You know, I have found studying the Book of Proverbs to be a delight. On some of these I have really struggled and labored, but it's always been worth it in every one of these studies. really enjoying it. I hope you are too. Every verse is like turning around and seeing something different. Have you ever read a book that's like that? Every couple of pages you turn, it just makes a huge turn. that you didn't expect, or a television program, or a movie, or a ride at Disneyland, like Pirates of the Caribbean. Well, for here on the East Coast, Disney World, excuse me, from California. But you're on Pirates of the Caribbean, and every turn, there's a surprise. Same with the Jungle Boat Cruise, and so on. At every turn, you see something different and something amazing. And that's kind of how I'm seeing the book of Proverbs. Proverbs is a book of principles. not primarily a book of laws, although there are laws, but not primarily a book of laws, not primarily a book of promises, but a book of principles. And that's something very important for us to recognize in the different kind of study that we do in the book of Proverbs. And the principles are important because they are principles that God has established. If they were principles that the president established, that would be important, or some other person like that. But this is God, our God, our Father has established these principles. And these principles are like a highway sign. And they are saying, as you go down the road, like a highway sign will say, this way to Boston or this way to Miami. Well, these principles are highway signs telling us that God wants us to end up with a life that is pleasing to him and what that life is like. Turn over to Psalm 16 and verse 11. I love this verse. If you're not really familiar with it, I would encourage you to look it up other times. This is David speaking to God in verse 11. You make known to me the paths of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy. At your right hand there are pleasures forevermore. That's the path that God wants us to end up on and to follow. And the book of Proverbs is giving us principles on what that path is like and how to do that. So let's turn to Proverbs chapter 18 where we put in tonight, beginning where we left off two weeks ago, Proverbs 18 verse 15, and then we will go through verse 19. So in honor of God's word, if you're able, would you stand and follow along as I read Proverbs 18, 15 to 19. An intelligent heart acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge. A man's gift makes room for him and brings him before the great. The one who states his case first seems right until the other comes and examines him. The lot puts an end to quarrels and decides between powerful contenders. Every one of those verses is making a turn. It's going different. And they're for us tonight. This is God's word. You may be seated. And as always, these titles of the Proverbs are adapted from a book called The Wisdom of Proverbs by Bob Beasley. Our first proverb tonight is titled, Diligently Seek the Knowledge of God. Now, some people see this proverb as urging all people in general to keep on learning. And that's noble. That's a good thing. I remember when I was in college, there was a very popular magazine. You rarely hear of it today called Reader's Digest. Some of you, probably younger ones, never even heard of it. It used to be very popular. And while I was in college, they would often run a full-page ad. And I don't remember the pictures on it, but I remember the wording. Send me a man who reads." And then it had some words about why that was important. It's important. Send me a man who reads. That's the man I want to hire and so on. Well, Some of the students took, and on the bulletin board in the main building at Biola, there was a large copy of that picture. And someone, maybe one of the girls, put an exclamation point at send me a man, exclamation point, and then at the end of who reads, a question mark. Send me a man. Who reads? You know, change the meaning of it. But so the world does talk about, oh, make sure you keep on learning, especially in your career, and so on. But this term, intelligent heart, that we're going to meet here, points to this speaking of a believer. A believer growing in the knowledge of God that comes from God in his words. So it's not just a word to the world. but it's a word specifically to you if you are a believer, a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. So the proverb says in verse 15, an intelligent heart acquires knowledge. Now the expression intelligent heart, it's not merely a person's mind and the mind is part of what makes up the heart. But it's the heart in its fullness that is being spoken of here, not just the mind. And we have to remember that the heart of the non-believer wouldn't fit this. Because Jeremiah 17.9 says, the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked who can know it. That's the condition of the non-believer's heart. So that's not the intelligent heart that's being talked about here. The believer is given a new heart. At the time of our regeneration, at the time of our new birth, we are given a new heart. And that new heart, now obviously, you know, it's not the organ that's pumping in our body. It's talking about something much more important than that. The new heart makes it possible for a person to receive God's truth. If you're a Christian, you're able to receive God's truth unlike before you came to Christ. Because that's part of what is possible because of the new heart. Turn over to 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians chapter 2. 