You know what he's helping us with? He's helping us with the fact that these that God uses in your life to shepherd and guide you through life, they are extremely rare in this world. Extremely rare. And that all of us have to pay attention to the value of the voices that we're listening to. And if the voices we're hearing isn't teaching us to treasure Jesus, to trust Jesus with everything, to testify to his saving grace and his kindness and the triumph and his victory over your life, you're listening to the wrong voice. You're listening to the wrong voice. You're listening to the wrong voice. That helps me, amen? That helps me. That helps me a lot. That helps me a lot. Because there's a lot of people that will attempt to teach me the truth. But if that teacher is not helping me treasure the Lord, and the fear of God, and to trust what He says, and they want me to doubt what He said, want me to question if He created the world, want me to question if Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, want me to question if Jesus is worth everything, because He is, amen? and telling me I can live how I want and still be covered under Him, I'm listening to the wrong voice. I need to hear from the right ones, amen. All right, won't y'all take the revelation that you brought with you today and go to Ecclesiastes, Ecclesiastes. We wrapped up with the book yesterday. If you find the book of Psalms and then you find Proverbs, you'll come up on Ecclesiastes or the Song of Solomon. You'll find it there in those poetic books that we have, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes. That word Ecclesiastes comes from the Latin word used to describe the words that we have in here. It's exclusive to this book alone. It's the word koheleth, the preacher or the teacher. or the expert, the professor, the one who is gathering all this insight to give to us. And they took that Hebrew word, which means ecclesiastical, meaning the gathering of the church. Have you ever heard of, there's a term in the study world, heard of eschatology before? Anybody know what eschatology is? What's eschatology? These are just big terms. Anytime you have the word ology on there, what does that mean? The study of a thing, like biology is the study of the what? Life, biology. Theology is the study of God, the study of God. The word eschatology is the study of God. in times, meaning the future, what's coming, that we're currently living in, there's more to come, Jesus is coming back, and the return of the Lord, but ecclesiastical, meaning the gathering of the church, the study of the church that has gathered throughout time. We get this word ecclesiastical from, is a Latin term, but it's taken from the word, like if you go to chapter one of Ecclesiastes, let's just show you this here. If you remember this, it's just an exclusive term used in the book of Ecclesiastes because this is an exclusive time. And I'll share that in a moment of what Solomon did in helping us understand this message. And how many of y'all love the word of God? Praise God. If you really love it, just raise two hands. Amen. I really love it. Amen. I really love it. I'm dependent upon it. I am no good. I don't know if y'all ever recognize that. I'm no good if I don't have the word of God flowing in and through my life. My family will tell you that, Karen. If I don't have the time to spend a little time with the Lord from day to day, man, I can be a hard-nosed, hard-head, stubborn, mean old man if I'm just not getting fed by the Lord on a regular basis. Me leaning in on him, Have y'all ever found that before? Have y'all ever had where you had guests come to the house and you just hadn't had your time to really spend adequate time meeting with the Lord, praying and seeking Him and hearing from Him, and you just felt a little frustrated, a little tense, and things are happening and you're kind of abrasive? That happen to y'all? Well, it happens to me too, because I'm a frail form of flesh without God working in me. And the same thing with Solomon. So today what we want to do is look at how this exclusive time in the life of Solomon, why he wrote these things, and why we don't have to go after what he went after. That's what we want to learn about this. So he says in verse number one, the words of the preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. Well, that word preacher is a Hebrew term means or is pronounced Koheleth. And it's used about eight times and it's only used in Ecclesiastes. It's the only place it's ever used. And the reason that would be, I believe, is because God allowed Solomon in the later years of his life. Solomon reigned over Jerusalem, over the people of Israel for 40 years, 40 year reign. Well, in the later part of his life, he wrote the book of Ecclesiastes. And he wrote it for a purpose to reiterate to us throughout time that life lived without God's presence, without God's purpose, without God's promises, And without His priority in everyday life, whatever we do is going to turn out to be meaningless. It's going to be empty. It's going to be vain. And a lot of us, including me, have a lot of empty things about life that I've lived without the Lord. Meaning I've done things that I know that God wasn't leading me into. or he didn't take me down this road, he didn't shepherd me into this, but I did it and went after it, and it didn't mean that it was a bad thing. I could have done a lot of good things in this world, but God just wasn't the shepherd who guided me through it. And that kind of stuff, he