God is calling. Is anyone listening? Elder Ron Gannon presents.

[0:00] Thank you ladies. Now I'd like you to pick up your hymnals again and turn to page 424. We're not going to sing again, but I'm going to read.

[0:12] And I want to read this song because it goes along with my message today. And I liked it, so I thought we'd share that this morning. 424, Jesus calls us.

[0:24] Jesus calls us, or the toe mount of our life's wildest, restless sea. Day by day his sweet voice soundeth, saying, Christian, follow me.

[0:35] Jesus calls us from the worship of the vain world's golden store. From each idol that would keep us saying, Christian, love me more. In our joys and in our sorrows, days of toil and hours of ease.

[0:50] Still he calls in cares and pleasures. Christians love me more than these. Jesus calls us by thy mercies. Savior, may we hear thy call.

[1:02] Give our hearts to thy obedience. Serve and love thee best of all. I did forget to mention in our prayer request this morning.

[1:14] And we still want to keep Bob Smart and Joanne in our prayers. They are going under some severe difficulties right now with Bob's illness. And I know they appreciate our prayers and keeping them in our minds.

[1:28] Also, John Heisel. We want to keep John in our prayers this morning. He is at VWOF, the one out there on McRite Avenue.

[1:43] It used to be the old IWF home. He is there recuperating and he's also going through some therapy. And I believe John is getting a little stronger and things are going a little better for John.

[1:55] And that's good news. Let's also keep, let's keep Jerry in our prayers. We know it's an awful difficult time for her. Okay, so let's have a word of prayer before we get started.

[2:08] Heavenly Father, we do thank you. We thank you for this beautiful day you've given us, Father. We just thank you today, Lord, for your amazing grace through the cross. Father, we know that through this cross that you've done everything that was required.

[2:23] You are the ultimate sacrifice. Father, we can come to you today knowing that our sins have been forgiven. That we've been set free.

[2:34] That we've been given a new life. Father, help us to get into the word today and to see how we are to live that new life. Because in your word you have given us instruction on every detail that will come into our life.

[2:49] All we have to do is read and to understand. And then be ready to take action when these things come along. So we thank you for the opportunities we as Christians have. We thank you for this church.

[3:01] We thank you for Pastor Marv and his great teaching. And Father, today we just pray that we will listen for your knowledge and for your wisdom, Father.

[3:12] And then to take that wisdom away from this church this morning. And put it to work in a place that matters. Out there in the workplace. In the neighborhoods. So, Father, we just thank you today for your amazing grace.

[3:25] We thank you for all things. And we ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Amen. Okay. I've got to have my water because my voice gets pretty dry.

[3:49] I'm not as experienced as Marv is. And he gets up here and he can walk around and talk for an hour or more sometimes. And he doesn't have any trouble with that. But I do get dry.

[4:00] So I've got to have my water with me. Today I'm going to be continuing to study in Proverbs. When Marv asked me to do some backup for him, I said I would go to the book of Proverbs and get things ready.

[4:12] And that way when he does leave, I'll have something that I can talk about. And, you know, the book of Proverbs is a great book. There's 31 chapters there. That means 31 days out of the month. You can read Proverbs and you can find out what God has for you.

[4:25] You can find out that information we've been talking about. You can find out this wisdom that we've been talking about. And you can put it to your life. And it's a great way to do is to read Proverbs. You can take one of those chapters each and every day.

[4:37] Webster describes wisdom to be accumulated learning and knowledge. This is true. But I believe that wisdom is far more than just accumulated knowledge. It's being able to use this knowledge correctly.

[4:51] Information is not enough in itself. I want us to leave here this morning knowing that wisdom is something that we live every day, not something that we reserve for Sunday morning in the sanctuary.

[5:02] The word of God is living truth. It comes to our minds and hearts to be seen. And to be expressed in the way we live our lives. Jesus said, you shall know the truth.

[5:15] And the truth shall set you free. Wisdom through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit empowers us to make right decisions. Decisions lead to living a life of righteousness.

[5:27] And that's what we need to do. We need to be in the Bible. We need to be in these Proverbs. Finding out the information that God has for us. The Burke of Proverbs instructs us to do this if we want wisdom.

[5:41] And I want you to turn to chapter 2. Gary read that this morning. Chapter 2 verse 1 says, Receive my words and treasure my commandments. What is he saying there?

[5:53] He's saying to receive, to get God's word. Store up this information that's in the Bible. In these Proverbs. Store it up. Verse 2 says, Make your ear attentive to wisdom and incline your heart to understanding.

[6:09] What is he getting out there? You have to listen. Okay? I can sit there and I can read the Bible. I can read verse, verse, verse, and verse. And I used to do that in the old days.

[6:22] When I was doing my Bible study before I'd go to work. I'd sit there and I'd read through a chapter. I'd make that to my goal to read through a chapter. But you know what? I was just going, reading right through them verses. I got my job done today.

[6:35] Now I can go to work. But you know what? I wasn't listening. I wasn't listening to what God was saying when I read those verses. You have to take the time when you're reading. You have to ask questions.

[6:47] Marv has always said that. When you're in God's Word, ask the questions. Miles Coverndale. All the things that Miles Coverndale said. And that's how we listen to what God is talking about.

