Understanding and Valuing Proverbs - Pastor Greg Addison - June 7, 2026

Sermon from Pastor Greg Addison on Sunday morning, June 7, 2026.

Ministering to the heart of the Western Arkansas River Valley for over 165 years. Welcome to Chapter and First- the Bible Teaching Ministry of Fort Smith First Baptist Church, you'll find sermons and teachings from Pastor Greg Addison, our ministry staff, and guest speakers. Thank you for listening!

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:03

Ministering to the heart of Western Arkansas's River Valley for over 165 years, welcome to Chapter and First, the Bible Teaching Ministry at Fort Smith's First Baptist Church. You'll find sermons and teachings from Pastor Greg, our ministry staff, and guest speakers. Thank you for listening.

SPEAKER_00 0:21

Thank you. Praise team and great week at Vacation Bible School. I'm sure we've celebrated some of that, but it was just a wonderful time, a wonderful week. And uh we kind of like the stage this way. I think we may just leave it, right? Everybody needs a lava lamp. That's uh that's good. For our prayer time this morning, uh, I wanted to just do something a little different. Uh as you know, our we just had a team recently, uh last month that went to England, and that partnership is a collection or a network of Arkansas Baptist churches who are uh connecting with a network of churches in England that Pastor Joel has been sort of the catalyst of pulling together. And so it's really exciting to be a part of such a multi-church movement in impacting the gospel advance in England. One of the lead churches, and actually the church that brought this project to us and got us involved, uh, one of the lead churches is First Baptist Cabot. And uh so we have a relationship with First Baptist Cabot uh through that partnership. And it just also happens that I used to be the pastor at First Baptist Cabot years ago, but really in partnership with them, and it's a great church, wonderful folks, and they are having their 150th anniversary this weekend as a church. And so the first thing I told them was, well, we're 169, and so y'all just graduated from high school. But we want to celebrate with them, and they're having all kinds of celebration things, and so I would love for us as a church to come together right now and pray for God's blessings on First Baptist Cabot this weekend and this week as they celebrate their 150th anniversary of God working through their church. So, church family, if you'll join me, let's pray for them. Lord, we come and we pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ. We we know that as part of the body of Christ, we're part of the local body here, but we have brothers and sisters all over the world, and we have them in Cabot and we have them in England. And so we are in partnership with both places, Cabot and London. So we lift up Pastor Joel and Stone Baptist Church and Ainsford Baptist Church and all of that. But today we really want to thank you for First Cabot. 150 years does not happen by accident. We know that Jesus told us when he was here that he will build his church. And so we know that that church is his. We know they are founded in the gospel, and they are faithful, uh, a church of the word of God and sharing the gospel. And so we know that is Jesus' church, and everything that has happened to make that church strong, viable, missional, evangelistic today comes from the hand and the work of Jesus in that church. And so we thank you for what you've done to make that church strong and effective. Lord, we thank you that right now they are as effective in cabot as they have ever been, and Jesus deserves all the credit for that. And we praise you for that. I thank you for Pastor Terry Bostick and his family and the staff that are there, that you've brought during this season. We thank you for the heritage of the men of God who've preached the word of God throughout the life of that church. Lord, I thank you for faithful prayer warriors and Sunday school teachers and folks in missions all there at that church who for years have made that church what it is supposed to be: a great commission lighthouse for the gospel. And so I pray your blessings on them today. We come together as brothers and sisters in Christ, and we ask that you bless our brothers and sisters in Cabot this morning. Bless them with a great sense of your presence. Bless them with a joy that comes from having been faithful servants. Lord, I pray that you will make them grateful for their heritage. I pray as they review all the different ways that you've been faithful to them, that it will draw them closer to you. And I pray for them because of this heritage celebration, that it will deepen their faith and belief in who you are and what you are doing in them in a way that gives them a God-sized, greater vision for their future. We ask these things in the saving name of Jesus, who builds his church in all God's people said. Thank you for praying for them. And if you think about it, say a prayer for them this week. It is great to celebrate with churches like that that we are in partnership with. It's good. Well, as you know, we are continuing to read the chronological, read the Bible chronologically through, and this week we ran across Proverbs. Now, my message is going to be a little bit different today. Uh nothing weird, but normally I take an anchor passage of Scripture and we do an exegetical learning through that one passage of Scripture. This is a little bit different today. What I want to do is teach you and try to give you a greater vision of what the book of Proverbs is. I want, I have two goals for today. The first is to give you