SUNDAY (LIVE) - April 26, 2026 | The Grind: Ecclesiastes 4:1-16 - Better Off

The proof of a good friend is this. When the whole world walks out on you, a real friend walks in. And you don't need to tell people they blew it. Do you know that? Well, 99% of people do not need to be told, man, you blew it. You made a mistake. You sinned. 99% don't need that. You know what? There's the 1%, but you'll know them. Most people, you know what they need when they've blown it? To be picked up. [01:06:09] (29 seconds)  #RealFriendsShowUp

Can I give you one little thing to practice this week? What if every morning? What if before every big decision? What if before conversations with people, you just pray James one five in humility knowing I could make a mistake right now? I could head in the wrong direction. I could give bad advice right now. So, Jesus, give me wisdom in this situation so that I make good decisions. Try it. And it's it's it's what I live by. I live by James one five. I lack. I know I could use wisdom. Give it to me right now, I pray, in this meeting with these people. Give me wisdom. [01:18:26] (43 seconds)  #PrayForWisdomDaily

And they found loneliness, which is an epidemic in America. Loneliness is so bad to your health, it is equivalent to smoking a pack of cigarettes every single day. That's how damaging loneliness is to your soul. And we are new to that. Read the first two pages of Genesis. God creates. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. And then what does he say? Adam's in the garden, and god said, it is not good for Adam to be alone. Bro, it's like you're smoking a pack of cigarettes. Let me get someone to help you. [01:09:55] (34 seconds)  #LonelinessIsAnEpidemic

Wisdom is not learned. Wisdom is given to you and me. Why was Solomon the wisest man that ever lived? First Kings chapter three, God shows up. He's in the temple. God shows up, and God says, Solomon, I'll give you anything you want. What does Solomon ask for? He says, I want a listening ear so I might know how to lead these people. Opposite of this dude who couldn't listen anymore. That's wisdom. You and I have that same opportunity every single day. James chapter one verse five puts it like this. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. [01:16:40] (60 seconds)  #GodGivesWisdom

So a young man came up to me after service. He said, okay, get that, Matt. We're not to get vengeance or to allow the Lord to do that. I I get that, 100%. But what do we do when we see evil? Do we just ignore it? What are we supposed to do? So I'll give you the answer I gave that young man last Sunday. I said, no way. Christians are always to be opposing evil. We're always to be looking for ways to reduce evil around us. [00:47:53] (34 seconds)  #OpposeEvilAlways

To be reminded how great God is. To be reminded that God draws straight with crooked lines. To be told that what the enemy uses for evil, God can turn for good. That right now, you do do Philippians three fourteen. Put those things behind you. Reach forward to the high mark of Christ on our life right now. All have sinned. All have fallen short of the glory of God. Look to Jesus right now. That's what they need to be picked up. [01:06:38] (30 seconds)  #TurnEvilToGood

Too many people say, hey, I got it. Hey, I don't need that. Hey, I already know how to do this, and they never get better. There are people that have twenty years of work experience, but it's really one year repeated 20 times. Where a real craftsman is always saying, I can figure out better ways to do this. And every year, they're building on their skill set and becoming better and better and better. They truly have twenty years of experience, not one year repeated 20 times. And then there's wisdom. How do you get wisdom? It's based on knowledge. It uses instruction, but wisdom is not earned. [01:15:56] (44 seconds)  #MasterYourCraft

It begins in my heart first. Is there evil in me, Lord? Do I have malice in my heart? Do I have bitterness in my heart? Do I have unforgiveness in my heart? Do I have evil thoughts in my heart? I repent, I confess, and I pray that the spirit of Jesus Christ cleanses me from all unrighteousness. So it starts with me. And then, as I go about my life, I'm opposed to evil. Any evil that's happening, I'm looking, how do I continue to stop evil? [00:48:28] (36 seconds)  #ExamineYourHeart

So there are many times I probably start most of my mornings with this prayer right here. I get into meetings with people, and it might be a a difficult situation. I pray this prayer right here. Because the bible also says, there's a way that seems right to a man that leads to destruction. And I need wisdom. What is the one prerequisite for getting wisdom? Knowing you don't have it. Humility. Like, oh, I could make a mistake right here. I could head in the wrong direction. Lord, prevent me from doing that. In humility, give me wisdom right now because I'm gonna go in the way that I think I should, and it might lead to destruction. So keep me from that. James one five. [01:17:44] (42 seconds)  #HumilityLeadsToWisdom

What will every dad say? I wish I would have spent more time with my kids. I've never met one that said, man, I wish I would have worked more. And yet, that's what we do. I wish I would have spent more time with my kids. I have my son, Myron, my youngest, 12 years old. I have six more summers with him, that's it. Here's a staggering statistic. When your child turns 18, you have spent 93% of your in person time with that child. [01:03:17] (34 seconds)  #TimeWithKidsFirst

You decide it's sometimes a discipline. You pray it into your life. Here's why it's so brilliant. If all I can ever do is rejoice in my success, gonna be pretty limited. If I learn to rejoice in my success and everybody else's success, if I get joy from you doing well, man, all of a sudden, my joy gets multiplied by ten, twenty, a 100 times because I'm actually getting joy in you doing well. So much bigger than just the limited times that I get joy. It's brilliant. Envy robs you of that. [00:57:11] (35 seconds)  #RejoiceWithOthers

And then, and they love not their lives even unto death. If you kill me, so what? I will put myself in between you and evil. And if you kill me, so what? Because I know where I'm going. That's how evil is defeated. And if you read church history, that's what happened. Read about the early church. They put their lives on the line. Western civilization has been shaped by the sacrifice of people that lived. Revelation chapter 12 verse 11. Been shaped by it. [00:51:58] (34 seconds)  #SacrificeDefeatsEvil

Knowledge is simple. Just gather it. It's Proverbs chapter one. Get knowledge, my son. And I've said this a lot to my kids. I say it to any young person, readers are leaders. Like knowledge, everything else is built off of this one. Gather knowledge. Get it. Like Proverbs chapter one. The only problem is people don't read today. As an American, you will probably spend fifty hours on a screen, TV or your phone, every single week. And you're gonna read one to two books, which is less than five minutes per week. So if readers are leaders, there's no competition. Start reading. [01:14:50] (45 seconds)  #ReadersAreLeaders

And then I just thought and talked to him. That's the disposition of the believer. It's if a child is being hurt, no. If a weaker person is being hurt, no. Well, what if I get punched in that process? What does the Bible say you're to do? Turn the other cheek. Go ahead and punch my litter aside. It's we have a stand of opposing evil, standing in between it, reducing it at all costs necessary. [00:50:33] (29 seconds)  #StandBetweenAndProtect

Because age is not automatic. It doesn't automatically mean you're going to be something. It doesn't solve problems. And this is the, like, the best story ever. It's rags to riches. The guy was poor and in prison. Somehow from poor and in prison, he becomes king of the land. How good is that? We love that story. The only problem is he's an old fool that gets forgotten. So what went wrong with him? Like, learn oppression is in the world. It's real. Evil in the world is real. So what do we do? We reduce it. First in us, and then anywhere that we go. [01:13:07] (39 seconds)  #ReduceEvilStartWithin

Get a buddy. So important. And we gotta actually intentionally fight it, I think, in our in our world today because it is so much dog eat dog world. We gotta fight it and say, I'm gonna intentionally take time to make sure I have friendships that are deep and good. And then Solomon ends with wisdom. Better was a poor and wise use youth than an old and foolish king who no longer knew how to take advice. For he went from prison to the throne, though in his own kingdom he had been born poor. [01:11:09] (41 seconds)  #FindYourBuddy

Because slander and gossip and words, they are the bunker busters for satan. You wanna destroy community and destroy the church? Those are his favorite tools. And she just put a stop to it. No. That's what we're to be. No. Solomon, better if you're not born. Work is a bummer. Hey, but community. You know how important community is? I've mentioned this blue zones study many times. Blue zones, they went across the whole world. They found places where people lived to over a 100 years of age. They're called the blue zones. [01:09:07] (36 seconds)  #CommunityOverGossip

So, you wanna get married, and then your best friend gets engaged. Hard to congratulate her. You and your friend decide, hey, man, we're gonna lose 10 pounds. We're gonna lose 20 pounds. We're gonna work out together. And you start doing that, and your friend loses two 10 pounds, and you find that 10 pounds. Are you able to rejoice with her success? The way that you kill this thing called envy is you choose to rejoice with those that rejoice. You choose to rejoice in their success. [00:56:37] (34 seconds)  #CelebrateFriendsWins

You can look at studies that look at the correlation of how much a man makes and how much time he spends with people. And it's the more money a man makes, the less time he spends with people. They, like, go hand in hand. It's your selling your most precious commodity, which is time for money. Solomon says, there's a better way. Talk to any dad in here, if you're older, if your kids are 18 or older, and ask them, what is your biggest regret as a parent? [01:02:39] (38 seconds)  #TimeNotMoney

The one thing he needs the most, money can never buy, which is shalom and rest. If you're a workaholic, Sabbath. Take one day, turn off every device, turn off everything. Do not try to accomplish anything. Have no goals that day. Have it be all about people, or we'll grow up and be lonely hermits and wonder why we did it all. Three bad ways to work. And based on that, Solomon now says, okay. [01:01:10] (35 seconds)  #SabbathRest