Proverbs 3:13-18 (The Value of Wisdom)

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Thank you for subscribing to the Shepherds Church podcast. This is our Lord's Day Sermon We pray that as we declare the

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Word of God that you would be encouraged Strengthened in your faith and that you would catch a greater vision of who

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Christ is May you be blessed in the hearing of God's Word and may the Lord be with you

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In the book of Proverbs so far we've been looking at the foundation of wisdom

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We're about eight messages in if I if my count is right, maybe this is number eight, but we've been looking at what is wisdom

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Now I was really convicted before we started this series that the book of Proverbs has been preached so few times in Christian churches and Yet the book of Proverbs brags about the need for wisdom the life -and -death

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Necessity of a Christian having wisdom and if something so important is that Why do we not talk about it more frequently in Christianity?

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This idea of wisdom it would be like in An airplane that's going down refusing to take the oxygen

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It's there. It's for you. It's good. It's for your life. It's for your need but yet we've in a lot of ways we've

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Pushed Proverbs out and I think because Proverbs speaks about things that are uncomfortable

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For the modern Christian way of living. Maybe that's why That we've thrown it away, but I didn't want to do that I wanted us to go through it and walk through it because wisdom is so important now

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Just as a simple definition of wisdom. We've been in this now for eight weeks wisdom is the the

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Resultant thing that happens to you when you fear God and obey his commandments that's what wisdom is wisdom is comes upon the person who fears

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God and Obeys God's commandments when that happens you receive from the

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Lord a kind of a kind of spiritual Intelligence that allows you to navigate every circumstance in your life that's what wisdom is when you fear

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God and you obey his commandments the Lord guides you and helps you and makes your paths straight and What we've learned so far is that wisdom brings blessings when you fear

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God when you obey God when you're walking in those straight paths Wisdom brings blessings and there's been several that we've talked about so far.

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For example in Proverbs chapter 1 Prudence is given to the naive.

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That's Proverbs 1 4 a Graceful wreath is put about the head of the believer

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Proverbs 1 9 God makes his word known to the wise. That's certainly a blessing Proverbs 1 23 and Wisdom is the very reason that we can live free of fear and free of dread in a land that is corrupt

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Proverbs 1 33 which is certainly a blessing Proverbs 2 Gives us more blessings.

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It says that God stores up wisdom for the upright those who fear the Lord and obey his commands and Wisdom is a shield for us in trying times

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Proverbs 2 7 So that knowledge becomes pleasant to you man. What a blessing that is

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So that we don't persist in dead orthodoxy, but we have a living knowledge that produces a living faith

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Proverbs 2 10 So that discretion will guard you. That's a good one

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Proverbs 2 11 so that you will flee from evil men Proverbs 2 12 so that you will flee from the strange adulterous woman

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Proverbs 2 16 so that you will walk in the good way Proverbs 2 20 and so that you will live a long life with peace in The land that the

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Lord has given Proverbs 2 21 When we fear God Rightly and obey

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God Biblically the Lord brings wisdom into our life which brings blessings

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Now today, we're gonna look at a few more of those blessings that come upon those who have a biblical wisdom

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We're gonna be in Proverbs 3 13 through 18 And we're gonna look at two things.

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We're gonna look at the value of wisdom. What is wisdom worth and Then from that we're gonna look at the blessings that wisdom gives

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So those are the two things we're going to look at this morning. If you will turn with me now to Proverbs chapter 3

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Verses 13 through 18. We will examine these blessings that wisdom gives

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Proverbs 3 13 through 18. This is what the

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Word of the Lord says How blessed is the man who finds wisdom and the man who gains understanding?

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For her that's wisdom for her profit is better than the profit of silver and Her gain is better than fine gold she is more precious than jewels and Nothing you desire compares with her

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Long life is in her right hand and in her left hand are riches and honor Her ways are pleasant ways and all her paths are peace

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She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her and happy are all who hold fast her hold her fast

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Let us pray Lord you begin this sentence with the most clear declaration so far in this book of the blessing that it is when we find wisdom the blessing when we gain understanding and when we receive from you

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The blessings that you give like are described here in this passage

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Lord help us today as Christians To grow into our maturity to grow into our understanding to grow in wisdom

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Lord we live in perilous times Lord help us to grow in wisdom in order to navigate the season that we live in Lord help us to grow in wisdom so that we may glorify you help us to grow in wisdom

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So that this church may thrive Lord help us to grow in wisdom so that our families will thrive

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So that husbands and wives will be the very picture of Christ in this world that children will grow up flourishing no longer

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Eaten and stolen from the enemy Lord you say over and over again that wisdom is a matter of life and death and for the

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Christian Who know Jesus Christ and who know the power of his resurrection and who know the

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Indwelling of the Holy Spirit and Lord how much more so? Must we be wise must our lives magnify you and honor you and Lord help us

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To be a people who steward your blessings. Well All throughout your word.

