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426 | Conversations - Proverbs 27 · 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.
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In today's conversation, we continue a series on the book of Proverbs.
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In today's podcast, we discuss the lessons learned in Proverbs chapter 27.
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Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining us. My name is Erica Close,
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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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We're so excited to walk with you through Proverbs chapter 27.
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We are excited. We have really enjoyed going through the book of Proverbs with
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you all, and we're excited that Proverbs 27 has come. There are a number of
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fun topics in here and just topics that really...
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Resonate with our hearts and that we pray resonate with yours.
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So we will get right to reading.
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And Kim, would you like to read the first half of Proverbs chapter 27? Absolutely.
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Boast not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.
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Let another man praise thee and not thine own mouth, a stranger and not thine own lips.
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A stone is heavy and the sand weighty, but a fool's wrath is heavier than them both.
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Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous. But who is able to stand before envy?
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Open rebuke is better than secret love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend,
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but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.
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The fool's soul loatheth and honeycomb, but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.
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As a bird that wondereth from her nest, so is a man that wondereth from his place.
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Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart. So doth the sweetness of a man's friend by hearty counsel.
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Thine own friend and thy father's friend forsake not.
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Neither go into thy brother's house in the day of thy calamity.
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For better is a neighbor that is near than a brother far off.
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My son, be wise and make my heart glad, that I may answer him that reproacheth me.
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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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Take his garment that is surety for a stranger, and take a pledge of him for a strange woman.
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He that blesseth his friend with a loud voice, rising early in the morning,
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it shall be counted a curse to him.
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A continual dropping in a very rainy day and a contentious woman are alike.
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Whosoever hideth her hideth the wind and the ointment of his right hand,
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which beraiteth itself.
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Iron sharpeneth iron, so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.
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Whoso keepeth the fig tree shall eat the fruit thereof, so he that waiteth on
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his master shall be honored.
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As in water, face answereth to face, so the heart of a man to man.
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Hell and destruction are never full, so the eyes of a man are never satisfied.
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As the finding pot for silver and the furnace for gold, so is a man to his praise.
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Though thou shouldest pray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle,
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yet will not his foolishness depart from him.
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Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds.
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For riches are not forever, and doth the crown endure to every generation.
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The hay appeareth, and the tender grass showeth itself, and herbs of the mountains are gathered.
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The lambs are for thy clothing, and the goats are the price of the field.
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And thou shalt have goat's milk enough for thy food, and for the food of thy
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household, and for the maintenance for thy maidens.
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Amen. What a wonderfully richly packed.
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Chapter we find in Proverbs. Absolutely.
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In Proverbs 27, there are so many things, so many topics.
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I think we see some important instruction about humility and friendship and
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what it means to be diligent, and then some important information about praise.
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I love that it opens up with humility because it begins, as we see in the end,
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to tell us all that it gives us. Yes.
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And the more prosperous we are, the more tendencies we have to think we did it.
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The more tendency to think that we've got something in it.
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I love that he gives us in Ephesians 2, 8, 9, for by grace are you saved through
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faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift. because we so often think
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something we have done makes us worthy.
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We get in this place in our lives where we feel like because we're doing the
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right thing and somebody else isn't doing the right thing that somehow we deserve
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salvation more than they did.
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And I think when we get in that point, not only are we desperately wrong,
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I think it sets us up for this arrogant walk.
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And I think we all have to remember that each and every one of us come to Jesus
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the same way as the woman at the well came.
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In John chapter 4, we learn that the woman comes and her life is anything but one of honor.
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And she has committed many sins and is coming in the state of sinning.
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She has a man she's living with and he's not her husband.
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But Jesus put himself in harm's way and sit and waited for the woman to come,
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knowing she would be there in a time when nobody else would be there because she would be ashamed.
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People would shun her because that's how people are. And I love that he opens
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so many of the Proverbs or quickly therein with humility.
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But in this one in particularly.
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He opens with humility and that we have to have it.
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And I think when we realize I was saved when I was five and I needed absolutely
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as much blood to save me as the woman at the well did who was arguably much
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older, we have to realize it is a gift.
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And He chose to allow us to have that gift.
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Because of his amazing love. And if we can just get our mindset on that,
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as we begin this chapter in Proverbs 27, I believe we're going to be able to
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hear much more clearly what God is saying to us.
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And he says, don't boast of tomorrow.
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In other words, you really don't have anything to do with tomorrow coming.
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You may think those plans you have are setting you up for success.
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And I'm a planner. I believe planning is important. But my tomorrow is my tomorrow
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because He gives it to me.
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And what I choose to use it with or for is part of my planning.
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And my plan needs to begin, continue, and end with, I have decided to follow Jesus.
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Absolutely. I love that you mentioned that we just have no control.
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So often when we're boasting about ourselves, we're really boasting about our
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ability to control a situation, right?
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To be in control of a situation, to say that it's us that is making things happen.
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I think oftentimes when you are in the presence of someone who's continually
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singing their own song or tooting their own horn or constantly talking about how great they are,
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I think you're usually in the presence of somebody who's not sure of themselves.
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But when you are sure of the Jesus in you and the applause you are seeking are
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those of nail-scarred hands only.
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You really don't care because you realize that all of our works are like filthy
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rags. I love the Lord, Erica. I do too.
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Verse two talks about letting another man praise us and not our own mouth.
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That if praise is going to come, that praise needs to come from someone else.
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And then it goes on to say, a stranger and not thine own lips.
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We don't need to tell people about how great we are, right? We don't need to
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tell of our accomplishments. We don't need to praise ourselves.
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We need to let the way we live our lives be evident.
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And I think this verse calls out the fact that if we live lives of love and
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kindness towards strangers,
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if a stranger can praise us for how we live our lives, then we can be sure that.
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That those around us know that we are living in a way that Jesus would like, right?
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We don't need to explain our accomplishments and explain how good and kind we
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are and tell everybody about the things that we do.
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We just need to do the things and let the world see it and then keep our mouth shut about it.
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And I love how he moves from humility to anger, because humility is the key
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to living a peaceful life.
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But the opposite of that is pride.
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And pride gets you in a feathers-up, riled-up thing in a hurry.
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And pride almost always is fueled by anger.
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It's, I didn't get what I deserve, or they don't recognize me for who I am,
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or I don't get to do what I should get to do.
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And he says this about that. He says that's heavier than all the other weights you can think of.
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And then he says it's cruel and it's outrageous.
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Anger will make you say and do things that are so far outside of what you would do in a clear,
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calm mind that when you see yourself doing it or kind of wake up from the fog
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of anger and realize what you have done, you are completely shocked and not in a good way.
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And anger is almost always somehow associated with pride.
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Somebody stepping on something you think you deserve. Pride and envy, right? And jealousy.
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Those three are so closely tied together. Well, envy is almost always pride.
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And verse 4 says, but who is able to stand before envy?
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If there is something that can take somebody down, it's jealousy.
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And, you know, you can watch people's lives unravel in front of you that is
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just so wrapped in jealousy.
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I don't know if you've lived your life seeing someone that did that or being
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around someone who's just jealous of everything else or you've been in a situation
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at work or something and someone's jealous of what you're getting or what you're doing.
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You can't have any part of that. You have to just step back and let God work
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because if you get sucked into that,
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you're going to be in an angry fight every day absolutely absolutely it's just
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not worth it there's a whole number of verses in this proverb that are all about
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friendship and i'd like us to skip to verse 17 and then sort of come back,
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Okay, because we're coming back to five, right? We're coming back.
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But 17 is just such a powerful verse about friendship.
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And I'm certain that when we read it, most of you were like,
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hey, that's where that verse is.
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17 is about iron sharpeneth iron. So a man sharpeneth the countenance of his
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friend. Hallelujah to the Lamb.
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True friends sharpen each other. True friends keep each other sharp.
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They look for each other's rough edges and they get rid of them.
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They look for the places where we are dull and they sharpen them, right?
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They, true friends, help us to be ready for whatever the world would have for
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us. Because they're our accountability buddies. Yes.
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They allow us, someone who's watching with the same, if not more,
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desire to keep us on track than we even have for ourselves.
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And back in verse 5, it says that open rebuke is better than secret love.
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Of somebody who loves you enough to say to you, hey, let's talk about what you just did.
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How does that fit in with who you tell me you want to be?
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Or hey, that does not look anything like what you normally would do. What's going on?
