Proverbs Chapter 4

Sir Brian and Tommy tell about Winterfest and other weekly adventures in our small little town. I believe ive got the producing figured out , fingers crossed. We are gonna break from Proverbs and bring in Pastor Scott from Crosspointe Church. Sir Brian and I's home church. Gonna go on a minor profits journey. Hope you enjoy this Proverbs and gives you insight in Our Gods loving Purpose.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:28

Knives and balanced beams and all kinds of stuff. Oh, it was rad. It was rad. But yeah, how fun would that be if you went to church on a Sunday morning and you like we do scripture, we do prayer, we do singing. We don't have like a you know comic relief or whatever, but still that'd be kind of cool if it would. Um but yeah, it was just so fun to see everybody so excited and happy and to go through all that. And and then when they brought out the communion and we did that, that was fantastic. That was a good thing. We'll talk a little bit about that, but we're gonna get into Proverbs 4. Uh how are you doing today, Mr. Brian? Uh doing fantastic. So, just for you that are kind of following along, um, last weekend in Gatlinburg was Winterfest. Um, and it was pretty awesome. I was my first experience there. Uh I got the chaperone. There were 13 of us that went. There was about 6,000 people in attendance. It lasted Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and it was just I can't even put it into words. Just to see 6,000 people rushing into an auditorium, excited to hear the word. And I didn't know what to expect. And I wish every Sunday was like this. This would have been interesting. It would have been every Sunday. Uh before I get into that, we all took communion together Sunday. Wonderful. It was awesome. They passed out the little styrofoam bread in the cups, and we all took communion together. That was pretty awesome. We didn't expect that. Me and uh Jacob looked at each other and said, when we go to lunch, we'll do communion. It was like, all right, cool. Um we had a uh we had like a little speaker come up and he did kind of an introduction, uh kind of a hype up a little bit. We had somebody come out and read a scripture reading. We had somebody do a prayer on stage, let us all in prayer, did a scripture reading, and then they introduced an act. Really? We had acts, we had um uh a comedian by the name of Haas. I've met him myself personally. Um he's the one that donated our baptistry to us at uh the gathering. Fantastic. He got up there, told his jokes, made fun. I got to see him perform for the first time. I'm definitely gonna try to get back in touch with him and bring him back down here, and we'll do something at the church. Um and then they had the worship. We had the lead singer, and then they had like it was uh Steve, I can't remember his last name. I'm not gonna butcher it, but it was Steve, whatever, and the Valentines, because it was Valentine's Day weekend.

SPEAKER_03 3:33

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_01 3:33

Yeah, and he got up and he was a great dude. He was so funny. He kind of he's like, Well, I just wrote this song like 30 seconds ago. You've probably never heard it. I'm gonna hum it for you. And as he's humming it, everybody in the building hums it with him. He's like, Oh, you've heard that one. I just wrote that two seconds ago, and then he would laugh, you know. Fantastic watching him lead the singing and doing that. And again, 6,000 people's voices in unison singing along, and then he'd stop and just let everybody sing. And he was just you could see the excitement in them, and then not everybody there. Um, and then we had somebody come up and basically give a lesson, and it was a fantastic lesson. All three lessons I think we listened to maybe four were fantastic. So basically, it was like an enhanced version of what we do on Sundays. You know, it was like we don't have acts, but that would be cool if we had somebody come out and do like a hype thing and get everybody to laugh. Yeah. Uh the second day was a juggling guy, him and his his family, and that was awesome. Like you hear juggling, it's like, yeah, okay, whatever. But his young son and his best friend, his best friend, his son's best friend, did some crazy stuff, man. I mean, it was like just you know, it was a real amazing experience. But the thing I think that I enjoyed the most about it, it was the youth groups of all these churches from all over joined together. So when I say 6,000 people, yeah, it was probably 5,000 teenagers or younger. Oh wow. And they were all excited, they were all carrying on. They would ask for volunteers sometimes, and everybody would be going nuts trying to be a volunteer, you know. It was just it was so awesome just to see all them people rushing in and the the the joy on their faces to be going to a church service. Not only one church service, we did two church services a day. Like, wow, it was just so awesome. And I wish you could have been there. I hope we can get more people next time. Uh, we definitely, Lord willing, plan on going again next year. We went through some you know bumps because it was, and that's another amazing thing. Our our leaders this year, they are our youth group leaders who have grown up in the church and went to this camp as children, and now as young adults, they're leading those kids. That's wonderful. Oh, it it it was awesome, and it was awesome to see the kids come to us and you know be excited to and they're thanking everybody. Thanks for bringing us. We're so glad we came and all that. It was just such an amazing, wonderful experience. I'll be honest with you. I'm not a Gatlinburg fan.

SPEAKER_02 6:22

Yeah, I love Gatlinburg.

SPEAKER_00 6:25

Really?

SPEAKER_02 6:25

I'm surprised to hear that from you. No, I love it, man. I forgot it would be the same way I would be. No, no, no. Uh uh, all right. So the thing is is all right. This is not an advertisement for the board of Tennessee or anything like that. But uh I uh or travel board or whatever. I I uh I that's that's one of our favourite places to go, is is is is that or uh uh the Dollywood area. My wife, she can't do a vacation unless it's like kind of theme parked. Oh, okay. And then me, I love nature, so boom, it's obviously that's perfect for you guys. Yeah, I love the mountains and and smoky mountains being as close as they are.

SPEAKER_01 7:05

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:06

Now everybody keeps telling me, like, you know, no, Brian, you really want to experience go out west and see the Rockies.

