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

You're listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a

couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun in

practical ways. Hey, everybody, if you're brand new, we are

the Bible Guys. I am Chris, and this is Jeff.

And notice that his name is first The Bible Guys

with Jeff and Chris.

It's right above me. Oh, Jeff and Chris. Yeah, why

isn't it Chris and Jeff Jeff? Uh?

Well, I think we know why, our listeners. There's the

Bible Guy, and then there's the Bible Guys.

It's his companion. It's the Bible Guy's companion, Chris.

I think our listeners know. We should just ask them.

It's so funny. All right.

Well, now that we have that out of the way

and everybody knows, uh, we're gonna go ahead and move

right into a segment called you know. Desiree wrote this

called Thanksgiving story Time. She writes Happy Thanksgiving, which, by

the way, that means this is going to play on Thanksgiving, right.

Yes, Happy Thanksgiving? Yeah, because this is a week before for.

Us, right right, right, right right, Yeah.

We're shooting the week before, which sometimes we should several

weeks in advance. Yes, so we've both been out of

the country and we've quite a bit. Miss you had

to play catch up. So happy thanks Thanksgiving. Oh my goodness,

I can't believe we both did that. That is crazy.

That is some seriously crazy stuff.

There we go.

Let's share stories of a funny, embarrassing, or memorable moment

that happened on a Thanksgiving over the years.

Okay, so you have a story.

So our Thanksgivings are rowdy, aur yours do you?

Guys have? Like?

No opposite?

It's true when we gather around. You know, my mom

always likes to cook a lot, and lately the last

several years I've done like the turkey, and Bonnie and

I help out. And then hopefully my brother's families come

in and we all kind of gather on my mom

and dad's house, and then whatever brothers are there, I'm

the oldest of the four brothers. Whatever brothers are there,

it's just cutting up and laughing, and then he gets

louder and louder. So after dinner we watched football then

and then after that, usually everybody's gathering around, they want

to play games of some kind. So I'm always bringing

new games to my mom and I like like games

where like, have you played Ultimate Wear? Well, you've played

Ultimate Wear well before, right, where everybody's trying to figure

out who the were wolves are versus the villagers and

there's a lot of accusing and yelling and that kind

of thing. So I have a game like that that

I bought from my mom called The Donner Dinner Party,

and it's it's essentially the same where you're trying to

figure out who the cannibals are and who the the

regular pilgrims are, not Pilgrims but pioneers are in the thing.

And I bought it just to find out which one

of my mom's kids would she eat first the thing? Yeah,

so on Thanksgiving dinner, we made my mom a cannibal.

So yeah, not for real, right right?

Yeah?

Wow?

And yeah it was fun.

Well that was that was It wasn't me, it was Mark.

That's the next one down for me. Well, because she

loves me.

Of your twenty seven brothers, yeah.

Yeah, I have four brothers.

Yes, all right, Uh so here's my Thanksgiving story for Yeah,

well you have how many sisters? How many sisters?

Six?

Right?

Six older sisters.

Yeah, it's just a crazy amount of siblings. Yeah, So

here's my Thanksgiving story. When I was twelve years old,

I went over to my grandmother and grandmother grandmother and

grandfather's house. Actually they owned, no, they managed a U

haul storage facility, so there's like an apartment that was

like on site.

So that's where they lived.

So we would go over there and have Thanksgiving, and

it was you know, we shared holidays, right, so because

my mom and they were divorced, so this was sort

of my dad's holiday and he chose to spend it

with his father and mother. So my cousins were there

from my dad's side. Who were the cousins that we

spent the least amount of time with? Okay, Okay, So anyway,

my uncle, uh huh Okay, I'm trying to be Jenda.

So we sort of.

Don't understand his side a lot, Okay, don't We don't

mess it a lot.

Okay.

So anyway, what ends up happening is my uncle whatever

his name is, from Tennessee, Uncle John, Uncle John and

K come up from Tennessee and they have this big

sheep dog and I'm talking like the biggest thing you've

ever seen. When I was twelve, he looked like a

giant and everybody was scared of him. And so I'm like,

I go over to pet him, and Uncle John says,

he's it's okay, like it's all right, and he was

he was bigger than me like at the time, and

so I got down on my hands and knees and

I leaned up right to his face and he said

it's okay.

And I reached out my hand and I went to

go pet him. And as soon as I was right around.

To touch him, my other cousin, Dustin, comes running around

the corner and decides to run and tackle the sheep

dog like a horse. And so the sheep dog freaks

out and bites me. And I currently have twelve stitches

right here, so you can see.

Yeah a little bit, yeah, this a little bit of

a scar there.

Yeah, yeah, so the scar it's hideous.

It is for our listeners. And I can't I can't

even make eye content and.

