would you open the precious word of God to the two books in the Old Testament. First Chronicles chapter number 12. We're going to start there and then we're going to look in James chapter three. We've been Preaching this series of messages on Wednesday. I've tried to stay in series all month with it being home improvement month We've been preaching on being blessed on Sunday morning. We've been going right through the Beatitudes that on Wednesday nights We've been preaching on having wisdom or understanding what every family needs is wisdom To know what to do. And so we've been taking our text out of James chapter 3. But I've just been reading every Wednesday night out of 1 Chronicles chapter 12 verse 32. So would you look there at that verse with me? Let's read it and then we'll go to James chapter 3. The Bible says in 1 Chronicles 12 verse 32, And of the children of Issachar, which were men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do. We're only going to read that portion because that's what I want to use. Now, quickly, not to take anything out of context, we know that these were men that were assimilating with David. They were following David. And there was a group, a host of different men from many tribes of Israel. But these men were not noted for their warrior mentality. They weren't noted for their fighting ability. They were noted that the men of Issachar were men. There were about 200 of them, the Bible said, that were the heads. And said that they were men that were understanding of the times. So that's what they brought to the table. So when I think about this time, this day in which we're living in, we need understanding. We need wisdom to know what to do. And we've been looking at that all this month. So if you'll look in James now, you're gonna find what true wisdom looks like. When you talk about understanding what to do, that's wisdom, that comes from God. The Bible says in James 1, 15, that if any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God. So it's something that we must ask for, God will give. Wisdom is a gift. that God gives to us. And by the way, every dad, every mom, every husband, every wife, every Christian needs wisdom. We need understanding on what to do in these days. Now, I'm going to make some statements here in just a moment, but let's just read verse number 13 of chapter 3 of James. The Bible says this, Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom first quickly. I want to just say I love that verse. I love how god Gives us his word Here's what I mean by that is if you would just off the cuff go into a group So hey, how many of y'all got it in here? How many of y'all are wise? Well, I could just imagine being in a certain group of people. I got it. I'm wise. I'm pretty smart I can see it in a group of people, you know, especially like teenagers. They go. All right. I got it Yeah, I'm wise so God gives the qualifying questioner said who is wise among you well He leaves it open because there's a question mark there, but then I love how he closes it says well listen before you say anything Before I say anything he says hey before you talk a good talk He said how about I'm not really concerned about what you say. You know I want to see you live it I A wise man is not someone, I'm wise, I'm wise. The Bible says, no, you show me you're wise. By the way, I'm not going to trust somebody that tells me they're wise unless I see they're wise. You can tell, you can be around people in a short period of time and realize how much they've been asking God for wisdom. Is it a show? It will show in the decisions we make, it will show in the attitudes that we have, and we're going to see that in verse 17. So who is a wise man? Look, notice what it says, let him show out of a good conversation. Now that word conversation there does not mean the way we talk. He says let him show out of his lifestyle. I want to see it in his life. Now it says this, his works with meekness and wisdom. Now, but if you have bitter envy and strife in your hearts, glory not and lie not against the truth, this wisdom, descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. So we also find characteristics of what we would call man-made wisdom or sensual wisdom. And the Bible even goes stronger to say that. Look, what that envy and strife and that anger and that bitterness and that kind of attitude is not of God. The Bible says it's devilish. Now I want you to notice verse 16. For where envy and strife is, there is confusion and never even work. Now we know God's not an author of confusion. So God's not going to produce confusion. He's very clear. Everything He does is clear and concise and in order. So I like a little phrase around here in our church. Somebody might not understand it completely, but I'm always trying to make something more simple. Let's keep it simple. We got a lot of things going on here, so let's keep it simple. Keep it simple, keep it orderly, where people aren't bombarded like in the last moment of trying to change something. We try to keep things simple. Now that changes from time to time, but I believe we don't want confusion, the Bible says, in every work. But verse 17, listen to me, families, moms, dads, husbands, wives, teenagers, this is where we want to live. Verse 17. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits without partiality and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace. Now, I've been preaching on this simply, wisdom. to know what to do for our families. In 1 Chronicles, we read that pastor, these men of Iskar knew what to do. They knew what Israel ought to do. Now, let me make a couple of clear, concise statements. I've made them every week. First of all, I want no one to be misunderstood here tonight. I don't want to be misunderstood. Let's set it for the record. The Bible is clear. The Bible is our truth. The Bible is the authority for our life. Truth doesn't change. What's right is right and what's wrong is wrong. So that's clear. So when someone asks, Pastor, what are you going to do? Well, it's not what do you believe? That's not the question. That's not what those men of Issachar was asked. What are you men of Issachar? What is your strengths? Well, was it what we believe? Because look at me, we already know, I know what I believe. I believe the Word of God is the truth and it doesn't change. It's my fixed point of reference. Every decision I make is based upon the truth of the Word of God. That's our church's position too. We don't move unless the Bible says it's right to do it. Authority of this church is not what I say. The authority is not of this church what you think or what I think. It's what the Word of God says. That's where I stand. I make no apology for it. Period That's where we stand at tiftonia baptist church. Some people might label us. Well, you're a you're someone that doesn't no No, no, wait a minute. We need to be kind we need to be loving but look at me we stand on the word of god Now so the question here is posed. All right. Well if we know what we believe I love what it said about the men of Issachar, but these men of Issachar knew what to do. It didn't say they needed to know what to believe. We already know what we believe. But listen, we live in a day where we need wisdom from God how to handle things with the truth. Because number two, we live in a changing society. We live in a changing world. Society changes. Culture changes. Moral standards change. Now let me just say something. I'm talking now as the world we're living, where people, if they don't have a fixed point of reference like we should, if you're not careful, you'll get blown all over the place. If you're going to go with the winds of the world, because look, what was wrong to the world 20 years ago is no longer wrong. See, they done made words for that and say, hey, it's just another lifestyle or it's this or it's that. No, the Bible hasn't changed. The Bible says it's an abomination. Now here's what's important, but we have to have wisdom because can I just say something right here? There are more families that now are affected because of this permissiveness in our society. There are family members that are being taken by this sin and we have to be wise. It doesn't change what we believe, but we should have some wisdom how to talk about it and how to handle it with people. So it's how to do it, what to do. Wisdom tells us how to do it, what to do, or I'll even say this, when to do it. You know, for instance, it's very important. I know somebody, well, I'll tell you right now, I'm right about it. Okay, well, I'm glad you're right about it. What is right or wrong is not on trial here. What we need for wisdom today is how do we appropriate, brother, I love that what he said, propagate the gospel. Do you know, we have to have wisdom to propagate the gospel. You know, there are some times that we get upset and we get aggravated with people. For instance, we go and knock on a door and I could get mad at somebody that looks at me and says, well, I ain't going down there to that church. Well, why not? Because I'm here right now. Well, I know that they're probably not right, but is it going to help me to argue with that man at his door and get in a confrontation with that man in his door and leave a bad taste in his mouth? Well, I'm here right now. I showed him. Well, you didn't show him nothing. All you did was make it harder for him to ever darken the door of that church. So I showed him. No, you didn't show him anything. You showed him how ignorant you were. I showed him how ignorant I was. That's not wise. That's not wise. Well, I'll tell you right now. I showed him. I told him. Well, great. You didn't gain much. Tell me what you got from that. What did you get from telling him? Did you change his mind? Nope. Because I've never known anybody to be changed their mind by trying to argue and debate. Some people think that stuff's wise. It's not wise. The Bible says these men of Issachar had an understanding of the times what to do. It didn't say they needed to know what to believe. It said they had to have wisdom and understanding what to do. In other words, when to do it. As a mom and a dad, you're going to have to ask God wisdom because there are sometimes you're going to want to drop a bomb on just a little problem and you could just have some patience and just some patience and understanding and think, well, maybe I just need to pray about that. Maybe I just need to ask God, I need to have wisdom when to deal with that subject. when to deal with that problem. See, he's not talking about truth. Truth's not on trial. We know what truth is, but we need wisdom on how to be effective, how to be most effective. In the ministry, we're trying to raise our families. I wish I'd have heard this years ago. Man, I thought, I care right now. I'm going to drop a bomb. There were many times I brought I dropped bombs on our children, I wasn't being wise, and if I would have just asked God for wisdom, I would have handled it totally different. So now, we've learned, let's not do it anymore. God's given us some experience. He's given us wisdom. Now we need to say, okay, now God, you've showed me a better way. I wasn't wrong for believing what I believed, and I'm not even wrong because maybe our children were wrong, but we were wrong the way we handled it. There's a better way to handle it. When to do