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This message opener was created to promote Ed Young’s series “Fool”

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Fool

Week 1

“Next Time”

April 8, 2018

By Ed Young

We’ve all made those dumb, “what was I thinking?” decisions in life and experienced the negative consequences on the other side. But we don’t have to keep making those same mistakes as we move forward. In fact, God has given us everything we need to make better decisions.

In this message, Pastor Ed Young opens up a series of talks that will point us to the perfect place to look for, discover, and apply the kind of wisdom we all need so that next time, we can make the right decision!

Transcript

Well, how are you guys doing?  It sure is cold here, isn’t it?  Wow, I couldn’t believe it.  It was warm and all of a sudden, boom!  It got really, really cold.  You know, I posted a lot of stuff on social media. I like social media, I really do.  And I thought a lot about what I posted on social media and I planned it, but I posted something several years ago and I thought it was kind of humorous.  It really went viral.  It’s the only thing in my life that’s ever gone viral.  I mean, I’ve had viruses, but this is the only thing that’s ever gone viral.  I was just told before I walked out it has 1.2 million Likes or views or whatever, and to me that’s a lot.  Here’s what happened, and this is a very foolish thing that I did, and we’re talking about being foolish.

ILLUS: Lisa and I were on a road trip.  Right at the end of the trip, we were maybe 45 minutes away from our house, our 110-pound Doberman was in the back seat in my brand new SUV.  My favorite dog in the world, Ava, a 7-pound Maltipoo was in my lap and we were making our way home.  It was raining outside and Lisa turned to me, a voice of wisdom,

“Honey, I think Dutch is sick.  You need to stop the car.”

Fool: “Lisa, he’s not sick.  He’s fine.  We can make it home.”  I kept driving.

Voice of wisdom: “Honey, stop the car.  I’m telling you, Dutch is sick.  He’s going to ruin the car.”

“Lisa, Dutch is fine!  I can tell, it’s raining, we’re not going to stop the car.”  This went on for a while.  The voice of wisdom, versus the response of a fool.  So she kept on and I looked back and I thought, man.  Dutch does look kind of bad.  And at one point I could tell he was trying to get out of the car.  His fingernails and toenails were imprinting the Corinthian leather on my back seats.  He was like that, and I go,

“OK, Lisa, I’m going to pull over.”  I put my blinker on… <blinker sound effect>… it was too late.  He had - and let me warn you - explosive diarrhea.  Now, don’t send me any hate because I said diarrhea.  Everyone deals with it, OK?  I’m going to show you the video because I filmed it.  Now wait a minute.  If you’re squeamish, close your eyes.  I know way back in the balcony, hey, just close your eyes.  I want you to see this.  I call this, because it happened around Halloween, I call this the doo-doo-demon.  Watch this.

<video of Dutch having diarrhea in the back seat of Ed’s SUV>

Do you know how much money that cost?  Oh, no, no, no.  They couldn’t clean it.  I had to get new seats.  Oh yeah, I was without a car for several weeks.  It was really bad.  I’m a fool.  I am a fool!  I didn’t listen to the voice of wisdom.

You’ve got wisdom on one hand, you’ve got foolishness on the other.  Let’s do a series about being foolish.  Have you ever been foolish?  Have you ever taken the path of folly?  I have.  Have you ever been foolish?

You might be going, “Well, I was foolish to marry that guy after only dating him for three weeks.  I was foolish because I didn’t work diligently enough on my college education, or maybe my Master’s.  I was foolish because I kept spending and spending and spending and now I’m in serious trouble financially.  I was foolish because I didn’t spend time with my spouse with those date nights, and I put the kids over my spouse.  I was foolish!”

I think all of us would nod and say, yep.  I’ve taken the path of foolishness before.

We have an option, do we not?  The path of folly.  And we have a fascination, at least I do, with foolishness.  We tend to kind of naturally take that path, it’s just who we are.  We have that pull for folly and foolishness as opposed to wisdom.

Now listen to me.  I’m not talking about knowledge.  We’re going to look at the juxtaposition between the path of wisdom versus the path of folly or foolishness.  I’m not talking about knowledge.  Knowledge is great.  Gain knowledge, get an education. But I’m here to tell you it’s not the answer to life’s problems.

