Welcome to Wisdom Today with Bill Kelley. Today we will be going over Proverb 15. I will then introduce you to my special guest for the day - Don Smith. Don recently graduated from 3rd year Ministry School at Charis Bible College. He is now serving in a church planting internship in the state of Wisconsin. Don has graciously accepted the invitation to be a regular contributor to this podcast (testimonies are on every Tuesday). Don was previously on Episode #402 (which aired on 10/17/2023). I highly encourage all listeners to take a listen to that podcast as well. On today's podcast Don will share a portion of his mission trip to England/Scotland in 2023. He also mentions his time working at the phone center at Andrew Wommack Ministries. He briefly mentions being on a board of a company prior to attending Charis Bible College. Don will be on again in about four months.
[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.
[00:00:21] Open in prayer. Father God, I thank you for anyone listening to this podcast today. Lord, I pray that you give everyone ears to hear and a heart to receive everything you have in store for them today. I ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.
[00:00:37] This is Proverb 15 beginning in verse 1.
[00:00:42] A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
[00:00:49] The tongue of the wise uses knowledge rightly, but the mouth of fools pours forth foolishness.
[00:00:57] The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.
[00:01:03] A wholesome tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.
[00:01:10] A fool despises his father's instruction, but he who receives correction is prudent.
[00:01:18] In the house of the righteous there is much treasure, but in the revenue of the wicked is trouble.
[00:01:25] The lips of the wise disperse knowledge, but the heart of the fool does not do so.
[00:01:32] The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is his delight.
[00:01:41] The way of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but he loves him who follows righteousness.
[00:01:49] Harsh discipline is for him who forsakes the way, and he who hates correction will die.
[00:01:58] Hell and destruction are before the Lord, so how much more the hearts of the sons of men.
[00:02:06] A scoffer does not love one who corrects him, nor will he go to the wise.
[00:02:13] 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.
[00:02:31] All the days of the afflicted are evil, but he who is of a merry heart has a continual feast.
[00:02:40] Better is a little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure with trouble.
[00:02:46] Better is a dinner of herbs where love is than a fatted calf with hatred.
[00:02:52] A wrathful man stirs up strife, but he who is slow to anger allays contention.
[00:03:01] The way of the lazy man is like a hedge of thorns, but the way of the upright is a highway.
[00:03:09] A wise son makes a father glad, but a foolish man despises his mother.
[00:03:16] Folly is joy to him who is destitute of discernment, but a man of understanding walks uprightly.
[00:03:26] Without counsel, plans go awry, but in the multitude of counselors they are established.
[00:03:35] A man has joy by the answer of his mouth, and a word spoken in due season how good it is.
[00:03:43] The way of life winds upward for the wise, that he may turn away from hell below.
[00:03:53] The Lord will destroy the house of the proud, but he will establish the boundary of the widow.
[00:04:01] The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord, but the words of the pure are pleasant.
[00:04:08] He who is greedy for gain troubles his own house, but he who hates bribes will live.
[00:04:17] The heart of the righteous studies how to answer, but the mouth of the wicked pours forth evil.
[00:04:25] The Lord is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous.
[00:04:32] The light of the eyes rejoices the heart, and a good report makes the bones healthy.
[00:04:40] The ear that hears the rebukes of life will abide among the wise.
[00:04:46] He who disdains instruction despises his own soul, but he who heeds rebuke gets understanding.
[00:04:56] The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom, and before honor is humility.
[00:05:04] All right, Don, we have just completed reading Proverbs 15, and there is so much material that we could talk about.
[00:05:12] But Don, I'm sure you've selected a verse that you would like to share with the audience.
[00:05:16] If you would, please tell us our verse and tell us why it's important to you.
[00:05:20] Oh, I sure appreciate that, Bill. And again, so good to see you, brother.
[00:05:24] And so I think the verse that jumps out to me is just right there in verse one.
[00:05:30] It says a soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
[00:05:36] And Bill, I think the last time we talked, I made it clear that I worked in the phone center for Andrew Womack Ministries.
