KaPow Craziness

 We break down Pastor Jared’s Easter message “The Victory You Didn’t See Coming,” starting with a mistake that felt painful in the moment and ending with a reminder that God can turn what you regret into something that strengthens you.


Then we open Proverbs 22–25 and get practical about Christian living: choosing a good reputation over riches, building character instead of chasing status, learning self-control, watching how temptation works, practicing wise boundaries, and treating people with empathy when they are carrying a heavy heart. These are small, daily decisions that shape a faith journey over time.

Listen, share this with a friend who needs hope, and then subscribe and leave a review so more people can find the show.

Transcript

Welcome And Quick Icebreaker

SPEAKER_03 0:13

Welcome back to Kids in a Calling Podcast, where none of us are actually kids, but we all have a calling, and that is pointing people to Jesus. Our host Audrey is unfortunately out again. So I, Hudson Walton, have to be your host for today. And I am joined by Andrea Crater. Hi, Luke Gibson. Hey, and Ramsay Pablo.

SPEAKER_05 0:33

Hey.

SPEAKER_03 0:34

Alright, so I'll get right into it. What is one childhood myth that you figured out as a kid that was false? And how did you figure it out? And I'm talking about stuff like maybe Santa Claus, maybe Tooth Fairy, just other random myths that you believed as a kid. And how do you not believe them anymore?

SPEAKER_04 0:50

Brown cows make brown milk. Chocolate milk? Yeah. Oh yeah, brown milk. So like, okay, because like whiter cows are like yellow cows make white milk and then the brown cows make chocolate milk. Um, I believed that as a little kid, and then I figured it out because we got cows and we had a brown cow and she did not make chocolate milk.

SPEAKER_03 1:12

Did you think she was defective when she didn't produce chocolate milk?

SPEAKER_04 1:16

No, it's just like bro, what is this? And then my dad would tell my little siblings, not my little siblings, my little cousins that, and then we added more to the joke that um strawberry like pink cows make strawberry milk, but they only live in Canada, that's why you never see them. Wow.

SPEAKER_03 1:32

I would have so believed that, bro. It's so good.

SPEAKER_05 1:35

My little cousins believed it. It was great.

SPEAKER_03 1:36

Mine was uh mine was the classic Santa Claus, and it was uh pretty tragic. Um my mom had told told me, you know, never to go in the closet in her office. Um and not look in there. So obviously as a kid, I was like, she's not looking, I'm going in the office. And it was like a couple weeks before Christmas, and I found exactly what I asked Santa Claus for in her closet, and it just automatically clicked. And so I went straight to her and I was like, I know Santa isn't real. Oh she immediately was like, Do you went in my closet? She was like, Well, welcome to being older. You know now.

SPEAKER_04 2:10

Okay, so funny why is hiding presents in the closet like the parent thing to do? Because my parents used to do that, and then we would find them in the closet, and so then they started hiding them like under their bed, and then we found them there too, and then my parents just got smart and they started wrapping them as soon as they would come in and wouldn't put names on them, and somehow they had a system. I was about to say, how they remember that they had a system or something, I don't even know.

SPEAKER_03 2:33

Yeah, but yeah, that's yeah, mine's pretty classic, but it was heartbreaking to like what nine-year-old me baby. I would say that was the moment I grew up.

SPEAKER_02 2:43

Mine wasn't a crazy moment, but it was just something I did not know. I I thought if you swallow gum, it it stays in your stomach for like years or whatever, like seven years or something.

SPEAKER_05 2:51

I feel like I learned that in school. Absolutely. Like I recall a teacher telling me that.

SPEAKER_02 2:55

I just figured it out because I was I I usually would do the the six-foot gum or whatever. The I don't know what you call it, but it's the big old roll of pink bubble. That stuff was always bubble. Yes, and it was pink and orange.

SPEAKER_04 3:08

No, wait. I loved the pink one. Is it hubba? No, I think that's the little ones.

SPEAKER_02 3:13

Anyway, I quit chewing that and then I figured it out. I was like, man, so it doesn't matter. I could have that whole thing, bro.

SPEAKER_05 3:20

Dang it. They just didn't want you to and go. Mine was um when you're driving at night, or not you because you were a kid, but when your parents are driving at night and you're turning and you're like, and you turn the light on to see something, they're like, You gotta turn that off, or I'm gonna get pulled over. It's illegal. And I'm like, then what's the point of the light then? And so then I I don't know how I figured out that it was not real. Maybe it was when I started driving. I don't know. Yeah, but I realized that that is not true.

SPEAKER_03 3:46

You asked your driver's ed and trucker.

SPEAKER_05 3:47

It's not factual, you know what? Dude, dude, you just unlocked a memory. One of my fellow people learning to drive in driver's ed asked if that was illegal, and they said no. You're kidding me. Yeah, I don't know if those are jokes. It's like a classic parent thing, I guess. I heard that all the time.

SPEAKER_03 4:05

All right, guys.

Easter Message And Sunglasses Story

SPEAKER_03 4:06

So if you forgot how a calendar works, then last Sunday was Easter Sunday. Oh wow, Pastor Jared, yeah, you forgot how a calendar works?

SPEAKER_05 4:13

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 4:14

Yeah, but last Sunday was Easter, and Pastor Jared brought an incredible message. He spoke on the topic of the victory you didn't see coming. And I mean, based off of that title alone, you can tell that this message was a banger. So let's talk about it.

SPEAKER_05 4:27

So it started off with him talking about how we were going on a trip and he needed a pair of sunglasses, right? So, of course, like everyone does, is he went to go to Academy to buy sunglasses. And he has, if you know him, he has like this like checklist of everything he needs to have. He tries to get the best of the best. So he needed polarized sunglasses for like a pretty decently cheap price. So he's looking at them, he's doing his calculations, but then he sees this glass case, and they're all numbered, like something like 20 to like 30, something like that. And so he sees 23. He's like, Wow, $23, and they're polarized. This is great.

SPEAKER_02 5:03

And they're in the glass, too.

SPEAKER_05 5:04

And they must be nice, they're in the glass. They're under armor, great brand. Let's get them. He goes to the checkout line, but the girl was like, You can't buy them here. You have to buy them over there. And he's like, Whoa, now why would I have to buy them over there? This is starting to seem fancy. And little did he know, they were $149 and 99 cents. And 99 cents. Yep, on a discount.

SPEAKER_03 5:25

You got a good deal.

SPEAKER_05 5:25

Like she was saying, you got a great deal, but in his mind, he was like, Man, I thought these were $23. So yeah, those sunglasses have been with him for seven years, and he's been using them, and it turned out to be a great purchase that he made. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:38

He does not regret it. Yeah, he kind of he I really like the example he gave. He always gives good examples of if you tie it in, but it helped tie into the the point that he was making that you can do something that um you feel is uh a failure, or you feel is like like just not good overall. Like him at the time buying those super expensive sunglasses, like, dude, you thought his life was basically over. Like Jim was gonna kill him when he got back. Like he spent 150 on sunglasses, but like it ended up working out for his good. Eight years later, he was like, That was the best 150 I've ever spent.

SPEAKER_00 6:09

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:10

Sunglasses is a small silly example, but that can happen with all of us, uh, definitely in our spiritual life. Something can happen, and it may not look what we thought it would look like, and we're like, Oh, that was a failure, and we fail to see all that God's doing in the background. Yeah, and then years later, it's like that was actually for my benefit, that was for my good.

SPEAKER_04 6:29

Exactly.

Joseph And God Working Behind Scenes

SPEAKER_04 6:30

Like you can see this play out perfectly in the story of Joseph in the book of Genesis, because what happened to Joseph was diabolical, like his brothers didn't like him, so then they threw him in a pit, and then they were gonna kill him, and then they sold him into slavery, and then he got thrown into jail. And long story short, he becomes like second in command to Pharaoh, and his brothers come because there's like a big famine in the land, so his brothers come to buy food from him, but they don't recognize him. And Joseph like forgives his brothers in the end, and he tells them what y'all meant for evil, God meant for good. And so we just Pastor was saying we don't give enough credit to God for what he's doing behind the scenes, yeah. Because Joseph was probably thought, like, this is crazy, like I'm a good guy. Why is all this happening to me? But what he th what was painful in that moment turned out to be a great victory that saved literally the entire Western world.

