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402 | Conversations - Proverbs 22 · The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast

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  Music.
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  Hello, friends, and welcome back to another podcast of Woman at the Well Ministries,
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  where we believe that all of us have to come to Jesus like the woman at the
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  well in John chapter four.
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  Our highest priority is making God real in your life.
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  Whether you are listening in our app, in your favorite podcasting app,
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  or on our website at watwm.org, 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 her life for Christ. She's a happy girl.
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  Music.
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  She's a happy girl.
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  In this episode of the woman at the well ministries podcast 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 and in today's podcast we discuss
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  the lessons learned in proverbs chapter 22 well hello Hello,
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  everyone, and thank you for joining us.
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  I am Erica Close, and I am here with Kimberly Miller.
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  Hello, and thank you for joining us in this podcast of Women at the Well Ministries.
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  I'm so excited to dive into Proverbs chapter 22.
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  There are so many interesting themes and just good pieces of teaching in here
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  for all of us, and I know that we're excited to jump into it.
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  So I'm going to go ahead and start reading, and I'm going to read the beginning
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  of chapter 22, and then I'll pass it over to Kim.
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  A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favor rather than silver and gold.
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  The rich and poor meet together, the Lord is the maker of them all.
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  A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself, but the simple pass on and are punished.
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  By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches and honor and life.
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  Thorns and snares are in the way of the froward, he that doth keep his soul shall be far from them.
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  Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.
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  The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.
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  He that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity, and the rod of his anger shall fail.
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  He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed, for he giveth of his bread to the poor.
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  Cast out the scorner, and contention shall go out. Yea, strife and reproach shall cease.
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  He that loveth pureness of heart, for the grace of his lips the king shall be his friend.
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  The eyes of the Lord preserve knowledge, and he overthroweth the words of the transgressor.
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  The slothful man saith, There is a lion without, I shall be slain in the streets.
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  The mouth of strange women is a deep pit, he that is abhorred of the Lord shall fall therein.
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  Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child, but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.
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  He that oppresseth the poor to increase his riches, and he that giveth to the
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  rich shall surely come to want.
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  Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine heart unto my knowledge.
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  For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee.
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  They shall wither be fitted in thy lips. that thy
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  trust may be in the lord i have made known
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  to thee this day even to thee have not
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  i written to thee excellent things and counsels and knowledge that
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  i might make thee know the certainty of the words of truth that thou mightest
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  answer the words of truth to them that send unto thee rob not the poor because
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  he is poor neither oppress the afflicted in the gate for the lord will plead
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  their cause and spoil the soul of those that spoiled them.
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  Make no friendship with an angry man, and with a furious man thou shalt not go.
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  Lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul.
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  Be not thou one of them that strike hands, or of them that are sureties for debts.
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  If thou hast nothing to pay, why should he take away thy bed from under thee?
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  Remove not the ancient landmark which thy fathers have set. Seest thou a man
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  diligent in his business?
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  He shall stand before kings. He shall not stand before mean men.
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  So there are so many themes that are in this chapter in the book of Proverbs.
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  And I think that one of the ones that really stands out is this idea,
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  and it comes out of verse 1, of having a good name and what it means to be a
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  good man and how important having a good name is.
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  And verse one says that a good name is rather to be chosen than great riches.
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  Right. It's good to be someone that others think well of because of how you
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  love people and how you care for people and how you act in this world.
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  Because riches come and go. They do. and riches are sometimes beyond your control.
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  But who you are is who you are.
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  And how it has served you in times past is how it will serve you now and how
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  it will serve you in the future.
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  There is surety, there is confidence, and it's a firm foundation to build upon
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  when you have a goodness in your character and your being.
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  Verse 3 talks about a prudent man foresees evil and hithes himself.
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  Like a prudent man is going to stay away from evil and recognize evil.
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  You know, part of living the life that God wants us to live is that we are able
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  to see when something is not of him.
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  And when you look at verse 4, he talks about humility and fear of the Lord is
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  what brings riches and honor and life. because we know that it's not about us.
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  So we're placing our faith and our trust, as we were told in Proverbs 3, verses 5 and 6.
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  We're placing our trust in God, who owns the cattle on a thousand hills and
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  the hills thereof, who everything is under his feet.
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  And he gives that which we need to us, according to Philippians 4.
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  And in verse 11, if we, in verse 4, if we're talking about the value of fearing
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  the Lord, verse 11 talks about loving the pureness of heart,
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  that we are seeking after purity.
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  We are seeking after the heart that God wants us to have.
