[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. It is our prayer that you will be blessed by the preaching of God's Word.
[0:14] Alright, if you'll turn in your Bibles to Proverbs chapter number 4. If you haven't noticed, we've been going through Proverbs on these meetings. We call this, or I call this, I don't know if anybody else does, the Vision Fraternity.
[0:26] I did call it the Men's Fraternity, but the pastor told me it was redundant and that I said it more than once. So it's the Vision Fraternity and the Men get together, and the ladies are over there, and they have games and fun, and we have the Word of God, which is so much more important.
[0:40] And we normally have a special, so I thought I might whistle something for us during the offering. Kylie, weren't you in the church that somebody came up and whistled a special? And so if you feel like that's your spiritual gifting and you haven't been allowed to do that, let us know, and we'll see if we can't work you into a song service on a Wednesday night at our church, alright?
[1:02] Tuesday night. We're in Proverbs chapter number 4. I love it. I mean, you're here tonight because you believe that God knows how to run your life better than you do.
[1:13] You're seeking for wisdom. And I love what Brother Robert said about what his father said, which is our Heavenly Father. So we're getting advice from our Heavenly Father as we study the Bible, as we're watching a father give advice to their son.
[1:27] And he said it a lot. When he moved here, I mean, like every third sentence was, My dad says, my dad says. And they're like, Your dad ain't here, buddy, okay? And, but I like that, you know, and I envy that.
[1:38] You know, I forget the numbers, but Brother John, I hear in our community over 50% of men grow up without their biological dad in their home. And I was somebody like that, and my dad was involved, but he wasn't in my home.
[1:52] And so I just really enjoy seeing this because being a dad, I need a model. I need somebody to show it. And I've said this to many of you men in here before. I am thankful to be part of a church where I get to watch older men like Brother Wayne and much older men like Brother Chuck, you know, being that model.
[2:09] And I say that. We celebrated Brother Wayne's 40th birthday not long ago. And I honestly told him, I said, in 10 years from now, I would thank the Lord to have children like you, that you do.
[2:24] Sons off serving our country, you know, and just really been involved in church service and witness to a drill sergeant and his daughter. And I appreciate that, you know, because I want to know what that's like.
[2:35] And I'm thankful for a Bible that shows me, you know, that a dad cares about his son's instruction. So how much more would our Heavenly Father want that? He would want a peaceful life for us that we'll look at. He wants a happy life for us.
[2:46] And he gives us wisdom, and he shows it to us. And I'm thankful. So if you didn't get one of these handouts, raise your hand and somebody would get this to you. Kind of help you follow along as we look at a father's instruction to a son.
[3:00] All right? Ozzie needs one back there. Let me read here verses 1 through 4 as we look at a father and son relationship. Verse number 1. Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to no understanding.
[3:13] For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law. For I was my father's son, tender and only beloved, in the sight of my mother. He taught me also and said unto me, let thine heart retain my words and keep my commandments and live.
[3:28] Hear, children, the instruction of a father. As I said here, Solomon asked for wisdom, was given of God. So true wisdom is God-given. So the wisdom we're learning tonight is not coming from Solomon. It's coming from our heavenly father.
[3:40] And we see that God's way of passing wisdom on is for the fathers to pass it on to their children. You can look at all those verses, but I'll just read the first one here. Deuteronomy 6, 7. So we see a lot of principles being taught in Old Testament.
[4:04] And just those that understand Jewish culture, as all of us should as we study Old Testament. But you even see it today when we go out and we distribute literature. On the side of a door is this little container that has the word of God.
[4:16] They put it on their foreheads. They put it on there, but he was showing that you're supposed to put it in front of them. And we know that it was more than just showing them pieces of paper. But it's putting the words of God, the wisdom of God, in front of them.
[4:29] And teaching them. And constantly having it there for them. I can't think of any advice my dad gave me that I can tell at church. Now I'm just playing. But every Christmas, not on Christmas Day, but around Christmas, there's a kind of a tradition.
