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"How To Live Your Life Wisely" by Hiram Kemp · Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ)

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Good job, Jesse. Good job,
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Trevor.
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Thanks.
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It is true that sometimes we stereotype wisdom. I guess
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if I were to ask you where you would expect to find something wise or
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some wise sayings, your initial thought potentially may be, maybe a
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professor. Maybe a philosopher, maybe somebody who spent their whole life
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studying how people ought to live and how to behave. You probably wouldn't be thinking
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about Winnie the Pooh. And I think that's our problem because
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sometimes wisdom comes packaged in ways we wouldn't expect. For example,
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Winnie the Pooh says on one occasion, if you're talking to somebody and they won't
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listen, be patient because they may have a small piece of fluff stuck in their
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ear. It seems funny, but it's wise on its face
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because what he's saying is basically Sometimes people don't hear you, but times
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and circumstances change, and then people may be open to instruction.
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Or this one, Pooh says, you can't spend your whole life
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far away in the forest from everybody else. Sometimes you have to
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go to them. And that's wisdom about problem solving. He's saying, hey,
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sometimes distance won't solve it, and waiting for the other person to come
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to you first is never going to solve it. You have to come to them.
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And that's the thing about wisdom. Sometimes we stereotype it and we expect to
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find it or see it in certain places and in certain places only.
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But wisdom may be found in an older person who's lived
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a very long life. Wisdom may be found in a child who sees
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and notices things that adults have long stopped noticing and seeing.
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Or wisdom may be found on the lips of a bear who eats
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a lot of honey and wears a shirt that's far too small.
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You never know. But lucky enough for us, there's a whole
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book of the Bible on wisdom. And it's the book of Proverbs. And as much
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as Proverbs is known for its wisdom, it also, in a sense, is from a
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rather unlikely source. You might remember in 1 Kings 3:10-14,
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Solomon prays to God and his one request is, Lord, give me wisdom so
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that I might govern your people. And God gives him unsurpassed,
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divinely bestowed wisdom. And Solomon starts out great, but throughout the
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rest of his life, Solomon makes many foolish decisions,
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namely marrying pagan and foreign wives who draw away his heart from the Lord,
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1 Kings 11:1-8. And Solomon's life is an example
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of a man who had a lot, a lot of wisdom given to him,
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but who often failed in the execution. But wisdom that Solomon
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possessed wasn't left nullified because of his own personal failings
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and shortcomings. He's a reminder that it's possible to have an inspired pen
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full of sunlight even though your heart is too often filled with darkness.
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And yet and still, we can learn from the things that Solomon would have us
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to learn. If you have your Bible, Go ahead and turn it to Proverbs chapter
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1. This morning I want to talk about how to live your life wisely.
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And what does that mean in light of the book of Proverbs? And as you
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think about Proverbs, I want you to just kind of keep this picture in mind.
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The book of Proverbs includes these short, pithy statements
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that Hebrew people would read, meditate on, memorize, and ultimately
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teach to their children. That's these 31 chapters. It's really instruction from a father
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to a son. I want you to imagine A father saying to a
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son these proverbs repeatedly right before bed, or maybe a
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mother yelling out one of these proverbs to her child right before they run off
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to school with the hopes— and this is how proverbs work— with the hopes
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that as they go out into the world and hear so many conflicting and contrary
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messages, that the proverbs that have been rehearsed and studied and meditated
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on and memorized throughout the night and in the early morning would be the things
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swirling around in their head most often and that they would choose to be wise
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rather than choose to do wrong. And with that picture in mind,
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you and I must see the Proverbs as they've been read and preserved and recorded
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for us and see our God yelling them out to us as we're gathered in
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this assembly before we rush out into our week with the world filled
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with messages that are often contrary to exactly who and what God
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wants us to be. We're walking through Proverbs this morning and studying how to live
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your life wisely. Not so we'll be smarter, but so
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that ultimately we'll be wiser, which ultimately is about how to skillfully
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live your life in God's world. So, here's what Solomon
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has to say to us on how to live our lives wisely. Number 1,
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do the most important things first. Proverbs chapter
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1, Solomon lays this out, and Denver read it for us a moment ago.
