It is past time for praises, so who's ready? I'll go first. Okay, Sherry. We went to send a tone to his mom's last week, had a really, really good visit. Got to do a lot of worship, witnessing and talking about Jesus to my daughter, Evelyn. Good, amen. Amen. All right, who's next, Josh? Praise the Lord for being alive and well. It's a beautiful day. Amen. It is. Amen to that. Christine? We have everything cooked for camp, except a few last minute things that will be done there. And the majority of everything is packed and ready to go. And now we're just ready to go to camp. Cool. Yep. All right. All right. Jerry? I had a decent week of work. You know, for it being a short week and everything, it was good. Amen. I just praise the Lord for His grace and mercy. Good. Good. Anybody else? Lynn? I did some work Friday. I was troubleshooting a big ol' airplane on the way home from the tour. Getting some work back. A big ol' airplane, huh? Yeah. Alright. Anybody else? I'm feeling some improvement, so my stimulator is starting to work. It's just not steady. It'll be like... One day my leg's not hurting, the next day it's hurting. It doesn't, it doesn't hurt. I don't know if it ever levels out or not, but at least I'm seeing some improvement. I'm getting some good days. Good, good. Good days are hard enough to come by, you appreciate them. Lisa, what's your price? I'm really grateful that we were able to have our ladies home team this week. Because Glenda's been really sick. And that's another praise, is that Glenda is so much better. And I really miss that home team when we're not having it. Mary, what's your praise? Yeah, just like Lisa was saying about the home team. It's beautiful to get together and just talk about the Lord. That was one of our praises at the men's home team that Linda was able and well enough to keep the ladies home team going. So that was all good. Anybody else? Christine? This is Retirement Home Teams. First of all, we host this Home Team on Thursday nights because it allows me to have a long time with the kids. Even though I get that all the time, it's in a different setting. I get to take them out. We get to go eat or go do something. And I get to watch Lane be the man taking care of the ladies while we go out, praying at dinner, and just getting to see a side of the kids that I don't get to see when we're doing home school. to do that. He gets his man of the house time. That's a good thing. All right. That sounds cool. Who else? Anybody? Jeannie? I'm happy to be going to camp. Happy the Lord gave us the money to get what we needed. Praising him for that. Hey, Glenn. We're having about a Tuesday or Wednesday. That's a good thing. We're glad for you. All right, any others? All right, Lisa? Oh, Brenda's greeting, but she is doing really well with her Parkinson's. She's not taking the meds that she was told to take, which is good. She's taking, using nicotine patches, and as soon as she put it on, practically, it greatly slowed down. All right, praise the Lord for that. That's good. All right, Proverbs chapter nine. Verse one says, wisdom hath builded her house. She hath hewn out her seven pillars. That's an interesting statement. Seven pillars of wisdom. There's no single scripture that tells us what those are. They're all spelled out in Proverbs. Has anybody ever read about that, as to what they are? Well, if you look it up or you Google it, here's what you'll find. The seven pillars of wisdom. There are several verses and passages, especially in the book of Proverbs, in the letter of James, offer insights into the qualities of God's wisdom, which can be interpreted as pillars of wisdom. They include the first one being purity. All the warnings against that woman you read about, Jerry. Keeping yourself pure. The second one is peaceableness. Wisdom is associated with a peaceful and calm disposition, reflecting God's character. The third one is gentleness. This pillar emphasizes a kind and compassionate nature, reflecting God's love and grace. Alan, did you have a question or comment? No, something scratched my forehead. Let me go back real quick, because I do have a phrase that I don't know why I put my hand up, but it's just to be with like-minded believers, and that's good enough. The fourth one is gentleness, peaceableness, and the fourth one is reasonableness or helpfulness. Wisdom seems being easy to be entreated, which means being open to persuasion and willing to help others. Yeah, the fifth one is humility. Wisdom is not arrogant or boastful, but rather humble and willing to learn. The sixth one on this list is sincerity. Wisdom is genuine and truthful without hidden motives or double standards. And the seventh one, which might have been, might should have been earlier in the list is the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord is often described as the beginning of wisdom. Does that sound? Does that sound about right to you? You've been a student of Proverbs for a while. Yeah. Yeah, it's the beginning of wisdom. So yeah. The next the