Welcome to Wisdom Today with Bill Kelley. Today we will be going over Proverb 25. I will then key in on verse 19 - Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble Is like a bad tooth and a foot out of joint. Friends, we don't want either a bad tooth, or a foot out of joint. They are both painful. On today's podcast we will continue our study of the Gospel, according to Luke. We will begin in Chapter 11, verse 27. By the end of today's lesson, there are three things I ask that you consider:
1. Blessed are those who hear the Word of god and keep it.
2. Jesus will be a sign to this generation.
3. The Nineties rose up in judgement in their generation.
Call to Action - Have you ever responded to God's directive like Jonah did? Did He ever call you to do something and you, in essence, said no? If so I ask you to consider praying to God and repent. Begin where He asked you to do something and begin going in that direction. I believe and declare that if you begin heading in that direction that your life will take a turn for the better.
[00:00:06] Welcome to Wisdom Today. My name is Bill Kelley and I'll be your host. In this podcast we will be exploring the book of Proverbs Let's open and pray. Father God, I thank you for anyone listening to this podcast today. Lord, I pray that you would give revelation
[00:00:28] To everyone listening today. I pray that you would use me today to be a mouthpiece for you That the Spirit would come forth in this lesson by my voice. I ask this in Jesus name, Amen
[00:00:45] This is Proverbs 25 beginning in verse 1. These also are Proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah King of Judah copied. It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter
[00:01:05] As the heavens for height and the earth for death. So the heart of kings is unsertible Take away the draws from silver and it will go to the silver Smith for jewelry Take away the wicked from before the king and his throne will be established in righteousness
[00:01:27] Do not exalt yourself in the presence of the king and do not stand in the place of the great For it is better that he say to you come up here Then that you should be put lower in the presence of the prince whom your eyes have seen
[00:01:46] Do not go hastily to court for what will you do in the end when your neighbor has put you to shame Debate your case with your neighbor and do not disclose the secret to another He who hears it expose your shame and your reputation be ruined a word
[00:02:09] Fiddly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver like an earring of gold and an ornament of fine gold is a wise Reviewer to an obedient ear like the cold of snow in time of harvest is a faithful messenger to those who send him
[00:02:30] For he refreshes the soul of his masters Whoever falsely boasts of giving is like clouds and wind without rain by long Forbearance a ruler is persuaded and a gentle tongue breaks a bone Have you found honey?
[00:02:50] He only as much as you need last you be filled with it and vomit Seldom set foot in your neighbor's house Lest he become weary of you and hate you a man who bears false witness against his neighbor is like a club Assured and a sharp arrow
[00:03:12] Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a bad tooth and a foot out of joint Like one who takes a garment in cold weather and Like vinegar on soda is one who sings songs to a heavy heart
[00:03:31] If your enemy is hungry give him bread to eat and if he is thirsty give him water to drink For so you will keep calls a fire on his head and the Lord will reward you The North Wind brings forth rain and a backbiting tongue and angry countenance
[00:03:53] It is better to dwell in a corner of a house top then in a house shared with a contentious woman As cold water to a weary soul so is good news from a far country a
[00:04:08] righteous man who falters before the wicked is like a murky spring and a polluted well It is not good to eat much honey so to seek one's own glory is not glory Whoever has no rule over his own spirit is like a city broken down without walls
[00:04:33] Friends today I'd like to take a closer look at verse 19 and Prover 25 verse 19 says this Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a bad tooth and a foot out of joint
[00:04:54] Friends we will take a closer look at that verse prior to closing today's podcast But what I'd like to do is continue in our study of the gospel according to Luke Now on yesterday's podcast we ended with an
[00:05:12] Clean spirit returns and I told you in yesterday's podcast is sometimes there are unclane spirits living in people Now a lot of people don't like thinking about that today
[00:05:28] But there are people who have evil spirits living on the inside of them and for people who have that in Their body Keep in mind it's probably going to be an evil spirit and so these people are going to act accordingly and Basically be evil people
[00:05:49] But in this particular case the spirit had left this human body and Decided that it was going to return and so when he came back He found that that body had been swept and it would been cleaned out in other words. It had been basically
[00:06:08] You know I think of a crime scene. I think everything is washed down and you know You get alcohol you clean everything up. It's totally clean and then the spirit comes back And when he comes back he says hey fellas come in with me
[00:06:23] We have a great house. I got a new place for you to stay and not only has he come back But sometimes he'll bring seven other spirits with him and Friends, this is not a good place to be and you do not want to be the host of