says, is empty. It's meaningless. Even wisdom and doing things skillfully to even help people in this world in a mighty way. If God's not the one guiding it through, it's still empty for us. Now, can God use it? Can he use what you do to help somebody else, but you not get the benefit of it? Your benefit may be temporary, Matter of fact, it may be applause of a person. That's why in the New Testament, for an example, Jesus would say, look, don't let your left hand know what your right hand's doing. Meaning, don't go out and tell everybody what you've been doing, because if you tell everybody what you've been doing, and you're only telling them so that they can pat you on the back for what you're doing, he says, you've received your reward. And what reward did you receive? A pat on the back, and that's it. It don't go beyond that. You got what you was looking for in it. And he says it won't have any eternal value to it. And we want what we do to have eternal value to it. Why? Because what's done eternally brings glory to Jesus. And I tell you what, as Stephanie led us in that song, look, I don't have time to tend an old grave. This old body is a grave site that in and of itself, tending to this old life alone, all it is is tending to a dead body. But if I let God flow in me, flow through me and out of me, then now you're dealing with something totally different. Now you're dealing with something that can not only bless people, but it'd also be a reward to Jesus and you get to benefit from it as well as a co-laborer with Him. And that's what ultimately what we wanna see, that we are co-laborers as new creatures in Christ. Now, I recognize not everybody here may not be a new creature in Christ. You may not be a born-again believer. You may have never been born again. You're not been made upright with the Lord and not living uprightly with him. Now, today, You can. You can be. That would be our heart. That would be the heart of God. Amen. That would be the heart of everybody in here that, hey, more than anything in the world, we want you right with Jesus. We want you walking with Him, trusting Him, leaning on Him, treasuring Him in everything. We're gonna love you either way, but ultimately what we would desire is that you walk with him, amen? That you trust him with your life. So the preacher, the koheleth, and that then is translated over into Latin, and that's how we get the word ecclesiastes for our Bible. The gatherer who brought these things together. We'll turn to chapter 12, since we're gonna wrap this book up today. And when I say wrap it up, we want to continue to apply it in our everyday life because it's of such value. Man, it just paints such a good picture of what's going on in the world around us, how people think and why they think the way they think and do what they do. That's why I say it's exclusive because God allowed Solomon to exercise his knowledge and skill and wisdom And every facet of life, and his conclusion is, it don't amount to nothing if God ain't in it. And he's saying, God doesn't want you to go do what I did. That's why it's exclusive. God says, you don't have to go test this thing out. Solomon says, you don't have to go put this through the test of life because I've already tested it. And I've tested it from a position that you don't have the capability of testing it from. One, I've tested it from madness. I've tested it from folly. I've tested it from wisdom. I've tested it from great wealth. I've tested it from the aspect of poverty. I put myself in every position to put all this to the test and I didn't keep anything back. And what I learned, life is empty without the Lord. No matter what you can accumulate, no matter how much or how little or how big or how small or how smart and bright and intellectual or how foolish or senseless we can all be at different times in life, it all amounts to zero if God's not in it. And we'll have to give an account. He keeps bringing that up that we're going to have to give an account for our life. Matter of fact, he even says that about a young person. Let's find it. Look what he says in chapter 11. Go back one chapter, chapter 11. Look in verse number nine. We've got some young men, young people, young families, young mamas in here. Some of you that are sitting in your 60s and 70s and close to 80, and some of us even in our 50s look at these young couples and say, boy, they don't realize it. They feel like they're worn out. Did you feel like you was worn out in your 30s, Karen? Brother Shannon, did you? Do you feel like you're worn out now? Karen ain't but 43 years old. Charles, could you do more when you was a 30-year-old man than you can in your 50s? What about it, Marcus? He said it's rough. He said if he'd have known that, he'd have had them a whole lot younger, amen? Notice what verse number nine said rejoice. Oh young man in what? In your youth when you're young rejoice in it He's basically saying learn look enjoy where you are because if you don't learn the joy where you are You're always gonna want to be somewhere else and you're gonna miss out where y'all Enjoy the present time you in if you're a young mama that's got little ones and many of you in here do hey celebrate that Rejoice in it Ask God to give you the strength to nurture and love those little ones. You're in this season. And remember, God makes everything beautiful in its time. One thing you don't want to do is you don't want to compare yourselves with other people. You don't want to compare yourselves with other families. You