Proverbs 12 : 1-7 - Pastor Josiah Shipley

Now, I want you to pay attention. It wasn't anything in Israel, it wasn't their military styles, it wasn't the type of people...

If you would, come with me to Proverbs chapter 12. Thank you, music team.

I always appreciate how we always read the Scripture of a song's built off of before we sing the song.

Just a reminder, everybody, this thought crossed my mind while we were reading that. The psalmist says, let everything that has breath praise the

Lord. One day, that will be a reality, though not for everyone willingly.

One day, every knee will be bowing, and every tongue will be confessing that Jesus Christ is

Lord. What the psalmist is calling for there is that we do that now, willingly, because one day that will be happening, whether out of joy in the heart or out of forced submission.

But everybody will be bowing the knee. And what the psalmist is proclaiming to us and what we're proclaiming now is we do that now.

We praise the Lord now. Remember, you don't make Jesus Lord.

He is Lord. You submit to Him as Lord. We're going to be in the book of Proverbs.

And I lost my handout. I found it. No, I didn't.

That's okay. I'm going to steal someone else's right here. Thank you, Pastor John. Okay, now we're in the book of Proverbs, guys.

And Proverbs is a little different. The teacher in me cannot resist. The front of your page is to give you some insight on this book.

That's the whole point of why I did this. A proverb is a short, pithy statement about a moral truth.

It's not intended to be a be -all, end -all in every circumstance, but it's intended to be a general truth.

There are proverbs in basically every culture you can think of. When you go to a Chinese restaurant and you open up the fortune cookie, there are proverbs in every type of culture.

The difference is only this collection of proverbs is theanustas. Only this collection of proverbs is

God -breathed. Does everyone follow me on that? Now, for the most part, the book of Proverbs were spoken by Solomon.

Someone else wrote them down, but for the most part, they were spoken by Solomon. He actually spoke over 3 ,000 proverbs.

513 of them are included here. The ones God intended for us to know. Now, Proverbs is different than most other books of the

Bible. And for those of you who have paid attention on Wednesday nights or on Sunday mornings when

Pastor Jeff has gone over hermeneutics, the rules of interpretation, you'll have a little bit easier time with Proverbs, and here's why.

It is one of the few books of the Bible where the verse numbers actually won't mess you up because each one is its own individual proverb, and for the most part, can stand alone.

Okay? For the most part. For the most part, it's not like a letter. It's not like a biography.

It's a collection of proverbs. Remember, guys, let me just step away from this for a minute, and just please remember this about what the

Bible is. Don't have in your brain that this was all written at the same time by the same person and it just all came together and has always looked like it is right in front of you.

The Bible is a collection of God -inspired works. Some of those works are narratives, someone telling a story.

Some of them are letters. Some of them are books of law. Some of them are just history.

Some of them are music. The longest book in the Bible is Psalms, and it's about its music. Okay? Some of it's poetry.

Okay? Some of it is prophetic. Some of it's visionary. What's amazing is that God used 40 different people, okay, writing in 100 different styles, in two primary languages and two secondary languages over a period of 1 ,500 years on three different continents, and it all has one central message.

That can only happen if it's a work from God. The book of Proverbs is a collection of these divine sayings.

There is no book more practically applied than Proverbs. If you need a book of the

Bible that you can read and apply in your life today, it's the book of Proverbs. And I would be willing to bet that you will notice as you read, you'll be able to say, yep,

I'm doing that one. No, I'm not doing that one. Yep, I'm doing that one. And the way it's written is mostly parallelism.

In other words, comparison. The righteous do this. The wicked do this. The righteous do this.

The wicked do this. A wise man does this. A fool does this. Real simple. That's how it's written.

So we're going to go over Proverbs 12, 1 through 7, and go over just seven of those very quickly, and we'll spend more time on some of them than others.

But what I hope is that this God -ordained wisdom seeps into our minds and our hearts to give us the desire to obey

God and to take this wisdom and apply it in our lives today. Proverbs 12, 1 through 7.

Hear the word of the Lord. Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.

A good man obtains favor from Yahweh, but a man of evil devices he condemns.

No one is established by wickedness, but the root of the righteous will never be moved.

An excellent wife is the crown of her husband, but she who brings shame is like rottenness in his bones.

The thoughts of the righteous are just. The counsels of the wicked are deceitful.

