Walking as wise

[Speaker 1] It will be a glorious first Saturday of the month of June. Our last episode of the Singles Club, we considered "Remember Lot." I believe that those of you that were able to connect with us, it was indeed a time in His presence. So we trust the Lord again today that for this first Saturday in the month of June, that the Lord Himself will meet with us and it will be a blessed time indeed in His presence. Let us have a word of prayer as we go into the Singles Club of today. Precious Father, we are grateful unto You. We thank You for Your love and Your mercies. We thank You for Your goodness. We thank You for all who You are. We bless Your name for all that You are to us. All that You are to us. We thank You for Your mercies. We thank You for Your love. We thank You for Your goodness. Almighty God, our eyes are on You this morning that as we look into Your word, You will grant understanding, You will grant inspiration, You will grant, O Lord our God, insight into the matter of life for us again today in the name of Jesus. Lord, our eyes on You. Paul plants, Apollos waters, but it is the Lord that gives increase. Lord, give increase to this meeting in the name of Jesus Christ. Thank You, Everlasting Father. In Jesus' name we pray. For our Singles Club of today, we'll be considering the topic: Working as Wise. Working as Wise. As we look into this this morning, I trust the Lord that your spirit will be inspired by God's spirit in the name of Jesus Christ. Working as wise. First, let's look at the matter of wise and wisdom. Wise and wisdom. What is wisdom? What is the source of wisdom? Where does wisdom come from? So that if we can know what is wisdom, what is the source of wisdom, where wisdom comes from, then we can now consider how can we then work as wise? Because working as wise is implying, is indicating, is saying that an individual has wisdom and that individual is living by such wisdom. And so it is important for us to first look at the matter of what is wisdom? What is the source of wisdom? Where does wisdom come from? And then we will be able to say, okay, if this is wisdom, if this is the source of wisdom, then to work in wisdom, this is what to do. So as we begin this morning, I want to call your attention first to the book of Job. The book of Job, Job 28. Let's consider something there. Job 28. I would like to take my reading, Job 28 from verse one. I will take my reading, but I might be skipping some verses so that we can quickly get to the end of that chapter. Job 28 from verse one. And I want you to follow this scripture intently. The Bible says: "Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place where gold is refined. Iron is taken from the earth, and copper is smelted from ore." (Job 28:1-2) He's telling us where we can get silver, where we can get gold, where we can get iron, the source of it. Or the sources of these things. Verse three: "Man puts an end to darkness, and searches every recess for ore in the darkness and in the shadow of death. He breaks open a shaft away from people; in places forgotten by feet they hang far away from men; they swing to and fro. As for the earth, from it comes bread, but underneath it is turned up as by fire. Its stones are the source of sapphires, and it contains gold dust. That path no bird knows, nor has the falcon's eye seen. The proud lions have not trodden it, nor has the fierce lion passed over it. He puts his hand on the flint; he overturns the mountains at the roots. He cuts out channels in the rocks, and his eye sees every precious thing. He dams up the stream from trickling; what is hidden he brings forth to light." (Job 28:3-11) Now when it gets to verse 12—verses one to 11 has been able to show us what man has been able to do. Man has been able to search everywhere to get iron ore, to get gold, to get silver, and diverse minerals. Man has done all of that. But when it came to verse 12, a very vital question began. It says: "But where can wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding? Man does not know its value, nor is it found in the land of the living." (Job 28:12-13) So we are saying something. Number one, man don't even know the value of wisdom. Man knows the value of gold. Man knows the value of silver. Man knows the value of iron. So man has been able to conduct all kinds of research and search to search out how to get gold, how to get silver, how to get iron, how to get sapphires and all these other minerals. Man has done all of that. But there is a problem. The problem is that first, about wisdom, man don't know its value. And because he does not know the value of wisdom, it is not even an issue that man wants to really look for. You only look for things that are valuable to you. So in the first place, man don't know the value of wisdom. So man has not really taken time to conduct any particular search, any particular way to look for wisdom. Wisdom is not something in the view of man to look for. So man has not been able to come up with any particular methodology or operation or way by which wisdom could be obtained, the way gold, silver, iron ore, sapphires, tin, and all other things have been sought for. But the Bible is now saying that even if man now wants to do it, there is another problem. Number one, he does not know the value. So man has not really taken time to conduct a serious search for wisdom. Wisdom is not something in the view of man to look for. So man has not been able to come up with any particular methodology or operation or way by which wisdom could be obtained, the way gold, silver, iron ore, sapphires, tin, and all other things have been sought for. But the Bible is now saying that even if man now wants to do it, there is another problem. The problem is that wisdom is not found in the land of the living. So were men to even actually value wisdom, it is impossible for them to find it. The Bible says, "Man does not know its value, nor is it found in the land of the living." Verse 14: "The deep says, 'It is not in me.'" (Job 28:14) So if man wants to go into the deep to go and look for it and search and dig and dig and dig, what will be the response of the deep? The response of the deep according to the word of God: "The deep says, 'It is not in me.'" Okay, if man is to leave the deep and stop digging and try inside the sea, the Bible says again: "And the sea says, 'It is not with me.'" Further, verse 15: "It cannot be purchased for gold." (Job 28:15) It means the richest cannot even buy it. It cannot be bought with money. It cannot be purchased for gold. No amount of gold you have, no matter how rich you are, it does not guarantee that you will be wise. Because even if you are to attempt to buy it, it cannot be purchased for gold, "nor can silver be weighed for its price." So no level of currency or money you want to put together is sufficient to meet the value of wisdom. Now, he's trying to make us see something. That man has been able to define to himself that gold is very precious, silver is very precious. And man has done everything to pursue gold and silver, to look for money, to pursue money, to look for money and search and search because in the considered judgment of man, gold and silver, having money and riches, they are very serious things, and so man greatly prioritized it. And so men begin to look for it. But the issue is that the value of wisdom is higher than all of these. So ordinarily, were men to know the value of wisdom, men will have done something far, far better than what they are doing to look for wisdom, because wisdom is more precious than gold and silver. So we find out that silver cannot be weighed for its price. It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir. Maybe you need to understand what the Bible is saying here. In those days, we're talking about the gold of Ophir, talking about the costliest gold. Gold of great value. So even the purest of gold that you can find, the value of that gold does not equate with the value of wisdom. The Bible moves on to verse 17: "Neither gold nor crystal can equal it, nor can it be exchanged for jewelry of fine gold. No mention shall be made of coral or quartz, for the price of wisdom is above rubies. The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it, nor can it be valued in pure gold. From where then does wisdom come?" (Job 28:17-20) So the Bible is trying to ask us now. In the first place, say, "Where is wisdom?" Now having told us that all of these things don't equate to wisdom, wisdom cannot be found in the sea, cannot be found in the depth, it is not in the land of the living, if nothing that man have been able to count as precious are equal to it, then where does wisdom come from? And where is the place of understanding? If it is not in the sea, in the depth, and in the land of the living, if nothing that man have been able to count as precious is equal to it, then where does wisdom come from? And where is the place of understanding? In verse 21, the Bible gives an insight into this matter of wisdom. The Bible says: "It is hidden from the eyes of all living." (Job 28:21) "It is hidden from the eyes of all living." That is, no human level of search or capacity or sagacity can get this wisdom that we are talking about. Wisdom is not obtainable by whatever any natural person can do because deliberately, it is hidden. God decided in His wisdom to hide wisdom from men. I want you to know that wisdom is something that is hidden. Wisdom is not something you can just find. Wisdom is not something you can get by some capacity of intelligence. Wisdom is something that is hidden from man. And look at the next, it says: "And concealed from the birds of the air. Destruction and Death say, 'We have heard a report about it with our ears.'" But even Destruction and Death don't know where wisdom comes from. They don't know where to find it. They only say, "Ah, we have heard about it oh. We heard about the report, but we don't know where it is." But in verse 23, the Bible says: "God understands its ways." (Job 28:23) Hallelujah! God understands its ways. So the way of wisdom, there is only one person that understands that way. And that person is not somebody mortal. That person is not a human being. That is why the Bible earlier mentioned that it cannot be found in the land of the living. That is why the Bible earlier mentioned that it is hidden from the eyes of men. So the real issue about it is that it is only God that understands its way. Number two, look at what the Bible says again in verse 23. The Bible says: "And He knows its place." Hallelujah! So that place where wisdom is, it is only God that knows the place. So if you want to locate wisdom, you need only one person to take you to where wisdom is. Only one person knows the path. The road that goes to the house of wisdom, only God knows that road. And that house where it is located, only God knows it. The Bible says God understands its ways and He knows its path. Verse 24: "For He looks to the ends of the earth and sees from under the heavens to establish a weight for the wind and apportion the water by measure." The next thing there, the Bible says: "When He made a law for the rain, and a path for the thunderbolt." (Job 28:26) In other words, the Bible is saying that it is at the point of creation when God was putting everything in their place. God was placing them. "You, this is your place. You, this is your place." Everything was put in their different places and then like that, like that, God was placing them, placing them, placing them. It was then too that God put wisdom in its place. So the place of wisdom and the path of wisdom had been before time was. Ever before man was created, wisdom had been put in its place. So by the time man was coming, wisdom is already in its own place, so man cannot find it. The Bible says it