See him realize his life is through Feel the love burn from his eyes The older, tender girl As it is for him too Hear the one-armed Calvary as he cries Fade and flow I've done the work I came to do When the world tries to found you but you'll never win Just remember that the death for your sins is paid in full Serious children's voices scream to raise Some soldiers to mark his name We're his followers now, as they can boldly say We are every reason that he cares We're the ones who trust and some follow We do what only Christ can do For Jesus' blood and life, we may approach the Father's throne, and hear the words that He still calls to you. Paid in full, I've done the work I came to do Paid in full, I've paid the final price for you When the world tries to tell you that you'll never win Just remember that I'm here for you still This fading soul I found the way that I came to be Waiting for I pray that I'm finalized for you When the world tries to tell you that you'll never win Just imagine that's not just for yourself It's fading fast Fading fast Let's turn our Bibles tonight to the book of Proverbs. Book of Proverbs. Let's turn to Proverbs 11 and verse 25 and let's look at all three of these verses. There are three places in the book of Proverbs and only three where God says that he's made a promise. He's made a covenant. He's given his word to make people prosperous to bless them. and he uses the words so-and-so shall be made fat. He says that the liberal soul shall be made fat or blessed or prospered. And he says that the soul of the diligent shall be made fat, blessed and prospered. And then he says that the soul of those who trust in him shall be made fat. He promises that they also will be blessed and prospered. And I was thinking just a second ago that that, you know, with so much people are so carried away with this prosperity gospel that you hear from these different people on television and radio and the charismatic types and so on and so forth, that sometimes I think God's people and preachers shy away from the truth. They they just don't want to be connected and identified with that kind of teaching. but it's a shame when we let people rob us of real truth that's in the Bible. And we need to see it. We need to receive the blessings that God has for us. And so tonight, when you look at Proverbs 11, let's just stand together as we read these three verses together. In Proverbs 11, verse 25, some real good teaching here. In Proverbs 11, verse 25, the Bible says the liberal soul shall be made back and he that watereth shall be watered also himself. And then when you look at Proverbs 13 and verse 4, that verse says the soul of the sluggard desireth and hath nothing, but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat. Then when you look at the text that's especially the text for tonight in Proverbs 28 and in verse 25, the Bible says he that is of a proud heart stirreth up strife, but he that putteth his trust in the Lord shall be made fat." Three times God says this is just Bible language, biblical language, the ancient way of talking about prosperity and abundance and fullness of blessing was to use this terminology about being made fat. It has nothing to do with body mass or body weight or anything like that, but it's talking about prosperity across the board. But I want to remind you tonight that it is especially The focus, first and foremost, is talking about material prosperity, monetary prosperity. All the rest comes along with it. And a lot of times people don't understand this. Go ahead and be seated and may the Lord add His blessing to the reading of His Word. A lot of times people don't understand this, but our God is a heavenly Father and He wants to make things as clear to His children, make it as easy for us as He can in many ways, especially understanding His truth and to be able to grow in faith. And so he has so arranged things that we can have a visible, actually hands-on, tangible ways to grow in our faith. He helps us like that. Now, the Bible says that the just shall live by faith. We walk by faith, not by sight. But God has acted upon His divine prerogatives and God has said such things in connection with offerings and tithes and giving in general. And he says, do this and see if I'll not pour you out a blessing. Prove me now. Give and it shall be given unto you. And so on and so forth. So he gives us these tangible ways to see him answering prayers so that we can more easily step out in faith in other ways. I never thought about it much like that before until just recently, but that's so clear that that is what God is doing. There's no doubt in my mind that God wants his people to be prosperous. There's no doubt in my mind about that. Now, there's some, you know, he doesn't ask us to take a vow of poverty. He doesn't ask us to do that. He asks us to be willing to do that. And a lot of people are willing to do that and have done it and are doing it. and so on and so forth. They prosper in all kinds of ways. And another thing to remember in this teaching is that it's all relative. The people that live in a poverty-stricken country like some of these in Africa or places in Asia where they're just in dire straits. I want to say more about that this evening. A rich man there may be somebody that just has a ruff over his head. You know, a community of Christians, the person with one goat is fabulously wealthy where he lives. Here in America, the resources, the blessings are so much greater. He that has been given much, to him much is required. That's something we need to keep in mind as Americans living in the richest place on earth, that to whom much is given, much is expected. And so tonight, I just in a really quick review of these first few points, as I can, God's promised to bless people in the first race. Here are the three things. Just think about three things for living. And the first one, God says, if you want your life blessed, if you want me to prosper you, if you