We are going to be looking at a couple of different places. Take a look at Proverbs chapter 17 verse 10. Proverbs chapter 17 and verse 10. Then I also want us to take a look at the book of James chapter 3. Proverbs chapter 17 verse 10 and also the book of James. Chapter 3, we'll take a look at verse 13 to 18. I'll read both of these consecutively here tonight, so we'll read them pretty quick. Proverbs chapter 17 verse 10, and this is where the meat of my text is going to be. I've entitled this message the School of Hard Knocks. Anybody ever feel like you've been to the School of Hard Knocks before? Maybe know what that's all about, maybe attended for a year or two, maybe a few days, a week, maybe been there for a long time. The School of Hard Knocks, maybe graduated and got a degree, anybody got a degree from Maybe feel like you got a degree from there, perhaps. School of hard knocks, that's what we're gonna look at here tonight. We're gonna read, as I said, the meat of my text is gonna be there in Proverbs. That's what I really wanna go through, but James chapter three as well talks about what it's like to be wise and the character of a wise man. Of course, there are many, many scriptures in the book of Proverbs that talk about a wise man also, but let's take a look at verse 10 there, Proverbs chapter 17, verse 10. The Bible says, a reproof. entereth more into a wise man than a hundred stripes into a fool. Let's take a look at it again. A reproof entereth more into a wise man than a hundred stripes into a fool. Now let's flip over James chapter three. And let's look at verses 13 to 18. Here we're gonna talk about the wise man. And of course it shows a foolish man here as well. James chapter three, verse 13, the Bible says, 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. But if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, and what's that next word? devilish. So we can understand that there is, of course, a godly wisdom, and then there is, of course, devilish wisdom. The Bible shows us here that devilish wisdom, there in verse 14, is consumed with bitter envying and strife in your hearts, things that are against the truth. The Bible says this kind of wisdom descends not from heaven, but is earthly, sensual, and devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. But the wisdom that is from above is... Notice several things here. The wisdom that is from above is, number one, it is pure, then peaceable, gentle, 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 maketh peace." So we can see what the Bible says as we flip back over to Proverbs chapter 17, verse 10. We can see what the Bible says about what it's like to be foolish, what it's like to be wise. We can see in Proverbs 17, 10 what the Bible shows us and teaches us about what it's like to, about what it's like whenever a foolish man, when he doesn't hear correction, when he doesn't allow it, to find a logic place in his heart, the things that he goes through. And likewise, we see the wise man, of course, see, not that the wise man doesn't receive any kind of reproof and not that he doesn't go through a difficult time, but we can see here that the wise man, he just tends to learn a little bit quicker. And before we get into all of that, though, we think about The verse that we just read there in the book of James and there the book of James, of course We've seen what the Bible talks about how a wise man how he lives what characterizes how he behaves and conducts themselves but we also see that there is a worldly wisdom what the Bible calls it a devilish wisdom and this devilish wisdom is full of bitterness is full of strife and the Bible calls it says that it is in essence really full of confusion and And so there's different types of wisdom in this world. And so for the godly people, for us, what we want to do is we want to make sure that we exercise godly wisdom in our life. And so as we take a look at Proverbs 17. And we look at verse 13, and what are some things that I think we can see? And of course, as I said, I've entitled this message, The School of Hard Knocks. We know what it's like to have gone through The School of Hard Knocks. We've learned some things the hard way. Some of it was because we were stubborn. Maybe perhaps a lot of it was because we were. And we're gonna take a look at that here in a minute as well. but there's a lot of different things that we can learn and we don't always have to learn things the hard way but sometimes for whatever reason we do sometimes at times we can be a little bit more stubborn and hard-headed than others can I get would anybody even be a witness to say you know what sometimes I'm stubborn Okay, so we're all there. And sometimes, listen, we're a little bit more stubborn in some things than we are at other things. I mean, there are just some things that we just really, we're just really hard-headed about. You know, sometimes there are just some things that really, we find it has a... and we are just very resistant to, and so there are just some things in life that we are a little bit more resistant about than others, but we've all been to the school of hard knocks, and listen, sometimes one of the reasons why is because we just want it done our way, amen? Sometimes we just want it done the way we want it done, we want it done the way we want it done, we want it done in the time that we want it done, and when that doesn't happen because we are impatient people, what takes place is we begin to get stubborn, we begin to get hard-headed, and we begin to get impatient and all these different things just kind of kick in. And so