Lady Wisdom vs Lady Folly

Success can look amazing on paper while quietly hollowing out your future. We start with a simple question, and it turns into a gut-check: what have we normalized that is not actually healthy, and what “wins” are we chasing that God never asked us to chase?

We process Pastor Jared’s message “Am I successful?” and talk about how self-made metrics keep moving the goalpost, and why comparing your walk to someone else can stunt your spiritual growth. 

From there, we dive into Proverbs 7, Proverbs 8, and Proverbs 9 and trace the contrast between Lady Wisdom and Lady Folly. Both invite. Both sound persuasive. But one leads to life and clarity, and the other sells “secret” pleasure that ends in death. 

We also offer a practical filter for daily decisions: stop hunting loopholes with “Is this a heaven or hell issue?” and start asking “Is this wise or unwise?” If you want Christian discipleship that meets real life choices, this one is for you.

Subscribe, share this with a friend who feels the pressure to perform, and leave a review with the biggest “scoreboard” you’re ready to stop living for.

Transcript

What We Mistake For Normal

SPEAKER_00 0:14

What's up everyone? Welcome back to Kids in a Calling Podcast, where none of us are kids, but we all have a calling. And that's to point people to Jesus. I'm your host, Audrey On Joe. With me is Hudson Walton.

SPEAKER_05 0:23

Hey guys.

SPEAKER_00 0:24

Andrea Crader. Hi. Liz Gibson.

SPEAKER_05 0:26

Hey guys.

SPEAKER_00 0:26

And Lincoln Sossier.

SPEAKER_05 0:27

Hey guys.

SPEAKER_00 0:28

So guys, what is something that you think is normalized today that's like not normal? Or it shouldn't be?

SPEAKER_04 0:35

I'd say caffeine addiction. That's like literally everywhere you look. I drink coffee. Yeah, I'm a college student. I definitely have a caffeine addiction. Yeah. It's just so normalized that it's not even seen like as an addiction. Dangerous. I'd say you take the average American, you give them three days no coffee, they're gonna start showing symptoms. Yeah. Because we're all addicted to caffeine.

SPEAKER_00 0:55

I love that.

SPEAKER_04 0:56

It's just so normalized. Like we don't even think of it as an addiction.

SPEAKER_00 0:59

Yeah, I feel like it's a newer thing too because I like I feel like I've only ever seen monster growing up. Like those are like I don't remember seeing energy drinks. I don't remember seeing Alani or what are the other ones? Rain, Celsius, Celsius, like unless those have just been around for years and I just haven't seen them. But I feel like those are getting more and more like.

SPEAKER_04 1:19

Yeah, I'd say definitely energy drinks too, because that's along with uh caffeine addiction.

SPEAKER_05 1:22

Dude, they have like 200 milligrams now.

SPEAKER_04 1:24

And I'd say that that's no way that's healthy. And I'd say that ties in with like gym culture too. That's becoming a lot more like out there. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 1:34

I can't say anything though, because my coffee is a good thing.

SPEAKER_04 1:36

Oh, I'm addicted to caffeine. I'm not sure. We'll have to do like coats.

SPEAKER_03 1:40

I have to maybe that. Why? What? I love coffee. It's so good.

SPEAKER_04 1:46

He is the healthiest out of all of us. But you just haven't had the right coffee. For real.

SPEAKER_05 1:50

Every time I've had it, it's bitter.

SPEAKER_03 1:51

Okay, then you're not making it right. I got you. Trust me. We definitely got you.

SPEAKER_05 1:54

I think if you have to have an acquired taste of something, it's probably not good.

SPEAKER_00 1:58

That's actually a lot of things.

SPEAKER_03 1:59

That's just taste buds being taste.

SPEAKER_04 2:03

I drank coffee black when I was two years old, and I mean it was like, mmm, he's a man. It's good.

SPEAKER_03 2:08

I think saying sorry to inanimate objects is like kind of odd. I think it's cute. Or not odd, but like chat GPT.

SPEAKER_00 2:17

Yeah. Oh, I thought you meant like whenever I knock my water bottle over and I'm like, sorry. Well, like that, that too.

SPEAKER_03 2:23

Like if I hit like some a table, I'm like, oh sorry. I'm like, oh wait, it's a table. Oh, that's a little bit more. That's a table. I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_04 2:29

Do you have any theories as to why this is become normalized in society?

SPEAKER_00 2:34

No. I think it's because we just we've really adapted the just a girl culture. No, like so like everything is cute and whimsical. And we're like, sorry.

SPEAKER_04 2:40

You're right. I am just a girl.

SPEAKER_03 2:42

I'm just the girl. I just hit the table, then I forget the table is not a person. That's funny.

SPEAKER_07 2:46

I often forget my table is not a person, too.

unknown 2:48

I'm not like that.

SPEAKER_07 2:50

Mine is uh when people are on their phones eating as a family or eating with anybody.

SPEAKER_04 2:54

Alright, bro. But who is more entertaining? My family or Reels?

SPEAKER_03 2:57

My family. My family is hilarious.

SPEAKER_06 3:00

Sometimes those stories, they they're they're top. They're top notch.

SPEAKER_03 3:04

Have you ever been to Tuesday night family dinner? No.

SPEAKER_04 3:07

Why would I have been to Tuesday night family dinner with your family?

SPEAKER_03 3:10

I don't know. Because we're hilarious. We're entertainers.

SPEAKER_04 3:14

Debatable.

SPEAKER_03 3:15

Just kidding.

SPEAKER_05 3:16

I love your family, bro. Your family's hilarious. I think mine squatted trucks. Dude, you gotta get rid of them. Get rid of them.

SPEAKER_02 3:23

On the way here, I saw a squatted truck. Aren't they illegal now? No? Because I saw one today. No, I guess where it was just like a thing.

SPEAKER_05 3:29

They should be illegal. They definitely should be illegal. How can you say, I'm a man and drive a squatter truck, your trunk is dragging the ground.

SPEAKER_04 3:37

That's the ones that are like slanted up.

SPEAKER_05 3:38

Yes, the front is up and the back wheels are like on the like the back is on the ground. Sure hope the back wheels are on the ground. Well, I mean, yeah, but I'm talking about.

SPEAKER_03 3:54

What happens to the road?

SPEAKER_05 3:55

Isn't it like up a flex to always look down on everyone? Some people think it's cool.

SPEAKER_00 3:59

No, the thing is you're looking up at the sky, you could barely see the road.

SPEAKER_07 4:02

Looking at the hood.

SPEAKER_00 4:03

Think of being at this angle. Trying to drive. Like, how are you seeing the road? Anyway, I think my thing that's normalized is women working. Agreed. Like, what do you mean? I could have just cooked and cleaned. Literally. But now I have to. Who had this idea? Alright, boys. Y'all can't be silent on this.

SPEAKER_04 4:21

You guys had this idea, bro. This was decided before I was born. This was all y'all.

SPEAKER_01 4:26

Us two. Yeah, us too. That's not fair. It's a razor.

SPEAKER_04 4:30

Your ancestors made it so you guys could work. Don't look at me. That's not my fault.

Circuit City And False Success

SPEAKER_00 4:34

Okay. So a few weeks ago, as we all should remember, Pastor Jared continued his primal question series. And he did one on the question, Am I successful? So what did you guys think of that one?

