Welcome to Wisdom Today with Bill Kelley. Today we will be going over Proverb 15. I will then key in on verse 33 - The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom, And before honor is humility. On today's podcast I will be finishing this study on the topic trust. I will bring up the greatest example of trust found in the Bible. It is found in the 14th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew. This chapter discusses the feeding of the 5,000 men (in addition to women and children with just a few small fish and several loaves of bread). The faith of the disciples must have been at an all time high. Immediately after this, Jesus asked His disciples to get into a boat and row to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. He told them He would catch up with them later. He found a solitary place to pray, and then later in the evening He decided to walk out to them. A strong storm had come up and the disciples were struggling in this storm. Jesus walked out to them on the water. They were afraid when they saw Jesus (they thought it was a ghost). He told them not to be afraid. Peter asked that if it was truly Him that He bid him to come into the water. Peter stepped out of the boat, and began walking on the water. However, he soon began looking at the large waves and hearing the crashing of thunder and lightning and began to sink. Jesus helped him and they returned to the boat.
Call to Action - Ask God if there is anything that He would like for you to do that you are not currently doing.
Proverb 3:5-6; Matthew 6:25-34; James 1:2-8; Psalm 40:4; 1 John 4:18; Joshua 1:9; Psalm 56:3-4; Mark 11:22-24; Psalm 13:5; Isaiah 26:34
[00:00:00] Welcome to Wisdom Today. My name is Bill Kelley and I'll be your host. In this podcast
[00:00:12] we will be exploring the book of Proverbs.
[00:00:21] Open and prayer. Father God, I thank you for anyone listening to this podcast today.
[00:00:27] Lord, I pray that you would reveal to everyone listening how much you truly love each
[00:00:32] and every one of them. I ask this in Jesus name, amen. This is Proverbs 15 beginning in verse
[00:00:40] 1. A soft answer turns away wrath but a harsh word stirs up anger. The tongue of the wise
[00:00:50] uses knowledge rightly but the mouth of fools pours forth foolishness. The eyes of the Lord
[00:00:58] are in every place keeping watch on the evil and the good. A wholesome tongue is a tree of life
[00:01:07] but perverseness in it breaks the spirit. A fool despises his father's instruction
[00:01:14] but he who receives correction is prudent. In the house of the righteous there is much
[00:01:21] treasure but in the revenue of the wicked is trouble. The lips of the wise disperse knowledge
[00:01:29] but the heart of the fool does not do so. The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord
[00:01:37] but the prayer of the upright is his delight. The way of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord
[00:01:45] but he loves him who follows righteousness. Harsh discipline is for him who forsakes the way
[00:01:53] and he who hates correction will die. Hell and destruction are before the Lord so how much more
[00:02:02] the heart of the sons of men. A scoffer does not love one who corrects him nor will he go to the wise.
[00:02:12] A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.
[00:02:21] The heart of him who has understanding seeks knowledge but the mouth of fools feeds on foolishness.
[00:02:30] All the days of the afflicted are evil but he who is of a merry heart has a continual feast.
[00:02:39] Better is a little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure with trouble.
[00:02:45] Better is a dinner of herbs where love is than a fadded calf with hatred. A raffle man stirs up strife
[00:02:56] but he who is slow to anger a laze contention. The way of the lazy man is like a hedge of
[00:03:04] horns but the way of the upright is a highway. A wise son makes a father glad but a foolish man
[00:03:14] despises his mother. Folly is joy to him who is destitute of discernment but a man of understanding
[00:03:24] walks uprightly. Without counsel plans go awry but in the multitude of counselors they are
[00:03:34] established. A man has joy by the answer of his mouth and a word spoken in due season how good it is.
[00:03:45] The way of life winds upward for the wise that he may turn away from hell below.
[00:03:55] The Lord will destroy the house of the proud but he will establish the boundary of the widow.
[00:04:03] The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord but the words of the pure are pleasant.
[00:04:11] He who is greedy for gain troubles his own house but he who hates bribes will live.
[00:04:19] The heart of the righteous studies how to answer but the mouth of the wicked pours forth evil.
[00:04:28] The Lord is far from the wicked but he hears the prayer of the righteous.
[00:04:35] The light of the eyes rejoices the heart and a good report makes the bones healthy.
[00:04:43] The ear that hears the rebukes of life will abide among the wise.
[00:04:50] He who distains instruction despises his own soul but he who hates rebuk gets understanding.
[00:05:00] The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom and before honor is humility.
[00:05:09] Friends, let's take a look at the last verse and Proverbs 15 verse 33 tells us this.
[00:05:17] The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom and before honor is humility.