[00:05:43] And I'll tell you that this verse, we have proven again and again and again.
[00:05:51] It's amazing how someone can call in and they've got something heavy on their hearts or maybe they're even a bit worked up and they're frustrated.
[00:06:00] And instead of going into combating, instead of going into trying proving why we're right, why they're wrong, why they should just get over it.
[00:06:09] The best path forward is to try to have something soft to communicate.
[00:06:17] Hey, I hear you.
[00:06:18] You know, even the tone that you use, it's amazing how it can shift the entire conversation.
[00:06:24] It can create that common place, that common ground.
[00:06:29] It's really a extending the olive branch.
[00:06:33] And so if there's fight in your voice, you're going to get a fight.
[00:06:38] You know, I'm going to I'm going to stop you right there because I taught and for many years and actually the last 10 or 11 years I taught special ed and teaching special ed.
[00:06:50] You're going to have confrontation, you know, so I always had to set the tone the first day and let them know that I care about them.
[00:07:01] And I said, listen, I will be the first one to tell you that I have to earn your trust.
[00:07:08] I don't come in here telling kids or presuming that you are going to do what I ask you to do.
[00:07:16] I said that is awfully presumptuous.
[00:07:18] I don't have the right to do that.
[00:07:21] So I told them from day one, I will earn their trust and I will begin right now.
[00:07:28] And that set the tone for the whole year.
[00:07:32] And Don, I'll tell you, 90 percent of communication is the tone of your voice.
[00:07:38] And it's about the way you present yourself.
[00:07:42] Are you using your hands?
[00:07:43] First of all, Don, do I have a smile on my face?
[00:07:47] Because if you have a frown.
[00:07:51] People don't want to hear what you have to say.
[00:07:54] Your thoughts on that?
[00:07:55] No, you're so right, Bill.
[00:07:59] One of the quotes that I heard a long time ago that just lives in my mind is people would rather be listened to and understood than agreed with.
[00:08:11] And I find whenever you're in a conflict with someone.
[00:08:16] One of the most beautiful things to get on the table is agreeableness.
[00:08:22] And you can start with just, hey, I respect you as a person, Bill.
[00:08:27] And I recognize we don't see each other right now on the same page.
[00:08:31] But I value what you have to say.
[00:08:34] You see, just communicating honor opens the door for understanding.
[00:08:39] It opens the door for dialogue.
[00:08:43] It communicates, hey, I may not like anything that you're saying.
[00:08:47] But I like the way you're saying it.
[00:08:48] I like the way that you are inviting dialogue.
[00:08:52] You're not coming in.
[00:08:53] I'm obviously in the right.
[00:08:55] You're obviously in the wrong.
[00:08:56] If you'll give me five minutes, I'll prove to you why you're an idiot.
[00:09:00] Who wants to sit through that?
[00:09:02] Another quote that I love is none of us is as smart as all of us.
[00:09:07] And so, again, it just gets everyone on the same page.
[00:09:11] It invites everyone to the table.
[00:09:13] And then we begin to dialogue respectfully.
[00:09:16] And so I love that you do that with the kids.
[00:09:18] I'm sure it makes them feel so honored and so heard.
[00:09:22] And again, it allows them the opportunity to engage with you.
[00:09:27] They have to be in school.
[00:09:29] And so they could park into I'm going to resist all year or with a teacher of your magnitude.
[00:09:38] They could say, you know what?
[00:09:39] This guy cares.
[00:09:40] And I'm going to actually give 10% today.
[00:09:43] And maybe that 10% can become 30 or 50 or 100.
[00:09:47] So love it, Bill.
[00:09:48] Just love it, man.
[00:09:49] You know, and I'm going to go ahead and tell you just a little bit more.
[00:09:53] Yeah.
[00:09:54] Special ed kids.
[00:09:55] And, you know, I don't mean to dwell on the fact they were special ed.
[00:09:59] Don, I'll tell you, if you would ever come into my classroom, you would never have known that it was a special ed classroom.
[00:10:06] God loves every single child.
[00:10:09] And I loved every single child.
[00:10:12] It didn't matter that they were special ed and had that label on them.
[00:10:17] Don, but invariably, Don, in every single class at the beginning of every year, some of the kids, especially middle school kids.
[00:10:25] Now, these are the kids that feel they know it all.
[00:10:27] And one of the things I like to say is I taught the trifecta, the three things no one likes to teach.
[00:10:33] I taught middle school.
[00:10:34] I taught math and I taught special ed.
[00:10:37] No one wanted any of those three things.
[00:10:41] But I'll tell you, Don, they would always test me by cussing the first day of class.
[00:10:46] And all I would do, I wouldn't react.
[00:10:49] I would always say, we don't use language like that in this class.
[00:10:55] I didn't get upset with them.
[00:10:56] I just said, we don't use language like that in this class.
[00:10:59] They do it again.
[00:11:00] And I said, I'm going to repeat it one more time.
[00:11:03] We do not use language like that in this class.
[00:11:08] And I had one girl confront me one time, Don.
[00:11:11] And she said, Mr. Kelly, I use language like this all the time.
[00:11:14] And I said, honey, I'm sure that you do.
[00:11:18] And it's okay if you use that language at home and if your parents allow you to.
[00:11:23] Good for you.
[00:11:24] But in this class, we don't use language like that.
[00:11:28] And I said, can you respect that?
[00:11:30] And she said, yes, Mr. Kelly, I will never use language like that again.
[00:11:36] Don, that is how you have to present material.
[00:11:40] And now I know that you were in the phone center.
[00:11:43] And I know that you had opportunities to have conversations like this when you had confrontation.
[00:11:52] And you've already mentioned how you can ease that with our verse of the day to day.
[00:11:58] But go into a little more detail about some of the hard conversations you had to deal with at the phone center.
[00:12:04] Absolutely.
[00:12:06] Well, again, the verse says a soft answer turns away wrath.
[00:12:11] And what we want to do when we are addressing a confrontation or something that could be riddled with conflict is we really want to create a safe place.
[00:12:25] Right. I love how you didn't defend your rule when you were speaking with that child.
[00:12:31] You didn't react to bad language.
[00:12:34] You just reinforced what was already predetermined, what was already established.
[00:12:40] And then you just held the line.
[00:12:44] And I find that that was so successful in the phone ministry.
[00:12:48] Say someone wanted us to, you know, go outside of one of our policies.
[00:12:54] What we can do in that situation.
[00:12:57] We're not going to react to the fact that they have a desire we can't meet.
[00:13:02] We just remind them of what we can do.
[00:13:05] And we, of course, will take the opportunity to take their feedback.
[00:13:09] We'll communicate with them how we're going to use this feedback, why these policies are in place to the best of our ability.
[00:13:18] But at the end of the day, we just communicate that we care about them.
[00:13:21] We are here to be a blessing to them.
[00:13:23] We'd love to pray with them today to help them if they have questions.
[00:13:28] But this is what we can do.
[00:13:30] And then we just invite them back into the box.
[00:13:32] We invite them back into why we are here, what we can do.
[00:13:37] And then we point them to resources.
[00:13:39] This is something that I think is so fascinating.
[00:13:43] I'll tell you a little bit of a trade secret from the phone ministry perspective.
[00:13:47] We don't actually have a great theological discussion with people on calls.
[00:13:56] We're there just to pray.
[00:13:58] We're there to agree with them, to be a blessing to them, to share some truth that they can then take to the Lord and receive what they're looking for.
[00:14:08] But sometimes people have questions.
[00:14:10] They have a disconnect.
[00:14:12] They don't know how this thought squares up with that feeling or that fruit.
[00:14:16] And they want us to make the connectors for them.
[00:14:20] And so while we would like to, the role of the prayer line is not for us to walk people through those steps.
[00:14:30] And so we can point them to other resources.
[00:14:33] We've got a beautiful list of churches in their area through a lot of our partners that we can point them to someone in person that maybe they could then reach out to.
[00:14:43] We have a department that was able to answer questions through email.
[00:14:48] And then we have teachings.
[00:14:49] And we can even go the extra mile to help them find a few of Andrew's teachings that speak to the issue that they want us to speak to.
[00:14:58] And so, again, this is just furthering our commitment to being a blessing.
[00:15:03] But we're also going to stay within the role that we've been given in the whole way that we're walking through this.
[00:15:10] It's through this soft, gentle tone.
[00:15:12] We're not here to defend Andrew.
[00:15:15] We're not here to take the pressure off of their question.
[00:15:20] We're here to love them, point them to truth and help them to stand on truth.
[00:15:26] And I've just seen that work in so many instances.
[00:15:29] Can I share one personal story from a different part of my life?
[00:15:34] So before the phone center, I had the opportunity to serve on some boards in my local hometown.
[00:15:41] And on this particular board, there was a difference of opinion from one board member to the group.
[00:15:50] And I was the vice president at that time.
[00:15:53] And so I got this big email from this individual, had like seven different points, which is a big no, no.
[00:16:00] If you're in a professional setting, it's always one topic per one email.
[00:16:05] You never muddy the water because you don't get clear answers.
[00:16:09] So I decided, you know what?
[00:16:11] I'm going to love this board member and I'm going to actually speak to all seven points of this novel that he wrote me.
[00:16:20] And I must have got through two or three of his points.
[00:16:22] And it felt like I was writing a novel back to him, but I broke them up into separate emails.
[00:16:28] So I got through about half and said, you know what?
[00:16:31] I'm going to call it a night for tonight, but I'll get those other answers to you shortly.
[00:16:35] Right. So then I go on my way home and I decide I'm going to stop by the hardware store.
[00:16:41] I had to get something for a kid's class that I was teaching that evening.
[00:16:45] And lo and behold, I see this board member that is in the aisle.
[00:16:50] And there was that temptation to go the other way, to not make eye contact, to not engage.
[00:16:56] But I realized, no, I care about this person and I'm more interested in the whole of their life than the one area where we have some friction.
[00:17:08] So I go up to him and I basically start the conversation.
[00:17:12] Hey, good to see you. How are you doing?
[00:17:14] He goes right into the emails and that was the opportunity.
[00:17:19] And I said, hey, man, I get it. That's the board stuff.
[00:17:22] We're going to get through that. We're always learning and growing.
[00:17:26] And but let's put that aside. How are you doing?
[00:17:29] And that quick little pivot, it was literally that soft answer turning away wrath.
[00:17:34] I increased his understanding of what a relationship could be.
[00:17:38] He wanted us to be a one issue relationship.
[00:17:42] And that one thing he wanted to make the centerpiece of whether or not we're going to connect today.
[00:17:48] And and through some great mentors, through the Holy Spirit, through the counsel of the word, I realized, no, there was more on the table than just our difference of opinion on a board and just a few emails.
[00:18:02] And so I just think you're right there, because what you're reminding me of is how much love God has for everyone listening today.
[00:18:13] And I'm going to go ahead and segue into the most famous verse of the entire Bible.
[00:18:19] God so loved the world that he gave his only his only son that whoever believed on him would have eternal life.
[00:18:31] But then we go to John 17, verse three.
[00:18:35] Many people don't understand what this eternal life is.
[00:18:40] And friends, if you do not know what eternal life is, John 17, three explains it to us.
[00:18:51] Listen to this. These are the words of Jesus.
[00:18:55] And this is eternal life that you may know him, the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom he sent.
[00:19:06] Now, friends, I want to change course here a little bit, Don, because I am so glad to have you back on.
[00:19:14] But if you're in the listening audience today, I meant to do this earlier, but for some reason I didn't.
[00:19:21] But anyway, Don has been on before and I would highly recommend that you listen to his previous testimony.
[00:19:30] It was episode number 402. Now, that was a long time ago.
[00:19:36] A matter of fact, this episode is going to be 662.
[00:19:41] So, Don, originally you were on the October 17th podcast, which is almost a year ago today.
[00:19:49] But for the listening audience, keep this in mind.
[00:19:52] We actually did this interview probably back in April of 23.
[00:19:59] So it's been a year and a half.
[00:20:02] And Don, I want to go into that because basically at that point you were getting ready to go on your mission trip.
[00:20:09] So let's go ahead and segue.
[00:20:11] You were getting ready to go to England and Scotland on your mission trip.
[00:20:16] Please share with the audience how that went and how that changed your life.
[00:20:20] Oh, thank you so much, Bill.
[00:20:23] And can I just commend you, brother?
[00:20:26] 600 plus episodes.
[00:20:28] I mean, that that is such an amazing accomplishment of faithfulness, of diligence.
[00:20:34] I see the way that you're loving on people like me, bringing people together, providing this content for your viewers.
[00:20:42] And so I just want to say I have so much respect for you, Bill, and love you, man.
[00:20:47] Thank you for doing this for for so many.
[00:20:49] Thank you, Bill.
[00:20:50] Absolutely.
[00:20:52] But yeah, England and Scotland.
[00:20:54] Oh, my gosh, that was an incredible trip.
[00:20:58] I have a few takeaways, but one of the things I have to highlight, which is so beautiful.
[00:21:04] I knew that the Lord was going to make a way to pay for that trip.
[00:21:11] And it had come down to the wire where I had still some outstanding balance.
[00:21:16] And originally I had had the money to just pay for it all in one fell, fell swoop, you know.
[00:21:22] But thanks to I think it was Daniel.
[00:21:25] He encouraged us, even if you have the money, don't pay for it right outright.
[00:21:30] You want to have people partner with you.
[00:21:34] This is an opportunity for those people to be a part of what God is doing.
[00:21:39] And they get blessed if they can so into the work of the of the ministry into the Lord's work.
[00:21:47] And so I really took that to heart.
[00:21:50] And I just sensed in my heart, my family was going to step up.
[00:21:55] I don't have time on this broadcast, maybe another time.
[00:21:58] But my relationship with my family, it has not been a very linear road.
[00:22:04] It's kind of been rocky.
[00:22:05] And there's been there have been bouts of restoration and still more restoration to come.
[00:22:13] But one of the coolest things that happened, my little baby sister, she's not so young anymore, but she ended up giving me, I think, a thousand dollars towards my mission trip.
[00:22:24] And I mean, you know, you see sometimes inflation, you know, a dollar in 1920 would be like fifteen dollars today.
[00:22:34] You would have to do that math for my sister's gift.
[00:22:38] The proportion doesn't make sense for her to have given me that much.
[00:22:43] It's it's insane.
[00:22:45] She saved up to be a part of what her big brother's doing.
[00:22:49] And that is a testimony to God.
[00:22:52] And I'm just so grateful that she got to do that because I know God has bigger things for her still.
[00:22:58] And she's going to see that return.
[00:23:00] Amen.
[00:23:01] Love that.
[00:23:02] So, yeah, go into England and Scotland.
[00:23:05] We got to meet a great number of people.
[00:23:09] We spent a lot of time ministering to the extension campuses there in England and in Scotland.
[00:23:16] I like to say it's almost like we have aunts and uncles on the other side of the of the ocean and we got to meet some cousins.
[00:23:24] It was so refreshing for both of us, those who are there in England and our group from Colorado to realize we have the same faith.
[00:23:37] We have the same God, the same truths that we're clinging to in America are the same truths that those carers students are also clinging to.
[00:23:48] I don't know if you've ever been to a big youth rally or big meeting of believers, but that first time when you walk into a stadium and you realize I'm not alone.
[00:24:00] There's other people that are on this walk of faith like I am and they're all here for the same purpose.
[00:24:08] It almost felt like that little taste of that great cloud of witnesses, and it really does not know the boundaries of state or country.
[00:24:18] It doesn't know those borders.
