Fooling Around: 3 Easy Ways to Ruin Your Life (Proverbs 1:7) | Louis Azuma

Speaker: we are in the same passage we were last week.

We're in Proverbs 1.

Proverbs 1.

So make your way over there in your Bibles.

You might have thought there was a typo on the worksheet, but no, we are

in the exact same verse as last time.

Um, but while you're turning there, have you ever seen something where you're

watching, like, either it's someone doing something really dumb, or maybe

you hear about a story that someone, you know, s- something on the news, and

you're like, "How did they do that?"

Like, why would they do that?

Why in the world would someone ever ruin their life that way?

Or why would they ever make that mistake?

I don't know if you've ever … Sometimes even reading the Bible, right?

Maybe you've been reading along with us in the DBR, and you, you read

about these Bible characters, and you're like, "How would they do that?

Don't they know?"

Like, uh, we've been reading about Israel in Chronicles, and they're,

like, building idols in the temple, and it's like, why would you do that?

How could you not know any better?

And the problem with all of us, including those people, is actually that we have

the same problem they do, and that's that foolishness comes naturally to all of us.

Doing dumb things, doing self-destructive things, comes

naturally to every single one of us.

Me, you, and everyone in between.

And so what we're gonna see tonight is that foolishness is not a matter

of how smart you are or how much you know or how religious you are, but

being foolish is about your heart.

It's a heart issue.

Last week we talked about how wisdom is a heart issue.

Wisdom has to do with, um, your heart before the Lord, and foolishness is

exactly the same 'cause it's the opposite.

And so we are gonna be looking at Proverbs 1:7, okay?

Proverbs 1:7

And you're probably familiar with this from last week, but Proverbs

Proverbs 1:7

1:7 says, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge."

Proverbs 9 says, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

Fools despise wisdom and instruction."

So Proverbs, right, the Book of Proverbs, the first nine chapters is kinda like

an introduction to the whole book, what wisdom is, what foolishness is, and

then chapters 10 and on are, like, these short, one-sentence little sayings.

And a proverb, right, it's like a, it's like a easy, like

a tablet of wisdom, right?

Something like, um, measure twice, cut once, right?

Um, if you measure something twice, you only have to cut it once.

That you, well, yeah, well, you cut it at the right spot, right?

Or, um, you know, hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard, right?

Something like that.

That's a proverb.

It's a one-sentence little saying of wisdom, and that's

what a lot of these are.

And so this is similar to that.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

So the fear of the Lord, right?

We talked about that last week.

That's when you recognize God is God, and I'm not.

And that's where wisdom comes from.

Now the opposite, fools, not wise people, they despise wisdom and instruction.

So that word despise is the key here, right?

Because wisdom comes from embracing God's strategy for living life.

'Cause God made you, he made the world, he made life, and so

he knows the best way to live.

He designed … He actually knows you better than you do.

He knows me better than I do.

He knows what will make me happy, what's good for me better than I do, better than

anyone else does, better than any doctor or any leader or any parent or anyone.

God knows what I need more than all those people, 'cause he, he knows me best.

And so The problem with that is we don't believe that naturally, right?

We think, "I know what's best for me."

Naturally, that's just how we operate.

"Oh, well, you don't understand 'cause you don't know me like I do," or, "If you

really understood what was going on in my life, this is how you would see things."

That's how we naturally feel.

That's how … You know, no one told you to think that way.

That's just how you think.

And so, the problem with us getting wisdom is that foolishness comes naturally to us.

It's hard for us to think, "God is God, and I'm not, so I need to trust Him."

That's unnatural to us, and that's why wisdom starts with the fear of the Lord,

and foolishness starts with the opposite.

Foolishness starts with saying, "I know better than God."

So that word despise, it means, like, to look down on something, right?

And so our first point is if you wanna ruin your life, look down on wisdom.

So all our points tonight are opposite, right?

Don't do this.

If you wanna ruin your life, these are the things you do.

If you wanna be a foolish person, if you wanna be someone that, you know,

your parents are embarrassed about, if you wanna be someone who lives a life

that is unsatisfying and empty, all right, this is the things you should do.

You should look down on wisdom.

You should despise it.

You should be like, "Oh, it's not that important, not that good."

Right?

"I'm too good for it.

I'm above this."

Right?

That's what we say you look down on something, right?

Uh, my brother, he despises certain types of chocolate, um, because

my brother married a lady from Switzerland, and Switzerland has,

like, the highest quality, best chocolate in the world allegedly.

That's what they say, right?

So I remember my brother, he used to, you know, eat chocolate

with me when we were kids, right?

We loved chocolate, and it was great.

And then he, he starts dating this lady from Switzerland, and they get married.

And he, we, you know, we go o- we don't see each other for a while.

We're back together at Christmastime, and he's like, "Hey, do you want this…"

Like, it was, like, really good chocolate, and he was like, "Do you

want this, this fancy chocolate?"

And I was like, "Uh, yeah, I love that chocolate."

It was like, uh, what's, Lindor, I think.

You know, the red ones, the truffle things.

And he was like, "You want this?"

I was like, "Yeah, that's, like, such good chocolate."

He's like, "I don't like it."

I was like, "What?

You don't like this?

This is, like, the best chocolate."

He's like, "No, it's got, like…

It's, like, too, like, milk chocolatey for me."

Right?

He's like, "I only eat, like, pure chocolate."

Like, fancy, you know, like, not even dark chocolate but, like, the, like,

highest level of dark chocolate, you know?

He doesn't eat regular chocolate.

He's too good for it, right?

He's had the, the best quality chocolate.

He's like, "No, not my thing."

Right?

It's kinda like how Pastor PJ is with his barbecue, right?

He only eats, like, certain types of barbecue 'cause he's like, "I've

had the real barbecue," right?

"The pure Texas barbecue, so I'm not gonna eat barbecue anywhere else," right?

That's similar idea, right?

He despises it.

He's like, "That's not good enough for me.

I only want the best."

And that's how a lot of us naturally feel about God and His Word.

When we come to God's Word, we think, "Oh, not for me.

Too hard to understand.

Doesn't work in my life.

God doesn't really understand me the way I do," or, "That's old-fashioned,"

or, "It's not really for me anymore.

That's just what my parents think."

A lot of us, we approach God that way at first especially.

We think, "Oh, that's what I, this is what I think, and what

God thinks is not that important."

The opposite of fearing the Lord is self-centeredness.

It's, "I'm important.

I'm smart.

I got this."

That's foolishness.

When you look down on wisdom, it's usually because we're selfish, right?

I don't need help.

God's rules are lame, or God's word is boring.

That's what despising wisdom looks like.

And what Proverbs does is it shows us two paths, right?

It shows us path of life and a path of death.

And the path of life is the way God designed us to live, and the path of

death is the way we think is best for us

And what Proverbs, what the wisest person who ever lived, right, God, will

tell you is that if you think you know better than God, you will ruin your life.

You won't just end up mildly dissatisfied.

You won't just end up somewhat unhappy.

You won't just end up a little bit disappointed.

You will ruin your life if you live thinking your way is better than God's.

You won't just be, "Oh, m- maybe, maybe in my next life I'll, I'll do better."

You won't get a do-over.

You, even if maybe you say, "Well, I'm just not gonna, I'm not gonna

become a Christian till later.

I'll just wait."

Even that, maybe you do, maybe God does save you later in life, right?

You can talk to your, maybe your leaders.

Maybe that was them.

They didn't become a Christian till later in life.

They would tell you, "I wish I became a Christian earlier because I did

so many things I wish I could undo.

I said so many things I wish I could unsay.

I saw so many things and felt so many things I wish I didn't have to remember."

Don't even say, "Well, what if I become a Christian later?

It'll be okay."

First of all, you don't know if you have later.

But second of all, that, even that brief time period you'll regret because

you'll say, "I was being a fool.

