Well, that was a weird transition, but really thankful for the opportunity to talk to you guys about God's Word, asking for directions. This is a series that comes from a book called "The Principle of the Path," but the principles come from an even more well-known book called "The Bible," and so that's where we're really getting this from. But before we dive into this, I do want to say next Sunday we're having a special offering and again, I know Nick said this in the first service, but if you are new here, if you aren't sure about our mission or aren't all on board with what God has called us to do, then this isn't for you, but those of you who know who we are and you're committed to what God is doing in this church and in your life, we want to encourage you to give. And next Sunday we have a goal of raising $350,000 for these four different areas. Elk Lake launched. How many of you have been there to Demik Baptist and help with the construction there and demolition? Wow, yeah, lots of lath and plaster and no insulation, except for the children crawling with insulation under the pastor's kids, so they're okay. It's not child labor if it's the pastor's kids, but not mine, but pastor breaths. Anyway, Elk Lake launched, renovating that building, buying sound equipment, other stuff like that, $150,000 to start that before Easter next year. Tunkanic renovations is well going on. We have an opportunity, so we bought land in a floodplain. We've done that before, but the government changed the rules about what you can do. And so we've been unable to do renovations in the area that we've bought, but since then the Presbyterian Church in town in Tunkanic has come for sale. And so we are in negotiations about purchasing that building, and that would mean we'd sell the building we have, and then renovate and build on the Presbyterian Church. So be praying about that, that that would, if that is God's will, that that would come through, there are pluses and negatives to both pieces of property, but the really big negative is the government is just not giving us an answer. It's not like they've said, no, you can't do these renovations you want to do here. I mean, they're presently illegal, but we haven't met to give you a final no, and they just aren't, it's just delays. So be praying about that. And if we raise more than $350,000, it will go here, because the renovations really are like 600,000 more than this, what we estimate it would cost. And so that's, and then Hancock renovations, we got Hancock watching online right now and just redoing that other theater for their kids space, and that's exciting. And then multiplying ministry leaders of hiring interns next year or two interns, potentially. So $350,000, is that a lot of money? Yeah, so yeah, mixed, you know, some people are like, yeah, that's not that much. They'll be like, oh my goodness, that's all. So I forget the exact number, but already, given toward this, this year, some people give to vision all year round, and just in anticipation of what God wants to do. So already, we have almost $200,000 given. And so that is, yeah, that is amazing. And so, so just be praying, that's why I mentioned, if we, if there's more, tongue mechanic, so that their first service starts at 8 a.m., and then they got a 930, and then they got an 11, because they don't fit in the space they're in. They have to have three services, along those lines. If you like sleeping in, come to our second service, because this one gets pretty full sometimes, but our second service, there's lots of room. So we have like, last Sunday, we had 300 in the auditorium here, in the first service and like 160 in the second. So you can park closer, you know, you can sleep in, come to the second service, unless you have a prevailing reason, like someone you invited likes this time better or something like that. Okay, so moving on. So we're in this series, direction, not intention determines your destination. Jesus talks about this, he says, everyone who doesn't just listen to my words, doesn't just understand what, what my commandments are, but actually does them. It doesn't matter what you intend to do, it doesn't matter what you understand, it doesn't matter what you think should happen. Your destiny depends on what you actually do, the direction you actually take in life. And so Jesus talked about that in Matthew chapter 7. And then last week, Josh shared this, foresight is better than hindsight, right? It is easier to avoid a problem than to clean up after a problem happens. And so the key though is how do you predict the future? How do you see something coming before it happens? And what that is called is wisdom. Wisdom can predict the future and we can do this in as little ways with our kids sometimes. I was on a bus with junior hires and they were dropping round throat sized pretzel blobs into their, into their, like this, you know, between the seats. And I just thought the bus jostles a little bit because it's driving, right? And that goes straight down into the throat, I'm going to be doing the heimlich on one of my kids. And so I'm like, no, we're not doing that, just sit up. And I can't say I predicted the future because it didn't happen. But you know, that's what wisdom does. And so when you're trying to get somewhere you've never been, you need directions, right? If you want to have peace and financially, like