WEBVTT 00:00:05.419 --> 00:00:08.099 We're going to be in Proverbs chapter 3 again. 00:00:09.720 --> 00:00:11.960 We've been kind of bouncing around in Proverbs 00:00:11.960 --> 00:00:17.000 3 for the last couple of months. Proverbs 3, 00:00:17.120 --> 00:00:18.739 that's kind of toward the middle part of your 00:00:18.739 --> 00:00:24.320 Bible. Proverbs 3. We're going to start in verse 00:00:24.320 --> 00:00:27.280 13. We read this verse a couple of weeks ago. 00:00:27.339 --> 00:00:30.079 We're just going to kind of revisit it and read 00:00:30.079 --> 00:00:33.299 on through the next few verses. While y 'all 00:00:33.299 --> 00:00:35.899 are turning to that, one thing I forgot to mention 00:00:35.899 --> 00:00:37.859 yesterday about the church picnic was we need 00:00:37.859 --> 00:00:39.759 to make sure to give a special thanks to Peyton 00:00:39.759 --> 00:00:42.280 Rhodes. She's the one that's headed all that 00:00:42.280 --> 00:00:45.859 up for us yesterday. So y 'all make sure to thank 00:00:45.859 --> 00:00:47.799 her on your way out if you had a good time. And 00:00:47.799 --> 00:00:49.420 even if you didn't have a good time, still thank 00:00:49.420 --> 00:00:52.159 her because she still did all the work. So thank 00:00:52.159 --> 00:00:54.159 you for doing all that for us and getting that 00:00:54.159 --> 00:00:59.270 set up. All right, Proverbs chapter 3. Proverbs 00:00:59.270 --> 00:01:02.429 chapter 3, we looked at verses 13, 14, and 15 00:01:02.429 --> 00:01:06.109 a couple of weeks ago, and we talked about what 00:01:06.109 --> 00:01:09.650 it means to be happy, and part of happiness comes 00:01:09.650 --> 00:01:13.689 from wisdom, as we see in those verses. But then 00:01:13.689 --> 00:01:15.890 we trailed off and we looked at some other scriptures 00:01:15.890 --> 00:01:18.909 that talk about happy, things that make us happy, 00:01:18.989 --> 00:01:21.989 and what the world says makes us happy looks 00:01:21.989 --> 00:01:23.909 a little different than what scripture says will. 00:01:24.349 --> 00:01:27.230 bring happiness to our life. And so we're just 00:01:27.230 --> 00:01:29.829 going to continue on, not so much on the happiness 00:01:29.829 --> 00:01:32.730 side of it today, but talking a little more about 00:01:32.730 --> 00:01:36.030 wisdom. Not too much, but just a little bit. 00:01:36.069 --> 00:01:38.810 I was visiting one of our church members a few 00:01:38.810 --> 00:01:41.489 weeks ago, and conveniently they handed me a 00:01:41.489 --> 00:01:44.290 newspaper article and said, I thought you might 00:01:44.290 --> 00:01:47.329 like to read this article. And the article happened 00:01:47.329 --> 00:01:50.030 to be about how good it is when preachers preach 00:01:50.030 --> 00:01:55.189 short sermons. How convenient that they gave 00:01:55.189 --> 00:01:57.069 me that article to read. So maybe we'll have 00:01:57.069 --> 00:01:59.549 a short one today, but I won't make any promises. 00:01:59.829 --> 00:02:03.290 But let's pray, and then we'll dig into the Word. 00:02:04.349 --> 00:02:06.349 Dear Lord, we come to you. We thank you for being 00:02:06.349 --> 00:02:08.830 good to us. I thank you for all the smiling faces 00:02:08.830 --> 00:02:11.129 that are here. I thank you for loving us. I thank 00:02:11.129 --> 00:02:13.310 you that we just have the freedom and the privilege 00:02:13.310 --> 00:02:16.750 to come and to worship. And I thank you for all 00:02:16.750 --> 00:02:18.689 these beautiful people today. I pray that you 00:02:18.689 --> 00:02:21.689 bless them, dear Lord. Whatever we come in here 00:02:21.689 --> 00:02:23.750 with, God, maybe we come in here and things are 00:02:23.750 --> 00:02:26.370 going good and we're happy today. Or maybe for 00:02:26.370 --> 00:02:28.810 some we come in and we're tired or we're stressed 00:02:28.810 --> 00:02:31.810 or we're sick or whatever it may be, dear Lord. 00:02:32.710 --> 00:02:34.629 Whatever's going on, we're here today and we 00:02:34.629 --> 00:02:36.990 want to encounter you and grow in you. And I 00:02:36.990 --> 00:02:39.729 pray that something in these words that we read, 00:02:39.830 --> 00:02:42.349 God, these are your words. And that's where the 00:02:42.349 --> 00:02:44.310 strength's going to come from today. So I pray 00:02:44.310 --> 00:02:46.509 that you would take away any pride or fear that's 00:02:46.509 --> 00:02:49.080 within me that you just... Would allow your Holy 00:02:49.080 --> 00:02:52.599 Spirit to speak to us today and help us to seek 00:02:52.599 --> 00:02:54.800 wisdom and to live in wisdom and the peace that 00:02:54.800 --> 00:02:57.780 comes with that, God. And if there's foolishness 00:02:57.780 --> 00:03:00.000 in our life today, I pray that you help us to 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:02.740 see that and repent of that and seek to live 00:03:02.740 --> 00:03:05.400 according to your word and your will. And I ask 00:03:05.400 --> 00:03:09.960 these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Proverbs chapter 00:03:09.960 --> 00:03:16.030 3, verse 13. Happy is a man who finds wisdom 00:03:16.030 --> 00:03:19.210 and who acquires understanding. For she is more 00:03:19.210 --> 00:03:22.509 profitable than silver, and her revenue is better 00:03:22.509 --> 00:03:25.789 than gold. She is more precious than jewels. 