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372 | Conversations - Proverbs 17: Walking in Wisdom · The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast

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  Music.
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  Hello, friends, and welcome back to another podcast of Woman at the Well Ministries,
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  where we believe that all of us have to come to Jesus like the woman at the well in John chapter 4.
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  Our highest priority is making God real in your life.
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  Whether you are listening in our app, in your favorite podcasting app,
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  or on our website at watwm.org,
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  we invite you to sit down with us as we look to the scriptures to learn more
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  about God and to strengthen your daily walk with Jesus Christ.
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  Living a life for Christ, she's a happy girl.
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  Music.
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  She's a happy girl.
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  In this episode of the Woman at the Well Ministries podcast,
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  join Kim Miller and Erica Close in a conversation as we walk with Jesus.
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  In today's conversation, we continue a series on the book of Proverbs.
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  In today's podcast, we discuss the lessons learned in Proverbs chapter Chapter 17.
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  Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining us in this podcast.
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  I am Erica Close, and I'm here with Kimberly Miller.
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  Hello, and thank you for joining us in this podcast in Proverbs chapter 17.
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  We're excited that you've joined us today. And when we're looking at Proverbs
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  chapter 17, we notice three big themes throughout that chapter.
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  The first is how our view of who God is completely determines our actions in this life.
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  There's a whole section, a whole theme on guarding our words.
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  And then lastly, a theme of inviting problems into our own lives.
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  So we're going to jump into Proverbs chapter 17 and read it through in its entirety,
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  and then take a look at these three themes.
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  Better is a dry morsel and quietness therewith than a house full of sacrifices with strife.
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  A wise servant shall have rule over a son that causes shame,
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  and shall have part of the inheritance among the brethren.
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  The fining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold, but the Lord trieth the hearts.
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  A wicked doer giveth heed to false lips, and a liar giveth ear to a naughty tongue.
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  Whoso mocketh the poor reproaches his maker, and he that is glad at calamity
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  shall not be unpunished.
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  Children's children are the crown of old men, and the glory of children are their fathers.
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  Excellent speech becometh not a fool, much less do lying lips a prince.
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  A gift is as a precious stone in the eyes of him that hath it,
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  whithersoever it turneth, it prospereth.
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  He that covereth a transgression seeketh love, but he that repeateth a matter
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  separateth very friends.
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  A reproof entereth more into a wise man than a hundred stripes into a fool.
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  An evil man seeketh only rebellion, therefore a cruel messenger shall be sent against him.
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  Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man, rather than a fool in his folly,
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  Whoso rewardeth evil for good, evil shall not depart from his house.
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  The beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water, therefore leave off
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  contention before it be meddled with.
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  He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just.
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  Even they both are an abomination to the Lord. Wherefore is there a price in
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  the hand of a fool to get wisdom, seeing he hath no heart to it?
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  A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.
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  A man void of understanding striketh hands and becometh surety in the presence of his friend.
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  He loveth transgression that loveth strife, and he that exalteth his gate seeketh destruction.
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  He that hath a froward heart findeth no good, and he that hath a perverse tongue falleth into mischief.
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  He that begetteth a fool doeth it to his sorrow, and the father of a fool hath no joy.
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  A merry heart doeth good like a medicine, but a broken spirit dryeth the bones.
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  A wicked man taketh a gift out of the bosom to pervert the ways of judgment.
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  Wisdom is before him that hath understanding, but the eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth.
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  A foolish son is a grief to his father, and bitterness to her that bear him.
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  Also, to punish the just is not good, nor to strike princes for equity.
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  He that hath knowledge spareth his words, and a man of understanding is of an excellent spirit.
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  Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise, and he that shutteth
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  his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.
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  What an incredible chapter of scripture we have read in all of our hearing.
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  I believe that the Lord has much to say to us, and I believe he has much to
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  give us when we read his word.
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  But no more quickly is that seen in my mind than in the book of Proverbs because
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  it tells us how we are to behave.
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  It tells us how we are to act and it's very practical. It's really practical.
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  And one of the themes that we find in this chapter that is very practical and
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  also I think very convicting is that it lets us know that how we view God determines our actions.
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  And when we really look at how we're living, what we're really doing with our
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  lives is saying who we think God is.