[00:06:38] Somebody and having eight spirits come on the inside of you But we are going to pick up in Chapter 11 of Luke beginning in verse 27 And it happened as he spoke these things that a certain woman
[00:06:53] From the crowd raised her voice and said to him now. This is Jesus So she's shouting to Jesus and making sure he hears her and she says blessed is the womb That bore you and the breasts which nurse you now friends obviously
[00:07:14] This woman is referring to Jesus's mother and we know her as the virgin Mary Okay, now she is really propped up in the Catholic church and we just got back from a trip to Europe my wife and I we spent 19 days over there and Mary is
[00:07:34] Basically glorified. I mean you'll see statues of Mary pictures of Mary and she is lifted up And many people recognize her as the most influential woman in the history of the world because she raised and nurtured and brought up Jesus who is basically the most important
[00:07:58] person arguably and the history of the world and so naturally she should be basically Blessed and lifted up But he said more than that. So these are Jesus's words blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it
[00:08:19] So friends that's my first point today whenever Jesus says something believe me It's a point that we should write down So he said blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it now friends. I am reading Out of the Nelson study Bible
[00:08:37] And what I'd like to do is go to the commentary found in my Bible for verses 27 and 28 And he makes reference to blessed is the womb The woman offered praise for Jesus's mother Though Jesus always honored Mary
[00:08:56] He commented carefully of the woman's blessing to keep the focus on the word of God It is easy to allow traditional practices to take the place of the authority of the scriptures Now friends, I can't overestimate what that commentary just says
[00:09:18] So I'm gonna read it again because I often talk about the importance of reading scripture Listen to this again. He commented carefully to the woman's blessing to keep the focus on the word of God It is easy to allow
[00:09:37] Traditional practices to take the place of the authority of the scriptures Jesus offers his blessing to those who respond Concretely to God's will as expressed in the Bible
[00:09:57] Now friends, I'm gonna camp out here for just a minute or so and I want to go over the clarification of that commentary It is vitally important that we've truly grasp what the commentary is telling us for these two verses
[00:10:14] And they're talking about the importance not only of knowing scripture But of keeping scripture So I will make reference to the book of James chapter one verse 22 And it says what we are not to be hears of the Bible only
[00:10:35] But we are to be doers of the word so friends, it's not only important that we hear the word of God or we read the word of God
[00:10:46] But that we digest it that we meditate on it that it become a part of who we are and we are to begin living our lives According to the word of God that is what that is actually saying Now
[00:11:07] Let's go on to verse 29 and while the crowds were thickly gathered together He began to say this is an evil generation It seeks a sign and no sign will be given to it except the sign of Noah The prophet for his Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites
[00:11:34] So also the son of man will be to this generation now friends my second point today is Jesus will be a sign of This generation now. Let me go back to the commentary for verse 29 the sign of Jonah
[00:11:56] Here refers to his prophetic call to repentance rather than to the resurrection for shadowed by Jonah's return from the belly of the great fish So friends, I'm gonna take a moment here just to briefly go over the book of Jonah
[00:12:18] Some of you listening today may have never heard the story of Jonah Jonah was a minor prophet of the Old Testament and a lot of times we don't refer to Jonah that much because Jonah literally lived about 760 Bc in other words about 760 years prior to
[00:12:47] Jesus coming to earth and many of you may say today Oh my gosh, we're talking about 2,700 years ago why on earth are you talking to me about someone who lived 2007 here years ago? I'm gonna tell you why
[00:13:06] God called Jonah to go to the great city of Ninevah and preach to the citizens of that great city Now the Bible tells us in chapter one of Jonah that that city was so great it would take three days to go all the way across the
[00:13:29] Expans of that city so we're not talking about a regular village or a town or even a city It would take three days to get all the way across it but Jonah rebelled and he told God no
[00:13:49] And actually he didn't tell God no but his actions said no to God So this is a reminder that actions speak louder than words so what did Jonah do?
[00:14:03] He was told to go to Ninevah and what he did is went to a boat and actually purchased a ticket Going in the opposite direction and so what he did he went into that boat the boat took off
[00:14:18] From the warf and here it is in the middle of the sea and all of a sudden God it causes a mighty storm to come up and Jonah feels real secure in his position
[00:14:32] He literally has gone down into the belly of the boat and he is fast asleep and all of a sudden A mighty storm starts brewing and the waves start crashing and all of a sudden the people fear
[00:14:49] That this boat is gonna go down so they go down wake Jonah up and says wake up who are you? Jonah told them I am running away from God and they were scared out of their minds and they said what must we do?