SPEAKER_03 4:46

I thought it was a really good sermon. Um he talked about Circuit City. So he opened up with talking about Circuit City, which is a company, really successful company, and they had misdiagnosed what made them successful. So they started doing money cuts to like vital employees. So they laid off a bunch of people and professionals that were like really important to their business. And then bro tanked. And so he was talking about if we misdiagnose what makes us quote unquote successful in our lives, it can damage our long-term success. And this is where he brought up scoreboards.

SPEAKER_08 5:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:22

Because scoreboards can only tell you are tell you where you are for a moment. And even you can even win on a scoreboard in this moment in time, but you can lose your future completely. Just like Circuit City.

SPEAKER_04 5:35

Hundo P, bro. That's so true.

SPEAKER_01 5:37

Hundo P means 100%, by the way. Because I had to just decipher it, so I know someone else will. It just like went over my head. I like I didn't even realize what I was doing.

SPEAKER_04 5:44

Did you decipher that in like 0.1 seconds? No way.

SPEAKER_01 5:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 5:48

How did you look that up so fast?

SPEAKER_05 5:50

I literally just looked it up. Anyway, um, first that she deciphered it. Was it Derek Grows who used as the example for the sports team? Like a sports team had they won the game, but the player like towards ACL or something. Right, right. So on the scoreboard show they won, but they had like even now they still have not returned to where they once were. Made a comment. Very true.

SPEAKER_04 6:12

But back to Andrea's uh point in the story, like she was saying that the reason the company made the bad decision that they made was because they were looking at the spreadsheets. Um it looked feasible to make those budget cuts because it would have looked better just looking at a spreadsheet as a temporary victory. It looked like this is the best choice. Um and they got cooked after that because they fired all their best people that knew what they were doing. Yeah, and they lost trust.

SPEAKER_00 6:33

Like they ended up having workers who were not skilled and then no one to train them. So, like seeing this, it just and then not only that, it was he said that the customers had a lack of trust now because why would you trust a company who did that to their own employees and stuff? They're like best employees too. Like exactly that's crazy.

SPEAKER_04 6:49

Yeah, and like yeah, I was just saying, like, it was like using that story to tell us what Andre just told us that uh to not focus on the snapshot success, not to focus on the temporary success, because you can do that in so many facets of your life. You can um, I want to make a 100 on this in this class in college, I'm in college. That's a good thing to do, but if you base your entire worth and feeling of success on that, you make a you happen to make a beat, you're gonna hate yourself. Um things like that, promotions on work. Um, anything that can be seen as successful that isn't bad in its own. You should strive to be successful. But Pastor Jared hit like he explained that there's a difference between being successful and making that your instead of being something you strive for, being what you are and who you are.

When Success Becomes Your Identity

SPEAKER_03 7:36

Exactly. And he also mentioned, we mention this every time, but every question has something called a scramble, so something that forces you out of being like in the I am mentality. It's like I am successful, and it forces you into the question yourself, am I successful? And so he mentioned how some of these work. So he said, some plain old giveaways is being extremely driven or disciplined at the surface because you're just covering up your own scramble. You can look like you're disciplined and you're driven and you're getting everything done, but deep down you're just like, Am I doing enough? Um, another one is overworking. So if you're working all the time, like all the time, it's probably not a good thing. Just like Hudson said, your proof of identity is linked to success, so like your grades, all that other stuff.

SPEAKER_04 8:24

And then like uh some people react completely differently and they just avoid trying anything. Literally because their work is tied to their success, and so they're so scared that they don't even want to try because if they don't succeed, they'll feel worthless.

SPEAKER_05 8:37

Yeah, that's what Pastor Jared said. Oh, one of one of the quotes I took from him is he said, as a child, you learn uh that you receive love when you perform well. And so I think y'all have all touched on it. Like grades is a big one. A lot of children, if you have siblings and one sibling does better than you, and they get a good job, well, then you're like, Well, why don't I get a good job?

SPEAKER_04 8:55

Like yeah, and like obviously not in every home, but that can be very reinforced in some homes.

SPEAKER_03 9:00

And sometimes it happens unintentionally, and it's not even on purpose sometimes. Yeah, it might not the parents might not even be bad parents, they might be really good parents, but then subconsciously somehow it's just in this kid's brain, like, oh, good grades equals I'm loved. Even if the parents never intended for that to happen. Yeah, I agree.

SPEAKER_07 9:18

Sometimes the short-term goals can be stumbling blocks instead of like, oh, an accomplishment. Oh, I did well. They can turn into something negative.

SPEAKER_04 9:25

Yeah, that's exactly what he was getting at. Because when you get focused on it like that, where that becomes a stumbling block, then you've missed the mark. Yeah. Because your success isn't about the short-term goals.

SPEAKER_00 9:35

Nope. I like what he said about this. It's kind of like a smaller one, but he said that building units in competitive environments takes time. And that's kind of what you were talking about. Like, not even necessarily always with competing with other people, but even yourself to do better, like competing, like, you know, I gotta get this grade, I gotta do this. And it's like it's nearly impossible to make trustworthy friends and strong bonds when you're constantly in a competitive mindset, and you can't be buddy buddy with somebody but also be attacking them and trying to be better than them at all times.

SPEAKER_03 10:02

Yeah, you can't be best friends with someone and then always thinking about how you're gonna one-up them. Just like Audrey said.

SPEAKER_07 10:08

Yeah, you can't see them around your goal. They're your goal is in front of their face, and you can't reach them without reaching out for your goal first.

SPEAKER_00 10:16

Yeah, so that's really good.

SPEAKER_07 10:18

I like that.

SPEAKER_00 10:18

That is good. Good job, Luke. Um, kind of going back to what you were y'all kind of touched on the scoreboard stuff, but he had said when the scoreboard is all that matters, coaches replace character, and he was talking about you know the coaches and stuff. And like, whenever winning is the only goal, it doesn't matter what kind of person you are because the coach is always gonna choose the best player, quote unquote. Whoever has the most skill rather than the character. So I think in reality, like in how you can apply that to your life, is that you have to look for people with integrity to be in your life, not people with status. Don't look at who's the most popular, who's the cheerleader, who's cool, who's gonna get me in the in-crowd. You have to look for who's a good person, who's gonna be a good example, who's gonna lift me up and not tear me down. Who's and that's the people in your life who should have any amount of say in your life or who you listen to and their opinion and stuff. Preach, preach up, and then that ties into spouses. Like, don't shoot your spouse because they're handsome or beautiful, necessarily. I mean, they can be, but it's also like don't only base it on that, or only base it on their status if they're like the cool guy at camp. Like, don't just do that. You have to make sure it's a godly person and a good person, literally.

SPEAKER_04 11:23

Yeah, and I I really like the uh example from the Bible he used to show God's like version of success, the way we should be viewing it.

Joshua And Obedience As Success

SPEAKER_04 11:32

Um, he used Joshua in the Bible. Moses had just passed away, and God chose Joshua to lead the nation of Israel. That's a huge mantle, dude. Like this is their hero. Like Moses is that guy of the old testament, basically. Literally, like every single Jew in the world knew of him, basically. Yeah, like he was literally that guy, and so he's passing down, and um Joshua T, you know, he's not Moses, no one's Moses, yeah, and so he has to lead the nation of Israel, and you know, obviously, like imagine yourself in that situation. That's what Pastor Jared was getting at. Like, you'd want to be like, I have to like perform at least as good as Moses, or these people are not gonna like me. Yeah, they're not gonna trust me if I'm not as good as Moses. But what Pastor Jared pointed out is that God didn't say you have to pray as much as Moses first before you lead my nation, you have to be as spiritual as Moses, you have to do these things that Moses did, you have to be better than Moses. No, he simply told him, I need you to do this, like I need you to lead my nation. So God didn't look at the things that Joshua had done, and he didn't require Joshua to do anything to call him, the calling itself was the success.