don't want to chase after what everybody else is chasing after. You want to center down between you and your husband and your family and just figure out, okay, what has God called us to do and how has he called us to live? And Lord, we wanna enjoy every phase of our life, because you're gonna go through some phases of it. Many of them here today can testify to that. You go through the young man, young woman stage, the parent stage, and then you enter an empty nest stage, and then you enter into your adult, mature older age where you got greats and great great grandkids and life has its blessings in every facet of that but I've got to learn to be right where he planted me in the season that I am and I can't have a wondering eye he says where I'm always looking for the next season because I'll miss out right where I am now. Now I got to be aware that those seasons are coming. For an example for you young couples in here today, you gotta realize that before you know it, those little boys and girls that you loving on right now are gonna fly the nest. And you and mama will be at home, just you two living together with each other. And if you're not careful, you've done built so much an identity with those kids and going and doing and everything in life with them that you miss out on who your spouse is. and you run into trouble in your relationship down the road because you didn't think about the fact that one day it's just gonna be us. And you see, so caught up in doing life with the kids, you miss out on celebrating life with your wife or with your spouse, your husband, amen? Y'all that been through the empty nest know what we talking about, right? So you wanna think about that coming down the road. Now life will throw a lot of curve balls at you, y'all know that? What'd you do with a curveball, Brandon? Got to sit and wait on it and hit what's thrown at you. Nobody can guarantee what's coming tomorrow, amen? There's a lot of ups and downs, ins and outs, upsets and highs and lows that thrown at you at life. It's just inevitable. You could be right with God and terrible things happen. You can be wrong with God and a lot of good happens. You can't determine it that way. Can't look at a person and say, man, what's wrong with them? They would never have to go through that. No, that's not always the case. God uses all those things and all those things come to everybody. Good people get cancer and some people hardly ever get sick, but they don't trust the Lord. That's life, isn't it? That's life. But he says, rejoice, oh young man, in your youth and let your heart cheer in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart, not necessarily trusting in your heart, but what God gives you to walk out, that's the idea. And then the sight of your eyes, but know this, for all these, that is your ways and how you see things in life, but know this, God will bring you in the judgment one day. You gotta recognize that. Solomon's gonna keep bringing that before us. Man, if I would have known some of the things that I know now, I wouldn't have done some of the things I've done then. I wouldn't have treated some people in some ways or said some things that I said or acted the way that I acted if I had known. I wouldn't have treated other people. You know, I was one that I had this spirit about me as a young man that I wasn't going to go look for trouble. But if trouble came my way, I didn't mind hurting people. I was taught to do that, but I look back on it now, and I'm thinking, yeah, they probably learned some things, I learned some things, but I wouldn't have treated people that way. I wouldn't have tried to hurt people. If I would have known now what I'd known then, I wouldn't have treated girls the way that I treated girls when I was in junior high and high school. I wouldn't have done it, especially knowing that I was gonna have daughters down the road, are you with me? I just wouldn't have done it. I didn't know, though. I only knew what the world was teaching me around me, and I was trying to get ahead on everything. I can remember my mom and them bringing us to the movie theater as a kid. We had one movie theater. And we'd go in and when mom and daddy would ride down the road and drop us off and let us go in and we'd meet our buddies and the girls there. You know a lot of times I would do, I'd go outside and stand on the side and watch all my older buddies, big brothers and sisters ride by in their cars. And I used to think, man, I just wish I had a car. I wish I could be driving around, sporting some pretty girl in the car with me and I wasn't but 10, 11, 12 years old and I'm wanting to be 18 and 20 years old instead of enjoying right where I was at and where God had me. I wasn't enjoying my youth, I always wanted something more. out of it. I missed out on a lot and I missed out on a lot of stories and time because I was always looking ahead. I was always wanted to be older than what I was. Wanted to be around older people. They called me as a kid radar because I always was listening to everybody's conversations. And I always listened to the adults talk. I'd be in another room, Miss Barbara, with the kids and they're playing, but I was listening to what mama and daddy and their friends and all that were talking about. I was trying to pay attention. And I was having a conversation with this one, but listening to their conversations. And you see, I miss out on some of those things, because some of the things I experienced with some of these boys and girls, I can't necessarily