[6:59] 2.3 says, Cry for discernment and lift your voice for understanding. Well, how can we cry for discernment and lift our voices? Prayer. Prayer. Before you read God's Word, pray that God will give you understanding of what is in those words for you today.

[7:16] So lift your hearts up. Lift your voice to God in prayer. Verse 2.4 says, Seek and search for wisdom as for hidden treasures. Study to show thyself approved.

[7:31] That's how we seek for wisdom. That's how we get these hidden treasures. We study diligently to show ourselves approved. We see that in 2 Timothy. To show thyself approved. We have to be out there and we have to get into this Word and study it.

[7:46] To see what God has for us. To seek that wisdom. But you know what? All this that I've been talking about, it takes time. It takes hard work, doesn't it? To do the things I've been talking about.

[7:58] Today, we are busy people. Probably busier than we've ever been. For generations. Think about it. How many things cluttered your life yesterday?

[8:11] We have busy work days. Then we come home. We also have a busy night included. We have club meetings. We have church meetings. We have all kinds of things.

[8:22] It's vying for our time. We're constantly busy staying up with our kids and the activities they're involved in. Also, our grandkids and all the activity they're involved in.

[8:34] I know from experience. Our grandkids. We've got 10 grandkids. And they can keep us busy six nights out of the week. Or six days during the week. There's all kinds of things out there that keeps us busy.

[8:46] That keeps us away. And we can find excuses all the time to not get into God's Word. We also have a lot of noise going around to us. Don't we? Such as TV.

[8:59] Radios. MP3 players. Some of these things are new technologies for me. I don't even know anything about. CD players.

[9:13] Cell phones. Oh, boy. Everywhere you work today. Every place you go today. As you're walking down the street. As you're driving your car. You look and people's got them cell phones.

[9:24] In their ears. So, that noise is always there. It's always distracting us. Texting. There's a new technology. Texting. I don't even know what that is. Except for what I know the kids are busy doing it day in and day out.

[9:38] When our grandkids come to the house. You know, we're eating dinner. Every once in a while their hands will disappear from the plate. And they'll be down there. What is this? I don't know what they're doing.

[9:49] But they're talking to other kids. They're probably sitting at their dinner tables doing the same thing. So, there's things out there constantly that keeps us distracted. That keeps us busy. So, we have so many things going on.

[10:02] There's so much noise that people can't hear the things that they really need to hear. And that's what we need to concentrate on. The things that God has us to hear. God is trying to get through to us with a voice of wisdom.

[10:13] However, all we hear are confused communications. Foolish voices. Music. And busy schedules. So, this just must be a problem for this generation, right? Well, no.

[10:25] Today, in our Sunday school lesson, we was back in Numbers and Exodus. And we was talking about Moses and the people coming through the desert of Sinai. Coming to the promised land. There was nothing different.

[10:38] They weren't listening back then either. Those people, God had given them instructions. They said, come to our promised land and I will give you rest. All you have to do is go into it. And I will give you rest.

[10:48] But what did those people, those Israelites do? They formed a group. They had one of those meetings that I was talking about. Got 12 guys together and said, Moses, before we go over into Cana, this land of milk and honey, we think that we ought to send 12 guys up to search this land out and check it out.

[11:12] I think we ought to do that. Man should do that before we take this step. So, they didn't listen, did they? And God said, if you come to this land and cross over, I will give you rest.

[11:25] What happened to those people? They didn't listen. They sent the 12. The 12 came back and talked to the nation of Israel and told them that there were giants. They would be defeated. And let's head back to Egypt. Boy, what a lesson they learned.

[11:39] So, God let them do it. But he also had to face the consequences of that. And, of course, that generation never got to enter the promised land.

[11:49] Only their kids do. So, there's nothing new. The people back there didn't listen. They just had something different to listen to. Different noises to listen to than we do today. But today, we're just like that.

[12:01] So, the same problems existed in ancient Israel when Solomon wrote these Proverbs. The first nine chapters of Proverbs presents two women. Wisdom and folly. Then they're personified.

[12:16] As they seek to win the attention and obedience of the people of that day. Listen carefully. These words are still for us today. Are we letting the noises of the day overshadow God's word?

[12:27] I've broken this message this morning down into three different parts. And the first part is, hear the voice of wisdom. The second part is, wisdom calls the voice of instruction.

[12:40] And the third part is the voice of temptation. And I'll start out with the first section right now. Hear the voice of wisdom. Proverbs 1, verses 20 through 33.

[12:53] If you'll turn to that, I'll read them for you, but I can't do it without my Bible. Proverbs 1, verses 20 to 33.

[13:17] Wisdom shouts in the street. She lifts her voice in the square. At the head of the noisy street, she cries out. At the entrance of the gates in the city, she utters her sayings. How long, O naive ones, will you love being simple-minded?

[13:31] And scoffers delight themselves in scoffing. And fools hate knowledge. Turn to my reproof. Behold, I will pour out my spirit upon you. I will make my words known to you.

[13:42] Because I called and you refused, I stretched out my hand and no one paid attention. And you neglected all my counsel and did not want my reproof. I will also laugh at your calamity.