SPEAKER_05 12:41

Yeah, and God wasn't calling Joshua to be Moses, he was calling Joshua to be Joshua. Yeah, right. And I feel like us like a lot of times we can get and look around and see who's being quote unquote successful, like in the kingdom-wise, like their ministries going on. Well, God's not calling me to be somebody else, he's calling me to be me.

SPEAKER_07 12:58

Yeah, he's the one that defines our success. Yeah, yeah, right.

SPEAKER_03 13:02

And Pastor said that he said the biblical definition of success is obedience. Because Joshua's life and Joshua's moment, just like Hudson was talking about, um, he's grieving, he just lost like one of his great friends, and then God's like, actually, you're the one that's gonna lead him. And so in Joshua 1, 7 through 9, it like God clearly states to Joshua, obey all of the instructions that Moses had given you. Do not deviate from them, neither turning from the right or to the left. Then you will be successful in everything that you do. And at the end of verse 9, it it keeps saying, like, don't be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. God didn't say go win more battles, just like Hudson said. God said, Obey me, follow what I have written out for you, and then you will be successful. Yeah, which is so good.

SPEAKER_00 13:56

Yeah, and it's like whenever you determine the success over your values, you're gonna lose them. That's another thing he was talking about. Like whenever you prioritize being quote unquote successful in your terms, you're gonna lose the value that you had in Christ. And you're gonna base your overall worth on the things of this world, and that's just gonna be temporary. And I think another thing is once you like you were talking about being overworked. Whenever you think that getting to the I don't know, the CEO status or whatever the highest status at your workplace is, you're gonna overwork yourself and you're gonna you're gonna try to make yourself look like you have it all together. But like you were saying, it's a scramble. You're gonna be scrambling for answers or something to hold on to, and you're gonna be trying to trick everyone around you that you're okay and that you got it all under control. But it's important to remember that you aren't who I mean, who you are to the world isn't who you are to God. And just because they see a perfect person or somebody who's got it all together, God knows what's happening underneath, he knows you don't, and he knows you're stumbling and you're falling.

SPEAKER_07 14:54

Yeah, and is it success in God's perspective or by your definition? Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_04 15:00

I was gonna say, like, if we're honest, most of the time it's ours. Right? Yeah, like absolutely because one question I've been thinking of is like, why do all of us, why do people in general struggle to accept obedience as the real definition of success? Yeah. Because like when Pastor Jared first started talking about success, my first thought was not obedience. It's the things he was talking about, um, how much money I make. Um, you know get my get my diploma. Like I'm about to graduate. That's success. That's what I would envision success as. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:28

But it's like the opening question, like, why is that the go-to thing? Why is it so normalized that success is wealth and status?

SPEAKER_04 15:33

I just think that that in itself like is the reason. Like, that's the answer to that question. It's so normalized. We just we see that everywhere, um, especially with the adduction of he talk about things like social media comparison. You see a bunch of successful people in your eyes, they have uh big house, they have cool cars if you're into cars. Um, those things can become metrics to success for you. And just like Pastor Jared's talked about, the little goals that get you there, the little snapshot moments, your life can start becoming defined by those little moments of success. Yeah. And that's the danger when you lose sight of obedience.

SPEAKER_07 16:07

And you get addicted to those moments just like Kathy. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 16:11

Such an insane callback, bro. I was going to go.

SPEAKER_00 16:14

That's crazy. Yeah. I think if we misdiagnose what success really is, then we're gonna start cutting things off in our life that would sustain us in hard seasons. Yeah. And some examples of that could be like for work. You could sacrifice family time and spending time with those you love for working harder and staying late hours just to get more money and earn higher status. In school, you could be chasing your status or being like a star athlete and your academic slack off and you get F's and stuff. Um, in your church, you might be so busy chasing the recognition in your service. Like we talk about this a lot, like musicians or singers, like it could happen to anybody, but like that could be one that's easier to fall for because you're right on the stage in front of everyone, and it's easier to chase the status of oh, he or she is so good at singing, so good at this. They forgot that you need to look back and think of the why of your actions. Yeah, why am I doing this? I'm doing this for him, not for me.

SPEAKER_04 17:05

And that also shows the danger of self-made metrics. That was another point that Pastor talked on a lot. Um, that goes right in following the idea of like a snapshot moment of success. Um, there's no like book you look up for what's the most successful moment in my life. Yeah, it's all kind of tailored to you. You make up your own metrics of success. Everyone does it internally.

SPEAKER_08 17:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 17:26

And Pastor Dred was talking about you know the danger of that. Like, think about in church, you were just talking, Audrey, about like singing. Your spiritual life can be stunted because you compare yourself to people in your own church. Yeah, you can be like, I'm not as successful as a believer as um so-and-so. Uh I'll use um worship leader Jin, our worship leader, pastor's wife. I'm not as successful as her because I can't sing as good as her. I could use that, I could kill my own walk with God because I'm comparing myself to the people around me with a self-made metric.

SPEAKER_07 17:56

And you're not called there either.

SPEAKER_04 17:58

And God doesn't look at any of us, even if you are called to sing and be like, you aren't as good as a child as Jin is because she's a great singer. Yeah. Like, that's not how God operates.

SPEAKER_03 18:07

Yeah. And Pastor said that. He said, if I make up the definition of my own success, then I become enslaved to it.

SPEAKER_08 18:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 18:14

Because you'll never be able to measure up to your metric of how you want to be successful. You know, like you're it's always gonna be bigger than you, and whenever you fail at it, because you're gonna fail at it if you make it up, you're gonna be spiraling because you thought, like, oh, I thought I could achieve this. And uh no.

SPEAKER_04 18:34

And because oftentimes, on top of that, the metric you set is gonna constantly change. So you'll never truly feel successful. Say you do get that promotion. Now that's the next level, yeah. The next level, and what are we striving for now?

SPEAKER_07 18:46

Because the difference between success living in the world versus walking like in the spirit is that your best in the world is not always enough to constitute like success. But with God, your best is all that He asks. Yeah, like so it's guaranteed. Oh, if I do my best with God, I'm good. Yeah. If you do your best in the world, you may or may not be good. You have a guaranteed win with God.

SPEAKER_04 19:07

Yeah, it may be trash, bro. But God doesn't care about that.

SPEAKER_08 19:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 19:11

But um but yeah, I think that's a really good distinction. Like that goalpost is gonna keep moving if you base it on yeah, your own metrics. Yeah, that's true. But the difference is all God says, God defines success by simply obeying him. You can always obey God, that metric is not gonna change. Right. So if you internalize that and realize that your true success simply comes by obeying God, then you're always gonna be successful. Yeah, and boom, question answered. Like you're not gonna scramble on that.

SPEAKER_00 19:37

Yeah, and he has said if you don't, if you don't know if you've done this, ask yourself this is this obedience to what God has called me for, or is this my ego trying to be more successful? Yeah. Because if your ego wants the success and if you've made your own definitions of success, then you kind of know it's not his will, it's yours. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 19:53

Because imagine how dangerous that is, like even in a church, in a church body, if I feel super spiritual and I start to get haughty and I start to set my own expectations and metrics of what uh being a spiritual person looks like, being a holy person looks like, I'm gonna start judging everyone around me. Yeah, like I'll be like, oh, that person did not raise their hands as much as me. That person did not sit in the front this Sunday.