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We see how blessings Are not stewarded well and people end up turning at their back on you

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Lord help us to be a people who steward your blessings Well for your glory for your honor and for your renown.

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It's in Jesus name. We pray. Amen Now before we get to our first point I do want to set the setting just a little bit

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Proverbs 3 13 says how blessed is the man who finds wisdom and the man Who gains understanding?

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This is a superlative phrase This is a phrase that it's extolling the benefit of wisdom and it's much easier

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I think for us to see the blessing by living in such a time that we live where there are

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Competing views of wisdom and the world's wisdom is so corrupt the world does offer us its own version of wisdom a worldly wisdom that is rooted in pride and greed and Self -promotion a

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Kind of wisdom that is manipulative and self -seeking the wisdom that our own age

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Propagates that it makes you wise in your own eyes It seeks to take advantage of others a success that is measured by wealth status body count pleasure

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The good life that is given to us on a commercials television movies

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Advertisements social media all of it. The good life is a life of pure unadulterated selfishness

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It is a life entirely focused upon Ourself for the good of ourself to the glory of our self and according to Proverbs this is

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What foolishness is and the

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Proverbs talks about this all over the place for instance the adulterous woman in Proverbs 7 Is a woman who's living after worldly wisdom.

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She's a woman who is Living according to the ways of the world. She is a hedonist at heart

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Which is the very system of wisdom that the world is currently trying to shove down our throats What is hedonism hedonism is a system of thought where you are to maximize your pleasure and minimize your boredom?

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Where your life is entirely about the experiences that you have and if you have more

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Experiences more travel more sex more drugs more this more that then you've been a successful person

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But the problem is is that hedonism leads to absolute destruction and ruin

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Solomon says of the woman For her house sinks down into death and her tracks lead to the dead

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Worldly wisdom promises things that it cannot give You maybe will remember the

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Puritan quote By Thomas Brooks for a drop of pleasure. They drink an ocean of wrath sin promises pleasure

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Sin promises something that you're gonna feel good. You're gonna you're gonna experience this you're gonna have this for a moment

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It's and it's all poison Because for that moment of pleasure

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You drink down an ocean of God's wrath sin

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Foolishness leads to despair and death now the contrast to this is the wisdom of God The wisdom of God is not self -seeking.

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It is not prideful It is a kind of wisdom that is selfless and the fact that we are living our life for something bigger and better It's that we are living our life completely devoted to God And Proverbs says in chapter 2 verse 7 that that this kind of wisdom is for the upright

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This kind of wisdom is a shield to those who walk in integrity God does not entice us with sinful pleasures that offer us momentary satisfaction

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God calls us actually to lay aside the temporary in order to have the permanent

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God causes to lay aside the momentary to have the eternal and when we do that We experience a kind of self death that is so necessary that transforms us from people

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Addicted to sinful death into a people who now are living according to eternal life

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For people who cut corners to people who are now living for eternity

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Proverbs 10 to says ill -gotten gain does not profit but righteousness delivers from death

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Is the kind of gain? That is spurious that is quick that is corner cutting

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That kind of pleasure is not from the Lord Worldly wisdom does not produce corner cutters

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Worldly wisdom does not produce the kind of thing that moth and rust destroys the

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Lord's wisdom produces blessings that last in this life and Into eternity remember fearing the

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Lord and obeying his commands produces eternal blessings and today we're going to talk about a couple of those blessings one of them is riches and wealth

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Which is a fascinating thing and a very difficult thing because we've had so many abuses of these verses

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But we're going to talk about them Where it says he who trusts in his riches fail, but the righteous will flourish like a green leaf

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We're going to talk about a kind of riches that does not lead you into sin and depravity a kind of riches that cannot

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Be taken from you a kind of riches that only God can give So today

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I want to ask the question as we begin what kind of life are you pursuing? Are you pursuing a life that is filled with worldly wisdom modern -day tropes?

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The kinds of things that our society says that you should be doing in order to have the good life and if you're doing that I Want you to recognize that those ways of living lead to death

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Or are you seeking godliness Are you seeking the eternal the incorruptible wisdom of God which brings life and blessing and peace

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That's the competing worldviews that we live in and that is exactly where Solomon is

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Speaking into so number one the value of wisdom. What is wisdom? What is its value

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Proverbs 3 14 says it like this? For her profit is better than the profit of silver and her gain is better than fine

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Gold This of course is countercultural because it cuts against everything that we are told it cuts against how the world

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Measures success which is based off of the size of our bank accounts the weight of our possessions the security of our investments the status that we have achieved and The idolatry of workaholism that is peddled around so much today

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Wisdom is not found in the pursuit of the almighty dollar Wisdom is found in something that cannot be inflated and it cannot be destroyed

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But I do want to be clear as we continue here because I don't want to describe wealth as being the problem

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Wealth is not the problem wealth resources finances and retirement accounts

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Inheritances, they are not the problem We are the problem It's not a sin to have money it is a sin for your money to have you

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Proverbs 10 22 says it is a blessing of the Lord that makes rich and he adds no sorrow to it.

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Do you hear that? That is a blessing of the Lord that he brings good things into the life of his children.

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It's us who pervert them Again, it's not a sin to have money. It's a sin for money to have you

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It's not a sin to save for the future, but it is a sin If your vision of the future is entirely defined by paper and coin and not by the things of God Proverbs 6 6 3 8 says go to the ant.

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I love this go to the ant old sluggard and Observe her ways and be wise

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Which having no chief officer or ruler she prepares her food in the summer and gathers her provision in the winter

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It's not a sin for you to work hard over the course of your lifetime and save money for a retirement

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Retirement in and of itself is not the sin Inheritance to your children in and of itself is not the sin. It is what you're doing with it and how you're hoping in it

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That's the problem Do you put your hope in your nest egg or do you put your hope in God and you use your?

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Resources your money your retirement your everything you use those for the kingdom

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For his glory and for his good all while acting with wisdom or do you live as an end unto yourself?

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that my good my stuff my things is what I'm living for and I'll tell you that is what

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Jesus is talking about when He says that that will not last At best our resources are a tool that we

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Surrender to the will of God to do his bidding for his good. It's not a sin to save your money

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We're not aesthetics We don't believe that we should all sell our stuff and go move out into the middle of the wilderness somewhere and live in tents

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We believe that we are to use everything that we have to the glory of God and not let our things have us and have our hearts

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Again it's not a sin to leave an inheritance to your children. I've heard Christians talk like this Well since money is the root of all evil

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That's actually not what the Bible says the love of money is the root of all evil But I've heard people say because money is the root of all evil.

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I'm gonna give my children nothing What a blessing The Bible doesn't talk like that It says a good man leaves an inheritance for his children's children and the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous a

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Good man a godly man doesn't just leave an inheritance for his children, but for its grandchildren He thinks in terms of legacy.

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He thinks in terms of longevity. He thinks in terms of I'm not living for myself

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I'm living for my tribe for my people for hundreds of years one of the

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Most beautiful switches in my life happened when I started to see this because I came out of a

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Christianity where money is always evil and And prayer is always good material.

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Things are bad immaterial things are are good and it's sort of a Gnosticism that has crept into Christianity today and I remember thinking to myself that it's actually more holy to make less

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I never said it like that, but I lived like that and we see very clearly here

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That this is wrong. This is avoiding the temptation before you're even tempted

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It's money. That's not the problem. It's our hearts that need to be surrendered unto

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God and It's money. In fact that can be used for great good

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Do you do you know how Jesus actually went about and did ministry for three and a half years? without a

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Vocational job that was paying the money. He had benefactors He had wealthy people who were with him who were paying for his ministry

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Jesus never rebuked them. He never said Well, you're such a sinner because you made all this money, but don't worry.

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I'll take it It's a wise thing to be as good as you possibly can be at your job

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It's a wise thing to make resources in such a way that you can be a blessing

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Think about what the kingdom of God would look like in America if Christians were taught to work hard and to be leaders in our industries and And to be to aspire to leadership because we have the

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Holy Spirit of God who could be a better leader than a Christian Could our pagan bosses actually do a better job than us who have the

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Spirit of God? We should aspire to these things why to build our castles. No But to invest in Jesus's kingdom money is not the problem

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It's a sinful heart. That's the problem that needs to fear the

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Lord and Obey his commands and then with wisdom use money and resources in a godly way.

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Amen When wealth takes the place of God, then it becomes our

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God When it becomes the object of our affection, we will sacrifice everything for it instead of sacrificing

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Using it in a sacrificial way when money Becomes the reason for living it can no longer become what

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God intended it to be It's supposed to be a living resource not a reason for living now

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I will now Hedge what I just said that it's a good thing to Make resources.

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It's a good thing to set up your family. It's a good thing to Give generously in the kingdom of God But wealth is also temporary and This is what

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Solomon is getting after that the temporary nature of silver and gold Which were two of the most precious resources at that time period

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Cannot even be compared to the wisdom that God gives you wisdom from God is better than $100 bills and Cayman Island bank accounts and everything else that you can see you see how

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I'm holding these two thoughts in tension I'm saying that money is not the problem, but money is temporary and that if you avoid the thing that is

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Infinite for the thing that is finite that therein lies the problem You give it an example or I give an example of the inadequacy of wealth

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That it can't actually give us what we want and what we need only God can do that You think about a man like Robin Williams one of my favorite movies

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Not recommending it But like actually there's only one scene that I really love It's a Goodwill hunting and at the end of the movie where Robin Williams hugs

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Matt Damon It's just a sweet moment in cinematography history but Robin Williams man had everything man on top of the world man who made millions of dollars and Yet a man who tragically

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Ended his life because his money didn't satisfy him. It can't You think about Elvis Presley I Like Elvis Presley, and I'm old school.

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My daughter listens to Elvis Presley. It's actually kind of cool But just in spite of his immense wealth and fame

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He still battled with depression and emotional struggles and he met his tragic demise as well.

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You think about a man like Tom Brady I Remember watching them talk to Tom Brady. I can't remember exactly what he said

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But they said how many Super Bowls is gonna be enough and he said I think just one more It's because the

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Super Bowl Championships don't satisfy you the money doesn't satisfy you. He sacrificed his his entire family

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Lost everything chasing an idol What a fool What an absolute fool?

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Money's not the problem It's your it's the direction of your affections If your affections are directed at what's here and now

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Then you will be led into ruin but if your affections are directed at Almighty God God will God will give you things in your life that he expects you to steward to the glory of God and That is worship

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The wisdom that he's talking about here is transformational it's priceless He says in verse 15.

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She is more precious than jewels and nothing you desire compares to her I love this because wisdom he's saying is the chief desire that we ought to have in our life

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There's nothing higher than it in that time period jewels silver and gold were the most precious items that you could find and Solomon is saying that wisdom is more precious than that You think about the fact that we live in a world right now, which is so consumer driven

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In such a way that Solomon couldn't have even thought about The Advertising campaigns that spend billions of dollars to get you to buy their shampoo the marketing that that hire psychologist

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To come on to their firm so that they can dupe you into paying for something that you don't need.

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I even think about the You ever watch the show America's Got Talent and they push the golden buzzer and you cry and you're like, why am

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I crying? I don't know this person. I've never met this person and it's just gold stuff like falling from the sea, but they

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They spend millions to try to manipulate us into buying things that we don't want. It's because desire is really important God never overlooks desire your desires are important and it's what the enemy weaponizes

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When we're talking about wisdom Solomon says you must make wisdom your chief desire Why do you think he says that so that you won't be manipulated?

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Into falling for lesser and cheaper desires Don't fall for plastic

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When God's offering you jewels We're bombarded constantly with desires for bigger homes better cars the latest technology

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Oh, you're not you don't have the latest iPhone You don't have the latest this or that or whatever and you feel that moment where you're like, oh man,

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I'm just not enough It's foolishness Things that moth and rust will destroy

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Wisdom is the most valuable asset Solomon is arguing more precious than air

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Because wisdom is what teaches us to love God and submit to his commands

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Wealth can buy a house But wisdom builds a home Wealth can fill your pockets, but it cannot fill your soul

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Only wisdom can bring the eternal Satisfactions that Christ is promising that God is promising.