[4:43] I didn't grow up with my dad in the home. But he would always pick me up. We'd get a pizza. And we'd go to this abandoned bridge. And we'd throw bottles off one side of it. And the other one would shoot it when it came underneath the bridge.
[4:57] It's great, all right? And so we would do that. And I just always remember him wanting to give some type of wisdom. But we don't have any wisdom, do we? I mean, what advice can we give outside of the word of God?
[5:10] You know, and it's hard. And he would try his best. And I thank God for him. But I'm thankful to have a book of wisdom and the God of wisdom instructing us here tonight.
[5:20] But it was passed on orally, they would say it. They would tell them one generation after another. And it was passed on. I thought Kevin would be here tomorrow night and Jeremy. But in South Africa where Mark's going, for the men to become men, they go through this process.
[5:35] And there's like little secrets and tricks of the trade that the older men will tell the younger men. And if they're sitting at a table, there will be like five men there.
[5:46] And Kevin might say, hey, will one of you get us some drinks, some Coke? And he will say, no, I'm not going to. Tell the boy to do it. And then the other one is like, and they'll say, I ain't doing it.
[5:56] Tell him to do it. Because they have this hierarchy based upon how much the process they have went through. And it's real clear there. And how much they know. Something that in South Africa that they're forming, there's a lot of paganism involved in these rituals.
[6:10] So the church of God has to create their own, you know. And they've got to see that in the culture that the older men are teaching the younger as we're taught. But it's passed down. Word of mouth, as we're telling here in the scripture.
[6:23] Deuteronomy 6, 7. We see it. 2 Timothy 3, 14. Paul, Timmy, but continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and been assured of knowing of whom thou hast learned them. So it's to continue in what I already told you and just remember these things.
[6:36] Our desire to see our children happy is godly. How many of you have children desire to see them happy? Alright. Anybody want to admit? Uncle James even raised his hands over there.
[6:47] Okay. You want to see your children happy. And I'm telling you that your desire to see your children raised happy and be happy is a godly desire. Psalm 16, 11. Thou will show me the path of life.
[6:59] In thy presence is fullness of joy. At thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore. Ephesians 2, 10 tells us that we're created in his image and that we're made for good works.
[7:11] That God has a plan for his children. So you know that about your own children, right? And you know that about dads that we desire for them to be happy, have peaceful lives. But do we not know this about our heavenly father?
[7:22] And that he has given instruction for us as well. The Lord is at work perfecting me and getting me to where I can and will serve him better. He will perfect or mature me. Psalms 138, verse 8.
[7:34] The Lord will perfect the which concerneth me. Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth forever. Forsake not the works of thine own hands. So in verses 1 through 4 here in this proverb, we're looking at a father and son relationship.
[7:48] And today, as you sit here, you ought to make the application as fathers, if you are. And if you're not a father, at least you should make the application that your father is speaking to you as well.
[7:59] And I'm challenged as we think about this. For I give you good doctrine. For I give you good doctrine. Forsake ye not my law. I mean, as we're finding here, are we giving our children good doctrine?
[8:11] Are we following this godly example? Are we teaching them the things like that? I've said this before. It's amazing to me how Jesus talked to his disciples about their joy and these emotional things, matters of the heart.
[8:24] And we're made fun of on television and everything about how men never want to talk to their kids about sensitive issues. And we don't want to talk to them. Are we giving them doctrine? Are we teaching them truth? Are we helping set them up?
[8:35] John 17, when Jesus did his prayers, leaving the disciples, he was saying, I'm going to leave you, but I'm going to leave you in this world. And he prepared them. And men will be leaving our sons someday. We won't get to see them all the way through life.
[8:47] And so you prepare them. And it should be said of us towards our son, as it was said here as well. Then verses 5 through 20, it says, get wisdom. And next we're going to say, guard our hearts.
[8:57] So we see the father-son relationship. And then he says, get wisdom. I take it as a testimony, you're here tonight. You knew we were going to study the word of God. You didn't know exactly where we would be.
