# Stay away from the edge

Key Passage: Proverbs 22:3
Date: June 7, 2024

Proverbs chapter 22 in God’s word.

We’re going to read a verse, the same exact wording, the same exact verses found in Proverbs 27:12. We’re going to look here, Proverbs 22, verse number three.

The Bible there says: “A prudent man foreseeth the evil.”

So he sees it ahead of time. He sees it before it comes his way. He knows it’s coming his way. He sees that. A prudent man foreseeth the evil and keeps going in the same direction. He says, “I’m tough enough, I can handle it.” No. What a prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hides himself. If he gets away from him, he takes a detour, changes plans. “I don’t want to get anywhere close to that.” He avoids it. A prudent man foreseeeth the evil and hideth himself.

But the simple—by the way, not necessarily a wicked, sinful guy at this point, just simple—but the simple pass on and are punished.

Look in chapter number 14, chapter 14 of Proverbs, chapter 14 and verse number 16. Proverbs 14, verse number 16. “A wise man feareth.”

Now, let me just say a word about that word of fear. Two things, really: the Lord and sin. I fear sin. I don’t want to be involved. I don’t want to fall. Sin’s kryptonite, if you will. I don’t go there. Yes, the Lord will make a way of escape, but I can put myself in a situation that’s against God’s will where I won’t have a way to escape because I’ll put myself—God didn’t put me there; I put me there.

What is it? “A wise man feareth and departeth from evil.” He gets ten miles away from it. A wise man—not talking about a foolish man, a simple man, a wise man—feareth and departeth from evil. But the fool rageth and is confident. “I’ll never deny you,” yeah, before the cock crows three times. And it happened. “I’m ready to die with you.” Okay, let’s see how that goes there, you know.

No, a wise man feareth and departeth from evil.

Look over in chapter number seven, chapter number seven, Proverbs. Over here, it’s talking about a wicked woman. The Bible uses this term “strange” or “foreign.” By that, he means she’s foreign or strange to that bedroom, and she ought not be there, and so on and so on—a very sinful lady. And much of this chapter is about that.

Look in verse number seven, Proverbs 7, verse number seven: “And behold, among the simple ones”—not as sinful or wicked a person at this point, but just simple, not enough wisdom to avoid the territory, if you will—“I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding.” There it is. Passing through the street near her corner. Three words for that right there: dumb, dumb, dumb. Near her corner. And he went the way to her house.

Look down verse number 26, just kind of the end result. “For she hath cast down many wounded.” They’re wounded, maybe from the past, maybe from their youth, maybe from past relationships. I don’t know, but they’re just wounded. “She hath cast down many wounded; yea, many strong men.” The Bible calls them strong men. Have been slain by her. They just—they had to go near. It wasn’t just running from it. They had to go; they didn’t kind of flirt with it.

Let me read for you a couple of verses, and one a portion of verses from the New Testament. I’ll just read them for you. Romans 16:17: “Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.” Wow, that’s about avoid them.

Second Thessalonians 3:6: “And we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly.” Wow, pretty strong. “And not after the traditions which ye have received of us.”

First Corinthians 6:18: “Flee fornication.” Don’t hang around; flee, get away from it. You understand the principle all throughout the Bible, so many, many places.

And just for a bit tonight, just for a bit, let’s cover this subject: Stay away from the edge. Just stay away from the edge.

There’s a man that was going to hire a chauffeur. He was wealthy, and he had a nice car, and he was going to hire somebody to be his driver. He got three guys lined up. He got the first guy in there. He said, “Sir, if we’re on a road going up the side of a mountain, over here’s the edge, or the cliff—you fall off, and it’s gone, you know, way down there—over here’s the side of the mountain. How close can you get to the edge of the cliff there?”

The first guy, he said, “Man, I could just get right there at the edge of it.” He said, “Probably the wall of my tire would be flush, even with the edge.” How many have it right there out? “I could get right there. I’d be fine,” you know. He said, “All right, thank you.”

He got to call the next guy. He said, “Sir, if we’re on a path going beside a mountain, over here is the cliff you fall off, over here’s the edge of the mountain. How close can you get to the edge?” He said, “Man, I’ll tell you what, half of the tire would be hanging off the edge. There’ll be rocks trickling off.” He said, “Man, I could do it. Everything can be fine.” He said, “All right, good. Thank you, sir.”

The third guy came in. Same thing: “Sir, we’re driving up this mountain road, and over here is the cliff. You fall off over here’s the edge of the mountain. How close do you get to the edge? Get to the edge.” He said, “I’d tell you what, I would hug the mountain. I would stay as far away from the edge of the cliff as I could.” He said, “You’re hired.”

And there’s a lot of wisdom in that. The Bible repeatedly says, “Hey, the prudent man foreseeth the evil and hideth himself.” The simple one went near to the corner of her house, and sure enough, he fell. “Flee fornication”—this is all through the Bible. A wise man stays away from the edge.

The world’s philosophy is so opposite of that, and they are teaching people just to walk as close as they can to the edge. By the way, while we’re here on this point, God’s people ought to be living a little bit higher than the world, amen? God, His standards—He wants us to be higher, on a higher standard, a higher level than the world. By the way, don’t judge where you live by the world. Judge where you live by God’s Word.

But the world is so adamant about just walking right along the edge of the cliff. That’s their philosophy. You’ll hear this so often from the world: “Well, what’s wrong with that?” They’re just big on that. And I understand that somewhat, but can’t I just say something every once in a while to say, “Hey, what’s right about that?” Well, it might not be sinful. Yeah, but you stay there long enough, pretty soon you’re going to slip, friend.

And a wise man says, “I want to avoid the edge.”

I’m not saying I like everything about Mike Pence, but he’s got a lot of good things. And I like it when he was Vice President that he had a standard. He said, “I will not go out to eat just being another lady.” Another lady. He wasn’t a lady. You understand what I mean? He said, “I won’t do it.”

Boy, the media was all over him: “What? Why not? What’s wrong with you?” Well, they didn’t like that. And he said, “Not just had a standard all these years me and my wife have been married, and been doing this pretty good so far. I’m just going to stick that standard out there. I’m not going to go out to eat with a lady.” And I just won’t do it.

You know what he was doing? He said, “I’m not going to walk on the edge of the cliff.” By the way, the world, their philosophy—and they don’t like it when somebody stays away from the edge. And their philosophy is walking right here by the edge of the cliff, and they are falling left and right. Man, just all over the place.

It bothers me when preachers lead their people, especially their young people or younger preachers sometimes, just walk right on the edge of the cliff. And sometimes I think they’re old enough and wise enough, got old school in there. They’re not falling off, but the followers of them are falling left and right. By the way, it’s not just important where you’re at; it’s important what direction you’re going. And it’s so clear biblically: “Hey, stay away from the edge.”

Satan wants to get you, excuse me, living right on the edge. Because old Satan lived long enough to know you’re going to have a weak day. Everybody has a weak day. I mean, we’re all there. And if Satan can just get you right on the edge, and he’s walking around seeking whom he may devour, and he can just get you walking on the edge of that thing—boy, he says, “Man, I got him on the edge, and I’m just waiting for that weak day.” And he doesn’t have to knock you ten miles; just a little push—boom. That’s what he’s waiting for. And he’s so wise to have a philosophy of the world to have people walking right on the edge. He’s good about that.

Can I say this? We’re in Nashville, you know, and I understand all that, and country music is very prominent in our area here and all that stuff. But can I say, and here’s what sometimes—“Well, I found it. There’s a good song in country music,” and there is every once in a while. I won’t deny that. “Well, what’s wrong with that song?”

Well, here’s the problem with that: If I go digging through the trash, I might find a steak. You know, I might find a steak every once in a while. And it may be that may be a person, some rich person, threw that steak away, whatever it is. You know, it’s still a good one. But I’m going to come out smelling like trash.

And friends, Satan just wants us just to live right on the edge, right on the edge, so that weak day—boom—he just a little much. And that philosophy is seeping into churches and Christians and Christians’ families all around, and they’re falling left and right. It’s a sad thing.

And I’m just going through some statements here at the beginning. Number three statement: It is better to have a fence at the top of the plateau than to have an ambulance at the bottom.

