Practical Steps to a Fruitful Life: Proverbs 10:1-32

You're listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun in practical ways. Hey, everybody, if you're brand new, we are the Bible Guys. I am Chris, and this is Jeff. And notice that his name is first The Bible Guys with Jeff and Chris. It's right above me. Oh, Jeff and Chris. Yeah, why isn't it Chris and Jeff Jeff? Uh? Well, I think we know why, our listeners. There's the Bible Guy, and then there's the Bible Guys. It's his companion. It's the Bible Guy's companion, Chris. I think our listeners know. We should just ask them. It's so funny. All right. Well, now that we have that out of the way and everybody knows, uh, we're gonna go ahead and move right into a segment called you know. Desiree wrote this called Thanksgiving story Time. She writes Happy Thanksgiving, which, by the way, that means this is going to play on Thanksgiving, right. Yes, Happy Thanksgiving? Yeah, because this is a week before for. Us, right right, right, right right, Yeah. We're shooting the week before, which sometimes we should several weeks in advance. Yes, so we've both been out of the country and we've quite a bit. Miss you had to play catch up. So happy thanks Thanksgiving. Oh my goodness, I can't believe we both did that. That is crazy. That is some seriously crazy stuff. There we go. Let's share stories of a funny, embarrassing, or memorable moment that happened on a Thanksgiving over the years. Okay, so you have a story. So our Thanksgivings are rowdy, aur yours do you? Guys have? Like? No opposite? It's true when we gather around. You know, my mom always likes to cook a lot, and lately the last several years I've done like the turkey, and Bonnie and I help out. And then hopefully my brother's families come in and we all kind of gather on my mom and dad's house, and then whatever brothers are there, I'm the oldest of the four brothers. Whatever brothers are there, it's just cutting up and laughing, and then he gets louder and louder. So after dinner we watched football then and then after that, usually everybody's gathering around, they want to play games of some kind. So I'm always bringing new games to my mom and I like like games where like, have you played Ultimate Wear? Well, you've played Ultimate Wear well before, right, where everybody's trying to figure out who the were wolves are versus the villagers and there's a lot of accusing and yelling and that kind of thing. So I have a game like that that I bought from my mom called The Donner Dinner Party, and it's it's essentially the same where you're trying to figure out who the cannibals are and who the the regular pilgrims are, not Pilgrims but pioneers are in the thing. And I bought it just to find out which one of my mom's kids would she eat first the thing? Yeah, so on Thanksgiving dinner, we made my mom a cannibal. So yeah, not for real, right right? Yeah? Wow? And yeah it was fun. Well that was that was It wasn't me, it was Mark. That's the next one down for me. Well, because she loves me. Of your twenty seven brothers, yeah. Yeah, I have four brothers. Yes, all right, Uh so here's my Thanksgiving story for Yeah, well you have how many sisters? How many sisters? Six? Right? Six older sisters. Yeah, it's just a crazy amount of siblings. Yeah, So here's my Thanksgiving story. When I was twelve years old, I went over to my grandmother and grandmother grandmother and grandfather's house. Actually they owned, no, they managed a U haul storage facility, so there's like an apartment that was like on site. So that's where they lived. So we would go over there and have Thanksgiving, and it was you know, we shared holidays, right, so because my mom and they were divorced, so this was sort of my dad's holiday and he chose to spend it with his father and mother. So my cousins were there from my dad's side. Who were the cousins that we spent the least amount of time with? Okay, Okay, So anyway, my uncle, uh huh Okay, I'm trying to be Jenda. So we sort of. Don't understand his side a lot, Okay, don't We don't mess it a lot. Okay. So anyway, what ends up happening is my uncle whatever his name is, from Tennessee, Uncle John, Uncle John and K come up from Tennessee and they have this big sheep dog and I'm talking like the biggest thing you've ever seen. When I was twelve, he looked like a giant and everybody was scared of him. And so I'm like, I go over to pet him, and Uncle John says, he's it's okay, like it's all right, and he was he was bigger than me like at the time, and so I got down on my hands and knees and I leaned up right to his face and he said it's okay. And I reached out my hand and I went to go pet him. And as soon as I was right around. To touch him, my other cousin, Dustin, comes running around the corner and decides to run and tackle the sheep dog like a horse. And so the sheep dog freaks out and bites me. And I currently have twelve stitches right here, so you can see. Yeah a little bit, yeah, this a little bit of a scar there. Yeah, yeah, so the scar it's hideous. It is for our listeners. And I can't I can't even make eye content and. I'll never even I'll never forget how the dog jumped. At me and was like and just literally ate my face. Wow, and had twelve stitches across eighteen stitches across my jawline, and that was my Thanksgiving Wow. Well you can barely see it now. And and it stained my my jacket, my red jacket. I had to throw it away. It was red blood, but you know, didn't quite match. Wow, different shades of red. So