Choose Your Associates Wisely - 116.m2ts — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:12if I asked you to tell me the difference
2. 0:16between these two
3. 0:17plants you don't have to be a botanist
4. 0:20or even a backyard botanist it's quite
5. 0:23obvious isn't it the plant on the far
6. 0:25side well we use the we plant quite
7. 0:27Loosely the stick at one time was theart
8. 0:31was obviously not careful it wasn't
9. 0:33placed in a position where it would
10. 0:35receive sufficient light it obviously
11. 0:38wasn't watered it wasn't that the soil
12. 0:40has lost all the nutrients all the
13. 0:42goodness in it and what quite possibly
14. 0:45what happened is the person who had it
15. 0:46probably put some fertilizer in it that
16. 0:49was poisonous and killed the
17. 0:51plant whereas this lovely flowering
18. 0:55yellow plant has obviously been cared
19. 0:57for it has had sufficient water the soil
20. 1:00is obviously rich and good it's had
21. 1:02fertilizer on it that's benefited and
22. 1:04it's been placed in a position where it
23. 1:06had sufficient sunlight in order to
24. 1:08encourage its
25. 1:10growth now in this very simple
26. 1:13illustration it drives home the point
27. 1:15that the environment in which we place
28. 1:17ourselves will have an effect on us we
29. 1:21can't change that so when it comes to
30. 1:24choosing our Associates where are we
31. 1:26going to place ourselves what I'd like
32. 1:28you to do please at the outset is take
33. 1:30out your Bibles and turn with me to the
34. 1:32Book of
35. 1:33Proverbs The Book of Proverbs chap
36. 1:3613 and hearing Proverbs we have a
37. 1:38description of two types of
38. 1:40soil what we would like you to do is as
39. 1:43we read through this verse is see if you
40. 1:44can identify those two different types
41. 1:46of soil and the outcome of placing
42. 1:49yourself in that soil here in Proverbs
43. 1:52Chapter 13 have a look at verse
44. 1:5520 there the writer says the one walking
45. 1:58with the wise will become wise but the
46. 2:02one who has dealings with the stupid
47. 2:04will F
48. 2:07badly did you see those two different
49. 2:09types of soil the wise soil and the
50. 2:12stupid soil and did you see the outcome
51. 2:16for those two different types of soil so
52. 2:18let's have a little look at the
53. 2:19scripture and see exactly how this mean
54. 2:21what it means to us today in Practical
55. 2:23terms so the first part of the scripture
56. 2:25says the one walking with the wise will
57. 2:28become wise
58. 2:30think about
59. 2:31walking some of you may walk for
60. 2:33exercise we live in a beautiful country
61. 2:35we may walk just because the beach is a
62. 2:37beautiful place and it's a nice day what
63. 2:40happens when you walk with someone well
64. 2:42generally you talk if it's an intimate
65. 2:44associate you might talk about deeper
66. 2:45things or problems you're facing or if
67. 2:47it's somebody you're getting to know you
68. 2:48find out more about them but as you walk
69. 2:51you talk it takes time you build a
70. 2:53relationship and so it is when you walk
71. 2:55with the wise one wisdom doesn't
72. 2:56suddenly come to you spend 5 minutes in
73. 2:58in the presence of a wise person
74. 2:59suddenly you've got all this wisdom it
75. 3:01doesn't happen like that does it yet
76. 3:02over a period of time you build up this
77. 3:04wisdom by that Association and walking
78. 3:06with the wise one now look at the second
79. 3:09part of the verse it says but the one
80. 3:11having dealings with the stupid will
81. 3:13fare badly you can't change it it's
82. 3:16inescapable principle now when the Bible
83. 3:19talks about the stupid C we're not
84. 3:21talking about some mental or
85. 3:22intellectual limitation or capacity the
86. 3:25stupid spoken of in the Bible are those
87. 3:28ones who are insensible to moral truth
88. 3:31people who don't see things the way that
89. 3:33Jehovah sees them they don't have
90. 3:35Jehovah's wisdom so if we associate with
91. 3:39them it says we'll fear badly now the
92. 3:41scripture uses the word having dealings
93. 3:44with the stupid
94. 3:45one think about during your week who is