SPEAKER_03 7:25

Yeah, that was kind of like the core idea of the message, like to trusting God and what he's doing. Yeah, like no matter what's going on in your now for Joseph, his now was horrible. Like, I've never been to jail, he was in jail for three years. That was bad. His now was horrible.

SPEAKER_01 7:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:40

And slavery before that, like, that was a horrible now, but he kept faith in the process the whole time. And we have to be just like that. No matter what's going on, you have to realize that there's an entirely different perspective out there, and that's God's perspective. You can only see what you can see. Yeah. And God's out there, and he's working all this stuff out that you don't even know. And you're gonna look back in like five, ten years and be like, that's crazy how God was working all that out for me. And so you just gotta keep that in mind now, so you don't go through all these this trouble and all these problems, thinking that all this you're failing and that you're such a failure, and that all this is happening, and that you're going down the wrong path when God's working it all out for your good, right?

SPEAKER_05 8:18

Yeah, and then that becomes a part of your testimony that then you can then use to go and spread the word to more people. Like God was building something in your life that could only have been Him for you to go tell others about Him and then win souls over like that too. So He's using you in more ways than just changing your life, but changing others.

SPEAKER_02 8:35

Right. He can bring you what I liked that he did was he brought it from two perspectives. He brought it from you being in a rough time or rough season to come out into good things, yeah. Or he showed how he thought it was a mistake when he started with, but he ended up being for success, for the durability, even of just the case that held for so long and held value, you know, for him.

SPEAKER_03 8:57

Yeah, you can see that exact point that God is working even when you don't see it for your good when you don't see it in the Bible itself in Romans 28. One of the verses he brought up, it says, and we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. Yeah, God is causing everything to work for good in your life, even when you don't see it, even when you don't feel like it, it's the same thing.

SPEAKER_02 9:20

Even in your mistakes.

SPEAKER_03 9:21

Yeah, even in your mistakes, like to Pastor Jarrett, that was definitely a mistake. Right. Yeah. Um I'd say dropping 150 ounce of sunglasses, I feel like that was a mistake too.

SPEAKER_04 9:30

Yeah. It's like that song that goes, even if you don't see it, he's working, or however it goes. I really like that song because just like it just it's so true that we can't see all that God's doing, and we can't understand all that God's doing just because he's such a big God. And so things that he does, we're like, what is going on? But in reality, it's all working together for our good.

SPEAKER_02 9:55

It was really cool because it was almost like a explanation of all the things we don't understand. It's just like, well, that's just part of it. It's just you gotta go with the flow.

SPEAKER_04 10:03

Like, literally.

SPEAKER_03 10:04

All right, this is gonna sound completely out there, but it's like an example. So, like, you have a beloved pet, and people do this all the time, and that pet dies. And for a season, you're like, okay, this is horrible. This is we're all grieving. But what you haven't considered that you can't see yet is taxidermy. And now you have a fire animal rug in your living room, and you couldn't see that at the time that that pet died. So that's just something to keep in mind.

SPEAKER_02 10:31

You turn it into a rug?

SPEAKER_04 10:32

You would turn your pet into a rug.

SPEAKER_03 10:34

You could not understand the drip that your house was gonna have when that pet died.

SPEAKER_04 10:39

Dude, my rug would be like like I cannot long turn my dog into Andrea.

SPEAKER_03 10:45

Imagine like one of your cows dies and like your stuff. Okay, wait, that would be sick. And then like you just have a fire. I can tell the cow.

SPEAKER_05 10:52

The cow print would be really cool. I guess, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:54

See? Like, you couldn't see that back then.

SPEAKER_05 10:56

And not only would you get a good rug, but since it is a cow, you'd also get some steaks.

SPEAKER_03 11:01

See, this is how fast a beard wants you to be.

SPEAKER_05 11:05

Anyways.

SPEAKER_03 11:06

But yeah, God's always working, even when you don't see it again. Even when your pet dies, God.

SPEAKER_05 11:10

Wow, that was an interesting point, I'd say.

SPEAKER_03 11:13

I know I really uh thought about that one.

SPEAKER_05 11:29

God doesn't need you to be the smartest person ever for you to just do what he's needing you to. Because a lot of us really aren't. We're just normal people.

SPEAKER_03 11:39

If he needed that, I would not be on this podcast. Right.

SPEAKER_05 11:41

But he does just need you to let you into his your situation so that he can be the smart person for you.

SPEAKER_03 11:48

And yeah, because like at the end of the day, God doesn't need us to understand everything. Thank you. I mean, in Isaiah uh 55, he says it, he says it plainly. He says, My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts. Yeah, my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. Just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways. Like, just like you said, Ramsay, God doesn't expect us to because there's no possible way we can. We can never understand what God is going to try to fully do in our lives, in our situation. We just can't understand it. So all we have to do is be obedient.

SPEAKER_04 12:22

Yeah.

The Cross As Unexpected Victory

SPEAKER_04 12:23

And I really liked how Pastor compared his title, like the whole, well, I guess the whole thing, the victory you didn't see coming to Jesus' death.

SPEAKER_00 12:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 12:32

Because imagine imagine that you are one of his disciples, you're one of his followers, and then all of a sudden, your teacher, the guy that you look up to, like let's compare him to your pastor or something in that realm, um, is taken from you, tried, and then the next thing you know, he's being whipped, beaten, mocked, and then now he's sentenced to be crucified. And so in Matthew 27, um, in verse 24, um, Pilate was not like so. The governor Pilate was not making any progress with the Jewish people because Pilate didn't see anything wrong with Jesus. He'd questioned him, he didn't find anything wrong, and then the people were still like, crucify him, crucify him. And so Pilate was like, All right, I'm washing my hands of his blood, and his blood, this it says, Um, I am innocent of this man's blood, the responsibility is yours. And all the people yelled back, We will take responsibility for his death, we and our children, his blood shall be on us and on our children. Which one? That's crazy. You kill a man, and then you're like, Okay, his blood's gonna be on my hands. Like, that's crazy in itself.

SPEAKER_03 13:45

But and my kids too, because uh legit. Why not? Why not? Yeah, y'all gotta guys gotta take the the blunt of that anyway.

SPEAKER_04 13:52

Literally, and so the people meant what they said, they meant his blood is gonna be on us and our kids. Like his this innocent man will be on us. They wanted to kill him, like legit. Yeah, and they wanted to accept the consequences of his blood. So what they thought was gonna be used against them was actually what was gonna be used to save them.

SPEAKER_03 14:13

Yeah, that same blood, which is crazy.

SPEAKER_04 14:16

It is because they were like, let his blood be on us, and then Jesus does like this un reverse and is like, actually, my blood is gonna save you. So the the very thing that they thought would curse them was the very thing that Jesus used to bring salvation to humanity.

SPEAKER_02 14:34

Yeah, whenever he connected the sunglasses to the cross, I was like, Wow.

SPEAKER_05 14:39

Yeah, I didn't see where it was going when he started with sunglasses on Easter Sunday, but it was really it worked really well.

SPEAKER_03 14:45

Sunglasses, the cross pipeline is crazy.

SPEAKER_04 14:47

Yeah, like legit. Yeah. And so Pastor used this point to prove, like not to prove, but to point out that no matter what your circumstances are, God can turn it around even if you don't understand it. Because if your mentor, teacher person got crucified, like just killed for for no reason, you would think that this is crazy, that this is utterly terrible, and there's nothing good that can come out of this. Yeah, unless your mentor person is Jesus, then he rose on the third day and um freed everyone from sin.