a hunger for God's word, but especially a hunger for the book of Proverbs in a new and fresh way. And the second thing I want to do is encourage you to use the book of Proverbs more often. It is an incredibly impacting verse. Now, I wrote down a couple of things in my quiet time, I just want to make sure you get today for my intro. First of all, I want you to know, as I have studied and I've been looking forward to trying to grasp this process for you today, I really believe Proverbs is the most underutilized book in Scripture. I mean, it's incredible how much is there and the richness of how it changes our lives and how little we grasp and use it in that fashion. Second, it is one of the most powerful books in Scripture for changing your worldview, for giving you a definition, a spiritual definition and perspective of life. I really believe it is one of the most powerful. Last week we talked about the growth triangle, the transformation triangle, and one of the legs of that is your relationship, and that's built through prayer, Bible study, and faith choices. Prayer and Bible study. We're spending time in the Word, spending time with God. We talk to Him, He'll talk to us. And so, in that process, He will put things in front of us that are choices of faith that we choose to obey. There's no better book than Proverbs for that process. It's incredibly powerful. And it will change your perspective of life as well as any book in Scripture. And it is also the most misunderstood or misused book in Scripture. We treat it like it's just sort of pithy sayings of like biblical stuff. And we just kind of fling them out there as a justification or a thought process on something we have. Like how many of you have heard the advice from your parents? Don't raise your hand because most of us have, and I'm not trying to be critical about things, but we just don't understand what Proverbs is, so we throw stuff out there. We have advice to our kids or to a friend, and they're lonely or they're struggling with friendship or whatever, and we go, now listen, kids, you know, the Bible says in Proverbs, if you want to have friends, then you need to be friendly to folks, and that way they're open and they'll be friendly with you. Well, that is flat out not what that verse says in any way, shape, or form. It is not what it means, and when we misuse it, we are missing an even greater impact of the richness of that verse and what you could be teaching your children. And that's just one example of many where we just fling the wrong thing out there because we really don't understand the design of it. Now, hear me, before y'all go to sleep, I want you to hear this right here. If you're a student, this is where you need to live. If you're a middle school, high school student, you need to live in the book of Proverbs. If you're a young adult, married, not married, college student, professional school, whatever, if you're a young adult, especially under the age of 30, you need to live here. This needs to be your book right here, because this will change your perspective and teach you how to think the way Jesus thinks, as well as anything in Scripture, right here. And so, with that said, I want you to turn with me in your Bibles to Proverbs chapter 1. And here's what the Bible tells us. Now, this is the book of Proverbs. It was collated by Solomon. And so here's what he tells us in chapter 1. He tells us exactly the purpose of the book. So we need to understand in this first part of the message what Proverbs is. So here's what the Bible says: the Proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel. For, so he tells us, this is what it's for. For learning wisdom and discipline, for understanding insightful sayings, for receiving prudent instruction in righteousness, justice, and integrity. For teaching shrewdness to the inexperienced, knowledge and discretion to a young man. So listen, if you hadn't fallen asleep yet, listen to me, young people, students, young adults, that's your verse right there. It just says this is for you as a young person to teach you shrewdness in all these life decisions. And then he says this in verse 5 let a wise person listen and increase learning. And let a discerning person obtain guidance for understanding a proverb or a parable, the words of the wise and their riddles. So he's telling us that's what it's for is to learn how to think and process in a biblical fashion. And then he tells us the foundation of the proverbs. This is the foundation of every single proverb. Some of them say this explicitly, but all of them have this as the foundation of how you're supposed to understand it. Verse 7: the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Fools despise wisdom and discipline. Now the word fear there is not we're afraid of God. It means we're in awe of God. And it's the type of fear that would bring me to humble myself before the Lord as the one who is omniscient and omnipresent, and he knows everything, and he sees everything, and he has wisdom to impart, and I am going to humble myself before him as Almighty God and listen and learn. The word fool there is actually the word for a sinner who has rejected God and his wisdom. If you think about it, the essence of sin is I'm going to do what I want regardless of what God commands. That's what sin is. I'm going to do what I want, I'm going to do it my way. And a fool, a sinner, is one who despises the wisdom and discipline of God. And so you have the purpose and the foundation. So let me explain to you what Proverbs is. Here's what it is. Okay? It is Solomon working to collect or to use modern language, aggregate generations of wise sayings. And he refers to them