All right, who else got a praise? Brenda? Praise the Lord. Lois is done with her radiation treatment. As of Friday, she's doing good so far. She does go in on this Friday to have the port surgically removed. After that, she'll be okay. But they will do an MRI or CT scan every three months just to make sure the cancer's not coming back. Praise the Lord. Keep track of things. Amen. Praise the Lord. We've been praying for her a long time. Sparky, what you praise? Well, I've had a really good day yesterday. I felt better than I felt, and I don't know when. My leg wasn't hurting, and I was just like, wow, I think the stimulator's finally working. And it didn't hurt at all the whole day. I went to bed last night, it wasn't hurting. Woke up this morning, it wasn't hurting again. You had one good day. I had one good day. You had a good day, and the Lord is letting you have enough pain to know that you still need him. Yeah. All right, Jerry, you had another one, and then Elizabeth in the back. Yeah, Josh reminded me, I want to praise the Lord, that Parker, his furnace was available. His furnace is old enough. If Parker would have been available, he'd have been out of luck. Amen. So, I've set my purse down at the grocery store and I didn't realize it. I finished shopping, went on shopping, got to the checkout and I was like, and then I remember where I set it down and I went back and it wasn't there and um whoever it was Glenn, is that your hand up or are you just scratching your head? I want to praise the Lord I get scooped up and go to church and you're able to get AJ too. All right, good. Betty, I saw your hand up. Glenn was cleared yesterday to start radiation tomorrow in the Anderson and Lake City. And we've had a week-long celebration. I turned 80 yesterday, and friends and family called me all day long and wished me a happy birthday. And I got to spend time with my family last night. Sometimes you wonder why God put you where He put you when. And yesterday was a real big day of knowing why I'm here. Yeah, I noticed flags were flying all over the place for your birthday. Yes, they were. It was in celebration of my birthday. I wasn't spoiled much. It's been a great week, and a lot of it goes to friends here at this church. I want you to know I was serenaded for the first time in my life last night with happy birthday on the phone from people here. All right, cool. Yeah, I was serenaded a few times on my birthday this year. All right, who else? Lisa. Definitely have a praise. That ladies' home team Thursday night, Alexis McKee had called and made arrangements to come and do a speech that she had to do for one of her college courses. She's doing two more years of high school and college concurrently. She came over and brought four people with her because she had to have like ten. And she was amazing. Like so inspirational. Her topic was success. And it ended up with her testimony. Not about her salvation but about Christ in her and how her life is different and that that is success to her. And it was really amazing. I'm so proud of her and now we don't look at her as a little child anymore. We look at her as a young adult because she stood there and did this speech and did such a great job and was so grateful for having all of us to support her and her walk and it was just really neat. Really. Mary, what's your prayer? I just want to say, I thank God. You know, I can't walk properly on my foot, but at least I get a break from all the pain. There's always no pain. So I have to give God praise for that. Every time I stand up, I wonder if this is going to be the time that the legs give out. Because I know it's coming, but I praise the Lord that I can still walk. Not very good, but I can still do it, so. All right, amen. Wendy? Well, I just praise the Lord. There's just so many things that I'm here and able to walk and talk about and coffee and all of that. God's been so good. And I talked to Christina, Claire's daughter, today. And hopefully, we're going to be able to do a phone conversation with her about her future. Good. Anybody else? Some of you haven't said a word yet. A couple of you. Go ahead. I saw you looking at me. Sorry for the lateness. I want to praise God for my daughter. I actually almost died having her. And I know that I was in that room that day. It was something I think about every day. Amen. Just that I could be gone in an instant. And my kids will have nobody. And that scares me. But you know what, God gives me the insurance that I need. He's going to keep me as long as He wants me to be here. And I'm just grateful that even though I'm younger in years, I still could go in time. And I'm just grateful for the day. Yeah. Amen. Nobody has a guarantee on tomorrow. Josh, what's your praise? It reminded me, praise the Lord, that my daughter's still not too old to make me handwritten celebration cards. She made me one for Father's Day. There's another phrase that it says, uh, said, thank you for teaching me about Jesus Christ. Amen. That was really cool. Oh, good. Good. All right. Any last ones before we get started? All right. Proverbs chapter 11 today. This is, uh, we're going a lot faster. This is, this is kind of like