's also self-discipline we need some self-discipline oh my we need some this is what paul said first timothy 4 7 through eight i'm going to give you the king james i'm going to give you another translation here in a second he says but refuse to profane an old wives fables exercise thyself unto godliness exercise thyself unto godliness the new american standard version of that same verse says discipline yourself unto godliness that means there is some self-denial and some self-discipline that you need to cultivate in your life and those who refuse to discipline themselves will also be the same people who refuse discipline from the lord rules for others we also need some rules for yourself you need some boundaries in your life you need some self-discipline you need to learn not just to tell your kids no tell yourself no you need to you some of us need the gift of no i've got it i've got the gift of no i think my child probably just thinks that's all that only word that i know no it's you have to some of us need to cultivate the gift of no when people want to come over to say uh no you gotta say a little nicer than that uh we're busy no hey do you all want to go and do this and you have no money and you're and you're tempted and you go uh no come on now we need some self-denial self-denial some self-discipline okay that is a posture of teachability look at this now verse verse 3 says to receive we underline that highlight let's circle it to receive the instruction of wisdom look at these three look at this trinity of words here justice judgment and equity the english standard version translated as righteousness justice inequity okay so if it's righteousness righteousness means to conform to a standard what standard are we conforming to are we conforming to god's standard because that is the standard that we are to measure our life by not the person sitting across the room well they're doing it doesn't matter well they're getting away with it what's it matter that's not the standard the standard is god and he is thrice holy holy holy holy he is a holy god that is the highest of standards we don't need to ask is it a sin we need to ask will this help me run the race because the writer of hebrew says there are some things that are sins and there are some things that are weights don't conflate the two the problem is some things are sin but some things don't let us run the race of faith effectively is it a weight don't ask brother nate is this a sin will this send me to hell well let me ask you the question is it going to help you in your journey of faith answer that question to yourself righteousness justice if our standard is god then we are no respecter of persons he is not respecter of persons he is a respecter of principle and that principle is faith in obedience he treats everyone and judges honestly and justly that's how we are it can't be here's how i'm going to live my life and my family and you better you better do it or not or you just you're out you're out no we judge everybody by the same weights the lord and he talks about weights in proverbs that he is just you are to have just weights you have a just weight for yourself and a just wait for the other people as well then there's equity doing that which is just and fair this again is a standard based upon god because he is just in all of his ways he will if the poor man comes in here if the addict comes in here and he repents god can save him and if a rich man with billions of dollars comes to this altar and repents god will save him and if a black man comes in here and repents god will save him are you hearing me that we have to understand god is just it doesn't matter what you look like doesn't matter where you come from god is going to deal with you justly and that's how we are to treat others so we see wisdom is not just about ourselves it's about how we treat others wisdom knows how to live privately and also knows how to live publicly someone say amen 8 20. we're going fast i'm going to go to fourth gear but look at this verse number five just jumped out of me this morning look at this a wise man will hear and will increase in learning wisdom isn't just for the simple and the naive the wise man knows he knows nothing you hear that the wise men real as you start to get in the into the scriptures and you start to study all of a sudden you start going i i don't know anything oh my goodness i feel like a child i feel like a babe here reading the scriptures you find something new something something that strikes you like oh my goodness it just turns your world upside down inside out the wise man listen you never stop growing in wisdom isn't that isn't that a picture of the christian life you know there's no hey you know there's no stopping point in your growth in spirituality you hear me i'm afraid some of us have got westernized christianity that once we get to 60 i'm putting my feet up i'm retiring and we treat god that way too we treat church that way well i'm old he's going to come in late and complain about everything and them young bucks you were young too you know you know heaven help us not to forget what it's like to be young ashland i have that conversation we we don't want to forget what it's like to be a young person we don't retire from christianity but it's just because we get some gray hair if anything i think paul talks about this that the older should teach the younger and the older need to teach us how to worship. y'all are here tonight i know i'm preaching to the choir but listen you need to be showing us how to do it when we're older show us that age does not mean i have to stop lifting my hands and clapping my hands and singing my song i'm thankful for those who are still in the choir oh lord help me right now we don't retire from christian service and we don't retire from christian growth we need to continue on let the wise men continue learning let us continue growing in the lord let's not retire from it the fool fails to realize his withering life can i ask you a question you have to answer out loud please are you flourishing or are you withering what are you gonna do about it what are you gonna do about it what are you gonna do about it look at verse number seven the fear of the lord is the beginning of knowledge but fools despise wisdom and instruction fear is another word here for reverence and awe turning from foolishness towards god in teachability is wisdom turning from rebellion to repentance is wisdom but such transformation can only take place with a holy fear of the lord it's a it's a reverence of him it's a healthy fear and notice that it says it doesn't say the fear of god is the beginning of knowledge it says the fear of the lord the the the name lord is the covenant name yahweh that god revealed to moses and revealed to israel and with that name came commandments they were entering into a covenant with the lord i am that i am so relationship now listen to me now relationship comes responsibility right when ashley and i got married i'm not just her husband in name only but there are responsibilities that we have