Good job. Good job. Miss Abby, sometimes I forget
that a young lady's over there. You sound great.
Good job. That's a blessing. And they're playing
wonderful. Take your Bibles. Turn with me to
the book of James chapter number three. James
chapter number three. I'm excited about the message
tonight and I believe. This is a needed message
in a great way. And some of you didn't know this
one's coming. And it is gonna help you tremendously
if you open your hearts and your minds to the
truth that we're gonna look at and really wisdom,
wisdom from above. And I have the title, actually
the title is right here on this board. And I'm
gonna show you this in just a moment. And I don't
wanna see the title quite yet, but wow. Tremendous,
tremendous. Before we read this, I remember I
got a call from my dad. And by the way, today
is my dad's birthday. And today my dad turned
78 years of age. And my dad actually listened
to our Sunday night service on Sunday. And my
dad. very very rarely says nice things but he
said to me he said that was a help son and that
made me feel really good and so whether you like
the Sunday night service or not my dad liked
it amen amen but I remember several years ago
my dad typically will watch the services here
but he called me and he was not happy after I
preached a sermon And anyways, and not only was
he not happy, he let me know that he was not
happy. And he began to really, he focused in
on the problem. And he told me what the problem
was with my sermon. And then he wanted to help
me and be better preacher. He came not to criticize,
he came to correct something. And what he was
correcting, there was a story of my childhood
that I was telling you, the church, about. And
the way I described that story in the childhood,
it pulled up scabs that he would listen to when
I'd tell that story right there. And when he
said that, it was correction. He was correcting
me. He was offering a solution. He was not trying
to critique me, the individual seeking to find
fault. but he was correcting. Now, truthfully,
when you get corrected, it's not always something
that you enjoy. It's not always something that
you like. But at that moment, I embraced his
correction and I learned from it. And I think
I've become a better pastor because of that.
Does that make sense? Now, there's another side
to it. There's sometimes, and I remember through
the history of my church, not a lot, but several
times, there was a lady, maybe three years after
I became a pastor here, and she did not like
something that I preached, and she wrote this
seven page letter about the terrible pastor that
I was, and she was focusing on the person. She
was seeking to find fault. She was pointing out
problems without offering help. She was tearing
down and she was discouraging. And not only that,
but she took that letter and spread it through
a bunch of other people in the church. And so
that is called criticism. There's a difference
between correction and criticism. Both of them,
it sort of hurts. But correction is good. Criticism
is bad. And really we begin to get to the sermon
right there. One of the greatest battles you
have, one of the greatest battles I have, is
not always the correction of the criticism itself.
It's what happens inside of our hearts after
that correction or criticism comes. Okay, now
I don't know if you heard that, you're like stunned.
Okay, I'm gonna say it again. One of the greatest
battles we have, you have, I have in the Christian
life is not always the correction. or the criticism,
it's what happens inside our hearts after that
correction or criticism come. A negative comment
can replay in our mind for days. A critic especially
can occupy our thoughts and more than our faithful
friends can or the good in our life. In other
words, a problem, a critic can become so large
in our thinking that it overshadows the blessing
that God puts in our life. And here's the title
of the message. And it's a really simple one,
stay sweet. Stay sweet. And we're gonna stand
for the reading of God's word. We're gonna start
in verse number 13 of James chapter three. And
I'll start reading if you'll follow along with
me. Who is a what? Wise man. An endued with knowledge
among you. Now watch this phrase, let him show.
Who is a wise man? Let him show. out of a good
conversation, a good conversation. A conversation
is one's manner of life, his conduct, his behavior,
his way of living. Let him show out of a good
conversation his works with meekness of what?
Okay, wisdom, there's wisdom here. But if you
have bitter envies and stripes in your heart,
glory not, and lie not against what? Truth. This
wisdom descendeth not from above. but is earthly,
sensual, devilish, for where envy and strife
is, there is confusion and what? Every evil work.