was when God was putting the universe in place that God also put wisdom in its place. Look at what the Bible says in verse 27. It says: "Then He saw wisdom." Hallelujah! Hey! The Bible says then God saw wisdom "and declared it. He prepared it, indeed, He searched it out." And what did God say? "And to man He said, 'Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.'" (Job 28:28) "The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom." Are you following me? The fear of the Lord, He's declaring it to us. Heaven is declaring to us what, where wisdom comes from, the place of wisdom and how to get wisdom. So the Bible says, "Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding." Maybe I should take that verse 28 in the New Living Translation. Just for the purpose of emphasis. I want you to get something. In the New Living Translation, Job 28 verse 28, it says: "And this is what he says to all humanity: 'The fear of God is true wisdom; to forsake evil is real understanding.'" (Job 28:28 NLT) Do you know what the Bible is trying to make us see? Man will be thinking that every other thing man has been able to operate or put in place, it shows that man is wise. Because man has been able to do a lot of invention, do so many things by way of research, by way of education, by way of technology, by way of just think about it, you can mention them. By way of all kinds of scientific discovery. Because man has been able to do so many things, man will be thinking that he is wise. Man will be thinking that for me to have been able to do all of these, it means I'm a wise person. How will you say I'm not wise? I am wise. Do you know what I have been able to do? Do you know that I'm the one that invented this and invented that? Do you know I conducted this and this and that and I found that this and this and this and this, this is the way to do it? And you are saying that I'm not a wise man? So there is a kind of wisdom that exists with man. But what the Bible is trying to make us understand is that the real wisdom, what is actually wisdom, is not that one that you find that you can find in the land of the living. It is not that one that comes by human intelligence, human philosophical reasoning. The ability of man to think critically and solve problems is not wisdom. It appears to man as wisdom. But that is still not the real wisdom. There is a wisdom that is higher than that. That is why you'll notice that after all that man has been able to do, after all of his invention, try to look around. Please try to look around. By all that man has been able to do, can we tell ourselves that the earth where man inhabits has become a better place? You will notice that by all that man has been able to do, the earth is becoming more difficult to inhabit. As man invents one thing, let's look at the age of industrialization that began with the industrial revolution. Man was able to apply machine to production and then gradually factories emerged, factories emerged. And when factories emerged, there was a change in the social characterization and men moved. There was what we call rural-urban migration. There was migration to the cities. What was the end, what is the end product of industrialization today? We are talking about environmental pollution. We are talking about climatic pollution. We are talking about global warming. We are talking about the erosion of the ozone layer and that as all of these things is taking away the ozone layer, the direct rays of the sun is not good for us. We need to do something. Let's start planting trees because man is cutting too much tree. Why what makes man to cut tree? Man want to produce furniture. As he is cutting down trees to produce furniture, what is happening to the earth? We have been talking about 3G, now we are talking about 5G and a lot of implication of some of these of some of these things upon human society. All of this thing you have around us, it should not be around where people are. They should take them far away because of radiation, because of this, because of that. Man has been able to invent so many things. But what are the health implications? What are the social implications? What are the consequences of these things for us? After all that man has been able to invent, what are the implications of these things for man, for the health of man, for the life of man? What are the implications? So the Bible is making us to understand something. That do you realize that when the Creator made the universe, everything was in a balance? Everything was in a balance. The ozone layer was hanging in its place. There was nothing like global warming when the Creator did His own. I'm showing you the wisdom of God versus the wisdom of man. When the Creator did His own, there wasn't a problem. Everything was in a balance. The Bible says and God saw all that He created and behold, everything He created was good. What we are finding today, what is troubling man today, is what you call the wisdom of man. Wanting to invent, wanting to create, wanting to research, wanting to adjust, wanting to improve that which God had made. Wanting to turn it around. But what has been the implication today for man? Think of anything, God—think of even the most common thing you have around you today. Think of ordinary sex. Sex is something that came from God. God is the author. God our God is a God of sex. He is the God of sex. He's the one that brought it. It is not Ogun that created or invented sex. It's not Shango. It's not even Valentine. It's not anything you can just think of anything. It's not about anybody. Sex has its origin in God. And when God was through with His invention, what did God say? God said, "Marriage is honorable in all. The bed should not be defiled. Whoremongers and adulterers God will judge." Again, God said, "Flee fornication. Except a man leave father and mother, he should not have sex with a woman. There must be marriage