[9:08] And you didn't know exactly who would speak. But you knew the Bible would be attempted to be taught here tonight. And so you came here to get wisdom. And we're told to get wisdom, to guard our hearts. Let me read this for you. Get wisdom, get understanding, forget it not.
[9:21] Neither decline from the words of my mouth. Forsake her not, she shall preserve thee. Love her, and she shall keep thee. If you notice here, he describes it as a woman, the fair maiden of wisdom.
[9:33] Saying that wisdom is going to protect you, and that's going to be there for you. And that even in life, you'll have no excuse. You may marry a woman who does not protect you in certain areas.
[9:45] But being married, the wisdom is going to protect you in life. And that's the imagery being given here. Forsake her not, she will preserve thee. Her being wisdom, love her, and she shall keep thee. Wisdom is the principal thing.
[9:55] Therefore, get wisdom, and with all thy getting, get understanding. Exalt her, and she shall promote thee. She shall bring thee the honor. When thou thus embrace her, she shall give thee thine head an ornament of grace.
[10:06] A crown of glory shall she deliver to thee. Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings, and the years of my life shall be many. I have taught thee in the way of wisdom. I have led thee in the right path.
[10:18] When thou goest, thy steps shall not be straightened. And when thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble. Take fast hold of instruction. Let her not go. Keep her, for she is thy life.
[10:29] Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away. For they sleep not, except they have done mischief, and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall.
[10:44] For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence. But the path of the just is a shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. The way of the wicked is as darkness, and they know not at what they stumble.
[10:57] My son, attend to my words, and climb thy ear unto my understanding. Verse number 18. But the path of the just is a shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.
[11:08] We are the children of light. We live in light. And there's light being the witness, I mean, being the wisdom that we follow in, that has been given to us from our heavenly Father.
[11:19] Did you catch that? There's two paths. Verse number 10 tells us there's two options for us that we can be going down. There's a way of wisdom, and there's a way of folly. It even describes a kind of man.
[11:30] It describes both kind of men. And one of them says the kind of guy that can't even go to sleep until he has done some kind of mischief. Any of you have a sibling like that grown up that you just knew that they could not sleep at night?
[11:42] Thatcher went to bed yesterday at like 7 o'clock, which is a lot earlier than he normally goes to bed, which means he got up the day before any of us. So about 5.30 the day, I wake up to my son sitting on my head putting cotton balls up my nose.
[11:58] All right? And when I woke up and realized what he was doing, he laughed like a hyena. He was devising mischief, you know? And that brain's always going of how he can do something where he can entertain.
[12:10] Well, they said there's a type of person that can't sleep at night until they devise some mischief. The way of the fool. The way of the unwise man. So why is getting wisdom so important?
[12:21] It is the practical knowledge by which we gain this true and lasting happiness. You cannot say that you really care for anybody and for your son and you want them to be happy if you separate that from truth.
[12:34] You cannot say that you care about them emotionally if you do not care enough to tell them the truth. Because they're connected together. The way of truth is a way of happiness. The way of not truth, the way of folly is the path with no peace.
[12:47] With the most resistant to it in life. And so if you really care for somebody, you're going to have to teach them these wonderful truths of God's word. Proverbs 3.13 Happy is the man that findeth wisdom and the man that getteth understanding.
[13:02] And then contrast that to Proverbs 15.21 Folly is joy to him that is destitute of wisdom, but a man of understanding walketh uprightly. So our thirst for happiness is insatiable in this world.
[13:15] And if we don't have the wisdom to seek it in God, then we've got to try to find its substitute. In the world. You want your children to be happy? You want your life to be happy?
[13:26] Well, don't think that you can find it separate from the truth of God's word, from wisdom. That's why we seek after it. That's why we go to our Heavenly Father from wisdom. Nobody else can tell us what we can find in His word.
[13:39] What is wisdom? First of all, we're told that wisdom is... You know this one before you've looked at it. What is wisdom? What is the beginning of wisdom? What is it? The fear of the Lord.
