Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Good morning, church.
[00:00:04] Good to be with you.
[00:00:07] Thanks.
[00:00:08] I missed you. Missed preaching these last few weeks, but just really glad to be here today. And thank you so much for just all your encouraging words and prayers just for us. We had just such a good time of refreshment and rest, and that's a real blessing and privilege to be able to do that. So thank you for that.
[00:00:26] And today, if you are a guest with us, so glad that you're here.
[00:00:32] My name's Chet. If we haven't had a chance to meet, I'd love to meet you. And you're coming in at a perfect time because we're starting a new sermon series today. We're gonna talk about this idea of what to make of a life.
[00:00:46] I stole that from a book I recently read. That's the title of it. So hopefully there's no copyright infringement here.
[00:00:55] But it's all about what are the key ideas that help us to live a life that is meaningful? And believe it or not, the Bible has a lot to say about this. In fact, we're gonna look, starting today at this book of Proverbs, which is a book that really answers a lot of these questions. So we're gonna spend a few weeks in it, and I'm excited to do that. But let's ask God's blessing on our time together. Would you pray with me, Father? Thank you, Lord, that you are good, that you are wise, and that you share your wisdom with us.
[00:01:35] Thank you that you don't make everything cryptic.
[00:01:38] Thank you, Lord, that you descend to us.
[00:01:43] You remember how frail we are. And, Lord, you long to impart your wisdom to us so we can have good success and long and meaningful and productive lives.
[00:01:59] So help us to hear your voice. Help us to long for it.
[00:02:03] Help us to take it serious in our life.
[00:02:06] And, Lord, we pray you'd be glorified in all this. We ask this in the great name of Jesus.
[00:02:11] Amen.
[00:02:14] Well, some of you might know, years ago, there was a movie that came out that was really good.
[00:02:21] It was called the Matrix.
[00:02:24] This is. Maybe we're decades ago, but I remember seeing that movie. It's an awesome movie. Amen.
[00:02:32] Yeah. Okay. Thank you, two of you three.
[00:02:35] All right, John, thank you.
[00:02:37] But it was a really cool movie when it came out because it was just doing different things and such a great story.
[00:02:44] But if you haven't seen it, I'll pray for you.
[00:02:47] But the premise of it is that we're all actually not really in the real world, but we're in a simulation. And after everyone saw that movie, we all wondered, is this real life here? Am I hooked up somewhere to some machine?
[00:03:04] No, just me.
[00:03:07] And it was just a really cool movie.
[00:03:09] But what happens in it is the main character, at a point, he's pulled out of the simulation, and then he's preparing to go back into it. But in his preparation, he downloads all this vital knowledge that he needs to go back in and to fight the bad guys. And a lot of this vital knowledge is like, kung fu, you know, and cool stuff like that, because, I mean, those are the essential skills, that idea. But it's this cool seed where he's able just to. Just to download it, you know? I think one day that's coming for us, Church. You know, one day, some of you, you're in school right now, and you gotta spend hours cramming. But one day, you're just gonna have to hit upload. You'll be like, dude, I Learned Spanish in 30 seconds.
[00:03:59] I'm ready for my final amen. No, you gotta get. You know, you gotta help me out today. All right?
[00:04:07] It's been a few weeks here, but it's that scene where I need all this new information for the challenges that are ahead.
[00:04:19] And today we're gonna look at the Book of Proverbs.
[00:04:22] And in some ways, it's meant to function that way in our lives.
[00:04:28] The book Proverbs is what it sounds like. You know, a proverb is a short saying that generalizes truth about life.
[00:04:40] And so the book of Proverbs is just a compilation of all these sayings. It's such a cool book. So they're short, they're memorable, they're able to be applied pretty easily to our life. And ultimately, it's God's way of saying, here is the wisdom that. That you need for the challenges of life. See, here's the beautiful thing about God. He doesn't leave us alone and say, figure it out.
[00:05:11] He doesn't say, all right, life's gonna throw all kinds of things at you and the kitchen sink, and we all know that to be true. Amen. But the Lord doesn't leave us hanging in that.
[00:05:23] He says, look, I want to guide you through this, but you have to be willing to hear and to listen and to bring this into your life. And that's what the book of Proverbs is about. So today we're gonna begin at chapter three of Proverbs. And I'm gonna read to you the first 10 verses. And these are so rich in the ideas that they carry. So as I Read this, really try to listen about, listen to these and think about these. And here's what it says.
[00:05:56] My son, do not forget my teaching. Now the context of Proverbs is that it is the ancient King Solomon speaking to his son and probably to some other kids that are around.
[00:06:11] And people theorize that maybe they're around junior high age, which that's a great, great stage where you really need wisdom.
[00:06:21] Usually not very open to it. Amen, parents.
[00:06:25] But this is what's happening here. In King Solomon, God had blessed him with a remarkable wisdom, a world renowned wisdom. And so in Proverbs Solomon is saying, he's saying to his son, not just this is what I've learned about life, but this is what God has shown me about life.
[00:06:48] So Solomon is not claiming himself as the source of wisdom, but God as a source of wisdom. And he's just trying to be a channel for that wisdom to his son. So he says, my son, don't forget my teaching.
[00:07:04] This sounds like a father to a son. I say to my kids all the time, what did I just tell you?
[00:07:10] Amen. That's what.
[00:07:13] Have this conversation 30 times. Amen, my son. Don't forget my teacher. If you can just get that, we're off to the races.
[00:07:23] Let your heart keep my commandments. Look at this. For length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you.
[00:07:34] If you take this wisdom, it will give you a long peaceful life.
[00:07:40] That is the blessing of it. And as you'll see, there's ultimately five directives here and each has a blessing to it. That's the first one. Second, let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you. Bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart so you will find favor and good success in the sight of God and man. That's the blessing.
[00:08:06] Trust in the Lord with all your heart.
[00:08:11] Do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him and he will make your path straight. I love those verses.
[00:08:25] Be not wise in your own eyes.
[00:08:28] Fear the Lord. Turn away from evil and it will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.
[00:08:35] Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your produce. Then your barns will be filled with plenty. Your vats will be bursting with wine.
[00:08:48] Now, when we think about this book and when we think about how God works in our life, we often want God to work in our life like a GPS system.
[00:09:00] I don't know about you, but I can't go anywhere without the Maps app.
[00:09:05] Like I need, you know, 0.2 miles, turn right, go here. You'll arrive at your destination at this time.
[00:09:14] I can't even get, you know, from my basement to my bedroom without that.
[00:09:19] I'm directionally challenged.
[00:09:21] And a lot of times we want God to work in our life like that. Like, Lord, give me the turn by turn detail of my life. Should I go here? Should I take this job?
[00:09:34] What time should I wake up? Should I wake up at 5:45? Should I wake up at 6:15? Oh my gosh, I'm so stressed, God, which one?
[00:09:43] Should I go to this place? Should I go to this school or to this college? Should I choose this career path or that career path? Should I talk to this person or not talk? And we want God to constantly be giving us a turn by turn, mile by mile. And then we'd also, Lord, and by the way, God, could you give me the exact time I arrive?
[00:10:06] And could you. And if anything changes, could you also recalculate and let me know and then. And we want God to lead our life by that. But maybe some of you might know that's not how it happens, right?
[00:10:23] You don't get every little detail or turn or time or reason or explanation that you might want. I think God guides us differently. He gives us a direction to go.
[00:10:39] When I was in the army, we did a lot of land navigation training with a compass and a map.
[00:10:46] I was awful at it, but I've had a lot of training.
[00:10:51] Just hasn't had any effect.
[00:10:54] But when you are navigating by that, it's a much different way. It's not turn by turn at all. It's a direction.
[00:11:01] You do some math and you figure out this direction and you're going from point A to point B. And there might be hills and valleys and rivers and obstacles in between, but the way you navigate is you keep coming back to that original direction and you keep moving in that direction until you hopefully arrive where you're meant to. And I think many times that's how God works in our life. He says, go this direction.
[00:11:33] Strive to become this type of person person.
[00:11:39] Strive to develop these virtues, these qualities in your life. Have this posture of heart. See, that's not turn by turn direction. It's more about becoming a type of person. And essentially the idea is that if I'm this type of person, God can bless me anywhere that I go.
[00:12:00] You see the difference that there's no magical place I'm meant to be.
[00:12:06] God is more concerned about the trajectory of the person. That I'm becoming.
[00:12:13] And if you're the right person, the person that God wants you to become, he can bless you in any job, in any school, in any place but church.
[00:12:25] If you're the wrong type of person, then there's no perfect place that's gonna sort that out. You with me on this?
[00:12:32] And this is part of the wisdom of Proverbs. And so when we look at Proverbs 3, here's. Here's what I would say. He gives us five directions to go, five things that says, all right, if you point your compass in this direction and you keep going after these things, you will get to where I want you to go. You will have a life that is long, that is meaningful, that is good, and that is glorifying to God.
[00:13:02] And so I'm gonna talk through the five that I see in these verses.
[00:13:06] And as you listen to these today, I don't want you to focus on all five.
[00:13:11] Cause, you know, there is another proverb, not in the Bible, but it said, if you chase two rabbits, you don't get either of them.
[00:13:18] And I think there's some wisdom in that. And so I want you to. Just as you hear these five, I want you just to pick one today and pick one that resonates with you, that maybe you sense that God's saying, yeah, this is the one for me today.
[00:13:33] And then I want you to think about what it looks like to move more in that direction. That sound good?
[00:13:42] Wow.
[00:13:44] Yeah, man.
[00:13:45] We're really gonna have to reestablish our relationship here today.
[00:13:51] But let's begin with the first one. The first one he says is, my son, don't forget my teaching. Remember it.
[00:13:58] Keep it close to your heart. And this one's easy to look over. But here's what the first direction is. It's to desire God's wisdom for your life.
[00:14:11] See, some of us, our problem is we think we have enough of our own.
[00:14:16] And your wisdom and my wisdom is not enough for this life.
[00:14:21] We need a greater source. We need a better source. We need a more sustainable, enricher source, and that is God's wisdom. So the first thing he's saying, he's saying he's, son, you have to want this.
[00:14:37] It's not just gonna show up in your life, but you have to put effort in to be in pursuit of it and to bring it into your life. You gotta put effort in.
[00:14:53] I don't know if you've tried to make a new friend lately.
[00:14:56] I have, and it's not going well.
[00:15:02] I don't know why you're laughing at that, but Allie and I have lived in our house for seven years, and we love it. And the neighbors are super cool. And there's a set of neighbors, a husband and wife right next to us, and they just seem awesome, you know, like seven years. We see. We pass each other in the driveway and stuff, and I'm like, man, these just seem like cool people. They seem like people that we would be friends with. Like, you ever see someone, you're like, I think we would be friends.
[00:15:34] That's just me.
[00:15:36] And, you know, we should make this happen. And so for seven years, I've been trying to make this happen, and for seven years, it's not working. I feel like I used to be good at making friends.
[00:15:53] I would walk the halls of school and I'd be like, hey, what's up? What's up? What's up? Shoot the guns to everybody.
[00:16:01] I don't know if I became awkward at some point.
[00:16:05] If that's what happened, just tell me. After service, lay hands and pray. I'd feel like seven years. We should be able to clap. Amen.
[00:16:14] Yeah, I don't know.
[00:16:18] I'm trying to welcome someone into my life.
[00:16:22] It's not going well, but you gotta put effort in.
[00:16:26] And Solomon says to his son, he says, if you wanna be wise, you gotta go out of your way to make it happen.
[00:16:35] You can't just sit on your hands and expect it to come to your door.
[00:16:40] And here's kind of four sources of wisdom. Four ways to be in pursuit of wisdom that you cannot go wrong with. Number one, how do we pursue wisdom? We pray for it and we ask God. That's number one prayer. The New Testament author James, he says this. If any man lacks wisdom, let him ask of God. Hear this. Who gives generously every day?
[00:17:07] I can be in pursuit of wisdom by waking up and praying and saying, God, I need wisdom for my life.
[00:17:15] And you promised to give it to me and that you would be generous with it.
[00:17:20] And I'm asking for it.
[00:17:22] And I believe God is always faithful to his word.
[00:17:26] And if you ask him for it, he'll give it to you.
[00:17:30] And as simple as that, all is church. It's easy to go through life without doing that.
[00:17:37] And it's easy to be in the middle of confusing moments in our life and be so frustrated because we feel like we're in this dense fog that we can't get out of. And God says, I will give you the wisdom, but you have to ask for it so that you know, at the end of the day, that wisdom comes from me.
[00:17:57] That's the first one. Prayer. Here's the second one. Pages, here's what I believe. The Scriptures is God's word to you and me.
[00:18:10] And every day I can open the pages of this book and I can hear directly from God himself and I can bring that wisdom into my life.
[00:18:23] Now maybe today we've been thinking about reading the Bible and we're like, I'm intimidated by that. That seems overwhelming or a lot or, I don't know, anything.
[00:18:36] Here's an awesome place to start.
[00:18:39] You could start in the book of Proverbs. Proverbs has 31 chapters in it. You could read a chapter a day for a month, and I guarantee you will understand some stuff, and I guarantee you will have some light bulb moments over the course of the month. Maybe everyone won't land on you, but I guarantee there'll be a couple. You're like, oh, my gosh, that is so helpful. That is exactly what I needed to hear.
[00:19:10] And for 31 days, you can read them. They're easy, they're accessible, and it's a great way. Prayer pages, people.
[00:19:20] Here's the third one. Sometimes God in his grace brings people into our life that he wants to use as a channel of wisdom.
[00:19:31] Solomon was that to his son here.
[00:19:35] Solomon was saying, hey, son, this isn't all from me, this is from God. But I want it to be a channel into your life.
[00:19:44] And I believe whether we realize it or not, in every one of our lives, God has some people that are channels of his wisdom.
[00:19:53] Now, maybe we don't want to listen to them.
[00:19:57] Maybe. But if we can see it and be open to it, there's a great blessing in it for us. You with me? And here's the last one. Patterns. God has made life in such a way that life teaches us about life, life teaches us about life. If we're paying attention.
[00:20:21] There's a great book I read years ago. It's called how to Make a Leader. And it was about all the ideas that we see in scripture about how God grows people and the steps and the stages that he grows us through. And one of the things the author wrote is he said that there comes points in our life where we're at the base of a mountain and God wants us to ascend the mountain.
[00:20:48] Because ascending it means growth, it means change, it means progress in the right direction. But climbing a mountain is hard.
[00:20:57] Climbing a mountain can be dangerous. Climbing a mountain is tiring. Being on the stair stepper for any amount of time.
[00:21:06] Wears you out, right? Climbing a mountain is tough. And so what he says is, in all of our lives, there will be many moments where God says, all right, we can ascend this mountain, or you can circle this mountain.
[00:21:20] And circling the mountain is where we go the other direction.
[00:21:25] God's calling us this way. And we're like, I'll pass for right now.
[00:21:29] But all we end up doing is ending up at the very same spot that we started.
[00:21:36] And we were like, oh, wow. I've been frustrated with this same thing for 10 years.
[00:21:43] We're circling the mountain.
[00:21:45] There's a moment of growth that God's calling us to that we're missing. You with me?
[00:21:52] And so the patterns of our life can help us to see maybe some of the. The wrong thinking or the wrong actions or the wrong directions that we keep taking. See, a lot of life is mysterious, but not all of life is mysterious, right?
[00:22:15] Like, man, I can't find a good job.
[00:22:19] I mean, I go in late every day.
[00:22:21] I complain the whole time.
[00:22:25] I tell my boss how much I hate it here, and no one wants to work with me. You're like, wow, that is such a mystery.
[00:22:33] You with me?
[00:22:36] I'm like, man, I'm having trouble losing weight. But every time the kids go to bed, I raid all their snacks.
[00:22:46] Don't judge me. The days are stressful.