I was living on the path to death," and you'll regret it.

And maybe you're out there, you're thinking, "Well, I

don't really despise God.

I don't, like, think God's wisdom is dumb.

I'm just like, 'Meh, it's all right.'"

Maybe you're just like, "Oh, it's,

it's okay.

It's in the middle, right?

Most of the time it's helpful, but only when it kinda fits into my life," right?

That, that's still despising God's wisdom.

That's still saying, "I know better than God," right?

Uh, th- it's the same thing.

You're just not being as extreme about it, but you're, it's the same root issue.

I'm smart.

God's not.

And so there's different ways you can do this, right?

Maybe you're embarrassed about Jesus and what he says.

Maybe you don't invite friends to True North because you don't want them to

hear me preach because you're embarrassed that, oh, they'll-- someone will talk

to them about God's Word and tell them that, that God's way is better.

Or maybe you don't want people at school to know you're a Christian because

you're embarrassed about it, right?

That's you saying, "Well, I, I, I think I'm a Christian, and I know that, or

at least my parents are Christians, and I'm embarrassed 'cause I, it's not cool.

It's not a thing I wa- I'm proud of."

That's you despising God and his wisdom.

Maybe you think obeying God's a waste of time.

Maybe you're just like, "This is dumb.

Why do I have to do this?

Why do I, my parents make me do these things?"

That's you saying, "God's dumb.

I'm smart.

I know better."

Or maybe you just believe the world has way more to offer.

You're like, "Yeah, but I wanna try all this stuff first.

I know, I know what you're saying, I know what my parents say, I know

what the Bible says, but I just need to try the world and see."

Right, everyone who's tried it will tell you it's not good enough.

It's not as good as what God has to offer.

Or maybe you look down on Christians who are serious about their faith.

Some Christians even do this, right?

They, they make fun of people who are, um, over-saved, right?

There's a … I know this comedian, he has this whole routine about people

who are over-saved, and he makes fun of them, 'cause they're the people

who always talk about Jesus, and always ask you spiritual questions.

Maybe you look down on those people, you think they're weird, you're

like, "I don't wanna talk to them."

I used to do that.

I remember when I first came to a church where people actually believe the

Bible, I was like, "I just wanna have a regular conversation about sports.

I don't wanna talk about the Bible anymore."

That was me showing that I was foolish.

That was me showing that I didn't wanna talk about God,

'cause I didn't love Jesus.

And not that a Christian always talks about God, but if that's uncomfortable

for you, if that's something you're like, "Oh, I don't like that, I don't wanna be

around this," it's not a good sign, right?

So there's all these different ways we can look down on God and

His wisdom, but the point is that it comes from a foolish heart.

It doesn't come from your brain and things you've learned.

It comes from your heart because you … We all naturally want to

think we know better than God.

Like foolishness, doesn't matter how smart you are, you could be the smartest person

in the room and be a fool in God's eyes.

'Cause part of it, sometimes when you're smart, it's actually

harder to be wise because you think you have it all figured out.

You don't think you need God.

So the correction to looking down on wisdom, right, the opposite of this,

the opposite of the opposite point, would be the, to fear the Lord, right?

To realize that God is God.

And that's how you change your heart is, is you take your heart and you

humble it before the Lord, and you say, "God is way smarter than I am.

God knows me way better than I do."

That's what faith really is.

It's trusting the Lord

And maybe what the problem is, is the way you see God, you don't see God

as very big or important or awesome.

For you, God is very domesticated and tame and just kind of there.

He's more of an intellectual concept than God

And that's because you're not seeing God for who he really is, right?

You need to run into God as someone who's, who humbles you.

You need to see God as, uh, like, "Oh, man, I'm not the

most important person here.

I'm not the best thing in the world."

So the, the bigger you see God, the harder this will be for you, right?

The, the bigger you are for yourself, the more important you are for

yourself, this comes really easily.

But when God gets really big to you, you start realizing, "Oh, I'm, I

don't really have it all figured out."