Fool

Week 2

“From the Workplace to a Worship Space”

April 15, 2018

Ed Young

Where do you to work? Better yet, how do you view your work? Whether it is in a boardroom, classroom, locker room, or family room, work is a crucial part of all of our lives. But work is about more than contributing to the bottom line; it can actually help us discover our God-given purpose. In this message, Pastor Ed Young dives in to some proverbial wisdom from God to help us reach our full potential and turn our workplace into a worship space!

Transcript

INTRO: You know, we spend half our waking hours involved in this. A lot of us go to school for it. We have discussions about it. I think it'd be safe to say that here, and in all of our different environments, some people love what I'm talking about. Others loathe it. What am I talking about? Well, work.

That's a four-letter word. For some of us. Others it's like, “Yeah, work!”

I'm talking about human labor. Now some of you are right now going, “Oh man. Why did I come to church today? Ed’s talking about work. You've got to be kidding me. Work is a curse. To the salt mines we go. I pretty much endure a five-day work week so I can enjoy the weekend.

Well, you know, we are in a series in the Book of Proverbs. The Book of Proverbs is an Old Testament book. And it was written by a guy named Solomon. Solomon was interesting because God asked him one question. “Solomon. Whatever you want, I'll give it to you.”

Solomon said, “I'll take wisdom.”

Now, that was a brilliant answer. Because he had wisdom, he was the wealthiest man to ever walk on planet Earth. Also, he had a lot of popularity. I mean you want to talk about followers, you want to talk about clicks and likes. He had it. Possessions like no one. Yet, he wrote this book inspired by the Holy Spirit of God called the Book of Proverbs.

Now, the word proverbs means to govern, to rule, to reign. Wisdom should be a rule, a reign. Because wisdom is from God. Wisdom is something we receive. It's a gift. Knowledge is great. Knowledge, though, is just something we learn, something we accumulate, and I'm not anti-knowledge, nor should you be. But wisdom, man. That's where it's at. Wisdom is from God. Isn't that cool?

Wisdom. We need wisdom. And wisdom, if you think about the word, is seeing life and doing life from God's perspective. It's having God's thoughts, his hands, his feet. It's doing life God's way.

The Book of Proverbs talks about anger, sexual temptation, marriage, friendships, work, laziness. I mean, it's not really that relevant!

We're going to spend some time as we talk about the books of proverbs. So, today we're talking about work.

Now, when I say work, what goes through your mind? I don't care if you're a homemaker, which is probably the most difficult job out there. I don't care if you're a homemaker, a pastor, a poet, a Rockstar. I don't care if you work in the realm of technology, real estate. It doesn't matter if you're a surgeon, a nurse, a teacher. Whatever you do, you are involved, I am involved in human labor.

Here's one thing I want you to understand about human labor. The first thing I want you to understand. Number one, work is a gift from God. I know that shocks you, like “Come on, now.”

Yep, it is, seriously. Work is a gift, a present from God. Think about back in the Garden of Eden. Before sin saturated the soils of the Garden of Eden. Before man screwed up. Before we dropped the ball. Before we committed cosmic treason, you have God giving Adam and Eve the gift of work. You know what God said? “Take care of my garden.” (And that should but put to rest the age old argument, regarding what is the oldest profession known to man. Landscaping! That's it.)

They were to work. So work was given to man and woman before the fall of man. Fall, meaning falling into sin. A lot of us have a whack view of work because we're fallen. We don't understand how deep work is and how it is a gift from God. But it is. God worked. We're made in God's image. God worked.

You're like, “Get out of town, Ed. Are you serious?”

Yeah, he did. Genesis 1:1, “God created.” That's work.

Fool

Week 3

“Sluggard School”

April 22, 2018

By Ed Young

People revere their alma maters. They announce their graduating class with pride and cheer on their schools for the rest of their lives. But there’s one school no one wants to admit attending – Sluggard School. As Pastor Ed Young continues this series on the book of Proverbs, we discover the dangers of enrolling in Sluggard School and how to transfer our admission to a much better institution of higher learning – a school that majors in wisdom and helps us master our work.

Transcript

Welcome, everyone, to Fellowship Church!  I want to say hi to all of our campuses.  It’s great to be here in beautiful South Florida!  Please be seated… yeah!  You know, we love our colleges, don’t we?   Some people love the University of Miami, other people love the University of Texas.  They’re clapping somewhere, I promise you.  Others love Texas Tech.  Some, like my wife, love the University of South Carolina.  Florida State… I want you to understand and I want you to think about another school you’ve probably never heard of.  I promise you you’ve never heard of this university, yet the enrollment is swelling each and every day.  The University of Sluggard.  You’re like, going, what?  Where is that?  The University of Sluggard.  What town?  I mean, how about the location?  In your life and in mine, a sluggard.

That’s kind of a weird word, a sluggard.  It comes from the word slug, the insect slug.  Have you ever seen a slug before?  They’re not the most beautiful creatures around.  They’re a snail-like creature without a shell and they leave a trail of slime behind them. If you pour salt on them things happen.  They die.  Could it be that I’m talking to some people who are a part of the University of Sluggard?  Could it be that we have some pockets of laziness, maybe some relaxation where we shouldn’t always relax?  Maybe some apathy?  Maybe I’m talking to someone in a marriage, maybe I’m talking to someone in a dating relationship.  Maybe I’m talking to someone who is lazy financially.  You’re drowning in debt and you just don’t really think about it.  Maybe I’m talking to someone who is a sluggard at work.  That’s right, it’s a four-letter word to many.   Work.  When it comes to work, isn't it true we either love it or loathe it?  We either see it as something we hate, or some people see it as something holy.  Some people see it as an opposition, others see it as an opportunity.  Work, work.

If you’re a great worker, I guarantee you have wisdom.  And we’ve been learning around here that wisdom is a gift from God.  Knowledge is great, knowledge is something that we accrue, that we gather.  Wisdom is something we receive.  We need to work and understand what wisdom is.  You know, the Bible tells us, God tells us that we have two choices, to paths to take.  We can either slide down the slimy slope of Sluggardville, and we can enroll at the University of Sluggard.  We can go to Sluggard School, we can do that, or we can enroll in a place called the University of Ant.  Now if you missed last time, check out the University of Ant.  Get our app, go to the app store, Fellowship Church.  Press GET and you’ll see last weekend’s message.  I talked about the University of Ant.  You know, God tells us to look at the ant and to look at the sluggard as well?  It’s amazing how many times the Bible tells us to look at Creation because we learn from Creation.  The book of Proverbs, that’s what we’re talking about, is a book of wisdom.  It’s a book of wisdom.  The book of Proverbs tell us in no uncertain terms about marriage, about friendship, about anger, about sex, about - you know - stuff that’s relevant.  The book of Proverbs.  The book of Proverbs also talks a lot about work, and I thought we would talk a little bit about work today.

We spend half of our waking hours in work.  Work, I’ll say it, is from God.  God gave us work before sin entered the planet.  Isn't that cool?  Work is a gift.  God gave us a platform where we could pursue our purposes.  So the Scripture says whatever you do, I’m giving you the Cliff Notes, whatever you do, do it like God is your CEO.  In other words, do a mental Photoshop, even if your boss is a jerk.  Do a mental Photoshop of your coach, of your manager.  Put the face of Jesus on him or her.  That ultimately, if you’re a follower of Christ, is who you’re working for.   Do you have wisdom?  The Bible says that Jesus is the wisdom of God.  Do you have wisdom?  The book of Proverbs, 31 chapters, and your challenge is to read the book of Proverbs.  Again, it’s on your app, we make it pretty simple.  We serve it up to you really, really good.  The book of Proverbs means to govern, to rule.  It was written by the wealthiest man who ever lived, Solomon.  Solomon was a father who was a king, he wrote it to his son.  Our God is a Father, who is a King, who has also written it to you and me.  We’re the King’s kids.  So every word in the book of Proverbs is straight from the throne room of God himself.  Have you enrolled in the University of Ant?  Or are you going to the University of Sluggard?  Are you in Sluggard School?

If you’re in the University of Ant you’re going to do three things.  #1 - You’re going to be someone who understand the power of diligence.  You’re like what?  Diligence.  Yeah you know what diligence is.  It’s making a decision, it’s being proactive.  Here’s what the Bible says in Proverbs 6:6-8, “Go to the ant.”  I mean it’s time to ante up, right?  Help me.  Help me on that.  “Go to the ant, you sluggard.  Consider its ways and be wise.”  So it’s diligent.  Also note the discernment of the ant.  The ant is wise and he has discernment.  “It has no commander, no overseer, no ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.”  The ant doesn’t have some CEO, some manager or some coach giving the coach’s clap… “Let’s go!  Come on!  Get the lead out!”  I love coaches.  I’ve grown up playing athletics.  Coaches motivate.  But these ants, they just do it.  They understand the game.  God says join and become a part of the University of Ant.

Fool

Week 4

“WORDS”

April 29, 2018

By Ed Young

Humans, unlike any other creatures, have the unique ability to communicate specifically and strategically with one another through words. But have you ever stopped to consider what your words actually say? As Pastor Ed Young continues this teaching series on the book of Proverbs, he helps us not only understand and unpack the power of our words, but also shows us how to use our words to make a lasting difference in the world around us!

Transcript

Wow, it’s so great to see everyone here.  Good morning!  I’m here in the Magic city of Miami, our beautiful Miami campus.  We have campuses all over the place.  We have one right near Sarasota in North Port.  Let’s do a big shout out to our other Florida campus!  And of course, Dallas/Fort Worth, and these are kind of strange names, I know, to you guys.  Prosper/Celina, I love it.  It’s an awesome area.  Then we have Southlake/Keller, gorgeous Grapevine.  That’s where we do a lot of stuff, so I want to say welcome! You guys doing well?  All right, so am I.  So am I.

Today we’re continuing this series called Fool.  That’s an interesting title, isn't it?  I’m talking about the Bible, I’m talking about the book of Proverbs and I’m talking about fool.

What does it mean to be a fool?  I think we all have done foolish things in our lives.  We’ve done those things that we were going, man, that was just not very bright.  That was foolish.  The word fool means to be open.  You’re kind of open to anything and everything.  When I do something foolish I go with my emotions and I kind of go along with the crowd.  And I think I know what’s up and I do this or that.  When I’m foolish, though, when I take the path of foolishness I pay for it.  I run the stadium steps of regret and shame.  And I think we can all go, “Man, Ed, I have.”

Do you have our church app?  If you have our church app, lift your hand at all of our campuses.  Our church app is amazing.  If you don’t I’m going to give you 10 seconds to download our app.  You might be going, “What is an app?” You’re probably a baby boomer asking that question.  That’s OK.  Look for a millennial.  That’s someone with a scoop shirt on and kind of wild hair, ink all over their body, skinny jeans, that’s a millennial.  They might be sipping coffee right now.  Just ask them, “How do I download this app?”  Go to the app store, type in Fellowship Church.  You’ll see “get.”  I’ll give you some time.  <whistling… beat boxing>

My notes are on the app today.  You can follow along with me.  We write a devotional every day, it’s called The 90-second Devotional.  You can watch messages and join us online if you’re traveling or sick.  That’s the only time you can do that.  But our app is awesome.

So let’s jump right into what I’m talking about.  What am I talking about?  I’m talking about talk, that’s what I’m talking about.  The book of Proverbs talks a lot about talk.  The Bible talks a lot about talk.

We average 30 conversations a day, 30 conversations a day.  We send and receive an average of 128 texts per day.  Americans send 18.7 billion texts per day.  If you took the entire U.S. of A., 18 billion texts a day!

So we’re all about words, are we not?  We’re all about conversation.  We’re all about this gift of communication that God has given us.  Words are wonderful.  They can be awesome, but also words can be horrible, they can be filled with hate.  Words can be wonderful, they can also start wars.  Think about just for a second Adolph Hitler.  His words led to the extermination of millions of Jews.  Think about Martin Luther King, Jr.  His words led to freedom and equality.  Think about Winston Churchill.  Think about Fidel Castro, what he did to the beautiful country of Cuba with his words.  Abraham Lincoln, you, and me.

Your words.  What are your words saying about you?  Think about God’s algorithm as he looks at the trends and looks at all the math behind it.  How are you doing in your conversation?  What are you doing with your words?

I want to talk about three things today.  You can travel along with me on our app that you just downloaded.  First of all, I’m going to talk to you about the wonder of words.  Secondly, I’ll spend a brief amount of time talking about the way of words, and then I’ll wrap it up talking about the wisdom of words.  Are you feeling me?  Nod your heads, yeah.  OK, OK, OK.

Fool

The Sway of ‘They’

May 6, 2018

By Ed Young

“They always say…” But rarely do we ever consider the true impact that they have in our lives. But in this message, Ed Young brings clarity to a pronoun many of us use daily. Through the wisdom of Proverbs, he helps us discover the reality that our lives can be so much more powerful when we listen to the right they and stay away from the wrong they.