[13:54] I will mock when dread comes. When your dread comes like a storm and your calamity comes on like a whirlwind. When distress and anguish come upon you.

[14:06] Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer. They will seek me diligently, but they shall not find me. Because they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear of the Lord.

[14:18] They would not accept my counsel. They spurned all my reproof. They shall eat of the fruit of their own way and be satisfied with their own devices. For the waywardness of the naive shall kill them, and the commonplace of the fool shall destroy them.

[14:35] But he who listens to me shall live securely, and shall be at ease from the dread of evil. So who is crying out on the streets?

[14:48] Wisdom. Wisdom is out there crying upon the streets. Wisdom here is personified. This means that wisdom is described as if it were a person. This person is no one less than God himself.

[15:00] He is the all-wise God who calls out and cries on the street, and he wants us to listen. Sadly, most people refuse to listen to God in the streets. He says in verse 24, Because I called and you refused, I stretched out my hand and no one paid attention.

[15:18] We see in verse 29, Those that refused to listen hated what? They hated the knowledge. They hated the wisdom that God was giving out. We also see that they did not choose to fear God.

[15:31] We see then in verse 26 and 28, That the consequences of not listening to wisdom is, God says he will laugh at their calamities.

[15:44] They will call upon me, But I will not answer them. But in verse 33, He says that those who listen, To me shall he live securely.

[15:56] Those who listen, God will give a safe heaven. Now the real question is, Is God really on the streets? Can you really meet and find God on the streets?

[16:10] Oh, I know God is in church. This place of worship this morning. We know that God is here. We also know that God is in the Bible.

[16:24] We also know that when we have devotions with our family, That God is there during those devotions, And he is with us. So we know that there's places that we can find God.

[16:39] But can we find God on the street? The street. Where is the street? The street is right where I live.

[16:50] Every day. I live through it every week. It's the place where my foot hits the road on Monday morning. And I keep running until Saturday night. That's the street.

[17:01] The street is out there in the real world, Where I do my business. Where I go shopping. Where I go to school. Where I go to my job. Can I really find God in these places? Yes. What good is God if he is the only to be found in church and in the scriptures?

[17:20] There are 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and each week. We spend about 1%. 1% of that time is spent in church. We would be in trouble, wouldn't we?

[17:33] If this was the only place that we could find God. The Bible says that when we go out on the street, God is there and he is calling out to us. God is on the streets. Wisdom is on the streets.

[17:44] Calling. Are you listening? You get the feeling here that wisdom is for the other 6 days of the weeks, don't you? And I think that's exactly what the Proverbs are all about. We get those Proverbs when we come to church on Sunday morning.

[17:59] It's a good place to learn these Proverbs. But these Proverbs are not for Sunday morning. And then we go out about our 6 days a week. And I think about them. The Proverbs are for the other 6 days of the week.

[18:13] During the busy day, no matter where people are, they need to hear wisdom's call. And we need to take advantage of that. We need to be in God's word daily.

[18:25] 2 Timothy 2.22 says, Present yourself approved of God by accurately handling the word of truth. And there's so much to that statement. So who does this wisdom speak to?

[18:38] Okay. There in verse 22. And we've seen who it spoke to. The simple or the naive people. Who are these people? Those are the ones who believe anything.

[18:49] But examine nothing. People will get led astray by varied and strange teachings. Because they do not have convictions about anything.

[19:01] Proverbs 14.15 says, Thy naive one believes everything, but the sensible man considers his steps. These people are gollible and easily led astray.

[19:13] Paul continually warned his readers about all the false teachers that would come in after he left the cities that he talked in. In the New Testament. As he would enter these cities, he would preach the gospel, the good news.

[19:26] And he would have converts. And they would establish new churches. And a lot of times, like many churches today, as soon as Paul left, somebody else would come in and they would put out false doctrine.

[19:41] And the naive are those who will pick up on this false doctrine. Not check it out. Not be a workman in the word. And they will believe anything that comes along.

[19:52] Who else? The scorners and the scoffers. They think they know everything and they laugh at the things that are really important. A scoffer is a disrespectful person who scoffs at the most sacred precepts of religion.

[20:07] Proverbs 29.8 says, Scoffers set a city aflame, but wise men turn away anger. These people have a bitter contempt and extreme disdain for the wisdom of God's word.

[20:19] And we have many people like that today also, don't we? And sad to say, we even have some of those that may be in church. Those who would like to turn people away from what God's word really says.

[20:30] Then we have the fools. These are people who are ignorant of the truth because they are rash, senseless, unreasonable, and stubborn. Their problem is not a low IQ or poor education.

[20:42] Their problem is a lack of spiritual desire. Desire. And they go about the Christian life. Just living it day by day without reading God's word. Without understanding what God has for him.

[20:53] Without understanding the whole concept. The whole gift that God has given us. Proverbs 14.9 says that the fool mocks that sin.

[21:04] What does wisdom say to these that we just talked about? First, she brings an indictment against them. And that's how long they plan to remain in their dangerous spiritual condition. Wisdom has spoken to them time and time again.

