Going Live And Keeping It Real

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All right, welcome back. We're gonna get into now Proverbs chapter eight. Any might just notice something a little different here. I'm live with you on the YouTube. How this podcast is grown is it started out with me wanting it to be perfect. So I put everything in the notes, and then I rolled it into at 11 labs, and I spent days making it flow perfectly. And then I started getting feedback, they wanted it more natural, more live. So I did that. And I got some good responses on that. Now let's see what happens this one, because people are saying, hey, we want to see you do it. Well, here's the problem with that is I know my tendency is a get off course, and maybe start stuttering around, but it could be a positive thing where you realize I'm not a know it all. I'm just teaching you what I know and what I don't know, I'll tell you I don't know. So you ready?

Wisdom Calls In Public Places

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Chapter eight is awesome. So let's get into it. Verse one, does not wisdom call and understanding lift up her voice? On top of the heights beside the way where the paths meet, she takes her stand, beside the gates at the opening to the city, at the entrance of the doors she cries out. Now what I love here is in verse one and in verse three, it talked about how wisdom is a she and her voice. So there's a big plug or kudo for the ladies out there. I never heard wisdom called his voice. But that's just a side note. See what I mean? But here's what's the reality is. I have literally done this. I've gone to the city entrance into the highways and the byways and stood there, looked around, trying to grow in Christ, looking at these first few verses here, saying, I don't hear your wisdom, Lord. I don't see what you're trying to say here. So in my natural mind, I'm looking around and I'm like, okay, what can I learn? So I see all the huge buildings, I see everybody in their cars going to and fro, and I start thinking, okay, what am I trying to learn here? And then I start realizing, to make a long story short, that's everything and everybody is heading to either make money or spend money. It's all about survival. I'm like, all right. So if that's what I'm supposed to learn, then I'm gonna have to learn how to deal with it. And then that's where more of the world gets into you. It's like, all right, I gotta work longer hours, I gotta work harder, I gotta be wiser and sharper than the next guy, and whatever it takes to get on top, maybe cut them down, talk behind their back. You know, all the stuff we learned earlier, which we should not be doing. That's what I learned standing on the street corners, trying to get wisdom from God. And

What The City Teaches The Flesh

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so he goes on here to verse four that says, To you, O men, I call, and my voice is to the sons of men, O naive ones, discern prudence, and O foolish ones, discern wisdom. And so I looked into this prudence and wisdom, and then as I got more into reading the scriptures and cross-referencings and meditating, I started realizing that, as we've been learning, that you got to hear from the voice of the Lord to overcome what your natural eyes are telling you and how to be prosperous. So I looked up a couple definitions here. Prudence is practical wisdom for real life decisions. Think ahead, see consequences, choose the right move at the right time. But now wisdom is deeper, what is true and right, seeing life from God's perspective, not just knowledge. And it also has a little footnote here where it talks about wisdom, but it also talks about he's going to give you the right ideas and the right words. And that is like a discerning wisdom. It isn't just mental, it reaches the heart, your will, and your decisions. So putting those verses together, what I realized, again, as you gotta hear from the Lord, is that what we see and what we've learned to understand with our knowledge and our brain, and what I want to kind of get across to you here is that you need to realize that growth in the Lord is going to be enmity, enmity against what you've already learned and what you feel in the natural. It's two big different dichotomies here. So you look back, for an example, in the Garden of Eden, when they sinned, they realize each other was naked. Now, in our brain, we'll be like, oh, they just knew each other's form. You know what I'm saying? But then they just noticed their private parts when they fell. And that's not it at all. In the beginning, when we were created in God's image, Jesus talks about God looks at the heart, man looks at the outer flesh. And that's a big difference. And then it goes on to say you can know them because out of the heart the mouth speaks. So the big overall picture here is all about words. And God's word equals life, God's word equals faith, but this world that we're living in is what the Bible calls dead. It's totally wrong. It's ruled by the devil. He's got the money out there on both sides, born again, not born again, you need money. But he uses it as manipulation and as evil. And so when I was first standing on the street corners and the entrance to the city, my carnal mind, lack of a better word, the way I think like everybody else thinks, realized, okay, we got to fight scratch to make it. But as I grew in Christ, he started showing me that his words supersede what I'm seeing here. Now I need to look, it's talked about wisdom cries out. The noise in the street kind of drowned out what wisdom is trying to teach us. And that's what I love about verse eight, is we're going to get into what it's trying to teach us as we scan the horizon of this world we live in. So