SPEAKER_01 7:12

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I I did, I will say that that was amazing. It didn't look real. The mountains, like beautiful. I haven't been there in this type of weather, this type of season. Oh. So it was new to me for all that. Usually when I would go, it was like middle of the summer, yeah. But to look at the mountains with the way it was, it was like, man, that don't even look real. That doesn't even look like it. Like, who put that there? And I know who put it there. That was one of the things that I probably got the most kick out of, too. I keep saying it over and over again. But these large groups, they figured out how to keep everybody together. They had these like I can't think of the word, you'll know what it is. You know how uh uh uh armies would go into war carrying their standards, yeah. Standards, thank you. I tried all weekend to remember that word. Standards, they carry their standards in. So all these little groups had made their own little standards. That's fantastic. And I was so upset when I saw somebody using a lightsaber. Because how many lightsabers do I got at home that I could have brought? But I didn't know, I'd never done it before. But the one that was really, I mean, there were so many cool ones. People had like a kid's face blown up as big as a I mean, just just goofy stuff. And then you could see the progression when other people saw that they had done it, you could tell that during their off time they went and found something to make. But there was one that it fits so well. Somebody had a little puppet of Bob Ross on the end of a stick. And you know, he was like me growing up, he was like, but now I know the original Bob Ross is our father, is God our father. You know, it's like how awesome, you know. And it just it was just so fun. I highly recommend if you get a chance. Again, I'm not a Gallenberg fan. When we were walking around, I was kind of like, I know why I just don't like it. I haven't been there in over 10 years, and it has scroed up so much and changed so much. Even Pigeon Forge, I didn't even recognize Pigeon Forge. Oh, really? No. There's so much new stuff. I haven't been there in over 10 years. Well, no, that's fair. Like there were things there that I'd never seen before. There's things that were there that's always been there. My kids always like going to the bubble gum restaurant. Oh, really? Yeah, so that was there. Uh the the leader, um when they were kids, there were two places. You had to go to No Way Jose's, which is right there by the aquarium. That's been there for years. And then the other one was uh Flapjacks in Pigeon Forge. Oh, okay. But now there's like a Flapjacks every block. I mean, they were everywhere down there. Uh and that was on the way home. Well, we stopped at it and it was an hour away, so we didn't stop. We kept going. We ended up going to Bucky's. So, yeah, two first for me. I got to go to Bucky's for the first time. And that will be the last time I'm going to a Bucky's because I didn't I did not like it either. I know that's gonna give me some booze, but at the same time, you know, hey, I'm just not I'm not into all that stuff, but it was a great weekend, and I'm I'm glad to be back and uh to be back at it because we didn't get to do this Sunday. I miss my my my family here, but I was in good company as well.

SPEAKER_02 10:26

So that's fantastic, man. I'm glad to hear of that.

SPEAKER_01 10:28

Yeah, so we're gonna go back into Proverbs 4, and this is where we'll probably take a break after this. Uh, this is what's been on my heart the most here lately. Okay, and uh we'll let Sir Brian give us a read here.

SPEAKER_03 10:42

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 10:46

Hear, O sons, the discipline of a father, and pay attention that you may know understanding. For I give you sound learning. Do not forsake my instruction. When I was a son to my father, tender, and the only son before my mother, then he instructed me and said to me, Let your heart hold fast my words. Keep my commandments and live. Acquire wisdom, acquire understanding. Do not forget, and do not turn away from the sayings of my mouth. So I want to stop there.

SPEAKER_01 11:41

Um Brian's reading from uh the LSB, the Legacy Standard Bible, and the title of it there is A Father's Wise Instructions. Um on the NIV it says get wisdom at any cost. Ooh. Yes, I think that's a little more throat punch than uh a father's wise instructions. But I like the father's wise instructions because who is our father? Agreed, yeah. Father in heaven. Agreed. Yes, so um, but again, this plays into what I've been saying all along is the way the system is set up, our father in heaven, you become a dad or a father on earth, and you have to basically be there to provide and take care of the family and make sure everybody has understanding, wisdom, you know. Um and it's the New Testament where it says, would a would a father give his son a snake if he asks for a fish? You know, um, and that's what our father in heaven does. He is for us, he's not against us, he's not mad at us for anything that we did. He knows that we're gonna mess up. He knows that we're gonna fall down. And there will be times when it there's gonna be, we're gonna have to make up for those things. It's gonna be, I don't want to necessarily say punishment per se, but thinking in my own life, you know, and the first time I said it, I was like, darn you, dad, I can't believe I said that. This is gonna hurt me more than it hurts you. Oh, wow, man. It's like when you're a kid, you hear that, like, no, it's not, because you're crying or whatever. Um, but then when you say it as a dad to your own kid, you're like, son of a gun, I absolutely know what that's like now. Because your heart, the internal heart, your it's all just breaks because you don't want to do that. You do not want to do that. At all costs, you try to give the wisdom and to give the learning so that you don't have to do that and they don't understand. And you do recoup from it. But as an adult, I think most people would say, I would rather get punched in the face than to have my heart broken. You know, a heart a broken heart takes a lot longer to heal than a bruised eye or a black eye or a bloody lip. So um one of the things that I like that the uh the LSP says is um for I give you sound learning. I have a buddy, and his grandfather and them were all into horses, uh sulky racing. Okay. And uh his grandpa one time said this, and for us kids, it was just it, it's it became our saying. He was talking to the horse. The grandpa was talking to the horse. He said, I'll give you a learning. And we knew what that meant. We knew that he was upset with the horse. Right. And so the fact that they say, For I give you sound learning, I just I can see him saying that I will give you a learning, and then it is as his kids, you know, messing around. If somebody made us mad, I'll give you a learning, you know. You know, so I just I love that. But the impact of this, these first it also follows do not forsake my instruction. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 15:11

So it could very well be that learning with what I was talking about.

SPEAKER_01 15:16

Yes, yes. And again, it says, hold fast my words. Again, hold fast. I love that. And I tell as many people as I can, especially the people that are struggling, hold fast, hold fast, stay the course. Yeah, it will turn around. Keep following God, keep following the wisdom of our Father. It may take some time for you to get there, but I have learned the hard way, just like probably most of us, that it you have to heal from your damage, you have to heal from the mistakes so that you don't make them again. Granted, we still make mistakes. Granted, we keep making the same mistake over and over again. No. I think there's a song I like. It says, Will will humans ever learn? No. We're supposed to learn from our mistakes. But history has shown us from the Old Testament to the New Testament to the current world, we make the same stupid mistakes over and over again. And if you've listened to any other podcast, nothing new under the sun. Nothing new under the sun. Let's hear Brian and Gary talking about ecclesiastics. Yeah, let your heart hold fast my words, keep my commandments and live. That's one of those things, as a kid, your parents tell you not to do something for your own sake so that you don't get hurt. A good example is stick, don't stick your finger in a light socket.

SPEAKER_02 16:44

No, it's true, it's true. And it gets it gets deeper on all those things when you start realizing that, right? Because it's uh trying to stay as the course leaders to our main goal, right? Which is which is you you don't want to be a hellion. No. You want to be an heaven. Yes. And then uh the uh uh could like uh the damage that could be caused by sticking the finger in the light socket or the fork or whatever. You could actually well that's just you'd have to cut that.

SPEAKER_00 17:30

Nice to add that on. I say we leave it in.

SPEAKER_02 17:34

Okay, cool. Now we all know that you like Ghostbusters. Uh fair enough, yeah. Sorry, that yeah. If you're wondering if that's a jet engine or uh or whatever, no, that's a proton package. That's a proton. Yes. Uh Sir Brian is uh is a fan of the Ghostbusters, so um we fork and a light. Yeah, fork and a light uh light switch, which I don't know if it sounds like that, but yeah. Um but but no, it's it it's again you don't want to cut short those chances to get to heaven. Uh so yeah, it's when when when it is for our good, um I hope those things kind of resonate with you. So yeah, yeah. And and and I put I extend that from just not just those situations, but everyone you meet with, everyone you encounter. I've really started um again, that's that space where I leave to be wrong, but it's also grace, brother. I'm just like, no, no, it was given to me. I I got you, brother. I got you. Yeah, yeah. So yeah, you're you're you're saying some some really mean things right now, but I get it. Uh that you are being deceived right now, and and that's that is unfortunate. And uh, you know, forgive him, Father, for he doesn't know what he does.

SPEAKER_01 18:59

So and I'm glad you said that because that's what I was gonna say next.

SPEAKER_02 19:03

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 19:03

We deal with a lot of uh conflict in our lives with uh serving people, and as many times as we've done that, we have to leave that room for grace. And if and this is what's have helped me in my walk. When somebody does me wrong or somebody does something that is negative towards me, my first thought is forgive them, they know not what they do. Agreed. Not that I'm anything important, no, agree, but it helps me to get into that forgiveness.

SPEAKER_02 19:38

Yeah, you are and you are, Tom. So so here, the the the thing is is is all right, our two main commandments, what are they? Love God. So, okay, let's start with that one. So if you do love God and you realize that your man is created in the image of God, then when you see another person, you see the face of God. Image bearer. Absolutely, agreed. So, uh, and then two. The second one is love others. There we are. So love your neighbor like yourself, yeah. And and and all those things, brother. So it's all full circle. It's just you see God in the image of every person you meet, and you also love those people like you should love yourself. And if you aren't loving yourself, go back to the first one again.

SPEAKER_01 20:33

Love the image of God, and hey, there you are, I love how you did that because it's like uh don't question me as a parent, don't question my orders, right? And if you forget rule number one or you forget rule number two, go back to rule number one. Revert back to rule number one. Yeah, that's that's fantastic. I love that you did that. Um, yeah, and I said it this weekend to Jacob, our friend Jacob that had him come on the podcast with us. Um, love answers everything, love takes care of all the problems. Like it really does. Because if you love, well, first of all, I understand how hard it is to love yourself. And it seems maybe selfish or ego, but it's not. You'll understand it as you grow and and and get this wisdom. Like you're not gonna hurt yourself. Like God in and He automatically put in us that we're not gonna hurt ourselves if we love ourselves. Like the good example is like if somebody told you to bite your finger off, you couldn't. They say your brain wouldn't let you do it, but uh you know, that's like God saying, well, no, you're not gonna bite your finger off. You know. Um, but at the same time, if you love yourself and then you love others, then anything that happens in between those two things is I forgive you. 'Cause that's what you do. It's just it's and not to mention you wouldn't do anything. To hurt that person. If you love somebody, you don't purposely try to hurt them. You don't purposely try to do anything bad or negative to them or steal from them or to covet from them or to whatever multitude of worldly sinful things we can do. Agreed. You know, I mean, it so if somebody sins against you or somebody, you know, hurts you, forgive them. They know not what they do because they don't understand. It's truth. They just they just don't get it. They are being deceived. They are, and that's one of the best thing lessons I've learned from you. So much is going on in the world, and there's so much hate and anger, and I really believe it's the deceiving. People are being deceived, they don't understand how or why, and they don't have trust in the right things. They have trust in the world, they have trust in the man. One of the funniest viral things that's gone around recently was the pastor doing the trust fall. You've seen it then. The pastor standing there and he says, Go ahead, I'll catch you. And the person goes to fall and he steps out of the way. And he's like, That's why you don't trust man. That's why you don't trust man. Yeah, that was fantastic. I love that. So, yeah, I mean, you put your trust and your faith in God and you listen to his instruction, you listen to his wisdom. And again, going back into our Father in Heaven, you become a dad, you try to be the image bearer of God, and you try to treat everyone, especially your children, with that same love and grace and forgiveness. And instruct them in the right ways, to show them the wisdom, to make sure that they don't stick the fork in the light socket or pull the 900-pound TV over on their head. Yay. You can show in my age there with that one. Let's go ahead and keep reading. Okay. Start with six, see what we get.

SPEAKER_02 24:00

Do not forsake her, and she will keep you. Love her, and she will guard you. The beginning of wisdom is acquire wisdom. And with all you're acquiring, acquire understanding. Prize her and she will exalt you. She will honor you if you embrace her. She will give for your head a garland of grace. And she will present you with a crown of beauty.

SPEAKER_01 24:36

And again, we've talked about it in the other chapters when it's talking about her, she, we're talking about wisdom. Oh, yeah. Um do not forsake her because when you do dumb things, when you don't for when you forsake wisdom, you end up doing dumb things and things happen. Uh, we see that so much. Um she will keep you, she will keep you, she will love you, she will guard you. And as much as it's maybe cliched, you know, don't you know play in the street, don't play on the train tracks. That's gonna keep you safe. It's gonna guard you. Like that's believe it or not, that's wisdom. It may not seem like wisdom, more like common sense, but at the same time, it is true wisdom because you will teach that to the next person.

SPEAKER_02 25:22

Well, there's there is a there's a difference, brother. There is a difference. Uh they they clarify the wisdoms. There's um there's book educated wisdom. Yes. There's also streetwise and all those are very uh very important. So one comes from learning in action, and one comes from learning in the opinions of others.

SPEAKER_01 25:46

So would you say that that goes with uh gentle as though's wise serpents? Wise the serpents. Yeah. I mean that kind of fits that that narrative there completely. So in the beginning here on uh in in the NIV, I said get wisdom at any cost. In verse 7 of the NIV, it says the beginning of wisdom is this get wisdom. Like I just love that it says that. Though it cost all you have, get understanding. Oh, agreed, yeah. And unfortunately, the part about the though it costs all you have, get understanding. To me, what I'm reading there is we missed it the first time. We made the bad decision, we messed up. Yeah, that's what cost us. We learned, and now we have the wisdom. Well, again, it's that streetwise. Streetwise. Yeah. Yes, we have so many people in my own family book smarts. Book book book book book book smarts. Agreed. But a lot of that in based in theory. Yeah, no common sense whatsoever. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like you could drop them off in the middle of the woods and they never find their way out. Gotcha. Um, or even just driving. Something as simple as driving. It's very textbook to them, it's very read the manual. Uh, in my line of work, I have a lot of that. It's like an engineer does all this planning and math and all this other stuff, and they expect what they did to work exactly the way they wrote it. In real life, the guy that's actually doing it, we have to figure it out. Yeah, it looks good on paper to you, but in practice it doesn't work.

SPEAKER_02 27:28

You know, and again, and and it's not to one wisdom can be both, because when you read the theories and you put them into practice, then it becomes a streetwise thing.

SPEAKER_01 27:43

Yes. Yes. And that's what I see with the Bible a lot. Like, I've read so much of it and didn't understand it until I figured out the context. Or the more unfortunate thing is find myself right in the middle of it. Like, well, I should have saw that coming. Now I understand that verse. Um, something that just came to me um not too long ago was uh Jubilee.

SPEAKER_02 28:10

Oh, wonderful, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:11

I went through a year of Jubilee. Good, and I didn't even realize it until I was sitting down reading the Bible, and I it was a part of the Bible that we all read together in our group, and it didn't click. But for some reason, this particular time when I was looking at it, I was like, oh, I I went to a year of Jubilee. Uh a short uh definition is every 50 years you give back everything that you have earned or gained, and you kind of reset life all over again. And it was one way for us to not be so attached or reliant on objects and things. Yes, things uh our friend Jacob would say consuming. Um at 49 I had my seizure and I broke my shoulder. Yes, bro. And I ended up divorced, and when I turned 50, I was single, I was all by myself, I had nothing, I had a little room that was all my stuff in it. I I walked away from everything in the marriage, you know, and I started this journey. Again, learning the hard way, God had to break my shoulder and get on the right path. But at the same time, it was like, wow. Because it starts at 49 and goes into the 50. It's the seven and the seven and the seven, and it goes into the jubilee. I'm like, oh my goodness, I went to a year of Jubilee and I didn't even realize it. Like it was just crazy to me. I was like, wow. Yeah, I had a hard reset at 50. I don't recommend that, by the way, but you know. I'll give it a I'm gonna give it a pass. Yeah, injuries are no good when you're in your 50s, that's for sure. But yeah, I mean, it is a crown of beauty. Um, it is a glorious crown to have that uh that wisdom and to have that grace that we've so uh use so much, you know, to have the grace to be wrong, to be mistaken, the grace to give the forgiveness and to allow that space. I mean, it is a beautiful thing once you get it, once you start doing it, practicing it, you know, instead of being uh angry, instead of being mad, instead of lashing out because you don't understand and you are being lied to and you don't know why you're being lied to. So yeah, it's just it is a beautiful thing once you actually start to gain it. And that's one of the things I love about this going on in my life now is I've had so many opportunities to um be there for the people in my life to see, you know, to help them stand back up, to give them that wisdom, to teach them like my my two children and then my two stepchildren. And then now um with the youth group that we're dealing with, uh with the homeless people that we're dealing with, um during our trip, I sat at the kids' table for lunch at No Way Jose, and I was able to sit and talk with them and kind of get to know them individually and know who they are, you know, and that was a fun thing because when you start to relate to them, even though that you're an adult and you start to relate to them, they're like, oh wow, you're a real person. You know, how many times in your life as a kid you look at adults and you don't think they're real people? You know, agree. They're just authoritarians and they take all the fun out of everything.

