But look at Proverbs chapter 26 tonight. Go down to verse number 13 this evening. The Bible said the slothful man saith, there is a line in the way. A line is in the streets. As the door turneth upon his hinges, so doth the slothful upon the bed. The slothful hideth his hand in his bosom. It grieved him to bring it again to his mouth. The sluggard is wise in his own conceit. that can render a reason. Let's pray. Heavenly follower, we thank you again for this evening. Thank you for being so good to us. Thank you just for an opportunity, Lord, to meet together on a Wednesday night. Lord, I'm thankful where two or three are gathered. Lord, you're in the midst thereof. Lord, and I'm thankful tonight, Lord, you knew exactly who was gonna be here tonight, Lord. And Lord, you also knew who wasn't gonna be here tonight. Lord, I'm thankful, Lord, just for an opportunity to open up the Bible again. Lord, we thank you for the time of prayer. We thank you, Lord, for the song service. Thank you for the congregationals. But I pray, Lord, tonight, as we get into the word of God and the preaching of it, Lord, it's not important because I'm the one doing it, Lord. It's important because it's the precedent that you set, Lord. And I pray, Lord, tonight, as you have me behind the cross of Calvary, God, in the name of myself, fill me with the spirit of God. Use me one more time for your glory. God, give us wisdom tonight. Lord, we're in need of it. Lord, we don't have it all tonight. Lord, we're looking, Lord, for discernment and help tonight in our everyday life. Lord, your word still says that the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. And I pray, Lord, tonight, Lord, you give us some wisdom on how to walk and what we need to do in our Christian life and how to deal, not just with people, God, but with attitudes and personalities along the way as well, Lord. Help us tonight, Lord, only as you can. Lord, we love you, we thank you in Jesus' name we pray. Amen and amen. I might have stepped out on a limb there, but I'm speaking for myself How many y'all still need wisdom tonight? Amen. All right, just making sure tonight, but we come here to Proverbs 726 last week We looked at the fool tonight. We are reintroduced to the slothful and the sluggard tonight And now the way I want to introduce tonight now you may know somebody who's an identical twin I don't know if you ever met somebody I believe brother Smokey is Ms. Hilda's husband had, I don't know if he was an identical twin, but he looked real close to him. Matter of fact, when we had Brother Smokey's funeral and he stood up, I thought, who is that? You know, it kind of takes you back a little bit, takes you by surprise tonight. But really, I've gotten to thinking about this thought as a parent who has, you know, four children, and I still get their names mixed up, especially those that are living with us now. I'll call them all by their siblings' name, not on purpose. I remember being a kid, like that used to aggravate me when my dad did that. Now I find myself doing that. And so I probably need to call my dad and apologize. It's just how it happens. But I couldn't imagine tonight, and it would be hard for me to try to keep two identical kids separate in that sense, where they look the same, have the same features, same mannerisms, really the only difference is their name. And I'd probably tell Ms. Beckwith, we gotta mark one of their names, one of their feet with one of their names, and the other foot with the other name on it. That way I can know who's who, and still, it'd probably end up getting their names wrong, but in Proverbs 26, that we are introduced again to a set of identical twins. It is the slothful and the sluggard. You say, what do you mean by that, preacher? Well, twin one is the slothful, twin two is the sluggard tonight. Now we have known, now we would have known that these were identical twins but up until this point in Proverbs they've not been mentioned together in the same chapter. See, in Proverbs 12, 15, 18, 21, 22, and then 24, and then in 26 tonight, we are introduced to the slothful. And then in Proverbs 6, 10, 13, and 20, we are introduced to the sluggard. We are told about both these people, or both these twins tonight, but as we examine the scriptures and we look at Proverbs 26 tonight, we'll find out that the slothful and the sluggard are really one in the same. Right, understand that tonight they are, the only thing that separates them really are their names given. One is the slothful, one is the sluggard tonight, but in reality they are one in the same. So I want you to notice number one tonight, as we're looking at the slothful and the sluggard tonight, is number one, notice the definition of these twins. The definition of these twins. Now if you look at both these words up in your Strong's Concordance, sluggard and slothful, matter of fact, they will have the same definition. And here's the interesting thing, if you look up in your Strong's Concordance, if you look at the word slothful, you'll find slothful, sluggard. If you look at the word sluggard, you'll find slothful, sluggard. Right, it's