1 Corinthians chapter 2 and verses 4 through 16. 1 Corinthians 2.4. Paul is defending himself before the Corinthians. And in verse 4, in my speech and my message, we're not in plausible words of wisdom. We don't use that word plausible very often. It means impressive. and persuasive. So Paul is saying, you know, I'm not speaking from the human point of view of impressive and just amazing words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. Yet, among the mature, now that word mature is speaking of believers, and it's speaking of all believers. Now there are other places in scripture where the mature, maturity speaks of Christians who have grown. But that's not how the word is being used here. It's in contrast to the foolish, to we are the wise, we are the mature. So yet among the mature, the believers, we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret. and that secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory, for our blessing. So this wisdom God has decreed long before the ages, but it just went over our head. until we came to salvation and received the new heart. Now we can receive that. Verse 8, none of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written, what no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined what God has prepared for those who love him." That is, the natural man before salvation just doesn't have any eye that absorbs seeing the truth or ear that absorbs hearing the truth. Can't even imagine it. But verse 10, these things, God has revealed to us through the spirit, through his spirit. It is impossible for a person to discover God's truth on their own. He continues in verse 11, for who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the spirit of God. Now, we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom, but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. That's a wonderful truth imparting spiritual truth that you don't get through the world but you get through God's spirit to spiritual people, people who have the spirit. Verse 14, the natural person does not accept the things of the spirit of God for they are folly to him and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. Turning back to Proverbs, so that's what this intelligent heart is talking about. It's the heart of the believer that is able to receive the things of God. through the spirit of God. Well, what he's wanting us to know is an intelligent heart acquires knowledge. So the believer isn't to be content with the knowledge that he has. We are to want to know more and learn more. We are not to be like the person who continues in the diet of spiritual milk. I don't think we'll turn there, but you're familiar with the passage Hebrews 5, 11 to 14, where the author of Hebrews is concerned because there are so many believers, including those among who first read that letter. He says, you know, you are content to just drink of spiritual milk, but you need the meat, you need the word. So a baby who is not able to digest meat, not able to chew meat, and so on, starts with milk. But praise God, we all were at that stage, but we changed along the line and began to take in solid food, which makes us strong and equips us for all that we're going to need in keeping this body running well. But do remember, when we're talking about acquiring this knowledge, that we're not just talking about facts that can produce pride. Knowledge can produce pride. But we are talking about knowledge that helps us live for God. Knowledge that has an impact in our heart and life. And remember, The purpose of our Bible reading is to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. That's in 2 Corinthians 3.18. So this expression in verse 15, an intelligent heart acquires knowledge. implies that we are eager to grow in knowledge. It's not, oh no, I gotta go to Bible class. Or, oh no, I gotta pick up my Bible. We are to be eager. This is something we desire and we long for. The book of Proverbs, so appropriately, began with the exhortation in Proverbs 1.5, let the wise hear, and the next word is increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance, Proverbs 1.5. So he continues, And he says in verse 15, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge. Again, wisdom isn't arrogant, just getting all these facts so that they can be looked at as a very knowledgeable person. And we're not to be the person who thinks, oh, I know it all. Wisdom never tires of learning more. Early, when I was a pastor, starting out very young as a pastor at the age of 21. Very soon after that, a man came into our congregation, and a few years later another man, who had an impact on me in this way. They were both retired missionaries. One, Eldon Whipple, had been a missionary in China before the Communists took over. And the other, Will Bruce, had been a missionary in the Philippines. They were both mature, godly, older believers in the Lord that I and everyone respected. But one of the things that I think was a secret to their whole manner of living was they wanted to learn more. They were eager for their own personal Bible study. They would share with me, you know what I saw, and so on. They would be there when the Bible was taught. They would read books that would teach them. And that was just so catching to me, and I am so grateful to that. The first one that I mentioned, Eldon Whipple, he lived into his 90s after his wife went to