if that's where you want to go, then you need someone maybe to give you advice of how to get there. If you want to have a wonderful, healthy, happy marriage, if that's your destination then you need advice maybe of how to get there, especially if you've never been there yourself, we need directions. And so this is what we're going to talk about today, direction, determines destination. What the people you listen to will determine your direction. If you surround yourself with people who will give you terrible advice and terrible direction eventually, because you might even compromise and say, well, their advice is bad, but maybe I'll just compromise and go half the wrong way, you know? And so who you surround yourself with is very important. So we're going to look at a story. First Kings chapter 12 about Rehoboam that happened almost 3,000 years ago. So this is almost a thousand years before Jesus was even born and about over a thousand years after the pyramids of Giza were built, but ancient times. So Rehoboam went to Shechem where all Israel had gathered to make him king. Rehoboam is King David's grandson, Solomon's son. So Solomon died, they're going to have an inauguration, and that's the setup. And when Jeroboam, son of Nate Bhatt, heard of this, he returned from Egypt for he had fled Egypt to escape from King Solomon, because Jeroboam had been the leader of the insurrection against Solomon in Israel. And he had been anointed by a prophet. The prophet said, God is going to give you 10 tribes because Israel is becoming wicked, and this will be judgment on Solomon and his son because they're doing evil things. And so Jeroboam is called in, so where he had fled in Egypt, and the leaders of Israel summoned him, and Jeroboam and the whole assembly of Israel went to speak with Rehoboam. Your father was a hard master, they said, lighten the harsh labor demands and heavy taxes your father imposed on us, then we will be your loyal subject. So when I was in Sunday school, I learned the Sunday school version of Solomon. He was incredibly wise, he asked God for wisdom and not for riches, and God blessed him with wisdom. He wrote like three books of the Bible, two full books, and then most of Proverbs. He was a great guy at the end of story. That's not the biblical version. Biblical version is more nuanced. He started out good, and then he married so many women, he became bad, okay? I guarantee you, you marry as many women as Solomon. You're a bad dude, all right? That's not good. And so he enslaved tens of thousands, and this is Israel, where slaves in Egypt, God brought them out of slavery, he passed laws like every seven years, everybody goes free. And Solomon enslaved the people, and they're like, man, he was rough, he was super wise so he could get away with it, because he could see around corners and predict and manipulate and all of that, but he used his wisdom that God gave him to do bad things and eventually began worshiping other gods and things like that. And so they're like, you need, you need to lighten up. Don't be like Solomon, Rehoboam replied, give me three days to think this over, then come back for my answer so the people went away. This is actually pretty smart, right? If you're faced with a decision in your life, you need to take some time to think about it, and you need to do what he did next, which is ask for advice. You're thinking about popping the question to a girl, right? Or today, maybe you're popping the question to the guy, will you marry me? Before you do that, get some perspective, get some advice from people, any big decision, then King Rehoboam discussed the matter with the older men who had counseled his father, Solomon, what is your advice, he asked, how should I answer these people? These are men who had been where he had been and had gotten to where he wants to go. These were men who at one point weren't ruling, and then they saw how Solomon, which it wasn't a smooth sailing for Solomon to take the throne. They saw how that came about, and then they saw how Solomon could rule. These older counselors replied, if you're willing to be a servant to these people today and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your loyal subjects. They're not even saying you need to obey God's word and do everything that God says. They're just saying, if you are nice to them now, it doesn't even matter if it's a lie, but you tell them what they want to hear now and it will be smooth sailing for you. Rehoboam rejected the advice of the older men and instead asked the opinion of the young men who had grown up with them and were now as advisors. This happens all the time, confirmation bias. Sometimes when people ask for advice, what they're doing is they're going to keep asking for advice until they get somebody who tells them what they want to hear. I remember talking to a guy who actually is no longer living, but it was right outside here and he came to me and he said, "I have this choice in life. I either do this or I do that." I didn't know the situation, much what was going on, and I'm like, "Well, you've got to tell me more. I can't give you advice if I don't really know when I'm giving you advice." He's telling me more, and then it hit me. I'm like, "You have been meeting with Pastor Brett for months. What does he say?" He said, "Well, Brett doesn't really have an opinion." I thought, "Oh, really?" He