SPEAKER_02 31:40

My wife said it used to throw her off when she'd see a teacher out of the grocery store or something like that. Yeah, they're a real person. What are you doing here?

SPEAKER_01 31:47

Like when you see your doctor out somewhere. I seen a doctor in a movie theater. I'm like, what are you doing here? Yeah, that was so weird. I didn't know if I was supposed to talk to them. I was supposed to call them doctor, I call them by their first name. Yeah, it's just interesting. The people that are in our lives for so long, and then all of a sudden you see them as real people. Yeah, you know, like one of the things that happened was uh we talked about anime, and one person was like, You like anime? I was like, Yeah. You know, it just blew the mind, you know. They didn't understand that I understood what they were talking about, and I've been there and I've done it and I've seen all those things, you know. It gives that personality, other than just the authoritarian guy, the guy that watches over you and makes sure you're not acting up or yells at you, you know. So all right, let's go on to ten.

SPEAKER_02 32:36

Hear my son and receive my sayings, and the years of your life will be many. I've instructed you in the way of wisdom, I have led you in upright tracks. When you walk your steps, will not be impeded. And if you run, you will not stumble. Seize discipline. Do not let go, guard her, for she is your life.

SPEAKER_01 33:11

I mean, I to me, I I can just see so much there. Like, hear my son and receive my sayings, and the years you're your life will be many. Don't play in the street, yeah. Don't play on the train tracks.

SPEAKER_03 33:22

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 33:23

Which was very prevalent for me because I lived behind train tracks for a long time. And granted, I did a lot of stupid things around those train tracks. But you know, right there in the first part, hear my son, you know, uh receive my sayings. You know, how many times did I think that dad didn't know what he's talking about? How many times at all he's he don't know what he's talking about? Uh great example. You'll shoot your eye out.

SPEAKER_00 33:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:46

You know, I heard that myself with BB Guns as a kid. You'll shoot your eye out, you shoot your eye out, you know, and what happens in the movie? He does. He very nearly does. He very nearly does, yeah. But again, you know, it's like hear my son and receive my sayings, and years of your life will be many. I have instructed you in the way of wisdom, I have led you in upright tracks. Now, I want to touch on that because so many times in life you find yourself at a choice. Uh stand up, own it, own up to it, and face it, face the consequences. Um, I have instructed you in the way of wisdom, I have led you in upright tracks. You will get a lot further in life if you do those things. If you stand up, own what you did, one thing, yes, you there will be consequences. Don't ever think there will be consequences. Yes, there will be consequences. But what you're doing in that is you're setting your character. You're setting your integrity. When people see you, when people talk to you, when people talk about when somebody talks about you, if they know you and they say something that is off-color, or something that doesn't fit in your character, that doesn't fit in your integrity, they're gonna go, wait a minute, that don't sound right.

SPEAKER_02 35:14

Yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_01 35:15

We had an incident at the gathering. Uh huh. That don't sound right. That that usually doesn't happen. Something must have happened here. And it worked out. But because I knew the the character, I knew the character of the man, I knew the integrity of the man. Right. Um, I dealt with this a lot because of my dad, my earthly dad. Um, I was a bit of a liar as a kid. I told little white lies, little fibs and lies, and basically tried to keep myself from getting in trouble because I didn't want to get in trouble. You know, I didn't want to get whooped, I didn't want to get grounded, all of the things.

SPEAKER_00 35:55

It never worked out.

SPEAKER_01 35:58

You know, they always knew. They always they always knew. And there was a very traumatic incident between me and my father over that. And I don't fault him. I love him for it. I'm glad he did it. Um but because of that, I stopped lying. I stopped with the lies. And as I grew up raising children, I told them, tell me the truth. That's all you gotta do. We'll figure it out. I'm not saying you're not gonna be in trouble, but we'll deal with the consequences, but you're not gonna be a liar. I'm not gonna live with a liar. I'm just not gonna do it. And I know they probably still do here and there, but I had many opportunities throughout my parent parenthoodness, whatever, that we're gonna tell the truth here and we're going to stay with the truth, and the truth will set you free. It always will. It'll always come out in the end. And if it doesn't work out in your favor because you didn't lie, don't be upset about it. Understand what you're doing. You did the right thing, you're in the upright way. Like, we never could fool our parents. We never could fool our earthly parents.

SPEAKER_00 37:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:13

You think you're gonna fool your heavenly father? Not at all. There ain't nothing that you could see, he sees it all. It's truth, you know. So, I mean, think about that when you're in those situations. Like, am I gonna have to repent for that later? You know, but yeah, so when you walk, your steps will not be impeded. Again, when you tell the truth, you're gonna be able to keep going. You may have a step back, whatever, but you will not be impeded. You will still be able to go. If you run, you will not stumble. So many doors will open up for you when you start telling the truth. When you start telling the truth, when you start owning up to who you are, when you start owning up to the things that you've done, it's just gonna be better. Because once you get that character or that integrity of not to be trusted, you're not gonna be trusted by anybody. One of the best examples of trust is you can take a piece of paper, water up. Alright? Water it all the way up to a ball, flatten it back out. It's still a piece of paper, you can still use it, but look at this condition it's in. You know, it's not gonna be perfect and pristine. So once you start becoming a liar, you start putting more crinkles and bad spots in that, and and you know, it just doesn't, it's not gonna go well for you. What is it? Snowball? You tell this lie, then you gotta tell this lie, then you gotta tell this lie. Oh, yeah. And then you're just in a mess. Yeah, you're just in a mess. Um did we read 14 or did we stop before 14? No, I haven't read it yet. Okay, okay, that's where I'm at next. Seize discipline, do not again seize discipline. Um, hold on to instruction, is what it is in NIV. Do not let go, guard it well, for it is your life. Um seize discipline, do not let go, guard her, guard your your wisdom, for she is your life. And again, you know, don't stick the fork in the light socket. If you're used to these things, yeah, you know. So that's how I guard your life. You you will learn not to step out into traffic, you'll learn not to play on an tracks. Um, so yeah, let's go on to the rest of it here, see what we got.

SPEAKER_02 39:36

Do not enter the path of wicked men, and do not step into the way of evil men. Avoid it. Do not pass by it. Stray from it and pass on. For they do not sleep unless they do evil, and they are robbed of sleep unless they make someone stumble. For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence.

SPEAKER_01 40:10

It's like sounds like a dramatic Shakespearean thing there, right? Do you hear that too, like I do? It's evil communion, brother. What are you talking about? Yeah, it's like, come on, guys, like again, if if you run with with bad men, bad people, nothing good's gonna come of that. No, great. I mean, it's just it's just not. And this is telling us right here to let it all go. Don't hang out with wicked people, do not step in the way of evil men. I mean, so many times you can take that that path down the wrong side. You know, it's either, you know, stay on the straight and narrow, follow the way, um, or go down into the CD dark side of things. I used Star Wars, yes, I did. The way and the dark side. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, but yeah, I mean, it's just right there. It tells it all. And that's something that I never understood. How does someone sleep knowing that they're just evil and rotten and hurting people on a regular basis? They do or they don't.

SPEAKER_02 41:19

I hear a lot of people uh suffer from like uh sleep paralysis mentioning things like paralysis demons as well, too, and not making the correlation.

SPEAKER_01 41:30

Yeah. So I don't know. Yeah, it's just something I've never understood. Like I've even in my life, I haven't done anything super terrible, but I have had a lot of sleepless nights because of something I did during the day. One of the things that has come across in our walk together, uh, we hear a lot of testimonies. We deal with a lot of people coming into recovery and bettering their lives. Agreed, yeah. Um, one of the most prevalent things that I have seen and noticed, and uh the person that came and gave her testimony said this, and it's so true. How awesome is it that when you hear a police siren that you're not worried? Oh, they're not coming to pick me up. That's cool. Yeah, the wee woos ain't coming for me, man. I know it ain't me, you know. Or when you get pulled over for speeding, uh you're not worried that something is going on in your past, or they're mistaking you for, you know, somebody else or whatever, because you don't run in those crowds, you don't hang out with wicked people, you don't do those things. But the story she gave was she had gotten pulled over. And of course, her old addicted part was like, oh my goodness, what I do, what do I got? Is there anything in here? You know, but she realized I'm clean, it's all good, I got nothing to worry about. And it was so it was so nice for her to have that realization. You look like you had a thought on your brain. Are you reading ahead? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 43:04

Remind me later.

SPEAKER_01 43:05

Okay, all right. Um, yeah, avoid it, stray from it, stay on the pass. Again, they do not sleep. Did we read 17? Yeah, we had, yeah. For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence. Yes. I mean, yeah. Just the the peace you have for having integrity and having, you know, being um not in those situations. I guess maybe you probably take it for granted if you've never been in those situations. You you might tend to. Right. There's a space for it. Yeah, you don't understand what it's like to be worried when somebody knocks on the door too.

SPEAKER_02 43:56

No, that's true. But at the same time, too, if you can equate those same things. Feelings with uh when you were in trouble with your dad or something like that, and you get like the law and the dad, yes, kind of those things. Yes, absolutely. Uh here, um but the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn that shines brighter and brighter until the fullness of day, the way of the wicked is like thick darkness. So it is the dark side. Uh they do not know over what they stumble. My son, pay attention to my words. Incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them deviate from your eyes. Do not no, I read that, I'm sorry. Do not let them deviate from your eyes. Keep them in the midst of your heart, for they are life to those who find them, and healing to all his flesh. Guard your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life. Put away from you a perverse mouth, and put devious lips far from you. Let your eyes look directly ahead, and even let your eyelids be fixed straight in front of you. Watch the track of your feet, and all your ways will be established. Do not turn to the right nor to the left. Turn your foot from evil.

SPEAKER_01 45:55

Yeah. Yeah. I like the fact that it says that sh that that shines brighter and brighter until the day of fullness. Uh-huh. You know, he is the way, he is the light of the world. And the closer you get to him, I'm sure it's gonna be brighter and brighter. Was it uh Moses that he glowed after being in the presence? Yes. And then at the Mount of Transfiguration, didn't it happen with Jesus? Am I wrong on that? There was another incident.