95. 3:50it that you might have dealings with you
96. 3:52may go into the local Dairy pick up some
97. 3:54bread and milk give him $10 hopefully
98. 3:57get some change thank you very much you
99. 3:59walk
100. 4:01out you may go to the local service
101. 4:03station gas station fill up your car go
102. 4:05in pay your flyby points thank you very
103. 4:08much have a nice day and you leave
104. 4:11you've just had dealings with the dairy
105. 4:12owner and the man at the Ser or the
106. 4:14woman at the service station how much
107. 4:16time did you spend there well it wasn't
108. 4:19very long was it you see the point you
109. 4:22can spend a long time building wisdom
110. 4:24and wisdom is something we continue to
111. 4:25grow as we grow older we hopefully get
112. 4:27wiser and wiser it's going to be forever
113. 4:29you're going to become wiser but how
114. 4:31much time do you have to spend with a
115. 4:33stupid one a person who's insensible to
116. 4:34moral truth to lose all of that very
117. 4:37short space of time and it can all be
118. 4:39gone that's because our our Associates
119. 4:42can have such a powerful influence on
120. 4:45our decision making
121. 4:46paradig and there are persons in the
122. 4:49Bible who appreciated this if you just
123. 4:50turn back in your Bible a few uh
124. 4:52chapters to to the 26th Psalm it's the
125. 4:55psalm that the song that we've just sung
126. 4:56was based on this is a song and a prayer
127. 4:59that d offer to Jehovah asking Jehovah
128. 5:02to look at him to to judge him and see
129. 5:05his
130. 5:06integrity and David appreciated now that
131. 5:09a relationship with Jehovah was
132. 5:12dependent on different aspects not just
133. 5:14walking in Integrity but there were
134. 5:16things David had to avoid as well and if
135. 5:18we read verses four and five we can see
136. 5:20what it was that David said he needed to
137. 5:22avoid or what he did avoid he said I do
138. 5:25not associate with deceitful men and I
139. 5:28avoid those who what they are I hate the
140. 5:32company of evil men and I refuse to
141. 5:35associate with the
142. 5:36wicked you see that deceitful men Those
143. 5:40Who hide what they are we think today of
144. 5:43the word hypocrite don't we when we
145. 5:45think of people who hide what they are
146. 5:46remember the Greek the Greeks used to
147. 5:48have the the plays where they put a mask
148. 5:49on and pretend to be somebody different
149. 5:51and today we have that English word
150. 5:53Hypocrites where people are two
151. 5:54faced we don't associate with those kind
152. 5:57of people and in verse five he spoke of
153. 5:59he doesn't seek the company of evil men
154. 6:01and even refus to have Association no
155. 6:03association with the wicked he realized
156. 6:06that his relationship with God his
157. 6:08ability to walk with the wise
158. 6:10Creator was dependent on his not
159. 6:13associating with one's Jehovah
160. 6:17approval so we need to heed the Bible's
161. 6:20counsel if we're going to be those who
162. 6:22are going to be in soil that is going to
163. 6:24be rich fine and pure soil that's going
164. 6:26to affect our lives in a positive way
165. 6:30and part of our appreciating that is
166. 6:33appreciating the value that we have here
167. 6:35within Jehovah's organization
168. 6:37particularly here in our
169. 6:38congregation we like to encourage you to
170. 6:41look at a scripture in Hebrews chapter
171. 6:4210 Jehovah's Witnesses for many years
172. 6:45have used the scripture to
173. 6:47underscore the value of associating
174. 6:50together regularly and as we read
175. 6:52through Hebrews chapter 10 see the
176. 6:54benefits that come to us from being here
177. 6:56at the meetings and also what we can
178. 6:58give when we come to the meetings in
179. 7:01Hebrews chapter 10 and vers
180. 7:0424 it says there and let us consider one
181. 7:07another to incite to love and fine
182. 7:11works if you have a look at your
183. 7:13footnote under that incite it says that
184. 7:15to motivate or stir up so we come to the
185. 7:18meeting there to be motivated to stir up
186. 7:21and enable others to do the
187. 7:23same now I know a lot of you here have
