Bible Guys Classics: Proverbs 8

You're listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun in practical ways. Good morning morning. I was hoping talk the whole not through good morning, good morning? Do you? Yes? All right? Love it? They coming in. You're the percussion. There we go. Yes, well, I was trying to do that like the tap dancing. But oh oh I see, I see, I see. Percussion is good? Well, I mean, isn't tap dancing? Sure? Absolutely? Yes? Okay, well, hey, good morning everybody. I was just hoping, just I was hoping, beyond hope that today was the day you would sing to us us that's so funny. Hey, well, we are the Bible guys. We want to welcome you here, and we are starting off a segment called guess the word Yes. And so this is very similar to if you know the game the party game Taboo. Yes, It's very similar to that, where there is a word that I want you to guess, but there are five words I cannot say to get you to guess that. Man, if you happen to be watching on video instead of just listening, we are going to hopefully put the words that Jeff cannot say, on the screen right here, so that you can play at home. That's right. And if you're playing at home and you're watching, every correct answer you get is worth a point, if your point. If you're listening, if you're listening on the podcast and you cannot see those words, every quick answer gets worth ten thousand points. So that would you know what that would make me do? That would make me hit pause on the video and then go look it up on Spotify, Okay, because I want to score more points? You want more points? Yeah, there you go. Because you're a winner, Chris, I'm a winner. Okay, So here's the first one. Right, I'm going to give Chris close to see, but you can guess the bold keyword. I'm not allowed to say any of the italicized words on my sheet here dog on of people like me? Okay, good, they do, they do? Okay. It's the noise okay that a tom makes to get the attention of a hen. That are what makes Tom makes to get the attention of a hen. Cluck? Oh almost, it's a different. Oh, it's a thing gobble gobble. There you go. Correct. That was allowed to say eat turkey food or devour? What the heck? Is a tom. That's the male turkey. So you know this because you're a hunter. I thought people, Yeah, I thought people knew that is that a hunting thing? When you were a kid, didn't you have to make like turkey things outline your hand, make a turkey and they called it you know what, they called it? Turkeys? Yeah, okay, okay, yeah, I guess maybe I grew up. I grew up on a you know, on a homestead, and we had I don't know, I don't know. I just thought everybody knew that a tom is that. I'm just wondering if it's a hunting thing. So so a male turkey that has not is not old enough to breed yet, he doesn't have a big beard yet. Yeah, that he's called a jake. And then when he's able to breed, he grows a longer beard and he's called a tom. You could have threatened me with death and I wouldn't have known it. Okay, congratulations, you got to gobble. That was that was the important thing. Because that was like cluck and you were like a different burden. I was like, what are you talking about? I was like, oh, it's a thanks gobbling. Yeah, gotcha. I was just in the woods a couple weeks ago, and the turkeys were gobbling like crazy. This Yeah, it was really neat. Okay. This next one is when the king sits down at his giant table. He's sitting down for a feast. Feast. That is correct. I wasn't allowed to say Thanksgiving, food, eat, banquet, or famine. Oh wow? Okay. Uh. These people were the original Europeans that came to America. You were correct. Pilgrims, progress, Plymouth, Mayflower, Indians, and travelers. Those are the words I was not allowed to use. Wow. Yeah, that was a tough one. Okay, this one's difficult. Okay. So when you have meatki, No, when you have meat cooking, oh, I'm not allowed to say cook? Oh okay, okay. When you have meat in the oven and you don't want it to dry out, you pull it out and you put more liquid on it based it. There you go. Yes, yes, I wasn't allowed to say cook. I just lost ten thousand, lost thousand. Wait a minute, I'm reading it. So it's only one point. Oh that's true. That's true. And we're on video. Yeah there, we got my video. Yeah, we saw myself a video. Excellent okay, and here's the last one. Those original Europeans arrived in the United States. No, no, what did they ride on? Horses? Know when they came across the water, there's the mayflower. There you go the mayflower. You should yes, well, I and say ship, pilgrims, flower Atlantic or voyage. Oh you could have said sale, sled. Oh I could have said sailed. Yeah, yeah, okay, Yeah, I'm like horses, you're like, not across the water. Goofball dumb dum. Okay, they go gobble feast, pilgrims, based and mayflower were the words. Okay, congratulations Chris. Yes, and I'm sorry for blowing it on based. Yeah. Well, you know I've done that a time or two as well. Okay, riveting, riveting, segment, riveting, riveting. Everybody is on the edge of their seat. And I'm sure we have a few of our of our listeners that have ten thousand points or five thousand, five thousand points, fifty thousand. We gave ten thousand points piece, yeah, fifty thousand, I bitch, we got people got fifty thousand points, do you think so? Yeah? Our viewers somebody got five congratulations. Somebody's in Tanzania right now. They're like changed, it changes in check e Cheese. That's right, you just you used to work in check e Cheese. Yeah, you bring all the all the tickets in and then you get a Frisbee exactly. I remember being so disappointed after having what I thought was a good jillion tickets and go up and go, okay, here's the section that you can pick from. I'm like, I want that TV. No, you get these. You get this top David Butchers, which is an adult chucky cheese. You know, you build it up on that card, you know, and it feels like forever. You can just even save the card. And they're like, you have fourteen thousand points. You're like what And you walk in there and you're like and. You look at the top shop and it goes and it says it's like three hundred thousand points, and you're like what. Right, Okay, So for your fourteen thousand, you can order out of this box right here. You can get this pez Dispenser, right. You can get this fen. Put a squiggly head on it, which includes the chick lits, just not including the Erasis. Yep. Okay, So anyways, that's a movie quote. Oh really nineteen seventy nine. Oh wow, it is Martin In, the jerk, the jerk, he says, step right up and win some crap, he says. Oh no. I went and saw Steve Martin and Martin Short at the Fox Theater a couple weeks ago. What it was amazing. Oh my goodness, I can't believe it. They came and went and they were here. Bonnie and I sat like on the eighth row in the center. Okay, it was amazing. There is never fund a. Time where you ever attended anything where I've been more jealous ever. They were circles. So you got these two guys, you know, Steve Martin seventy nine, Martin Shorts seventy four. The energy, the humor, the physical comedy that they did for two hours was unbelievable. Are they still here? No, they were only here for two nights. I am angry at myself. Well they told me, they said. Marty says, hey, don't tell Zarball we're here. Is what he says, like, Oh okay, Marty. Yeah, Marty, and I go back the ways, all the way back to innerspace. Yeah, he said. And Steve Martin had to say, well, the last time it just got weird. I said, okay, I won't tell our probather you guys. So it was a secret, that's only only only like ten thousand other people knew that they were here. And that'll be the last time he's on tour. I'm sure I don't know the touring every every year. So here we go. Anyways, I would consider, by the way, traveling to another city, I would drive all these Chicago to see them. Well, they're on a tour. I can't believe I missed them. I'm so angry, sorry about that. Okay. So Proverbs chapter eight, Chapter eight, this is now, Uh, Solomon is writing, by the way, Jeff, as if Wisdom is talking. You were so. Clever in giving those answers and so, but not as clever as Solomon is, who was about to give us advice. Oh there you go, Yes man, that was a good one, Chris, thank you. Good transition. Promise the listeners. So clever, because the reason why it's clever is because he's writing as if Wisdom is speaking to his children. You know, sometimes, which is clever on top of clever, it's super clever, clever clever, it's it's cleverly clever, yes, So sometimes kids can't hear their parents' voice. It just sounds like Charlie Brown's teacher, right. But isn't it amazing that if a kid has a coach or a teacher or somebody that they really like, all of a sudden, that coach or teacher can say the same thing mom and Dad said, and now, all of a sudden, it's the smartest thing they've ever heard in their life. So Solomon is kind of using that ploy. He's using a third person, he's using wisdom itself to speak to his children. And it's very clever. Which is just a wise thing for moms and dads to get some good adult allies that you can trust, get a good youth pastor get good coaches and align with them and say, hey, I need you, my son really likes you. Make sure you reinforce this idea that we're working on at home, you know. And so anyways, so he says in Proverb chapter eight, listen as wisdom calls out here as understanding raises her voice on the hilltop along the road, she takes her stand at the crossroads by the gates at the entrance to the town. On the road leading in, she cries aloud. I call to you, to all of you, I raise my voice to all people. You simple people, use good judgment, You foolish people, show some understanding. Listen to me, for I have important things to tell you. Everything I say is right, for I speak the truth and to test every kind of deception. My advice is wholesome. There is nothing devious or crooked in it. My words are plain to anyone with understanding, clear to those with knowledge. Choose my instruction rather than silver, and knowledge rather than pure gold. For wisdom is far more valuable than rubies. Nothing you desire can compare with it. I wisdom live together with good judgment. I know where to discover knowledge and discernment. All who fear the Lord will hate evil. Therefore I hate pride and arrogance, corruption and perverse speech. Common sense and success belong to me, Insight and strength their mind because of me. King's reign and rulers make just decrees. Rulers lead with my help, and nobles make right to judgments. I love all who love me. Those who search will surely find me. I have riches and honor, as well as enduring wealth and justice. My gifts are better than gold, even the purest gold. And my wages are better than sterling silver. I walk in righteousness and paths of justice. Those who love me inherit wealth, I will find their treasuries. I will fill their treasuries. The Lord formed me from the beginning, before he created anything else. I was appointed in ages past, at the very first, before the earth began. I was born before the oceans were created, before the springs bubbled forth their waters, before the mountains were formed, before the hills. I was born before he had made the earth and fields and the first handfuls of soil. I was there when he established the heavens, and when he drew the horizon on the oceans. I was there when he set the clouds above, and when he established springs deep in the earth. I was there when he set the limits of the seas so they would not spread beyond their boundaries, And when he marked off the earth's foundations. I was the architect at his side. I was his constant delight, rejoicing always in his presence. I and how happy I was with the world he created. How I rejoice with the human family, And so my children listen to me. For all who follow my ways are joyful. Listen to my instruction and be wise, don't ignore it. Joyful are those who listen to me, watching for me daily at my gates, waiting for me outside my home. For whoever finds me finds life and receives favor from the Lord. But those who miss me injure themselves. All who hate me love death. Wow. When I think of wisdom, and I've often, you know, been pretty fascinated that Solomon talks about wisdom from the standpoint that you know it's a she. But when I think of wisdom in my mind, I always think of this chapter. I I've always been fascinated with the visual aids of like, you know, this ancient being who was there before the world's began, which, of course is God. God is the one who existed before the earth was form. Right, God is the one who existed from all eternity past. But God had wisdom, So what so. What is wisdom? God is wisdom of. Course, yes, of course and and uh and he has wisdom and his wisdom, and he has love and his love. But anyway he uh uh so anyway, when when but wisdom, talking as a person, says, I was here long before you know the earth was created all of a sudden. You try to picture wisdom as this ancient being, you know, and and and all of a sudden. Now you think, okay, if wisdom is obtainable, because obviously it is right and he's saying, obtain it, obtain me and uh and guess what I'm worth more than gold and rubies and sterling silver and uh and and guess what I've been around. It makes you feel like you're tapping into this this this magical thing. But then you have to think about it like that's the same with God in. Us, right, right right? Have you ever heard. Francis Chan one time gave a message and he talked about how he's like, man, when I get to Heaven, he goes, I'm going to go up to Moses and he's and I'm going to say to Moses, man, tell me what it was like. What was it like to see and talk to God in the form of a burning bush? That must have been incredible. And Moses is going to look back at you and say, yeah, it was really cool. But let me ask you a question. What was it like to have God inside of you? Like the power of God within you to be able to tap into the power of Christ who lived inside of you. Because let me tell you something, I didn't have that. I remember thinking like, okay, that's a cool thought, right, And so you know, I get fascinated with this whole ancient being before the foundations of the world. I'm thinking, oh, wait, that's what we have every day God, that's God in us. Right, we have access to the God's wisdom. And they're crazy. And he's establishing the fact that wisdom is not situational and it's not cultural, right, that that it predates humanity, it predates godly wisdom. That is not a situational thing to go all. Well, back in old fashioned times, that's what they believed. But now, well that's a really. Good point because people say certain values are outdated and culture. Right, So so God's wisdom is it transcends all cultures in all ages. I think that's That's what I'm trying to say. So, sure there are cultural things. Should we wear robes or should we wear pants? Right? That that that's a cultural thing. That's not a wisdom. I don't know, if it's really hot, maybe that that robe again, but you know, some of those things, would you prefer hummus or potato or French fries. Right, that that's just a cultural thing. And so sure, those things change. But when it comes to the wisdom of the ages, how to live your life, how to manage money, how to navigate relationships, how the idea that integrity and rightly being an honesty will always build a society, and corruption and violence and evil will always tear down a society. Those things, those are pre established before the foundation of the world, and they don't change. It's not like, oh, that's an old fashioned idea. It doesn't. I don't know why, but I was just I just read a thing here recently. There's over one hundred thousand laws in America, and yet it seems like everybody who runs for office has a new law they want to bring. Is that what we need? We need more laws, really, And it's kind of the same way with regard to every generation thinks that they're wiser than the last generation. And while they may have more information or while they have more technology, I don't know that every generation is more wise, right, And so getting back to those foundational ideas of how to live, I think that's one of the reasons why he highlights so long that wisdom existed before anything else did. Yeah, I love how I love how Solomon is describing how to recognize good wisdom. Right, and so he says, for I speak the truth and detest every kind of deception. So if you're wondering whether or not when you hear piece of advice, whether it's wisdom, then ask yourself, Okay, you know, is this other piece of advice that my friend is giving me doesn't involve any type of deception? You know? Because I mean that is a that is a telling thing. Sometimes we think because something is clever, right, you know that maybe it's wisdom, and just because it's clever, if it involves deception of any kind, then it's it's definitely not wholesome. Because he said my advice is wholesome the very next verse and verse eight, and there's nothing devious or crooked in it my words. And then listen to this. My words are plain to anyone with understanding, clear to those with knowledge. So so in other words, anybody who has basic understanding can recognize wisdom, is what he's saying. So I think it's you know, have you ever been talking with somebody and somebody would tell you already know the right thing to do. You've probably said that to somebody, sure, absolutely, like you already know the right answer, right, I'm just I'm just here to remind you. And that's really what Solomon is saying. Solomon is saying, like you could recognize with them as soon as you hear it, you already know the right thing. Well, so I'm reminded in that verse nine, my words are playing to anyone with understanding. I'm reminded. There's another proverb, or Solomon says in a multitude of words, there's no shortage of sin. And it makes me think of our extraordinarily litigious society today. My wife and I just closed on a new home, and we signed how many good jillion documents? Right? Most of them? Most of the documents I signed were full of so many words that created so many loopholes for the lending agency to get out of the situation, to give them more control and take control away from me. That's most of it. Or to where nobody else is responsible except me for all these things. Right, the more words it takes to get a thing done, the less likely it is that it has integrity in it. Right. Right, So I had a friend. We were going to write up a contract to do a project with somebody, and so I wrote up an MoU and it had like eight big ideas and then we refined it a little bit, but it was eight things that we were agreeing to work on. And then somebody goes, oh, that needs to go to the attorneys. The attorneys need to look at it. The attorneys came back and what was one page, and very crystal clear, they came back with eighteen pages eighteen one page, eighteen pages. So then you know, I'm a little bit of a lawyer in my head. I argue words. You know, we joke about that I've got this thing. Why would I say this thing in four sentences when I could have said it in one sentence? Right? So I started critique. The lawyer got a little upset with me, and I said, don't these three paragraphs say the same thing as this one sentence? And he goes, yes, but this gives you more outs. So oh, so I'm writing this for loopholes for me, as opposed to two people having some integrity and coming in and seeing the plain words. I said, so, if I don't have your three paragraphs and I only have that one sentence. So are you saying I can't protect myself with that one sentence? And he goes, no, No, it means the same thing. I said, Well, then why do we need to And so I refuse the eighteen page document because more words just creates more fights. Let's be simpler and make sure that we're in clarity. I'm not saying you shouldn't sign contracts. I'm not saying that you shouldn't protect yourself. I'm not. But because not everybody's honest and integrity, but if you're working with somebody that has honesty and integrity, I think simply written words. The more words somebody else puts on a page, the more diligent you have to be to read and understand those words. That's what I'm trying to say. Yeah, because usually somebody's trying to shoot a move with the more words they have on there. Well, you know when Apple comes out with an update and it says you can't download the new software without signing, and it says read and sign, and you're literally going you literally have to scroll the whole page like nine times. We own you and your children and right everything that you think now is our property. So what percentage of the population who signed it read it. They don't that many people, right, Yeah. There may be a dozen people in the world that actually sit down and read that, because my guess is, if you read it and you actually understand it, you probably wouldn't sign it. You know, there was a time when a man's word was his bond, when a handshake would really get business done and two men standing. My dad grew up. It's so funny. I think of old time business being done over the pickle barrel because there was a general store picklebar Yeah. Well, there was a general store in our community that all the old farmers in our community would go down and they had they made sandwiches behind the counter, and there was a general store and they had two pickle barrels that had checkers boards on the thing. They men to sit around play checkers and do business and it was like a daily thing and they would work it out. Hey, so you plant the hay this year, and we'll plant the alfalfa. He's going to raise the cows, and they're going to plant the corn. And they would kind of work out all of this and everything we've done by a handshake. Yeah, sure, I'll loan you my tractor and in the meantime, I'm going to need to borrow your hay Baylor. Right, And they would just do everything with a handshake. And it's because they trusted each other, They went to church together, they knew each other well, they didn't take advantage of each other and understood that society requires that people keep their word. And then we get into a litigious society where the expectation the longer the contracts are, the less society believes that keeping our word is essential. Right. As a matter of fact, the reality is, you sign those contracts and you know, you know, I signed a lease on a car a while back, and the guy behind the countrect he said, you know, these things aren't worth the paper they're written on. You can get out of it, so can we. Well, then why did I just sign twenty two pages? Right? It's because we're currently living in a society doesn't believe in the value of the word. And I just think that there's something to that that godly men and women should be people of their word. You say a thing, you should follow through on that thing? Well sure r yeah, Well, I mean James says, let your yesp yes, and you know, b. No, yeah, yeah, exactly. That's what godly people do. That's kind of the advice he's giving here is be really careful if people use too many words or whatever. So, yeah, that's great, all righty. Wisdom is uh is the essence of who God is. Yeah right, absolutely. So, and let's recognize it and when we see it, let's hang on to it more than we crave gold or riches. Wisdom is far more valuable than rubies. Nothing you desire can compare with it. That's awesome. All right. Well, that's a good wrap up and we will see you next time, hopefully on the Bible Gush