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360 | Conversations - Proverbs 14 (Part 1) · The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast

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Music.
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Hello, friends, and welcome back to another podcast of Woman at the Well Ministries,
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where we believe that all of us have to come to Jesus like the woman at the well in John chapter 4.
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Our highest priority is making God real in your life.
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Whether you are listening in our app, in your favorite podcasting app,
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or on our website at watwm.org,
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we invite you to sit down with us as we look to the scriptures to learn more
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about God and to strengthen your daily walk with Jesus Christ.
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Living a life for Christ. She's a happy girl.
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Music.
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She's a happy girl.
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In this episode of the woman at the well ministries podcast
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join kim miller and erica close in a conversation as we walk with jesus in today's
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conversation we continue a series on the book of proverbs and in today's podcast
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we're discussing the lessons learned in proverbs chapter 14 well Well,
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thank you, everyone, for joining us.
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I'm Erica Close, and I am here with Kim Miller.
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Hello, and thank you for joining us in this podcast of Woman at the Well Ministries
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as we walk through Proverbs, learning what God has for each of us so that we
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would be more of what He would ask us to be.
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This is a really neat chapter in the book of Proverbs.
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It describes wisdom from a lot of different viewpoints and a lot of different
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aspects of wisdom, and I'm excited for us to discuss them.
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And it also really talks about the importance of fearing the Lord from a place
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of respect and understanding that He, that He's God.
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And then lastly, there are just some really, really neat verses in here about
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the state of our heart and how our heart really drives so much of what we do.
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And therefore, we need to have our hearts in the right place.
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So as we jump into Proverbs chapter 14, Kim, would you like to start reading?
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Every wise woman buildeth her house, but the foolish plucketh it down with her hand.
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He that walketh in his uprightness feareth the Lord, but he that is perverse
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in his ways despiseth him.
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In the mouth of the foolish is a rod of pride, but the lips of the wise shall preserve them.
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Where no oxen are, the crib is clean. But much increases by the strength of the ox.
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A faithful witness will not lie, but a false witness will utter lies.
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A scorner seeketh wisdom and findeth it not, but knowledge is easy unto him that understandeth.
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Go from the presence of a foolish man when thou perceivest not in him the lips
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of knowledge. The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way,
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but the folly of fools is deceit.
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Fools make a mock at sin, but among the righteous there is favor.
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The heart knoweth his own bitterness, and a stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy.
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The house of the wicked shall be overthrown, but the tabernacle of the upright shall flourish.
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There is a way which seemeth right unto man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.
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Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful, and the end of the myrrh is heaviness.
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The backslider and heart shall be filled with his own ways, and the good man
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shall be satisfied from himself.
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Starting in verse 15. The simple
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believeth every word, but the prudent man looketh well to his going.
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A wise man feareth and departeth from evil, but the fool rageth and is confident.
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He that is soon angry dealeth foolishly, and a man of wicked devices is hated.
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The simple inherit folly, but the prudent are crowned with knowledge.
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The evil bow before the good and the wicked at the gates of the righteous.
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The poor is hated even of his own neighbor, but the rich hath many friends.
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He that despiseth his neighbor sinneth, but he that hath mercy on the poor, happy is he.
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Do they not err that devise evil? But mercy and truth shall be to them the devised good.
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In all labor there is profit, but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury.
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The crown of the wise is their riches, but the foolishness of fools is folly.
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A true witness delivereth souls, but a deceitful witness speaketh lies.
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In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence, and his children shall have a place of refuge.
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The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death.
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In the multitude of people is the king's honor, but in the want of people is
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the destruction of the prince.
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He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding, but he that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly.
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A sound heart is the life of the flesh, but envy the rottenness of the bones.
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He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his maker, but he that honoreth him hath mercy on the poor.
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The wicked is driven away in his wickedness, but the righteous hath hope in his death.
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Wisdom resteth in the heart of him that hath understanding, but that which is
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in the midst of fools is made known.
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Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.
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You know, there was something that came to my mind as you were reading.
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The entire book of Proverbs has talked a lot about foolishness or doing the wrong thing.
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And I think that it's important that we just take a second to realize that in the Old Testament,
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seldom if ever when they use the word fool, are they describing like a feeble-minded,
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imbecile idiot or a moron or somebody that's not of mental capacity.
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They are almost always, well, I believe always, it is referring to a rebel,
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like somebody who is especially against God's laws. That's the foolish.