before sex can come." What did man do? Man said he knows it better. Man took it out of marriage. Man began to reinvent and reinvent the sex. I want to ask you today, by that thing that man calls wisdom, where are we? Is society better with premarital sex? Is society better for it today? Is extramarital sex making society better? I am showing you that there is a wisdom that is higher than the wisdom that man calls wisdom. That is why in the New Living Translation, it tried to qualify the wisdom to give you from understanding. But the King James Version did not qualify it. He doesn't need to put a quality to say one is real, one is not real. For the King James translation, what he is saying is that anything outside God's wisdom is foolishness. So he's not saying real wisdom and fake wisdom. No. He's saying wisdom versus foolishness. Once it is not God's wisdom, the other thing that man is doing is foolishness. But the New Living Translation wants to make it look like, okay, don't let us look as if we are insulting the sensibility of men. But what is sensible in a man that does not fear God? I will soon show you in the Bible that he is a foolish man. The Bible says it is a fool that says in his heart there is no God. He's a foolish person. Anybody that does not acknowledge God is a fool. That's the reality of the matter. That's the real thing about it. But you know the later translation wants to make it look like okay, let's try to do some decoration for man. Let's polish it. Let's put some sandpaper to make it look, to put some aesthetic value. Don't let us just say he's a foolish person. Let us just say that, "What did I—let me take the reading again. And this is what he says to humanity: the fear of the Lord, this is wisdom. To forsake evil is real understanding." So one understanding is not very real, but there is a real one. So that man can look maybe a little comfortable. But let me tell you the truth. Outside God, what you have is foolishness. You're a foolish person. You're a foolish person. That's reality. So wisdom, as far as heaven is concerned, the Bible says if you want to know where wisdom is located, if you want to become wise, if you are ever thinking of becoming wise at all, if you are ever thinking of becoming, if we must describe you as a wise person, if we must look at you and say, "Ah, this person is wise oh," the Bible says the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. It means if you cannot locate in your life the fear of God, the reality is that you are a fool. It doesn't matter who you are. It doesn't matter what you are described and how you are decorated. We'll soon go further into the word of God now. But I'm trying to make you get something very clear. God is the one that knows the seat, the location. Wisdom had been located in its place ever before man was created. Wisdom had been placed there. And the place where God put wisdom, the residence, or the residential address of Brother Wisdom, if you want to know where Brother Wisdom is living and you want to encounter wisdom, the resident of wisdom, wisdom is resident in the fear of God. Understanding is resident in departing from evil. And so when you look at these matters, when you look into them, when we are talking about working as wise, I believe gradually you are understanding where we are going. When we are saying working as wise... I want to quickly go to the book of Proverbs again. Let's see something there in the book of Proverbs. Proverbs chapter two. Thereof, let's see Proverbs chapter two. Let's see what the Bible says again about this matter of wisdom. Proverbs chapter two. In Proverbs chapter two, the Bible says—let me take my reading again from verse one very quickly. The Bible says: "My son, if you receive my words, and treasure my commands within you, so that you incline your ears to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding; yes, if you cry out for discernment, and lift up your voice for wisdom, if you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures; then you will understand the fear of the Lord..." (Proverbs 2:1-5) Do you see something? The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. Do you see what the Bible said you will understand? For wisdom, by searching for wisdom, what you will understand is the fear of God. Anybody that is really looking for wisdom, that is searching for it, and he's searching, "I want to be wise, I want to be wise," and he's praying to God and he's seeking God, and he's seeking God earnestly, "Oh God, make me to be a wise man." What will the man understand? He says then you will understand the fear of the Lord. I'm showing you how to get wisdom. For you to get wisdom, you must understand the fear of the Lord. Once a man cannot understand that, he can never get wisdom. Anything that the man is doing outside the fear of the Lord is a foolish person. What for you to enter into wisdom or to become wise, the Bible says you then you will understand the fear of the Lord. And then do you see the next thing? "...and you will find the knowledge of God." (Proverbs 2:5). Are you seeing something? When a man is looking for wisdom, what will he find? The Bible says two things. One, he will understand the fear of the Lord. Number two, what will he find? He will find the knowledge of God. Making you to see that wisdom is something traceable to who? To God. Look at the verse six. The verse six now make it very clear. The verse six says: "For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding." (Proverbs 2:6) For the Lord gives wisdom. Hallelujah! For the Lord gives wisdom. From His mouth come knowledge and understanding. So who gives wisdom? That is why in Job, you find that the Bible says it is not in the land of the living. It is hidden from the sight of men. You cannot measure it with gold and silver. It is higher than all of that. And what is Bible telling us here? The Bible is making us to see, the Bible says that for God gives wisdom. For from His mouth come knowledge and understanding. It comes from His mouth. The mouth of the Lord. From His mouth come knowledge and understanding. It comes from His mouth. So if we are now to answer the question that we raised in Job, that question we raised in Job, how will we answer it? So from where does wisdom come? It comes from the Lord. Where is the residence of wisdom? It is from the mouth of the Lord. From His mouth come knowledge and understanding. It comes from His mouth. So how will I now work in wisdom? Working in wisdom. Working in wisdom. Let us go to a very popular scripture. A scripture you are very, I believe you must be very, very familiar with. Matthew chapter seven. Let's go to that scripture. It was the Lord illustrating something. And I want you to get that illustration very, very correctly. Very, very correctly. Matthew chapter seven. I will read from verse 21. "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.'" (Matthew 7:21-23) So consequent on that declaration, the Lord now gave a parable that we'll be considering today on this matter of working as wise. And I pray that you will work as wise as a young man. You will work as wise as a young woman. I pray that in your choices in life, as you decide so many things in building up your life, I pray you will build wisely. I pray you will not build foolishly. That's what we want to consider now. Let's look at the word of Jesus on this matter of wisdom. We want to consider the word of our Lord Jesus because our Lord Jesus, in Him dwelleth bodily the fullness of the Godhead. The Bible says Christ is the wisdom of God and is also the power of God. So the wisdom of God is Christ. The wisdom of God is Jesus. Let's look at what the wisdom of God is telling us. From verse 24 to verse 27: "Therefore, whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock." (Matthew 7:24) Whoever hears these sayings of mine. We are considering Matthew chapter seven. We are looking at verse 24 now. We want to look at what Jesus said about the wisdom because we said Jesus Himself is the wisdom of God and the power of God. In Him dwelleth all the fullness of God. Now look at what the Bible says here. I'm reading from verse 24 now. "Therefore, whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of mine and does not do them will be likened to a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was the loss." (Matthew 7:24-27) May this not be your portion. May your life not experience great loss or great fall at last in the name of Jesus. But we want to consider these sayings of Jesus. We want to look at it a little closely, taking from the foundation that we have laid in Job chapter 28 and Proverbs chapter two. Jesus said, "Therefore, whoever hears this saying of mine..." This "therefore" is coming from doing His will. Doing what He says. Not all who call me "Lord, Lord" will enter my kingdom, but those who do what I say. So a man may be calling Jesus, "Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord." That is not what is important to Jesus. You can describe somebody brother, sister, reverend, pastor, bishop, president, Bible study secretary. You can use all kinds of name to describe people. You can call them "His Grace," you can call them "Most Holy," you can call them "His Eminence." All kinds of titles today in the house of God. That is not what is important to Jesus. That the person is even calling Jesus, "Lord, Lord! Oh, You are my Lord!" and the person is even doing miracle in the name of Jesus, that is still not very important to Jesus. It is not as if that is not important at all, but that is not the main thing about the kingdom. Jesus is not first looking for those that will work for Him. He's first looking for those that will obey Him. So when a man is working for Jesus and he's doing all kinds of ishetakutaku and he's doing all kinds of activities, running, doing all that for Jesus, it's a good thing. There's nothing really bad about that ordinarily. Please understand me very well. But as far as the kingdom is concerned, that is not the primary thing to consider. It's a secondary issue. What I am saying that even for me now that is preaching and teaching you this matter, that I am preaching and teaching and exposing scripture, it's a secondary issue. It's not the primary thing. It's not. The primary thing for Jesus is that: do you do what I say? The primary thing before all those activities is that: look, I have said don't do this, do this, don't do that. So if you have not obeyed me, all this "Lord, Lord" and all this service that you are doing, did you hear how I described them in verse 23? It says the scripture says, "I will say to them, 'I don't know you, you workers of iniquity.'" So a man can be doing the work of God and as far as Jesus is concerned, he's a man that is working iniquity. A man can be preaching like I am preaching and teaching now. A man can be prophesying, working miracles, doing all kinds of healing the deaf, the sick, raising the dead, and yet as far as heaven is concerned, he's a worker of iniquity. What makes him to be that? It's nothing more than Jesus said something and the person did not obey. And what did He say? He said, "Look, anyone, it is doing my will. Let me first see you doing my will, doing what I say." In your life, in your everyday life, in your character. And that is why it is so important that you grow in faith, you grow in love, and you grow in purity. For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared unto men, teaching us that denying worldly lusts and ungodly, there must first be this aspect of living correctly. Denying worldly lusts, denying ungodliness, we should live soberly, soberly. There is a way of life. There is a kingdom life that precedes kingdom work. These are very crucial thing and I want you to get understanding. Say so, having said that it is important to