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Did you know that there are pleasures that God wants to give you and I'm convinced

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That we don't often experience the pleasures that God intends to give us because our hearts are muddled and captivated by lesser things again

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Wisdom's value is incomparable. It's greater than gold That's the first thing that Solomon is saying the second thing that he's saying is that once you understand that wisdom is of that value

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That's a perlative value Once you understand that fearing God and obeying his commandments will get you the thing that you most need which is wisdom

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Then downstream of that comes blessings Verse 16 through 18 talk about these for instance verse 16 long life is in her wisdom's right hand and in her left hand

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Our riches and honor and it's important that we talked about this in the way that we talked about it because charlatans love this verse

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False teachers love this church. Oh, yeah, look God's promising long life if you'll just sow your seed of faith

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God's promising wealth and then they take this message and they export it to places like Africa and they put that burden on people

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Who watch constantly as their relatives die of sickness and they're like, oh wait I just I didn't have enough faith.

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I Watched as my mother -in -law sat in front of TBN over and over and over again listening to that garbage

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Believing that she just didn't have enough faith We have to understand that wisdom is the commodity that we are seeking after we don't seek after wealth

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We don't seek after a long life. Those are gifts from God Wisdom is what we seek

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Longevity and prosperity are gifts in the hands of God that he can give to you or he won't

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And it has absolutely nothing to do with how faithful you've been that's the lie of this of the

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Of the health and wealth gospel is that if you increase your faithfulness, you'll increase your bank account.

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That is a lie from hell There have been faithful men and faithful women throughout history who've had nothing

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And they were godly faithful men and women The question is

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What does God have for you there are people who God has set apart To make lots of money and to give lots of money away to the kingdom of God and there are people who

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God has set apart to Have very little and to be joyful There is not a

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Formula where if I could just pray harder, then I will get a few extra zeros in my balance sheet

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Wisdom is in the hand of God long life and Finances are in the hands of God and it says actually that they're in two distinct hands

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Which I think is very interesting in the left hand is rich as an honor in the right hand is long life

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I found this very interesting because in the ancient world as in the modern world, the right hand is dominant

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If you go to Iraq today Which I've been in 2003, but if you go there and you attempt to shake someone's hand with their left hand, it is a deep

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Insult, it is a great dishonor If you want to know why I can tell you about it later

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But the right hand is the dominant hand. It's the hand that symbolizes power and authority and responsibility

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It's the Stabilizing hand. It's the one it's the leadership hand and he's promising now that if you seek wisdom like silver and gold

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Then the blessings that God gives you first and foremost The primary blessing is the right -handed blessings and the right -handed blessings are a long life of peace and faithfulness and fruitfulness

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Excuse me Now this is not a life necessarily of many years There are people who live like Ebeneezer Scrooge for many years, but who are bitter and who are riddled

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With all kinds of frustrations and sin. This is not that kind of longevity It's a longevity of peace and faithfulness and fruitfulness.

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It is a kind of Prosperity of age where you grow up into your faith over time.

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You think about it this way There are some who long life will expose who they are in their sin and they will become more bitter and more frustrated and more cantankerous and more hateful and more selfish years will expose who they truly are and Then there are others

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Who in long life will expose who they are in Christ and they will become softer and sweeter and kinder in spite of their back

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Pains and elbow aches and tendinitis and bursitis and all the other itis's the right -hand blessings

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Come to those who have wisdom a life that is well lived I know a man who was in our

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Presbytery who lived to be roughly just 50 years old and He had a long life of blessings.

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He had a dense life of blessings He had a life where God's peace and kindness was all over that man

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We have to zoom out a little bit further than just I'm gonna live till I'm 90

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Sort of mentality. That's not what Proverbs is saying Proverbs is giving us truths That God will bring blessings to his people.