But the wisdom that is from above, now watch
this, the wisdom that is from above is first
pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be
entreated, full of mercy and good fruits. without
partiality and without hypocrisy. Verse 18, read
with me. And the fruit of righteousness is sown
in peace of them that make peace. And really
wisdom from above. And really the idea is keeping,
we're trying to keep sweet in such a negative
world. We're just trying to stay sweet in the
midst of correction. Correction is good for us.
And often we have to stay sweet even in the midst
of criticism. Before we go any further, Let's
go to the Lord in prayer. Dear Father in heaven,
we love you and I pray that you help us all to
stop and think and really pray to you God to
fill our hearts and our minds with your word
and really negativity, sometimes criticism. It's
wrong, it's destructive, but it's a reality.
Corrections, sometimes we need it. We don't like
it necessarily, but we need it. But the main
thing is really help us to stay sweet. We love
you, we ask you to give us wisdom and help in
Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated. And we
get to this, remember, I'm gonna say the opening
phrase again, one of the greatest battles in
our Christian lives. It's not always the correction
or the criticism itself, but it's what happens
inside of your heart. after that correction or
the criticism comes, okay? If you think you're
gonna live a life without ever being criticized,
you're not living reality. Somebody say amen
to that. If you think in this side of eternity,
you're never gonna be corrected, you're just
not living in the reality of life. It's part
of our lives. So we get to this first part right
here and I think this is important. I want you
to turn over to Luke chapter six. Luke chapter
six, if you will. Look, chapter six, look at
verse number 26. And look at chapter six, verse
26. If you're not there, I'll read this. Woe
unto you, when all men shall speak well of you.
Okay, say that with me. Woe unto you, when all
men shall speak well of you. For so did their
fathers to the false prophets. And when we get
this, wisdom knows that Criticism will come.
And by the way, I'm gonna sort of use criticism
and correction, understanding that they're different.
But wisdom knows criticism will come. And when
we begin to think about this, no servant of God
has ever escaped criticism. And amen, okay? Consider
Moses was heavily criticized. Think of Korah.
David was criticized. He lived with Saul throwing
a javelin at him. Paul was. criticized, thrown
into prison, even our Lord Jesus Christ was criticized.
He was despised and rejected of men, a man of
sorrows and acquainted with grief. We understand
that and we see that, amen. And so if the godly
men of the Bible and even the Lord Jesus Christ
was criticized. an imperfect person like Matt
Nettisime or an imperfect person like you is
gonna have times when you're gonna be criticized
or corrected. And many believers, now think about
this statement. Many believers, people saved
by the blood of the crucified one, waste emotional
energy trying to achieve something impossible,
universal approval. Okay, I'm gonna say it again,
just so you're here, okay? Many believers waste
So much emotional energy. Stay sweet, stay sweet.
Trying to, in my sermon, I gotta stay sweet.
I gotta stay sweet. I'm trying. Emotional energy.
Stay sweet. I gotta put the sign back up. Put
the sign back up. Okay, there we go. There we
go. Stay sweet. Waste emotional energy trying
to achieve something impossible. It's impossible
for everybody to always approve of you. Wisdom
understands that. Now this wisdom understands
that pleasing God and pleasing everyone and else
are not the same thing. There's a big difference
between pleasing God. and pleasing everybody
else. So here's the first step. Remember that
wisdom knows criticism will come. You know criticism's
gonna come. How many agree that criticism will
come? So when criticism comes, do not immediately
assume something is wrong. When criticism comes,
don't assume right away that something's wrong.
Sometimes criticism means you're wrong. Sometimes
it does mean you're wrong. Sometimes when you're
criticized, sometimes Matt Nettis -Iam is wrong.
Sometimes criticism means you're right, but either
way criticism itself is not the final judge,
God's word is. Say that again, either way criticism
is not the final judge, God's holy precious word
is. Okay, now number two. Psalm 141, Psalm 141,
go over to Psalm 141, look at this. Psalm 141,
yay pastor. Turn to my Bible page right there.