you got eaten by a dog, yes, and my brother got eaten by my mom. Oh oh hey, that was random. Yeah. And by the way, speaking of random, random, this chapter is filled with random quote good job. Yeah, I mean just access like just total one liners that are randomly put into the same chapter. From chapter ten to chapter twenty two. It's literally one or two versus one liners. They're not even connected. A lot of times. The idea is it's just ideas. It's like he's right now, Oh, here's a good idea. Here's a good idea. Here's a good idea. Here's a good idea. Right. So that's what these are, and I love them. I quote I think from these next to a dozen chapters. I quote from these, probably more than with regard to practical living than any other passages in the Bible. So they're great. Here's what it says, A wise child Chapter ten. Isn't that what we're reading? YEA Chapter ten the Proverbs of Solemn and A wise Child brings joy to a father. A foolish child brings grief to a mother. Tainted wealth has no lasting value, but right living can save your life. The Lord will not let the godly go hungry, but he refuses to satisfy the craving of the wicked. Lazy people are soon poor. Hard workers get rich. Wise youth harvests, a wise youth harvests in the summer, but one who sleeps during harvest is a disgrace. The godly are showered with blessings. The words of the wicked conceal violent intentions. We have happy memories of the godly, but the name of a wicked person rots away. The wise are glad to be instructed, but babbling fools fall flat on their faces. People with integrity walk safely, but those who follow crooked paths will slip and fall. People who wink it wrong cause trouble, but a bold reproof promotes peace. The words of the godly are a life giving fountain. The words of the wicked conceal violent intentions. Hatred stirs up quarrels, but love makes up for all offenses. Wise words come from the lips of people with understanding, but those lacking sense will be beaten with a rod. Wise people treasure knowledge, but the babbling of a fool invites disaster. The wealth of the rich is their fortress, the poverty of the poor is their destruction. The earnings of the godly enhance their lives, but evil people squander their money on sin. People who accept discipline are on the pathway to life, but those who ignore correction will go astray. Hiding hatred makes you a liar. Slandering others makes you a fool. Too much talk leads to sin. Be sensible and keep your mouth shut. That's great, says the guys with a podcast, Right, right right. The words of the godly are like sterling silver. The heart of a fool is worthless. The words of the godly encourage many, but fools are destroyed by their lack of common sense. The blessing of the Lord makes a person rich, and he adds no sorrow with it. Doing wrong is fun for a fool, but living wisely brings pleasure to the sensible. The fears of the wicked will be fulfilled. The hopes of the godly will be granted when the storms of life come. The wicked are world away, but the godly have a lasting foundation. Lazy people irritate their employers, like vinegar to the teeth or smoke in the eyes. Fear of the Lord lengthens one's life, but the years of the wicked are cut short. The hopes of the godly result in happiness, but the expectations of the wicked come to nothing. The way of the Lord is a stronghold to those with integrity, but it destroys the wicked. The godly will never be disturbed, but the wicked will be removed from the land. The mouth of the godly person gives wise advice, but the tongue that deceives will be cut off. The lips of the godly speak helpful words, but the mouth of the wicked speaks perverse words. So it's just whise sayings, yeah. Yep, and really, I mean, goodness, gracious. It almost seems to have a theme, which is how great the godly are and how not great the ungodly are. How great the life of the godly will be. Yes, it's really it's not that they're good people. It's that as they choose God's ways, life is going to be pretty good for them. Life's going to be pretty bad for the person who rejects God's ways. Right, Yeah, yeah, So, I mean it almost feels like most of it has that theme going back and forth. Yeah and yeah. You have words, right. So he talks a lot about the kind of words that people say, and he says, like, the words of the godly are life giving. The words of wicked conceal violent intentions. Right, how often do we hurt people even unintentionally? We hurt people with our words versus giving life? Right, there's another one over here, was it I'm looking for the mouth of the godly person gives wise advice, but the tongue that the sieves will be cut off. The lips of the godly speak helpful words, but the mouth of the wicked speaks for verse words. There's a lot of phrases in here about how important our words are. And he's always talking about how the godly build up. Now the godly also correct. He talks about that a few different times in here. The godly will bring discipline. And was it that Dave Harrington says, Dave is really one of the wise men in my life. He's one of the key leaders that Heritage Church. And Dave said to our staff yesterday. Candor is caring, right, So being clear and speaking truth is evidence that you love somebody or care for somebody. So that's in there. It's the idea that wise words come from the lips of people with understanding, but those lacking sense will be beaten with a rod. This whole chapter, it's like every third verse has something to do with wise