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Just that pause to force that person you love to absolutely just stop and think
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for just a moment because it's.
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So important that we understand that secret love isn't all that helpful.
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We need to know that people love us. And one demonstration of that love is loving
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you so much that you won't let somebody go headfirst over the cliff, but you will stop.
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That's a type of love is letting someone know that they're in the wrong.
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Not out of a hurtful thing, not to judge them, but because you want the best life possible for them.
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And you want them living as close to the Lord as they can possibly live,
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not only for them, but for yourself, because you want your friends to be able
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to pray in season and out of season, instantaneously and fervently and passionately for you.
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You don't want the first 10 minutes of their prayers being trying to get forgiveness
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for the things they're doing.
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You want friends to live as close to God as possible, and you want them looking out for you.
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And if you don't have that friend, you find that friend, because that friend
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may say things you don't like, and they may sometimes rub you the wrong way,
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and they may be more direct than you wish they were.
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But I promise you, the wounds of a friend, they're faithful.
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They're usually coming from a place of love and heart, and they're much more
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than the kisses of an enemy.
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So the wounds of a friend, I think that's so important. Verse six says faithful
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are the wounds of a friend.
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And I think what's important there is when a friend is honest with you, it can hurt.
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But it's much better to take some hurt and honesty from a friend that is gonna
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change you and have you to become closer to what God would have you to be than
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to have someone who is just puffing you up.
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We don't need to be puffed up. We don't need to be told how wonderful we are.
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We don't need to be told that everything we're doing is great.
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We need to make sure that there is somebody who's always looking out to make us better.
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When we know that we can be better, then we do better, right?
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But we've got to know what that better is for us.
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And you need to have people in your life that love you enough to tell you like
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it is and as much love as possible. Verse 10 talks about neighbors and the importance
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of neighbors and friends.
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And I love that it says, better is a neighbor that is near than a brother far off.
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To me, that just says that people, maybe our neighbors, right,
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our literal neighbors, or maybe our church neighbors, or whatever,
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however they are our neighbors, those can be significant relationships.
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Very impactful to our lives. Very impactful relationships and very important.
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And as much as the Lord puts us in families, the Lord puts us in places that
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we might impact and be impacted by the people that are around us.
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And I think we can't forget that. We can't think that we only need to care for
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the people that live in our house.
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This can't be my four no more. Exactly. We've got to take care of everyone.
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As I was looking at this chapter when we were planning for this podcast,
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I put verse 14 into the friendship section.
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Just because this is a verse that has always made me laugh.
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Because I am a person that wakes up very early in the morning and would gladly
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bless a friend with a very loud voice.
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I just wake up and I'm ready to go and I think everybody else should.
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And what this verse says to me about friendship is we have to know our friends.
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We have to know what is appropriate. I have a friend that if I were to bless
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them very loudly in the morning, it would 100% be taken as a curse, right?
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100%, right? I have a friend who just needs some time.
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They need some time in the morning before they're ready, you know,
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for a whole lot of loud and a whole lot of energy.
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But I know many people in my life that.
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Are just like me that are ready to wake up. So I love that this verse is in here.
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And I think to me, what it says is you got to get to know your people.
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You got to know your people. Some of them are going to like things just like you.
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And they're going to be designed in a way that a really loud early morning is a great thing.
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And some of them are not. And we've got to know people well enough that we can
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love them how we're supposed to love them. Amen.
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And I think that And friends are a picture of the family of God.
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And we're going to live eternity together. I think it's good to practice here.
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Amen. Amen. So let's jump over to verse 21 and just talk about our praise a little bit.
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This is a really, really neat verse.
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It says, as the finding pot for silver and the furnace for gold, so is a man to his praise.
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When I read this, I thought, I have never read this before. And I'll tell you,
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I've read this many, many, many, many times.
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I read Proverbs 27 many times, but it has never jumped off the page at me the way it did this time.
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You know, a finding pot for silver removes the impurities in silver.
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A furnace is used to remove the impurities and gold, but also to melt the gold
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down so that the gold can become what it is supposed to become. Oh, hallelujah.
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And then it says, so is a man to his praise.
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Right? Our praise works on us.
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Our praise works on us like a finding pot for silver and like a furnace for gold.
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Our praise gets the impurities out.
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Because our praise should be about him. What we're praising is evidence of what
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is important in our lives.
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The things that we talk about, the things that we boast about,
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the things that are on our mind all the time and the topics of our conversation,
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that's what's important.
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And when that is Jesus, he says, that will keep him in perfect peace,
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whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee.
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God has a plan and every piece of his word works together to reveal his glory
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and his greatness and praising him as a result of love for him and demonstrates our dedication to him.
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And it gets the world away because at the name of Jesus, what happens? The devil flees. Amen.
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Amen. The last topic in Proverbs 27 is about basically what we're promised,
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but also what we're supposed to do with the things that we're given.
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So this is a passage in verses 23 to 27. It talks about being diligent to know
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the state of your flocks and to look after your herds.
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To me, that just says, be diligent to know what's going on with the things that
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are yours, with the things that are yours to take care of, the things that you are in charge of.
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Which goes back to that friendship thing, too. Know your friends.
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Know your friends. Know what they need. Watch out for them. Right.
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Who's your flock? Right. Who are your people?
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And then I would just like to read 24 through 27 before you expound it upon
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them. For riches are not forever, and doth not crown endure to every generation.
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The hay appeareth, and the tender grass showeth itself, and herbs of the mountains are gathered.
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The lambs are for thy clothing, and the goats are the price of the field.
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And thou shalt have goats, milk enough for thy food, for the food of thy household,
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and for the maintenance for thy maiden.
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When I read this passage going from take care of your flocks.
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Know that riches are not forever, know that you have hay and you have grass
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when you need it, know that you've got lambs for your clothing and goats for
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your fields, and that you'll have goat's milk enough for your food.
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And then the last thing says, and for the maintenance for thy maidens.
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This, kind of like that other verse, jumped off the page at me.
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And it made me realize we are promised maintenance in this world.
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We are promised that we will have all that we need.
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We know that God will supply all of our needs according to his riches and glory.
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We're promised maintenance.
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We're promised what we need to survive, what we need to live,
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what we need to be to be well in this world.
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We're not promised abundance in this world.
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We're promised an abundant life in Him.
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But not abundance when it comes to money and things and stuff.
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But we are promised abundance in heaven, and we're promised an abundance of
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love in our hearts from Him.
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But what we're promised is maintenance.
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So often we think if we don't have everything, if we don't have lots of money,
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if we don't have, you know, the latest and greatest, whatever it might be,
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that we're not getting the promises of God. That's so not true.
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We have what we need, and we have and understand an abundance of love from Him. We have it all.
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And that's what we're promised. And we have riches unseen, treasures unseen.
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You may look at me, and I may not look like I have anything.
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Or you may look at me and wonder, what does she do?
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You may look at me and see a lot of different things.
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And five years from now, I would look completely different.
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There's a song my dad used to sing called Treasures Unseen.
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And it talks about the clothes that you have on, they may not be new.
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Your food may not be fancy.
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Your house may not be a mansion. But I'm a child of the king,
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And I have riches unseen, treasures unseen.
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I believe this last passage of Proverbs chapter 27 is getting to that point.
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It's not about your money. You could have money today and none tomorrow.
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Either you spend it unwisely or the stock market goes down or something happens and it loses its value.
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That's completely beyond your control.
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Or you may have no money and have more money tomorrow because you've done something differently.
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But again, it wasn't you. It was something else.
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And money today doesn't mean you'll have money tomorrow or 20 years from now
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or the family that you have later on in life.
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Because riches of earthly attainment, they're temporary.
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But the treasures that Jesus gives us,
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the riches and the abundance that he allows for us, and the trust of the peace
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that knowing that as long we're trusting in him, that we will have everything
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we need, that is a treasure unseen.
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And that, my friend, is what it means to humbly bow before your Lord and know that he is God.
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It's my prayer that as we've walked through Proverbs chapter 27,
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that your heart has been stirred, that your mind has been able to see and hear
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and comprehend things that will make you want to have a deeper study into the Word of God.
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But if you've got nothing else from the time you've spent in the Word with us,
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it is our prayer that you know there are treasures unseen.
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You are loved beyond measure, and He is King of kings and Lord of lords.
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Remember you are loved. Jesus loves you.
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Music.
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Music.