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Proverbs chapter 1 and verse 7, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of
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knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
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And then in chapter 9 and verse 10, almost in an identical statement, he says,
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the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the
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Holy One is insight, or instruction. Throughout wisdom literature,
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this idea of the fear of the Lord, it's this reverence for God that
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translates itself into responsible and godly living. And Solomon says,
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here's where it starts. Living your life wisely, the fear of the Lord is
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where it ultimately starts. You really want to get your life going in the right
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direction? You've got to do the most important things first, and at the top of
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Solomon's list is a healthy fear and reverence for who God is. And let
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that work itself out throughout your life. In another book of wisdom written by Solomon,
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in Ecclesiastes chapter 12 and in verse 13, he says,
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let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter, or when all has been said,
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fear God and keep his commandments, because this is man's all,
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or this is man's whole duty. What does it mean to live your life wisely?
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First things first. Fear the Lord. Do the most important thing first,
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and that is get your relationship right with God.
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Have a godly reverence for who he is, and then allow that to work
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itself out in responsible living. This phrase, the fear of the
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Lord, it appears throughout the book of Proverbs, and normally when Solomon uses it,
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he backs it up with, hey, if you practice this, here'll be some of
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the benefits. The fear of the Lord, it prolongs life. Proverbs chapter 10 and verse
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27. The fear of the Lord has a strong confidence attached to it,
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Proverbs 14 and verse 26. The fear of the Lord is
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a fountain of life, and it'll allow one to depart from the snares of death,
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Proverbs 14 and verse 27. The fear of the Lord brings riches
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and honor and life, Proverbs 22 and verse 24.
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The fear of the Lord, he says, it actually leads to life, chapter 19 and
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verse 23. And the fear of the Lord in Proverbs 23 and verse 17 is
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the antidote to the envy of sinners. You want to live your
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life wisely? Solomon says first things first, do the most important thing,
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that is fear the Lord. Or another way to say this would be get
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your spiritual priorities in order, and at the top of that list is
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your relationship with God and mine. What does Jesus say
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in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6:33? Seek ye first the kingdom of
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God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.
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Don't work for the food that perishes, but instead for the food that
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will endure to everlasting life. Living a wise
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life, living wisely and skillfully means no matter what, you do
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the most important things first. Charles Duhigg is a former lawyer who wrote a book
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a couple years ago called The Power of Habit. And in one
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section in the book, he talks about, of course, habits throughout, but in one section
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he talks about how you can radically change your life from a business standpoint or
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a practical standpoint. And he uses these examples. He mentions a woman named Lisa Allen
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who was obese, in debt, Her life was going terrible, but after she did this
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one thing he suggests, she lost weight, came out of debt, and eventually ran
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a marathon. He mentions world-class swimmer Michael Phelps, and he says Phelps was
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once a fidgety young lad who couldn't stay still in class. His parents
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thought something was wrong with him, but this one thing that he did changed his
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whole life around and gave him the power to become an Olympic superstar.
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And then he mentions a man by the name of Paul O'Neill, who in his
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corporation and company got a job working for a better company, changed this
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entire mass corporation around, because of one thing, and the one thing that Duhigg says
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all of these people have in common is they practice what he called the keystone
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habit. And the keystone habit according to Duhigg is one
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practice, one discipline that you perform, and as a result,
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all of the other dominoes in your life begin to fall in a positive way.
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For Ms. Allen, it was she made one decision. She just said, you know what,
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I'm done smoking. And after that, all of a sudden, just through this positive
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affirmation of no longer smoking, She lost weight, she started paying her debts,
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everything went the right way. And the others all did the same thing.
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They did something important first at the top of the list, and positively
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their life turned out in a good way. From a spiritual standpoint, here would be
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some keystone habits worth adopting. Pray first and always.
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Psalm 5:3 says, my voice will you hear in the morning. Picking up your phone
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in the morning before phoning your God is crazy, but we do it.
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First things first, grab the phone and check it. Maybe we missed something in the
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night. The psalmist says in Psalm 55:17, evening and
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morning and at noon will I pray and cry aloud, and God, you'll hear my
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voice. Or what about this one? No Bible, no breakfast.
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That's from Adrian Rogers. He used to say this all the time. No Bible,
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no breakfast. First, I want to talk to God, and then I want God to
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talk to me. Man can't live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds
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out of the mouth of God. Or book every Sunday in
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every season of your life. With God and with his people. Hebrews 10:25.