as a proverb. Look at what he says here in verse 5: Let a wise person listen and increase learning, and let a discerning person obtain guidance for understanding a proverb or a parable, the words of the wise and their riddles. And so the Bible tells us in 1 Kings that Solomon collected thousands of these statements of wisdom. And so in the book of Proverbs, many of these Solomon has collected. Some of them he has written. Now the word wisdom has a very specific knowledge, specific definition. What wisdom means in this book, and it is a specific Hebrew word that has a very tight meaning. It means a skill or applied knowledge. It is what we actually do in life. It is how we do things. Look at what he says. For teaching shrewdness to the inexperienced. Shrewdness is how you handle a situation wisely and carefully and smartly. So it is specifically talking about real life applications. On Tuesday afternoon at work, on Friday night, whatever, you find yourself in a spot and a situation, Proverbs has taught you how to handle it. That's what a proverb is. Now, here's what a proverb is not. What it is not. It is not the law. So these are not commands. This is it's not designed that way. And if you're reading it as a command, you're not understanding its purpose. Its purpose is to teach us wisdom. There are commands in Scripture, and that's appropriate. And you should approach this with the same humility before God that you establish obedience to a command. But it is not written to be a command. It is not a promise. It is not a promise. Proverbs, a lot of times you hear people say this, they read it as a promise. One of the Proverbs says, train up a child in the way he should go, and when he's old, he'll not depart from it. That is not a promise that it will happen that way. It's not what that is. He is trying to teach us the importance of how we raise our children and the perspective of training them to walk with God. And the wisdom of, if you don't put it in there, how are they going to draw on it later? But it is not a promise. It is not a formula for every human experience. You don't walk in and just go, oh, Proverbs says, do this. Here's another proverb, very common. Harsh, a soft answer turns away wrath, but harsh words stir up anger. How many of you have heard that proverb? A lot of you. A soft answer turns away wrath, but harsh words stir up anger. Well, you can't be in an argument with the middle of some with somebody and you go, oh, I hear that verse. I'm gonna talk nice and soft to you, and it fixes the problem. That's not what happens. I mean, for one reason, this person that's chewing on you may not have ever read Proverbs and they don't understand what they're doing. They may just be a jerk. And this is not a formula to fix a jerk, but it is a clear understanding of how we approach a situation, how people function, and it gets us to think about our words and what we're doing in this moment and approaching it the way Jesus would. That's what it's for. So here's what a proverb is. Let me give you this definition. The best I can. I've amalgamated this from several different things and put it together. It is God's accumulated insight from generations of God's people. Now remember, these are wise sayings and parables that have come down through all the years to that point of Solomon. He is looking back and he is recognizing. I'm gonna aggregate this incredible wisdom that all these godly people have accumulated, and I'm gonna put it together so our people can have access to it. It is God's accumulated insight from generations of his people as a guide for how to walk with him in relationship with him. It is insight into who God is and how he functions and changes our mind so that we can have that insight as we approach circumstances in life. That's what a proverb is. And so it is deeply more spiritual and powerful than just some pithy saying of biblical principle or whatever, however, people look at it. So again, one of my goals is to give you a deeper understanding, a deeper valuation, understand how rich the proverbs are when we put them in practice properly. And so if that is understanding them, then what we want to do is know how to value them, how to value them. So here's how you experience the value of Proverbs in your life, okay? First of all, you need to read them, and second of all, you need to read them repeatedly. You need to read them over and over and over and over and over. It doesn't do any good to treat it like a screwdriver and you just go get it when you think you need one. It is something that is designed to change our perspective. Again, what does that what does it say at the beginning? For learning wisdom and discipline, for understanding insightful sayings, for receiving prudent instruction in righteousness, justice, and integrity. Those are things that grow as our character grows to be more like Jesus. Righteousness, justice, and integrity, understanding those and learning those in a deeper way, and as they layer into our life and change our character, that doesn't happen from reading it like a novel. It is something that you consume on a regular basis. And when I grew up in church, this is one of the ways they used to teach us how to have a quiet time or our relationship time with the Lord. If whatever you're reading, if you'll just add one psalm and one Proverb a day, there are 31 days as it is broken down, and as our calendar is broken down, and those the longest months, there's 31 days in a month. And so today is the seventh, then you read Proverb chapter 7 tomorrow. You read Proverbs chapter 8, tomorrow, the next day, you read chapter 9, and you just keep rotating and you keep rotating them