what are some things that I think we need to learn here tonight as we look at Proverbs 17, verse 10. Let's read it one more time. The Bible says, a reproof entereth more into a wise man than a hundred stripes into a fool. Now we think about not just our own life. Now we have our own illustrations, I'm sure, in our life of what it's been like to be stubborn or to go to the school of hard knocks, but what are some other men that I think we can think of that done the very same thing? One of the men that I think of, very first and foremost, that comes to my mind is I think of Achan. Now Achan, he learned things the hard way, and of course his family learned things the hard way too. And we understand there in the book of Joshua that they were going up to fight against Ai, and as they went to go fight up against this little town, The Bible says that Joshua said, well, listen, there's no point in taking everybody up there. There's just a few of them. There ain't no point in taking all of our men up there. Just, you know, maybe take this, maybe two or 3000, you know, just go up there and we'll knock this little place out and we'll just come on back to the house. Well, that wasn't the way it worked. That's the way they may have desired for it to go, but that's not what happened. And the reason why they lost, you have this Joshua, this great leader and all these great valiant men who believed in God and trusted in God, they went up there to fight Ai, which means a place of ruin. And they went up there to fight Ai and they lost and they come to find out the reason why they did was because there was a man named Achan. And the Bible says, had taken a wedge of gold and a garment and had hid that stuff up underneath his tent. Now God done told them, he says, listen, when you go up there and you fight the enemy, when you go out there and you fight your enemies, don't you take anything from them? Don't you take any of their gold? Don't you take the spoils of war? Don't you take anything? But whenever they went up to go fight in their battles that God told them to go fight, he went there and he found a lot of things that he really liked and so he brought it home. and he hid that stuff inside of his tent. He dug a hole there under his tent and he put all that stuff there and he put the gold there and he put the garments there and he put all of that stuff that he knew he wasn't supposed to have, but he put it all right there. And then when it came time for God's people to go fight against Ai, they lost. They lost the battle because he had hid some things in his tent that he ought not have. He learned some things the hard way because once they found out who it was, you know, it ended up happening to him, he got stoned to death. Not only did he get stoned to death, but his whole family was killed. So what we see here is that not only did he learn things the hard way, but his sin, in essence, affected everybody else. Now I don't, that's why the Bible says that one sinner destroyeth much good, because listen, and that's why the Bible says that no man lives to himself or dies to himself, because what we do affects everything else. We can say, well, you know, it's just my sin, it's just between me and God, they don't nobody else know about it. Well, it's the same way with Achan too, nobody knew about it between him and God, but yet it affected the whole nation. It affected the whole group. When they went up to fight and they went up to battle, they lost the battle because there was in essence sin in the camp. And it was sin in the camp, but it was sin particularly in one person's tent. But God looked at it as a sin on the nation. And so that's why the Bible says, one is there to show us much good, and that's why it's so important as God's people that we understand that, listen, we're not in this thing by ourselves, and because we are considered the what? The body of Christ. And as the body of Christ, if there is a member or a part of us that is hurting, or a member or a part of us that is going through some difficult things, then it hurts the rest of us, does it not? And so the Bible shows us here that in the text, there in Proverbs 17, verse 10, that every proof entereth more into a wise man than a hunter stripes into a fool. And so we can see that the very first thing that we understand is that a wise man learns. A wise man learns. I would like to sit here and say that I wish that Achan would have learned things a little bit easier, but he learned things the hard way. And not only did he learn things the hard way, but the rest of his family did too. But not only did Aiken learn things the hard way, but I think we also think about another man. His name is Samson. Samson learned some things the hard way, did he not? I mean, you imagine all those times, I mean, there he went up there with his wife, and she wanted to know, what's the secret to cutting your hair? And he went there, and he would just make up stories and tell her what it was, and he should have known, or maybe perhaps he did, or he just was very, it seems like just very casual about his service. He just wasn't very, he wasn't thinking about what he was doing, it doesn't seem. And he would go up there and he would tell her what it was like, what needed to be done to cut his hair, to lose his strength. Just kind of playing around with service. Playing around with what he knew he didn't need to get involved in. And he thought it seemed like he could play around for a little bit and then that last time he was there, well, his wife, man, she really got upset with the lady. She really got upset and she was like, would you