[13:49] So where there's no fear of the Lord, there is no wisdom. Proverbs 11.2 When pride come... 9 and 10 first. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.
[14:02] So the fear of the Lord is not only the beginning characteristic, but from it everything else flows. So there is no wisdom if you don't fear the Lord. Because if you don't fear the Lord and humble yourself and repent to Him and submit your life to Him, there is no wisdom.
[14:16] And also, if there's no humbleness of heart, it flows from it. So if you... We first of all find that wisdom is the fear of the Lord. So if you want to teach somebody how to have a happy life, they must live in wisdom.
[14:28] So they must fear the Lord. Number two. Knowing and doing. Proverbs 4.6 And also, Dinaran, we've already read. So humility, unlike pride, does not recoil when commanded to do something.
[14:44] So we're told here in verse number 6 of Proverbs 4, it says, Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee. Love her, and she shall keep thee. So forsake her not. Another way it says in Proverbs 23.23, it says, Buy the truth and sell it not.
[14:57] So wisdom is not just knowing it, but it's obeying it. So as we're looking, as obviously we're looking at our Father here, so it isn't just enough to feed your children with information.
[15:07] We have to tell them to obey it. And we have to model it. We gotta... They can't just see us being students of the Word, but they gotta see our study dictating how we live our lives. And so when they see what we're doing, then they should see where it's coming from, from the Bible.
[15:22] And when we study the Bible, then they ought to know what it looks like in life, because that's true wisdom. I said on Sunday morning, you know, it's a fear that I have that I know that in the world, where we live at in this community in the South, people first think, well, because God's good to me, then I'm good, so I'm okay.
[15:39] And the second thing they think is, because I know a lot about God, He knows a lot about me, and everything's okay. And so we feel safe, because we've gathered a lot of information. But can I tell you, you don't get into heaven by playing cash cab, and there's not a Bible trivia, and somebody waiting at that.
[15:55] It's the fact that you know the Lord, and if you know Him, then you know He's long-suffering, and that He's patient, He's forbearing, and if you really know the Lord, then you humble yourself, and you fear the Lord, and you repent.
[16:07] So we see knowing and doing, and then what else is wisdom? Christ is the wisdom of God. 1 Corinthians 25-31, we find in the wisdom of God, Jesus was sent to us, and died in our place.
[16:21] So in knowing to know God, we must know Jesus. So if you want to know the wisdom of God, you must know Him, and outside of Him, there is no wisdom. And moving on, if you follow along here, let's let wisdom direct our path.
[16:33] And we see in verse number 11, I have taught thee in the way of wisdom, I have led thee in the right paths. So we learn of the two paths, I already said in verse number 10, that the ways of the just are wisdom.
[16:45] Verse, skip down to 18, but the path of the just is as a shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day, when we will be forever with Him. So we do this through the renewing of the mind that the Bible tells us in Romans 12-2, as we spend time there in the Word.
[17:01] John 7-17 tells us, if any man will do his will, and shall know the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself. So if any man will do his will, it is God's will that will guide us.
[17:15] So we got to see this book as God's wisdom, and live as it's part of our normal, as part of our day. That's why in verse number 6, it says we should esteem wisdom. So we say be men of the book, and Brother Kyle mentioned that, you know, what was something that somebody said in your life, the pastor said it, be men of the book.
[17:31] And if we're really living life, knowing that we need God's wisdom, I mean, we're constantly in situations where we know that our wisdom, that we have no wisdom apart from Him, so we ought to be people of the book for that.
[17:45] And then we said, keep it and don't forsake it. Buy it, and don't sell it not. And so, we ought to spend our lives buying this truth, and looking for it, investing, meaning you have to give time.
[17:56] How do you buy truth? You buy it when you wake up a little bit earlier, than you would another day. How do you buy it is when you go out of your way to where it's going to be spoken. Where do you buy it? You spend time investing, and reading, and looking for it.
[18:07] Buying doesn't just mean giving your money, it's giving something of yourself to get this. And then when you buy it, don't sell it, you know? Don't give it away. When you have it, buy it, live by it. So here's some benefits, Proverbs tells us of having wisdom.
[18:20] Verse number four, it says, He taught me also, and said unto me, let thy heart retain my words, and keep my commandments, and live. It gives life. He told him, he said, if you'll live by wisdom, and live in the way of God, and follow his wisdom, your days will be prolonged.
[18:38] I was talking to a gentleman the other day, and he was talking about, now that he became a Christian, and his family thinks he's just doing so much, and being so involved in the church, and he said, I just have so much more time than I used to, because my life is different.
[18:52] Because the wisdom of God, changes the way we live life, and in the changing of life, changes the amount of days, that we have. Because in wisdom, our days will be long.
[19:03] Verse number six, Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee. Speaking once again of wisdom, love her, and she shall keep thee. And it gives protection. We want to see our kids have happy lives, and peaceful lives, and we also want to live them protected, and there's nothing that will protect them more, than the word of God, and his truth.
[19:23] And then it gives honor, verse number eight, exalt her, and she shall promote thee, that we must exalt, and make much of the wisdom of God, through his word. So I told you, first of all, there's father and son talking, and he says, get wisdom.
[19:36] Whatever you have, get wisdom. Buy wisdom, give your life to it, seek it, and then he says, after you get it, don't give it up for anything, because there's two paths in life. There's the way of wisdom, there's the way of folly, and don't go down that path, be a person of wisdom.
[19:49] And then, after that he says, get wisdom, and then he tells us, that we need to guard our heart. Verses 21 through 27, let them not depart from thine eyes, keep them in the midst of thine heart, for they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.
[20:05] Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. Put away from thee a forward mouth, and perverse lips shall put far from thee. Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.
[20:18] Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand, nor to the left. Remove thy foot from evil. So we're told here, to guard our heart with all diligence.
[20:31] I was asking some of the people that work in nursing, if they could help me find a fake heart, and they didn't. Then I thought I might bring a cow's heart, but I knew how Coach felt about that.
[20:42] When Coach and his wife first started coming to the church, we were doing the book of Leviticus. I remember we had it set up in the old building, and we were faking the sacrifice of a goat.
[20:54] And I had fake blood and a knife. And when the goat came in, I pretended to kill the goat, and Whitney elbowed Zach and said, if they kill a goat, we're out of here. All right? So I'm really glad for many reasons we didn't kill a goat.
[21:06] But I'm sure Mark would have had permission to do that, right, from our landlord like he always did when we did anything like that. But I wanted to, I was going to bring the heart and cover it, but I would ask, you know, I have something here that's got to be protected more than anything else.
[21:20] More than your life, more than your retirement, more than your family, more than any amount of savings, even more than just your marriage in itself.
[21:31] It's your heart. It's a thing that we're so with all diligence. So if you can't, just an easy way to know that is, think about the way that you protect anything and say that you're supposed to protect this thing more.
[21:42] With all diligence above all, we're supposed to protect our heart. And why is that? Because my relationship with my wife flows from my heart. My relationship with my children flows from my heart. My relationship with everything comes from my heart.
[21:54] As we say in our church, our B-level. The part of me that you do not see that makes the decisions, the issues of life that come through my values and who I am that you cannot see, it comes out of it.
[22:07] And so we must protect it. Let me meddle here for a second. You know, I have, if I was to leave my house open, which I used to do, and coach that would teach me not to by coming into my house and eating my food.
[22:19] But if I was to tell you that I never lock my house, my kids sleep on the first floor by the door, and I just don't do any kind of protection for them, you guys would probably fuss at me.
[22:31] If I was to tell you right now that I don't know that in America we really need the Second Amendment, I mean, if President Obama wants my gun, I'll let him have it. You know, I'm willing to give that up.
[22:42] You know, if he really wants my shotgun, he could have it. I think you might get in the arms about it. Pun not intended or needed. All right. But you'd be open arms about the fact that you don't want to give away your right to protect.
[22:55] You know what I'm talking about. All right. He's squirming, but he's with me. He's about to have a Holy Ghost survival. Okay. And so we want to protect ourselves. And that's a big deal to us. The right to protect ourselves is a big deal to us.
[23:07] Can I tell you that you're a lot safer raising your kid in a country without the Second Amendment than raising your kids in a house with a dad who has an unguarded, unprotected heart?
[23:18] So whatever you're guarding right now, I mean, whatever you worry about at night and you're worried about your retirement or with your children, but it seems like all of us have responsibility. Unless we give things over to the Lord at night, we're always thinking about something and worrying about something.
[23:32] Can I tell you what ought to go to the top of the lift and what you're protecting is your heart. You ought to do that. You know, if you're not protecting it, there's certain things, we make it up in men's meetings, your accountability when it comes to access, what you're watching at night, what you're seeing on the computer, the relationships that you have, and you need accountability in your life.
[23:52] You need to guard it. You need to be talking to somebody. You need to see that when you're getting away from it. And when you're getting away from the truths that you know, you need somebody to help you in your life.
[24:03] That's why that mentoring is so important. That's why we're told that in the church we ought to have these relationships. The older, the younger, you need somebody that can call you out. All right, well, Jake and I, the other day, we were talking to a guy and he said, we were talking about having a mentor.
[24:17] And they said, can anybody in your life tell you you're an idiot? And he says, if not, you're in a dangerous place, okay? If you're fit, he's in his early 20s. You need somebody that's helping look after you and helping provide accountability.
[24:29] But you have to know that there's so many things that are trying to get in your heart and you have to protect against it and guard your heart. So the Bible speaks about the heart often. Psalms 12, 2, so it talks about a hard heart, then a proud heart, and an unbelieving heart, a cold heart, an unclean heart.
[24:45] Search me, O God, and know my heart, as it says there. And so we ask God to search our heart and to know it. Because it's such a big deal. We've got to catch it in the heart. Because if we catch it in the heart and we go to him and say, God, you brought conviction, there's no telling.
[24:58] Our God is so good to us. Our Heavenly Father is so good to us. He brings conviction in our lives. And we say, Father, I want to give that up. And we have no idea how much heartache and how much peace we have saved ourselves and how much joy is in our lives because we responded to him.
[25:13] He says, this thing is in your heart. And he puts his finger on it and he says, get rid of that. And we say, yes, sir. Yes, Father. We get rid of that. But that was left alone and an unguarded heart and more comes in.
[25:25] There's just no telling where you could have been. A clear example of this, an action flowing from an attitude. Here in Matthew, let me, Matthew chapter number 15, verse 19.
[25:35] It says, for out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adultery, fornication, thefts, false witnesses, blasphemies. And it just gives a wide array of things and they all start in the same place.
[25:46] And so there's an illustration you probably know of in the Bible in Genesis 12, 13. Abraham the Sarah says, say, I pray thee, thou art my sister, that it may be well with me for thy sake and my soul shall live because of thee.
[25:59] You know that story? I just, I'm always boggled by it. How in the world did that guy get away with that? I mean, he's going into a new town and he tells his wife, hey, they might kill me if they think you're my wife because you're really good looking and they're looking for really good looking people.
[26:12] So let's just have this story going on and there's an indicator there in what's going on in his heart. And then what was going on in his heart, that was self-preservation over his love for his wife and which is, so he was guarding himself over guarding his marriage and his heart.
[26:28] And so we see it premeditated. So it happens, you know what's going to happen and then again into the city and it's already going to happen so it was a premeditated sin, you know.
[26:39] It was already a sin when he told his wife that he cared for himself. It was sin inside of his heart when he thought it and then he gets into the city and then he lies again. It's premeditated. So it's the, you know, all the time we know what's in the heart of the teenagers right now and what they're daydreaming when they get a little bit older and they get, when lust has conceived that inside of their heart there's this and they're just waiting for an opportunity.