want me to pour out abundance on you, the way to the abundant life is number one, Be liberal. Be generous. Live large in terms of living graciously. Treat people graciously. Talk to people graciously. Make that a habit of your life. And God says, I will bless that. I'll bless the person who lives graciously. And I'll also bless the person, and this is part of liberality, who's generous. The person who lives the generous way. Not being a wastrel, not being a prodigal, just throwing our resources all around, but being a liberal soul, being generous, not encouraging people to sloth. You know, somebody said one time that they had found in their life that generally speaking, the have-nots were the same people that you could call the did-nots. That's pretty well true. So God is saying, if we will be generous and give and give and give and give, but always keep our generosity in line with the Scripture, then God says, I'm going to bless that person, the liberal soul, the gracious, generous person. I'm going to open the windows of heaven, pour my blessings out upon their life across the board, not the least of which will be seen in material blessings. material blessing, you know, just and I'll tell you one thing about this, and I've seen this in my own life and I've seen it in other people's lives, how God can take a little bit and stretch it out to where it's just unbelievable. You know, when I started preaching, I was getting forty five dollars a week. And what they didn't know is I would have gladly given them forty five dollars a week for the privilege of doing the preaching. and uh... and doing the work that i was doing them but it is amazing and all that was going on in our family and how that god just stretch that out we've never wanted really for anything ever and i i i'm telling you use and and i and there are people here many people get up and give the same testimony uh... god never fails the liberal soul he says i will Bless them. I will prosper them, the people who live their lives this way. And then the second person that we've looked at that God has promised to bless. And see, the key is you want to get all these things going together. You want to have all three of these things lined up. And then, I mean, if a person's falling a little short in one of these three areas, you know, they're going to miss out on blessing accordingly. But if they'll get them all free, It's like having, picture a great big treasure chest full of gold and good things. And there's a combination lock on it. And you know the first two numbers, but you can't quite get the third one. You haven't quite got the third one. Everybody here has used a combination lock at one point in time or another. And you know how it is. You'll get those first two numbers. Maybe you'll just miss the third number just by one little mark. Just by a little bit. And you've got to go back and get it again. And that's the way it is with this. You've got to be a liberal soul. You've got to be liberal and generous and gracious. And you've got to be diligent. God says in His Word, the soul of the sluggard desireth. He hath nothing. He just creeps along in life and settling for whatever comes his way, you know, and he's tight fisted and he's scared all the time about having enough or not having enough and so on and so forth. And all he does is dream, dream, dream. But he's a sluggard and he's stingy. But the Bible says the soul of the diligent shall be made fat. I don't know if any of you have looked that word up to Since I mentioned it, that in the dictionary the word diligent is defined in two aspects of that word. The two aspects of that word are it refers to somebody who is very, very attentive. They're diligent. They're paying attention to their work. And a diligent person is somebody who pays attention to what others are doing. They learn from others. A diligent person is going through life walking wisely. He's got both eyes open, and he's seeing what happens to people who obey God and what happens to people who disobey God. And he's diligent, paying attention to what others are doing, and he's diligent in paying attention to his own walk. to seeing how he's walking. Is he walking circumspectly himself? He's paying attention to his own walk. And so the diligent person pays attention. He's attentive and he's also active. The Bible says, Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all your might. He's steadfast. Remember that? He's steadfast. He's staying with the stuff and he's putting his strength into his work. So these are the first two things about the first two characteristics, the first two types of people that God has promised to bless. He's just promised to bless. You know, the Bible says, one verse says, I hath not seen, ear hath not heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of a man what God hath prepared for them that love him. And see, a lot of people go through their life and they never begin to scrape the surface of seeing or enjoying what God would have put in their life if they had followed the simple formula that God had given to them. So God says the benevolent soul is going to be made fat, the liberal soul, the generous, gracious person, the hard worker, the person who pays attention, God says that kind of person guaranteed. I'm going to bless them. And the third person he mentions is he mentions the person in our text tonight. He says that the person he's talking about, the person who puts his trust in the Lord, the person who is trusting in the Lord. Verse 25 of chapter 28, he that put his trust In the Lord shall be made fact shall be not might be could be some people are some people aren't, but he said they shall be when God says shall be. That's a guarantee. That's a promise. I don't know how other people read the Bible or English. That's how I read shall mean shall doesn't mean might now. Let me just say this. The text says he that put at this trust in the Lord Well, let me read the whole thing. He that is of