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This is just the thing. Hey, no matter if it's hunting season, golf season,
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summertime, wintertime, a keystone habit every Sunday in every
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season, it belongs to God. Get your loves in order.
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Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And then
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this one, if you're not a Christian, become one. You know how many
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people are planning to be baptized? I plan to become a Christian. I'm on my
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way, but I've got to get some things in order. That's an unwise decision because
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until you get your life in order with God, nothing else is going
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to be in order. Hear the words of Ananias to Saul in Acts 22:16.
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Why do you delay? Get up, be baptized, wash away
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your sins, calling on the name of the Lord. That is the first domino that
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must fall in everybody's life for all of the others to go in the right
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direction. How to live wisely: make sure you do
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the most important things first. Here's number 2. Practice intentional neglect.
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This kind of dovetails with the last point. In Proverbs chapter 4, verses 25 through
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27, Solomon says, let your eyes or your gaze be
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directly on and let your eyelids look straight ahead in order that your steps,
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in verse 26, may be established. He says, don't turn
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to the right or to the left, but you stay directly centered and
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you stay directly focused. This point is not about forgetting
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to do things that are important. It's about remembering not to. It's not about
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forgetting certain things. It's remembering not to do certain things.
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Practice intentional neglect if you're going to live your life wisely. If you're going
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to live skillfully, Solomon says you're going to need this principle.
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Intentional neglect says I purposely choose to
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practice a sort of willful amnesia and say, here's a list of things,
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this is the first point, I'm going to do these things first, but here's another
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list of things, I'm not doing those things. What does Paul say in Philippians 3:13-14?
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Forgetting the things which are behind, And stretching forward to
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the things which are ahead, I press toward the upward call for the high calling
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of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13-14.
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That's intentional neglect. And if we're going to live our lives wisely,
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we have to do that. Look at Proverbs chapter 4 and notice verse
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25. Don't miss the depth and thorough nature of this metaphor that Solomon
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uses. In the last part of verse 25, he says, let your eyes always
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be straight before you. In Hebrew, he says literally, let your eyelids or
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your eyelashes be straight ahead of you. You read that and you think, what does
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that mean? He's literally saying, He's saying to his son, see the image,
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his hands on his son's shoulders, and he's literally saying, son, don't even
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blink. Get your eyes set on the most important goals
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in life and don't even blink. Don't look to the right or to the left.
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You just go straight ahead. Just see the instruction. You say to your son,
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your daughter, I want you to leave here and go to the store.
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Don't pass go. Don't take any detours. Don't make any pit stops. Go and
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do this one thing. Nehemiah says in Nehemiah 6:3,
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Sanballat, Geshem, and Tobiah, they say, come down, as they try
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to disturb his work. And in Nehemiah 6:3, he says, I'm doing a great
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work and I cannot come down.
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You want to live your life wisely? Practice intentional neglect.
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Nobody did this better than Jesus Christ.
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Throughout Jesus' earthly ministry, he was as good at saying no as
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he was at saying yes. They said, Herod's out to kill you. Jesus said,
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tell that fox I do miracles today and tomorrow and the third day
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I'll rise from the dead, Luke 13:32.
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When Peter says, you're not going to the cross, it won't happen, he dismissed his
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words and says, you are after the things of Satan and
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not the things of God, Matthew 16:22-23. When the
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people in Capernaum said, Jesus, you've got to stay here, the people need you,
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he practiced intentional neglect. He said, I must leave here and
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go to other places because they need the gospel too, Mark 1:37-38.
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And even when He was on trial for His life before Pilate,
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and the Jews hurled all manner of insults against Him, Mark 15:5
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says, Jesus intentionally neglected their responses. He said nothing.
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Silence was His response. And that's wisdom.
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It's like Annie Dillard says, she says, this matters, this intentional
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neglect, because our lives are made up of the things we do on a daily
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basis. And Jesus was great. He was the best. He excelled at
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saying, I'm not doing that. Because I've got to focus on this.
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And this is a challenge for us because this means that some of us will
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end up being foolish rather than wise because intentional
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neglect, it may seem mean, it may seem harsh. To intentionally
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neglect some people and some things may be too difficult
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for us. And we may say to ourselves, I just can't do that. They need
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me. I've got to be here. I've got to do all of these things.