through, and you read them and you consume them regularly. Here's the deal. I practice this week. It will only add four minutes to your reading to read one chapter of Proverbs each day. Four minutes. Four minutes is all it takes for a wise person to listen and increase learning. Four minutes. So I'm encouraging you to do that. Number two, memorize them for recall. I've been quoting them to you. I learned that from the pastor where I grew up. You memorize them and you quote them and you recall them and you build that into your consciousness and into your life. You need to memorize them when you read them. When you read through a chapter, God will poke you with one, or you'll go, ugh, I messed that up yesterday. And you now know which one you have to memorize. In the moment, quote and review them in the moments that you need them. Again, um, soft answer turns away wrath, but harsh words stir up anger. That is not something that you just fling into the moment. It is something that you have memorized, and as you get into the middle of this, the Bible tells us that the role of the Holy Spirit is to bring to our memory the things God has taught us. And so what happens is he brings up our memory. And so what we're doing is we're in the conversation and we're back and forth and it's tense and we're doing all that, and the Holy Spirit goes, Greg, Greg, harsh words, son, harsh words, Greg. Don't stir up anger. Greg, what are you doing? And what happens is if I start to look at that situation and run everything I'm saying through that filter of that proverb, it's like putting on glasses that now I have things refined and see clearly. I had an eye exam last week, and they'd take my glasses off and they'd have me read that thing, and they'd say, What is that? And I'd say, I don't know, it's pretty fuzzy. It's round. It's a C or an O or a P or something like that. And usually it was like an E or a D or something. I mean, it was just not clear. And then she'd do that thing, y'all do this number one, number two, number one, number two. Y'all got that? And then they do number three, number four, number three, number four. Which one is more clear? And when they get it right, all of a sudden things look like they're supposed to look. You see things clearly. And that's what Proverbs do for us. That insight, that perspective, that discernment that he talks about in chapter one that is the purpose, sets in in our minds. And helps us and guides us so we're thinking like Jesus in that moment. And if you've not read it repeatedly, you don't have that to call from. And if you've not memorized any of them, what is the Holy Spirit going to call to your mind? And then number four, when you are faced with an issue, you go into the Proverbs and you look for the Proverbs that relate to that moment. Listen, there are very few things in life that you're going to face that aren't in Proverbs. There's husbands, there's wives, there's the tongue, there's anger, there's emotion, there's the heart, there's marriage, there's money, there's all kinds of those things. There's working hard, there's the value of working hard, there's how to work hard, I mean, there's children in there, obeying your parents and finding instruction. I mean, there's temptation in there. I mean, it's all in there, right? It's all in there. And the beauty of this being a poetry type deal is it's easy to find the topic that you need. And so again, I tried this this week. I want you to know I've tried this. I'm not just making this up. If you take a thing like, let's take a work issue or let's take anger. In 20 minutes, if you sit down with a yellow legal pad and the book of Proverbs, in 20 minutes, you can skim through the entire book of Proverbs and pull out all the verses on anger. They just stick out. They're right there. Skim through, skim through, skim through, anger. There's a reference. Skim through, skim through, skim through, anger. I mean, it's incredible. And so if you're facing an issue and you're trying to wonder and you're trying to get some wisdom, if you'll just skim through there, you can find the topic that you need and you can pull that out, and God will speak to you through that verse and through those verses that you collect. It's an incredibly unused part of the Christian life. I mean, you can't get any more practical than that. Now, let me give you three kind of reading tips, and then I'm going to give you one example before we close. Now, these are not on there yet, so just wait. Go back to the other one running the screens for me. Um throwing something at you that wasn't in there. So here's what I want you to pay attention to when you're reading them. Number one, Proverbs using the word but because there's a structure to that. Number two, proverbs that use the word and because there's a structure to that. And then direct statements. There are many of them that are just direct statements. Do this or don't do this. Now remember, it's not law, it's not command, it's trying to teach you wisdom. And so each of those has a principle and it has some fruit that flows from it. Now let's take the but example. Using the word but as a conjunction, we've talked about this before, it puts two opposites in juxtaposition or comparison next to each other. Not this, but that. They're opposites and it's comparing them. So let's use that verse that's so often misquoted. Um a man who wants friends must show himself friendly, but there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother. It's very easy. You see, this is a but type deal. These are opposites in juxtaposition. So clearly, the good one is there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. So your child comes to you and they're going, I don't understand, nobody likes me, they're booming school, and I don't have any friends, and you go into this. Well, you just got to be friendly to them. You're missing an incredible opportunity. Here's what that actually says. The good side of that is there is a friend that sticks closer than the brother. And what that means is there are friends that are real friends and we have deep relationships with that are the same or deeper than blood relatives. And they will have your back in every moment and they will take care of you, and that is someone who stands behind you. That is your wingman in military pictures, not the bar on Friday night. In military understanding of that, that is my wingman. That is my partner in battle. That is that person. That is the value of that. And so you're going to tell your kids, listen, the Bible tells us there are friends that stick closer than a brother. Those are the relationships you're supposed to be looking for. You're not supposed to be looking to be popular or whatever. You're you are learning the wisdom and discerning, okay, that's not your friend. Don't hang around with them. This person has character. You're learning to recognize which friend is what. And there is a promise of friendship that sticks closer to a brother. And you as a friend, you are developing, son or daughter, the character to be someone who is a friend like that. But you have to watch out, but there is a friend that sticks closer to the brother. This other thing is the opposite of the good example. A man who would have friends or a man who wants to have friends has got to show himself friendly. If you read through all the different translations of that, it becomes even more clear than some of the older translations. And it's talking about a person who needs to be liked and wanted, and they are doing things for you to get you to like them. That makes sense? A man who wants friends must show himself friendly. If my desire, if I'm trying to get people to like me, if I'm trying to get people to go, I'm gonna do stuff for them, I'm doing stuff for them, I'm trying to get them to that. But the foundation of that relationship is not a valued friendship. It is, well, they're just showing up because I'm doing stuff for them. The parable of the prodigal son, you see, he learns this lesson. He goes to his father, he gets his inheritance, got some money in his pocket, runs off to a city, and there the Bible says he squandered it in riotous living. He's having parties and everybody loves him because he's the life of the party and they're hanging out, because he's buying all the drinks, and he runs out of money and he runs out of friends, and he finds himself by himself. That is not a friend, and that's not the advice you want to give your kids. You're teaching them in this process of what a real friend is and what a friend looks like, and that's who we're looking for, and that's what you're trying to be, and God's gonna bless you with that wisdom. But if you have a verse that says, and, if you have it says, and, for I'm gonna give you another example, death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who treasure or value it, it is a source of life. And what you get in an and verse is you get a biblical principle, a biblical insight, and it shows you how that flows and impacts in your life. And you read the and differently than you read the ones that have but with opposites in juxtaposition. And then when you get a direct one, don't do this or do this. What he's telling you is he's capturing a danger and a place where you need insight, and he's getting you to pay attention and evaluate that choice from the perspective that you see what God sees in that moment. That's how those are used. And all of a sudden, when you realize this is about changing my perspective, it's about giving me insight and discernment, and God changing my heart and mind and helping me to think in these moments the way Jesus does, all of a sudden this book becomes as valuable as any of the other 65 books in Scripture and how it changes your life. Now, let me give you an example. We talked about a minute ago. It's not law, it's not a promise, it's not a formula, whatever. Here's what we want to know. Let me give you an example, a modern example. I'm gonna take just a minute, I'm not gonna spend a lot of time on it. And that means you can't go out and tell people that I'm a Luddite and don't know anything about AI. Okay? This is not an exhaustive discussion on AI. It is simply an example, an illustration of how Scripture prepares us to evaluate things. AI, on the one end, is a powerful tool that does some incredible things. On the other end, it is a horrible temptation and danger for the minds of children and youth and people. It depends on how you use it. And here we are in our culture, we have not yet even begun to understand how to use the internet and how to deal with life when we have a phone attached to us 24-7, and we have this thrust upon us, and we don't have the wisdom to understand its uses and dangers. And so, in all discussion in all areas of life, when you talk to work folks, man, it's a powerful tool and it'll leverage work hours and man hours, and it's incredible, and that's valuable. So, again, don't tell people I went out and cracked on AI, okay? It's got all kinds of stuff. But on the other hand, it has incredible dangers. It has only been ubiquitous in life in what, two or three years? That's all. And they already have incredible studies in the education world, how it is devastating the learning process. Devastating it. Teachers will tell you kids spend 45 seconds with a prompt on AI, it prints out their 10-page paper, and they don't know diddly squat about it and haven't learned how to think. I read a stat this week because of how it speaks to us and how it's programmed to talk to us. It talks to us like it's a person. They even give it names like Claude. 