it, how to do it. But let me just say this true wisdom and understanding in this day for families. Number one, it says right here, verse 17. First, it's got to be pure. So we've talked about this now. You got to know why motives matter. Motives matter. Hey, real pure. Hey, can I ask y'all a question? Y'all think about why do you do certain things? How do you handle certain things? How do you talk to people? Why do we talk to certain people certain ways? You ever just stopped and thought about it? You ever examined and said, you know, why do I do that? Do you ever just stop and think, why do I do that? Well, was that because someone told me 20 years ago it was right? Or I'm just too bullheaded to change? I mean, what is it? But honestly, why? Just because we do something doesn't make it right. But look here, the Bible says, the book of Nehemiah, brother Mike, he said, I consulted with myself. The Bible says before we take the Lord's Supper, we ought to do what? We ought to examine ourselves. You know what we don't like doing? We don't like examining ourselves because we want to knock on everybody else and show them where they're wrong. But it's awful funny if we quit looking at everybody else and start examining ourselves, we wouldn't have time telling everybody else where they're wrong. Goes, we'll get down to the nitty gritty. It amazes me sometimes people really think they're right and it comes to find out they're wrong. You ever thought, I've been that way, man, I just knew. I'm going to go talk to Lord because I know I'm right. And boy, we sat down, we started talking. Next thing I know, it's nothing like I thought. I was so full of arrogance, I couldn't even see. that I was the one wrong. That's like people that hop around. I'm just being honest. It's like a bunch of people that hops around from churches. I'm just going to be honest with you. I'm going to share the whole boat here tonight. A lot of times people hop from church to church to church to church. And I've noticed something with some people that hop from church to church to church to church. The church is always the problem. Well, you know, about after 10 of them, And the same people, and the churches are different, but the same people keep, pretty soon it's like, I looked at one couple one day and I looked at them and I said, can I just, don't get mad at me, but can I just ask you a question? Have you ever thought maybe you're the problem? And I'm just gonna tell y'all this, they were. But oh, how dare you? I'm gonna tell y'all something right now. There ain't nobody in this world that knows when I'm wrong more than me. Now, whether I admit it or not, whether I humble up or not, or whether I go and say to somebody, hey, I'm wrong, it's me, it's me, it's me, oh Lord, listen to me, I'm miking covered up and you miking covered up, but I'll tell you right now, the Christian life is dynamic when we are absolutely just laid out before the Lord and say, Lord, search me if there's anything there, let me confess it and let me live clean, I want to be pure. Told someone today, I said, look, if I had my whole church, our whole church was absolutely blinded to the fact that Laura and I wasn't happily married. I got all y'all convinced that her and I are happily married. Boy, that's wonderful, man. I can come here and I can tell everybody, oh, we're married, we're happily married, we're happily married. But you know what? That joy ends the minute I get in that car out there. Some people live their whole life for an image like, oh, I got them fooled at the church. But look, that's no way to live. Have it at the house. Be pure. Be real. Images ain't never helped nobody. Have it. Look, it'd be crazy for me and Laura to say, honey, we're happily married. We go home. We got everybody fooled. I'll tell you what. And then she goes to one side of the house, and I go to the other, and we don't speak the rest of the day. But look here, y'all tell me, does that happen? Yes, it happens. Why? Because true wisdom gives purity real. Why? Think about it. Examine. Why do I do that? The way I disciplined my son, 20 years, was it right? Was there a better way? When I talked with my wife, we had an incident yesterday and I thought about it. I said, you know what, I could have talked with her better, but I will never come to really be thinking about being pure if I won't examine. Why do we do? Think about it. Why are y'all here tonight? Why, why, why don't we want people to feel the, I mean, are we, look at me. Sometimes in the independent Baptist, all we've been worried about for years is numbers. Look at me. If we have two or 200 here, doesn't matter to me. Here's what I want. I'm concerned about souls. It's about Jesus came to seek and to say that which is lost. That's why you say, pastor, why are you passionate about it? Why, why are you passionate? Why should you be excited about that? Well, my goodness, there's nothing else greater to get excited about. Pure, real wisdom, true wisdom from above. It first answers that question. It's going to look like, Brother Don, it's going to be pure. We're going to be self-examining. Moms and dads, you ought to be self-examining yourselves. You ought to be thinking, is there a better way I can raise my children? Is there a better way that we can cultivate a better relationship with one another? Hey, pure, hey, quickly, and I gotta hurry. We talked about peaceable and gentle, but quickly, I wanna give you this one tonight, to be entreated. Notice what it says. The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated. Now listen, growing up, Brother Mike, you know what I'm talking about. I was brought up in just a short time of an era of where all the independent Baptist people that I thought was spiritual were mean. They were mean as junkyard dogs. Somebody come walking into church, they wouldn't look it just right. We thought it was spiritual for the hammer, that guy. I look at it now, that's foolish. And by the way, it's not scriptural. Because the Bible says if you have true wisdom from above, the Bible doesn't say you're going to be harsh, doesn't mean that you're going to be pompous, doesn't going to show that you're going to be arrogant. The Bible says that true wisdom looks like you're peaceable. That means you might have to take a few on the jaw and not punch back because you're wanting to keep peace. That means you're going to be gentle like a little mother. We watched Abby bring a little corn in the house. Her and Clay brought a little corn in the house. They were gentle with their baby. The Bible gives us a picture of us as Christians. If we're wisdom, we're going to be gentle with people's feelings. The Bible says, and then easy to be entreated. I love that word. It's an attitude or a sign that God's wisdom is at work at somebody's heart. It's going to show because you're going to be easily entreated. You say, Pastor, what does it mean to be easily entreated? You ready? Approachable. Y'all ready? Here's another word. Reasonable. Willing to listen. God help me right there. Y'all ready? Not overbearing or seen controlling. Some of you say, well, a real leader's controlling. Not really. Jesus is the greatest leader I ever knew. I've ever read about. He wasn't a dictator. I'm going to tell you how he led. He loved. He led. People had confidence in him. Look at me. They followed him. Leaders lead. They don't corral. They lead. Wasn't it the Lord Jesus Christ himself when Peter came and he said, I want to wash your feet. And Peter said, oh no, Lord, you're not going to wash my feet. And the Lord just looked at him and said, hey, listen, you have no part of me if you don't let me wash your feet. Do you know what that was? That was a beautiful picture of servant leadership. But I'm going to tell you right now, a real leader will be entreated. They'll listen. And God help us here because Ben, I'm telling you, real leaders are passionate, they're driven, they have ideas. But you know, a real leader will absolutely consent or someone that's easily to be entreated will at least listen. They're approachable. Prince, can I help every dad here just a second? If you're an old bull, If you're an old bull in a china closet, I'm going to tell you all right now what's going to happen. Your kids will never come to you. They'll never come. They'll go somewhere else, and then we think, man, we're smart. No, you're foolish because you just had an opportunity to let your children feel welcome to come to you, but you're not even reasonable. You're not approachable. You're not easily being treated. By the way, I know church people like that. Come on now, somebody say, oh me or oh ouch or amen or something. Some people think spirituality is being. But that's, brother Don, I got the, this is the, y'all believe the King James? What's the Bible say? Because see the Bible trumps what preachers have told us all of our life. Look at me. Bible says you're to easily be entreated if you have true wisdom from God. Now look, if you're acting in your own spirit, in your own wisdom of God, then I'm going to be honest with you, it's going to be the opposite of peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated. I'm going to tell you what else it will be. When you think about being a treated, easy and treated, approachable, reasonable, willing to listen, not overbearing, or seem controlling. Times you need to control, but let me just say, when we control, sometimes you might say, well, look, pastor, there has to be times that you have to control. But you know what? True wisdom acting out in someone, sometimes someone might think, well, they don't have control, but look at me. Real person that's got wisdom from God is in control all the time. But sometimes the other folks don't feel like he's in control. I Remember one pastor trust me he's a leader He told me one day I'll never forget he said look he said I want to undress I said not undress he said what he meant by that was he wanted to Get on to somebody. He wanted to, I'm trying to look for the word and definitely the first one I said wasn't it. Yes, but that wasn't even the word he used, but he said, he said, I like to lead in a way that if I'm getting on to them, they're smiling and they don't even know I'm doing it. I believe that's a little bit of easy to be entreated. I need a dose of that. Hey, but listen, some people say, oh, no, listen, Jesus Christ, think about it. Here He was, He was a leader, but yet He was the kind of man where the little children rushed into His arms. They were welcomed into His arms. Something special about that. Easily being treated. Hey, some people say, that's my way or the highway. My way or the highway. Well, I'm just going to go ahead and tell you right now, that's not of God. Now you might feel that way. And by the way, let me just say this. It is this way or the highway. Look here, I will make that clear. Look here. You say, Pastor, you narrow-minded? I'm about as narrow-minded as that right there. But you know what? I don't have to take it and beat people over the head with it. Come on, y'all help me. Especially in this day. I'm here right now. It's my way or the highway. Well, it's your way and they're gone. And it's not because, maybe it's not even because they don't believe this. It's been our attitudes about it. We've been so arrogant or pompous or uncaring or unthoughtful. They say, well, man, we might believe what that book is, but my goodness, they're not easily entreated. I think about this. If I'm the kind of pastor that I should be, then from the smallest child to the oldest person in this church ought to feel comfortable coming and talking to me. I think of it like this. There are a lot of preachers that I know, and I love them, and I praise God for them. They're hard, boy, and I'm glad they stand strong in the Word of God. But I'm just going to look at you face to face, eyeball to eyeball. But there are some men, I wouldn't want him to pastor my wife. Because there might come a time in my wife's life that she actually needs some help. She needs some kind of help. And I want you to know something, it's going to have to be a pastor that is easily entreated if he's going to think about a woman's feelings. Easily entreated. Bible says in James chapter, you say, I'll tell you what right now, Padre, he sure can't preach. Well, I'm glad he can preach, but I'd like to know, is he easily to be entreated? Would he help my wife if I was gone? Could he be a help to her? Would he encourage her? Would he encourage my children? The Bible says it's easy to be entreated. Hey, listen, quickly as I close here tonight, we've got to have this. This is a sign that true wisdom is working in our hearts, being easily to be entreated, peaceable, gentle. It's a sign. And I say to y'all tonight, I pray God will help me. Look, the attitude of not being reasonable, it's not true wisdom. Shrewdness, arguing your point. to a point of where nobody wins. It could win your point, but what did it cost you to win that point? Think about that in a home, in a marriage, in a relationship. We fight over the most frivolous stuff. You say, I got her. Well, what did you get? Hey, let me just say this too quickly as I close. The Bible says, the impeachable gentleman eased of being treated. That's a forerunner of all the other things that you're going to find here. Because look at it, the next ones, you got full of mercy, good fruits without partiality and impartiality. Then verse 18, and the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace. I'm going to just say this, you'll never make peace if you're not easily entreated. Because it's always got to be your way. If it's not your way, then ain't nobody happy. I said this last night or last week, you know, look, some people get mad. I mean, there's people, I know, get mad. The way you make coffee is different than the way they make coffee, so they get mad at you. Look at me, y'all, I drive a Toyota. By the way, that engine was made in America. Somebody say amen right there. But look at me, other people might drive something else. Look at me, that's your preference. I ain't going to be mad at you for that. Oh boy, I tell you what, I ain't going down to that church. The pastor got in an argument with me over, he didn't think I was right for driving a Ford. Hey, look, y'all say that happens. Well, the pastor, I can't go down there. He takes a leave. Well, I like Tylenol. Well, look at me. We both can love Jesus and you can love Tylenol and I'll take a leave. You know why? Because I've learned there's some things ain't worth fighting over. And boy, up through the years, we fought over the most frivolous stuff. I'm going to tell you what, I'm going to put an end to all of that. How about we examine our hearts tonight and say, Lord, help me to be easily entreated. That'll help you, man, when you go home tonight. Honey? Talk to me about anything you want to talk to. My ear's open. My heart's open. What's wrong with that? You know why some men think it's wrong with that? We wouldn't talk brought up that way. What don't make it right or wrong? Bible says you to be easily be entreated. If I'm going to be easily entreat Mike Wood, God help me, I should be more easily to entreat her. I should be more open, reasonable, willing to listen. Some of you may say, I'll tell you what, if she starts, she'll never talk. You'll learn a lot if you listen to her. I'll stop right there. Why is that important? Because so we know what to do. This is not in question. Boy, the way we act, when to act, when to deal with the situation at home, how to handle our husbands, how to handle our wives, how to handle our children. Look at me, that takes wisdom. And I'm going to tell you, stay in 17. And when you think you've done everything well, go back to 13 and say, have you been peaceable? Have you been gentle? There was a time I was right to discipline our daughter. Disciplined her I did, but I did it wrong. To this day, if you talk to Kaylee about that, she knows the exact moment. I know the exact time. I had to go in there and pick that little girl up. I grabbed her. I was sobbing on her shoulder. And I said, honey, I am so sorry. I said, I was right. You were wrong. You needed to be dismal, but I did it the wrong way. I said, will you please forgive me? I was sobbing on her shoulder, just a little girl. And she started to pat my shoulder and she went, daddy, it's okay. I forgive you. You know, I brought me closer to her. easily to be entreated. Let's stand our feet. I wish I'd have been like that more, more, more. But I can be now, see? God help us. If you're here tonight, you do not know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. He will save you. You enter into that relationship by faith. I pray you know Him. With head bowed, eyes closed, would you ask us to, or as we ask the Lord to help us tonight, how many of you say, God, help me to be easily entreated. Help me to live in verse 17. I want to live there. God help me. Heavenly father. Thank you for the word. I pray you'll apply it to our lives and hearts in Jesus name. Amen.