Now, I’m for having ambulances at the bottom all day long. Praise the Lord for it. I had someone come this morning. How about praise the Lord! Man, I’ve been praying for that. I’ve visited so many times over there, and God’s working in this individual’s life and trying to redeem them. And I love it. And praise the Lord, grace is sufficient. And I love it when He can redeem a life, get them saved, and they grow, and just your life is transformed by the grace of God. I love all those things, and I devote a lot of time and attention to those things. But friend, I’m for that, but much better than that is if they never fall off the edge of the cliff.

By the way, some of those people, praise God, God redeems them out of that life, and I love to see that. But can I be honest with you? They walk for the rest of their life with a limp in their life, like the old fellow. He said, “I lost my arm in a bar fight before I got saved.” And it is tragic. And he said, “It’s been saved; it’s under the blood, but my arm hasn’t grown back yet.”

And people walk around with scars and wounds, and they can’t travel very far and very fast because the philosophy was, “Let’s just have an ambulance at the bottom.” Somebody needs to put a fence up top. It’s key. We’re losing that in America. Somebody—nobody wants to be the bad guy—put some fences and some rules and some lines up there. But for the safety and the lives of our youth, somebody needs to say, “Hey, we’re having some standards right here.”

That’s why we send our kids to camp. There are some camps that have some dress codes and some rules and no touch between the sexes. The Bible still says it’s good for a man not to touch a woman, by the way. And families that say, “No, we’re not even going to go there, and we don’t even dress like that, and we don’t watch that.” You say, “Man, you’re old fuddy-duddy.” That’s all right. We want to put some fences up for the young people so they never fall off the edge.

I’m for having ambulances down there. Oh, friends, somebody’s got to build some fences at the top. True love does that.

Would you look over in Deuteronomy chapter number 22? God’s teaching them about building. And He’s telling them, when you build a house—and often they would kind of have the rooftop as their front porch type thing—and I want you to notice what He says about it. Look in Deuteronomy 22. We’ll just look at verse number eight, please. Verse number eight.

He says, “When thou buildest a new house, then thou shalt make a battlement for thy roof, that thou bring not blood upon thine house, if any man fall therefrom.”

Now, God’s just talking about building a house. He’s talking to architects. He’s talking to structural engineers. I’m teasing my brother Johan; that’s what he is, but he is. He’s talking about a crowd of people. And He says, “Look, when you build a house, a new house, and they’re going to go up on the rooftop and they’re going to grill out and, you know, and smoke that chicken up there”—I didn’t say smoke; I said smoke the chicken, now, come on now, you know—“and when they do all that and they have fellowships and family time up there, you need to build a fence or a wall on the house. Because if you don’t have it and somebody falls off, there is blood on your hand.”

Can I say there’s a whole lot of blood on a whole lot of people’s hands in America? And that’s the standard, that’s wisdom that God has given us, even about a house, a physical house and homes.

By the way, praise the Lord for young people that just say, “You know what? I’m happy living inside of the fence. I’m happy living inside the rules. I’m not bucking the system all the time. I’m actually kind of like the system. I’m just going to have fun where I’m at.” Teenagers that just enjoy living where God wants them and have good parents and have some rules—they just they’re not we’re not rebeck; they’re just enjoying it. They’re the best. They’re awesome. I love just young people just saying, “I’m just happy being inside the fence, and I have plenty of fun inside, and I’m happy being here.”

By the way, I often think about Daniel, remember Daniel and his three friends? At the beginning, when they said, “We’re purposed in our heart, Daniel, I purposed in my heart that I will not defile myself with the king’s meat.” You remember they did that test? Yeah, y’all eat all that meat and all that drink you do. All that, we’re going to have this vegetables over here, and we’re going to have some collard greens and some black-eyed peas. We’ll get some chow-chow with black-eyed peas, though, you know, and some onions over there, you know, and maybe some buttermilk, butter beans, you know, and some navy beans. And, oh, let’s see what else going on there. There’s some squash. You ever have that squash and zucchini and onions fried up together? Oh, man, that’s some good stuff right there, you know. And all that in there, that’s what we’re going to eat. We’re going to lay off Oscar’s Cornucopia burrito. Well, they’re good, amen. If they say it’s good, you know it’s good, man. Tell you what. But anyway, we’re going to lay off that.

And, boy, I’m kind of getting my illustration mixed up here, aren’t I? Got sidetracked by that Cornucopia burrito. It got me, friend. We’re just going to have that pulse, you know, that healthy stuff. And anyway, remember the end of the ten days? I think it was, or the testing, I can’t remember. At the end of the testing, however long it was, they said those that did not defile themselves, they’re ten times better.

Wow, ten times better. And I often think about the young people just saying, “Hey, I don’t mind all the rules. I got plenty of good and fun and happy and joy, so I love my parents and love my church. I’m just happy to be here.” And they’re glad to be inside of that. They end up at the end of the day, so many times, ten times better because they had people that loved them enough to keep a fence up top, and they didn’t have to have the ambulance. So I’m not against that, but they had a fence up top. Ten times better.

Now, just a thought about this. Not planning on being long tonight. Notice that said, “I’m not planning on being long tonight.” How many, anybody lose a little bit of a nap on Mother’s Day? Anybody out there? Oh, my goodness. Some of the mothers are in, and some of the others, you know. But how many still got your nap in? Come on. Amen. Amen for a Baptist church of Everest. All right.

You know, I tell you what. Let me just say this: If you have a weak area—and we all do. We all have a besetting sin. It doesn’t matter what level of the Christian life. It may change what that besetting sin is, but we all have a besetting sin that doth easily beset us. If you have a weak area in your life, avoid that thing like the plague. Don’t even get anywhere close to the edge of the cliff.

Just of one, we had a man years ago—I had the privilege, and just a privilege the Lord had it already, but it was leading him to the Lord. He had been an alcoholic for most of his life for years and years, and we got saved, and it was awesome to see. I’m not sure who was with me, but just a great, great visit. He got saved, and he lived over off Weekly Lane a little bit. It started coming to church. It was exciting to see. He was excited to be in church, and I loved it, and he loved it; he was happy. I can’t remember how many weeks he came, doing great.

And he came—Brother Fontaine picked him up before one night—and we had John Bishop here. Remember John Bishop? How many of you know John Bishop? God is good ministry. Great, great preacher. And John Bishop was here for us preaching. And Brother Fontaine picked him up. That came in a little later, I think, and they sat in the back row over here. And Miss Susanna Busho, she sang for us that night. She was here this morning; she sang for us that night. And while she was singing, he stood up and walked down to the front right over here.

And Brother Fontaine wisely, he kind of followed him, you know. This is different. We use—don’t get up, just walk around during service, you know, especially going down. And I go to the rest of him, but the rest of him is not up here, you know. And so he did that, and he sat down over here, and Brother John Bishop got it preaching. And, you know, sometimes as preachers, we ask the rhetorical question; we don’t expect anybody to answer, type thing. And he started answering out loud. I thought, “Boy, this is not good,” you know. And Brother Bishop sometimes has those migraine headaches and all that. We don’t need that tonight and all those things.

So a little bit after that, went visiting and just asked me a little bit. He said, “Preacher, let me tell you what’s going on.” He said, “Man, when I got saved, he said, I had not touched a drop for weeks. It was the first time in years and years,” he said, “I did not touch a drop. He said, ‘I was free from it. God delivered me. I was doing so very, very good.’”

And one day he just rode by—this was his words—rode by a liquor store. And I rode by it. He just popped in his mind, sure enough. He stopped, turned around, and went back in there. And he said, “Preacher, once I had one drink, I just—I just, as far as I know, he’s never overcame.” I assured him, “Brother, we love you. Once you come to church, we try to be helpful to him. I said, ‘You can’t come to church when you’re drunk like it was that night.’”

But I’m saying he just rode by the liquor store. That was his words. And friend, I’m saying if you have a weak area in your life, don’t ride by it. If you got to go ten miles around, go ten miles around. I’m going to avoid it.

He said, “Preacher, I’m prone to depression.” Don’t let your mind go that way. Stop. Don’t watch all the depressing movies and depressing books, and don’t dwell there. Avoid it. If you need to deal with something, deal with it, and then try to cheer yourself and get around somebody that’s happy.

If you’re prone to gossip and you tend to gossip when you’re around so-and-so, love them, be kind to them, but don’t hang out with them all day long. Don’t talk to them three hours on the phone. Good chance you’re going to fall. Not that you hate them, but you’re trying to win—whatever the thing is.

