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348 | Conversations - Proverbs 11 · 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
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well in John chapter four.
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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 her 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 our series on the book of Proverbs.
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In today's podcast, we're discussing the lessons learned out of Proverbs chapter
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11. Well, hello, everyone.
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My name is Erica Close, and I am here with Kimberly Miller.
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Hello, and thank you for joining us in this podcast of Women at the Well Ministries.
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I'm excited about the time we get to spend in Proverbs 11.
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There are several verses in there that are near and dear to my heart,
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and I'm excited about being able to speak to them.
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This entire chapter is about moral virtues and their contrary vices.
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And so being able to contrast morals against against immorality is something
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that we need to do on a regular basis because it allows us to keep our walk
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in check because he said, be holy for I'm holy.
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I love that this chapter has 31 verses and they are just like power punched.
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Each individually is kind of like a new thing.
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So many of the other Proverbs that we've read in Proverbs 1 through 10 have
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maybe been a little more of a theme about a topic, a bunch of verses that kind of go together.
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This is like bam, bam, bam, new thought, new piece of wisdom with each individual verse.
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So I'm excited to get started. All right. Well, would you like to read the first half, Kimberly?
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And then I'll get the second half. A false balance is an abomination to the
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Lord, but a just weight is his delight.
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When pride cometh, then cometh shame, but with the lowly is wisdom.
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The integrity of the upright shall
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guide them, but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them.
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Riches profit not in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivereth from death.
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The righteous of the perfect shall direct his way, but the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness.
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The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them, but transgressors shall
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be taken in their own naughtiness.
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When a wicked man dieth, his expectation shall perish, and the hope of unjust men perisheth.
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The righteous is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked cometh in his stead.
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And hypocrite with his mouth destroyeth his neighbor, but through knowledge
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shall the just When it goeth well with the righteous, the city rejoiceth,
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and when the wicked perish, there is shouting.
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But the blessing of the upright, the city is exalted, but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked.
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He that is void of wisdom despiseth his neighbor, but a man of understanding holdeth his peace.
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A talebearer revealeth secrets, but he that is of a faithful spirit concealeth the matter.
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Where no counsel is, the people fall, but in the multitude of counselors there
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is safety. He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it,
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and he that hateth suretship is sure.
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A gracious woman retaineth honor.
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And strong men retain riches. The merciful man doeth good to his own soul,
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but he that is cruel troubleth his own flesh.
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The wicked worketh a deceitful work, but to him that soweth righteousness shall be a sure reward.
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As righteousness tendeth to life, so he that pursueth evil pursueth it to his own death.
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They that are of a forward heart are an abomination to the Lord,
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but such as are upright in their way are his delight.
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Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished,
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but the seed of righteousness shall be delivered.
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As a jewel of gold in a swine's snout, so is a fair woman which is without discretion.
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The desire of the righteous is only good, but the expectation of the wicked is wrath.
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There is that scattereth and yet increaseth, And there is that withholdeth more
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than is meat, but it tendeth to poverty.
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The liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that watereth shall be watered also himself.
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He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him, but the blessing shall
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be upon the head of him that selleth it.
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He that diligently seeketh good
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procureth favor, but he that seeketh mischief, it shall come unto him.
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He that trusteth in his riches shall fall, but the righteous shall flourish
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as a branch. He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind,
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and the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart.
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The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he that winneth souls is wise. Behold,
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the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth, much more the wicked and the sinner.
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Amen. There's a lot of truth in that. In the beginning, it starts out with, we need to be fair.
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Because what he's saying is, if you have rigged your balance in such a way that
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it's not giving the true weight, then that's an abomination.
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Cheating someone out of what is rightfully theirs, not intentionally doing it
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and setting it up that way is an abomination to the Lord.
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And to your point about messing with the weights, that's premeditated sin, right?
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You're messing with those weights ahead of time with that false balance.
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But a just weight is his delight, right? God delights in our honesty.
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And he says that again in verse 3 when he says, says the integrity of the upright shall guide them.
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And that's saying that when you're an honest person, you're going to do things
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right because your integrity leads you in the path of righteousness.
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I like that. I'm guided by my integrity, which comes to me from the Lord, right?
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Right. And the flip side of that in verse two is that when we take pride in
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ourselves, then we bring upon ourselves shame.
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The righteousness that we have comes from God, And that's the integrity that
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we can stand on because it's a firm foundation.
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But anything in and of ourselves will surely fail and surely fall.
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Verse two talks about how pride comes and when pride comes, you know,
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then comes the shame that you just mentioned.
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But with the lowly, right, with humility comes wisdom.
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I love that that verse about wisdom precedes the integrity, like having wisdom
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allows us to understand what it means to live a life that has integrity.
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Integrity, which is a life of the imputed righteousness that God gives us.
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And he talks about in verse 5 that we have, I mean, in verse 4,
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that riches won't help you in the end.
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When the wrath of God and the judgment is bestowed, the only thing that's going
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to save you is his righteousness.
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And his righteousness will deliver you from the death and the penalty of sin.
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Whereas your own riches or money or the things of this world, they're of no help.
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And in verse five, it goes on and talks about that same righteousness,
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that it's the righteousness of the perfect directs his way, right?
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And the righteousness that we have is never our own righteousness.
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It's the righteousness that comes to us from the Father.
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That directs the way of the Christian, but those that don't have that fall because
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they don't have his imputed righteousness.
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And he goes on to say that they fall because of their own naughtiness.
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It's like they spiral themselves down and they may look like they're winning
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for a minute, but their own mischief, their own naughtiness is going to be what takes them down.
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And everything that that person has when they die is gone.
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You can't take it with you and they're not going to a place of treasure.
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And so they die and their legacy usually dies with them. As you move on through
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this, it talks about that the righteous is delivered out of trouble.
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And oftentimes it's the wicked then that get into trouble.
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So as you're being removed from trouble, wicked people run towards it.
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And it talks about people, the difference between being truly morally virtual,
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excuse me, having moral virtue and being a hypocrite.
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And we all know those people who are faking it, who aren't genuine.
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But the hypocrite destroys everything in its path.
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And they don't realize even the value of their neighbor or the value of people in their life.
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They just destroy it. And as they do, they can't understand why things just
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keep getting worse, but they're just falling into trouble.
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Whereas we learn that the righteous are delivered and because of their knowledge
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of who God is and what God can do, the righteousness and integrity in which
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they live their lives, they're delivered.
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I really appreciate that in verse 10, it talks about how when things go well
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with the righteous, the whole city rejoices, right?
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When those who are made righteous by Jesus are all together in community,
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the whole community gets to rejoice. Like it makes a difference.
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It's the family of God. how we live our lives, and it makes a difference how
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we all together live our lives.
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Verse 10 says, and when the wicked perish, there is shouting,
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right? I think that shouting is a shouting of.
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Upheaval, right? It's a shouting of realizing that person's life is ended because
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they don't have that righteousness that comes through Jesus.
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And a lot of times people who don't have righteousness and are wicked have caused
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a lot of trouble for a lot of people.
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And so honestly, they're relieved that they're no longer around to cause them trouble.
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And I think that's part of the shouting as well.
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But righteous people are missed in their contribution to the family,
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to the community, to the family of God, it's noticed.
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Because as you said, it is important how we live. It matters how we live our lives.
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And I love when he talks in verse 12, and he says that the people who don't
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have wisdom, they despise his neighbor.
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And I believe what he's saying to us is that people matter, and we are born to live in community.
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And when you don't realize that you're not an island to yourself and that you
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really can't make it on your own,
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when that is a concept that is foreign to you
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then you're not using wisdom and
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then he says but a man of understanding holdeth his
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peace and I think that what he's saying is is
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when you really have the wisdom of God in you you don't just talk to hear yourself
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talk you don't just spout out things and then hope you catch up with a good
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thought somewhere in the middle of it and you You don't fuel the fire of someone
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else who's angry and spouting wrath at you.
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But instead, you speak words of encouragement and edification.
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And you only speak when you can contribute positively to the conversation.
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I think that verse 13, you know, in that same vein, talks about how a tailbearer
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reveals his secrets, right?
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Someone who's gossiping is going to tell things that they should not tell.
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But he that is of a faithful spirit concealeth the matter, right?
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Our faithfulness to the Lord is demonstrated by the things we say,
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by the things that we talk about, by the...
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The people that we talk about, right? We're not going to spread things around that are not true.
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We're not going to spread things around that are defaming someone or going to
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hurt somebody's reputation.
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And that brings us to what you were saying, that he speaks to us about counselors.
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And he says, where we don't have somebody who's giving us sound wisdom and good
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advice, when we don't have that, then the people perish. They fall.
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They can't move forward. They're not going to be their very best.
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But when there's a multitude of people who are giving wise advice and spewing
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wisdom to people and guiding them and mentoring them and helping them along the way,
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that's when you see people rise and become who they should be.
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And that's why in the a household of faith. We're the family of God and his.
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Righteousness is imputed in us.
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And we work together as a family unit and we help those who need help.
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And for those of us who might need wisdom, those who have it, give it.
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And so there's this give and take where the entire community of the believers
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in Christ, the family of God in your local community are striving together
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to be able to create a peaceful, positive, godly existence.
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I like that. I love that idea of community. Verse 15 gets to money a little bit.
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That idea of surety and suretyship has to do with sort of like co-signing on
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loans, almost this idea of like a kind of like a payday loan sort of thing.
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It's a poor practice in a lot of ways.
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And it says that, The person who does that is going to smart for it.
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But it's interesting because in the very next verse, the woman who is gracious
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and wise will have honor and the man who has strength will retain his riches.
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Right. Our our our standing and our financial security come from wisdom and
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making and making smart decisions.
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And to your point about being in community,
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taking care of those that are in the community and being very mindful that the
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riches and the blessings monetarily and financially that you are given are not
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yours to do with what you please.
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You've been entrusted with them to distribute
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and manage them as God has told you
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and as God has a plan for it because it's
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the wisdom of allowing God to be our provider and not being self-sufficient
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to the point that we think we're the ones that's providing our wealth we're
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the ones that's providing our financial stability but don't put your trust in riches because.
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You put your trust in God, the money and the blessings belong to him.
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And so you are seeking him with everything you spend so that you are following
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his plan so that you remain provided for.
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You do have the riches that are necessary. And this makes you strong,
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not only in your community, but in the family of God.
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I love this idea of having strength as a Christian or having strength as one of the family of God.
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Verse 17 talks about how the merciful man doeth good to his own soul.
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When we are merciful to others in the same way Jesus was merciful to us,
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it's good for our very soul.
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It feeds our very soul when we act like Jesus wants us to act.
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But when we're cruel, it troubleth even our own flesh.
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I think so often we don't realize that how we act Act clearly reflects on our
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relationship with the Lord.
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How we act impacts other people, but how we act also impacts ourselves.
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We hear what we say. We see what we do.
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And when we're doing the wrong thing over and over and over again,
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it impacts our very soul.
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And verse 18 goes on and talks about working a deceitful work or versus sowing righteousness.
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And part of that deceitfulness, a part of that verse one,
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where it's talking about rigging the balance, is because you are placing your
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faith for your riches, your blessings, and your provision in what you can do
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and what you can gain and what you can get.
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When in reality, it's about placing your faith and your trust for all your provisions,
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all your needs, all your riches, all your stability in Jesus Christ alone.
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And when you do that, then you distribute that as he is asking you so you can be merciful.
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And Micah 6, 8 says, what does God require thee?
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And one of the things he requires is that you love mercy and walk justly.
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So to walk in righteousness and to love mercy, to be merciful to those around
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us and to walk humbly, to submit ourselves to the Lord and allow him to have full reign.
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And when we look at Proverbs 11, what we're seeing is an absolute discourse
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on how we are to walk justly.
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And how we walk counts.
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It matters. It matters to your blessings. It matters to your witness.
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It matters for your eternity. It matters to your life.
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19 says, as righteousness tendeth to life, right? This whole section,
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like 19 through 21, is all about how sin is destructive.
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For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life.
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If righteousness is tending to life, living in an unrighteous manner is tending,
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it's bringing about death, right?
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It's not bringing about the life, the abundant life.
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And it always kills your peace. Because if you're doing the wrong thing,
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you're just waiting to get caught. Absolutely.
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You know, verse 22 goes on and talks about.
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You don't want to be a jewel of gold in a swine's snout, right?
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That's just such a terrible sort of image.
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Well, you think about that. It's like wasting this precious jewel,
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something that's to bring beauty on a dirty animal.
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A pig, you know, and that's the same thing, according to this,
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as a woman who isn't discreet, who is not walking becomingly,
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because the desire of the righteous is only good.
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But those who are not righteous, those who are following after the flesh,
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they're just waiting to get caught. They're waiting.
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You know, think of a fugitive. They may make it for a while,
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but every day they're wondering, is this the day that I'm going to get caught?
