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378 | Conversations - Proverbs 19: Guarding Your Heart · 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 in today's conversation we
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  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 19 well hello everyone and thank you
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  so much for joining us in this podcast.
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  My name is Erica Close and I am here Miller.
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  Hello, and thank you for joining us in chapter 19 of the book of Proverbs.
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  And I'm excited today because we are going to learn about how important it is
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  that you guard what comes into your heart,
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  that you guard what comes into your mind, that you pay very close attention
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  to what you allow to influence you.
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  We have some other things we're going to talk about, too, but that happens to be a very
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  important theme of God's word that really weighs on my heart and has been something
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  I have been very attentive to since I was young.
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  So the others of his keeping our souls and telling the truth are equally as
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  important that this is something, this guarding what you allow to influence
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  you, because I believe that is what everything else stems from.
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  And so I'm excited to get to begin reading the 19th chapter of Proverbs and
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  I will start and then Erica will finish.
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  Better is the poor that walketh in his integrity than he that is perverse in his lips and is a fool.
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  Also that the soul be without knowledge, it is not good. And he that hasteth with his feet sinneth.
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  The foolishness of man perverteth his way and his heart fretteth against the
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  Lord. That's worth repeating.
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  The foolishness of man perverteth his way, and his heart fretteth against the Lord.
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  Wealth maketh many friends, but the poor is separated from his neighbor.
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  A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall not escape.
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  Many will entreat the favor of the prince, and every man is a friend to him that giveth gifts.
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  All the brethren of the poor do hate him. How much more do his friends go far
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  from him? He pursueth them with words, yet they are wanting to him.
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  He that getteth wisdom loveth his own soul.
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  He that keepeth understanding shall find good.
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  A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall perish.
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  Delight is not seemly for a fool, much less for a servant to have rule over princes.
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  The discretion of a man deferreth his anger, and it is his glory to pass over
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  a transgression. The king's wrath is as the roaring of a lion,
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  but his favor is as dew upon the grass.
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  A foolish son is the calamity of his father, and the contentions of a wife are continual dropping.
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  House and riches are in the inheritance of fathers.
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  And a prudent wife is from the Lord. Slothfulness casteth in an idle soul shall suffer.
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  He that keepeth the commandment keepeth his own soul. He that despitheth his ways shall die.
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  He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord, and that which you have
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  given will chasten thy son while there is hope and let's bear.
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  For a man of great wrath shall suffer punishment.
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  For if thou deliver him, yet thou must do care counsel,
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  receive instruction, that thou mayest be wise in
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  thy latter end there are many devices in his heart nevertheless
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  the counsel of the bash amen the desire
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  of a man is his kindness or man is better than
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  a liar the fear of the lord tendeth to life he that hath it shall abide satisfied
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  he shall not be visited a slothful man hideth his hand will not so bring it
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  to his might a scorner and beware who one that hath under his knowledge he that
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  wasted away his cause he's my son to hear the instruction that causes an ungodly wisdom.
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  You just cannot win in this world being foolish. It's really true.
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  I mean, the entire book of Proverbs is talking about the value of getting wisdom,
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  but it also explains that destruction awaits those who are foolish. Absolutely.
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  So let's start talking about this idea of protecting our input,
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  protecting our minds and our hearts from the things that come in.
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  Verse 27 says, Cease, my son, to hear the instruction that causeth to err from the words of knowledge.
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  Cease to hear the things that causeth us to do the wrong thing.
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  And when we're talking about knowledge here, we're talking about the understanding that comes from
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  from God, that understanding of how to do the right thing and to do the right
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  thing and to know the right thing.
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  And worldly understanding is a good thing.
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  And academic knowledge is amazing because it sets us up, for the most part,
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  to do well with understanding and knowledge.
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  When we subject our worldly knowledge to the Word of God and allow God to be
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  supreme and to mold and manage all that we know,
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  then we have the wisdom of God to know how to apply it.
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  And so we have to be careful about what we put in.
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  If we put in things that cause us to do the wrong thing, then we are inputting the wrong information.
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  It's like a computer. A computer will only spit out what you put in it.
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  It doesn't think for itself.
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  Even with artificial intelligence, it's gaining whatever information has been
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  put into that database, and it's grabbing it from here, there,
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  yonder, and about, and it creates something for us.
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  But if that information has not been input to that data set, it has no way to grab it.
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  And so when we are behaving in ways that are pleasing to God,
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  that's because we have input into our heart and our mind and our soul,
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  those things which are good. We are reading the word of God.
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  We're hiding the word in our heart that we wouldn't sin against him.
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  We understand that the word of God is a lamp into our feet and a light unto our path.
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  We understand that out of the goodness of our heart we speak.
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  We understand that he says if we call unto him, he'll answer us and show us
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  great and mighty things.
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  We are putting the word of God in us so that the word of God comes out of us.
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  And we understand that in Matthew 5, he says that we're to be the light of the
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  world and we're to put that light out where everybody could see it.
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  So our good works will glorify our Father, which is in heaven.
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  And we do that because we are putting inside of us Him.
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  And He comes out of every pore and every opening and every avenue of our life
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  and every thought we have when we are filled to the brim with Him.
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  I love that. I love the idea of being filled to the brim with Him.
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  Because if there's if i'm filled to the brim with him
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  there's no room for anything else to get
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  in amen it matters what you listen to it matters what you read it really does
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  anything that's in there either is it can be used for good or it can be used
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  as a tool of the devil to make us think about the wrong and he walks about as
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  a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour and i don't want to be his lunch absolutely.
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  Absolutely. And I think along the same lines of, you know, protecting our input
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  is this idea of keeping our own souls.
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  And that comes from a phrase in Proverbs chapter 16 that says that he that keepeth
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  the commandment keepeth his own soul, but he that despiseth his ways shall die.
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  We have to watch out for our
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  souls because of all the reasons we just talked about right
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  but our soul is something that we need to protect we're really good at protecting
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  our bodies right we get to the side of the road and we look are there any cars
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  this way are there any cars this way nope there aren't any cars i can cross
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  the road right we're really good at protecting our bodies we try not to fall down the stairs, right?
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  We try not to get hurt. We get that.
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  But do we think nearly as often about how important it is to keep our soul, to protect our soul?
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  Because we're the temple of God and we were bought with his blood and we were purchased by him.
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  And our soul is that it's the tabernacle, right?
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  It's where the presence of God in the form of the Holy Spirit sits in us.
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  That needs to be protected. Amen.
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  Amen. You know, there's another verse in this chapter in verse 8 that says,
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  he that getteth wisdom loveth his own soul.
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  He that keepeth understanding shall find good.
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  That's what we need to be doing. We need to be loving the Word of God,
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  which in turn is loving our soul
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  amen right our soul is something that needs
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  to be fed and he says if we delight ourselves in
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  him that he'll give us the desires of our heart because we'll
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  want what is right he changes us that.
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  Whole second corinthians 5 17 thing we are new creatures
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  in christ jesus and our old want tos go
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  away and we get new want tos because we have
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  a new desire to be like him because we
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  are pilgrims and strangers in this world and we're just a
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  passing through hallelujah to the lamb this is
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  not my permanent home i love that idea that you talk about not our permanent
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  home because if we look at verse 20 it talks about what happens after we head
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  to our permanent home right man hear counsel and receive instruction that thou
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  mayest be wise in thy latter end right wisdom is built.
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  You often share about how wisdom is something that we can ask for in the Lord. It's cumulative.
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  It's cumulative, and the Lord gives it to us liberally. Amen.
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  Right? So when we get to our latter days, we can have so much more wisdom because
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  we've gained it over the years.
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  We don't get it if we haven't put it in. And so we literally don't want to waste
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  our use on frivolous things that just are going to send us down the wrong path.
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  In the very beginning of these Proverbs, that's what Solomon was trying to teach his son.
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  You got to do the right thing. And this is the reward of doing the right thing.
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  It's that wisdom that we get all along the way.
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  And at the end, we have a lump sum that is pretty impressive.
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  I love that idea of the lump sum. And what we put in is so important.
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  And what we put in should be the counsel of the Lord. Let's look at 21.
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  There are many devices in a man's heart, many plans, right?
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  Nevertheless, the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand.
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  He tells us that everything will pass away, but his word will never pass away. He is truth.
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  That's the part everybody forgets. In John 14, 60 says, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
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  And no man cometh unto the Father but by me. He's the truth.
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  And when you build your foundation on truth, it is going to stand.
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  It's going to be right. And when we're seeking truth and we're seeking life,
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  it's all about what we think about who God is.
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  Verse 23, the fear of the Lord tendeth to life. Amen.
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  And he that hath it shall abide satisfied, and he shall not be visited with evil.
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  I want to tend to my life. As much as I'm trying to keep my soul,
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  I need to be tending to my life.
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  Like I would go out and tend to my rose garden or tend to my vegetable garden.
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  I need to tend to my life and not just working out and eating healthy. I need to tend to my soul.
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  And the fear of the Lord and respect for who God is tends to my life.
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  Because, you know, it says a bodily exercise prophetess little in 1 Timothy.
