Episode Transcript
You know, if only millions of true Christians would live out, really live out the principles of Proverbs chapter three, and claim the unclaimed riches that God has provided, what a difference it would make! It would bring our biblical lifestyle from God, including our failures and even our willful sins, yes, but you know what a difference it would make if these principles that'll come at us, in a few moments out of Proverbs became part of our lifeblood. So I want to ask you these questions just so that the Holy Spirit can prepare you so to speak. What price are you willing to pay to be flooded with God's richest blessings? What price are you willing to pay? Just to be flooded with God's richest blessings? The second question, how much of God's promised blessings are you experiencing? And even reveling in today? God has given so many promises so many blessings. Are you experiencing them? Are you really reveling them enjoying them? Here's a third one. Are you as close to God as you'd like to be? As you once were, perhaps, or as you know, that you could be if you wanted to?
Well, let's read several passages three, although we want to end up with Proverbs chapter three, I thought I'd read first, 2 Peter, chapter one, 2 Peter chapter one and just a few verses, because I think it sets the stage a little bit on what I would like to share from Proverbs chapter three, in verses three and four, I'm going to cut it that short. In Peter, the Lord says this to us through the apostle by the Holy Spirit. Listen to Second Peter one, verses three, and four, every word is filled with meaning. But look at what it says. His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness, through our knowledge of Him, who called us by His own glory, and goodness, through these, he has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them, you may participate in the divine nature, and escape the corruption that is in the world, caused by evil desires. Now, the reason for reading that is that there are so many riches that God has provided for us, at every level of our experience, spiritual, intellectual, physical, material, family, sexuality, financially, culturally, artistically, musically, God has given us so many riches, and he's given us these glorious promises. Look at what he says, His divine power has given us everything we need for life, that is for daily living on Earth, and godliness, our spiritual life, through our knowledge of him who called us by His own glory, and power. And then look at the second half of verse four, that through these, you may participate in the divine nature, and escape the corruption that's in the world because of evil desires. We are participants of a divine nature. So it seems so silly, when we true believers who actually know Jesus Christ are not living even, who knows 50% 60% to the full potential of what God has given us. And you notice that he says that he has given us these very great and precious promises. And the reason that passage popped into my head is one of my favorites, by the way, but as I was reading proverbs Lee, it's filled with conditions and promises, conditions and promises, conditions on promises. And interestingly enough, all the promises of God, yes, yes, and amen in Jesus Christ, but they all have a condition attached to them. God doesn't just throw out promises as a, hey, grab them. There they are. He says, grab them, but you grab them by fulfilling the conditions that are attached to the promises. And the result is, first of all, that we can have everything we need for life and godliness. And yet how many of us have done such foolish things we all have, and we continue to do it. We are very foolish, but no Nevertheless, the Lord says he's given us everything we need for life and godliness, someone. When the Lord says everything, he means everything, and he's not fooling around, he doesn't use words lightly. If he's everything, he actually meant everything. He's given us everything we need for life and for godliness. And when it comes to the promises, and when we turn to Proverbs in a moment, you will find that it's filled with promises, attached to conditions or conditions attached to the promises. But the promises are so glorious, and they are real, and they're factual. And they're not just something that God manufactured as a second thought. The second passage I wanted to read is in First Corinthians, chapter one, First Corinthians chapter one, and verses 26 to 31, to remind us that most of us in this room, and most of us in the Church throughout the ages are not the brightest people that ever were. We've just been blessed by God. I think, First Corinthians chapter one, verse 26, we'll start reading, it actually tells us and reminds us of that very fact. Look at what it says, Brothers. Think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards. Not many were influential. Not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world, to shame the wise. God chose the weak things of the world, to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world, and even the despise things, the things that are not to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him, that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us, wisdom from God, are righteousness, holiness, and redemption. Therefore, as it is written, let him who boasts boast in the Lord. I was interested I reading that passage. And then as I was listening to Matt, Matt said, What irony that the Lord chose him to write these worship songs that are being sung all over the world when he got even read music. And I thought, that's the way the Lord likes to operate so that we do not get heady and think of ourselves as superior to other people. The Lord says, the reason he selected the likes of us is that we who boast will boast not in ourselves, but we will boast in the Lord. And whatever he does in us, and through us, all the glory goes to him. So with that background, the great promises of God, so that we can have life and godliness in abundance, the promises of God, that make it very clear what the Lord has provided, and then we become partakers of the divine nature, so that we can live an amazing life, if we really chose to live it, if we really believed, I have a partaker of the divine nature, I'm actually connected to God, the life of God flows through my spiritual veins, so to speak, I am a child of God, I really am a temple of God, the life of God lives in me, that alone ought to lift us up in a tremendous way. So let's go there for two, Proverbs chapter three, to the real chapter that we were going to go into. And now we are going to go into it. And we'll go through it gently, one step at a time, rather than try to gobble it up. In one complete reading, though the reading is very powerful and very important. But you know, these promises that we read about in first Peter are second betta one, and the promises given to people like us who are not overly smart, overly bright, yes, we have areas where the Lord has given us some knowledge and given us an IQ and given us a little insight here on there. But in the totality, it's all of God, but you know, all the riches that God has provided for life on Earth. That's what Proverbs three, basically is daily wisdom for daily life. Somebody said, The Book of Proverbs is an extended commentary on the law of love, that you shall love the Lord your God, and you shall love your neighbor as ourselves. And in a way the 31 chapters in Proverbs are, in a way, a commentary on the law of love, how to love God, how to serve Him, how to obey Him, etc. And then how to love our neighbor as ourselves. Chapter Three is particularly our relationship with our neighbor, although there's obviously a part of our relationship with God. And I want to tell you this, before we get into chapter three, my dad and mom came to Jesus Christ, thanks to missionaries in Argentina, and the missionary couple who led my family to Christ. First of all, my mom and my grandmother and my dad. They laid a foundation on two books of the Bible. They were fiends and I've been now trying to collect information to write a book on what the Lord has done all these years, and I want to see how we honor this missionary couple. His name was Edward Charles Rogers. He was a British, and he was executive with Shell Oil Company. We've been going back and forth was a shell or Exxon. Well, I got to confirm it was a South African company that was bought out by shell. So there you go. Finally, we've got it doesn't matter. But I'm a picky guy sometimes anyway. But he worked for an oil company. And he would began to knock on doors on weekends and holidays, give away a copy of the New Testament, but particularly, he would emphasize read the Gospel of John and read the book of Proverbs. And those were like the Gideon New Testaments, they had proverbs and Psalms besides the New Testament. So my dad or my family became experts in the Gospel of John because this old man hammered away of the Gospel of John, I didn't realize it till years later. I love the Gospel of John is my my view of the gospel is the gospel of John. And then the book of Proverbs, which my father one day, when I walked into his room, I must have been six or seven or eight years old, I was a little guy before eight, that must have been because he sent me to boarding school at eight so that I practice the book of Proverbs. But anyway, I walked into his room, and it was a cold day, and he was on his knees by his desk with a blanket on top of him. And I walked up and I said, What are you doing that and he said, I'm reading the Bible word of God. And I'm reading the book of Proverbs. And he told me, and for some reason, in my little head of a boy, I never forgot it. When he died, then it all came back to me, because he died when I was 10. He said, if you read the chapter in the book of Proverbs, it has 31 chapters one for every day of the month, you will become a man and you will become a man of God. And I have found the book of Proverbs to be in a sense, humanly, my salvation, because it touches on every subject under the sun, it touches about love, it touches about the Lord, it touches about obedience, about sex, about the morality, about morality, about love, and marriage and every imaginable subject that on Earth you need. And to my mind, it's the one number one book of Wisdom that the world has ever produced. If we could get kids to spend time in the book of Proverbs, we won't have to worry about a thing, you know, if they're converted, they really take the book of Proverbs to heart, they're gonna be such great servants of God. So become an expert in the book of Proverbs one chapter for every day of the month. Okay, in chapter three, then we want to talk about the promises of God. And we're going to take it one step at a time, I feel I've discovered 12, biblical promises with 12. Attach conditions. However, some of the 12 have sub points, which would added like 30 promises, so I had to reduce it to the minimum number 12. And it could be terrific to get going on it tonight. And then you can by the Holy Spirit, enjoy it for yourself. This is one of the great chapters of the Bible, the first section, it just verses one and two, let's read the Word of God, My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart, for they will prolong your life many years and bring you prosperity. Let's read it again. My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart, for they will prolong your life many years and bring you prosperity. Now, you know, in Psalm 19, it says every word of the Lord is perfect. And you know, as you read these words, one by one, you say every word just fits right in. And even though it's a translation from the original Hebrew. Nevertheless, it's as close as you can get to the original, and every word is worth go. So first of all, is the Lord speaking to us. I always like to be reminded of that. He says, My son, my child, do not forget my teaching. Now true. Solomon wrote this to one of his many sons. We don't know to which one or it was a symbolic type of writing, but I take it that because it's inspired by the Holy Spirit. It is a word from my father to me, and says My dad died when I was a boy. All through my big years of being a teenager, and on and on. I had no father to talk to me. And strangely enough, nobody ever approached me till I was 23 years old, as a young man, finally a missionary by name of Keith Benson. I in whose honor we named our son, Keith, he began to talk to me about some of the things that are in the book of Proverbs, but the book of Proverbs did it for me, it taught me all the basics that I needed to know as a young man on the earth. But you know, it is interesting that the Lord begins to call us my son. Do not forget my day. Teaching. And you know, in the book of John, Jesus said, that the Holy Spirit would come and remind us of everything that the Lord Jesus had taught us. And you know, he is telling us here putting our condition, the condition is don't forget my teaching. And you know, I find as I've gotten older, that when you're young, and you're really committed to Christ, you take the word of God very much to heart, you read every word, you underline it, I, I added in my habit of underlining, and red and green and blue and writing over to highlight things and circle them and so on. Taking the Word of God, every word, taking it seriously, because it's the word of God, and he doesn't put words there just to kill time or, or to give a job to some printer somewhere in Israel. He put it there, because there was a purpose for all this. And the Lord says, My son, do not forget my teaching. I you know, I was gonna say that it's a tendency of old age, to begin to forget the teaching, not because we're getting old, but because we feel oh, I've read that what I don't want it says I get it. I've been reading it since I was 14 and Sunday school. And the risk we run is that in our old age, we could neglect the Word of God without intending to, because we feel we know it that runs off our backs, like water off a duck. And it's a great danger. I've said it once or twice before. The some of you have been in the President's conference that Joe Aldridge who was a great Bible teacher said, you know, in the Bible, most of the people who fell into very God dishonouring sins, were not teenagers. They were old men and women, mostly old men. And that impressed me when I began to read it. I never noticed that though John said it. In one Bible study on some book, I read off here, that it isn't young fellows, we always think of the young fellows doing, you know, sowing their wild oats, and maybe they do. But what this honors the name of the Lord and brings grief to the people of God isn't often the young fellows who stumble is the old guys. And maybe some of the old ladies sometimes do, who in old age suddenly do unusually unexpected, silly and sinful things. And so the Lord says, My son, do not forget and keep my commands in your heart. Every word is worthwhile. He doesn't say, keep my commands in your head, though, of course, they have to be in your head, so that they can be in your heart. But he says, Keep Miko mines in your heart, who has the seat of feelings and emotions and love. Keep it in your heart, keep it alive. And as we get older brothers and sisters, some of you are young "Blessed be the young enjoy it while you can. There's nothing much going for old age, but nevertheless, it's great to be young, I know the things of the Lord. But you know, it, keep it in your heart. He says my son, keep my commands in your heart. You know, many young people are more committed. There was a magazine article the other day, I saw that headline, no, I think it was New York Times Of all things, I believe. It said that young people in America are more zealous, more holier than thou, they call it than their parents. And you know, there's a measure of truth to that. There is a subgroup, there is a cross current of America and young people who are very committed to holiness, they are very committed to living a life of transparency before God. And yet some of us don't keep his commands in our heart, we get old and the feeling is, well, yes, the young people should do that I've lived my life, I've reached a place. And because you retire from business, doesn't mean you retire from the kingdom of God. You don't retire from serving Jesus Christ. And so the Lord, I think, speaks to us who are not so young anymore. And he says, keep my commands in your heart, keep them alive. It isn't just a memory job that you have in your head. He's saying, I want you to remember to keep my commands in your heart, that they'd be alive, that they'd be really moving you to do something about it. And then he says that here comes the promise. If you do not forget by teaching, and many do forget it. Christians make such dumb remark. Sometimes, it really annoys you and astonishes you the things that Christians will say when things don't go the way they want them to go. And then he says keep making, they that is my commands, and my teaching will prolong your life many years and bring you prosperity. And what a promise. That's a broad overall promise that the Lord says, If you obey my teaching, don't forget it, and you keep my commands in your heart. It'll prolong your life, many years. You know what a beautiful thing that the Lord promises to do to his people. And it isn't just the length of life. I think it's the quality of life. That's what he's saying when he says and bring you prosperity. Prosperity here is the full orb, the full the full Let's have prosperity. We're not talking just about money in Wall Street or whatever, that's part of it too. But the Lord brings you prosperity, intellectual and spiritual and moral and ethical. And the Lord will bless you in a tremendous way. And it's a beautiful promise that the Lord makes he promises prosperity. And it's a well rounded prosperity that the Lord is giving us. So that's sort of the introduction to the whole subject. And then the second pair of verses is verses three and four, here we go, the condition, lead, love, and faithfulness, never leave you bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart, then you will win favor, and a good name in the sight of God. And in the sight of man, two basic conditions.