next few verses talk about Wisdom preparing her table Preparing her dinner. I think of the Lord's statement in John 21 when they caught all those fish and Lord already had some on the fire His invitation is to come and dine It says in verse 2 she had killed her beasts and She hath mingled her wine, she hath also furnished her table. She hath sent forth her maidens, she crieth on the high places of the city. Whoso or whosoever is simple, let him turn and hither, and as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him, come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled. forsake the foolish and live and go in the way of understanding. It's a blessing to me to see that God invites you and me to come and dine at the table of wisdom. You don't have to stay stupid. It's a choice. We don't have to stay that way. He says, come and eat of my bread and drink of the wine which I have mingled. In Israeli culture, wine is a stable drink with almost virtually every meal. It's mingled wine though, it's not just wine. It's almost always mingled with water. The custom comes from drinking clean and pure water. You can't just drink from any creek or any source of water. or you get sick. And the custom is to serve wine, but they don't really want to serve wine full strength. It's almost always mingled with water. And apparently different types or kinds of wine is also mingled sometimes. Jerry? I know that they, in the Old Testament, they mingled the wine with the water because the water wasn't safe. What exactly was in the water that the wine takes care of? Is it like amoebas and paramecians and stuff, or do we not? Critters. Critters. Germs. Something like that. That's what I figured. That's what I thought. Yeah. Alan, do you have a problem? Yeah. Yeah, everything tends to go downhill. Yeah, up in the mountains you can, you can find beautiful clean flowing water. except there's a beaver dam upstream somewhere. And they don't leave the water to do their business. The common disease from that is giardia. Here in Texas, if you're out working and and you drop a tree or a piece of wood or something and it splashes water in your face, it's pretty easy to get giardia. It's not common, but it happens. And when it happens here, the doctors don't have a clue what it is. I contracted it in about, oh, in the 90s. Don't know exactly how I got it. Somehow splashed surface water in my face or something. And you already is a parasite. It makes you real sick. And I went to the doctor. I went to several doctors. None of them knew that they had me being treated for all kinds of stuff. Nothing would work. I found no relief. And I was about to think that cancer had returned. So... One day Charles and I got in our International Scout, and I was too sick to drive most of the way, but I would drive in the cities. And he was just old enough. He didn't have a license yet, but he was just old enough to handle it. And he and I drove to Laramie, Wyoming to see my doctor. I walked in, in his office, and talked to him. Maybe five minutes. He went to his cabinet and took out a little envelope and dropped a few pills in it. He said, take these, you'll be fine. And I took them and I was. He told me exactly what I had. He knew exactly what it looked like. When you live in the mountains, you're familiar with that. So a drink which is pure and is cleaned, and I remember I remember in my home growing up, drinking beer was not a common thing. It was what sinners did, and it's not what we did. And one of my older brothers, John, he was in the war, in the Korean War. And his job, since he was He knew how to do it and was proficient at it. His job in the Korean War, they used mules commonly to transport whatever they needed, ammunition, food, whatever. And his job was to was to lead a mule train. They were fighting in the mountains and that was his duty as a soldier. I reckon that's better than a foxhole to be shot at all times. But one of the things that we heard about his duty over there was that that they didn't have clean water to drink. So they drank beer, that's what they drank. And we thought that was horrible to hear that. It's very similar to what the Israeli culture does by drinking wine instead of water, or wine mixed with water. Yeah. Well, make that coffee because I don't drink tea. Not very much anyway. Jerry? If I'm not mistaken, Pastor, I've heard this before and I don't know for sure if it's right, but I heard that beer was invented by, I believe, Irish monks because the water wasn't safe. So they had to do something. That's probably true. Almost any redneck will use any excuse to drink beer. Well, if you've ever had, if you've ever contracted giardia, you'll be really tempted to drink almost anything but the water. I remember the first time I ever tasted beer and it was not pleasant. It was pretty nasty. I said, how can anybody stand to drink this? And they said, well, it's an acquired taste. I said, yeah, it must be. Verse seven says, he that reproveth a scorner giveth to himself shame. And he that rebuketh a wicked man giveth himself a blot. Reprove not a scorner lest he hate thee. Rebuke a wise man and he will love thee. I've experienced both of those in my tenure as pastor. And that's exactly how it works. Give instruction to a wise man and he will be yet wiser. Teach a just man, and he will increase in learning. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. For by me, who's me? Wisdom. For by me thy days shall be multiplied, and the years of thy life shall be increased. If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself, but if thou scorneth, thou alone shall bear it. Remember those things that God hates? Those who sow discord. Jerry? Is that a bad thing for a scorer to hate you? Well, it's definitely an inconvenient thing. Okay. That'll work. Try to avoid it. A scorer will just hate you or try to hurt you. In whatever way he knows it hurts you the most. Josh? Proverbs 23 and 9 tells us, Speak not in the ears of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of thy words. And Matthew 7 and 6 tells us, Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither catch, neither pearl, nor swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you. And turn again and rend you. Verse 13, ladies. A foolish woman is clamorous. She is simple and knoweth nothing. For she sitteth at the door of her house on a seat in the high places of the city to call passengers who go right on their ways. Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither, and as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith unto him, Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. But he knoweth not that the dead are there, and that her guests are in the depths of hell. Nothing new under the sun? No. Wisdom has set her table for all of us. And the invitation is come and dine. Josh? I have never got that. I think that's children. I think I was talking about children. Jerry, go ahead. That takes me right straight to Ecclesiastes 7.26. I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets and her hands is bands. Who so pleases God shall escape from her, but the sinner shall be taken by her. Well, I'll tell you this, if you're going to get crossways with somebody, there are certain ones you should avoid. Alvin? Yeah, you know, 8 and 12, Proverbs 8 and Proverbs 12 pretty much go together. Reprove not a scorner, lese hate thee. In other words, he's not going to listen anyway. And we all still do. I don't know why sometimes, maybe it's for our own la-dee-dah, but... If thou shalt be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself. But if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it. So, that the Lord's not going to be with you when you're wasting your time doing all that. I mean, he's not going to forsake you, but he's going to be a part of that. Well, the Bible tells us when the scorner is cast out, strife will cease. Has been cast out. Yeah. And there are times that it goes so far that it has to be done. Yes, go ahead. Also, looking at verse 12, in English and the Hebrew, it isn't really matching up. In the English, we have, if thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself, but if thou spurnest, thou alone shalt bear it. In both cases, the incident that's there is that you and you alone will gain or lose. So then, whatever wisdom you gain, while you can transition knowledge, it doesn't guarantee that the person you transition that to will be any wiser. You would very often like to be wise for somebody else. Glenn would like to be wise for A.J., but it doesn't work. It doesn't work. Until he comes to the dinner table and dines of wisdom for himself, there's no wisdom going to happen. I went to Josh's house. I was kind of sad when we went up to God. I said, I can't control everything. What'd you tell me? You told me I can't control anything. There are a few things I have learned along the way. Yeah. He don't say that to everybody. That's specially designed for you. Yeah. That's one thing I appreciate about our ladies on team is that somebody gets it, they're like, okay, I got it. Like I'm gonna write, write that down. That's why I'm a refrigerator or whatever. And it's nice to know that people are interested in growing. Yeah, wisdom is cheap to come by, but it's extremely valuable. It's better than fine gold. It's better than silver. What is it that makes wisdom so valuable? It's what you need to learn by, to live by. It solves a lot of problems. It solves a lot of problems? Jerry, what do you think? It's useful. Would you rather be wise or unwise in a situation? Yeah. You might a lot better if you're wise. Yeah. Alvin? Yeah, we all know there's a difference between godly wisdom and worldly knowledge. It's hard to call worldly knowledge wisdom because some of it is, but if it hasn't been given by the Lord, then it's probably just man knowledge. You know, we think we're doing something all the time. That's how you've got to think about the worldly wisdom versus godly wisdom. Harley and then Josh. Wisdom is knowledge used