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And when you are living a lie or living false righteousness or hypocritically,
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or you're just simply living for the devil, there's a day of reckoning and you're waiting.
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When is that coming? When am I going to face it face to face?
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Verses 24 and 25 show us that it matters what we do with our money, right?
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It matters what we do with the things that we are blessed with and that we take care of.
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These verses talk about scattering, right? It talks about, you can imagine this
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is definitely talking a little bit more about crops.
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But if we withhold the crop, if we withhold what we have and we don't give the
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Lord what is due, we're going to not have what we need, right?
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It says here, it tendeth to poverty, right? What we do with what we have matters to the Lord.
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You know, what happens is, is if we are holding so tightly to it,
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it's because we have placed value.
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We have placed way too much value on it because again, it's not the riches and
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the the blessings you have that is giving you an abundant life.
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It is the blessings of Jesus Christ.
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It's not about you. It's about him and his righteousness that he has imputed to each one of us.
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And when we hold so tightly, we can't open up our hands to receive anything new.
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And God daily loads us with benefits.
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He has much more to give us. So we have to be generous with his gifts so that
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we have space to receive more.
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Verse 25 talks about a liberal soul, and that means giving liberally,
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one who gives liberally of what they have.
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And that contrasts with verse 26, that again talks like we did in 24,
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like you just said about withholding, right?
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We can't withhold, but we are blessed when we distribute what we have been blessed with.
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And some of my favorite verses come in verse 27 on, and 27 says,
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He that diligently seeketh good, he gets favor.
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He procures it. He secures it.
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He's guaranteed. If you are seeking good, if you are seeking the Lord,
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and we know that Matthew 6, 33 says, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his
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righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.
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Don't worry about your food. Don't worry about your clothing.
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That's what people who are concerned with the world do. Trust in Jesus and know
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that he will give you all things.
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Simply seek him first and you will find favor.
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But those who try to do other things, they cheat, they steal, they're fleshly.
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Those are the people who are going to find trouble in their life.
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Because if you go looking for trouble, you're definitely going to find it.
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Well, verse 29 says, he's that trouble with his own house shall inherit the
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wind, right? That's nothing.
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You don't want to inherit the wind. There's no value in the wind,
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right? It's just moving air.
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But if you bring trouble into your home, right, into the very core of your family.
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And I love it that he says the fool shall be the servant of the wise of heart.
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It looks like sometimes doing the right thing, seeking good and using wisdom,
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it sometimes looks like we're losing.
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But all through scriptures, we are told that isn't correct.
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And this particular chapter is very clear.
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It's the wise who win. It's the wise who find favor.
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It's the wise who are blessed. And it is definitely the wise who find themselves
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eternally in heaven with Jesus Christ.
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To that point about being in heaven with Jesus, verse 30 says,
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the fruit of the righteousness is a tree of life, right?
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Those who are righteous, what they gain is life.
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And to us, we understand that to be eternal life, Like the fruit of the work
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of being righteous, of gaining Christ's righteousness, of being righteous in this world.
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That is life. It's the fruit of the tree of life.
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Because John chapter 14 and verse 6 says.
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Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. And no man cometh unto the Father but by me.
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So when we are eating of the fruit of life, when we're eating of what Jesus
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is giving us and daily blessings, when we are leaning on him,
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when we are trusting on him, we have Jesus. And when you have Jesus, you have everything.
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The second part of verse 30 says, and he that winneth souls is wise.
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I love that that's in there because it reminds us that there is value in a soul.
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There is value in someone's soul.
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And whatever it takes to win that soul to Jesus is worth it.
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And we are told that our purpose is to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ.
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And so what he's saying is you are wise when you align your life with the purpose
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God has given you. And he's clear in verse 31.
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He sums the entire chapter with, Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed
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in the earth, much more the wicked and the sinner.
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The righteous is going to win even here, this side of heaven.
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But they definitely got it locked up in eternity.
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Well, thank you so much for joining us in this podcast of Woman at the Well Ministries.
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And we hope that you will take the time to read through Proverbs chapter 11,
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pick out a few of those verses and truly study them.
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But we hope that what you have truly come to understand is that wisdom is what
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we're seeking and it truly matters how you live your life.
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And the Lord is asking, encouraging, and enabling each of us to walk wisely with him.
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Remember, you are loved. Jesus loves you.
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