Transcript

<Pastor Ed introduced.>

What a privilege!  What a joy to be here at the great Celebration Church!  I tell you, through the miracle of technology this is gonna be seen here and also at all of our campuses.  In Dallas/Fort Worth, we have some in Florida and some other areas so let’s give a great round of applause to everyone.  Also, too, I want to say something else.  I love Stovall and Carrie Weems.  You have two of the greatest pastors in the Western Hemisphere and I think it’s good to go ahead and do a shout… Weems!  Weems!  Weems!  Weems!  Weems!  I think whenever we see him I think we need to start doing that, the Weems cheer.  Stovall Weems.  Please be seated.

Jesus changes everything.  Wow.  The cross, there’s the vertical aspect and the horizontal aspect. Jesus said in Matthew 22, they asked him, what are the greatest commandments?  What’s the deal?  What’s the net effect of it all?  And he said basically love God with the totality of who you are, then he said love your neighbor as yourself.  So there’s a vertical aspect and a horizontal aspect.  I want to talk to you today about the horizontal aspect of life.  I want to talk to you today about, well, I tell you what.  It’s a four-letter word I’m going to talk about.  A four-letter word.  I use it all the time, and you use it all the time and it’s not a cuss word.  It’s nothing profane, but we use this word all the time: they.  They.  Have you ever thought about how many times you use the pronoun 'they'?  They.  And here’s the question I want to lob at you about they.  What did 'they' influence you to do that you would not have done if 'they' hadn’t been around?  The sway of 'they'.  The power of 'they'.

I was blown away by how many times the word 'they' is used in the Bible.  The Bible is littered with 'they'.  They, they, they.  They said.  They feel.  They’ve been coming to me.  Here’s how to mess somebody up.  Just say, “Wait a minute.  Who are they?”  “They.  Them!”  “Them?” Those, those.” “Who are those?”  Well they just end up being a few.  They.  It means several.  Who are the 'they' in your life.  I want you to do a they-ventory today.  Who are the 'they' in your life.

Have you ever thought about how many times the Bible talks about walking?  The Bible talks about 'they' and it talks about walking.  Who are the people, who are the 'they' that you’re walking with, you know?  I sometimes will kinda walk with a pimp limp.  I like it.  I do.  People have made fun of me but I don't care.  It’s just the way I walk.  I got some rhythm, you know?  Back in the day I played basketball. You know I played basketball at Florida State University back in the early 80’s.  I sat the bench a lot but I had the walk.  Other people have the body-building walk, or those CrossFitters.  You know?  Do you know how many CrossFitters it takes to change a light bulb?  Two.  One to screw in the light bulb, the other one to say, “Hey bro, you look big, man.  You look swole.”  Was that funny?  I thought it was.  Other people, you know I’m from Texas.  You know in Texas, people in Texas they don’t really open their mouths very much, a lot of the guys when they talk.  They just kind of talk like this and a lot of them kinda walk a little bowlegged a little bit, and…  People walk in different ways.  The Bible is all about walking, and the Bible connects walking and friendships, walking and relationships.  Think about how much Jesus walked.  And having been to the Holy Land several times, I’m just like taken aback about how many miles Jesus walked just in a day.  The guy was a beast, you know, physically!  I mean, you had to be something else just to walk!  Well, who are you walking with?  Who are you walking with.  When you say 'they', who are the 'they' in your life?  Who are you walking with?  Who’s a part of your squad, your posse, your homies, your boys, you know?  Your frat, your team.  Who are the 'they' in your life?  Because 'they' always have something to say.  'They' have some serious sway.

Now you don’t just fall into friendship.  Whoop!  Tripped up and, you don’t just say, “Well, I was just doing life and we just started hanging out together and now we’re like, you know…”  No!  We’re intentional about friendships.  Now when I’m talking about the 'they' I’m not talking about your spouse.  I’m not talking about your immediate family, I’m talking about friends.  Friends, the foundational relationship in everyone’s natural domain.  Friend.  A foundational relationship in everyone’s natural domain.  Friends.  You have friends, I have friends.  And in friendship we’re constantly walking with people, we’re walking toward people, and we should be walking away from other people.  Because some people in your life and mine keep us from being the kind of people that God desires.  Obviously we should have friends in our lives who are far away from God.  When I’ve had the opportunity to speak in different locations and situations sometimes I’ve spoken to Bible colleges, sometimes I’ve spoken to seminaries, and I usually ask them this question.  It’s kind of a trick question because no one gets it.  I’ll go, “Name the character qualities of Jesus.”  And they’re like, oh!  Grace and mercy and a teacher and rabbi and on and on and on and on.