I'll never even I'll never forget how the dog jumped.

At me and was like and just literally ate my face.

Wow, and had twelve stitches across eighteen stitches across my jawline,

and that was my Thanksgiving Wow.

Well you can barely see it now.

And and it stained my my jacket, my red jacket.

I had to throw it away.

It was red blood, but you know, didn't quite match. Wow,

different shades of red.

So you got eaten by a dog, yes, and my

brother got eaten by my mom.

Oh oh hey, that was random.

Yeah.

And by the way, speaking of random, random, this chapter

is filled with random quote good job. Yeah, I mean

just access like just total one liners that are randomly

put into the same chapter.

From chapter ten to chapter twenty two. It's literally one

or two versus one liners. They're not even connected. A

lot of times. The idea is it's just ideas. It's

like he's right now, Oh, here's a good idea. Here's

a good idea. Here's a good idea. Here's a good idea.

Right.

So that's what these are, and I love them. I

quote I think from these next to a dozen chapters.

I quote from these, probably more than with regard to

practical living than any other passages in the Bible. So

they're great. Here's what it says, A wise child Chapter ten.

Isn't that what we're reading? YEA Chapter ten the Proverbs

of Solemn and A wise Child brings joy to a father.

A foolish child brings grief to a mother. Tainted wealth

has no lasting value, but right living can save your life.

The Lord will not let the godly go hungry, but

he refuses to satisfy the craving of the wicked. Lazy

people are soon poor. Hard workers get rich. Wise youth harvests,

a wise youth harvests in the summer, but one who

sleeps during harvest is a disgrace. The godly are showered

with blessings. The words of the wicked conceal violent intentions.

We have happy memories of the godly, but the name

of a wicked person rots away. The wise are glad

to be instructed, but babbling fools fall flat on their faces.

People with integrity walk safely, but those who follow crooked

paths will slip and fall. People who wink it wrong

cause trouble, but a bold reproof promotes peace. The words

of the godly are a life giving fountain. The words

of the wicked conceal violent intentions. Hatred stirs up quarrels,

but love makes up for all offenses. Wise words come

from the lips of people with understanding, but those lacking

sense will be beaten with a rod. Wise people treasure knowledge,

but the babbling of a fool invites disaster. The wealth

of the rich is their fortress, the poverty of the

poor is their destruction. The earnings of the godly enhance

their lives, but evil people squander their money on sin.

People who accept discipline are on the pathway to life,

but those who ignore correction will go astray. Hiding hatred

makes you a liar. Slandering others makes you a fool.

Too much talk leads to sin. Be sensible and keep

your mouth shut. That's great, says the guys with a podcast, Right,

right right. The words of the godly are like sterling silver.

The heart of a fool is worthless. The words of

the godly encourage many, but fools are destroyed by their

lack of common sense. The blessing of the Lord makes

a person rich, and he adds no sorrow with it.

Doing wrong is fun for a fool, but living wisely

brings pleasure to the sensible. The fears of the wicked

will be fulfilled. The hopes of the godly will be

granted when the storms of life come. The wicked are

world away, but the godly have a lasting foundation. Lazy

people irritate their employers, like vinegar to the teeth or

smoke in the eyes. Fear of the Lord lengthens one's life,

but the years of the wicked are cut short. The

hopes of the godly result in happiness, but the expectations

of the wicked come to nothing. The way of the

Lord is a stronghold to those with integrity, but it

destroys the wicked. The godly will never be disturbed, but

the wicked will be removed from the land. The mouth

of the godly person gives wise advice, but the tongue

that deceives will be cut off. The lips of the

godly speak helpful words, but the mouth of the wicked

speaks perverse words. So it's just whise sayings, yeah.

Yep, and really, I mean, goodness, gracious. It almost seems

to have a theme, which is how great the godly

are and how not great the ungodly are.

How great the life of the godly will be. Yes,

it's really it's not that they're good people. It's that

as they choose God's ways, life is going to be

pretty good for them. Life's going to be pretty bad

for the person who rejects God's ways.

Right, Yeah, yeah, So, I mean it almost feels like

most of it has that theme going back and forth.

Yeah and yeah. You have words, right. So he talks

a lot about the kind of words that people say,

and he says, like, the words of the godly are

life giving. The words of wicked conceal violent intentions. Right,

how often do we hurt people even unintentionally? We hurt

people with our words versus giving life? Right, there's another

one over here, was it I'm looking for the mouth

of the godly person gives wise advice, but the tongue

that the sieves will be cut off. The lips of

the godly speak helpful words, but the mouth of the

wicked speaks for verse words. There's a lot of phrases

in here about how important our words are. And he's

always talking about how the godly build up. Now the

godly also correct. He talks about that a few different

times in here. The godly will bring discipline. And was

it that Dave Harrington says, Dave is really one of

the wise men in my life. He's one of the

key leaders that Heritage Church. And Dave said to our

staff yesterday. Candor is caring, right, So being clear and

speaking truth is evidence that you love somebody or care

for somebody. So that's in there. It's the idea that

wise words come from the lips of people with understanding,

but those lacking sense will be beaten with a rod. This

whole chapter, it's like every third verse has something to

do with wise words versus foolish words, and that wise

words usually build up or bring clarity, Foolish words tear

down or try to get people to do the wrong thing.