be with the Lord, and a few years later he moved to a missionary retirement home up in Washington. which was closer to where his kids lived. And when the time came that he went to be with the Lord, Terry and I went to his service up in Washington. And I will never forget his daughter sharing that many years ago, she remembered her parents were staying with them. They happened to live in Philadelphia at the time. They were staying with them. And she remembers her dad coming downstairs in the morning for breakfast. And he would always read his Bible prior to breakfast. And she says, I will always remember this one day. He came downstairs, Joyful, and he said, I just completed reading my Bible for the, and I have forgotten what the number was, of how many times. But he never thought, well, I've read it so often, you know. There's always, always more. And that's such an important lesson. principle for us in our life. So for the application of this should be let us take in the Word daily. I put a quotation in your notes from a book called For the Love of God, Volume 1 by D.A. Carson. Learn to distill what a passage is saying and pray it back to the Lord, wither in petition, thanksgiving, praise for frank uncertainty. In time, your Bible reading will so be linked with your praying that the two will not always be differentiable. I brought that book here. I wanted to show it to you. I would commend it to you. I don't know that I've ever heard in recent years of people knowing about this book, but it's For the Love of God by D.A. Carson. It's in two volumes. This is the first volume. you are probably familiar with Robert Murray McShane's system of reading through the Bible. I know every year before New Year's, Pastor Steve puts copies out, because it's a good pattern for reading through scripture. And if you're familiar with that, you know that he has two sections on the chart for each day. Each day there are some There's chapters to read from this section, which is he called for your personal reading, and then from the other section he called for your family worship reading. Well, what D.A. Carson did, he took McShane's Bible reading chart And there's one page in here for each day of the year. And so he took, so I turned to October 30th, since this is October 30th, and in McShane's program, it's 2 Kings 12, 2 Timothy 2, Hosea 3 and 4, Psalm 119, 121 through 144. The first passages, Kings and Timothy, are in that reading for your personal reading. The other two are for family. What he did in volume one, he took one day for each year and he gives an expository and devotional comment, one page. related to one of those passages. In the case of today, October 30th, it relates to what you're reading in 2 Timothy 2. So some people find it very helpful to read something expository and devotional along with their reading. If you would be interested in that, I would highly recommend it. Then volume two covers the second. So that's two years. One year in volume one, one year in volume two. I did it for a couple of years. I got this in 2006. If anyone would want to borrow this tonight, I will gladly loan it to you. And you could try it out and see if it's something that you would like to do more often. But I commend that to you. But definitely, for sure, read the word of God. And then also, it's great to read helps along the way, such as this. And not only that, the application to us is learn from wise people through books and podcasts and so on. There's so many out there. But you do have to be careful because there's a lot of bad stuff out there. But make sure it's good biblical material. John MacArthur said something I really like. He said, find out what your heroes read and read the same. And so there are heroes of the faith in history. For instance, find out what they read. You'll find a lot of them, particularly the older ones, will say, wow, Pilgrim's Progress, that just really, really ministered to me. So that kind of alerts us, oh. And you see it over and over again. Other more contemporary, it could be Desiring God by John Piper, and The Holiness of God by R.C. Sproul, and so many books. But be reading, be growing in our knowledge of the things of the Lord. Our second proverb, this is an interesting one. use gifts with discretion. And by gifts here, we're not talking about spiritual gifts that every believer has. We're talking about gifts, those material things that we give away as gifts, is what it's talking about. Look at verse 16. A man's gift makes room for him. Now, as we look at this proverb, it would be easy to see this gift as a bribe, but there's a different Hebrew word in the Old Testament. for bribe, and this is not that word. The Hebrew word is different from that word for bribe that's in, for instance, Proverbs 17.8 and 23. This Hebrew word is found in Proverbs 21.14 as a parallel with bribe. So in other words, it's similar to bribe, but different. It's very similar, but like I said, a little different. This is not talking about something that is an out-and-out bribe. We hear of bribes often. You hear sometimes of police officers, for instance, who somehow communicate, well, there could be a way where I wouldn't give you this ticket, meaning give me some money, or the person who was speeding say, you know, kind of put a $20 bill in front of the officer and he, he's, oh, I'll let you go this time and takes the 20. That's a bribe and there's a lot bigger ones than that. You often hear with government officials and so on. This is not an out and out bribe. But