[0:00] I stand amazed in the presence. I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene And wonder how he could love me A sinner condemned unclean How marvelous, how wonderful And my song shall ever be How marvelous, how wonderful Is my Savior's love for me He took my sins and my sorrows He made them his very own He bore the burden to Calvary And suffered and died alone How marvelous, how wonderful And my song shall ever be
[1:03] How marvelous, how wonderful Is my Savior's love for me When with the ransomed glory His face I at last shall see Will be my joy through the ages To sing of his love for me Sing out now How marvelous, how wonderful And my song shall ever be How marvelous, how wonderful Wonderful is my Savior's love for me All right, good evening to everyone All right Man, I thought he was a fan or something Why don't you shake hands with two or three people And make them welcome Good to see you tonight
[2:04] All right Once you shake hands with two or three people You can head back towards your seat I want to do something a little bit different On purpose We're going to be praying for Miss Peggy Penrod That is Dan's mom And she's in pretty bad shape They thrust her from one hospital to another And he asked that we would have a time of prayer for her I want to do that But I want to do that without asking you If you have other people that we should be praying for So are there any others that you would like to bring up For a special word of prayer real quick?
[2:48] Okay, I'm sorry That's right What's Alan's last name?
[2:58] I got it on my prayer list, prophet Worley Worley, okay He has cancer One of Brother John's friends for many years All right, anybody else? Yes, sir Okay What's her name?
[3:15] Sue Last name? Shieldmire Sue Shieldmire? Shieldmire, yeah Okay I got it All right, anybody else?
[3:28] All right What I would like to do is If I can get a couple of microphones I'd like to ask you to pray We'll just pray especially for these people That God would do a work here So Can I get three of you to pray for them?
[3:42] I really wish you'd I promised Dan That you would pray for his mother He and Shannon are driving right now And they're going to go to Ohio And be with his mom He could get there driving fresh He could get there Because of how hard it is to get a plane that quickly They had no expectations of anything She has no symptoms of COVID But she tested positive That means nobody gets to be with her So there's just a lot of junk And anytime it's your mother I think that's going to hurt anybody So who would be willing to lead in prayer?
[4:17] Just hold your hand up right quick All right, Brother Jeff Mize Can I repeat the names to you? Or do you have them? You got them You the man All right, let's get two more prayers Who else?
[4:29] Two more that'll pray Okay Brother John You got all three names, Brother John All right, one more person Brother Ty And you got all three names, right? Okay, Brother Jeff Then Brother John Then Brother Ty If we could pray Heavenly Father Lord, we just come to you We know you're the great physician We know that you're the great comforter And Lord, I lift up Dan's mother And I know they're en route even now And God, you know the situation Lord, we love them And we know that Dan's And love this mom Loves this family And Lord, just give them Traveling mercies Lord, I pray that you give The doctor's wisdom She's probably in surgery even now And God, just touch her body Have your will And give her comfort Give the family comfort Lord, I also want to lift up Mr. Alan Wormley Lord, I understand he has cancer Lord, again, you know the need
[5:30] You're the great physician, Lord I don't know the spiritual condition But Lord, I pray that You show yourself mighty and strong And be with him and his family, Lord And also we lift up Sue Ty's mother-in-law, Lord Just bless her Help her, God And Lord, there are many health needs And many spiritual needs, God And we just lift them all up to you You know, God We're so glad that Even when we don't know how to pray, God You're already there Amen You're already there And we just lift them up to you Lift up their families In your precious name Amen Father, we thank you, Lord That we can come to you in prayer And bring our needs and petitions to you And Father, we ask you tonight For Peggy Lord, it is such a helpless feeling When we don't know what you're going to do And we know what you can do And Father, we comfort ourselves In your power and in your faithfulness And God, in your goodness But Lord, I pray for Dan
[6:31] And for Shannon and the family, Lord As they wait to see, Lord What you're going to do I pray, God, that you would Help her, Lord To be in the right place For the right care And I thank you, Lord For your goodness towards us In so many ways Lord, I pray for Alan Lord, you know his heart He doesn't have to convince me he's saved But he does need to know for sure That he's saved Father, you helped him overcome this cancer one time And Lord, it's back And it's in more places And Lord, it is not a good-looking situation But you are the God of all miracles And we ask you, Lord Most of all Lord, if he's not saved, to save him I thank you for him, Lord Faithful friend and good man And honest man And Lord, but that won't get him to heaven I pray that you'll work in his heart And then, Father We pray for Sue Lord, all the same request Please, God Help us, Lord In these situations To know how to pray And to pray faithfully
[7:33] Not just for those loved ones That are close to us But Lord, those that are close to our friends And Father, not to think selfishly Of just ourselves But Lord, to intercede for others in this time And Lord, we love you We thank you, Lord That you've given us access to you For all these things We ask all these things in Jesus' name Father, we continue in prayer, Lord I agree with these men And we just know that you are the almighty God That can do all things And Father, we read it in your word But then we also know from walking with you That you are great and mighty and holy and perfect, Lord And you can do all things So we bring these requests before you Because we know that you can do something about it, Lord Your mighty hand can be upon each one of these That we're requesting prayer for, Lord We do pray for Miss Peggy And we ask for her The immediate need, Lord Right now that you would just heal her body up, Lord Thank you so much that she is saved We know that she will be fine no matter what But it's hard with the separation I pray for Dan I pray that you would comfort his heart And encourage him And the rest of the family And we just pray for your hand upon this family, Lord