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And it's a foolish choice because the thing that may keep us from
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being all that God ultimately wants us to be may not be something sinful.
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It may just be something secondary. Hebrews 12:1 says,
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lay aside every weight and the sins that so easily ensnare
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you. What does that mean? There are sins, yes, lay those aside, but there are
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also secondary things you just have got to learn to say, that's none of my
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business. I'm not doing that. I'm not focused on that.
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I'm not working on that right now. I'm focused on this.
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There are some things in our lives if we're going to live wisely that we
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need to get rid of, not because it's bad for us, but it's just not
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what's best for us. Paul says, endure hardness, Timothy,
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as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No soldier that's engaged
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in war entangles himself in civilian affairs, 2 Timothy 2:3-4.
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If you're going to live wisely, practice intentional neglect. Martin Shaw,
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in his book Liturgies of the Wild, he says this, don't be flayed
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alive by daily news— by the daily news. Pay attention to what's happening
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on your block and in your village. It's okay to not have an opinion of
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everything going on in far-off countries. It doesn't mean you're stupid.
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It means the opposite. It means you may have something near normal
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blood pressure, and it may mean there's a big old part of you that is
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simply not for sale. It's worth practicing a little unavailability
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for the world's carousel. What is that? Shaw is basically saying,
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hey, there are some things you just have got to turn off and turn down.
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What is that? That's skillful living. And Solomon says what it's going to take
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to live for God involves so much of your energy and so much of your
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focus You and I can't afford to be distracted.
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Here's number 3: be ruthless with eliminating sin from your
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life. This may be the warning in the book of Proverbs that Solomon
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sounds off the loudest on, and in Proverbs chapter 6, he does
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it through a word picture, through a metaphor. Proverbs 6 and verse 27,
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he says, can a man take fire in his bosom and
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his clothes not be burned? In verse 28, he says, can you walk on hot
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coals without your feet being scorched? The idea is if
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you engage in this behavior, if you practice this thing, it'll ruin you.
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It'll wreck your life. You've got to be wise, and you've got to be intentional
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and be ruthless about eliminating sin from your life as it crops up.
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Solomon's rhetorical questions in Proverbs 6:27-28,
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they suggest to us that there really are no friendly sins.
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Any sin that we find ourselves engaged in, when it's brought to the surface and
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we realize it, He says you've got to depart from it because it'll destroy you.
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James 1:15, James says, sin after it's conceived,
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it gives birth to lust. After it's conceived, gives birth to sin. And sin,
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when it reaches its full state of maturity, it brings forth death.
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Do not be deceived. And if you and I are going to live wisely,
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we've got to practice a ruthless elimination with the sin in our
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own lives. At the end of the book of Proverbs, or near the end,
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look at Proverbs 28:13. In Proverbs 28:13,
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Solomon says, he who conceals his sin, or he who covers it,
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will not prosper, but he that confesses and
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forsakes it will find mercy. A wise person has to do both things
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at the end of verse 13. He says you've got to confess it. That is,
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you've got to acknowledge it. Psalm 32:5,
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David says, I acknowledge my transgression. I am sorry
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for my sin. And then you've got to turn away from it and abandon it.
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Acts 3:19, Repent and turn away.
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That's to say you can't confess it and then cling to it, but at
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the same time, you can't kick it to the curb and refuse to confess it.
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The blessing of Proverbs 28:13 is attached
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to the person that does both. And throughout the book of Proverbs,
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Solomon has given his son these warnings, and he says them in these explicit
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terms. He says, turn away from her house, don't go near the door,
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Proverbs chapter 5 and verse 8. He says, deliver yourself out of temptation
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and hardship like a bird from a fowler or like a gazelle from the hand
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of a hunter, Proverbs chapter 6 and verse 5.
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Don't go by that way. Don't pass on it. Turn aside and go
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in the opposite direction, Proverbs 4:14-15. Be ruthless about
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eliminating the sin in your own life. And maybe when you think about this
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point, you think about people in the Bible who did this well, and I think
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at the top of that list you would have to put David. David in Psalm
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51:3 says, I acknowledge my transgression. My sin is
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ever before me. Against you, God, and you only have I
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done this sin and done what's evil and wicked in your sight. Listen to David.
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I acknowledge my transgression. My sin is ever before me.