SPEAKER_03 20:14

Yeah and I'll start judging all these people for take notes.

SPEAKER_04 20:16

For no reason, yeah. Like these people aren't listening, they aren't taking notes. Like, what are these guys doing? They're not a real Christian, and all of a sudden I'm lost in all this stupid stuff.

SPEAKER_03 20:26

Yeah, I agreed.

Succeeding At The Wrong Thing

SPEAKER_03 20:28

I love how Pastor Jared and did his message of Am I successful? He was talking about how whenever he first got his job, so his job now, like he travels a lot for work. So whenever he first got it, he became this complete expert in everything travel. He like bought all the books, he read all the fine print. Bro knew everything, and so he's at the airport and he's going to scan his boarding pass to get on the plane. And this was like an early one, right? Yeah, like a premiere. He had bumped up his ticket from to like first class or something. Yeah. So bro was like, I got this, I'm where I'm supposed to be. And so whenever he scanned his ticket, it beeped because it was it was wrong. He was in the wrong spot, and the worker just leaned over and said, Sir, you're at the wrong gate. And he was like, What? And the the worker goes, it's leaving right now. And so he has to like run to catch his plane. I forgot if he made it or not, but it was to the same place.

SPEAKER_05 21:31

He made it, but he had to sit like way in the back. Yes, middle row.

SPEAKER_03 21:35

Oh, yeah, okay. So he did make it, but like he had he had to sit in the wrong spot.

SPEAKER_04 21:39

Yeah, it wasn't first class anymore.

SPEAKER_03 21:41

Yeah, and so it was the same destination. Both place both planes were going to the same place, but he was about to get on the wrong flight. And he made this point, he said, I don't want to succeed at the wrong thing. Yeah, because in life we can succeed at a lot of things, but those things might not be what God wants. For us. And so if we succeed at things that God doesn't want for us, then we're succeeding at the wrong thing. Which is kind of scary because I want to succeed in all that God wants me to succeed, not what Andrea sets up for Andrea.

SPEAKER_00 22:14

Yeah. Because like you're going to get to the end and then you're going to realize. Like it's not one of those. Yeah. I mean, it can be one of those things you realize now, but if you're listening to this podcast, but like, I know one day you're going to keep living like this and it will be too late and you're going to realize you ran the wrong race and you did the wrong things.

SPEAKER_04 22:29

Because you can kill yourself trying to get all these succeeding in all these other areas. Like um, things that aren't wrong in themselves, like you know, yeah. Like Audrey was using earlier, I'll just use her example, becoming a CEO. You can fight all your life for that to work your way up. Right? Like, but you get to the end, and if that's if you only succeed in that and you die with only having accomplished that, yeah, you succeeded, but you missed the mark. Yeah, you didn't succeed in the one race that really mattered.

SPEAKER_03 22:53

Yeah, yeah. Ooh, that's good. If I did nothing else quote unquote productive in my life, the one thing that I would want to make sure that I did was please God with my life.

SPEAKER_01 23:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:05

And so I think that's a really good shot to shoot for is just to please God. But you know, align yourself with God and align with yourself with his word. Like don't make up your own metrics to be like, okay, I can only please God, X, Y, Z. You know, like if you're reading His Word and you're aligning yourself with it, then you can become successful because you are obeying the Word of God and not just obeying what you said for yourself. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 23:30

Yeah. I think that's pretty epic. Um, despite all these things you can do, the only thing God defines your success by is simply by obeying him. I think that's pretty pogo.

Proverbs 7 To 9 Two Paths

SPEAKER_00 23:56

So last week we had touched on what was it, Proverbs four, no, what was it, four through six? Something like that. So this week um we could talk about Proverbs seven through nine. So who wants to start us off?

SPEAKER_03 24:08

I loved Proverbs um seven through nine this week. I thought it was just so beautiful. Like I love how Solomon wrote out everything. I was like, this is great. And so I'm just gonna give like a big picture type view for a second. So both Proverbs seven, eight, and nine are giving two different paths or showing two different paths. One chapter it's showing the path of wisdom with lady wisdom, and then another chapter is showing um the path of the the folly. So I looked it up, not looked it up, but like I researched it, and folly means a fountain of foolish acts. So this lady of fountain of foolish acts, so acting the fool, foolish living, literally she's acting a fool um the way of her living, and then it compares the two. And I thought that was really cool.

SPEAKER_07 25:00

Yeah, in chapter eight, when the the other woman that represents uh wisdom instead of folly, they're both compared through the different chapters. And one of them, I think it both in both chapters it says simple people or simple, I don't know, something about just not being not having common sense. That was the main point is that both didn't have common sense, but both good and evil drew them in. Evil for deception and for for just wrong things all the way, and good to teach, to reprove, and to correct.

SPEAKER_01 25:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 25:33

Yeah. And I really like the symbolism like Andrew was just talking about of so good. How you see through reading these chapters that both the lady wisdom and lady folly, they're both calling out to people. Yeah. Um like they're both gonna be calling out to you as a believer. Like as you read it, you'll see that wisdom and folly. Um, what was it? Fountain of foolish actions. Yeah, that fountain is calling for you, bro. Yeah, and so is wisdom.

SPEAKER_00 25:59

It's like the devil and the angel on your shoulder. Like who are you gonna listen to?

SPEAKER_04 26:02

I mean, like she just said, I'll just rehash it. Like, Proverbs 7 is literally all of Proverbs 7 is a story about a man being seduced by you could say folly. Like an immoral woman. It's showing an illustration of how dangerous folly is, of how dangerous listening to that call is, of how it can entrap you and how you can fall to that. Yeah, and then on the other side, eight, Proverbs eight, it talks about wisdom, about how wisdom listen as wisdom calls out. Yeah, hear as understanding raises her voice. And it's also like on the hilltop along the road, she's calling out to people. She's at the city square, she's at the gates calling out to people. And so you see in one chapter the danger of falling, the next you see wisdom calling out to you. Yeah, and so that should kind of hit you like you gotta look out for these things.

SPEAKER_00 26:46

Yeah, I think what's like so interesting about it is like so like verse, I mean, chapter seven on its own, it's kind of like the story is about a foolish woman and she's she tricked a man as sleeping with her, but it's like whenever you dig deep into it past just the story or just the man and the woman, it's really about life in general. Like it's about immoral, not only about immoral women, but it's about immoral people too. Like it's about people convincing you to do bad things or peer pressuring and stuff, because that stuff is real. And the people in this world are evil and they're deceiving, and they want to bring you down to their level. And it's so important that you listen to God, God, and his word because you need to know when to avoid these people, and this is a good example. Like, I mean, yeah, this is not the only example, obviously, but if you're not grounded in the word, then you're not gonna know how to apply it to your life. Exactly.

SPEAKER_07 27:31

That's kind of the difficult part about it, is that in the world, it's not all bad people. There's there's people that are not exactly in church or not saved that are still good people, yeah. And there's also you know, very evil people that you have to stay away from, but the difficulty in it is discerning, which is exactly what these two kind of compare and contrast. Because I mean, you have the evil one in in chapter seven, and then in eight, there one's calling and one goes to you. Yeah. I found that kind of interesting. That is interesting. Their tactics to find you.

SPEAKER_05 28:03

Yeah, and the evil or the immortal woman they're talking about in chapter seven, it says, like like y'all were saying, like, she appeared nice. Uh it says she seduced him with her pretty speech and she enticed him with her flattery. Like she was she appeared to be good. And then when it happened, you go down a few verses, says he was like a bird flying into a snare, little knowing it would cost him his life. Yeah, literally. Like he went into this, it looked like it was gonna be a fun time. It looked like it was gonna like feel good to his flesh.

SPEAKER_00 28:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 28:31

And after it happened, it cost him everything that he had.

SPEAKER_00 28:34

And if you don't keep your eyes peeled at all times, you're gonna fall short, and you're gonna be blinded by the sin, and you're gonna get off the right path that you were on.

SPEAKER_03 28:42

That's what sin is supposed to be. Sin is supposed to look good, and then it it it has a bitter taste.

Sin’s Sweet Pitch And Real Cost

SPEAKER_03 28:48

Like it's supposed it's painted to be like this really nice and great time, but then literally it's leading to death, and that is one of the big themes of Proverbs 7 is the deception of sin, but the fatal consequences that your fountain of foolish actions actually has.

SPEAKER_07 29:06

He also uh ignored a very big sign to me that kind of stuck out to me. She said, My husband or the man of the house has left with money, he's gonna be on vacation. I was like, this guy's gonna go in golfing, he's just gonna go do his own thing, he's gonna go hang his wallet with money. He's sick of this lady.

SPEAKER_01 29:24

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 29:25

Like, how would you look out for red flags, guys? Right, that is a huge red flag.

SPEAKER_01 29:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 29:31

If some dude, listen, like if some girl comes up to you, I mean, you should already be turning away by the fact that she has a husband, even if not a husband, a partner. But like, if that partner is avoiding her for an entire month, dog, you got bigger fish to fry here. Like, we need to have some conversations.

SPEAKER_00 29:47

That's funny. That's funny. Uh, going back to kind of what you were saying, Andrea. Or I think it was you talking about leading to death. Who was that?

SPEAKER_08 29:53

Me.

SPEAKER_00 29:54

Oh, sorry, that was Lincoln. My bad, y'all. But verse 27 literally says, Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death. Uh my way to the grave. That's what one version says.

SPEAKER_04 30:04

You do not want to go to that house, but you don't want to go to the grave.

SPEAKER_05 30:07

I like how um in the the first part of chapter three or chapter seven, I don't know what I'm thinking, um, it talks about how the woman she couldn't stay in her house. Like she wasn't waiting for the man to come to her, she was going to him. And I think a lot of times that's the way temptation is it's not waiting for us to go and like oh, I want to be tempted. It's like I'm gonna come get you.

SPEAKER_04 30:27

Yeah, it seeks out because like the theme is that both wisdom and folly, they both want you. So they both call out to you.

SPEAKER_00 30:33

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_04 30:34

And folly may get in your face a little bit, and like she may try to seduce you, seduce the man. Um, but they both call out to you.

SPEAKER_05 30:41

Yeah, and I think it's important, like Luke said, you need to discern. Like discerning is a I feel like it's a very overlooked aspect of things now. But whenever you're built, like whenever you're able to discern the difference between something that looks good and something that is good, because not everything that looks good is good. Like it's like one of the chapters you talked about last week, uh, it says that it looks sweet, but it tasted bitter going down. Um, that's a sin is good until you do it, and then after you do it, you're condemning yourself. Like, why in the world did I do this?

SPEAKER_03 31:11

Yeah, yeah. I thought it was interesting where wisdom calls out and where folly calls out.

Where Wisdom Speaks In Public

SPEAKER_03 31:17

And so in Proverbs 8, um it says in verses 1 through 3, listen as wisdom calls out, hear as understanding raises her voice. On the hilltop along the road, she stands, she takes her stand at the crossroads by the gates at the entrance to the town, on the road leading in, she cries aloud. And so she's standing in very public places. She's on the hilltop, she's at the crossroads where the two roads meet. She's at the gates of the city, she's at the road leaning in, and she's telling people, hey, I have something to offer you that's good. It has no deception in it. You you want to get your hands in this. And then Folly is sitting somewhere completely different. In a dark alley, but she's trying to mimic wisdom. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 32:05

Every one of those places that she was standing at, if you think about it, whenever you're on a journey or traveling somewhere, you have to choose, you have to make a big decision where you're gonna stay, which way you're gonna take, on top of the hill, at the gate. You have to figure out where you're going, and she's in those places ready to direct you.

SPEAKER_04 32:21

Yeah, and it's highlighting that wisdom is there, like it's she's not hiding from you. Wisdom is there, and you just have to see it and be like, okay, this is what I need to invite into my heart, this is what I need to see, this is what I need to choose, this is the path I need to walk. Yeah, it's always there. Right? You just have to not ignore it.

SPEAKER_05 32:37

Yeah, that's verse 17 says, I love all who love me, and those who search will surely find me. Like, if if you're looking for wisdom, if you're looking to make a wise decision, you're gonna find the answer as to what the wise decision is. It's not you're just hiding behind some curtain, you have to pull back. Literally, you just have to think a little.

SPEAKER_03 32:53

I love how you pointed out she was standing in points of direction.

SPEAKER_07 32:58

Right.

SPEAKER_03 32:59

So, like, I didn't that it hadn't like decisions, you know, crossed her mind. Yeah, not yeah. Um, literally, because you're you can be at the crossroads, and then she can be wisdom and let you have some wise advice on which area you should go. That's that's so cool, y'all. The Bible is so cool.

SPEAKER_04 33:21

Yes, it is. Oh, spoiler, bro. It's really cool. Oh Andrew is mind blown. Spoiler, he's still alive. Me, the first time I read that Jesus came back alive. Like, are you kidding me? Who does that? He's back. Who does that?

SPEAKER_03 33:34

He's back. That's funny.

SPEAKER_04 33:35

It's insane, bro.

SPEAKER_03 33:37

Yeah, but it also depicts lady wisdom as a bunch of other things. So it says in verses in chapter 8, in verses 10 and 11, it says that wisdom is more valuable than silver, and gold more precious than rubies. Like, that's just crazy that wisdom to put it on an earthly perspective, like you we can't really understand how wisdom could be that precious, that it's more precious than gold and rubies, but wisdom goes beyond earthly value. Yeah, it offers lasting honor and righteousness and spiritual wealth, not physical wealth. Like, you can't get I mean you kind of could get physically wealth off of wisdom if you make wise decisions and certain aspects of your life, yeah, just like Solomon. Um, but it has more impact on your spiritual life.

SPEAKER_04 34:27

Yeah, the difference would be if you got wealth without wisdom, you'd probably make money your whole life. Yeah, that's that's a difference there.

SPEAKER_00 34:34

Yeah, very good. Um, verse 13, kind of just going right after what you just said. Verse 13 says, All who fear the Lord will hate evil, therefore I hate pride and arrogance, corruption and perverse speech. Fearing the Lord is going to naturally make you hate the things he hate and love the things he loves. Because wisdom grows and pride lessens. Yeah. Like wisdom wants to know more and it wants to obey.