hear what I say, He now came to the matter of wisdom. He now came to an illustration to properly press home what He was saying. Or drive home what He was saying. "Therefore, whosoever hear these sayings of mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on rock, on the rock." So when it comes to you first doing the will of God, you living a life of obedience to God, that is walking in the fear of God. To fear God is to depart from evil. It's to depart from ungodliness. The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. To depart from evil, that is understanding. When you depart, when you obey, when you take these sayings of His, when you depart from those things, He said, "Be you separated from them and I will be a father unto you." Move out from among them. Come out of them. That is the first thing. He said "therefore," so the "therefore" is coming from verse 21, 22, and 23. The "therefore" there is about he's saying is that you can put this as therefore, whosoever hears the matter of my will. Anyone that hears the matter of my will. Not my work. My will! There is first a will. There is a life of obedience. There is a life that reflects the fear of God. There is a life that departs from evil, that is understanding. There is a life that trembles at the word of God, that take instruction about the matter of life and godliness. There is a life. For blessed are the pure in heart, for what? They shall see God. Say whosoever therefore hear these sayings of mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock. What are the implications or the benefits of this? Verse 25: "the rain descended, the floods came, the winds blew and beat on that house, and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock." Are you seeing that? Are you seeing that? Are you getting this at all? The implication or the consequences are very clear. He says the rain descended, the floods came, the winds blew, they beat on that house. Tribulation, persecution, blessing. When you talk about rain, you are talking about blessing. When you talk about wind, you are talking about adversity. When you talk about flood, you are talking about trouble. Trouble, trouble, trouble. Challenges. Persecution, challenges, trouble, blessing. Some people today, once the blessing of God come upon their life, it can make them to begin to misbehave and forget God. They become, they become, I don't know, you know the way male turkey normally raised their wings and then they become so difficult to talk to or even approach. Superiority complex, arrogance, pride takes over them. So but what the matter is saying is that this wise man who built on His word, he says the rain descended, the floods came, the wind blew, it beat on that house, it did not fall for it was founded on the rock. I want you to note something there. That the rain descended, the floods came, the wind blew, it beat on that house. The house did not fall. He did not say the house did not fall because the house is strong, because the house has some ability in itself. I want you to look at that very well. It says the house did not fall because it was founded on the rock. It means anytime you are building your life, you are building your life on that which is the sayings, which is the will of God, which is the sayings of Jesus. Anytime you are doing that, you are building in a way that your life will last time and eternity. You are building in a way that your life will last time and eternity. That is how you are building. You are building in that way. A way that your life will last both time and eternity when you are building on His sayings. And then when you are doing that, Jesus Himself said you are a wise man. I want you to note that it was Jesus that is talking about what it means here to work in wisdom. He's the one talking about who is a wise man and who is a foolish man. So how do you know a wise man? As far as Jesus is concerned. When Jesus want to categorize people and He want to divide them into subsections, there will be just two classes of people: the wise and what? What is the other one? The foolish. So here you find that it was Jesus Himself classifying men. Jesus said if you build on His sayings, don't forget what we checked in Proverbs: out of His mouth comes understanding. It is from His mouth. The mouth of God. He says what He says. Please don't forget that background where we are coming from. He said, "So if you are doing what I say, if what is coming from my mouth is what you are doing, you are a wise man." Anybody who is doing that is a wise man. The man may not be rich, may not have so much money. All the level of education may just be School Cert. In fact, highest level of education can even be attempted primary. But as far as heaven is concerned, that man is what? Is a wise man. So if you want to know a man that is wise, a woman that is wise, it is not you don't begin to look at their material condition. You don't begin to look at their level of education. You don't begin to look at their level of material attainment and achievement in this life. What are you to cross-check? You cross-check whether or not that which comes from the mouth of Jesus is what they are doing. Once you cross-check there, Jesus is not classifying that person as what? As a wise man. So how will we classify such a person? Let's move. Jesus Himself gave the classification. I'm not the one. "But everyone..." You know, anytime we use "but," we are contrasting ideas. In contrast to the initial thing. And my prayer is that your life will not be a contrast to the reality of the kingdom. May your life not be a contrast. It says, "But everyone..." Do you get something at all? Do you get something in what I've just read? I don't think you notice what I've just read. You didn't notice it. What did we read in verse 24? "Therefore, whosoever," referring to how many people? An individual. Anybody. Any individual, whether rich or poor, schooled, educated