there are times when we may give a gift, we may have given a gift, not as a bribe, but with the hope that it will prompt the receiver to be favorable towards us. For instance, when I was studying this and preparing this last week, I was thinking in my mind, what is an example of this? And I was sitting there a few minutes trying to think of an example to give as an illustration. And all of a sudden, It came to mind that I had done this. And it was either that very day or the day before. And let me share it with you. There's a restaurant that Terry and I enjoy. It's called P.F. Chang's. And we go there once in a while. And they recently introduced some lunches that we really like. And you pick the main dish and then you pick a side. And Terry and I split it. We don't pay for two, we pay for one so it's affordable. But we can order only one of the sides. It happens to be egg drop soup. Love egg drop soup. Last week, we were at P.F. Chang's, and we put in our order, and lo and behold, when the server came, she brought two egg drop soups. We had never had that happen before. Now, wow, that was kind of nice. And you know, I have to tell you, And this verse brought me to realize this was sin. I, in my mind, in a little bit, thought, oh, I'm going to have to increase my tip to her. And maybe that will encourage, if we ever have her again, that she'll bring us two soups again. That is exactly what this verse is saying, don't you? That's a gift. It's not an out-and-out bribe. But you're not giving it from a pure motive. That's the key. You're not giving it from a pure motive. You're giving it from a motive of, I hope she does this for me. So that's what these gifts. And it happens all the time. A supervisor at some company gives the employers under him a wonderful gift for Christmas, not just to say Merry Christmas, but thinking, I hope this will stimulate them to work harder. You know, there's a motive behind that. And the Christian is always to be pure in their motives. So this proverb goes on, a man's gift makes room for him. In other words, it accomplishes things for him. And at that moment when I thought of increasing the tip, I thought, and it might accomplish this for me. And Solomon is saying, and many times it does. And then he goes on and he says, and brings him before the great. Many people have used a bribe or a gift to get access to someone in power. It happens a lot, people giving money to someone to gain access to someone important in their family. I'm not saying this to take sides, I'm just bringing it up as an example. In the last years, we've heard a lot of people speaking of Hunter Biden doing that. receiving money for people wanting access to his dad when he was vice president. I'm not taking aside on whether he did that or not, but the accusations are out there. That does happen. Whether it happened in that case, I'm not, I don't, I'm not, I'm not here to say. But people do do that. They'll give a bribe to someone so they can introduce them to their famous uncle or something like, like that. So this is a well-timed gift to give access to someone important. I put a quotation in your notes from John Kitchen, who wrote an excellent commentary on Proverbs, quote, the line of demarcation between a bribe and a legitimate gift is often hard to discern. The bribe generally works, such as in 1708, but it encourages the wicked in their ways and usually corrupts justice, such as in 1723. The gift also pragmatically achieves its purpose, like in our verse, and also in 19.6 and 21.14. But the repercussions are felt even in one's own family. And I put in your notes some examples of gifts like this, so-called innocent gifts. There's Eliezer, Abraham's servant, when he went to get a bride for Rebekah. And he gave Rebekah gold jewelry and so on. And he was welcomed into Laban's, her father's house in Genesis 24, 22, 33. That may have been a situation like this, a gift, hoping it would open the way to be invited to their house. Jacob's gifts to his brother Esau because he wasn't sure how his brother would receive him. went since he stole his birthright. That was in Genesis 32, 13 to 20. You remember that? On his way back home, he's going to meet with Esau. He doesn't know how he's going to react. He could slaughter Jacob and all of his family for all he knew. So he sends this gift. with this motive, apparently. There's Jacob's gift to what's called the man. This is Joseph. Remember when the brothers came back from Egypt? and told their father Jacob about, wow, there's this man in charge of dispensing the grain and food in Egypt, and he did this and this and this. And when they are running out of food again, Jacob sends them back, but has made sure he sends them a very generous gift to give to the man. Probably this kind of gift. Then there's Abigail's gift to David in 1 Samuel 25, 18 to 28. Abigail was married to a terrible, terrible brute of a man. And you know the story, I hope, of how David was confronting her husband's workers and so on. And to make a long story short, Abigail knew that her husband's husband's workers he was going to send out to get rid of David. And so Abigail comes to David with a very generous gift, hoping that he would be kind to her husband. And then there's Jesse's gift. That is David's father. Jesse's gift to the army commander of his sons in 1 Samuel 17, 18. But the point of all this is it is the motive that is behind the gift that is important. Yes, if your motive is pure praise God for being generous and giving the gift, but it's