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He will enrich your life with peace and righteousness and blessings if You seek wisdom

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You will no longer be defined by tumult and turmoil You no longer be defined by chaos and misery

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Your life will no longer be the kind of life that when you look at it from the outside looking in it looks a mess

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Sin is what causes families churches governments nations to look and spiral out of control

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Wisdom is what causes peace to settle down on a home. It's what causes a marriage that was embroiled in Matrimonial hatred to be settled into peace and now to flourish

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Wisdom from God is what causes of causes children who were disobedient But now mom and dad are pursuing the things of God Those children are coming along and learning and growing wisdom is what revives a nation from the depths of its destruction

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We've seen it here in America 200 years ago America was on the brink of collapse before the

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Great Awakening of Jonathan Edwards and and George Whitfield and through the preaching of the gospel

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There was repentance that happened that actually propelled America to be one of the greatest nations that's ever existed life and Riches are like alcohol

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They expose what's really on the inside When all the inhibitions are gone

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When all of the Modesty is gone life long life and wealth will expose who you really are and What Proverbs is arguing for what

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Solomon is arguing for is that we are to be the kind of people who fear God and Obey his commands so that we will be the kind of people that can actually steward wealth and steward life appropriately

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It's only the Christian who can steward life and wealth appropriately you think about the TV preachers

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We talked about him just a moment ago. These men are immature carnal Raving lunatics who are promising all sorts of things.

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I watched Kenneth Copeland one time Talking about how he can control the weather from his private jet

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What a fool But it's because he's not seeking the fear of God and not seeking obedience to scripture.

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He is seeking carnality He is seeking money as his God you think about even

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America as a positive example Do not think Do not think that the only reason that America has become the richest country on earth is because we hit the geographical lottery

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Yes, we have a good geography. Yes. We have a lot of farmland in the interior Yes, we have great mountains that protect that farmland and and we can grow food

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There's all sorts of arguments about this But America was under the blessing of God for as long as it was because we were a

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Christian nation we were a nation that magnified the name of Jesus and God elevated this nation to be a nation that produced more

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Bibles that printed more Books that produced greater scholarship higher music more

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Music that was attached to songs and hymns and spiritual songs in any other nation on earth We've sent more missionaries in any other nation in history and now in the same way that when we were pursuing the things of God God added life to this country and God added wealth to this country is

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The same way now that we are rebelling against God. He is taking away our wealth and our life

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Every year you can look at it You can look at it in very practical ways

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Our nation is inflating the currency to the point that our children won't even have a dollar

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Our debt is skyrocketing to a degree that it's unsustainable and we can't actually pay it off Every year.

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I think we add a trillion dollars to the national debt, which is a number I can't even conceive of The middle class is eroding in this country because things are becoming more expensive

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The nation's foundations is crumbling the morality in this nation is crumbling we hear all the time of sexual

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Escapades in Hollywood or or different brokenness that's going on underneath the scenes that God is revealing

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Our nation is withering right now Our life is being taken our finances are being taken why because we are rebelling against God the principle that Proverbs is arguing for is that if you will pursue

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God if you will run after God if you'll fear God if you obey God's commandments, then God will add unto you life a

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Density of life in years and an age and a density of resources to be able to serve him and serve his kingdom only the

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Christian who is pursuing the things of God has the character and the competence

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To steward the blessings of God on earth to bring about his kingdom And when we don't do that, which is the church has not been doing that God withholds and God pulls back and things wither today,

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I Just want to challenge us in these passages With the same question that we started with what are we pursuing as Christians?

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Are we pursuing God? Or is even a small part of us pursuing the things of man.

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The reason that you go to work is for God the reason that you make money is for God the reason that you're a father is for God the reason that your mother is for God the reason that you are climbing the corporate ladder and gaining promotions is for God Because everything you're doing is an offering unto him

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For the glory of his name not your name for the good of his kingdom. Not your castle How are you thinking about your life and your work and your things

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What is the direction of your affections? Because if is anything other than God it will wither and it will dry up and it will die

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And this is why Solomon tells us That if we will pursue

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God in this way, we will have peace He says in verse 17 her ways are pleasant ways and all her paths are peace a life of a life of wisdom is one

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That has peace and peace is not just the fact that you go home and no one argues

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But you can tell that something's wrong Have you ever been in that situation where where you and your spouse are at odds with one another?