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  And that's clearly a huge thing because it says that those who seek after a
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  pureness of heart will be rewarded by being friends with the king.
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  So clearly, that is something of high value.
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  Which kind of he shows that so often happens in the book of Proverbs, the antithesis.
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  In 24 and 25, he says, make no friendship with an angry man.
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  And then he tells you why you're not to make friendship with an angry man.
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  Because he says, you may learn his ways.
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  And then you've caused a snare to your soul. And how many times,
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  this happened to me recently.
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  Something happened, there was an event, and I was with somebody.
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  And it really was about me and something had happened to me and I was irritated
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  by it but a three-minute conversation with the person who was with me and I was livid.
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  And I was spun up, and I was ready to retaliate, and I was all angry and all upset.
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  And I promise you that if I had been alone at that one particular moment,
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  and not watching this other person and being fed and fueled by their anger,
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  I would have never felt like I felt at that moment.
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  And yeah, I allowed that to happen, and nothing really bad happened,
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  and we talked it out, and things were much reduced and not as escalated as they had been.
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  But my point is, is I could see immediately reading that how that works.
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  People fuel our fire. They do. And sometimes if they're fuel,
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  they may fuel something that is good. They may fuel our fire for Jesus.
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  They may fuel our passion to do good things and the work of the Lord.
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  Or they may fuel our passion to fight, to argue, to disagree,
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  to be negative, to fight for our rights.
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  And we need to just be very careful because he very plainly says,
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  Make no friendship with an angry man.
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  And with a furious man thou shalt not go, lest thou learn his ways and get snare to thy soul.
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  That phrase, get a snare to thy soul, I think is powerful.
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  Me too, because I think it happens.
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  Exactly. Like things happen and they get things get a hook in you.
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  And I think a lot of times when the devil gets a hook in you,
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  it's a hook like like a fishing hook with a barb on the end of it.
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  Right. It's not always easy to pull out.
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  So often a lot of God work has to happen to get you put back going in the right direction.
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  But he tells you that a diligent man does his business well.
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  And he stands before kings and he won't be afraid. Mean men.
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  Because he's not going to stand before mean men. I like the idea of not standing before a mean man.
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  That means God really watches over and takes care of those who are doing the right thing.
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  And, you know, the Bible says, to him that knows to do good and doeth it not,
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  to him it is sin. And that encompasses every position in our life and every aspect of our lives.
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  God is interested in who we are, where we are, and what we're doing.
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  Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.
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  And I think that ties in with our next theme is that God really wants us to listen.
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  Yep, he wants us to listen to him. He wants us to listen to his word.
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  And there's a whole section in verses 17 through 21 that really talk about listening.
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  Let's read those again. bow down thine
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  ear and hear the words of the wise and
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  apply thine heart unto my knowledge god's knowledge so he's telling us that
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  we need to really listen and get out of a place of thinking you know it all
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  and and that you're better than everybody else but come down to reality,
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  and really listen, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God,
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  that he might exalt you in due time.
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  And he says, hear the words of the wise and apply your heart to the Lord's knowledge.
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  When you put the word of God in you, which the psalmist David said is a light
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  into your feet and a lamp into your path.
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  When you put the word of God in you and you are following the ways of Christ.
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  And you are obediently adhering to the commands of scripture,
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  you're in the center of God's will and you have positioned yourself to receive
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  all the blessings that God has for you that he speaks about in John 10, 10,
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  when he says that he come that you might have life and have it more abundantly.
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  Verse 18 reads, for it is a pleasant thing. If thou keep them within thee,
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  they shall withel be fitted in thy lips.
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  Get his word in you. Make sure you're speaking the word of God.
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  And then he says in 19, that thy trust may be in the Lord.
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  And where have we heard that before? Trust in the Lord with all thine heart
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  and lean not unto thine own understanding.
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  In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths.
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  Be not wise in thine own eyes.
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  Depart from evil and fear the Lord.
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  The Lord loves us. He says that everywhere. And Proverbs is full of that.
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  That was out of Proverbs 3, 5, 6, and 7.
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  And he says that he has made known to us the things that we need,
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  the knowledge from Genesis to Revelations, the greatest love letter ever written.
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  It's at our disposal. It's ours to read, to ingest, to follow, to learn.
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  And it is always relevant to every issue that's happening in our life.
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  Then he says in verse 19, that thy trust may be in the Lord,
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  I have made known to thee this day, even to thee.
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  He isn't trying to hold anything back. He's giving us everything that we need.
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  And he says in 20, Have not I written to thee excellent things in counsels and knowledge?
