Seeking Wisdom and Enjoying the Benefits

This morning, the title of our message is Seeking Wisdom and Enjoying the Benefits. Seeking Wisdom and Enjoying the Benefits. We’re going to be in Proverbs chapter 2. If you have your Bibles with you, would you stand with me this morning? We’re going to read from Proverbs chapter 2, verse 1 through 4, and also Matthew, verses 13, 44, and 46. So let’s begin in Proverbs chapter 2, verses 1 through 4. My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure. And then in Matthew chapter 13, Matthew chapter 13, verse 44 through 46, a couple of parables from Jesus. The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it. Let’s pray. Lord Jesus, thank you for your word. And Lord, we know that you are the word. You are the living word of God. And so, Lord, even as we study your word this morning, our heart’s desire is to get to know you. We want to walk with you. We want to follow you. We want to seek you above all other things in our lives. And Lord, I pray that in each person’s heart and mind today, Lord, that we would take a step closer to you, putting you at the center of our lives, that you would take first place in our life. Lord, work in each person today, we pray. In Jesus’ name, amen. Praise the Lord. You may be seated. Well, Jesus had a way with words, didn’t he? Matthew chapter 6, verse 33, Jesus taught us, but seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. It’s amazing the teachings of Jesus. And I love Matthew chapter 6, verse 33. It’s a scripture you could hang your hat on. It’s a scripture you could build your life on. Now, I’ve heard it preached that we shouldn’t make the kingdom first, we should make the kingdom center of everything in our lives. But here we have Matthew 6, verse 33, and Jesus said, seek first, so I’m going to go with the words of Jesus. But if you think of making Jesus the center of every area of your life, I think that helps too. So whatever area of your life you might be thinking about, whether it’s your relationships, your finances, your emotions, your entertainment, your education, let’s make Jesus the center of all those areas of our life. That’s what Jesus was saying to us. If you will, just for a moment, I want you to imagine with me that one day a pile of coins washes up on a beach. How many like to go to vacation on the beach, right? Many of you, you like to go to the mountains, but most of us, right, or a lot of us love to go to the beach. So one day a pile of coins washes up on the beach during your vacation, let’s say in Florida. You find a handful of coins and you’re thrilled, but now you’re curious. So you do a little research and discover that one of the Spanish ships from the 1400s was shipwrecked right offshore. Turns out this ship was carrying millions of dollars in gold bullion. So what would you do next? Well I hope you’d go on a treasure hunt. I hope you would make plans to go get some more of that treasure. We just read the parables of Jesus in Matthew 13, 44 through 46. Jesus taught his disciples and he’s teaching you today to seek the kingdom of God like you might go on a hunt for treasure. There’s two parables there in those verses we read. The first parable is about a treasure hidden in a field. And when the person finds it, he does everything he can to buy that field. It’s so important. It takes all of his attention, all of his energy. The second parable has the same spiritual truth, but it’s a little different, right? It’s about a merchant who’s looking for pearls, or he’s a merchant who sells and buys pearls, and he finds one of great value and he does everything he can to get that pearl. And so what Jesus is teaching in these parables is that it’s very wise to do everything you can to seek the kingdom of God. You see, sadly, our world today, they’re seeking everything else. The world today is not having any trouble, although I love to watch basketball, but they’re not having any trouble filling up stadiums to go watch the March Madness basketball. No trouble. When it comes to football season, there is no trouble to fill up the parking lots with people tailgating and going to celebrate their team. But sadly, in our world today, there’s few who are really doing everything they can in their life to seek the kingdom of God. But that’s what Jesus taught us to do. Jesus said, seek first the kingdom and his righteousness. And I’m so thankful that Jesus goes on and say, and I’m going to take care of all these other things for you as well. All of these other concerns in life, your concerns to, you know, make money, pay the bills, take care of your kids, to be healthy, to have a retirement, to be fulfilled in life. God knows you have all of those needs. But the message of Jesus is that it’s when you decide to seek him first, with all of your heart, being willing to forsake everything else. That was the meaning of these parables. Seek first the kingdom of God. Seek first wisdom. And so that’s what we see in Proverbs chapter two. And I want to read it again. I’m just going to review. There’s like eight different phrases or words in Proverbs chapter two, verse one through four, that have a singular message. And the message is, if you want wisdom, if you really want to walk in the wisdom of God, you’ve got to seek it. It doesn’t just sort of, you don’t stumble over it, I guess is the way I would say it. You don’t just go through your life and walk on your journey and