not. If it's not, this is a warning as a Christian, we are always to be above board in our motives. Bob Beasley in his book wrote this, we should use discretion and be sure of our motives for bestowing a gift on someone, that we should be sure that they are innocent and not for some hidden selfish reason. And then John Kipchan in his commentary, we may never bribe anyone and must approach with the greatest caution the giving or receiving of anything that may even approach such a perversion of justice. In certain social situations, a gift may be legitimate, though not always, completely disinterested. Walk carefully here. That's the caution of Proverbs. Walk carefully here. Well, let's go on to our third proverb. Listen to both sides of the story. This is the third warning in this chapter. The others are in verse 2 and verse 13. Third warning in this chapter against forming hasty opinions. Let me give you an example. of when I recently did that as well, and it's a lesson for me. And Steve and family are going to be especially interested in this, and I have not told them this. I thought they would be interested tonight. You know, Steve and his family, and Terry and me, we live right next door to each other, adjoining houses. And so, of course, when Steve's gone and the family's gone, I take out their trash. Well, the first, and our trash is picked up on Monday mornings, and it's usually very early, like as early as 6.30 in the morning. The first Monday they were gone, their trash can was full, as it normally is. When you have a family of eight people, you're gonna have a full trash can. And so it was full that first Monday, and I put it out as usual. The second Monday, I put our trash out, as I always do, and with Terry and me, there's only two of us. So we don't even usually fill it half full. But of course, I put it out. Well, I put our trash out, but I did not put Steve's out. Because after all, they've been gone. They have not put trash in their barrel. Well, I put it out in my R barrel in the late afternoon. In the evening, Terry brought out a fairly large bag that needed to go into the trash. So I took it out and I lifted the lid on our trash can and it was full to the brim. Big trash bags full of trash. I knew I had not put them there. And it's nothing terrible, of course, but it's striking. So right away, I thought of our neighbors on the left. It just so happened the day before, on Sunday, they had had some kind of dinner party out in their backyard. They had tables and they had food. I don't know if it was an engagement party or retirement party or something and quite a few people there. Well, that would generate a lot of paper plates and trash and so on. So I just assumed that was in the trash and that's okay. They're fine people, but you know, you did kind of think, well, you would thought they would have asked, but and we would have said yes. But all of a sudden I looked over and And Steve's trash can was not where it normally is during the week. It's at the curb, and I went and opened it up, and it was full. So I thought, wow. Our neighbors have really, really done it. But, you know, that's okay. But the next morning, trash is picked up early. And I happened to look out the window and I saw the neighbor who's on the other side of Steve's house come over to move his trash can back. So he's the one that filled both of our trash cans. Now, that's not a big deal, but it's an example. I rushed to judgment. I didn't think through both any other possibilities. I just rushed to that conclusion. Our neighbors on the left did this. Now, in this case, it was no big deal. By the way, you came home Sunday night, no, Monday night. Tuesday morning, I don't know if you noticed, your trash can was out at the curb. I didn't put it there, because it wouldn't have any trash in it. And again, we saw your other neighbor come and move it. So I don't know what he's going to do next week when your trash can is full. But that's an example of rushing to judgment. And we are to listen to both sides of the story. Well, look at verse 17. The one who states his case first seems right. First evidence always sounds right until further investigation takes place. It sounded right to me that our neighbors on the left put all that trash there until I saw other evidence, that's always how it is. When a person is at a trial, it's probably just human nature when the prosecution presents its case and you hear that, you say, wow, boy, this person, yeah, that sounds all plausible. But then you hear the defense, oh, there is another side to this. So that's why when you're on a jury trial, you're always told don't make up your mind until you hear both sides. Well, verse 17, the one who states his case first seems right until the other comes and examines him. That's why it's important to concentrate on listening before proceeding with making a decision. listening and examining. It's important to not pay attention to gossip, by the way. So many times in situations like this, you can hear gossip that sways your mind, but you're not to let that sway your mind. That gossip only gives one side of the story. The other person wouldn't be gossiping. So this examines him means to search and investigate. It describes an intensive investigation for the truth. And the law demanded that judges impartially hear both sides of a dispute. That's in Deuteronomy 1, verse 16. So this is also essential for, not just in trials, but for parents. before disciplining a child to hear both sides. I think every parent, myself