This is exciting. Psalm 141. It's a sword drill.
And man, I'm alive. We got the Word of God. We're
turning into Psalm 141. You'll notice there it
says a Psalm of David. And I thought about this
Psalm of David almost when I read this verse.
I think of David when he sinned against God with
Bathsheba. Do you remember that? Nathan the prophet
came to him and corrected him. Do you remember
that? Do you remember that you corrected him?
And look with me at verse number, if you will,
verse number five. Look at verse number five.
Let the righteous smite me, and it shall be a
kindness. Let him reprove me, it shall be an
excellent oil. Let the righteous, think about
Nathan, Nathan the prophet, the righteous smite
me. It shall be a kindness. When David, was corrected
by Nathan the prophet right there. That's kindness.
Sometimes I need correction. Sometimes you need
correction. Teenagers, you always need correction.
Just kidding, just kidding. But we understand.
So not all criticism should be treated the same.
And I've already mentioned this. Some criticism
or correction is actually a gift. A wise person
asks, when somebody corrects you or criticizes
you, we gotta weigh in the balances. What is
this? Is there truth in this? When you're getting
criticized or corrected, is there truth in what
they're saying? Is God trying to teach me something?
Can I improve because of this? So a wise person,
we're trying wisdom which is from above. It's
merciful, it's peaceable. The wisdom from below
is different. You remember James chapter three,
we didn't spend a lot of time on that, but immediately
somebody criticizes or corrects, and we get angry,
we blow up, and we deal with it with anger, and
we let a root of bitterness begin to dwell inside
of us, and it begins to grow, and next thing
you know, I'm trying not to get ahead of myself,
but eventually that bitterness turns into us
being a bitter critical person. in our life,
and that's not what God wants. So even critics
occasionally tell us something we need to hear.
However, some criticism is simply unfair, inaccurate,
sometimes you might even say malicious, but wisdom,
what we need is the wisdom, and this is a message
on wisdom, we need wisdom to separate the truth,
you might say, from the noise, okay? So here,
correction, when we talk about correction, correction
focuses on a problem. seeks to improve, comes
with a desire to help, offers a solution or a
direction, and is building up. Correction is
trying to build up, not break down. Okay, so
I'm gonna say it again. Correction, I don't like
it when I get corrected. I don't like to be corrected,
but really, correction is good for me. I'm doing
something wrong. So it focuses on the problem,
not the personality. Correction seeks to improve.
Correction comes with a desire to help. Correction
offers a solution or direction. Correction builds
up. Criticism is different. Criticism often focuses
on the person. Criticism seeks to find fault.
Criticism usually points out problems without
offering any help. Criticism tends to tear down.
And criticism can leave discouragement, really,
leave somebody discouraged. So correction says,
here's how you can do better. That's good. Here's
how you can do better. Criticism, you're the
problem. Correction wants to make you better.
Criticism often wants to make you feel worse.
Their goal is to make you feel bad. So think
with these two sides. Even when criticism is
delivered poorly, there may be a truth that we
need to hear. And so wisdom learns from correction
even when it comes in criticism. We need to try
to have the wisdom to discern, wisdom to discern
some of the truth in that, okay? Now we go through
this second one. If you remember where we're
at, wisdom knows the difference between correction
and criticism. Do not reject correction merely
because you dislike the source, okay? A mature
believer can learn from correction. Okay. My
dad came to me. I didn't like what he said, but
he was not trying to criticize me. He was trying
to help me. And he shined a light on something.
And because of that, I've grown in that area.
Do you understand? And our relation, me and my
dad's relation is very, very strong, very, very
good. And that's important for us. Okay, we move
on to number three. And this is really, really
good. If you want to turn to 1 Kings chapter
19, I'm gonna say this. This is the story about
Ahab and Jezebel. Remember Elijah and Elijah
on the Mount Carmel. You know, the prophets of
Baal, fire came down from heaven. Woo! Victory.