The words of the wicked lie in wait for blood, but the mouth of the upright delivers them. The wicked are overthrown and are no more, but the house of the righteous will stand.

The one that I think we should probably spend the most time on is actually the first one, verse 1. Let me read that again.

Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.

And by the way, for those of you who think one of the Ten Commandments is thou shalt be nice, please let

God know He made a mistake tonight. Guys, I said this a few weeks ago.

If you think that you have to make a decision between telling the truth and being nice, there's no decision to be made.

You tell the truth. We speak the truth in love, the Bible tells us. If you're not speaking the truth, guess what?

You're not speaking any type of love that matters. That's what the Bible says.

He who loves discipline loves knowledge. Now if that doesn't hit every one of us square in the eyes, you're not listening.

How many of you love to be disciplined? But he who loves discipline loves knowledge.

You can have all the head knowledge you want about whatever you want, but if you are unwilling to hear rebuke, if you are unwilling to be chided, if you are unwilling to be corrected, the

Bible has a word for you and the word is stupid. That's what the Bible says. This goes exactly what we were talking about two weeks ago, doesn't it?

The comparison. The fruit of the Spirit, the work of the flesh. Do you remember? And what do we talk about?

And it bears repeating. Do we remember the idea of a strong independent person is unknown to the

Bible? There is no married person nor Christian that has a right to call themselves independent.

Strong is godly. Independent is not. Peter, John, Luke, Isaiah, David did not know of a belief system in Yahweh that was solely individualistic.

They didn't know of that type of Christianity. If you have that mindset, we spoke about this a couple weeks ago, but I can see in the eyes, it bears repeating.

If you have that mindset that I'm going to do me and no one can tell me what to do, I need you to understand you are at odds with Jesus and Peter and John and God.

He disagrees with you. I need that to get through your head. If you are your own man and don't need anyone to tell you to do anything, if you are a strong independent woman, understand that is unknown to the

Bible. Okay? Unknown to the Bible. At least to the ways of the righteous.

Whoever loves discipline, oh God, that we would learn to love discipline.

Now, to the giver of discipline, the Bible repeats itself over and over.

It is always with a gentle spirit. It's always with gentleness and humility, watching out for yourself so you're not also tempted by the same thing.

But it's always done in love. Not with a hammer, but with a chisel.

In love. But he who hates reproof is stupid.

I must confess I have been stupid many times before. Let that not be said to be a pattern of my life.

And what's amazing is if it is, you have right here a way to start changing that today.

Seek out correction. Pastor Jeff often asks, who are you discipling? And I ask the other question in reverse, is somebody pouring into you?

Is there somebody pouring into you or do you not need any help?

Are you seeking out correction? You must know that you have blind spots, just like the rest of us.

It takes someone else with a different paradigm to be able to see those and point them out to you. We should love that because it makes us stronger.

Disagreement, ladies and gentlemen, does not equal disharmony. Disagreement does not mean disharmony.

Reproof does not mean rejection. The idea I'm reading from my handout, the idea of God using others to sharpen our minds, mend our hearts, lift our souls, and yes, to correct us, is known throughout the

Bible, especially in the book of Proverbs. Just a couple more examples. One page over. Chapter 11, verse 14.

Where there is no guidance, a people falls. But in an abundance of counselors, there is safety.

Chapter 13, verse 1. A wise son hears his father's instruction, but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke.

I ask you today, which of these two people can be said of you? Are you the one who loves discipline or the stupid one who hates reproof?

Though we've all been in that category, I pray that if we are, we no longer remain there, and we seek out godly discipline.

Verse 2. A good man obtains favor from Yahweh, but a man of evil devices he condemns.

I cannot help. The teacher in me cannot stop. We've gone over this before, but at the top of your page on the front,

I wrote Hebrew of the week for you Sunday night people. We've been doing Greek of the week. I didn't know how to make Hebrew rhyme.

Someone more creative than me should have helped me, but Hebrew of the week. And we've been over this before. In most of your

English Bibles in verse 2, it's going to have LORD in all capital letters, in all big letters, okay?

Like big L, big O, big... I still say big instead of capital. Big L, big O, big R, big D, right?

I bet in most of your Bibles it says that. That is the divine name of Yahweh. Now, when you hear me read most of the time or even

Pastor Jeff or Brother Jeremiah, you'll hear us say Yahweh because that's actually the name being used.