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That's the fool. When the one who just chooses to go against God's law of order
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and decency and justice.
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And so when we're looking at Proverbs, I think it's important that we have a
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very strong, because it's always a contrast between the wise and the foolish.
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And it comes down to the wise are following the ways of God and the commandments
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of Jesus, and the foolish are following their own ways, their own heart,
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their own lust, and going in their own way. Absolutely.
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And then last verse in the chapter, verse 35. The king's favor is toward a wise
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servant, but his wrath is against him that causeth shame.
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There's a lot of different things in this chapter, but I love that it starts out with wisdom.
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The first part of 14 says, Every wise woman buildeth her house,
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but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands.
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I think that wisdom is about building things up and not tearing things down.
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And I think that that can refer to many different things.
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We need to build up our house. And that could be our house. That can be our
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family. That can be our village.
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It can be our tabernacle. It can be our tabernacle. Like, wisdom is about building
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things up and not tearing things down.
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And I think it's important to note here, because Proverbs so often talks about
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our words, our words should be things that build the people up.
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When we're having conversations, our conversations should be about building
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people up and not tearing people down.
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And when you think about this in Proverbs 14, verse 2 says that you're to walk
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reverently and worshiply and fear the Lord.
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That's the person who walks in uprightness. And when you're thinking about building
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something, you're building something up.
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You're building something to stand, something that is above the ground,
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that's taller than the norm or taller than the problems underneath it.
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And so when we think about what he says, he's saying that those of us who know
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the Lord and are following after God and walking in the commandments of Jesus.
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We need to reverently and worshiply and in worship fear the Lord.
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And I think that verse three talks of says in the mouth of the foolish is a
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rod of pride, but the lips of the wise shall preserve them.
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So often our wisdom is displayed in our words, and those that don't have wisdom
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also display that in their words.
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And when you look at verses 1 and 2 about building people up and fearing the
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Lord and living uprightly, our words should reflect that.
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And I think it's so easy that with our words, we tear people down.
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Whether we're talking to them or talking about them, we have to realize that
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there is tremendous power in our words.
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And it's our job to build people up, whether we're, again, talking to someone
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or talking about someone to someone else.
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We need to ensure that our words are wise and that our words are building people
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up and doing something to draw people closer to what God would have them to be.
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I think when we get into verse 4, we start talking about work.
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And to me, you know, this proverb is about having a place where there's no oxen.
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And so your crib, right, your crib is clean, but you get a lot with an oxen.
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So I think to me that says, you know, work is messy, right?
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Even the Lord's work is often messy. But it's required.
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It's required. The crib that is clean offers them nothing, gives them no benefit,
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and in fact, is a problem.
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Right. If you have a clean crib, it means you've got no oxen and you're not
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doing anything with them. That's going to cause a mess.
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Because the oxen themselves, the work itself is going to be messy.
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And I think that's just true. I mean, it's not just true with farming.
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Right? It's true in our lives.
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The work for the Lord is often messy because humans are messy.
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But if we're not being
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in the mess and supporting the mess that
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is so many people's lives we're not doing the work of the lord which i think
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is a beautiful illustration if you read four and five together which four and
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five says where no oxen are the crib is clean but much increases by the strength
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of the ox a faithful witness will not lie but a false witness will utter lies.
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And I think what this is saying is when you are faithful to the Lord,
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your life shows the change he's made in it.
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And the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in you.
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Demonstrates and testifies that you are a newborn believer in Christ Jesus.
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And just like a clean crib lies that all is well and this is great and this is good,
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the truth will be seen in what you can see demonstrated and in front of you.
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And a clean crib in this analogy is one where there of slothfulness.
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Literally no work is getting done.
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But the messy work, the actual doing what you're asked to do,
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the wading through the things of the world,
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the perseverance and the absolute dependence upon Jesus, that is seen and your life will not lie.
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How you live says everything about who God is in your life.
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Absolutely. Our lives reflect what we think about God.
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Our lives will reflect the place that he has in our life.
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Verses six through nine really go together.
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They talk about how a scorner can't find wisdom, right?
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Somebody who is scornful, who is against the Lord is not going to find godly wisdom.
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But that verse goes on to say, knowledge is easy to him that has understanding.
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Our hearts have to be in the right place in order to learn wisdom.
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If we are scorning the Lord, if we are against the work of the Lord,
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we're not going to be able to gain wisdom and to gain understanding.
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And in verse 7, we're warned to go away from someone in this case that is foolish.
