Answers Bible Curriculum Year 2 Quarter 2 Lesson 8
In this lesson, David Capoccia overviews the book of Proverbs. After a quiz on what is really a biblical proverb, David Capoccia discusses the background of Proverbs, the purpose of Proverbs given in its introductory chapters, and the broad array of life topics addressed in Proverbs. David Capoccia finishes by asking whether we value and pay more attention to the world’s so-called wisdom or God’s.
Auto Transcript
Note: This rough transcript was automatically generated by YouTube’s AI algorithm. We provide it here for your convenience, but know it will surely contain errors as it has not been proofread or edited by a human.
them and that we would see its great superiority to anything the world has to offer father give me the ability to speak clearly and work in the hearts of your people edify them build them up make them more mature in Jesus name amen oh we start with the quits Proverbs Pop Quiz there are many Proverbs in the world today a proverb is just a set of wise words or a memorable pithy statement many of these circulate in our culture even in America and it can be easy to confuse common Proverbs with the Proverbs of the Bible so let’s see if we can tell the difference I’m going to display 10 Proverbs on the screen and in your mind decide whether that proverb comes from the Bible or is actually a common proverb from the world don’t answer these out loud I’m going to give you a few seconds make the decision in your mind common proverb or Bible proverb and then we’ll discuss the answer okay so I’ll display it give you a few seconds and then we’ll discuss the answer questions about what we’re about to do okay so first proverb maybe some of these are easier than others a journey of a Thousand Miles begins with a single step common proverb a Bible proverb this is a common proverb this is actually from Lao Tzu ancient Chinese philosopher founder of taoism not from the Bible next Penny saved is a penny earned well that’s definitely not in the Bible they didn’t even have pennies back in the Old Testament times this is a common proverb actually a misquotation of some things that Ben Franklin wrote next spare the rod spoil the child it’s actually a common proverb it sounds similar to some things that the Bible says but these words are not in the Bible this phrase actually comes from a 16th century satirical poem next a joyful heart is good medicine that’s a Bible proverb that comes from Proverbs 17 22. a joyful heart is good medicine but a broken Spirit dries up the bones click the next one God helps those who help themselves this is a common proverb not in the Bible the origin is uncertain but you can find very similar statements as far back as ancient Pagan Greek plagues they didn’t refer to one God they would refer to many gods but you should ask because then the gods will help you five more the early bird gets the worm well that’s not in the Bible that’s a common proverb origin unknown but first recorded in a book of English Proverbs in 1670.
cleanliness is Next to Godliness this is also a common proverb it’s actually very various forms of it first appear in ancient Babylonian religious tracks pretty ancient but we can thank John Wesley for giving us the phrase in our uh English English version he used it in a sermon in 1791.
we don’t have the full context of that but he said cleanliness is indeed Next to Godliness next follow your heart that is a common proverb Unknown Origin flatly contradicts what the Bible teaches though in a funny way the phrase is in the Bible but there’s some context there’s a caveat that totally changes the meaning of the phrase Ecclesiastes 11 9 says Rejoice young men during your childhood and let your heart be pleasant during the days of your young days of Young Manhood and follow the impulses of your heart and the desires of your eyes yet know that God will bring you the Judgment for all these things a little bit different meaning two more wealth makes many friends that’s a Bible proverb it’s actually in the Bible Proverbs 19 4 wealth adds many friends but a poor man is separated from his friend last one patience is a virtue every time you heard that one hurry up oh patience is virtue actually a common proverb the phrase doesn’t appear in the Bible its origin appears to be a 14th century uh Middle English poem patience is mentioned as a fruit of the spirit in the New Testament but it’s never specifically said to be a virtue so we see some common and biblical Proverbs not just because a proverb doesn’t come from the Bible doesn’t mean it’s useless or evil there’s sometimes basic wisdom to be found even in common Proverbs but that which is truly useful that which is superior to any proverb of man is found in the Bible yet how much more well-known are common Proverbs than the Proverbs of God let’s take a look at God’s Proverbs and do our best to keep straight what is divine wisdom and what is merely man’s Wisdom let’s turn now to background information on the Book of Proverbs the original Hebrew title of this book is the Proverbs of Solomon Solomon wrote most of the Proverbs though some of the Proverbs in this book were actually written by other people they’re identified as such the book was not written or at least did not achieve its final form until after the days of Hezekiah because one section of Proverbs says these are written by Hezekiah copies of Solomon’s proverbs so the final form of this book had to come after Hezekiah and the divided Kingdom Period the book is written as Hebrew Poetry meaning we’re going to see a lot of parallelism remember we saw that with the Psalms this is the defining aspect of Hebrew poetry parallelism setting those corresponding statements next to each other good for memory good for emphasis good for vivid pictures and allows you to draw out the connections between even things that seem unrelated the book is written in the perspective of a father passing on wisdom to his son passing on advice to his son but certainly this book was meant to be instructed to more than Solomon’s immediate children this was actually instruction for all the young men that were coming to serve in Solomon’s court or the other serving in the court of the Kings Solomon probably wrote These in the early part of his Reign before he set aside wisdom and determined to follow folly and he became idolatrous Proverbs says 31 chapters the first 10 chapters give introduction and specific exhortations to the young the preceding chapters those after chapter 10 are little are they’re not tightly structured you can’t see a discernible or largely you can’t see a discernible order to the Proverbs that are presented though some of them are related to the Proverbs around them towards the end of The Book of Proverbs we see their Proverbs again being more purposefully grouped especially in the famous two chapters last two chapters proverbs 31 being the most famous two interpretive principles to remember as you go through Proverbs as we go through Proverbs and you may remember these a few in our hermeneutics class some years ago first Proverbs gives true principles but do not always describe absolutes Proverbs gives true principles and does not always describe absolutes you’ll find that for many of the statements in Proverbs there are exceptions but this is not because the Bible is an error it’s the design of the Proverbs to describe what is generally true a true principle of life they allow for exceptions second principle we want to remember is that proverbs describes life but doesn’t always tell us directly how we should react to life as we saw earlier one of the Proverbs says that wealth brings many friends and poverty causes many to lose even their one friend if they only have one friend left and they become poor forget it that friend is gone that’s generally true in life but how should you react to that does that mean that you should try to become wealthy and gain friends that way does that mean you should befriend the poor man who has no friends does that mean that you should be aware of your so-called friends if you’re wealthy well the proverb doesn’t say it just describes reality and it provokes you to think about what is the right way to react indeed as compact statements of wisdom many Proverbs take time to fully understand their meaning or implication and as interpreters of the Bible we need to consider the rest of the scriptures whenever we’re looking at a proverb and so we can say well even for that problem we just mentioned about wealth and Friends well what do the rest of the scriptures say well we can go to James specifically and it says don’t treat the wealthy man better um and don’t treat the poor man worse because of his wealth so we can tease out more of the implications of a specific proverb well now that we have some background let’s actually look at the first two chapters of Proverbs and we’ll hear from the author why he writes the book turn first please to Proverbs Chapter 1 and look at verses 1 to 7.
you can follow along using your student guides well on page 65 you can record some notes there but in the Bible if you’re using the Pew Bible on page 641 if you like Pastor may have gone through this passage recently I don’t know it seems fresh in my mind but let’s read it again Proverbs 1 1-7 the Proverbs of Solomon the son of David king of Israel to no wisdom and instruction to discern the sayings of understanding to receive instruction in Wise Behavior righteousness Justice and Equity to give Prudence to the naive to the youth knowledge and discretion a wise man will hear an increase in learning and a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel to understand a proverb and a figure the words of the wise and the riddles the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge fools despise wisdom and instruction let’s ask a few questions about this task text what is the purpose of this book according to the author well he says to know wisdom but he already apparently knows wisdom if he’s writing this book so we need to understand that in a slightly different way the writer knows wisdom but what does he want to do with it yeah Dwayne exactly he wants the reader to know wisdom he wants to give wisdom to give Prudence to the naive it says in verse 4. he doesn’t simply want to say hey I know a lot he says I want you to know it the book is designed to give wisdom now to whom is this book directed a couple different audiences actually well he says the young to the youth knowledge and discretion so he means this to the young especially his own children who else yeah Danielle yeah it says this is actually also for people who already have some wisdom they’re gonna gain more and then as I mentioned he says this is also to the naive this is to the people who don’t have any wisdom yet who are still walking around uh without knowledge it’s to all of those people they can all benefit whether you’re a youth whether you’re naive and simple or whether you already have wisdom you’re going to gain benefit from the wisdom of this book now look down to verse 7 and notice its parallelism they’re the connection is not explicitly drawn for us which two kinds of people are contrasted in verse seven yeah Magda the wise man and the fool now it doesn’t specifically say anything about a wise man but we can discern the connection because the second half of verse seven what is the main difference between a wise man and a fool yeah Craig he uh mentions that earlier in verse five and six but in verse seven what is the what is the difference he wants to draw out yeah Judy exactly the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge but fools despise wisdom and instruction by implication fools don’t fear the lord they despise wisdom and instruction but those who love wisdom and destruction the actual wise they do fear the lord this is said to be the beginning of knowledge the most basic part of true understanding if you want to be wise you must fear the lord now what does it mean to fear the lord we see that phrase a lot in the Old Testament even in the New Testament what does it mean if you’re the Lord yeah boy okay I think you you mentioned uh some good points there to repeat your comment one of the aspects of this fear is a reverence for God an offer God that is connected to obedience a lot of the exhortations to fear the lord are another way of saying obey the Lord if you fear the lord you’re going to obey him but just you correctly identified Roy this has to do with a heart condition you ought to reverence the Lord you want to have a feeling of fear towards the Lord now I just want to explore a little bit more that idea of reverence because we often describe even our Christian experience as the holy fear that we are to have as Christians that’s an awe or a reverence for God and that’s true but it’s interesting to me that the words for fear in both the Old and New Testaments contain the idea of Terror or dread should we cower in fear of God should we be terrified of God well we don’t know him and he’s our enemy then absolutely I think Roy was alluding to that but if we do know him though we don’t tremble at the prospect of punishment because that has been taken care of once and for all by Christ we nonetheless ought to tremble at the absolute Holiness the set apartness the otherness of God I mean we consider his various aspects the purity of God he’s so pure that anything impure that gets near him is consumed automatically or the incredible power of God he’s able to destroy or create by a simple word the tremendous authority of God he decides all things through his will he holds everything together the omniscient Judgment of God that knows every thought will assess it will call it to account not just thoughts but words and deeds as well and he will determine what is worthy of reward and what is waste for the believer it will be what is reward what is waste no I stress again this fear I’m talking about is not the fear of punishment of Justice being poured out on us but the kind of fear that you would experience if you actually met an angel and you knew it I mean could you imagine there’s an angel and he has a message from God for you now don’t expect that that’s not what God does today but we certainly see that happening in the Bible and we see the reaction of people it would be the same reaction that we would have because you know the power that an angel has that’s given to it by God it’s a supernatural being you know the authority that it has you know it’s total otherness it’s not human it’s not like anyone or anything you know and so you would be filled with Terror even though you know that the Angel’s on your side because you belong to Christ he’s a he’s a servant to you to the Brethren of Christ nonetheless you would naturally feel this terrified awe at beholding the otherness of this being well that in a way describes I think what the Bible talks about with the fear of God it’s not the fear of just punishment but it’s that fear of someone who’s totally different and powerful and holy we ought to have even in our own reverence for God a tinge of Terror because he’s just that different we could perhaps look for other analogies but there’s something to that just to illustrate that a little bit more in the New Testament word to describe holy fear is phobia and you see how that comes down to us in our day so the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom The Book of Proverbs it’s written To Us by Solomon but there are a few other authors and ultimately it is by the Holy Spirit and it’s given to us that we might gain wisdom the very wisdom of the awesome God the other God the one who is totally set apart but how can you make sure that you actually benefit from this wisdom well Proverbs 2 has more to tell us turn now to the next chapter and let’s look at Proverbs 2 1-9 I forgot to list those points there but you see them on the screen purpose of Proverbs to give wisdom has a number of intended audience and the most fundamental aspect of wisdom is to fear the lord or Proverbs 2 1-9 let’s read this and see how we can actually benefit from wisdom first one my son if you will receive my words and treasure my Commandments within you make your ear attentive to wisdom incline your heart to understanding for if you cry for discernment lift your voice for understanding if you see caress silver and search for her as for Hidden Treasures then you will discern the fear of the Lord and discover the knowledge of God for the Lord gives wisdom from his mouth come knowledge and understanding he stores up sound wisdom for the upright he is a shield to those who walk in Integrity guarding the paths of justice and he preserves the way of his Godly ones then you will discern righteousness and Justice and equity in every good course okay let’s ask some more questions of this text to be a wise person to gain the benefits of wisdom we need to have a certain attitude regarding wisdom what kind of attitude according to this passage one of acceptance that’s true we do want to receive what is given to us by God but we can characterize it as something further seeking yes we are seeking but how would you describe that seeking what we are teachable that’s true but I think we need to characterize further what kind of seeking what what does it look like yeah yeah highest priority seeking look at the metaphor again that he gives here if you will treasure my Commandments if you cry for discernment you lift your voice you’re shouting you say I want this if you seek her as silver and search for her as for Hidden Treasures this is like the enthusiastic diligent even desperate seeking after treasure God says you need to passionately cry for and pursue wisdom and when we see God’s wisdom with this attitude what will be the result according to the passage yeah you will gain the discernment that you’re looking for specifically because you will arrive at a certain place what will you discern that fear of the Lord we already saw it and it even says further there you will come to know him you will discover the knowledge of God and those things are connected when you know who God really is when you understand his character and what he’s done that causes you to fear Him and that’s how you’re going to start to gain the knowledge and there are practical results knowing god is the basis for an awful fear of him it’s the beginning of wisdom but it has practical implications what are the results of gaining this knowledge what’s one of them yeah you’ll understand righteousness and Justice you will just Justice you will discern the right way you will receive the blessing and preservation of God very many practical blessings to gaining the knowledge of God and thereby his wisdom Solomon identifies God himself as the source of all wisdom God’s very mouth is the source now if God’s mouth is the source of wisdom and if we want to be wise we must desperately seek God’s wisdom like a treasure what then practically must we do God’s mouth is a source of wisdom we’re to seek it like treasure so what’s that going to look like in our lives Edwin exactly we’re going to be desperately enthusiastically passionately paying attention to the word of God we’re going to diligently seek the scriptures now this is significant because I think we often don’t seek the scriptures and don’t diligently study it because of the difficulty involved it takes work to understand the sayings of Solomon or even the sayings of the scriptures as a whole and you have to sacrifice other Pursuits in order to do that but if one is desperate for wisdom if one sees the value of wisdom will he not make such sacrifices if you were told that a horde of silver or or gold was in a certain place and it was just waiting for someone to dig it up and claim it and it was not too far from you would you not work hard to obtain it wouldn’t you make the sacrifices so that you could go get that treasure I mean anybody can have it you could have it if you just worked take it God says that that is the way you want to treat This Book of Proverbs and the rest of his word knowing god is even more valuable than a pile of gold bars and acquiring a holy fear of him is more valuable than the finest articles of silver but do we believe this do our lives reflect this reality or do we think God is exaggerating a little bit or do we think I’ve already found a little bit of God’s golden wisdom I don’t need the rest I don’t need any more those are wrong thoughts they are not they’re not informed by what is true God’s word is true it is more viable than treasure the psalmist says the same thing more precious than honey more valuable than gold so let’s bring our lives in line with this truth we are to seek the script scriptures like treasure the wisdom of God is found in the scriptures because the scriptures are all about Christ remember what Colossians 2 1-3 says and we’ve looked at this before Paul writing for I want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf and those who are at laodicea and for all those who have not personally seen my face that their hearts may be encouraged having been knit together in love and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full Assurance of understanding resulting in a true knowledge of God’s mystery that is Christ himself in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge Christ is the sum of God’s wisdom and the scriptures are all about Christ and of course the scriptures are going to be the source of Treasure of course the scriptures are more valuable than gold all Treasures of wisdom and knowledge are found in Christ and the mystery of Christ is revealed in the scriptures is the fullest expression of everything the Bible declares about God the fullest expression of God’s wisdom righteousness Holiness love you name it his life is the embodiment of every good and Wise Way and it is in direct contrast to the Natural inclinations of the Flesh and the wisdom of the world so let us find out more about our precious Christ let us seek wisdom like silver and gold and reap the benefits of doing so we will understand the right way we will gain a genuine fear of the Lord who will experience God’s blessed protection and provision and we can do this by God’s holy spirit so let’s do it and pray for God’s enabling in it did you have a comment Danny hmm yeah that’s a useful comment Danny that’s another reason why we stay away from the scriptures is because it’s painful for us not only does it take work but some of the things we read they um not what we’d like to hear or they make us feel very condemned and sometimes that’s good for us it’s necessary for us and sometimes it’s just because we misunderstand it that’s why it’s useful to gain the full ministry of the church to talk about the Bible with Believers to hear a taught from the pulpit of course studying it for ourselves should never be replaced but that’s one way that we can help overcome those difficulties one thing I also want to say though is as painful as bringing our lives in with the scriptures can be or exposing ourselves to the scriptures it’s always worth it because what’s at the very end gold or something more valuable than gold the treasures of wisdom and knowledge of Christ that’s always going to be worth whatever sacrifices reading or submitting to the scriptures will take other comments or questions Okay so we’ve seen the background and important introductory information in the Book of Proverbs let’s finish our agenda today by sampling one of the chapters of Proverbs to see just what kind of areas the wisdom of God covers this specific book of wisdom please turn your Bibles to proverbs 19.
this is Page 657 in your Pew Bibles we’re going to do a little activity and if you have your workbooks you can turn to page 66 where you’ll find Space to actually do this activity what we’re going to do I’m going to give you five minutes I want you to read through proverbs 19.
and I want you to write down the different topics or areas of life that come up and are addressed for example if you look at verse 1 and chapter 19 it says better is a poor man who walks in his Integrity then he was perverse in speech and is a fool what topic does this particular proverb address what’s one of the areas of life or human behavior that this proverb addresses hey Magda yeah it’s about talking and it makes an analogy it says you’re better off being poor than someone who has wretched speech you would be a fool in that case so this has to do with speech do the same thing as you look at the rest of proverbs you have space in your workbook so just write down the topics you don’t have to do it for each verse but just as you notice different topics just jot them down and we’ll come back after five minutes and we’ll see what just what kind of topics in this chapter Alone come up questions about what you’re going to do you can work with a partner sitting near you if that’s helpful to you but take five minutes and if you finish please look up and that way I’ll know you’re done okay let’s talk about the topics you didn’t finish going through the whole thing that’s okay will help each other fill it in what are some of the topics addressed in this chapter of proverbs what’s one yeah money wealth it’s also linked with generosity and friendship we see this in verse 4 verse 6 verse 7 and verse 17.
what else what else yeah Dwayne exactly family relationships um we see that in verse 13 14 18 and 26 both parenting and marriage we see family talked about what else Magda anger and rage definitely let’s see did I ever note this specific verses verse 11 and 19 talk about anger and also the king’s anger is mentioned in verse 12.
what else ejo lying that’s right especially lying in court being a false witness what else Danielle yeah wealth uh and poverty um yes work ethics laziness is mentioned twice verse 15 or verse 24 what else Judy uh justice yeah what is um what is just let’s see did I write down something specific for that um let’s see judgment is mentioned in verse 29.
yeah I think uh just behavior is mentioned some of the other ones but other things proper speech as we mentioned Hasty or ignorant actions man blaming God for his own folly um the benefits of God’s wisdom and his Commandments proper stations in life man’s plans discipline and reproof and then the ones we’ve already mentioned so even in just one chapter of proverbs we see a pretty broad array of gods or pretty broad array of applications for God’s wisdom and this is part of the sufficiency of scripture the Bible doesn’t address every specific situation in your life but it does give you the principles for all of them so that you can walk wisely and righteously no matter the situation second Peter 1 2-3 says um Peter is opening that second letter and he says Grace and peace he multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our lord seeing that his divine power has granted us everything pertaining to life and godliness through the true knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and excellence even without the Book of Proverbs the Bible gives so many principles that we could discern through a lot of life situations but the Proverbs make it even easier because they address so many of the topics of life and we see the sufficiency of scripture so we should pay attention even more so now to the wisdom of Proverbs and the wisdom of God’s word you saw that in the activity the little introduction that says some people dismiss the Bible as not being relevant or Proverbs is not being relevant but actually it’s intensely relevant it describes exactly what you and I deal with anger lying discipline making plans those types of things well as we come to the end of our lesson today let’s consider some application questions and the ones I’m going to display on the screen they’re partly based on what appears in the workbook but I’ve rewarded some of them first question if you are struggling to put to death a certain sin habit such as anger or lust how can Proverbs be helpful yeah the Proverbs will instruct you they talk about these things and um and sometimes at length what else is helpful about proverbs and dealing with particularly besetting sins yeah Judy yeah um this is along the lines which I mentioned but it motivates you to put the debt that’s in because you see the consequences of it you see the final results of it not just that it’s wrong and here’s why it’s wrong but here’s what it leads to just practically if you’re thinking of um a Sanctified reward for yourself you see that it’s it’s following to go on those ways along with those things we we can remember that just as parallelism is helpful so that you can remember the Proverbs we can memorize the Proverbs so that we can keep that wisdom ready in mind so that um for instance when it comes to lust and you’re tempted to lust then the proverb comes back into your mind about the adulterous woman which says smoother or sweeter than Honeys or speech smoother than oil are her lips but in the end she is as bitter as wormwood sharper than any double-edged sword to say there’s the wisdom of God I don’t want to be dealt wounds and even a death blow by pursuing this sin it’s a false promise that it’s offering out to me so memorizing Proverbs letting ourselves be instructed by the Proverbs and understanding the end of certain actions from Proverbs they’re all helpful another question since the Proverbs are largely not arranged topically how can you find Proverbs that deal with a particular topic yeah Steve yeah use the concordance that’s often included in your at the end of your Bible what else could you use word search engine from online especially on Bible Gateway or similar websites I probably even Google it and you’ll find it the same way but if you or I don’t know about Google but certainly if you go for Bible Gateway and you type in a topic like anger or laziness or just the word lazy you’ll often find things in their Proverbs that address those particular words hmm yeah I’m sorry right it’s it’s definitely um worth emphasizing the point that you’re just mentioning bill which is though the digital age gives us a lot of ability to kind of uh search and just select a small section of scripture and read it and gain benefit from it we’ve got to remember that the Bible is written in context and it was meant for books to be read to be read from beginning to end so that you can understand the flow of the argument so you can understand how the ideas relate to what’s in their context so we never want to replace simple reading and our own memory in studying the scripture or gaining benefit from it but in terms of finding things that we’re not familiar with certainly we can use digital tools with the concordances that are in our Bibles another question what are some sources of so-called wisdom in the world that we as Christians can pay attention to more than or in place of the Bible what’s the source of competing wisdom a magnet yeah social media now what our peers are saying what certain famous or respected people are saying the wisdom of crowds what else George yeah psychology we could say science in general but particularly when it comes to behavior psychology and Psychiatry they have a lot of things to say yeah Craig yeah education Academia but also other forms of public education they have wisdom that they offer what else I think we’ve hit a lot of the major ones philosophy science psychology music the things that come in the lyrics that we listen to they are offering wisdom or what appears to be wisdom literature various works of literature both ancient and modern self-help teachers and books and just various people many people and organizations in our world they Proclaim that they have valuable knowledge they have wisdom even some kind of Secret for understanding or dealing with life problems such as philosophical inquiry these are just some of the ideas that are promoted as wisdom philosophical inquiry man’s biological need for sex positive thinking the power of positive thinking love languages the Myers-Briggs personality test chemical imbalances in the brain man’s animalistic origin using I feel statements versus you are statements so that people aren’t offended uh venting that’s it’s good to get that off your chest and much more they give us the world and its various Outlets of wisdom they give us these ideas now some of these ideas they sound very wise they perhaps even sound Godly but how can we tell the difference between what is truly wisdom and what only has the appearance of wisdom the word of