SPEAKER_05 34:55

I liked that verse a lot. Uh, what I took away from it is if wisdom hates pride and arrogance, then it loves humility. And if it hates corruption and perverse speech, then it loves integrity and honesty. It's like wisdom is the complete opposite of what our flesh naturally wants to do. Yeah. Like if you've done something wrong, naturally you're gonna want it. It's easier to just lie about something, but wisdom says you're gonna be honest about it, you're gonna accept the consequences and take it like a man. Like it might not be or a woman, it might not be, it might not be the easy thing, but it's the wise thing to do.

SPEAKER_03 35:25

It's the good thing to do. I thought it was so cool how wisdom put itself before the beginning of the world. Um, so I'm gonna read it in Proverbs 8, 22 through like 26. It says the Lord formed me from the beginning. He created before he created anything else. I was appointed in ages past, at the very first, before the earth began. I was born before the oceans were created, before the springs bubbled forth their waters, before the mountains were formed, before the hills. I was born before he made the earth and fields and the first handfuls of soil. I was the architect at his side, I was his constant delight, rejoicing in his presence. That's just so cool. You read it so amazing. Thanks. And this verse like links to Proverbs 9 and 10. It says the fear of the Lord is the foundation of wisdom, knowledge of the holy one results in good judgment. The Lord literally built and spoke into existence everything with wisdom. Wisdom was literally the foundation of the beginning of time. Because wisdom existed before time, so of course, like it's with the Lord. I guess wisdom is one of the characteristics of God. Yeah. But that's just crazy.

SPEAKER_00 36:59

But he also incorporated that in the world that he made for us. Yes.

SPEAKER_05 37:01

Yeah, he made it wisely. I love that.

SPEAKER_00 37:05

I love God. He's so cool.

SPEAKER_07 37:07

If he used to create the earth, surely we should be using it in the earth to in our day-to-day decisions.

SPEAKER_04 37:16

I think Luke might be onto something, guys. I think it's so think, man. I just feel it.

SPEAKER_00 37:22

I really liked um verses 32 through 33. It says, And so my children listen to me. For all who follow my ways are joyful. Listen to my instruction and be wise. Don't ignore it. First of all, I like how it says my children, because it's just like whenever it says stuff like that, it's like it's someone who's smarter and knows more. Yeah, like an older generation. Yeah, like passing their advice, their like fatherly advice, like trust me, I know. Like wisdom leads to joy, and living wisely leads to a fulfillment that you can't find elsewhere. Because it kind of ties into the message. Like we search for success and think to this world, but whenever we don't have wisdom, we don't have the right things, we're not gonna get fulfilled.

SPEAKER_03 37:56

Yeah. I think we also need to pay attention to the older generation because just like it says, My children listen to me, like the elders of the church or just like your grandparents or someone that that you trust that is living a biblical and godly life. Yeah, they have seen so much more things in our physical world, in their in the spiritual world, than you've seen yet at your young adult, high school, young, I don't know how old you are, college age, and they can offer you so much wise advice. Like I have some of my best friends or older people who were grandparents, but it's like they're wise, they yeah, but they have so much to offer, like they are just so wise.

SPEAKER_05 38:42

Mentors for sure.

SPEAKER_03 38:43

Yeah, that's that's what I was saying.

SPEAKER_07 38:45

The blessing with wisdom is that you don't have to go through what the people before you did. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 38:50

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_07 38:50

And God grants us to that freely, which is that's amazing to me.

SPEAKER_03 38:54

It's just you learn from other people's mistakes so you don't make them yourself. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 38:59

Who would have thought if you don't sleep with the immoral woman, her husband doesn't come and kill you? Like God laid that out in the Bible. Like, if you don't do that, that won't happen.

SPEAKER_05 39:08

He's on vacation with a full wallet. He's he ain't coming back. He's got thirty days.

SPEAKER_04 39:12

He's in the pig pen. Come on, Gulba man, you got 30 days, bro. Then he's coming for you.

SPEAKER_05 39:17

Yeah. I liked Proverbs 8:35 to 36. Uh it says, For whoever finds me, finds life and receives favor from the Lord, but those who miss me injure themselves, all who hate me love death. So whoever this verse is saying, Whoever finds wisdom is finding life. Yeah. And I like how wisdom gives the opposite of what sin uh gives us. Romans 6.23 says the wages of sin is death. But the gift of that. Yes. But this verse is saying that if you find wisdom, you're gonna find life. So sin off or wisdom offers life, but sin offers death. So I wonder if the wages of wisdom is life. And the wages of sin is death. That's just something to think about.

SPEAKER_07 39:53

It's the way God operates. So it's the way he wants us to operate. Yeah, and wisdom.

SPEAKER_05 39:56

Because I mean, I've I've never I've never known of one person who died from a wise decision.

SPEAKER_07 40:02

Right.

SPEAKER_05 40:03

Like, you know what I'm saying? Like wisdom. Well, yes, but Jesus is also God. We're not God. No, I think that's it. So it's like wisdom leads us to like lively decisions, good things. But whenever we sin and we fall short, it leads us to nothing but death.

SPEAKER_03 40:20

And I love how it's laid out in Proverbs. Like it is laid out as direct contrasts of each other. Yeah. Because in chapter nine, chapter nine is a big

Two Invitations Two Very Different Ends

SPEAKER_03 40:33

party. Lady Wisdom is having a feast, and so is Lady Folly. And it says that wisdom, and so in verse, in chapter nine, verse one and two, it says wisdom has built her house. She has carved out its seven pillars, she has prepared a great banquet mixed with with wines and set the table. Wisdom prepares this whole banquet, and it's like big, extravagant. Her she has seven pillars in her house. In the Bible, like seven signifies like completeness and perfection and all that good stuff. And so, like, girl got it going on, and she's having all her people go invite everybody, and so it's not a hidden party, like wisdom is for everybody. Yeah, yeah. And she's calling from the height, she's like, hey, come come to a party. And so it's public and accessible.

SPEAKER_00 41:20

Yeah, it's like invite only, but like not invite only, because everybody's invited, so it's like for real.

SPEAKER_07 41:26

I know that Audrey, Andrew, from the beginning, y'all might not like this with y'all intro, but but she did work for wisdom. She worked for these great things she has and to provide all this goodness to others.

SPEAKER_03 41:41

That's different. But yes, I agree.

SPEAKER_07 41:44

You gotta work at wisdom. That's that's what I mean.

SPEAKER_01 41:46

Wisdom had going on.

SPEAKER_04 41:47

Yeah, you have to work at wisdom, she's not gonna do all the work for you. Right.

SPEAKER_01 41:51

Yeah. As long as she's getting paid, I'm good.

SPEAKER_03 41:58

And it then it talks about Lady Folly's party. And in um Proverbs 9-13, it says a lady named a woman named Folly is brash, she's ignorant and doesn't even know it. Hold up.

SPEAKER_05 42:13

She don't even know.

SPEAKER_03 42:14

She doesn't even know that well, she kinda does know because she's kinda low-key doing it on purpose, but then she might not be doing it on purpose. But, anyways, she doesn't know. And like that's just crazy to me. And so she's sitting in her doorway on the highest places, attempting to imitate wisdom's public appeal. Yeah, but her focus is catching those who are quote unquote minding their own business. She's offering them stolen water. She literally says, Come in with me, she urges, the simple to those who lack good judgment. Stolen water is refreshing. Food eaten in secret tastes better. Yeah, she's literally offering sin, plainly. Yeah. And then people are like, I bet.