[21:17] But they refuse to listen. And this will make their judgments even much worse. Then wisdom issues an invitation that they turn from their evil ways and receive their gifts.

[21:29] Proverbs 123. Turn to my reproof. Behold, I will pour out my spirit upon you. I will make my words known to you. This is a call of repentance and faith. She promises, wisdom promises, to change their hearts and teach them the wisdom of God from the word of God.

[21:47] Wisdom words are plain and spoken clearly so there can be no confusion. Those who reject the Lord don't understand what God is saying. We see that in 1 Corinthians 2.14.

[21:59] It says that the natural man does not accept the things of the spirit. But for they are foolish to him and he cannot understand them. But he who is spiritual appraises all things.

[22:10] So when it comes to possessing eternal life and living so as to please God. It's an either or type thing. You either accept him and you accept his word completely.

[22:22] Or you ignore some of the things of God. And it all has to affect on your life. And how you live it. And if you have a completely righteous life that you're living the other six days of the week.

[22:35] These things are important, important things to keep in mind. My next section is wisdom's call, the voice of instruction.

[22:47] God is instructing us. One of the main things he instructs us about is something that all of us have gone through. A lot of us now are going through it with our grandkids and even great grandkids.

[22:59] And it's the voice of instruction. Psalm 127 says, Behold, children are a gift of the Lord and they are a precious gift indeed. However, they are without understanding.

[23:14] You know, these little precious ones come out, but they don't have understanding. They need to be taught and instructed or they will default to the depraved impulses of the wicked world.

[23:25] And that's what parents are for. Proverbs 1 verses 8 through 10 says, Hear, my son, your father's instruction and do not forsake your mother's teaching.

[23:37] Indeed, they are a grateful wreath to your head and ornaments about your neck. My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent. This is a warning there in Proverbs about the mother and the father.

[23:52] About the son who's going out. And the father instructs him and says, Do not forsake the things that I've been talking about. This is the voice of a godly father urging his son to listen to wisdom and obeying what he hears.

[24:05] Also note there that it's also talking about the mother. So both the mother and the father have been involved in teaching this young boy. And they both warn him not to abandon what he has been told.

[24:16] These parents have obeyed the instructions of Moses and Deuteronomy. You shall love your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. The word which I am commanding you today shall be on your heart.

[24:30] And you shall teach them diligently. To who? To your children. That is command of God. So this family has taught their family well.

[24:42] The word of God. But what will their children do with all this teaching? Of course our main desire is that the children will obey what they've learned so that God's truth will be active in their lives.

[24:53] And I know as a parent and also as a grandparent that is always our prayer, isn't it? When these little ones come about and they get involved in things, our prayer is always that they will listen to what they've been instructed.

[25:04] Of course what comes with that is the instruction. We have to be very careful that we are instructing our young people. When we start a new job, what's the first thing that happens?

[25:21] We have to be trained, don't we? And I think that's the same concept with a new birth. We get a new son. We get a new daughter. The first thing we have to do is to get in our mind how we're going to instruct these children as they're growing up.

[25:36] And no matter what job you take on, you have to be trained for what you're doing. These little ones are being trained on how to live their life. And there's so many things that come along in those first 13 years of their life.

[25:50] That we as parents should be teaching these children. A lot of times we think that we shouldn't be teaching these things at an early age. But the earlier that we do it, the better off we are because these children just soak it in.

[26:05] And they may not be listening at this point. But it's like any other ministry. When you're out spreading the gospel or out there on the street corner, all you can do is give out the information, isn't it?

[26:18] Okay, I can't make somebody listen. I can't make somebody believe. All I can do is put it out there. And that's what we do with our children. We put out the instruction for our children so they can hear it.

[26:31] And when we do it enough, someday it's going to click. And they're going to say, ah, that's what mom and dad were talking about. And sometimes it doesn't come until it's too late.

[26:43] There's been a lot of hurt and there's been a lot of things that's gone on. But usually most of our kids turn out to be great. And it's because of instruction. So we've got to instruct.

[26:55] How do we go about this training? One way is instruction by warning. Proverbs 110-15 says, My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.

[27:07] If they say, come and let us lay a weight for blood. Let us lurk privately for the innocent without cause. Let us swallow them up alive as shul and whole as those that go down into the pit.

[27:20] We shall find all precious substances. We shall fill our houses with spoil. Thou shalt cast thy lot among us. We need to instruct our kids not to go to these type things.

[27:34] Watch who you're out there running around with. Because there's going to be plenty of other people who's going to tell them to get into this lot that we're talking about. These people who will go out and destroy.

[27:45] Who will go out and do anything for precious silver or whatever. So we need to instruct about that. We need to be warning about error. We see that in Proverbs 19-27.

[27:58] Cease, my son, to hear instruction only to err for the words of knowledge. In other words, we need to be instructing them out there and telling them when they do err. So that they know that there's an error here.

[28:11] Another way is to warn them about laziness. Now, Proverbs is full of Proverbs that talks about lazy people. And what a great time is to teach children how to work is when they're young.

[28:24] And one of the great ways is by example. So if they see mom and dad working hard, then they will get the idea that working is good. And we see that in Proverbs 6, chapter 6, and verses 6-11.