just tell me honestly what this is all about? How are you so strong? Finally, he gave it up. Next thing you know, He had his hair cut and he thought he was gonna rise up and defeat the enemy. He couldn't defeat him like he did. Ended up having both of his eyes plucked out. They took him down there to the city. The Bible shows us that he was down there and they made fool out of him. They made mockery out of him. They looked at him as an example of the kind of person that he used to be but now the kind of person that he is now. God was made fun of. He, Samson himself, was made fun of. Had both of his eyes plucked out. He learned some things the hard way. So we look right here, we can see in this text right here, we think about the wise man and we think about the unwise man, the foolish man. The Bible says in verse 10, a reproof entereth more into a wise man than a hundred stripes into a fool. So we see the wise man, he actually learns. Notice there in verse 10, notice it says a reproof, don't say many reproofs. The Bible says, a reproof, enter more into a wise man. A reproof, this man, he was a man that when he understood that what he did was wrong, he was a quick learner. How many of you wish there was some things in life, you said, I wish I was a little more quick and learned about a couple things. I know I can stand here tonight and say, I wish there was a few things I was a little quick in learning, but you know what, for some reason, because I remained stubborn, I got a few more whips. Does that make sense? Because sometimes I stayed a little bit more stubborn in my way of thinking, and maybe perhaps even in my direction, because I remained that way and stayed that way, even though perhaps you knew what was right, or you heard what was right, or somebody was trying to tell you, or the evidence was right there in front of you, but you were just so stubborn you wouldn't see it. Can I get a witness on that, anybody like that? I mean, it's right there, you know what I mean? It is right there. It is obvious, lights are going off. It is right there, but because it's just not what we want to believe, or not because what we want to do. We just keep doing what we're doing, and the more we go in that direction, we just get more punishment. We just receive more punishment. The Bible says this right here, shows that the wise man, what does he do? He learns very quickly. Notice the very first part of the text. He says, a reproof. A reproof, not two, not three, not four, not 10, not even a hundred as the Bible says that the foolish man takes. The Bible says the foolish man takes a hundred stripes, but the wise man, the Bible says a reproof, that is single, that is one. So what we see here is that the wise man is that he learns quickly in his life. And as he learns quickly in his life, there's one thing that it does. It saves him from a lot of hurt. It saves him from a lot of heartache. It saves him from a lot of turmoil. It saves him from a lot of punishment. And sometimes the punishment is self-inflicted because we're just too headstrong. The Bible shows us here in verse 10, a reproof, entereth more into a wise man than a hundred stripes to a fool. So a reproof, a correction brought this man back. He got back on track. He got back on track because he understood what was wrong and he took what was right. He applied it to his life. He learned from his mistake and he kept pressing forward. What is it that they say that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. How many insane people we got here tonight? A lot of insane people here. Listen, I'm just telling you, we can all, listen, we all vouch for it. We understand who we are and we understand that sometimes, listen, we are, sometimes we all are headstrong and sometimes we all act maybe perhaps in a foolish way because there is a certain way or a certain thing we want. And even though the lights are flashing, and even though we know what it is, for whatever reason, we just won't do it. And because we won't, we begin to receive a lash, after another lash, after another lash, and we go through more punishment, and more punishment, and more punishment. Well, the Bible says, listen, a wise man, a reproof, is a quick learner. He's a quick learner. So when we think about going to the school of hard knocks, one of the things that's gonna keep us from going there is being a person who will be a wise man. and being a wise man and understanding, listen, that there is a wisdom in this world that the Bible says in James chapter three that is devilish, that is consumed, that is consumed with evil, wicked things, but here in this verse, The Bible shows us that a reproof entered more into a wise man. What does the Bible call a wise man? Well, a wise man, the Bible says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, of course. And so we're gonna fear God, we're gonna honor God, and by fearing God and honoring God, we are going to become wise people in our life. The very first thing you can do to become a wise man is to fear God, is to fear God. After that will come everything else. But the Bible says here in the text, verse 10, a reproof, which is singular, which shows us that a wise man is a man that will learn quickly. Correction will come to his life. Correction will come to his life. And he will take that correction and he will say, yes, I need to change. Yes, I need to do right. Yes, I need to go in a different direction. Yes, this is not good for me. Yes, I need to get away from this. And by doing so, he allows himself to be spared from more punishment that could be coming down the road. But, you know, the