SPEAKER_04 42:56

Like it I like how you point out how like how like insane it is. Like, how should can she be doing all this and not know it's wrong? Because yeah, when we were going through the last three the last three scriptures, we point it out like if you give into Lady Folly, we'll use her this time. If you give into that, it literally darkens your vision. Yeah, and so yeah, from the outside, from where we're standing, we may see that and be like, that's crazy, what are they doing? But if you start giving into that, you get to the point where you don't even know that's wrong. Because it it darkens your vision, you can't see the light anymore.

SPEAKER_03 43:29

Yeah, and it's in broad daylight too. Like it's just it's all the way crazy. It's just embarrassing in this way. No, like literally What are we doing? And then it goes down in Proverbs 9 18. Um, so like wisdom is inviting not wisdom, folly is inviting people to her party, and she's promising pleasure, and her house is actually a trap that quote unquote leads to the depths of the grave. Yeah, and so in Proverbs 9 18 it says, But little do they know that the dead are there and her guests are in the depths of the grave.

SPEAKER_00 43:58

And it's talking about like you said. The whole thing is talking about more than just food and water in that case. It's not food is like I mean stolen food is better, whatever they're talking about. It's temptation because temptation often disguises itself, actually always disguises itself as something that's gonna be great and give you pleasure and you're gonna love it. But sin that happens in the dark and in the secret is quote unquote like the funnest kind. Yeah. Because humans are like hardwired to be drawn to sin and tell no one. Obviously, you don't want to do something bad and then blab about it. Things done in the dark are the best kind, technically. To flesh.

SPEAKER_05 44:32

Yeah, that's why it's so important to bring it to light. Like I know sometimes it's when you make mistakes in the dark, naturally you're not, you're gonna want to leave in the dark. But what if you have that one person where it's like you have to tell them because whenever you tell when you tell somebody that you're being tempted or you've done something, it kills it like it kills the urge to do it because now you're embarrassed. Yeah, and so it's sometimes it is better to just bring it out of the dark, and it might not be to a whole congregation of people, but you could tell just one person you trust.

SPEAKER_00 44:59

Andrea's grandma, old friends, like whatever that was. Who was it?

SPEAKER_04 45:02

Do not tell Andrea's accountability partner. I don't know if y'all remember that callback.

SPEAKER_05 45:06

It's going all the way to New York.

SPEAKER_04 45:07

You tell her accountability partner, it's going everywhere, bro.

SPEAKER_02 45:10

No, I have a good one.

SPEAKER_04 45:11

It must be your old one, bro. Because you were like, Yeah, I told my accountability partner, and next day everyone knew. I was like, do not tell that person.

SPEAKER_03 45:20

That was just an example.

SPEAKER_04 45:22

Another art imitates my Luke really has a point. Let's get to that one. Let's keep it going.

SPEAKER_03 45:29

What's your point, Luke?

SPEAKER_07 45:31

Another just like minor example that kind of I've related to a different part of the Bible is in uh verse 17 of the same chapter. Stolen water is refreshing, food eaten in secret places, or no, in secret taste best. Yes, thank you. Yeah. Well, I thought about manna in the wilderness with the children of Israel. This reminds me of when the Israelites took more manna than they should have. They were greedy and disobeyed God even in a small way when he provided the right amount for everyone in the camp.

SPEAKER_03 45:59

And that makes it stolen.

SPEAKER_07 46:01

Right. So it's even though there was a small, it seemed

Dragging Temptation Into The Light

SPEAKER_07 46:05

small obedient disobedience, it still led to the down their downfall. It was another thing that they that pushed them back, set them back in time. Good judgment. That's so good. That's really good. It set them back from getting to the promised land.

SPEAKER_00 46:19

Yeah. Literally, wow, wow, that's just so good. Real doing a little backtrack on chapter nine, like going to verse six, it says, Leave your simple ways behind and begin to live. Learn to use good judgment. I love this one because to me it sounds perfectly, or it just kind of perfectly words what it's like to be reborn. It's once you're reborn and you receive a spirit, you don't go back. Right, you walk forward in his way in a new life. You don't go to the old ways in the past that you walked in. Like that's the first thing I thought of when I heard leave your simple ways behind and begin to live.

SPEAKER_03 46:49

I hope y'all are following along with us in reading Proverbs. It's so jam-packed. It's amazing.

SPEAKER_04 46:55

Yeah, follow wisdom, bro. Wisdom is telling you right now, it's not me. I'm not wisdom, I'm not lady wisdom. But she's in here. Trust me. Yeah, she's telling you to read Proverbs.

SPEAKER_00 47:04

Literally. And going into verse 8, it says, Don't bother. No, so don't bother correcting mockers because they will only hate you. But correct the wise and they will love you.

SPEAKER_08 47:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 47:13

And I think this is a great time to say that. How someone responds to correction shows you their character. Mockers are gonna reject the truth because their pride is in the way. They don't want to learn, they just want to be stuck in their ways. But wise people, they welcome rejection or they welcome, you know, criticism. Correctism because they are eager to learn. They want to know more, they want to do right.

SPEAKER_03 47:33

And if they're in the wrong, they are willing to accept that and learn from their mistakes. So now I'm just gonna reject their mistake that they made and be like, did I really do that? Nah, it's actually your fault. You're you're you're the one to blame. Yes. No, like they're gonna accept that hey, I'm pro I'm I'm probably the person wrong in this situation, and I'm going to take this correction, and I'm actually going to do something about it. Yeah. And that also speaks to how God corrects us.

SPEAKER_08 48:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 48:00

Because God does correct us. If you let him, he will, or even if you don't let him, you might find out too late. Oh. But you just have to be careful in how you take God's correction. Because ever I want all God's correction that I can get. If the Lord is correcting me, oh please.

SPEAKER_04 48:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 48:17

I need it.

SPEAKER_04 48:18

And if you don't want it, you can just start praying for wisdom now.

SPEAKER_03 48:21

Amen. Wisdom and understanding.

SPEAKER_04 48:24

I really like I'm pulling it back to what you said uh earlier, Andrea. You talked about the contrast in chapter nine between wisdom and folly. They're both inviting people to a party, but you know, Lady Wisdom has her stuff together. Like she has an incredible party, incredible house. Um her food is exquisite. Yeah. But I like I looked at it from the parallels between the two. Yeah, their parties are contrasted. One is life, one is death. But at the end of the day, they're both having a party at the same time, yep. And they're both inviting the people of the city. Guys, we are the people of the city that uh wisdom and folly are in. And both of these parties are happening all the time, and we the invitation, we're getting it from folly and wisdom in basically every choice we make. Yeah. For everything we do, we we all have that invitation. We have Lady Folly, we have Lady Wisdom, and they're both a party, but one leads to death and one leads to life. And so you have to choose what invitation.

SPEAKER_07 49:27

You have to choose. There's no there's no like in between because God says if you were lukewarm, I will spit you out. So you must choose good or evil. There is no no time to sit in the city and do what you want, just hang out at the house.

SPEAKER_03 49:40

Yeah. And Jesus even says you can't serve two masters. You have to pick one or the other. At the end of the day, you you're serving one. You can't serve sin and life all at the same time.

SPEAKER_00 49:52

Yeah. I had another visual for y'all.

SPEAKER_01 49:54

Y'all want to do it? Okay.

