Like you take your Bibles tonight and turn to the book of Proverbs chapter 11. Proverbs chapter 11 and verse number 14. Proverbs chapter 11 and verse 14. The Bible says, where no counsel is, the people fall. But in the multitude of counselors, there is safety. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, thank you once again for your precious word. Thank you for how you're using it time and time again to reveal your will to us and to guide us and to transform us to the image of your Son. Dear Lord, we thank you so much for your goodness towards us, for meeting needs, answering prayers, and for Working in our lives as only you can, we thank you so much for salvation and all that that means for us and to us. Pray that you continue to work in a special way. Pray that you would use your word once again to draw men, women, boys, and girls to you. We thank you for all that you're doing. Pray that you bless as your word is preached. Give me the word you love me to say, and may you help them to be a blessing to each one here tonight and each one on the sound of my voice. Bless as only you can. I will give you honor and glory. Let's do your holy name. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. We've been looking at this matter of knowing and experiencing God's will for several weeks now and I trust that God is using it to give us wisdom, discernment as we make decisions. We are faced with decisions each and every day and our ability to make the right decision, it is critical. It is vital in helping us to stay on the right path, to be precisely in the place where God would have us be. We've looked at a number of different aspects of consideration and for consideration as we certainly, I hope, want to make the right decisions. And sometimes It may not be immediately apparent as to what that right decision should be, but I firmly believe with an earnest heart of sincerity and seeking God, God certainly will reveal that to us. And we've looked at these different aspects, and I don't know how many of you can recite them, but just by way of reminder, we looked at the aspect of passion, prayer, provisions, providence, preaching, principles, prompting, and patience. And of all of these principles, I think I've echoed this before, it's hard to pick one out and say this one is more important than the other because they're all areas for consideration. And tonight we look at another, and I don't know how many of you can figure out from verse number 14 what this other P is going to be, but it's that of people. People, I can tell you without any shadow of a doubt that I know that over the course of my life that God has strategically placed people in my life at different times and different stages and phases of my life with the express purpose of revealing his plan and his will. I can't tell you that at the time I knew that that's what he was doing. I can't tell you when certain individuals would have crossed my path or who would have taken me under their wings or may have said a particular word or sometimes whether positive or negative that God was using that experience, that interaction to guide me on the path to where he would have me be. You know sometimes we because of our experiences, whether positive or negative, and particularly negative, we tend at times to shy away from people. But when you really think about people in the context of eternity, people are the only I don't want to use the word, for want of a better word, commodity, for want of a much better word. But the only thing, that's maybe not as good a word, but the only, people are the only thing that you would actually take or actually have here on earth that will last for eternity in heaven. When you think about it. We're not going to take any of our stuff. We're not going to take any of our houses or any of our cars, any of our shoes, any of our purses, well, any of your purses. We're not going to take any of our ties, any of these things that we hold so dear to our hearts. But I promise you, if you invest in people, you will take people with you. Amen? And so tonight, I want to preach a message entitled The Value of People. the value of people. People, God uses relationships and interactions and sometimes good or sometimes bad to point us in the direction of his will. People have lasting value. The lasting value of people. So we wanna look tonight at three areas as to how God uses people. to be able to point us and to guide us into his will. The first area is pointed out here in this verse, in Proverbs chapter 11 and verse 14, and it's that of exhortation. Exhortation. By exhortation, I mean a prompting to be able to do a particular thing. It's as if I'm pleading with you, I'm guiding you, I'm giving you specific instruction that I would hope that you would adhere to. Exhortation. The verse here says, where no counsel is, the people fall, but in the multitude of counselors there is safety. And so the Bible here is admonishing that if you have a particular endeavor that you are trying to embark on or a particular thought in your mind that you want to accomplish, the Bible is encouraging and advising that you get counsel. Amen? That you seek advice. That you get some instruction rely on individual's expertise, their knowledge, their wisdom. Don't be a know-it-all. And by saying don't be a know-it-all, it's somewhat of a sarcastic statement because none of us knows it all. Amen? But it means don't act like somebody who thinks that they know it all. Proverbs chapter 24 and verse 6 also says something very similar. It says, for by wise counsel thou shalt make war. And in the multitude of counselors there is safety. And so the Bible here is saying, in two separate verses, listen, when you want to do something, even if you are convinced that that's what you should be doing, listen, get some counsel. It gives you somewhat of a safety net. It gives you something that can help you even be more certain that you are on the right track. Resist the, what I call, I know, I know mentality. Because when you feel that you know, guess what happens? You never learn. If something is already full, you can't add anything to it. I encourage all of us, and this is something that I've learned that is of great benefit. Get counsel. Get advice. I find that in all parts, that's something that people somehow do very little of. Getting counsel. get counsel about your relationships. Amen? You're a young man, you see a girl and you figure, oh man, that's somebody who I like to get to know better. And I'm talking about, of course, in accordance with God's word, that a child of God ought to date a child of God. Amen? We're not even talking