youth meeting as well, I hope it'll be a help to you. But Luke chapter number two, verse number 41, if you're there, say amen. All right, the Bible says, now his parents, who, Jesus' parents, went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover. And when he was 12 years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast. And when they fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem. And Joseph and his mother knew not of it. See, being the parent, so to speak, of the Lord probably was a blessing and a difficulty at the same time. He was never disobedient, he never disobeyed, never had the wrong attitude, the wrong spirit, but at the same time, he knew if something was wrong, it was not his fault, it was yours. And so we see here tonight that they have left Jesus behind in Jerusalem. And I can identify with the Lord somewhat because one time I almost got left at Walmart. And, uh, and thankfully that was back in the day when you had to go to customer service and they'd go over that little loud speaker. Uh, and they had said, Teresa Wagner, your son is at customer service. Nine times out of 10, though, it was my mom going there and saying, Tate and Wagner, you better get here, uh, before you get in trouble. Or it'd be like tatting Wagner or anything like that. And I knew, I knew if it was something close to Wagner, I needed to make sure I was there. The Bible said they've left him behind in Jerusalem, they knew not of it, but they supposing, verse 44, him to have been in the company when a day's journey, and they sought him among their kin's folk in acquaintance. And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him. There's a big difference between supposing that you know the Lord and seeking the Lord, or supposing that you follow the Lord and seeking the Lord, right? Supposing you'll be comfortable trying to find him around people who are supposed to know him. But when you're seeking him, he is your sole focus. I will not settle until I find him. Look at verse number 46, it came to pass that after three days they found him in the temple. How would you like to look for your child for three days? Imagine the worry, imagine the anxiety, the franticness in their lifetime, they're trying to find the Lord. This child, this son that God has literally entrusted them with and they can't find him. After three days, they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them and asking them questions. Now, we see in 2020 tonight, we see hindsight. Now, we'd obviously say, well, where's the best place to find the Lord? Well, in his house. But we understand that sometimes we often try to go find him in places we know he ain't gonna be. When we're having an issue in our life and we're looking for the Lord, one of the best places you can find him in is word. You can find him in the house of God tonight. That's why we're not to forsake the assembly of ourselves together. We see in verse number 47, all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers. These are doctors and lawyers that he's impressing in the sense, not because he's a show-off, but because he has a knowledge that they are amazed with. He not just comprehends what they're saying, but is able to answer it as well. Then you go to verse number 48, when they saw him, they were amazed, and his mother said unto him, son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? Behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing. And he said unto them, how is it that you sought me? Wist you not that I must be about my father's business? And Jesus being the Lord, but also understanding what he was there for, corrects his mother. I was about my father's business. And she said, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing. She was talking about Joseph, Jesus was talking about God the Father. I've been doing what the Father has sent me to do. Verse 15, they understood not the saying which he spake unto them. And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was subject unto them, but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart. God read all that to get to verse number 52 tonight. The Bible said, and Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you again for this evening. Thank you for the opportunity to be in the house of God tonight. Lord, we are so grateful for the songs that were sung. Lord, we're thankful that you've always been faithful. Lord, Daniel found you faithful. Elijah found you faithful. Lord, I found you faithful. And Lord, I'm thankful there's never been a time that you have not been faithful, Lord. You've always been more than enough for me and more than enough for every child and every person who's ever called upon you. And Lord, you're the most wonderful, the only savior this world has ever known. And I pray, Lord, tonight that you'd help me, Lord, to preach and to teach, Lord, in a clear way and a concise way tonight, Lord, in a way that is personally applicable to each person's life tonight. And Lord, we thank you, Lord, for the truth of the Bible. Thank you for our choir singing tonight. Thank you for the congregation. Let's thank you for church to come and worship. Lord, we so do love you. We so are grateful for all that you've done. Lord, we love you in Jesus' name we pray. Amen and amen. Brother Odie caught me on the way out this morning. He said, preacher, we're down. He said, we only had 75 in service this morning. And I remember a day when we thought 75 was impossible. And I thank the Lord for that tonight, that he has been sending folks in, he's been allowing folks to come, and we're thankful for what he's doing here, and we're grateful for that tonight. But I want you to look at verse number 52 tonight in your Bible, Luke chapter number two, it says, and Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man. And I've read this portion of scripture, I can't tell you how many times, especially around Christmas time, you get into Luke chapter number two, This verse has always intrigued me because there's parts of this verse that I can quickly grasp and understand. I understand this issue of Jesus increasing in stature. I understand that because I, believe it or not, at one point was not this size. I've not always been six foot tall. I've not always, I guess my head has always been this big, but I've not always been, there was a time in my life where I was a chubby little, chunky little baby, right? I looked like Jabba the Hutt when I was a little baby, just nothing but rolls everywhere. Right, but then I grew up, and I grew up in stature, and I got taller, and I can remember growing up and couldn't wait until I was tall enough to ride the rides, or I was tall enough to do this, and then I finally got that tall, and then I got to six foot, and I thought, man, I'm fixing to be a giant, and then everything just stopped. Stopped at six foot, my brother's six foot two, my dad's six foot two, my grandpa's six foot four, and I made it to six foot, amen, barely made it there. But I understand Jesus growing up in stature. I know he was a baby born in Bethlehem. I understand because that is a natural, physical process that every human being in some form or another goes through. We grow in stature, then we hit a certain age and we just grow in structure, amen, we just grow out. But tonight we understand that, right? The Lord grew in stature. I get that tonight. My mind can grasp that, but there are certain parts of this verse that make me scratch my head and say, how in the world did that happen? Well, what is the Bible saying here? Let me ask you, how did the Lord increase in wisdom? He's God. He has all wisdom. He has all truth. I'm not of the persuasion that when Jesus came to this earth, he came unknowing what he was going to do. The Bible said that he was the lamb slain before the foundation of the world. I firmly believe tonight that Jesus knew why he came and he understood that. And I firmly believe that he knew all things. Many times in our Bible we read how Jesus perceived their hearts and Jesus was able to not just see it go past by what they said and go straight to their heart. He knows everything. So how in the world does he who knows everything grow in wisdom? In order for him to say he's grown in wisdom, there was a point that he must have been lacking wisdom, which is not true tonight. We know that he has all wisdom. Now they say he has all wisdom, but the Bible said he grew in favor. Right, he grew in favor with the Lord. Or he grew in favor with God. How does God grow in favor with God? You see, I'm just like you, I'm a well preacher, now that you brought that up, I'm not entirely sure tonight. How does God increase in favor with God? Matter of fact, the Lord, God the Father would come out later on and say, this is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased. In essence, there is none better than him. How does the one, the only begotten Son of the Father increase in favor with the Father? Right, I grew up in a household. I've got an older brother, a younger sister. I was the middle child, but I had a friend. He was an only child. I knew who his parents' favorite was, him. And tonight, I know who my parents' favorite is, me. How do you know that, preacher? Because the other two aren't here to defend it. And my mom and my grandparents, I'm also my grandparents' favorite, amen? And so when they go back and listen to this, they're all gonna just shake their head. That boy done lost his mind. Right, but we understand that Jesus was always God the Father's favorite. He was, but the Bible said that he increased in favor and he also increased in wisdom. And so as I was studying this and trying to wrap my finite mind around it, I was reminded of something else that the Lord did that he was not required to do. Right, don't you remember outside of there at the Jordan River, John is baptizing and Jesus comes walking along and John says, behold, the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world. And Jesus said, you must baptize me. And John said, no, you need to baptize me. And Jesus says, no, I must be baptized. And so we realize, and let me ask you tonight, did Jesus get saved? Well, of course not, he's perfect. He is the Savior. Then why did Jesus get baptized? Right, that is that public profession, that public confession of you and I, when we get baptized, we are publicly confessing to the world that we got saved by the grace of God. It is an identification with the Lord. And really, when Jesus got baptized, it was a public decree to the world that was around him at that day that he had come to be the Savior of the world. And we realize that he did not need to be baptized for salvation nor really for sanctification, but he was baptized to set the example for you and I, that we are to follow after that example. And so tonight we see here tonight that Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor to teach you and I that as we progress in the Christian life, physically we get it, right? Physically we understand that we can go back to our birthday when we were born in a hospital or at home or wherever we were born at and to today we can see there has been a natural growth process in our life. We have grown in stature and we are now taller than what we once used to be. But also in our life there ought to be a spiritual maturity. Right, there ought to be a growing process in the Christian's life where we grow in wisdom and in favor with God and man. Right, our wisdom should increase. Right, and old preacher, how do we do that? By knowing what the Bible says, and not just knowing what it says, but how does that apply in my life? And then also we said our favor should increase, but notice the order there in verse number 52, that he increased in favor with God and man. You have to keep that order right. Right, you can't flip-flop that and hope that it works out. You cannot spend your Christian life trying to grow in favor with man, and then hoping to grow in favor with God. The reality is that when you and I grow in favor with God, we please the Lord, we serve the Lord, we live for Jesus. Yes, some people may not like it, and some people may make fun of us, but sooner or later when they realize you're real, and they realize that you're not giving up, and you're not going out, and you're not done, and you're not walking away, they will learn to respect you. and your favor will begin to grow with God and man. Right, Matthew 6, 33 tells us, but seek ye first what the kingdom of God and all these, and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. A miserable life is a life lived trying to please people. trying to get everybody to like you, trying to get everybody to kind of promote you and accept you. I'm glad this evening that when I came to Christ, he didn't tell me I had to change anything, he didn't tell me that I had to get some things squared away first, and then he would save me. No, I came to him as a sinner, verse 51, and say, all right, and Jesus read his Bible for three hours a day, prayed for an hour and a half, passed out 92 tracts a day, and therefore now he increased in wisdom and favor. Right, we don't, we're not keen to how many hours a day the Lord prayed. We're not keen to how many hours he studied the scriptures. We're not keen to how many people he talked to on a daily basis. But we do know there was some kind of action that took place behind the scenes, and now it's evident in verse number 52. And tonight the reality is, here's what I've come to preach on tonight, is this process. of becoming a maturing Christian, of growing in our faith, growing in wisdom, and in favor with God. And here's how I've entitled the message. I've entitled it this way. It is something that nobody will ever see, but everybody will see. It is something that nobody will ever see, but everybody will see. In essence, tonight, nobody's gonna see your private life, nobody's gonna see that personal life tonight, is a way you can say it as well. They're not gonna be there when you get up in the morning and you read your Bible, now your family may be there, but you're not doing it to impress them, we'll talk about it in just a few minutes, but nobody outside of the Lord Jesus Christ is gonna see that. I'm not gonna show up at your house at four o'clock and say, hey, you reading your Bible today? I'm not gonna come and hound you down and say, well, how many hours did you pray today? But the reality is, nobody will see you do these things, but everybody will see the result of it. And if you don't do these things, sooner or later, everybody will see the result of it. Nobody will see this, but everybody will see this. And so tonight we are given this example in verse number 52. Well, preacher, what is the process? How do I grow in wisdom? How do I grow in favor with God? What steps do I need to take? I'm so glad you asked tonight. Take your Bible, turn over to 1 Thessalonians chapter number four. I have found the process, amen. I have found the steps to do so. Look at 1 Thessalonians chapter number four. In verse number 11, I really like verse number 13. That's really good at the funeral. It's really good for the church. I'm glad this evening we have a promise of a resurrection tonight. But look at verse number 11. The Bible said that you study to be quiet, right, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands as we command. Oh, that's not an option, is it? A command isn't an option. When you get on your little phone and you either play your game, you get on Facebook and you push your finger to the screen, are you expecting your phone to react? Yes. You're not expecting your phone to say, well, I'll do that if I want to. The command has been given that we are to study, be quiet, to do your own business, to work with your own hands. Look at verse 112, that you may walk honestly toward them that are without, those who don't visibly see this going on in your life. Nobody's gonna see it, but everybody, We'll see it. That you may have lack of nothing this evening. So here's the truth concerning the process. It is something that nobody will ever see, but everybody will see it. We don't know how Jesus increased in wisdom and favor, but we know that he did, right? The Bible says that he did. Every Christian, especially young Christians, can increase in wisdom and favor by putting the following actions into practice in their own lives tonight. Notice number one, spiritual, what do I need to do? Number one, study for yourself. Study for yourself. The Bible says right there to study, to be quiet. Now how many know there's some people who just need to be quiet because they ain't done any kind of studying? Right, there's some preachers that just need to sit down somewhere and read their Bible and don't get back up until they finish reading their Bible. Right, we understand the need of studying or not, but here's the thing, the verse here isn't instructing us to learn how to be quiet. Right, that's easy to do. You know what's easy to be quiet? How do you do that, preacher? Close your lips. That's the easiest way to be quiet. That's the only way to be quiet normally. If you open your lips, you will be tempted to make a sound or talk. I love watching kids play the quiet game. Because it's so hard for them. When I was their age, it was hard for me. Nowadays, if someone would play the quiet game, I'd probably be grand champion. I'd probably go to Olympics on it, amen? It's easy to be quiet. Right? And it also isn't telling us that the quieter a person is, the more spiritual they are. Now I firmly believe that if you're a quiet person and you learn to be quiet in situations, people will think you're a lot wiser than what you really are. And then you open your mouth and you remove all doubt. But the Bible here isn't telling us that the quieter a person is, the more spiritual they are. It also isn't telling us that we should not share with others what we have gleaned from God's word. as we study and God begins to give us what some people call nuggets, he begins to reveal truth to us, he begins to remind us of wonderful things. He's not saying, hey, don't share that with others. Matter of fact, I'd encourage you to get around some friends who have the desire and who will walk up to you and say, hey, what did you get out of God's word today? Let me ask you tonight, if I walked up to you in the hallway and said, hey, what'd you get out of God's word today, what would you say? If you walked up to me, what would I say? Well, we need some friends tonight that'll hold us accountable to the word of God. But in essence, it is not telling us that when we get something from God's word, we are not allowed to share it with others. Study to be quiet. Well, preaching isn't telling us all that. What is it telling us? Really, it's asking us why are we studying God's word? Why are we studying God's word? I want my preacher to be proud of me. I want my parents to be proud of me. I want my friends to be proud of me. I want my spouse to think highly of me. I want my people to know that I read my Bible, and that's great, and that's wonderful. But if that's the only motivation we had tonight, we were falling short. See, the reality is tonight that you and I don't study our Bible for a perception, or what people think about us. We ought to study our Bible for a persuasion, to know what God has said. That way, when storms come, when trials come, we were just talking about it before service, right? Our days are short and full of trouble. Preacher, I'm just waiting for a break. Well, buckle up, you're probably not gonna get one. Right, that's just how life is. I wish I could say, you know what? Things are gonna slow down. I've been waiting for things to slow down for 10 years now. Once things finally slow down, that's gonna be my famous last words. Once things finally slow down, Right, but the reason why we study God's word, that way when those times do come, we are persuaded that he is able to do that which he's committed unto me. Right, it's not a perception. I don't say my Bible, some people say, wow, preacher knows his Bible. I think a preacher ought to know the Bible. But I don't get up and say, you know what? I wanna share this because I want people to think that I'm some super spiritual person. Reality is those things I share with y'all in the mornings, it did not start out of a desire to impress the church. It came out of a desire to encourage my wife. We were married and I remember one day praying and asking the Lord to encourage my wife from the scriptures. Lord, would you please just encourage my wife from the scriptures today? And it's as if the Lord said, why don't you? And I said, well, Lord, yes. And so I'd get up in the morning and I would read my Bible and I'd pick a verse out as I was reading and I'd write Miss Becky a little note every morning. And I would write about what we had to do that day, the jobs, crazy people I worked with, and then I'd say, here's my verse, and here's what I get out of the Bible, and I'd do that consistently. Not because I wanted her to think, man, my husband's godly. I wanted to be a blessing to her. I wanted to be an encouragement to her. And out of that, God has grown that. And God has using that in ways that I never dreamed of. I mean, just recently, somebody posted one of my things on Facebook. I thought, man, I done made it now. They said, hey, do you mind if I post this on Facebook? I said, only if you're willing to argue with the people that are gonna argue, because I'm not gonna do it. And so they took my name off it and just said, one of my friends sent this. And I just chuckled at it. But tonight, the reason why we study our Bibles is not for the perception of others, right? It's so that we can be persuaded that God's word is true. Study to be quiet. Verse 2 Timothy 1, 12, the Bible says, for which cause I also suffer these things, nevertheless, I am not ashamed, for I know in whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he's able to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. Our Bible, we talked about this, our young people within that whole week quoted over 150 Bible verses from memory. 150 Bible verses. from memory throughout the entire week. And boy, it was a blessing. But I think some of that, I'm not gonna say all of it, some of that is competition. I'm that way, man. Put a competition in and I'll get competitive. Right, you come up to me and say, Preacher, I guarantee I can run down that hall faster than you. Something in me gonna say, no, you can't. And we'll run down the hallway, tear it all up, all the way down there. But the reality is that the desire is that they get to that concept of understanding that God's word is important. And I hope it carries over past the summer camps and past the Wednesday in the words and past the summer of scriptures and they realize that it is a blessing to hide God's word in their heart. Because when trials come and problems come and all that begins in their life and it begins to be real to them and personal to them, they will not have a perception but they will be persuaded that God's word is enough. We must study for ourselves. Study for yourself, not study to be quiet. Let me ask you, are you studying God's word for the perception of others, or are you studying that so God, so you can be persuaded by the Lord tonight? Can I say tonight, a lot of what I send out, a lot of those devotions I send out, man, I mean, some of them are pretty hard and tough, and I send them out thinking, boy, this is about to go over like a lead balloon. But there's certain aspects of my life, there's certain truths of God's word. I'm thankful that I have my Bible, because all I had to stand on was a verse, and I found out when all I had to stand on was a verse, that's all I needed to stand on. And God has taken care, and God has blessed, and God has worked, and God has moved. And I'm persuaded tonight that God's word is enough. If we lose everything here at our church, the wonderful singing, the wonderful programs, even the wonderful facility that we have, we lose all of that. As long as I have my Bible, I'll be okay. Because I have God's word and that's enough to stand on, even if I lose everything else tonight. Study for yourself, study to be quiet. So number one, study for yourself. Preacher, how do I mature? How do I grow in wisdom? How do I increase in favor with God? Study for yourself tonight. In essence of the night, if you're studying for yourself, I'm not gonna come and keep track of you. You're not gonna come to my office and say, Preacher, I read my Bible today, put a gold star by my name. Right? But if you don't have a daily relationship with the word of God, everybody will see it one day. It'll become noticeable in your life, visible in your life. Study for yourself. Number two, focus on yourself. Focus on yourself tonight. Bible says right there, do your own business. Do your own business. Now, you say, preacher, the Christian life is about others. I'd agree with you 100% tonight. But the reality is tonight, we're gonna get into this in just a few moments, you need to focus on yourself. Focus on yourself tonight because you're gonna find out you can't change people. Now, if I was Paul here and the Lord was speaking to my heart and the Holy Ghost was commanding me what to write, I would have raised my hand and said, Lord, do you mind if I change it just a little bit? And I would have said, Lord, and he would have said, well, what do you want to change it to, Brother Tate? Instead of it saying, do your old business, can it please say, quit dipping the Kool-Aid if you don't know the flavor? Right? Get out of everybody else's business. Y'all ever heard those sayings, A and B conversations will see your way out of here? Make like a tree and leave? Make like a gymnast and split? There's a few other ones, I just can't remember them tonight. And here's one of the dangers of the day and the age that we live in with social media. It's so easy to get involved in everybody else's business. We call it staying together, keeping together. You remember when Facebook came out, everybody said, well, I preach. I just keep in contact with my kids and look at photos of my family. Well, how many of us become a battleground? Become a place of arguing back and forth and back and forth People put something out on a public forum, they get upset when somebody tries to argue with them. Right, and we go back and forth on those things. But it has that, it's so easy to get involved in that, to get sucked into that per se, where now you are concerned with everybody else's going on. And even if we didn't have Facebook, we have that natural tendency within us to get involved in other people's business. I had someone visit the church, and after the service, I was back there talking to them. Thank you for coming. Thank you for being part of the service. We're so glad to see you. And they were standing back there and their head was just looking all up in the sanctuary. I said, everything all right? Are you okay? They said, I'm just trying to see what everybody else is talking about. I like being in everybody's conversations and figure out what they're talking about. And I didn't say it out loud, but in my heart, I said, Lord, if she don't come back, they don't come back, If they don't come back, they're not here tonight, amen. If they don't come back, Lord, I'll be okay with that. Lord, you ain't got to kill them, but please don't let them come back, amen. Here's the thing tonight, we tend to try to get in everybody's life and try to get information about them, but the problem is when you get information like that, what can you do with it? There's nothing you can do with it except pass it on. And when you start passing on information, you've got in the realms of gossip now. You become a busybody, right? We pass it on to somebody else and that makes us a busybody and a gossip. And here's the thing, you will not mature in your Christian life being a gossip and a busybody. You can't do what God says not to do and expect to mature in your Christian life. You have to do things God's way this evening. But what you do know, what will help, I have no idea what I wrote there. You know what will help you increase in wisdom, in favor? Focus it on yourself. Tonight if I were walking to the gym and go sit down on one of those elliptical bikes and not pedal it but just sit on it and start looking around the gym and start critiquing everybody that's in there while I'm sitting on my little bike not doing anything, you call that a squat? More like a squint. Oh wow, you really want to build some muscles, you're gonna have to pick up a bigger dumbbell. And start critiquing everybody else, guess what? It ain't helping them because they ain't listening to me. They got their little earbuds in and they're working out. And I'm sitting on the bike and I ain't working out. Ain't nobody getting no help. And sometimes in our Christian life, that's what we become. We sit on our spiritual exercise bikes, and we look at everybody else and say, boy, if they do this, and if they do that, and they fix this, then God would probably begin to move in their life, and God would do a work in their life. Boy, I can't believe they do something. I can't believe they say something. I can't believe they live like that. And we sit on our little exercise bike, and we're not doing anything either. And ain't nobody getting no kind of help, because they ain't listening to you. And you're not helping yourself either tonight. It's making things, as a matter of fact, James says it this way, right? He says, be you doers of the word and not hearers, only deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man beholding his natural face in the glass, for he beholdeth himself and goeth his way and straightway forgiveth what manner of man he was. I don't have any problem, I'm good, I'm fine. But whoso looketh in the perfect law of liberty, which is the word of God, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. Oh, preacher, I tell you what, God has blessed me with a spiritual gift. I have the ability to fix everybody else's problems and correct all their issues. And preacher, it's a blessing, though the reality of it, the Bible says that is not the blessing. And it's not a spiritual gift at all tonight. It doesn't amount to anything. You're just like somebody who looks in a mirror and says, I have a problem, but instead of getting it fixed, I'm just gonna walk off like I don't have any problems. Ignoring a problem doesn't fix a problem. Right, and we see here tonight that the Bible says that a man that is blessed is not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the word of God. He doesn't just know what the word of God says, or she doesn't know what the Bible says, but they do in their own life, whether anybody else does it or not. Tonight, it does no good for you and I to focus on everybody else. A glad day in my life as a pastor and really as a Christian, I found out I can't fix nobody. And for those that I have a problem that are beyond my reputation, if I turn them over to the Lord, he's really good at fixing things. He's really good at changing things. And so tonight, if you and I are gonna grow in wisdom and in favor with God tonight, we must study for ourselves, but number two, we must focus on ourselves. Let me ask you that, do you spend more time thinking about how you can better, how you are better than someone else or think about how you can better yourself in the Lord? Then notice number three tonight, apply it to yourself. Apply it to yourself, study for yourself, listen or focus on yourself, apply it to yourself. Work with your own hands. Now to me, this seems pretty self-explanatory. Have you ever tried to work with somebody else's hands? That doesn't make any kind of sense tonight, but I thought of a good illustration to help you understand this tonight. Where you at, Ms. Jillian? Do you know how to thread a needle? I want you to come thread this needle. Didn't mean to put you on the spot like that, but I did. All right, all you have to do is thread the needle tonight, Ms. Jillian. It is okay. The person did it before you licked it, too. But I cut off that end. All right, Ms. Jillian has thread the needle, right? This is her thread and she threaded her needle. Come here, Ms. Ella. Stand up here, Ms. Jillian. Come here, Ms. Ella. Are you nervous? All right, good. All right, now this is now your thread and this is Ms. Ella's needle, all right? All I want you to do is you have to hold the needle, you have to hold the thread, you have to thread her needle, right? But you cannot touch her hand and she cannot touch yours. All right, go for it. All you have to do is hold it still, Ms. Ella. Just hold it still. You get it? All right, you got it. Now notice here, thank you so much. Y'all can have a seat, y'all did wonderful. Now I don't know if you noticed tonight, it was a whole lot easier for her to thread her own needle than it was for her to thread Miss Ella's needle. And here's the thing tonight, when you and I, you don't know why some people get discouraged in the Christian life? They're too busy trying to thread somebody else's needle. They're too busy trying to apply the message that is preached tonight to somebody else. Oh, I wish somebody else was here tonight. I wish so-and-so was here tonight. Boy, they need this, and they probably do tonight. But guess what? They ain't here. But you are. And so God didn't send you here tonight so you could go home and say, boy, I tell you what, preacher, that was a good message, and I can't wait until so-and-so applies that. You walk out here with that mentality, God's gonna be like, hey, they didn't get it. Right, but tonight when you walk in here and say, you know what? Lord, you have something for me. Lord, you know what I need tonight. And maybe tonight you need to put down everybody else's needle. Maybe tonight you need to quit threading everybody else's needle and say, Lord, thread my needle. Lord, help me to apply this to myself tonight. And here's the thing, you do not mature in the Christian life by taking Bible truth meant for you and trying to apply it to somebody else. I was just talking about this before service tonight. I remember being in Bible college and Brother Robbie Burton told us a message. He said, now, he said there was something that happened in the church and he said, the Lord didn't give me a message, but I got one myself about that situation. And he said, I'm gonna preach, I'm gonna straighten these folks out. He said, I got up that night, he said, that group was there. And he said, I preached as hard as I could on what was going on. And he said, both of us knew what was going on. He said, I preached as hard as I could. He said, they shouted me on the whole time. They amen me, you're right preacher. And he said, the more they did, the madder I got. He said, finally I got to the point where I just closed my, he said, we didn't pray, we just closed our Bibles and went home. And he said, I was so discouraged, and I was telling the Lord, why don't they get straight? Why don't they get those fixed up? Lord, you know that was for them, and the Lord told Brother Robbie, he said, why don't you let me deal with them? And the same is true in our life tonight. If we take truth that God is trying to give to us, and trying to apply, for us to apply to ourselves, and all we do is sit back and say, you know what? I wish so and so was here. We are missing out what God has for us tonight. In essence, you will not grow trying to apply everything else to you or apply everything else to somebody else tonight. Lord, how can I work this with my own hands? Lord, how does this truth, how can I take this truth, Lord, and thread my own needle with it that I might grow in wisdom and in favor with God tonight? Here's the thing, don't waste your time trying to thread someone else's needle. As you're gonna find out, they probably don't want their needle threaded anyways. and you're gonna get so discouraged and so mad and so upset that they're gonna keep doing what they're gonna do and you're gonna quit and give up. Whereas you take that truth and apply it to yourself. I can't tell you how many times sitting in the pew and I would just sit there and say, Lord, I need to hear from heaven tonight. Lord, I need to hear from the word of God. Let the man of God preach to my heart tonight. Lord, if nobody else gets anything tonight, let me get something. That's real selfish and that's real needy. I need to hear from heaven. Let me ask you, are you more concerned and worried about what someone else isn't doing? That you aren't doing what you're supposed to be doing? I'll tell you what, I just can't serve the Lord because so and so. That's not a good statement to say. I remember someone coming in, this was years ago, and we had someone walk in and obviously they didn't go to church, obviously they were not accustomed to church attire, and they just came in and they were visiting, they were a guest, and they didn't bother me. I was just glad to see somebody in church, amen. I'm thanking God for a visitor. Had it been for the grace of God, that's probably how I would've walked into church too. Well, they were a woman, I wasn't, but. Outside the grace of God, amen. But I remember the service got done and someone came up to us after the service and said, did you see how they were dressed? I said, well, yes. I think everybody noticed when they walked in late, I just couldn't worship the Lord, because of what they was wearing. And I thought, man, that's terrible, because I worship the Lord like I was having the time of my life. And I realized tonight, that night, and I've realized it since many times in my life, that I can't be worried about everybody else, because I can't fix nobody else. I need to apply this to myself. What did Joshua say? As long as everybody else does it, me and my house will serve the Lord. But he said, but ask for me in my house. In essence, if nobody else does it, we are going to serve the Lord. We are gonna take the truth that is preached and apply it to my life, even if nobody else does tonight. Are you more concerned and worried about what someone isn't doing that you're not doing what you're supposed to be doing? You're gonna say, preacher, why should I study for myself? Why should I focus on myself? And why should I apply it to myself? Why is my private life, my personal life, that nobody else is ever gonna see so important? Because everybody is going to see it. Right, they may not see it in the moments, they may not see it in those times, but they will see the result of it, because verse number 12 gives us the results of this tonight. Look at verse number 12, that you may walk honestly toward them that are, what, without tonight. See, we've grown up, we've got a custom that as long as we impress everybody in church, that's all we need to do. The reality is tonight, I'm not here to impress you, you're probably not here to impress me tonight. Oh, preach, that's why I came tonight. Well, you failed. because I didn't walk in and say, wow, look at so and so. They got their Bible open before service. I'm gonna leave that one alone. I just thought of something, but notice this. If nobody will see it, but everyone will see it, notice the verse number 12 tonight, we see the results. It'll give you, when you have a private life or a personal life tonight, where you study for yourself, you focus on yourself and you apply it to yourself, it'll give you an impeccable testimony. Look at verse number 12. You'll be able to walk honestly toward them that are what? Without. Those who don't know the Lord. Those who are without the realm of salvation tonight. Those who've never been saved by the grace of God tonight. You know why most people want nothing to do with church? It's not because God is not good. It is not because God is not gracious. It is because they've probably run into a self-centered carnal Christian. who was worried about everybody else and everything else, instead of letting God work in their life, they became bitter, they became carnal and fleshly tonight, and they bumped into somebody who was without, and that person said, if that's what Christianity is, if that's what salvation is, I want nothing to do with it. We gotta realize tonight that our private, personal life is very important, because it keeps our heart tender, and it keeps our heart in line with God tonight. And when you and I focus on ourselves, we apply it to ourselves and we study for ourselves, it'll give us an impeccable testament with those that are without tonight. Not only that, it'll give us an all-inclusive walk that you have lack of nothing, it says at the end of verse number 12. You'll be able to say that I have done all that the Lord has desired for me to do. Do you realize that as a Christian, when we stand before Christ, you're only gonna stand up there for yourself? All the people you're trying to fix, Jesus ain't gonna call you up there for them. He's not gonna say, hey, don't you remember when so-and-so tried to straighten you out? That's not what he's gonna say. When he deals with you and I, he's gonna deal with us on a personal level. And we're gonna have to give an account for what we did with this great salvation that he's given to us. And tonight we have to focus on ourselves and study for ourselves and apply it to ourselves. And when we do that tonight, we'll have an all, in essence, we won't lack what we need to do the will of God. God never calls you to anything or calls you to do anything that he has not supplied the need for you to do it tonight. Instead of wasting our time on things that don't matter, you have the opportunity to achieve the will of God for your life, but you cannot do that worried about everybody else tonight. You must, and I don't wanna use the word worry about yourself, but focus on yourself tonight. Apply it to yourself and study it for yourself. The Bible says Jesus increased in wisdom and stature. My question tonight is will you? Will you increase in wisdom