the same thing, it's one of those, and I always, what's the word, it not inspired me, but always amazed me how Strongs could define the word that you were trying to find with the word you're trying to find. Right, he would define sluggard with sluggard, and slothful with slothful, but they both, both words contain slothful and sluggard. Tonight I wanna speak to you, how can two different words have the same meaning? How can the word slothful and the word sluggard have the same definition? Well, the reason why is they both come from the same Hebrew word. Both come from the same Hebrew word, and that is the word astal. I don't know if that's right or not and how it's pronounced, but that's how it was wrote down in the concordance, which means to lean idly, to be indolent. I don't know what that means. It means lazy and lethargic. or to be slack, right? Now, you ever met somebody who's, man, you need to quit slacking off, right? What are we saying? You need to get back to business, you need to keep doing, quit leaning on the wall. I remember growing up, when we went to middle school, there was one thing at C.T. Walker that was almost the unpardonable sin, that was leaning against the wall. If you were in line and you were not allowed to lean against the wall, my teacher would always say, that wall's already holding up the building, don't need to hold you up too. Right, it's one of those things, but it gives a picture of someone leaning idly, just leaning against the wall and just hanging out, taking it easy, in that sense, to be lazy or lethargic. Now, what should that do for us as a Christian? It should eliminate the desire for comparison or compromise, right? That is something that we ought not to even desire either one of those to be something that characterizes us, not because they're one and the same, right? It's not me walking around saying, well, I might be slothful, but at least I'm not a sluggard. Or I might be a slugger, but at least I'm not slothful. The reality is if you're one, you're the other. And if you're the other, then you're the one. They go hand in hand. Neither of these terms should be tied to the Christian. Right, there ought to be a desire in our life, if I'm not gonna be anything in my Christian life, I'm not going to be slothful. I'm not going to be a slugger tonight. The slothful and the sluggard aren't doing any kind of meaningful work. No, preacher, I'm just working smarter, not harder. No, that's called ingenuity. That means you were already working, you just found out a better way to work. A slothful and sluggard is you're not doing anything at all. You are the word, and I understand, call me a lot of things. But man, you wanna see me get hot, call me lazy. I think that's inbred in every man tonight. You can call me a whole lot of things, but if you call me lazy, we're fixing to fight. And because we feel like we do meaningful work, we ought to be doing that tonight, but there's something we ought to desire. Don't allow that definition to define us tonight in our Christian life. Matter of fact, tonight the Bible never attaches that kind of definition to the Christian life. Matter of fact, in 2 Peter 1 5, it says, and besides this, giving all diligence. Add to your faith virtue into virtue knowledge, and it goes down a whole list of things in the following chapters. But he realized that the Christian life is not a regressing life, right? It is not, well, I started on fire and I ended as an ember. Rather it is, I started as fire and I kept blazing and blazing and blazing for the glory of God. And that says, Lord, help my fire to burn brighter as the days go on. Lord, I don't wanna start out as a bonfire and end as a little matchstick. Lord, I wanna start as a bonfire and be a great fire for the glory of God. Well, you can't accomplish that through slothfulness. You can't accomplish that while being a sluggard. You can't accomplish that allowing laziness a place in your life. Remember the Bible says, neither give place to Satan. Right, there's a lot of places in our life, if we're not careful, we'll turn them over to Satan, and it gives Satan a door into our life, one of those being laziness. right, and being slothful or being a slugger tonight. That word diligence there in 2 Peter 1, 5, it means with eagerness and earnestness. In essence, the Bible is saying that giving all eagerness, in essence, be eager to, Lord, what do you have me to do today? But when's the last time we got up and sincerely prayed? Not just because we know it's what we're supposed to say, but we got up with an eagerness in our heart and a sincerity in our heart tonight and an earnestness in our spirit that God has something for me to do today. Let me ask you, do you think God has something for you to do today? You think God had a divine plan for your life today? Well, did you fulfill it? Right, we ought to get up every day with that eagerness. God, I know you've got something from your word for me today, and I'm gonna read it, and I'm gonna find it, and I'm gonna enjoy it, I'm gonna meditate on it, I'm gonna chew on it, and it's gonna change the course of my life. You