Episode Transcript
Proverbs chapter 11 verse 29 the tile of the message tonight is toil and trouble toil and trouble It's an uncomfortable feeling when something goes wrong in life and it's completely out of our control You want to stop it You want to fix it?
But you can't and Most of the things in this world we have absolutely no control over when it comes down to it But there are two areas in our life that God has given us control over That's our house and our heart our house and Our heart you see both of those in our text tonight in Proverbs 1229 we're gonna get to that here in just a moment, but this is a preface to that That text in Matthew chapter 25 verses 14 through 15 Jesus said for the kingdom of heaven Is as a man traveling into a far country that's talking about Jesus Who called his own servants that's talking about us and?
Delivered unto them his goods that's talking about the talents that he gives us that talks about the area of responsibility that he's put in our hands And under one he gave five talents to another two and to another one to every man According to his several ability And straightway took his journey He went back to the father and we're waiting on him to come back Now keep that up there keep Matt you keep Matthew 25 up there if you would for a moment, please And let's think about that tonight before we get into our text When the world is falling apart and oftentimes we feel it is a lot of times the devil puts things on us in In tandem he puts things on us When repetition one after another in succession like that like he did with Job That's his strategy And when the world is falling apart around you don't fret over what you can't control focus on what you can control Because that's all you're going to give account for anyways the things you can control Notice here in verse 15 It says and unto one he gave five talents to another two to another one to every man according to his several ability In straightway he took his journey.
How did God give he gave to every man according to his several ability?
God gives to every man.
That's the first thing we learn for that everybody's got responsibility for something God has put at least your heart and your home into your care at very least So he gave to every man So we're all going to stand and give account to God But then he gave to every man according to his several ability So God gives to every man you will give an account to God and God gives according to your ability Here's a kingdom truth for you tonight without ability There can be no accountability without ability There can be no accountability Now if we'll look on here in Matthew 25 and go to verses 19 So it's got after a long time the Lord of those servants cometh in Reckoneth with them After a long time man.
I like that Jesus gave us a little hint right there on how long he was going to be gone brother shepherd a long time now.
He's coming quickly After he's gone a long time You see that's how it's going to work so after a long time.
He's going to come back.
He's going to reckon with us He's there's going to be a day of reckoning a day when we are held accountable For the the the abilities the the the things that he's put in our hand after a long time He's going to come back And we're all going to give an account to him for the talents that we received from him and most of us are familiar with this parable, but I think what we usually miss is Something that's just as important We usually when we read this parable we focus on What we have to do that is give an account to God But what we don't focus on the thing that we miss is what we don't have to give an account to God for What we don't have to do see the only thing that they gave an account for was the talents that God had given them They had to give an account to God for nothing else.
Here's a kingdom truth We will give an account for what God has given us We will give an account For what God has given us he that had been given two talents He didn't need to focus on the three talents that Jesus gave the other guy He only had to focus on the two talents that he had been given He only had to give an account for that.
So here's this isn't a kingdom truth But it's kingdom advice.
How about this and we can all use it Don't put on your shoulders What God has not put into your hands Don't put on your shoulders What God has not put into your hands.
We have a tendency to do that We fret over things that God is not going to hold us accountable for How do we know he's not going to hold us accountable for because if we don't have control of it Then we don't have responsibility for it.
Remember without ability There is no accountability.
He gave to every man according to his several ability So if God does not give you the ability to control it, he does not give you the responsibility To have to answer for it Here's a couple of things that God has put in our hands tonight though that we don't want to mess up Solomon says in our text tonight in Proverbs 11 29 He talks about he that troubleth He that troubleth and literally that Hebrew word meaning trouble here or translated trouble here It means to royal not not royal as in as in royalty, but our oh IL that is in the sense of agitating water To stir up the sediment and muddy the water That's what you can do with your life with your behavior You can trouble the water of someone's heart And take the clearness out and put sediment all in their heart in East Texas terms you can stir things up.
That's Literally what it's saying you can stir things up.
So a figuratively here now, that's literally When we apply this figuratively to our text tonight, we're gonna be seeing about the house.
It means to put someone in a state of emotional agitation or It means to put someone in a state of disorder disorder He that troubleth What look back in your text his own house He that troubleth his own house Who whoever puts his own house in a state of emotional agitation Boy, there's people that are good at that aren't they?
They're good at it there are people who just can't be happy unless They're making somebody miserable they can't be happy unless they're coming home and Stirring things up And that's who the Bible's talking about tonight someone who stirs things up in his own house who gives emotional agitation listen People in your house have to live with you Whether it's your sister like brother Billy my wife like me Your husband your wife your children whoever your roommate whoever People in your house have to live with you They have to come home to you each day or stay home and have you come back home to them each day Whatever the circumstance may be and life's too short To be making people miserable with your rotten attitude.