There is a victory for Elijah. There is a victory
for the Lord. And you know, mountaintop, mountaintop.
But in chapter 19 of 1 Kings, Verse one, and
Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done. And
King Ahab was wicked, Jezebel was very wicked
also. Then it says in verse two, then Jezebel
sent the messenger unto Elijah saying, so let
the gods do to me. I can't do it, I don't know.
I'd love to be able to do that. Don't you criticize.
And more also. If I make not thy life as the
life of one of them by tomorrow about this time."
She was threatening Elijah to kill him. She is
a critic, okay? Would you agree with that? She's
a critic. She's not trying to help Elijah. She's
trying to tear him down, the person Elijah. And
then in verse number four, but he himself went
a day's journey into the wilderness and came,
sat down under a juniper tree. and he requested
for himself that he might die. So here's this
point, okay? Wisdom doesn't dwell on the criticism.
You just can't, okay? Well, it's not wise to.
So wisdom doesn't let one voice define the reality.
The reality of Elijah is he has a mighty powerful
God. Okay, our reality, your reality is we have
a mighty, powerful God. We serve the Lord God
of Elijah, and he is the King of Kings and Lord
of Lords. He's our captain, he's our commander,
he's our God, and we're soldiers of the cross.
And when we follow his orders, yeah, somebody's
gonna criticize you like a Jezebel. And so wisdom
doesn't let that voice of Jezebel define the
reality of God being, one criticism, we're not,
careful can outweigh a hundred good things that
are going on. You ever been there? Okay, me and
brother Jim. Okay, so I'm preaching to three
people today. That's fine. It's fine. Fine, fine.
Has anybody ever done that? You have like 100
good things and one critic and all of a sudden
you begin to dwell on that? Okay. Mitch, you
ever been there? You ever been there? Maybe,
maybe. Frank, I don't think anybody's ever criticized
you. They'd be scared to, okay. I don't blame
them, okay. So this is not wisdom. Think about
Elijah. One little threat from Jezebel caused
him to lose the perspective that he had a great
God. His circumstances had not changed nearly
as much as his focus had. He lost his focus on
the great God that he has and began to focus
in on the Jezebel or the critic. God then reminded
Elijah in that same chapter that there were still
7 ,000 that had not bowed their knees to Baal.
And God's saying, hey, you're looking at the
wrong thing. You're looking at the wrong thing.
You have a great God and there's many people
that are still serving me. So here's on this
one, remember this. Wisdom doesn't let that one
voice define the reality. Wisdom doesn't dwell
on the critic. So wisdom keeps things imperfect.
If we want that wisdom from above, we need to
keep things in the proper perspective. You as
a wise man or a wise woman need to make sure
that you do not just say, I'm not gonna dwell
on the critic. Now you need to have wisdom whether
it's a critique or a correction. We understand
that. I was trying to define that. But when it's
a critic, Trying to destroy, it's a Jezebel.
Don't dwell on the negative. Wisdom doesn't let
that one voice right there. So when criticism
comes to your life, they're trying to beat you
down, remember God. Remember God. Remember your
faithful friends. Remember the souls that have
been held. Remember the victories that have been
done. Remember the prayers that have been answered.
Remember the great God you serve. We serve a
great God. Okay, okay, okay, here we go, okay.
So, here we go, this next one. And I, Yowzers.
Oh, 1 Corinthians chapter 13. Go to 1 Corinthians
chapter 13. Please, and then the last one, don't
allow that one critical voice to become the narrator
of your life, okay? Just don't, just don't do
it. So, in 1 Corinthians chapter 13, it is the
charity chapter, the charity chapter. And really,
in a church, a divided church, First Corinthians,
divided church, problems. I'm of Paul, I'm of
Apollos, I'm of Stephen, and they were warring
against each other. If you remember that, you
remember the divided church. And then Paul remembers,
as a Christian, one of the great things we have
is the ability to be charitable. Though I speak,
verse one, though I speak with the tongues of
men and of angels and have not charity, I am
become a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal.
and though I have the gift of prophecy and understand
all mysteries and all knowledge and though I
have all faith so that I could remove mountains.