SPEAKER_03 15:23

The one outlier.

SPEAKER_05 15:24

I had never thought about it like that until he had mentioned it on Sunday. Yeah, yeah. Because like, I don't know if y'all ever seen Messiah, but like when everybody's yelling, let his blood be up on us and our children, like we want this, like keep killing him. And ever and then like the other half of the people are like, no, no, no. It's like you're like, yeah, I don't want his blood on me. But then he made those connections, like, wait, yes, I do. Yes, I do. Yes, I do. Actually, Lord, actually I changed my mind. Save me. But yeah, it was just a crazy connection to make that I never thought about. Yeah. So good.

SPEAKER_03 15:52

Well, yeah. Then he also he used an example to show you that it doesn't always have to be this huge moment that God orchestrates that changes everything. It could be something very small that God orchestrates

Berlin Wall And Small Turning Points

SPEAKER_03 16:02

to change everything. He used the story of the Berlin Wall. If you don't know that, it was um the wall that was separating Germany, East and West Germany. One was communist, one was not. Um that wall was built and families were separated for years. No one could cross that wall. It was illegal. And then one day it was a um there were plans for gradual change for the future of the wall to be opened up. A government official went on a press conference and he didn't know it was gradual. And so they asked him at some point during the conference, when are these plans supposed to be taken into effect? And he like checked his notes, didn't see anything. She was like, as far as I know, effective immediately. And so the people went crazy and the walls got swarmed, and the people just eventually let him through because there was nothing they can do. There was riots, yeah, and the wall basically just got like torn down after that when it was supposed to be a very gradual process. And Pastor Jared used that to show that that one small moment of that one guy saying something on press, that one sentence, it calls catastrophic, like literally country changing. 20,000 people, yeah, like changing tons of lives after that one moment. So the smallest of things God can use to orchestrate huge moments in your life.

SPEAKER_04 17:11

Yeah. So like if humans can do that much craziness, if human word can orchestrate that much kapow craziness, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:24

That much kapow.

SPEAKER_04 17:26

Um, then how much more can the word of God, who framed the entire universe, do? Yeah. Like, what?

unknown 17:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:37

He's gotta have the kapow factor.

SPEAKER_04 17:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:40

He did have the kapow factor.

SPEAKER_05 17:43

A good thing of the word for chaos. It's okay. I really liked he also mentioned this like one thing, like like that is God can take what you thought was the end. Like some people may have thought that that was the end, like they they may never get through that to see their family. But God can take what they thought was the end and turn it into a new beginning. Like he can completely flip this around and make it new. Like he can just refresh you. Like you could start from square one again and you can build your life back onto that and have and forget the past. You don't have to stay in the past. You don't have to stay in the heartbreak, the hardship. You can wash yourself clean by his blood. Well, he can wash you clean by his blood, and you can go and be new.

SPEAKER_02 18:23

Yeah, yeah. He can't.

SPEAKER_05 18:27

Yes. Wow. What? I did not get that, but I really she liked it even if she understood it. No, I didn't get it during the message. Like I didn't hear him. Oh, I didn't hear him say that.

SPEAKER_04 18:38

But yeah, because like they thought Jesus was dead, dead, because they killed him, and then they were like, All right, we're gonna we're gonna put you in this grave, and then we're gonna put the stone in front, and then we're gonna seal this thing, and then we're gonna put guards on both sides so that no one can steal your body, and even if you happen to resurrect, because that was a thing apparently, because that that was news to them, they didn't know. Yeah, um, you're not gonna get out. But little did they know that there's angels, and so they were like, and Jesus walked out.

SPEAKER_03 19:08

They didn't know.

SPEAKER_04 19:09

So Jesus is now alive.

SPEAKER_03 19:11

Yeah, but yeah, so like with all that being said, like no matter your situation, God can turn it around. Um it comes down to trust at the end of it. Yeah, no matter what's going on, no matter what the circumstances look like, you just always have to trust that God is still writing your story. So never judge it too early. Like Pastor Jared, he could have freaked out after he got those sunglasses, he could have like thrown them away or whatever, he could have been like, I'm hiding these and never using them because I don't want my wife to figure it out. He could have done something like that, yeah. But he went with the process and he went with it. Um, you should be doing the same thing. Never judge the story too early, and also don't get stuck in what you wish you could change. Yeah, the two principles from the same story because God's always writing. Like Luke said it earlier, God even uses your mistakes. Um, like we we literally said it, Pastor Jared said it. Him buying those sunglasses was definitely a mistake, but it turned out very positive because he trusted the story and God was still writing it the whole time. So you gotta remember that.

Proverbs 22 Character Over Wealth

SPEAKER_03 20:26

But alright, guys, if you've been following along, we've been going over Proverbs a couple chapters at a time, and today we're gonna go over Proverbs 22 through 25. So let's get right into it.

SPEAKER_04 20:36

I really liked Proverbs 22. Um, because it it really compared and contrasted a lot of things, but it emphasized building a good reputation over just gaining material, not material, yeah, yeah, it is material wealth. Um, and it focused on like humility and generosity and wise living. And so personally, I really liked the first verse, and it says in verse Proverbs 22, verse 1, it says, choose a good reputation over great riches, being held in high esteem is better than silver or gold. Which this has really popped out to me as like the the writer of Proverbs chose his words very meticulously, yeah, and just the way it's written is just beautiful, and so choosing to have a good reputation is better than being rich, which that's crazy for people who are materialistic, but like also in our humanness, we have like this urge to be materialistic, yeah. And so he's saying that having a good reputation, having people think highly of you, being living in a wise way, is better than having a lot of wealth.

SPEAKER_02 21:44

And silver and gold at that time were like the standard of what other kingdoms saw you as, how valuable you were, you know, how rich you were.

unknown 21:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 21:53

So that's just crazy.

SPEAKER_03 21:54

And then that ties into like the whole idea you're talking about contrast. This whole uh these few chapters we go of, including 22. It kind of the reader's trying to get the point across that character matters more than your status. You said a couple verses after uh that one, 22-4, true humility and fear of the Lord lead to riches, honor, and life. It's again emphasizing character. Yeah. Verse one was talking about a good reputation. This one says a true humility and feel of the Lord. Those are things that build your character.

SPEAKER_02 22:22

Yeah. And we see that in the Bible too, where uh humility and fear of the Lord lead to riches and everything. It was with Abraham, with Solomon, with David, and countless other stories and people in the Bible.

SPEAKER_04 22:36

Yeah, because a lot of times all these like big characters that we see that the Lord truly blesses with anything that he wants to bless them with, they had true humility and they were fearing the Lord. They were in awe of him, they had a reverence for him.

SPEAKER_02 22:53

Abraham was rich, rich.

SPEAKER_03 22:54

Yeah, and they weren't seeking like Abraham was never seeking out the riches themselves. That was kind of just a byproduct of him following God.

SPEAKER_04 23:02

They saw the Lord first, and then when you seek the Lord, then he'll bless you.

SPEAKER_05 23:07

Yeah. And I liked in it's in Proverbs 22, verse 2. It's when people when people are like the people who care about wealth, it doesn't make them any different than the people who are poor in it. Verse 2 says the rich and poor have this in common. The Lord made them both.

SPEAKER_03 23:22

Yeah, everyone's equal.

SPEAKER_05 23:23

The Lord made every single person on this earth in his image. And the for some reason, the people who crave wealth in materialistic things think that they're higher than these people. When the Lord has made us all in his image, we are all equals.

SPEAKER_03 23:39

And it kind of like flips the uh culture emphasis that it had back then, and even now today, wealth is seen as success. That is like the number one thing you think of when you think of success, you think of wealth. And Proverbs is literally just flipping that, being like, actually, it's not what you have, it's who you are. That's what true success is.