I have nobody in mind nobody But we've all seen it Most of us have lived through it and man, it's no fun And that's who the Bible's talking about tonight someone who emotionally agitates his home someone who puts his home or her home in disorder Disorder They mess up the order of their house.
They mess up the godly order that God put between Christ the husband the wife and the children If you if if a lady gets out of order and she tries to put herself over the husband This is talking about you If the man gets out of order and he tries to put his wife above him and tries to let her make the decisions He won't take responsibility is talking about you If you're letting your kids run wild and do whatever they want to and you're not holding them holding them accountable is talking about you Notice Solomon said his own house His own house not just a house.
It doesn't say he that trouble at the house But he the trouble with his own house Not his neighbor's house.
Why?
Because God did not give him control over his neighbor's house only his own house His house is his family And there's nothing so bad as trouble in your family nothing it's bad when you hear of someone else having family trouble, I got a Message the other day from someone having serious family trouble Wanted me to pray And and it hurt to hear that But when it's your own house that's having trouble it's really bad and you don't want that And every person is going to give an account for how he or she Manages their own house because God has put that in your hand You say well, there's some things that my wife does or that my husband does I don't have any control over That means God didn't put it in your hand.
You won't give an account for it But you know what God did put in your hand if he made you a wife He put the role of a wife in your hand You're gonna be accountable for that if he made you a mother he put the role of a mother in your hand You're gonna give an account for that same for a husband same for a father In your home you will give an account For that role that God has given you how you handled your role for whatever reason there are a lot of people who trouble their own house They trouble their house by how they treat their wife But how they treat their husband but how they treat their children Man, when you come home Your kids ought to be happy to see you not dreading you Your your wife should be happy to see you not dreading you man I love coming home to my house now if my wife was sorry, I'd probably want to stay at work a little longer But I love coming home I'll get the biggest smile when I come home.
My wife's got a routine.
She's gonna whatever she's done.
She's gonna finish working Exercising whatever she's doing at the house.
It gets her dirty and sweaty.
It's gonna be done.
She's gonna be shard She's gonna be clean She's gonna be cooking my meal and when I walk in she's gonna have a big smile on her face And we're gonna smile and be in love and hug each other and live happily ever after and start all over again the next day That's how it is.
That's no exaggeration.
That's how it is day in and day out at my house and absolutely love it and There's no reason why you can't do the same Absolutely no reason When this person wrote me the other day and said We're having some serious marital problems I immediately responded by saying if you're having marriage trouble, then one or both of you are disregarding God's Word period You're you're you're not following God's Word one or both of you Because you cannot both spouses cannot follow God's Word in their role as a husband and a wife And that marriage not be a piece of heaven And immediately I got the response it's definitely because God's Word has not been followed and I at least appreciated that acknowledgement That's where the failure was That makes it easy to get your marriage back on track Climb back on that scripture start rolling like a train on the Word of God That's what it takes But don't trouble your your house.
Don't trouble your children Some people trouble their house not by being mean but by not providing for them man there There's a woman I know I used to go to church of these people and The husband wouldn't get a real job He was just kind of hitting and missing on things and and they didn't have any money and It built stress in the home.
I Mean that woman was stressed a woman needs to feel that hey my husband's providing And he wasn't And one day he came home He was hungry.
He opened up the refrigerator.
He opened up the cabinets and There wasn't anything to eat.
He says get some food in this house She couldn't she didn't have any money because he wasn't providing Get some food in this house, you know what that's doing is troubling your home They trouble their house by getting put in jail They trouble their house by being unable to fulfill their God-given role Breaking their family's hearts a lot of us have gone through things like that They trouble their house by the sin they commit Man how many times I've seen that happen in family's homes Somebody falls into sin and you can not You cannot fall into sin without dragging your family in with you It's in Paul.
I'm not saying that your family is gonna sin with you But man you can't fall down and your family and I get hurt It's gonna hurt them.
It's gonna embarrass them.
It's gonna put unnecessary stress on them How we behave in our lives affects our Homes and when you put stress that undue burden on your family because of your sin You're troubling your house.
You're the person God's talking about tonight Yes, there's only one place in the state of Texas Where you can shoot somebody no questions asked just smile and shoot them Simply because they entered in without your consent That's your home Say well your car too brother.
It should only because the law considers that an extension of your home But You're home you sleep at night you're watching will of fortune in the living room and Someone opens a window and climbs in You just there you go Unless they're installing windows, that would not be a good idea But other than that You can why?
Because The government recognizes that that house is your absolute domain And you have the right to protect it But more often than that Not only do you have the right to protect you have the obligation to protect it But you know who the biggest threat is to our homes we are You have a greater chance of destroying your own house of troubling your own house than your neighbor than a drug addict Than a terrorist The only person who could answer for being a wife a mother a husband a Son a daughter a father Is you The road that God's put you in the talent he's put in your hand don't trouble your home For a person who troubles his house look back in your text now The Bible says shall inherit the wind Shall inherit the wind Destructive wind is what is talking about here.
We just had a tropical storm upgraded to a hurricane And that hurricane hits land and knocks something over that's the wind That the Bible is talking about inheriting that kind of wind not the breeze That's a good kind of wind, but this is the destructive wind that tears something down Why is that so critical?
Because the family was meant to be built up And isn't it terrible that someone who's charged with building a family ends up being the one responsible for tearing it down God help us and I'll tell you You can get so accustomed You can get in such a rut With tearing your family down with tearing your spouse down To where all you do is just criticize your spouse all you do is criticize your roommate All you do is find fault with someone And be negative negative negative You can get in such a rut it becomes part of who you are And it's hard to break But you know what you need to break it You need to break it before you break your home.
You need to break it before you break your spouse And you can do it some of the most faithful people can finally just say you know what I've had enough You know what I quit you know what I just give up I lay down and their spirit gets broken on the inside and You're wrong you caused it But a house is meant to be built up and maintained but stress I Mean how many of y'all have ever experienced stress in the home?
Has no fun That's no fun And it doesn't have to be within your four walls it can be outside your four walls just part of your family Your house does not have to live with you.
It's your family the Bible is talking about here but stress abuse Neglect and lack of biblical leadership or biblical submission will tear a house down And when that happens you'll inherit the wind You'll inherit the wind he the troubles his own house shall inherit the wind look back in the text now and the fool Shall be servant to the wise of heart The fool shall be servant to the wise of heart now in the first part of your text underscore the word house in The last part of your text underscore the word what heart Heart that's the connection here.
You would look at this first and think well, there's was he adding that on there That's like saying I have a cat him by the way.
I enjoy Chevrolet pickups You know that's not what's happening.
These are two areas the house and the heart That you control That is put in your hand and that you are accountable for The fool shall be the servant to the wise of heart Our heart is something we're accountable for and this is a general truth to be generally understood Not all fools are servants to wise people and not all wise people have fools working for them But the statement is a truth that can be generally applied and observed in life The fool is in control of his heart and the trouble is in control of his house a fool is like a person who troubles their own house in the sense that They trouble their own heart with their foolishness God has given every person a heart they've given them a mind to think with and So every person will give an account for their heart a Man That's a fool.
He says he's he's serves the wise-hearted.
Let's think about that this service here.
Let's go to the workplace a Man name may not promote He may not promote himself at his place of employment But he can promote God at his home He may not have control over his workplace God didn't put that in his hand, but he's got control over his house He can promote God there and if he exalts God God's gonna what exalt him.
We've learned that in the book of Proverbs Amen, I may not be able to control another person's heart, but he can control his own heart a Man may not be able to build a city, but he can build a family.
That's the connection here in these verses He may not be able to improve the world around him, but he can always improve the heart within him And a wise man is going to do this with his heart While a fool is going to squander his opportunity and he's going to trouble his home as well as his heart The wise of heart is talking about when you look that up in the Hebrews talk about the intelligent skillful person the intelligent skillful person and one who has employed himself to be skilled in his business Rather than to be slothful in it.
That's a wise hearted person whatever business he has He he makes his heart wise in it.
He gets himself skilled in it.
I was watching a man at work the other day While we're still enduring this long construction project And he's 68 years old and He'll let you know real quick he can do anything in construction Anything and I believe he can I've watched him work 68 years old still putting in a day's work, and they'll say can you do this?
I can do anything What about this?
I can do anything.
I've done it all And you know what?
They keep that man around And he just kind of gets he goes and does what he what he's told to do But that man's always going to have a job there and and I watched him working I thought there's nothing special about his hands Than my hands I'm probably in better physical condition than he is On paper I should be able to do that job better.
You know what I don't have that he has the wisdom in my heart When you look at God talking about wise hearted in the Old Testament.
He applies it to people who built a tabernacle And so we're looking at that here every one of you have a heart Especially you young people.
This is really good for you tonight Every one of you have a heart you have a mind you can make yourself wise hearted you can apply your heart That's one thing that you have absolute control over is your own heart and You can make your heart intelligent and you can make your heart skillful or you can make your heart stupid and There's a lot of stupid people out there.
