Will I Ever Have Enough?

Aren't you thankful for just a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful fall day in North Dakota? I stood outside between services. It's awesome. And you can't gripe about the cold if you don't give thanks for the good days. And this is a good day. If you have a Bible, you can flip back from Proverbs 30. This is our anchor verse for this collection of messages. It's Proverbs 4-7, and it essentially says, get wisdom. That doesn't mean get knowledge. It doesn't mean be smarter. It's saying live a godly life according to God's wisdom. Even if it costs you everything else that you have, get God's understanding for your life. That's the anchor. That's what we've been coming back to over and over again. The book of Proverbs, ancient literature, and also modern literature teach us that there's really three types of people that we can choose to be. There's evil, foolish, or wise. Evil means to not even know what is right. Again, to be evil doesn't mean that you're bad. It can be even the absence of godly understanding. And how God calls us to live, to be foolish is to know what's right, and to choose not to do it, and do something different instead. But to be wise means doing what is right. We call it righteousness.

It's living rightly. The Bible says the righteous will live by faith. Trusting God in the way that we live. This is the biblical definition of what it means to not just be knowledgeable or to be smart, but to actually be wise. And the book of Proverbs instructs us on how to be wise in a variety of areas in our lives. Here's the one I'm gonna give you today. Proverbs 30, verse seven says, "Oh God, I beg two favors from you. "Let me have them before I die." If I could have anything, two wishes, here's what they would be from the Lord. First, help me never to tell a lie. Help me to be truthful, to know the truth. And second, give me neither poverty nor riches. Give me just enough to satisfy my need. That is where scripture is counter-cultural. Says, "Don't give me too much. "Don't give me not enough, "but just enough to satisfy my needs. "Because if I grow rich, I might deny you "and say, 'Who is the Lord? "'I can depend on myself.'" But if I'm too poor, I might steal to provide and insult your holy name. So God, give me just enough. I wanna give you a message today entitled, "Will I ever have enough?"

Well, I ever have enough. I've kind of been in some nostalgia recently, listening back to some of the old messages that I preach. I've been in evangel 15 years. And I've been thinking about, yeah, it's awesome. I thank God. I was not qualified when they hired me. He qualifies me and he has helped me along the way. And we've, I don't know why I'm saying this, but I just am. But I've talked to other pastors who've passed her to evangel and they left and said, "That was the promised land. "That was the best church and I've noted it in my mind." And we're just thankful that God allows us to continue to serve. And so, but I've been looking back at some old messages and I also thank God that I've grown in my preaching and teaching of God's Word. But I was listening to this story that I told eight years ago in a message where I talked about what was a passion of my life at that time and remains today. It's one of my guilty pleasures. You have a guilty pleasure. I'm like a sucker for sour candy. And if you know me well, you know the other one is dried mangoes. Come on, bless God somebody for dried mangoes. (congregation laughing) And I told the story about having the big,

like, you know, it's like when you go to Costco and it's like dried mangoes, $10 for that bag. And you're like, my budget says no, but my taste buds say yes, Lord. And I'd buy that bag and I'd, you know, when you're at the beginning of the bag, you just eat them however you want, you know, as many as you want. And then I don't know if you're like me, but see, some of you'll just plow through a dessert with no regret, but I get to the end of the dessert and I start to ration. I'm like, okay, I only have, you know, like a third of a bag of mangoes left. I got to slow down a little bit. We got to stretch this thing out 'cause I'm also kind of frugal. So I don't want to just go buy another bag. I'm trying to like balance. The budget while I eat this pleasure of mine and get down to the last strip, you know, it's like one bite this morning, one bite after lunch and one bite, you know, from the afternoon and then I ran out and the bag was empty and I thought, well, these aren't really that good for me and it casts money. So I'm just going to go without mangoes for a while and kind of did my grieving. And I open up one of my drawers and I realized that in my office