SPEAKER_04 23:57

But then it's also like just mind-boggling because, like, okay, it's just wild that every person that you see, God made them exactly how he made you. Not exactly, but like, you know what I mean. And he breathed life into them, and then he loves them the same that he loves you, and he wants and he has a plan for them exactly how he has a plan for you. Like, I'll be walking around college sometimes, and then like it just dawns on me, and it's like, oh, God loves that person. Like, I should everyone, we need to be kind to everyone, yeah, because God made them. Yeah, yeah. That's my side note.

SPEAKER_03 24:33

Little uh faith-building exercises to think about uh about that to someone that is really getting on your nerves.

SPEAKER_04 24:39

No, like legit. It's like God made them.

SPEAKER_03 24:42

God loves this person, so I love this person. You just gotta kind of convince yourself sometimes.

SPEAKER_02 24:47

Right, right. I feel like this chapter is a very good comparison of how the world values you and also God, how God values you, his standards, his his set of rules and disciplines right next to the world and how it works be the same, right?

SPEAKER_04 25:05

I like that. It sounds really good.

SPEAKER_02 25:07

It's set on decisions too. This whole chapter of 22, it seems like it's a based around decisions, but it shows both sides, both aspects of what you can choose and the outcomes of both, you know.

SPEAKER_03 25:17

And a perfect example of that is uh 22-3. Um, a prudent person foresees danger and takes precautions. The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences. The same uh one-sided uh the two-sided thing that Ruke was just talking about. The prudent person foresees it coming. The simpleton just goes on blindly and kind of just suffers the consequences. Right.

SPEAKER_01 25:37

Yeah, it's like oop.

SPEAKER_03 25:38

And I like it because it's we've talked about it in because obviously this isn't the first time we're hearing this in Proverbs, being wise and having awareness of what's coming next, looking at the things around you and seeing where you're headed. Yeah, that's important. You kind of gotta recognize that you're walking into a dangerous situation before you're in the dangerous situation. So I like that it's again just a constant reminder to be aware, take precautions. Like you don't ever just end up in a bad situation, like be intentional. 99% of the time, if you paid attention and were aware, you could see it coming before you got to the end result.

SPEAKER_04 26:13

Yeah, that's good. I also really liked Proverbs 22, 6. It says, direct your children onto the right path, and when they are older, they will not leave it. I just I guess I just really like this one because I'm living it. Um, because like like I've said on previous podcasts, I grew up in church. Like my parents were always here, they were always serving. If church was open, we were here. We never really missed for anything. And they taught me how to serve and how to be faithful and to love it, not just a blessing. It's not that something that we just do, it's some, it's our lifestyle. And so I grew up doing that. And because I grew up doing that, and my parents showed me to love it and to love God with everything that I have in me. I'm walking that life right now. Like I'm I I have a choice, right? I'm 19. I have a choice. I can either stay here or I can go literally anywhere else. Yeah, but it's because my parents did what they did that I'm still here. Yeah, and by the grace of God, you did that too. That's why I like that verse.

SPEAKER_05 27:14

Tying uh just like a quick like tie back to how we're all equal and the poor are like the Lord's people too. It's in verse Proverbs 22, verse 22 and 23, it says, Don't rob the poor just because you can or exploit the needy in court, for the Lord is their defender, he will ruin anyone who ruins them. Not like the Lord is also the Lord wants vengeance, obviously, he's the one who gets vengeance. We don't, so he will defend those who are being attacked, especially if they are child children of the Lord, you know, like he will not let them just get beaten up by you. And so I think it's just so crazy, like why this world has created this segregation or between the poor and the wealthy, yeah. That we can just mistreat them because they are seen as less than they're less than when the Lord is not only they're not only just made in the Lord's image, but he's also their defender, and he will ruin anyone who ruins them.

SPEAKER_04 28:08

Yes, like that's good. I agree. Whenever I was reading verse 22, what's like jumped out at me was just because you can. Just yes, so it says don't rob the poor just because you can, which that just like jumped out, and so it's just crazy because just because you can do something doesn't mean you should do something, and doesn't mean it's good for you to do it.

SPEAKER_03 28:31

Yeah, ability doesn't mean action. And that like that perfectly ties into another like theme I picked up while going through

Proverbs 23 Self Control And Temptation

SPEAKER_03 28:38

Proverbs. Like the the idea of guarding your appetite and self-control, literally what you just said. Yeah, just because you can do something doesn't mean you should. Uh Proverbs 23 opens up with that, and this one kind of hit me because when I first read it, I was like, Well, bruh, because it says, While dining with a ruler, pay attention to what is put before you. If you are a big eater, put a knife to your throat. I was like, Dude, I reread that like three times. I was like, okay, bro, I am missing something. How can we get from there to that? Like, like I know gluttony is a sin, but come on, dude. This is like I'm weak.

SPEAKER_05 29:11

The Bible's first big bag.

SPEAKER_03 29:14

Do not be the Bible's first big bag, guys. That's right. Don't be that.

SPEAKER_02 29:18

I actually have another scripture about a king in uh chapter 22. It's verse 11. It says, Whoever has a whoever loves a pure heart and gracious speech will have the king as a friend. You know, it's referencing, of course, God as our king and a friend, you know. But what I found from this is that the there are two things that were very appreciated by authority figures in this right here, in the scripture. It was a pure heart and gracious speech. Think about what kings or rulers mostly deal with. They deal with pleas, they they deal with people begging them for things, looking for mercy, looking for you know grace, and not just just not living right, just making their decision and you know dealing with the consequences later. Straight correctly trying to get it right, trying to do all that. Well, think about it. What if you're that one that has the pure heart and the gracious speech? You're a joy to the king. He's not worried about about you. Yeah. And if you make a mistake, he knows it's in the innocence of your heart. And talks about that in another verse, talking about how he knows your heart. Some people don't know what they're doing, and God forgives that because they just they really did not know they had to have a warning.

SPEAKER_03 30:30

That's what really matters at the end of it.

SPEAKER_05 30:32

Yeah, that's good. That's good.

SPEAKER_03 30:33

And like uh kind of thinking about like the I didn't want to leave it for like imagine hearing the Bible say like stab yourself. Like I don't want to leave it there. Right. Maybe to elaborate just a little bit. Yeah, okay. Don't do that. Um, but anyway, it says if you were a big eater, put a knife through your throat. And that sounds scary at first. It kind of seems like, okay, that's dining with the king, yeah. Self-ramatic being. Don't desire all the delicacies, for he might be trying to trick you. And you see that, and you kind of think of the appetite problem. And imagine that as take it as you are a Christian with no self-control. You have all these opportunities to do whatever you want if you have no self-control. You're gonna go out and do them. You're gonna go do whatever the whatever in the world you want, you're gonna go out and do it. And you're gonna lead yourself away from God because you have no self-control. You're doing all these other things. And the verse is literally saying, if you are like that and you cannot control yourself, you're going to be led astray. The enemy is trying to trick you, so you might as well just stop now. Like there's no point in moving forward if you don't have self-control. You're just gonna be led astray, right? It's literally telling you right there, you might as well just well, it uses the very um dramatic imagery of stabbing yourself, but that's how important it is. That's how important self-control is. And again, tying back to the themes of your flesh is against you. Yeah, like you have to prioritize your spirit and have that self-control.

SPEAKER_04 31:55

I agree. And in tying into that in verse five of chapter 23, it says, In the blink, in the blink of an eye, wealth disappears, for it will sprout wings and fly away like an eagle. And so, just like you were saying, it's only temporary. Yeah, like things here are only temporary on this earth, and you have to prioritize your spirit because in the blink of an eye, oh, I just blinked my eye, all my wealth is gone. Um, somehow it flew away from me, something happened, and boom, it's gone. What are you gonna do now? If you're not prioritizing your spirit and you're walking with God, then you have nothing. Yeah, but if you are walking with God, then you can say, the Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord. Yeah. Like, you know?

SPEAKER_05 32:35

Yeah, if your identity is in your earthly things and they can all be taken away within a blink of an eye when they're gone, who are you? Yeah, where does where does that leave you? What does that leave you with? It leaves you with a shell of a person because their identity was in things that can be taken away. Yeah. Or it could leave you with someone being a friend with Jesus and walking with him and being in identity with him. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_03 32:58

And that ties back to status over character. It should all be about character. If you put, like you just said, if you put it in your uh like what you have, your material things, that stuff's just gonna be gone.

SPEAKER_02 33:08

I have an analogy for the uh the section of the the riches. So I thought of it whenever I read through four and five as like beware of riches. That's what I really got from it. And if I thought I thought about it and I was like, well, if if an owner sees their sign on their fence that says beware of the dog, you know how there's sometimes the signs on like when you're running down the road, oh yeah, my house for the male people is marked beware of dog. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 33:33

Because my dog's crazy.

SPEAKER_02 33:34

But think about it from the perspective of the one that owns the house. You can go up to that dog and it's fine. It's familiar with you, you know how to deal with it. Most importantly, you know how to how to you know interact with it. Yeah. Well, if you don't know how to interact with riches or how to handle that the right way, then this is the warning for you. You have to know, beware of riches. Just like you must beware of the dog if you're some stranger to riches or to you know that's good.

SPEAKER_03 34:01

Yeah, because like if you haven't been trained to like interact with dogs, especially that dog, uh, you go up to the dog, the dog's biting you. You're like, why? You may lose a finger.

SPEAKER_02 34:09

Just like with riches, if you're not trained with wisdom and what God has told you to do with it, then what you're gonna do? That's really good. I like that.

SPEAKER_04 34:16

That's good. I'm blown, guys. Wow, that's good. I like that a lot.

SPEAKER_05 34:22

Um a verse that I really liked in Proverbs 23 was and it really it stood out to me, is 23, 31 through 32. It says, Don't gaze at the wine seeing how red it is, how it sparkles in the cup, how smoothly it goes down. For in the end, it bites like a poisonous snake. It it's telling it's telling you, don't get close to these temptations. Don't say I'm gonna try it once, don't say it looks fun. I promise I won't go back. I promise I won't get stuck on it. But trying it anyways because you wanted to see how smoothly it goes down, like the wine. But in the end, it says it bites you like a poisonous snake. In the end, it y'all looked at me weird. Oh sorry in the end, it literally can change you forever, it can change how you are as a person. It hurts you, yeah, and it's hard to lose a grip of that snake bite, you know, like it'll stuck on you.

SPEAKER_03 35:16

Yeah, and it's also like uh right alongside that, it's also telling you to not even entertain that because you see the person with the wine, they're looking at it for a while before they drink. They're looking at how the liquid sloshes around the cup, and they're imagining how it would feel to drink that. It's telling you don't even entertain that. Yeah, like the sins there, it ties back to what we were talking about earlier in uh the beginning of 22. Um be wise, be prudent, see this stuff coming. Don't entertain it. Don't sit there and think on it and imagine what it would be like to do that thing. Because that's exactly what the person with a wine cup does. They think about it, they're like, this would probably feel pretty good if I drink it.

SPEAKER_02 35:53

And they drink it and then they drink and confuse, circling back to that same thing that got them tricked in the first place. So don't even entertain it.

SPEAKER_05 36:00

And like honestly, when I first read this, I was trying to like figure out, I was like, why is the Bible telling me not to be a wine taster? You know, like that's so I have to think about this one. My plans are foiled. I'm just playing. But it's just it you can't mess with that temptation, you can't even get close to it because you will get stuck on it and it'll be very hard to come back from.

SPEAKER_04 36:19

Yeah, and then once you're then you're just in this relentless sin cycle of sinning and then repenting and then feeling terrible, and then you do it again and again and again. Yeah. And then just like you said, you're the poison.

SPEAKER_05 36:32

How you act for that? Whenever you stop. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 36:37

No, literally.

Wisdom With People Who Refuse Help

SPEAKER_04 36:56

I really liked in Proverbs 23, verse 9, it says, Don't waste your breath on fools.

SPEAKER_01 37:03

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 37:03

For they will despise the wisest advice. This one also just like jumped off the page, and I was like, oh wow. Don't waste your breath on fools. Like, people out there, there are some people out there who may look like they want your advice and even ask your advice, and then you tell them your advice and are like what you think is right or what's biblical and all those other things, and then they just don't do it because I experienced that at school.

SPEAKER_02 37:31

I had a friend, right? I had a friend that was really wanting to learn a lot of things, but then I I found out over time that he knew what he wanted to know and he he wouldn't change for me or for what I was trying to show him. So don't waste your time witnessing to somebody if they're just trying to waste it. Because that could be you you can be witnessing to somebody else that truly wants it and isn't just stuck in their ways or stuck trying to keep you, you know, occupied.

SPEAKER_03 37:56

Yeah, you gotta treat situations like that with wisdom. Right. Um, because it gets to a point with some people, all you can do is pray for them. They're set in their ways, or they don't want what you have to say. So it's just again approaching with wisdom. Realize that this person is set in their ways, and like you just said, you can't waste your time on them.

SPEAKER_05 38:11

Yeah, yeah. One of my favorite sayings is you can explain it to them, but you can't explain it for them. Yeah. You'll never be able to make them understand if they don't want to.

SPEAKER_03 38:19

Like you can still love them, you can still help them if they need it, but it's to the point where you can't keep pouring all of your energy into this one person when they obviously just aren't ready to change. Yeah. And that's important. Like Lou just said, other people out there, they may need your help. Yeah. Right. Yeah. They may need the words you have. And so you go to those people, the people that in that season need it. They want it, they're open to it.

SPEAKER_04 38:40

Yeah. Um, and whenever I first read this, like my brain automatically went to in in the Bible in Mark chapter six, verse 11, and it says, But if any place refuses to welcome you or listen to you, shake its dust from your feet as you leave to show that you have abandoned those people to their fate. When and in this thing, in this verse, Jesus is about to send his disciples like on their first mission two by two, and he's telling them, like, hey, if people don't want to listen to you, that's okay. That's their decision. And you don't, you're not gonna force them. It says, shake the dust from your feet. So as you're leaving that town, don't force them to believe or think the way that you think, because it's okay for other people to disagree with you.

SPEAKER_01 39:25

That's right.

SPEAKER_05 39:26

Isn't it so crazy how God knows that he's the way, knows that he is the truth, but he still gave us all a choice to choose to listen to him or not. It's just it blows my mind every time.

SPEAKER_04 39:37

Because like God died for a maybe. He literally died for because you could maybe want to live with him and maybe want to have a relationship with him. Like, but he loved us so much to give us a choice to follow him. Yes, and then like even if you don't, he still loves you, and then that has major consequences later on. But in the right now, he still loves you and is still faithful towards you, even if you don't care about him at all.

SPEAKER_03 40:07

Yeah. And then, like the uh, like you just said, I like that uh shaking the dust from your feet when you leave that town. It's also kind of telling you to you just you kind of hit on a bit to not feel guilt that you couldn't change that person's mind. Like you're just saying, some people you're not gonna be able to change their mind, they're not gonna accept it, and that's not on you. That's their heart. Um, they just aren't ready to accept that. And so you do what you gotta do, and then like you just said, you leave and you shake the dust from your feet, and that's you. That's like symbolic of you being like, it's not on me, it's their choice, and you're not responsible for their choice. So you shouldn't feel guilt that you can't reach everybody.

SPEAKER_02 40:44

Exactly. And not everybody's gonna be affected as effectively, and that sounds weird, but in the same way, like through witnessing, some people have to go through things for it for them to see God and to truly understand, oh wait, yeah, this is this is it, you know?

SPEAKER_04 40:59

Yeah, yeah. Like I've heard stories of people trying to witness to people, and they were so hard-headed that it just wouldn't get through their brain, and so then they legit prayed, God let them hit rock bottom so that they know that it's you who made them and who loves them. And they did, and they hit rock bottom, the person that they were trying to witness to, like they were at their lowest in their life, and then they had this major God moment, and was like, Jesus loves me and he died for me, and like the Bible's actually true.