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  And the reality of it is it's not what lasts.
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  Our body is dying every day and we do need to take care of it.
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  But what we really need to take care of is what lasts for eternity,
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  which is our soul. And that's what you're telling us.
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  And this idea of the fear of the Lord, just like you said, it's a respect.
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  It's understanding who he is. It's not a punitive, I'm afraid,
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  to come to him because he says in Hebrews 4, verses 14 through 16,
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  that we need to come boldly to the throne of grace that we find help in time of trouble.
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  He tells us to call unto him. He tells us to ask, to seek, and to knock.
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  He wants us in his presence.
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  He wants us to invite him into our life. He's already there,
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  but he wants us to invite him to be an integral part of our lives.
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  And in doing so, we must understand who He is and respect Him as an all-knowing,
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  all-powerful God who loves us and wants what's best for us, but is going to
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  course-correct us when we step left or right of the center of His will.
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  And that is the ultimate expression of His love for us, is that He wants what's best for us.
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  And He proved that by dying on the cross of Calvary for us. I love that idea of course correction.
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  We need course correction. He has to do a lot of course correction for me.
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  But when this verse talks about he that hath the fear of the Lord shall abide
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  satisfied, right? I'm going to live a satisfied life when I live under the hand
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  of a God. Amen. Hallelujah.
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  Your course corrects me when I am humble enough to allow the Lord to correct
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  me. So that you have the best life possible.
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  Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, let's just talk about this last theme.
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  That we find throughout Proverbs chapter 19.
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  And that's just the theme of telling the truth.
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  We talk about our words. We've talked about our words a lot in the last few
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  Proverbs, but we need to make sure that the words that we say are not lies,
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  but I think it's more than that.
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  They need to be the most truth.
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  We need to be really careful to ensure that we are giving people the truth. Right.
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  The right perspective. You know, we may not lie, but we can also just remain
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  quiet sometimes and allow someone to have a false impression.
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  And sometimes we're deceitful with the way we present things and we don't give
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  the whole truth. But if you're not giving the whole truth, you're not giving the truth.
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  And we need to speak so that our yay is yay and our nay is nay.
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  And when somebody hears what we say and we say it's raining outside,
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  they're not going out and open up the door and seeing if it's really raining,
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  that they believe what we have to say.
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  And that's what he's telling us because in verse 5, he says,
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  whoops, I'm in the wrong place.
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  In verse 5, he says, a false witness shall not be unpunished,
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  and he that speaketh lies shall not escape.
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  I'm telling you, the way of the liar is a hard road to take,
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  and it's hard to remember, and you're going to get yourself caught up,
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  and it's not going to work.
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  And the Lord says that he hates a liar.
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  Verse 9 says, A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh
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  lies shall perish. It leads to death, and it leads to destruction.
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  I need to make sure I clarify that nothing separates you from the love of God
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  in Romans 8, 38 and 39, but we are to hate the sin and love the sinner.
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  So he doesn't hate the liar. He hates the lies that the liar is saying.
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  Thank you for that clarification. Sorry about that. I think,
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  you know, so often when we're not telling the full truth, We do that because
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  we don't want to hurt somebody's feelings.
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  Or maybe we're trying to... We don't want to get hurt ourselves.
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  Right. Or we don't... Maybe we haven't done something yet and we're like,
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  Oh, you know, I just started that. Or, you know...
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  There are a lot of reasons that we seek to justify not telling the full truth, but it never worked.
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  And it is never a real justification.
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  It's simply an excuse. And the devil is the father of lies. So it's a very easy sift.
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  If you are lying, you're following the devil. If you're telling the truth,
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  you're following the Lord. It's an easy yes, no.
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  Is this of God or is this of the devil? If you're lying, it's of the father
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  of darkness. If you're not, it's of the father of light.
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  It's easy. Hard to do sometimes, maybe.
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  One of the hardest things to do is to tell the truth in a situation where you
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  do know it could bring you harm or someone else harm.
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  But God is always with us, and the truth will always prevail.
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  And the Bible says, what can man do unto me? The Lord is on my side.
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  Absolutely, absolutely. Well, thank you all for joining us in this podcast on Proverbs chapter 19.
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  We invite you to come back for our next podcast,
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  and we just pray that this work that we're doing in the book of Proverbs is
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  blessing you and is encouraging you and is just giving you insight into the
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  things that we see in the book of Proverbs.
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  But most importantly, we pray that it's drawing you to the book of Proverbs
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  so that you can look and find the truth that the Lord has uniquely chosen for you.
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  Remember that you are loved. Jesus loves you.
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  Music.
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  quotes from today's podcast and scripture references.
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  Music.