SPEAKER_00 46:30

Yes, yes, he did. After they realized that he would no, wait, wait. You're good? No, that's that's it.

SPEAKER_01 46:37

Yeah. I love that part. Um and maybe it's me. Maybe I'm wrong on this. Maybe it's just something that I have going on with me. The way of the wicked. I love that. The way of the wicked. Like you can't say that and not be like, ooh, kind of like Mufasa. Oh you know, the way of the wicked is like darkness. That's just so empowerful there, that just to hear that, you know. Um, and then they do not know over what they stumble. Uh forgive them. They don't know what they do. Agreed, agreed. Forgive them. They do not know what they stumble over. They do. I mean, so much of this we see in the New Testament too. And it's just a beautiful thing to be able to connect those things. Uh, my son, pay attention to my words, incline your ears to my saying, to not let them deviate from your eyes. How many times do we get off the path? Because we're looking at all this, uh, what's the word I'm looking for? Oh, there was a all this glamour and glitter and all the things that sparkle that really aren't gold that we think that are, you know. Um, Jesus is the way, the path, and the light. He, you know, only through Jesus do you get the, you know, the the way is narrow, and uh, you know, and all this again is just pointing towards Jesus. It's all parting towards the way, the path of Jesus. He is who we get through. And it's following his commands, his um journey here to you know set the example. I I just I love that that tracks in there. And um, I know there's probably more than one song, but uh so many sons about like Cats in the Cradle, um the son following the father. You know, you know what I'm saying? Dude, oh, I went through a time with that song when I realized what it really was. Well, oh, it tore me up. It tore me up because I thought about every time my dad said, not now, I gotta do this, I gotta work this, I got this over time. How many times me and my swing shifts, sorry son, when I started working 311s, my son was very young and he hated it. Oh God, it tore him up. He hated my 311s because dad wasn't there with him. You know, I spent 14 months off of work with him. So we have that connection, but and then hearing that song, oh, good night. Even today it tears me up thinking about it. Um, but yeah, that's that's again following in the father's footsteps, following our father in heaven's footsteps. As a dad, we need to make sure that we lay that path down for them, that we show them the way, that we show them the path, not swaying to the wicked, not dealing with the bad stuff, uh, not telling the lies, staying the truth, and being an upright, you know, protect the weak, uh, protect the least of us, provide for the least of us. One of the most wonderful stories I have about my dad. I was I lived in a neighborhood where there was all of us kids running around. We we would hang out with each other from sunup to sundark or sundown. And um mom always had dinner on the table at 5, 5:30 when dad would get home. And I I I don't I can't give you all the details because it was so long ago. But we're sitting there at the dinner table, and there's like one piece of chicken left. And my dad says, Go ahead, you can take it. To my friend. Not to me, not to mom, but to one of the neighborhood kids. You can have it. And and my friend will tell you that story all day long. He loves that story. It just yeah, when my dad passed away, that was one of the things we talked about. That's how my dad was. My dad came home to a lot of empty pots and pans. There was a lot of nights that dad came home and it was cereal from dinner because me and my friends, and as I became a dad, there is that's what a feeling. Like, even with being married, even with being divorced, the feeling of being just sitting there and watching them eat. Yeah. Just sitting there watching them eat, knowing that they're under my roof. How many times did I like look into their beds while they're sleeping, you know? You know, just to know that my dad, well, let's go back to the beginning. My father in heaven provided me with a dad here on earth that provided these things for me, and then I was able to provide for the others. Very good, brother. I again, this these first four chapters, just I mean, if you're getting into a new relationship, if you're thinking about becoming a dad, um if you've not had a good experience with a father in your life, a dad in your life, read these chapters.

SPEAKER_00 51:45

But also share these with your children. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 51:48

Like I'm gonna yeah, let them know uh that there is a right path and it's clearly defined.

SPEAKER_01 51:58

And that's what I love about Jesus. He set the example, he led by example. Some people are really good at that, some people are not so good about that. I think as a society, we probably take to it better. Okay. I could be wrong. I don't know. There are people that are very machine-like and need to have whatever, but for me, if I see the boss doing it, then I should probably be doing it too. More inclined, yeah. Yeah, I'm more inclined to go help him do it too. Like I've had bosses where it was more dictating and pointing fingers, but I've also had bosses that are as dirty and as filthy as I am. And I definitely have had better relationships with those guys. I'd be more willing to go the extra mile for that guy. Because I know he'd go the extra mile for me, just like Jesus did. Great story. Go two miles. He encouraged you to go a mile, go two miles. He asked for your shirt, give him your cloak. You know? Those are hard to do. But I want to kind of give out a shout out to all the surrounding nations and areas. There are plenty of places where you can go and serve and be that for people. Like, how many times have we given people things that they need? Clothes, shoes, food for their pantries. Um, I've had people ask for off-the-wall stuff.

SPEAKER_02 53:36

We have uh time and again, and and I think to a certain extent, like it started to become uh a bit of a routine where I think I had anticipated that I was I was helping them out for the moment. And I was like, this is this is gonna get them, and and now they're gonna like get on their own two feet. No, and and and it's and it's fine, and it's completely fine. Yes, because at the same time, too, what I've done is I've extended another opportunity for them to make it through another day, God willing, make it through another day. And and that's and that's wonderful.

SPEAKER_01 54:13

And and since you said it that way, I want to bring up the uh the guy who owed the money. Okay, good, good. And the the ruler forgave him and let him go. And what did he do with that blessing? What did he do with that grace that he received? He went to another gentleman who owed him money, grabbed him by the neck, threatened him, and then had him thrown in jail. That's not how that was supposed to work, brother. It was extending grace to you so that you can extend grace to somebody else. And that's the thing that I pray for our own organization here in town, but there are organizations all over the world that are doing these things. You can talk to just about any person from any other area, and you will find a place to donate stuff, to donate your time, your efforts to help serve the community. And I highly, highly, highly recommend doing that. I agree. It has been so fulfilling for me and you. And not to mention, it's just it's just beautiful to see the joy that you give people for stuff like that. Like, when they see that you're loving on them, when you see when you show them that they're real people, when you love on them like they're real people, when you get to know their names, not their street names, not their nicknames, get to know their real names. Yeah, call them by their real names. Tell them you love them. Like, how many times have we de-escalated things just by pulling somebody to the side and saying, I love you, brother, or I love you, sister, but we need to not engage in this this this thing right now. And the change in them is just overwhelming. Like, when was the last time somebody told them they loved him? You don't know. No, I don't. We see very much how they act and how people treat them.

SPEAKER_02 56:06

I did tell a gentleman, I was like, Look, brother, I love you. And he actually looked but he told me, he's like, no, that is very obvious. I appreciate that.

SPEAKER_01 56:14

Yeah. So that's that's really cool. And I posted it on Facebook, like just like everybody else, like, I want to get to where it's so uncomfortable to tell people I love them. Like make it awkward, make people take a step back and go, oh my goodness, this guy just told me you love them. But when you do it, show it. Yeah, let them feel it. Like let them see it genuinely like you did. Like, you know, when they know who you are and they can feel that from you, you get that, you know. It's like, it's just like it's so de-escalating of things, it's so peaceful and calming, and it has helped us in so many ways. And we do, we love the people. We're not just saying it, we're we do love them, and we show them with our actions, you know. We provide things for them, we we'll go out of our way to get things for them, you know. Sometimes it doesn't work out because, like you said, it gets to be routine. But there's a fine line there. A hand out. Or a hand up. Or a hand up, yes. Yes. You had come up to some realization when you'd read ahead. Do you remember it? You told me we'd come back to it. I knew that probably wouldn't go over very well, but my apologies.

SPEAKER_02 57:27

Do you remember? It's reading ahead in in uh uh Proverbs 5. I found the Oh, you went to the next chapter again. Yeah, yeah, I found I found I found the word uh uh sorry. And smooth sorry, uh for the lips of a strange woman drip honey, and smoother than oil is her speech, but her end is bitter as wormwood.

SPEAKER_01 57:57

I knew it! I saw it, I knew it!

SPEAKER_02 58:00

Yeah, sorry, uh that's that's uh that's the name of the character in uh the screw tape letters.

SPEAKER_01 58:06

Uh the nephew is is Wormwood from C.S. Lewis. Such an amazing book. Have you talked to Jacob in a while?

SPEAKER_00 58:17

Well, I mean, yeah, I mean technically, yeah. They were doing the screw tape letters at Darnoff.

SPEAKER_01 58:24

Oh, they were? Yeah, we were talking about the tickets, but they were astronomical and oh no, that's what he did. He did mention that. But I want to finish that verse. But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword, her feet go down to death, her steps take a hold of Sheul, which is the grave death. Yeah. So yeah, yeah. That's yeah. I'm glad you're able to see that far ahead, because I wouldn't have seen that in my mind.

SPEAKER_02 58:52

Yeah, well, no, I always just looking at everything at a glance, and I'm just like, wait a second, what? What's that word?

SPEAKER_01 58:58

Um five goes into some more stuff about you know that stuff. But the first four chapters are definitely um, they were on my heart. Uh, we've got so many young couples in the church that are freshly engaged and talking about children and stuff like that. And um, I know our pastor has been doing some counseling with some of them, and uh, usually that's one of the generic standard, whatever things you have, some kind of marriage counseling with a pastor, I think, is both cases. Um, but for the men out there, read these four chapters. Oh, agreed, and read them a couple times.

SPEAKER_02 59:34

Well, and you'd express that it was is valuable uh to you as a father and a stepfather both. So that's that that's something to be considered if you are uh stepfathering as well, too.

SPEAKER_01 59:47

When you and that goes back into what we were saying earlier, a hand out or a hand up, agreed, just step up. Don't just be a stepdad, step up and be a dad.

SPEAKER_02 59:58

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 59:58

Because you may be in a situation where they don't have that in their life, or maybe you didn't have that in your life, and how much that would change for you if you would have had that. True. Because it's an unfortunate thing that happens in this world, all because of the accuser, you know, put it all on him. So all right, I think that's gonna wrap us up. Um uh yeah, do you want to pray us out? Pray us out. Good, good. Holy, holy Father in heaven, such an awesome and wonderful father you are, and such the example that you set for us, and how wonderfully you have taken care of us and and given us the tools and the words to be able to follow in your footsteps and to be the light that we need to be for this world, Father. Father, we thank you for uh coming down and being that leading by example, such an amazing thing. Um you are a servant king. You came down here and you served us. You washed feet, um, you set with the least of those. Uh, such a different uh example for somebody who is a king and a ruler, uh, at least not what the people are used to. And that's such an amazing and awesome show of love and forgiveness and grace, Father. Father, thank you for the weekend that we had with the Winterfest. And I hope that everybody uh takes the message uh as the message was greater than and goes out into the world and uses that message every day, Father. We ask all these things in Jesus Christ's name. Amen.