As long as you are proud, you cannot know God because God's not gonna be

God to you if you're proud, right?

And so foolishness is not just decisions you make, it's really

just a heart attitude, right?

It's a heart posture.

It's a position of your heart.

Um, and it's things you enjoy, right?

It's not just things you do, but being foolish is also things

you like, things you don't like.

Um, Proverbs 14:9 says that fools mock at the guilt offering, right?

Proverbs 14:9

They make fun of the things that God says.

But the upright enjoy acceptance, right?

The people who do what God says, actually, they get to be close to God.

The fools are over there thinking that they have it all figured out, right?

They get to make fun of the people who raise their hands and sing at church.

They get to make fun of the people who cry during, you know, when they, when they

read the Bible, or they get to make fun of the people who are serious about being

committed and, and not indulging in sin.

They make fun of those people.

But guess what?

Those people who are, who they're making fun of, those are the

people that get God, and they don't

Or even Proverbs 13:13 says, "Whoever despises," there's our

Proverbs 13:13

word again, the Word, God's Word, "brings destruction on himself."

Right?

This isn't just a preference thing.

This isn't just saying, "Oh, yeah, Christianity's good for you.

You should try it.

It's the best way."

This is a life or death attitude.

This isn't me just saying, "Oh, this will help improve your life."

This is me saying, "You'll die if you don't."

And it's not me trying to threaten you into becoming a Christian.

That's God really saying, "I love you enough to warn you that

where you're going will kill you

And notice these are attitude words, right?

Despise and revere, right?

Despise, that's like that posture of looking down on something.

I'm too good for something.

Revere is like, oh, this is awesome.

This is cool.

This is so, it's so amazing.

These are heartfelt attitude words, right?

So it's not just an intellectual thing, it's a feeling thing.

That's why our second point, if you wanna ruin your life, is to enjoy sin.

To love it.

Easy way to ruin your life is to love sinning

The deadliest part about being foolish is that we love it.

It's like poison that tastes good, right?

The deadliest part about sin, about being selfish, about thinking

you're better than God, is we love thinking we're better than God.

We love thinking our way is gonna work.

That's what Proverbs 1:22 says.

Proverbs 1:22

It says, "How long, O simple ones," right, that's people who don't have

wisdom yet, "will you love being simple?

How long, O scoffers, how long will scoffers" That's people who,

like, make fun of things, right?

People who are super cynical.

They're like, "Oh, well…"

They're, like, waiting to be impressed, right?

How long will they delight in their scoffing?

They love looking down on other people.

They love finding problems with other people.

And fools hate knowledge, right?

They don't like it.

These are preferences, right?

These aren't just decisions and values.

These are attractions and desires.

I don't know if you guys have heard of Stockholm syndrome.

You know what that is?

It's this thing, uh, when people are, are in…

Like, they're captured.

They start to actually really like the, their captors, the people who are

holding them in jail or whatever, and they actually don't wanna leave anymore

because they l- they start liking the people that are imprisoning them.

It's this really weird thing.

It's been, like, tested and all these things, and it's

like, I don't know if it's…

It doesn't always happen, but it's, like, a legitimate thing that really happens.

It happens to people who are, sometimes if they're in jail

or, like, prisoners of war.

They start to really like the people who are, who are really enslaving them, right?

That's what foolishness does.

You start to love it

And in a sense that there, the, the, the path analogy is kind of true in, in the

sense of the more you go along the path of foolishness, the harder it is to, to

come out of it because you love it more.

You enjoy it more.

You start really believing, "Yeah, God is dumb.

God isn't everything people say He is.

God's rules aren't good for me."

And you start cementing that, and you fall in love with yourself,

and that path leads you to death

The most, one of the most foolish things you can do is enjoy

the sin that will kill you.

That's dumb.

You should never do that

And also one of the most foolish things you can do is enjoy

sin when you could have God.

And you're missing out on the, the God who knows you, who made you, who

loves you, and you're saying, "Yeah, I'd rather have my sin and myself."