He says, Let love and faithfulness never leave you. Let love and faithfulness never leave you. I feel it first relates to the Lord Himself, that we don't let our love for Him dry out that we don't let our love for Him kind of died down, but the flame of love for God, our Father, God, the Trinity should be alive and feel. And then he says, and faithfulness never leave you. You know, that's a challenge at any age that we don't allow love or faithfulness to God. And then interesting picture he does bind them around your neck. When you bind something around your neck, it means that you never forget it. It's there all the time. You stand in front of the mirror, there it is, you put on your shirt, I'll take it off. There it is binded around your neck like color with with a cross or whatever you want to carry there remind you every day, every moment it's there, it never goes away, binding them around your neck, right them on the tablet of your heart, love and faithfulness and love and faithfulness to the church, that we love the body of Christ, that we are faithful to the body, love and faithfulness to the doctrine to the teaching. We were chatting with some of you over dinner tonight or as we stood around, there are strange crosscurrents going on even in good evangelical circles, people beginning to say astonishing things, even heretical things, things that you would have thought was several long ago. And for goodness sakes, it would last more than one generation. There are people going around saying that Jesus Christ, dying for the sins of the world on the cross. And paying judicially the price that we should paid is a horrible thing, that it amounts to child abuse on the part of God punishing his dear one and only son. I mean, all this kind of talk goes around, not some liberal circles, in some old denomination that's worn out. It's an independent circles, and people who want to be heard and this begins to invalid. So he says, love and faithfulness not only to God, not only to the church, but to truth. Many people say what's truth, you know, if this generation doesn't want to hear truth, truth is relative to them? Well, they may say it's relative, but truth has inherent power. When we teach the truth and live the truth and love the truth and, and proclaim the truth. It has power, even though a person will say I don't believe in the truth. You speak the truth, and it has its own inherent power. Therefore, love and faithfulness to the truth. And then yes, it has to be said even in our circles, love and faithfulness to your spouse, to your wife, even as she's changed from when she was young, even a you imagine this and that and it didn't work out love and faithfulness because he says, love, love and faithfulness never leave you burning them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart, then, and here comes the promise you will win favor, and a good name. In the sight of God. This is interesting. And man. No favor is that whole concept of people not only thinking well of us, eager to help us eager to open doors, eager to make things happen in our life. And it says that we win favor in the eyes of God. Love and faithfulness, God really appreciates. And when he sees a heart, your heart, my heart that is loving toward him, and faithful, loving towards the truth and faithful to the truth, loving to our spies and faithful to our spouse. The Lord says you win favor when you do that. And also, it gives you a good name. There's another verse in Proverbs that you all know it says a good name is More to be desired than great riches, and to be favored better than silver and gold. And it's true. Because if you have a good name, because you've been a man and a woman of love and faithfulness, other things come along with it. The Lord makes sure because you win favor in the eyes of God. And in the eyes of man, there's something about a woman, or a man, young or old, that keeps love and faithfulness, that people say, I want to help this guy. And even though you may not be able to put your finger on things, there's a sense a sixth sense that people have when you're a person of love and faithfulness. And so the Lord says, If you do that love and faithfulness, never, you will win favor, and, and a good name and the sight of God many times, young fellows do come up, you know, when they say, I want to do the things you do, I, I'd love to reach multitudes. And I'd love to, you know, shake cities and win 1000s of people to Christ. And it's always good when a young fellow comes. And we have a movement inside the organization that most of you know about. We call a next generation Alliance. And it's younger evangelists and their families, that we try to encourage and motivate and guide and somewhat protect a little bit and give direction and counsel and we have conferences, and some of our guys are in touch with them and so on. But you know, one of the things you have to say to them always okay, you want favor, right? You
want doors to open? Yes, you want to have a good reputation? Well, here's the key love and faithfulness. If you don't keep those up, you won't have fever, and you won't have open doors and goodwill on people's behalf. And you know, I think that even in old age, we ought to crave that pill that last day God keeps us on Earth, that we would be the kind of people that have favor with others. And that also that we have a good name, what a glorious thing it is, to be able to point to people who love Jesus Christ, Ruth Bell, Graham went to be with the Lord a month ago how good it is that even the press has to acknowledge that she and Billy lived, you know, they're not perfect, obviously, I suppose, if you knew them, but the fact is how they honored the Lord, what a good name, what a blessing to be able to quote, their name and people integrity, that's the first thing they think that is so glorious, you know, to be able to be in that situation, to be able to say such a thing. So the second promise, then is when favor and a good name. Number three, we must move on verses five and six. This is famous, many of us learned when we were boys and girls, trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Now, here we have an indication of trusting God of really believing His word and believing His promises. And he says the promises, the Lord will make your paths straight. How many of us because until we know the thoughts of God on the principles that he's revealed, we can be lost, we can go astray. And if we forget him, that's where he says, Don't forget my teaching, we can go off the track and hardly realize that it's happened to us. And as the years go by, we need to be reminded, keep on trusting in the Lord, even in old age. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. You know, you did the best. You knew how you committed to the Lord, you turned it over to him, but you trust in Him in whatever the circumstance that make up trust in the Lord with all your heart don't lead on your own understanding. There's a point where understanding has reached its limits. I've done my best and I can go further. And it's a great relief when you come to that place. We're having a festival in Dallas, Texas. And I tell you, the rain in our festivals is the one thing that we got the prayer team working on day and night to pray for the weather. Well, the Lord knows what he's doing. You can pray all you want, but if he feels something better, it's gonna happen. He's gonna let it rain. And in Dallas, it rained. Do you know Kevin, my son here, our son that is he's the one who invented the term, but put it into motion, you know, innovative evangelism, we go to Dallas, Texas, and they said the storms were coming that week and maybe they'll go by I prayed Lord, that one part of the storm go north on the other South hit Austin, you know hit Oklahoma but leave us alone. Well, the Lord's the noise coming straight at you, buddy. And you know we went over there you still hope against hope you get into your RV and you sit there waiting for the storm to pass. The mud was incredible. The trucks who brought in the equipment and set up the platform had plowed it was in a ranch Southfork ranch. You remember the old series television Dallas Southfork Ranch, that's where it was. It was a real ranch and so the trucks just churned up the mud. It was like two feet deep and smelled of manure. And and then they put hay on it and that didn't help any exam more smell. And finally, the expectation was that they would probably be 150 to 200,000 every day well maximum probably 40,000 That's a lot of people still but anyway for Only we had bees. And in fact, it was really interesting. The rain that the thunder kept coming the lightning, sometimes they took all the singers and everybody under the roof, but the crowd was still out in the open field. And I thought, what if somebody dies? Have we got insurance for, you know, for this, and suddenly I began to see kids doing an innovative form of evangelism called mud wrestling. We got skateboarding we got via magazine, we've got the motocross. Now, I know what I don't know if they're gonna keep it up. But I'll tell you, the kids of the you saw them coming out of the mud, all these junior high and high school kids. And then the teenage girls, hopefully among themselves, also are wrestling in the mud. And then they had to put showers and they were standing there with mud from the top to the bottom. I mean, total. Why did I tell you that? Oh, yeah. Because we had to trust in the Lord. And finally, we said, Lord, you certainly know what you're doing. You know, the time we've invested the prayers, and they were glorious conversions that took place in spite of the rain. So the Lord knows when we get to heaven, I definitely want to see the DVDs to see why this happened. You know, in Dallas that weekend, you know, you think of everything,
I believe I'm I searched my heart. Is there unconfessed sin? Did we choose the wrong date? Was it pride, I mean, you served yourself. And in the end, you say,
I have no idea, I leave it with the Lord, and we trust the Lord and preach the gospel. And off we go, you know, but you do have to trust the Lord sometimes in unusual circumstances. But the point he makes here is trust in the Lord with all your heart, we always want to grab it and try and solve it. But he says no. And then he will make your paths straight. Number four, verses seven and eight. Don't be wise in your own eyes, feel the Lord and shun evil. This will bring health to your body, and nourishment to your bones. Some of the implication here is that self confidence, which borders on pride, misplaced self confidence, not confidence in that you're doing a good job because you're prepared. But this is spiritual self confidence, where there is a pride and a sense of superiority. Don't be wise in your own eyes. And you know, it's so easy to slip into that, especially as the years go by. And we have quote, experience to begin to trust in yourself and the past, like your old experiences. He says no, don't be wise in your eyes, feel the Lord and shun evil. And you know, this is something that you and I have to keep all our lives. It seems so basic, so practical. But that's why I love this chapter. And even though I've read, it literally scores, if not hundreds of times, the Lord always speaks to me at the moment when I'm trying to do something for the kingdom, or something in the family. And he says, This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones. You know, the Lord cares even about our bodies. And the key, he says is not to be wise in your own eyes, but to fear the Lord and shun evil. I do believe that in our generation, we need to remind the younger kids as well as the old timers, that to fear the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And that the fear of the Lord is the first step to a whole life. And then he says, and not only that, but healthier body and nourishment to your bones, that He gives energy that he gives strength that he gives power. When we feel the Lord and shun evil. I gotta talk to a bunch of men in Portland, probably three or 4000 that are coming up next January and beginning to prepare. And I'm asking questions from clergy, pastors, preachers, ordinary guys, and I asked him, What do you think is going on? And you know, the more you think about it, and as I told you talking to ministers, part of the discouragement isn't out and out evil, but it is a certain allowing of ourselves to drift into things that we never really should be drifting into. Sometimes I think that when I was younger, as a teenager, in my 20s, when it was in the fire of my first commitment to Jesus Christ, and serious about the kingdom, and about holiness, and about purity, I rejected thoughts that were not right. Thoughts that were impure outright, I mean, fast. But the American culture has meant well, the whole western culture books worldwide now has made it easy to allow ourselves to think about things to allow things to hang in our heads, and to allow herds to look at to think about to talk about, there's a verse in Ephesians. I shouldn't have looked it up, but it's, it's there, believe me, I think it's chapter four or five. It says that we're not even supposed to talk about the things that evil people do in secret that we shouldn't even talk about it. But it's talked about so much. And we get so used to it, that we don't realize how it lowers our standards, how it lowers our resistance, how it lowers our sense of holiness, when we allow just this to go on and on and on. And even pretty decent programs bring up some of the weirdest and crudest thoughts, and they just throw my dread, you're sitting there, sometimes they make you laugh. And that's when the thing actually penetrates. When they make you