and the way back of the drawer, I had stashed a full bag hidden from my wife, hidden from my kids, hidden from my church staff, hidden from the facilities team, anybody who could be in there. And all of a sudden I had plenty and I shared that story. And that week three of you showed up to abundance, right? And I was, I was also thinking about Janae and I going to a conference earlier this year and we're about to go into the first session of the conference and everybody's like, they're about to open the doors and everybody's getting, you know, closer and closer to the doors and you're kind of jostling. You're like, well, I was here before that person and like trying to get your elbow in there and because you want the seat right in the front and in the middle and we were kind of leaning against the wall and I saw these people walking in, they're kind of getting in front of us. And I realized when they're going to open the doors, they're going to be in front of us and Janae looked at me knowing what was in me. And she said, there's plenty of seats and we're not going to have a poverty mentality today. I said, thank you, Holy Spirit. But I found that the way I approach mangoes and the way I approach wanting to do the first one in the door, even that competitiveness can often relate to the way that I've approached money in my life. Each one of us approach it differently based on our experiences, based on our motivations, based on our fear around money. Mine has been, there's not going to be enough. There's never going to be enough. It's always going to run out. Maybe that's not your struggle. Maybe your struggle is, I don't have enough to pursue this dream that I want to pursue or I don't have enough to be comfortable in life or maybe it's that I don't have enough to have the appearance that I want. And whatever the motivating factor is, whatever the fear is behind it, there can be the way that we see money. We can react to it when different situations come up or when money is brought up in our lives. Even today, some of you are already thinking, here we go, the preacher on the stage talking about money. And let me just tell you, I'm not talking about that to ask you for anything today. I'm bringing it up because money affects a lot more than you checkbook. It affects a lot more than your wallet. It affects a lot more than your bank account.

See financial disagreements and debt and secrecy and how we spend money and different spending priorities is one of the strongest predictors of divorce between a couple and one of the most often cited reasons behind divorce in a marriage. Financial pressure, not knowing if you're going to be able to pay the next bill, can lead to anxiety. Some of you have lost sleep at night or you're losing sleep now. It can be a chronic stress that you're always carrying. Two-thirds of Americans say money is a significant source of stress in their lives. Money can become a source for you of identity, a source of security, a source of control, a source of fear that can directly compete with your trust in God. Money in the Bible is spiritual. It's often given the name Mammon. There's a spirit behind it. And so it's not just purely, "Do I have enough or do I not?" Financial fear can make it difficult to live with open hands. You want to be more generous, you think, "When I have more, I'll give more." But what you have right now, whether little or much, would reveal the same tendencies that you'll have later, whether you have more or not. But it's hard to be generous, even when you feel like you're barely getting by. It's also easy to be in a room like this or watching online, knowing hundreds of other people are watching and thinking, "Everybody else has this together. They all seem fine. They showed up to church today with their clothes are pretty nice, their car was nice. They must be okay, and I'm the only one that hasn't figured it out." But we know even statistically that that's not the reality. We just had a whole election focused on an affordability crisis. The millions of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. And sure, maybe there's something to say about the economy, maybe there's something to say about legislation, but there's also a major personal finance problem, a major personal finance crisis. And this is not a TED talk. This is deeply spiritual. The Bible talks about it. And while we may want to point the finger outside, very few of us want to point the finger at ourself and say, "Maybe it's my decisions. Maybe it's the way that I'm living. Maybe it's the lack of diligence on my part that's actually leading me to where I am. Americans, on average, spend $4,000 a year just eating out. Nearly 20 percent of U.S. families are behind on at least one loan payment. That's the highest rate since 2010. Total credit card debt is at $1.26 trillion with a 20 percent interest rate on that debt. A third of households are facing unmanageable debt, and some of us are even using the majority of the money that you make every two weeks to service that debt rather than even to take care of your life. Over 50 percent of just to pay the bills, but I'm thankful that God doesn't just care about our eternity.

He cares about our today, and he speaks to our today. The book of Proverbs has an incredible amount to say. Jesus had an incredible amount to say about finances and about money. Proverbs teaches us how to work. It teaches us how to save. It teaches us how to spend and give, how to avoid unnecessary debt. And ultimately, how to honor God with everything that He's entrusted to us. Here's one example. Proverbs 15, 16, "Better to have a little with the fear of the Lord than a great wealth and live in turmoil, to not fear the Lord, and to live in turmoil." There's something, another proverb says, "There's something more valuable than rubies, more precious than gold, and it's the wisdom of God. It's not having more money. It's the wisdom with what to do with the money that you have. You can make a lot of money and still make foolish decisions." And you can have very little money and still live a life of incredible wisdom. So here's what Proverbs 30 instructs us in. This is the prayer of the author. If I grow rich, I may deny you and say, "Who is the Lord? I can depend on myself. I have all that I need. I'm able to provide. It's the sin of self-sufficiency. I don't even need God. I'm doing so well." Or if I'm too poor, I may steal. I don't have enough. And so I have to figure out, I have to compromise and insult God's law and His name in order to provide the writer of Proverbs, says, "Don't let me land in either of one of those, but God just give me what I need.