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  Haven't I written unto thee excellent things in counsels and in knowledge,
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  that I might make thee know the certainty of the words of truth,
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  that thou mightest answer the words of truth to them that sinned unto thee.
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  We have the ability to know what God wants us to know, wants us to think.
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  It enables us to know how he wants us to live and how to act.
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  And he says how to answer those who are asking questions of thee.
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  The wisdom of the Lord will give you a good answer. And Scripture says a word
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  fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.
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  I love that idea of knowing, too, that God really wants us to know things.
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  And it reminds me of 1 John 5, 13.
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  These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of
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  God, that ye may know that you have eternal life.
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  Hallelujah. The certainty of the word.
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  He wants us to know and to understand. Our faith is not blind faith.
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  Our faith is built upon knowledge of God's Word, knowledge of what God has done,
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  knowledge of God's promises, and knowledge of who He is.
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  Amen. It's not a blind faith. I think that's so important. I do too.
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  And what I love in this particular Proverbs,
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  Erica, is how he takes a time and a portion of this chapter,
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  a fairly large portion of this chapter, to tell us that we are to care for the poor.
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  And I think that is so relevant to the verse you just read in our hearing,
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  1 John 15, 13, these things I have written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God.
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  He has written to us the things that we need to know because he wants us to
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  have that abundant life in John 10, 10.
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  And he chooses to give us several verses within this chapter,
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  some in the beginning, a few in the middle, and some towards the end,
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  so that we're never losing sight that we are to care for the poor.
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  And I believe part of that is because I believe he wants to remind us that we
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  were poor in spirit, that we were too poor to pay our sin debt.
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  And he sent his son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross of Calvary because of
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  his great love for us, shed his sinless perfect blood that we might believe in him.
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  And he would wash away our sins that though they be as scarlet, they are white as snow.
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  And that we would remember that there was a time in our life when there was
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  the great Savior, when there was the Redeemer,
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  when we had the sacrificial lamb who was rich in glory and righteousness,
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  and he came and he died for us when we did not have what it took for us.
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  To make it. And though he speaks in this passage of scripture regarding the
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  poor among us who are financially weak,
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  I want you to know that if you're snubbing your nose as somebody who doesn't
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  have this world's wealth, you need to stop.
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  Because one, he says to.
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  Two, you're no different than they are.
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  And this world's wealth, you can get by with not having.
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  But not having the wealth of Jesus Christ and amazing grace and mercy that he
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  bestowed upon you when you were more than destitute, that you can't survive. Amen.
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  The rich and poor meet together. The Lord is the maker of them all.
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  There's no more way to say we're all the same.
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  Like you just said, we all need Jesus. And you cannot give him.
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  The more you give to the Lord, the more he blesses you.
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  In verse 9, he says, he that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed.
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  That means those who live in the idea of, I have enough. I have enough to give.
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  I have enough to make a difference.
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  I have enough to help somebody. I'm going to share what I have.
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  For he giveth of his bread to the poor.
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  Those who have a heart like Jesus are looking for ways.
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  They have a bountiful eye. They're looking at how can I distribute the love,
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  the grace, the mercy of Jesus Christ to others.
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  Jesus loves me this I know, and so I want to love others the same way.
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  Absolutely. Verse 16 says, He that oppresseth the poor to increase his riches,
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  and he that giveth to the rich shall surely come to want.
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  The Lord is going to ensure that people are giving, not to those that have no
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  need, but to those that have need.
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  All this money that we have, all the wealth that we have in this world, It's all His.
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  Amen. It is just our job to distribute it and to ensure that everyone is taken care of.
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  And so often we get so greedy and we think that the money that we have,
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  the things that we have, are ours alone. But they're not.
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  It's His to distribute and to do with what He wants us to do with Him. Amen. Amen.
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  I love Proverbs. And I love Proverbs chapter 22.
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  There's a wealth of knowledge from verse 1 all the way to verse 29.
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  But I love that he says, A prudent man foreseeth the evil and hideth himself.
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  Do you know where they hide themselves?
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  Psalms 91 says, In the cleft of the shadow of the Almighty.
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  We have this opportunity to walk in sync with Jesus Christ, to listen to the
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  Holy Spirit as it leads, guides, and direct us. and to be hidden,
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  in the arms of Christ. I love that He hides us, He helps us, and He loves us.
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  Amen. We thank you for listening, and we want you to know and to remember that
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  you are loved and that Jesus loves you.
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  Music.
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  Thank you for joining us in today's podcast. You can visit the show notes for
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  quotes from today's podcast and scripture references.
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  Remember that God loves you.
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  Music.