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399 | Conversations - Proverbs 21 · The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast

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  Music.
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  Hello, friends, and welcome back to another podcast of Woman at the Well Ministries,
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  where we believe that all of us have to come to Jesus like the woman at the well in John chapter 4.
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  Our highest priority is making God real in your life.
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  Whether you are listening in our app, in your favorite podcasting app,
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  or on our website at watwm.org, we invite you to sit down with us as we look
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  to the scriptures to learn more about God and to strengthen your daily walk with Jesus Christ.
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  Living a life for Christ. She's a happy girl.
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  Music.
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  She's a happy girl.
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  In this episode of the woman at the well ministries podcast join kim miller
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  and erica close in a conversation as we walk with jesus in today's conversation
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  we continue a series on the book of proverbs in today's podcast we discuss the
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  lessons learned in proverbs chapter 21 well hello Hello,
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  everyone, and thank you for joining us in this week's Wednesday podcast from
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  Woman at the Well Ministries.
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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 as we absolutely unpack and unfold the amazing
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  truths we find in Proverbs chapter 21.
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  We've been looking at Proverbs for a long time, and we're excited to be in Proverbs
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  21. We are slowly just working our way through the book of Proverbs,
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  but today we're going to see what we find in Proverbs 21.
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  Kim, would you like to start reading? Sure. The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord.
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  As the rivers of water, he turneth it whithersoever he will.
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  Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord pondereth the hearts.
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  To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.
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  And a high look and a proud heart, and the plowing of the wicked is sin.
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  The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plentiness, but of everyone that is hasty only to want.
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  The getting of treasures by lying tongue is a vanity tossed to and fro of them that seek death.
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  The robbery of the wicked shall destroy them, because they refuse to do judgment.
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  The way of a man is froward and strange, but as for the pure, his work is right.
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  It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop than with a brawling woman in a wide house.
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  The soul of the wicked desireth evil. His neighbor findeth no favor in his eyes.
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  When the scorner is punished, the simple is made wise.
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  When the wise is instructed, he receiveth knowledge.
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  The righteous man wisely considereth the house of the wicked,
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  but God overthroweth the wicked for the wickedness.
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  Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard.
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  A gift in secret pacifieth anger, and a reward in the bosom strong wrath.
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  It is joy to the just to do judgment, but destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity.
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  The man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead.
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  He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man.
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  He that loveth wine and oil shall not be rich.
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  The wicked shall be a ransom for the righteous and the transgressor for the upright.
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  It is better to dwell in the wilderness than with a contentious and angry woman.
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  There is treasure to be desired and oil in the dwelling of the wise,
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  but a foolish man spendeth it up.
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  He that followeth after righteousness and mercy findeth life,
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  righteousness, and honor.
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  A wise man scaleth the city of the mighty, and casteth down the strength of
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  the confidence thereof.
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  Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from troubles.
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  Proud and haughty scorner is his name, who dealeth in proud wrath.
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  The desire of the slothful killeth him, for his hands refuse to labor.
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  He coveteth greedily all the day long, but the righteous giveth and spareth not.
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  The sacrifice of the wicked is abomination.
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  How much more when he bringeth it with a wicked mind? A false witness shall
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  perish, but the man that heareth speaketh constantly.
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  A wicked man hardeneth his face, but as for the upright, he directeth his way.
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  There is no counsel, nor understanding, nor counsel against the Lord.
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  The horse is prepared against the day of battle, but safety is of the Lord.
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  I love that in verse 30, he actually says, A wicked man hardeneth his face,
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  but as for the upright, he directeth his way.
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  And then 30, he says, There is no wisdom nor understanding or counsel against the Lord.
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  Nothing can come against the Lord.
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  Absolutely. You know, there are a number of themes that are in this chapter,
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  but one of the themes that I think is so incredibly important is that theme
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  of understanding that God is sovereign.
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  And that's one of the verses that I think really point to this truth there in
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  verse 30, that there is no wisdom, nor understanding, nor counsel against the Lord.
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  And he contrasts that in verse 2, where he talks about that every man thinks
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  he's right in his own eyes.
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  But the Lord doesn't just look at your actions.
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  He looks at your heart. Because out of the abundance of the heart, the man speaks.
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  So our actions are an absolute outward expression of the condition of our heart.
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  And the Lord knows the heart. And the Bible is a discerner of the intents of the heart. Absolutely.
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  The chapter in chapter 21 opens with how the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord.