just kind of stumble over wisdom. You can stumble over folly. Anybody ever done that? I’ve done that a few times. It’s easy to stumble over folly. But if you want the wisdom of God in your life, if you want his ways and his plans and his purposes in your life, you’re going to have to seek God. You’re going to have to chase after God. You’re going to have to desire more of God in your life. Again, I just want to read through these four verses again and look at the different phrases. Eight times where we are encouraged by Solomon in the book of Proverbs to run after God and his wisdom. My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear. I love that idea of it’s like inclining or turning. You’re like leaning in. You can hear wisdom shouting at you, but that’s not enough for you. You want to lean in. You’re inclining your life to hear more of the wisdom of God. You’re accepting. You’re storing up. You’re turning your ear. Verse three. Indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as hidden treasure, God wants you to go on a treasure hunt for him and for wisdom. Just let that sink in this morning. You see, if we’re really going to get to know God, if we’re really going to get to a place where we can walk in the wisdom of God, it’s not just going to kind of come to you. It’s not going to just, you’re not just going to stumble through life and go, oh, I guess I made a really wise decision. You’re going to have to seek wisdom. You’re going to have to run after wisdom. You’re going to have to chase wisdom. I want to encourage you this week, spend more time seeking the Lord. Spend more time chasing after God’s word. That’s when you’re going to begin to enjoy the benefits of a relationship with the Lord and the benefits of wisdom in your life. You know, it’s not as if God is playing hide and seek with us all the time, but I do believe. There are times and seasons in our life where God does play hide and seek with us because he wants us to seek him. I didn’t bring scripture with me this morning that backs that up, but and that wasn’t in my notes necessarily, but I do believe I could back that up scripturally. There are times in our lives when we feel like God is silent. There are times in our lives when we feel like our prayers go to the ceiling and come back down. There are times in our lives where we’re just a little confused, God, what’s going on? Why am I going through this? Through this situation, this circumstance, friend, in those moments, God is giving you an opportunity to press into him, to seek him, to grow your faith, to learn more about him. God wants us to seek him. Let’s look through chapter two this morning and just consider all of the benefits of knowing God, all the benefits of seeking wisdom and experiencing wisdom in our lives. The first benefit of knowing or the first benefit of wisdom is quite simply knowing God. Our mission statement here at the church is we’re on mission with Jesus, knowing God, building people, sharing hope. We want to be a church where people meet with God. We want to be a church where people experience the presence of the Holy Spirit in their life. We want to help you begin to hear the whisper of the Lord in your life. And of course, what’s the number one way we hear from the Lord? God’s word. That’s the number one way you hear from the Lord. But the Bible also talks about that small whisper that the Holy Spirit can come and speak to your inner man. We believe in that also. God wants to speak to you. God wants to speak with you. Look with me at verse five and six. Then you will understand the fear of the Lord. And of course, here’s this if then. Proverbs chapter two starts out, you know, if you accept, if you run, if you seek, if you call out. So if you’re seeking God, if you’re seeking for God’s wisdom, now verse five, then you will understand the fear of the Lord. So it’s when you seek after God, it’s when you seek after his wisdom that you gain a high regard for God. You begin to develop in your life this respect for God, this sense of all of how good God is and how mighty God is. So if you’re seeking God, verse five, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. What’s the greatest reward of seeking wisdom? It’s knowing God. Not just knowing about God, but having a personal relationship with the creator of the universe through his son, Jesus Christ. This is the central message of the Christian faith, that you and I can have a personal relationship with our creator because he sent his son, Jesus Christ. And we don’t have to stand at a distance. There’s no barrier because of our sin or our shortcomings, but because of what Jesus did on the cross as the perfect sacrifice, the lamb of God that was slain before the foundation of the world, my sins are forgiven. And when God looks at me, he doesn’t see my sin. He sees the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. And I can come right into the presence of God. Think about that. That is, that’s the message of Christianity. That’s the good news. That’s the gospel. I have a relationship with God. I’m a child of God. I’m in a covenant relationship with God because of what Jesus has done for me. I know God. I don’t know all that I want to know about. I’m still learning, but I’m walking with God. I know him. I have, I have an experience with God. For the Lord gives wisdom. From his mouth comes knowledge and understanding. I love that in verse six. Isn’t it wonderful here that it says from his mouth? That makes me think, think of the words of God. And we could spend Sunday after Sunday developing what the Bible develops for us, this thread, this theme of the importance and the power of the words of God. God’s words are sharper than any double edged sword. They work into the, they penetrate into the deepest parts of who we are as people revealing our secrets. God’s word is powerful. God’s word created the universe. John describes Jesus as the logos of God is the word of God. Jesus is the living word. How do we know more about God? We get to know his words. We get to know his word. And when we study his word, we learn about his nature. We learn about his character. We learn who God is. And that’s a part of having a relationship with God. So what’s the number one benefit of seeking wisdom? It’s knowing God. Friend, I hope you have a personal relationship with the Lord. I hope that that you have some experiences with God. I hope you’ve had some times in your life when you’ve been reading the Bible and the words have just jumped off the pages into your mind and into your heart. And you’ve left that time of Bible study and go, God just spoke to me. God just revealed some truth to me. God just gave me wisdom or direction or insight in how I’m supposed to get up and live my life. That’s what we have as Christians. That’s what we have in Jesus. We have a personal relationship with the Lord. That’s the number one benefit of seeking God and seeking wisdom. A second great benefit comes from verse 7. We have in Christ Jesus, in the Lord, we have sound wisdom. Look with me at verse 7. He holds success in store for the upright. He is a shield to those whose walk is blameless. Now, I love the New Living Translation and kind of the way it reads here. In the New Living Translation, verse 7 reads like this. He grants a treasure of common sense to the honest or to the person who’s integrous. He is a shield to those who walk with integrity. Now, let me also read it from the NIV. The NIV reads like this. He holds success in store for the upright. He is a shield to those whose walk is blameless. You see, God wants to give you a treasure, like a treasure chest of wisdom, of common sense. And it’s not common, actually. So it’s spiritual. It’s spiritual wisdom. He wants to give you a treasure chest of wisdom. What is wisdom? It is practical skill and resourcefulness to know what to do and when to do it or to know what to say and when to say it. I’m praying that all the time. You know, as a pastor, as a leader, we talk a lot. And so I pray often, Lord, please help me to know when to say what to say and when not to say anything. You ever feel like that? Lord, I want to have words that are fitting for that moment that that person needs to hear. And if they don’t need to hear anything from me, Lord, help me to zip it. So Lord, I need help. Anybody feel that way as a parent, as a grandparent? Sometimes as grandparents, we’ve got lots we want to say, but we need to pause and we need to pray and we need to ask God, God, help me to say what is needed to be said. And Lord, touch that granddaughter or that grandson’s heart. I pray this, Lord, let my son or daughter ask me a question so that I’ll know from you, Lord, time for me to say what needs to get said. Because you know what happens too often in my life, and I know maybe I’m just preaching to myself this morning, but so often I’ll just go ahead and bull right through what I want to get, I want to say, and you know what? They’re not listening. But if I pause and pray, say, Lord, I really want to walk in wisdom. I really want some sound wisdom here, Lord. I want to know what to say, when to say it. I want to know what to do, when to do it. And I pray, and then wouldn’t you know it, that my son or daughter actually ask me a question about exactly what I want to say, and then I know, okay, Lord, you’re setting me up. And now their ears are open, they’re ready to listen to what wisdom I feel like I can offer their life. For the Lord gives wisdom. God is a giver. And I love the fact that Solomon, the one writing the proverb here, uses the personal name for God. It’s not Elohim, it’s Yahweh. You see, it’s the Lord that gives, the one that comes close, the one that created Adam with his own hands, so to speak. Yahweh is that personal name. It’s Yahweh that gives wisdom. And that goes back to our first benefit. Remember, if you really want to walk in wisdom, you’ve got to get to know God. You’ve got to have that personal relationship with the Lord, so you can hear what God is wanting to put into your life, so you can receive and accept the wisdom that God has given. Too often, we are hearing and hearing and hearing, and then we go do our own thing. Or we’re hearing the wisdom of God, we’re hearing the truth of God, and then we just default back into, well, that’s the way I was raised. Or we’re hearing the word of God, we’re hearing the wisdom of God, and then because of hurts and wounds, we default back into our flesh, or the wound, or the foothold that the enemy now has in our life, because we haven’t added the word of God as a salve and brought healing to that area of our life. Was that too much? Sorry. Okay, hands, quit it. Sound wisdom. It’s not enough just to hear the word of God. It’s not enough to just sit in church month after month, sermon after sermon, and hear the word of God. It’s not even enough to study the word of God on your own, but you have to, with the help of the Lord, you have to pause and say, Holy Spirit, I need help to apply your wisdom and your word to my daily life, so that my finances change, so that my relationships change, so that my speech changes, so I’m encouraging others more than I’m tearing people down. Lord, open our eyes to see how even when we think we’re not being discouraging, but the truth is, we’re just going around saying negative things all the time, and it’s become so normal for us, everyone else hears it, but we don’t hear it. Open our eyes, Lord. Open our eyes. It’s the Lord Yahweh himself that gives this wisdom, and the wisdom comes from his mouth. Lord, give us that sound wisdom. Another benefit of seeking the Lord and seeking wisdom is the protection that God brings into our lives. Look with me at verse 7 and 8. He holds success in store for the upright. He is a shield to those whose walk is blameless, for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones. Now verse 8 is really just building on verse 7, right? We already read verse 7, but verse 8 builds on that, expands on God’s protection for those who seek wisdom and walk in integrity. That’s what it means to walk uprightly. When we walk uprightly, we’re walking in honesty, we’re walking in integrity. I’m still remembering what Pastor Jim Cimbala taught us in our book, when God’s people pray, he said, you can’t make a deal with God. That has stuck with me, because a lot of times we try to do that. We think, okay, God, I like the part about your blessings, and I like the part about you hear my prayers and answer my prayers, and so Lord, I want you to do this, that, and this, and then we’re going to be good, God, okay, if you’ll do that. You can’t make a deal with God. And what he really means by that is you can’t live your life however you want, remain in sin, remain in waywardness, and then expect God to bless you, and then expect God to hear your prayers. I love verse 8 here, because it mentions faithful ones, faithful ones. I don’t know what your translation says, but let me just read verse 8 again, for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones. And the Hebrew here is chesed, and guess what chesed is connected to in the Old Testament? It’s connected to chesed. So it’s a little bit of a different word, but it comes from the exact same Hebrew word chesed, or chesed, and you know I love that word, and it’s a word that can be translated covenant loyalty, it can be translated loving kindness, steadfast love, in some places it’s translated mercy, it’s all over the book of Ruth, it’s all through the book of Psalms, it’s really all over the Old Testament. This idea of chesed is that God has a special commitment to and a special love for those who are in a covenant relationship with him. Friends, if you’re not in a covenant relationship with God through the blood of Jesus, today’s your day. You need to get into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Because when you’re in a covenant, a covenant is not a contract, it’s not well if you do this I’ll do this, a covenant is a blood covenant that God makes with you through his son Jesus Christ that can’t be broken. Not God’s side, he always comes through, he always fulfills his promises. I was reading again the covenant that God cut, and that’s what the word covenant in the Old Testament means, beret, means to cut a covenant. It’s in Genesis chapter 15, I was rereading that over the weekend where God cuts a covenant with Abraham, and it’s interesting that in that passage of scripture, if you look through it you’ll notice, what’s Abraham doing? Well he’s sleeping. God puts him into a deep sleep. In other words, what’s that mean? It means that there are some covenants in the Bible that when God does them, he makes a covenant with himself really. And that’s what God did when he sent Jesus. In other words, there’s nothing you or I can do. Now we can reject it and miss out on it, but we can’t stop what God is doing for the world through Jesus. There’s nothing anyone else can do because God made a covenant with himself that through Abraham all peoples on the planet were going to be blessed. And Jesus is the fulfillment of that. And that’s just like hesed. That is this word that helps us understand that God is more than just a contract giver. He is a covenant God. He is a God of covenant loyalty. He’s a promise maker. He’s a promise keeper. You can bank on it. You can count on it. You can rest in it. God always comes through. He always keeps his promises. I’m so thankful to know the God of the Bible. I’m so thankful to know Jesus and know that he always comes through in my life. And it causes me, my response is, Lord, I want to be in relationship with you. I want to run to you. I want to chase after you. I want to be in a covenant, blood covenant relationship with you. Thank you, God, that I get to have this kind of relationship. And what this passage, verse eight, is reminding us is that God protects. He takes care of those that are his faithful ones. Those that are in covenant relationship with him. Are you about to face a difficult week? Are you going through some difficult circumstances? God doesn’t promise us as Christians that we are going to avoid trouble in life. But if you’re going through something difficult right now, I want to encourage you, press into the Lord. Make sure you’re in covenant