hasn't given you any advice about this whatsoever. No, no. He's kind of mystified about the whole thing. I said, "Okay, well, if I were to go to Brett and ask him, well, he might say that this was a better path," and I said, "Well, then why aren't you doing it?" As he explained more, I thought, "Yeah, that is a better path. Think of your family. Don't just think of yourself. You know what?" He went and did whatever he wanted to do, didn't listen to me, didn't listen to Pastor Brett, didn't listen to who knows how many other people, that because he was doing what Raya Bohm was doing, when you seek wisdom, you've got to really check your motives and say, "Am I really seeking wisdom, or am I just want to do what I want to do and I get to find somebody that kind of confirmation biases me into that direction?" This is a message. Josh said this last Sunday. This is a message not just for Christians. This works for anybody and everybody. Even if you don't believe in God, these principles in God's Word are keys to having a successful and a better life and making better choices. And so he asked them, "What's your advice? How should I answer these people who want to lighten the burdens imposed by my father?" And the young men replied, "This is what you should tell those complainers who want to light a burden. My little finger is thicker than my father's waist." You know where this is going. "Yes, my father laid heavy burdens on you, but I'm going to make them even heavier. My father beat you with whips. I will beat you with scorpions." Three days later, Jeroboam and all the people returned to hear Raya Bohm's this isn't just as the king had ordered. Would any of you have answered the way his younger? And when he says the younger guys, Raya Bohm's 41 years old. These aren't naive teenagers, okay? Like these are men in their early 40s and their late 30s giving advice. And we all know that's terrible advice. In fact, this is one of the advantages of old books. You read things that are written recently and they will have a cultural flavor to them that we won't notice when they're lying and wrong, right? But you read old books and when old books are wrong, it's clear they're wrong. It's like where did they get that from? Who would give that kind of advice? That's the stupidest thing I ever heard. But then when they're right, they're right in ways that kind of are like jarring like, "Oh, wait a minute. That's a different perspective." And you know, there's a really old book that I really like. Can you guess what my favorite old book is? Yeah, the Bible. Always good to. Raya Bohm spoke harshly to the people for he rejected the advice of the older counselors and followed the counselor of his younger advisors and he told the people, "My father laid heavy burdens on you, but I'm going to make them even heavier. My father beat you with whiffs, but I'll beat you with scorpions." So the king paid no attention to the counsel of his younger advisors and he told, "Yeah." So the king paid no attention to the people. And this turn of events was the will of the Lord. We have an election coming up sometime soon. I think it's November 5th or 6, something like that. 29 days. 29 days. Yeah, but who's right? Keeping track. That this decision that Raya Bohm make, when leaders make bad decisions, it has real world huge consequences. Raya Bohm's decision here meant, it's interesting, Jair Bohm was being protected by Egypt. Why? Because Egypt wanted to send a guy in to disrupt things because of the wealth of Israel. Shortly after this decision is made, Egypt invades, they take huge amounts of treasure, they kill people, and then even after Egypt goes back, there's a low-level civil war that erupts less than 20 years after this. We're over 500,000 Jews, they kill each other. Over 500,000 Jews are killed in that war between, I mean, there are terrible consequences. Why would this be God's will? And the truth is, like, I don't have a clear answer to that, but I do know Israel's history. The next 20 years are bad, and then you have 66 years where the southern kingdom is following the Lord, and there's good things that happen. God plays the long game, and we need to have that in our heads about the election and about this country. I believe we have a bad choice for president and a terrible choice for president. That's why you can disagree with me, but I think those are our options, like bad and absolutely horrendous, but whoever wins, if the day after, you lose all hope because everyone you voted for did not get elected, your hope is in the wrong thing. Because this turn of events, whatever happens, will be of the Lord, because he knows what we need. He knows whether we need judgment. He knows whether we need a stay of execution, and he knows what we need, and we can trust him even when things go off the rails. If fulfilled, the Lord's message to Jeroboam, Son, and Abad through the prophet, Ahajah, from Shiloh, and when all is realized, the king had refused to listen to them. They responded down with the dynasty of David. We have no interest in the son of Jesse. Back to your homes, O Israel, look out for your own house, O David. Basically you are on your own, king. So the people of Israel return home of Rehoboam continue to rule over the Israelites who lived in the towns of Judah. So he got two tribes, Judah and Benjamin. Benjamin was very small, almost went without saying, which is what they did here. And then Jeroboam got the 10 in the north. King Rehoboam sent Adonairam, who was in charge of forced labor. I know what I'll do. I'll send my slave master in to make these people listen to me to restore order, but the people of Israel stoned him to death. When this news reached the king of Rehoboam, he quickly jumped into his chariot and fled to Jerusalem because they came after him next. You're going to enslave us? I don't think you understood what no meant. And so then, to this day, the northern tribes of Israel, and to this day means when first kings was compiled together as scripture, which was possibly a century or more later. And to this day, the northern tribes of Israel have refused to be ruled by a descendant of David. And when the people of Israel learned of Jeroboam's return from Egypt, they called an assembly and made him king over all Israel. So only the tribe of Judah remained loyal to the family of David. And so here's a summary of that story. He knew he needed counsel. This was wise. He consulted people who'd been where he wanted to go, and he consulted people who'd not been where he wanted to go. And unfortunately, he rejected those who'd been there and went with those, what he wanted to hear, and he suffered the consequences and so did everyone else. There have been times in my life where I have been faced with a choice to do what's right or to do what's wrong. And I have felt, and I have wanted what is wrong so bad that I have thought to myself, I will do what's wrong, and I will take the consequences. But I haven't done it because I realize I'm not the only one that takes the consequences. This is why God hates sin so much because when a man sins, he's not the only one who suffers. His family suffers, his friends suffer, his community might suffer. Like God hates sin because it's not fair. He wins an alcoholic and gets in an accident, and who usually dies? Not the alcoholic, right? It's somebody else who pays, and then their whole family that's grieving, and so this is one of the reasons why I think God hates sin so much because it's so not fair. And this is why we need to make the right decisions in our lives. It's so important because a good decision will bless lots of other people besides you. And a bad decision will hurt and harm innocent people that had nothing to do with it. And that's what happened with Rehoboam. As bad as things were for him, he lived to be in his sixties and died and had the wealth of being a king and was insulated from the people suffered even after he died. And so who will you listen to? So let's run through a couple scenarios. First of all, you've got to think about where do you want to go? Some people are just aimless in life. You're never going to get to where you want to go because you don't know where you want to go. And life is just carrying you along. Who do you want to become? What do you want people to say at your funeral about man? This is what Bob was a man who loved God and he loved other people and he made a difference in this world. And where do you want to go? And then ask somebody who's there? Say, how did you get there? So if you at the start, you're like, I have bad unhealthy habits. And where I want to go is to have a discipline healthy lifestyle. Then talk to discipline healthy lifestyle people. There's a man here who's teaching our discovery class at 1045 and Will Squire. One of the most disciplined men I know. Some of you know him, cross country coach at Elk Lake, like tough as nails discipline. I don't think I would have wanted to run for him because then he would rule me. He'd be like, yes, yes, coach Will. But he told me some of his story and he said when he was in his early 20s, he said, I joined the military. I joined the Navy. He became a submariner. Why? Because he said, I realized I needed to do something that wouldn't let me quit because I was a quitter. I'm like, Will was a quitter? Are you kidding me? Like I can't even imagine him quitting anything, you know? But that's where he was. And he said, who has discipline? Where can I learn this from? And he became a hippie, no, no, he went the other direction, right? And he said, I want to discipline, that's who I want to talk to. If you're unhappy and lonely and your goals be happily married for decades, who do you talk to for advice? People happily, when I do premarital counseling, sometimes I do this, I do different things. But sometimes one of my assignments is I give them a sheet of paper with a bunch of questions and I say I want you to find someone who's been happily married for 25 years or more and ask them these questions about marriage. And occasionally I have had them come back and say, we didn't do the assignment because we don't know anyone. None of our parents or grandparents fit that bill. None of our friends, like we don't know anyone. And then I can say, hey, I will give you a list of people in the church that you can go to and ask because if that's what you want, let's listen to that, right? Lazy or out of control kids. Your goal is, man, I want these kids to have a job and to be compassionate adults. I want them to have a work ethic or to, well then find someone who, and again, parenting is not a hundred percent thing. God was the perfect parent and Adam and Eve didn't turn out so well. Jesus was the perfect discipler and mentor and he had Judas, right? So it's not a hundred percent thing. But if you know someone where, man, I like their kids. They got good kids. Go to that person and say, talk to me. What did you do when they were because it's totally different when they're two and three than when they're 13 and 14, right? What did you do at this phase? Maybe I figured out the twos, man. I nailed the three-year-old thing, you know, parenting, but now they're teenagers and I have no clue like what is going on. So, again, who, where you want to go? If you're in debt, you're stressed out about money, you have no financial plan. Go to people who've been bankrupt multiple times and are couch-surfing at no. Go to someone, again, like this is just obvious. It is wise to take directions from people who've already been where you want to be. That is the better way to go, but there is a best way. And that is taking direction from God's wisdom because the better people who've been there, they're not a hundred percent right, a hundred percent of the time, but God literally has been everywhere, including wherever you want to be and go. And he literally knows the best way there. And listening to his word, not just listening to it, but putting it into practice, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. There's so much wisdom in here. Like you will avoid so much pain and hardship by just listening God's word. There was a study done, it was a while ago, 15 years ago, let me see who did the study, if you want to fact check me. Center for Bible Engagement, they did it about Bible reading. They controlled for other factors, including age, gender, church attendance, and prayer. And they found that reading the Bible one to three days a week changed absolutely nothing statistically speaking about someone's life and how they lived and the choices they made. Reading the Bible one to three days a week, same as reading it, not at all. However, they found that reading the Bible four days a week or more, and there's an article about this called The Power of Four. Four days a week or more was transformational, let me back up to a verse. This was my favorite verse in junior high, I went to a Christian high school and I had a Bible teacher and he asked, "What's your favorite verse?" And I said, Psalm 119.99, I was like, "Oh, what does that say?" I have more insight than all my teachers, I'm always thinking of your loss. And I think it's Don Webber, I forget what his first name was, Mr. Webber, his response, he just killed it. He was just like, "I hope you do, actually." I'm like, "Oh, that was supposed to be snarky, but anyway, but then the next verse is, I'm even wiser than my elders for I've kept your commandments better than even listening to wise older people who've been there or to teachers and professors and who've got all this. He says, "Better than that is just listen to God and his word." And so here's the stats from that thing, reading the Bible four times a week. We're 57% less likely to get drunk, 61% less likely to look at pornography, 68% likely to have sex outside of marriage, and 74% less likely to gamble. Now it's not 100%, like it's not perfect, right? People still can be hypocrites and read God's word, but there is something about being confronted with and being disciplined, either sin will keep you from God's word because you're sitting and you're like, "I don't want to read that, I don't want to be reminded," or God's word will keep you from sin. And so I just want to encourage you to get into God's word. If you need a Bible reading plan, we have some at the desk out there, and if you're in Hancock, they have them at the desk as well. If you're online, you can look up you version as a Bible app, and that will give you a whole bunch of different Bible reading plans. And here's, how do you read four times a week? You know how you read four times a week? You plan on reading every day. And then Saturday morning, something will happen and you'll miss and you'll still get six in. And so this, four times a week, and then positive things, 228% more likely to tell people about how they can make Jesus their forgiver and leader, 230% more likely to help someone who's already a follower of Jesus Christ, become a better follower of Jesus Christ. This makes sense, you know, 4% or 7% more likely to memorize God's word. Well if you're reading it, I would think that would be true. Yeah. And so just the transformational power of God's word is so important. So who you listen to determines your direction, figure out where you want to go, and then look in God's word, how do I get there? And then for the details that aren't in God's word, seek advice. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I just thank you for your word. I just thank you for the blood of Jesus Christ, for his death for us so that we can have a relationship with you. God, I just pray that if there's anyone here that hasn't made Jesus the way, the truth and the life, that isn't trusting in the Lord with all their heart, that they would do that today, that we would make a commitment to ask for your forgiveness, but then also to follow your directions, even when, and especially when, they're not what we want. And when they're hard and when they don't make sense, God, help us to follow your words anyway, and lead us to where you want us to go, to where we need to go. In Jesus' name, amen. Would you say that?