a wisdom review for us. Chapter 11, verse one. A false balance is abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is his delight. That's a whole other subject we haven't really addressed yet. A false balance. He's talking about, he's referring to a merchant that has scale, that when he weighs out what you're buying, It'll show more than what it really weighs. So that you pay for more. It's a dishonest scale. A false balance. The Lord says that's an abomination. People use that word pretty quick when it comes to homosexuality and things like that. But there's a lot of abominations. And a false balance is one of them. Jerry? I believe the Lord says that a lying tongue is an abomination. And that's what false balance is, it's a lie. Yeah, that's right. But a just weight is his delight. Some of us have a little extra just weight. Just a little bit. Yeah. Verse two, when pride cometh, then cometh shame. but with the lowly is wisdom. You know, the Bible tells us that pride cometh before fall. Pride always ends up bringing shame. The integrity of the upright shall guide them, but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them. Riches profit not in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivereth from death. What is this day of wrath he's talking about? Judgment. Yeah, judgment. Verse six, the righteousness of the upright shall deliver them, but transgressors shall be taken in their own naughtiness. The righteousness of the perfect shall direct his way, but the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness. And then verse six uses a word that we use to mean something cute most of the time, but naughtiness is evil, it's not cute. When a wicked man dieth, his expectation shall perish, and the hope of unjust men perisheth. There's no rescue from being lost except Jesus. If you die lost, there's no, there's no respite for it. There's no rescue. The righteous is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked cometh in his stead. Verse 9 says, and hypocrite with his mouth destroyeth his neighbor. For through knowledge shall the just be delivered. When it goeth well with the righteous, the city rejoiceth, and when the wicked perish, they're shouting. This is a verse that's talking about a city, but it goes for cities and counties and nations. The Bible tells us when the righteous are in charge, the nation rejoices. I can't really make the judgment that the righteous are in charge, but the level of the unrighteous being in charge is not what it was a while back. So there's definitely a difference being seen. By the blessing of the upright, the city is exalted, but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked. Josh? Could that be used at the macro level of your blessings, bless those around you? Yeah. Blessing of the upright, the city is exalted. It's on a national level, it's being allied with Israel is a huge blessing for our nation. And the mouths that utter contempt for that is literally a curse for our nation. By the blessing of the upright, the city is exalted, but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked. There are some wicked mouths on our news these days. He that is void of wisdom despises his neighbor, but a man of understanding holdeth his peace. You can always tell a man that's got some things going on in his brain. One of the biggest clues is that he keeps his mouth shut. It sure is quiet in here without Alvin this morning. Is he okay? Does he need like a ride here or something? I'm sorry? Does he need like a ride or something? I don't have a clue. I don't know. Usually he's here, but... He scooped AJ up for me, but he wasn't ready dressed right to come to church yet. So he did scoop us up so we can make the Lord's Supper. See, that's why I was blissing it earlier about being scooped up. He sacrificed to get us here. He should be home shortly. A tailbearer reveals secrets, but he that is of a faithful spirit conceals the matter. You know, sometimes people, and we can all be guilty of this, whatever's in our mind drops straight to our tongue and rolls out like it's, but he that is of a faithful spirit conceals the matter. I suppose one of the most evil things that goes on in our midst is gossip. It seems to always manage to rear its ugly head every time people get together. Where no counsel is, the people fall, but in the multitude of counselors there is safety. He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it. And he that hateth suretyship is sure. Now, I know how we use the word smart, and that fits really well right here. You know, my hand is smarting this morning because I fell against it a couple days ago and rinsed that little finger. I tried to rip it off, but But the word smart here is talking about a shout. This next one is one that is going to make a lot of sense. A gracious woman retaineth honor, and strong men retain riches. The merciful man doeth good to his own soul, but he that is cruel troubleth his own flesh. Cruelty is It does not use the word here, but this verse is talking about bullets. The wicked worketh the deceitful work, but to him that soweth righteousness shall be a sure reward. The Bible tells us the Lord is faithful