[00:05:26] Friends we will take a closer look at that verse prior to closing today but what I'd like to do
[00:05:32] is kind of review what we've done this week and I've gone over so much material.
[00:05:39] I don't have time to go over it now but the two key verses that we talked about with trust
[00:05:46] this week are found in Proverbs 3 verses 5 and 6 and those two verses tell us to trust in the Lord
[00:05:56] with all your heart lean not on your own understanding in all your ways acknowledge him
[00:06:04] meaning God and he will direct your path.
[00:06:09] So friends this verse simply says that our trust should be in the living God
[00:06:15] and my second one was Matthew chapter 6 verse 33 but I went over the entire passage from
[00:06:23] verses 25 through 34. Now there were eight other verses that I went over passages of scripture
[00:06:31] but I'm not going to go over them today what I'd like to do instead is basically give you an
[00:06:39] example of trusting God and there is no better example of this in the Bible than in Matthew's gospel
[00:06:49] chapter 14 and let me give you the backdrop of chapter 14 in Matthew's gospel.
[00:06:59] Now one of the greatest miracles of the entire Bible is when Jesus feeds 5,000 men in addition to
[00:07:09] women and children. That is one of the stories of chapter 14 so that is from verses 13 through 21
[00:07:20] and there may have been 15,000 people as far as we know you have to sit there and think most men
[00:07:28] were married and had two or three or four or five children back then it didn't really matter
[00:07:37] so when the disciples saw that all of these people had been fed by just a couple small fish
[00:07:48] and a couple loads of bread their faith really must have been at an all time high
[00:07:56] and what happens next Jesus immediately told them to go into a boat
[00:08:04] and row to the other side of the sea of Galilee and that he would meet them later
[00:08:11] and as Jesus often did when he sent his disciples away is he went up and found a solitary place
[00:08:20] in the mountains and he went and prayed so we are now in chapter 14 and we're going to pick up
[00:08:27] in verse 22. Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other
[00:08:37] side while he sent the multitudes away and when he had sent the multitudes away he went up on
[00:08:46] the mountain by himself to pray. Now an evening came he was alone there but the boat was now
[00:08:55] in the middle of the sea tossed by the waves for the wind was contrary. Now in the fourth watch
[00:09:04] of the night Jesus went to them walking on the sea and when the disciples saw him walking
[00:09:13] on the sea they were troubled saying it is a ghost and they cried out for fear
[00:09:22] but immediately Jesus spoke to them saying be a good cheer it is I do not be afraid
[00:09:32] and Peter answered him and said Lord if it is you command me to come to you on the water
[00:09:41] so he said come and when Jesus had come down out of the boat he walked on the water
[00:09:50] to go to Jesus but when he saw that the wind was boisterous he was afraid and beginning to sink
[00:09:58] he cried out saying Lord save me and immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught him
[00:10:09] and said to him oh you of little faith why did you doubt and when they got into the boat
[00:10:18] the wind ceased then those who were in the boat came and worshiped him saying truly you are the
[00:10:30] Son of God now friends there are a number of things that I'd like to go over concerning this
[00:10:38] wonderful story that I believe we can apply to our lives today first of all there were three
[00:10:47] miracles in this one story first of all Jesus walked on the water
[00:10:56] secondly Peter then walked on the water and third as soon as they got back into the boat
[00:11:06] Jesus calmed the storm and the storm went away and if you're really counting
[00:11:15] there was an extra miracle of Jesus feeding the 15,000 people with just a few fish and pieces of bread
[00:11:26] so what I'd like to do is go over five practical things that we can practice in our life today
[00:11:34] based on this story and I'm going to give credit to Jeffrey Curtis poor a pastor who originally
[00:11:43] gave this message the first point that I'd like to make is that peace is not found in the absence
[00:11:52] of the storm but in the presence of Jesus now when you think about this story
[00:12:00] Jesus did not calm the storm first first he invited Peter to come out of the boat
[00:12:11] so even in the midst of the storm that is where Jesus was he was in the storm so when Peter got
[00:12:23] out of the boat he began walking on the water however he soon took his eyes off of Jesus
[00:12:34] and began thinking about the circumstances that he was in he started looking at the large waves
[00:12:43] and the crashing thunder and lightning overhead and he took his eyes off Jesus and immediately he
[00:12:53] began to sink and finally he said Lord save me and Jesus was waiting for him as soon as he said
[00:13:03] that Jesus grabbed his hand and did not let him go under the second one I'd like to do is that faith
[00:13:15] requires stepping out of the boat now friends we like living in comfort we like living in our comfort
[00:13:27] and many of us never get out of our comfort zone if there's something that is uncomfortable for
[00:13:33] us we try to avoid it we don't want to do it but there will be occasions in life when Jesus