[27:02] And so that's the area and that's the time this must be dealt with. So you can only take what is stored up. Luke 6.34 tells us that it's from this storage that the issues of life will flow.
[27:16] Just real quickly, just got a couple minutes left, but let me give you some indicators of an unguarded heart that I believe this father has given the son here in Proverbs chapter number four. First of all, the heart, we find the heart controls the tongue, lying lips, a flattering lips, deceptive lips, and undisciplined lips and wild lips.
[27:36] Nothing's coming out of your mouth that's not in your heart. So you can't, you can't go and have some kind of scan and look at your heart but we say, God searched my heart and one of the indicators of the fact that we have an unguarded heart is what's coming out of our mouth.
[27:48] Say, I can't control my mouth? Well, you're because you're not guarding your heart. And so that's one indicator of an unguarded heart is perverse lips. Secondly, it's prowling eyes, set no wicked thing before thee.
[28:00] Psalms 101, turn eyes from wicked things and then we must look to Jesus with our lives. And the next chapter tells us there's value and wisdom in staying away from adultery.
[28:12] And so we must, first of all, we gotta see what's coming from our lips and see what we're looking at because you may think there's something in your brain that tells your eyes where to look but it's your heart that tells your eyes where to look.
[28:24] So it's an indicator here. And then lastly, pointed feet towards evil. Direction of feet is a good indicator where you're going because you cannot look into your heart.
[28:35] The direction you're headed will tell you what's going on inside of your heart. If you're looking for mischief, if you're desiring to get involved in stuff, it's just an indicator of what's going on in your heart and you're a person that needs wisdom.
[28:48] So Father to the Son, our Heavenly Father to us tonight, it says get wisdom. So man, I just ask you about that. You know, we'll pray here in a second. And are you really searching for wisdom?
[28:59] Is that a priority in your day? And that's where Bible reading and study is such an indicator of the fact that you're looking for wisdom, you know? If you're a person seeking wisdom, then you're going to be finding it in God's Word.
[29:13] It's our commitment to the house of the Lord. Anywhere the Bible is being taught, we ought to be people that would want to be part of it. And secondly, how are you doing guarding your heart? Do you think about it? Have you invested more in protecting your home with security devices and all the things like that?
[29:29] Then you have your own heart. It's a good investment. And so I ask you these questions because that's the way that the wise man would walk is he would seek for wisdom and then he would also guard his heart.
[29:41] That's what he asks to the children. So let's review. Review, allow conviction to take place and then respond in your life. I'll pray and give you a second to sit there in your seat and respond and ask the Lord what he has for you.
[29:54] So first we saw we should have a desire for wisdom. I gave some reasons for the benefits of it. We saw why it was desirable and then now we must consider our own desires. We should desire wisdom but sometimes we don't.
[30:08] What are you desiring? And if it isn't wisdom then you should ask the Lord to remove that from your heart. Alright, let's pray together. Heavenly Father, I thank you for this proverb. I thank you Lord as probably many men in here who might not have had a father in their lives that would have sat down and given them instruction like this that you recorded this word and you gave it to us so now we can look at it and we can hear the Heavenly Father speak to us.
[30:34] And Lord, as one of your children, Lord, I know that I'm often guilty of not giving time to seeking for wisdom. That I'm content with my own knowledge. I'm just content with the things that I already currently know but I want to be a student of your word, Lord.
[30:48] I want your wisdom. I want it in front of me. I want to be where it's being taught. And then secondly, Father, I know that my heart has been left wide open at times and Satan has attacked and I want to guard it.
[30:59] I want to be diligent about it and I want to protect it, Lord. And I thank you for this encouragement, the challenge that you've given us in your word and I pray that we'll be responsive to it tonight. In Jesus' name I pray.
[31:10] Amen. Amen. This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfredo, Georgia. For more information, log on to www.visionbaptist.com where you can find our service times, location, contact information, and more audio and video recordings.
[31:29] Thanks. Thanks.