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David has studied and known his own sin. Here's the question. Have you studied yours?
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It's easy to study mine. You might see a lot of imperfections in me,
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and I might be able to see those things in you. David says, I acknowledge
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my transgressions, my sin, is ever before me, because the wise
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person says, I want to make sure that I fix what's right in my life
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and not get so caught up in yours.
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People that are nearsighted can see really good close up, but everything far away is
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fuzzy and blurry. I'm looking at some people with glasses. You understand what this is
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about, right? And then other people that are farsighted, they can see things in the
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distance, but they can't see things close up.
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Spiritually speaking, beware of being a farsighted
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person. Beware of being able to see everybody's sin at a distance, but not
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the sin— I mean, that's right here close up. Everybody else's sin is blatant,
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but your own sin is blurry. Romans 2:19-23,
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Paul says, what you command other people to do, don't you do the very same
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thing? Wise people are ruthlessly scanning their lives and
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looking to cut out things and cut things away that'll ruin them.
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It's what the Puritan theologian John Owen once said, be killing
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sin or sin will be killing you. Romans 8:13,
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Paul says, if we live by the flesh, we'll die. But if we through the
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Spirit put to death the deeds of the flesh, it's then that we'll live.
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And you probably can think of a lot of like popular metaphors that get this
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point across. I was thinking of one for this lesson and this idea, maybe you've
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heard this said this about something else before, just rip the Band-Aid off. You ever
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heard that? Rip— what does that mean? Rip the Band-Aid off. Well, it means,
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hey, you probably, if you try to peel it off slowly, you're going to
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experience some pain, but not only that, you're going to prolong the pain.
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But if you rip it off, somebody says, well, that's going to hurt too.
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It will, but it'll be momentary and it'll be a single event and then
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it'll be over. Throughout the book of Proverbs, Solomon is saying in relation to our
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sins, you've got to rip the Band-Aid off. You don't slowly work yourself up
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to it. You don't work around it. He says, I just want you to ruthlessly
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eliminate it or else it'll drown you and sink you and it'll ultimately
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destroy you. Put it to death. Colossians 3 and verse 5.
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A wise person is regularly scanning their life, not being hypercritical
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of themselves, but simply saying, I want to do things that glorify God. And as
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I realize through a study of scripture or through wise counsel that I'm not doing
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so, I want to confess, and then I want to abandon, and I want to
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forsake. Because you can't take fire in your bosom and as
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a result of that not be burned. Quickly, here's number 4,
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how to live your life wisely: be courageous enough to apologize.
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This is a part of what Paul means in Romans 12:18, as much as it
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depends on you, live peaceably with all people. It had to be what Jesus had
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in mind in Matthew 5:9, blessed are the peacemakers because they'll
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be called the children of God. The 2 hardest words to say in the English
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language, you know them, I'm sorry. We can't do it, but if we're going to
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be wise, we have to because Solomon is telling us the truth when he says,
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a soft answer turns away wrath, Proverbs 15:1.
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Or Proverbs 17:9, love covers a multitude of sins,
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but a person that repeats a matter— what Solomon means in Proverbs 17:9
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is not just repeats it and says it again, but a person that rehearses
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the matter even in their own hearts. You ever been wrong before and like you
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just keep playing, I can't believe they, I can't believe I? A person that repeats
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a matter separates close friends. How to live your life wisely?
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Be courageous enough to apologize. Takes a lot
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of courage to right wrongs and to go across the fence first and to say,
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you know what, I messed that up. But the sooner we do it, the better
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our lives will be and the more skillfully and wisely we'll live.
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In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says one of the marks of spiritually mature
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people is they're in a hurry to reconcile. Matthew 5:23-24,
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Jesus says, if you come to worship and realize I've got
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an issue with my brother, he says, leave your gift at home at the altar.
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First go be reconciled to your brother and then come worship me.
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What is God saying? God says, I would rather you be early to forgive
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and late to church than to be in my presence knowing you're at odds
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with other people. James 5:16 says, confess your faults
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one to another and pray for one another that you may be healed. Surely James
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is talking in James 5:16 in a general sense. If you've got an issue with
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somebody, he says, hey, confess your faults, tell other people when you're struggling.