That's foolish.

That's a horrible decision.

Not just subjectively, not just for some people, for everyone

universally, objectively, bad idea

Maybe you're thinking, "Well, Lewis, that's the problem.

The problem is I, I love my sin.

I love myself.

I don't want God.

I have zero desire for God.

I have zero desire to read the Bible.

I have zero desire to have a close relationship with Jesus.

You talk about how awesome God is and how good it is to know Him, and you're

li- I'm just like, I don't want that."

Maybe that's you

The, the problem here is, right, is it's a heart problem, right?

It's not a knowledge problem.

It's not that you don't know, "Oh yeah, my sin's bad for me."

You know that.

But it's a heart problem, and that's where you have to come to God and say,

"God, I don't just have a knowledge problem or a decision problem.

I have a fundamental problem that I love the wrong things,

and I need you to change me.

I can't even want the right things unless you do something to me."

Right?

That's how you become a Christian.

That's what happens.

We- the fancy word is regeneration, right?

God gives you a new heart.

He gives you the Holy Spirit, who changes you.

We talked about this in Romans 6, right?

You're not a slave to sin anymore.

You're free because you've been put into Jesus.

Your, your old you is dead, new you is alive.

Baptism, right?

Dead, alive.

So you need God not just to, to take away the penalty from your sin, you

need God to change your heart, 'cause you can't even want the right things

And he can do that, right?

He's done that for all the Christians in the history of Christianity, right?

Every person who's ever gotten saved, that's happened to them.

They've had their love for sin replaced by love for God

But also, even if you are a Christian, if your relationship with Jesus

is just about following rules, that's not gonna last you very long

You won't follow Jesus out of duty for very long.

That's really hard to have external relationship with Jesus, right?

It's all about, "I just have to do this.

This is what I need to do.

I should do this.

My parents told me to do this."

Right?

That's the type of Christian, Christian who goes to college and they don't

have the rules anymore because their parents aren't there, and now they love

the world, because it was all external

I don't know if you remember in our, in our daily Bible reading,

we read about, um, King Joash and his friend Jehoiada, right?

The, the priest.

And when Jehoiada was alive, he was helping Joash do all the right things.

He was helping him follow the law and, and do worship the Lord and, and do all

the, the things he was supposed to do.

And then when Jehoiada died, Joash starts going, "Oh, I actually

don't need to do that anymore.

No one's here to tell me to do that."

And he ends up turning away from the Lord, right?

It's not that he became unsaved, it's that he never was in the first

place, 'cause his relationship with God was just, "Oh, I have to do this.

I should do this."

There was no internal desire to do it.

So if your relationship with God is, is really, there's n- there's

no enjoying God, there's no love for God, it's just, "I have to do this.

I should do this.

I know I'm supposed to do it, so that's what I do," right?

That's not gonna last you very long.

Rules don't keep you safe

Obligations don't keep you saved, right?

God keeps you saved.

It's kinda like, um, when people get burned out of, like, sports, right?

I don't know if you've ever seen this happen to my brother.

Happened to me.

Um, well, mine wasn't a sport.

It was…

I played trumpet, and I loved playing trumpet with people.

But then as soon as I didn't have people to play with, I stopped playing,

'cause I didn't like playing by myself.

I didn't like practicing.

I didn't like playing in my room, you know, l- doing my

own thing on the trumpet.

I only liked playing with other people.

And so then when I didn't have the people, then I was like, "Oh, I

guess I'm not gonna do this anymore, and I don't really like it."

Maybe that's you.

Maybe you're only a Christian when you're with other people

because there's no internal desire to, to love God.

It's just a social thing you do.

"Oh, my friends are Christians and my parents are Christians.

This is what I do.

I grew up around it, so I just do it."

You have to enjoy God to stop enjoying sin, right?

That's really the root of self-control is I want something else more than

this thing, so I'm not gonna do it.

When I think about all the people that practice really hard at

something, it's not that they're like, "Oh, I have to do this.

I guess I'm gonna do it," right?