[8:34] We do pray for Alan, Lord We ask that you would heal his body as well, Lord It's discouraging When you think that something is gone And then it's come back, Lord And I just pray that you would If there is a spiritual need, Lord To be saved I pray that you would help him To get that right, Lord With you And make that clear And Father, I thank you so much for Sue I pray for your blessing upon her, Lord I pray again the same thing Lupus was not a problem anymore, Lord And now it's back And I just pray that you would Encourage your heart, Lord That you would heal her body And again, thank you that she is saved And I pray, Father That you would just encourage her During this time Help us to be a blessing to her And we pray this in Jesus' name Amen All right Any missionaries here Y'all can go ahead and come up this way If you'd like I would like to ask you to pray Austin Teal and Robert Canfield Are on their way Well, they are in Chicago And they took the church That I just had the privilege of preaching in Taking them there to do a World's cheapest missions trip
[9:37] Pastor sent me a picture of Austin Teal Standing on the front of the train Telling stories to the young people That was pretty exciting Robert Canfield's up there to help them We had 10 or 12 missionaries Vision missionaries at the church Sunday And that was pretty crazy And I would like to ask you to also pray About the offering that we're taking for Easter A pastor called Texted Days Giving up Their church already voted Take up $1,500 Or give $1,500 Another church said they're excited About what we're doing They only support Jeff Bush But they're going to take an offering And they said We support only church planting mysteries And they support Jeff And that's it But they're going to take an offering So it's going good So would you please pray for that If you would Graham and Olivia Young missionaries to Nigeria And we serve a God that answers prayer Recently what I've been praying for I mean it's at the top of my prayer list
[10:38] Is for God to send more young people To the mission field And to raise them up And to call them And just in the past month At two different conferences we've been in There have been young men That have said I think God wants me to be a missionary So I ask that you would pray For Olivia's grandma Peggy Because our Lord really does hear prayers And I beg that you would Amen Justice Courtney and Gideon Myers Missionaries to Nepal Nepal has been ranked As the second most peaceful country In South Asia By the Global Peace Index And so they're very proud of themselves On their social media stuff A lot of Nepali people are posting it Saying that's great We're so peaceful But of course we know That they don't have peace with God And you can have peace Your whole life on this earth And when you die The only one that really matters Is if you have peace with God So pray for us as we take the gospel Josh and Elizabeth Ewing Heading back to Indonesia Right now there's a little bit Of an argument going on in Indonesia As the vaccines are coming in There's a long wait in line And they've just okayed it
[11:39] That if you have the money Your company can kind of Scoot to the front of the line And purchase those vaccines And get to the front of the line There's always going to be money There's always going to be These scandals that come about But pray for us as missionaries We are not perfect But we need God's help To be above all of that mess And all that junk Because the devil wants to throw Doubt on us So just continue to pray For our families Pray for our ministries That God would keep us Above reproach As we continue to serve him here And then on the field as well Andrew and Amber Garcia To Honduras last night God blessed us With the last minute meeting Next to Justice Mize He offered me some help with that And while I was waiting In the parking lot I finally got around To strapping in our car seat As we are preparing And now ready to Eagerly expecting The coming of our daughter We do not know the hour But we do know a general time About three weeks So that is a wonderful thing And we don't really know at all The hour that Jesus Christ Is coming back But I hope you all here
[12:39] Are praying and ready And expecting for his arrival But much of the world Does not know him And is not ready So pray that more of the world Pray that Honduras And all the world Will be saved That they'll receive Jesus Christ That many will receive him And join us In waiting for him Expectantly Jeffrey Mackenzie Brown Miss Sherry's of India I want to thank everybody For helping out my wife This past week I was traveling For meetings And things like that But you may know That she really heard her back I guess last week It was And that's not funny Miss Sherry I'm just kidding But she heard her back You know Pretty bad last week And she has not been able To do anything But you know With all the help From teens And students here At the training center Families in the church Missionaries I just really thank everybody She's getting better She's able to move around And stuff now So we're eagerly Also anticipating Getting rid of Not getting rid of the kid But you know
[13:39] My wife delivering the kid So that She can recover Just pray for my wife And me Pray for Jeff as well Ben and Crystal Johnson Going to New York City Who knows what this is It's a quarter I keep it around So people can say I have some sense on me But anyways If you can see the bottom You probably can't It says E pluribus unum That's my Latin I'm not very good at it It means out of many one That is one of our National mottos here Of course in the states And you think in New York City It is a very diverse place Out of many countries Many tribes Many peoples It's one city But you know There's no true unity there As a matter of fact Here in America There's no true unity We see that And the reason There's no true unity Because a citizenship To a country Can't provide it And you read it In Galatians chapter number 3 The end of the chapter It says there's no bond There's no free There's no Jew There's no Greek There's no male There's no female Because we're all one In Christ Only in Christ
[14:40] Are we unified Truly And brings true unity And so pray for us As we go to New York City Because with him To see As we preach the gospel That true unity Will be founded In a church there John Amber Canavan Also going to New York City I was talking to Austin Till He was in Chicago And he's riding the subways And he was asking questions About public transportation And it reminded me Of New York City There's so many Subway lines there They said if you were To unravel it And put one after another You could actually Take a train From New York City All the way to Chicago There's 665 miles And so every single day Pre-COVID There's about 4.3 million People riding the subways You think about all the people Going from destination To destination But where is their Final destination When they pass away Please pray for New York City I'm Rebecca Pepperdine Church planters To the Chinese people We're praising God Because this week Taiwan opened back up Allow us to apply For our visa We got all the paperwork in So we're rejoicing over that And everything seems to be going
[15:40] Maybe 6 to 8 weeks Before it comes back We'll just have to wait And see So we'll be praying for that But be praying also For the Chinese people Because you know Jesus says I am the way The truth And the life And no man come to the Father But by me But they need to hear that In the Chinese language Which would be Ye su shua Wo jiu shi Dao lu Jian li Shang ming So we're praying That we can take that message To them Chesley Al Church Planning Missionary To Columbia Sorry And this month Was exciting I have to preach it In 7 different states 2 different countries I preached in my first All Spanish church Through a translator Which was very exciting And 2 people accepted Christ That Sunday After church Which I know wasn't Because of my preaching But it was really awesome To see And thank you all so much But it feels really good To be back at Vision It feels amazing Thank you guys Tyler and Lydia Ellis Church Planning Missionaries To Canada I would like to praise the Lord This past Sunday We actually were at a church And they just messaged me yesterday And they said they were taking us on And then the church last night
[16:42] As well texted me today And said that they're taking us on So that was two blessings But I'd ask you to pray We actually met a family last night They were recently saved About two months ago And they're going through Some hard times The man's name is Damien And him and his wife Are actually going through Some struggles And the children Are really suffering for this And you know For a long time I was really It was really On deputation It was getting a bit tough And I was thinking Why?
[17:05] Why is this tough? And then I realized What am I supposed to be doing With my life? And I saw these kids And these people That are hurting And that need someone And if it wasn't For that pastor going And reaching out to them And that's what we're called to do Is to reach out to these people That are hurting Just like that man was last night Kyle and Hannah Go into Chile Remember in January We got no supporting churches We made up for it Picked up seven In February We've picked up two this month And then You can clap It's alright I'm okay with that Church period Monday Through Wednesday They basically said Hey we're taking you on So we're up to three So God has really kind of Brought that back up We're leaving for A trip through North Carolina Virginia, Maryland West Virginia Down to Almost Miami But praise the Lord We got a minivan So we are really In the missionary club now I bet that was hard On your pride Wasn't it buddy?
[17:55] We have with us Brother Paul Mosley He is a missionary To the deaf worldwide He had the nerve To drop in And flat out Tell me in my office I want to present My ministry tonight And so I appreciate that Five minutes brother It's sign language There's a group of people All over this world Called the deaf And they Don't know Christ I met the deaf When I was Ten years old Actually Prior to that I never lost my hearing I never knew anything About sign language I never knew the deaf But when I was Ten years old God turned my world around And I went to the Philippines While I was In the Philippines My mother's Filipino While there I got sick With a high fever I got better Came back to the states My world changed I was
[18:56] I couldn't hear any Very well I got to meet the deaf And I found out These people They're like you and me They have hopes Dreams Goals Jobs But they also Have a soul And one day They're going to Stand before the Lord And they're going To give an account I'm pretty sure The Lord's going To ask them Are they saved Did you accept Jesus Christ As my savior I'm pretty sure They're going to say no Because there are Over 360 million Deaf people Around the world And only 2% Have heard the gospel The team I'm working With called Go Deaf Missions What we do Is we help Missionaries Around the world We stay in the country For two or three months And we help These missionaries Meet the deaf Learn sign language And eventually Create deaf ministries There's a great need If I may close With this In the Solomon Islands Two or three years ago We went to the Solomon Islands To go deaf mission team While there We were able to witness To 81 deaf people 35 of those people Accepted Christ As their personal savior But before you say amen
[19:56] Before you give glory to God I want you to think about this Those brothers and sisters In Christ Do not have A pastor They do not have A missionary They do not have A Sunday school teacher Who knows Their language They're there now And there's a missionary There right now Working with the hearing He asked us to come back And present the ministry But he asked us to wait Five years I will not wait Five years They need Christ Thank you so much For your time Amen If you have your Bibles Turn to 1 Samuel Chapter number 3 1 Samuel chapter number 1 I apologize about that And in 1 Samuel chapter number 1 We get to see the Pretty neat prayer And this lady prays A lot of good Bible In this prayer It's a very deep prayer It's a prayer that Shows the character Of our God It's a prayer that shows Truth about who our God is But if I can read a verse To you real quick It reads this Hebrews chapter 4 Verse 15 For we have not A high priest Which cannot be touched With the feeling Of our infirmities But it was in all points
[20:57] Tempted like we are Yet without sin Let us therefore come boldly Unto the throne of grace That we may obtain mercy And find grace To help in the time of need We serve a God Who is not cold Callous and unfeeling We serve a God Who feels According to this verse We serve a God Who is not Who has been touched With the feeling Of our infirmities We serve a God Who has emotions Jesus wept We serve a God Who isn't a robot He's not a stone He has feelings And in this story We can see what happens When a lady is suffering And what she does In her suffering In this story 1 Samuel chapter number 1 We come to the It's almost the backside Of Judges Where 1 Samuel and Judges Run real well together And in 1 Samuel chapter number 1 We just finished Judges The land of Israel Is not in a good spot We see this lady named Hannah She's married to a man And she has no children Back then that was a pretty big deal That was a status symbol She had no children Not only that She's living with She's living with the lady Who's also married to her husband And this lady has children And it says she's an adversary to her And the lady provokes her sore We read the story
[21:58] We see that the Lord Has shut up her womb And all this combined Makes Hannah sad And in bitterness of soul The Bible reads She wept sore She could not eat She was a woman of sorrowful spirit She had an abundance of complaint She's in a really, really bad spot And as I read this I wonder How many of us Have been in a spot like that before?
[22:16] Whether by our own doing Whether by the doing of someone else Whether by providential choice Says the Lord Shut up her womb here Maybe God has placed us in a spot In which It's hard to be happy In which it's hard to be joyful In which we're suffering a little bit What is the right response?
[22:29] What do we do? If I can challenge you From this passage Run to the throne of grace There is help There is grace There is strength In the grace that Christ gives us And he will get us Through this trial First thing we notice here Is Hannah's pain We see the pain of this woman She felt soreness She was made to fret She wept She grieved She had bitterness Hannah wanted a child She tried to get a child Yet God deemed that she wouldn't Not only was she in pain She also had an antagonist Who antagonized her In the midst of that pain Not only was she just left To weep by herself She had a lady Who was mocking her The whole time We live in a world That suffers Child of God Can I tell you something?
[23:04] The world is suffering And some of us may be suffering Romans 8.2.2 For we know that the whole creation Growneth to revealeth In pain together until now We learn that we are in a world That is suffering We live in a world In which people really hurt We live in a world In which we hurt We live in a world In which deity God Almighty Jesus Christ even hurt And suffered We are told We're told to suffer In 2 Timothy 2.3 Thou therefore endure hardness As a good soldier Of Jesus Christ We are told That we will suffer We are to suffer And we're to do it Differently than the world Thankfully Jesus also suffered And he models An example Of how to suffer 1 Peter 2.21 For even here unto For even here unto Where ye called Because Christ also suffered For us Leaving us an example That ye should follow In his steps Christ has modeled The example Of what suffering looks like If I can remind you That when Christ Was about to die on the cross In the garden of Gethsemane In agony He was praying Child of God If we're going to get Through suffering We need to go To the throne of grace It is help from God That will get us through that Hebrews 4.15
[24:05] We already read it We go to the throne of grace To get help Romans 8.18 For I reckon That the sufferings Of this present time Are not worthy To be compared With the glory Which shall be revealed in us Not only do we go To the throne of God For help Not only do we go To God for help Not only do we pray We think about What's to come We think about The future that's to come We think about How God is going To come back He's going to set things right He's going to rule And reign And it's in that We find comfort We see Hannah's pain But she just doesn't Hold on to the pain She takes it to God Maybe you're hurting To a child of God Beloved Maybe you're hurting Take it to God We see Hannah's prayer She takes the pain of God It's not pretty But it's from the heart And the Lord This is the beautiful part God Almighty Hears her prayer She's not even talking She's Bible Eli thinks she's drunk But she's there And she's praying in her heart And God hears her How beautiful is that We don't have to be In the best spot We don't have to be In the best standing We don't have to be The prettiest The most handsome The strongest She just prayed in her heart Weeping at the altar And God Almighty heard her And I love this story so much Luke 11 11 reads If a son shall ask Any bread of any If a son shall ask Any bread of you That is the father
[25:05] Will he give him a stone Or if he ask of a fish Will a fish give him Will he give him a serpent Or if he ask for an egg Will he offer him a scorpion If ye then being evil Know how to give good gifts And to your children How much more Shall your heavenly father Give the holy spirit How much shall your More your heavenly father Give the holy spirit And to them to ask him We learn from this story That if a father on earth If I can go to my parents And say I'm hungry Can I have something And they give me food And they're human And they're carnal They're people How much more shall When we go to God in pain And God in suffering And God in asking How much more shall he give to us Seeing as he is holy God Almighty We see Hannah's pain We see Hannah's prayer Then we see Hannah's peace We see that when Hannah Took things to God God heard her prayer In a way that she didn't quite see God answered that prayer God gave her an answer God worked God comforted her God gave her what she needed In the same way Child of God When we go to God In the midst of suffering In the midst of pain In the midst of not doing too well In the midst of a battle God hears us And as a child of God He will give us peace He has given us the Holy Spirit
[26:06] We have the comforter We have the scriptures We're comforted by the scriptures We're comforted by mutual faith God will comfort his children The amazing thing about this story is This is in a real bad spirit So they're not doing too well The priests aren't doing very well But from this story We get a little boy named Samuel And God is going to take The pain of this lady The hurt of this lady This terrible situation He's going to give Samuel This Hannah And Hannah's going to give Samuel Back to God And then God's going to Raise up Samuel Samuel's going to be the prophet That know it's the king That we would get the king of kings From God took this terrible situation And made something real beautiful Out of it Let's make sure we run to God Thank you Let's all stand together And sing Here is love Vast as an ocean Here is love Vast as the ocean Loving kindness As a flood With a mix of life A ransom Shed for us Who can cease to sing his praise
[27:15] He can never be forgotten Through our heads Eternal days On the ground With crucifixion Found his open deep and wide Through the flood Gates of God's mercy Float a vast and gracious time He's in love like mighty rivers Born incessant from above And has peace And has peace And perfect justice Is the guilty world in love Of thy coldness You are pouring Thy great love On me anew Without measure Full and boundless Drawing out