[00:15:08] And Jonah said you've got to throw me overboard and they said No, we're not gonna do that he said the only way that storm is gonna stop is if you throw me overboard So they did it and immediately the sea calmed the waves went away and
[00:15:29] God prepared a mighty fish and Jonah goes in to the belly of the whale for three days It's an awesome story Jonah was eventually belched out onto the beach three days later. He chose to go to Ninevah at that time
[00:15:48] The king of Ninevah repented he put on sack cloth. He told the entire city put on sack cloth We're gonna start obeying God and So what literally happened is the city of Ninevah was spared at that time from 760 BC until
[00:16:12] We get to the book of Nay home and in the book of Nay home which took place Approximately 150 years later about 620 BC the meads enemies of the Assyrians literally went in and Totally destroyed the city of Ninevah Let's continue in verse 31 the queen of the south
[00:16:41] We'll rise up in the judgment with the man of this generation and condemn them For she came from the ends of the earth to hear the words of Solomon and Indeed a greater than Solomon is here
[00:16:59] The man of Ninevah will rise up in judgment with this generation and Condent for they repented at the preaching of Jonah and indeed a greater than Jonah is here Now friends my third and final point for today's lesson is the Ninevah
[00:17:21] Rose up in judgment in their generation and Condemned it and as I already told you the ending of this story I don't need to repeat it but what we're going to do I want to go over the commentary for verses 3332
[00:17:39] It says Jesus warned that refusal to hear him would result in condemnation from those in the old Testimid who had responded to God's teaching The examples Jesus offered included Gentiles such as the queen of the south and
[00:18:00] She literally came from Ethiopia and this is one a wonderful story. It's found in the book of first kings Chapter 10 the first ten verses if you'd like to do that for a homework assignment and The Ninevah it's and
[00:18:17] Specifically here we're talking about Jonah the third chapter because Jesus is greater than those who proclaim God's words in Those days and of course we're talking about Jonah First of all it's about 760 BC and then Solomon who obviously came a bit later. He was the son of
[00:18:42] King David Before we close today I'd like to go back to our verse of the day and we are in proper 25 today and verse 19 says this Confidence in an Faithful man in time of trouble is like a bad tooth and a foot out of joint
[00:19:04] Now friends are listened today was about a man named Jonah and when God called Jonah to go and preach to the Ninevah it's he chose instead to get a ticket in a boat going in the opposite direction This verse tells me that Jonah was one of these people
[00:19:27] He was an unfaithful person He did not obey the commandment of God and many of us today still are not Owing what God tells us to do so let's just read this verse again
[00:19:45] Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble and I would say that Jonah at that time there was a time of trouble The city of Ninevah had totally rejected the word of God these people were not doing what God wanted them to do and so they
[00:20:04] Revelled Jonah Revelled and did not do what God told him to do until He had the lesson and lived in the belly of the whale for three days I want you to think of what that must have been like I
[00:20:19] Personally would not want to live in the belly of a whale for three days and I'm guessing that no one listening today Would like that either But then it says is like a bad tooth and a foot out of joint
[00:20:34] I'm just briefly going to talk about this because if you have a bad tooth It's gonna be difficult to chew Your food if you try to bite down using that bad tooth
[00:20:48] It's gonna hurt it's gonna ache you're gonna have a hard time getting food down and a foot out of joint I want you to think about that you're not gonna be steady You're gonna be leaning you're gonna be limping nobody wants that
[00:21:03] So friends my call to action today. This is what I really would like for you to ask yourself Have you ever Revelled Against God Have you ever been in a position where God asked you to do something?
[00:21:18] And you a chosen not to do it if the answer to that question is yes What I suggest you do is to repent Pray to God Ask him to forgive you and I would pick up and begin with what?
[00:21:38] He asked you to do and begin doing it and at that point if you do that and make that decision I believe that your life will begin to turn around for the better Friends
[00:21:53] I will never end a podcast without giving anyone an opportunity to receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior If there is any one listening today and you've never taken that step I invite you to repeat and simple prayer after me today Jesus I recognize that I
[00:22:11] Am a sinner and a need of a Savior I believe that you are the Son of God you came to earth and died in a cross for me By doing that you have put me back in Right standing with God But Jesus I still need your help
[00:22:29] I asked you come into my heart I asked you lead me and guide me from this point forward in my life I make you my Lord and Savior Friends if any of you said that prayer
[00:22:42] Welcome to the family of God. That's all you needed to do now what I recommend is you get online Find a local church find some good Christian friends that you can lean on and find out more information as you begin This new walk now
[00:23:00] May the Lord bless you and keep you the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you The Lord lifter is countenance upon you and give you peace
[00:23:12] Friends please join me tomorrow as I have a special guest tomorrow is the last Friday of the month and my wife will join me tomorrow Please join us as we further explore wisdom today