70% of teenagers have already used AI as a friend. I mean, I played around with it just trying to learn about it. I played around with the book kind of outline deal. I was just curious about this. And so I typed in this prompt, and here's what I get. I don't get a project. What I get is that's a great idea, Greg. Good job. Here's the answer to your request. Here's the draft of this outline. No, I've got three options for you. I can do this next, or this next, or this next. And I picked the second option and it goes, great choice, Greg. Here's what we're gonna do with that. I'm like, why? It's a computer. Why is it talking to me like it's my buddy? Are you kidding me? I mean, it's it's built this stuff in it, and it's dangerous for that. So you gotta understand how do I use it when it's appropriate, when it's not. The number one conversation on on groups for pastors and all that kind of stuff is all of the men using AI to write their sermons. AI writing their sermons. I promise you, I am not using AI to write sermons. Some of you IT people think, well, Pastor, your sermons would get a lot better if you would use it. Sunday school teachers, all of that. I sat in Matt's office one day and we fooled around. He put a request in, I want a three-point outline with a poem and do this deal, and in a minute and a half, he had an entire Sunday school lesson. That's not teaching Sunday school. So let me give you four principles. Not designed to be exhaustive. I'm not cracking on AI, right? It's a tool, has positives, has dangers. Here's an example from Proverbs of how you can approach things in life that are modern and not, you know, described. Here's the first one. AI cannot replace your individual pursuit of knowing Jesus. Proverbs 9.10 again says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And look how this one says, and remember, and there's a principle, and there's fruit that flows from that principle. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. It is knowing the person of God that changes our minds and perspectives. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. Jesus is those things. Not how we extrapolate information, not how we come up with a philosophy, not some other thing. It is the pursuit of Jesus where our minds are changed and transformed to be like his. Again, first point, pursuit of Jesus. You see right here, every word of God is true. That's how we know him. We come to him through his word, and then he becomes the shield and gives us that strength. Scripture is truth, and everything needs to be tested against the explicit writing and verbiage and word of God. All of it. Number three, our purpose in life is transformation, not information. I mean, it's okay to go Google something and get some information. That's fine. But here's what happens: we are not to go get information to go doing something. Our purpose in life is being transformed in the image of Jesus. That's what he's trying to do with us. And so when we take shortcuts and we do whatever and we let it do it for us, we're not engaged in the process of being transformed. Here's what Proverbs 2 uh don't turn to it, just listen to how it's written. I want your ears to work right here. Proverbs chapter 2, verse 6. For the Lord gives wisdom from his mouth. From his mouth come knowledge and understanding. He stores up success for the upright, he is a shield for those who live with integrity, so that he may guard the paths of justice and protect the way of his followers. As we know him, he protects us. It says, Then, after receiving wisdom from his mouth, then you will understand righteousness, justice, and integrity. Remember in chapter one, he said the purpose was to help us discern righteousness, justice, and integrity. And now he says, it is when God gives us that wisdom that we're able to understand that. Then you will understand righteousness, justice, and integrity, every good path. For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will delight you. It is through God giving us that wisdom that our heart is changed, and we begin to have wisdom to apply. Discretion that comes from God's word will watch over you and understanding will guard you. It, understanding and discretion will rescue you from the way of evil. It is that transformation process that happens from the Word of God that guides us and teaches us to understand how to make those decisions. You cannot replace the transformation process, and because of that, number four. We renew our minds. Remember last week we talked about this as a part of that triangle. Romans chapter 12, verse 1 and 2 say this. Therefore, I urge you, brothers, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice to the Lord, which is your reasonable spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world. In other words, don't let AI think for you. Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the acceptable and perfect will of God. So how do we renew our minds? With the word of God. By seeking wisdom and seeking Him. So that happens through wrestling with the understanding and application of Scripture on our own. And not somebody else giving us the answer. It is coming to that word of God, and I don't understand it. Well, I'll just Google it, AI, and going about my business. You've missed the entire point. Maybe God brought you to that scripture and you're struggling and understanding it because he wants you to wrestle through it. He wants you to grapple with it and ask him about it and plead it with him and then face a choice of faith the next day to have to behave it and learn it through that. Proverbs 18, 15. The mind of the discerning acquires knowledge. How do we do that? Here's this verse. How does it work? Understand it all, put it into practice, and it works. The mind of the discerning acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks it. We're seeking his knowledge. Next verse. There is profit in all hard work, but endless talk leads only to poverty. May I do this? Answer on. Just babbling. There is profit in all hard work. You got to do the work of being a Christian. You've got to do the work. You've got to get in the word. You've got to memorize it. You've got to ask God about it. You got to make notes about it. You've got to put it into practice. You've got to test it out, or it is never going to change your life. I want to close with an article that I read this week and doing some research. This is from a Christian professor trying to give some of these perspectives. Here's what he says. This is the subheading on this first statement: Dangers of letting AI shape beliefs and convictions. When we allow artificial intelligence to influence our beliefs and convictions, we risk losing the very essence of human discernment. While AI can mimic reasoning and generate persuasive arguments, it lacks the lived experiences, moral grounding, and spiritual depth that shape authentic worldviews. Relying too heavily on algorithms for issues of faith and ethics can relate, can result in shallow convictions that are disconnected from personal reflection and genuine understanding. You have got to wrestle with Scripture and learn it. Here's an example he gives, very short. The student who outsourced his worldview. This is common in education, one of the reasons it's a problem there. Recently I sat with a student, let's call him Thomas, who used AI to generate his Christian worldview paper. Guy's not doing anything nefarious, I'm sure. He's probably busy. His girlfriend is hassling about when he's going to take her out to dinner or whatever. And so he goes into thing and whips out a paper and it does it in about two minutes and he turns it in. It's happening by the millions in schools and higher education in America. So it's a real life example. When I asked him basic questions about the words in his essay, he couldn't even define them. The paper was flawless, but the student behind it hadn't engaged his mind or heart. Does Thomas deserve an A for professionalism? Or has he failed at something deeper? Learning to think? A business plan with a few typos written by a student who can explain it? Option one. Or a flawless plan created by someone who doesn't understand what they've produced. Option two. Which engineer is better prepared for practical challenges? The one who can derive a formula by reasoning, or the one who can only prompt AI to do it. AI gives us consensus answers, but Christian education is not about consensus. It's about truth, wisdom, and virtue. It's pretty powerful, isn't it? And so what happens is it's a great tool. It's not going anywhere. It's ubiquitous in life. How do we understand where and how in life to use it? This is where we learn godly discernment. With reading, memorizing, quoting in the moment, and finding what you need. Why don't you bow your head this morning? One of the things the Bible tells us clearly is that Jesus loved you so much he died for your sins. The pursuit of Jesus, as we talked about, which is that transformation process, only happens when you've given your life to Christ. If you've never trusted Christ as your Savior, I'm going to invite you this morning to give your life to Jesus. We're not going to tarry, we won't be here that long. Listen, it doesn't take long. We're going to stand to God's people. We're going to sing a testimony of what it means to be saved. We have pastors at the head of our aisles. We have people waiting to pray with you. You just come. If you need Jesus, you come. If you have questions, you come. If you don't have time, come and set up an appointment and we'll follow up with you later. Listen, you come to Jesus. The Bible says the fear of the Lord, as we read, is the beginning of knowledge. And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. We want you to know the person of Jesus. You come. If you need to be baptized, you've been saved, but you haven't been baptized, come. If you need a church home, you come. If you have questions, you come. You need prayer, you come. Lord, we love you and we thank you for your word that is so rich. And a chance to learn even more how incredible it is to get to know you and who you are. I pray, Father, that you'll speak to hearts today. If there's folks that need to be saved, they'll come. If there are folks who need to, you've prompted them to spend more time in Proverbs. I pray today they'll make that commitment. If someone has been floundering in their spiritual life, I pray this is an encouragement to them that they know, man, there is a way that they can grow. And you do that in our lives through your word. Every one of them, Father, draw them to you this morning.

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In Jesus' name we pray, and all God's people said. We pray this message has been a blessing to you and helped to strengthen your walk with Jesus. Please know we want to minister to you and pray for you. Send an email to contact us at fsfbc.org and let us pray for you and help you in any way we can. Thank you for listening to chapter and first, the Bible teaching ministry of Fort Smith's First Baptist Church.