a proud heart stirth up strife, but he that putteth his trust in the Lord shall be made fat. So that benevolent person, that busy person, and now the person whose beliefs are right. Now see, some people say all you got to do is just believe, believe strong, have strong beliefs and you'll succeed. Well, it's not working very well for the Hindus in India. So you've got to believe the right things. It's not working well for the Hindus and it's not working well for people like the Buddhists who are living in terrible, terrible starvation and the most degrading of lifestyle and religion. But they believe very strongly. They believe in reincarnation. They believe in all of these mantras and all of this stuff that That's just demonic. I mean, only the devil can come up with religions as dirty and ridiculous and defiling and degrading as some of these Far Eastern religions are. But these people, by the millions, multiplied millions, believe strongly in them. But are they blessed? Are they prospered? Are they made fat? Absolutely not. Absolutely not. Then you have people like the Muslims. Now, the Muslims believe strongly in their religion. They believe very strongly in it. Very strong. People today have gotten an education in the last several years that people never understood, never gave a thought to Islam. You know what people have learned about Islam? It is a religion of hate and violence. People who read the newspapers know that Islam is a religion where if you've got teenage daughters and one of them gets a Western boyfriend or she comes home in some Western clothes of some sort, you know, blue jeans or something, dyes her hair or does something that her father and her brothers don't like, they'll chop her head off. That's happened again and again in this country. That's what you get from Islam. Hatred, rage, oppression and fear. But people believe really strongly their beliefs are very, very strong. The Muslims, I feel sorry for them. Their beliefs are very strong, but are they prospered? Are they made happy? Are they abundant? No, they're in abject fear and they're driven by the most intense hatred and violence really imaginable. And it comes right out of their religion. And it's not and it's not the the zanies in their religion either. Don't be fooled. They call them fundamentalists for the same reason they call us fundamentalists. We believe the Bible. We believe in the fundamentals of the Bible. That's why we practice and preach and do what we do. We believe in the fruit of the Spirit and all that's fundamental to the Christian religion. See that God is love. Love your brethren. All of these kinds of things reach the lost. Well, Islam. Their fundamentalists are the true representatives of Islam. They believe in kill the infidel, destroy, take over the world, put people to the sword, cut their heads off. When you see that on television and in the newspaper, you're looking at true Islam. Don't let anybody kid you. If it weren't true, say go on and on about this, I won't. But I'll give you one good evidence for how true everything I just said is. Whenever there's any of these bombings, these massacres, they're the biggest pack of rotten cowards on the face of the earth. It's a cowardly religion as well. But have you ever seen any of the imams or the Muslim leaders ever, ever, ever get on television and say, we are so sorry this has happened? You know why the leaders don't do that? The so-called moderates? Because inwardly they're rejoicing because that is exactly what their religion teaches. That's why you never see any of them apologizing for it. Because they believe in it. They're not going to apologize for something they're in full support of and they're in full support of it. You know what, that's exactly what I've just been saying for the last few minutes is exactly what needs to be sent over the airwaves and what they need to get out there on television. Tell the truth. Now. I said all that to say this. God is promised to bless people who trust in him. That is, who have the right beliefs. I'll tell you, there's nothing about the teachings of the Bible that I'm ashamed of. Not one thing. This is far removed from things like I've been mentioning as the as the. As the whatever it is, the farthest thing that it could be from the farthest thing. night and day or whatever. That's too close. So just believing in something strongly, sincerely doesn't make a person prosperous. Now, have to believe in. Now listen carefully. God says if you trust in the Lord, I'll make you fat. I'll bless you, prosper your life, pour it on you. In other words, you have to believe in and practice what God says, for example, about honesty. and about morality. You've got to believe in those things and adhere to those things and practice those things. And the Bible says if you do it, you will trust Me, trust My Word, follow Me and obey. I'll pour you out a blessing that your whole lifetime wouldn't be enough to contain even a portion of. You won't be able to keep up with all of the blessings I'll pour out on you. In Job 36 and verse 11, If they obey and serve Him, they shall spend their days in prosperity and their years in pleasures. That's what the Bible says. Now, Jesse Duplantis and Joyce Myers and Ken Toplin and all that crowd can rest those scriptures and fit them into their pitiful theology, their money-grubbing, blab it and grab it, Name it and claim it theology. But that shouldn't turn us off to the truth. This is what Job said. They that obey him, they shall spend their days in prosperity. That sounds really good to me. And their years in pleasures. Now, obedience. Think about this. Obedience just opens up the door to all kinds of possibilities where prayer is concerned. All the possibilities become realities if people will trust in the Lord and obey His Word. Say, I believe God. I believe God's Word. I'm going to trust in Him, trust in His Word. I'm going to do what God says with my life. I'm going to obey Him because I trust Him. In John 15 and verse 7, Jesus said, if you abide in me and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you. Now, I believe I believe exactly what he said. He said, if my words abide in you. And you abide in my word, you'll ask what you will, but just let me just taste and say this, and this isn't any kind of a of a cop out or anything. But when people abide in the Word of God and the Word of God saturates them, it changes your will. It changes your desire. And you're not going to be asking for foolish, greedy things to consume on your own selfish lust and so on and so forth. But it will change your will. And you know what? People will have a will to be They'll have a will, let's just say this, they'll have a will to do a lot of really good things. Support missions, help children go to Christian colleges, let's say, or schools, or just to do a whole lot of good things. To be able to, boy, I wish I could ride out of check and pay for, you know, the building off. I just wish I could ride a check and pay it off. You know what, there's millions of people in America that could tonight ride a check and pay this building right off right now. Wouldn't mean a thing to them. And when a person is in the Word of God and the Word of God is in them and they're trusting the Lord and following His Word, their desires and their will is going to be changed and God is going to meet the needs and provide and enable them and pour out a whole bunch more in the process on them. In Psalm 84 and in verse 11, the Bible says, pay close attention. No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. Now, that's pretty good motivation to walk uprightly right there for a Christian. No good thing. That means no good thing. I mean, if a person is walking uprightly, seeking to walk uprightly, then God, listen carefully, then God is not going to withhold a good woman or a good man to the person who wants a spouse. I mean, it'll be a good'un. She'll be a good'un or he'll be a good'un. God will withhold no good grain from them. Their other things and connected with their family, their home, their house, where they live. I'm talking about things. T-H-I-N-G-S. God says I will withhold no good, not thought, thing from them that walk uprightly. I'm glad you're paying really close attention, Austin. It looks like you are because the people that are paying attention to this and will stick it in their memory bank and put it into action are going to see these things happening in their life. This is not my word. This is God's word. Now, the person who is trusting in the Lord is going to be made that trust in the Lord. Number one, here's what that means. You're trusting in the Lord to guide your steps. See, trusting in the Lord means you're trusting him to guide your steps through life. Let's read about one old Greek philosopher. His name is Euripides. Euripides said this. He said the wisest men followed their own direction. Well, he was wrong about a lot of other things, too. But I was just reminded that Euripides, the ancient Greek philosopher, is just exactly what Paul's talking about in the book of Corinthians, the book of Romans, about the Greeks reveling in their own wisdom. And God said, I have made foolish the wisdom of the wise. Here's Euripides considered among the ancient Greeks one of their wisest men, and he said the wisest men follow their own direction. Well, I found in my own experience that the dumbest men follow their own direction. Haven't you? They don't follow the direction of the Word of God or what comes from the pulpit or anything else. They follow their own direction. and then slam up into a brick wall every time they shake their head and do it again. In Psalm 119 and verse 105, the psalmist said, Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. In other words, this person trusts in the Lord and he's trusting God to guide his steps. Turn to Psalm 1. in this connection. Turn to the first Psalm. Let's look at those very, very familiar first three verses again. Psalm 1. We're talking about God prospering people. Really prospering them. Those who are liberal and those who are diligent and those who trust Him. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly. Dr. Phil. You know. Laura, Laura, Dr. Laura. And all of these people, the smart aleck who works where you work. Who knows more than God or anything else. Blessed is the man walking not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And here's what happens to people that do this. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in his season. His leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper." Whatsoever he doeth, it's going to prosper. He's going to have a divinely consecrated Midas touch. Whatever he does is going to prosper. Even when it looks to everybody else, everybody else, like he made a mistake and it's not going to prosper, it always will prosper. So you believe that? Absolutely. A proud person, you notice the first part of this text in Proverbs 28, a proud person is contrasted with the person who trusts in the Lord, a proud person doesn't look to the Lord for guidance. A proud person. And this is what's wrong with a lot of people tonight. You know, people don't believe me. People that I love, that I know. If I could go to them wherever they are and say to them, here is your problem. Like they say in New York, here's your problem. Well, I wouldn't say it like that. I would say, here's your problem. You're proud. You're proud. You're prideful. Pride is ruining your life. It's making you obnoxious and poor. You need to humble yourself. All you can ever be is a beast as long as you're proud. If you want to be lifted up and be happy and have friends and prosper materially in your life, then you have got to forsake that prideful spirit. You'll be a loser. He that trusteth in his own heart. Look at chapter 28, verse 26. The Bible says he that trusteth in his own heart is a fool. Boy, that's pretty clear. He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool. I don't know how many times I've had people say to me, I just felt in my heart that I ought to do this. And the thing you were talking about was something that was totally contrary to the Bible. But they're trusting in their heart. What's the Bible tell us about our heart? Don't put a whole lot of trust in your heart. So the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? I mean, the capacity is there for deceit. Even in their innocence, Eve trusted in her heart and look where it got her. In Proverbs chapter 12 and verse 15, the way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise. See, I'll tell you what happened if I went to some people. Everybody in the world knows that they're proud and they're ruining their life and they're a mess because of their pride. But I'll tell you what happens when you go to some people like that. You go to them and say, you know, here's your problem. It's pride. And then you show them a whole bunch of different illustrations consistently how that that's been demonstrated. You know what they say? I don't think I'm proud. See, all of their ways are right in their own eyes. And they don't listen to counsel. They won't have it. They won't listen to it. Because pride has got a stranglehold on their brains. Yeah, here it is. The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise. Now, here's another real familiar passage of Scripture. Turn to Proverbs 3 and verse 5. God says the third person I'm going to make fat is the person that trusts me. Proverbs 3 and verse 5. Says trust in the Lord with all thine heart. I just want you to notice that little three letter word. With all of your heart. Trust him entirely without any reservation. Trust him completely. God said if you will trust me entirely, trust me completely without holding anything back. If you'll just trust me. Hey, I'll send a legion of angels start opening windows here in heaven. We'll start pouring the blessings out on you. So you got to trust him entirely. And. And all together, so he says in verse five, lean not unto thine own understanding. God says, trust me exclusively. Don't lean to even your own understanding. You may not understand it. How many things in life today have we benefited from that we really don't understand? We don't understand everything about electricity. and thank God for it. We're going to understand everything about how an engine works in our car. We receive the benefits. God says don't lean to your own understanding. Here's what I hear. You ever heard this? Some of you have heard this in doing personal work. You're talking to somebody and they really want to start. Your manager starts puffing up in front of you. They say, well, you know, I'm a person with an analytical mind. I have to just figure things out. I'm just going to let what they're saying to you. I'm not like you, you dummy. I'm smart. I can't just accept things. They're really wanting to impress you with how smart they are and what they are actually doing is they're morphing themselves in what the Bible is saying here. Before your very eyes. Don't trust in your own self, God says, and don't trust in other people. Trust in me. Trust me entirely and trust me exclusively. Don't trust your own opinion, your own judgment. God says trust in me. Proverbs 29, 25 says, Who so put up his trust in the Lord shall be saved. Psalm 56 and verse 4, the psalmist said, In God I will praise his word In God I have put my trust. Psalm 37 says the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. Now, do you know why this person here trusts in God to guide his steps? The person who trusts in God trusts God to guide his steps. You know why he does that? Because he is conscious as he goes down life's road, which we're all on life's road, The person who's trusting God is trusting God because he's conscious of his own fallibility. In other words, he realizes so well that he's capable of making mistakes, making wrong turns, stopping when he ought to keep going, keeping going when he ought to stop for a while. He's conscious of his own fallibility. In Jeremiah 10 and 24, Jeremiah said, Oh, Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself. It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps. Now, Jeremiah knew that from personal experience. One time he got it in his head that he wanted to move out in the desert and open a motel. Remember that? Jeremiah said, I'm just so sick and tired of the way people are acting and that, you know, they're not paying attention to the preaching and they're not, I'm giving them and they're all over there. Threw me in a mud hole one time. And here's what I'm going to do. I thought this thing through. I'm just going to open a bed and breakfast out in the desert for wayfarers and just get out of a ministry. Well, it all seemed so right to him. And then he got leveled out, but he knew from personal experience that it's not in man alone to direct his own steps. We need to trust in God. And you know what? There is absolutely nothing whatsoever about that that is demeaning to us. It's intelligent. We're God's children. He's our Father. It is He that made us, not we ourselves. He understands us absolutely perfectly. He knows how we run. He knows how we work. He knows what we need. In Joshua 3, And verse three and four, here's what God said to his peoples. They were getting ready to go over in the promised land. He said, exhort the people and tell them you have not passed this way here to four. Now, you know what? We're going to go to bed tonight. We're going to wake up in the morning. So far, tomorrow is tomorrow. We've not passed that way before. But God knows all about tomorrow. He already knows all about tomorrow. He says, you haven't passed this way before, but I have. He said your lifetime. You haven't walked the road of life. But I have. I know all about the road of life, everything about it. And he is a perfect, perfect, faultless guide. And so this consciousness of the person who's trusting in God, you just you realize, number one, your own fallibility. for walking. You need a guide. And number two, this person is confident, not only they're conscious of their own fallibility, but they're confident in the Lord's how familiar this life road is to God. He is so familiar to God. God knows where all the pitfalls are. He knows where they all are. When I was a boy growing up on the farm, We had to go way, way down through the barn lot and down past the pond. And there was some broken fence down there and some wire laying on the ground, different things like that. Been there for years, certain spots. And you know what? We could go, we could go down. I could walk down there in the dark, walk around all that stuff. I could name other stuff we walk around in the barn yard, but I won't. And because I was familiar with it all. I didn't know where the wood pile was when I walked back up toward the house, and I wouldn't be falling over. We didn't have any flashlights or anything like that. We walked by the light of the moon. I got so used to that at night in our house when it's dark at night, I didn't realize how I'm doing it. I walk with my eyes closed. I mean, it would be a little light if I'd open up my eyes, but I mean, I can shave in the dark Some of you know that you see little sticks of paper sticking out of my face sometimes. However, God, what I'm just trying to tell you is that the Lord knows where all the pitfalls are in life. The psalmist talked about pitfalls in life in Psalms 73 and Psalm 109. Psalm 73, he talks about slippery places. There's some slippery places in life. If you're not careful, you'll slide off the road and be in big trouble. When you look at Psalm 103, it talks about desolate places. You'll find yourself where there's no water, where there's no gasoline, where there's no friends, where there's nothing. And so we need God and be confident in God to lead us around and over and past those slippery and desolate places. And the person who's trusting in God knows that God's familiar with Lysarro. And He also knows not only where the pitfalls are, the slippery places and all that, but he knows where the pleasant places are. Now, where do you think your heavenly father is going to want to take you? If you're going on a walk, where is he going to want to walk you? Down the middle of the highway? No. See, that's what Psalm 23 is all about. Psalm 23 tells us that our Lord takes us through pleasant places and we'll just trust him to guide our steps. It'll be a pleasant walk through life. He says the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters. Now sometimes in life. That in and God is leading and sometimes he'll lead us in some rough places. But you know, when you get to the end of the 23rd Psalm, you remember that familiar verse toward the end? He says, neither do I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. I'll fear no evil, for thou art with me. It makes a difference if somebody's with you. It makes a big difference if somebody's with you. When I was a little boy, my dad used to take me fishing. He'd get off work up here in St. Louis at the water department and he'd come home and there'd be just a little daylight left. And there used to be a spot just the other side of Valleymont Ranch where if you get out of the car and go down the bank and walk down that creek there and you'd find a deep hole where you could fish and my dad would go down there and take me with him and we'd walk and walk and walk and we used to do cornfields back there then and boy it was fun walking in the daylight but boy after dark when those animals started making that noise and you couldn't see your hand in front of your face and it came time to walk back to the car it wasn't so pleasant then but it was okay because I can still feel his hand hold in mind real tight, and I was almost up on my toes running to catch up, stay with him, but I didn't have much fear. Anyway, it would have been different if I had been there all by myself. Sometimes we go into rough places and dark spots, and even when it comes time to go into the, have that unique experience, which will be unique for all of us when death comes, We won't walk into the valley of the shadow of death. We will walk through it. With him, so he knows all about it. Now, in 2nd Chronicles, the Bibles talk about good King Uzziah. He was a good man. He had a good dad. They weren't perfect, but the Bibles is about King Uzziah in 2nd Chronicles 26 and 5. As long as he sought the Lord, God made him to prosper. There's the key. Trust in the Lord, seek his will, follow him, let him direct your steps. The person who's trusting in the Lord, trust him to guide his steps. Secondly, the person who's trusting in the Lord, so you know what it means to trust in the Lord so he can prosper you, pour out the blessings, make you fat. Means that you're not only trusting him to guide your steps, but you're trusting him, now we get right to the nitty gritty, to give you success in your life. You know why a person trusts the Lord to give them success when they understand the Bible? You know why they trust Him? Trust God to give them success, to give them blessedness, and to give them prosperity. Another thing I remember when I was a little boy growing up on the farm, my grandparents living with them, my aunts and uncles about, you know what? If there's one saying I heard more than any other saying growing up, it was this. Early to bed, early to... I mean, as soon as it barely got dark. Early to bed, early to rise. Makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise. It was either my uncle or my grandpa saying that. You know what that meant? Time to go to bed. That's what it meant. But they just were eloquent about it. I mean, there was no arguing about it. Just a minute, I just got a little... No, there wasn't any of that. It's just early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise. And you know what? Those three things really pretty well sum up prosperity. Now, if I didn't pay attention back then, what were they talking about? Number one, they were talking about wellness. Wellness, not just physical wellness, but mental wellness. and would include spiritual wellness. Now, let me show you how this is brought out in the Bible. In 3 John, verse 2, the Apostle John says this. See, the preachers understood it back then. This is what they wanted for their flocks. John said, Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health even as thy soul prospers. I want you to prosper. There's the wealth part. And I want you to be in health, even as thy soul prospers. So, when they said early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise. Prosperity could be summed up by wellness, wealth, and wisdom. See, there's some people that are wealthy, but they're not wise people. And it's only a matter of time until they fall on their face somewhere. But anyway, this just pretty well sums up prosperity. A person can be wise, have wisdom, have wealth, and have wellness. It's just a... In Psalm 2 and in verse 12, the Bible says, Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him. Proverbs 16 and 20, He that handleth a matter wisely shall find good, and who shall trusteth in the Lord, happy is he. Jeremiah 17, verse 7 and 8, Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord and whose hope the Lord is, for he shall be as a tree planted by the waters. This Jeremiah almost sounds like Psalm 1. and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when ye cometh, but her leaves shall be green, and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit, a fruitful life right up till the day they die." In Psalm 122, verse 6, "...they shall prosper that love thee." Simple as that. You love God? God says you're going to prosper. Psalm 118 verse 25, or verse 25, the psalmist said, I beseech thee, O Lord, O Lord, I beseech thee, send now prosperity. You know why the psalmist was praying and asking God to send prosperity? And why so much is said in the Bible about prosperity, and this is what I've given these verses, just a few. Here's the last two things, if you'll just really pay attention to this. The person who's really trusting the Lord is trusting to guide his steps and to give him success. And you know why he's expecting that and trusting the Lord for that? Because he knows two things. He knows, number one, that it's God's predisposition to give him success. That's what every father in their right mind wants for their children. They want to have success. That's why you have fathers like my dad who I watched growing up, get up early in the morning and pull on those same old gray work clothes, but on the same old worn belt, pull on the same boots and go out and work at work that really wasn't that thrilling. He wanted to go to medical school when he was young. He got married and so on and so forth and talked himself out of it. That's what he did. But, you know, he wasn't perfect. But I'll tell you what, you know why fathers do that? You know why they go out there and they work and they work and they work their youth away and so on? You know why they do that? Because they want their kids to prosper. That's what a father does. That's their disposition. They want their children to prosper. Our Heavenly Father wants us to prosper. He wants us to prosper materially. Let me just ask you this question real quick. In the Bible, is it the beggars that are giving good testimony for God? You say, well, I can think of those four beggars back there in Samaria. Well, you might want to give a little more thought to that. Aren't there more examples and more time given to people like Abraham and Job and Moses and all? Wasn't it Barnabas that underwrote the church in Acts chapter 4? Barnabas sold his properties and helped underwrite the church. It wasn't the beggar laying at the gate of Utica that rolled open, pulled out a big sack of money. He didn't have anything to give. God wants his people to prosper. He has good reasons behind, purposes behind it. The person who struck and God knows that God's predisposed towards his head and success and prosperity in his life. In Psalm thirty five verse twenty seven let the Lord be magnified which have pleasure in the prosperity of his servant. He has pleasure in the prosperity of his servant. You know what a you know what a father an earthly father in his right mind does when he sees his children. One of his kids gets a raise at work. or they're able to buy a new house. You know, they come into some property. The father's glad. Now, he's not glad if their eyeballs is in debt, because that's not prosperity. That's a prodigal. But see, here it says, that he takes the Lord takes pleasure in the prosperity of a servant. Jeremiah 2911 God says I know the thought this is God. I know the thoughts that I think toward you say if the Lord thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you an expected end to give you an expected end. Psalm 37 trust in the Lord and do good. So shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart." Not just at once. Not just a bed to sleep in and a roof over our head and three square meals a day. But he says, I'll even give you the desires of your heart. Every one of us can relate to this. You ever got your kids something that they absolutely did not need? Anybody ever done that besides me? Anybody still doing it? You know what? It's great. It's just a wonderful thing. And God said, if you will do good, I'll give you the desires of your heart. Now, my children are rebellious. My children are rebellious and stubborn and sneaky and all that kind of thing. I'm not going to give them the desires of their heart. I'll give them a hook over their head and something to eat. But I'm not going to be thinking about what they would really like to have and getting it for them if they're not doing good. In Joshua 1 and 8, this book of the law is about to part out of their mouth. They're getting ready to go into their promised land. But thou shalt meditate therein day and night, and that thou mayest observe to do according to all that's written therein. For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. You say, well, he's talking to Joshua. Not directly. He was talking to Joshua. But everything he could to Joshua applied to everybody else. Here's the last thing. I'm telling you, I'm getting fired up about this. Amen. You know, I don't know where it makes God happy when his children prosper. Like everything else, the devil fights against what God wants. That's why the devil is behind indebtedness. He's behind people extending themselves beyond their means. And and all of that kind of thing. And behind greed and things like that, But the person who's trusting in the Lord knows that God is predisposed to give them success, and he knows that God has the power to give them success. See, I know some fathers, and in their hearts, they're predisposed. They would love to help their kids out. The thing is, they can't help their kids out. In fact, in some cases, they're going to the kids, asking the kids to help them out. But in their heart, They would like, I mean, I'm telling you, they would like, if they could, they'd just like to pay off the kid's house and buy him a new car and new furniture and everything else. I mean, isn't that the way we are as parents? I tell you, I think about that. I'd like to be rolling in dough. Just so I could do that, do that for people. And I think probably everybody here is the same way. Here's the thing. You know, really, I'd like to pay off all my kid's houses. I really would. Once again, I don't have the power. I don't have the power to do it. I don't have the stuff. But maybe that'll all change soon. Amen, if you pay attention. In Deuteronomy 8 and 18, the person confessing and the Lord knows God not only wants to cross him, but that he can. but thou shalt remember, God said. God said, thou shalt remember the Lord thy God, for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth. Psalm 75, verse 6 and 7, for promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south, but God is the judge. He put it down one and set it up another. You know, I'd like to go up to where Zach works, where my son down in Southeastern Missouri works. I'd like to go into their workplace and say to the boss, you give my son a promotion and double his pay. The only problem is I don't have any power to do that. But God has the power to promote and God has the power to prosper. Wouldn't it just be something? Beloved, if all of us, if all of us would take this to heart and prove God, not that we don't trust God, but proving for the whole world to see, proving for our neighbors to see, our family members to see, we say, what in the world has happened? What's going on? Like that preacher friend I had down over and up in Michigan years ago, he'd been in the in the In the mob, I'll say the mobs, he ran with gangsters in New Jersey and he got saved. Lord called him to preach and everything. One day, about 25 years after he'd been pastoring, 30 years, a man showed up in town that used to run with him when he was a teenager in those days. And he'd never been in church in his life and he went to the church that night and found out his friend Eddie was there. Of course, everybody else called him Dr. Edward so-and-so, but he remembered him as Eddie. He found out where he was. He'd never been in church in his life. Went to the church and sat back in the back. The pastor didn't even know he was there, and they started taking up the offering in this big church. And this really happened. This guy stepped out in the seat and hollered up toward the pulpit and said, Hey, Eddie, what you got going here? I want a piece of this. He thought this was something going on here. What's going on? He didn't understand it. See, the world doesn't understand. And God wants to do something through and to and through his people that only God can explain it. Only God can explain it. Just to be diligent, to be a liberal soul and to be a diligent soul and to be people who trust in the Lord, trust in his love and in his goodness and his purposes and that he wants to prosper. If we'll do good and if we'll live right and walk right, then he can prosperous like he wants to. And I don't know about you, but I really, I don't fully grasp all that is involved and how great a thing is involved there. The testimony of it all. When God blessed his people. Don't you think it was kind of that way? I'm not forgetting the spiritual meaning of it, but when God brought all of those slaves out of their hovels by the hundreds of thousands out of Egypt and brought them into the promised land, the land flowing with milk and honey. What a testimony. Their enemies were flabbergasted all over the land. They couldn't believe it. Now, the bad part is they could have got there without the telephone a couple of days, but because they weren't walking right, it took them about 40 years. It's the same old story, beloved. We can do it slow or we can do it fast. And it all depends on how much we're willing to just, hey, here's the formula. Here's the threefold formula. Let me see how I'm lining up with this or with this. And how generous am I? How gracious am I with my life? What do I need to fix and tweak and change in my life, be more gracious, be more generous and diligent, paying attention. Am I paying attention? How much have I lost by not paying attention and really working at it? Let's all stand together. Now, while the pianist and the musicians come in, well, the musician is the pianist. plays a French horn, so he's also a musician kind of. But if anybody ever has any questions about any of these things, don't hesitate to ask him about it. And, you know, study these things like the Bereans did to see if these things are so, because it's worth finding out if it's so. Amen. What are we saying though, Jeff? 384.