Bible also tells us that a companion of fools shall be destroyed. So the foolish man, because he doesn't take the reproof, because he receives a correction, but he still goes in the way he's going, and because he goes down that way, he suffers in his life. He is, in essence, really abused by his own decisions that he makes and suffers greatly. But the Bible says here in verse 10 that Avery proved. So we see to avoid the school of hard knocks, we can be a person who will desire to be wise and we will be a people that will learn fast, learn fast. Second, we see not only does Avery prove, not only does a man, does he avoid the school of hard knocks by by learning, but he avoids the school of hard knocks by listening. The text says, every proof entereth more into a wise man than a hundred stripes into a fool. And so in order for a man to take what he, in order for a man to actually learn that which he has heard, he's gonna have to take it and let it, he's gonna have to take that and apply it to his life. You see, the Bible says also in the book of James, not just be hearers of the word, but to be what? doers of the word. And if we will be a people that'll be a doer of the word, then we can save ourself from a lot of affliction. Then we can perhaps save ourself from a lot of punishment, you know? And so the Bible shows us right here that listen, a wise man, what he's gonna do is he's gonna take a reproof and he's gonna take it into himself. He's gonna take it into himself. Notice the text. There in verse 10, a reproof, what's the next word? Entereth. It enters inside of him. So not only does he hear it, but he now takes it, applies it to his life, and now he begins to practice that which he has learned. And so now that he is practicing that which he has learned, it is saving him from the hundred stripes. Does that make sense? And I tell you what, we would all do well to take the things that we learn out of the scriptures and apply them to our life and not just be hearers of the word, but to be doers of the word. And we take these truths, we take the wisdom of God and we apply it to our life and we save ourselves. from a lot of suffering, and we save ourselves from a lot of trouble. The Bible says there in verse 10, that a reproof entereth, and so we take the wise man, he hears it, and then he takes what he hears and he applies to his life. You know what the foolish man does? The foolish man, he hears it, and it just bounces off of his chest and falls straight to the ground. You ever heard this phrase right here before? I've talked till I'm blue in the face. I feel like I'm talking to a wall. You ever felt, you ever heard that before? Maybe perhaps somebody felt like that when I was talking to you. That may be true too. But we can see that a wise man, the Bible says they'll take what they hear and they'll allow it to enter into them. They'll take that reproof, they'll allow that correction to enter into them, and they'll acknowledge it, they'll see the error of their way, they'll change the direction that they're going, and they'll allow it to change them to help them go in the right direction. And when they do that, they save themselves from a lot of heartache and a lot of trouble. So the wise man does two things. He learns and he also listens. He learns and then he listens. Now, let's go to the third truth. The third truth we see is a foolish man. We talk about the foolish man. The foolish man is stubborn, of course. The Bible says, a reproof entereth more into a wise man than a hundred stripes into a fool. And we think about this right here. Of course, we see a man who is not learning things, not learning things to ease away. We see a man that is, he is taken hit after hit after hit He is being, in essence, abused by his own decisions. He is suffering punishment after punishment after punishment, and it seems like there's no end in sight, and it just keeps coming, and it keeps coming, and it keeps coming, and the reason why that it does is because he will not listen, and he will not learn from the mistakes that he's doing, from what he is doing. He will not allow it to enter into his heart, but what he does is allows the wisdom to bounce off of him and he suffers for that. Being around this kind of stubbornness can have a negative impact, not only on our lives, but other people around us. Proverbs 14, seven, listen to this, the Bible says, go, listen to this now, Proverbs 14, seven, go from the presence of a foolish man, when thou perceivest not in him the lips of knowledge. In other words, don't take advice from foolish people. Does that make sense? Don't take advice from people that are, from people that are not living their life according to the Lord. Listen, he says, man, you see what's going on in their life, you see how they're living. Man, you don't wanna take advice from people that are receiving a hundred stripes. You wanna take advice from the man who is gonna learn quickly and who is gonna learn easily and is living a godly life because it seems like maybe he's got it on track. It seems like maybe they've learned a few things in life, whereas this one over here, man, he hasn't learned anything. So the Bible says, listen, be careful. Be careful who you listen to. Be careful who you put your trust in. Go from the presence of a foolish man, when thou perceivest not in him the lips of knowledge. And so what that shows us is that the godly man in his life, he's gonna have to also exercise some biblical wisdom that whenever he hears what's not right, that he'll be able to take that right there and say, you know what, this isn't right, this don't sound right, I know this isn't a godly thing to do, I know this is how it doesn't need to go and how it doesn't need to be, so I'm just gonna walk away from this thing before I end up punishing myself. Listen, sometimes the best thing you can do, listen, not everybody that gives you advice is good, godly advice. Amen, I mean, let's just go ahead and throw it out there. Not everybody that gives you advice is good, godly advice. You wanna seek good, godly advice, because there's safety, the Bible says, in the multitude of counselors, and so seeking good, godly people that can help you and give you good, godly advice is definitely something we wanna do. But listen, we gotta be careful who we get that advice from, because the Bible says, listen, A foolish man isn't gonna give you the advice that you need. And when he begins to speak, listen, you're gonna have to have some spiritual discernment about yourself that whenever you hear what's not right, that you just walk away. There in verse 14, verse seven, go from the presence of a foolish man that thou perceivest not, when thou perceivest not in him the lips of knowledge. A foolish man's gonna speak that which is in his heart. And the Bible says we need to stand clear of this type of individual in our life that gives us foolish advice because they're only speaking from their foolish ways and their foolish lifestyle of living. Proverbs 19 verse three, the Bible says, the foolishness of man, listen to this now, the foolishness of man perverteth his way and his heart fretteth against God. And so the foolish man's heart, the Bible says, is against God. He fretteth against the Lord. The Bible says he perverts his way. His decisions and the way he lives his life perverts his own, perverts his own life, perverts the direction that he's going. So why in the world would a godly man wanna seek the advice of a foolish man who is fretting against God, living against God, and is poisoning and destroying the own path that he's walking on? Because he will not listen. Man, I tell you what, I just think that's why the Bible says that iron sharpens iron and that we have to be careful who it is that we take advice from in our life because a companion of fools will be destroyed. Not only do we see that Not only do we see that a foolish man is stubborn, but we also see that a foolish man suffers. And that's the fourth truth for us here tonight. The text says, a reproof entereth more into a wise man than a hundred stripes into a fool. So here we see a foolish man that has become so stubborn in his life. The Bible says he's received a hundred stripes for his disobedience. This man, he is suffering greatly. This man has all different types of things and all kinds of things that are happening in his life. And the reason why it's happening is because, I would dare say, in this case, it seems like it is self-inflicted. It's not that he has somebody that is trying to badger him, not that he has somebody that's trying to lead him in the wrong direction, but this man, because of his own decisions, this man, because of the way he choose to live, is receiving punishment, is receiving stripes in his life, is suffering greatly, and not only him, but those around him, because of the decisions that he chooses to make. Self-inflicted, self-inflicted injuries here. The Bible says 100 stripes, it makes you wonder, it makes you wonder how much a man, how many stripes a man's willing to receive before he changes his mind. Bible says there in the text of reproof in earthborn to a wise man did a hundred stripes into a fool now think about this the pain that this Foolish man is experiencing must be immense. I mean the Bible says he has been lashed a hundred times He's received a hundred strikes for his foolishness and because he was because he will not listen because he continues to go in the wrong way. He has received lash after lash, a hundred stripes he has received. And it doesn't seem like it's gonna stop. He just keeps going and he keeps going and he keeps going. And it makes a man wonder, how long am I willing to walk in a foolish way? How much pain am I willing to endure before I change my life? Before I change my life. Listen, there's a lot of stubborn folks out here that are willing to endure punishment after punishment after punishment and pain after pain after pain because they're living a foolish life. And because they won't listen to truth and they won't listen to what's right. And the Bible says, every proof entereth more into a wise man than a hundred stripes into a fool. And this man suffers greatly. His pain is immense, His foolishness is great. And if we walk with people that live in foolish ways, and we take foolish advice, then I would think it would be safe to say that we would suffer the same foolish fate. So what we have to do is we have to say, you know what, I'm not gonna, I'm gonna live my life different than the foolish man, and I'm gonna choose, I'm gonna choose to live, to be the type of person that will fear God, that will allow the word of God to dwell in me richly, that will allow the word of God to change my heart and change my life so that I don't go down the same path of destruction. I like this verse right here. This is one of my favorite ones. The Bible says Psalm 38 verse 5, listen to this. The Bible says Psalm 38 verse 5, my wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness. Think about that one. Psalm 38 verse 5, my wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness. and so there the psalmist he acknowledges and understands that the reason why that he is suffering the way he is suffering is