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But no one's arguing because maybe you've given up or maybe it's just not worth it Or maybe it's time to eat your cheeseburger and it's not time to argue

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But what I'm saying what peace is not the absence of conflict Peace is all things being made whole

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Everything being made new Peace is a heavy Goodness that presses down on you and your family that you know, this is from God My family's thriving not because of my leadership

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My family's thriving because God is being good to us and kind to us. My children are saying the things that they believe in their own little hearts to the degree that they're able at their age because God is being kind to us

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My point is is if you if you fear God and if you obey his commandments, he will pour out blessings

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He will add to you a richness of life and a peace that surpasses understanding

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That you're not responsible for But that is entirely Because of him the third thing that this passage promises is that we will have the blessing of eternity

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It says that she wisdom is a tree of life to those who take hold of her and happy are those who hold fast to her

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Which I think is a fascinating thing. Not only does wisdom add a richness to your life Not only does wisdom add a peace to your life, but it adds a an eternal life wisdom here is described as the tree of life, which

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Reminds us of only one tree the tree of life in the Garden of Eden a Tree that if Adam and Eve were allowed to eat it, they would have eaten it forever and they would have lived forever a tree

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That can only be given to the righteous Because that tree actually would destroy the wicked think about it this way if you are wicked

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The best and greatest grace that God has ever given you is your death

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Because wickedness always goes in one direction it gets more wicked Wickedness always goes in one direction

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So that if you lived eternally on this earth as a wicked person You would become a monster that I could not even describe with words

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So it's a grace that you are killed that you don't live The tree of life is only for those who are righteous who can take hold of it and hold fast to it and Unless we are puffed up with pride here.

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The tree of life is not for us either Because none of us in this room are righteous

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None of us in this room can hold fast to the things of God every single one of us under pressure has let go

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When we were supposed to be holding every single one of us Under pressure under temptation under the the mounted assault of the enemy has not held fast to our fidelity

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To our to the truth of the gospel there. We've all denied Jesus in many various ways

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So my point in all of this is that there's only one person Who deserves these things and that's

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Jesus? There's only one person Who deserves the fatness of the land the richness that God gives there's only one person who deserves the peace

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Surpasses understanding there's only one person who deserves the blessings of God and that is

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Christ the one who held fast To his fidelity all the way to the bitter end

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So when we think about a passage like this Where we do not fear the Lord Where we do not

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Perfectly obey his commands where we do not grasp for wisdom where we do not cling to it with all of our heart

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We must first think about it as that these are not things that we deserve

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We must feel that we must recognize that because you cannot earn them

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But we have to understand as Paul says in 1st Corinthians 124, but for those who are called that's the unworthy ones

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Both Jew and Greek Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God Did you hear what

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Paul just said there? There is a man Who perfectly feared the

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Lord there is a man who perfectly obeyed the Lord there is a man who is? wisdom incarnate and that is

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Jesus Christ and The way that you get the blessings of God the way that you get the eternal life the way that you get the riches the way

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That you get all of these things is not by you It's by being in union with him

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It's by being in union with him he earned what we could never earn he did what we could never did do he

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Gained what we could never gain so that the only way you touch the stuff of God the only way that you that you grab hold of anything good is by him first grabbing hold of you and Bringing you close and saying look son.

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Look daughter Everything I earned I share with you. That's how we get the blessings of God That's how today we walk out of this place and we go to work tomorrow and we work hard and we make money and We use that money for the good of the kingdom.

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We do it now With a faith in Christ and a union with Jesus so that now everything we do has

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Significance because he first did that work for us. Does that make sense? So it changes everything

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Let's pray Lord we thank you

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That in a book like Proverbs we are not looking at it as a to -do manual where if I just try hard enough

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That I can have the blessings of God Lord we must understand That in our own frame and our own ability and our own nature

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These things are inaccessible to us just as much as they are to the world It is only through The faithful work of Jesus Christ.

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It is only through his sacrifice it is only through his dying on the cross and rising to life and Ascending into heaven as Victor over these things where he received the treasures where he received the spoils

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It is only through him and through our union with him That any good thing can be ours but now

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Because of his work and his faithfulness and his grace now we have everything that Christ has

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Now because of him We have all good things Lord help us as we celebrate even

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To have a celebration that is directed and pointed at him Everything that you

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Jesus have put in our hands is only because of you and your work Lord let us have a kind of gratitude that never fails a kind of gratitude that inspires us to work hard and to bring

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God's blessings to the earth and a kind of Gratitude that always points to Jesus and always gives him credit in Jesus name.