625. I Died (Supposedly) on March 29, 2024 - August 23, 2024

[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.

[00:00:20] Let's open in prayer. Father God, I thank you for anyone listening to this podcast today. I pray that you would reveal to everyone listening how much you truly love each and every one of them. I ask this in Jesus name. Amen.

[00:00:36] This is Proverb 23 beginning in verse 1.

[00:00:41] When you sit down to eat with a ruler, consider carefully what is before you, and put a knife to your throat.

[00:00:50] If you are a man given to appetite, do not desire his delicacies, for they are deceptive food.

[00:00:58] Do not overwork to be rich, because of your own understanding. Cease!

[00:01:05] Will you set your eyes on that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings.

[00:01:13] They fly away like an eagle toward heaven.

[00:01:17] Do not eat the bread of a miser, nor desire his delicacies, for as he thinks in his heart, so is he.

[00:01:27] Eat and drink, he says to you, but his heart is not with you.

[00:01:32] The morsel you have eaten you will vomit up and waste your pleasant words.

[00:01:38] Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words.

[00:01:45] Do not remove the ancient landmark, nor enter the fields of the fatherless, for their Redeemer is mighty.

[00:01:53] He will plead their cause against you.

[00:01:57] Apply your heart to instruction, and your ears to words of knowledge.

[00:02:02] Do not withhold correction from a child, for if you beat him with a rod, he will not die.

[00:02:11] You shall beat him with a rod, and deliver his soul from hell.

[00:02:16] My son, if your heart is wise, my heart will rejoice. Indeed, I myself, yes, my inmost being, will rejoice when your lips speak right things.

[00:02:31] Do not let your heart envy sinners, but be zealous for the fear of the Lord all the day.

[00:02:39] For surely there is a hereafter, and your hope will not be cut off.

[00:02:46] Hear, my son, and be wise, and guide your heart in the way.

[00:02:51] Do not mix with wine-bibbers, or with gluttonous eaters of meat.

[00:02:57] For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and drowsiness will clothe a man with rags.

[00:03:06] Listen to your father who begot you, and do not despise your mother when she is old.

[00:03:13] Buy the truth, and do not sell it.

[00:03:17] Also, wisdom and instruction and understanding.

[00:03:21] The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice, and he who begets a wise child will delight in him.

[00:03:31] Let your father and your mother be glad, and let her who bore you rejoice.

[00:03:37] My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways.

[00:03:43] For a harlot is a deep pit, and a seductress is a narrow well.

[00:03:48] She also lies in wait, as for a victim, and increases the unfaithful among them.

[00:03:57] Who has woe?

[00:03:59] Who has sorrow?

[00:04:01] Who has contentions?

[00:04:04] Who has complaints?

[00:04:06] Who has wounds without cause?

[00:04:10] Who has redness of eyes?

[00:04:13] Those who linger long at the wine.

[00:04:16] Those who go in search of mixed wine.

[00:04:19] Do not look on the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it swirls around smoothly.

[00:04:29] At the last it bites like a serpent, and stings like a viper.

[00:04:35] Your eyes will see strange things, and your heart will utter perverse things.

[00:04:41] Yes, you will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea.

[00:04:46] Or, like one who lies at the top of the mast, saying,

[00:04:51] They have struck me, but I was not hurt.

[00:04:54] They have beaten me, but I did not feel it.

[00:04:58] When shall I awake, that I may have another drink?

[00:05:02] Friends, today I'd like to zero in on two verses, verses 4 and 5.

[00:05:09] And Proverb 23, verses 4 and 5 tell us this.

[00:05:14] Do not overwork to be rich.

[00:05:18] Because of your own understanding, cease.

[00:05:21] Will you set your eyes on that which is not?

[00:05:25] For riches certainly make themselves wings.

[00:05:29] They fly away like an eagle toward heaven.

[00:05:34] Friends, we will revisit those two verses prior to closing today.

[00:05:39] But what I'd like to do today is close out the week with an interesting tale.

[00:05:46] But before I go over this story that I'd like to share with you,

[00:05:50] I would like to go over a passage of scripture found in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 25.

[00:05:58] And this passage of scripture is entitled,

[00:06:01] The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins.

[00:06:05] Let's begin in verse 1.

[00:06:07] Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.

[00:06:17] Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish.

[00:06:22] Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them.

[00:06:27] But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.

[00:06:33] So friends, my first point of today's lesson is the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.

[00:06:42] And what this simply means is we need to be ready for when Jesus makes his return.

[00:06:50] For we do not know the day or the hour when he will come.

[00:06:54] Let's look at verse 5.

[00:06:56] But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.

[00:07:03] And at midnight a cry was heard.

[00:07:06] Behold, the bridegroom is coming.

[00:07:09] Go out to meet him.

[00:07:11] Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps.

[00:07:15] And the foolish said to the wise,

[00:07:19] Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.

[00:07:24] But the wise answered, saying,

[00:07:27] No, lest there should not be enough for us and you.

[00:07:32] But go rather to those who sell and buy for yourselves.

[00:07:37] And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came.

[00:07:41] And those who were ready went in with him to the wedding.

[00:07:46] And the door was shut.

[00:07:49] Afterward, the other virgins came also saying,

[00:07:53] Lord, Lord, open to us.

[00:07:56] But he answered and said,

[00:07:58] Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.

[00:08:02] Watch, therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour

[00:08:08] in which the Son of Man is coming.

[00:08:11] And friends, my second point is,

[00:08:14] You know neither the day nor the hour

[00:08:17] in which the Son of Man is coming.

[00:08:21] Now, friends, I am going to now talk to you about something that happened this week.

[00:08:27] And today is Friday.

[00:08:28] And as I am doing this lesson,

[00:08:32] Today is actually Saturday, the 10th of August.

[00:08:36] Now, you guys will listen to it on the 23rd.

[00:08:41] But, my wife received a letter today from our life insurance company.

[00:08:49] And she received this letter, I believed, on Monday.

[00:08:52] And as she opened the letter, the letter said,

[00:08:55] I am sorry to hear about the death of your husband.

[00:09:00] So, she is reading a letter telling her that I, William Kelly,

[00:09:08] had died on March 29th.

[00:09:11] Now, imagine her surprise when she received this letter,

[00:09:15] when I am standing in the kitchen next to her.

[00:09:19] And she is looking at this letter and she is saying,

[00:09:23] Hmm, that is odd.

[00:09:26] Why am I getting this letter?

[00:09:28] And it just kind of goes to show you the reality of our existence.

[00:09:36] And how easy it could be for this to have actually happened.

[00:09:44] Now, when you think about your mortality,

[00:09:47] a lot of times we think,

[00:09:49] Well, we are young.

[00:09:50] We are vibrant.

[00:09:51] And I recently celebrated my 67th birthday.

[00:09:56] Actually, that was just three days ago.

[00:09:59] It is actually the 10th of August.

[00:10:01] I just turned 67 on the 7th of August.

[00:10:05] And here my wife is receiving this letter saying that I died way back in March 29th.

[00:10:14] Now, since that time, we have been on a cruise to the Bahamas in May.

[00:10:20] And recently, we spent 19 days in Europe,

[00:10:23] visiting the countries of Italy, Austria, Hungary, Slovenia, and Croatia.

[00:10:29] But according to this letter, we didn't do any of that.

[00:10:33] So what I'm trying to get across in this particular lesson today is very, very key and vital.

[00:10:42] And I want everyone to listen to this because our lesson today is telling us

[00:10:47] We do not know the day when Jesus will make his return, nor do we know the day when God is going to call us home to be with him.

[00:11:03] We need to be ready at any time.

[00:11:07] As you can imagine, my wife wasn't too upset when she got this letter because she knows it wasn't true.

[00:11:18] She knew that.

[00:11:20] But just several years ago, I was driving a semi truck.

[00:11:26] And at the time, I was based out of Dallas, Texas.

[00:11:30] I worked for Stevens Transport.

[00:11:32] And at that time, I went to all 50 states.

[00:11:36] And I also traveled into Canada.

[00:11:39] But say, for example, I was still working for Stevens Transport.

[00:11:45] And she had not seen me for a couple days.

[00:11:50] And she hadn't heard from me in a couple days.

[00:11:54] There were a couple days when I didn't bother to call her.

[00:11:58] I didn't call her every day.

[00:11:59] Pretty much every day I did.

[00:12:01] But there were days when I didn't call her.

[00:12:04] And what would have happened if she received that letter and I was still on the road?

[00:12:10] And she actually believed this.

[00:12:14] That would have been very traumatic for her.

[00:12:17] So, friends, I guess the point I'm really, really trying to get across to everyone listening today is the importance of family.

[00:12:27] The importance of loved ones.

[00:12:31] And how unimportant material possessions actually are.

[00:12:38] Now, I know we have to have a house to live in.

[00:12:42] I know we have to have a car to drive.

[00:12:45] I know most of us have to have a job in order to have money and to survive in today's world.

[00:12:54] But what about the other things?

[00:12:56] What is really, really important?