Give me enough." I'm not saying today that being rich is bad and having enough is bad. I'm not preaching you a poverty gospel that to be godly you got to get by unvery, very little. There are some who through greed and there are some who through poor stewardship have little and they blame God. I don't take care. I don't steward what I have and it's God's fault for not providing for me. I'm also not saying that being poor or having little is bad. This is not a prosperity gospel that if you follow Jesus, everything you touch should be blessed. There are some who through greed and unrighteous gains have much and they blame God saying, "I'm blessed when the reality is God is not in your money." The call then is to be faithful and steward what you have, whether much or little while still maintaining a dependence on God. The mandate is to be faithful and to steward what you have, whether much or little while maintaining an active dependence on God. The goal isn't to have so much that you no longer need God or so little that you're constantly desperate. The goal is to honor God with whatever he's entrusted to you. Here's what I've learned. You don't have to have more to start stewarding what you have better. Proverbs teaches us how do we honor God with our money? What does it look like? It starts here. You've got to make money wisely. I'm not saying be smart, get ahead of everybody else, have the knowledge to make money. I'm saying make money with wisdom. Don't make money foolishly. Don't make money in an evil way.

How you make money matters just as much as how much money you make. God doesn't just care about the what, he cares about the how, like how you got there. In fact, the proverbs say it this way, dishonest money dwindles away, but whoever gathers money little by little makes it grow. There's a way to live outside of the blessing of God that he has for your life where you can kind of make it work or you can cheat your way through, but God's not in it. There's not going to be any blessing. There's not going to be any multiplication. There's not going to be any favor or any grace. You're going to have to work hard or cheat more to maintain it, but the Bible says little by little faithful step after faithful step. God brings about blessing for those who follow him, see the safeguard to making money the right way is to do it with wisdom. Not foolishly and not in a way that's evil. What does it mean to make money foolishly? Here's the theology that's going to mess with some of you. Hard work is spiritual. So wise, work hard, and I'm saying this in the midst of an anti-work culture. I want to be an influencer on Instagram who travels to every beach in America and everybody else pays for me to do it. But the reality of Scripture is God worked hard for six days and he rested for one. to work it and take care of it. That was not after the fall. That was not because of sin that they had to work. It was in the Edenic ideal of scripture, walking and talking with God. Before sin, God places Adam and Eve, and he says, name the animals, work the garden. Enjoy what I've put around you, but maintain it. Like work is spiritual.

This was pre-fall. It was not punishment from God to work in the garden. The word work here is very closely related to the word worship. And so hard work can actually be worship. Going to a job that you don't love, but doing it unto the Lord can be a form of worship. God, I don't want to, I don't even like these people. I don't really want to be here today. I don't like this job, but God, I'm thankful you gave it to me. They're going to know that I'm not working for them, and I'm not working for a paycheck. I'm working because I'm a follower of Jesus. This is not just work. This is work-ship right now happening in my life. It's an attitude. It's a condition of the heart. It's worship. To be able to work and to choose not to work, expecting others to supply your needs, I believe is the opposite of worship. Obviously for some, your work of raising kids or not seeing a paycheck yet for some reason or helping others doesn't always garner a paycheck. And I'm not speaking about that. I'm talking about a heart posture that is willing to work hard in whatever God has called you to do. Being faithful wherever God has placed you. This is wisdom. Wisdom also means doing what is godly and right

rather than doing what is evil and how you make money. What does that mean? Wisdom means not stealing from Caesar in Matthew 22. It means you pay your taxes. Wisdom means not taking advantage of others for dishonest gain, taking a little extra cut off the top or keeping a little that you weren't meant to keep or somebody else suffering so that you could gain wisdom says I'm going to do what is right before God and before man. There's a guy named James Cash Penney. You can guess what retail store he's associated with. He's the founder of JC Penney, which for some of you used to be cool back in the day, right? And he believed that business should be built on something more than just making money. His Christian convictions shaped the way he approached his customers and his employees. And eventually, even his profits, he makes sure that his employees had a share in ownership. Of the company in 1902, he became a partner in a small, dry, good store in Wyoming. The store was called the Golden Rule. Inspired by Jesus teaching to treat others as you would want to be treated. And his philosophy was simple. We're going to treat people fair. We're going to sell quality merchandise at fair prices. And we're going to build a business that people can trust. And that little store eventually grew into one of America's most recognizable retail chains.