words versus foolish words, and that wise words usually build up or bring clarity, Foolish words tear down or try to get people to do the wrong thing. You know what these little sayings seem to do for me, They seem to be a reminder of like a thirty thousand foot perspective, because think about it, if you're in the moment, sometimes you can get swept away with foolish words or foolish moments, or you know, like heading a foolish direction or making a foolish choice, and then you know, and you know, maybe the wisdom is something you just want to ignore because you just want to do what you want to do, or you know, whatever it is. But these are principles that sort of zoom you out and it feels like you're flying thirty thousand feet, And so what he's trying, at least for me. Anyway, it feels like, hey, when you're in that moment and you need to recognize the difference between what wisdom is going to do for you to live your life in this way versus foolishness, and it feels like these are principles that help us to recognize that in the moment, Uh choose, choose, the choose the godly way as opposed to the ungodly way or the wicked way. And uh, I remember, goodness gracious. Back in September of two thousand and seven, we actually did a series. It was a four part series called Stop. And in fact, back then, you know, we used to have keychains. Remember back then in two thousand and seven, when everybody had keychains. Maybe people still do, right, I don't have any keychain hardly at all. But but anyway, we used to you know, carry like the Kroger, you know, barcode where you boop, you know, and you have all these things. On your keychain. Well, anyway, we had this thing for people to put on their keychain called Stop and the tagline was stop and then underneath it said because everyone is tempted. It was a four week series on temptation. And in that series, what we said was is that right in the moment, when you're in the heat of the moment and you're tempted to do something, you also maybe ten to think that your action may not connect to anything else because you think that that moment exists singularly in time. But the reality. Is is that that moment of weakness or bad choices or consequence, all of it is attached to so much more So, the encouragement of the entire series was this is that before you make the bad choice, stop and pause and recognize these things are true. And here's what we said. We said, in that moment, your faith is at stake, your family is at stake, and your friends, your friends and family to some degree, and then your future is at stake. So every time that you're tempted to do the wrong thing, stop and recognize and say, okay, you know, how is this going to affect my faith with my heavenly Father, my friends and family around. Me to some degree, and then my future and. So and so when we recognize that this one choice right, you know, hey, it feels good in the moment, I want to go rob a bank, it's going to pay my bills, right, And it's like, wait a minute, stop and realize this is connected to so many other things. And that's what this. Chapter feels like to me. It feels like, hey, you have to recognize that in the moment, I'm going to give you wisdom on recognizing the difference of these two things. And these are principles they're going to define the rest of your life. Yeah, that's really solid. There's a lot of other themes in these proverbs, and especially as you read through from ten to twenty one or twenty two, whatever it is these chapters. Here. One of the other themes that comes up, and we talked about this yesterday just briefly, is the difference between lazy people and industrious people. Remember yesterday, he says, hey, look at the ants right right, and don't be a lazy bones. Lazy bones. Yeah, So here in verse four and five, he says, lazy people are soon poor. Hard workers get rich. A wise youth harvests in the summer, but one who sleeps during harvest is a disgrace. There's other passages where it's going to talk about hard work versus was it verse sixteen, the earnings of the godly enhance their lives, but evil people squander their money right on sin. So there's a lot in the Book of Proverbs about how to get ahead, how to build wealth, that godly people just keep working and work hard and over time that translates into success, and that foolish people hold back, they don't do what needs to be done when it needs to be done, and they just keep hoping. There's other times when he talks about how foolish people just keep hoping that things will get better as opposed to start making things better. And I've had, you know, people I've talked to before that were just struggling financially, couldn't get ahead, didn't like the job that they're in, frustrated with their life, And my thing is, what are you doing to make it life better? Oh? Life's too hard, Already, work too many hours, already do too many things. And I'm like, if you keep doing what you're doing, you're going to keep getting what you get right. If you want your life to change, you have to be that person, that person that literally a wise youth harvest in the summer. My dad used to say, you got to make hay while the sunshining right, because there's gonna be a day when you can't make hay anymore. Right. You can't harvest if it's not harvest season. So if you have the opportunity in front of you, grab a hold of it. That might mean a little less sleep for a year or two in order to get go back to school and get that degree you need in order to get into management instead of always being on the poor side of the business right, or to be able to go start a new career or something. People wait around just hoping God will do a miracle, and God's like, the miracle is you woke up again today. The miracle is I've given you opportunities, you're just not seizing them. God doesn't say it's going to be easy. God says, if you're a godly person, you're going to work hard, and hard workers get rich. Wise people harvest when it's harvest time. Foolish people, lazy people are soon poor. Foolish people sleep when there could be an opportunity to make more right. And so I just think that there's there's something to that the general work ethic of a godly person should far exceed the way the work ethic of of lazy, godless people. Yeah, yeah, and I love how in verse Oh no, I'm looking ahead dead gummet. I was looking down at chapter eleven, verse number one. It says the Lord detests the use of dishonest scales, but he delights in accurate weights. Isn't that a great verse? Yeah? So, you know, back then they would they would do trade and commerce with the scales of justice, and oftentimes it was the literal weight of something, but more times. It was the it was the weight of of you know, of the of their currency. Right, and so anyway, so. The just weights were always determined by the king. Usually would have determination is to this is the exact weight of an ounce of gold, This is it. And they would have these weights that would be approved and stamped by the government. Well, then what crooks would do is they would drill them out, lighten them, and then what would happen is that they would they would be able to get more money, right, but it would appear on the scales to be the same. Or maybe it's a scale that's outside or right, right, Yeah, But dishonest scales, you know, it's it's really a thing that just talks about honesty. Guides good people. Dishonesty destroys treasures people. Again, I've just skipped ahead to chapter. Eleven, but I love those I love that concept, just how God is talking about integrity, He's talking about honesty, and it's just really great. So you have this this hard work theme, you have this the use of your words theme, and then you have the long life theme throughout his writings. Right, you're gonna have a long, satisfying life if you fear the Lord, for instance, right, and then hopes, your hopes will be granted if you're a godly person and you're going God's way. It's amazing how often life turns out the way you hoped it would when you go God's way. And for those that are godless, life tends to always be a mystery and it's a struggle and it winds up. You know, things come apart, and so you know he's talking. These seem to be the three big themes. Your words, your hard work, and a satisfying life. Hard work is going to produce resources. God's going to bless you. You're going to get richer your words if you use them wisely, You're going to build up other people. You're gonna have better relationships. If you go God's way, you're going to have a long, healthy, a satisfying life. If you reject God's way, you're going to have a hard life. Those seem to be the three major themes that you're talking here. That's solid. You know what stands out to me Verse ouver eighteen, where he says hiding hatred makes you a liar, slanding other makes you a fool. You noticed that he didn't say that, you know, having hatred makes you a liar. He just says hiding it, which means you can you can have anger towards someone, You can have But but but only when you harbor anger, you know, would it turn into hatred? Right? And and so and so he but. I love how he says hiding it is what makes you a liar. In other words, like, there's nothing wrong with dealing with anger, there's nothing wrong with. Dealing with conflict. That that's the implication that's yes to be. He's not celebrating hatred. He's just saying, don't be fake. Right right there? There is in our culture this sense of fakeness. All bless his heart. And what you mean is he's such an idiot, right, there's there's a there's a sense in some of our circles and some of our cultures that we we pretend this passive aggressive pretending to like a person when we don't, as opposed to just be honest about who you are and what you're about, right, and there'll be fake Yeah, that's a great one. I like that one. I'll tell you the other one I like. I like lazy people irritate their employers, like vinegar to the teeth and smoking the eyes. Wow, I love that one. Wow. Yeah. Hey, there are sometimes you just don't want you know, you have somebody that you're employing. We don't have that currently, do we not correct, But there are times where every time you think of that person, you go yeah, right, and we we literally we we draw the air in through our teeth and squint our eyes, like right, and. Vinegar to the teeth sometimes is you'll pucker up with sour taste. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Yeah. There have definitely been people I could think of, not even a heritage. I'm thinking of like over the. Past thirty years. Yeah, we've been employers for a long time. Yes, Yes, I can think of people for sure. Yeah, it's just a funny one to the eyes. It's very clever. It's when you read it, it's very you can feel it, you can feel ways right, and it's just very clever. How hell you right it there? It's so great. Well, hey, that's a good wrap up for the chapter. And happy Thanksgiving everybody, and hopefully we'll see you tomorrow on the Bible guys,