You know what these little sayings seem to do for me,

They seem to be a reminder of like a thirty

thousand foot perspective, because think about it, if you're in

the moment, sometimes you can get swept away with foolish

words or foolish moments, or you know, like heading a

foolish direction or making a foolish choice, and then you know,

and you know, maybe the wisdom is something you just

want to ignore because you just want to do what

you want to do, or you know, whatever it is.

But these are principles that sort of zoom you out

and it feels like you're flying thirty thousand feet, And

so what he's trying, at least for me. Anyway, it

feels like, hey, when you're in that moment and you

need to recognize the difference between what wisdom is going

to do for you to live your life in this

way versus foolishness, and it feels like these are principles

that help us to recognize that in the moment, Uh choose, choose,

the choose the godly way as opposed to the ungodly

way or the wicked way. And uh, I remember, goodness gracious.

Back in September of two thousand and seven, we actually

did a series. It was a four part series called Stop.

And in fact, back then, you know, we used to

have keychains.

Remember back then in two thousand and seven, when everybody

had keychains.

Maybe people still do, right, I don't have any keychain

hardly at all. But but anyway, we used to you know,

carry like the Kroger, you know, barcode where you boop,

you know, and you have all these things.

On your keychain.

Well, anyway, we had this thing for people to put

on their keychain called Stop and the tagline was stop

and then underneath it said because everyone is tempted. It

was a four week series on temptation. And in that series,

what we said was is that right in the moment,

when you're in the heat of the moment and you're

tempted to do something, you also maybe ten to think

that your action may not connect to anything else because

you think that that moment exists singularly in time.

But the reality.

Is is that that moment of weakness or bad choices

or consequence, all of it is attached to so much

more So, the encouragement of the entire series was this

is that before you make the bad choice, stop and

pause and recognize these things are true. And here's what

we said. We said, in that moment, your faith is

at stake, your family is at stake, and your friends,

your friends and family to some degree, and then your

future is at stake. So every time that you're tempted

to do the wrong thing, stop and recognize and say, okay,

you know, how is this going to affect my faith

with my heavenly Father, my friends and family around.

Me to some degree, and then my future and.

So and so when we recognize that this one choice right,

you know, hey, it feels good in the moment, I

want to go rob a bank, it's going to pay

my bills, right, And it's like, wait a minute, stop

and realize this is connected to so many other things.

And that's what this.

Chapter feels like to me. It feels like, hey, you

have to recognize that in the moment, I'm going to

give you wisdom on recognizing the difference of these two things.

And these are principles they're going to define the rest

of your life.

Yeah, that's really solid. There's a lot of other themes

in these proverbs, and especially as you read through from

ten to twenty one or twenty two, whatever it is

these chapters. Here. One of the other themes that comes up,

and we talked about this yesterday just briefly, is the

difference between lazy people and industrious people. Remember yesterday, he says, hey,

look at the ants right right, and don't be a

lazy bones.

Lazy bones.

Yeah, So here in verse four and five, he says,

lazy people are soon poor. Hard workers get rich. A

wise youth harvests in the summer, but one who sleeps

during harvest is a disgrace. There's other passages where it's

going to talk about hard work versus was it verse sixteen,

the earnings of the godly enhance their lives, but evil

people squander their money right on sin. So there's a

lot in the Book of Proverbs about how to get ahead,

how to build wealth, that godly people just keep working

and work hard and over time that translates into success,

and that foolish people hold back, they don't do what

needs to be done when it needs to be done,

and they just keep hoping. There's other times when he

talks about how foolish people just keep hoping that things

will get better as opposed to start making things better.

And I've had, you know, people I've talked to before

that were just struggling financially, couldn't get ahead, didn't like

the job that they're in, frustrated with their life, And

my thing is, what are you doing to make it

life better? Oh? Life's too hard, Already, work too many hours,

already do too many things. And I'm like, if you

keep doing what you're doing, you're going to keep getting

what you get right. If you want your life to change,

you have to be that person, that person that literally

a wise youth harvest in the summer. My dad used

to say, you got to make hay while the sunshining right,

because there's gonna be a day when you can't make

hay anymore.

Right.