By the way, I have faith that can move mountains.
I did it some day, didn't you see that mountain
when I was on there right there? Remember that
ladder right there, that mountain, move that
mountain right there? And have not charity, I
am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods
to feed the poor and though I give my body to
be burned and have not charity, it profiteth
me nothing. Charity suffereth long and is kind.
Charity envieth not. Charity vaunteth not itself,
is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly,
seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked,
thinketh no evil. And I want to say that, thinketh
no evil. and thinketh no evil, and thinketh no
evil. And then we get to the last one in verse
number seven. Beareth all things, believeth all
things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
Read the first three words of verse eight. Charity,
never, faileth, say it again with me. Charity.
Okay. Wisdom, and when we begin to think about
that, refuses to become bitter. Wisdom stays
sweet. Wisdom. has charity, wisdom, and I put
this, don't let your sweet become sour. And praise
the Lord. And this may be one of the greatest
dangers of all. After you've been disappointed
enough, and by the way, I'm not necessarily talking
about correction. We gotta learn to take correction.
Please learn to take correction. One of the difficulties
is you can't stand to be corrected. Sometimes
I need to be corrected. Sometimes you need to
be corrected. Correction is good. And we understand
that. But criticism, when it comes, and it does
come, and you get criticized enough, after another
criticism, it's a danger for you and I to stop
being charitable. It's dangerous for you and
I to stop loving. It's dangerous for us to stop
hoping. It's dangerous for our sweet to become
sour, amen. And that critical person, if we're
not, we become the critic ourselves. and we become
negative ourselves. And that's not biblical wisdom.
A person with biblical wisdom, wisdom from above,
thinketh no evil. We have a heart and a mind
that is pure, you might say, that is charitable,
right? Wisdom, of course we need to remain realistic,
but let's not become bitter. Okay, Jesus knew,
and knows our failures. I put this in bold. Jesus
knew and knows my failures, Matthew, Alan's failures,
and your failures too, and he still loves us.
He still loves us, right? And praise God. So
we've got to think that wisdom, your wisdom,
to have wisdom, you need to refuse to become
bitter. I am gonna be joyful. I'm gonna choose
to stay sweet. I'm gonna choose to stay sweet.
I'm not gonna become sour. I'm never gonna let
somebody who's difficult make me to become a
difficult person. I'm never gonna allow a bitter
person to make me. I'm never going to allow that
critical person to make me critical. I'm going
to stay sweet, and I'm saying that's the way
we need to try to live. We need to make a decision
that that's the way we do. I'm optimistic in
God. I have a great God. He's my commander. He's
my chief. I'm going to follow him into the battles
of war, and sometimes there's going to be battles
and difficulties and struggles in war, but let's
stay sweet. Okay, we go to this next one. I want
you to think with me on this one. Oh, how do
I do this one? In John chapter 21, if you wanna
turn John chapter 21, this is interesting. John
chapter 21. Peter in this, you have to read the
verses 17, 18, 19. He's told that he's gonna
die. And then in verse 22, it's really interesting.
Then Peter turning about, seeeth the disciple.
whom Jesus loved following. So after Peter was
told what he's going to do, what's going on in
Peter's life, he turns to that disciple whom
Jesus loved. That's John the beloved, okay? Which
also leaned on his breast at supper and said,
Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee? Peter
seeing him sayeth to Jesus, Lord, and what shall
this man do? He took his attention off of his
life, basically. and begin to look at the life
and plans that God had for John. Then Jesus looks
at Peter and says in verse 22, Jesus says to
them, if I will that he tarry till I come, what
is that to thee? Follow thou me. What he's saying,
don't get sidetracked with somebody else's life.
Make sure that you follow thou me. Do your will.