realize tonight one verse can change the course of your life? 2 Peter 1.5, it requires diligence, to be diligent at it, to be eager, to be earnest with it. Colossians 3.23, and whatsoever you do, do it heartily, as in the Lord, and not unto men. Right, that word heartily means with all vitality in spirit. Did you give Jesus all your life today? Right, or did we slack off on some areas? Did we become slothful in some areas? Did we become a sluggard in some areas? In essence, there's a lot of things that I wouldn't mind, well, I'm not really a big pet person, but I could understand they're in the realm of normal pets. Tonight, a slug isn't one of those. What do you want it to do, just barely move around all day? Then again, there's probably some of y'all had pet rocks back in the day. Pray for mine, he didn't make it. No, but hardly, all vitality and spirit. Did I give the Lord all my life today? Right, I understand when we got saved, we gave him our heart. I understand that, right, we believed upon him. But every day is a choice to give God my life. Lord, you have this 24-hour period if you give it to me. Lord, every second of my day is really yours. And Lord, help me to spend in a wise way, in a way that brings glory unto you. Lord, help me not become slothful and sluggish in the things I ought to be diligent in, the things I ought to be heartily in. And then Joshua 24, 14, right before that, Joshua 24, 15, right, that's the one that Hobby Lobby's made a lot of money on. Ask for me and my house, but we will serve the Lord. Right, that's Joshua 24, 15, but right before that, Joshua, a dying man, really, it's his last address to the people of God. He says, now therefore, fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity. Serve him in sincerity, in entirety, in integrity. What could we say today if we had to fill out a card saying I've been a person of integrity when it comes to serving God? Or have I allowed myself to become slothful in some areas? Have I allowed myself to become slacking in some areas? Sluggish in some areas? So we see the definition of the twins tonight. And really, you can look at it this way. The sluggard is more of the noun version of it. To be a sluggard, you are a sluggard. Slothful is more the adjective. form of the word. The Bible said the slothful man is the word that defines the man that is there, but in reality tonight you can almost use them interchangeably and they carry the same understanding why they come from the same word. We see the definition tonight of these twins. Are there areas in your life that are weakening and shrinking simply because you become slothful, right? You become sluggish concerning them. Then notice number two tonight, the diagnosis of the twins. We got the definition of twins, we got the diagnosis. How in the world do I spot these twins? How in the world do I see these twins out in the real world? Just watch them, right? Do you realize tonight that everybody's actions give them away? and everybody's attitudes give them away. Now you can't listen per se to the slugger, because the slugger's gonna, we're gonna find out, he's got some words to say. He's got something that he's gonna say, or she's going to say in that sense, that sounds really good, but really you just gotta look for the symptoms. Right, you gotta look to the symptoms, and when you take those symptoms and line them up to the word of God, God's word will help you pinpoint, that's a sluggard right there. Or I become slothful in that area this evening. And the slothful is already easy to diagnose when you know what you're looking for. Now tonight, it's not like you and I, if we have a few symptoms, we put them into Google. You ever done that? I've got a slightly runny nose, a mild cough. This is speaking hypothetically tonight. I got a slightly runny nose, mild cough, and itchy throat. You type that into Google and you've got the bubonic plague. Right, tonight it's not guess where we're at. I think that might be a slugger, but I'm not sure, therefore I'm gonna label him one. No, we don't have to, in the Christian life, we don't have to live off assumption. Right, we can take God's word and let God's word pinpoint, because right, now here's the thing, so preacher, what's wrong with hanging out with a slugger? What's wrong with hanging out with a slothful? If you're not careful, that's what you will become. My dad always told me, show me who your friends are, I'll show you who you are. right that always whether we like to admit or not those who we've associated with those who we fellowship with those who we spend time with we rub off on each other whether whether we realize it or not tonight you said well preacher I'm gonna be able to pull everybody up tonight can I say it's a hundred times need to pull somebody down and just to pull somebody up remember we were in Sunday school one time miss Becky with illustrators the children and and and I think either she stood up on a chair or somebody stood up on chair and she said all right Pull me down, and without, with ease, they pulled her down. Now she said, I'm gonna pull you up, but she couldn't pull him up. And we gotta realize tonight that that's how it is in the Christian life. We're not careful, right? Those that we closely fellowship with and associate with, right, if they're the slothful, then their ways are gonna rub off on us. It's just how we operate as human beings. Now when you use the scriptures, it makes the qualities and the characteristics of the slothful pretty much undeniable. You can pinpoint it, you can see it. Notice number one under this idea of the diagnosis of the, what symptoms am I looking for? What signs am I looking for that I might rightly diagnose these twins? And I notice they're extravagant excuses. They're extravagant excuses. Look at verse number 13 tonight. The Bible said the slothful man, say if there is a lion in the way. A lion in the streets, well that sounds serious. Could you imagine tonight if I got on band, I got on Facebook, and I put the word out through text messages, hey, there's a line in the parking lot of the church? You'd probably say, you know what? I'm not sure about that. I left my whip and chair at the house. I don't know if I can tame this bad boy or not. But you gotta realize tonight, when this is put into Proverbs, this excuse that the slothful man is giving here is rather extravagant. Matter of fact, I was curious. You know, in your Old Testament, there were five men in the entirety of the Old Testament who had a head-on encounter with a lion, right? There was Samson, there was David, there has been an eye, one of David's mighty men said he slew a lion in a pit, and a lion like men. There was a disobedient prophet in 1 Kings who was slayed by a lion, and then there's Daniel who's thrown into a den of lions, which is far more dangerous than a lion's den. But here's the thing, none of those men met a line in the streets. You know, there's no recorded written record in your Old Testament of anybody walking into a line in the middle of the streets of Jerusalem or in the streets of Israel. Right, but here's the thing, interestingly enough, none of these men had an encounter in the line of the streets. Really, the last three of those men would not have been, their life hadn't happened yet when Solomon is writing this. Right, and describing the slothful man. Here's the thing, the slothful doesn't care, the lazy person doesn't care about the farfetchedness or the insanity of their excuse, they just wanna be excused. Right, the slothful man, I can't do that because there's a line out in the streets. There ain't no line out there. Definitely not in the streets. Right, it's an oddity. I'm not saying it's an impossibility, I'm saying it's highly improbable. Right, just like it is in our day and age now, if someone were to say, hey, there's a bear going down Highway 88, he's lost. I don't know where he came from. I do know there was one that got out of the zoo many, many years ago. Right, but that's highly improbable. The sloth doesn't care about the far-fetchedness and insanity, they just wanna be excused. Right, they'll work harder at coming with an excuse than actually working. Right, they'll come over there, they'll work hard at excuse and try to accomplish something good and meaningful in their life. They'll work harder to make an excuse than rather doing that. Right, and here sometimes, right, man, I wrote out some crazy ones here tonight. I said, I can't read my Bible. Well, why not? What happens if I get a paper cut and I bleed out? That's far-fetched. I can't pray today. What if someone hears me praying for them and they get offended about it? Well, find somewhere where no one can hear you. can't attend church tonight, why not? It's supposed to be around 32 degrees tonight preacher, what if my pipes burst? I'd rather be at church amen. But here's the thing, just because you can think of an excuse doesn't mean it's a good one. Now there are there are definitely not there are reasons, there's good reasons why you may not be able to attend church, you might not be able to read your Bible, you might not be able to pray in the normal way tonight. There's no doubt there's reasons tonight. You're legitimately sick, I understand that. You're somewhere where you can't get your Bible, I understand that tonight. But when there's that excuse of I'm not even gonna put any effort, I'm just gonna think of an excuse, I'm gonna put more effort into my excuse than I do in my desire to do something, that puts you and I in the realm of the slothful and the sluggard. Rather than extravagant excuses, notice this, they're exhausting comfort. They're exhausted, look at verse number 14. As the door turneth upon its hinges, so doth the slothful upon his bed. Right now, now don't let them fool you just because someone is slothful or a slugger doesn't mean that they just lay around and don't do anything all day and never get out of bed. Some sluggers stay busy trying to get comfortable. Some sluggers stay busy trying to find a place of comfort and when they can't find it, I can hear them complaining. and getting upset about. Notice the illustration, like a door on hinges turning side to side. Now, as you grow older, I understand or not, that as you grow older, that bed becomes less and less comfortable. It's hard to find a comfortable position when you go to bed at night. I'm not talking about that tonight. But I understand that because of physical ailments and whatnot, you might not be able to sleep as good as you once did. That's not what the Bible's talking about here. The Bible talks about the slothful person just turns over, and they're just looking for comfort. They're not looking for any kind of work. They're not looking for any kind of goal. They're just trying to get comfortable. I just wanna get comfortable. And I'm gonna complain about me not having any kind of comfort. I'm exhausted from trying to find a comfortable position. Not because they're in pain, they're just lazy. I remember, and I've shared this here before, I remember we went out to visit my grandfather, my dad's dad, a few years ago. He's 96 this year. And he just turned 96 back in November. And I think he was 91, 92 years old. And he said, Tate, I don't sleep good anymore. I said, well, why not, Grandpa? He said, I don't work hard enough anymore. And you're 92 years old. I think you've worked hard enough. He had just got rid of his cows, either the year before or that year. And he said, no, no, no. He said, in order for me to sleep good, I got to work hard. And he said that, and he literally physically can't do that. He's still mentally still sharp as a whip. Right, but in essence tonight, the same thing is true. And I'm not saying, right, the Bible does say God gives his beloved sleep. Now, I'm not saying that, you gotta say all this to make sure you don't offend nobody for unnecessary reasons. I'm not talking about things like sleep apnea and insomnia and different things like that, you know, medical issues tonight. We're talking about someone who's just lazy and all they do is turn around trying to get more comfortable. Right, there's not even no effort to go out and do anything. There's no effort to achieve goals, no effort to live for God. I just wanna turn around in my bed and find something comfortable. They exhaust themselves trying to become comfortable. Then notice verse number 15, we see their self-inflicted damage. We see their self-inflicted damage, look at verse number 15. The slothful hideth his hand in his bosom. It grieveth him to bring it again to his mouth. Right, they're aggrieved to bring their hand to the mouth even though it is to feed themselves. Right, to better themselves in that sense. It's just too much effort and it's just too much work. Right, though they're not willing to put in the effort, they still expect somebody else to do it for them though. Ah, I can't do this for myself. Somebody's gotta take care of this for me. Couple weeks ago, someone told my wife that she was privileged because she had a husband and children that bought her Christmas gifts. Now, Miss Becky handled it very gracefully. She didn't blow up on the lady. She didn't scream at the lady. She just smiled, let her lady say her thing. And she said, I'm not privileged. And she said, now I am blessed. Right, but it's not a privilege in that sense of, well, just because you're married, all of a sudden, you know, we don't think we're better than nobody. But we have learned that God does bless obedience. Right, God does bless doing things the right way. But in essence, not to say we're privileged, I don't think, I'm not gonna go no further than that. I won't handle it like my wife did. But tonight, the slothful slugger, see, rather than doing right, rather than doing what is expected of them, rather than doing what is clearly outlined in the word of God, I'm too lazy to do that. The slothful says, I'm not doing that. I'm not raising my hand, I'm not taking my hand out of my bosom and bringing it to my mouth, even though that's what I'm supposed to do. Here's the thing about the slothful slugger would rather depend upon the pity of a diligent worker, right, than to become a diligent person themselves. One of the greatest lessons my parents ever taught me, I don't know if they realized they were teaching it to me or not, was from an early age, when I wanted something special, when I wanted something outside the normal things that parents are supposed to provide for their children. I had to pay for it. Or had to pay for half of it. Had to pay a certain price of it. I still remember to this day, I'm gonna show you my age right here, you know, being I was born in the last century. Some of you kids like to remind me. I was saving up, I went to the PX on Fort Gordon, and I'd put up a Sega Dreamcast on layaway. You know where that is, Jordan? No clue, do you? Somewhere between a PlayStation and a PlayStation 2. But I wanted that thing and my mom said, well, if you're gonna, if you're gonna, you want it, you're gonna pay for it. And so I'd go in there week after week after week after week and put, I don't know, ten, fifteen dollars down on layaway. And I was like two payments away from having that thing paid off and bringing it home. My mom read an article somewhere saying that they were discontinuing all Dreamcast games. And she said, I'm not gonna let you buy that because it's a waste of money. And you go back and to the store and cancel your layaway. Well, I did that. I also lost like $40 in the process. But I remember growing up that, hey, if you want it, you're gonna have to pay for it. It instilled in me that if I want something, I can't just expect people to hand it out to me. Or I can't just expect people to give it to me. Salvation is free, but salvation wasn't cheap. Jesus had to die for it, give his life for it. And in essence, we have to be careful becoming slothful and sluggards in our own personal life and yet expecting God to do everything for us in that sense. Lord, I'm not gonna read my Bible, but Lord, I want you to give me peace of mind. Lord, I'm not gonna pray, but I want you to show yourself faithful to me. Lord, I'm not gonna share the gospel, but I want you to let me be an effective soul winner for the cause of Christ. We can't be sluggish and slothful towards those things and expect them to work out. Let me ask you, do you know someone who exhibits these traits? That's great, but what about you? Do you sometimes struggle with these tendencies? Are you willing to correct them before they start defining you? Next to that, we all have the capability, we all even have the leaning towards this, right? Because this is what our flesh likes. Our flesh likes easy. Our flesh likes comfort. Our flesh likes convenience. Remember, convenience will always cost you. Right, but we see here tonight not only the diagnosis and also the definition, but notice it's the discernment that we need with these twins. The discernment we need with these twins. Look at verse number 16. The sluggard is wiser in his own conceit than seven men that can render a reason. Preacher, I got a slothful sluggard in my life. How do I deal with them? I tell you what I'm gonna do, Preacher. I'm gonna walk, I'm gonna be drill sergeant. I'm gonna whip them into shape. I'm gonna give them every reason why they're a sluggard and a slothful person. And the Bible said, in their own wise conceit, they're not gonna listen to you. What it said, the sluggard is wise in his own conceit. Oh, they got an answer for your reason. They got an excuse for it. There's a line in the street. No, there's not. Yes, there is. You ever argue with a two-year-old? Did you win? Well, it depends. Right, the reality is that when it comes to trying to argue your point to this and beating them over the head with it and straighten them out, it ain't gonna work. They've already seen your seven answers. It's like chess, there's seven moves ahead of you. They got seven excuses ready to go. They've been waiting on somebody to try them. And they're gonna let them have it. Now, tonight if you're raising them and that says they're living in your house and they're a child tonight and you're rearing them up, then you need to implement Proverbs 22 six, train a child on where they should go when they're old and not depart from it. Right, what do you mean by that, preacher? You need to not just tell them, hey, don't be lazy. Right, don't be a sluggard. Don't be slothful. Don't just tell them that, but show them the opposite of that. This is what a diligent person looks like. This is how a diligent person works. This is how we do things hardly as and to the Lord. Right, how do I do that? Through explanation. And then through example, but then also through inclusion. Right, let them come work hard with you. Let them see firsthand the benefits of putting in effort and benefits of getting up and being diligent about the day's business. If you're raising them up in your home, that's our responsibility as a parent, to train them up in the way they should go. To train them up in how to live a life, and when they're old, they will not depart from it. They learn those lessons early in life that hard work pays off. Now, we live in a society that sometimes we question that. Right? I think it'd just be easier for me to live off the government. Well, in society, it might be, but biblically, right? We are to work. We're to put in effort. We're not just to sit around and wait. We're to occupy till he comes. Well, we understand that tonight. Now, if you're just acquainted with them, or you share some kind of thing, right? And as a parent, we are to train that out of them, so to speak. We're to teach that out of them. Well, we are to bring them up in the way they're supposed to go. And the reality is that we like to blame everything on everybody else, but I think the majority of America's problems, we like to blame it on the education system, on the politicians, and even the churches, but I think there's a big, big failure on the parents' part in America. Matter of fact, I was listening to a man share his testimony a couple weeks ago, and he was sharing about where he grew up at, and him and his buddies sat down, and they thought about the 300 some kids that were in their graduating class. And they sat and thought out how many of those kids have both parents at home. He said, we can only come up with three kids out of 300. But there's a severe lack in our society of parenting, of having