Prudence Versus Wisdom From God

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let's get more into it. Verse six, listen, for I shall speak noble things, and the opening of my lips will produce right things. Now, noble things is like a kingly word. So what it's saying is, we're gonna hear this over and over and over, you got to listen. You gotta listen to the voice of the Lord. It will speak kingly things, i.e., what it says supersedes anything anybody else or your own brain is telling you. You gotta learn to trust that. And the next part here where it says it will produce right things. Right things means safety, comfort, and prosperity. So as we're looking at the city, you and I, let's say we're overlooking everything, we're trying to figure this life out. We want to be prosperous, we want to be financially free. So the first glance is fight, scrape, and do whatever it takes to win. After you get into Christ, he starts teaching you it's more than that. It's about words. What words are driving you? His words are the kingly words. They override everything. They're the nobility words. The earth words are the ones that you come up from what you've been taught 90% of the time, because the devil rules this place, and it makes you stressed, heartache, backstabbing, can't sleep at night, all of those things. Now there is stress and force that we're going to learn about getting into the word of God. But when you get through to the other side, then you get the prosperity and everything, but peace comes with it. And that's what we're after. We want to be prosperous and peaceful and feel at comfort and be at rest. We don't just want the money and then not sleep at night wondering if I invested correctly, wonder if I'm going to lose it all, wonder if somebody's going to steal it. God's word is the nobility words that he wants to get. So let's go on here.

Kingly Words That Bring Safety

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It talks about God saying, My mouth will utter truth, and wickedness is an abomination to my lips. All the utterances of my mouth are in righteousness. There is nothing crooked or pervert or perverted in them. They are all straightforward to him who has understanding and right to those who find knowledge. So hearing God's voice equals righteousness. And it's what we're saying here is you hear a lot in the Christian circles, you gotta be righteous. And when you first hear it, you get these ideas like more rules, not only the Ten Commandments, but 50,000 more rules I got to put on my head. And that's not true. The truth is everything that comes out of God's mouth is righteous. You want to be righteous, you need to hear what he said, believe on it, and act on it. Then that little sliver from God's voice to your heart to out of your mouth and acting, he accredits that to righteousness. Now you want the the big nut actually, which is receiving Christ, because then he considers you totally righteous what he did in Christ Jesus. But remember Abraham, he was cruising along and he God spoke to him and he heard God's voice, and he believed what he said, and God said he had credited to him as righteousness. 99.9% of the man was still not saved, just not even close. But that one little thing he believed in, God said, I credit that as righteousness to Abraham, and that's what you want. You want to live in the righteousness of Christ Jesus. So the more you hear from him, the more you believe, and the more you act on it, the more accreditation of righteousness you get to walk in. Now, overall, you're totally righteous when you accept Christ as your Lord and Savior, because that's just a full-on wash. But every day you're still in the sinful body with a non-renewed mind. And to get out of that, you got to hear his voice and start growing in that righteousness part to get deeper and deeper. That crosses over to John 17, where Jesus says, Look, you're in me and I'm in you, and we're in him, confusing as heck. But to make it simple, when I Lord finally taught me that, is like that is the righteousness lean or the line we're talking about here. Whenever you hear the voice of God and you believe it, that's when you're in Christ. And then when you speak and act on it, then he's in you. And that's how it becomes, you become one with God in that vein, if that makes sense. You can still be 99% a total on booger, but if you're walking in that, then that's where you're like, you're the branch and he's the vine. And then, like any other thing you've seen out in this world, you start growing more and more and more. So let's go on and see what else he has to say. Take

Righteousness Means Hearing And Acting

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my instruction and not silver, and knowledge rather than choice is gold. For wisdom is better than jewels, and all desirable things cannot compare with her. All right. So here we go about that part. That taking God's word is better than silver, better than gold, that anything you can desire, God's word is better. And that is a tough one. So I'm 64 now, and I would have to say I got born again like when I was five, but I got to know God at like age 29. So for about 30 years, let's say, I've been living in this Bible and walking in this righteousness thing. So, you know, I'm not, I know what I'm saying when like I understand all the sin I still have, but that line is growing. So what I'm talking about on this one is about how his word is better than gold and silver. I don't know, well, I do know how many years I wasted worrying about money. I worry about it. Like I, if there's 24 hours a day, 28 hours a day, I'm worrying about money. I look in my brain, I look online, I'm like, okay, I got this much now, I need this much in two weeks, and I don't have that much in two weeks, but I can move this, I can move that constantly. I'm constantly thinking about it. And why I'm opening this up to you is because I don't know what you're struggling at, but God's word is will get you through it. I got through a lot of things, but this is a tough one because, like I'm saying, I've been stressing about this for about 33 years. And I still stress about it, but now I got a piece. I'm gonna tell you why here is because I'm learning as I'm getting into this, is that where it says here, that his word is better than gold and silver, is because every time I listen to him, I prosper. When I look at the obvious and make big investments, sometimes I prosper and I feel prideful, but it isn't long until I lose it all. So I'm like, all right. So I got to start listening to him with the money. But then I still control it because I'm still freaked out. But now he's got me growing into how real his word is. About a year ago, he had me put a stake in the ground where it's like, quit worrying about money, Ed. You're 64 years old. You live in a mansion, you live on the water, I've taken care of you. Will you stop worrying about money? And so finally I made that line in the sand, I am done worrying about it. Do I still think about it? Sure I do, but not like I used to. The worry is gone. Or let me put it this way: when the worry comes creeping back in, I know God and his word strong enough now where I jump on that, and it's like I can feel my anxiety relax. And that kind of rolls in the script where Paul is saying, strive to enter the rest of God, because God rested from all his work. We're supposed to enter that rest and just trust and relax him. So that is the good thing because I got that section that's growing in me. It's not like fully done where I'm just totally free from it because this flesh that I live in is still there. But I like how I've entered it where I feel the rest and the peace, because he gave me scriptures to stand on. And so I know his voice, I take those scriptures, I add them into my heart, and so when the devil comes, or not even really the devil, just this flesh that we're walking in, starts putting the pressure on like, you better spend more time, you better learn this, you better watch that. I will whoa whoa whoa. That's not from God. This is what the Lord said. I enter his rest and I can relax. And it's I can feel it, I can feel that I'm free from that, if that makes sense. It's kind of like, well, that might be too personal, so we'll leave that part out. But whatever you're in, you're in it. It's not means you're not saved. But you just keep reading the word, it's a seed. Don't start acting like where I'm at now, where I'm like, oh, we're just not gonna worry about the finances if you don't have the fruit. Because as the Bible says in Mark chapter four, when the fruit permits, our job is to get this Bible, keep putting the word in us, keep putting the seed in us, and letting it grow. And then there's another thing I hear in churches that I don't agree with, like you gotta press into the Lord, you gotta press into God so he comes through. We're gonna see here, if you're diligent, you will find him. The point is he's there. I had this thought earlier. It's kind of like lifting weights. It's like you gotta press the weights up to get stronger, but you're not messing with the weights. It's you. You gotta get stronger. And it's same with like the theme of pressing into God. You're really not pressing into God, you're pressing against your dead, incorrect mental thoughts and flesh. Your spirit is pushing against yourself. You're not pushing against God trying to get him to do something. He's there. What you're doing is your new, renewed spirit is pushing against your non-renewed mind and flesh, and it's growing. And you think you're pushing against God and you might be upsetting him. No, he's there, like the weights. He's not going anywhere. It's you that's got to change. And so as you're growing and you're pushing in, you're fighting against your old self, so go ahead and give it all you got. At some point, his word will turn into fruit, and then it's yours. Then it's your faith, it's your fruit, it's yours to enjoy. Like one time I had a young lady saying she doesn't like buying things for herself, she feels guilty, and the Spirit of the Lord came up inside me and saying, There's nothing wrong with enjoying the fruits of your faith. I'm like, You're right, Lord. When you come through, we just shouldn't feel guilty for the blessings you've given us. Because you put in us the spirit to learn your word, to do the right thing. We grow, we become prosperous, we need to enjoy it and thank you for it. Like you also said, we pray that your kingdom come on earth like it is in heaven. For some reason you think we gotta live in this bondage and prosper. I mean, live in like bondage and beneath our means and all that kind of stuff. But once we pass away and go to heaven, then we get to relax. No, he's saying he wants you to enter his rest today. All right, let's go further. For