[28:15] Thy heart to you You alone Will be my glory Nothing in this world I see You have cleansed And sanctified me You alone Have set me free Amazing grace How sweet the sound That saved a wretch like me I once was lost But now am found Was blind But now I see T'was grace that taught
[29:15] My heart to fear And grace my fears relieved How precious did That grace appear The hour I first believed My chains are gone My chains are gone Thy gifts are free My God, my Savior Has wretched of me And like a flood His mercy rains Unending love Amazing grace The Lord has promised Good to me His word my hope secures
[30:17] He will my shield As long as life endures My chains are gone My chains are gone My chains are gone My chains are gone I've been set free My God, my Savior Has wretched of me And like a flood His mercy rains Unending love Amazing grace The earth shall soon Dissolve The sun forbear to shine But God who's often here below Will be forever mine
[31:22] Will be forever mine You are forever mine This time we're going to take up an offering I'm going to ask the men to go ahead and come forward While they're coming forward Our strategic partner of the week Is Jason, Charity Rischel In Burkina Faso, Africa I ask you to pray for them Levi, Joshua And Jacqueline I believe is the way you pronounce her name By the spelling So I ask you to just keep them in prayers On our prayer cards from Sunday Sunday school Obviously Nate and Emily They're with them now And are quarantined with them I guess for a period of days So pray for them Being quarantined with Nate And also they said Pray for the second church plant That's going on Which was a blessing And also there were some families in the church He asked prayer Jason was asking prayer for
[32:23] That were He basically said on the prayer card They were living together But they were trying to get their marriages Their paperwork And their dowry So something that we're probably not too familiar with With dowry So I tried to get Cameron to bring dowry for Luke But it just still hasn't come through So anyway Pray for them for the offering tonight Father thank you Lord for your mercy Thank you for Jason and Charity I ask you to have your hand on them And the work that's going on in Burkina Faso Protect their health Their minds Keep them safe And Lord use this offering tonight To glorify you Thank you for vision Allowing us to have a part And we praise you in Christ's name Amen Home prepared Home prepared Where the saints abide Just over in the glory land And I long to be by my Savior's side
[33:26] Just over in the glory land Just over in the glory land I'll join the happy angel band Just over in the glory land Just over in the glory land There with a mighty host I'll stand Just over in the glory land I am on my way to those mansions fair Just over in the glory land There to sing God's praise and His glory share Just over in the glory land Just over in the glory land I'll join the happy angel band
[34:28] Just over in the glory land Just over in the glory land There with a mighty host I'll stand Just over in the glory land What a joyful thought that my Lord I'll see Just over in the glory land And with hindrance save there forever be Just over in the glory land Just over in the glory land I'll join the happy angel band Just over in the glory land Just over in the glory land Just over in the glory land There with a mighty host I'll stand
[35:29] Just over in the glory land With a mighty host I'll stand Just over in the glory land Just over in the glory land Well, the only thing missing from our famous quartet was Chuck's banjo.
[36:34] And y'all need to get him to do that next time. Man, we had all guitar and wow, I don't know. Take your Bibles, turn with me to Proverbs.
[36:45] Enjoyed that. Thank you, gentlemen. Do it again. You do, brethren, we have meant to worship again. I wouldn't mind that either. Proverbs chapter 5, if you would. And I am probably going to go slower than I normally would with you.
[36:59] I wanted to preach. We're going through the Proverbs. And I skipped 5 because I wanted to do it on a Thursday night instead of a Sunday night.
[37:10] But I would like you to go with me and look through this, if you would. Proverbs 5. Proverbs 5. This is, in my opinion, one of the most needy chapters we could possibly study.
[37:24] And it is a little on the edgy order of a chapter. But it's that way on purpose because a dad was loving his son and wanting him to do right.
[37:38] A man ought to find a woman and get married and love her and live with her all of his life and never wander from her.
[37:50] A woman ought to find a husband, marry him, be with him, and stay with him for an entire lifetime. That's God's plan. A man married to a woman for an entire lifetime.
[38:03] 1 Corinthians chapter 7, he says, It's good for men not to touch a woman, but to avoid fornication. That every man have his own wife and every wife have her own husband. 1 Corinthians 7, 1 and 2, something like that.
[38:18] I really would like our younger teens and older, they're getting older, they're not in the whinas. I'd like you to pay attention. Someone might criticize me and say, you shouldn't talk about this.
[38:33] But God did. And not only did God do it, it's talked about at their school. It's talked about in their chats. It's talked about in their friendships.
[38:44] And it becomes a problem pretty early in life. So I would beg you to open your Bible to Proverbs. I'd like you to open a paper Bible. I'd like to get you to underline something, especially younger people, if you would.
[38:57] My son, attend unto my wisdom. I just want you to underline that word, attend. And all he's saying is, I really want you to pay attention.
[39:10] I'm about to say some very important things. I want you to pay attention. Now, for the sake of time, just because I think it works, if you'll skip down to verse 9, you can go ahead and circle the word, lest.