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If somebody is leading others away from the Lord, we ourselves need to go away.
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Because if we look at verse 8, the wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way.
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If we are thinking ahead and we are being prudent, we're using wisdom.
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But the second part of that verse talks about the folly of fools is deceit.
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We need to stay away from the things of the devil that are deceitful,
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and they're drawing us away from the Lord.
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Because you're not going to find anything that is beneficial in the presence
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of a foolish and self-confident person.
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You're not going to find any knowledge on their lips because they're leaning.
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To their own understanding, which
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Proverbs 3, 5, 6, and 7 have told us way earlier not to do that. Yeah.
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But godly wisdom helps us know how to walk in our purpose for God.
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And those who are seeking that, as you just said,
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have to separate themselves from the foolishness of the devil to set themselves
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apart and to be zealous of good works.
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I think verse 9 really defines foolishness as used in the book of Proverbs really well.
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It said, fools make a mock at sin, right? They mock sin. They don't think that sin is a problem.
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And it says, but among the righteous there is favor.
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Those that are mocking sin are what Proverbs would refer to as fools.
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They're mocking all sin.
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And so therefore they're not following after the things of the Lord.
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But those that are righteous, that are seeking the Lord and seeking His wisdom,
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His understanding, seeking to live a life that follows after Him, they will find favor.
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They are clearly, by definition here, not foolish, but those that have godly wisdom.
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And it's interesting because in this passage of Scripture that you were illuminating,
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there's a lot about the self-confident man.
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And the truth of the matter is that those who are self-confident and those who
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are mocking the sin, they really are sin's victims.
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They're the ones who have totally been taken prey by sin, yet they're the ones
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beating their chest and speaking loudly and, you know, getting out in front
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and presenting themselves as the all in all.
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When in reality, they truly are the ones that have been fully duped by the devil.
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Completely snookered by Satan, and are living a victim of the lifestyle they have chosen.
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Absolutely. Verse 10 changes direction a little bit and talks about the heart.
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There's two verses in this chapter that really talk about.
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The heart. And this one says, the heart knoweth his own bitterness,
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and a stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy.
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I think that what this is saying is that every heart is unique,
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and that we know our hearts.
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And in this case, the heart knows its own bitterness. It knows the pain that it's had in this life.
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And it says, a stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy. A stranger isn't
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going to know your heart.
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You know, our hearts are unique and precious, but our hearts are also where
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we get to spend time with the Lord, right?
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It's the heart, our true heart, where we have our full relationship with Him.
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And I also believe, in accordance to what you've just said, that the wicked
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heart, the heart that is bitter, doesn't share even in its own joy.
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There is no joy in the heart of a bitter person.
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And we all know that God came that we might have life and have it more abundantly
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and that there is joy in the presence of the Lord.
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But a bitter heart will lock themselves out of joy each and every time because
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you can't have the bitterness and the joy at the same time.
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So the heart is overtaken with bitterness and it doesn't share in the joy of
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the Lord, even in a beautiful sunset or a sunrise. Absolutely.
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In verse 11, there's a really neat contrast and it says, the house of the wicked
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shall be overthrown, but the tabernacle of the upright shall flourish.
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And that sets up this contrast like so many times in Proverbs where you have
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the wicked and you have the upright.
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But I think it's interesting that the wicked have a house, right? The wicked have a house.
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But the upright have a tabernacle because as we as believers have the indwelling
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of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament, the tabernacle was where the presence of God actually was.
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So we as believers, as the upright in Christ, we have a tabernacle and we have
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verses that talk up in the Bible that talk about our earthly tabernacle, right?
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We have a tabernacle. I have the presence of God in me. I don't just have a house, right?
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I have a tabernacle because I am a tabernacle because I've got the presence
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of the Holy Spirit in my life. I love that verse.
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I love that one. I love verse 12, which says, there is a way which seemeth right
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unto man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.
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And this is the culmination of what we've been speaking about in this chapter.
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The self-confidence, the self-reliance, the puffed up pride.
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These are all things that are gonna take you down. and
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they're all things that that are stepping stones the
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devil is putting in your in your path not
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for your glory and not for your good or to raise you
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up but to sink you further and further and further in his control in his misery
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and to remove you from any inclination you might have to be joyful in the Lord
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and to sing his praises and to worship.
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But we don't set out to be that person. Nobody ever says in first grade when
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you're asked, what do you want to be?
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I want to be in prison for life. No one says that.