remember the way they remember. Why? Because they may have been present, and I was always trying to be somewhere else. You miss out on so much. You'll miss out on your little ones, and them growing and growing, because you want them to grow up faster than what they're growing up as. Just pour into them, love them, lead them. He says, look, always remember though, eventually you will have to give an account. You'll have to give an account. I didn't have anybody teach me that. Jim, I didn't, my daddy didn't teach me that. My mama didn't teach me that. My grandparents didn't teach me. Oh, did they say, yeah, God's watching? I heard that kind of stuff. But I didn't realize that down the road one day I'm gonna have to answer to Him on how I walked and lived and functioned and thought about in this world that I live in. But then the Lord brought a good message to me, good news, because I knew the life I lived, I knew the things I'd done, I knew the thoughts I had, I knew what I'd done, and then somebody come told me that Jesus, came and lived the life I couldn't live and died a death I couldn't die that I could trust Him with my life and the things that I've done and the things that I said He would forgive me of those things and He would set me free from them and in that freedom His invitation was now I've justified you so you can come follow me and I'll teach you my goodness and my ways, and how I love people, and how I laid my life down for people. And He freed me from this old dead body to follow after Him. But praise God for it, amen? Because boy, I don't wanna have to ever face God on what I've done. I'm glad I can face Him on what He's done for me, on my behalf. But look over in chapter 12 in verse number nine. Solomon is reminding us that, look, he has done this to impart knowledge or impart information to us. And he says, moreover, because the preacher, the Koheleth, was wise, he still taught the people what? What did he teach? What did Solomon teach us? Knowledge. Knowledge. Knowledge is what? Information. Information, he's given us information on what he experienced, what he saw. Now how he'd done it, he's gonna explain it to us. He didn't just flippantly do this. Notice how he says this, yes, he pondered and sought out and set in order many proverbs or many ways to teach it. So here's a guy who's being used by God out of all that he experienced. He's going to help us, Greg, on seeing how we then, if we want to teach people, if we want to help people, we too have to have a desire in us to want to impart information of the things that we've learned and experienced in life. We've got to do it in such a way that we ponder it, consider it, think about it, think about its implications, think about its value, think about what it will impart to other people when we do teach. He said, I sought out and set in order many words, many proverbs, many teachings. Verse number 10, the preacher sought to find what? Acceptable words. Any other translation use anything different? And this is 1210. What's that? Words of delight. Acceptable? Delightful words. That is saying, I thought about words that would be a blessing to people, that would be a delight that when they ate these things, when they consume these truths, it would delight their heart, it would help them, it would do something in them. Why? Because information that doesn't become revelation, something delightful, light from God, because I want to tell you, light from God is delightful, amen? Revelation is something that God shows you that you couldn't see unless God showed it. Now, does God use people like these writers like Solomon? The words that he is writing, these acceptable, delightful words, we know them as revelation. But for somebody that doesn't have a relationship with the Lord, they're simply information. That's all that becomes. It's just information on things that doesn't transform or change the life. And that is important. See, information has to become transformation in our life. through the revelation that God gives us. He teaches, God turns the light on, and that light changes us from within, that transforms our life so that we can do what? Apply these things in everyday, in our everyday journey. You have to be able to apply them, that altered work that God does. Have you ever had information that didn't have an effect on you for long term? Somebody gave knowledge to you, but it didn't help you. Because that knowledge didn't turn into light. That you see it the way God intended it to be seen, and you just kept doing and going, doing and going. You heard it, but you didn't hear it. You ever heard that before? You ever said that? I heard it, but I didn't hear it. I heard it, but I didn't hear it. But you see, somebody's sitting right next to you. You take brother Shannon and brother Charles. Some of this that we're talking about here today can just be information that Brother Shannon received, but the information Charles received, God shed light on it and it became a revelation to him. How would I know it became a revelation to him? Because it would transform how we looked at life and how we looked at things and it would change him when he walks out these doors of how we live. He would then, the application of these truths would then, He would take this information to other people and say, this is what I've learned, this is what I've seen. Let me show you in chapter number, chapter number eight. Look over in chapter number eight. Notice what happens, how this can happen. Look in eight and verse number 10. Eight and verse number 10. This is Solomon looking through, say, the lens of his life, and he says, I saw something. What did I see? He said, I saw the wicked. Now, what does the word wicked mean? Y'all help me. What do we say that it means? It means what? Wrong. That's all the word wicked means. It just simply means wrong. You can write it above it if you want to. I saw the wrong. Well, the next question would be, well, why are they wrong? What does it mean to be wrong? Why would God declare somebody wrong? Y'all help me. Why would that be? If it's wrong, it's not what? So the idea of the wicked, they are wrong because they are not what? Right with God. That's the difference. What they do may not appear wrong. What they do may not manifest as being wrong. They may be an upstanding, outstanding citizen in society that is a person of honor, a person of respect, a person who does business deals. They help people in everyday life. But you see, there's only two kinds of people in the world, those that are right with God and those that are not right with Him. And those that are not right with Him, the Bible describes as being what? They're wicked. wrong. They're wrong. You see, we have the idea when you say wicked, what do y'all think about when I say wicked? What do you just think about when you think about when that word comes across and you say, man, that person's wicked. What do you think about? Somebody that is just what? Evil. They're danger. They will harm you, Danny. They'll steal from you, Danny. Danny, has anybody ever broken into your house? You would say that was a wicked person that done that, right? Have you ever had anybody break into your car? That was a evil act that they'd done. We read every day on the internet or watch on the news, they constantly are what? Arresting wicked people out there, or you follow with me. See, when we think about wicked, we think about just horrible, gross, terrible things people do. But that's not how God views the wicked. He sees the wicked as simply somebody who is not right with him. They're wrong, therefore they're wicked. And Solomon says, I see the wicked and they died. Notice. The wicked were buried who had come and gone from the place of holiness. Now pay close attention to that. and they were forgotten in the city where they had done, they had done so, and this is also a vanity. So here's the clincher, Tommy. He says, these people who are not right with God live life going and coming from the house of God. The place of holiness is the temple. And the temple is where people gathered to get under the word. The temple is where people came and offered their sacrifices. So these people, who he describes as being wrong, lived their daily lives in the everyday function of life. They gathered with people, they functioned with people, they operated with people, they were respected by the public, they were honored among the people, they were business people, people who just lived, they were good old boys. Y'all ever heard that phrase before? How many of y'all ever met a good old boy? Y'all know good old boys go to hell, don't they? Y'all know that? Good old boys without Jesus, where do they go? They go to hell when they what? Die without Jesus. And we all know good old boys. They're the ones you can count on. They're gonna be there when you need them. If you need this, they'll get it to you. If you need them to stand in with you and work, they'll work with you. But you see, a good old boy without Jesus lives his life every day without Jesus. But a good old boy with Jesus, Jesus is involved in everything that he does. This group of people went back and forth. They came to church services like you and I do. They were under the proximity of truth. And they settled for being in the proximity of truth, having information imparted to them, but that information never became revelation. And because it wasn't revelation, light from God, you know what it didn't do? It didn't transform them. and they continue to function in everyday life without that transformation. It didn't get applied in their everyday life. Why? Because for whatever reason, we don't know, for whatever reason, they just settled on being in the proximity or having information given to them. Could they talk about God? I'd imagine they could. Could they share things about the workings of God and about coming to fellowship with people? I'd imagine they could do that, and they probably could do it very well. If they couldn't, they couldn't really function among everybody. But the thing is, that information never became revelation, and if it don't become light from God, it'll never transform you. The scriptures in the New Testament says it like this. The children of Israel heard the word, but they didn't mingle it with faith, and therefore it was unprofitable to them. It didn't transform them, and they never had rest with God. You see, it becomes revelation when we are opened in faith to believe what God is teaching, and we say, Lord, I need you to do something with me. I need you to transform me. I don't know what you gonna do in Brother Shannon. I want you to do a work in Brother Shannon. I want you to do something with Karen. I want you to do something with Jay. I want you to work on Brother Marcus and Mr. Billy and Tommy and Vivian and Brandon and Boo. I want you to work on them. But more than that, I need you to work on me. I need you to do something with me, with me, with me. Change me, teach me, show me, speak life to me, speak revelation in me, transform my life. You see, they went every day. If you kept reading to the next verse, it says the reason they did that is because they didn't see any consequences on their life for not living for the glory of God that there's a sentence and that sentence is a sentence of death but you see they couldn't see death because they couldn't really see life it's in seeing life in Jesus is where you really see what death is and when you see life in Jesus you realize you're dead and your trespasses and sins, and you throw your life upon him, amen. And that makes all the difference in the world. They couldn't see that, and therefore they were never transformed to apply these truths in their everyday life. And you see Solomon comes to the place in chapter 12 where he says, this is a man's all in all. This world you live in, there are gonna be countless people that tell you how to live it. The books that they'll write will be endless. The study of it, there'll be no end, it'll drive people mad and crazy. But Solomon says, I wanna give you the nuts and bolts of the whole matter. What is a man's all in all? It is this, that he fear God and he does what God says. Look in chapter 12, look how he closes this out for us. That he fears God, look in verse 13. Let us hear the entire conclusion of the whole matter. Life without Him is meaningless, but how do you live with meaning? Fear God, treasure Him, and keep His commandments, the principle way of God. Let me say it like this. Hey, run to the Lord, and run with whatever God gives you to run in. Run to the Lord. That's fearing God. Seek the Lord. Run to Him. And whatever He gives you, run with it. See, that's the thing. I want Him to be giving me stuff. Amen. Give me revelation. Give me light, Lord, that I can run with what You give me. Does God have to show us everything? No. But I need to see Him for who He is. I need to see myself for who I am. I need to see what He's given me to walk in. And when I can see it by His help, man, I can run with it. Look in verse number 11 of this same chapter. The words of the wise are like what? Goads. What does a goad do? It'll prod you along. How many of you ever been stubborn before and needed a little extra help? Like Daddy's belt? You ever had Daddy's belt on you? Was that a little extra goad, a little help? How many of y'all need it more than others? I needed a lot of guidance when I was coming up, and I tell you, my daddy didn't have no problem giving it to me. He is a big old fella now. He had a big old wide leather belt, and one of the things he liked to do, he would always tell me or my brothers that when it was time to get whooped, and if he was gonna whoop us, he whooped us, he didn't say he was gonna whoop us, he really did whoop us, but this is how we'd do it. He'd tell us to go get his belt, and go to our room and wait for him. We knew he wasn't playing. We didn't know how long we'd have to wait. He may make us wait an hour, but it was guaranteed he was gonna show up. And when he showed up, there was no talking. There was no asking. He simply says, lean over your bed. And he commenced the wearing our butt out. I told y'all about the time that he whooped me with a siphoning hose, y'all remember that? That was the worst one. But he done warned me, Tommy, not to be out by that big road. And I would go out by that big road, but I thought I could get away with it, because I would hide my bike. And when I would hear him coming, because he always rode in big trucks. So in a big truck, in a big four-wheel drive, you could always hear those tires humming. And I knew when he was coming, because he would have to come down a long, windy road to get to the house. And you could hear those tires. I knew Daddy was coming. Man, I could hook back to the house before he called me. But he'd come home in another vehicle one day, and I didn't hear him coming. And that joker, I don't know, he had eyes like a hawk. I thought I had my bike hid well enough. But he saw my bike. He didn't stop, he didn't blow the horn, he went home. I show up at the house a little bit later on, he heard me come in on my bike, he whistled and he called, everybody calls me Nicky back home, he said, Nicky! I went back there, he said, bring me that siphoning hose, he was working on an engine from his boat. I think, man, I'm in the clear. He don't know anything about me. I handed him that siphoning hose, and buddy, he lit in the mid. He said, if I ever catch you by that road again, I was like, how'd you know I was by the road? Well, it seemed like he knew everything that I did. Y'all know what I'm talking about? Well, guess what? If I went down that road again, because I know I did, I sure went in a way he'd never see it again. Are you with me? See, I was one of them fools. Take a beating and just go do it again. Well, we see this here. He says that the words of the wise are like goads. They are to pride us on. What Solomon is helping us with, these well-fitted, delightful words are to what? Move us along when we're stubborn in our spirit. And he says the words of scholars or the students of God are like well-driven nails. They help secure you into a spot or something that you can hang your hat upon, something that's going to be stable. And they're all given by what? One shepherd. Aren't you glad God uses people in your life? Amen. to goad you along or to nail something down in your life. He says, this is God at work in doing this. This was God at work teaching these things. And He says this in verse number 12, And father, my son, be admonished by these, of making many books there is no end, and much study is wearisome even to the flesh. But if you want to measure out if God's in it, if God's shepherding this goading or these nails, These three qualities have to be part of it. What is it? They're going to teach you to treasure the Lord, to run to Him, to fear God. They're going to teach you to trust what God says, to do His commandments. And they're going to teach you to testify of what God's teaching you in life and that we're all gonna have to give an account to him one day. And if they're not teaching you how to treasure Jesus, teaching you how to walk in what Jesus trusts and what Jesus says and to testify that he's coming and we all stand before him one day, he says you don't need to pay attention to what they're saying because this is the conclusion of it all. If the shepherd is shepherding the teacher, he's gonna teach you to fear God. to give place to Him, to run to Him. And He's gonna teach you to run with what He's given you, to trust Him in what He says. And He's gonna teach you how to testify and triumph in His victory over your life, amen? That's what we're looking for. This old world we live in is inundated with knowledge of all sorts. But Solomon told us that when he was in the search for all these things, out of 1,000 men, out of 1,000 men, y'all remember reading this? He said out of 1,000 men, I could only find one that was wise out of 1,000. That's a rarity, isn't it? I'm not even gonna tell you what he said about the women. Well, I'm gonna tell you anyway. He said, and among those 1,000, that I searched, I didn't find one wise woman. You know what He's helping us with? He's helping us with the fact that these that God uses in your life to shepherd and guide you through life, they are extremely rare in this world. Extremely rare. and that all of us have to pay attention to the value of the voices that we're listening to. And if the voices we're hearing isn't teaching us to treasure Jesus, to trust Jesus with everything, to testify to his saving grace, and His kindness, and the triumph and His victory over your life. You're listening to the wrong voice. You're listening to the wrong voice. You're listening to the wrong voice. That helps me, amen? That helps me. That helps me a lot. That helps me a lot. Because there's a lot of people that will attempt to teach me the truth. But if that teacher's not helping me treasure the Lord, and the fear of God, And to trust what he says and want me to doubt what he said? Want me to question if he created the world? Want me to question if Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life? Want me to question if Jesus is worth everything? Because he is, amen. And telling me I can live how I want and still be covered under him? I'm listening to the wrong voice. I need to hear from the right ones, amen. And I need to put my trust in him. So today we started out. We started out with that very thing that, hey, if you don't think you're right with God today, He'll make you right. Solomon told us in 729, God made man upright, but man failed in sin. And as a result, man is filled with a lot of schemes and devices. So to be made right with God, you got to be made upright with Him, and only He can do that. I can't do it for you. Brother Charles and Brother Marcus and Mr. Billy and Tommy can't do it. Danny can't do it. Deborah can't do it. Miss Beth can't do it. Only no one that can do it. That's the Lord Jesus Christ, amen? Oh, he'll make you right with God. And then teach you right from there in life. Will it be easy? No, it'll be a fight. It'll be a fight. But is it worth the fight? Oh, it sure is. It sure is. It sure is. You don't realize how good you had it when you could walk on both feet, right? Until you didn't have them. And that's what God does with us. He shows us in Jesus just how unable we are without him. And then he helps us walk with him. He's trustworthy. Let's trust Him. Stand with me today if you would. Father, we come before you and I pray over each that will be under the sound of this prayer today, tomorrow, whenever it may be. that, Lord, you would speak life and light into each of us, and that your revelation of who you are, what you've done, what you've done on our behalf, what you require of us, what you call on us to put our trust and confidence in will be made clear, will be made clear, and that we would see Jesus. That's all we have to offer anybody today is Jesus, is Jesus, is Jesus. So, Lord, we, We give them you and ask you to do your work. And not just for those that still need to be made right with you, but for us that have trusted you and are right with you. We need you. We need you. We need you more than we ever needed you. In Jesus' name, amen. What we gonna sing, brother? 581. Tis so sweet. Tis so sweet. 581. And all God's people said, Amen. Love y'all. So good to be with you today to celebrate with one another. Looking forward to the week ahead that the Lord will give us. Anybody have any questions or anything? Amen. A hunger for Him, right? That's right. That's right. Yes. Yes. Feed on Him. Amen. Feed on the Lord. He'll feed you. He'll feed you. He'll feed you. And when we hunger for Him, for sure. Amen? Anybody else? Like I said, so good to have you with us today. Amen? Anybody else before we go today? All right. All right. Brother Greg, would you close us with a word of prayer this morning? Father, we just like you today for the opportunity to come and gather your house, Father. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Amen.