about whether you, you don't need, by the way, you don't need any counsel and any advice regarding dating an unsaved person. The Bible has already said, be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. Amen? And we know what kind of yoke we're talking about. That's an inside joke for our young people class. Right? Be not linked up. Be not connected with somebody who's not a child of God. So you don't need advice for that. However, you need counsel even for the one who's saved. Amen? And I'm not saying this because I'm the pastor and I'm not saying this because I'm trying to get in your business, but I'm saying, listen, it's a good idea to get some advice from your pastor whether you should be dating that person. Amen? Listen, that's how you save yourself a lot of trouble. Get some advice from your parents. Oh, I know, I know, I know, I got this. That's what they all said. Get some advice on your relationships. You know why people don't get advice? Because they've already made up their mind so firmly, they don't want anybody to say anything that would make them actually going a different direction. But get advice about your relationship. Get advice from your friends. Get advice from people who know you well. Listen, sometimes people see things that you don't see. You know what they say, and it's true, love is blind. Amen. Listen, when you're in love, listen, you can't see any, you can't see any faults. You can't see any problems. You, I mean, it's like everything is pie in the sky, in the sweet by and by. Isn't that right? Listen, love is blind. And they say marriage open up the eyes of the blind. Listen, you want your eyes to open up before you don't lock the door? Just in case you gotta get out. Cuz after you're married, listen, you're supposed to throw away the key. Amen? Amen. Listen, get advice. Get counsel. I'm sure my wife will tell you this and it's true. Not because I was a believer serving God and in church and all the whatever good reports you might hear. Don't think she didn't get advice and counsel about me. Isn't that correct? Absolutely. You gotta get advice, get counsel about your relationships. Get counsel about your career. Talk to somebody who might be in the same area or somebody who, get advice. You know, what steps should I take to be able to help me expedite or what problems can I avoid and what pitfalls that I can somehow avert and get advice. You're moving to a new area? Talk to people. Listen, there's some processes and some procedures and things that people have learned the hard way that they can tell you. No, no, no, no. Don't do that. Do do this instead. And by the way, it does not mean that every bit of counseling advice that you get that you will embrace but at least you'll have the knowledge to be able to help make the best decision through God's discernment and God's wisdom, God's guidance. Amen? Don't think that I'm saying that every last piece of advice that you get means that that will shape your decision. It will help you. The more information you have, the more different perspectives that you hear and you feel, it can help you sift, oh, well, what makes sense for me? And God can use it and will use it to help me, help you make the right decision. Try not to have an attitude, which I, listen, I know where this comes from. I know we live in a small place. I don't want nobody in my business. What we need to say, I don't want the wrong people in my business. Because people help people. So I can tell you, I've been helped by people making the right decisions. So when it comes to the value of people, and help using people. And I said, I don't use that in a negative way, but the value of people in finding and knowing God's will, there's the aspect of exhortation. But there's also, which this segue is right from that, the aspect of experiences. Turn with me in your Bible to Ecclesiastes chapter one. Ecclesiastes chapter one and verse number nine. The Bible says, the thing that hath been, it is that which shall be. And that which is done is that which shall be done. And there is no new thing under the sun. Is there anything whereof it may be said, see, this is new? It hath been already of old time, which was before us. Here's what the Bible is saying. There is nothing new under the sun. Everything that really has been experienced is a cycle that continues over and over and over again. When I was in high school, I never liked history. I felt like history was just a bunch of facts, and I did not like memorizing facts. And I see Sister Barrett here nodding her head, saying, don't say that. It's going to get better. It's going to get better. I'm not trying to discourage anybody. I'm just saying, when I was high school, I just didn't like history. I didn't like memorization. You give me something, and you tell me, work it out, analytical, figure it out. Then I remember the process. But when I got to college, And I took history, I developed a love for history. I honestly genuinely loved history because it changed in terms of assignments and how the teachers taught. It changed from memorizing facts to analyzing history. And so you begin to look at history in light of what people did and how they behaved and what they did and how their behavior affected the future and how our behavior now is actually impacting the future and how the history affected where we are now. And when I began looking at history in an analytical way, I began realizing, wow, this is really interesting. because people are the same wherever you go. People are the same irrespective of what generation they grew up in. We are all the same, which tells me that in in relation to finding and knowing God's will, we ought to rely on people's experiences. Amen. sometimes we tend as a a generation and I was young once and uh and you're a young one for those of you who are young here and sometimes we look and figure oh they're from the old generation I can't learn anything from them that is dead wrong because we are all the same uh we may have some from some different technology than we did back then but we're still all the same people are made up of the same stuff amen Just last night, my daughter brought to me an SBA and asked me for assistance with it. And then asked me, Daddy, when you did SBAs in school, how did you do them? How did you write them? I said, with a pen. She almost died. With a pen? A pen? You had to do your SBAs with a pen? Yes, a pen. and we're living in this day and age of computers. And so we think all of a sudden that we are so different, they're so ancient, we're still all the same. You still gotta get the answer right. You still have to write something that makes sense, whether it's with a pen or with a computer, amen? Just because you use a computer now and you use a tablet, and you use the internet, doesn't mean that your parents are from another planet. We're still all from earth. Amen? Sin will still bring about anybody's downfall. Righteousness will still exalt you. Amen? We're still all the same. Irrespective of what generation we grew up in. When I was young and I and I and even now, I love music. Anybody here love music? Right? Wave your hand if you love music. Right? See how many hands here are people who love music? Okay? But now, you're enjoying music, and we enjoy your music, and we enjoy your music a little differently, and we enjoy them today on the iPods and the iPhones, and we press a button with hundreds and hundreds and thousands, actually, of songs. When I was younger, I had my cassette player. Listen, and when you had your cassette player, listen, there was nobody like you especially when you pull out your your double deck cassette player. Listen, you were the man and you go, listen, what? Listen, I even forgot about that auto reverse meaning that the cassette gets to the end and automatically, it just the music until the auto reverse, the auto reverse so fast and the cassette bus and you take out the cassette and you get some sellotape and thing trying to stick the thing back and even some glue and you're there for hours and trying to make sure these things turn the real. Listen. Oh my the stories. Why you did all of that? Because you enjoy music. Amen. We didn't have the radio. Me and my friends, we would listen to the radio. Listen to Radio Paradise when when when the when the songs are being played and we're there with our recorder and we're waiting and the song is coming up when we we know what song we want to get and we're waiting to to press our record button and we press the record button. We got the song right at the We're listening to the radio to record the song and we figure we got the song right at the beginning. Then all of a sudden, after the song start to play, the announcer said, and this request goes out to you like, man, why you have to talk after I got the song right at the beginning of the intro? Young people, you see why we had to got you to enjoy music? Y'all don't know one thing that I'm talking about. But we still enjoyed music. We just got it a different way. I'll show you when I go home, if I could find one in a box somewhere. But I rely on people's experiences, amen? We end up with the same stuff. From the mistakes of others, cautious people learn wisdom. Listen, you could learn from somebody's bad experience. just as you can learn from the good experience. Avoid the bad experience. Avoid the bad mistake. Learn from the good ones. Learn from the bad ones. So we can learn from people's exhortation. We can learn from their experiences. But finally, we can also learn, interestingly, from people's excuses. We are very familiar with the story of David. And David, when he came to the battlefield and saw that his nation's army was running scared, he saw this giant out there by the name of Goliath and who was ridiculing God's people. And everybody had a reason as to why we can't beat this giant. He's too big. He's too tall. He's too strong. He's too mighty. All kind of excuses as to why the military cannot engage this Philistine. What was David's question? Is there not a cause? I say you ought to learn from people's excuses. Because rather than embracing the excuses we are to attempt to find solutions. Amen? One thing that I've learned and I've realized that when God places a burden on your heart, when you see a problem, oftentimes that's an indication that God wants you to do something about it. I've realized that in seeing a problem, not everybody sees it. Not everybody recognizes it like you do. And the clearer you see the problem, I tell you, it's a clear sign that God is giving you the insight, the vision to do something. That's where your burden comes from. You look around your church. You see a ministry that needs to be started. Why they don't go do that? Why they don't fix that? Why they don't get a ministry for that? Maybe God is saying, well, you see it so clearly. Why don't you do something about it? That's how it works. So, in using people's excuses, this can't be done, that's a problem, that's a problem, then guess what? Bless God, find a solution, amen? And that solution, in finding that solution for that problem, God is actually burdening your heart and helping you to see that problem in a crystal clear way. He's guiding you into what he would have you to do. I've seen that time and time again. And that is why we ought to not make excuses, but we ought to be people who find solutions. Tell you, in finding solutions for problems, you end up finding yourself in the middle of your purpose. We're here for a reason. We're here to draw people to the Lord. We're here to add value. We're here to make an impact. And the best way to make an impact is to be a problem solver, not an excuse maker. And you notice, the people who make a difference in this world for God's honor and glory first began with seeing a problem. Not making an excuse as to why it can't be done and complaining about it morning, noon, and night, but saying, Lord, what will you have me to do about it? And in doing so, God helps us to find our purpose in this life. God uses people in a variety of different ways. Not every encounter that you have with people is going to be positive. Not every encounter going to be pleasant, but even in the unpleasant and even in the difficult, God is using those situations to help us to find his will for our lives. He uses exhortation. Get wise counsel. And I say wise counsel. You got to be careful where you get counsel from, by the way. You got to get it from a place of wisdom. You got to get it from the right source. Kind of blows my mind when people go get counsel for a particular thing from somebody who doesn't have no track record of success in the area. It's somebody with bad relationships, broken relationships, bad marriage, multiple divorces. Don't go to them for marriage counsel. That applies to anything. exhortation, experiences. Recognize that much as we might do things a little differently, some might like technology, some might not. We're still all the same. Some might have phones that turn silver. I mean, we're still all the same. We're still all the same. You can also learn from people's excuses. that rather than make excuses, let's find solutions. And God will help us in finding ourselves, fulfilling our purpose for being here on planet Earth for his honor and for his glory.