188. 7:26been here on a Thursday evening and
189. 7:28you've seen your brother brothers and
190. 7:30sisters I've come here feeling like
191. 7:32that feeling wilted feeling SE of
192. 7:37strength we've had a hard week the world
193. 7:40we live in is difficult the people are
194. 7:42hard to deal with we just feel tired
195. 7:45sometimes just enough strength to get to
196. 7:47the
197. 7:47meeting and what happens when we come
198. 7:49here we get incited we get
199. 7:53motivated you know back in 1848 there
200. 7:56was a German B botanist that said that
201. 7:59talking to plants help them to
202. 8:02grow now since then there's been many
203. 8:05different schools of thought on that and
204. 8:07we're not yet to discuss that side and
205. 8:08how much truth is in that but what I do
206. 8:10know and what we all sitting here know
207. 8:12is when we're feeling sapped when we're
208. 8:14feeling like wed plants and we come to
209. 8:16the meeting and we spend time here how
210. 8:18do we feel at the end of it all don't we
211. 8:20feel uplifted don't we feel built up
212. 8:22that's the positive that happens and
213. 8:24it's not just you that's built up the
214. 8:26other one who's feeling sad sees you he
215. 8:28is also built up you're also having a
216. 8:30positive effect on you brothers and
217. 8:31sisters by being here and something else
218. 8:34that takes place this plant was place we
219. 8:38said with it had sufficient light what
220. 8:40happens when light hits a plant you may
221. 8:43have learned at school about
222. 8:44photosynthesis I didn't I can't remember
223. 8:46it but anyway photosynthesis takes place
224. 8:49when light hits the plant doesn't it and
225. 8:52that starts to work inside the plant and
226. 8:54the process of that photosynthesis
227. 8:56encourages the growth in the plant and
228. 8:58you know what a byproduct of photos
229. 8:59synthesis is is
230. 9:01oxygen spiritually speaking when we come
231. 9:03to the meetings and we open God's word
232. 9:06the light from God's word the light of
233. 9:08Truth flows to all of us here and what
234. 9:11happens we're invigorated we're built up
235. 9:14instead of feeling all drawn out and and
236. 9:17and wilted on by the end of the meeting
237. 9:19we feel up built we feel strengthened we
238. 9:20feel ready to face another day because
239. 9:23the light of God's word has come and
240. 9:25affected our lives and our hearts and
241. 9:26has helped us to grow so we see the
242. 9:29benefits of associating here with our
243. 9:32brothers and
244. 9:33sisters now some have said well I I see
245. 9:37your point it's true but you know I just
246. 9:41continually see you talk about these
247. 9:43things it just seems like a restriction
248. 9:44all the time you know you put up this
249. 9:46fence
250. 9:47and you know make it difficult for us
251. 9:51and it's true sometimes we see a
252. 9:54protection as a
253. 9:55restriction I'd like to tell you a
254. 9:57little story about 15 or 16 years ago my
255. 10:00family and I were invited out for a meal
256. 10:02we were living in Zimbabwe at the time
257. 10:04and the restaurant was about 40 40 40
258. 10:07minute drive outside of the city so we
259. 10:09drove there it was up on what we call a
260. 10:10copy in Africa a hill was this beautiful
261. 10:13restaurant overlooking the bush and we
262. 10:15drove out there parked the car and we
263. 10:16were walking up to the restaurant and my
264. 10:18son Joel was 4 years old he was walking
265. 10:20in front of me and as soon had we got up
266. 10:22this path and there I saw this 15t
267. 10:26fence 15t fence that's crazy put in the
268. 10:29middle of the Bush anyway not my
269. 10:31property and I'm going for a nice feed
270. 10:32so carry R up the hill and 2 or 3
271. 10:35minutes later from nowhere bang against
272. 10:37the fence and there's a less salivating
273. 10:40and looking at my
274. 10:42son now at that point you think I was
275. 10:44happy that there was a 15ot fence there
276. 10:46when I started out I didn't understand
277. 10:48why the fence was there but when I got
278. 10:49to that point I was grateful for that
279. 10:52fence see sometimes we see it we think