SPEAKER_03 41:30

Gotta do what you gotta do, man.

SPEAKER_04 41:32

But it worked, and so it's just like people go through different things. Um, and this also reminded me in Proverbs 24, verses 12 through nope, just kidding, just verse 12. It says, Don't excuse yourself by saying, Look, we didn't know. For God understands all hearts and he sees you. He who guards your soul knows you know, knows you knew and he will repay all people for their actions as they deserve. So you really can't say that you didn't know if you did know because God knows that you knew, yeah, and even if you're telling people that you didn't know, right? Because like God understands just literally everything, even if we can't understand that, which is crazy, and honestly, everyone has access, not everyone, but like in America, a lot of people have access to the Bible and to truth, and some people just reject it completely, and other people take it, and then some there's misunderstandings and whatever else. But it says that God will judge you based on what you know, yeah, and what you're you are what you have access to.

SPEAKER_03 42:38

It it's all back to matters of the heart. Yeah, it goes back to that, like we were just talking about it. That's what matters the most, your character, your heart. God sees it. If no one else sees it, God sees it. Yeah, and you gotta keep that in mind.

SPEAKER_02 42:49

Right. It's not like you're gonna be clueless either. So he gives us hints, like in literally in Proverbs 23:15, he says, I feel like this one was written by like the prodigal son's father, like like absolutely written by him. It says, My child, if your heart is wise, my own heart will rejoice. Well, wisdom is celebrated and foolishness is forgotten. That prodigal son, he left, he was forgotten. The the father was sad, but I mean he just kept on with life. They kept working, they kept doing things. But the son at home, whenever the prodigal son came back, he was like, Well, what about me? Well, you were doing the right thing. So we can get discouraged at times, even when we're doing the right thing. Yeah, it's okay to be discouraged as long as you're faithful.

SPEAKER_05 43:29

Yeah, that's good.

SPEAKER_02 43:30

Yeah, yeah. And God will give you, God will give you that. You're wondering why we're laughing. Andrea is mind-blowing.

SPEAKER_05 43:37

Literally part two of Andrea being astonished at everything about Jesus.

SPEAKER_02 43:41

God will give you that that feeling, or even it's not a feeling, that kind of confirmation that you're in the you're going the right direction. You're working toward the right things. It it's not gonna be like you're clueless the entire way. That's why we have proverbs. We gotta learn the wise sayings of God, the the wise ways. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 44:00

So cool. God is so cool, guys. If you haven't caught that yet, God is cool. God's the best. God's pretty poggers.

SPEAKER_03 44:06

I'd say that.

SPEAKER_04 44:07

What?

SPEAKER_03 44:08

Don't worry about it. We're not diving into that.

SPEAKER_04 44:12

Okay.

Proverbs 24 Pressure Preparation And Perseverance

SPEAKER_04 44:14

And whenever Luke was talking about the prodigal son and all that, that brought back a memory of Brother Wideman, Myron Wideman Jr., he was he did um a sermon one time and he said he used the story of the prodigal son and he goes, you don't have to go out, you don't have to leave the safety of God's hands and go out into society to make yourself a testimony. You don't have to lose yourself in sin and then find your way back, maybe because like if you go out there, you might not ever come back. Um, so you don't have to make yourself a testimony. Your testimony can be like the older brother and be God kept me the entire time, and that I was faithful the entire time. Even if I was discouraged, even if I didn't understand, even if it was a family member that went out just like the prodigal son did, you being faithful counts.

SPEAKER_02 45:04

You don't have to make your testimony, you're living it. Literally, you're doing it. Your life is your testimony.

SPEAKER_04 45:10

Yes, your testimony can be God kept me. Even when my family left me, even when my friends left me, even when I lost my job, even whenever I got sick, God kept me. Yeah. And so make that your testimony, guys. Well, don't make that your testimony, but that can be your testimony. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 45:27

Yeah, aim for it. Like, probably not the best uh plan to leave just so you can have a testimony.

SPEAKER_02 45:34

That's not what the problem with.

SPEAKER_03 45:36

I think we talked about that last week. Maybe like sometimes people create their own problems. Like I feel like Proverbs maybe hidden at it.

SPEAKER_02 45:43

Oop, maybe said it once or twice.

SPEAKER_03 45:45

Maybe. Maybe, maybe sometimes we make our own problems. Who knows though?

SPEAKER_00 45:51

Literally.

SPEAKER_03 45:52

Yeah, um, another one I really like is uh Proverbs 24 and 10. And it just simply says, if you fail under pressure, your strength is too small. And that sounds pretty harsh, but it ties in with planning. Another verse a little bit later on, Proverbs 24-27. Do your planning and prepare your fields before building your house. Yes, you need to have a firm foundation. You're not just supposed to like read this stuff, let it go in one ear, out the other, think everything's fine. Um, maybe have one touch from God, one experience, and you're like, okay, I'm fine, I don't need to do anything. No, you need to be taking this stuff in, internalizing it, building that foundation. So when things do happen, when the storm does inevitably come, your house doesn't fall. You don't fail. And like if you do fail under pressure, um, that's not total failure. Like, obviously, the Bible says keep getting up in Proverbs. You get up again, you realize, okay, where did I fail? And it helps show you, like, I actually need to strengthen this area. I'm not as strong, uh or maybe not as faithful, or maybe uh I need to let God do some things to me, work on me a little bit because I failed here. So yeah, I just really like that verse.

SPEAKER_05 47:00

Yeah, and in verse 16 it says the godly may trip seven times. Seven times.

SPEAKER_03 47:03

Yeah, that's that's what I was hitting at.

SPEAKER_02 47:04

That's what I was thinking about.

SPEAKER_05 47:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 47:06

Literally, like, what? Yeah. Sorry, I really like that one too. Because even though you fall down, even though you make a mistake and you trip and whatever, all that all that matters is you get back up again. Like like the song from Trolls, get back up again. Wow.

SPEAKER_03 47:21

Yeah, like it goes right back to matters of the heart, because when things get tough, the outside's gonna fade away, and what's inside in your heart, that's what's gonna be brought to the surface.

SPEAKER_04 47:31

Yeah, and still speaking on like intentionality in Proverbs 24 verses 30 through 34, it says, I walked by the field of a lazy person, the vineyard of one with no common sense. I saw it, I saw that it was overgrown with nettles, it was covered with weeds, and its walls were broken down. Then as I looked and thought about it, this this hold up, I learned this lesson little sleep, little, a little extra sleep, a little more slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, then poverty will pounce on you like a bandit. Scarcity will attack you like a romed, a armed robber. Oh Lord. So, right here is talking about a man is walking by a field, a vineyard of a person who's lazy and they don't do nothing, and they sleep a little extra and they rest a little bit too much than they should. And they're not preparing for their next season, they're not being intentional for what can happen next in their future. And so this happens in our lives all the time.

SPEAKER_03 48:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 48:34

If we are not preparing for our next season, our next level with God, what God wants to do next in our lives, we you're gonna be like this person who the field of a lazy person, a guy with no common sense, because you're not gonna have anything. Yeah, you're gonna be behind. Whenever the next season comes, it poverty is gonna pounce on you like abandoned, apparently. Yeah, because you're not gonna have anything.

SPEAKER_02 48:57

Are you pruning your plants? I mean, come on. Are you pruning, bro?

SPEAKER_04 49:01

And so the point here that the the writer is just trying to make is just be intentional. Yeah. In every season of your life, no matter it, would no matter what like actual season it is in your life, if you're in college, if you're working, if you're a young adult, if you're married and kids, and what wherever you are on the spectrum, there's still more for you to do. So never think that, oh, I'm done. Like, oh, I'm done with life, I'm done with God, like I've learned all that I can learn. No.

SPEAKER_03 49:27

Yeah, and I really like how you're talking about preparation, how to always be preparing, because that ties directly into the verse I was just talking about 27. Yeah. Do your planning, prepare your feels before building your house. Um, sometimes we just want the end result without preparing. Right. Um, if say you build your house and you're like, this is a perfect spot for a house. I don't need to do any planning or anything. You build the house and it's on horrible moggy ground and your house just like collapses. Literally. That happens to us sometimes. Sometimes we hear something from God and we just want to go from point A to point B.

SPEAKER_00 49:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 49:58

And if we actually did that, we'd be like, we'd be done, bro. Like we wouldn't be able to handle it. And we'd fail, just like the house. And you like Andrew was saying, you always gotta be you gotta prepare first.

SPEAKER_05 50:09

Yeah, yeah. It's like literally like when you were saying, like school is like for real life situations, like preparing, like schooling is preparing for you. So like yeah, you start in pre-K, then you go to middle school or well, elementary school, then you go to middle school, then you go to high school, then you go to college. And each one's preparing you for more and more knowledge because you can't just jump from pre-K to college. You wouldn't, you wouldn't know anything at all and understand it.

SPEAKER_03 50:33

And like in the spiritual, like, think of like any preacher you hear, or like even our own pastor, he didn't just like wake up one day in his twenties and was like, Okay, I'm gonna go be the pastor now. You're like, What's it? That's not what happened. Like, that was a long process. God took him through a lot, and for everything out there, any word that you've ever heard, they didn't just get up that morning and were like, I want to be a preacher, I'm gonna go preach. Like, no, that's a process. You have to prepare for it by praying and fasting and preparing yourself before you get there.

SPEAKER_02 51:00

Even with all the stories that he brings to the table, I mean, yeah if he would never write down anything, like why was he writing down things, you know? Right? Yeah, yeah. It's for a reason.

SPEAKER_04 51:09

Literally, like, how does how does he have that good of a memory unless he just writes everything down? Because his stories that he tells are so detailed, and it's like, oh my gosh, I could never remember that. I know. But if Pastor has taught us anything, it's that God is a process God and He's process oriented, and so we have to go through a process to get from point A to point B. We just can't like superjet there and have the in call it a day.

SPEAKER_05 51:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 51:37

Um one verse kind of branching off from all this that I just found kind of funny

Proverbs 25 Boundaries Words And Empathy

SPEAKER_03 51:42

when I read it. Um, chapter 25, 17. Uh don't visit your neighbors too often. Are you aware of your welcome? You know, when I first read that, obviously I laughed because that's a funny verse. Like it's just straight up saying, like, sometimes we can overstay our welcome. But I looked at it a little deeper and I look at it as a sense of balance and boundaries again. Um, in the same way that you would be overstaying your welcome by visiting your neighbors too often. Think about it to anything that you do. That's true. Um, say you're a sports guy, say you like football or whatever. Yeah, nothing is wrong with that at all. Like we're in the south, bro. Everyone loves football. But if that's all you do and you dedicate too much of your time and you start overstaying your welcome, that's when it becomes a bad bad thing. It's all about balance with your neighbors, with everything in your life. It's about balance. And you can never overstay your welcome. You don't want to be that person. Think about that person.

SPEAKER_01 52:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 52:35

Some of us, we're not gonna say it. Some of us may know a person like that. And you don't want to be that person. Right. Yeah. So think about that in the spiritual. You don't want to be that when it comes to anything like hindering your relationship with God.

SPEAKER_05 52:47

And if you don't know that person, just you may be that person. So you really want to listen to it.

SPEAKER_03 52:52

Check up with your dog.

SPEAKER_05 52:53

You may really want to be listening to this.

SPEAKER_04 52:56

That's funny. But I love how it's written so plainly because Proverbs is full of metaphors and it's a poem that mean completely different things, and it's it's a whole thing. But it's written so plainly to where it's literally just calling you out, like, hey guys, don't go to your don't do that.

SPEAKER_05 53:14

Yeah, well, it's like one half of it's metaphor, and then half of it's like so straightforward, like verse 18. So, like literally telling lies about others is as harmful as hitting them with an axe. Like, why do we have to get so like harsh on this in it? But then it says wounding them with a sword or shooting them with a sharp arrow, like or hitting them with the axe, wounding them with a sword, or sitting with a sharp arrow. It's like lying is harmful, and it's making sure you know that. It's making sure this is like emphasizing lying about somebody can change them more than you will ever ever know. Yeah, and you may even forget about that, but it probably will stick with them forever. Yeah, like shooting them with an arrow, leaving that wounded then.

SPEAKER_03 53:50

Oh, and think of how many people you've met that they heard one thing in their childhood and they have like integrated that into a part of who they are growing up. Become part of their identity. Talking about people like that, that is as deadly as hitting them with an axe. Like that stuff sticks with people.

SPEAKER_04 54:04

Words are powerful, and like the just the the imagery of this verse, like harmful as hitting them with an axe, wearing them with a sword, like that's crazy stuff. Like, that's just not this like white little like oop, uh a little white lie. Like, no, they're dead. You've killed them, either physically, spiritually, emotionally, any of the illies out there.

SPEAKER_01 54:27

Any of the illies, bro.

SPEAKER_04 54:29

It literally scars them, yeah, yes, and then that could be something that they might not ever recover from. And so you might think that saying like lying a little bit is like, oh, it's okay. It's not, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 54:41

And like, have you ever been told something about somebody? And like you may you may be where you may not think that it's completely true, but you sometimes it changes the way you look at them. Yeah, it may be a complete made-up lie. Like you could be like, but what if they did do that?

SPEAKER_03 54:55

You know, that's exactly why it's so dangerous because it's not just hurting them, it affects how other people see them, right?

SPEAKER_04 55:00

It's out, yeah, and then it just affects the unity of everyone around them because they could be chilling, they could be like a really great person, and then this little this not little because it's not little, but this lie comes out about them that's literally not even true, and now everyone hates them, and we don't know what they need them.

SPEAKER_02 55:17

It's important not to define people by their mistakes because we all make them, every one of us make them.

SPEAKER_05 55:23

Literally, that's good. Wow, God is good, guys.

SPEAKER_03 55:28

He is. Um I like Proverbs um 25 and 28. Um, a person without self-control is like a city with broken down walls, and that ties into the the whole theme again of self-control. That's important. Like just how earlier we were talking about how dramatic it is when you're seated at a table with all this stuff, and and it's like the reader, the writer's like, well, if you have a big appetite, you might as well just stab yourself in the neck. Like this is again showing you how dangerous it is to have no self-control. The walls of a city, especially back then, that's what protected the city. Yeah. In those days, in like old testament days, bro, you do not want to be in a city without walls. Yeah. You're getting raided by everyone. Like your family's being taken off and sold into slavery or killed. Like, that's that's what happens when you don't have walls in your city. Yeah. So that's what it's saying. Like, again, that it's it's so important, guys, that you have self-control. Because you can't really live for God without it. Yeah. If you don't have self-control, you're just gonna go out and do whatever in the world you want. And that's not what a Christian does.

SPEAKER_04 56:33

Yeah, no, and they have boundaries. You're gonna die either emotionally spiritually, at least because let's think about it, like in through the Bible and through the story of Jericho, like the Israelites were marching around Jericho, had really tall tall walls. God was like, I'm gonna give you this city. They were like, I bet. So they're marching, and then all of a sudden, all of the walls fall, except for like this one in the corner, because Rahab helped the people, and yeah, yeah, anyways, that's a side story. But the walls fall, and then the entire Israelite army just rushes in, killing everything because God was like, kill it all. Um, which they did.

SPEAKER_00 57:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 57:10

And so if your walls fall, if you're not protected, if you don't have God on your side protecting you, then you're putting it on.