Those people quit.

It's the people who say, "I really want to be great at my sport or my

instrument or whatever," and that's what they want, and they want that more

than they want the bad diet, right?

If they have a superior affection, something they want more, something

that's, that they think is better.

That's really where self-control comes from.

Superior joy, superior happiness, right?

This will make me more happy than that, so I'm gonna choose that.

And that thing is God.

God will make me more happy than my sin will make me.

That's what you have to believe

But we talked about how, at the beginning, right, how all of this comes

from your posture before God, right?

Do you feel like you need God, or do you feel like God is just somewhat

helpful, mildly useful, right?

'Cause if you think, "Oh, I, I'm mostly fine on my own.

I just only rely on God when I really need to," right, that's the

opposite of fearing the Lord, right?

That's really just God as a supplement to your life.

And so the third way to ruin your life is to declare independence from God.

To declare independence from God.

Easy way to ruin your life is to say, "God, you're optional.

God, you're just an add-on."

Right?

God's just the, the grilled onions on your, on your In-N-Out burger, right?

You don't need them, but it's nice when you can get them, right?

I actually don't put onions on my burger, but … 'Cause then your

breath smells horrible after, and it's, like, not worth it, right?

Also, animal fries are, like, one of the biggest scams in history.

They're so expensive.

You could literally just get a p- you can ask them to make you cheese fries, go

get a spread packet, and make your own.

Anyway

These guys are like just as intense No, they're not.

Really?

Well, I don't get those either, so I don't know.

But

That is worth a Google.

Some, one of you can go to In-N-Out soon and let me know.

Anyway, God's not an add-on, right?

Sometimes I think we feel like, well, God's just a crutch to get

me through hard times, right?

Or maybe some atheists say that.

They, they'll be making fun of Christians and they say, "Oh, God is just your

pillow to help you sleep at night or to help you deal with your problems.

That's really the only reason you believe in God."

And that's not true, right?

The reason I believe in God, well, one of the reasons, is the

fact that I absolutely need him.

It's not just like, "Oh, well, yeah, he's my crutch and whatever, and, like,

sometimes I need him when it's bad."

It's like, no, no, I need him when it's good because he made it good , right?

It's all from him anyway.

All right, wise people let God be God to them.

Foolish people think God is optional

Proverbs 26:12 says, "Do you see a man who's wise in his own eyes?"

Proverbs 26:12

Right?

Someone who thinks he's got it all figured out.

"There's more hope for a fool than him."

So this is even worse.

This is, like, the worst spot you could be in, is I've got this.

God says that's foolish.

That's one of the dumbest things you can feel

When I was in college, we had, um, on our syllabus, I don't know why they ever

did this, but there was required reading and there was recommended reading.

Required reading, okay, right, I gotta do that.

Recommended reading, not doing it, right?

I mean, it's not required, not part of the grade, definitely not doing it, right?

That's me saying, "Oh yeah, I'm just gonna, I'm gonna do the required reading.

That's what I have to do.

The recommended stuff, really, uh, it's not important, not worth it," right?

I don't want you to treat God like the recommended reading on my syllabus.

It'd be nice if I did it.

Maybe if I was, like, really smart or really cared about this

class, I'd do it, but not really my thing, not gonna do it, right?

God is the required reading.

Like, you will fail the class without God.

You will not f- you will not pass life without God.

You will fail miserably.

You will be unsatisfied.

You will make a lot of decisions you'll regret.

You will hurt a lot of people, and you will eventually regret everything

because you will stand before God and feel like an utter fool because

He's God, and He's real, and you're, you've ignored Him your whole life

You won't just fail life, you will you literally die forever, right?

Declaring independence from God is really suicide.

Right?

It's, it's you saying, "I'm fine on my own.

I'll walk away from God.

Don't need him.

Not important."

And it's you saying, "Yeah, I'm gonna die."

That's really what it is.

It's a really bad decision.

And there's different ways we do this, right?

It's not always the super hardcore atheist.