It's used almost 7 ,000 times in the Old Testament. That is His divine name.

Not just any god. We're talking about Yahweh. That's who we're talking about here. A good man obtains favor from Yahweh.

Do you know how that's obtained? Some of the most beautiful passages in the

Bible about some of your heroes of the faith. Genesis 6, verse 8, and Noah found favor with God.

Genesis 12, there was a man named Abram, and God picked him to start a nation.

There was nothing in Abram that caused God to have favor in him.

God found favor in Noah. God found favor in Abraham.

The message of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation is that while we were still sinners,

Christ died for us. There has never been anyone saved who didn't first recognize their need for a

Savior. And if that's you today, if you don't understand that, if you don't understand the only way you ever find favor with God is that He seeks you out.

That you are desperate, cold, and dead, but in God you have been made a child of God.

There are no children of natural descent. We've all been adopted into His family. And the more you recognize that, the more you recognize your need to praise

God. The more you recognize how amazing it is the song, My Redeemer Lives.

The sacrificial lamb that was killed for your sin lives and is your

Lord. A good man finds favor from Yahweh, but a man of evil devices he condemns.

A man who plans evil. What verse 2 tells us is what the Bible says over and over and over again.

As a general rule, God rewards obedience and punishes disobedience.

Who would have thought? As a general rule, that's exactly what God does.

Check out chapter 16 verse 3. It says, now listen, commit your work to Yahweh and your plans will be established.

The book of James sets it this way. Don't even in your heart say, tomorrow

I'm going to go take out a loan, I'm going to lay down this foundation, and I'm going to do this, and I'm going to build my business up.

Don't say, if the Lord wills. And the point behind that is not to actually say that before that happens, it's to recognize that literally everything on planet earth is at the behest of Yahweh.

Everything that happens is under the permission of God. He is the sovereign of heaven and earth, of the spiritual world and the physical world.

He is. And when you recognize that, you recognize that if we commit our works to the

Lord, our plans will be established, because our plans are nothing if it's not in accordance with His.

And how do you know? How do you know? He has given us

His instruction book. He has given us the necessary revelation to live our lives according to that.

Don't listen if someone tells you, the Bible does not have an answer to every question in life.

I know that sounds strange. Just let me finish. The Bible does not have an answer to every question in life. It has an answer to life itself.

It has an answer to life itself. Commit your works to the

Lord, and your plans will be established. Verse 3,

No one is established by wickedness, but the root of the righteous will never be moved.

In other words, this used to be tough for me. If you see someone pursuing evil and getting away with it, vengeance is mine, says

God, and I will repay. It is not your job to seek out justice in that way.

That's God's job. Someone's plans will never be established in wickedness.

It won't last. God will be bringing about equal scales again in His time.

There will be an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth again in His time. The scales will be evened and payments will be made in His time.

In His time. But for your own life, recognize that nothing will be established by wickedness.

Even something that you think has good intentions, if it's done in wickedness, it will not be established. It will not last.

It won't work. Commit your works to the Lord and your plans will be established.

Verse 4, I love this verse. An excellent wife is the crown of her husband, but she who brings shame is like rottenness in his bones.

Three weeks ago, you guys brought me on full time. And I don't work at Evergreen anymore, I work here.

I am 29. I never had a... as an adult.

Now as a kid, I always dressed up as a pastor and went to the hospital with my dad and got a little clergy badge so I could get behind the door.

But as an adult, I didn't really feel a call to be a pastor for most of my adult life.

I really didn't. Three Octobers ago, two or three

Octobers ago, we were driving out to Arlington, to Jim's house actually. We were driving out to Arlington and I didn't have a vision.

I wasn't listening to a song or a sermon or an audio recording. I was just driving. Ava was in the back.

Rachel was in the passenger seat. And I can't describe it other than an overwhelming pull.

Pastor John and I have talked about this. An overwhelming pull. An overwhelming pull towards that type of work that did not come from me.

I hadn't talked to anybody about it to pastorship. And we were on I -40 in the left lane.

We were going like 80. I finally have a car that can go above 60.

And I started tearing up for no reason. And I just kept looking forward and I said, babe,

I think I'm supposed to be doing something else. And this was her response. Alright, well we can pull around right up here.

Because she thought I meant today. She thought I meant go somewhere else. She said we can turn around right there if we need to.