00:03:25.949 --> 00:03:30.849 Nothing you desire compares with her. Now according 00:03:30.849 --> 00:03:34.610 to the proverb here, wisdom is something that 00:03:34.610 --> 00:03:38.569 is to be treasured among us. We should treasure 00:03:38.569 --> 00:03:41.710 wisdom above all things. It's more valuable than 00:03:41.710 --> 00:03:44.710 even some of the most valuable things that we 00:03:44.710 --> 00:03:47.210 have in this world, in gold or silver or jewelry 00:03:47.210 --> 00:03:51.409 or whatever it may be, or cars or homes or boats 00:03:51.409 --> 00:03:55.650 or you name it, whatever it may be. Proverbs 00:03:55.650 --> 00:03:59.090 tells us something very important here, and that 00:03:59.090 --> 00:04:03.650 is that we need to treasure wisdom in our life. 00:04:04.229 --> 00:04:07.500 The question you have to answer today is, It's 00:04:07.500 --> 00:04:11.860 how much do you value wisdom? Maybe you value 00:04:11.860 --> 00:04:15.379 wisdom a lot. If we value wisdom a lot, then 00:04:15.379 --> 00:04:17.819 it's going to be evident in the choices that 00:04:17.819 --> 00:04:22.459 we make. That's going to guide us to make wiser 00:04:22.459 --> 00:04:27.279 choices. If you don't value wisdom, then you're 00:04:27.279 --> 00:04:29.019 just going to continue making a lot of foolish 00:04:29.019 --> 00:04:32.500 choices. Now, it won't take us but a moment to 00:04:32.500 --> 00:04:35.680 sit and pause and look at our life. And you don't 00:04:35.680 --> 00:04:37.459 even have to go back very far. You don't have 00:04:37.459 --> 00:04:38.959 to go back to when you were a kid. Just look 00:04:38.959 --> 00:04:42.319 back at the last week of your life and ask yourself, 00:04:42.420 --> 00:04:45.540 how many wise decisions did I make and how many 00:04:45.540 --> 00:04:48.600 foolish decisions did I make? How many times 00:04:48.600 --> 00:04:51.860 did I know that what I was about to do or what 00:04:51.860 --> 00:04:54.620 I was about to say or what I was thinking is 00:04:54.620 --> 00:04:58.100 foolishness and yet I continued down that path? 00:04:58.420 --> 00:05:02.199 Well, when we do that, then... It's pretty obvious 00:05:02.199 --> 00:05:06.120 that maybe we don't value wisdom in the way we 00:05:06.120 --> 00:05:09.740 should, but the proverb here says that we need 00:05:09.740 --> 00:05:14.740 to really value wisdom and recognize its importance 00:05:14.740 --> 00:05:18.819 and its significance in our life. Continuing 00:05:18.819 --> 00:05:22.800 on, verse 16. Long life is in her right hand, 00:05:22.899 --> 00:05:27.000 in her left, riches and honor. Now, we often 00:05:27.000 --> 00:05:30.120 see proverbs make statements, and they're kind 00:05:30.120 --> 00:05:32.500 of a broad generalization. They're not absolute 00:05:32.500 --> 00:05:35.980 statements, that if you live a wise life, that 00:05:35.980 --> 00:05:39.639 you'll live a long time and you'll be rich, that 00:05:39.639 --> 00:05:42.600 everybody who always makes wise decisions or 00:05:42.600 --> 00:05:45.740 more wise decisions or not will always live long 00:05:45.740 --> 00:05:48.540 and will always prosper. Generally speaking, 00:05:48.720 --> 00:05:50.879 that's true. That may not always be the case, 00:05:50.980 --> 00:05:55.300 but more times than not, When we make the wise 00:05:55.300 --> 00:05:58.480 decisions in our life, we will see the benefits 00:05:58.480 --> 00:06:01.560 of that. If you go out doing a bunch of foolish 00:06:01.560 --> 00:06:05.040 stuff and climbing up mountains without any safety 00:06:05.040 --> 00:06:07.600 gear and all kinds of other dangerous things 00:06:07.600 --> 00:06:10.500 that some would consider foolish, then it's no 00:06:10.500 --> 00:06:15.199 real shock when someone dies young. But when 00:06:15.199 --> 00:06:18.120 we make wise decisions in the way that we eat, 00:06:18.199 --> 00:06:20.879 in the way that we exercise, If we don't take 00:06:20.879 --> 00:06:23.360 care of our body and we live foolishly and we 00:06:23.360 --> 00:06:26.540 put foolish things into our body and don't exercise, 00:06:27.019 --> 00:06:29.720 then it's no real shock that our health begins 00:06:29.720 --> 00:06:33.040 to decline or perhaps that we die young. But 00:06:33.040 --> 00:06:36.420 if we're wise with what we eat and how we live 00:06:36.420 --> 00:06:39.259 and how we exercise, then there's benefit to 00:06:39.259 --> 00:06:41.000 that wisdom. And I think that's what the proverb 00:06:41.000 --> 00:06:44.639 tells us is that there's benefit to wisdom. That 00:06:44.639 --> 00:06:47.699 if we're wise with our finances, if we're wise 00:06:47.699 --> 00:06:51.120 with how hard we work and how much we put into 00:06:51.120 --> 00:06:53.379 the things we do, that there's going to be some 00:06:53.379 --> 00:06:56.680 benefit to that. There's going to be far more 00:06:56.680 --> 00:06:59.319 benefit to working hard and taking what you have 00:06:59.319 --> 00:07:02.660 and maybe saving some of it or investing it wisely 00:07:02.660 --> 00:07:04.860 in some way, shape, or form. I'm not necessarily 00:07:04.860 --> 00:07:08.000 talking about the stock market, just in the things 00:07:08.000 --> 00:07:09.939 that you buy and the things that you do with 00:07:09.939 --> 00:07:13.170 your money. If you do wise things with your money, 00:07:13.230 --> 00:07:15.470 then you're probably going to see some benefit 00:07:15.470 --> 00:07:18.370 from that. If you work hard and you take what 00:07:18.370 --> 00:07:20.750 you have and you plant a garden and you grow 00:07:20.750 --> 00:07:23.230 those crops and you tend those crops and you 00:07:23.230 --> 00:07:25.810 stick some away so that you have food to eat 00:07:25.810 --> 00:07:30.110 in hard times, that's a wise thing to do. If 00:07:30.110 --> 00:07:31.970 you take all the money that you make and all 00:07:31.970 --> 00:07:34.670 the wealth that you have and you fly out to Vegas 00:07:34.670 --> 00:07:36.709 for the weekend and put it all on black, that's 00:07:36.709 --> 00:07:40.029 a foolish thing to do. And so the choices that 00:07:40.029 --> 00:07:42.850 we make with what we have are going to impact 00:07:42.850 --> 00:07:46.550 our life. Our wise choices are going to, more 00:07:46.550 --> 00:07:50.610 times than not, work out for our good. Our foolish 00:07:50.610 --> 00:07:52.670 times, more times than not, are going to work 00:07:52.670 --> 00:07:54.310 out for our bad. Now you're going to tell me, 00:07:54.350 --> 00:07:56.149 well, I know somebody that went and put it all 00:07:56.149 --> 00:07:58.269 on black and they won $10 million. Well, that's 00:07:58.269 --> 00:08:01.149 great. But do you know how many billions of people 00:08:01.149 --> 00:08:03.029 that have done that and lost their house and 00:08:03.029 --> 00:08:06.170 everything that they own? Because that's foolishness. 00:08:06.939 --> 00:08:10.519 So sometimes bad things happen to the wise, and 00:08:10.519 --> 00:08:12.519 sometimes good things happen to the foolish. 00:08:12.560 --> 00:08:16.500 But more times than not, as the proverb would 00:08:16.500 --> 00:08:19.860 tell us, that there's blessing that comes from 00:08:19.860 --> 00:08:22.500 the wise choices. There's blessing that comes 00:08:22.500 --> 00:08:25.420 in our life and how we live, both physically 00:08:25.420 --> 00:08:28.399 and materialistically, and how we're taken care 00:08:28.399 --> 00:08:33.419 of when we make wiser choices. Continuing on, 00:08:33.500 --> 00:08:37.429 verse 17. Her ways are pleasant. and all her 00:08:37.429 --> 00:08:41.389 path is peaceful. She is a tree of life to those 00:08:41.389 --> 00:08:44.509 who embrace her, and those who hold on to her 00:08:44.509 --> 00:08:48.789 are happy. Now listen to those words. These are 00:08:48.789 --> 00:08:52.289 the things that accompany wisdom. Now you may 00:08:52.289 --> 00:08:54.289 have a few different words in your translations, 00:08:54.330 --> 00:08:57.070 but we get the idea. Listen to what it says here. 00:08:57.570 --> 00:09:00.870 Pleasant, peaceful, brings life, brings happiness. 00:09:01.750 --> 00:09:05.159 Well, that sounds pretty good. Does anybody in 00:09:05.159 --> 00:09:07.500 there want their life to be less pleasant, less 00:09:07.500 --> 00:09:10.080 peaceful, a life that's shortened, and a life 00:09:10.080 --> 00:09:13.019 that's unhappy? Does anybody want that? If you 00:09:13.019 --> 00:09:15.000 do, don't raise your hand. Please don't raise 00:09:15.000 --> 00:09:19.139 your hand. Just talk to me after church. I don't 00:09:19.139 --> 00:09:21.740 think anybody wants that. We all want a life 00:09:21.740 --> 00:09:26.320 that is peaceful. We all want a life that's pleasant. 