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[ Silence ] [MUSIC] [ Music ] ♪ The weary walketh slow ♪

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♪ And the valley where we live ♪ ♪ We may all our journey do ♪ ♪ Softly lift, brothers ♪ ♪ We have spent our time and sleep ♪

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♪ Softly lift, brothers ♪ ♪ He has built my strength and shield ♪ ♪ In a treasured word of God ♪ ♪ In the ancient spirit's love sung ♪

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♪ Mary, through the spell-made water ♪ ♪ And we sing her name of such ♪ ♪ Songs of praises ♪ ♪ I will ever sing to thee ♪

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♪ Songs of praises ♪ ♪ I will ever sing to thee ♪ ♪ To the Lord be ♪ - Today, as we celebrate Children's Day,

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we have the theme to guide us for all of our activities. And the theme that has been selected for this day, children, the bridge to tomorrow. Children, the bridge to tomorrow.

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Would you all say that? Children, the bridge to tomorrow. The bridge to tomorrow. The bridge to tomorrow.

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I wonder how many persons in this audience are grandparents. Let me see your hand. Great grandparents first. Let me see the great grandparents.

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If you're a great grand, just stand up just one minute so that all the children can get a good look at the great grandparents. All right, remain standing.

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Now all of you who are grandparents, stand. All who are grandparents. Wonderful, wonderful. Now all of you who are just parents.

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(laughing) All right. Now children, I want you to get a good look at all of these people because they have been

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over the bridge that you have yet to cross. All right, you may be seated. These are the persons who have been over the bridge that you have yet to cross.

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And it is a wonderful thing to learn to respect your elders. When I was a little boy, I always liked to go around Grandpa and sit at his feet and listen to him talk about things

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that happened long ago. When he was a little boy and when our people were in slavery and he'd tell me many stories and he'd have me to read to him,

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but I got far more from him because he had lived so many more years than I had, and he knew so much more about life than I did, so he could tell me many things if I would listen.

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So as we celebrate this day, it is good for us to remember that If we listen to those who have gone on before us, who have lived ahead of us,

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if we listen to the words that they have to say, it will help us to live a good life. So this word that I have for this message today is based on many people who had lived many years,

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they were built on the elders of the race. These were the wise people of the race. And having lived for many years and learned many things, they took those things and they passed them on

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from one generation to the other. They passed them on to their children and their children passed them on to their children and their children passed them on to their children.

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And here we are thousands of years later, with this wisdom. And if you listen and if you follow this wisdom that they have passed on to us, then there are a lot of mistakes and a lot of misery and a lot of pain that you won't have to undergo.

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So the subject of the message is two ladies. Now if you put that book aside for a moment and just listen on the two ladies. Those of you on the front row right here. Put your book aside and let's listen. The subject of the message is what? Two ladies. Just say it again. Two ladies. Once more. Two ladies. All right. This first lady that

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We are concerned with here all of these ladies are Both of them are in the book of Proverbs. The first lady is called pleasure Do you remember that? Once more pleasure the first lady is pleasure

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now this lady Pleasure is all along life the writer says here She is there. She's out in the streets Looking for all of the travelers that may come that way

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She is out there Beckoning for them to come into her house She wants them to listen to her She promises them a good time

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If they will just come in to her house In other words, just listen what he says about this woman called Pleasure, that she looks for simple-minded people, simple-minded people who are lacking in common sense. And she looks upon them as they are walking at the twilight down the street to the house

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that pleasure has. And she approaches the persons that she can influence. She is sassy. You know, my people used to say, "You should not be sassy."

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Well, they say she is sassy, she is perked, she is dressed in a seductive manner, she has on clothes that are too tight for her, she is walking down the streets, you know, doing all she can do to shake her hips from side to side. You know, that's what pleasure is doing.

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And pleasure is trying to get the young and the simple-minded to come. And here's what she does. She puts her arms around him. When she gets one, she puts her arms around him,

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she kisses him, and with a sassy look, she says, I was just coming to look for you and hear you off. (audience laughing) You see, this is what pleasure says.

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And then pleasure goes on to say, "Come home with me and I'll fix you a wonderful dinner." After that, well, my bed is spread with lovely colored sheets of finest linen imported from Egypt with expensive perfumes.

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Come on, let's take our field of love till morning for my husband is away on a long trip. He has taken a wallet full of money with him and he won't return for many days.

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So pleasure wants to get young, simple-minded people into her house. She wants to get them drunk so that they will not know what they're doing

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and yet they're thinking they're having a good time. That's what pleasure is. And so often as young people, we say, oh, I just wanna have a good time in life.

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And many times, those who go out to have nothing but a good time, end up wasting their lives and living a much shorter time than they would live if they had not been out just for pleasure.

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I walked a mile with pleasure. She chatted all the way, but I was none the wiser by what she had to say.

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The first lady that these wise people talk about is called pleasure. So be careful about going out in life just trying to get pleasure out of life.

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People who do that eat too much, drink too much, do everything too much. So be careful about this lady, pleasure, because she's along the way that you're traveling

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She'll try to get you into her house. But then there is another lady along this way, and her name is Wisdom. Lady Wisdom. Lady Wisdom.

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And let me read to you what the wise men had to say about Lady Wisdom. Wisdom has built her house. She has hewn her seven pillows. She has slaughtered her animals. She has mixed her wine. She has set her table. She has sent out her servant girls. She calls from the highest places in town. You that are simple turn in here. To those without

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sense she says come eat of my bread and drink of my wine I have mixed. Lay aside immaturity and live and walk in the way of insight. Now what is to have wisdom? What is wisdom? Well, wisdom is to have knowledge.

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You're going to school, you're studying many things, things, you are remembering many new things, new facts. Wisdom is not only having knowledge, but it's knowing how to use that knowledge. It's being able to discern those inequalities relationships. It's knowing how to get along with people. Now sometimes there

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are those who go to school and they make A's in school and they make good marks in all of their classes but they do not know how to get along with other people and so they do not have wisdom. They have knowledge but they do not have wisdom. Wisdom involves knowing how to make the right decision.

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You can have a lot of knowledge and not know how to make the right decision. When I was about the age of some of you, I was trying to cook, and I liked french fried potatoes,

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and what we called in those days, we call it shortening now, but we call it lard. I put it on this wood stove, and I let it melt there in the skillet, and I was waiting for it to get hot.

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And it looked like it took so long for it to get hot. And so I thought I would stick my finger down in there to see if it were hot enough. Well, I discovered that it was.

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And ever since that time, I've always No, not to stick your finger down in that pot that sucks. So there are many things that you will learn from experience but there are some things that is best for you

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not to experience because you can learn from someone else who's already experienced it so they'll know, don't you go that way. Don't you do this because that won't be good for you.

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So we can profit from the wisdom of others. So wisdom has built her house. It is a house that has seven pillows. It's a banquet hall.

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And Wisdom also is along the way beckoning for boys and girls, men and women, saying, "Come into my house. Come into my house. I have a banquet prepared.

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I have a wonderful dinner. I have slaughtered the best animals. I have prepared the best meal. "Come into my house and eat and be merry."

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So wisdom invites us to come. She has a house of seven pillows. So as you look at your life, there are some things that you need to consider

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in your house of wisdom. Now I'll mention a few of them rather quickly. First is seek to know as much as you can. Have knowledge as one of the pillars in your house.

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Study hard. Read. During the summer months, get as many books as you can. Read, not only during the summer, but all during life.

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Make reading a good habit, because reading makes a ready person. So seek to get as much knowledge as you can. Know all you can about yourself and the world around you.

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Seek to be well-informed. Then freedom is another pillar in the house. In a few years, you'll be out completely on your own. There won't be anyone to tell you,

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go here, go there, do this, do that. You'll be free to do what you want to do, but there has to be something on the inside of you guide you in the way that you ought to go.