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But each step leads us further and further away from God when we are becoming
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more and more and reliant on ourselves.
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And so we must have a checkpoint in our lives? How are we making our decisions?
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What are we doing to make sure we're on the right path?
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Are we consulting the Lord? Do we know his word?
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Are we relying fully upon him? I want to talk about 13 for a minute,
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but 14 really follows what you just said.
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But 13, I think, really connects with verse 10.
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Verse 10, we talked about the heart. Verse 13 talks about, even in laughter,
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the heart is sorrowful and the end of that mirth is heaviness.
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I think that says to us, you know, we can have multiple emotions at once.
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We can have things that are going on in our life and still have joy.
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We can have circumstances in our lives that are heavy and still laugh when something happens.
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You know, I think that we don't need to think that we have to,
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you know, only have one emotion at a time or anything like that,
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but we can have all of these emotions.
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Emotions and understand that our emotions need to be driven by that earthly
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joy that we have in Jesus, right?
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We can have events and things that make us sad, but underlying all of that,
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undergirding all of that is joy, and it's the joy of the presence of God in our life.
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So 14 says, the backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways,
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and the good man should be satisfied from himself.
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So when somebody takes these steps and continually takes these steps away from
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God and believes the lies of the devil and stops fearing God,
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then you get what you ask for.
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You reap what you sow. So you're going to be filled with the fruit of your own
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ways and those are going to lead to destruction.
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But scripture tells us that a good man is satisfied.
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If you recall in John chapter four, the woman at the well, when she drank of
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that water, he said, you would never thirst again.
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When you're in the presence of the Lord, you have everything you need,
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want, desire, and could even think of.
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And so we need to realize that when we are following after the Lord and we have
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holy thoughts and holy actions,
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then our heart is going to prompt us to be joyful and we are going to share
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in the delight of the Lord.
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It matters how we think. It matters who we follow.
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And it desperately matters who we allow to speak into our life.
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And I think that next verse really speaks to who we allow to speak into our life.
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Because 15 says the symbol believeth every word. If we believed every word that
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we heard, we would be in a jam.
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We would be in a mess because we would be listening to words that are influenced by the devil, right?
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That are influenced by the world and by things that we as believers don't need to be listening to.
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But the second part of 15 says, but the prudent man looketh well to his going.
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A prudent man has forethought. A prudent man looks at where he's going,
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consults the Lord for where he should be going, and then keeps moving.
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And measures the information he's using as to where it's coming from. Absolutely.
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We need to use God's Word as a lens for how we look at our lives and as a lens
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for the things that we listen to.
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I believe that this was in our previous podcast that was on Monday,
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but God's word is to be the lens. It's to be the filter.
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It's to be what we compare everything to.
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That's why we have it.
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We have it to be the authority that we use to make decisions in our lives.
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And if something doesn't match up to God's word, then it's not something that
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we need to be doing or partaking in.
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If we look at these next two verses, and I think we're going to only do through
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verse 17 in this podcast because there's just been so much in here.
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But let's look at 16 and 17.
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16 and 17 together say.
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Dealeth foolishly, and a man of wicked devices is hated. I think both these
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verses just talk about our tempers.
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How wickedly do we become angry?
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We don't want to be people that are quick to anger.
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We want to be slow to anger.
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We want to take in what we see, take in what's happening, and again,
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filter that through God's word, and then respond according to God's word.
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But if we fly mad, we're probably not going to do that. Because a wise man's
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going to suspect danger.
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There's going to be red flags. They're going to be watching,
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and they're going to cautiously avoid evil. That's going to be something that's in their purpose.
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But an unwise man, a foolish man, they're just insolent, and they're just presumptually confident.
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And if they believe it, that's how it is. If they say it, it's gospel,
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and the next thing you know, they are sliding treacherously downhill.
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And I love that the Lord says, we are to be still and know that he is God in Psalms 46.10.
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Because, Erica, that's what he's saying here.
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Wise people are still, and they bring Jesus into all things.
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Well, this has been an amazing time of looking at the first half of Proverbs
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chapter 14, and we hope that you will join us for the second half.
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But it's important to really begin to allow this consistent,
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constant theme of there's a difference between good and evil,
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between wise and foolish,
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between those who follow and those who don't, and a big difference between those
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whom the Holy Spirit dwells. It is our prayer that you know Him.
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It is our hope that you walk with Him. And remember you are loved. Jesus loves you.
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Music.