That's not necessarily who I'm talking about.

It could be.

Person who says, "I hate God.

He doesn't exist."

Which how can you hate something that doesn't exist?

Whatever, right?

That's from the movie, but that's fine.

Um, but even, right, you think about the self-righteous person, right?

Maybe you've gone to church, you're like, "Well, I, I, I'm a good person.

I do all the church things.

I have Christian parents.

I know the Bible verses.

I memorize them."

That's you declaring independence from God.

You're saying, "I don't need God, I have my religion.

I don't need God, I have my Christian friends.

I don't need God, I have my Christian parents.

I have my Bible knowledge.

I don't need God."

Self-righteousness is declaring independence from God

Or maybe it's self-sufficiency, which is I don't need God, I

can do stuff on my own, right?

When you don't pray, that's you declaring independence from God.

That's you saying, "God, I don't need to ask you for help.

I don't need your wisdom."

When you don't read the Bible, that's you declaring independence from God.

You're saying, "God, I don't need the food that you're giving me.

I'm fine on my own.

I don't need your wisdom.

I don't need your skill at living life.

I can figure this out."

foolish decision

So there's subtle ways that we do this too.

Even Christians do this sometimes

And so maybe you're wondering why are people foolish, right?

Why if it's so obvious not to, not to despise wisdom, why is anyone foolish?

Well, the, the problem is it's very painful to fear the Lord

Because it requires us to put ourselves to death.

Because myself thinks I'm great.

Myself thinks I can do this.

I got this.

I'm smart.

I can figure things out.

That's what myself thinks naturally.

That's just how I, how I work.

And so it's really painful to fear the Lord because you have to often

daily say, "I'm … I, I need God.

I can't do this."

And that's hard for us to admit, and that's really the biggest barrier that

keeps people out of heaven, right?

The biggest barrier that keeps people away from, away from God is usually

not that, "Oh, I'm too sinful.

I can't come to God."

It's usually, "I don't need God.

I'm fine on my own

Right?

Most people don't say, "Oh, I, I, I'm too bad to come to God."

Most people say, "I don't need to come to God."

And I think for a lot of you, that's probably what's keeping you

from coming to God, is you don't really feel like you need him.

He's not that important to you, not that, not that cool.

He's just kind of there.

It's like, well, yeah, he's, he's nice.

I like God, but God's not God, right?

He's just kind of, yeah, it's God.

He's cool

And so really, when the rest of the summer we're gonna talk about wisdom,

we're gonna talk about foolishness.

We're gonna talk about that in specific aspects of life, like friends or

work or money or things like that.

And really what this, it, it all comes down to is do you think God is God,

or do you think that you're better?

Because that's where wisdom and foolishness, it's, it's really

not about how much you know about the Bible or how smart you are.

It- it's really about your heart.

Do I trust God and humble myself before him and say, "God, your way is better.

I trust you"?

Or do you say, "I'm okay.

I'm good.

I don't need God"?

And so that's the path that's before each of you, and I, I pray

and I'm really begging you to choose the path of life and to not-

trick yourself into a path of death so let's pray and we'll go to small groups

God, we're grateful that you teach us your wisdom.

Um, it, it might seem hard for us to hear that we're foolish and that we

need you and that we're sinful, but really you don't have to tell us that.

You could let us die on our own.

But you offer us a warning because you care about us.

You don't offer us a warning because you just want us to feel bad about ourselves.

You want us to feel bad about ourselves because we need to be shaken awake to

realize that we're not good enough.

We need you.

So God, I pray that you help all of us to be more dependent on you,

to see sin for what it really is, that it's ugly, it's gross, it,

it kills us, it ruins everything.

Help us to

Um, not operate as if you don't exist, to not operate as though we don't need you.

Um, but instead to depend on you and show you that we do, um, by how we live and,

and what we give our attention to and how we spend our time and the things we

think about, the things we talk about.

So right now in small groups, help us to be honest, help us to be,

um, humble, and help us to be good participants to what we're doing here.

We pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.