A New Beginning

A NEW BEGINNING

Proverbs 1:7

Preached By Kelvin l Parks

On 31 December 2007 At Gideon Missionary Baptist Church

Waukegan, IL

(v.7) The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Subject: A NEW BEGINNING

Let us deal briefly with the “B” portion of this scripture and talk for just a few minutes about the fool

THE FOOL -- The text says that fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Well ... I’m a firm believer that a fool typically goes wrong in his life ... somewhere around the beginning. Don’t believe me --- watch this. If you are going to build a house, may I suggest that you find a solid foundation on which to build first?

You see -- only a fool will build his house on sand. Well ain’t that what Jesus said in Matthew 7:26 “And every one that hearth these saying of mine, and doeth them not, shall be liken unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand.” Well, what is Jesus saying --- He saying don’t be a fool

Watch this (v.7) ... the fool

- The text says fools despise wisdom ... which simply means, you can’t tell a fool nothing.

- Proverb 14:9 tells us that fools make a mockery of sin (ain’t no shame in their game)

- A fool will drink all night Saturday and stand up and sing and direct the choir on Sunday,

- cuss folks out all week and serve on the doors,

- A fool will have his mistress right there in congregation and have the audacity to stand up and preach God’s word on Sunday, then justify it by saying that -- well the Lord knows my heart. I am talking about a fool.

- The Bible says in Proverbs 1:22 that a fool hates knowledge. A fool doesn’t want to know better. I have been doing it this way all of my life ... and I aint trying to change.

- Fools, Fools, the Bible call them fools. Fools are:

- Self-sufficient (make it w/o God). You know like the certain rich man in Luke 12:20 that wouldn’t share his riches but built barn and storehouse instead ... and God said “Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee:”

- Self-confident (arrogant) name it and claim it kind of believers. You can hear them from a mile away, they begin every sentence with I.

- Self deceivers ... thinking that they are all of that; high minded

- Full of words -- hot air (talk w/o thinking)

- Then there is the special kind of fool that will even say in his heart that there is no God (Psalm 14:1)

Well I am a firm believer that fools act this way because they flat out ain’t scared of the consequences. However, I want to let somebody know that sin has consequences...

(Galatians 6:7-8)

(v.7) Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

(v.8) For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

So knowing this ... and to keep living any old kind of way ... simply means, I ain’t scared of you; I ain’t worried about the outcome; I ain’t concerned about the consequences.

This type of attitude ... is the same as pumping your fist at God and saying -- You don’t scare me. I ain’t never been scared of ya ... and I ain’t bout to pick the day to start running.

Well ... why do so many feel this way. It is simple. Grace and Mercy.

You see ... grace allowed you to sin last night and still wake you up this morning. Grace got a lot of us thinking that we have got away with some stuff.

You know that unmerited favor, that pardon when you deserved death; you know how God kept you and allowed you to fulfill your selfish ambitions.

It never ceases to amaze me how some people especially during this time of year try to boil God’s sovereignty over your life down to chance and believe that eating some cabbage and black-eyed peas will bring you prosperity.

What happened -- how did you get this way. Well, I believe that something happened in the beginning.

In the beginning, God says that you use to love me. In the beginning you use to honor me, you use to obey me but now ... we call Him mighty ... yet we disobey Him

Angels bow before Him, Heaven and earth adore Him ... yet we disrespect Him in our giving, disrespect Him in our living; our worship and our praise.