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But maybe in James 5:16, James is speaking specifically about
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when I wrong you. Confess your faults to one another. If I've done something
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wrong against you, a wise person wants to confess
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it. How do you live your life wisely? Be courageous
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enough to apologize. Now, this does necessitate that
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people have to know when they've wronged us. You know, sometimes we practice the
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silent treatment, but if we're honest, we know the silent treatment rarely treats anything.
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And so we should stop treating it like it's a solution. If people are going
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to make it right with us, they've got to know that they've wronged us.
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But sometimes we struggle. And Solomon says wise people,
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they're in a hurry to make it right. But you know, some of us,
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we're not good at apologizing. And I can think of several reasons, and maybe you
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can. We're not good at apologizing because sometimes we do it too fast.
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Sorry. What'd you say? Sorry.
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We don't want to say it. Or maybe we've got too many caveats. Hey,
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I'm sorry, but you know what you did. I'm sorry, but you forced
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me into this and you made me. Or sometimes we apologize to
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people, but it's really not sincere. We don't really mean it. Or we have all
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of these— this generalization. If I've done anything wrong to offend you.
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If you start out with that, just don't even apologize. Stay at home.
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If you've done anything wrong. No, be specific. Be direct.
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And the burden that'll be lifted, it'll be such a blessing to you.
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That you'll go on your way rejoicing. How do you live your life wisely?
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Be courageous enough to apologize. Here's number 5,
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learn from past mistakes. The book of Proverbs talks
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about doing the best we can to live wisely, but the book of Proverbs is
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really not about living a stain-free life and never slipping
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up and never making a mistake. But Solomon says several things in these 31 chapters
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to suggest that the wise life is not necessarily the stain-free life,
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but it is the life where our mistakes don't have sequels. Where we learn
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from things that we've done, and as a result, we try to be better in
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the future. Proverbs 19:20, he says, my son, receive instruction
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and receive admonishment so that you might be wise in your ways.
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And he gives his son a lot of ways to go about this, a lot
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of ways of learning from past mistakes. And one of the primary ways that Solomon
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does this with his son and that he would have us to do is this:
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learn from other people's past mistakes. They don't have to be your own.
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And throughout the book of Proverbs, it's interesting that Solomon uses word pictures to
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say to his son, you don't want to be like this. And Solomon didn't think
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his son had to live it to learn from it. He says, do you see
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that drunken man out there? He was beaten last night, lost all of his money.
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He was in the middle of the sea on the top of a mast.
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And when he woke up, he says, I need to have another drink. Proverbs 23:35.
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Solomon says, son, don't be like that. The wicked
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people, They don't know over what they stumble. Their hearts are a deep and
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dark ditch. Proverbs 4:19, he says, son, whatever you
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do, don't be like that. He talks about the wicked and
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the pathway that they travel and the way they go about their lives in Proverbs
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4:15-17. And he says all of these things to his son
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to say, I want you to avoid that way because one of the ways
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to live skillfully and wisely is learn from past mistakes.
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Learn from others' past mistakes. Think about Pharaoh in the book of Exodus. All of
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these plagues are being plummeted down upon the people of Egypt. Because of his refusal
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to let the people go. And on one occasion, his own wise men come to
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him in Exodus 10:7, and they say, Pharaoh, don't you see that
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all of Israel, all of Egypt is in ruins? Let these people go so
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they can worship their God. And he refuses to listen. The frogs weren't
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enough for him. The lice wasn't enough for him. The darkness of the night wasn't
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enough for Pharaoh. He never learned. Proverbs 26:11,
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this is a proverb repeated in the New Testament. Solomon says,
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as a dog returns to his vomit, so fools return to
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their folly. Be wise, Solomon is saying to his son, and learn
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from past mistakes, and then learn from some of your own.
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You'll make mistakes in life, but he's saying, I want you to be wise,
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and I want you to do the right thing so you'll avoid bruises
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and avoid hardship. Sometimes when you
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take pictures as an individual or as a family, you just have— everybody has these,
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these photo negatives, these embarrassing pictures. Somebody wasn't holding
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their hands in the right position. Somebody's mouth was open in a weird
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way. I mean, you've had these pictures, and you know what you do with those
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pictures all the time? You look at them, you note them, but you don't frame
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them and put them on a wall. What do you do? You get rid of
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them. And Solomon is saying, hey, you want to be wise? Look at your own
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life. There's a lot of negatives. There's a lot of bad shots. And I want
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you to be able to go back in time and to say, you know what?
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That was a rough season. I mean, that was— those were dark years. I did
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some foolish things. Those are in the negatives. I wasn't holding my heart right.
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My heart wasn't right. It wasn't open in the right way. I was engaged in
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foolish behavior. And he says, I want you to make the right corrections and adjustments.
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Don't frame them. Don't show them to everybody in the world. But he says,
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I want you to learn from it and never go in that way again because
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wise people learn from their mistakes. Here's number 6,
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keep a quiet heart. How do you live your life wisely? Keep a
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quiet heart. Proverbs 4 and verse 23, Solomon says,
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Keep your heart with all diligence because out of it flow the very
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issues of life. You want to live your life wisely? Keep a quiet
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heart. That means learn how to settle your heart down in such a way that
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you really come to know the true and lasting peace that God gives us in
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Christ. Proverbs 14:30, a tranquil or a
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sound heart is the life of the flesh, but envy is the rottenness of the
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bones. How do you live your life wisely? Keep a quiet heart. Elizabeth Elliot says,
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a quiet heart is really a heart that accepts God's corrections,
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God's instructions, and God's interruptions without frantically
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worrying about the future. This is a person who's just learned how to calm
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their own soul down because they trust in Scripture. They trust in
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what God has said. And keeping a quiet heart means I put my full and
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complete trust in God, and whatever He has out in front of me, that's what
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I'm going to do, and that's what I'm going to be about. Philippians 4:6-7,
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be anxious about nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication
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With thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God
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that surpasses all understanding, it'll guard your heart and minds through Christ Jesus.
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Listen, there are Christians that read the Bible every single day,
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that pray to God incessantly, that are faithful to the worship
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services, that repent of sin when they stumble, and that try to confess
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and be as honest and upright and as honorable as they can be.
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And so far as God's concerned, they're walking in the light. And those same people
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for various reasons, mainly dealing with this point,
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outside of any clinical hardship, they just cannot quiet their heart.
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Their heart is always racing and normally racing toward destruction
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or disaster. How does that happen to us? It's about what Solomon's saying.
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He's saying above everything else in the world, give all diligence.
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Above everything else, get your heart situated in such a
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way that you are no longer carried about with your heart in every direction.
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Thinking of every worst-case scenario, no longer being a slave
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to your feelings, your urges, and all of the what-ifs and maybes. Living a
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wise life says, you know what, heart, we've got to settle down and we got
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to do things the way God wants us to do it. And whatever happens as
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a result of that, we'll be good with it. It's what
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the psalmist means in Psalm 131:1 when he says, I don't exercise myself in
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thoughts too high for me or too lowly. I'm good right with where God has
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me. It's about learning to live our lives at a comfortable pace,
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and not a crazy one. 1 Thessalonians 4:11, Solomon says,
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aspire to live your lives quietly and be wise and eat your
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own bread and be content. How do you live your life wisely?
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Get in line with God and do what he would have you. And then here's
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number 7. Oh, I should say something about this. I have this picture up here.
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In the NFL, they sometimes have these helmets. That helmet looks like,
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you know, it's been supersized by Wendy's or something, but the whole purpose of
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those helmets is to absorb impact. Only a few players in the NFL wear these,
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and it's so that they can protect their heads from damage. Listen, it looks silly,
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it looks weird, only a few players do it, but it absorbs 10% of
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the impact. And a lot of people in the NFL that wear these say,
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you know what, I feel better in the games. It looks weird, it looks strange
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to other people, but I'm trying to keep my head so that I don't have
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CTE or all these issues when I'm done playing this game and when I retire.
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There are some things that you and I need to do to guard our hearts.
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It may look strange to other people. It may look funny to them. It may
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look weird, but at the end of the day, I'm trying to guard my heart
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at all costs. And as a result, I want to keep what matters the most
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safe so it'll keep me from destruction and from being harmed. Here's number 7,
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and finally, let God have his way. How do you live a
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wise life? Let God have his way. Proverbs 3:5-6 is
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probably the most well-known set of verses in all of the book of
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Proverbs. Trust in the Lord with all of your heart. Don't lean
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on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will
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direct your paths. If you've spent any time around scripture, any dipping
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in and out of Proverbs, you know Proverbs 3:5-6. But the question is, read Proverbs
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3 and especially verse 5 again. Trust in the Lord with all of
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your heart. The wise life does this, but let's be honest, how many
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of us are trusting the Lord with 50% of it?