[39:28] L-E-S-T. And the first word in verse 9 is lest. And the first word in verse 10 is lest. L-E-S-T. And he's saying, now you pay attention or else.
[39:42] That's what he's saying. You pay attention to what I'm talking about or else. Pay attention. Bow your ear. Bow your ear.
[39:53] I've been out of town. I'm not sure what happened to this microphone, but it's back. Maybe. Pay attention. Bow your ear. On purpose, listen and hear what the wise man of this, praise the Holy Spirit, has to say.
[40:11] Verse 2. I want you to be able to make good decisions. I want you to regard discretion. I want you to be able to see what's happening.
[40:21] I want you to be able to make good choices. I want you to have good knowledge. I want you to have Bible knowledge. I want you to have wisdom.
[40:32] I want you to have what God has to say on your lips. That thy lips may keep knowledge. It ought to be something they learn. Something they can talk about.
[40:43] Our young men need this. Us old people. I know I'm the oldest, but we old people need it too. We need to know that God intended for us to stay loyal and faithful to our one and only that he gave us.
[40:59] Fact is, in this chapter, she is called the wife of your youth. She is called the wife of your youth in verse 18.
[41:10] If you want to skip down there and underline that. The wife of your youth. We are going back up to the top of the page, but let me just tell you, I met Betty when I was 18 years old.
[41:21] I married Betty when I was 18. I was a boy. I did not look like I look now. I had not gone anywhere or done anything. I mean, really, I was just a boy fresh out of house, out of my mom and dad's home.
[41:36] So I want to listen to what he's going to say here, and I want to do it or else. I'd like you to go to verse 3. We've done this before, but look at this.
[41:48] Strange woman. Write that down. Underline that. Strange woman. A foreign woman. Not your woman.
[42:00] Nothing wrong with a woman. Something wrong with a woman that's not your woman. Nothing wrong with a man, but there's something wrong with a man that's not your man. That's what makes him a strange man.
[42:13] But there are people, men and women, that do what this is talking about doing in verse 3. And Solomon is not anti-woman.
[42:25] He's anti-strange woman. In this very chapter, he's going to be very positive about your woman. And I'll show you that if we can get to it.
[42:35] But if you've got your Bible open, I'd like you just for the fun of it, if you do any marking, in verse 3, underline her. It's her mouth. Then go to verse 4 and underline her.
[42:47] Her end. Then go down to verse 5 and underline her feet. And in verse 5, her steps. And then verse 6, her ways.
[43:01] I just want you to notice that's five hers right there. It's a strange woman. This strange woman talks very sweetly. She says all the right things.
[43:13] Sometimes we have, even in the training center, young men or young women who know how to say all the right things, but they don't have the right heart.
[43:27] And they are there to take advantage of a boy or a girl. And it's happened more than one time. And it usually makes us out to be the bad guy.
[43:37] But here's what happens. Solomon, the wise man, the Holy Spirit of God said, you tell the people that there are ladies that have real sweet mouths and talk real smooth.
[43:50] They know what to say. They know how to say it. When I was a youth director many, many, many years ago, and probably before us modern day things, young men knew where to go find a girlfriend, go to church.
[44:08] My daddy told me that he went to church because that's where you met the girls. That was way back in the 1940s or whatever, 50s. I was born in 54.
[44:18] He must have been in the late 40s, early 50s. He went to church and met my mother. He wasn't saved. He didn't love God. He was living a wicked life. But he figured you could find a good woman down at the church.
[44:31] So he went down to church to get a woman. Thank God he got saved. But I told my mother after I was grown to preach, I said, you know, you should have never dated him. If I'd have been your pastor, I'd told you not to date him.
[44:43] I think she said her pastor told her not to date him. But she was probably like a lot of girls today and didn't listen. A strange woman. Look at verse four.
[44:54] Her end is wormwood, bitter wood. She talks honey and tastes bitter. Look at it.
[45:04] It's poetry, you know. He says she's like honeycomb. She's smoother than oil, but it doesn't taste good and it cuts you.
[45:15] Look at it. It says her end is as wormwood. She's sweet talking, but sour tasting. She is smooth, but she'll cut you.
[45:28] Look at that. I don't know if you see that. Looks to me like he wrote it that way and put it that way. Then he said, her steps take hold on hell, the graveyard and hell.
[45:43] Lest thou ponder the path of life. Her ways are movable. She doesn't want you to think about what she's saying.
[45:55] She doesn't want you to analyze it. That's why she doesn't want you to talk to your dad, lady. He doesn't want you to talk to your dad. She doesn't want you to talk to your dad, mom. Because if you'd talk to anybody who had a brain, they'd say to you, he's using you.
[46:10] Most guys are afraid of your dad, and they ought to be. And that's good. It ought to be that the dad would say, no, you don't look like the right kind of guy to talk to my girl.
[46:26] I don't know about any other dad. I think I know, but I don't want to be presumptuous. I don't think I, I think I can say this. I know this. I love my girls. I imagine every dad loves their girls, but I want to protect my girls.
[46:40] And that's what, by the way, they want to get you not to consider what's happening. Don't think about it. And by the way, she's changing all the time.
[46:51] Her ways are movable, you know? And dad sees that, or mom sees that about the guy. They see they're not stable.
[47:02] They're not steady. They're not always that way. In fact, there's this argument that goes on in the house. And dad says, he's like this. And she says, no, he's not.
[47:13] Because she's shining and shimmering and moving and shaking and different. Not who she really is. Not stability there. Her ways are movable.
[47:23] You can't figure her out. I'll go on just a second. But I understand that young guys and girls are looking at pornography.
[47:36] And that's a strange woman. That's not your woman. God never intended for any of our eyes to look at anybody else's body.
[47:47] God never, and I'm not talking a medical condition, a doctor, something like that. But you know, we don't need to be looking at pictures. We don't need to be looking at ladies' bodies.
[48:00] We need to know better than that. And before we go on, look in verse 1. Attend unto my wisdom. Pay attention. Don't look.
[48:10] Now, they look awful sweet. And they look like what you want. And they make that video be very appealing to you. But you better remember it's going to ruin you.
[48:23] And it's going to hurt you. I could say that all the adults in this room don't need this. But we all know the men in this room, we still need this. Because men mess up at my age.
[48:36] Did you know one of the most prominent times to get a divorce is like the age of 30 years of marriage? Because it's like that's when the kids move on. And you're finally free. And you go check on somebody else.
[48:48] We don't check on anybody else. Amen. We don't check on anybody else. We don't look at their pictures. We don't look at them on video. We don't talk to them. Verse 7.
[49:00] Hear me now, O you children, and depart not from the words of my mouth. Now, y'all pay attention. And don't you ever forget what I'm saying to you.
[49:10] Y'all pay attention. And don't you ever forget what I'm saying to you. Verse 8. Get away from her. That's what verse 8 says. Get away from her.
[49:21] Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house. Now, there's two more hers. But he's making it real clear.
[49:32] This lady is somebody you want to stay away from. By the way, if it was a mama talking to her daughter, it'd say his house. And there are guys, every girl in this room, you young ladies ought to stay away from them.
[49:45] They are snakes. Last thing you want to do is date a guy, play around with a guy, mess around with a guy who would leave you. I heard the story today of a lady who got pregnant when her boyfriend heard he left.
[50:07] She ought not have gotten pregnant. But goodnight. I need the kind of guy you want to be with.
[50:18] Say amen there, young ladies. Amen. We won't be around. If a guy loves you, he'll take responsibility for you. If a guy loves you, he'll show respect to you. He'll keep his paws off your body, keep his eyes off your body, and show some respect to you.
[50:35] That's just, so stay away. That's what verse eight says. In Tennessee Hillbilly, it's like get away from her. Verse nine, here's why. Because if you don't, you're going to get embarrassed.
[50:49] Lest thou give thine honor unto others. You have honor. What is more important than gold?
[51:02] A name. Honor. Honor. A good name. A good name. But you're going to give up your good name if you're not careful. You're going to give up your good name. Don't give up your honor.
[51:14] And then he says, don't give your years to the cruel. See, the thief comes up for the steal, to kill, and to destroy. And he's the cruel, and sin's the cruel, and if you're not careful, this sin's going to get you, and it's going to destroy you.
[51:31] There are men that are my age that have a pornography problem. There's a very good chance they started that when they were early teens.
[51:48] That's going to destroy their marriage life, going to destroy their self-respect, going to destroy them as a person. And Solomon said, can we just leave Solomon out of it for a minute?
[52:00] The Holy Spirit said, I love you. And I'm having Solomon write this down because I don't want you to be disrespected, and embarrassed, and laughed at, and mocked, and a discussion.
[52:14] And I don't want you to be suffering at the hands of the cruel. Verse 10. That goes, by the way, for both.
[52:24] I keep going back preaching at the woman. That's what the passage does. But everybody in this room ought to understand it goes both ways. Verse 10. Strangers are going to get all your money.
[52:38] Strangers are going to get all your money. I did a little bit of study this past week before I left on pornography. It's a book on counseling of pornography, and it talked about how people start with this and before long they're into the pornography that costs money, then they're into child abuse and pedophilia, and it just gave statistics.
[53:05] This isn't a game. This isn't a game. It's bad. And you're going to end up losing everything. Look at verse 10. And your labors will be in the house of a stranger.
[53:17] You want to work for somebody else to get it? I heard a speaker say today in an audio book I was listening to, Zig Ziglar says, everybody works for themselves. Somebody else might write your check, but you're still working for yourself.
[53:32] And so if you work hard, you can do better for yourself. You're not going to do better here. Because see, if you don't listen to what the Holy Spirit said through Solomon, if you don't attend unto wisdom, and if you don't bow your ear, you won't be able to make good decisions.
[53:47] You won't regard discretion in verse 2. If you won't hang on to the words that are being spoken to you, if you won't get rid of that, you're going to be financially ruined.
[54:01] Not just financially ruined, but physically ruined. Verse 11. And thou mourn at the last when thy flesh and thy body are little words.
[54:15] By the way, I haven't used any Greek words with you. I haven't used any fancy language. We're just reading the book. It says consumed, eaten up, destroyed, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed.
[54:36] You've lost your money and you've lost your health and it was all because you wouldn't listen when the Holy Spirit of God said, I don't want you with another person you're not married to forever.
[54:50] Not forever, forever. Lifetime forever. Verse 12. Because what you're going to end up saying is, boy, I hated being taught and my heart despised.
[55:01] I did not like it when they fussed at me and I did not like it when they taught me and I did not like to listen to my teachers in verse 13 and I wouldn't pay attention to them.
