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Ways To Be Wise · Bible Tract Echoes Podcast

• 0:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: Hey, friends, welcome back to Bible Track Decos.
• 0:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm Michael McCurray, your host.
• 0:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you so much for taking your time.
• 0:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: Enjoying me right here today.
• 0:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: This week, we've been talking about hindrances to using tracks.
• 0:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now, what are these tracks we're talking about?
• 0:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're talking about these little pieces of paper that Bible Tracks has been printing
• 0:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: for over 80 years and by which thousands, tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, quite potentially millions, have accepted Christ as a result of these little pieces of paper now often, they're colorful, they're eye catching, they're meant to grab someone's attention.
• 0:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: And they don't need to breathe, they don't need to eat, they don't need to sleep.
• 0:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: Once they're printed, they don't cost much except for a Christian with a heart to reach people and follow the Great Commission.
• 0:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: They don't need much to be distributed.
• 0:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: They're very light.
• 1:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: They're very small.
• 1:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: You can carry hundreds of them if you want it to, but I'd recommend just a dozen or so that you can carry on your person.
• 1:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: Ladies, put them in your purse, gentlemen, in a pocket, take them with you because it's a very hard, I've found, to give them away if you don't have them.
• 1:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: And yes, BTI, our ministry, that I have the great privilege of being the director of, it was founded by Dr. Paul Levine back in 1938, but our ministry, for the last 80-something years, has been printing and distributing these for free.
• 1:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: Free as the Lord provides, because our mission, same as our desire, is to get the word of God to all the world.
• 1:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: And one way to accomplish that is through gospel tracks like the one I'm holding in my hand right now.
• 1:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's a little bit more of a recent addition to our inventory, but it's one of my absolute favorites.
• 1:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: I probably talked about this one more than any other, but that's because I use this tract more than any other.
• 1:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's called it was a pleasure to meet you.
• 2:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now this gospel tract, it has a wonderful color, color scheme on the front, it grabs the attention, yes, but what really gets people's eyes to light up is when you hand it to them those words on the front, it says, it was a pleasure to meet you.
• 2:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: I've used this one you recently, had someone help me at a large story, where it was a Home Depot, a Lowe's in Bernard, something like that, one of those stories you buy home improvement, things that.
• 2:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: and they helped me find something.
• 2:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so I say, would you mind reading this?
• 2:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: They were very kind.
• 2:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: They walked me through the store.
• 2:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: Hey, would you mind reading this for a moment?
• 2:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: And the weather, the eyes light up.
• 2:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: When they read, it was a pleasure to meet you.
• 2:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: They tuck it in their apron, they tuck it in their pocket.
• 2:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: And my prayer, though, is that they will read it at their first opportunity.
• 2:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: And because of the kindness, because of the gentleness, we're not bashing someone over the head with the Bible.
• 2:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're not
• 2:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: shoving the gospel down their throat, choking and wheezing that, no, no, no, no.
• 3:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: Very kindly.
• 3:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: Jesus, he had a stern word ready when needed.
• 3:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know those Pharisees, those scoffers, certainly.
• 3:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: They need that every once in a while.
• 3:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: but for the everyday run of the male person who just needed a little bit of hope needed some peace needed some help Jesus was oh so very kind you know the social social justice misuse of Jesus where he is portrayed as only loving and kind oh he was most certainly but you realize Jesus was more than a one-dimensionable character or this caricature I should say
• 3:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, Jesus certainly could flip tables as necessary when injustice rained, but also for a dear woman with an issue of blood, for a good long while, doctors taken all of her money and provided no lasting help.
• 4:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: He paused what he was doing.
• 4:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: He was on his way somewhere.
• 4:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: He was busy.
• 4:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: There was the crush of the crowd.
• 4:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: But he knew that woman needed help.
• 4:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: And in that spirit, this gospel track was written, it was a pleasure To meet you in this gospel track can be ordered like many of our other titles for free on Bibletracksink.org I encourage you to go to our website
• 4:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: When I talked today about hindrances to using gospel tracks on Monday and Tuesday, we talked about self-confidence, being such a hindrance.
• 4:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: And the reason is, because self-confidence is the wrong way to look at it, we must be confident in Christ.
• 4:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: He is the one who has sent us so send I, you, and we read and listened to that phenomenal old song from many years ago, so send I, you, but yesterday,
• 4:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: We spoke about purity, it's very hard to represent Christ well when we are impure.
• 5:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think of those guards who have been there before at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
• 5:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: They are so precise, every step measured perfectly.
• 5:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: But it started well before they came out onto the stones, and began to walk with a click, click, click, honoring those at a fallen, nameless and unknown.
• 5:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: It started with them getting pristinely ready.
• 5:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: they were pure.
• 5:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know what they harbour in their hearts, but behind those sunglasses, there's a steely gaze and a confidence in knowing.
• 5:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: Not that your purity comes from within, but from what you have done, you've cleaned yourself, you have ready yourself, you have groomed yourself,
• 5:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: you have made yourself physically, I'm talking about these, these guards have done everything to make sure that uniform is precise.
• 6:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: The weapon is completely clean.
• 6:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: But what about our Christians?
• 6:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: How will do we honor and reverence, our God, who does have a name, a name of every name, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, wonderful counsel and mighty God, the Prince of Peace, the everlasting Father, and I could go on and on.
• 6:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: How will do we reverence him?
• 6:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: Do we represent him well?
• 6:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: What a sad thing would be, though, I have great respect for veterans, for Memorial Day, Memorializing those that have fallen my father, it was a long time Army veteran, 20 years.
• 6:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: He is a veteran, I should say, long time Army soldier, great respect.
• 6:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: But if a commission from an earthly king is an honor, how can a commission from the heavenly king be any less?
• 7:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: We must be pure.
• 7:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: That brings us to our third hindrance.
• 7:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: What is a hindrance?
• 7:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, it's an impediment.
• 7:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: That which stops progression or in advance.
• 7:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's an obstruction.
• 7:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: It restrains motion.
• 7:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're trying to pray for, we're trying to look for, prepare for some positive spiritual motion.
• 7:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: not just self-confidence, not just purity, but wisdom.
• 7:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: A lack thereof can be a hindrance to our witness.
• 7:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: Proverbs 1130 says this, The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life.
• 7:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: and he that wenteth souls is wise.
• 7:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now, the last you think I'm taking the set of context in the original Old Testament setting of course this proverb using some kind of call it a Hebrew poetic parallelism.
• 7:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: winning souls, if you think that taking lives or capturing persons or winning hearts, in the Hebrew would often mean influencing, persuading, or guiding people.
• 8:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now, the context here is not specifically speaking necessarily of evangelism in the new testament sense, just speaking about Christ, of course.
• 8:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: But why is a person?
• 8:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: does bring others in the context of the verse.
• 8:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life.
• 8:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: The wise person brings others to righteousness.
• 8:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: Peace.
• 8:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: Wisdom in contrast to leading them toward destruction.
• 8:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: A fool, all through problems of fool, is one who leads or leads towards destruction, wickedness, wrong.
• 8:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: But the wise, the wise, they tend towards righteousness.
• 8:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: They tend towards helping.
• 8:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: So in that context,
• 8:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, righteous life produces blessing, a tree of life, and a wise person attracts guides, or wins others, influence others to godly living.
• 8:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: So let's look at this in the broader Bible sense or biblical principle wise.
• 9:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe Solomon's readers didn't yet know the full revelation of the gospel.
• 9:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: That would be absolutely the case.
• 9:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: Sure, they did not have the full revelation available to them as we do in the 66 books of the Bible.
• 9:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: But the principle still fits within the New Testament's call, the Commission, to win souls to Christ.
• 9:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: throughout Scripture wisdom is tied to godly influence that the Bible is always more powerful when you preach it in context and so I'm going to do so.
• 9:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: Pointing people towards life, towards righteousness, towards God is
• 9:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: wise and is done by wise.
• 9:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: People Daniel 12 verse 3 and they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever endeavor.
• 9:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: The wise are going to shine and they that turn them into righteousness
• 10:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: are as a star forever and ever.
• 10:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: James 5, 20, let him know that he, which converted the sinner from the air of his way shall save a soul from death and shall hide a multitude of sins.
• 10:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: So as an omiss application, oh, to say it would be slightly out of context to claim Proverbs 1130 was written specifically about New Testament evangelism.
• 10:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, that would be correct, but it is absolutely appropriate.
• 10:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: to apply the principle of the verse 2, winning soul to using gospel tracks the same God that inspired Solomon.
• 10:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: To write about the wise, winning others, to righteousness is the same God who, in Christ in the Lamb, worthy is the Lamb, a love that passage in Revelation, chapter 5, where these limbs who receive power and wisdom and glory and strength and blessing and honoring.
• 11:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: who in Christ commands us to make disciples of all nations, not disciples of us.
• 11:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not trying to make little Micah McCurries and what a fool I would be to do so.
• 11:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: I have enough messed up in me.
• 11:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: The world does not need a clone of Micah McCurries.
• 11:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: As much as I would enjoy being able to get twice as much stuff done, a clone of me wouldn't listen to me because I am a fool.
• 11:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: In other words, in the context of Proverbs 1130, winning people to Godliness, that's wisdom.
• 11:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yes.
• 11:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: But a legitimate application, in parallel with that, if I could spit it out today, winning people to Christ is the true source of righteousness and life, and yes, why is people do so?
• 11:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I must ask, are you wise?
• 12:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: Proverbs, so much to be said about wisdom and the fool, you do not want to be a fool, you want to be wise, you don't want to be simple either.
• 12:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: Simple, not necessarily is a fool, but he's on his way towards being a fool.
• 12:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: He has the predilection to potentially be a fool, if he does not become wise.
• 12:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe you're, maybe you're simple minded.
• 12:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't mean that in disrespectful, I don't mean that to denigrate.
• 12:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, maybe you don't understand the importance
• 12:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: that this is a matter of life and death, not just earthly life, earthly death, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know,
• 12:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: Jesus is the way, here's one of the names of off the Jesus, the way, the truth, and the life, who have you told about Him, and how wise are you?
• 13:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: Have a great day for His glory.
• 13:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: We'll talk to you soon.
• 13:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: God bless.
• 13:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for tuning in to Bible Tract Echoes, the radio ministry of Bible Tracts Incorporated.
• 13:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: Want to see our gospel tracks and other resources?
• 13:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: Visit us online at BibleTracksInk.org that's BibleTracksInk.org or follow us on social media to learn how you can partner with this ministry.
• 13:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thanks again for listening.
• 13:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: May the Lord richly bless you as you live for Him.