[28:38] Go to the ant, O sluggard. Consider her ways and be wise. There's not a better way to teach about being lazy than to get one of those little containers with an ant farm in there.

[28:50] And see how these ants go about doing their daily job. Those little things are in there just working their tails off, aren't they? And they just work and work and work. Okay, these ants, which have no chief, overseer, or ruler, provided her bread in the summer and gathered her food in the harvest.

[29:13] How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard, when wilt thou rise out of thy sleep? Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep. Show us so thy poverty come as a robber and thy want as an armed man.

[29:28] So we need to teach our kids to work and not to be lazy. When you're lazy, things will come upon you. They'll rob you of things that you should have. And this laziness is just not a good thing.

[29:41] Warning about the dangers of wine and the folly of drunkenness. Proverbs 23, verses 19 and 21. Hear thou, O my son, and be wise, and guide the heart and the way.

[29:55] Be not among wine bibblers, but among gluttonous eating of flesh. For the drunkard and the glutton shall become to poverty. And drowsiness will clothe the man with rags.

[30:08] Here again, there's all kinds of instruction in the book of Proverbs about wine and about drunkenness. We need to teach our kids this. We thought, I think every generation thinks that the kids go through this time of drinking and things that's going on.

[30:25] It seems like today we hear more and more about binge drinking. Where is this coming from? It's coming from other adults or other kids that's out there and trying to bring these things to the college campuses.

[30:38] We need to be out there instructing our kids before they get there. I mean, if we haven't done it before they get there, it's too late. And I know that's for a fact because I went through this myself as a teenager.

[30:52] As growing into an adult. You have all these other people pulling at you and tugging at you. And it's very easy to go their way. So we need to be careful with that.

[31:03] Warning about the wicked and the worldly woman. Proverbs 2, verse 16. To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the foreigner that flattereth with her words.

[31:15] Again, we need to instruct our daughters and our sons about the worldly women and the things that go on out there. These things we need to instruct our children. The other part of parents' instruction concerns encouraging.

[31:30] Parents should encourage their children to trust God. Proverbs 3, verses 5 and 6. Trust in Jehovah with all thy heart and lean upon thine own understanding.

[31:40] In all thy ways acknowledge him and he will direct thy paths. So we need to teach our children to trust in God. Parents should encourage children to seek after wisdom.

[31:51] Proverbs 7, verses 1 through 4. My son, keep my words and lay up all my commandments within thee. Teach your son these commandments.

[32:02] And he will lay them up in his heart. The last thing would be, parents should encourage children to fear God. Proverbs 24, verse 21.

[32:15] My son, fear thou Jehovah and company not with them that are given to change. Fear Jehovah. And this is not a fear of like, I'm afraid of the wind, I'm afraid of the storm.

[32:28] This is respect. This is the type of fear. When the scriptures talk about fear, it's talking about respect. And that's the type of thing that we should be teaching our children is to respect God and to respect God's word.

[32:41] And of course, to expect mother and father in all adults. Another part of instruction that we're talking about with children is discipline. Proverbs 3, verse 12 says, For whom the Lord loves, he reproves, even as a father corrects a son whom he delights.

[32:59] Proverbs 13, verse 24. He who withholds the rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him diligently. What does diligently mean? Continually.

[33:11] Continually. If we have to do it continually, keep it going. Proverbs 23, verse 13. Do not hold back discipline from the child. Although you strike him with a rod, he will not die.

[33:24] He will not die. That is true. We can spank our children and they're not going to be harmed. Even though there's a lot of people today that would proclaim something different.

[33:35] I think God's judgment here is better than all man's judgment and all the new things that we hear about today. Now, I'm not talking about child abuse here. I'm talking about discipline. I'm talking about spanking.

[33:47] I'm not talking about beating the kid. I'm just talking about a swift hand to their rear. And that gets their attention. And God said, hey, this is not going to hurt that child.

[33:59] It's going to do him good. So why does sparing the rod show that a parent hates this child? Well, if we spare the rod, that means we're not giving him discipline.

[34:14] Things come up on and instead of discipline, we say, oh, what he did was wrong. But I just cannot get myself to spank that young man or to do anything that would hurt him.

[34:27] I can't take him away from some good things from TV, from his MP3 player or whatever. I just don't want to do that. Well, that is wrong.

[34:38] We need to discipline that boy diligently. When we're talking about children, we're talking like a young tree. When you get a young tree and you plant it in the yard, how can you train that tree to go where you want it?

[34:53] Well, you use a rope. And while that tree is young, you can tie that rope around it and you get that tree to go where you want it to go. But without that rope, that tree is going to go any place you want it to.

[35:04] And once that tree gets to a certain size, well, you're not going to budget. And matter of fact, I've got a tree over there in my front yard right now. As you drive by today, you can see that it's going like this at the top of it.

[35:17] So once that tree gets to a certain size, it goes where it wants to go. And that's the same with our children. You know, we're disciplining our children. We need to do it when they're young. If we wait until they're 13 or 14 or probably even 12 and 13, these kids need to know what the scripture says.

[35:37] They need to know that mom and dad cares enough to discipline them. Now, they may not like it. And of course, they're not going to like it. And they may hold a grudge against you or whatever.

[35:48] But we as parents have that responsibility and grandparents. We have a lot of grandparents here in the audience today. And it's very easy for us to spoil these grandkids in it. It's a lot easier as a grandparent than it was as a parent.

[36:00] Because, hey, I can have that sweet little thing over here today and just let her do anything and send her home. So we need to be cautious about that, too. We don't want to send these little toddlers home.

[36:12] Causing a lot of trouble for mom and dad. So we need to use discipline, too, when they're over at grandma and grandpa's house. Another side of discipline for training your child is instruction.

[36:28] Not instruction, but it's our behavior. And I think this has a very important aspect when we're raising our children. It's our behavior. Many families do not have ideal starting situations.

[36:42] A lot of people, when they start a family, they're young. They haven't accepted Jesus Christ in their life. They still have their worldly ways about them. They start their family.

[36:53] And these things are not taught. And this happens many times. I know it happens with me. I didn't know the Lord until I was in my 30s. So we already had our three children.

[37:04] So there's a lot of things that I was not teaching my children as they were in those early ages. Because I didn't know them myself. Because I didn't have that relationship with Jesus Christ.

[37:16] So I wasn't out there teaching them the way they should be taught. So many families are in this situation. But when a parent determines to carry out God's purpose, we see God's word has a wonderful effect on the family to change for the better.

[37:31] So whenever we come to the place when we realize that we need God, and God starts instructing us, then we start instructing. We can see a definite change in the family.

[37:42] Even if it's been a very terrible shape before. Once that mother and father get that straight, then they can start teaching. We see that in Timothy.

[37:56] Timothy did not have a believing father. His mother was a Jew, while his father was evidently an unbelieving Greek. God's grace, however, is still brightly shown through the influence of his mother and grandmother.

[38:10] What is it in the following passage that Paul expected Timothy to possess because it was in his mother and his grandmother? And it's in 2 Timothy 1, verse 5.

[38:23] For I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, which was first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice. And I'm sure that it is in you as well.

[38:36] When Paul first met Timothy, he had met his grandmother and his mother before. He knew the spiritual condition they were in and how they lived their life. And that's why he went to Timothy.

[38:47] And he knew that Timothy would have these same type ideals as his mother and his grandmother because he had been taught. And Paul was completely drawn to Timothy because of that.

[39:00] So we can change. Sometimes we need to abandon our minds and to understand some basic truths and values and how they're passed on to our children. Some say that truth is caught instead of taught.

[39:18] And I think that's a good truth for us to understand because children will catch on to what their parents are doing. You may talk them to your blue in the face.

[39:29] But if you turn around and do the opposite of what you're talking about, what's that child going to remember? Is he going to remember these great things you've been teaching him all the time? Or is he going to remember what you did last night when your wife said something to you that just didn't agree with you and you blew up?

[39:48] That's what he's going to remember. So we need to be careful. We need to let our children catch our attitudes. And then it's a lot easier for us to teach them than the attitudes of God.

[40:00] So we need to be careful how we live our life in front of our kids. Again, Sunday morning it's very easy. I can come here and I can be very pious. I can be shaking of hands and I can be doing all these things.

[40:14] And guess what? You're not going to see me Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday. I'm going to be at my job. I'm going to be out in the neighborhood. I'm going to be all kinds of different places.

[40:24] And I probably won't see any of you this week. So what is my reactions? How is my actions during those six days of the week? Those kids are with you those six days of the week.

[40:36] They're going to know what your reactions are. So we have instructions. Children, you must be careful and pay attention to hear and to obey the instruction you receive from your parents.

[40:51] We don't have many real young children here today, but there is some here. You need to obey your parents. That's what God's Word says. And when you do that, things will be good.

[41:04] We may not believe that today, but that is what God's Word says. So we need children, obey your parents. God also commands parents, fathers and mothers, your duty is certain and it's important.

[41:15] You must train your children in the fear of the Lord and bring about the truth of God through them and through their children. And we go back to Eunice and the mother of Timothy.

[41:27] Let me see how that does. It just goes from one to the other if we're doing our job. Paul presumed that fathers exhort, confort and change children. That's what Paul's instruction is.

[41:38] And we see that clear through all of his teaching. Especially in Ephesians, where it talks about the relationship with the wife and the children and how Christians are to interact with our family.

[41:55] And both children and parents are to be humble themselves to hear God and his ministers. So, wisdom is out there.

[42:07] Get into the Word and see what God has for us as both parents and as children. My last section this morning I want to deal with is the voice of temptation.

[42:18] And when I started this series on Proverbs, I told you the Proverbs is broken up where it's got a lot of things going on so you jump from one thing to the other. It's kind of hard to do one whole message on just one aspect of Proverbs.

[42:31] So, today I've broken it down into three. And all of them are talking about the voice. Are you listening? And now we have the voice of temptation. Temptation is an enticement of a person to commit sin by offering something that seems advantageous to you.

[42:48] Proverbs 1, verses 10-14 says, My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent. If they say, come with us, let us lie in wait for blood. Let us ambush the innocent without cause.

[43:01] Let us swallow up them like shul. Even whole as they who go down to the pit. We shall find all kinds of precious wealth. There's people out there that's going to be tempting us to do these things as Christians.

[43:14] And we need to follow this instruction and do not consent to the enticement that shall be coming your way. Anybody who makes it easy for us to disobey God certainly isn't a friend.

[43:27] The offer they make sounds exciting, but it only leads to disaster. How tragic that people actually find enjoyment in doing evil. And how foolish for them to think their loot will satisfy their desires.

[43:40] They reject the eternal treasures of wisdom for the cheap trinkets of this world. And they lose their souls in the process. There's a lot of people out there today that lead you in different directions.

[43:51] We just need to be careful and not follow the temptations that come with that. We see the first mention of temptation of course in Genesis chapter 3. Here we see Satan tempting Eve by saying surely you will not die.

[44:07] What will you find? You will find out the true thing of God. You will not die. Your eyes will be opened if you do what I ask.

[44:23] And it made it very tempting for Eve to do that. And of course she did and of course Adam did. And of course we know what happened with both of them when they did that. Their eyes were opened and now they saw what sin was.

[44:35] And of course God let them do that but he also says I will let you do everything. I will not keep you from doing what you want. I've created a person who has options and you're allowed and he gave us the will to do things.

[44:50] So he'll allow us to do whatever we want to do. But he also said there's consequences for everything that you do do. And we see this all the time. So we also see that everyone is tempted.

[45:05] We see in I believe it's 1 Corinthians that no man is tempted beyond what they are able to. All men are tempted. Even Jesus Christ was tempted. We see that in Matthew chapter 4.

[45:19] Satan's intention here was to make Christ sin so as to frustrate God's plan. If Satan at that point could have gotten Christ to sin the whole plan of salvation this whole thing that was being planned that he would fulfill all the requirements of the tabernacle of the Old Testament and all the things for sin we wouldn't have the salvation we have today.

[45:47] But Jesus was tempted. So we can expect to be tempted. Even Jesus was tempted. But Jesus did not go and fall for the temptations and that's the difference.

[45:58] here's a key verse Hebrews 4 15 for we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weakness but the one who has been tempted in all things.

[46:10] That's Jesus Christ. He was tempted back here in Matthew chapter 4. Our high priest was tempted yet without sin. So first was we need to know the first thing we need to know about temptation is what?

[46:23] It's just to expect it. Every one of us is going to have temptation thrown in our face. There is nothing unusual or abnormal about being tempted. We should not be asking why am I being tempted but rather asking and looking for the provisions of God to get us out of that temptation.

[46:41] Why do you think Paul was writing to the Corinthians when he said that no temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man? These Corinthians had all kinds of temptations thrown at them.

[46:53] They lived in Cornuth and this was a very industrious city. It was on the shores of the waters that the ships would come in and the trading would be there and they had all kinds of places for them to go the bars and everything else that was in this city so they had all kinds of temptations and of course he also knew that these people were falling in those temptations and that's why we have 1st and 2nd Corinthians as these people accepted Jesus Christ under their life and Paul moved on many of them fell back and they got back into the old ways that they used to live there in Cornuth and so God here is saying that no tension no temptation has overcome us that is not common to man so there's nothing surprise here and there's nothing in surprise of what will come your way because all men have done it they had divisions in their church they had immorality problems they had problems with marriage and divorce they also had problems about food offered to idols these people had everything that we can expect today the Corinthians lived on the edge of a pagan world and surrounded themselves with all its temptations they were headed for disaster so Paul writes these letters to the Corinthians to give them these wisdom this information and that's what he was doing here these verses can also be a comfort to us do you ever feel alone and uncomfortable in your temptations that confronts you each and every day we're all in the same fire and he is able to provide the way of escape and give us strength to endure the temptations that come our way

[48:35] Proverbs 1 15 through 18 reads my son do not walk in the way with them keep your feet from their path for their feet run evil and hasten to shed blood and indeed it is useless to spread the bait in the net in the sight of any bird but they lie in wait for their own blood they ambush their own lives here again you don't put a net in front of a bird and when people give you these temptations they do it very subtly they do it without you even thinking about it all of a sudden you're thinking wow maybe they're right maybe I can go out and do these things but we need to be thinking about them the father tells his son how to avoid getting to temptation first check carefully the path you're on and don't walk with the wrong crowd again now we can go back to what we were talking about in instruction of your children teach your children not to walk with the wrong crowd that's a very difficult thing to do that's a path that's very hard to tread but we need to know who our children are running with and we need to know who they're associating with so that we can instruct them it's very easy for one of our children to get led away by a group of people that have nothing in their minds except destruction and it's very easy to be led down that path second don't play play with temptation because temptation always leads to a trap you can't play in the garbage and stay clean okay eventually you're going to smell bad if you play in that garbage can so you can't do it third when you obey when you disobey