or uneducated, black or white. Anybody. Whosoever. But when it came to verse 26, he didn't say "whosoever" again. What did he say? "But everyone." That is, if you don't fall into the first, where are you? You are in the second. But everyone, without exception. That is, if you don't fall into the first category, where are you? You are in the second. But everyone, without exception. No body is taken out of that category again. Nobody. Anyone at all. Everyone who hears these sayings of mine and does not do them, what do we call the man? Look at the word of Jesus. Will be like a foolish man. So what I'm trying to make you understand, anyhow you describe a man, whatever the level of attainment in life, material, academic, whatever, whatever that man could ever attain in life, as long as that man is not doing the sayings of Jesus, how do we describe him? Foolish. He's a foolish man. A foolish man. I pray you will not be foolish. Young man, I'm telling you how to build your life in a way that your life will last. I'm showing you how to build your life as a young woman. Singles, open your ears and listen! So that you don't run into serious crisis later in life. So that there is no problem, you don't find yourself in a situation of regret, of weeping. When you are the way you are building your life now, you say you are in fellowship. Oh, Brother Labake, Sister Funke, Sister Iyabo, Brother Godwin, Sister that, and all of that. And all of you, you are doing fellowship work today and you are doing things around. Oh, that is wonderful. But please check whether you are not a foolish person as all those things are going on. Are you very active in fellowship and yet in your private quiet life there is no purity? And you think you are a wise person. Are you not a foolish girl? How can you be building foolishly now and later want to build a home? When the Bible says a wise woman will be able to build her house. Can you ever be a woman that can build a house when you are building foolishly now? As a brother, maybe you're even the leader of the fellowship. Everyone says, "Our President, our papa," which is a very, very good thing. There's nothing bad about all of these things. Please understand me. But I'm talking about your private personal life. What is the level of your obedience to His will? What is the level of your obedience to His word? What is the level of your obedience to His sayings? I'm talking about obedience, not working for Jesus. Not only the use of your gift. I'm talking about the obedience in terms of when the Bible says to fear the Lord is wisdom, to depart from evil is understanding. When I look at the level of your departure from evil, when the Bible says abstain from all from all appearances of evil, you are not even abstain from appearances, you are in evil. You will find brothers sometimes in fellowship that are proposing to two sisters at the same time, looking for which one—ye-je, yo-je—playing games. And they think that they are building wisely. Later they now want to build and settle down. Can those ones ever settle down and settle down well when they already foolish men? Don't you think there is a need for you to reconsider and check whether you are working as wise or as fools? Check your life today. Are you working as wise or as fools? How are you working? We are looking at the word of Jesus. "But everyone who hears these sayings of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man." May you not be like a foolish man. May you not be like a foolish woman. May you be a wise man. May you be a wise woman. In the name of Jesus! May Jesus not look at your life and say look at this foolish brother. Because He is the savior of our soul. The Bible says He is the bishop of our soul. We don't have two saviors. We have only one and that one person is Jesus. I'm not the one that died for your sin even though I'm a preacher of the word of God. Only one person died for the sin of humanity and that is Jesus Christ. The Bible described Him in 1 Peter chapter two, the last verse. He said we have come to the bishop of our soul, the guardian of our soul. He that does not only kill the body, but can also condemn the soul in hell. He's the one that is speaking. And He's saying that if you don't do my saying, you are a foolish person. If Jesus sees your life and describes you as foolish, then what can we take out of your life? Are you not korofo? Are you not empty? Are you not lasalatu? Are you not oloshi? Are you not sugomu? Can we describe your life as anything? Are you not vanity? Are you not a ventin? You are completely nothing if Jesus could look at you and say oh look, this one is foolish. This is a foolish sister. This is a foolish brother. If you were doing this categorization, how would the Lord categorize you? Look into your life. Working as wise. Sister, brother, it's a personal decision. This is not a group issue. That is why at the level of working as wise, Jesus said "anyone." It is an individual, it is a personal individual decision. Anyone who chooses to do that is a wise person. But if you are not in that, then you are in everyone who did not. I pray today that you will work as wise. Work as a wise bachelor, work as a wise spinster, work as a wise brother, work as a wise sister. When you say brothers that are smart, sisters that are smart, this is what it means to be smart. Be smart! Don't just be there, being born again. Be smarter than just being born again. Don't just be there, doing the work of Jesus. Be smarter than that. What is the smartness in your life? You are doing His will. In your personal private life, you are obeying Him. Then you are a smart sister. Then you are a smart brother. Be smart! It is not because you are wearing a how do I describe it? A slim-fitted trouser, a suit that is looking wow, and the hair shape is looking super! And then you are telling yourself this is a super brother to marry. Do you not know that this is a foolish brother that is not doing the will of God? In his personal private life, he has abandoned Jesus even though he's very active in the fellowship. And then you marry korofo. You say you have married brother. And then when you enter into the house and he will say, "Ah, brother, why are you not loving our sister? Bible said love your wife as Christ loves the church." And says, "Me, this sister, I will show her!" You say, "Ah, but he's our Bible study secretary." Look, the matter goes beyond that. Ever before he married you, he has been a foolish brother. It is not when he entered into marriage that the foolishness started. The same thing with our sister. When a sister cannot submit to Jesus and listen to Jesus and then you say you have married a wonderful sister. And then you enter into the marriage. You say, "Sister, you suppose love your husband, submit to your husband." Sister says, "Emi sele? Both of us we are graduates. He's earning his money and I'm earning my own money. Nobody can boss me anyhow. Nobody! I know what I'm doing." And then you begin to say, "Which type of sister is this?" No, it is because at the beginning, you were close, your eyes were blinded by the shape of her skirt and the blouse that were matching each other. You didn't know that it was the container, you forgot the content. If a sister cannot submit to Jesus, how can she submit to a brother? She has not listened to Jesus, will she listen to you? I'm trying to make you understand sources of crisis today in marriages. People have not been working as wise. They cannot get into marriage and suddenly become wise. They have been foolish all their life. And in their marriage, we'll be describing foolish husband and foolish wife. I plead with you. I plead with you. As we conclude this morning and we'll be praying, look at the final thing Jesus said. He said the rain descended, the floods came, the wind blew, and beat against that house, and it fell. And great was the loss. May this not be your portion nor my portion in the name of Jesus. Which means the person will succeed and succeed to eventually fail. May that not be your portion. May you not succeed and succeed to eventually fail. May you not build and build and build and build, then now great the fall. To succeed and succeed to eventually fail is a bad thing. It's not a blessing. It's not a good thing. May it not be your portion nor my portion in the name of Jesus. But that is the implication of being foolish. You will eventually fail. You are not building to last. Build in a way that you will last. As a young man, young woman, begin to think of how to build in a way that you will last. Don't build in a way that over time you will be weeping when others are smiling and rejoicing in their blessing. You will now be weeping in your marriage, weeping in your future, weeping in your children, weeping—may that not be your portion in the name of Jesus. Build today in a way that your life will last. And what is that? He said the house did not fall because it was founded on the rock. What is the rock there? The will, the word of Jesus. It was founded on it. Any life that is built on that which comes from the mouth of Jesus is a life that cannot fail. So build today to last. Work as wise among young men. Work as wise among young people. Be a smart young guy. Be a smart young woman. Be smart! I pray you will be a smart person. You can see that it transcends being beautiful. I'm not saying you should go and dress anyhow and be looking—that's not what I'm saying, please understand me. There's nothing wrong in looking good. But I'm only saying that it transcends looking good. You may be looking good, but you may not be a smart girl, you may be a foolish girl, even though you are looking good. But you are not smart. O gbon, o dagba, o danu. You are growing up, you are growing old, you are not growing up. Please be smart. Be a smart young man. Be a smart young woman. How do you do that? Work as wise. Let us have a word of prayer. Our Father, we thank You for this morning. Our God, we give You praise. We appreciate You for all who You are and all that You are. We thank You for Your blessings. We thank You for Your mercies. We thank You for Your word. And Lord, my prayer this morning is that You would cause Your people to hear Your own voice beyond my own voice in the name of Jesus. Lord, may we work as wise, not as fools, in the name of Jesus. Lord, Lord, Lord, may we not be those who will succeed and succeed—good education, good job, good this, good that—but when it come to the matter of life, we fail. May we not succeed and succeed to eventually fail in the name of Jesus. May it be that we are building now so wisely that when the wind will come, when the rain will come, when the flood will come, when these things will come, when they will beat against us, they will realize that oh, we are actually smart young men and women. We have put the correct foundation in place. In the name of Jesus! Thank You, Eternal Father. Blessed be Your holy name. In Jesus' name we pray. [Speaker 2] Praise the Lord. This message is coming to you from Family Tent Ministry. It's a Christian ministry involved in enriching the lives of singles and married through preaching and teaching of God's word, discipleship, family life enrichment, social and community development, and mission heat. Our activities are scheduled. We have discipleship class every Monday, five to six-thirty. Adolescent and Singles Club every first Saturday of the month. Marriage Forum, second Saturday of the month, 10:00 AM. We also have regular school outreach and everyday counseling. You can locate us at Life Camp by the first bridge, Ilere community, opposite Vero Joy filling station, Akure, Ijaere Road, Ondo State, Nigeria. You can also reach us through our social media line, TheFamilyTentMinistry01@gmail.com, and our website is www.familytentministry.org. God bless you.