[00:24:20] And so we were refreshed because we had good news from a far country to share with each other.
[00:24:27] And I don't know if that was in Proverbs 15.
[00:24:31] But I know there is a proverb that talks about how good news from a far country, how it's like refreshing water and stuff.
[00:24:39] I'm going to just make this little break because Judy and I actually went to see Billy Graham in Tampa Stadium with about 70,000 people.
[00:24:50] And I can't tell you the year, but I'll tell you that was awesome.
[00:24:54] And this is before your time, but I went to a Promise Keepers meeting in actually in Washington, D.C.
[00:25:00] It was called the Million Man March, and we probably had a million people at the Capitol.
[00:25:06] And I don't know if you ever heard about that, but that was absolutely awesome.
[00:25:10] And the main speaker was, gosh, the writer that writes all these books.
[00:25:18] Oh, my gosh.
[00:25:19] Hold on a second.
[00:25:21] I've got to say this.
[00:25:27] Max Lucado was the main speaker.
[00:25:31] And I probably read 20 of his books.
[00:25:33] But what a mighty, mighty man of God and a great orator for this particular thing.
[00:25:39] So, Don, go ahead.
[00:25:40] I apologize for interrupting you.
[00:25:43] No, I think what's so great is we all have that moment where we realize this isn't just what me and my family believe or this isn't just what my church and I talk about.
[00:25:57] But when we begin to tap into the fact that there is a church at large that encompasses the whole globe.
[00:26:07] And there are people who are really passionate about Jesus and are loving the God that we call God and that we serve and give our lives for.
[00:26:19] And it's just so refreshing.
[00:26:21] It's so.
[00:26:23] It gives you that sense that this is more is bigger than me.
[00:26:29] And this isn't just what we cooked up at home, but this is a reality that that people have come to see is life giving for them and for us and for those who don't know the truth.
[00:26:45] And so that was an overarching feeling that I had throughout that trip.
[00:26:50] We were able to pray for each other.
[00:26:52] We were able to share jokes with each other and we got them.
[00:26:57] We didn't feel any distance in the chemistry.
[00:27:01] We got to stand for healing for people.
[00:27:05] We got to give words to each other.
[00:27:08] It really was like visiting an aunt and uncle from across the sea.
[00:27:12] And so one thing I will say as well, and this may be a little controversial, but it is a major takeaway that ministered to me.
[00:27:23] And so there is this feeling, especially in the younger generation, they've made an acronym for it.
[00:27:31] It's called FOMO fear of missing out.
[00:27:34] Okay.
[00:27:35] And you may have also heard of the phrase, the travel bug.
[00:27:39] Oh, you got the travel bug.
[00:27:41] And there's this sense that if you're not traveling the world, you're missing out, dude.
[00:27:47] And if you're not going to Europe, or if you're not going to all these cool places, then your life's probably not that great.
[00:27:55] There's that feeling.
[00:27:56] And then there's this pressure that we need to go out and we need to be a part of these other, these other areas.
[00:28:05] And here's why I bring that up for you, Bill.
[00:28:08] Well, I've spent most of my missionary work in South America, Mexico, Guatemala.
[00:28:16] Those are the primary two that I've been to.
[00:28:19] And when you go to Mexico, especially the way we were doing missions, you expect the conditions to be worse than America.
[00:28:28] You expect it.
[00:28:29] You go there knowing that they're going to have less and you're going to love them.
[00:28:34] And then you walk away with this awareness that, wow, they're content and they're living on far less than we are in it.
[00:28:42] And it's very powerful.
[00:28:43] But in the back of my mind, I'd always imagined that Europe, England was the cream of the crop.
[00:28:52] Like it is living in 2034 while we're all living in 2024.
[00:28:59] And so there's always this sense that you, you and I were missing out because the good life is somewhere out there.
[00:29:08] And here's what I discovered.
[00:29:11] When I got to England.
[00:29:14] I realized I'm not missing out.
[00:29:21] Life there in some cases was not even on par with life in America.
[00:29:29] And something in me, going to England, cured me of the travel bug.
[00:29:36] I no longer feel like I have to wait until I go there to start living.
[00:29:42] Because now that I've been to England and Scotland, while the people were wonderful and the places were beautiful and the experience was rich.
[00:29:52] I don't have this compulsion now.
[00:29:55] To put my life on hold, to go to these other places.
[00:30:00] When I can just appreciate the beauty and the opportunities that are right here in front of me.
[00:30:07] And so now I'm just content.
[00:30:09] I am currently living in Wisconsin.
[00:30:11] I think we'll talk about that in a moment.
[00:30:13] But I don't feel a compulsion to go and see the world because I'm missing out.
[00:30:21] Now I have the freedom to say, no, I've seen a lot of the world.
[00:30:26] And I can now be content.
[00:30:29] I can see beauty right here in Wisconsin or right there in Colorado or right there in Virginia or right there in Texas.
[00:30:39] And I don't have to keep my eye on somewhere else when I can just be grateful for the beauty that's right here and now.
[00:30:48] And so I don't know if that was a clear takeaway, but I just feel so grateful for the experience because now I'm at rest.
[00:30:58] And I can I can enjoy being planted and not feel like I have to be planted somewhere else to really feel like I'm living.
[00:31:08] Don, we have hit a point where I am going to just give a few more details and then we're going to close.
[00:31:17] And you made an interesting point, because one of the things that I want to go over in our next time we get together, which will be about four months from now.
[00:31:28] First of all, I want to just clarify with the audience and let them know that Don is going to be a regular contributor, like I said, and I am picking like 18 to 20 people.
[00:31:39] And when I'm picking these 18 to 20 people, if you're in the audience, listen to me and listen to me.
[00:31:45] Well, I am only going to pick very, very strong Christians, people who understand the word of God, people who are living a life like Jesus has asked us to live.
[00:32:02] I only want the very strongest people because I want people to understand how important God can be in your life.
[00:32:15] So, Don, we only have about three more minutes.
[00:32:19] So what I'd like for you to do is just give about a minute and a half of why people need to receive Jesus and then lead them in a prayer.
[00:32:27] And then we'll close for now.
[00:32:29] Amen.
[00:32:30] Well, thank you so much, Bill.
[00:32:32] Here's my number one reason why I recommend Jesus.
[00:32:37] I am a curious person.
[00:32:41] And David made it clear.
[00:32:43] He said that there was one thing that he was looking for, one thing that he desired, that he would be able to inquire of the Lord all the days of his life and to dwell with the Lord in his temple.
[00:32:58] And when I think about the best life, I think about being around someone, being around people that can answer the questions on my heart.
[00:33:09] Because I've got lots of questions.
[00:33:11] And every day I live, I am more and more curious.
[00:33:15] And so if you're that kind of person, and you have an unsationable desire to understand the world in which you live and to begin to tap into the max way of living,
[00:33:27] you should have a relationship with the Lord.
[00:33:30] You should have a relationship with the Lord because he is able to answer the deepest questions of your heart.
[00:33:35] He is able to explain things to you in ways that you're going to get and in ways that are going to propel you into things that you want to go for.
[00:33:45] And so he loves you.
[00:33:47] He wants you to enjoy life with him for eternity.
[00:33:51] And I'm sure Bill's made this clear before, but there's only one way to the Father, and that's through Jesus.
[00:33:56] And so you must have a relationship with Jesus.
[00:33:59] Let me pray.
[00:33:59] Father, I thank you for this audience.
[00:34:01] I thank you for their heart.
[00:34:02] And I pray, Lord, that they would choose to get to know you intimately right now forevermore in Jesus' name.
[00:34:08] Amen.
[00:34:09] Don, thank you so much.
[00:34:11] And I'm going to close with a blessing.
[00:34:14] Now, may the Lord bless you and keep you.
[00:34:17] The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you.
[00:34:21] The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
[00:34:26] Friends, please join me again tomorrow as we further explore wisdom today.