They waste their time on nonsense When they could be training their brain on something that makes them more productive as a Christian as A husband a wife a member of society Be wise hearted Whatever job you have become good at it, and you be the best you possibly can be at it When I when I work for the state I never Liked turning down a school Very school come open.
They said would you like to go to school?
I'll go Man, I won't learn anything.
I could I could possibly learn and when things were slow At the office which they rarely were But when they were you know what I like doing I would put my feet up on my desk And I would grab a law book Or I'd grab a manual policy manual That dry stuff that nobody wanted to read and I ate it up.
I loved it.
I Wanted to know the brother.
I want to know if someone got shot in the river which County had jurisdiction I want to know If that river was about I want to know all the little details because if I was out doing something at work in Some of those crazy things came up.
I want to know what to do and I read and I read and I learned I learned the laws when I got into regulatory crimes I read laws that nobody had really ever explored much before and And by the time we got through I remember when I had our captain in Austin Who who was over all of it over the entire state in recent regulatory crimes?
I remember when he called me up the little old Athens, Texas They asked me how something was supposed to be done and I thought here's the state capital calling me up to find something Why I read and they knew it they knew it And you know what I wasn't any smarter than my peers I tell you that right now But I was the only person who had control Over how I applied my heart toward my job And so were you and I wanted to make myself valuable to my employer I've always I've always felt that was the right thing to do that the foolish people they're in bondage to the wise Not in the sense of they're always working for them, but at the sense that they're always depending on them They're always depending on them They're always having to lean on them for their needs because they can't provide it for themselves I don't want to be that way and neither should you The foolish are in bondage to the wise like those foolish virgins were Who wasted their time and didn't supply oil for their lamps?
Remember he had the foolish and the wise it didn't mean the foolish were going do It didn't mean that it meant that they they were in complete control over their vessel Nobody could fill that lamp up, but them and they chose to goof off in life and Then when push come to shove they had to go the virgins and say hey we need all for our lamp you've got oil Unfortunately those virgins are like a miles not for sale Where my son Abel works he he applied himself when he first went to work there To learn every workstation he makes these stints That go in people's kidneys And he applied himself to learn every workstation in that factory So that if anybody was out sick He could go to that works and immediately take up where they were Do you know what happens when you do that?
Nobody wants to get rid of you Nobody a lot of those other people they were doing as little as possible not want to learn anything But they're a little place here.
They call in sick whenever they could put in very little effort Not worry about their production numbers Abel was trying to learn everything he could And before long he was leading the shift Because you can't have someone lead who doesn't know how to do everybody's job The foolish serve the white-hearted like the wise-hearted recently his job laid off a bunch of workers But guess who they didn't lay off the one who could do anybody's job any station In The foolish who didn't make themselves valuable to their employer they got let go so be wise-hearted Make yourself valuable to your employer Go to work thinking I want to make myself.
I want to I want to make myself the type of employee That my job can't afford to lose me Like they'd be afraid that you know if you said I'm gonna quit oh no no no no Learn things other people don't know Make the system work Learn them apply yourself if you're a businessman you own your own business make yourself valuable to the public in the same way There's a man at work his his he owns a painting company His dad owns a wallpaper hanging company And from what I've been told wallpaper starting to make a comeback and He his dad hangs wallpaper he paints and he told me he said the wallpaper hangers.
They're a dying breed He says not many of them left.
He says my dad's getting called all the time He says I don't you know what I how to hang wallpaper And I was thinking if wallpaper is making a comeback Or if wallpaper is going to stick around Then I think I would learn from old dad while dad can still teach me and then Everybody's might to come to old Richard to hang their wallpaper.
That's what I was thinking to me.
That'd be wise-hearted Listen I don't care what your job is and we're gonna close be a wise worker Make yourself good at what you do Learn other things that people don't want to learn If you'll make yourself a needed asset Then you'll never need a job If you'll make yourself a needed asset Then you'll never need a job take care of your heart Take care of your home Because you will give an account for those two talents that have been put in your hands father We thank you so much for the word you've given us tonight Thank you father for the wisdom you passed down to us through Solomon and father I pray God that will be diligent father in how we deal with our hearts To make ourselves valuable at work and not just work but valuable at church To make ourselves dear Lord God To be people that can be leaned upon in the kingdom Help us Lord do not trouble our homes Help us Lord do not trouble our churches Help us Lord to fulfill the roles that you've given us Help us Lord to determine in our hearts That we're gonna make our wives happy to see us when we come home We're gonna make our husbands happy to see us when they walk in the door Father we're gonna make our children glad to see us And we're gonna make our church brothers and sisters glad to see us when we come into our church home And we're gonna be valuable in both places Lord we pray that when we stand before you will give a joyful account and we ask it in Jesus wonderful name.
Amen