But did you hear that answer? I said I think I need to be doing something else. Now she thought

I was talking about, do you remember this? She thought I was talking about that day. And she said, alright, well we can turn around right there if we need to.

An excellent wife is the crown of her husband. The majesty, the glory, that which is shown off, if you want to think of it that way.

That which makes one proud. That which one wears with dignity.

An excellent wife is the crown of her husband. A crown shows off majesty, prized possession.

It's not hidden but in view for all to see. And a king wears it proudly. But one who brings shame is like rottenness in his bones.

When God created man, He created Adam. He gave him dominion over the entire planet.

Adam saw the majesty of mountains and rivers and valleys and everything in all creation.

He saw the brightest colors. He saw every beast, every creature that God ever created.

And then God said, it is not good that man should be alone. Everything in all creation was not enough to fulfill that which

Adam needed. Nothing. On the entire planet.

So God specially created Eve for Adam. The Bible has a word for her.

A help mate. See, all the other creation,

God, spoken to existence, did not pause, did not hesitate. Birds, reptiles, oceans, sun, moon, stars.

When He gets to woman, He stops. He takes His time. He brings

Adam into a deep sleep. He takes one of Adam's bones and builds her off of that.

In other words, instead of simply speaking her into existence, He spoke her into existence using something from man that He had already created and made her especially for Him.

Isn't it ironic? The Bible says that a wife who brings her husband shame is like rottenness in his bones.

The very bones that were used to create her in the first place. Rotting on the inside while he lives.

Gentlemen, are you someone worthy of being a help mate for?

And don't give me that, well, no one's worthy. Are you someone worthy of being a help mate for?

Do you fulfill that example? Are you the federal head that God created

Adam to be? Do you lead not just with your mouth but with your actions?

The Bible over and over and over says talk is cheap. That anyone can say one thing, but their actions reveal the truth.

That's what the whole book of James is about. So gentlemen, I ask you, if your wife is not your crown, maybe it's because you're not worthy of wearing that crown.

And what's amazing for you gentlemen is it's nothing more than another repentant choice to submit to God today and become that.

Become that today. Repent of that today. An excellent wife is the crown of her husband, but she who brings shame is like rottenness in his bones.

What's amazing about that sentence is that the guy who wrote that psalm knew that to be true.

At the time he said that, he was living that out. See, he knew that to be true up here, but he didn't know it here.

Let me say that again for those of you looking down. I need you to pay attention right here. He knew that, but he didn't know that.

You know what happened to Solomon? Instead of seeking out the excellent wife, he sought out physical pleasures.

He sought out sensual things. By the end of it all, he had 1 ,000 women.

Wow! 1 ,000 women. Whew! Talk about his accountability group.

He would have a problem. He had 1 ,000 women. And his sin, in 1

Kings 11, verse 4 it says, and his heart no longer fully, wholly trusted in Yahweh.

His heart no longer wholly trusted in God. Here's what's amazing about what sin will do.

Brother Jeremiah in one of his pre -sermon welcome things that he does a couple weeks ago said what?

He was speaking of sexual sin, talking about what the Bible says, that it's crouching at your door. Its desire is for you.

It's easy to slip into that, isn't it? Solomon's sin did not just affect

Solomon, nor the 1 ,000 women. You see, because of his sin and his heart turning away from God, God took the kingdom from him.

Oh, and it gets better. All those children he had rebelled against him, went to war with each other, killed each other, split the kingdom in half.

That whole thing we've been studying on Wednesday nights, the ten northern tribes, two southern tribes. You know how it got that way? Solomon's sin and the consequences and results of that led to a silver war.

Thousands dead. Tens of thousands dead. The nation never to be united again under that monarchy.

Your sin will always affect far more than just you. But here's the beautiful part about it.

How much more your obedience. The Bible says, for where sin abounds, grace abounds even more.

Only Noah obeyed. Eight people got on the ark because of Noah's obedience.

Only Rahab obeyed in Jericho. Her entire family of all generations, her mother, her father, her cousins, her uncles, her aunts, her children were saved from the fall of Jericho because of her submission.

Isn't that amazing? She is mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus and her children lived the rest of their lives.

The Bible says her grandchildren lived the rest of their lives as native

Israelites. Native Israelites. The day she believed, she was brought into that community and treated as an actual

Israelite. She didn't look like everybody else. She didn't even speak the same language. But she believed

God and it was credited to her as righteousness. Your sin affects far more than just you as we see from Solomon here.