biblical-based parenting. Now understand tonight, life happens. I understand that some people are in situations that they didn't necessarily ask for, they're stepping in to do what is best, and in those situations we're praying for God's grace, and for God's leading, for God's helping those, and those principles still need to be installed, and there are inadequacies, and not inadequacies, but there's lacks there that are just happening because of the situation, and that's where God's grace comes in. or asking God to intervene in those situations. But tonight, there's a great need in our society for parents. We are slothful and sluggards when it comes to being parents. And they get upset when our children turn out that way. They're just emulating what they see. Now notice here tonight, but when it comes to someone you're acquainted with, someone that you are, maybe have some sort of relationship with them, they're not your children. Preach what I need to do with them. Verse number 16 makes it pretty clear. They're wise in their own conceit, and we take that back to verse number 12 tonight of this chapter. Right where the Bible says this, just a couple verses up. See thou, O man, wise in his own conceit, there is more hope of a fool than of him. We talked about it last week, you gotta learn to lead them in a place where God can deal with their heart. A man is wise in his own conceit, that's a heart issue, and you can't fix people's hearts. Or you can encourage them, you can bless their little heart. All you want to. But only God can change a man's heart. You can influence their mind, no doubt. And there's gonna be times, right, this isn't a mindset issue, this is a heart issue. Don't be afraid to tell them no. And you don't have to worry about explaining it to them. I need you to do this for me, I need this. Sorry, I can't do that. I love you, but unfortunately, I'm not gonna be able to do that. Well, why not? I just can't do it right now. Sometimes you have to remember in life that you don't always owe people an explanation. You're not always required to give one. Right, let your know, just let your know be know. I heard a man talking the other day, and on the joking side of things, his wife told him he needed to make sure that his kids, she said, you're too fun with them sometimes. You need to let your know be know. He said, but what if I'm raising salespeople? Sales people don't take no. Right, but remember verse number 12. These kinds of people can only be changed and helped by the Lord. What we need to do is allow them to get to a place where it's just them and the Lord. Right, where we take our hands off. I can't fix them. I can't drill sergeant them into place. I can't force them into place. I can't make them do anything. Listen, I love Miss Becky Dead. I can't make her do anything. She's her own person. She'll make her own choices. I love my kids to death. I can't make them choose right. Now, I can encourage them and teach them the value of it, but they're gonna make that choice for themselves. And while they're, as they're growing up, they choose otherwise, well, there are consequences to that. Well, we can't, we can't make those things. And so just the same, I make my own choices. Nobody drugged me up here tonight. Threw me on the platform and said, you better preach for us, preacher. Hope you got something together. No one brought me up here at gunpoint. This is a choice I made. The same thing is true when it comes to the sluggard. You're gonna have to help them get in a place where God can deal with their heart. How do you do that? By leaving them alone. Letting God deal with them. Remember verse number 12 of this chapter. These kinds of people can only be changed and helped by the Lord. Are there some slothful and sluggard people in your life that you've been trying to appease and fix, but really you're just aiding and abetting? Would you be willing to take your hands off so that the Lord can do his work. But how many think sometimes, Lord just needs to work through my hands? Lord, let me do it. Let me handle it. And the Lord says, no, calm down. Let me handle it. Right, we like to talk about how the battle's not mine, it's the Lord's, when it's those big battles like cancer and sickness and all that other kind of stuff. You know, sometimes there's relationships in your life. They're not your battle to fight. They're the Lord's. And one of those is the sloth from the slugger person. I'll preach, I'm with them in the shape. No, you won't. No, you won't. You want to get close to them, because they won't come to you, because there's a line in the streets. They've already got the excuse ready. But have me know tonight, there's one, we can give him every excuse in the book, he's going to see right through it. And that's God. And we need to learn to let them get into a place. We leave them alone. I'm not saying that you just write them off, never talk to them again. You see them at a family function, you just mean mug them. Right, be kind, be courteous, be a Christian in that sense. Right, but learn to, I gotta step away from this one. I can't fix this, but God can.