You can't harvest if it's not harvest season. So if

you have the opportunity in front of you, grab a

hold of it. That might mean a little less sleep

for a year or two in order to get go

back to school and get that degree you need in

order to get into management instead of always being on

the poor side of the business right, or to be

able to go start a new career or something. People

wait around just hoping God will do a miracle, and

God's like, the miracle is you woke up again today.

The miracle is I've given you opportunities, you're just not

seizing them. God doesn't say it's going to be easy.

God says, if you're a godly person, you're going to

work hard, and hard workers get rich. Wise people harvest

when it's harvest time. Foolish people, lazy people are soon poor.

Foolish people sleep when there could be an opportunity to

make more right. And so I just think that there's

there's something to that the general work ethic of a

godly person should far exceed the way the work ethic

of of lazy, godless people.

Yeah, yeah, and I love how in verse Oh no,

I'm looking ahead dead gummet. I was looking down at

chapter eleven, verse number one. It says the Lord detests

the use of dishonest scales, but he delights in accurate weights.

Isn't that a great verse?

Yeah? So, you know, back then they would they would

do trade and commerce with the scales of justice, and

oftentimes it was the literal weight of something, but more times.

It was the it was the weight of of you know,

of the of their currency. Right, and so anyway, so.

The just weights were always determined by the king. Usually

would have determination is to this is the exact weight

of an ounce of gold, This is it. And they

would have these weights that would be approved and stamped

by the government. Well, then what crooks would do is

they would drill them out, lighten them, and then what

would happen is that they would they would be able

to get more money, right, but it would appear on

the scales to be the same.

Or maybe it's a scale that's outside or right, right, Yeah,

But dishonest scales, you know, it's it's really a thing

that just talks about honesty.

Guides good people. Dishonesty destroys treasures people. Again, I've just

skipped ahead to chapter.

Eleven, but I love those I love that concept, just

how God is talking about integrity, He's talking about honesty,

and it's just really great.

So you have this this hard work theme, you have

this the use of your words theme, and then you

have the long life theme throughout his writings. Right, you're

gonna have a long, satisfying life if you fear the Lord,

for instance, right, and then hopes, your hopes will be

granted if you're a godly person and you're going God's way.

It's amazing how often life turns out the way you

hoped it would when you go God's way. And for

those that are godless, life tends to always be a

mystery and it's a struggle and it winds up. You know,

things come apart, and so you know he's talking. These

seem to be the three big themes. Your words, your

hard work, and a satisfying life. Hard work is going

to produce resources. God's going to bless you. You're going

to get richer your words if you use them wisely,

You're going to build up other people. You're gonna have

better relationships. If you go God's way, you're going to

have a long, healthy, a satisfying life. If you reject

God's way, you're going to have a hard life. Those

seem to be the three major themes that you're talking here.

That's solid.

You know what stands out to me Verse ouver eighteen,

where he says hiding hatred makes you a liar, slanding

other makes you a fool. You noticed that he didn't

say that, you know, having hatred makes you a liar.

He just says hiding it, which means you can you

can have anger towards someone, You can have But but

but only when you harbor anger, you know, would it

turn into hatred? Right?

And and so and so he but.

I love how he says hiding it is what makes

you a liar. In other words, like, there's nothing wrong

with dealing with anger, there's nothing wrong with.

Dealing with conflict. That that's the implication that's yes to be.

He's not celebrating hatred. He's just saying, don't be fake.

Right right there? There is in our culture this sense

of fakeness. All bless his heart. And what you mean

is he's such an idiot, right, there's there's a there's

a sense in some of our circles and some of

our cultures that we we pretend this passive aggressive pretending

to like a person when we don't, as opposed to

just be honest about who you are and what you're about, right,

and there'll be fake Yeah, that's a great one.

I like that one.

I'll tell you the other one I like. I like

lazy people irritate their employers, like vinegar to the teeth

and smoking the eyes.

Wow, I love that one.

Wow.

Yeah.

Hey, there are sometimes you just don't want you know,

you have somebody that you're employing. We don't have that currently,

do we not correct, But there are times where every

time you think of that person, you go yeah, right,

and we we literally we we draw the air in

through our teeth and squint our eyes, like right, and.

Vinegar to the teeth sometimes is you'll pucker up with

sour taste.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, Yeah.

There have definitely been people I could think of, not

even a heritage. I'm thinking of like over the.

Past thirty years.

Yeah, we've been employers for a long time.

Yes, Yes, I can think of people for sure.

Yeah, it's just a funny one to the eyes. It's

very clever. It's when you read it, it's very you

can feel it, you can feel ways right, and it's

just very clever.

How hell you right it there? It's so great. Well, hey,

that's a good wrap up for the chapter.

And happy Thanksgiving everybody, and hopefully we'll see you tomorrow

on the Bible guys,