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  You know, we read and we know that the Bible says that the Lord places and allows
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  rulers to be put into their positions.
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  But this verse also says that the king's heart can be turned like a river,
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  right, as a river flows according to the will of the Lord.
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  The Lord is in control and is sovereign and some things he causes and some things he allows.
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  And we may not understand, but we can have faith and trust that he is sovereign.
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  And I love the sovereignty of God. There's a comfort and peace about that because
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  we don't have to wonder if God's doing things on the fly.
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  I mean, let's face it, all of us at some point in our lives find ourselves doing
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  something very important and with incredible consequences attached to it on
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  the fly, for whatever reason,
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  either indirectly or directly, we are responsible for it, but we find ourselves
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  doing something on the fly.
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  And I love knowing that the sovereignty of God was never thought about, done about on the fly.
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  He prepared before the foundation of the world our lives and has a plan for
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  us to prosper us and give us a hope.
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  In Jeremiah 29 11, the things that are happening to you right now may be surprising
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  the thunder out of you, but they don't catch him off guard. They are part of his plan.
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  Even the things we put in our lives, he's not shocked by, but his plan can and
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  will override what we allow him to do for us.
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  Absolutely. Absolutely. I love just knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that he's not surprised.
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  When I think of all the things that bring me comfort, and there are many,
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  but one of them is that with each
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  and every one of these events or circumstances that happen in my life,
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  I know it didn't surprise him.
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  And that brings me tremendous comfort.
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  Because he's ready, willing, able, and prepared to see you through,
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  which is what he said. And he never leaves you or forsakes you.
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  He's supplying all of your needs according to his riches, and he promises to
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  give you the strength to get through what he's asking you to do.
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  His sovereignty means all we got to do is buckle up with the Holy Spirit and
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  follow. Absolutely. Amen.
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  Oh, wow. Are you ready? That was a big one, but are you ready to go on to our next topic?
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  I am because it goes straight into it. We're not going to understand the sovereignty
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  of God if we're not willing to live under obedience to God. Absolutely.
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  And verse 3 says, to do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.
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  Sometimes we like to throw this sacrifice thing and we call things sacrifices,
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  not even really sacrifice.
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  You know, we think if we have to get up a half an hour early,
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  you know, to help somebody or do something, we feel like that's a sacrifice.
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  Like we go to work earlier than we ever have to get up to go to church.
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  Most people, that's the truth with it. Certainly it is for Eric and I.
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  And sometimes it seems like on Sunday, getting up that hour later is like so.
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  Much harder than it was tomorrow morning for me to get up, which is actually two hours earlier.
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  It's a crazy phenomenon that I think the devil puts in our mind.
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  But we think we're sacrificing a little bit of sleep.
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  Listen, sacrifice is a true sacrifice, something that really hurts to give.
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  And when you're trying and I'm trying to correlate our sacrifice with the sacrifice
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  of Jesus on the cross of Calvary, Let me tell you, that puts things in perspective.
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  I don't throw around the word sacrifice in relation to my life nearly as frequently
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  and easily as I do if I don't contrast it with the sacrifice of Jesus. Absolutely.
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  You know, I've thought a lot about sacrifices today. We're recording this on a Sunday, and I,
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  in my youth Sunday school class, was talking about the Israelites leaving Egypt
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  and about the sacrifice of the perfect lamb that they made for the Passover.
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  And so we talked a lot about what sacrifices mean.
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  But one of my favorite verses that's not in this chapter, but that talks about
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  obedience and sacrifice is in 1 Samuel 15, 22.
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  And Samuel said, it says, and Samuel said, has the Lord as great delight in
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  burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord.
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  Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of rams. Amen, amen, and amen.
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  And I love this verse because I think this verse just makes so clear that it
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  is so much better to obey God in the first place than have to be in a position
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  where you need forgiveness, right?
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  Because in the Old Testament, so much of sacrifice was,
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  was a sacrifice of atoning for your sins. It was this ritual that had to be
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  completed in order to have forgiveness and to receive the atonement for your sins.
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  But this verse says, to obey is better than sacrifice.
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  And I think it's just because if we are obedient, we don't have to seek forgiveness.
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  We don't have to be in that position where we have to atone for our sins.
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  And it says, to hearken than the fat of rams.
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  It's so much better to hearken, to listen to the Lord in the beginning,
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  the first time, right, than to have to make some sort of sacrifice and ask for forgiveness.
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  Now, our God is so incredibly gracious and forgiving.
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  And Jesus' sacrifice, like you were talking about, is perfect and provides the
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  forgiveness and the atonement for our sins. but it's always better to obey first. Amen.
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  Than to have to be in a position to require the forgiveness.
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  And you know, Erica, when we really put our faith in the Lord and trust him
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  and lean not into our own understandings, as he tells us in Proverbs 3,
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  5, and 6, which we spoke about earlier, we really will obey.
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  Because we understand that what he's asking us to do is not just the right thing
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  to do, not just what we're supposed to do, but is the best thing to do.
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  Absolutely. You know, one of the verses in Proverbs 21, verse 15 says,
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  It is joy to the just to do judgment, but the destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity.
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  To those who are just, right? To those who are living just and justified, it is joy to do judgment.
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  And what that means is it's joy to do the right thing.
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  Right? Right, that's what that verse is saying, is it's joy to do the right thing. Psalms 37, 4 is.
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  When we joy in the Lord, we have peace in our hearts.
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  And we have a very satisfying, rewarding life.
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  You know, verse 21 in Proverbs 21 says, He that followeth after righteousness
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  and mercy findeth life, righteousness, and honor.
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  Right? If we are following after those things, following after righteousness
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  and mercy, we're following after Jesus, right? That's where you're going to find those things.
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  You're going to find those things in the presence of Jesus, in the person of
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  Jesus. So if we are following after
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  him, we will find life, we'll find righteousness, and we'll find honor.
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  And I think that it's important to realize that obedience requires a determination, a purpose.
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  It's not for those who are lazy.
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  Obedience requires working out in your mind this commitment.
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  This purpose to trust him, to believe him, to know that there is no other way except his way.
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  And so it leads us to the other topic I think we find in Proverbs 21,
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  which is diligence versus being a sluggard.
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  And this is a topic that has been in a number of Proverbs that we've talked about it recently.
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  It's something that comes up. I'll let you know it's not in Proverbs 22.
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  I've read it, But I'm pretty sure that we talked about it in Proverbs chapter 20.
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  But there's a contrast that is common throughout the book of Proverbs of being
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  diligent versus being a sluggard.
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  Read verse 5 there. The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness,
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  but of everyone that is hasty only to want.
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  Right when we're hasty in doing
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  things and we don't give things their attention or
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  we're we're lazy so we rush through them we're going
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  to end up in a state of want we have
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  to use wisdom and wisdom is a process and we have to allow the lord to work
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  through us and be patient to believe that he's working out for our good like
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  it says in romans 8 28 and in doing so that means we have to be diligent to stay the course,
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  to stay the course.
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  The verse 20 says, there is treasure to be desired and oil in the dwelling of the wise.
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  But a foolish man spendeth it up, right?
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  A foolish man spends what he does not have, spends what he needs, right?
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  Doesn't spend wisely, but the wise have the treasure and the oil.
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  He also says, because the slothful man, if you look at verse 25.
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  That he doesn't work. He won't do anything.
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  And so basically the desire to be lazy is just basically killing all abundance,
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  joy, goodness, and his life itself.
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  I think it's important that we understand that we depend on God,
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  but we must allow him to work through us.
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  But we have to be willing to be committed and used of him.
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  He allows us the privilege to be part of his story. I'll never understand that.
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  And verse 26 is all about that.
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  Verse 26 says, He coveteth greedily all the day long, but the righteous giveth and spareth not.
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  We're called to be His hands extended to this world. We're called to give,
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  and we're called to spare not.
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  Occasionally, we are called to give until it hurts.
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  We're called to give financially until it hurts. We're called to give of our time when it hurts.
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  We might be called to give of our home, and it may hurt.
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  Right but we are called to give and
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  spareth not and that is evidence
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  of the relationship we have with god but you
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  know what also erica if you're holding
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  tightly to what you have and you don't open up god can't give you anymore and
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  you can't out give him so it's my encouragement to all of us me and you included
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  open up your hands and give to the storehouses of god and watch him bless us
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  amazingly and abundantly.
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  We thank you so much for the time that you've spent with us in Proverbs chapter 21.
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  I pray that you've enjoyed it as much as we've enjoyed it.
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  I pray it inspires you and motivates you to dig deeper into the word and not into the world.
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  And I pray that as you journey through Proverbs,
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  you're allowing the Lord to just open your heart and your mind and to just give
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  to you the wisdom and the knowledge he so desires for us to have.
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  Remember that you are loved. Jesus.
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  Music.
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  quotes from today's podcast and scripture references.
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  Music.