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75% of it? According to Solomon, that's a
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foolish way to live. If you're only going to trust in God partially, 80,
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90— no, the blessing of Proverbs 3:5-6 is only
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granted and given to the person who trusts in the Lord with all of their
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heart. Lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways know God, he says,
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and God, he'll direct your paths. You live your life wisely,
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just like the song Kason led us in before the sermon, by simply letting God
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have his way. And saying God's in complete control, not just over the universe,
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but over my whole life. And as a result of that, I completely trust
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him. We have a word in our English dictionaries, confidence, and that deals more
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with us. Now, this word I'm about to tell you is not in the dictionary,
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but it should be in yours. It's Godfidence. And it's this idea—
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Godfidence isn't about my own personal confidence in me. Godfidence is
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simply saying, you know what? I have God and I'm
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good. Whatever happens, whatever the world orders up for me, whatever happens
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in my life, trust in the Lord with all your heart. Know him and he
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will make your path straight. He'll do it. It's God's responsibility to make
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the path straight. It's our responsibility to simply trust. The person that
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lets God have his way is the person who over time,
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through maturity, through allowing these Proverbs to ruminate in
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the mind, to meditate on them and memorize them, is the person who has ceased
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trying to control God. Cease trying to get God to do things
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their way. Cease trying to get God, give me all the information, tell me how
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things are going to work out, direct my paths. We simply trust and
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we let God direct. Maybe you remember when you first
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started driving. You remember you wanted to get your license and you just couldn't wait
32:57
to drive, and then you got your license and you became the family chauffeur.
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Your parents started sending you to get stuff, making you do all the things,
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get all the groceries, rack up all the miles. And then you kind of remember
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it was pretty nice just sitting in the back seat and doing nothing. And you
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know, there are scores of people who really want their spiritual license. Oh,
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we really want to drive our lives. We really want to be in control.
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We really know exactly how things should go, how the plan
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should work, how everything— and then we get in the driver's seat and God says,
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if you fire me, so be it. And then we learn life was
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so much better sitting in the back seat and just letting God
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do God things, because God has been God a lot longer than we've been studying
33:36
or thinking about him. And the more we just let go, this is the wise
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life. It's the freeing life. It's the relinquishing
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life that says, you know what? I've got a Heavenly Father in heaven, and how
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dare I live like an atheist as if nobody cares for me and nobody's
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really in charge when God is. Solomon says, trust in Him completely,
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and when He does— when you do that, He'll make all your paths straight.
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The book of Proverbs is pointing really beyond itself. It starts,
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the book of Proverbs, these are words on a page, But there came
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a day when the book of Proverbs literally came alive, and Proverbs
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was embodied by a person. And Jesus Christ is
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the book of Proverbs all dressed up in flesh and bones. He always
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did the right thing. He always made the right decisions. And as we
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read the book of Proverbs, there's a sense in which we double-click on the book
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of Proverbs and get a closer and clearer view when we find ourselves in Jesus,
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because he is where all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are
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found, Colossians 2:3. And how do you live your life wisely? We mentioned this already,
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but above and over everything else, become a Christian.
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If you believe Jesus is the Son of God based on the inspired testimony
34:44
of the New Testament, you're ready to turn away from your life, ruthlessly eliminate
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sin. Outside of Christ, you can't do this on your own. Guilt will weigh you
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down literally to the grave, but you can turn from sin, confess Jesus,
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and be baptized into Christ, and God will wash away all your sins, and you'll
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rise to walk and newness of life. You'll be added to his church, to the
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family of God, and we'd love to help you, love to assist you in living
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for Jesus as you do the same with us. If you've done that already and
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you feel as if, you know, foolishness has gotten a hold of me, it may
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be a situation you can take care of in your seat, and you can pray
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and repent and forsake it and confess it, and God will forgive it. But if
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we can pray with you and for you collectively in this assembly, it would be
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our honor to do so. Kason's going to lead us in a song to encourage
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us. If you need to respond, come now as together we stand and sing.