Now here's the part that you for sure haven't heard. His first business was a butcher shop. And it failed because he refused to provide special favors to an influential customer. His integrity initially cost him his business. Don't do evil by sacrificing your character or your values to increase your wealth. Because integrity may cost you something in the short term, but over the long term, it builds you something that money can never buy, trust and character. It's a core of godliness. And also don't be foolish. Work diligently rather than chasing quick wealth. There's a crisis happening in America right now. And I'm going to talk about it. Because it's happening amongst young men. And that crisis is a sports betting crisis. In 2024, UCLA led a study that found that legal sports gambling was associated with increased bankruptcy, debt collection, and auto loan delinquency with stronger effects among young men, especially those in lower income counties. You can say, well, what's the problem with betting on a game? Is it wise? Are you hiding it? We say in our family, when you're tempted to hide something, you should probably show it. And when you're tempted to show something, you should probably hide it. But ultimately, it's this idea and this hope that I can win wealth rather than building it patiently.

And let me just speak to my generation and the next generation. You're not entitled to the title that somebody, a generation before you, has worked hard for years to come to, just because you want it. And you're not entitled to, or getting rich quick, just because you desire it. What took somebody else a lifetime to build and to earn should be seen as sacred. And it should motivate us little by little. Diligently, most people are not gonna become millionaires by their great social media reels. So build wealth patiently and with integrity. And when God puts you through the process of the slow earn and the slow burn, it means that he's developing character in you. And if you try to skip that, you're actually gonna end up lacking something even if you acquire everything. So once you've made money, how can you be intentional with it? Make your money wisely, but also manage your money faithfully. Proverbs 21.5 says it this way, watch this, the plans of the diligently to profit. The plans of the diligently to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty. I know this is Proverbs, but this is, these are the principles that resound throughout scripture. It's not just whether you have money,

it's how you handle it that matters. And the safeguard to managing money faithfully is this word that the Bible uses called stewardship. Will I be faithful with what God has given me? What did the Proverbs say? The plans of the diligent, the plans of the diligent, not the haste, not impulsivity. Listen, if you don't manage money, how many of you know money will manage you? You get paid, you don't manage it, you just go buy whatever you wanna buy and you still got a week before you paid again, all of a sudden that money is managing you. That fear, that lack that where's it gonna come from is now dictating every day, counting down the hours until that next paycheck comes. Somebody once said money is a wonderful servant when you have it, but it's a terrible master. Most of us know what it feels like when it seems like it might run out. Here's a myth I wanna address today. Making a lot of money doesn't take, making a lot of money doesn't take diligence or planning. The people that have money got lucky, they got a big inheritance check or they got some of that North Dakota oil on their land. (audience laughs) Here's the reality, 10,000 millionaires, people with a million dollars to their name, through assets and cash and all these things,

were studied by Ramsey Solutions to understand how they came to have a million dollars. Here's what they found. This is not about you becoming a millionaire, I just want you to see the principal here. The principal is three out of five of their careers were engineers of the top careers, were engineers, accountants and teachers. Three out of every four said that regular, consistent investing over a long period of time led to their success. 94% said they still, even though they have a million now, are living on less than they make. And nearly 75% of them never carried a credit card balance in their lives. They still spend $200 or less a month eating out. 80% came from families at or below the middle income level. A third never made six figures in their salary in their entire lives. 79% did not receive any inheritance at all from family members and 85% make shopping lists and still at least stick to them, or at least kind of stick to them. What is that saying? Diligence, little by little. Stewardship is actually what brings about godly financial security. Wisdom is not about how much you have but how faithfully you manage it.

So real practically today, how do you manage it? You might say, Pastor Josh, you're kind of just like insulting our intelligence. I sit with student after student, couple after couple and ask a basic question, do you have a budget? And the majority of the time they say, well, we made one, but we don't follow it. Or we didn't know if it was important. How do you manage it? Budget and plan ahead. Set a budget. Track what you're spending and tell your money where to go. 'Cause if you don't tell your money where to go, how many of you know? (audience laughing) All of a sudden you go, where did that go? The goal, actually, here's another proverb, I'll just give you one more. It says, "The wise store up choice food and olive oil, but fools just go up there's down." Right, and then all of a sudden it's gone. The goal is to actually spend less than you make to live within your means. Not what you want your means to be or how much you want to make but to live within your means, to know what you have each month and steward it. And this brings about an obvious conversation