God’s Word Versus Money Worry

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it says, I wisdom dwell with prudence, and I find knowledge and discernment. Now we just read that a second ago here in the verse five, it says, O naive ones, discern prudence, and O foolish, discern wisdom. And then it goes on to here, it says, Wisdom, which is God saying, I am wisdom, dwell with prudence, and I find knowledge and discretion. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil, is to hate pride and arrogance and the evil way, and the perverted mouth I hate. Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom, I am understanding. Power is mine. So here we are again, back to square one. You've got to hear the voice of God speak to you. And it's talking about here how he hates pride, he hates arrogance, he hates evil, he hates the perverted mouth. What am I saying here? If God hates these things, he's not saying I hate you who do these things. He's trying to tell you how good he is, where Jesus says, God is love, he hates these things. So you can trust what he says isn't going to harm you, but it's going to be like we mentioned earlier, that it will produce right things, which is safety, comfort, all right, and prosperity. All right, so let's go on. Counsel is mine, we're in verse 14 now, and sound wisdom. I am understanding, and power is mine. So have you heard the scriptures where that we are kings and priests in Christ Jesus? Well, look what it says here. By me kings reign and rulers decree justice. By me princesses rule and nobles, all who judge rightly. I love those who love me, and those who diligently seek me will find me. Now here's what we brought up earlier about diligently seeking the Lord. It's not just finally getting fed up with your life and saying, like, okay, God, I need help, help me. No, for some reason, and Jesus spoke about a million different times about look at the plants, how they grow, first a seed and then a stem, and then the leaves. It's the same thing. You have got to get the desire to know God personally, and then you have to give it all you got. You gotta go beat against that rock. And when I say things like that, it's not like you're beating and begging God. He already, I know this is hard to understand because I took me a while to, but he already put that thought in you, that word of faith. You don't realize it's him, we think it's you. But you then say, Well, give it to me, Lord, and you don't get anything because you got a lot of growing duty to get through your old thinking and the way the flesh has trained you to behave a certain way. So when you put the pressure on, you're not, as we mentioned earlier, putting it against the Lord. You're putting it against your old self. And that's what the Lord wants you to do is to diligently seek him. You gotta keep diligently seeking him. And that's why.

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In Proverbs twenty-five, two, it says, God conceals things, but kings search it out.

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So being a king, it talks about here is that he conceals it. It's your job to search it out. It's not like just a free mill on a plate to you. You gotta search it out. So let's think about this. Why do you want to go through this pain to search it out? Well, remember standing on the city and you're looking at the world one way and God's got another way to look at it. Well, look what the Lord, I mean the world has, in the way of having to diligently seek things out. You want to be a lawyer or a medical professional, you got to go through all that pain and suffering of studying and working hard. And why do you do it? Because you want the money. Now, let's look on the other side. You got to go through all that pain and struggle of seeking the Lord, killing your old way of thinking because you want to know God. And why do you do it? Because there's a reward. Don't kid yourself. Don't let them fool you. Oh, I'm just doing it because you know I'm submissive. No, there's a reward for seeking God. And let's look at that reward. It starts here in verse 18. Let's read 17 so it can flow into it again. I love those who love me, and those who diligently seek me will find me. Now what happens when you find them? Verse 18. Riches and honor are with me, enduring wealth and righteousness. My fruit is better than gold, even pure gold, and my yield than the choicest silver. I walk in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of justice, to endow those who love me with wealth, that I may fill their treasures. So there, put that in your brain. Don't wuss out about it. Realize if I seek God and give it everything I got and find him, and he hates evil and he hates pride, but he wants to bless me with enduring wealth and riches and fill my treasures, and you get it with safety, comfort, and prosperity. Why do you want to go the world's way where you don't get the peace or the comfort? You might get prosperity, but your life will be miserable. I mean, you can look at the thing like that Andrew Tate thing he was talking about. He's sitting down with his brother talking about they're rich now, but they're miserable. They got no joy, they have no peace. Trust me, come on to this side and you get peace. Now, let's look at this jacket that the Holy Spirit rolls out on why maybe we should trust what he says.