280. 10:54it's a
281. 10:55restriction but is it a restriction or
282. 10:57was it a protection please take your
283. 10:59Bibles and turn to the first book of
284. 11:01Peter chapter 5 because Peter actually
285. 11:03uses the analogy of a lion when he talks
286. 11:06about Satan the devil let's have a look
287. 11:08at First Peter chapter 5 and as we read
288. 11:11through the scripture see if you can
289. 11:13notice Satan what tactic Satan uses and
290. 11:16who it is that he's after in 1 Peter
291. 11:19chapter 5 and the vers is verse
292. 11:218 there he says keep your senses Be
293. 11:25watchful your adversary the devil walks
294. 11:28about like a roaring lion seeking to
295. 11:32devour
296. 11:34someone who is Satan seeking to devour
297. 11:38someone who is
298. 11:40someone someone is anyone he doesn't
299. 11:43care about your ethnicity what language
300. 11:46you grew up speaking what part of the
301. 11:47world you come from how much money you
302. 11:49have or don't have whether you have hair
303. 11:51or no hair he does not care Satan wants
304. 11:54to devour you he wants to take you away
305. 11:58it's interesting that the Greek form of
306. 12:00that word devour can literally mean to
307. 12:03drink
308. 12:04down have you ever taken water in the
309. 12:06hopes of a resurrection of a plant and
310. 12:08perhaps go to the plant that's dead and
311. 12:10C of water and see what happens and you
312. 12:12pour the water in the plant and what
313. 12:14happens the water disappears it's almost
314. 12:17like that water didn't the water was
315. 12:19never for there it's
316. 12:21gone That's what Satan wants to do to
317. 12:24each one of us he wants to devour us to
318. 12:26the point where it's like we never even
319. 12:29existed and how does he do that you see
320. 12:32what the verse said he's walking about
321. 12:34he's on the Proud he's on the hunt like
322. 12:36a roaring lion if ever you've heard a
323. 12:39roaring a lion roar it is bone chilling
324. 12:43it is
325. 12:44fearsome in Africa when the Lions Roar
326. 12:48the buck or the antelope will run in
327. 12:50every direction to try and get away from
328. 12:52that because it's transfere into their
329. 12:53hearts sometimes they fall pray because
330. 12:55they do that see that's Satan's tactic
331. 12:58as long as he Roars and Trust to put
332. 13:00fear into our hearts what will we do we
333. 13:01he wants us to run in every direction he
334. 13:03wants us to run away from the
335. 13:04congregation he wants us to isolate
336. 13:06ourselves perhaps seek worldly Pursuits
337. 13:09perhaps seek seek go after a a career in
338. 13:12the world or some other personal
339. 13:14interest that you have or even worse
340. 13:17isolate yourself think that well the end
341. 13:20doesn't come the truth maybe it's not
342. 13:22the truth and you start down a road
343. 13:24where perhaps you get to apostasy and
344. 13:27you find yourself a dead stick in a pot
345. 13:31because you're now spiritually
346. 13:33lost don't allow Satan to do that to you
347. 13:36what you want to Roar the dudes follow
348. 13:39the lead of the elephants when the Lions
349. 13:41Roar in the bush the elephants realize
350. 13:43two things firstly they can't run faster
351. 13:46than the Lions and secondly they're
352. 13:49bigger than the Lions so what Do the
353. 13:51elephants do well the elephants form a
354. 13:53circle all the Bulls all the male Bulls
355. 13:54and the and the cows form a circle and
356. 13:57all the Young and the less experiened on
357. 13:59get in the middle of the circle and they
358. 14:00protect it and you know it's very very
359. 14:03seldom that Lions will ever attack a
360. 14:05herd of elephant because of the stand
361. 14:06that they make and you can see the young
362. 14:09ones in the middle Trunks going and and
363. 14:11they're standing and they stand because
364. 14:12they're scared they can hear the Roaring
365. 14:13but they realize I need to stay in here
366. 14:15if I'm going to be
367. 14:17protected we can learn a lesson from
368. 14:19that in the congregation we have elders
369. 14:21and mature ones who like those elephant
370. 14:24form a circle around us and with