[50:22] God by harming others you also harm yourself so we need to be careful that you're free to take what you want from life but eventually have to pay for it and that's just the consequences God gives us again he lets us do what we want to do but when we do something against his wisdom against his instruction then we have to pay the consequences I get to say this a lot when I'm in the prison ministry and these guys will just lay out all these things that they've done and yet they say I've accepted Christ I've done the things that you're instructing us to do so why won't the judge release me why am I here well hey God if you've accepted Jesus Christ God has forgiven you those sins have been thrown into the sea never to be remembered again but we have to remember that as we did them there's also consequences for them and that's the consequences that we pay for sometimes the rest of our life sometimes for the rest of our life so where do all these temptations come from that we've been talking about well they come from

[51:32] Satan and Satan is on guard and ever since the day that Jesus rose out of that water by his father he has been trying to get us well first of all he tried to get Jesus to sin and now his goal is to get us to sin and he's very good at it he does his job very well but we also know that Jesus Christ is with us and he will bring us through any temptation Satan knows what Jesus is there for and if he can do anything I think he also knows that there's no way that I'm going to lose my salvation so that part of it's already been settled but you know what he can do he can tempt me to do things that other people will see that will ruin them from getting their salvation so don't ever think that just because you're a Christian that you can't harm somebody else's salvation because you can because if you're out there doing something that

[52:40] Satan has tempted you to do you can hurt your effect that you have on other people so again we go back to that six days a week we're probably not going to do something like that here but out there on Tuesday and Wednesday those temptations may come and we may succumb to them and when we do that we're hurting our chances when we're out there telling others what Jesus Christ can do to them so Satan has a goal what is it Satan delights in Christians who love to live on the edge of carnality and if you're out there living on the edge he's going to give you every temptation to get you to jump over that edge and when he can do that then he's won the battle don't think that Satan has gone out of business just because you've accepted Jesus Christ that is not correct when you accept Jesus Christ now he goes into overtime and he's there to get you to sin to go against the teaching of Jesus to go against the wisdom that we've been talking about here all morning so

[53:45] Satan is not giving up on you just because you accepted Jesus Christ so what do we need to do we need to be on the alert we need to recognize temptation when it comes James 1 14 says that the temptation is based upon what it's based upon our desires Satan knows what these desires are and he will work on them and he will work on them very hard until he gets us to go to what those desires are and that's when we get into trouble so we need to be careful ask yourself some questions when something comes to mind that you might want to be doing can I do this in the name of Jesus why will offend another person if I do this will this keep me from my prayer life will diminish my hunger for God's word we need to consciously be aware of these questions when things come into our life and we need to be asking ourselves these questions because anytime we go into this temptation and we accept it we're doing just these things right here okay we shouldn't be doing this in the name of

[55:00] Jesus we are offending other people and it does keep us from our prayer life and it does distinguish my hunger for God's word I know this from experience too that when you're involved in things you shouldn't be involved in it's very easy to say when I get up well I'm not going to get in my prayer life today I'm not going to study God's word today and that's what temptation does that's what this sin does when you get into it so we need to be careful having recognized temptation the next thing is to resist it how do you resist temptation well folks I don't even know one way that's to put on your tennis shoes and book it you need to run you need to run from temptation because if we don't run from it then Satan is going to take hold of it and just make us more and more adaptable to that temptation so we need to run from it what scriptures come to mind that tells us to flee

[56:04] I didn't get this on my own I got this from the word of God and God has used this wisdom before and he used it on a man back in the Old Testament whose name was Joseph Joseph became a leader of Potiphar's household after he was sold into slavery and Potiphar had a very beautiful wife and this beautiful wife tempted Joseph and said come lie with me and what did the Bible say what did Joseph do he didn't sit there and think about it did he he put on his shoes and booked it he fleed from that scene that's what we need to do we need to flee God's word also help us to meet temptation head on only the word of God taking root in our life can help us take on temptations as they come on Proverbs 24 1 do not be envious of evil men nor desire to be with them for their minds devise violence and their lips talk trouble 2

[57:12] Peter 2 9 the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from any temptation god is there through everything that comes into our life god has given us wisdom he says wisdom is shouting in the street are we listening there are just three things today that we've talked about are you listening to wisdom when it's there are we listening to the voice and instructing our children and our family are we listening when god talks about the temptations that come into our life I think that god gives us the opportunity by reading his word to know what these things are and then to take it and put it into our life and that's all I have this morning any questions before I finish up yes that's a good question god will not lead us into temptation if we work with him and ask him to run our lives

[58:27] I can't see him leading us into temptation I think maybe what it might mean is that if we're with God that those temptations that we know that we can not commit to these temptations so god will lead us from those temptations if we're reading his word and we're obeying his commands anything else okay we'll close in a word of prayer father we do thank you today we thank you for your word and father we thank you for the wisdom that you do shout from the streets father we just pray that we can take this information that we can listen to the voice of wisdom and father we can obey the commands that you've given us and father we can take these and put them to use in our life father we know that these things are for us as Christians to use on a day to day basis father the commands you've given us are all bowled down into two and that's to love thy

[59:28] God with all thy heart and all thy soul and to love thy neighbor as thyself help us take all these other words of wisdom and to use them in these two commands as we work with you and all the others that are around us so father we thank you today for your wisdom and for teaching us we thank you for your love and for your grace and we ask these things today in Jesus name amen thank you and you are dismissed