[00:13:43] is going to ask us to step out of our comfort zone and that is when we can demonstrate our faith
[00:13:54] and our trust in him now you may begin to sink you may begin to sink and Jesus never promises
[00:14:05] that things are going to go easily in our life but he will never let us drown as Peter found out
[00:14:15] number three without Jesus you will sink now I want to make that perfectly clear friends there are
[00:14:25] going to be storms in life every one is going to have things in your life happen and you will
[00:14:34] have temptations and if you don't have Jesus in your life many times you give in to those temptations
[00:14:43] many times we find ourselves overwhelmed with the things that go on in life and we just can't
[00:14:52] handle it but with Jesus at your side the Bible tells us he will never leave us nor for
[00:14:59] sayke's he will always be there with us so if he asks you to do something that is out of your
[00:15:10] comfort zone he also gives you the grace to be able to do whatever he has asked you to now number
[00:15:19] four is kei and number four is worship should be our response and I'd like to go to the last verse
[00:15:31] of chapter 14 of Matthew verse 33 and this is what it says then those who were in the boat
[00:15:41] and the only people in the boat were his disciples came and worshiped him saying truly you are the
[00:15:52] son of God and friends this is the first time in scripture that they orally acknowledged this
[00:16:03] and that is the key the most important thing in this chapter isn't the miracle of the feeding of all
[00:16:11] of these people or the miracle of Jesus walking on the water or the miracle of Peter walking on
[00:16:20] the water or the miracle of Jesus coming back inside the boat and calming the storm the most
[00:16:30] important part of this chapter is that they came and worshiped him and friends the underlying theme
[00:16:41] of this story today is that it's not about Peter it wasn't about the other disciples it wasn't about
[00:16:51] everyone that was sitting on the sermon on the mount and being fed all of these things even though
[00:17:00] they had few provisions it's about the fact that we are to worship Jesus point five is when you
[00:17:13] follow Jesus he will do incredible things through you now friends I know that all of us have been
[00:17:24] called by God Jesus has called all of us to further advance his kingdom and friends if it is
[00:17:34] Jesus and you have him in your life you will do things that you could never ever do on your own
[00:17:45] but if we put our trust in him he will give us the ability to do things that are out of our comfort zone
[00:17:58] things that we would never dream about doing on our own so my call to action today is to simply ask God
[00:18:09] if there is anything that he would like for you to do that you are not presently doing and ask
[00:18:19] for the grace to be able to do what it is he's asked you to do friends before we close let's review
[00:18:28] Proverbs 15 verse 33 and it says the fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom and before
[00:18:37] honor is humility now friends my topic for this week has been trust and how we need to put our
[00:18:49] trust in Jesus this verse is talking about the fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom
[00:18:59] now friends if we put our trust in Jesus we have a reverence for him because we acknowledge
[00:19:09] him to be our savior and the person who saved us from all of our sins but I like the last part
[00:19:18] of this verse and it says and before honor is humility friends in order for us to truly honor
[00:19:29] Jesus in our lives we need to humble ourselves before him the suggested scripture reading today
[00:19:40] is to reread our proverb of the day proverb 15 tomorrow read proverb 16 and on Sunday read
[00:19:51] proverb 17 so friends what I've done is I will include all of the passages of scripture which I
[00:19:59] went over on Monday Wednesday and Thursday's podcast if you want to take a look at those and write
[00:20:07] those down but I will never end a podcast without giving anyone an opportunity to receive Jesus as
[00:20:16] their Lord and Savior and if there is anyone listening today and you've never taken that step
[00:20:22] I invite you to repeat a simple prayer after me today Jesus I believe that you are the son of God
[00:20:30] I believe that you came to earth and you were willing to die on a cross for the sins of all mankind
[00:20:40] I believe that you died on that cross were buried and on the third day you rose again from the dead
[00:20:50] Jesus I invite you to come into my heart I want you to lead me and guide me from this point forward
[00:20:57] in my life I make you my Lord and Savior friends if any of you repeated that prayer if you would
[00:21:05] do me a quick favor go to my webpage wisdom today bk.com let me know you said that prayer there is
[00:21:16] a contact tab give me your name give me your information write the information down that you said
[00:21:24] that prayer I would like to welcome you to the family of God friends this is the weekend
[00:21:32] I pray that you take your spouse out you take your kids out let them know how much God loves them
[00:21:40] and how much you love them now may the Lord bless you and keep you the Lord make his face shine
[00:21:49] upon you and be gracious to you the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace
[00:21:56] friends please join me again on Monday as we further explore wisdom today