371. 14:26Jehovah's help with Jehovah's spirit
372. 14:29they do have the strength because
373. 14:31Jehovah is more powerful than Satan no
374. 14:32matter how loud he Roars they are there
375. 14:35to help us and protect us with Jehovah
376. 14:37the spirit so we need to make sure we
377. 14:39remain inside the
378. 14:42congregation the Jerusalem bible at
379. 14:44Hebrews 10:25 makes a plain statement do
380. 14:47not stay away from the meetings we need
381. 14:50to appreciate that and realize that
382. 14:52because we spoke about the light that
383. 14:54comes from God's word when we come out
384. 14:56but that's not the only thing we get J
385. 14:58we said that that flourished because it
386. 15:00received Light and Water the water of
387. 15:03truth that flows from Jehovah God's
388. 15:05Throne all his Provisions for the
389. 15:07Salvation of mankind including the
390. 15:08ransom sacrifice of Jesus Christ are
391. 15:10applied to us here we benefit from those
392. 15:13Waters of truth that flow to us and this
393. 15:14is the only place we're going to get it
394. 15:16so we need to make sure we get ourselves
395. 15:19to all the meetings that we
396. 15:21can and part about choosing wholesome
397. 15:23associations and and and showing that we
398. 15:26appreciate our Brotherhood is sometimes
399. 15:29in the congregation we need to make sure
400. 15:31we associate with ones that are going to
401. 15:32benefit us because it can happen we are
402. 15:35human we are sinful that sometimes
403. 15:37people get together within the
404. 15:38congregation two good people or three
405. 15:41good people get together and this
406. 15:43happens amongst young people we're not
407. 15:44picking on the young ones but it does
408. 15:46happen you don't always let's say you
409. 15:49fect the best decision making Paradigm
410. 15:51on one another do you we'll illustrate
411. 15:54it like this you take potassium nitrate
412. 15:57as a beautiful thing as chemical it put
413. 15:59on the plants and they grow much of our
414. 16:01crops can grow with pottassium nitrate
415. 16:02it can do good things it has positive
416. 16:04effects you take sulfur that's also
417. 16:07found in many of the fertilizers today
418. 16:09and in medicines so it has a good effect
419. 16:11it say something positive and you take
420. 16:14charcoal you've been to the dentist and
421. 16:16had him Drilling in your mouth the air
422. 16:17that's coming through there has been
423. 16:18clean cleansed by means of a charcoal
424. 16:20filter so again
425. 16:22beneficial but do you know what happens
426. 16:24if you take potassium nitrate sulfur and
427. 16:28charcoal you mix them together you get
428. 16:32gunpowder you see the point that
429. 16:34sometimes you have these ones in the
430. 16:36congregation with really good elements
431. 16:38in them really good qualities but when
432. 16:40they get together they just don't make
433. 16:42good decisions together so having the
434. 16:44wisdom to identify that having the
435. 16:47wisdom to see that you want to be
436. 16:48Jehovah's friend that we want to choose
437. 16:50our Associates wisely will be enable you
438. 16:52to limit your association with those
439. 16:53ones realizing that you don't benefit
440. 16:55them and they don't benefit you
441. 16:59and of course there's also a lifelong
442. 17:00influence of an association that you
443. 17:03will have and that's of a marriage
444. 17:05partner when it comes to wanting to be
445. 17:07married that's the way Jehovah created
446. 17:09us but what we do need to do is heed the
447. 17:11counsel again that comes from his word
448. 17:14let's not step out of the circle let's
449. 17:15not step outside of the congregation to
450. 17:17look for somebody to marry and inside
451. 17:20the congregation if we're going to
452. 17:21choose somebody to marry let's look for
453. 17:23somebody who's going to have a positive
454. 17:25effect on our lives somebody who's got
455. 17:26the soil and the nutrients in it that
456. 17:29going to benefit us and bring out the
457. 17:30best in us and of course the other side
458. 17:32of that coin what do we bring to the
459. 17:34party are we one too that when we choose
460. 17:36a marriage mate that we have something
461. 17:38spiritually to offer we have something
462. 17:40of benefit to our mate when we get
463. 17:42married to that
464. 17:45person again part of our
465. 17:48appreciating the benefits that we have
466. 17:52as brothers and sisters and our
467. 17:53association with one another here is
468. 17:55also understanding the need to avoid the
469. 17:57wrong kind of people so we appreciate
470. 17:59what we had here but how do we avoid
471. 18:01those who are not serving Jehovah what
472. 18:03can we
473. 18:04do if you want you to plant a plant in a
474. 18:07particular soil a particular ground what
475. 18:10you could do is you could take some of
476. 18:11that soil you could take it to a
477. 18:13laboratory you could take it and have a
478. 18:15tested and what they' do in the
479. 18:16laboratory is they would run a various
480. 18:18test they would go and check the
481. 18:19nitrates level of the soil they would go
482. 18:21and check the pH levels of the soil
483. 18:23various other tests they would run they'
484. 18:25give you a report say you put the soil's
485. 18:27really good or don't touch
486. 18:29that soil is no good it's your plants
487. 18:30are not going to go there yes you know
488. 18:33we have the same test spiritually
489. 18:34speaking we have a Soil Test please take
490. 18:37out your Bibles and turn with me to the
491. 18:38book of Philippians chapter
492. 18:414 Philippians chapter 4 Paul outlines
493. 18:43for us an eight step soil test that we
494. 18:46can use to distinguish and determine the
495. 18:49kind of Association we want and those
496. 18:51who don't meet this are the kind of
497. 18:53Association that we don't want
498. 18:55Philippians chapter 4 and let's read
499. 18:57together verse 8
500. 19:00Paul says there finally Brothers
501. 19:02whatever things are true whatever things
502. 19:04are of serious concern whatever things
503. 19:06are righteous whatever things are chased
504. 19:09whatever things are lovable whatever
505. 19:11things are well spoken of whatever
506. 19:13things are virtuous and whatever things
507. 19:15are praiseworthy continue considering
508. 19:18these things did you see those steps do
509. 19:22they meet up to
510. 19:23that now some have been heard to say
511. 19:28well you know he's my mate I've known
512. 19:30him for so long and they do the finger
513. 19:33thing have you seen the finger thing he
514. 19:35doesn't drink he doesn't smoke he
515. 19:36doesn't swear he's not immoral they
516. 19:38rattle these things off of what the
517. 19:39person doesn't do you know what there's
518. 19:41no disputing from Jehovah all his
519. 19:43organization that there are good people
520. 19:44who are not sting in this kingom or
521. 19:45there are good people who are not
522. 19:46Jehovah's Witnesses that's true there
523. 19:48are there are people who want to live
524. 19:50clean moral lives we recognize that but
525. 19:53let's take a lesson from God's word the
526. 19:55Bible let's go back to the time of Adam
527. 19:58426 Adam was
528. 20:01created a period of a little over 1,600
529. 20:04years now the Bible doesn't tell us but
530. 20:07think about possibly how many people
531. 20:09would there have been on the earth over
532. 20:121,600 year perod some had already di
533. 20:15maybe 20 30 40 50,000 I don't know we
534. 20:18don't know but certainly a number of
535. 20:20people on the Earth is it reasonable to
536. 20:23conclude that there were only eight good
537. 20:25people it's not reasonable is it there
538. 20:28must have been other people who were not
539. 20:30of the the Nephilim who were not of the
540. 20:31wicked Spirit Sons people who wanted to
541. 20:33live in peace people who weren't
542. 20:34fornicators adulterers murderers and
543. 20:36thieves and didn't live immoral lives
544. 20:38there must have been people in no time
545. 20:40that were like
546. 20:41that why weren't they saved they were
547. 20:44good people they weren't saved because
548. 20:47they weren't wise people they hadn't
549. 20:49accepted Jehovah God's Provisions you
550. 20:53see could you imagine shim ham or Jac
