Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Wisdom from Psalms”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Accept my instruction instead of silver, and knowledge rather than pure gold. For wisdom is better than jewels, and nothing desirable can compare with it.” Proverbs 8:10-11 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “Nothing in life is as satisfying as being right with God.”

 

The Old Testament prophet Haggai ministered among the Jews in Jerusalem after they were allowed to return to the city following seventy years of exile in Babylon. It was around the year 520 B.C.

 

The people were sent into exile by God because of their unfaithfulness to Him. For generations they had pursued other gods and worldly pleasures instead of living faithful lives of holiness and righteousness. Through the prophets God had warned them repeatedly but to no avail. So finally he sent them into exile. But then, after seventy years, they were allowed to return to Jerusalem, pick up the pieces of their shattered lives, and start again. Unfortunately they had not learned their lesson. After a good but brief start, they stopped the rebuilding of the city and the temple, and began to lapse back into their old ways of seeking pleasure, comfort, and wealth rather than God. Enter Haggai.

 

Through his preaching he asked the people to notice that no matter how much material wealth they managed to acquire, no matter how many creature comforts they had, nothing ever seemed to be good enough and they where in a continuous state of always wanting more, more, more. “You have planted much but harvested little. You eat but never have enough to be satisfied. You drink but never have enough to become drunk. You put on clothes but never have enough to get warm. The wage earner puts his wages into a bag with a hole in it.” Haggai 1:6.

 

Haggai’s message is clear and simple: “Shortchanging God reaps shortchanges in life.” If you are right with God, nothing else will matter. And if you’re not right with God, nothing else will matter. Honor God and you will be blessed. If you don’t, it won’t matter how much you have because you will never really be happy or satisfied.

 

Simply observing life proves this to be true. We all know of people who have great fame and fortune but whose lives are a train wreck and they are miserable. And we all know of others who, although they don’t seem to have a lot in terms of worldly possessions, they are rich in the things of God and their lives clearly show it. All of this proves once again that nothing in life is as satisfying and fulfilling as being right with God.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Wisdom from Proverbs”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Doesn’t wisdom call out? Doesn’t Understanding make her voice heard?” Proverbs 8:1 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “God wants to be heard and understood by His people.”

 

One of the most exciting and promising truths in the Bible is that God wants to be heard and understood by His people. It’s why He gave us the Bible to begin with. “Call to Me and I will answer you and tell you great an incomprehensible things you do not know.” Jeremiah 33:3. “Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to all generously …” James 1:5

 

Again in Proverbs 8:1 God makes it clear, this time through the writings of Solomon, that He wants to be heard and understood by people; and that if we will seek to hear Him and learn from Him, He will respond to us.

 

And beyond just us calling out to Him, Proverbs 8:1 reveals that God calls out to us. He is the One who takes the initiative in this. He is the One who created the Bible and made it available to us. He is the One who established churches and who sends prophets and preachers and writers. He is the One who brings trusted counselors into our lives, and who speaks to us in dreams, or in a small voice in the quietness of our heart. Wisdom calls out to us. God makes His voice heard.

 

But many people don’t listen. Instead we rush through life at warp speed, so focused on the things of the world that we don’t stop to focus on the things of God. Or we make excuses for not going to church on Sunday and therefore we don’t hear the word God had prepared to speak to us through the lips of the preacher. Or we engage in behaviors that are clearly unbiblical and we choose to ignore Gods’ clear teaching on the subject.

 

As has been noted in a previous devotional message, wisdom is more than education. It’s more than just knowing things and accumulating knowledge. Wisdom is the ability to take what we know and apply it to the ordinary events of life in such a way that we end up living a truly outstanding life. In terms of Biblical wisdom, it’s more than just the knowledge of what God has said, it’s the practiced ability to apply what God teaches us so that we are living lives that are noticeably holy and righteous.

 

There is no trick to this. God has made it fairly easy. He has gone to extraordinary lengths to make Himself heard and understood. Wisdom begins with listening and is completed in application. We must listen to God, hear what He says, and then apply it to our lives. Do that and you will discover the truth of what Solomon then wrote in Proverbs 8:10-11:

 

“Accept my instruction instead of silver, and knowledge rather than pure gold. For wisdom is better than jewels, and nothing desirable can compare with it.”

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Wisdom from Proverbs:

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Say to wisdom, ‘You are my sister.’ And call understanding your relative. She will keep you from a forbidden woman, a stranger with her flattering talk.” Proverbs 7:4-5 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “Don’t allow yourself to be deceived and misled.”

 

In Proverbs 7:4-27 Solomon tells a story of seduction. Here he again uses adultery/fornication as a common form of sinful behavior that people are often led into, and he uses an evil woman as the one who seduces a hapless and naïve young man to engage in conduct he should be avoiding. The evil woman represents the enticements of Satan to engage in behavior God has forbidden. The naïve young man is the person who doesn’t have the sense to live according to godly standards and with Biblical wisdom.

 

The story then unfolds with the evil woman seductively and progressively leading the young man deeper and deeper into sinful behavior. For his part the young man allows his lust for the woman, instead of his love for the Lord, to be the determining factor in his choices. Therefore he is led along like a lamb to the slaughter.

 

Taken out of the narrow context of adultery/fornication, and applied instead to the larger context of life in general, the lesson teaches that we must know God’s standards and then live by them. The allure of Satan is clever and seductive. He always makes sin seem attractive and reasonable, and he entices us with the things he knows we’ll be most likely to respond to. In the case of Proverbs 7 it’s a seductive woman deceiving a young man who gives-in to youthful lust. In my case it would probably be a half gallon of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream and a big spoon. In your case it might be something else.

 

Satan baits his hook according to the appetite of the fish. So it’s important for us to know where our weaknesses lie and then take steps to avoid situations where they could be exploited. There are many examples we could consider. The male sex drive is a powerful thing. Billy Graham knows this and therefore he has refused to allow himself to be alone with any woman other than his wife.

 

Pastors as a group are underpaid. That’s just the nature of the profession. Therefore no Pastor should ever touch church money. You don’t handle the offering; you don’t have access to any church accounts; you don’t allow people to hand you their tithes and offerings because they missed the offering plate. It has to be 100% hands-off.

 

Diabetics have to avoid excess sugar in their diets. Therefore it would be silly for a diabetic to work in a candy store where they have to be around candy all day long.

 

What about you? Where are the areas of vulnerability in your life?  What are the areas in which Satan could most easily tempt you, and what are you doing to protect yourself?

 

It’s true that Biblical wisdom will save you from being deceived and misled by Satan. But Biblical wisdom by itself is not some sort of magic pill that you can swallow and it does the work all by itself. We have to be smart; we must implement safeguards in our lives; and we have to accept responsibility for controlling ourselves so we are not misled. If your weakness is donuts then stay out of the donut store!

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Wisdom from Proverbs”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Therefore calamity will strike him suddenly; he will be shattered instantly – beyond recovery.” Proverbs 6:15 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “Avoid this kind of behavior”

 

In Proverbs 6:12-15 Solomon describes a person he labels in verse 12 as “A worthless person.” The title of this passage in my study Bible is “The Malicious Man”. Either way, this is obviously not about a nice person. Solomon describes a person who is dishonest, who maneuvers, manipulates, misleads, deceives and who, because of such behavior, is headed for disaster in life. To make his point, in verse 15, he engages in a bit of hyperbole by writing “Calamity will strike him suddenly”, “He will be shattered instantly”, and it will be “Beyond recovery”.

 

Then in verses 16-19 he goes on to list seven specific behaviors that the Lord hates to see in a person. In my opinion this is a laundry list of behaviors that will inevitably lead to the bad end he wrote about in verse 15:

 

1. “Arrogant eyes”: This is another way of saying “haughty” or “prideful”. This is a person who is so full of themselves that they don’t see situations accurately.

 

1. “A lying tongue”: This person is dishonest and therefore cannot be trusted. It doesn’t take the rest of us very long to know this person for who they really are.

 

1. “Hands that shed innocent blood”:  This is a person who is perfectly willing for others to be hurt if it is to their own advantage.

 

1. “A heart that plots wicked schemes”. This is the dishonest business owner who defrauds his customers, or the investment counselor who makes off with people’s money. This is not a crime of passion, it is a well thought out and carefully planned scheme.

 

1. “Feet eager to run to evil.” Racing to do wrong is the opposite of seeking to do right. This is the drug dealer headed to the drug deal; it’s the thief preparing to break into your house; it’s the rioter running to throw the brick through the store window.

 

1. “A lying witness”. This is bearing a false witness against an innocent person; or it could also be spreading rumors, gossip, and lies about someone.

 

1. “One who stirs up trouble among brothers”: This is the drama queen (or king). This is the person who feeds on drama and who loves to stir up dissension. Such people create toxic environments where everyone is fighting and bickering.

 

According to Solomon this is conduct the Lord detests and hates. The ultimate end for such people is calamity and a shattered life. The point of the passage is that we are to avoid such things in our own conduct.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Wisdom from Proverbs”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Go to the ant, you slacker! Observe its ways and become wise … A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the arms to rest, and your poverty will come like a robber, your need, like a bandit.” Proverbs 6:1; 10-11 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “Don’t be lazy or short-sighted.”

 

In Proverbs 6:6-11 Solomon once again exhorts his readers to be diligent and productive in life. It’s a theme that gets repeated numerous times in the Proverbs, but also in many other places in both the Old and New Testaments. God intends for us to work and to meet our own needs. He also intends for us to live modestly and to prepare for the future.

 

In this passage Solomon used the example of an ant. Ants are hard workers by nature and they store up for the future. We see that same work ethic among many species in the animal and insect kingdoms. Ants do it, so do squirrels, as do bears and beavers. Most humans also work hard to provide for themselves and their families and they attempt to be prepared for the future, but not all. Solomon actually addressed this portion of Proverbs 6 to someone he refers to as “Slacker”. He must have had in mind a lazy person who tries to get by with doing as little as possible.

 

We all know the type. In our entitlement society, with such a widespread and pervasive welfare mentality, there are literally millions of people living on taxpayer dollars because they supposedly cannot work, when in fact they could be. That’s not ok. In 2 Thessalonians 3:10 the Apostle Paul said that if a person can work but won’t then he should go hungry: “If a man will not work then he shall not eat.”

 

This isn’t to suggest that society shouldn’t have a series of safety nets to assist those who are down on their luck or who have suffered a health crisis they were unprepared for. Such safety nets should exist. But in our society it has gotten terribly out of control and is being badly abused. One point Solomon is making here, by using the example of the ant, is that as God’s people we are to be diligent hard workers who do what is needed to meet our own needs.

 

But the other part of the lesson involves long-range planning and preparation for the future. During productive times of plenty we need to store up for times in the future that might become lean and hard. In other words we need to save money, buy insurance policies, minimize debt, and take the actions now to prepare ourselves for what could happen later. The story of Joseph in the book of Genesis (41:25-40) provides an excellent Biblical example of this.

 

So the short and simple take-away from this is: Don’t be lazy and don’t be short-sighted. Do what you can to provide for yourself, and take steps to prepare for the future.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Wisdom from Proverbs”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, or entered into an agreement with a stranger, you have been trapped by the words of your lips – ensnared by the words of your mouth.” Proverbs 6:1-2 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “Don’t co-sign loans.”

 

Have you ever co-signed a loan for someone? I’ve done it on several occasions to help one of my children buy a car, but never for anyone else. Co-signing has become an increasingly common practice among lending institutions in our day. The borrower either has no credit history of their own, or they have a poor one and therefore the bank requires someone with better credit to share the risk of the loan by co-signing for it. The co-signer then assumes responsibility for repaying the loan in the event the borrower is unable to.

 

In Proverbs 6:1-2 Solomon warns against this practice. So does Dave Ramsey. In his books and seminars such as “Financial Peace University” and “Total Money Makeover” Dave says that if you’re going to co-sign for someone you might as well assume that the loan is yours and you need to make plans to pay it. That doesn’t happen in every case, but it does happen often enough for someone like Dave Ramsey (and Solomon) to urge us not to do it.

 

There are many reasons to avoid co-signing. For one thing, you’re enabling someone else to go into debt. It’s always better to save your money and to pay cash for whatever it is you want, limiting your purchase to what you actually have the cash for.

 

Second, by co-signing you may be enabling bad financial practices in the borrower. If the person needs a co-signer it could mean that they haven’t handled their money well up to this point and that’s why they aren’t in a position to get the loan to begin with. You getting the loan for them won’t change their bad financial habits it just means that you’re now sharing the risk with them.

 

Third, if the person is a little irresponsible in their financial habits, having you as a co-signer lessens their incentive to pay the loan back. That’s especially true if they think you have lots of money and can therefore easily make the payments for them.

 

And then of course, all of that creates the potential for broken relationships.

 

I don’t mean to say that co-signing is never OK. I personally don’t regret having co-signed for my children so they could each get a decent car and establish credit of their own. I’ve done that once for each of them and each time it turned out well. But I would not do it as a matter of practice and I would not do it for anyone other than my children. Dave Ramsey, King Solomon, and I all recommend that you don’t co-sign loans.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Wisdom from Proverbs”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Drink water from your own cistern, water flowing from your own well.” Proverbs 5:15 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “Adultery is stupid.”

 

I’m not exactly sure how often the Bible explicitly forbids the practice of adultery, or portrays it as being something really stupid to do, but it’s a lot. God started with the seventh of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:14 and went on from there. At least fifty-three times in the Bible He forbids the practice. Sometimes the concepts of adultery and fornication are used interchangeably. Fornication is addressed at least twelve times.

 

In the Bible adultery means any voluntary sexual relations with a person other than your spouse. The term always applies when the sexual relations involve a person who is married to someone else, but it is also generally used to describe any sexual conduct outside of a marriage union between one man and one woman. Therefore sex between two unmarried people could also fall under the general concept of adultery. Simply put, sex outside of marriage is outside of God’s law.

 

In Proverbs 5:15-23 Solomon portrays sexual relations between lawfully wedded spouses as “drinking water from your own cistern, water flowing from your own well” but sexual relations with someone other than your spouse is described as allowing your streams of love to “flow in the streets … in the public squares.” (5:16)

 

The editors of “The Daily Walk Bible” offer this insight: “A well, or fountain, offers pure water for personal use. The water that runs through the street is … basically sewage.”

 

So there you go – indulging in sex with someone other than your lawfully wedded spouse is like drinking sewage.

 

The rest of the Proverb goes on to describe the pain and anguish the adulterer causes for him/her self and for others. For instance verse 23 concludes the Proverb with the strong statement:

 

“A wicked man’s iniquities entrap him; he is entangled in the ropes of his own sin. He will die because there is no discipline, and be lost because of his great stupidity.”

 

Adultery is stupid. It’s like drinking raw sewage. It entangles people in sin, destroys homes, hurts children, and dishonors God. The Bible’s clear instruction is, “Don’t do it.”

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

 

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Wisdom from Proverbs”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “My son, pay attention to my wisdom; listen closely to my understanding so that you may maintain discretion and your lips safeguard knowledge. Though the lips of the forbidden woman drip honey and her words are smoother than oil, in the end she’s as bitter as wormwood and as sharp as a double-edged sword.” Proverbs 5:1-4 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “Wise decisions lead to blessings; foolish decisions lead to suffering.”

 

The editors of “The Daily Walk Bible” offer this insight in conjunction with Proverbs 5:1-4, “Few people plan to ruin their lives. Yet many a life ends in ruin. Why? Because someone else planned to ruin it for them. Satan is alive and well … and craftily cunning in his attempts to destroy the moral fiber of God’s children.”

 

In Proverbs 5:1-4 Solomon used the literary device of portraying the seductive temptations of evil in the form of a promiscuous woman, and the unwise person as the one who gives-in to her seductions. This is a common metaphor used frequently in the Bible and we will see it again in our future discussions of upcoming Proverbs.

 

The point being made here is that in the Bible God has clearly established the boundaries within which He wants us to live. These are standards of conduct that are pleasing to Him and which are therefore allowable for us. Living within those boundaries is what constitutes living according to Biblical wisdom. Straying outside of those boundaries, and engaging in conduct that is prohibited by God, is portrayed as being Biblically unwise and it is conduct that always leads to disaster. This is why as the people of God we must know our Bibles and then live accordingly.

 

Coming back to that insight from the Daily Walk Bible, few people actually plan to ruin their lives. But their lives do end up being ruined anyway and it happens because they foolishly stray outside the boundaries of Biblical wisdom. Satan cunningly entices them with seemingly attractive alternatives, and they end up sinking in the muck and the mire of a sin-filled life. There’s a lot of truth to the old adage, “Sin will take you further than you wanted to go, keep you longer than you wanted to stay, and cost you more than you wanted to pay.”

 

The wise person will know his or her Bible and then live by it. The foolish person will allow themselves to be led astray by Satan and they will end up paying a big price for it. Biblical wisdom opens our eyes to the blessings of God’s way.

