Original subtitles

[Music]

[Music]

hey book by book here we are at the

Quinta Christian Center in Shropshire

England coming to study number three in

the book of Proverbs I'm rich abused

joined here once again by dr. Paul

Bracken but by our special guest George

Vera founder of operation mobilization

and who has probably traveled around the

world as much as John Wesley did in his

day 250 years ago George thank you for

coming but you know Quinta is a very

important place for me this is just just

literally a few yards away is the Center

for operation mobilization in the UK so

boy it's great that we're here this is

almost better than that Cathedral where

was that Liverpool it was right there to

be at home with you here well we could

call this study in chapters 5 7 to 9 of

Proverbs the Master Craftsmen because

that phrase comes in as we take our key

truth to be well the heart and mind of

Christ written into the whole of life

I'll start from part of chapter 8

actually reading from verse 27 this is

the master craftsman speaking I was

there when he set the heavens in place

when he marked out the horizon on the

face of the deep when he established the

clouds above and fixed securely the

fountains of the deep when he gave the

sea its boundary so the waters would not

overstep his command and when he marked

out the foundations of the earth then I

was the craftsman at his side I was

filled with delight day after day

rejoicing always in his presence

rejoicing in his whole world and

delighting in mankind well we could then

as you look at that starting away in the

house of adultery is as we're looking at

in our last study is seen as a highway

to the grave we're looking back now

chapter 7 George

verse 2 here wisdom I need to see there

is called the apple of our eye but then

what happens when other people become

that how we so easily seduced by

desires and simple relationships that in

Chapter five illustrated by adultery and

this chapter is even more powerful

because it gives us a visual picture

this the character being attempted this

this woman deceiving him and drawing him

into major adultery it even says her

husband is away don't worry he won't be

back for a while we might ask why do we

even have these kind of stories in the

Bible and again God is trying to wake us

up to one of the most subtle strategies

of Satan to get and including Christian

leaders into moral failure and we're

seeing definitely an increase of that

even among Christian leaders even

sometimes among Michener's you know 58

years now in missions you can imagine

what I've seen fortunately in our own

movement we've had very little this and

I think it's partly because people in om

are just saturated with this kind of

training in special sessions and we

believe in accountability we leave in

walking in the light but overall there's

just a major onslaught of the enemy so

we need to read this we need to realize

this can happen to us Satan as a roaring

lion seeking whom he may devour and

constantly take these Old Testament

passages and allow them to push us into

the new testament so that we know about

forgiveness and grace when that failure

does come and she in this chapter 7

verse 14 she goes oh i fellowship

offerings at home I fulfill my vows so

she's pretending it sees within the

context of like the church family and

fellowship and she's she's been to the

temple she's worshiping the Lord or so

she says so it's not as if this is

totally outside of the church it's

something going on inside the church in

the book of Proverbs I remember when I

went in Mexico I was told the

prostitutes there in Mexico City are

some of the most faithful in going to

the confessional and they even have a

particular Saint that actually supposed

to help them in their career that really

shook me when I was in Mexico City and

actually as the as we read in Proverbs

in verse 18 half of chapter seven when

people do follow their passionate

desires it says they have drunk deeply

there sometimes say that they feel were

you is using a phrase in our previous

study for about they feel more alive as

in verse eighteen what's the outcome of

that path actually look at it yeah well

when we look at it if you look down like

verse 23 and 26 and 27 its death

look verse 27 her house is a highway to

the grave leading down to the chambers

of death so when people are like that

there's almost nothing more pathetic so

when you talk to a person who's having

an affair because everyone who looks on

can see the destruction and the death

and the chaos and how pathetic it is but

they will go no I've never felt more

alive it's amazing it's thrilling and

yet you can see it really isn't if they

only had eyes to see and so when people

sort of the Bible says that when were

separated from God was were dead Jesus

describes those who don't trust in him

as dead and there's a way in which there

is a sort of death down in the human

soul and were cut off from God but we

want to feel alive and so we may be

having a fir we feel alive then or we do

extreme sports or there's all kinds of

ways of feeling alive and do you know

even just food can make us feel alive or

our alcohol or drugs or things and but

all that is a false life and it fades

away and then we're more hungry than we

ever were before and that's why this

chapter is saying yeah I know you want

to feel alive but that actually leads to

death if you really want to drink deep

of real love and life then drink of the

Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ and

then you will drink and be satisfied

forever I will see that proved again and

again in different parts of the world

actually a view of this sort of darker

side then and we've been looking at the

good news obviously is that as we

interpret proverbs we can see Christ as

the craftsman who has mentioned there in

chapter 8 the craftsman of the father's

side so here we'll looking at all of

chapter 8 and you can see from verses

what 10 and 11 George that our our love

for the Lord must be greater than all

other loves so wisdom verse 10 verse 11

that's more valuable than anything else

in the world how can we how can flourish

uninstructed people have any hope of

gaining such wisdom now is there good

news we got the whole Bible and I

encourage people to not only study and

read the Bible but to memorize Scripture

and my struggle would lust a lot of

other things as a young Christian I got

into memorizing Scripture and that

really helped transform my life and even

my dream life by since doing that hardly

ever had these sort of sexual dreams

which used to be such a torment at times

and I just believe with all my heart of

course that verse in Colossians one of

the most important verses in my life was

that Wheaton College just for a short

time at a special course and I heard dr.

Edmund the president shared all these

intellectuals in him in Christ are all

the treasures of wisdom and knowledge so

every great truth that we're getting

from Proverbs will be confirmed in the

New Testament and it will transform our

lives and look at this 17 L Rome wisdom

proverbs 8 when wisdom goes I love those

who love me and those who seek me find

me and that's what just what Jesus says

isn't it if you seek me no more find me

I can oh yeah knock no seek ask knock

and the same thing wisdom says here

because a person will go oh I'm never

gonna be able to find wisdom I'm never

gonna be able to sort those out and he's

like honestly just call out for me and I

will come to you and you will you seek

for me well I'll find you you don't need

to find me I'll find you if you will

call out to me so that's why there's

always hope isn't there because you

might say oh I'm too lost no one's too

lost no we will find you I mean this is

a here's a sense as worth memorizing

verse 25 of chapter 8 for whoever finds

me that's the master master craftsman

speaking whoever finds me find some life

whoever finds me

life that is wonderful actually proverbs

how does proverbs 8 verse 22 onwards

shape much of the church's thinking

about Jesus for centuries

ah for centuries this isn't it it really

has and proverbs 8 / verse 22 the Lord

brought me forth as the first of his

works before his deeds of old it says it

that's this wisdom craftsman talking as

if it's a as if we're being told well

the father can't do anything without his

son the Lord Jesus when he created the

universe before he created anything he

brought out Christ and said here he is

through him I'll create all things let

him be the light and life of all

creation in him I hid all the treasures

of wisdom and knowledge

he's his logic is written into

everything Christ in all creation that's

what I'm being told here and nights like

the book of Joe when the Lord goes were

you there when I set the boundaries were

you there when I made the stars were you

there when I designed the animals and

did all this there's others and then

it's Christ goes yes re was re did all

those things it's me who's all that and

I think that's that wonderful thing that

although and Spurgeon I was reading this

week a beautiful serving vais Spurgeon

who it Christ our wisdom and in it I

wonder if I could just read this little

thing where he says before I knew the

gospel I gathered up a mixed mass of all

kinds of knowledge from here there and

everywhere bit of chemistry botany

astronomy everything I I put them

together in a big confused chaos when I

learned the gospel I got a shelf in my

head to put everything away upon just

where it should be it seemed to me when

I had discovered Christ and him

crucified I got the center of the system

so that I could see everything else

revolving around him I think that's very

good because that reminds me well it's

the answer to the question when people

say I can't see where Jesus fits in God

the second step it was a salacious who

was there over the fourth century AD

that great teacher from Egypt he once

said the only system of thought into

which Jesus Christ will fit is the one

in which he is the starting point and

that's again where we come back

to Christ at the center of all things so

quite logically we come to the

crossroads in where both wisdom and

foolishness are beckoning us there in

Chapter nine actually verse four that

all who are simple come in here she says

to those who lack judgment both wisdom

and folly are actually inviting the

simple to come in wisdom invites us to

leave our sinful ways verse six folly

invites us to indulge our sinful ways

and indulge our sinful ways there verse

16 and 17 we've got to decide repent or

in doubt how is that the heart of the

gospel job well mine my mind just can't

get past however verses verse 10 the

fear of the Lord is the beginning of

wisdom because we've been talking a lot

about wisdom but we can't separate that

from this awesomeness of God and I

believe one of the reasons we're seeing

so much shallow Christianity in our day

and so many people living in confusion

and compromise so even seem to love the

Lord is this is not considered

acceptable anymore the fear of the Lord

again we know some people have taken

that to extreme especially with their

children and that's sad but I believe

there's a basic truth here that we can't

miss it certainly has helped me

realizing that if I do something really

stupid sinful with another woman that

might be it

I mean the Lord might just put me on the

Shelf in fact Paul said I buff at my

body I bring it into subjection this is

Paul it's not me I bring it into

subjection lest after preaching to

others I become a castaway

there's place for a little just

old-fashioned of fear of God though I

know the word incorporates many of the

things especially worship and it's that

way in which sometimes person said oh I

was saved like 1972 I went forward and

I'm like no no what about today what

about now are you now choosing wisdom

over foolishness because every day

that's the choice isn't it that stands

before us every day

that it's not as if oh I won that I

wouldn't the battle with foolishness 25

years ago no today if you hear his voice

harden not your heart every day we can

be the most foolish person who's ever

lived it doesn't matter how wise I was

yesterday or how passionately I follow

Christ did yesterday today I must gather

up the manor

today I must say no to the foolishness

and yes to the wisdom that it's great

isn't it every day I've been warning

older people especially of the SSS this

is moving big time among the older

people you've probably heard it at the

SSS no its destructive yeah senior

stupidity syndrome so even as older

people we need to humble ourselves we

need to keep learning I just had this

story somebody not far from here a

leader in the church now 80 it's got as

I had money that his eyes on a you know

younger woman

you'd left everything the church

everything ran off with that woman and

you know we need to even when were older

keep account beware and be wise in

crisis the researcher AG Gibbs who said

never has been there so much knowledge

yet so much appalling stupidity and

that's today that's today so let's think

of a lord have mercy on me same with me

let's to give a have a fear of the Lord

and the knowledge of the Holy One then

it's you the verse you looking at first

10 how that device humanity into why is

it foolish and actually how does that

happen well it does happen because there

are people who are not followers of

Jesus but they seem to be wise in the

good business and the good at life and

the families and all that serving and

yet even still the Bible's us say now

that's ok and there were people in there

are people in the Old Testament who were

wise people like a hippo fell and other

people who were kind of wise but they

didn't know the Lord so it's like in

spite of all the business success or

military success or family success in a

way they are still fools because the one

thing that we must be wise in is wise in

the fear of the Lord because that is the

foundation stone for life so it's being

business as you want and in fact once

you follow Christ be good at business

his honor and glory being coder all

these other things but it doesn't matter

how wise we are in any other area of

life until we've got the foundation

straight which is the fear of the Lord

and that isn't a cringing terror of the

Lord it's that deep respect and love and

a desire to live his way and an

acknowledgment that all other ways are

wrong and when he speaks we listen

because we fear him and every day Jesus

teaches us to go our Father in heaven

Hallowed be your name

the very first thing he wants us to pray

is that we hello the name of the Father

in heaven oh my word

so I mean wisdom actually leaves its

signature on everything it touches but

the other way around and pray the same

is true that some people are so full of

actually words chatting talking

prattling on never listening never

hearing living our selves a chance so

that right there in the Bible we need to

hear right there in church we need to

listen right there in the Bible study we

need to take in and listen and here and

here and here so as it goes off the wise

old owl sat in an oak the more he heard

the less he spoke the less he spoke the

more he heard why aren't we like that

wise old bird see you next time

[Music]

you