551. 20:55saying to Noah but Dad I've known him
552. 20:57for 450 years you know we went to school
553. 20:59together I grew up with him they didn't
554. 21:02say that they didn't question their
555. 21:03father they realized that there was
556. 21:05their friendship with Jehovah their
557. 21:07association with Jehovah God was
558. 21:08dependent upon their obedience so they
559. 21:11couldn't associate with those ones
560. 21:13Philippians 4:8 is what our soil test if
561. 21:16the ones we want to associate with don't
562. 21:17meet that test then they're not ones we
563. 21:19want to be seeking out association with
564. 21:23remember that bad fertilizer a little
565. 21:25bit of bad fertilizer on that plant is
566. 21:27what killed it wrong Association can do
567. 21:29the same thing to us and we're not just
568. 21:31talking about Association here on a
569. 21:33human or a personal level people but we
570. 21:36have other associations by the form of
571. 21:38the movies we watch the TV programs the
572. 21:40books we read the
573. 21:41magazines and that good
574. 21:43friend/ the
575. 21:46internet there is one that we got to be
576. 21:48really careful of because there's so
577. 21:49much good on the internet we look at
578. 21:50what's been done with the jw.org and the
579. 21:53TV website Jehovah's organization has
580. 21:55doing fantastic things with the internet
581. 21:56and we can learn so much from the
582. 21:58internet
583. 21:59beneficial things but there's the
584. 22:01dangerous side we see not just the
585. 22:03pornography but the the apostasy that is
586. 22:06put out there don't enter those SES
587. 22:09brothers and friends don't think that
588. 22:11you could rectify somebody's
589. 22:13misunderstandings it's like that little
590. 22:15Drop of Poison it can affect you and you
591. 22:17will find yourself in the wrong bars in
592. 22:20the wrong flower pot with a dead soil
593. 22:24that's how serious it is what we want to
594. 22:26do rather is fill our lives with Godly
595. 22:29influences that will keep us growing
596. 22:32flourishing and developing within
597. 22:33ourselves that good nutritious
598. 22:37soil one of the things that helps us to
599. 22:39keep our lives filled with Godly
600. 22:41influences is being able to walk with
601. 22:44Jehovah there are a number of accounts
602. 22:47in the Bible of men like Joseph David
603. 22:51Moses who all plac Jehovah right in
604. 22:53front of them and walked with him we saw
605. 22:56the blessings that they received the
606. 22:58protection they received and the fact
607. 22:59that they've placed themselves right in
608. 23:01line for Life everlasting life in
609. 23:04Jehovah's righteous New Order because of
610. 23:06walking with Jehovah so we have that
611. 23:08same opportunity today to be able to
612. 23:10walk with Jehovah if you please take
613. 23:13your Bibles out and we read as the last
614. 23:14scripture we go to the book of Hagi
615. 23:16sorry Amos chapter 3 now Amos is one of
616. 23:19those ones that's a little harder to
617. 23:21find if you get to Ezekiel Daniel getah
618. 23:25or if you want I'll just give you a
619. 23:27page number 124
620. 23:29on so Amos chapter
621. 23:343 and as we read through this verse see
622. 23:37what it is that we need to do in order
623. 23:39to walk with Jehovah in Amos 3 and verse
624. 23:433 he says there will two walk together
625. 23:46unless they've agreed to meet and again
626. 23:49you see a little asteris there and at
627. 23:51the bottom it says or have met by
628. 23:54appointment now many of you here work in
629. 23:56your secular jobs you use a calendar
630. 23:59what are three things that you'll always
631. 24:00find in your can you may have a lot more
632. 24:02generally three things you have a
633. 24:05time your meeting is going to be you
634. 24:07keeping a track of your day you're going
635. 24:09to have a place where you're going to be
636. 24:10meeting and some kind of agenda or point
637. 24:12of discussion that you will have at that
638. 24:14meeting well we have the same thing
639. 24:17today for ourselves with Jehovah God we
640. 24:20have a time to walk with Jehovah the
641. 24:22time is now if we've already started