If it’s wrong music, don’t surf the radio. Don’t do it. You’ll say, “Well, I’m just going to surf the dial.” Don’t surf the dial. You’re riding by it. If it’s movies, just say, “Well, it may be a good idea just to get rid of the Bluetooth.” There is life beyond TV. You actually can breathe without one right in the center of your living room. I’ve seen it. It happens every once in a while. Maybe you’ve got no problem there, and I’m not saying it’s a sin to have one. But if you’re just prone to that, avoid it.

Let me ask you while we’re talking about all this: What is the Holy Spirit putting on your mind? What is it putting on your mind to avoid? We’re all trying to overcome something if we’re growing. What’s the thing the Holy Spirit is saying, “Hey, I don’t want you to go there. You stay way away from it.”

It makes sense to build a fence on the cliff. It just makes sense. Satan has our society so, so full of this philosophy: just walk as close as you can to the edge. That’s kind of where you’ll be happy. That’s where you’ll fall.

2 Timothy 2:22: “Flee also youthful lusts: but follow after righteousness, faith, charity, peace, to them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.”

Joseph, he didn’t stay in the house where Pharaoh’s—or Potiphar’s, excuse me—Potiphar’s wife’s. He didn’t stay in there; he got out of there. I dare say if he’d have stayed in there, he probably would have fallen.

Brother Howes used to tell this story. It’s comical in some ways, but it illustrates such a great truth. He had a young girl come to his office and say, “Pastor, I’m a fallen woman.” She was just upset; she was shedding tears. And he said, “Oh, my goodness.” A good girl that grew up in the church, a good family. I was just heartbroken. I can’t believe it. He just… I was so sad to hear about it.

And he said, “Where did it happen?” And she said, “It happened when I was in school, Christian school—their Christian school, their church.” He said, “Oh, my goodness. At our school it happened? At our school? I can’t believe it. Where did it happen at the school?” “In the hallway.” And he said, “Oh, my goodness. In the hallway at our Christian school? I can’t believe this. We got to do something. I can’t believe that.”

And he’s heartbroken. He said, “What does that happen?” He said, “I held his hand.” Now, I’m not saying I’m happy they were holding hands, but praise the Lord, when she fell, she was only holding hands. You understand what I’m saying? Friend, there’s a lot of wisdom in that. So much wisdom in that.

There’s more fun to be had inside the fence, I promise you that, than outside the fence. Jesus said, Jesus answered them, “Very, very, I say unto you, whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.” I promise you there’s much more freedom inside the fence than there is outside the fence. I promise you.

Look over—this is a wonderful passage. Look over in Psalm 119. Psalm 119, the longest chapter in the Bible. It’s the Bible talking about the Bible. Psalm 119. And would you look at verse number 45? Psalm 119, would you look at verse number 45? He says there, he says, “I will walk at liberty.” Freedom to do what he wants to do. By the way, freedom—true freedom is not freedom to sin; it’s freedom from sin. But it says, “I will walk at liberty.” Freedom, if you will. “For I seek my freedom.” Is that what it says? No. He says, “For I seek thy precepts.”

Now, can I put it maybe in context of the message a little bit? He’s saying, “Look, I’m walking out liberty because I love your precepts, your commandments, your rules, your laws, and I’m right where I want to be at.” So I have liberty. There’s no rules? No, there are rules, but I want to be—this is where I want to be. That’s where true liberty is. True liberty is not outside the fence doing what you want to do because he that committed sin is a servant thereof. True liberty, just enjoying your freedom, your life, liberty is found inside the fence when you say, “This is where I want to be. I don’t want to be out there. I don’t desire that. I’m not envious of the wicked. I am living and doing what I want to do because I want to serve the Lord. I want to be His Bible,” and that’s where liberty, true liberty, is found: right inside the fence.