God has a plan for your life. Don't let. God's
plan for somebody else's life or somebody's criticism
or somebody's this gets you sidetracked from
God's will for your life. In other words, wisdom
keeps their eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ. We
keep our eyes focused on God. Wisdom stays busy
doing God's work. My, oh my, let us labor therefore
to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after
the same example. of unbelief for the word of
God is quick and powerful and sharper than any
two -edged sword. You know, as we begin to look
at that, we can become consumed with what others
are doing, what critics are saying. Man, you
want, you want. I'll give you an example. I,
okay, before I say it, this may shock you. I
believe the King James Bible is the inspired,
inerrant Word of God. It's perfect from beginning
to end. Matt Nettesheim, I'm not a Bible corrector,
I'm a Bible believer. And I believe this Bible
is a lamp on my feet and a light on my path.
I believe God said it is written, not it was
written. And it's a glorious book. It's a glorious
book. But if you look up on the internet, on
YouTube, and look up, I didn't even know some
things about me before. The critics, if you put
in somebody who believes the King James Bible
is the word of God, you put that in YouTube,
holy mackerel, there's thousands of videos that
are critical of somebody believing that this
is inspired in the word of God. And if you listen
to them, they will call you sitting in a Bible
-believing church, a King James Bible -believing
church, you're ignorant and unlearned. and your
hatred, and I didn't even know all those things
about myself. I mean, it's vicious. And if you
listen to that enough, I can get sidetracked
from what God has called me to do. My biggest
job in the world is not to defend the King James
Bible. May shock you, my biggest job in the world
is to take the sword and use it. and go out there
and tell people about Jesus. The King James Bible
says, Jesus saves. He is the way, the truth,
the life. And we go out there and we use the
Bible to change people's lives and lead people
to Bible believe in Christianity. So wisdom keeps
its eyes on the Lord. Wisdom saves being worked.
And by the way, I just think that's a danger.
It's a side note. But if you're not careful,
I'm looking at this section, this section, this
section. I have no doubt in every section, some
of you are watching way too many YouTube videos
that are criticizing. Bible, believe in Christianity,
and you wonder why you're discouraged. You wonder
why your mind is not doing too good. Man, get
in the word of God. The word of God is quick
and powerful and sharp, and read the word of
God. We have faith comes by hearing and hearing
by a YouTube video. No, faith comes by hearing
and hearing by the word of God. And too often
we're sidetracked away from Bible, believe in
Christianity, and we know YouTube videos, but
we don't know the word. But that's a side note,
okay, man? If we're not careful, we get sidetracked,
we end up neglecting the work that God has actually
called us to do. Wisdom keeps its eyes on Christ
and our hands on the task God's given us. So
I wanna just ask you and ask you to say, what
does God want for me today? And then follow through
and do what God wants you to do today and stay
away from that saturation of, I think sometimes
we walk in the lion's den of critics for no good
reason at all. So we get to this next one. This
comes from second Samuel chapter 16, and this
is gonna be a quick one. Remember, wisdom stays
busy doing the work of God. This one right here,
do you remember the story of David and Shimei?
So David is running for his life from Absalom,
do you remember that? And he's got this guy named
Shimei. And Shimei is cursing David, the king.
and cursing David the king. Shimei is cursing
David the king. Okay, do you understand? The
king of Israel. He's cursing God's man. And David's
being cursed. What does he do? Well, he keeps
on walking. It may be, and it says in chapter
16, second Psalm, chapter 16, verse 12, it may
be that the Lord will look on my affliction and
that the Lord will quite me good for his cursing
this day. And so it gives us an example. David
did not spend his energy defending himself. Instead,
he trusted the Lord. He's busy in the work of
the Lord right there. In other words, wisdom
doesn't have to win every battle, okay? Wisdom
knows when to let things go. Wisdom trusts God
to defend it. Wisdom doesn't feel the need to
answer every critic. You can't. There's a saturation.