SPEAKER_03 57:17

Because if you don't have like the the walls of self-control, yeah, anything that comes up against you, no matter how small, it's just gonna come in and find a home for you. Um any emotion, any impulse, any temptation that you have, if you don't have self-control, you have no defense. Yeah, that's why it's just gonna control you.

SPEAKER_02 57:34

It's also how you're perceived too. If your walls of self-control are down, then your only form of communication that's flowing out is emotions. And that's not who you are. That's just what you're feeling. So it's not a true representation of who you are or what you represent. And we always have to represent God in the right way, and emotions not just through our emotions.

SPEAKER_05 57:53

Yeah, and emotions are very um like time sensitive in a way, like they're very like based on what in that moment. Like one moment you could be so happy, and one moment you could be so angry, but just because you're happy in a moment and angry woman doesn't make you a happy person then, and it well, it doesn't change it doesn't say who you are, you know, like yes, like Luke was saying because they're so dependent.

SPEAKER_04 58:15

Amen. And in Jesus, because they're the same thing.

SPEAKER_03 58:18

Amen. Jesus Christ. Amen.

SPEAKER_05 58:23

Another verse I really liked in chapter 25 was verse 20, and it's like it's kind of just like random up in there, but I really enjoyed it. Like I didn't really enjoy it, but it stuck out to me. It says singing cheerful songs to a person with a heavy heart is like taking someone's coat in cold weather or pouring vinegar in a wound. It's it's obviously symbolic, but singing a cheerful song with someone with a heavy heart, talking to somebody and brushing off their feelings when they're emote, like uh sad. Say something happened to them and they're talking to you about it, and you're like, you're gonna get out of it. God's gonna be with you. Let's move on to this. It's super fun. Okay, so you're why are we just brushing this off? Why are we not being a good friend to them? Why are we not helping them and stewarding them when it's a time of need, like when they need somebody else to grab their hand and hold them and be the bridge between them and like staying up and with God, you you have to be that person. You can't just take their coat when it's cold and let them freeze. You can't just pour vinegar in a wound and make them burn and hurt. You have to be that person to hold them on and keep them going.

SPEAKER_03 59:24

Yeah, it's telling you to like just be aware. Like, I like that because I feel like if we're not careful and we're not really, you know, considering how this other person feels, we can do that, even if it's going from a good place. Like, like you just said, if someone's opening up to you, um, and they're they're like, this just happened, it's like fresh, and they're like crying to you, and you know, good advice, like it's not wrong advice. You say, Well, have you prayed about it? Like, that's good advice, but if someone is actively crying to you because like their mom just died or something, like, dude, if you tell me that, I might punch you in the face, right? Yeah, it's like I'm hurting, and you're here, have you prayed about it? Like, yeah, it's like I haven't even got a chance to process this yet, so it's about being aware.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:05

Because obviously, like praying about it is always something to do, but maybe take on that burden for them and pray for them and be their inner intercession for them, like pray over them and help them in that moment.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:17

And in Ecclesiastes 3, it's talking about how there's a time for everything and for every activity under heaven, and so a time to cry and a time to laugh, a time to grieve, and a time to dance in verse 4. And so this is showing us that it's okay to feel and it's okay to be human. And in Romans 12 and verse 15, it says, be happy with those who are happy and weep with those who weep. Yeah, and so this just goes back to being aware of what people are feeling around you, just like y'all are saying.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:46

Don't just brush it off and sing happy song, literally, like be aware.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:50

If you do that, we may not be friends anymore.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:52

And there's a difference between speaking life into a situation and then just completely brushing past their feelings. Because, say, I have a friend who's in a devastating situation, and they need life spoken into their situation. There's a difference with me saying you're gonna get out of this, you're gonna make it, versus just being like, okay, when this is over, you will be fine.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:18

And always always have those and those what is it, emotional antennas up. Your spice being responsive, even to those that are in church, because yeah, they they face the exact same thing that people that aren't. It doesn't matter. We are all people, we're all human beings that experience the same things.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:34

Yeah, you gotta meet people where they're at, and that's kind of the core of it. Like, I kind of like what Andrew's just saying, but imagine like this person did something and they're in a horrible situation, and maybe, yeah, maybe they could have been a bit safer in how they approach that situation, and in the end they got themselves hurt, but that may not be what that person needs to hear right now. Later, yeah, yeah, you teach them, but maybe you go up to them instead of saying, like, actually, you should have seen that coming, like, we all saw that coming from a mile away, like that was preventable. You go, hey, it's all right, God's got you, God loves you, we're here for you.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:07

Yeah, because then you could possibly be a stumbling block to them if you're if you're being like so like hard on them for what they did in that time that they're facing such emotional struggle in that you know period of loss or whatever. Yeah, whatever it is.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:22

Because let's think about this like from a biblical perspective, with the story of Jesus and the woman at the well, the the Samaritan woman, like Jesus didn't condemn her for having five husbands and the guy she was with, she wasn't even married with. He met her at her emotional level first, and then he was able to witness to her, and the whole town became saved because they believed her her testimony.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:46

Yeah, because God didn't say, Well, I mean I feel not coming to know that you shouldn't be doing that. Why are you doing it and coming to help? Like, no, he's he met her there, he helped her.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:54

Yeah, he didn't just walk up and say, Why'd you do that? Like literally, what are you doing?

SPEAKER_05 1:02:59

Yeah, and most of the time they all know what they did wrong, like they don't need to hear it twice. Yeah, yeah, like they're coming to you for help, not for you to rub it in their face that they messed up.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:08

Because like Adam and Eve, Eve knew what she was doing was wrong. Eve knew that if she ate that fruit, then um she would quote unquote be like God and know good from evil. Like she knew what God had said, but then whenever her and Adam sinned and they hid themselves, God did not walk through the garden yelling, What did you do? No, he he walked through the garden asking, Where are you? I want to spend time with you. So no matter what you're going through, no matter what's going on, God will meet you where you're at. And he's always there for you. I love it.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:40

In Galatians, it says you should well, it talks about rebuking, should be done gently to restore. Yeah, gently to restore. So you have to be able to decipher and know the times that you need to rebuke your brother and that you need to encourage him.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:55

Yeah. And that I I like that because it should never be you should never be rebuking someone just to rebuke them. Yeah. Like it should always be done with the gentleness of you're rebuking them for their good. Right. You're not just doing it gently. Yeah, because you don't want to do it just to make yourself feel better, yeah, or make them feel worse. You do it with that intention in mind. I like that.

Final Takeaways And How To Follow

SPEAKER_03 1:04:14

But alright, guys, we talked about a lot today. Um, again, I really like Pastor Jerry's message. It was a really good message, especially for uh like an Easter Sunday message. I really like it. Um because we all need that reminder that no matter what's going on, no matter what we've done in the past, uh a mistake that we may be um holding on to, um regretting, no matter what the circumstance looks like, God is still writing your story. Yeah, it's never over until it's over. So it's over. So God's always working for your benefit, and you gotta keep that in mind. And you know that that's really like comforting. Like, yeah, no matter what's going on, God's for me. God's got me. My story isn't over. The sunglasses were not a mistake, guys. If you forget everything else, the sunglasses were not a mistake. But um, and yeah, just for Proverbs, keep following along in Proverbs. This stuff is really good. If you haven't picked up by now, um you're supposed to like apply it to your lives. Read the Yeah, so read it through as we're going through it. Read it for yourself because we obviously we're here talking for like an hour. We can't give you everything, we just tell you what we get from it. You may get something completely different. So go out, read it for yourself, and it will amaze you. Yeah, and analyze your heart. That's the one thing I'll talk about from what we talked about today. Know that God sees your heart, and so make sure your heart's in line with God, and you'll pretty much get all of it along the way.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:40

Yep, literally.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:42

Alright, I gotta do it again, I guess. Pastor Jared spoke a word, and God's instructions were heard. Amen. And make sure you guys follow us on Instagram and wherever you listen to your podcast. Thank you for listening. We'll see y'all next week.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:55

Bye, everybody. Bye.