You heard about the little Chihuahua? He is inside the house. You know, they had the screen door. He could hit that screen door and pop it open. He had popped the screen door, and he could run out there. There was a fence around his house, sidewalk outside the fence. And every day, every day, this big old bulldog would come down to the sidewalk. I mean, just big old fellow. You know, the big dogs, they don’t bark a whole lot, but boy, when they bark, you know. He just walked along there. And that little Chihuahua, he knew it every day. Paul, he’s seen that big old bulldog. Man, when he’s seen that, he’s inside the house, screen door, you know, closed but the door opened. Man, he had run. He had hit that little screen door—boom—hit, pop it open, jump down on the porch there, hit the steps, and run down that little bitty walkway down and hit the fence. That old bulldog, he wouldn’t say a word; he’d just walk over. Didn’t even give him a bad eye. Didn’t he look that way? He knew what was going on, you know, every single day, same thing, you know. Bulldog come down the sidewalk, you know, little twerp, “Bah, bah, bah, bah, bah!” Hit that screen door, front porch, steps, walkway, hit the fence, just barking at that big old bulldog. Bulldog just walking along. Every single day, same thing, every single day.

One day that big old bulldog, he’s just walking down there, you know. Little twerp, “Bah, bah, bah, bah, bah!” He hit that screen door, man, that popped open, hit the front porch, hit those steps, hit the walkway, ran down there, hit that fence. The gate was locked. Man, he hit that gate, it opened up. I tell you what, that bulldog took that little Chihuahua, slung him every way but loose. Blood flying here, ears here, legs here. I mean, it’s just horrible, you know. He wasn’t—he wasn’t—he wasn’t too bad. He was, you know. I mean, the bulldog tore him up.

And that’s exactly what Christians are. They say, “I want my freedom. I want my freedom. I want to do what I want to do. I don’t want no fence.” And the devil, he’s up. Boom, he’s got him. And their life is wrecked for years many times, and they walk with a limp and they’re missing an ear and they’ve got scars all over. And it hurts their marriage later on. So often it’s a shame that somebody just left the gate unlocked.

And by the way, people are always hitting against a fence that makes it harder for people to keep the fence up. Praise the Lord for those that say, “You know what? I’m walking in liberty. I seek that. That’s where I want to be. That’s where true freedom is.”

Can I ask you this tonight: Would you allow the Spirit of God and the Word of God to put some fences up in your life? There are Bible truths. Bible truths. Psalm 100—Psalm 101, verse number three: “I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the thing that cleaveth to wickedness.” That’s a Bible truth. “I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes.” You’ve got a Bible truth. Because of that Bible truth, you put a conviction in your life: “I’m not going to look at bad stuff. I’m not going to watch the wrong kind of movies. I’m not going to look at that on TV, internet, phone, whatever.” I’m just—I’m putting a conviction: “I’m not going to look at bad stuff.”

And then, so you’ve got a Bible truth of the Word of God. You get a conviction out of that. And then you set some standards in your life that help you keep the conviction. We—we don’t have a TV in our living room. Now we have one either in the garage or spare room. A lot of times for ball games, we’ll bring it out. You say, “Is it a sin to have that?” No, but we need a standard in our life to help us to keep our conviction. We don’t go to movies. You say, “Is it wrong to go to every movie in the world?” That’s pretty new. But I’m just saying that’s a standard we put in our life that’s helped us keep our conviction.

And I’m saying a wise individual sets standards in your life. Let the Lord lead you, and you set standards in your life that help you keep convictions that you got from Bible truths. It’s not going to look the same for everybody. Because for that man, if it only had a standard, “I’m not even going to ride by. I know that liquor store is—I used to go there for years and years. I’m not going to ride by it.” Well, many people here tonight don’t need that standard in your life, but he did.

And you allow the Spirit of God through the Bible truth, you get convictions, and then you set some standards in your life that help you keep the convictions that you’ve got from the—and you put fences up. And you say, “I’m not going to walk right on the edge. I’m going to have some fences that I’m going to stay away from the edge because I want to hide myself from the evil that I see is coming down the road.”

Heads are bowed, eyes are closed. You said, “Preacher, God spoke to my heart, and I don’t know what way in your life. Maybe something I did not even mention to be remotely in my mind for me, but for you, but you say, ‘Preacher, God’s working in my heart, and I’m going to build some fences. I’m going to avoid a certain area. I’m not going to listen to the world’s philosophy. I’m going to stay the best I can away from the edge of the cliff. I’m going to try to hug the mountain.’” And God spoke to my heart, and some areas of my life, I need to build some fences. And God spoke to my heart about that. That’s you tonight. You slip your hand up: “Preacher, I need to do that in some areas of my life. I need to build some fences.” God bless you. God bless you. We all need that. Me too. Me too. God bless you.