SPEAKER_00 49:55

So like everybody, let's go. Everybody close your eyes, okay? Okay. Unless you're driving, then don't close your eyes if you're listening. But um, so imagine. Imagine you're in the city, right? You're a citizen, and you get two invitations. No, no, no, it's a cute little small town. Oh, okay. But like it's got a couple thousand. Oh, okay. I got it. So anyway, you get two invitations, and in your right hand is the one from Folly, and on your left hand is the one from wisdom.

SPEAKER_02 50:18

All right.

SPEAKER_00 50:18

So imagine like you're deciding which one to pull up to, right? And they're like neighbors, so you could kind of just pull up and see. And imagine you pull up, and Folly's got like the whole citizenship at her house, and wisdom has no body. And wisdom looks so sad because no one came to her party. Isn't that so sad? Yes.

SPEAKER_04 50:34

That is so guilt. Guilt yourself using Audrey's example to follow wisdom. Wait. Wisdom.

SPEAKER_03 50:40

No, for real.

SPEAKER_04 50:41

Follow wisdom out of guilt. She tried so hard for that party, guys.

SPEAKER_00 50:44

What does Folly's invitation look like? She was standing on a hill. It's got uh like witch cauldron green on it and black and like I wouldn't say that's accurate because we've been talking this whole time about it.

SPEAKER_04 50:55

No, for real, it's gonna look good. That thing's gonna be like gold plated.

SPEAKER_00 50:57

It's pastel yellow.

SPEAKER_04 50:58

It's gonna be like, I want you here, and it's gonna have your name exactly. She's gonna try everything to get you to her party.

SPEAKER_00 51:03

And wisdom's gonna be like plain white with like Times New Roman font.

SPEAKER_07 51:08

12 point double space.

SPEAKER_00 51:12

Y'all can keep going. Thanks for humoring me.

SPEAKER_05 51:17

I like uh I like that visual. I like chapter 9, verse 11. It says wisdom will multiply your days and add years to your life. Preach. So uh somewhere in the Bible, I'm not very sure where it's at, but it says the devil has come to steal, kill, and to destroy. Well, as we have talked about earlier, wisdom was with God, and wisdom is a characteristic of God. So if you're if you follow wisdom, you will have added years to your life, which means that you're not getting stuff taken, you're being added. So this the enemy comes to steal, but wisdom replay like it adds more. And so it's adding life, not death. That's two things that the enemy is taking is life and time, or anything else, really.

SPEAKER_01 52:00

Yeah, literally. That's John 10 10, by the way. For anyone who has a fact checker.

SPEAKER_07 52:04

Imagine that currency for working in wisdom is more years, more time.

SPEAKER_05 52:10

It's like a wage, like the wages of wisdom is added life, wages of sin. Like we said earlier death. It's subtracted life, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 52:17

It's like sin will literally take years off your life, or if not, just end it completely. And then wisdom, it just gives it back. It's like oop, beep penalty, but then it's like, oh wait, you actually did something extra. You know, like I'll give this dude an extra time.

SPEAKER_05 52:32

Yeah, it gives you more than what you had to begin with. Like it gives you what you gave back and more.

SPEAKER_00 52:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 52:39

So one thing I've really been thinking about uh since we started this series on Proverbs, we've heard wisdom from the

Wise Or Unwise Changes Everything

SPEAKER_04 52:45

start. We're talking about weighty lady weighty, bro. We're talking about lady wisdom constantly. Wisdom is a very big topic throughout all of Proverbs so far. And so I've been thinking about that in a more modern context. And what I mean by that is if you've been a believer for any amount of time, you've heard the phrase before at least once, is this issue a heaven or hell issue? Yeah, we hear that all the time. Um is me going to this party a heaven or hell issue? Um, is me lashing out at this person a heaven or hell issue? Is me wearing this clothing a heaven or hell issue? Will God really cast me out of heaven for doing this thing, for wearing this thing, for saying this thing, yeah, for listening, watching this, fill in the blank? We hear that all the time. But I think reading Proverbs, Proverbs shows you that you have to seek wisdom. You should be seeking wisdom in everything you do. Yeah, um to follow the Bible correctly, follow it as God's intending it, you should be making every choice wise. Yeah. So instead of it being like, is this issue heaven or hell, it should be, is this issue wise or unwise? Is this wisdom or is this folly?

SPEAKER_00 54:00

Um, give you wiggle room. Like if it's like heaven or hell, it's such absolutes that it's either you're gonna stumble and you're gonna do small things to get yourself closer to that line. Like that's a good, yeah, it's a good thing.

SPEAKER_04 54:12

I just think it should be more like is this wise or unwise? Like I like that point, Audrey. We should never be looking at an issue as is this heaven or hell. Yeah. Like in my opinion, if you're asking that question, you've kind of already missed the mark of God's heart. It should be like, will this please God? If this please displeases him in any way, I don't want to do it. Yeah, but I also think like what I just said, it should be is this wise or unwise? And it can't, it may not even be like sinful things. I think it should be more like, is this wiser on life for me and my uh walk with God? Is it wise or is it not? Should I practice this? Should I not?

SPEAKER_03 54:43

Yeah, that's very good. I love that. I like that. Good job.

SPEAKER_04 54:47

Yeah, that's just something I've been thinking of.

SPEAKER_03 54:48

No, that that yeah.

Final Takeaways And Next Week

SPEAKER_04 54:51

But alright, guys, we've talked about a lot. I'd say we we hit a lot of good topics today. Um, again, the message from some from a couple weeks ago was really good. Um, I really like the message of success. We talked it out, you've already heard it. Um, but yeah, so basically, success, it's it's not small moments. At the end of the day, God sees your success by one thing, your obedience to Him. You can chase all these other things, you can chase a job, you could chase um school, you can chase all these other things. Um, but at the end of the day, all God sees your success as is your obedience. Yeah. So just moral of the story, don't judge yourself by, don't compare yourself to your made-up metrics. You're never gonna be fulfilled like that. That success is never gonna fully come, like we talked about earlier. The goalpost is just gonna move. You're gonna get that promotion, what's next? You're gonna get that degree, what next? You're gonna do this, what next? If you follow the biblical version of success, you will will see that your success is your obedience to God, and that's it. That's never gonna change. Yeah, so when you internalize that, you will no longer struggle with the question of being successful and you won't scramble.

SPEAKER_08 56:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 56:01

And then we've talked about Proverbs 7 through 9 again. Proverbs is it's really good. I'm really loving this series. Um, and we talked about the parallels and the contrast between Lady Wisdom and Lady Folly. And moral of the story, like it follows along obviously with the previous sections of Proverbs. They're both calling out to you, folly is gonna look really good, folly is temptation in your life, folly is anything fleshly in your life. You want to do that already, it's ingrained in you. We're all human, your flesh wants to, it's gonna look pleasing to you, and so you have the choice between accepting the invitation in every situation in folly and in wisdom. And so, like I was just saying at the end there, is this heaven or hell? Is this folly or wisdom? I feel like you should be asking that question. So, in everything, answer the call of wisdom, just be look be aware that both of those forces are pulling you. Wisdom is there and folly. And you have to choose what you do in each situation, how you live, how you live by. Yeah, it's up to you.

SPEAKER_00 57:01

That's good. Well, guys, once again, Pastor Jared brought a word and God's instructions were heard. Yes. And we're gonna see you guys back next week.

SPEAKER_01 57:11

Stay tuned and follow social media.

SPEAKER_00 57:13

Oh, yes. Bye guys. Bye guys, bye.