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Then democracy of knowing how to recognize the rights of other people, good government, involving the participation of others, the kind of life that enables us to engage in in the pursuit of happiness and to recognize the liberty that should be accorded to every person. So wisdom is also something that involves character.

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That's another pillar. Be honest, be loving, be kind, practice self-control, be patient. That's the kind of stuff that character is made of. Then understanding, understanding. Seek to get a good understanding of what life is all about. And to learn to believe in that which really matters. Believe in yourself,

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believe in other people and believe in God. So then wisdom is another pillow would have you to have yourself all together, all together. Because you see there's a physical part of you, there is the mental part of you, there is this social part of you. Jesus increased in wisdom, in stature, and in favor with God

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but all of these were working together as one united being. So that's important that you develop a well-rounded personality. So this is the house that wisdom builds.

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It's a house in which there is a feast fit for kings and queens. So in all of this, God is present to help you. God is there to guide you.

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There is this word that comes in the form of a poem by William Cullen Bryant. He who from zone to zone guides the boundless sky, through the boundless sky thy certain flight.

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In the long way I must tread alone, will lead my steps are right. Now he wrote that when he was looking at a sky waterfowl. And this waterfowl was making trackless journeys in the air.

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And as the poet looked and saw that waterfowl, he thought about how that waterfowl makes it and how that waterfowl is guided by God. And certainly God who guides that waterfowl

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will guide us on our journey. So boys and girls, men and women, brothers and sisters, above all by getting, be sure that you get a good understanding because wisdom,

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wisdom is the thing that is of utmost importance and the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Oh, there are many things you're gonna forget. As you grow older, many of the things you learn now,

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you will forget, but of all of the things that you remember, be sure to know God. Be sure that you know that God is good. Be sure that you know that God loves you

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and that God cares about you, that he will guide you and keep you. Now as we come to the hymn of invitation, we extend the privilege of the church

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to accept Jesus Christ as Lord of your life. That is the wisdom that is represented by that lady wisdom that the wise men talked about. It's recognizing God's goodness and God's grace and being obedient to his will and his way. The door of the church is open.

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Come to Jesus just now. Come to Jesus just now. Just now. ♪ Come to Jesus ♪ ♪ Come to Jesus ♪

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♪ Come to Jesus ♪ ♪ Just now ♪ ♪ Just now ♪ ♪ Come to Jesus ♪

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♪ Come to Jesus ♪ ♪ Just now ♪ ♪ He will save you ♪ ♪ He will save you ♪

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♪ He will save you ♪ ♪ Just now ♪ ♪ Just now ♪ ♪ He will save you ♪

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♪ He will save you ♪ ♪ Just now ♪ ♪ He will save you ♪ ♪ He will save you ♪

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♪ He is able, just how ♪ ♪ Just how ♪ ♪ He is able ♪ ♪ He is able, just how ♪

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♪ He is willing ♪ ♪ He is willing ♪ ♪ He is willing, just how ♪ ♪ Just how ♪

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♪ He is willing ♪ ♪ He is willing ♪ ♪ Just how ♪ ♪ God confess it ♪

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♪ God confess it ♪ ♪ God confess it ♪ ♪ Just how ♪ ♪ Just how ♪

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♪ God confess Him ♪ ♪ God confess Him ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ - Okay, so what verse is that you're singing?

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- Confess Him. - Number five. - Number five. (chattering)

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[ Inaudible ] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] Come confess Him, come confess Him just now.

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Come obey Him, come obey Him, come obey Him just now, just now. ♪ Come again, come again ♪ ♪ Just now ♪ ♪ He will hear you ♪

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♪ He will hear you ♪ ♪ He will hear you ♪ ♪ Just now, just now ♪ ♪ He will hear you ♪

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♪ He will hear you ♪ ♪ Just now ♪ ♪ He'll forgive you ♪ ♪ He'll forgive you ♪

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♪ He'll forgive you ♪ ♪ Just now, just now ♪ ♪ He'll forgive you ♪ ♪ He'll forgive you ♪

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♪ Just now ♪ - Ladies and gentlemen, listen now to our church clerks. [ Silence ]