[00:22:51] There are some things that are mysterious and there are some things that aren't.
[00:22:55] And if we can take the mystery out of what's not mysterious, we can learn a better way. You with me on this? And that's part of how God gives us wisdom.
[00:23:07] But it's a lot easier to throw our arms in the air and say, oh, this is all a mystery, rather than to say, you know what? No, I'm circling the mountain. There's a better way. I'm not going to keep playing this game, right? That takes something more out of your soul, but that's where the growth is. You with me on this, church? And so the first directive is to pursue wisdom, to seek it. Then he says this. The second one. Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you.
[00:23:39] Bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of heart. You'll find favor and good success in the sight of God and man.
[00:23:47] The second one. So here's what Solomon Sundays. There are two qualities that you want to cultivate in your life. Faithfulness and steadfast love.
[00:23:57] Faithfulness and steadfast love. What is faithfulness? Faithfulness is doing what we say we Will do.
[00:24:06] Faithfulness is being the type of person that shows up and follows through because all growth is built on that.
[00:24:21] Have you ever noticed you can't flake your way into a healthy place in life?
[00:24:26] No, it doesn't work right. We grow through our commitments. One of my favorite stories about faithfulness is John Wooden, who was the great basketball coach at UCLA and super successful, had an amazing championship run. And John Wooden, when he was beginning his college career, he didn't want to go to UCLA because it was, like, way far away from where he was from. It was an underdeveloped program. They didn't have all these great resources, so he didn't want to go. So he had this job interview with another school. I believe it was Minnesota, and he wanted to go there. And so at this time, he had two phone interviews lined up with Minnesota and with ucla. Well, the time that Minnesota was supposed to call, there was a power outage, and they couldn't make the call. They literally couldn't do it. So the time came, he didn't get the call. He's like, well, I guess they changed their mind. They don't want me. Bummer. But I'm married and have kids, so I need a job. So I got UCLA coming up. So had this interview with them. They offered him the job, and he accepted. Well, then just a little while after, Minnesota called him, they're like, john, we're so sorry. We had a power outage. We couldn't call you. We still want you to come. Do you want to come? Can we make this all work? This is just kind of a freak accident. No one's fault. Just a totally unforeseen circumstances.
[00:25:59] Let's kind of make this work.
[00:26:01] And John Wood and said, already gave them my word.
[00:26:07] And surely, like, everybody would understand that, right? Like, power like this is just a bizarre happening. And he's like, no, I gave him my word, and he went to ucla, and the rest is history. That's faithfulness.
[00:26:21] But see, here's what I think. That story. God would have blessed that guy wherever he was at.
[00:26:28] Because in my mind, a man that is approaching life like that is approaching it with the wisdom that Proverbs is talking about. You with me on this.
[00:26:43] We grow through our commitments. Here's the second one. Steadfast love. Now, this word is such an important word in the Old Testament. You can see it translated as steadfast love, as mercy, as loving, kindness, as favor, as grace. It's his Hebrew word, hesed, and it is central to the Old Testament. And it's central to explaining how God treats us that he treats us with steadfast love.
[00:27:17] What that means is, God doesn't love you because you're easy to love.
[00:27:24] Sorry to burst your bubble.
[00:27:26] God doesn't love you because you're like, oh, wow, you know, Chet's crushing it this week.
[00:27:32] I promise you, that's never passed through God's mind.
[00:27:35] He doesn't love us because we're lovable. He loves us in spite of that, and his love makes us different people.
[00:27:44] You with me?
[00:27:46] And this is the nature of that word has said this word, steadfast love. And so Proverbs says it says, faithfulness and steadfast love.
[00:27:58] How do you love the people around you?
[00:28:03] Are you a transactional lover?
[00:28:07] Well, if they do good, I love them. If they do bad, I stop loving them. Them is your love.
[00:28:15] What is the nature of it? He says, steadfast love. Now, when I was thinking this, I was reminded of a friend that lives a few hours away. And he told me this story that he was going to a church, and he loved it, and it was really good.
[00:28:30] But unfortunately, the pastor there had made some mistake, some moral failure of some kind, and he ended up getting fired. And it was a really bad scenario. But while this was going on, my friend was remodeling this pastor's kitchen. So he's, you know, good carpenter and stuff, so he's fixing up his kitchen. And then this news came out, and then the pastor had texted him, and he said, hey, I know all your tools are here. Just, you know, let me know when you want to come and pick them up.
[00:29:03] And he was texting him, saying, like, okay, you know, I made this mistake.
[00:29:08] You're probably gonna stop doing this work for me. Come get your tools. Just let me know. That's what he was saying.
[00:29:15] And my friend texted back to him, and he said, I will get my tools when the project is done.
[00:29:23] Steadfast love, in other words, he's saying, yeah, look, I know you made a mistake, all that. But listen, I'm not done serving you.
[00:29:36] I'm not turning my back on you. I thought that was such a powerful thing, because we all need people in our life that are there through the good and the bad.
[00:29:51] If we're people that can only love people when they're lovable, Jesus says, we're no better than the most broken person in this world.
[00:30:01] Even evil people can do that.
[00:30:03] But God's love is meant to transform us, to be the type of people that can love others on their worst Day and say, I have something to offer you.
[00:30:18] Because Jesus Christ loved me while I was his enemy.
[00:30:23] He died for me while I was his enemy. I have some love to give you.
[00:30:31] People like that are transforming in this world. Amen. And I don't know about you, but I want to be that type of person.
[00:30:39] Be the person that the people that are in my life, they know. Man, at my dumbest, worst moment, he's going to be there.
[00:30:52] He's not moving away. You with me on this Church, that's steadfast love. And so Proverbs says, bind that around your neck. Then he says, trust in the Lord with all your heart. Do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him.
[00:31:13] He will make your path straight.
[00:31:18] See, if we are serious about listening and receiving God's wisdom, then your wisdom and God's wisdom are gonna have moments where they collide.
[00:31:32] There are gonna be moments in our life where we're faced with approaches to life and decisions and thoughts. And God's wisdom goes this way and our own understanding goes this way.
[00:31:47] And you can't have them both. You with me. You can't choose them both because they're colliding.
[00:31:54] And Solomon says, at that moment, who are you going to defer to?
[00:32:01] Who gets the final call?
[00:32:03] God or you?
[00:32:07] At the end of the day, who do you trust more, God or you? And if you trust God more than you trust your own understanding and you acknowledge him, you seek to honor him, to put him first, and you see he will make your path straight.
[00:32:29] I don't know about you, Church, but I've had enough life to know when it's my way or God's way.
[00:32:36] I'm taking God's because I've done my way enough.
[00:32:41] Any broken people in this room?
[00:32:44] Solomon, you don't have to sell this to me.
[00:32:47] I'm with you on that. But again and again, there are gonna be these moments where we have to entrust ourself to the wisdom of God over what might make sense in our mind and our perspective in the moment. You with me. And then Solomon takes us one step further. He says, be not wise in your own eyes.
[00:33:14] Turn from evil. Fear God again. This is along that same path.
[00:33:20] Church, we have as human beings, we have a tremendous capacity for pride.
[00:33:27] We have a tremendous capacity for self deception.
[00:33:32] We have a tremendous capacity for these things. And it's all destructive in our lives.
[00:33:39] And Solomon says, here's what wisdom is.
[00:33:43] It's recognizing that in yourself and it's guarding against it. Be not wise in your own eyes. My daughter Abby loves gymnastics.
[00:33:57] It's super cute. She literally changes into a leotard almost every day and hops around and practices. And, dad, I'm practicing this move. And she started doing somersaults. And she's been making pretty good progress. But she now uses our couch as a trampoline.
[00:34:18] And so she'll jump on it, and she can get some good height, and then she'll do a front flip.
[00:34:23] She won't land on her feet or anything, but she'll get the rotation in. And I'm sure the couch is being destroyed moment by moment, but she's doing that. And she's been doing that the last couple weeks or whatever. And then when she's doing that, she'll be like, dad, front flips are so easy.
[00:34:41] Dad, they're so easy.
[00:34:43] Front flips are so easy. I'd be like, whoa, slow down there, kid. All right. That's not even really a full front flip. Cause you're not laying on your feet, but, like, you know your tuck. I don't know that much about gymnastics, but your tuck's pretty loose. You know what I'm saying?
[00:35:01] Just relax there. But she's so quick. They're so easy.
[00:35:06] I'm like, where do you get this false sense of confidence?
[00:35:12] I don't know why you think that's funny.
[00:35:16] It's not my side of the family, but I'm like, abby, you're doing good, but you still got a lot to learn, girl. You with me.
[00:35:26] You still. You gotta be a little more humble than that.
[00:35:29] And here's the deal.
[00:35:31] We don't even recognize how important humility actually is. Cause here's what the apostle Peter says.
[00:35:38] God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
[00:35:46] Think about that statement for a second.
[00:35:49] Can you afford God to oppose you?
[00:35:54] I can't.
[00:35:57] Can you afford God to say, hey, I'm opposing you because you're wise in your own eyes? I can't afford that. I need his grace.
[00:36:09] And so if you can't afford it either, then we have to consider how important humility actually is in our lives. You with me?
[00:36:19] He says, be not wise, and it will be healing to your flesh. Now, I'm kind of running out of time, so I didn't hit all the blessings of these. But he says, this actually heals our flesh. It heals.
[00:36:34] It heals our life.
[00:36:38] Maybe some parts of our life right now are just being eaten away.
[00:36:43] And it's actually because of pride.
[00:36:45] It's because of being wise in our own Eyes.
[00:36:49] And then lastly, he says, honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your produce. He says, prioritize God in your finances.
[00:37:03] Now, I think our world, the way that we live, is actually opposite of what Solomon is saying.
[00:37:11] The way that we live is often in this order.
[00:37:14] Live on what? The money that I make, save the money that I make, and whatever might be left over. If there is any. Give, live, save, give me.
[00:37:26] And a lot of times, our live takes up everything and even more.
[00:37:34] And so actually, saving and giving isn't even a reality. Here's the wisdom of the Bible. It flips that.
[00:37:42] Give to God first, save, give to yourself second, live on the rest.
[00:37:52] And I'm telling you, that model works.
[00:37:55] There is blessing in it.
[00:37:57] There is reward in it.
[00:37:59] And it's one of the places where God says, you test and try and see if this isn't better. See, I don't know about you, but I have bought a lot of stupid stuff that I've regretted.
[00:38:13] Maybe you haven't, but I bought, like, expensive stuff, and I'm like, oh, did I really need that? You know, And I'm kind of kicking myself.
[00:38:24] I've never really regretted being generous.
[00:38:30] I've never regretted honoring God first with my finances.
[00:38:38] I'm glad. The only thing I regret is sometimes, like, man, I wish I would have done more, honestly.
[00:38:44] A couple weeks ago, we were driving home, and we were in, like, real rural Ohio. I don't even know where we were at. We were at a gas station, and I went in to get a little drink, and in front of me was what I believe was like, a grandma, a mom, and a young kid, and they had just, like, some, you know, chips and stuff like that. And I heard them talking in front of me, and they were, like, very conscious of how much each of those items cost. Like, they were doing math in their head.
[00:39:14] And my wicked heart was just like, all right, let's get this show on the road here. You know, want to get back?
[00:39:21] But I noticed it. And then they got up to the register and, you know, put it up, swiped the card, and the lady was like, ma', am, it's declined.
[00:39:33] And I was like, ugh. You know, you just feel.
[00:39:37] You don't want them to be humiliated or anything like that. You know, that feeling. Just kind of feeling that. And then. And the cashier was very nice. She's like, well, man, maybe we can run it as debit and it will work. You know, she's trying to give her a sense of dignity, and she tried Again, it didn't work. And I was just like, ma', am, just throw that on mine. You know? And it was just a few things, and no big deal. Any of us would have done that if we were able to in that moment.
[00:40:06] And they were very, very thankful.
[00:40:08] And I left, and I was like, man, God, thank you that I was right there. Like, what a just blessing that was to do that. And then when I was leaving a little further, I was like, you know what I wish I would have done? I wish I would have said to that little girl, hey, go grab a handful of candy bars.
[00:40:30] You know? I just. I wish I would have done more, you know? And then it got me thinking. I'm like, man, how much of that feeling will we feel when we stand before the Lord?
[00:40:43] The Lord's like, cause God's blessed our life where I'm not thinking about that stuff in the guests. That's a blessing. Church.
[00:40:53] And that all isn't meant for me.
[00:40:57] God wants that to flow through us. You with me on this. And it's a wiser way of life.
[00:41:04] And so church generosity is a better way. And here's the second thing I will say. Church, as we are in this building project, I believe that that is an awesome place to give.
[00:41:21] Here's why I think you will find blessing in it.
[00:41:25] But I also know that as that building goes up and as we transition, I really believe for 100 years, the name of Christ is gonna be glorified.
[00:41:38] And God has entrusted us with the privilege of being at the beginning of this.
[00:41:48] And I don't want you to miss it. I think there's a blessing in it, and I think there is a blessing through you for it. And I think at the end of the day, as God blesses that ministry through your generosity and your sacrifice, I don't think you'll regret it. I don't think I'll regret it. I think we'll say, lord, thank you that I was there.
[00:42:12] Thank you that I was there.
[00:42:16] Now when I think about all that Proverbs has to say, I think about this. I think about all the times I've been foolish and unwise.
[00:42:28] I think about, oh, yes, I know these things, and I miss them. And I stumble and I fall. And I sometimes feel the weight of my own foolishness.
[00:42:40] I think, man, the Lord has to tire of me.
[00:42:46] I love my kids so much.
[00:42:49] I'm ready for them to be back to school.
[00:42:53] I love. I do. I love them. Man, it was so great to spend a lot more time with them. I'M ready for school to start.
[00:43:01] School doesn't start yet for the Beeler family still, but there and what gets me. And I'm a sinner. Saved by grace. I know you're much. You parents are much better than me, but I cannot stand being asked questions 24, 7.
[00:43:17] I can't stand, you know, being a butler and servant all the time.
[00:43:26] I can only take it to a point, Church. I'm like. And I get to that point.
[00:43:32] And I bet at that point, now, don't ask me another thing.
[00:43:39] Ask your mom. No, just kidding.
[00:43:42] No, just. I don't. Just know. Figure it out. I just. I hit that limit. I am tired of you asking me anything, asking for help. The answer is no.
[00:43:54] Man, that felt so good to get that out. Thank you, Church, for this therapy session. Yeah.
[00:44:04] But there is a part of me in my soul that wonders, does God? Does God see me that way? He has every right to.
[00:44:12] He has every right and more to look at me and say, ever ask me for anything, Every right. But I am so reminded of the words of Jesus in John 6:33. He says, Everyone who comes to me, I will not cast out, does not get tired.
[00:44:37] And he doesn't get tired of you.
[00:44:42] That second part is hard to believe.
[00:44:45] He doesn't get tired, and he doesn't get tired of you.
[00:44:49] And every day and today, if we look and we're like, man, Lord, I've not been wise. I've stumbled and fought in a million ways. Well, then you go back and you ask him for help and you invite him into your life and you seek his wisdom and he won't cast you out because he is not like you and me. He is infinitely better.
[00:45:12] Let's go to him now. Father, thank you for the kindness of your grace.
[00:45:24] Thank you, Lord, that you said, if we come to you, you won't cast us out.
[00:45:31] And Lord, I come to you in the name of Jesus and ask for help.
[00:45:36] My brothers and sisters, we come to you in the name of Jesus and we ask for your loving kindness to be at work in our life.
[00:45:46] We come to you in the name of Jesus and we acknowledge, Lord, we can't do it. Apart from you, we can do nothing. And there's things in our life that are too big, that are too difficult, that are too challenging, that are too taxing, that are beyond us, but they're not beyond you. And we ask, and we invite your help and we thank you for the confidence that we have to do that. We pray this all in Jesus, great name. Amen.