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  There's a whole bunch of verses in this proverb that really hit that point.
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  You know, before we start on these verses, I think that if you just take a moment
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  to think, you'll see because you speak out of the abundance of your heart,
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  your actions follow your speech most of the time, and however you're thinking
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  is whatever you're doing.
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  And so it's easy to see that what we think about God totally molds our actions.
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  If you believe that he is God and he's all-powerful and he's omnipotent and he's omniscient,
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  then you trust him more. And if you truly believe that he has rules and policies
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  set so that we have the abundant life that he's promised us in John 10, 10.
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  Then when you read his word, you know not to do the things he says don't do.
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  And if you believe he means what he says, then when you look at John 14,
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  15, that says, if you love me, keep my commandments, then you know you're going
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  to keep his commandments.
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  So every piece of that topic in Proverbs chapter 17 is vital to our relationship
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  with Jesus and our witness to the world. Absolutely.
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  One of the verses in Proverbs chapter 17 that really jumps out at me when we're
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  looking at this idea is that of verse 5, which says, Whoso mocketh the poor
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  reproacheth his maker, and he that is glad at calamity shall not be unpunished.
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  That phrase reproaches his maker.
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  I would never want to do something where I was bringing reproach against the one who created me.
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  But this verse clearly says that when we mock the poor, we reproach his maker.
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  When we're mocking someone, we're reproaching the one who made that someone and the one who made us.
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  And when we look at a verses, just a couple verses before in verse 3,
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  where he talks about the fining pod is for silver and the furnace is for gold.
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  He's talking about how everything in this world has a process for refining it.
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  And, you know, our most precious metals and substances that we have are silver
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  and gold, some of them, and we refine those to make them pure.
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  But he says, we don't need that to.
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  And in that verse alone, he's telling us that the central point of who we are stems from our heart.
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  And that's not our beating heart. That's the heart of our soul.
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  That's the heart of who we are.
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  It's like our will. It's our will. It's our spirit.
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  And when he says, he trieth our hearts, we know that the scripture says,
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  and I alluded to it a little earlier, that out of the abundance of the heart, man speaks.
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  And so as we have the Lord walk through our heart, as the psalmist David told
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  us in Psalms 139, searching us to remove that which doesn't belong,
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  then our heart becomes refined.
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  And when we are in alignment with God's will for our life, Katie,
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  bar the door. You can't be stopped.
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  I love that because our will, when our will is in alignment with God and our
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  heart is in alignment with God, we're going to do the right thing and we're
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  going to, our life, the life we live for Jesus will just flow out of us.
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  Another verse that refers to this idea of the heart is verse 16.
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  Wherefore is there a price in the hand of a fool to get wisdom.
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  Seeing he hath no heart to it?
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  We need a heart for wisdom. Amen. Hallelujah.
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  We need a will to want to be wise, to want to know more of God,
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  to know more of his scripture.
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  That has to come from our want-tos.
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  That can't be because someone is telling us that we need to learn it.
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  It has to come from our innate desire, our changed heart that wants to be like
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  Jesus where we are drawn to who he is.
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  And aren't you so blessed to know that he says if we ask for wisdom that he
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  gives it to us liberally?
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  I mean, we don't just get it. We get it liberally. We get it in abundance.
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  And that's incredible because I'm telling you, it really makes it hard to understand
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  while we walk around in a world with so many people that have no wisdom because
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  wisdom comes from God and he says, ask for it and I'll give it to you.
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  We have Christians who don't walk in, because they're not walking in the spirit of the Lord.
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  They're not seeking him for their every move and they're not allowing him to
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  control their hearts and minds.
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  There's another verse, verse 22 says, a merry heart doeth good like a medicine,
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  but a broken spirit dryeth the bones.
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  And I think it just speaks to the attitude of the heart. out.
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  Right. The attitude of our heart, the attitude of our will, the attitude of
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  what it is that we want to do determines how we live.
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  And in this case, it's if we have a merry heart, it does us good like medicine would.
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  And I think it goes back to looking at what we really believe who God is.
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  If you realize he's your savior and what he saved you from, your heart cannot
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  stay unhappy. It just can't.
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  And you cannot hold two opposing thoughts in your head at the same time.
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  So if you're thinking about the goodness of God, you cannot be distraught about
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  the problems of life. Amen.
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  And if you're thinking about the problems of life, you cannot be focused on the goodness of God.
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  So we must focus on the goodness of God, because from Genesis to Revelations
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  and the greatest love letter ever written, we have all that we need to know
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  that he is a good. Absolutely.
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  Since you just talked about he being a good, good God and a friend.
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  Let's look at verse 17. A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.
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  Jesus is a friend that loves at all times.
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  And I think I'm just right now just sitting here and I'm so very grateful that
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  he models how we love at all times. Amen.
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  Then we will be a friend if at all times we are being driven by love.
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  I believe that oftentimes that's why friendships built upon the foundation of
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  Jesus Christ and upon the relationship that you have with God and how you're
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  sharing being part of the family of God.
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  Those friendships, they stand the test of time.
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  Those friendships are a blessing in trouble and
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  they're a joy in times of gladness and
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  they are a true gift that God gives us and few of us have many of those and
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  I praise the Lord for that gift that he's given me in my life and it does make
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  my heart merry and so it does make life more enjoyable for me but it all comes
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  back to how we guard our heart,
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  what we let in it, what we allow others to see, it all comes down to serving
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  God with our entire being and being submissive to his will for our life.
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  So we literally turn over our heart and our life to him.
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  Not my will, but yours be done. Amen.
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  Absolutely. Daily, we take up our cross and follow and we follow Jesus.
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  The next theme that we find in
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  Proverbs chapter 17 is the idea of how important it is to guard our words.
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  And there are a lot of verses in this chapter about that, and we might kind
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  of hop around a little bit, but I think one of the first ones to start with is in verse 9.
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  This says, He that covereth a transgression seeketh love, but he that repeateth
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  a matter separateth very friends.
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  Repeating a matter to me is gossip. Absolutely.
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  And just saying a story that's not your story to tell.
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  That's a huge idea. So often we say that.
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  I have to say that sometimes even in the church we say things that we probably
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  shouldn't say in the guise of a prayer request. Oh, yeah.
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  We gossip in our prayer requests because we want you to take care of so-and-so and so-and-so.
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  Didn't want that story out. It's not your story to tell. I think that's a really good measure.
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  Amen. Should we say something? If it's our story to tell, it's okay.
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  If it's not, I would say no.
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  Because if they wanted it out, they would have said it themselves. Absolutely.
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  It's just not always our story to tell, but it's always our job to pray for
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  them. If we know of the situation.
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  But God didn't tell us that the effectual gossiping of a church person changes things.
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  No, he said the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Amen. Amen.
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  Verse 7 says, excellent speech becometh not a fool, much less do lying lips a prince.
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  When I read that, to me, that just, to me, said there are so many times when
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  it's best to just keep our mouth shut.
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  What I see also when I read that is that we all know that person in our life
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  or in the lives of others, that when you have a question or you have a problem or an issue,
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  they just know what to say.
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  They just say it. It could be simple. It doesn't always involve something complex,
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  but somehow or another, they know what to say to turn your attitude around.
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  To get you going in the right direction, to turn your focus to the Lord,
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  to find the peace that you're looking for.
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  They just know how to do it. And when I read this verse, to me,
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  that's a person who is excellent of speech, who's given themselves to wisdom.
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  And wisdom is pretty much the opposing factor to being a fool.
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  And I believe we all know the value of having a wise person. We call them a wise sage.
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  A lot of times they're older than us. Sometimes they're not.
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  It's just somebody who God has gifted with wisdom, who can move you in the right direction.
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  And having that gift, it's incredible.
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  The gift of having that person or being that person who has excellent speech is incredible.
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  Well, since we're talking and using the word excellent, let's go down to 27 and 28.
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  He that hath knowledge spareth his words, and a man of understanding is of an excellent spirit. it.
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  Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise, and he that shutteth
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  his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.
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  Again, sometimes it's best to keep our mouths shut.
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  What is that saying that they say all the time, I thought they didn't know what
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  they were talking about and he opened up his mouth and proved it? Something like that.
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  So often we just talk because we want to hear ourselves talk.
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  And we think that all the things that we know are important for the other person to hear.
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  And so often I think, you know, we don't, but I think 27 talks about when we
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  have knowledge, we spare our words and a man of understanding is of an excellent spirit.
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  We have to pray that our tongues would be restrained and our tongues would be
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  under the conviction of the Holy Spirit.
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  It is so important to the writer of this chapter of of proverbs that he says
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  even a wise man when he counts his words and when he's quiet.
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  Shows wisdom. We all know also the person who just uses as big a word as they
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  can, trying to make themselves look all intelligent and amazing,
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  and they neither know what it means, nor you either.
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  So the whole point of communication is lost because all they've done is spoken
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  words that mean nothing to either of us.
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  The Lord is so adamant to be sparing with your words.
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  He talks in the New Testament about no idle talk.
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  You know, he say what you mean and mean what you say and move on.
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  And that's incredibly important. And it's not something that we see too often these days.
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  No, no. Well, let's just take a look at the last theme here in Proverbs chapter 17,
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  which is basically this concept that we can invite problems into our lives,
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  like it or not, but we can be very responsible for what happens in our lives.
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  If we look at verse 13, whoso rewardeth evil for good, evil shall not depart from his house.
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  To me, that just means that it's going to come back. If we don't give back, give good for good.
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  Even the world understands that concept.
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  I mean, they use something that none of a godly person who's walking with Jesus
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  would believe, but they call it karma.
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  But the Bible says, look, if you're a person who gives evil for good,
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  your house is going to pay for it.
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  Absolutely. Your people is going to pay for that wrongdoing.
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  And I think it's important that you say house and people, which is what this says.
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  But our lives, the actions in our lives have consequences beyond just our lives.
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  Right. And when we do stupid stuff, it's not just us who pays for it.
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  You know, it's a horrendous fact that when you drink and drive.
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  You are putting very innocent people at traumatic risk.
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  And you're not thinking of that when you're hooping and hollering and doing
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  whatever it is that you think drinking alcohol would do for you.
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  But the truth of the matter is, a lot of times they walk away fine,
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  but they've destroyed lives and homes that they didn't even know until that moment.
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  So our actions have great ramifications upon all people around us.
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  I think this idea of one thing causing a multitude of problems is covered in verse 14.
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  It says, the beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water,
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  therefore leave off contention before it be meddled with.
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  I will admit, I looked this verse up in a few other versions as I was studying,
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  and I was looking at some of the Hebrew words and things like that,
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  and there's this idea in this verse.
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  Of like, like a dam that holds back water. And it's basically like, don't breach the dam.
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  Because when you reach the dam on some things, you can't stop the water. It's overwhelming.
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  You're right. You can't stop the water. And it says, therefore,
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  leave off contention before it be meddled with.
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  And it does whatever it wants to do. It takes on a life of itself.
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  Exactly. And I think that so often we can invite one little problem into our
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  life. And then like like you would say, Katie bar the door.
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  There are so many that come along with it.
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  Let's just take a look at verse 15. He that justifieth the wicked and he that
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  condemneth the just, even they both are an abomination to the Lord.
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  We are in a world that really justifies a lot of things that are evil and a
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  lot of things that are sin.
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  And we need to make sure that as Christians that we are, I would say,
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  going back to what we started with, letting the Lord try our hearts so that
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  we can have the discernment to know what is evil and what is not.
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  We need to remember that exhortation in the New Testament that said.
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  Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, and he will exalt you in due time.
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  All of the scriptures work together. They're one big link to the will of God,
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  and they tell us the consequences of not following the will of God,
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  and they give us a roadmap of how we should live, and they tell us the promises of God.
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  If you really aren't spending time in the Word of God and really soaking it
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  in and just asking the Lord and the Holy Spirit to reveal to you what He would have you to know,
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  Each and every day, you're missing one of the most precious,
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  intimate parts of your relationship with Jesus Christ.
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  Well, we thank you for joining us in this podcast of Woman at the Well Ministries,
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  and we hope that you will tune in again at the next appointed time,
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  that you may learn more about Him,
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  for it is our prayer that you know Him personally, and that each day you are
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  growing closer and closer to Him.
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  Remember, you are loved. Jesus loves you.
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  Music.
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  Thank you for joining us in today's podcast. You can visit the show notes for
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  quotes from today's podcast and scripture references.
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  Music.