But your obedience all the more. All the more. Far more than just you.

Verse 5, the thoughts of the righteous are just, but the counsels of the wicked are deceitful.

Okay. As believers, if you want to control your actions, you have to first control your thoughts.

The thoughts of the righteous are just. How do I do that? That is a tall order.

2 Corinthians 10 .5 You ready? 2 Corinthians 10 .5. You can turn there real quick if you want to. 2 Corinthians 10 .5.

We'll just be there for just a moment. 2 Corinthians. It's in the New Testament. 2 Corinthians 10 .5

I love this passage. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to obey

Christ. Again, for those of you who do not like to rock the boat, for those of you who don't want to offend anybody, that is unknown to the biblical writers.

We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God and fight to take every thought captive to obey

Christ, to obey Jesus. I remember reading years ago the passage where Paul says, pray without ceasing.

I said, how do you do that? What is this? Why do you write stuff that's obviously impossible,

God? How do I pray without ceasing? Because I still had in my mind, and maybe some of you do too, that prayer was only prayer if you did this and closed your eyes or said this and said, dear

Jesus, amen, or whatever. I said this two weeks ago when

I got a new video game, Medal of Honor or Desert Storm. Hannah and I talked about this one, okay?

It stayed right here. I can't remember if this was on Sunday night, Wednesday night, or Sunday morning, so I'm just going to say it again because it doesn't matter.

It stayed right here. Like at work, if I wasn't thinking about it, it just stayed there, like the images of the game.

When I am doing right, when the Bible says, dwell on the Word of God, when

I'm doing right, those open tabs in my brain, like on your phone, are the

Word of God. It's like just in the background, always running. Always running, somewhere in the background.

That's how you take every thought captive. And the way you get to that is not by reading the

Bible like reading a proverb and a psalm every night before bed. It's by dwelling on it, by chewing on it, by thinking about it.

The same way you do with Netflix, the same way you do with Hulu, you dwell, you think about it, don't you?

That's the call. There are hundreds of commands in the Bible about what to do with the

Bible. Very few of them say read the Bible. They say memorize, dwell, mentally chew on.

That's the call. We must take every thought captive.

And the how -to for me, the how to do that, is most clearly demonstrated in Philippians chapter 4.

And I'm just going to read verse 6 through 9, and we'll move on from this point. Verse 6 through 9 of Philippians chapter 4.

You can write it down for later. It is on your paper. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto

God. And then the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, brothers, you ready? Whatever's true, whatever's honorable, whatever's just, whatever's pure, whatever's lovely, whatever's commendable.

If there's any excellence, if there's anything worthy of praise, think about, dwell on these things.

What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things.

And the God of peace will be with you. Hey, a few weeks ago, Brother Jeff gave a challenge.

I think he did it on a Wednesday night and a Sunday morning. He said, start to remove the negative influences from your life, whether that be

TV, music, whatever, and start implementing the positive in your life.

And see if it doesn't make a difference. I'm curious how many of us gave that a try. Look here.

Whatever's true, honorable, just, instead of, guys, focusing on not doing bad, that's a waste of time.

You're just going to spin your wheels over and over again saying, oh, did I mess up again? Focus on doing right and you will not have time to do evil.

Instead of asking yourself, well, before I do this, is there anything wrong with? Why don't you start with a totally different thought process?

Is there anything right with it? That's our thought process. Instead of, is there anything wrong with it or can

I get away with this? Ask yourself, what is right about this?

Is there anything worthy of praise about this? Anything worthy, is there anything true, honorable, just about X?

If you focus on doing what God has commanded, you will do less about that which He hasn't.

That's the whole purpose. Again, in verse 5, the thoughts of the righteous suggest, but the counsels, the advice of the wicked are deceitful.

Who has your ear the most? Who do you take counsel from the most?

Who has the most sway over your heart? Again, if your answer is nobody,

I make my own decisions. I don't need anyone's help. Go back to verse 1. God has a word for you. But if it is those who do not have

God's desires at heart, I ask you, should that really be your number one counselor?

Should that really be the one with whose advice you hold most dear? Verse 6, the words of the wicked lie in wait for blood, but the mouth of the upright delivers them.

The whole sticks and stones thing, but words never hurt me, is not true. Isn't it?

It's wrong. Words cut deep. It's bad enough when they're reactionary, but it's even worse when they're planned to hurt.

Read that again. The words of the wicked lie in wait for blood, but the mouth of the upright delivers them.

But just as our words can harm, they can also bring about healing.

Verse 25 of the same chapter, anxiety in a man's heart weighs him down. Amen? But a good word makes him glad.

Not feel a little better. Glad. Anxiety weighs a man's heart down, but a good word makes him glad.

Glad. Are you that for somebody else in here? If not, what are you doing?

Why not? It takes no effort. A good word, just a good word, makes him glad.

Verse 7, the wicked are overthrown and are no more, but the house of the righteous will stand.

Again, the wicked are overthrown and are no more, but the house of the righteous will stand. I said this earlier,

God will be bringing about final justice one day. All wrongs will be made right.

Luke 8, verse 17 tells us that everything that's hidden in the dark will be brought to light.

Some of you in this room have been wronged before. All of us have.

Some of us more than others. That will be made right one day. Some of us in this room are the ones who did the wrong.

That will also be made right. There will be justice. All things will be accounted for.

All things. The question is, who is the one that will be paying the price for it?

All sin will be atoned for, either by the blood of Jesus or by the payment of souls in hell.

But all sin will be atoned for. One more. Ecclesiastes.

That way. Ecclesiastes 12. Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon.

Here we go. Verse 13 and 14. The end of the matter.

When all has been heard, fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.

I love that verse. Because sometimes I can't remember everything that's written in here. But you know what?

There it says right there, at the end of the day, if you can't get anything else right, when all has been heard, fear

God and keep His commandments, that's the whole duty of man. For God, verse 14, will bring every deed in the judgment with every secret thing, whether good or evil.

Also everything right will be brought to light. It will. It will all be brought to light.

I'm going to ask the music people to come up as I finish. Until that day, we ought to seek justice, pursue righteousness, and call others to do it as well.

Ladies and gentlemen, the reason that we call for justice in our nation is not because we have some political motive.

It's not because we care about any certain political party or politician. The reason we stand for justice is because we are calling out to our nation and our world to repent because the day is coming when the

Judge will be ushering in. And all the should have, could have, would have, all the would have, if you had given me more time, will be over.

The time is now. And when you ask, why doesn't God warn them now?

He did and made you the messenger to deliver that news. We call for our nation, for our people, for our own lives, and for the other people in this room especially, to live and act righteously because the righteous

Judge is coming. And for those of us that are children of God, we talk about this on Sunday night with the stricter judgment for teachers.

It's not because we fear punishment. It's because we fear disappointing our

Father. The heart that loves

God longs to hear their Master say, well done, good and faithful servant.

And what's beautiful about that is Rahab lived most of her life as not that, but she will still hear those words.

Paul lived most of his life not as a righteous servant, but he will still hear those words.

The thief on the cross lived most of his life all but a few hours as not that, but he will still hear those words.

And what were those words that the thief said? The most important word, first word out of his mouth,

Lord, remember me when you enter your kingdom, because it's coming. Lord, Master, You are in control,

I am not. And if there's nothing else I have emphasized, let me do this one more time. If your thought process when

I just said that was, yeah, God is in control, He can tell me what to do, no one else can.

God disagrees with you. Because the main way

God delivers His truth in His Word is through His other children.

Is through His other children. That's why it takes humility from other fallible people.

But that is the way God decided to do it. If you rebel against that, tell God He messed up.

Let Him know He made a mistake. Or, submit to God.

Submit to God. Trust Him, Lord, with all your heart.

All of it. Every bit of it. If you're in a relationship that's ungodly, trust

Him, Lord, with all your heart. What does that look like? Lean not on your own understanding.

As a father, as a mother, in all your ways, acknowledge

Him, Him as Lord, and then He will direct your path. Every heart in this room,

I ask you to examine that of you. Can you say that? In all your ways, you acknowledge

Him as Lord, as Master, as Ruler. If not, here's the great news, today is the day of repentance.

Today is day of repentance. Everyone, including myself in this room, needs to repent of something today.

Make that day today and see if God doesn't bless that obedience.

If you need somebody else to help you see what that is in your life, if you need to go confess that to somebody else, or if you need to do that and help someone else come to that realization, this will be the time for that.

Will you please stand with me as pastors and counselors come forward. And if you need that chance, if you need that chance to get right with God by using the people of God, I beg you to do that now.