00:09:26.860 --> 00:09:30.500 We all want a life that brings happiness. We 00:09:30.500 --> 00:09:33.620 want to be full of life. You ever seen somebody 00:09:33.620 --> 00:09:37.220 before and they're just so full of life and it 00:09:37.220 --> 00:09:38.820 just makes you mad because you're like, man, 00:09:38.940 --> 00:09:41.539 they're always just so happy. They must not have 00:09:41.539 --> 00:09:43.059 to go through what I have to go through. I got 00:09:43.059 --> 00:09:44.460 all this stress, this, that, and the other. We 00:09:44.460 --> 00:09:46.980 just feel angry and tense sometimes and we see 00:09:46.980 --> 00:09:48.700 people that are happy and sometimes we just get 00:09:48.700 --> 00:09:53.659 aggravated. Maybe they're full of life because 00:09:53.659 --> 00:09:56.879 maybe they're living in wisdom. Maybe we don't 00:09:56.879 --> 00:09:59.039 have the peace in our life and our life's not 00:09:59.039 --> 00:10:01.620 as pleasant. And we're not as full of life and 00:10:01.620 --> 00:10:05.059 we're not as happy in our life because we're 00:10:05.059 --> 00:10:09.000 making foolish choices. Now, I can tell you this 00:10:09.000 --> 00:10:10.740 from my experience, and some of you know from 00:10:10.740 --> 00:10:13.519 your experience, but, man, you feel bad when 00:10:13.519 --> 00:10:16.100 you make foolish choices. There's no peace in 00:10:16.100 --> 00:10:19.059 that. There's no joy in that. There's nothing 00:10:19.059 --> 00:10:22.240 good about that. Even when on the surface things 00:10:22.240 --> 00:10:24.840 may look good, you may make a foolish decision, 00:10:25.019 --> 00:10:28.059 and it may seem good, but it leaves you feeling 00:10:28.059 --> 00:10:31.700 bad. On the inside. And the same is true even 00:10:31.700 --> 00:10:33.960 though it may be opposite for wisdom. Sometimes 00:10:33.960 --> 00:10:37.980 you make the wise choice and it may even come 00:10:37.980 --> 00:10:41.659 with some bad consequences or may even not look 00:10:41.659 --> 00:10:44.399 good. It may even make life harder for you when 00:10:44.399 --> 00:10:47.139 you make the wise choice. But there's something 00:10:47.139 --> 00:10:50.679 about that wisdom that brings about a peace in 00:10:50.679 --> 00:10:54.320 you. And that's a beautiful thing. That's a beautiful 00:10:54.320 --> 00:10:57.519 thing when we seek wisdom and live by it. Are 00:10:57.519 --> 00:11:00.820 we doing that in our life? If you want your life 00:11:00.820 --> 00:11:03.399 to be pleasant and peaceful, if you want to be 00:11:03.399 --> 00:11:05.240 full of life and you want to find happiness, 00:11:05.299 --> 00:11:09.379 well, the proverb says that comes through wisdom. 00:11:10.059 --> 00:11:13.620 Let's continue on a little further. Verse 19. 00:11:14.559 --> 00:11:17.379 The Lord founded the earth by wisdom and established 00:11:17.379 --> 00:11:20.940 the heavens by understanding. By his knowledge, 00:11:21.080 --> 00:11:23.950 the watery depths broke open, and the crowds 00:11:23.950 --> 00:11:28.809 dripped with dew. Isn't that a beautiful thing 00:11:28.809 --> 00:11:31.529 just to kind of throw in here? If I were to say 00:11:31.529 --> 00:11:34.210 what did God create the earth by or what was 00:11:34.210 --> 00:11:37.730 it established by, you might say by strength 00:11:37.730 --> 00:11:40.789 and by power and by might. But what does the 00:11:40.789 --> 00:11:42.909 Proverbs say here? It says the earth was founded 00:11:42.909 --> 00:11:48.629 by wisdom, the heavens by understanding. God 00:11:48.629 --> 00:11:52.120 created our earth and the heavens. By wisdom 00:11:52.120 --> 00:11:55.120 and understanding. By his knowledge he brought 00:11:55.120 --> 00:11:58.480 these things about. That shows us the power of 00:11:58.480 --> 00:12:01.919 wisdom and understanding. Is that there's enough 00:12:01.919 --> 00:12:05.120 power that this is what God used to establish 00:12:05.120 --> 00:12:08.159 the very earth that we live on. The very heaven 00:12:08.159 --> 00:12:11.700 that he resides in. God established those things 00:12:11.700 --> 00:12:15.120 by wisdom and understanding. There's great wisdom 00:12:15.120 --> 00:12:18.720 and understanding. Great power and wisdom and 00:12:18.720 --> 00:12:22.289 understanding for you and I. Are we tapping into 00:12:22.289 --> 00:12:24.669 that power? There's great peace and wisdom and 00:12:24.669 --> 00:12:28.649 understanding. Are we those who are making wise 00:12:28.649 --> 00:12:32.370 decisions? Are we those who are making foolish 00:12:32.370 --> 00:12:34.549 decisions? I can tell you there's not much power 00:12:34.549 --> 00:12:37.669 in foolishness. There's a lot of pain in it. 00:12:38.409 --> 00:12:41.230 And a lot of us have felt that pain. There's 00:12:41.230 --> 00:12:46.629 a lot of power in wisdom. Verse 21. Maintain 00:12:46.629 --> 00:12:49.389 your competence and discretion. My son, don't 00:12:49.389 --> 00:12:52.529 lose sight of them. They will be life for you 00:12:52.529 --> 00:12:56.570 and adornment for your neck. Competence, discretion, 00:12:56.950 --> 00:12:59.830 common sense, some of your translations may say. 00:12:59.889 --> 00:13:04.750 Sound judgment. Are we doing that with the decisions 00:13:04.750 --> 00:13:07.549 that we make? Are we making sound decisions? 00:13:08.450 --> 00:13:12.529 Are we using common sense? Do we have discretion 00:13:12.529 --> 00:13:17.370 in our decisions that we make? It's a good question 00:13:17.370 --> 00:13:22.320 for us to ask. Sometimes we don't use sound judgment. 00:13:22.440 --> 00:13:24.659 Sometimes we don't use common sense. Sometimes 00:13:24.659 --> 00:13:27.879 we just are a fool doing foolish things and that's 00:13:27.879 --> 00:13:32.320 not good. Sometimes in life we spend days, weeks, 00:13:32.480 --> 00:13:35.480 months, years of our life just being a fool doing 00:13:35.480 --> 00:13:40.019 foolish things. And where does that get us? If 00:13:40.019 --> 00:13:42.600 you keep doing foolish things and you keep getting 00:13:42.600 --> 00:13:44.399 the same results and you say I want different 00:13:44.399 --> 00:13:46.500 results then you have to quit doing foolish things. 00:13:47.980 --> 00:13:50.220 Now the foolish things sometimes seem really 00:13:50.220 --> 00:13:54.059 fun. They look really good. They really draw 00:13:54.059 --> 00:13:59.200 us in. But we want better results in our life, 00:13:59.220 --> 00:14:01.100 and we have to realize that better results are 00:14:01.100 --> 00:14:02.659 not going to come through foolishness. They're 00:14:02.659 --> 00:14:04.940 going to come through wisdom. They're going to 00:14:04.940 --> 00:14:06.820 come through the wisdom of Jesus Christ. They're 00:14:06.820 --> 00:14:08.559 going to come through the wisdom of God's Word. 00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:13.700 And you might be amazed that if all of a sudden 00:14:13.700 --> 00:14:15.759 you stop and think about the decision you're 00:14:15.759 --> 00:14:18.529 about to make, And if there's something in you 00:14:18.529 --> 00:14:22.750 that says, maybe this isn't a good idea, maybe 00:14:22.750 --> 00:14:27.590 just taking 30 seconds to pause and ask yourself, 00:14:27.690 --> 00:14:31.690 is this a good idea? You might save yourself 00:14:31.690 --> 00:14:34.730 a lot of pain. Because in the moment you give 00:14:34.730 --> 00:14:36.789 in to the idea and it may feel good, but man, 00:14:36.889 --> 00:14:38.490 you've got to live with that. You've got to live 00:14:38.490 --> 00:14:41.879 with that. There's no peace in that. But wisdom 00:14:41.879 --> 00:14:43.840 may be saying no to something you want to say 00:14:43.840 --> 00:14:45.679 yes to, but I'll tell you what, you'll leave 00:14:45.679 --> 00:14:48.639 feeling a whole lot better making the wise choice 00:14:48.639 --> 00:14:50.679 than the foolish choice. And too many times for 00:14:50.679 --> 00:14:53.659 all of us, Lord knows I've done it way more times 00:14:53.659 --> 00:14:55.759 than I care to admit, I've made the foolish decision. 00:14:57.379 --> 00:14:59.240 But I can tell you there's no peace that comes 00:14:59.240 --> 00:15:02.440 with that. There's a lot of peace and happiness 00:15:02.440 --> 00:15:07.240 that comes from making the wise choice. Verse 00:15:07.240 --> 00:15:11.049 23. Then you will go safely on your way. Your 00:15:11.049 --> 00:15:14.690 foot will not stumble. When you lie down, you 00:15:14.690 --> 00:15:17.649 will not be afraid. You will lie down and your 00:15:17.649 --> 00:15:22.450 sleep will be pleasant. Isn't that a beautiful, 00:15:22.669 --> 00:15:26.870 beautiful thing? That when we seek wisdom, when 00:15:26.870 --> 00:15:31.000 we really seek wisdom and understanding. then 00:15:31.000 --> 00:15:32.799 that's going to lead us on paths that are going 00:15:32.799 --> 00:15:35.200 to be smooth. We won't fear wherever our path 00:15:35.200 --> 00:15:37.799 takes us, smooth or rough. We're not going to 00:15:37.799 --> 00:15:43.440 fear what comes before us. And when we lie down 00:15:43.440 --> 00:15:48.799 and sleep, our sleep will be pleasant. Now I'm 00:15:48.799 --> 00:15:50.600 going to tell you what, there is nothing worse 00:15:50.600 --> 00:15:52.779 than a bad night's sleep. When you toss and you 00:15:52.779 --> 00:15:55.720 turn and your sleep is unpleasant, that is not 00:15:55.720 --> 00:15:59.929 good. But there is nothing better than a... that 00:15:59.929 --> 00:16:02.970 a good night's sleep where you sleep is pleasant. 00:16:03.190 --> 00:16:07.350 You wake up, you feel rested. That's a good feeling. 00:16:08.169 --> 00:16:11.149 Proverbs says that that comes from wisdom. Maybe 00:16:11.149 --> 00:16:13.210 the reason why we're not sleeping good at night 00:16:13.210 --> 00:16:16.169 is because we're living too much in our foolishness. 00:16:16.190 --> 00:16:18.190 We're trusting too much in ourselves and what 00:16:18.190 --> 00:16:22.509 we desire. We might find that our choices that 00:16:22.509 --> 00:16:25.610 we make that are based on wisdom may have some 00:16:25.610 --> 00:16:28.389 tangible physical effect on how we sleep at night. 00:16:28.879 --> 00:16:31.179 How we sleep at night may have an effect on how 00:16:31.179 --> 00:16:34.379 we live the next day. Some of you are saying, 00:16:34.460 --> 00:16:36.620 man, I haven't had a good night's sleep in years. 00:16:36.860 --> 00:16:41.379 I love a good night's sleep. Well, maybe some 00:16:41.379 --> 00:16:43.679 of the reason why we don't sleep good is because 00:16:43.679 --> 00:16:48.860 of our foolishness. Maybe when we stop our foolishness, 00:16:48.960 --> 00:16:51.940 we start making wise decisions. It brings about 00:16:51.940 --> 00:16:56.059 a peace within us, a peace that follows us right 00:16:56.059 --> 00:16:59.480 to our head laying on that pillow. It's a lot 00:16:59.480 --> 00:17:01.740 easier to lay in bed at night with your head 00:17:01.740 --> 00:17:04.160 on a pillow, knowing that you did everything 00:17:04.160 --> 00:17:06.339 you could to make the right decisions and to 00:17:06.339 --> 00:17:08.839 treat people right and to make wise decisions, 00:17:09.000 --> 00:17:13.180 and you can feel good about that. And that leads 00:17:13.180 --> 00:17:15.359 to a good night's sleep, Proverbs says. You'll 00:17:15.359 --> 00:17:19.400 sleep peacefully. You'll sleep, and it will be 00:17:19.400 --> 00:17:25.059 pleasant. Verse 25. Don't fear sudden danger 00:17:25.059 --> 00:17:27.759 or the ruin of the wicked when it comes. For 00:17:27.759 --> 00:17:30.700 the Lord will be your confidence and will keep 00:17:30.700 --> 00:17:35.000 your foot from a snare. All right, so we have 00:17:35.000 --> 00:17:36.920 stuff that we're up against that's scary sometimes. 00:17:37.380 --> 00:17:39.220 But what does the Proverbs say? It says, look, 00:17:39.319 --> 00:17:42.019 you don't have to fear that. You won't fear that 00:17:42.019 --> 00:17:44.839 if the Lord's your confidence. And if you're 00:17:44.839 --> 00:17:47.420 living in wisdom and understanding and you're 00:17:47.420 --> 00:17:50.519 seeking God, then the things that come before 00:17:50.519 --> 00:17:53.109 you... You won't fear those things. You won't 00:17:53.109 --> 00:17:55.410 cave. You won't crumble under the weight of those 00:17:55.410 --> 00:18:00.970 things because the Lord is your confidence. So 00:18:00.970 --> 00:18:04.509 what about us today? Is the Lord our confidence? 00:18:05.950 --> 00:18:08.410 Sometimes we trust in our own strength and our 00:18:08.410 --> 00:18:12.109 own ability. And when we do that, guess what? 00:18:12.269 --> 00:18:14.930 When the dangers come, when the hard time comes, 00:18:14.970 --> 00:18:18.109 we do crumble. Because we can't bear the weight 00:18:18.109 --> 00:18:20.470 of all of our struggle and all of our pain and 00:18:20.470 --> 00:18:22.970 all of our sickness and all of our sin and all 00:18:22.970 --> 00:18:25.069 of the junk that goes on in our family and that 00:18:25.069 --> 00:18:27.170 goes on in our school and that goes on at our 00:18:27.170 --> 00:18:29.930 job. We can't even begin to bear the burden of 00:18:29.930 --> 00:18:33.650 that. We just, we crumble. And when we're not 00:18:33.650 --> 00:18:36.329 living in wisdom and we're not seeking God and 00:18:36.329 --> 00:18:39.750 we're not relying on His understanding, then 00:18:39.750 --> 00:18:43.630 man, it's hard to make it through a day. But 00:18:43.630 --> 00:18:45.690 when we begin to seek wisdom and we begin to 00:18:45.690 --> 00:18:49.029 seek the understanding of God, it brings about 00:18:49.029 --> 00:18:51.970 a confidence in us. God becomes our confidence. 00:18:52.730 --> 00:18:55.529 We begin to think, you know what? I serve a God 00:18:55.529 --> 00:18:59.009 who is powerful, who is mighty, who is with me, 00:18:59.130 --> 00:19:01.470 and he doesn't promise me that everything is 00:19:01.470 --> 00:19:04.049 always going to be easy, but he promises that 00:19:04.049 --> 00:19:06.410 he'll always be with me through everything that 00:19:06.410 --> 00:19:10.049 I do. And once we begin to seek God and we begin 00:19:10.049 --> 00:19:12.329 to seek his wisdom and we begin to live in that 00:19:12.329 --> 00:19:15.910 and begin to experience that peace that it brings 00:19:15.910 --> 00:19:19.170 and we begin to experience the power of wisdom 00:19:19.170 --> 00:19:22.049 and the freedom that comes through making the 00:19:22.049 --> 00:19:24.809 right decisions that we can finish our day and 00:19:24.809 --> 00:19:27.750 lay our head on the pillow and say, God, I can 00:19:27.750 --> 00:19:30.390 sleep peacefully tonight because I know I did 00:19:30.390 --> 00:19:33.109 everything I could today to try to live according 00:19:33.109 --> 00:19:35.910 to your will. and to try to follow what you say 00:19:35.910 --> 00:19:37.970 and to try to make wise decisions and to try 00:19:37.970 --> 00:19:41.349 to do right by you and to try to do right by 00:19:41.349 --> 00:19:44.190 others. And the more we live in that wisdom, 00:19:44.289 --> 00:19:46.470 the more we experience that peace, the more we 00:19:46.470 --> 00:19:49.430 see the power of God, the more that our confidence 00:19:49.430 --> 00:19:53.210 is not in the things of the world, it's not in 00:19:53.210 --> 00:19:56.269 our own power. If your confidence is in the things 00:19:56.269 --> 00:19:58.849 of the world, then you will never sleep peacefully 00:19:58.849 --> 00:20:01.599 at night. If your confidence is in how much money 00:20:01.599 --> 00:20:03.460 you got in the stock market, bless your heart, 00:20:03.539 --> 00:20:05.619 you're in big trouble. Man, you'll drive yourself 00:20:05.619 --> 00:20:07.759 crazy watching that little graph go up and down 00:20:07.759 --> 00:20:11.079 every day. If your confidence is based on something 00:20:11.079 --> 00:20:13.519 of the world, if your confidence is based in 00:20:13.519 --> 00:20:16.000 your job, if your confidence is based in your 00:20:16.000 --> 00:20:19.000 popularity, then your confidence will fall and 00:20:19.000 --> 00:20:22.900 you will be shattered. Because when hard times 00:20:22.900 --> 00:20:27.880 hit, man, where's your strength? But if our confidence 00:20:27.880 --> 00:20:31.609 is in God, That no matter what comes before us, 00:20:31.690 --> 00:20:34.829 we'll have the ability through God's power and 00:20:34.829 --> 00:20:39.089 through God's wisdom to overcome what's before 00:20:39.089 --> 00:20:43.950 us. So what about you today? What kind of decisions 00:20:43.950 --> 00:20:47.250 are you making? Are you making wise decisions 00:20:47.250 --> 00:20:50.549 or foolish decisions? We have decisions before 00:20:50.549 --> 00:20:52.970 us every day. Some of them real serious, maybe 00:20:52.970 --> 00:20:55.369 some of them less significant, but we have decisions 00:20:55.369 --> 00:20:57.250 every day as to whether or not we're going to 00:20:57.250 --> 00:21:00.440 do the wise thing or the foolish thing. I remember 00:21:00.440 --> 00:21:03.920 when I was a teenager, it was me and one of my 00:21:03.920 --> 00:21:06.940 buddies. We were going to race to my house one 00:21:06.940 --> 00:21:10.299 day, and so we raced all the way seven miles 00:21:10.299 --> 00:21:13.240 up the road we lived up as fast as we could go, 00:21:13.279 --> 00:21:14.980 which thankfully our trucks weren't that fast, 00:21:15.059 --> 00:21:17.019 but we had them pegged out. I tried my best to 00:21:17.019 --> 00:21:19.039 pass him all the way up there and never could 00:21:19.039 --> 00:21:22.400 pass him, but I decided that I didn't want to 00:21:22.400 --> 00:21:26.559 get to the house last, and so the right thing 00:21:26.559 --> 00:21:29.450 to do would be Something he wouldn't expect. 00:21:30.029 --> 00:21:32.750 That when he slowed down to turn into my driveway, 00:21:32.930 --> 00:21:36.329 I would just cut the corner of the driveway and 00:21:36.329 --> 00:21:39.549 pull in in front of him. That seemed like a good 00:21:39.549 --> 00:21:43.329 thing to do at the time. But the result was that 00:21:43.329 --> 00:21:45.549 instead of passing him, I slid right into the 00:21:45.549 --> 00:21:48.730 side of his truck and T -boned him. Now that 00:21:48.730 --> 00:21:52.990 was foolishness. That was foolishness. I should 00:21:52.990 --> 00:21:55.650 have knew better than that. And it ended up costing 00:21:55.650 --> 00:21:58.819 me, thankfully, just $600. But there's a cost 00:21:58.819 --> 00:22:01.900 to our foolishness. There's foolish opportunities 00:22:01.900 --> 00:22:06.920 before us every day. Are we going to do the foolish 00:22:06.920 --> 00:22:09.960 thing or are we going to do the wise thing? In 00:22:09.960 --> 00:22:12.180 that split second, we have to make that decision 00:22:12.180 --> 00:22:14.859 of what we're going to do. We have to say, God, 00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:17.500 what do you desire for me to do? Is this good 00:22:17.500 --> 00:22:20.539 for me? It's not. Is this just what I want to 00:22:20.539 --> 00:22:23.190 do, God, or is this what you want me to do? God, 00:22:23.250 --> 00:22:25.190 if I do what I want to do, I'm going to get what 00:22:25.190 --> 00:22:26.849 I want to get, and it's going to make me happy 00:22:26.849 --> 00:22:30.710 for a moment. And God, I know that's foolishness. 00:22:31.309 --> 00:22:34.569 And I know that if I do the wise thing, it may 00:22:34.569 --> 00:22:36.769 mean that I keep my mouth shut. It may mean that 00:22:36.769 --> 00:22:39.910 I don't get this thing that I want. It may mean 00:22:39.910 --> 00:22:42.289 a million different things. But God, I want to 00:22:42.289 --> 00:22:44.369 do what's wise. I don't want to do what's foolish. 