included, has rushed to judgment. Steve, I apologize. But we have to listen to both sides. Counselors. have to listen to both sides. For instance, a person counseling a problem between a husband and wife. It's easy when you hear the first one speak, oh, wow. You gotta hear both sides. Pastors need to hear both sides when people come to us. Bosses need to hear both sides before firing an employee. Anyone who deals with people needs to hear both sides. Now here are some examples in scripture of people who didn't. For instance, Potiphar. Remember Potiphar? Joseph worked for Potiphar and then Potiphar's wife tried to seduce him and all of that. Potiphar only listened to his wife's side of the story. And as a result, he sent Joseph to jail. That's in Deuteronomy, or excuse me, Genesis 39, 7 to 20. That was a result of listening to only one side of the story. Saul and Samuel. Saul told Samuel that he had destroyed the Amalekites, which God had commanded him to do, when actually he had spared their king and many sheep and cattle. And then that was his story, and Samuel could have believed it, except he reviewed the evidence, and he cross-examined, and he got the truth, and he discovered Saul had done that. 1 Samuel 15, 7 to 24. And then there's David, Ziba, and Mephibosheth. Ziba accused his master, Mephibosheth, that was Jonathan's son, remember, who was crippled. He accused Mephibosheth of treason against King David, and it was not true. But David, on his testimony alone, gave him all of Mephibosheth's property. because he didn't examine, he didn't listen to both sides. David would later see his mistake, and that's in 2 Samuel 16, one through four, and 19, 26 to 23. Well, let's think about how to apply this. Think about it. Would you want someone to make up their mind when only hearing someone who has a grudge against you without hearing your side of the story? So the person has a grudge, they're presenting this terrible negative story. You know, in the contemporary scene today, we have that right now in this political campaign. There are some people that are giving some very defamatory things about President Trump. And they were workers. They worked for him. And do you believe it? Well, then you dig into it, and you find witnesses saying it doesn't happen. Well, then you've got both of them going. But you have to listen to both. And we need discernment. We need to ask the Lord for that discernment. We won't be back to Proverbs. We'll turn to Matthew chapter 7. Matthew 7, verse 12. Matthew 7, verse 12. So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them. For this is the law and the prophets. We call this the golden rule. It's a principle that our Lord Jesus Christ gave. And Jesus doesn't say, treat people well so that they will treat you well. You'll notice there. This isn't a way to manipulate others so that you will be treated better. But we are to demonstrate God's truth that is throughout the word, that we are created in the image and likeness of God. Therefore, every person has worth, and we are to treat them in the same way we wanted to be treated, including this issue of people speaking, say, derogatorily, and it's not really true. Don't jump to conclusions. So, but, you know, there's people in the world that would love to quote Matthew 7.12, the Golden Rule, and say this is a summary of living a good life. The problem with that, Jesus preached this in the Sermon on the Mount. And the purpose of the Sermon on the Mount is to show us our need of salvation. So the world forgets that part. And that verse, like so much else in the Sermon on the Mount, is to show us, wow, I have violated that so much, I'm a sinner. I need forgiveness from God. I need His grace and His power then. It's only with His power that we can do what the Golden Rule says. For the believer, we can live that way by the power of the Holy Spirit. Pray that that Golden Rule would be seen in your life in the case of this issue in this proverb. And let this truth permeate You are thinking and have an impact on your relationship with others. To be not jumping to conclusions, but looking with investigation on both sides. Well, because of the lack of time, we will close there. But let's just review. What we've seen in these Proverbs, first one, diligently seek the knowledge of God. Set up a daily time and a plan for reading God's word. That is so important. Use gifts with discretion. Check your motive when thinking about giving a gift. Make sure you won't give it out of a selfish motive. Give it out of love and listen to both sides of the story. Determine to not form hasty opinions without listening to both sides of the issue. See listening to both sides of the story as being an expression of love. These are important principles for us, for believers. And if you are listening, watching tonight, and you have never repented of your sin and trusted Christ. Don't try to reform your life by following these proverbs. You need the power of the Spirit of God. You need the new heart. Come in repentance and trust him. But for us as believers, these principles are real reminders of what God wants to see in our lives, that we would be people with only right motives, and doing what's right in the sight of God. Let's pray. Father, how we do thank you for bringing us together to study these Proverbs. Father, we pray that you would apply them to our heart and life, and that we would be men and women who love you, who serve you, who do things for your glory, not ours. And we pray in Jesus' name, amen.