relationship with him. How do you do that? Paul said in Romans 10, 9, and 10, you have to believe in your heart that Jesus is Lord of Lords, King of Kings, that he died on the cross, he rose from the dead. You believe it in your heart and you confess it with your mouth and confess it often. And you come into a covenant relationship with God through Jesus Christ. And one of the benefits of walking in that wisdom is there’s protection. There’s protection. Another benefit that’s so important for our lives today, and young person, this is so important for you. Moral discernment. The ability to discern right and wrong. Look with me at verses 2, or verses 9 through 11. Chapter 2, verses 9 through 11. Then you will understand what is right and just and fair, every good path. For wisdom will enter your heart and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. Wisdom will protect you and understanding will guard you. I love that part of these verses that says wisdom will enter your heart. That’s it. We don’t need wisdom out here somewhere. We don’t need wisdom just in the church house. We don’t need wisdom just our parents just say wise things. No, God wants wisdom to get into your heart. To get into your heart, young person. Because when you have the wisdom of God in your heart, all of your friends can say, we’re going to go over here and we’re going to do this, and you’re like, no, I’m not doing that because I’m in a covenant relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, and he’s given me sound wisdom, and he’s given me moral discernment, nope, not doing that. I’m going to walk with the Lord. You see, it’s something that gets into our heart. He gives us insight. He gives us discernment. When that moral discernment gets into our heart, it’s not hard to make decisions. Young person, I want to encourage you, don’t wait until you’re facing a temptation to decide what you’re going to do. Because the temptations are going to come. The trials are going to come. We need to seek wisdom. We need to seek the Lord, and we need to decide in advance when that temptation comes, when that trial comes, when all my friends are saying, this is the cool thing to do, when that cute boyfriend or cute girlfriend is putting the pressure on. You need to already know what you’re going to do because you’ve sought the Lord. You’re in a covenant relationship with him. You’re walking as a child of God with God’s protection and moral discernment. You see, then it’s not difficult to discern right and wrong because you have the wisdom of God in your heart. A fifth benefit of seeking wisdom is deliverance from evil men, deliverance from evil men. Proverbs 2, verse 12-15, wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men, from men whose words are perverse. Let me just pause there. Perversity is this idea of slanting or tilting or bending the words of God, bending the laws of God, bending the truth of God. So when someone is perverse, they’re fraudulent. When someone is perverse, they’re kind of playing games with what is true. It’s the idea of a plumb line or a level. You know how a construction person will use a level? Well, God’s words are level. God’s word is true. It’s true all the time. You can build a house on it. It’ll make the wall perfectly level. Well, what someone who is perverse does is they go, it looks okay to me. It’s good enough for government work or whatever, you know, right? I mean, we all have these different sayings and it’s like, oh, it’s fine. Well, it’s not level, but it’ll, no, it needs to be level. See, and that’s what the enemy will come into your life. And that’s where the temptations come. Isn’t it? And I don’t want to preach through Genesis 3 this morning, but if you go back and look at the temptations, isn’t that exactly what Satan did in the garden? Did God really say and will that really matter? In other words, did God really say that and will you really die? And he, that is his game. That’s what the enemy continues to do in our lives today is he comes to us with temptation and compromise and says, oh, that’s not that big a deal. God didn’t really say that, did he? And you won’t really die, will you? And the enemy speaks with perversity, wanting to bend, to tilt the truth of God. And what happens in our lives when we compromise, when we give into that, we think at first we’re only moving just a little bit, but it’s like the airplane. Did you ever hear the story of the airplane that was going to fly from like the United States to the far East and they were only like a half degree off and they ended up hundreds of miles off by the time they got there? You see, that’s what happens when you compromise God’s wisdom and God’s truth in your life. But when we seek wisdom, thank you, Lord. When we run after God, when we run after wisdom, wisdom saves us or delivers us from wicked men. Who is a wicked person? Well, they’re an evil, bad, or harmful, violent person who speaks perverse things. They corrupt morality. They fraudulently speak. They try to bend the words of God. And again, in this passage, there’s the idea of upright paths. You see, there’s some who just, they leave the upright, righteous path of the Lord and then they want to speak against the upright paths. Friend, we need to stay close to the Lord in this culture. We need to stay close to the Lord as we go out and work, as we’re with other friends. Remember the message on companions, choosing wise companions? You can have lots of companions, but you shouldn’t follow them. You shouldn’t follow them where they’re going. You need to get a couple of friends who are also following the Lord with you. Remember, Jesus had that inner circle, right? Jesus had an inner circle. He had his 12. He didn’t listen to the crowds. He listened to his father and he had those who were close to him that could support what he was supposed to be doing in his life. And so wisdom, when we seek it, it saves us or delivers us from evil. When we seek wisdom, another benefit is we are saved from immoral relationships. Look with me at verse 16. Verse 16 through 19, wisdom will save you also from the adulterous woman, from the wayward woman with her seductive words who has left the partner of her youth and ignored the covenant she made before God. Surely her house leads down to death and her paths to the spirits of the dead, none who go to her return to obtain the paths of life. But when we seek wisdom, we are saved or delivered from immorality. I want to just take a moment and look at how the adulterous woman here in Proverbs is described. She is one who speaks with seductive words or you could translate that smooth words. It’s interesting to me that in Proverbs, Solomon doesn’t talk about her physical characteristics as the factor in seducing someone. It’s her words. So really, let’s think about this in all of our lives. It could be a man or a woman seducing you. It could be a good friend who’s trying to get you to compromise on a business deal. And they’re not going to use their good looks, they’re going to use their words. You see, that’s what I see in this passage. It’s her seductive words that draws this person to death. What is it that someone could say to you that could cause you to compromise on God’s truth in your life? Is it words that would just make you feel like more of a man or words that would make you feel like more of a woman or words that would cause you to feel like, okay, I’m significant. I matter. See the enemy can use all those tricks in our lives. But if we seek wisdom, wisdom will deliver us from immoral relationships. And we’re going to talk more about that in future chapters in the book of Proverbs. In life, the truth, the joyous truth or the sad truth is that relationships are what will keep you up at night or give you peace. And we need to prayerfully consider, Lord, how can I have relationships that honor you? How can I have relationships that honor you and will bless my life? Lord save me. Lord deliver me from immoral relationships. Lord deliver me from immoral entanglements. And then a seventh benefit, and we’ll begin to close with this, is life. One of the benefits of seeking the Lord and seeking wisdom, we started with you get to know God. Well, we’ll wrap up with this. In Proverbs chapter 2, what Solomon is telling us is that when you run after wisdom like it’s a treasure chest, like it’s like gold coins on a beach somewhere, when you really seek God and chase after God and run after his wisdom and say, Lord, I need your help, I need your wisdom in my life, Proverbs says you’re going to have a good life. You’re going to enjoy life. Look with me in verses 20 and 22, thus you will walk in the ways of the good and keep to the paths of righteousness for the upright will live in the land and the blameless will remain in it. But the wicked will be cut off from the land and the unfaithful will be torn from it. Now remember Proverbs, it’s not a promise, Proverbs are general sayings, right? When we look at Proverbs and we’ve asked the question, well, what are they? You know, like the proverb that says, train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he won’t depart from it. I’m sorry to say that’s not a promise. That is a proverb. And so what Solomon is saying to us is in general, the way God works and the way this world works is that when you seek wisdom, you’re going to enjoy the paths of life. You’re going to enjoy long life. You’re going to enjoy health. You’re going to have health in your bones. And it’s not so with the wicked, with people who turn away from the upright paths and people who go and live however they want to live. Boy, when they’re young, it may seem like they’ve got everything. I’ve had this conversation with some of my own kids. You know, when you’re young and you’re healthy and it really does seem like just living however you want to live is the better way to go because then you get to party and you get to have all the girlfriend, you get to have all the fun. But what Proverbs is encouraging us to do is take a longer view, take a longer point of view. Look at the long term outcome. If you seek wisdom, you’re going to get to enjoy a good life. You’re going to get to enjoy the goodness of God in your life. You’re still going to go through difficulties. You’re still going to have hardships. You’re still going to face unimaginable surprises and difficulties in life, but God is with you. He’s going to help you and you’re going to experience the goodness of God. Isn’t that what Jesus taught us in John chapter 10, 10, the thief comes to kill, steal and destroy. But I’ve come to give you life, abundant life, good life. And so that’s the promise of scripture. Before we close in prayer tonight, this morning, I know where I am. I really do been traveling the last few days and thank you for your prayers. But when you travel, you know, you get back and you’re like, okay, I need to remember what’s going on. But before we, before we close in prayer, I want us to just think about something that I’ve been trying to present to you a little bit in each message is, is how can we make wise decisions? Because one of the outcomes of this series is I want to see God doing something in us as individuals, as households, and as a church where we’re able, as we’re led by the word, as we’re led by Jesus, as we’re led by the Holy Spirit, we’re able to make wise decisions. Well, how can we do that? Well, number one, we should seek to honor God in every decision we make. I really believe Proverbs is teaching us again and again that we’ve got to slow down and when we make a decision, we need to get a strategy from God. We shouldn’t be making decisions on emotional impulses or what we used to do in the past or the way it’s always been or the way the culture is doing it, but we need to pause and pray and get a strategy from God. And then as a part of that, if you want to make wise decisions, you need to gather some information. You need to get some options. You don’t have to buy that car tomorrow. You could buy another car or you could buy another car in three months when you saved up a little bit more money. So you want to gather info and options. And of course, we always want to consider God’s word. What does God’s word say about the decision that I’m about to make? Proverbs teaches us that there’s wisdom in a multitude of counselors. So you may not want to ask everybody, but I hope that you have, when you’re making a big decision, I hope that you have a few people in your life. And if you’re married, you definitely should be asking your spouse. If it’s a big, if it’s a big decision at all, you need to be asking your spouse, you need to be talking about that, praying about that, asking some counselors for help. And then another way we can make wise decisions is ask the Lord, if what I’m about to pursue, if what I’m about to do, does it line up with the passions you’ve put in my life, the gifts that you’ve put in my life, the abilities that you’ve put in my life? A funny example of that is if next week I hear the voice of the Lord and the Lord says, Tom, you’re supposed to lead worship on the piano next Sunday. Well guess what? That doesn’t really line up with my current abilities. So I’m not saying God couldn’t say that, but I’m pretty sure I misheard him if it’s supposed to happen next week. I’d need some time to grow and to learn, right? So there’s some practical ways that we can make some wise decisions. Would we all just stand this morning? And I want to lead us in a time of seeking the Lord. You know, as I prepared this message today, I felt like there was more than one of us that needed some time just to seek the Lord. And you may be on the opposite of that this morning. You may be like, Pastor, I’ve got an appointment. I got to go. That’s fine. That’s okay. But if you’re here this morning and you want to just write where you’re sitting or you want to come to this altar up here, you just want to stand up here in the presence of the Lord. I want to give you some time just to seek the Lord. Lord, I want to know you, Lord. I want to walk in covenant relationship with you, Lord. Your prayer this morning might just be help. I’m going through a crisis. Help me, Lord. I need your help. I need your wisdom. Can we just take some time this morning and seek the Lord? Because the Bible tells me that when we seek the Lord, he’ll be found. But we’ve got to seek him. We’ve got to call out to him. We’ve got to cry aloud to wisdom. Lord, I need you in my life. Lord, I want you to be first. Lord, I want your wisdom in my life. Would you just begin to step out if that’s your heart? That’s my heart today. I want to seek the Lord. Would you just begin somebody just step out and others will begin to step out. We’re going to worship. We’re going to seek the Lord. Just begin to worship the Lord and to seek him and say, Lord, we need you, Lord, we need your direction. We need your guidance. Hi, I’m Pastor Tom Ragsdale. I’m Pastor Elvis Benes. And we’re from Columbia First Assembly. We are a church that’s on mission with Jesus. Our vision is simple. We want to make Jesus famous in your heart and in our community. Absolutely. Thank you so much for connecting with us online. We would also love to connect with you in person. We are located at 1100 North 7th Street, right in the heart of Columbia, Missouri, right across the street from Hickman High School. So if you’re in the central Missouri area and you’re looking for a home church, come hang out with us. If you’re just connecting online and you’re nowhere near us, then please connect with us in the comments. If you have a prayer request, if you have a question, if you’re wondering anything about the Lord or Christianity, please let us know and we will be happy to engage with you in the comments. We believe God’s doing something special at our church and we want you to be a part of it. We’re an anti-generational church. We have people from all different backgrounds. We’re a church of the Word. We’re a church of the Spirit. We believe Jesus can transform your life. That’s why we’re on mission with Him and we want to help you know God. We want to help you grow in God and we want to share hope in our community. So connect with us and we want to connect with you. Awesome. Have a wonderful and a blessed day.