about what it means to manage debt in your life. Here's what I'll just say about debt quickly. Not all debt is equal, but all debt creates an obligation. At the end of the day, debt is debt. And many of you know, the proverb around debt. If you owe something to somebody, you owe them something." And so the Bible doesn't say that all debt is a sin, but it does warn us about the dangers of being in debt. It warns us to avoid unnecessary debt, to avoid financial bondage. There's a difference between, I believe, between borrowing money to build something of lasting value, like a reasonable mortgage on a home. And borrowing money to maintain a lifestyle that you really can't afford. To borrow on the furniture, to borrow on the new car, to borrow on the hobby that you love to spend money on. Just because you can afford a monthly payment doesn't mean you can afford the purchase. I feel like I'm insulting your intelligence, but I know that there's people in debt up to their eyeballs today and I'm trying to help you. When Genan and I got married, we had a lot of student financial debt. And it is something that could have ripped us apart. We could have went to bed at night fighting about it. Our spending habits are different. It could become a source of conflict between us, but we looked at each other when we got married and we said it's no longer your debt and my debt,

it's our debt, and we're gonna tackle it together. And God built a stronger marriage out of an area where we were weak because we chose to be on the same page. And we didn't eat out. We lived out of cash and envelopes for like seven years of our lives. We said notifications. We did everything that we could so that we could have peace in our minds and not be in financial bondage to that loan. My hope for you today is that you can find that same kind of freedom, make your money wisely, manage it faithfully and you gotta view money properly. You gotta view it properly. At the very core of this is not just the words, but the heart posture that says everything I have belongs to the Lord. If I have anything, it came from him. And the same God that has given can easily take away. Everything I have belongs to the Lord. And it's inviting him, his lordship into an area of our life that some of us feel shame about or embarrassed about or don't wanna talk about. And saying, God, what do you want with my money? One person gives freely yet gains even more. Another withholds unduly but comes to poverty. A generous person will prosper. This is the word of the Lord. Whoever refreshes others will be refreshed. People curse the one who hoards grain, but they pray God's blessing on the one who's willing to sell. Whoever seeks good finds favor,

but evil comes to the one who searches for it. Those who trust in their riches will fall. Is it bad to have riches? No, but when you trust in it, it becomes a source of all kinds of evil in your life. It's a trust issue. Those who trust in their riches will fall, but the righteous will thrive like a green leaf. The righteous will thrive like a green leaf. How you view money matters. I'm not even making an appeal today. I have no ulterior motive. But when you read scripture again and again and again, the safeguard to viewing money the wrong way, the safeguard against viewing money the wrong way, is generosity. The Bible says it over and over and over again. It's better to give than it is received. Just this week, we were at home. We're having a nice relaxed day. And all of a sudden, Janae is cooking and she's buying, she's like in home goods for an eerie amount of time. We get home and she has these like 10 gift bags and she starts filling them all with stuff. And she goes, we're delivering past your appreciation gifts and Christmas gifts to all the staff. I was like, now? And sure enough, throw the kids in the car. They're wearing like reindeer antlers.

I'm like, it's barely November. And drive around every home. I'm thanking God that even amongst me who can have a scarcity mindset, God has put a generous woman in my life who reminds me the antidote to my fear of money and what might happen is generosity towards others. And sure enough, we got halfway into that little drive around town and there was a joy in the car, there was a joy in our hearts. The safeguard is generosity. It's living with open hands. I have a friend who, everybody else in their friend group was building newer, nicer homes. And they decided that they were gonna downsize. It's not easy, I get it. It's not easy to look around and go, everybody else seems to be having more and more and I'm gonna choose to have less. And they sold their house, they made a little money off of it and because they weren't investing in something bigger, they had a little left over and they gave a huge chunk of that money to the kingdom, not to start a new ministry, that couple's generosity. All they got was a thank you card. But that life I'm telling you was changed for eternity. So what matters more? That's what they asked. This one life or the bigger house? What's going to last in eternity? The one life of the bigger house? I'm not saying you can't build a bigger house. I'm saying you got to live a life of generosity. The Bible is clear

with the tithe, with giving, that there's a part of what you earn that belongs to God. He says, "Give it back to me. Return it to me." And he says, "Test me." It's the one area of scripture. He says, "Test me with it." The Bible is clear. What you do for the physically and spiritually poor, you do unto Christ. You're not just doing it for yourself or your own conscience. You're literally doing it as unto the Lord. The Bible is clear. As a lifestyle, we're not meant to practice accumulation, storing up treasures on earth, in storage units that we don't ever touch, but storing up treasures in heaven. It's more blessed to give than it is to receive. It leaves me with one final thought of verse that I skipped over in Proverbs 30. I went through it quickly, but here's what it says. God, give me just enough. The question becomes, what is enough? How much more is enough? How much do I need for it to be enough? See, we think enough is an amount. If I just had a little bit more, I'd be more generous. If I just had $10,000 more a year, my family would be secure. If I just had a couple assets more, like in my house, it's a four-wheeler. All we need is a dad is a four-wheeler. But if you don't define what enough is, then enough will always mean more. Isn't that true? You think you have enough, and then you're like, oh, I just had a little more. The reality is enough is not an asset or an amount, enough is a condition of the heart. It will never be an asset. That's why Paul said, I can be content with little. I could serve God faithfully in prison, and I can be content with much. Because it's not about an amount, enough is a condition of the heart. If enough is an amount or an asset, that number will keep moving, what was enough becomes not enough. But if enough is a condition of the heart, then enough means being grateful for what you have, stewarding it well, and trusting God with the difference. What if the gap, financially for you even, is not about you figuring out how to provide more, but that gap is the faith gap. Where you say, God, I'm going to steward what I have, I'm going to manage it well, and I'm going to trust you for the difference. Will it ever be enough? Enough is not another asset. It's not a little bit more. Enough is a condition of the heart that says, God, you are my provider. You are Jehovah Jirer, the God who provides. So I'm going to be faithful with what I have. I'm going to manage it wisely. I'm going to trust you with it. But I'm also going to trust you with the difference. So I want to leave you just with a couple of reflection questions today. You can write these down. Maybe think about them, put them to the Lord today or throughout this week.

Ask yourself these questions. Am I being wise, foolish, or evil in how I make money? And is the Lord offering me a correction to my course today? Am I being wise, foolish, or evil, and how I manage money? Is there something I need to stop, something I need to do different, something I need to see differently, something I need to confess, something I need to get right, something I need to actually go out and do. Remember, foolishness is to hear what you ought to do, write it in your notebook, and never pick it up again. Wisdom goes out and does what the Lord has said. Last question, am I being wise, foolish, or evil in how I view money? That whole joke about the mangoes, that is me having to go, Lord, that is foolish, and that is evil. You are my source. I trust you. I'm telling you, if you take these things and you pray and you listen for God's voice, and then you obey in due time, there's going to be a wow. God helped us. God provided for us. And maybe you're hurting and you're like, "Pass a dress. This message is a little too basic for us. We have a budget. We have money put away. We give." Well, that's great because I perfectly positioned you to pray about how to bless God's kingdom next weekend, if that's where you're at. Maybe you're here today and you're not in a relationship with Jesus. I'll give you the same application I just gave everybody else, pray. Listen for his voice that says, "Come to me. You are weary and heavy laden. I will give you rest. Bring your sin to me. Bring your burdens to me." And watch for the wow as the Holy Spirit moves in and begins to illuminate God's word to you, begins to speak God's voice to you. So come on all across the stream, everybody online, let's take a moment, let's close our eyes. Where you rush to get out of here, try to be the first one out of the parking lot. Just pray, just ask him, "Lord, what are you speaking to me? What are you speaking about my family? Where am I being wise? Where am I being foolish? Is there any evil in me?" I trust Holy Spirit to speak to you. [Music], Lord, what are you speaking about? [Music], Lord, what are you speaking about?

[Music], Lord, what are you speaking about? Holy Spirit, we invite you even now to show us where our hearts have been hardened. Lord, we invite you right now to show us where we've been foolish or evil. And Lord, as we've heard your word and as we open your word this week, ask that you would instruct us on wisdom. Lord, I know there's parents here that are struggling on how to parent. There's spouses here that are struggling with how to be married. There's students here who are wrestling with their identity and their faith. There's young adults here who are struggling with their life direction. And Lord, you promise to direct our steps as we walk in wisdom. So above answers and above quick fixes. We submit ourselves to you and ask that you would direct our steps, that we'd be counted among the wise in the way that we live and in the way that we honor you. We thank you, Jesus, for your word and we esteem it. We hold it above our own ideas and opinions and we submit to it in Jesus' name. Come on, let's say amen. Amen. [BLANK_AUDIO]