[55:13] Boy, now I've lost all my money and I've lost my health and it's not worth it because now you'll be saying after your body's eaten up, your money's gone, boy, I used to hate instruction and I despised reproof and I wouldn't obey what I was taught and I wouldn't pay attention.
[55:36] I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly. Now verse 15, there's a massive contrast. He's not against sex.
[55:51] God is not against sex. God is not against romance. God's not against an intimate relation. He's against it outside of his boundaries.
[56:03] And in verse 15, he says, drink waters out of, I wish you to underline this, thine own cistern. That's a, that's a, we had cisterns when I was a kid.
[56:15] A well is where water's underground and you dig down to it where you can get it. A cistern's where you catch water and keep water. He said, hey, it's yours. You see, Betty's mine.
[56:29] I won't get to what I was going to preach. We're just reading the text, but, but, or the chapter, but, but see, the, in the book of Solomon, Song of Solomon, he says, you ought to be able to say, he's mine and I'm his.
[56:43] He's mine and I'm his. That's where we're getting to. He said, you do it out of your own cistern. Running waters out of your own well. Look again in verse 17, let them be only thine, thine only, only thine own.
[57:00] Not sharing it, not sharing it. Verse 18, rejoice with the wife of your youth. Rejoice with the wife of your youth.
[57:13] It ought to be that I like hanging around with the girl I married almost 48 years ago. I ought to be able to have fun with her and enjoy her.
[57:25] She ought to be my friend. I ought not be mistaken. I've often thought if Betty were to die, I have no idea if I ever married again. Can you imagine? Excuse me, I'm not supposed to say that.
[57:39] Because I'd be so tempted. 48 years. But see, you don't have to worry about that. You rejoice with the wife of your youth. But not only that, she satisfies you in verse 19 all the time.
[57:54] She satisfies you. Would you underline satisfies you at all times? She satisfies you at all times.
[58:08] He satisfies you at all times. I don't need a video of somebody else's daughter or somebody else's wife.
[58:19] I don't need a relationship with somebody else. That girl that I married as a boy, I rejoice with her and I'm satisfied with her. Verse 20 says, why in the world would you all get excited and torn up with a strange woman wanting to change yours?
[58:40] And why would you embrace the bosom of somebody you don't know? Verse 21, the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, and God's thinking about all you're doing.
[58:56] look at that, he's pondering. That's an interesting term. You know, nobody uses that anymore. But I remember when I was a boy, somebody would say, I'm pondering on that.
[59:09] I'm old timers. God's pondering on, does Austin love Betty? God's pondering on, am I rejoicing in the wife of my youth?
[59:20] God's pondering on where my eyes are going. God's pondering on what I'm doing. His own iniquity shall take the wicked himself, and his sin will grab him, and hold on to him, and tie him up.
[59:36] He'll be held, tied up with cords of his sins, and he will die without instruction.
[59:47] So if you don't get the teaching, you're dead meat. That's Tennessee hillbilly way of looking at that, and in the greatness of your folly, the greatness of your stupidity, you're going to go the wrong way.
[60:01] You're going to get off the path. Lord willing, I'll preach the rest of it next Thursday, but can I get you to listen to this? Don't be stupid.
[60:14] Don't be a fool. Don't be a dingbat. One person for an entire lifetime. By the way, this dating thing can get out of hand.
[60:26] I'm just going to throw it out here. I'm the old guy, so I'm just going to say it. You know what? You don't date unless you're thinking about going somewhere. Like the marriage. Don't just date to play around.
[60:39] You don't play with each other's feelings like that. I hate it when guys hurt girls. I just hate it.
[60:50] I hate it when girls hurt guys. I just hate it. It ought not be like that. I am so glad I'm not going through that junk anymore. I'm fixing to go home in just a minute with a woman I've been married to a long time.
[61:06] We may have our little differences and ins and outs and fusses and fights and she might cry when I don't even breathe the right way or something. But you know what? I'm rejoicing with her.
[61:17] I'm satisfied with her. And I'm not going to go the way of folly. Father in heaven, I love you. I pray you bless your people.
[61:28] Thank you for the reading of your word. I give you praise for all in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you very much. A few quick announcements before we dismiss here. Tomorrow, this Friday, we're going to have the Blameless Conference.
[61:40] You won't want to miss it, men. It's going to be a really good time of encouraging each other, seeing what the Bible has to say about being blameless, men of integrity. Next Friday, the 12th, we're going to have something called Hot Takes. Here recently, I don't know if you all have noticed, there's been a lot of different questions coming up, a lot of issues that sometimes you're asking, I don't even know how to answer that.
[62:00] What in the world does God say about that? Well, with these, we hope to answer a few more of those serious questions. So this upcoming Friday, we'll get to see what the Bible has to say on things like gender identity, answers to those questions.
[62:17] So I'm super excited about that. I hope you all can make it out. And now for the big three, our staff missionaries are going to be in your bulletin. Our strategic partner, Kyle and Hannah Street, they are here so you can ask them for any more information.
[62:32] They're about to travel down the eastern seaboard again. Strategic partner is going to be the Risho families, Burkina Faso. They have Lucas to there with them. And the country of the week is going to be Burkina Faso West Africa.
[62:42] So be sure to be in prayer for that. With that, y'all are dismissed. Thank you.