5 Truths To Remember
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Intro
Intro
Opening story/Illustration: Well, tonight is my last night to preach to you guys for a while. So I figured I would take tonight and simply talk to you about some truths I think that you should remember. These are truths I’m trying to live out every day. I would encourage you to do the same..So tonight, I want to talk to you like a dad for a few minutes.
Transition to the text: I want us to start in the book of Proverbs tonight - Where a dad is telling his son how important it is to live a wise life.
Text:
1 My child, listen to what I say, and treasure my commands. 2 Tune your ears to wisdom, and concentrate on understanding. 3 Cry out for insight, and ask for understanding. 4 Search for them as you would for silver; seek them like hidden treasures.
Transition to Points: The writer of Proverbs here is telling his son - “Listen, the most important thing you can do in life is pursue wisdom.” So tonight I want to lay out some wisdom for you. Like a good father would. These are truths you should learn to live by. Practice them every day..and you’ll grow into a solid man or woman of God.
Points
Points
Be a Good Listener
“All learning begins with listening - And many of your problems in life will come from a failure to listen or pay attention.”
The idea here in this proverb isn’t just that the son would hear what the father is saying - But that he’s listening and accepting the words. He’s listening ready to put them into practice.
19 Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.
Listen to God
When you pray, don’t simply make it about all the stuff you need to say to God.
Take time to be quiet and listen.
Take time to read your Bible and listen. What is God saying to you?
I believe that God is always speaking!
The question is are you listening?
What is God saying you in this moment right now?
What was He trying to say to you today? Are You listening?
Listen to others
The greatest gift you can give someone else is your attention.
This is hard sometimes for us - And even for me, sometimes it’s honestly something I have to work on.
Illustration: When I’m home with my children, it’s easy to be distracted by all the things I have to do. But I’m learning sometimes the most important thing isn’t what needs to be done, it’s the person in front of me.
Pay attention to people - Listening is an act of love!
There is no greater way to show someone that they matter - then actually paying attention to them!
Our lack of listening and paying attention causes conflict and issues - How many of our stupid fights are over misunderstandings and a failure to listen?
Be quick to listen, slow to speak - and slow to become angry!
Listen to those in authority over your life
God put your parents in your life for a reason! Listen to them.
Your parents are smarter than you are - Just by the fact that they’ve been around longer.
They beat you with experience - Listen to them and learn.
Honor your parents, your teachers, and those God has put in authority over you!
This proverb we read - A dad saying to His son - LISTEN!
How many problems in your life could have been avoided if you had just listened?
Could have passed that test…If you had just listened
Could have avoided that fight with your friend....
Could have avoided that issue with your parents.....
Could have avoided that....
Learn from failure
“Let failure be your teacher, not your undertaker.”
Failure is not the worst thing that can happen to you. Failure is your opportunity to learn something.
Illustration: Check out these individuals who didn’t let failure stop them.
Learn from your own failure
Watch your life and see every failure as an opportunity to learn!
Ask questions -
What went wrong?
What can I do different next time?
What should I change?
Learn from the failure of others
Learn from books, history, and those around you.
If you see someone else touch a hot stove and get burned - You just learned something - don’t touch a hot stove!
Don’t be the type of person who has to find out for yourself every-time. Be smart enough to learn from others.
Keep Good Company
“Show me your friends, I’ll show you your future!”
The People you hang around matters!
26 The godly give good advice to their friends; the wicked lead them astray.
7 Young people who obey the law are wise; those with wild friends bring shame to their parents.
Your closest friends need to be godly people who are going to lift you up and challenge you to love Jesus.
Illustration: I was talking with a girl the other day who’s trying to deal with a past where she was on drugs and all kinds of things. You know how she ended up there - Her friends in high school and middle school. She was at a good point in her life and my warning and encouragement to her - Make good friends who are going to help you do better - Not people who are going to drag you back down.
Control yourself
“Control yourself or someone (or something) else will control you.”
28 A person without self-control is like a city with broken-down walls.
We let all sorts of things control us:
Our feelings
Our situation
Our friends
Our hormones
But here’s the thing - A sign of maturity is when you stop letting your feelings and situations dictate your choices.
This is called SELF-CONTROL
This Proverb here tells us that when you don’t have it, you’re opening your life up to problems.
Learn to control yourself. My 3yr old lets her feelings and emotions and situations control her - Grown up, mature people control themselves.
Don’t let your anger control you
Don’t let your attraction to that guy or girl control you
Don’t let the situation control you
Make the decision that you are going to do what’s right no matter what you feel and no matter how it looks!
Follow and Obey Jesus
“Follow Me” - Jesus
Let the Holy Spirit Work in Your Life
In Jesus’ sermon on the mount, he closes it out with a famous story about two men and two houses.
24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”
It’s daily saying “Yes” to what Jesus wants for you!
Notice something - Both houses looked the same on the outside. The difference? What you could not see - the foundation.
What is not seen in your life is more important than what people see.
What is unseen is always more important that what is seen.
The wise man in the story is the man who hears Jesus words and OBEYS THEM!
Many people look the same on the outside
We come to the same church
We sing the same songs
We lift our hands
We know how to talk about the right things
But what’s going on underneath? What’s the real foundation of your life?
Build your life on Obeying and following Jesus.
Conclusion
Conclusion
This is what really matters: What’s going on underneath the surface of your life? Is your life built on following and obeying Jesus?
This week, hope you put this stuff into practice. That you learn to listen, that you learn from your failure, that you choose your friends wisely, and that you control yourself..but all of that flows out of one thing - A life built on following and obeying Jesus.
Where are you with Jesus? Right now, in this moment, are you following him?