Welcome And Proverbs Recap

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Alright, good morning and welcome back. We're gonna be finishing up Proverbs chapter 10 today. But we're gonna see that chapter, I mean verse 24, really ties in with it. So we're gonna do a little bit of a recap over that. So grab your coffee and pull up a chair and let's spend some time together. So as we're finishing chapter 10, I need to tell you something. When I first read these verses, I thought Solomon kept changing subjects. One verse talked about fear, the next one talked about storms, then laziness, then hope, then our speech. I kept thinking, come on, Solomon, pick a subject. But the longer I sat with these verses, the more I realized he never really changed the subject at all.

Two Voices That Shape Life

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And that realization came about just like what we have been learning how the kingdom of God works. The Lord showed me how King Solomon is talking about one thing from the beginning to the end, and that one thing is two voices. Every day, one of us lives by one of them. One voice says protect yourself, the other says trust God. One says whatever everything goes wrong, but the other voice will say What has God said? One produces fear and the other produces faith. And those two voices create two completely different lives. So for a quick recap of Proverbs twenty four, it said The fear of the wicked will come upon him, but the desires of the righteous will be granted. For weeks we've been talking about this verse, and it has changed the way I look at the word wicked. When I was younger, I used to think the wicked were simply murderers, thieves, or terribly immoral people, and certainly Scripture uses the word that way in many places. But Proverbs also describes wickedness as a pattern of living. A heart that refuses God's wisdom, a life directed by something other than God's voice. Think about the servant Jesus talked about who received one talent. He didn't waste it on parties, he didn't lose a gambling, he didn't steal from his master, he buried it. Why? Well he tells us the servant said I was afraid. Fear came first, then inactivity. Then Jesus says something that has always seemed harsh until you connect it with Proverbs. He says you wicked and lazy servant. Notice that wicked, lazy. Those two words are connected. Fear produced inactivity, and inactivity becomes unfaithfulness. The opposite of faith isn't merely unbelief. Very often the opposite of faith is fear, and fear's greatest fruit is it is inactivity. That thought has been rolling around in my mind and heart all week. Then I started asking another question Was this really a new statement Jesus made? Or has God been saying this from the beginning? The answer surprised me.

Fear, Inactivity, And Buried Talents

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Go all the way back to Genesis, before sin entered the world, before thorns, pain, even before death. God gave Adam a job. Think about that. Work was at the curse. Work came before the curse. God placed Adam in the garden to cultivate it, keep it, steward it, and exercise wise dominion over what God had entrusted him. That means something. Human beings were designed to create, to build, to plant, to organize, to invent, to cultivate, to manage, to take what God places in our hands and make it flourish. We were never created merely to exist. We were created to participate with God in his work. Now here's something fascinating. What was the first thing Adam did after he sinned? He hid. Why? Fear. Not work, not stewardship. He didn't start cultivation, no, fear. He hid among the trees instead of walking with God and doing his job. Isn't that interesting? The very thing fear still does to us. We hide, we protect ourselves, we play it safe. We don't take the risk. We don't step out. We don't trust. We just want to survive. And maybe that's how you are today. Look, you may not recognize the voice of God yet, but I bet you hear the voice of fear. I remember times my own business when everything around me seemed uncertain. People said You better get out. You better slow down. You better protect what you built. Fear always sounds reasonable. But I've also watched something else. Every time I clearly believed God was leading me, and I moved forward instead of shrinking back, I found him faithful. Not because every decision was easy, not because there were no storms, but because his voice proved stronger than my fears. Or said another way, it was stronger than the voice of fear. I've shared with you before about friends who made decisions because they feared what might happen. I've seen all kinds of cells, people sell their business because of fear. I've seen people stop dreaming because they feared failure. I've seen people bury their abilities because they feared criticism. Fear doesn't usually announce itself by saying, I'm here to ruin your life. It disguises itself as wisdom. It whispers to your heart, just be careful. Now don't misunderstand me. There's such a thing as wise planning. The book of Proverbs teaches that. But there's a difference between wisdom and fear. Wisdom listens to God and plans accordingly. Fear listens to circumstances and stops moving. Those are not the same thing. That's why the servant with the one talent wasn't rebuked because he made a bad investment. No, he never invested at all. Fear convinced him that doing nothing was safer than trusting his master. How many dreams has fear buried? How many conversations? How many businesses? How many ministries? How many acts of kindness? How many people has God prompted to do something only to have fear whisper? Not today. You're not ready. I remember when I was in Fiji and I just learned to hear the voice of the Lord. It wasn't two or three days later I was taking a shower, still on a high of knowing we could talk together, and I heard a voice normally fear is still kind of subtle, but this voice was really straightforward and strong. And I was thinking about teaching others how to hear the voice of the Lord because I finally found it to be true. And the voice said, No, you need to wait until you go to seminary and pass that. Then you'll be ready. Sounded logical to me. Then as I turned the water off and I was drying off, then the Spirit of the Lord spoke gently to me and said, That was a complete attack of the enemy, and it's not true. Man, that really hit me. I was like, wow. Those demons can really break through and come straight at you when things get heavy. But it wasn't really that a case of fear so much in that situation. It was like logic. Yeah, let's just wait. And doesn't that sound like the devil? I wonder how often hell heaven celebrates, not because someone succeeded, but because someone simply obeyed. Now let's roll these thoughts and pick up in verse twenty six, which says Like vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so is a lazy one to those who send him. What a picture. Ever gotten smoke in your eyes round a campfire? You can't see, your eyes burn. Or imagine biting as something expecting to taste sweet and getting a mouthful of vinegar. That's the picture Solomon paints. Could this be why the way God hates could this be why God hates fear so much? I mean he created us in his likeness. Does he want the world to see us timid and hiding or fearless and making changes for the betterment of all? The lazy person becomes an irritation to everyone depending on him. Notice who suffers. Not just the lazy person himself, no, the one who entrusted him with responsibility. That's exactly what happened in Jesus' parable. The master entrusted the servant with something valuable. He expected fruit. Instead he received excuses. Fear produced inactivity, and inactivity produced disappointment. And suddenly Proverbs and Jesus are saying the same thing. God entrust, faith acts. Fear varies. I don't think this is merely about employment. I think it's about life. God has entrusted every one of us with something a family, a gift, a calling, a friendship. Businesses, ministries, special skills, and influence. The question isn't whether we've been entrusted. The question is what voice we're listening to as we decide what to do with what God has placed in our hands. Every day, two voices are speaking. One says, Protect what you have. The other says, faithfully use what I've given you. And here's the beautiful part. The more we learn to recognize God's voice, the less power fear has over us. That's where Solomon is taking us next, and I think it's one of the richest truth in all of Proverbs. And let's slip in the little thought while we're at it. If you're not hearing his voice, you might want to pick up my book on God, why won't you talk to me? Telling you it'll save you a ton of time. Alright, so let's slide into Proverbs chapter ten, verse twenty seven now,

The Fear Of The Lord Wins

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go up working through thirty. This is where Solomon is taking us next, and I think it's one of the richest truths in all of Proverbs, as I mentioned. Let's listen to verse twenty seven. The fear of the Lord prolongs life, but the years of the wicked will be shortened. When I was younger, I used to read that and think, okay, if I fear God, I'll live to be ninety-five or so. But if I'm wicked, God will take me out at sixty, or maybe even forty. In fact, that's how I was raised. God's out to get you, which is a blatant lie. But anyways, now I'm not saying physical life isn't part of what Saul means. Throughout Proverbs, wisdom and obedience are often connected with a longer life, while foolishness is frequently leads people into destructive paths. But I don't think that's all he's saying. Remember, Proverbs is wisdom literature. It is constantly contrasting two different ways of living. Now notice this. The opposite of fear isn't courage. The opposite of the fear of circumstances is the fear of the Lord. That changes everything. Every person fears something, every one of us. You may fear failure, some may fear rejection, some fear poverty. Some fear embarrassment, that's a big one. Some fear sickness. Some fear what other people think. That's another big one. The question isn't whether you'll fear. The question is which fear will you let become greater? Because the greatest fear always wins. If I fear losing money more than I trust God, money becomes my master. If I fear people's opinion more than God's, people become my master. And if I fear failure more than I trust God's leading, I'll never attempt what He asks me to do. But when I fear the Lord, something incredibly begins to happen. All the other fears start shrinking. Not because life gets easier, but because his voice becomes louder. I've wonder I've often wondered why God says do not fear so many times throughout Scripture. I don't think he's scolding us. I think it's one of the ways he's trying to save us. Let that sink in. He's saying you don't have to live that way anymore. The world teaches us to manage fear. God teaches us to replace it. Replace the fear of circumstances with reverence for the one who holds every outcome. Think about Peter. The wind was real, the waves were real, but as long as Peter's attention stayed on Jesus, he walked. The moment another voice became louder, he sank. Isn't that our life? Every morning, two voices are speaking. One says, Look at the waves, the other says, Look at me. Isn't that crazy? The Christian walk is a wild adventure. And some people think that the Christian walk is a crutch. You know what? They're just afraid. Now let's look at verse twenty eight. The hope of the righteous is gladness, but the expectation of the wicked will perish. I love that one. Hope. Our English language has almost ruined it. We say, I hope my team wins, I hope it doesn't rain. I hope the traffic isn't bad. That's not biblical hope. Biblical hope is a confident expectation rooted in the character of God, not wishful thinking. Confident expectation. Why? Because God has proven himself faithful over and over and over again. I've noticed something in my own life. The older I get, the less I panic. Not because I'm smarter, not because I figured everything out, but because I've watched God show up too many times. I've watched him provide when I couldn't see away. I've watched him open doors I couldn't open, and I've watched him protect things I couldn't protect. Faith isn't pretending problems don't exist. Faith remembers who has walked with you through every one of them by his words to me personally. That's what I'm trying to point out. Don't just take a scripture and stand on it. No, wait till it becomes fruit. Wait till God reveals that scripture to you. Then that's where you'll learn to walk in his faithfulness. That's why hope in his word produces gladness. Notice Solomon doesn't say happiness. Happiness comes and goes. Gladness runs deep. It's a quiet confidence that says, I don't know exactly how God's going to do this, but I know him.

Hope And A Stronghold In Storms

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Then verse twenty nine goes on and says, The way of the Lord is a stronghold to the upright, but ruin to the workers of inequity. When I read that, I immediately thought back to verse twenty five, which says the righteous have an everlasting foundation. Do you see the connection? Foundation, stronghold, security, stability. They're all describing the same reality. The safest place in the world isn't necessarily the easiest place. It's a place where God told you to be. Now I've shared the story before. When Barbara and I bought our home, there were moments I honestly wondered if we made a terrible mistake. The remodel seemed endless. Problems kept appearing. People questioned the decision. There were days when selling would have been the easy choice. Besides, we left a home a home totally paid for, and now we're millions in debt, and fear would even use God's scripture. The devil would say, doesn't the word say to oh no man nothing? You're sinning, Ed. I mean, he's ruthless, friends. But God would show me when I would get alone and ask him for wisdom other scriptures where people did borrow, like the widow woman in Second Kings chapter four. And while this battle was going on, the Lord impressed something else on my heart. Make the place like the Garden of Eden, Ed. I wanted to say what I had. You know, for the day I lose everything, I would have at least enough to go back the way I used to live. But doesn't that sound like the Jews when they left Egypt? There's a lot of correlation goes on in our lives without us realizing it. We always blame them, saying, well if I had a big pillar and a big cloud, I would put a hundred percent trust. But when the storms come, let me tell you, you always want to run for safety. But anyways, I'm way down the road with the Lord nowadays, so off to obey him I did. Now I couldn't explain that to anyone. It's the wild west. That's pure faith and action. It didn't remove the work, and it didn't remove the expense. It didn't remove the stress, but it gave me something stronger than circumstances. It gave me a foundation. There is a tremendous difference between carrying a burden alone and carrying a burden while believing God has spoken. One produces anxiety, the other produces endurance. And today Barb and I have a beautiful place we praise God for every morning. Look, the storm feels exactly the same to everyone, but the person standing in it is completely different. That's why Jesus ended the Sermon on the Mount the way he did. He said two men built houses, both experienced storms, both experienced winds, both experienced rain. The difference wasn't the weather, it was the foundation. One had heard God's word and acted on them, and the other had heard, but failed to build. Doesn't that just sound like Proverbs? Then Solomon finished his section with verse thirty. The righteous will never be shaken, but the wicked will not dwell in the land. Again, that doesn't mean the righteous never cry, never struggle, never lose sleep, never experience heartbreak. No, it means the storm doesn't get the final word. I've watched believers go through cancer with incredible stress and tears, yet with a foundation of hope. I've watched others have a business setback and still encourage everyone around them. I've watched families walk through deep grief while somehow remaining anchored. Why? Because peace isn't the absent of trouble. Peace is the presence of a foundation. And I think that's exactly where Solomon has been leading us. Fear, foundation, hope, stronghold. They're all connected. The person who hears God's voice begins standing on something the world can't see. And because they stand differently, they eventually speak differently. That's where Solomon is taking us

Your Mouth Reveals Your Heart

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now. He's about to show us that the mouth doesn't create the heart, the mouth reveals it. And that may be one of the most fraying truths in all of Proverbs. And that's where Solomon lands the plane. He ends this entire section talking about our mouths. Listen carefully to these verses. The mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom, but the perverse tongue will be cut off. Then he immediately says, The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable, but the mouth of the wicked will what is perverse. When I read these verses years ago, I thought Solomon suddenly changed subjects again. We've been talking about fear, hope, foundations, strongholds, storms. Now we're talking about words. But now I don't think he changed the subject at all. I think he arrived at the destination. Because your mouth is simply introducing people to your heart. You know, Jesus said exactly the same thing. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. Think about that. Jesus didn't say your mouth creates your heart. He said your mouth reveals it. That changes everything. How many times have we tried to fix our words without ever asking why those negative words keep coming out of us? We all have tried to change them. We say I'm going to be more positive. I'm not going to complain. I'm not going to worry. That lasts about what, two days, then something happens, bad news, traffic, a financial setback. Someone hurts your feelings, and suddenly the old words come pouring back out. Why? Because the root never changed. We're trying to polish the fruit we currently. Have when God is trying to change our roots. That was kind of playing words, I thought was pretty cool. I think that's the main reason Jesus came, to be honest. Now hear me carefully. Yes, I know Jesus died for our sins. Without the cross there's no forgiveness, without his resurrection there is no hope. Without his sacrifice we have no relationship with the Father. But sometimes I think we stop the story too early. We tell people Jesus died, so you can go to heaven. Well, absolutely, praise God. But then we almost act like we're just waiting around until that day arrives. That's not the story Jesus told. Jesus constantly talked about life. He says I came that they may have life. He says the kingdom of God is among you. He says, Follow me, abide in me. He wasn't inviting people merely to survive until heaven. He was restoring people to the life God intended from the very beginning. Go back to the garden. Adam walked with God. He heard his voice. He received direction. He cultivated the garden. He named the animals. He worked with joy. He wasn't earning God's love, he was living from it. Then sin entered, fear entered. Adam hid, and mankind has been hiding ever since. They've been hiding behind money, hiding behind success, hiding behind religion and excuses, hiding behind just I'm too busy. But overlaw overall they're hiding behind fear. But then Jesus comes, and what does he continually say? Follow me, do not fear. My sheep hear my voice. Think about that. My sheep hear my voice. Maybe that's more important than we've realized, because everything we talked about today begins there. Remember, every morning two voices are speaking. One voice says protect yourself. What if you fail? You're going to lose everything. What if God doesn't come through? But the other voice says, Trust me, I'll never leave you. Go, build, forgive, plant, give, love, move. One voice always points you back toward yourself. The other always points you toward faith in God. Now remember, don't get sidetracked when you hear the word God. You end up visualizing a big man like creature type sitting up in the sky. But he refers to himself over and over as the word. So start believing it. When you hear his voice, you're hearing God Himself. That alone will change the way you start acting. Now I want to say something that may challenge some of us. I've listened to wonderful Christians over the years. They love Jesus, they're faithful, they're generous. But then when you listen to them, their conversations sound like this I'm broke. The economy's terrible. My luck is awful. Nothing ever works. I'm always stressed. Everything is getting worse. Have you ever noticed that? Now I'm not judging them, I'm simply making an observation. Eventually, whatever voice you're listening to the longest comes out of your mouth. Jesus said it. Solomon said it a hundred years earlier than Jesus. The mouth simply reveals the heart. Now, some people hear that and immediately think, well then, I just need to start saying better things. There is some truth there. Words matter. The Bible is full of verses about the power of our speech. But I think we miss something if we stop there. The answer isn't pretending. The answer is not positive thinking. The answer isn't repeating phrases you don't really believe. The answer is learning to believe what God says until his thoughts become your thoughts. That's what the Holy Spirit is doing. He's not giving us a different message than Scripture. He's taking what God has already revealed and making it alive in you. Little by little, fear loses its grip, and hope grows, faith grows, your peace grows. Then one day you notice something. Your words have changed. Not because you're trying harder, no, it's because your heart has changed. And I think that's real transformation. Not behavior modification, heart transformation. That's why I believe Proverbs isn't simply teaching us how to behave, it's teaching us how to think. Because as a man thinketh, eventually he speaks. And as he speaks, eventually he acts, and as he acts, eventually that becomes the direction of his life. No wonder Solomon keeps coming back to wisdom. Wisdom isn't simply knowing more verses. Wisdom is learning to think God's thoughts. That changes everything. You know, one of the saddest things I've seen over the years is people who have stopped dreaming, not because they're old, and not because they're incapable, because fear convinced them life was over. They stopped building, creating, learning. They stopped expecting. Now their calendar kept moving, but they stopped living. Then I've met other people, they're eighty years old, still planting trees they'll never sit under, still encouraging young people, still starting ministries, still learning, still expecting God to do something tomorrow. Those people are alive. That's what Solomon is talking about. The fear of the Lord prolongs life, not merely because you may live longer, but because every year is still full of purpose. Every day still matters. Every conversation still matters. Every act of obedience still matters. You're still producing, you're still cultivating. You're still doing exactly what God asked Adam to do in the beginning. Maybe that's why the righteous aren't shaken. They're just too busy. They're billing and serving, trusting God. Fear doesn't get the final word anymore. And that brings me back to where we started. Every day, two voices are speaking. One voice tells you to protect your life, the other tells you to give it away. Doesn't that remind you of the scripture? He who loses his life for my sake will find it. That verse makes more sense now, doesn't it? One voice fear tells you to bury your talent. The other tells you to invest it. One tells you to wait until you're certain. The other tells you to obey what God has already shown you. One tells you to keep looking at the storm, the other tells you to keep looking at Christ.

Choose A Voice And Act

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So here's my question for you. Which voice have you been listening to? Not yesterday, not in the past, I'm talking about today. Right now. What conversation has been playing in your mind since you woke up? Is it producing fear or faith? Is it causing you to hide or to build? To shrink back or to move forward? Because the voice you believe will become the life you live. Look, my friends, we didn't make the game. None of us asked us to be born into this fallen world, and none of us ask for fear to whisper in our ears every day. But every single one of us gets to decide whose voice will become the loudest. That's why I love the book of Proverbs. It isn't merely making us smarter. It's teaching us to listen, because wisdom begins by hearing God. Faith begins by hearing God. Hope begins by hearing God. Peace begins by hearing God. Are you getting the picture? You need to hear God. And again, I wrote a book on that to make it easy for you. And eventually acting on his voice will produce his fruit, a life that is full of joy, purpose, courage, and faithfulness. It all begins exactly the same way. And what is it? That's right, I hear you saying it. By hearing God. So tomorrow morning, before you check the news, before you check your email, before you look at your bank account, before fear has a chance to speak, open God's word, ask the Holy Spirit to teach you, and listen, listen carefully. And then go build something, encourage someone, forgive someone, start something, finish something, plant something. Use the gift God has placed in your hands. But again, I would recommend not doing any of that until you've learned to hear his voice. Otherwise you're going to get slammed down and blame God, and it's not him. You gotta hear his voice. So don't bury your talent, don't hide it. Don't let fear write the story of your life, because the God who called you still speaks. And his voice is still the only voice worth building your life upon. It explains why Jesus kept saying, He who has ears to hear, not ears to listen, ears to hear. There's a difference. All right, thank you for hanging on this long with me. I think we got the point across. Live by faith and not by fear. Until next time, God bless you all, and I look forward to see what we learn. Bye bye.