00:22:45.869 --> 00:22:48.809 Foolishness feels good in the moment, but the 00:22:48.809 --> 00:22:52.809 wisdom will feel good for eternity. Now the scripture 00:22:52.809 --> 00:22:56.829 says that wisdom is Jesus Christ. Now to the 00:22:56.829 --> 00:23:00.130 world that looks like foolishness. But we can't 00:23:00.130 --> 00:23:04.410 even begin to seek wisdom today if we don't seek 00:23:04.410 --> 00:23:07.029 Jesus Christ. You can't seek wisdom today if 00:23:07.029 --> 00:23:09.809 you don't seek the cross of Jesus Christ crucified 00:23:09.809 --> 00:23:13.549 and resurrected. That's a message that's not 00:23:13.549 --> 00:23:17.509 popular in our world today. It's a message that 00:23:17.509 --> 00:23:19.950 a lot of people will say, that's foolishness. 00:23:21.579 --> 00:23:24.259 It's foolishness, they'll say. Now this is the 00:23:24.259 --> 00:23:26.400 same world that will tell you a whole bunch of 00:23:26.400 --> 00:23:28.059 other junk. They'll tell you that men can be 00:23:28.059 --> 00:23:30.859 women and women can be men. But then they'll 00:23:30.859 --> 00:23:32.460 turn around and tell you that the cross of Jesus 00:23:32.460 --> 00:23:36.019 Christ is foolishness. You tell me what's wisdom 00:23:36.019 --> 00:23:39.420 and what's foolishness. We know what's wise and 00:23:39.420 --> 00:23:42.799 what's foolish. Even the youngest of us have 00:23:42.799 --> 00:23:45.339 had those decisions to make and have made those 00:23:45.339 --> 00:23:47.440 foolish decisions and have made wise decisions. 00:23:48.220 --> 00:23:50.180 We know the pain of the foolishness. We know 00:23:50.180 --> 00:23:54.420 the peace of the wisdom. Wisdom comes through 00:23:54.420 --> 00:23:56.839 Jesus Christ that we would seek Him. That we 00:23:56.839 --> 00:23:59.000 would say, okay, I'm going to stop my sinfulness, 00:23:59.079 --> 00:24:01.220 God. I'm going to repent. I no longer desire 00:24:01.220 --> 00:24:04.140 to sin. Yeah, those days will come that maybe 00:24:04.140 --> 00:24:07.160 we will fail. But our heart doesn't need to be 00:24:07.160 --> 00:24:09.539 a heart that's focused on foolishness and sinfulness. 00:24:09.579 --> 00:24:12.440 And we need to seek Jesus Christ that our sins 00:24:12.440 --> 00:24:14.119 would be forgiven. That if we would just repent 00:24:14.119 --> 00:24:18.559 today, He would forgive us. That's wisdom. And 00:24:18.559 --> 00:24:21.440 once we're established in that wisdom, then that 00:24:21.440 --> 00:24:23.579 will be what guides us as we continue to read 00:24:23.579 --> 00:24:25.519 the Word of God, as we continue to seek God, 00:24:25.579 --> 00:24:28.240 as the Holy Spirit begins to work in our life. 00:24:28.259 --> 00:24:30.980 That comes through the wisdom of the cross of 00:24:30.980 --> 00:24:34.400 Jesus Christ. Have you experienced that wisdom 00:24:34.400 --> 00:24:37.099 today? I hope you have. If you've experienced 00:24:37.099 --> 00:24:39.039 that wisdom today, then we need to make wise 00:24:39.039 --> 00:24:42.400 decisions. If you hadn't experienced that wisdom 00:24:42.400 --> 00:24:45.759 today, I pray that you'd seek the wisdom of Jesus 00:24:45.759 --> 00:24:49.150 Christ this morning. Let's pray. God, we come 00:24:49.150 --> 00:24:52.029 to you. We thank you for your good word. Dear 00:24:52.029 --> 00:24:54.089 Lord, I pray that you would help us to seek you, 00:24:54.170 --> 00:24:57.710 that you would help us to not live in our foolishness. 00:24:57.710 --> 00:25:00.009 God, there's probably more foolishness in our 00:25:00.009 --> 00:25:02.670 life than we care to admit. We've probably done 00:25:02.670 --> 00:25:05.470 and said things that we regret and we're not 00:25:05.470 --> 00:25:07.809 proud of. But God, I pray that you would just 00:25:07.809 --> 00:25:09.630 forgive us of those things that we've come to 00:25:09.630 --> 00:25:12.630 you today, that whatever foolishness we have, 00:25:12.730 --> 00:25:15.299 we would repent. I pray, dear Lord, that you 00:25:15.299 --> 00:25:18.259 would just help us to seek wisdom instead, that 00:25:18.259 --> 00:25:20.019 we wouldn't live according to those things, but 00:25:20.019 --> 00:25:22.940 we'd live according to your will, that we would 00:25:22.940 --> 00:25:24.819 live according to the wisdom of Jesus Christ, 00:25:24.960 --> 00:25:27.980 crucified and resurrected. So, God, I pray that 00:25:27.980 --> 00:25:29.859 you just would help anybody today that's struggling 00:25:29.859 --> 00:25:31.579 with their foolishness, that they would repent, 00:25:31.839 --> 00:25:35.900 that they would find what is pleasant, dear Lord, 00:25:36.000 --> 00:25:38.700 and that comes from wisdom, that they would find 00:25:38.700 --> 00:25:42.099 peace and be full of life and be full of happiness, 00:25:42.160 --> 00:25:44.880 dear Lord. They would know that wisdom brings 00:25:44.880 --> 00:25:46.539 that and that they would seek that this morning. 00:25:46.680 --> 00:25:49.619 And I ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.