to remember the things that you do that sow righteousness, that show kindness, that sows righteousness. As righteousness tendeth to life, so he that pursueth evil pursueth it to his own death. Here's another one of those abominations we were talking about. They that are of a froward heart are abomination to the Lord, but such as are upright in their way are his delight. Though hand joined in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished, but the seed of the righteous shall be delivered. There are a lot of people that think that punishment for wickedness is only if you don't have enough in your group or enough resources. Though hand joined in hand, what's that talking about? People together. I was talking about people joining together to take a stand for wickedness. Like the rioters? Just exactly like the rioters. That's what's going on. There are wicked people in high places that are paying people to go do this. This is not about somebody's opinion or somebody taking it for somebody else. This is about wicked people that are hand joining in hand. It's exactly what this verse is talking about. God says they'll hand join in hand, no matter how much they unify, no matter how many people they get together, it's not going to go unpunished. Now, Jerry, verse 22, I'm going to let you read that one. All right. As a jewel of gold is a swine's snout, so is a fair woman which is without discretion. Yeah. That's a pretty good description, isn't it? I don't know if you think in pictures. I suppose you do. As a jewel of gold in a swine's snout. Have you ever heard of that expression about spraying perfume on a pig? Lipstick on a pig? Well, that's the same thing, I suppose. Ladies, beauty without discretion is not beauty at all. The desire of the righteous is only good, but the expectation of the wicked is wrath. You know, we have a responsibility to desire good for everybody. And the Lord commands us to never rejoice over somebody else's pain or misery. The Bible tells us that the wicked are going to receive their punishment. They're going to get their just reward. But our desire is for everybody's good. At least it should be. Now here is a principle that talks about the kind of rules Christians live under. I've taught you for years that we as God's people do not live under the same rules as other people. He says here, there is that scattereth and yet increases. and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty. There are people that scattereth, and that's not talking so much about waste as it is generosity. There are people that scattereth what they have, they spread it around, and yet still increase. And there are other people that withhold more than is meet, or more than they should, and yet they just keep getting poorer and poorer. Why is that? Because we don't live under the same rules that the lost world does. The liberal soul, now, that's not talking about left-wing Democrats. That's talking about generous people. The liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that watereth shall be watered also himself. He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him, but blessings shall be upon the head of him that selleth it." This reminds me of the story of Joseph. Joseph, have you ever read the story of Joseph? You need to read that story. That's your namesake. If you could live up to that name, you'd be doing pretty good. He that diligently seeketh good, procureth favor. But he that seeketh mischief, it shall come unto him. This reminds me of something that President Trump said in one of his speeches recently. He was talking about what people did because it was politically advantageous. He said, I don't do anything for politics. He says, I do what I think is right. You don't have to be an expert to just do things that are right. I mean, we know right and wrong pretty well. It's not hard to figure out. You know, we want to judge it. If it's something Jesus would do, well, you're not going to do what Jesus would do, because you're not Jesus. But you can do right, because you do know the difference. He that trusteth in his riches shall fall, but the righteous shall flourish as a branch. You can find out how that works when you read the parables that the Lord gave us. He's the tree where the branches. He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind, and the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart. We're told in James, if any man lacks wisdom, let him ask of God. that God will be generous with wisdom. I think sometimes we, even though we know that, we don't ever, you know, we seldom get around to asking for wisdom. Probably ought to be on our prayer list every day. We'll put it on the, we'll make sure it's on the prayer list today. The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he that wanteth souls is wise. What's the fruit of a Christian? Another Christian. He that wanteth souls is wise. Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth, much more the wicked and the sinner. If God's gonna give the righteous what he deserves, where does that leave the wicked and the sinner? Well, we have finished chapter 11. What in this chapter caught your attention? Josh? Verse 16, where it says, a gracious woman retaineth honor, and strong men retain the riches. It's talking about not giving in to your desire, whether you're a man or a woman. If you're a man, do not give in to your desire, you're gonna keep the riches. If you're a woman, figure that part out. She retains her honor. Go ahead. What stuck out to me was that the liberal soul becomes fat. I didn't really know what that meant, but it stuck out to me for some reason. I don't know. Maybe someone could explain it to me, what it meant. The liberal soul being made fat is talking about blessing. We don't normally look at fat people and say, boy, you sure are blessed. But that's how they got that way. Liberal soul also, blessings from the word and the righteous living right and using your actions to where it says, he that watereth shall be watered also himself. Using your actions and your When you're generous to and helping other people, it's gonna come back. You've heard that what goes around comes around. Well, it does. Both ways. Both ways. Who else? What caught your attention in all of this? Josh? See if I got this one right. On verse 23, the desire of the righteous is only good, but the expectation of the wicked is wrath. I have this right saying that the righteous are the saved. The only thing we want, regardless of who you are or what you've done, is to bring you salvation. But the expectation of the wicked is the wrath. The wicked just want to fight. They just want to argue. Yeah. They just want to make sure you get what you got coming. Yeah. And not in a good sense. I like verse 24 a lot. There is a scatter that yet increases. I have, I've done a lot of scattering in my 75 years, but I'm still fat. But the opposite of that, there are also people that hold more than they should. And it does not end up to their profit. It just tends to poverty. There's a lot in this, a lot of different stuff in this. Josh, what else? Verse 26 reminds me of being on the farm. It says, he that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him, but blessings shall be upon the head of him that selleth it. I've talked about this before, probably years ago. I did it growing up. I watched my dad. He didn't, share anything, never lent anything. He wouldn't let anyone use his stuff. And he had his own reasons for it. But in the same breath, there's another man, he was a deacon at a local church, and he just borrowed stuff out, lent stuff out. I mean, he just, if you needed to come get it, he'd just share it. He'd just, just that away. That giving his shirt off his back kind of guy. Yeah. And I watched this, and my dad would put, we'd put, Brand spanking new tires. And you're talking about $800, $900 a tire. Sometimes $1,200 a tire on a tractor. Driving out in the field, we've had for years. Run over a piece of rebar, sidewalk. You can't fix it. Get a brand new tire. This other guy driving down the road with a loaded buggy. The tire's so bad, the rubber's slinging off of him. He had a tractor one time that he said, it's making a knocking sound. I don't know what's wrong with it. They got to check the old handle oil in it. He's been out there plowing all day. Put oil in the tractor, still running. Just watching those amazing things, scriptures like this make me think of that, of the blessing that he got poured out from the Lord on him and to watch my dad not sharing and having all these random issues that just don't make sense. Yeah. I have tried to be generous with all things as much as I could. I've always been that way. It just, I just, it seems second nature to me. And there's always, it always comes back around, it always pays. And especially with giving to the Lord, that has paid, I can't begin to tell you how that's paid. Other people say, well, you shouldn't give because you're gonna get paid. Well, the Bible teaches, that all farmers sow in hope of a harvest. In expectation of a harvest. And all I can tell you is how it's worked out for me. Go ahead. Yeah, Josh got me thinking when he read verse 26 about the blessed shall be on the head of the hen that soweth it. And I remember when we used to go to the to the elevators with the big truck full of corn when it got dry enough on the farm. That was like the most satisfying feeling. I just remember feeling that way about it. I know it was satisfying for the farmer I worked for. Yeah, yeah. Whenever it comes time to sell the crop, it sure is a blessing to walk out with a pretty good paycheck when you sell the corn. Sherry? funny story. Years ago my ex was a truck driver and when he was passing all these cornfields and everything he was like, he had stopped and asked if they wanted, if he could pick a bush and love them and behind him the guy told him no, you don't want this corn and everything. So it kind of made him upset, you know, because there was like loads of it and everything. So he stopped. And he was just pulling them off and picking them. And the guy went, they go, hush. I said, you need to stop. You're going to go to jail. You're going to go to jail. You're going to go to jail. No, I'm not. No, I'm not. Well, when he got home, he got this corn and got ready to blanch it and shuck it. It was horse-feeding corn. He couldn't eat it anyway. So I laughed so hard at him. But I just went to tell that story. Yeah, field corn. Normally it's referred to as field corn, but field corn, it looks really good. Oh yeah, it's really pretty yellow. And it's not that bad, but it's not like sweet corn. You can't really eat it, though. It's hard. Yeah, well, if it's left on the shelf too long. Very short window of field corn that you need. Very short window. I don't know, but he got his just reward. I'm working for a planter. Planted a whole row of it right next to the big house of sweet corn with the planter first, and then proceeded to plant the rest of the field. Well, that's a good idea. Yeah, four rows. Yeah. Yeah, very few things taste better than fresh-picked sweet corn. I think they're supposed to be called roasting ears. That's not the way it's verbalized. They're rosineers. What else stood out to you in this? That thing about selling corn reminds me of the story of Joseph. He said there's gonna be, God told him it's gonna be seven years of famine, seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine. And Joseph told Pharaoh, said, you need to appoint somebody that knows what they're doing over these seven years of plenty and let them store it up so that there's food for when the famine comes. And Pharaoh said, well, who knows better to handle it, how to handle this than the guy that God is using to tell us about it. Amen. Whenever the famine came, Pharaoh sold it to everybody that asked. He didn't just give it away, he sold it. And all the land became his before it was over. And it was quite a blessing too, a national blessing for Egypt, all due to that one guy. that was listening to the Lord. Isn't it amazing to see how the Lord works? Yeah. So Joseph suffered what he went through. Yeah, it is. So every time I read it, if I want to cry right now, all I have to do is read a story. Every time I read it, I cry. The Book of Proverbs has been a blessing for me like I can't even begin to tell you. when I sort of went south and I had to start a business from nothing. And it was kind of late in life. I was in my 40s. But I just used what I learned from Proverbs. And it seemed like that we gave and gave and gave and gave and gave. You know, it's all going out one way. But I knew what I knew what these what these problems said. So it says gonna come back around. And so in 2017 Hurricane Harvey came and I rebuilt 14 houses. It was a lot for one contractor to do. But every single one of them paid. And every single one of them was for people that were a little bit older, but none of them were dependent on insurance companies. They paid cash, every one of them. And when it was said and done, Lisa and I paid off Our house, we paid off our cars, we paid off everything we owed. Everything. And we had, I think we had about 400,000 left after all the paying off was done. It was incredible. But it was just exactly what God said he would do. Just exactly. Talk about watching God work and watching him do what he says he would do. We've seen it. We know how it works. You know, you can talk to me all you want about giving and being generous and doing what God's word says. But I've told people literally my whole life that, you know, ever since I've been a Christian, you couldn't pay me enough to stop tithing. I don't care what you come up with. That's not how it works, Lisa. wanted to clarify a little bit like we were looking for change in the couch and in the car and everywhere by milk. We had six kids when we got married and I was working for an attorney and we were starting a company and God does what he says he's going to do when you obey him and we just do it. When we were raising the kids, we didn't have scads of extra money or anything, but we had enough and a spare. Amen. And that also is his, those are his words. That's what he says he's going to do. Growing up in my younger years, I often wondered what it would be like when I was under a car hood with my knuckles bleeding trying to fix something I didn't know what I was doing. I wondered what it would be like just to let somebody else do it, you know, and be able to pay them. Well, I can do that now. Right. And so wonderful, isn't it? And I remember wondering what it would be like to drive through a drive-through and not have to count to see what you got in your pocket first. On the weekends, when he got paid, everybody got a honeymoon from the You can listen to a lot of different stories. You can listen to all the preachers on YouTube that tell you that tithing is robbery and nobody should be doing that if you want to. But I know better. Jerry. You told us the exact opposite of that, Pastor. You told us that if you don't tithe, you're robbing God. Yeah. That's exactly what it is. I remember what people said after we had a burglary here. I can't imagine somebody robbing from the church. I said, they do it all the time. I said, it's not uncommon at all. In fact, I think I might have told one or two of them that, yeah, you've been doing it for years. Yeah, there's probably been there about keeping your mouth shut too. I think we read that one. I've proved that out for myself as well.