642. 24:23walking good if we haven't this is the
643. 24:25time to walk with Jehovah the place with
644. 24:28his organization and with from with
645. 24:30particularly the congregation this is
646. 24:32where we want to walk with Jehovah we
647. 24:33want to associate with him and his
648. 24:35people and the agenda well on the agenda
649. 24:38you see it says unless they agree to
650. 24:40meet we need to meet Jehovah on his
651. 24:43terms we don't meet Jehovah on our terms
652. 24:45because our terms are limited our terms
653. 24:47are imperfect our terms well they can be
654. 24:50affected Jehovah's terms don't see we
655. 24:53need to meet him on his terms and one of
656. 24:55his terms is to dedicate Our Lives as
657. 24:58Christians and to be able to worship him
658. 25:01as dedicated Christians so let's see the
659. 25:04value in that let's take lessons from
660. 25:06those who chose not to associate with
661. 25:08Jehovah take for example he has a
662. 25:11powerful example Jehovah saw the benefit
663. 25:13of creating life remember Jehovah in
664. 25:16himself was complete Jehovah needs
665. 25:17nothing he doesn't need anyone but he
666. 25:20saw the benefit of Association so he
667. 25:21created myriads of angels now in that
668. 25:24creation of myriads of angels we know
669. 25:27that not all of them saw the benefit of
670. 25:30serving Jehovah and walking with him
671. 25:32Satan started some poison and got
672. 25:34himself in a in a pot that was
673. 25:36disastrous and then what did he do he
674. 25:39dropped bad fertilizer around and what
675. 25:41effect did that have many of the sons of
676. 25:43God followed Satan and put themselves as
677. 25:45dead sticks waiting death in that pot
678. 25:49there's a powerful lesson in that if
679. 25:52perfect sons of Jehovah God who saw him
680. 25:55who spoke with him who could hear his
681. 25:56wisdom were influenced
682. 25:58by bad Associates what about us we too
683. 26:02can be influenced we don't ever want to
684. 26:03estimate the power of bad Association
685. 26:06because it will affect our walking with
686. 26:08Jehovah it will affect our relationship
687. 26:10with him so we want to appreciate and
688. 26:12value our brothers and sisters the the
689. 26:14water of truth that flows to us the
690. 26:16light that comes from God's word that
691. 26:18helps us to grow we get it here at our
692. 26:20meetings we get it at our circuit assies
693. 26:23next weekend we have our regional
694. 26:24convention let's be present at all of
695. 26:26these things because these are all
696. 26:27provisions they're all appointments that
697. 26:29we've made with Jehovah to be able to
698. 26:31walk with Jehovah
699. 26:35God one of the things that happens to us
700. 26:37as we grow and we walk with Jehovah God
701. 26:39is the plant grows bigger and bigger and
702. 26:42bigger now I know some of you he F King
703. 26:45gness what happens to a plant when it
704. 26:47goes to a point where it can no longer
705. 26:48be in that pot the pot can't sustain us
706. 26:50sustain it well you take it out don't
707. 26:52you repot it and you put it in a bigger
708. 26:55pot is there a lesson there for us is it
709. 26:58possible that we could widen out too in
710. 27:00our love and our association with our
711. 27:02brothers and sisters perhaps spend time
712. 27:04before and after the meetings speaking
713. 27:07encouraging motivating stirring up one
714. 27:09another as we see the end of the system
715. 27:11draw to a
716. 27:14close these two
717. 27:16plants they had no choice in the
718. 27:19environment in which they found
719. 27:21themselves we as humans we do have a
720. 27:24choice we can choose the wrong kind of
721. 27:27Association the association that will
722. 27:29just leave us as a dead stick in the mud
723. 27:32with no future hope or we can choose to
724. 27:36continue to grow flourish choose the
725. 27:39wise Association the soil that will help
726. 27:41us to grow continue to receive the light
727. 27:44and water that comes from Jehovah God
728. 27:46through his throne and flourish all
729. 27:48because we chose our Associates wisely
730. 27:53[Applause]
731. 28:00I