laugh about some real evil behavior, and it just comes at you and at you and at you all the time to where the barriers come down on your resistance goes down. And the Lord I feel is saying to us, don't be wise in your own eyes, just feel the Lord and shun evil, doesn't mean you become obsessive, or you become just sick, ridiculously extreme. But it does mean that we have to resist the evil and not allow ourselves and I'm number one, we have to resist and not allow ourselves to constantly be talking about the things that they do in secret, the dirty things, the evil things, one of the things that men come up, I don't know about women, but we men comes up so much that I've got to believe it's true. I don't even know how to turn on a computer. So I'm free from this one. But it's pornography on the Internet. And the guys have told me the leaders, you got to deal with that. When you get together with a man get ready and prepared and get ready for a lot of counseling and a lot of guys with a lot of questions. But I feel that the resistance comes when we begin to lose the fear of God, and we don't shun evil. to shun means to say, out of here, I will not allow this thing to get into my life. And so the Lord says, then it gives health to your body, and it even nourishes your bones, there's life, there's, there's there's just dynamic that is there. Okay, I want to move on. Then we come in verses nine and 10. To God's both the condition and the promise, Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops, then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine. Now this is about finances. So the Lord cares about every angle of our life, physical material, spiritual financial. And the simple reminder is this, that the Lord says that the tithe the first fruits of all our crops of all the profit that we make, the first fruit should go straight to the Lord right away. How does he put it on to the Lord with your wealth with the first fruits of all your crops? You know, I've been saying to some of my friends, and I will say it to you. We mustn't confuse putting money in our foundation, we're giving it to the Lord. And foundations are good. But the first time that 10% should go straight into the Kingdom just like that, then gifts and offerings and everything else we want to do. For those of us that the Lord has prospered in significant ways, yes, you can put it in a foundation to wait you know, when wait for the right moment, the right project, the right time, consensus in the family, etc, etc. But we must always remember that the first fruits, the first 10% ought to go straight to the work of the Kingdom. One fellow who works in Portland, and has written much about this has said, you know, if the Lord has given us wealth in the 21st century, it's because there are needs in the 21st century that he wants us to meet. And therefore when he gives us a blessing, we should then take at least that first first fruit, I can give it right away. Because for instance, there's an open door in parts of China, there's an open door in this area, or that area, or the other area that you're informed about. And the Lord says, I'm giving it to you now not for you to leave it to your grandchildren to give it away in the year 2050. If I want to give him money in the 2050, I'll give him money in the 2050, maybe in 2050, the Lord's already come and it will be wasted sitting in a bank in San Francisco. And the Antichrist will use it or something, you know, and the truth is that the Lord is saying to us give it and I really wanted to put that before you without putting you into false guilt. If you know what I mean that we all need it, we must distinguish between saving on taxes and giving to the Lord, they both go together. But there is a difference. You know, just putting it in fidelity, whatever the account is called or Vanguard or the Palau foundation or whatever it is. That is okay, but you must put it in so that it goes into Kingdom work. And then the Lord says, okay, when you do that these are Hey, don't worry about a thing. Your barns will be filled to overflowing and your vats will brim over with new wind. I think the Lord is saying you'll have everything that you could possibly imagine. People who don't earn much money often need this encouragement that Latin America, in many parts of the world we face it where people say I Can't give them percent, I would have anything to eat. But the Lord specifically says, you do it and your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine, I feel the Lord is saying here, you will have everything you need for your basic sustenance. And you'll even have extras for fun. Because wine is speaks of happiness and mirth, you know, that kind of a thing. And so the Lord is saying, you will have everything you need for your sustenance. And for a little fun. Also, if you do what I tell you to do. So to me, that's been a promise that spoke to me many years ago. And Pat and I, when we were missionaries, full time on the mission field, somehow I had felt at that point, that we are in very little, there was $210 to one and 15, excuse me, dollars a month, it was called a living allowance. And that's what it was, wasn't even a salary. And then for each child, they gave you a $25. So it wasn't worth having more children. Even then, you know, 25 bucks was no incentive to multiply and filling the Earth. Nevertheless, my feeling was, and I'll admit it, I admitted to the Lord and to others with shame. I used to think, yes, that giving thing and the 10% is for people who work out there and I make a big salary. But I'm living on a living allowance. I'm a missionary, my whole life is dedicated to Colombia. Here we are with gorillas floating around and all this and that. That's more than my tithes. And then I don't know how one day I was in Cali, Colombia, when we were there as missionaries on the Lord Simona spoke to me. And we we didn't have much. But I remembered the people gave us quite a bit of money when the twins were born. I'm not sure why they probably figured we needed. I remember, it was a big amount and those days, 2100 bucks, we added in a savings account in the Bank of America, Palo Alto branch, and I never thought of tithing it. And then the Lord spoke to me one day in the kitchen in our home in Cali. Boy, and I told Bob that you won't do what the Lord tells you to do. So we did and we died. And then I I figured out the interest rate, how much I owed from interest that I died on the interest. And it was such a relief, you know, since then I know, I never be you know, I have the fear of God, man, I give more than 10% Just in case I forgot something, you know, but it's a great relief. You know, I think you do tithes and offerings and extra stuff that you do, that's fine. But it is such a relief when you finally make the decision. You know, the other day Sunday, that is we baptized a fellow in our neighborhood when he's a new Christian, his wife and mine go to a book club there in Portland and these women get together and read books and they discuss them I guess over dinner once a month and but first Pat thought not one of these ladies knows the Lord wants anything to do with Christianity. Once you heard that, somebody said, How in the world did anybody invite this woman into our group, you know, she's wife of an evangelist, she's gonna hit us, you know, they were nervous as as could be. But eight or nine years, I don't know how many have gone by. And slowly they begin to open up and open up a little bit more a little bit very slowly. And they still won't read any of the books that she recommends. But I'm sure that they will come. But one day they were driving past our church, which they have to drive just to get into our neighborhood. And the wife apparently said, Hey, why don't we go into the church? This is Luis Palau's church, they actually thought we owned the church, not what a reputation, they thought that we actually owned the place it, I wish it would be quite valuable. But we don't is this belongs to the congregation and primarily to the Lord. But they thought it was our church. So they finally came and he picked up a little booklet that that I've written called, What is a real Christian? And on the back, he wrote, can I be forgiven of all of my sins, and mailed it into the office? The office gave it to me, they usually send something, you know, give it to me and said, Hey, this guy lives near your home. I showed it to parent I said, you know, this guy says Yes, his wife is in the club with me. So we connected with him last Sunday, after a year and a half. He's really converted. I have the joy of baptizing and it's the first baptism I do in our church after 55 years or whatever. They finally let me baptize one guy. And you know, as we were talking behind the thing, he said, a bunch of my buddies have come in to see me baptized because I sent them an email and said, I'm thinking a big step. I'd like all my friends to be there. So they came. And so I breached that I gave them a vision and his wife received the Lord and one of his buddies for many years and a bit of a business partner. But you know, as we were chatting, we were talking about for some reason, an offering was being taken and he said, Gosh, all my buddies are gonna think that's why I brought him here, so that they will give money he said there so they had, they always say churches always want your money. Churches always want your money. It is interesting how many people who are new in the church, have this attitude, all they want is your money, you know, based on the Bucks one stupid piece of beef that they never even finish, you know, but to give something to the church. So I think it's important that we train our young people and don't take it for granted, you know, about tithing and this kind of thing, because the Lord promises to bless overwhelmingly. And right now we're going to Argentina for a festival. And one of the great mistakes I think, that missionaries made, and I never criticize missionaries, but I was one so I can speak as a missionary. The missionaries who came to Argentina did not teach well, on business, on giving on finances, they felt that it was dirty stuff, you know that because in Latin America, the Catholics always say other priests want your money when you're born when you get married. And when they bury you, you know. So I think the missionaries went way over the top to the other side, I never talked about it, I had all my life, I never heard them preach on Second Corinthians eight and nine. So now we have to fourth generation since the missionaries came, and they don't know. And they're very few businessmen, because they feel businesses dirty, money is dirty. That was the teaching behind everything, you know, we can be poor on Earth and you're blessed, and in heaven will have streets of gold, and the doors will be of pearls and all this stuff. And the idea is, you're lucky if you're poor on Earth, because in heaven, you'll get all your rewards that comes from the Middle Ages. Well, anyway, I'm telling you this, because I've been doing it on the radio, but we want to train Argentina as part of our festival over there some teaching about the value of business as a calling and as a ministry, that is an honorable work for the Lord, etc. So I wish that you would pray for us along those lines as we go here. Okay, I'm gonna have to hurry on. We're obviously not going to finish the chapter. So don't panic. I wish we did. But it's too much. Okay. Look at verses 11 and 12. My son do not despise the Lord's discipline, and do not resent his rebuke. because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father, the son, he delights in discipline and rebuke from the Lord. And he says, you know, that's part of our experience on Earth is not punishment, unless we have it coming. Because we really broke the rules in a severe way. It's different. This is discipline, this is helping us and he says, the Lord disciplines those he loves. When we go through times of discipline, rather than looking at it as punishment. The Lord is encouraging us here to say, look, my discipline, and my rebuke is because I delight in you. It says, like a father, the son he delights in, God has given battered me four sons, and we love these guys, you know. And so from time to time, I guess we were mean and did things that keep him discipline, you know, and rebuke them a little bit, or they were fine fellows, three of them are here, and they're bigger than me. But the fact is that the Lord does it with us for our good, he loves us. He loves us, like a father loves his son, that you delight in, and the Lord delights in us. And he purifies us, and it says in John 15, about the vine and the branches, that those who bring fruity clips, I'm a little bit here and a little bit there, so that we will bring more fruit. So when the Lord allows something like dollars, I'm not sure what all the lessons are. But I'm convinced that there's some discipline there. And some many rebuke that I tried to search my heart and see what the Lord is saying to me. The Lord loves me, and the Lord delights in me. Therefore, this kind of discipline must have a purpose. And all I do is pray and search my heart and listen to Scripture and see if the Lord tells me when they lose the reason I did that to you, the reason I discipline you in Dallas, the reason you had a sort of a rebuke as far as the weather is concerned, is because of this and this and this. And if the Lord is trying to teach me something, I know it'll come out either from somebody else talking to me, maybe some of you here or through the word or through the Holy Spirit. Okay, I'll finish with this section coming up. Okay, here we go. Let's read verses 13 to 20, okay, 13 to 20 it's about wisdom.
"Blessed as the man who finds wisdom, the man who gains understanding, for she wisdom, is more profitable than silver, yields better returns like gold, she is more precious than rubies, nothing you can desire can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand, in her left hand our riches and honor her ways of pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who embrace her. Those who lay hold of her will be blessed. By wisdom the Lord laid the earth's foundations, by understanding he set the heavens in place, by his knowledge, the deeps were divided, and the clouds led drop the deal. Here are the blessings of wisdom. And you know, how can we as believers, some of us for many years, how can we increase in wisdom so as to give wisdom to our kids to our grandkids and to the young people and others that we come across. That, to me is one of the greatest haunting thoughts in my life as I've gotten really older now, how can I share the wisdom because wisdom is such a beautiful thing, when you analyze what he says here, which we don't have time. But he says, you know, wisdom is superior to gold to silver, two rubies, it is pleasant, it is peaceful, it's a tree of life, you are blessed. And it gives the Lord as an example, that by his wisdom and his knowledge, the Lord set the worlds in space. He said, All the planets, and he said, the moon and the sun and the trees and all creation was the wisdom of God. And then he says, If we grab a hold of wisdom, that the Lord and His grace will give us such a pleasant life. And you know, one prayer that I wish we would pray in the mornings, when we begin to pray in the sessions, in the earlier morning, is that God would give the church the believers, a desire and a love for wisdom so that their life can be as pleasant as it's mentioned in this chapter, how many unwise moves are made by God's people, even by the best of people, sweet people, intelligent people, engineers, otherwise, are very bright in their field and their little sliver of the pie. But they've made tremendous mistakes in their personal finance. So we bring in an expert, to share to teach principles from the Bible and practical, but that's only in the financial area, the lack of wisdom in relationships, the lack of wisdom and talking about the church or talking about the clergy or talking about the Lord. You know, wisdom is such a beautiful gift of the Lord. And this chapter challenges as an easy your life will be fruitful, will be peaceful, will be beautiful will be and you say why don't we see more of it, because somehow we as a body, don't take it to heart. We don't really believe that what the scripture says is real, but it is Amen. It is real. And it's a beautiful thing. If we had time, we would go on and on. But you can read it once again, though, most of you know it very well read it again, and let the Spirit speak to us. Now, while we are here on the grounds, because in the end, the Scripture says that when we follow His commands, not only will we as he says in verse one, he says it'll prolong our lives, but it'll bring us prosperity, spiritual, intellectual, familial, ministerial church wise, in every way. It'll bring us that blessing. Well, let's pray together now. Oh, God, our Father, we thank you, in the name of Your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. Thank you for this holy book, your word. Thank you, Lord, that you left it for us. It is a fabulous, inspired, anointed book of yours. Thank you, Lord, as we started out tonight, a little tired all of us. But nevertheless, we love to hear your voice. We thank you, all Father, that You give us instruction. I just praise you that you taught me through this book, this chapter in particular, about life, when I had no one to talk to me. And even when we do, Lord, we love to have your wisdom as our Father, and the Lord, we thank you for the eternal teaching that is in it. It is perfect. Every word of yours is flawless. There are no mistakes and Your Holy Word, oh God, make us at our stage in life, to really walk with you to really honor you to take your word to heart, to love you, Lord and to be faithful to you to love the truth and to be faithful to the truth, to love our family and be faithful to the family. Oh, Lord, we pray that you would use each one of us in this room in the years that you have still for us on Earth, to be a blessing wherever we go, to pour out the truth of your gospel and to draw people to your son Jesus Christ. Oh Lord, keep speaking to us, for you know our needs and where we are through Jesus our Lord, Amen.
