Sermon Tone Analysis

Proverbs

Proverbs

(Let’s Pray)

Were going to be looking at wisdom for a little while and then were going to launch fully back into our prayer meetings here on Wednesday night.

But for the first couple of Wednesday nights the Lord has lead me to study with you guys about wisdom.

Wisdom is basically the ability to make wise choices.

Your choices either make or break your life.

Is this the right person to hire, is this the right job for you, is this the right person to marry....

Is this the right amount of freedom to give to your child?

Is this the right person to confide in?

Everyone of those situaitons the options are many and most all of them are moral and legal and allowable, but most of them arent wise.

So we need guidance to make those decisions, and in the Bible in the Hebrew there is a word guidance, it comes up especially in the book of proverbs in fact it shows up in the first verse, and whenever you see the word guidance, most of the time it comes from a word for rope.

it comes from a word for ropes, because the ropes were the method of navigation for sailors in those days.

You use ropes to lower the sails when the wind was in your favor or to move the sails when the wind changed.

Or to raise the sails when the storm came up, otherwise you would be blown totally off course.

So ropes were a way for navigating.

Now the question is “How do you get Gods guidance, and His direction so that when you are faced with all of these choices you know the right one to take?

How do you do that?

How does that happen?

We will find out by asking the proverbs.

We will learn to understand this by learning about

THE GUIDANCE GOD DOES

THE GUIDANCE GOD GIVES

THE GUIDANCE GOD PURCHASES FOR US

THE GUIDANCE GOD DOES

There is 2 ways in which God does guidance

Paradoxically

Nonobviously

What does that mean?

Paradoxically:

Proverbs 21:

The word haste can be translated compulsive, and diligent can be translated strategic.

Its saying instead of just letting life happen, if you act if you plan ahead, if you are strategic your life will go better.

Making decisions making plans makes a difference.

Ok I struggle with this but yeah this makes sense, but notice

Now lot casting was a way to do alot of thing, it was like flipping a coin, or drawing straws.

If you were trying to decide ok which one of you gets to do that thing, we will just cast lots to determine who does that.

Who kicks off first?

But look what its saying!

Every lot cast, every coin toss, comes down exactly the way God planned.

Even the smallest things are fixed by Gods plan.

Now we dont know how to understand this we feel like either our choices matter and they have signifigance and that means our destiny is not fixed, its wide open.

Or we believe that everything is fixed, and if everything is fixed who cares what you do, it really doesnt matter hoe you live.

But not in the Bible.

In the Bible were told, that were absolutley free, and absolutely determined at the same time.

In fact that is the word it uses.

Heres what its saying: you plans are yours, your choices are yours!

you are responsible for them.

God is not forcing you in any direction on that see.

Its yours, if you do something, stupid if you do something wicked, if you do something cruel there’s going to be bad consequences and people are going to hold you accountable and they should.

God is going to hold you accountable if people don’t.

Your plans are yours BUT whatever happens as a result of that choice whether its words or actual deeds those are absolutely controlled and fixed by God.

Nothing that happens is outside of His control.

You plans belong to you, what actually is completely fixed.

Both at the same time, not 50,50 100 percent free and 100 percent determined under the sovereign hand of God.

Now this is hard to understand.

Edipus- you are going to kill your father and marry your mother, he tries eveything he cannot to let that happen but in the end he kills his father and marries his mother.

Let’s take an example from history MARTY MCFLY at the end of the back to the future trilogy Doc Brown explains the message of those movies.

YOUR FUTURE IS WHAT YOU MAKE IT, SO MAKE IT A GOOD ONE!

This is what the pop culture believes, you future is not set its not written its whatever you make it so make it a good one.

It is just impossible for the human mind to understand that from God point of view it is both, not one or the other.

We either believe our fates are determined, or we are completely free, but if you believe either of those your cooked its impossible to live a decent life that way.

For example if you believe that your destiny is determined now matter what you do, that theres no connection between your choices and your destiny, then your going to be totally bored, and totally crazy because if your destiny is fixed then it doesnt matter how you live life.

But if you believe that your destiny is completely set by your choices.

If you really believed that and really thought about it, you wouldnt get up in the morning.

If you believe that and your happy about it, your not thinking!

When I was 21 years old i did everything i possibly could to get married to a woman who if I had gotten married to her would have been the wrong woman.

As I look back at my 21 year old self I think that about 2/3 of the things I wanted in life would have been bad for me.

2/3!

But when your that age and you think you know better than God you dont understand but He knew what He was doing and He gave me the woman who would complete me.

When I first got saved I knew God was calling me to preach I never spoke of it but I knew deep within thats what i was supposed to do.

But I tried ball it didnt work out, I went to fireschool it didnt work out.

I worked with all my might not to do what I am doing now.

But to no avail.

What fool knowing how little we know, would want to live in a universe where our future is completely and totally fixed by your choices.

Heres whats crazy the Biblical understanding of this which is so hard to understand is very practical, because the Bible doesn’t say that you choices have no connection to your destiny, or that your choices fully determine your destiny, but that God relates your choices partially to your destiny but He fixes everything.

Therefore you are held responsible, you are also completely free and yet you can relax because someone else is in control who knows whats best for you.

You see if everything was fixed there would be no incentive to live.

But your plans are yours they belong to you! Consequences will come from it, but you have every incentive to try to do well, and be wise.

But also since everything is under the sovereign hand of God who is working all things together for your good.

You can relax Gods got this.

This is one of the reason why Paul when He was in the boat

acted the way he did.

He was in a boat there was a terrible storm, he was in a boat with soldiers in the Meditterenean and the storm was so bad that the men were scared for their lives, and God came and spoke through an angel to Paul.

The angel said I am God and I am telling you that I know the storm is bad and you might lose the ship, NO ONE IN THE SHIP WILL DIE.

then Paul gave the prophecy to everyone else in the boat.

Yet the next day when the storm was at its worst, when the soldiers try to abandon ship Paul grabs them and forces them to stay and he says unless you stay on this ship were all going to die!

Paul is cool and collected He is absolutely free and absolutely in the hands of God at the same time.

So God guides paradoxically.

GOD GUIDES NONOBVIOUSLY

Yes because here it says

Now you know whats thats saying?

Its saying not only are little things a part of Gods plans, but BAD things are part of Gods plan.

Evil things are part of Gods plan.

Now if you had not thought through what we just thought through, you might say OH NO!

If bad things are a part of Gods plan then God must be evil!

But do you see, the plans of a man belong to him, or to her, that is to say evil deeds are the choices of the ones doing them.

God does not force anyone to do evil deeds they are yours He didnt make you do it.

(Tim Tebow)

God is going to work and weave in even the worst things into an ultimate good.

In the end it says though