There are battles that God never intended for
us to fight. Not every accusation requires an
answer. Not every critic deserves a response.
Not every misunderstanding needs to be corrected
immediately. And here's why I'm saying church,
for me, for you, wisdom knows when to speak and
when to leave the matters to God. Wisdom from
above, wisdom from above, wisdom from above.
It's merciful. It offers peace. It offers restoration.
It's wonderful. But if all of a sudden we get
critical, the critic makes us critical. And next
thing you know, that all we wanna do is go after
the critic and we're not caring about correction
and building them back up. We wanna pound them
down. That's a little bit opposite from restore
such a one in the spirit of meekness considering
thyself less also be tempted And the idea is
we've got to be very careful wisdom doesn't have
to win every battle now We get to the end and
this this is the end. I could have elaborate
a little bit further, but i'm going to go over
these Stay sweet The idea is we need to keep
sweet in a negative world with wisdom from above
I need wisdom from above. How many need wisdom
from above? Oh, we need it, we need it, we need
it right there. Wisdom knows, you know, your
wisdom, your criticism's gonna come. When you're
doing the work of the Lord, criticism's gonna
come, okay? How many of you know that? How many
of you know that? Criticism's gonna come, you
tried to do that. But also, there is a time,
and I wanted to hint on that again, but wisdom
knows there's a difference between correction
and criticism. Sometimes I need correction. Matt
and Ed assign, needs correction, okay? How about
you? How many of you would say sometimes you
need to be corrected? Okay, do you remember that
verse by the way? That from a child thus known
the holy scriptures which are able to make the
wise and the salvation through faith which is
in Christ Jesus, all scripture is given by inspiration
of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof,
for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
correction. You preach the word of God, it's
sometimes gonna step on your toes and it's not
trying to tear you down. It's trying to build
you up. It's trying to show you that you're wrong
and lead you onto a better decision path. Corrections
good right there. So we go to this next one.
Remember, this is what we've already gone through.
Wisdom keeps things in perspective. Don't dwell
on the negative. Don't let one voice define the
reality. Wisdom refused to become bitter. Do
too many Christians become bitter? They just
do it as a terrible thing. And Satan sits back
and laughs. Stay sweet. Wisdom keeps its eyes
on the Lord. Wisdom stays busy doing God's work.
And wisdom doesn't have to win every battle.
I need wisdom. I need wisdom. I need wisdom.
And I need wisdom. Oh, there's too many stories
to tell. But in your own heart and mind, I'd
look back over your life. Every one of you at
times has been corrected. Maybe not liked it,
but correction's good for you. When you go to
somebody, don't be a critic where you're trying
to estompadate them. When you go to somebody
and God leads you to correct them, it's restorative,
it's helpful, it's in a meek spirit, it's wisdom
from above, it's peaceable, not trying to stomp
somebody, okay? We got that, okay, good, good,
good, good, good. But when criticism, don't become
the critic, but when the critic comes to you,
stay sweet. Stay sweet, stay sweet, stay sweet.
Let's pray. Dear Father in heaven, we love you.
Oh, this was a needed message. And I have no
doubt behind the scenes, there are individuals
going through this right now. And they're battling
in their hearts and minds and becoming negative
and cynical, you might say, and critical themselves.
And I pray that that root of bitterness has been
dug up tonight. And even right now, decisions
are made. And I pray that even some pray to you
right now and say, Lord, help me to stay sweet,
help me to accept the correction and help me
to stay sweet when there are critics. And then
I pray that you help somebody here tonight who
has maybe leaned over and started to be that
critic, where it's not about correction, but
it's about destroying. And I pray that you work
in their hearts and show them clearly that's
wrong. And God, I pray that you help our church.
love Chesapeake Baptist Church, the people. I
believe we have such a sweet spirit in our church,
Lord, and I love it. I love coming around the
people of God, and I pray that our church stays
sweet. We love you, Lord. We need you in Jesus'
name, amen. Stand with me if you will. Turn around
to somebody.