God right the word of God we have to pay attention to the scriptures because it’s the only reliable source of wisdom because it comes from God and when we apply these to some of the popular ideas of our day even some of the popular ideas among Christians the the results that can be startling for instance there is nothing in the scriptures about love languages yes somehow that idea became very popular among Christians as if if you didn’t know your spouse’s specific love language then your marriage is hopeless the Bible doesn’t say anything about that someone’s offering a key as if the Bible missed out on some wisdom nor is there anything in the scripture about personality tests yet we sometimes justify our justify our behavior in spite of what the Bible commands us to do in the light of the results of such tests oh I just have the this certain personality it’s just the way I am I found it from this test what’s the Bible say nor does the Bible support something like venting I mean we often say oh you know I just got events but venting usually is simply the unleashing of our anger by complaining about someone or something to other people and the Bible has a lot to say about complaining most of it most of the complaining of the Bible identifies as unrighteous we’ve identified what righteous complaint looks like in a previous lesson so don’t misunderstand me I’m not saying that all the world’s ideas are evil or if it’s outside of the Bible then it has no value but we need to recognize the frailty the weakness of human wisdom and the superiority of God’s word the fear of the Lord as we saw is the beginning of wisdom the world as a whole does not fear the lord so we should expect that many if not most of their ideas are going to be off base because they’re missing one of the most fundamental aspects of wisdom so let’s pay attention to the word of God give it Priority give it more value than we do the so-called Insight of the world and the final question is not one for us to answer together it’s just for one for you to consider for yourself do you seek God’s wisdom like silver and gold do you see it as treasure worthy to be passionately pursued arduously pursued worthy to have sacrifices made so that you can obtain it I don’t know the answer to that but the spirit using the scripture can show you the answer to that as you consider it final comments or questions yes Steve it’s like if you didn’t live hmm without without them you know you know good and they were based on difficult wisdom but it’s a shame that well if you don’t believe you know you know one children or they could they get pushed out to our children parents should really you know and instilling in the biblical principles because they’re the Next Generation and how they possibly and be yeah there’s some valuable comments you just made Steve um just try and summarize it briefly but yeah you’re right there’s a hubris among uh the world especially Academia or those considered to be educated and intelligent and they say oh we were completely stupid in the past like the world was stupid people didn’t understand things at all but now we do but of course the irony and all that is that that’s what everybody has said up to their present day like oh the past generation that there’s the golden age thing too but like they didn’t understand but now we understand I mean you’ve probably experienced this personally right just a couple of years ago in your own life you might be like man I didn’t understand anything but now I do now I can really understand things but then just wait a little bit longer and you’ll notice that there’s a lot that you still don’t understand but you’re right that’s what people do as a whole and that and they passionately um push forward their way of thinking they say everyone’s got to know this your children have got to know this you’ve got to know this you’ve got to adopt this and if you don’t then you’re a fool and this ties in with everything that the scripture says about foolishness of wisdom they think that the word of God and its principles are foolish and they have the true wisdom God says no actually it’s the opposite it’s a good comment Steve other comments or questions hmm yeah uh I’ll repeat your comment that when somebody actually walks according to God’s wisdom they they stand out and even if you don’t know if that person’s a Christian you can recognize when they do things that are wise according to God’s word because it’s so different and they’re reaping oftentimes they’re reaping the benefits of that but that’s not what most people do in the world um this is going to tie in a little bit of what we’re going to talk about later in the sermon but uh we really need to appreciate the difference that God wants to put between the people who follow him and know his wisdom and the people who don’t follow him there should be a visible difference there should be a discernible difference in how they act but too often we’re trying to blend with the world we say oh we’re not that different we’re not that weird we think just like you guys but God says no the point is you’re not supposed to think like them we could say more but we need to close next week we’re going to be looking at tragic development in the narrative the scriptures we’re going to be looking at the division of the Kingdom under Solomon’s immediate Heir how Solomon turned from wisdom in the later part of his life and so did his son when his son took the throne I didn’t mention this yet but our we have a new memory verse for the second part of the quarter First Chronicles 29 10-11 this has to do with the preparation for the temple David uh speaking here therefore David blessed the Lord before all the assembly and David said blessed are you Lord God of Israel Our Father forever and ever yo yours oh Lord is the greatness the power and the glory the Victory and the Majesty for all that is in heaven and in Earth is yours yours is the kingdom O Lord and you are exalted as head over all let’s pray father you are exalted you have the true wisdom father and we feel such pressure to conform to the world’s wisdom to adopt the world’s wisdom to show that we’re not that weird we’re not that different but but Lord your wisdom is so Superior and it will cause us to stand out there are so many benefits to following your wisdom so help us to believe that to seek it like Treasures so we can know it and then act on it father by your spirit I pray that you enable it enable the people here listening to do it we might obtain the reward in Jesus name amen