Proverbs 12:15 says, “the way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.” Fools brag about the fact that they don't listen to anyone that they should. That's a weird flex, but okay. Why? Because wise people listen to wise counsel. For example; when I was 17 me and all of my best friends, Chuck, Timmy, Forest, Steven, were all on our church's youth softball team. And we had a game that night and I really wanted to go, but the problem was I had to work. I worked for Lifeway Christian Bookstore and it was a good job that I really enjoyed. I had worked there for almost two years and hadn't taken many sick days. I remember it like it was yesterday. Timmy and Forest were like little devils on one shoulder telling me to call in sick and come play the softball game. On the other shoulder was my manager telling me that you shouldn't do that that cause it might come back to bite you. In the end, I listened to the two little devils, I listened to foolish advice from my not so wise friends and it did not go well. I called in sick and went to the softball game. When I got to the game my youth pastor, who got me the job because he was friends with my manager, told me that he just so happened to talk with my manager over the phone for something completely unrelated and she happened to mention that I called in sick. My youth pastor responded with, “well that's funny, I'm expecting him at our softball game in a couple hours.” So when I showed up at the softball game, my youth pastor told me what happened, benched me for the game, and the next day I got fired from my job. I learned that day to be careful who's advice I took.

Now, over the years I have been blessed to have some very wise counsel over my life, much of it coming from the leadership of our church and other Christians. Perhaps the best advice I receive comes from Lisa. In all honesty she is the wisest person I know and never steers me in the wrong direction. When I take her counsel, things turn out good. When I ignore it... not so much.

As a pastor, over the years, I have given what I think is very wise counsel to many people. Some take it, some ignore it. But you know what frustrates me the most. Those who reject good advice because it's not the advice they want and so they go and find others who will tell them what they want to hear. I don't think that ever turns out for the best. The Bible calls those people foolish. Today, it is our hope that if you are struggling to listen to wise counsel, if you are listening to your own heart or the counsel of non-believers, you would find wisdom here and change course. The point this morning is simple, when you ignore those who listen to God and listen to those who ignore God you can't blame God for the mess you make.