because of his own foolishness he is suffering the way he is suffering and enduring what he is enduring because I mean stripe after stripe and lash after lash because he has a stubborn heart because he won't allow himself to let the Word of God dwell in him, to let it enter into him, rather than just hit him and then bounce off. Instead of being just a hearer of the Word, the wise man is not only a hearer, but a doer. This man is just a hearer. He finds no lodging place in his life. And because of that, in Psalm 38 5, we see a man that says, my wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness. And the Bible even says that a foolish heart, as I said before, is likened to the, is almost even like likened unto the mind of an animal. In Psalm 73, verse 22, the Bible says, so foolish was I, and ignorant I was as a beast before thee. The Bible says a man that lives a foolish life is almost like having the mind of an animal itself. that you're so foolish and because you won't listen. I mean, you won't listen that everything that has tried to have been said, you will not listen. And so he says, I'm like a beast before thee. I'm like a beast. It's kind of like this. Now let's just say, all right, dogs are smart. Most, mine are not. Oh, I don't even wanna get on it. But some dogs are smart. And of course, you've got to train them, teach them, and stuff too. I get it. But I think it was said that dogs can learn up to maybe 300 and some commands if you teach them right, you train them right. That's a lot. That's a lot. But even so, let's think about this. They're still animals. I can look at my dog and tell my dog something, and he'd just look at me like this. What I'm trying to get us to see tonight is kind of the same way the Bible says that a foolish man, that his heart, that foolish man is like a man, he says, is like a man that stands like a beast in front of you. He has no contemplation. He doesn't understand what you're saying. And you can look at him, you can speak, and they just look at you and turn their head. just like a dog would. Or you can come out here and try to talk to the birds. You know what the birds are gonna do? They're gonna, there's this guy. They don't understand what you're saying. That's where I'm trying to get at. As the Bible says, a foolish man stands as like a beast. You talk to him, but he understands nothing that you say. And because he doesn't want to understand anything that you say, he gets lash after lash after lash and receives punishment after punishment in his life because he chooses to live in a foolish way. And so the Bible shows us here in our text, let's read it one more time before we close. The Bible says, a reproof entereth more into a wise man than a hundred stripes into a fool. So how do we want to be in our life? We want to live like the wise man? Do we want to live like the foolish man? The Bible says in Psalm 38, five, my wounds stinking are corrupt because of my foolishness. Psalm 73, 22, so foolish was I and ignorant, I was as a beast before thee. I think it'd be good for us to understand here this evening that receiving a correction and learning quickly and easily the first time would be the way to go. And we can look throughout our life, and we got plenty examples in the Bible to follow, that whenever people don't live their life with wisdom, and they play with sin. And they think that they know the direction that they need to go. What does the Bible say? That the Bible teaches us and says in Proverbs that, and teaches us that there is a way that seems right unto a man, but the ends thereof are the ways of death. And so we decide and choose to go in our own direction. We decide to choose to go in our own way and live a foolish life. Then the Bible says the way of transgressors is hard. But if we decide to choose to live in wisdom, And we decide to choose to say, you know what, Lord, I'm gonna follow you with my life. God, I'm gonna do the best I can to be an easy learner because I don't want 100 lashes. Lord, I wanna do the best I can to be an easy learner. Then we can save yourself. You can help save yourself from a lot of punishment and those around you as well. Let's pray here this evening. Father, we thank you for this night that you've given us. God, you have been so good. We are grateful for it. Lord, as we think about our own life and we think about our own self and our own condition, Lord, I pray that you'd help us here tonight to just be aware of our own life, Lord, how we live and what we do. Lord, I pray that you'd help our hearts to be sensitive, God, to your voice. Lord, that you'd help us to be a people that doesn't have to go to the school of hard knocks for everything in life. The God that we'd be a people that would be easy to speak to, a people that would be easy to learn. Lord, a people that would glorify you in our life in every way possible. And God, I pray that you would just help us, Lord, to live the life that you have called us to live. And when we stand out here in this world, Lord, there's so much going on. So many things the devil's trying to get us turned around in, twisted up in, involved in. And Lord, in the midst of it all, help us to make wise decisions. Help us, God, not to be a foolish people. Help us, God, not to be ignorant of his devices, but to understand that which the devil desires to do, which to every single one of us is what he told Peter. He desires to sift you as wheat. Lord, I pray it should help us to walk circumspectly this week. God, help us to honor you with our lives, and we love you, and we thank you for it all. And this we pray in Jesus' name, amen.