Diligent Seeking And Real Rewards

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You know, if it's like if you're looking for a job and you gotta turn in, you know, your resume, let's look at his resume here, starting in verse twenty two. The Lord possessed me at the beginning of his way, before his works of old, from everlasting I was established, from the beginning, from the earliest times of the earth, when there was no depths I was brought forth, when there was no springs abounding with water, before the mountains were settled, before the hills I was brought forth, while he had not yet made the earth and the fields, nor the first dust of the world, when he established the heavens, I was there, when he inscribed a circle on the face of the deep, when he made firm the skies above, when the springs of the deep became fixed, when he set for the sea its boundary, so that the water should not transgress his command. When he marked out the foundations of the earth, then I, we're talking about wisdom here, was beside him as a master workman, and I was daily his delight, and rejoicing always before him. And not only that, you know what wisdom was doing in verse thirty one? He was rejoicing in the world, his earth, and his delight is in the sons of men. So it goes on. Here's his resume. Before even there was any dust, wisdom was there. And this wisdom wants to be inside you and to teach you how to be and act like God. We are created in his image. But the only part that we get is when we hear his voice and we're one in him. So don't be down on yourself when you see all the badness still in you. You like Paul said, he's going to carry that around till he's dead until he becomes into the end of heaven. Then he's finally done with this flesh. But you're in this flesh, so you gotta fight against it with the spirit that's in you. But look what he goes on to say here. Now therefore, says he's told you all this, he's saying, Now look at, O sons, listen to me. Again, you gotta hear his voice, saying, Listen to him. For blessed are they who keep my ways. Heed instruction and be wise, and do not neglect what you hear. Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at my doorstep, for he who finds me finds life, and obtains favor from the Lord. You got it? You want the favor? Yeah. You want to be blessed? Yeah, you want to be prosperous? Yes. Well then listen to him. Now here's the opposite side again. He closes it out in verse 36 says, But he who sins against me injures himself, and all those who hate me love death. Now

Moses On Favor And Distinction

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I got a little footnote here in Exodus 3316, which I'm going to close out and share with you real quick. So, Exodus 33, 16, a few years ago the Lord gave me this when I was having a struggle, like, can we be prosperous? Well, here's Moses talking face to face with God as friends, it says. And so Moses is saying before he enters into the promised land and they're having trouble out there in the desert. God says, Look at Moses, verse 14, my presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest. Same promise to us that he gives to Moses. Then Moses says, Look, for how then can it be known that I have found favor in thy sight? I and thy people. Is it not by thy going with us, so that we, I and thy people, may be distinguished from all the other people who are upon the face of the earth? And the Lord said to Moses, I will also do this thing of which you have spoken. For you have found favor in my sight, and I have known you by name. It's the same thing here. You want to obtain favor from the Lord, be extinguished from the rest of the people. And that's the driving factor I like to bring home to all of us out here now listening to this. Don't go for the thing you're not supposed to be prosperous. It's a lie of the devil. In fact, you ought to shoot for what Moses said and what God says and what wisdom's saying here in chapter eight. Be distinguished, be set on high. Let the world know there is what's how I put this. Let the world know that there is a great reason. That's kind of weak, but you'll get the point. Following Christ, it's his world. He controls everything. His words are kingly and noble, and they overwrite everything, and they're in you. Be that kingly priest yourself. Act like it. Receive it, and enjoy the prosperity of it.

Final Charge And Closing Thoughts

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Well, that's it for chapter eight. There was a couple messed up, I'll have to do some spicing or whatnot, but let me know how this was. I would prefer to go back just to doing the radio one so I don't have to stare at myself. But I love you all and have a great day.