The Wisdom of God, Chapter 18

Pro 18:1 Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment.
Pro 18:2 A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion.
Pro 18:3 When wickedness comes, contempt comes also, and with dishonor comes disgrace.
Pro 18:4 The words of a man’s mouth are deep waters; the fountain of wisdom is a bubbling brook.
Pro 18:5 It is not good to be partial to the wicked or to deprive the righteous of justice.
Pro 18:6 A fool’s lips walk into a fight, and his mouth invites a beating.
Pro 18:7 A fool’s mouth is his ruin, and his lips are a snare to his soul.
Pro 18:8 The words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels; they go down into the inner parts of the body.
Pro 18:9 Whoever is slack in his work is a brother to him who destroys.
Pro 18:10 The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe.
Pro 18:11 A rich man’s wealth is his strong city, and like a high wall in his imagination.
Pro 18:12 Before destruction a man’s heart is haughty, but humility comes before honor.
Pro 18:13 If one gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame.
Pro 18:14 A man’s spirit will endure sickness, but a crushed spirit who can bear?
Pro 18:15 An intelligent heart acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.
Pro 18:16 A man’s gift makes room for him and brings him before the great.
Pro 18:17 The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him.
Pro 18:18 The lot puts an end to quarrels and decides between powerful contenders.
Pro 18:19 A brother offended is more unyielding than a strong city, and quarreling is like the bars of a castle.
Pro 18:20 From the fruit of a man’s mouth his stomach is satisfied; he is satisfied by the yield of his lips.
Pro 18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.
Pro 18:22 He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the LORD.
Pro 18:23 The poor use entreaties, but the rich answer roughly.
Pro 18:24 A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

Wisdom I took away from Proverbs, Chapter 18

Every line is so pregnant with meaning, but I picked a few that jumped out.

4,6,7,8,20, 21) All about the power of the words of our mouth. I wish that I can impress upon you the power that our tongue has. I don’t mean that in some weird mystical way, but our words plant seeds deep within our hearts. What we sow, we will reap. We all need to get before the Lord and really ask him to clean up our mouths. My wife and I have been really drilling down into this area in our lives. The Lord has really showed up. If we genuinely ask the Lord to help us with it, he will do much more than we could ever ask or imagine.

If you can get into a class of Cleansing Stream I highly recommend it.

Guys, go to Promise Keepers if it comes within 1000 miles of your house - it is the most powerful event I have ever been to besides maybe my wedding. That is no exaggeration whatsoever. It will change your life. Ladies - ignore all that “bull” the world feeds women that it is a chauvenistic organization. That is just another lie from Satan himself trying to keep us from a good thing. The devil loves to use scare tactics that play on our pride. “They want all women to be slaves - back to the caveman days. Next they’ll take our right to vote.” All I heard about women during the conference is how much love for them we are supposed to have. Each speaker pressed upon us to get together with other men to become accountable for our walk with God, our responsibilities as a husband first, father second, and then man of the community. Ask any woman who had a spouse go to Promise Keepers. They would say “send him back every year! It has helped our relationship so much” Maybe I’ll revisit this with another post this summer.

back to the words of our mouth…

God has convicted me even before bad words come out of my mouth - as long as I am conscious of God’s presence. The Lord wants us to walk with him continually, not just communicate with him at church, before and after bed, and before meals. If we keep God at the forefront of our thoughts he is faithful to keep us on the straight and narrow via the Holy Spirit.

However when we slip (and we will) we must immediately repent and come back under the umbrella of God’s love (Like in verse 10)

11) The world tries to delude us that riches are EVERYTHING. Not so - stock markets collapse, business go bankrupt, and…. people die. A famous antecdote - “Two men were at a wake for an extremely wealth man. One man said to another, “How much did he leave,” pointing to the grieving family. The other man said, “He left it all.” How true. I get so caught up in thinking of taking care of my family, and all the other expenses we in the US call the “American Dream”. God has totally different things he wants us to concentrate on.

I don’t mean that he wants us all to go to a third-world nation to become a missionary for the rest of our lives (although I bet he would love it if we took a week per year to do so). Let’s face it. The world needs money and technology. All of us in well-developed nations have both. We also have education that will enable us to help those less-fortunate both in our home nations and others. God needs people to program computers, run nuclear-power plants, drive school buses, and make doughnuts. Just be prepared to tell people about Jesus Christ and let his life shine through us so the world can see him within us.

19) Strife shuts down all interpersonal communication. Every now and then you hear of brothers, sisters, or even former friends who have not spoken in 50 years because of a dispute. It sounds crazy, but then again, I am fortunate that most of the people I did not get along with all live several hundred miles away from me.

Two practical steps the Bible offers us. The first is to not let the sun go down on our anger. When we do, it has time to take root and multiply the ill will we have. My wife and I always try to patch up our arguments before bed - we have had some real good ones too! The second is to let our anger go. Give it to God. Most of our anger is rooted in pride anyway, and we know that God hates pride.

16) A warning about the power of bribes. I got something else, but it may be a stretch. The gift of salvation through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ ushers us into the presence of the Lord (the great).

17) A little warning to all of us to hear both sides of a case before passing judgement. I remember a time as a child when I did something wrong to one of my classmates. I knew that he used to always get in trouble, so I made sure to tell the teacher my side of the story since I was relatively well-behaved. Of course the teacher believed me even though I was 100% wrong. Sorry, Ron…

18) There were two ways to settle a disagreement back then. One was to cast lots, which was the equivalent of flipping a coin. The second was to kill one another. I think we could pick which God would prefer they do. In today’s day and age, God does not want us casting lots. This was an Old Testament superstition. Notice the disciples cast lots in Acts, but that was only before Pentacost, when the Holy Spirit came upon them. If we are Christians we don’t need any of that superstitious garbage - we have the Holy Spirit of the Lord to lead us from within.

24) People suck - I am half-kidding, but we do. We lie, cheat, and steal. And we’ll do it again, too : ) It is tough to find a few friends that we trust. We may not even like everyone in our small group. Of course we love them all, but we may not trust them 100%. Some people try to collect friends like Imelda Marcos collected shoes. Do reach that quantity, we must sacrifice some quality.

It reminds me of college. We would have a get-together with 10 or 20 friends - great time! However we would then want to throw the “best damn party” our block had ever seen. The problem is that we didn’t have 200 people that we trusted - so, we let in some real idiots. Over my time doing that once every month or so we had numerous holes put in walls, our fish got stolen, tons of fights occurred, and each of the four roommates went to jail at least once over the parties. Stupid, stupid, stupid. I sure hope my wife and I can get our kids to go to a Christian college.

22) Speaking first-hand from that one. Sorry guys, but I have the best wife in the world. She is such an amazing blessing. This isn’t for “brownie points” with her. She doesn’t read this blog much (she hears me enough : )

Learning about the Lord through the life of Jesus Christ - John, Chapter 18

Joh 18:1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples across the Kidron Valley, where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered.
Joh 18:2 Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, for Jesus often met there with his disciples.
Joh 18:3 So Judas, having procured a band of soldiers and some officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, went there with lanterns and torches and weapons.
Joh 18:4 Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, “Whom do you seek?”
Joh 18:5 They answered him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to them, “I am he.” Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them.
Joh 18:6 When Jesus said to them, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground.
Joh 18:7 So he asked them again, “Whom do you seek?” And they said, “Jesus of Nazareth.”
Joh 18:8 Jesus answered, “I told you that I am he. So, if you seek me, let these men go.”
Joh 18:9 This was to fulfill the word that he had spoken: “Of those whom you gave me I have lost not one.”
Joh 18:10 Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant and cut off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.)
Joh 18:11 So Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?”
Joh 18:12 So the band of soldiers and their captain and the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound him.
Joh 18:13 First they led him to Annas, for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year.
Joh 18:14 It was Caiaphas who had advised the Jews that it would be expedient that one man should die for the people.
Joh 18:15 Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple. Since that disciple was known to the high priest, he entered with Jesus into the court of the high priest,
Joh 18:16 but Peter stood outside at the door. So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the servant girl who kept watch at the door, and brought Peter in.
Joh 18:17 The servant girl at the door said to Peter, “You also are not one of this man’s disciples, are you?” He said, “I am not.”
Joh 18:18 Now the servants and officers had made a charcoal fire, because it was cold, and they were standing and warming themselves. Peter also was with them, standing and warming himself.
Joh 18:19 The high priest then questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching.
Joh 18:20 Jesus answered him, “I have spoken openly to the world. I have always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all Jews come together. I have said nothing in secret.
Joh 18:21 Why do you ask me? Ask those who have heard me what I said to them; they know what I said.”
Joh 18:22 When he had said these things, one of the officers standing by struck Jesus with his hand, saying, “Is that how you answer the high priest?”
Joh 18:23 Jesus answered him, “If what I said is wrong, bear witness about the wrong; but if what I said is right, why do you strike me?”
Joh 18:24 Annas then sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.
Joh 18:25 Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. So they said to him, “You also are not one of his disciples, are you?” He denied it and said, “I am not.”
Joh 18:26 One of the servants of the high priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, “Did I not see you in the garden with him?”
Joh 18:27 Peter again denied it, and at once a rooster crowed.
Joh 18:28 Then they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the governor’s headquarters. It was early morning. They themselves did not enter the governor’s headquarters, so that they would not be defiled, but could eat the Passover.
Joh 18:29 So Pilate went outside to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this man?”
Joh 18:30 They answered him, “If this man were not doing evil, we would not have delivered him over to you.”
Joh 18:31 Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.” The Jews said to him, “It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death.”
Joh 18:32 This was to fulfill the word that Jesus had spoken to show by what kind of death he was going to die.
Joh 18:33 So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”
Joh 18:34 Jesus answered, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?”
Joh 18:35 Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?”
Joh 18:36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.”
Joh 18:37 Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world–to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”
Joh 18:38 Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, “I find no guilt in him.
Joh 18:39 But you have a custom that I should release one man for you at the Passover. So do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?”
Joh 18:40 They cried out again, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a robber.

Categories: Wisdom
Tags: