Go to the Ant

Chapter 1

From the Holy Bible, Hoehn Version:

Proverbs chapter 6:

6 GO TO THE ANT, you sluggard, consider her ways, and be wise,

7 Who having no guide, overseer, or ruler,

8 Provides her food in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest.

9 How long will you sleep, O sluggard? When will you get up out of your sleep?

10 Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep,

11 So your poverty shall come like someone that travels, and your want like an armed man.

12 A naughty person, a wicked man, walks with a perverse mouth.

13 He winks with his eyes, he speaks with his feet, he teaches with his fingers,

14 Perverseness is in his heart, he devises mischief all the time, he plants discord.

15 Therefore his calamity shall come suddenly, suddenly he shall be broken with no remedy.

16 The Lord hates these six things, yes, seven are a dirty thing to him,

17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,

18 A heart that devises wicked imaginations, feet that are swift in running to mischief,

19 A false witness that speaks lies, and he that plants discord among brothers.

20 My son, keep your father's commandment, and don't forsake the law of your mother,

21 Tie them continually on your heart, and tie them around your neck.

22 When you go, it shall lead you, when you sleep, it shall keep you, and when you awaken, it shall talk with you.

23 For the commandment is a lamp, and the law is light, and reproofs of instruction are the way of life,

24 To keep you from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman.

25 Don't lust for her beauty in your heart, and don't let her take you with her eyelids.

26 For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread, and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life.

27 Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?

28 Can someone go on hot coals, and his feet not get burned?

29 So he that goes in to his neighbor's wife, whoever touches her shall not be innocent.

30 Men do not despise a thief, if he steals to satisfy his soul when he is hungry,

31 But if he's found, he shall restore sevenfold, he shall give all the possessions in his house.

32 But whoever commits adultery with a woman lacks understanding, he that does it destroys his own soul.

33 He shall get a wound and dishonor, and his reproach shall not be wiped away.

34 For jealousy is the rage of a man, therefore he won't give any slack in the day of vengeance.

35 He won't regard any ransom, nor will he rest content, though you give many gifts.

___Proverbs chapter 7

1 My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with you.

2 Keep my commandments and live, and my law like the apple of your eye.

3 Tie them on your fingers, write them on the table of your heart.

4 Say to wisdom, "You're my sister, and call understanding your kinswoman,"

5 So that they'll keep you from the strange woman, from the stranger who flatters with her words.

6 For at the window of my house I looked through my casement,

7 And saw among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man without understanding,

8 Passing through the street near her corner, and he went the way to her house,

9 In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night,

10 And see, a woman dressed like a prostitute met him, and subtle of heart.

11 (She is loud and stubborn, her feet don't remain in her house,

12 Now she is outside, now in the streets, and lies in wait at every corner.)

13 So she caught him, and kissed him, and with a naughty face said to him,

14 "I have peace offerings with me, I've paid my vows today.

15 Therefore I came out to meet you, to diligently seek your face, and I've found you.

16 I've decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen from Egypt.

17 I've perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.

18 Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning, let us solace ourselves with loves.

19 For the owner of the house is not at home, he has gone on a long journey,

20 He has taken a bag of money with him, and will come home at the day appointed."

21 With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him.

22 He goes after her immediately, like an ox goes to the slaughter, or like a fool to the correction of the stocks,

23 'Til a dart strikes through his liver, like a bird hurries to the trap, and doesn't know that it is for his life.

24 Listen to me now therefore, O you children, and pay attention to the words of my mouth.

25 Don't let your heart decline to her ways, don't go astray in her paths.

26 For she has thrown down many wounded, yes, many strong men have been killed by her.

27 Her house is the way to hell, going down to the rooms of death.

Chapter 2

In Proverbs 6:6, God says, "Look at the ants. Consider the ants."

Verse 7 tells us the ants have no guide, overseer, or ruler. Ants don't go to ant school to learn ant culture, nor to learn the ant ways of doing things, nor to learn where to build their nests.

I went shopping this morning. As I was about to cross the street in front of the store, there was a crack in the sidewalk.

The ants had said, "Oh, great! A crack in the sidewalk! Here's where we'll build our next dwelling place." And they began excavating.

But Fred, how do you know they were excavating? Because I saw the little piles of dirt that they had brought up from below.

The ants dig little tunnels, and make little rooms. Rooms to store their food in.

Haven't you seen those ant farms that you can hang on the wall, with a sheet of glass on the front and on the back? The thing is only about 3/8 of an inch thick between the sheets of glass.

You can see the ants inside and the tunnels that they dig. They can't hide the tunnels because the light comes right through the glass. They just go right on digging their tunnels.

I guess the maker of the ant farms puts some kind of ant food in there when they make the ant farms.

Verse 8 says they provide their food in the summer, and gather their food in the harvest.

Who is it that taught the ants to dig tunnels?

Well, I teach, but I don't teach ants. What language would you use to teach them? I'm pretty sure they don't really speak English.

Kenneth E. Hagin is a teacher, but I don't think he teaches ants. Norvel Hayes is a teacher, but I don't think he teaches ants.

No, it must have been God that taught the ants to dig tunnels. I don't know what language he taught them in, but he got them educated on how to dig tunnels.

Cats have larger brains than ants, but I don't think cats dig tunnels, generally.

Monkeys have larger brains than ants, but I don't think monkeys dig tunnels, usually.

Verses 6 & 9 mention the word sluggard. A sluggard is a lazy person. God doesn't want us to be lazy. Ants are very industrious. I mean they just work, work, work, work. It's seems to be all they know.

And it pays off for them.

I guess if you're an ant, your brain isn't large enough for a lot more knowledge than just how to do ant business.

After telling us about the ants there in that passage in Proverbs, God tells us that if we sleep too much, we'll have poverty.

Poverty is not a good thing.

Pastor John Osteen, about whom I've written, used to say, "It's like the fella said, I've been rich, and I've been poor. Rich is better."

I think the fella Osteen was quoting knew what he was talking about. On the other hand, being rich has brought temptations to some people that have helped them wind up in hell.

And Jesus said that it's hard for rich people to go to heaven.

But no one in his right mind sets a goal for himself of being poor.

I heard of a family that had had a dwelling place. But then things didn't go well for them financially.

They lost their dwelling place. So they started living in the car.

After a while, one of the children saw that they had been better off when they had a dwelling place, and suggested to one of the parents. "Let's not live in the car."

And that was a pretty good idea, and the parents knew that, too, but they just didn't have the money to rent a place to live.

Another scripture tells us, "Don't love sleep so that you don't come to poverty. Open your eyes, and you'll be satisfied with bread."

The Bible says, "The hand of the diligent makes rich." Diligence is the opposite of slothfulness.

I think we get the word slothfulness from the animal, the sloth.

There is a three-toed sloth. Sloths move very, very slowly. We have squirrels in my neighborhood. They can be very fast. A sloth could never keep up with a squirrel. Forget about it. No way.

Whatever your vocation (I hope it's legitimate), God wants us to be diligent, not slothful.

Proverbs 22:29 tells us, "Do you see a man who is diligent in his business? He shall stand before kings, he won't stand before men of low degree."

You might say, "Yes, but I'm just a Carpenter, or Plumber."

Well, let me tell you this: Kings need Carpenters from time to time, and also Plumbers.

Our nation doesn't have a king. Instead, it has a President. Probably every kind of craftsman and vocation that there is has done some work at the White House, where the President lives.

But try to be very good at your trade or vocation.

Try to learn the latest techniques.

I've worked in Plant Maintenance at factories. There's a program on TV called, "Ask This Old House." It's interesting to see the new techniques and materials and devices that they're using now.

If you don't keep up with the new developments, your competition, that does keep up, might gain the advantage over you.

At one employer, when I was hired, my supervisor said, "And let me know if there are any trade magazines that you need."

You see, he knew that one way to keep up with the new developments is by reading trade magazines, whether it's carpentry, plumbing, electrical, or mechanical.

If you don’t want to buy a subscription to a magazine, they have some of the trade magazines at the Public Library.

Proverbs 21:5 tells us, "The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness, but of every one that is hasty only to want."

Psalm 23 tells us, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." That means you won't lack what you need if the Lord is your shepherd.

Do what God said in Prov 21:5. Don't be hasty, it tends to cause want. Be diligent, and have plenteousness.

___James chapter 1

1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes that are dispersed around, greetings.

2 My brothers, count it all joy when you fall into various temptations,

3 Knowing this, that the testing of your faith works patience.

4 But let patience have its perfect work, so you'll be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God for it, who gives to all men liberally, and won't find fault, and it shall be given to him.

6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavers is like a wave of the sea driven by the wind and tossed.

7 For let that man not think that he'll receive anything from the Lord.

8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

9 Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted,

10 But the rich, in that he is made low, because as the flower of the grass he'll pass away.

11 For the sun has no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withers the grass, and the flower of it falls, and the grace of the fashion of it perishes, so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.

12 Blessed is the man that endures temptation, for after he's been tested, he'll receive the crown of life, that the Lord has promised to those who love him.

13 Let no man say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God," for God can't be tempted with evil, nor does he tempt any man,

14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed.

15 Then when lust has conceived, it produces sin, and sin when it's finished, produces death.

16 Do not err, my beloved brothers.

17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, nor shadow of turning.

18 He chose to father us with the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

19 So, my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger,

20 For the anger of man doesn't accomplish the righteousness of God.

21 So, lay apart all filthiness and the unnecessary naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.

22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like a man seeing his natural face in a mirror,

24 For he sees himself, and goes his way, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.

25 But whoever looks into the perfect law of liberty, and continues in it, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

26 If any man among you seems to be religious, and doesn't bridle his tongue, but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is for nothing.

27 Pure religion and undefiled before God the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

___James chapter 2

1 My brothers, don't have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.

2 For if a man with a gold ring comes to your assembly in fancy clothes, and a poor man in dirty clothes comes in also,

3 And you have respect to him that wears the fancy clothes, and say to him, "Sit here in a good place," and say to the poor, "Stand there, or sit here under my footstool,"

4 Aren't you then partial in yourselves, and have become judges with evil thoughts?

5 Listen, my beloved brothers, hasn't God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him?

6 But you have despised the poor. Don't rich men oppress you, and bring you before the judgment seats?

7 Don't they blaspheme that worthy name by which you're called?

8 If you fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, "You shall love your neighbor like yourself," you do well,

9 But if you have respect of persons, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as sinners.

10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

11 For he that said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not kill." Now if you don't commit adultery, yet if you kill, you've become a breaker of the law.

12 Speak in such a way, and do, as those who'll be judged by the law of liberty.

13 For he shall have judgment without mercy, that has shown no mercy, and mercy rejoices against judgment.

14 What does it profit, my brothers, though a man says he has faith, and doesn't have works? Can faith save him?

15 If a brother or sister needs clothes, and lacks daily food,

16 And one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled," but you don't give them the things that are needed for the body, what good is that?

17 Even so faith, if it doesn't have works, is dead, being alone.

18 Yes, a man could say, "You have faith, and I have works, show me your faith without your works, and I'll show you my faith by my works."

19 You believe that there is one God, you do well, the devils also believe, and tremble.

20 But don't you know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

21 Wasn't Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son on the altar?

22 Do you see how faith worked with his deeds, and by works faith was made perfect?

23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness, and he was called the friend of God."

24 You see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.

25 Likewise also wasn't Rahab the prostitute justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?

26 For like the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

___James chapter 3

1 My brothers, don't be many masters, knowing that we'll receive the greater condemnation.

2 For in many things we offend all. If any man doesn't offend in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.

3 See, we put bits in the horses' mouths, so they'll obey us, and we turn around their whole bodies.

4 Look also at the ships, which though they're so large, and are driven by fierce winds, yet they're turned around by a very small helm, wherever the captain wants.

5 Even so, the tongue is a little member, and boasts great things. See how great a matter a little fire kindles!

6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of sin, so is the tongue among our members that it makes dirty the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature, and it is set on fire by hell.

7 For every kind of animals, and of birds, and of snakes, and of things in the sea, gets tamed, and has been tamed by mankind,

8 But no man can tame the tongue, it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.

9 With it we bless God, the Father, and with it we curse men, who are made after the likeness of God.

10 Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be.

11 Does a fountain send out at the same place sweet water and bitter?

12 Can the fig tree, my brothers, produce olive berries? Or a vine, figs? So no fountain can yield both salt water and fresh.

13 Who is a wise man, possessing knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good lifestyle his works with meekness of wisdom.

14 But if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, don't glory, and don't lie against the truth.

15 This wisdom doesn't descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.

16 For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.

17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be reasoned with, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

18 And the fruit of righteousness is planted in peace by those who make peace.

___James chapter 4

1 Where do wars and fightings among you come from? Don't they come from your lusts that war in your members?

2 You lust, and don't have, you kill, and desire to have, and can't obtain, you fight and war, yet you don't have, because you don't ask.

3 You ask, and don't receive, because you ask wrongly, so you can consume it on your lusts.

4 You adulterers and adulteresses, don't you know that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world is an enemy of God.

5 Do you think that the scripture says for nothing, "The spirit that lives in us lusts to envy?"

6 But he gives more grace. So he says, "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble."

7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he'll run away from you.

8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double minded.

9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and cry, let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.

10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he'll lift you up.

11 Don't speak evil about each other, brothers. He that speaks evil about his brother, and judges his brother, speaks evil about the law, and judges the law, but if you judge the law, you're not a doer of the law, but a judge.

12 There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy, who are you that judges someone else?

13 Go on now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we'll go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and make a profit,"

14 Actually, you don't know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is a puff of steam, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away.

15 For you ought to say, "Lord willing, we'll live, and do this, or that."

16 But now you rejoice in your boastings, all such rejoicing is evil.

17 Therefore to him that knows to do good, and doesn't do it, to him it is sin.

___James chapter 5

1 Go on now, you rich men, cry and howl for your miseries that shall come on you.

2 Your riches are corrupted, and your clothes are moth eaten.

3 Your gold and silver are rusted, and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh like fire. You've heaped treasure together for the last days.

4 See, the wages of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which you've kept back by fraud, shouts, and the shouts of those who've reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabbath.

5 You've lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton, you've nourished your hearts, like in a day of slaughter.

6 You've condemned and killed the just, and he doesn't resist you.

7 Be patient therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, and has long patience for it, until he receives the early and latter rain.

8 You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is getting near.

9 Don't grudge against each other, brothers, so you won't be condemned, see, the judge stands at the door.

10 Take, my brothers, the prophets, who've spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.

11 See, we count them happy that endure. You've heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.

12 But above all things, my brothers, don't swear, not by heaven, nor by the earth, nor by any other oath, but let your yes be yes, and your no, no, so that you don't fall into condemnation.

13 Is anyone among you afflicted? Let him pray. Is anyone merry? Let him sing psalms.

14 Is anyone sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord,

15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up, and if he has committed sins, he'll be forgiven.

16 Confess your faults to each other, and pray for each other so you'll be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man is does a lot of good.

17 Elijah was a man subject to the same kind of passions that we are, and he prayed earnestly that it wouldn't rain, and it didn't rain on the earth for three years and six months.

18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.

19 Brothers, if any of you strays from the truth, and someone converts him,

20 Let him know, that he that converts the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.