Maybe you’re here tonight. You said, “Preacher, I need to be thankful for those in my life that have built fences. And they’ve established some rules, and they’ve established some standards, and I need to stop bucking the fence all the time. You’ll never be at liberty bucking the fence. If you buck long enough until you get old enough or whatever, typically you’re going to find a hole in the fence, but you won’t be at liberty there.”

And those are just saying, “I’m going to stop bucking the fence and the system. I’m just going to enjoy living inside the fence.” And I want to be thankful for those that put a fence up in my life. And I need to be thankful for that, not buck the system, if you will. God spoke to my heart about that. That’s you tonight. “Preacher, I want to be thankful for those that have some fences in my life.” That’s you tonight? Oh, God bless you. God bless you. We all—we all need that. I praise God for a mom and dad that put fences in my life at a young age. Praise the Lord for that.

Maybe you’re here tonight. You say, “Honestly, I’ve fallen off the cliff, and I need healing.” By the way, His grace is sufficient. I’m not trying to make light of that at all. In some area, in some way, maybe not large and major, if you will, but some way we’ve all fallen. And you said, “Preacher, I’m a little crippled in this area, and I need healing in my life.” I’m just coming to the Lord and saying, “Lord, in this area, however big or little it is, I’ve fallen, and I’ve got some scars, I’ve got some wounds, and I walk with a limp, and I’m asking for healing. Would you bring healing to my life in a certain area, a certain thing in my life?” That you—you slip your head up: “Preacher, I need healing.” By the way, we’re all there from time to time. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. Oh, He can do it. He can do it. God bless you. He’s a great physician, not just physically, but emotionally, spiritually. He can bring healing. He can do that for all of us tonight.

In other day and time, if you have fences, you’re going to kind of stand against the crowd. You’ll be tested on those fences from time to time. It’s hard sometimes when even fellow Christians will complain about your fences. That makes it hard. But He said, “You don’t make the battlement on the roof, and they fall off, their blood’s on your hands.”

I’m not saying every child’s got their own mind, their own opinion, and all that, and I understand all that. But our job is to put the battlement up there, and that’s what God teaches us. Many people won’t like it, but later on, I believe you’d be happy you did that. Really do.

Sometimes Satan will do this: He’ll put right in front of you someone that’s been walking on the edge, and they seem fine. But just—you know, that’s not always the end of the story. I thought about it. I was going to share it in the message; I forgot about it in the middle of the message. But a man, God gave him the privilege—he had visited our church. He went by and visited him, and he said, “Let me tell you a story, Pastor.” He was a pilot. He said, “I went and applied for a job.”

And he said, the fellow asked, “How many flight hours you have?” And he said, “I have 10,000.” He said, “How many incidents you have?” He said, “I’ve got no incidents, not at all.” And the guy said, “None?” “No, not one.” He said, “I don’t want to hire you.” And he said, “What? 10,000 flight hours, got no incidents? Oh, why don’t you want to?” He said, “You’re due.”

And he said, “Preacher, I’ve had a heart attack. I can’t remember. He’s maybe diabetes. I’ve had this. And he said, ‘I’m due.’ I really am due. I want to get saved.” Man, we got on our knees. He got saved. It was just the Lord. The Lord had him all ready to go. He got baptized here. He came to church to the pastor, whatnot—just a dear man. And, you know, the devil’s going to show you that person. And there’s 10,000 flight hours, no incidents. But that ball’s been around for a while. He’s like, “You’re due.” And God used that little thing to touch that man’s heart in his life and get saved. So don’t just follow what the devil is going to put right in front of you. Follow God’s Word.

And the prudent man foreseeth the evil and hideth himself. And no matter where that is, it may be just you, or I can fuss and fight and have a decent marriage with it. Sometimes they don’t last so long. And just cross the board. And I’ve got to quit preaching today, but we’ve got to go home. Amen, you know. But glad you’re here. Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms. We’re thrilled you’re here. And thank you for being faithful to the House of God on the—on Mother’s Day Sunday night. That’s just awesome. And praise the Lord for you. Happy Mother’s Day, all the moms. We love you. Thank God for you. Great, great people. And what a blessing.

Original File: Pastor Paul Chisgar - Stay away from the edge - Sunday PM 05142023