towards one another there are commands and rules that we have for one another you listen i just want to have a relationship with jesus well there's also commands that must be kept because if you're going to be in a relationship with anybody there's always going to be rules if you lie in a relationship trust is lost and it's difficult to get back if you steal in a relationship people gonna start locking their stuff up when you come over all right there are responsibilities that we have in deuteronomy 6 10 through 19 he talks about the responsibility of the covenant between him and israel you shall not go after other other gods the gods are the people which are around about you for the lord thy god is a jealous god lest the anger of the lord thy god be kindled against thee and destroy thee from off the face of the earth that's fear don't tempt the lord your god you attempted him and messiah you shall diligently here it is here is the responsibility of the covenant you shall diligently diligently diligently not just on sundays diligently diligently not just on wednesdays diligently keep the commandments of the lord it's not just when you feel like it it's diligently keeping the commands i am married every day whether i feel like it or not so is ashley she's like is your hair ever going to grow back i'm like no it just keeps i keep losing more and more and i had a couple show up the other day that were great i'm like i'm just going to pull these out and no one's going to know otherwise even though you don't feel like it someday you're tired you're wore out you're still in the relationship right you're in covenant you're always in covenant with the lord whether or not it's sunday you're still in covenant with him on saturday you are his people called by his name not just when you feel like it someone say amen someone say amen with covenant comes commandments now i'm going somewhere i'm going somewhere now it's jump to jump let's jump fear the lord now look at verse look at verse number 10 actually verse number 8 my son hear the instruction of thy father and forsake not the law of thy mother for they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head and chains about thy neck okay parents we have a responsibility to teach our children godly principles we have a responsibility father and mother he says fi hear the instruction of thy father and forsake not the law of thy mother there we should be teaching our children the things of the lord he's doing he's putting that here for a reason we're going to go to it here in just a moment but it's important brothers and sisters parents mom and dads listen to me for a second we are teaching whether we are doing it actively or passively you're teaching whether you are actively teaching them the ways of the lord or you're just passively parenting your teaching because your children are watching your example all day long your children know what you love you're teaching that to them every day i asked i asked easton i said easton do you know what's important to daddy she goes what's important well good question uh i said do you know what you know what your daddy loves she goes me i said well yes i i do i said what else does daddy love she goes mommy say yes i love mommy i said what what house i was like what else do i love she goes eleanor i was like yes i love eleanor and i said i said i said no like what like that one of the things like you know we like to do like what do we love to do she goes rest i was like well yeah i like to do that too we like to rest you know i was hoping she would say you're emphatically in love with jesus you know she's six you know i said well like what do we like to do check church it's like yes we love going to church that's what we do i'm glad she didn't say the first thing out of out of her mouth was when i asked her what do you love she didn't say basketball star wars are you hearing me they're watching they're they're teaching them you're teaching you have a responsibility to teach them why because here it comes here it comes because look at verse number 10 that's where i'm going we're going to close here in this moment okay maybe verse 10 my son of sinners entice thee keep the teaching of your parents this is the invitation i'm inviting you to wisdom i'm inviting you to success i'm inviting you to blessing that's what i'm inviting you to son because when not if when sinners entice thee you've got some principles in your life you've got some teaching in your life you've got some instruction you've got some rules you've got some boundaries that you didn't get from a public school that you didn't get from television that you didn't get from the ipod or the on the radio or i i want you to remember some if if sinners entice thee remember what we've taught you whoa lord have mercy i because it's the day we'll come when they will entice you the invitation of sin and sinners will come my god have mercy the invitation to foolishness is always at the door of your children listen to me now this is practical remember i'm telling you i'm giving you all the bit he opens up he says here's all the benefits for wisdom understanding skill and living understanding wise things this is the benefits but if sinners entice thee remember what we've taught my god have mercy my son if sinners entice thee consent thou not it's the invitation of sinners parents you need to know sins knocking at the door of your children and you need to warn your children of the dangers of sin and sinners because what is taught from the parents is going to be the thing that either keeps children from sins consequences or leads them to be ensnared and entrapped by sin the family unit listen to me now this is practical i'm giving you practical things from scripture the family unit needs to be safe and healthy it needs to be the organism that you are nurturing and caring for every day the home needs to be a safe place where they can be nurtured and helped yes because children are going to be enticed by a false sense of community look at this look at this now look at this look at this look at this look at this look at this let's go look at verse number 11. i'm going fast i'm promised i'm going fast if they say come with us let us lay wait for blood let do you have a pen mark mark every time you see us or we here okay if they say come with us let us lay way for blood let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause let us swallow them up alive as the grave and whole as those that go down into the pit we shall find all precious substance we shall fill our houses with spoil cast in thy lot among us let us all have one purse how many times you see us and we there because listen to me now sin and sinners like fellowship too have you ever noticed when a saint backslides they're always looking for somebody else to backslide with them they're looking for somebody to join them why they want somebody to condone their actions and they're also wanting somebody to justify their wicked deeds and to make themselves feel better because hey you're here with me too it happens all the time because that's what sin does sin likes company sinners want company they want fellowship and it's the invitation to a false sense of community sinners don't want to be alone in their actions so they entice others to join their activities they want advocates who condone their decisions sinners want others to join them on their chosen path towards destruction the thing that is going to keep your children my children the next generation is what we are teaching them and we must teach them of the dangers of this world we shouldn't be showing them all the pleasures of this world you know what you could do you make a lot of money here's what you do all this i'm all for making money here's what you can do to get the holy ghost i'm thankful that i had a mom i had a drug problem when i was a kid she drugged me to church on tuesdays thursdays sunday morning sunday night if there was camp she was dragging me there if there was convention she was paying for me to go to that if there was con congress or anything when i was she was paying my why what why she was wanting to make sure that if sinners enticed thee i come to church i'd stand next to my mom get your hands up clap your hands sing we go up to the altar she wouldn't let me go back she wouldn't let me sit in the pew when we had altar call why because she knew there was something more important than me than playing with g.i joes and he-man and pew and that's the holy ghost and brothers and sisters our kids need to know there's something more important than ipads and iphones oh jesus oh jesus brother name justified all you want they're you're you're teaching them you're teaching them all right you're teaching them you're teaching them that you can do this and do that at the same time but james said this a double-minded man and that word minded means double sold you cannot be double there's only one soul that you've got and either you're giving your soul to christ or you're giving your soul to the world but you can't divide it and try to serve two masters at one time oh god help me right now i'm almost done i'm almost done i'm almost done it's better to choose a lonely path and a path filled with fools on their way to destruction because sin knows nothing of moderation look what solomon does here he doesn't paint sin as some evolving growing organism he comes right out and here's he goes hey if sinners entice thee they're going to say this come let us lay wait for blood swallow them up alive we shall find all precious substance we shall fill our houses with their spoil cast in thy lot among us let us have one purse my son don't do it he jumps in again my son walk not thou on the way with them verse 15 refrain thy foot from their past staying with me for their feet run to evil and make haze to shed blood you know what is going to keep your kids from the consequences of sin separation he says run from it don't put your feet in their path run from it separate yourself i know separation is a we've made separation to mean good lord have mercy we've made separation and be a cuss word oh he's talking about holiness yes i am as bishop has told us over the years what's wrong with holiness what's wrong with it it's going to keep you here's what happens here's what happens and they wait for their own blood their own blood they look privileged for their own lives so are the ways of everyone that is greedy of gain which taketh away the life of the owners thereof look at this verse number 17. this is there's a little humor here surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird it says if if you would lay a net in front of a bird a bird goes i'm not flying into that i'll get caught and he's saying when you are enticed with sinners it's like looking at the net knowing this is going to get me in trouble i'm going to do it anyway that's what sin does it makes us fools makes us foolish well they're doing it how's their life going well everybody else is and how's their marriage well still on the rocks i wonder why brothers and sisters the invitation is before us it's the way of wisdom or the way of fools this is the most practical book in scripture and we're just in that very first like 19 verses and that writer's like don't do it don't do it don't do it and here's the problem listen to me parents listen to me now listen to me please listen to me but i'm closing we're gonna pray don't you don't you know what he did that daddy did first he put the benefits first he put the here's the do's we don't need to be a people that's always known about what we're what we don't do or what we're always against you hear me because what you if you're if you're always preaching the negative if you're always preaching the here's the consequence of what's going if you're always doing that your kids are going to get numb to it people get numb to it instead he gave he gave his son the benefits of accepting the invitation to wisdom success and blessing and honor there are some things that we don't do but there are some things we need to start preaching that we get to do and if we would do that a lot of our kids wouldn't hate church we got too many got too many we've got too many second generation christians pentecostals second generation pentecostals who are now parents teaching third generation pentecostals and all that that second generation had been taught as negativity don't do this don't do this don't do this don't do this and now they have kids they're going we don't know why we don't do this so why don't you go ahead and do it but if we would teach the benefits of holiness the benefits of living godly in righteousness if we would teach people the benefits of equity and justice and righteousness they'll realize this is a better way it's a better don't just constantly point at the bad path show them the good path hey show some bishop mccools and sister mccools hey married for 50 something years pure holy lives successful pointers and people say look what look what keeping your family in the house of god will get you it'll get you blessings and joy and peace and oh hallelujah let's pray lord god help us to pursue wisdom let us pursue the wise way god your book your word that you have so inspired is so practical for where we are let us not be so heavenly minded that we're of no earthly good but god let us see the laws of heaven that we might live here on earth pleasing vessels as pillars and lighthouses of your goodness god this is the best way this is the blessed way and i pray that you would help us to see that tonight lord bless your people the rest of this week bless our families bless our parents lord bless their uprising and their down sitting bless their businesses bless their homes their finances their health their minds lord bless them abundantly in jesus name we pray and everybody said amen won't you clap your hands one more time unto the lord tonight don't forget time change this weekend sunday morning sunday night let's have revival let's come expecting ready for a great move of the holy ghost you're dismissed in jesus name greet somebody and welcome them to first apostolic church tonight