correctly. So one of my personal thoughts is when it comes to wisdom, it's virtually foundational. It's like bedrock. It's one of those things that once it's established, it's almost fixed. And in a way, it doesn't really matter whether it's God's wisdom or secular wisdom, as long as it's wisdom any tools that you've picked up that are, yeah, but it's literally something you can trust at all times. Wisdom is, and you can tell me if you agree with this or not, but there are a lot of good things that we all desire. We all desire money in the bank. We all desire our family's health. We all desire people that we love close to us, around us. But wisdom is the means by which every other good thing is obtained. I don't know, you know, you can tell me what you want out of life, but how you're going to get there is through wisdom. Glenn? Well, first of all, it's not very common. And secondly, what you're talking about is wisdom. Yeah. So when I think about wisdom and what makes it so important in life, it's full of choices. Yeah. Every moment you have to make a choice constantly. Without wisdom, you're going to have a life full of bad choices, maybe. Yeah. It says right here in our text that wisdom, verse 11, for by me, wisdom, thy days shall be multiplied. If you want to live longer, wisdom is the key to that. Of all the things that you want, to live another day is pretty special. It's pretty important. It's got great value. How does this work, the fear of the Lord being the beginning of wisdom? If you're smart, you're going to pray to the Lord. Jerry? The fear of the Lord is respect for the Lord, isn't it? It is, but I think it's more than that. Josh? Well, if all world wisdom is foolishness, then until you fear the Lord and understand that His knowledge is wisdom, Yeah. Well, that's where wisdom begins is when we begin to fear the Lord. And yes, it's respect, but it's not just respect. It's a shame it takes fear for us to get it, huh? It's gonna change someday, but... I learned pretty quick, actually, by watching what happened to my older siblings, first of all. I learned to fear my dad. My mom would send us after a bug brush switch. My dad would cut a club off a limb and use that. I learned to fear him. Not disrespect him, but to fear him. I didn't have any trouble understanding what fear meant. And you could say, well, you shouldn't have to fear your parents. I'm not so sure that's right. I grew up in a house where they believed in beating the devil out of you. Yeah, I'll be honest with you. We got spanked, beat, grounded, brutalized, you name it. It didn't do much good for me. I mean, it did later, but my whole family was nuts. Well, it must have worked because you're sitting here listening to God's words. I know, I know. of him is, because without that, and I think most of these kids nowadays, that's what they're missing, is that hand of discipline. And it was done wrong on us, you know, it was done out of brutal anger, but I do see the, you know, spare the rod's full of child. And I do see that some of the stuff I see, like my granddaughter, for example, getting away with, I was thinking, oh man, We wouldn't have crossed that line. Even at six, they would have jerked us up by our wrists and wore that ribbon out. Guess what? We'd have quit doing it pretty quick, too. We wouldn't have been pressing it every day, every day, every day. Just know there are still some people that do this. Yeah, Josh, she is handy. Watching my kids and the fear part of it is that if a spanking or a punishment correctly given allows a parent to teach for a good amount of time without having to spank again for the fear of the next spanking. So a lot of knowledge and wisdom can be taught to the child without having to spank again if this punishment's done correctly. There's something to be said for knowing that it's coming. Yeah. Jerry? Did anybody quote Proverbs 19.18 yet? Nope. Nope. Chasten thy son, father his hope, and let not your soul spare for his cry. That is awfully strong language from our Lord. Now, of course, you have to temper that. You temper that with, and I can't call Captain Verse on it, but it's a Proverb. Do not chasten thy son unto wrath. Chasten not thy son unto wrath. You gotta have it under control. You have to do it correctly. But Proverbs 19, 18 is awfully strong language. 23, 13, 14. He withholds not correction from the child. For if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell. There you go. I just knew that. I found that proverb is the truest when you don't want to whoop them. When you're angry, it's that you want to whoop them. So when you're angry, you can't whoop them. And then when you're not angry, you need to whoop them. Because that's when you don't want to. That's what it's talking about. When you spank them when they need it, you don't want to give it to them. It hurts you to whoop them. That's when they need to be whooped, not when you're angry. My dad, I'm pretty sure, read that verse about the blueness of wounds. Because he knew how to administer those.