[00:13:00] And what I really want to get across is how vitally important our loved ones are to us.

[00:13:09] So, anyway, I know this is short.

[00:13:13] But what I'd like to do right now is go to the book of Revelation.

[00:13:19] Now, this, of course, is the last book in the Bible.

[00:13:23] And we're very close to the last chapter of the Bible.

[00:13:27] I'm going to be reading from chapter 19 of Revelation.

[00:13:31] And I'm going to go over two verses.

[00:13:34] Verses 7 and 8.

[00:13:37] Let us be glad and rejoice and give him glory.

[00:13:42] And, of course, we're talking about Jesus here.

[00:13:45] For the marriage of the Lamb has come.

[00:13:48] And his wife has made herself ready.

[00:13:52] So, here we are talking about the church.

[00:13:56] Jesus Christ is coming back.

[00:14:00] And his church has to be ready for him.

[00:14:03] And, to her, it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen.

[00:14:09] Clean and bright.

[00:14:10] For the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.

[00:14:16] So, what I'd like to do is go over the commentary found in my Bible.

[00:14:21] And I am reading out of the Nelson Study Bible.

[00:14:24] But listen to the commentary for verse 7.

[00:14:28] Here, the Lord is glorified specifically because the marriage of the Lamb has come at last.

[00:14:36] In both the Old Testament and the New Testament,

[00:14:40] God's people are viewed as the Lord's betrothed bride or wife.

[00:14:47] The bride of that time would make herself ready by bathing, rubbing on oil, and using perfume.

[00:14:55] Her hair would be specially fixed.

[00:14:58] And she would wear her wedding gown.

[00:15:01] And the commentary for verse 8.

[00:15:04] The bride of the Lamb wears a garment of precious fine linen.

[00:15:10] That symbolizes the good works of believers.

[00:15:14] In other words, the white garments signifies faithful obedience to God.

[00:15:21] So, friends, my third and final point of today's lesson as we end this week is we must always be ready.

[00:15:32] First of all, we do not know the hour when God is going to call each and every one of us home to be with him and his son Jesus in heaven.

[00:15:45] Nor do we know the time when Jesus is going to make his return on earth.

[00:15:53] Friends, before we close today, I'd like to return to our chapter of the day.

[00:16:00] And we are in Proverb 23.

[00:16:03] And let's review our two verses of the day, verses 4 and 5.

[00:16:28] Now, friends, I'd like to go over the commentary for these two verses.

[00:16:33] These verses call for moderation in work.

[00:16:39] Do not overwork to be rich.

[00:16:42] Although the Proverbs discourage laziness, they also discourage any overworking whose purpose is greater wealth.

[00:16:52] And, friends, I'm going to go back to an earlier point I made on this podcast today.

[00:16:59] Is that, yes, it is nice to have extra money by working overtime hours.

[00:17:06] I know many, many people do that every single week to try to get a little bit of extra, to try to get this, maybe to, you know, you need, you know, extra money to get a new car for the family.

[00:17:23] But, friends, in the whole scheme of things, material possessions, as I said earlier, is not what we should be focusing on.

[00:17:34] But we should primarily always keep our focus on the important people in our lives.

[00:17:41] Our husbands, our wives, our kids, our parents, our grandkids, our grandparents, and, if you're fortunate enough, great grandkids.

[00:17:54] Think about that.

[00:17:57] And what I'd like to do in my call to action today is just take a moment and close your eyes and ask yourself, are you focusing on the loved ones in your life?

[00:18:13] Or are you more focused on adding material possessions at all costs?

[00:18:21] And, friends, it's a vitally important question.

[00:18:25] I really want you to consider it carefully.

[00:18:29] Friends, I will never end a podcast without giving anyone an opportunity to receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

[00:18:38] Friends, if you would, repeat a simple prayer after me today.

[00:18:43] Jesus, I recognize that I am a sinner and in need of a Savior.

[00:18:48] I ask that you come into my heart.

[00:18:51] I ask that you lead me and guide me from this point forward.

[00:18:55] I believe that you are the Son of God.

[00:18:58] And I believe that you died on a cross for me.

[00:19:04] By doing that, I have been reconciled to God and am now in right standing with Him.

[00:19:11] Jesus, thank you for forgiving me of all of my sins.

[00:19:18] Now, may the Lord bless you and keep you.

[00:19:22] The Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you.

[00:19:26] The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.

[00:19:32] Friends, this is the weekend.

[00:19:35] Spend some time with your loved ones this weekend.

[00:19:39] Let them know how much God loves them and how much you love them.

[00:19:44] And I will see you back on Monday as we further explore wisdom today.