 

Wise decisions lead to blessings; foolish decisions lead to suffering.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Wisdom from Proverbs”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Carefully consider the path of your feet, and all your ways will be established. Don’t turn to the right or to the left; keep your feet away from evil.” Proverbs 4:26-27 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “Stay on the right path.”

 

Back in the 1970s there were two rock and roll songs that have consistently been rated as being two of the best rock songs ever written. The first one was by a band called Led Zeppelin and the song was “Stairway to Heaven”. It was not a Christian song but it did borrow from the imagery found in Genesis 28:12 where Jacob witnessed angels climbing a stairway between earth and heaven.

 

The second song was definitely not a Christian song. It was by the band AC/DC and was called “Highway to Hell”. It celebrated a life of sex, drugs, and rock and roll and was based on the picture painted by Jesus in Matthew 7:13 when He said “Enter through the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the road is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who go through it. How narrow is the gate and difficult the road that leads to life, and few find it.”

 

Without question there is a highway to hell that is wide and well-traveled, but there is only a stairway to heaven which is narrow and less traveled. In Proverbs 4:26-27 Solomon changes the metaphor slightly and urges us to find and stay on the path that leads to righteous conduct and eternal life, and to avoid the path that leads to evil behavior and ultimate destruction.

 

Sadly, many people never give much thought to which path they’re on and where it might be leading them. Some people fill their lives with so many other things that they remain perpetually distracted from the things of God. Some people are intentionally evil and they seem to like it. Others are simply ambivalent about it all. They just shuffle through their days and they really don’t seem to care where they’re headed.

 

But God has created us as rational thoughtful beings with the capacity to think things through and to make smart decisions. We can and should evaluate our lives, consider where we’re at and where we’re headed, and then make course corrections as needed.

 

Speaking of stairways and ladders, many people spend their lives climbing what they believe to be the ladder of success, only to discover once they arrive at the top that the ladder was leaning against the wrong wall.

 

I encourage you to take a close look at your attitudes and behaviors; consider the path you’re on in life and where it is leading you. Then be willing to make the necessary corrections. Choose the path that leads to righteousness and eternal life, because the alternative truly is a highway to hell.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

 

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Wisdom from Proverbs”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Guard your heart above all else, for it is the source of life.” Proverbs 4:23 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “Guard your heart.”

 

In Proverbs 4:23 Solomon warns his readers that we must be intentional about guarding our heart. The reason he gives us is that the heart is the source of life. In other translations that phrase reads, “the well-spring of life.” In other words, the heart is the place from which the rest of life rises up and flows.

 

Obviously we’re not talking here about that 11 ounce muscle located in the left side of the chest which pumps blood throughout the body. In Biblical terms the “heart” is the essence of the person. The Greek word is “kardia” and it refers to the seat of conscious thought, emotional states, and intellectual activities deep within a person. It is the well-spring from which flows all thinking, speaking, and conduct and it is the secret place within us where we develop, guard, and cling to the things that are most precious to us. It is that place that Solomon warns us to safeguard.

 

In Luke 6:45 Jesus tells us that out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. What He means is that whatever is in your heart will eventually bubble up and break through to the surface. People often try to hide what’s in their heart. Deep within they’re full of thoughts of lust or anger or profanity or greed. Outwardly they might smile and be as sweet as honey but inwardly they’re harboring all sorts of sin. Jesus says that sooner or later what’s in the heart will make its way to the surface and show itself in words and deeds.

 

So we must guard what we allow into the heart to begin with. Everyday we make choices about the music we listen to, the things we read, the movies and television programs we watch, the conversations we engage in. All of those influences penetrate to the level of the heart. As the people of God we must make good choices about such things.

 

We must also guard what we dwell on in our heart. Even on those occasions when a bad influence makes its way into our heart, we still have a choice as to whether we will expel it or hang onto it, and whether or not we will dwell on it. The more we dwell on something the more deeply seated it becomes and the more a permanent part of us it is.

 

Then we must be truthful with ourselves about what is already in our heart. You know and God knows what’s really there. Denying it only makes things worse. The heart can be cleansed of all unrighteousness. We can flood the heart with large volumes of Bible reading, good music, and good conversation. We can also choose to dwell on those good influences and allow them to become what is deeply seated within us.

 

The words you speak and the actions you take are a direct reflection of what is really in your heart. So guard your heart, for it is the source of life.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim