Podcasts about old testament book

Join us for our midweek study through the Old Testament Book of Deuteronomy.

This Sunday, we'll return to God's King, our sermon series through the Old Testament Book of Samuel. As David and Saul come face-to-face, it becomes clear who has been more righteous than the other, who has spared who, and who is trusting God. As we read, we'll see that like Saul and like David, we too need one "more righteous than I." We need God's King to spare us

Today, Pastor Al Dagel takes us on a quick tour of the Old Testament Book of Malachi. 

Well this week we're kicking on with our second message in a series called Wisdom that Works - looking at some of God's mighty wisdom through the Book of Proverbs. And we're going to be chatting this time around, about trust, truth … and temptation.   Trust and Honour God Welcome to the programme again this week and yes, we are continuing in a series that I have called, "Wisdom that Works". Now wisdom is an amazing thing – a seductive concept. I mean, who doesn't want to have more wisdom; who doesn't want to be wise? That's ridiculous isn't it? Of course we all want wisdom; of course we all want to be wise, but wisdom ... well, it's a double edged sword. Sure, it's about having the knowledge that comes from experience but theory is aren't enough. Someone who knows that treating other people well and loving them and sacrificing for them; someone who knows that but spends most of their lives not doing it, well, we wouldn't call them wise would we? In order for someone to be wise, they need to know it and do it. That's wisdom! And the sort of wisdom that God shares with us is the sort of wisdom that actually works. So we are spending some time again this week ransacking the Book of Proverbs in the Old Testament, written by King Solomon – one of the wisest men that ever walked the earth. And my encouragement to you is that we take this wisdom from God and actually apply it to our lives. Why? Because it works! Bottom line is that if we will take God's wisdom to heart; if we will take God's Word to heart it will make a real difference in our lives. God will make that difference in our lives through His Spirit and through His Word. And if we don't take it to heart, He won't! Can I say that again? If we don't, He won't! So let's get back into this great Book of wisdom; the Book of Proverbs and see what wisdom Solomon has for us about trusting and honouring God. Proverbs chapter 3, beginning at verse 1. He says: My child, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments; for length of days and years of life and abundant welfare they will give you. Do not let loyalty and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. So you will find favour and good repute in the sight of God and of people. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. It will be a healing for your flesh and a refreshment for your body. Honour the Lord with your substance and with the first fruits of all your produce; then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine. My child, do not despise the Lord's discipline or be weary of his reproof, for the Lord reproves the one whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights. So we're chugging along through live, stuff happens and we get impatient and we want to head off our own way and here's Solomon with the wisdom of age telling his sons, "Guys, this is just going to happen. You'll want to drift away from God – you just will – but don't do that. Don't forget what I told you: be loyal, be faithful. I know it won't always make sense to you but listen to me, write these words on your hearts." So, stuff is happening and life is not going the way we planned it and it's not making sense and so we have a wisdom decision point here in that place. We can flap around, we can carry on, we can head off our own way – most people do – or we can say, "Hang on a minute; hang on! Remember what God told me through Solomon?" That was wisdom that works: Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not rely on your own understanding. In all you ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight. You see how we have a decision to make? Either we can believe this stuff and take God at His Word or we treat it like some useless theory lesson. Here's the promise: trust in God – don't try and figure it all out because you can't – just acknowledge God in how we live our lives. And listen, here's the promise; here's the dividend; here's the return on investment: if you do that God will straighten it all out. Listen to me, if we just honour God through the difficult times in what we say and what we think and what we do, God will straighten it all out. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Don't rely on your own insight. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make straight your paths. Now, let me ask you: which bit of that don't we get? Why do we have to make everything so complicated? Are we going to be like those people I was telling you about the other week? Are we going to spend hours and hours and hours studying the Bible for studying's sake, as though it was some intellectual exercise, without ever really believing that it is meant to be true in our lives or are we going to take God at His Word? Are we going to take God's wisdom to heart? See, he goes on to tell us what it means to honour God: Trust the Lord with all your heart, don't rely on your own understanding, acknowledge him in all your ways and he will make straight all your paths. Don't be wise in your own eyes – instead fear God and turn away from evil. It will be a healing to your flesh and refreshment to your body. How often do people pierce themselves with many pains by turning away from God– by going and doing it their own way; by being proud; by being greedy; by being selfish? Honour the Lord with your substance and with the first fruits of all your produce. In other words, put in first with all that you are and all that you have: ... and then your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will be bursting with wine. My child, don't despise God's discipline and get weary of his reproof? He loves you! He reproves the one whom He loves as the father does the son in whom he delights. See, this is such simple wisdom ... it is so simple. We want to go off and do it on our own and flap around and carry on and wander away from God and then we wonder why it is all falling apart. This is about trusting God and honouring Him – and the two go hand in hand. I absolutely love how practical God's truth actually is! And when we just simply put this into practice in the everyday things that happen in life – in the tense relationships, in just forgiving people, in moving on, in honouring God, in blessing other people when they curse us, in the simple things of life – they might be simple but often they are difficult – if we will just put this into action in our lives; when we choose to stop mucking around, flapping around, complaining, doing the "woe is me" bit and just sit down and decide, "God, come hell or high water, I am going to trust in You. I am just going to do the best I know how, I am going to honour You the best I can with what I have and who I am", do you know what happens? God honour that; God springs into action; He starts sorting out the mess. My friend, this is not – let me say this in capital letters – N-O-T ... this is NOT a theory lesson. God's wisdom is imparted into our lives when we take His truth into our hearts and live it out. Don't forget His teaching, let your heart keep His commandments because there is a blessing at the end of that – for length of days and years of live and abundant welfare they will give you. Do not let loyalty and faithfulness forsake you. Bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart so you will find favour and good repute in the sight of God. As you sow so shall you reap. Do it God's way and you reap the blessing – do it your own way and you reap the pain. This is not complex; this is not rocket science.   True Wealth Now the next thing that Solomon talks about in the Book of Proverbs is money and wealth. Now a man that I have come to have a lot of respect for is a guy by the name of David Bussau. For a good many years we have attended the same church as David and his wife Carol. He is the founder of a ministry called Opportunity International; an organisation that now creates a new job in the developing world, something like every twenty second, or something outrageous like that. I heard David one day talking about the "economics of enough". Now he lives in a comfortable home and they constantly have people staying who are visiting for ministry reasons. He drives an ordinary car, dresses in ordinary everyday clothes. And he said he came to the conclusion many years ago that he had more than enough "stuff" – he just didn't need any more. It was the "economics of enough". Remember we are talking this week and the next few weeks about God's wisdom; wisdom that works. And we are doing that by taking a step through some of the powerful wisdom that we discover in the Old Testament Book of Proverbs which was written by King Solomon to capture the wisdom that he was handing down to his sons. And not surprisingly, fairly early on in the piece he talks about money – not so much money but wealth. Have a listen to what he says – Proverbs chapter 3, beginning at verse 13. He says: Happy are those who find wisdom, and those who get understanding, for her income is better than silver, and her revenue better than gold. She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honour. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her; those who hold her fast are called happy. Now, there was a time in my life, in fact, for much of my life where I would have scoffed at this suggestion. "Aw, give me a break please. How can wisdom possibly be better than silver or gold and precious jewels? How can wisdom be better than anything that my little heart desires? No, I'll just have the cash thanks – show me the money." And for all that to make sense there are two things we need to know about Solomon. Not only was he blessed with great wisdom – he was one of the wisest men that ever lived – but he was also one of the richest men in all of history. And it all comes to Solomon when he prays to God – have a listen – as a young man. It comes from First Kings chapter 3, verse 5 right through to verse 13, so grab your Bible. First Kings chapter 3, beginning at verse 5: At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, “Ask what I should give you.” And Solomon said, “You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant my father David, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you; and you have kept for him this great and steadfast love, and have given him a son to sit on his throne today. And now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David, although I am only a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. And your servant is in the midst of the people whom you have chosen, a great people, so numerous they cannot be numbered or counted.  Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil; for who can govern this your great people?” It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. God said to him, “Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches, or for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, I now do according to your word. Indeed I give you a wise and discerning mind; no one like you has been before you and no one like you shall arise after you. I give you also what you have not asked for, both riches and honour all the days of your life; no other king shall compare with you. Right from the beginning, as a young man, Solomon had preferred wisdom over riches so he asked God for wisdom. What a brilliant thing to ask for! I wonder what you and I would have asked for if God had said to us, “Ask what I should give you?” So, all of his adult life, Solomon had both great wisdom and great riches. And having lived his life with both, out of his experience he was able to say to his sons: wisdom is so much better than anything else that you can imagine. Why? Why did he say that? Because the dividend; the return that this wisdom gave him was huge. Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honour. Her ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her; those who hold her fast are called happy. You know, that's a dividend statement that Solomon makes after a life of wisdom. As much as we try and kid ourselves, we know – we know through experience, we know deep in our hearts – that riches can never deliver that sort of dividend. We chase after money alone and it's a lonely, unhappy life. Believe you me, I've been there, done that, got the T-shirt and I can tell you ABSOLUTELY that wealth simply doesn't deliver that sort of dividend – a dividend of riches and peace and pleasantness and joy and happiness. Wisdom ... wisdom means that we learn God's truth and we put it into action in our lives. Even though sometimes; in fact, most times it involves sacrifice up front, like any other investment. We live out God's truth in our lives – that's what wisdom is – and we reap the rewards – peace, life, joy. Why? Because we know how to avoid the dumb things we used to do that caused us so much pain; because we know how to make good choices that bear good fruit. True wealth is living a life of abundance in Christ. True wealth is having the wisdom to build strong relationships and enjoy serving others and getting over our pride and our stupid tantrums. Wisdom is about ultimately enjoying life – whatever life throws our way. Friend, this is such great advice! But it only becomes true wisdom in our lives when we put it into action and the thing to put into action here is to seek after wisdom above and before riches, because nothing ... NOTHING compares to the dividends paid by wisdom; God's wisdom. The sort of wisdom that works!   Impurity and Infidelity I remember back in college one of our lecturers in a subject about, I guess, the foundational issues of Christian living – said to each one of us who were training for some form of ministry or another - he said: there are three things that can bring you unstuck: girls, gold and glory (or in the case of women, guys, gold and glory.) In other words, people whom God calls to serve Him, often stumble in infidelity or because they start loving wealth too much. We spoke about that last week. Or because they seek the glory and they fall to pride. It's not a bad executive summary, is it? Girls or guys, as the case may be, gold and glory. Well as we roll on to the next piece of wisdom from Solomon in the Book of Proverbs, we are going to chat a bit about the girls, guys thing, or impurity and infidelity, because it's huge. Statistically, almost half of all marriages fall apart – and in fact, of those that remain, only fraction are what you would call happy marriages – the sorts of marriages where people really thrive. The facts about marital infidelity – sexual unfaithfulness to a spouse are astounding. Polls in the U.S. show that, although ninety percent of married people disapprove of extramarital affairs, fifteen percent of wives and twenty five percent of husbands have experienced extramarital sex. Now those numbers increase a further twenty percent when emotional affairs and sexual relationships without intercourse are included - so thirty five percent of women and forty five percent of men have been unfaithful to their spouse. That's frightening, isn't it? Marriage is supposed to be the most wonderful relationship - fulfilling, lifelong soul mates and yet, almost half of all men and over a third of all women have some sort of extramarital affair. That blows me away! But it's nothing new! Almost three thousand years ago Solomon, when instructing his young sons with the wisdom of his years, spends a whole chapter, in fact, a couple of chapters – the 5th chapter and another chapter in the Book of Proverbs, on this very subject. It's one of the first subjects he deals with comprehensively – maybe the stats were pretty much the same back then as they are today. Let's have a listen to what he had to say to his sons about infidelity. Proverbs chapter 5, beginning at verse 1: My child, be attentive to my wisdom; incline your ear to my understanding, so that you may hold on to prudence, and your lips may guard knowledge. For the lips of a loose woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil; but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her steps follow the path to Sheol. She does not keep straight to the path of life; her ways wander, and she does not know it. In other words, the grass may well appear greener on the other side, guys, but this seduction that promises so much is going to kill you. Even though the thought of an affair may be oh so seductive, oh so tempting, it leads only to bitterness, pain and destruction. I remember a man I used to work with back in my days in the I.T. industry and he had two affairs outside his marriage – two that I know of anyway. I knew the husband and the wife quite well. He was lured into this trap; he followed his desires and his emotions and it almost destroyed both of them. By God's grace his wife was a godly woman and strong and with great faith and their marriage weathered the storm. But the pain and of course, as much as all may be forgiven, the memory never, ever, ever, goes away. And the crazy thing was, they had everything. And here's the advice that Solomon has for his sons – here's the wisdom that really works – Proverbs 5, beginning at verse 7: And now, my child, listen to me, and do not depart from the words of my mouth. Keep your ways far from her, and do not go near the door of her house; or you will give your honour to others, and your years to the merciless, and strangers will take their fill of your wealth, and your labours will go to the house of another; and at the end of your life you will groan, when your flesh and body are consumed, and you say, “Oh, how I hated discipline, and my heart despised reproof! I did not listen to the voice of my teachers or incline my ear to my instructors. Now I am at the point of utter ruin in the public assembly. The advice - the wisdom that works? Keep away from relationships that can lead to infidelity. “My child, listen to me, keep away from her door.” Don't go there! Don't put yourself in a position of temptation. Don't spend time alone with members of the opposite sex. Don't form close bonds and relationships that could head in the wrong direction. Keep yourself to yourself – just don't go there or it will ruin you and you will spend the rest of your life regretting it. And the alternative? Well, it's pretty obvious – Proverbs chapter 5, verse 15: Drink water from your own cistern; flowing water from your own well. Should your springs be scattered abroad, streams of water in the streets? Let them be for yourself alone, and not for sharing with strangers. Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth, a lovely deer, a graceful doe. May her breasts satisfy you at all times; may you be intoxicated always by her love. Why should you be intoxicated, my son, by another woman and embrace the bosom of an adulteress? For human ways are under the eyes of the Lord, and he examines all their paths. The iniquities of the wicked ensnare them, and they are caught in the toils of their sin. They die for lack of discipline, and because of their great folly they are lost. My friend, if you have a wife, enjoy her – if you are a woman with a husband, enjoy him. Do not be enticed into an extramarital affair, like almost half of all men and over a third of all women who are married are. Enjoy each other – God has given the wife to the husband and the husband to the wife so that they may truly enjoy each other, emotionally and physically and spiritually and be the best of friends and live their lives together for one another. Find fulfilment husbands, in arms of your wives; wives find fulfilment in the arms of your husbands. Sure, they are not perfect! Let's get a revelation here today – they never will be, ever – but they are the lifelong soul mate that God has given you and that ... that is the right place, the only place in God's eyes, to discover and to experience and to enjoy and to revel in the beauty of intimacy. Remember, forty five percent of men and thirty five percent of women – now you may think this is an odd subject for us to be discussing today but judging from the statistics, Solomon was right to make this one a high priority. My prayer is that you will never; never know the pain and the bitter regret of adultery. Please listen to God's Word today; please heed His warning! This is God's wisdom - it is wisdom that works.

In this episode of the Audio Bible Podcast, we conclude our reading from the Old Testament Book of Malachi with chapter 4 from the New International Version. Subscribe today for Q&A, special content and more: https://anchor.fm/theaudiobible/subscribe

In this episode of the Audio Bible Podcast, we conclude our reading from the Old Testament Book of Malachi with chapter 4 from the New International Version. Subscribe today for Q&A, special content and more: https://anchor.fm/theaudiobible/subscribe

In this episode of the Audio Bible Podcast, we continue our reading from the Old Testament Book of Malachi with chapter 3 from the New International Version. Subscribe today for Q&A, special content and more: https://anchor.fm/theaudiobible/subscribe

In this episode of the Audio Bible Podcast, we continue our reading from the Old Testament Book of Malachi with chapter 2 from the New International Version. Subscribe today for Q&A, special content and more: https://anchor.fm/theaudiobible/subscribe

In this episode of the Audio Bible Podcast, we begin our reading from the Old Testament Book of Malachi with chapter 1 from the New International Version. Subscribe today for Q&A, special content and more: https://anchor.fm/theaudiobible/subscribe

Most of us intuitively know that wisdom's a good thing. Sometimes we're full of it - wisdom that is … and sometimes, we're full of ourselves and that's when we come unstuck. So - where do we find the sort of wisdom that really makes a difference?   Wisdom Starts Here Hey, it's fantastic to be with you again this week. How quickly the weeks roll on by! And today I am really excited because we are kicking off a brand new series of messages called “Wisdom that Works”. Now, I don't know about you but I have done some pretty silly things in my life. We all make mistakes and the thing is that the mistakes have consequences. Sometimes those consequences are mildly annoying but other times, they are devastating. Sometimes we don't even notice some of the silly things that we're doing – they seem so trivial and yet we do them over and over and over and over and over again and the consequences compound and before we know it, we have a situation on our hands. Wisdom is about avoiding mistakes so that we can avoid the consequences. Wisdom is about taking the goodness and the experiences and the knowledge that others have developed and decide to apply in our lives so that we have a better life. Fewer mistakes, fewer consequences! And it's not just about avoiding mistakes, it's about knowing how to handle difficult situations. It's about knowing how to be proactive in making good things happen, rather than wallowing around in the consequences of repeated stupidities. In fact, there is a lot to be said for wisdom – the sort of wisdom that actually works. Okay, so exactly what is wisdom? I mean, intuitively, we know that wisdom is probably a good thing and most of us wouldn't mind having a bit more of it but have you ever stopped to think exactly what is it? Well, here's a dictionary definition: Wisdom is the quality of having experience, knowledge and good judgement and the soundness of action or decision by applying this experience and knowledge and good judgement. That's not bad! You boil that down and there are two parts to that. Firstly, knowing what to do and then doing it. Knowing what to do and then not doing it is pretty dumb and that's why I for one have done some dumb things in my life. Yes, sure, sometimes I didn't know what the right thing was to do, so I ran into a brick wall and it hurt and I learned that that particular thing doesn't work. Or perhaps, even better, I listened to someone else who had run into that brick wall before me and I learned from their experience. But sometimes, you know, we know the right thing, either because we just know – I mean, I know that it's wrong to rob a bank and I know that if I do, there are going to be some undesirable consequences – or because I have been down that road before or because I have listened to someone who has. So, sometimes we know the right thing to do – we have access to the knowledge but then we turn around and we don't do it. I know that drink driving is dangerous. I know that. Seen the road statistics lately? Seen the random breath testing stations on the road? Yea, so I have the knowledge, but if I get into that car, having had too much to drink and run over a pedestrian – you know, some people do that – then do I have wisdom? No, just the knowledge! For it to be wisdom you have to have the knowledge and then put it into action. Wisdom isn't just having the experience and the knowledge and the good judgement, wisdom is using it; acting on it; doing it; living it. Wisdom is only wisdom when it involves the knowledge and the doing. Does that make sense? Quite a few thousand years ago, King Solomon, King of Israel, David's son, was pretty much recognised as one of the wisest men on the planet. He had a few sons and so he decided to jot down some of that wisdom. We have access to that in the Book of Proverbs in the Old Testament and over these coming four weeks we are going to spend some time ransacking this Book for wisdom - getting as much of the proverbial Wisdom of Solomon as we can, so that we can put that to work in our lives. And that's the key: putting it to work. I can help by unlocking the treasure chest of wisdom, I can help even by encouraging you to put it to work but only you can make it happen in your life – only I can make it happen in my life. Remember this series is called “Wisdom that Works.” Okay, where do we find that wisdom? Where do we start? Well, let's start at the beginning of the Book of Proverbs, chapter 1 – the preamble; the introduction; the reason for wisdom. That's what it's all about. Proverbs chapter 1, beginning at verse 1: The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel: For learning about wisdom and instruction, for understanding words of insight for gaining instruction in wise dealing, righteousness, justice, and equity; to teach shrewdness to the simple, knowledge and prudence to the young. Let the wise also hear and gain in learning, and the discerning acquire skill, to understand a proverb and a figure, the words of the wise and their riddles. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction. Hear, my child, your father's instruction, and do not reject your mother's teaching; for they are a fair garland for your head, and pendants for your neck. Well, isn't that what we have just been talking about? It's about getting good wisdom into us and for it to have a good outcome. God's wisdom – the sort of wisdom that actually works. There is plenty of wisdom out there that purports to be real but it's fake; it's a ‘me' centred wisdom which will eventually come unstuck. Not a God-centred wisdom at all and that, my friends, is the starting point of wisdom – shifting our thoughts and our hearts away from the seductive slight-of-hand that passes for worldly wisdom and coming back to the source of real wisdom – the sort of wisdom that actually works. Have a listen again to what Solomon writes about where to find wisdom that works – Proverbs chapter 1, verse 7: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction. And the meaning of that word ‘fear' in that context isn't just fear of the consequences of God's judgement if we are rebel against Him – and there is that and it will happen – but awe and respect and reverence. When I was a young lad, if I played up, I knew I would get a belting from my Dad – but much better to live in respect of my Dad, knowing of course, that a belting was in the offing if I mucked up – but living instead in a good respect for my father and avoiding the belting all together. See, there are two sides to that "fear" thing and it's when we finally decide to stick our pride in our pockets, to realise that all along, "I've been trying to do it my way and hey, you know what, it isn't working so brilliantly well. It isn't bringing me the joy and contentment and the satisfaction that I've been craving for." Admitting that and saying, "You know something, God? I have been wandering out there, trying to do it my way and it's not working. I can reject and despise Your wisdom and instruction and live with the consequences, God, or I can yield my life to You and do it Your way." And throughout the Book of Proverbs there is a contrast between the wise and the foolish, between good outcomes and bad outcomes. And that's what we are going to be exploring over these coming weeks on the programme. But the starting point is here: Proverbs chapter 1, verse 7: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction. And the choice is yours for your life and mine for my life. Question is: which way will we choose?   Good Friends, Bad Friends Do you remember when you were growing up? You know when you were in those teenage years, your parents would tell you this or tell you that and we would just roll our eyes into the back of our heads, wouldn't we? "Don't hang out with the wrong crowd; be careful of the company you keep". "Yeh, yeh, yeh, right, what would they know – the oldies?" But it's really interesting in this Old Testament Book of Proverbs – thirty one chapters, packed, verse after verse with lots of wisdom. One of the very first things that Solomon talks to his sons about, in fact, the very first thing after talking to them about where to find wisdom - which is what we chatted about earlier - the very next thing is the crowd they hang around with. You know, maturity is an interesting thing. As we grow, we grow in our ability to discern what "good advice" is. Sometimes we reject people's advice because it is inappropriate or self-interested but what we are about to hear is some very good advice – some stunning advice, in fact and if we put this into action then it becomes wisdom. Now, any parent knows that if our kids keep bad company that doesn't auger well for their future because that bad company is a bad influence and it can be terribly, terribly destructive on our kids when they are growing up. And this is what Solomon has to say to these young me – his sons – about keeping bad company. Proverbs chapter 1, beginning at verse 10. He said: My child, if sinners entice you, do not consent. If they say, “Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood; let us wantonly ambush the innocent; like Sheol let us swallow them alive and whole, like those who go down to the Pit. We shall find all kinds of costly things; we shall fill our houses with booty. Throw in your lot amongst us; we will all have enough in the one purse”, my child, do not walk in their way, keep your foot from their paths; for their feet run to evil, and they hurry to shed blood. For in vain is the net baited while the bird is looking on; yet they lie in wait—to kill themselves! and set an ambush—for their own lives! Such is the end of all who are greedy for gain; it takes away the life of its possessors. Okay, hopefully most of us aren't murderers – hopefully most of us aren't going to go and lie in wait and mug someone and rob them but we kind of do that sometimes in life, through our behaviour and our attitudes and dishonesty and aggressively looking after our own interests above other peoples' interests. And it turns out that keeping bad company is different from being around bad people. You go to work, you go to church, you are a member of a club, you interact with people and some of them are great and some of them are fantastic – they're wonderful to be with – and some of them are downright awful. That's life! When we deal with people sometimes, we have to deal with those people and everything in between. But it's not whether we are around them or not, so much, it's a question of influence. Let's go back to what Solomon said – Proverbs chapter 1, verse 10: My child, if sinners entice you, do not consent … My child, do not walk in their way; keep you foot from their paths; for their feet run to evil and they hurry to shed blood. Look what Solomon says – he says, "Look don't be tempted by bad company or listen to them when they say, ‘Come on, let's gang up on someone and kill them, just for the fun of it." It's a question of whether we take their advice and go with them; whether we keep their company; whether we let them influence what we think, what we feel and ultimately, what we do. Here's the chain of events: they speak, we hear. Now, when we hear, we have a decision to make – we either accept or reject. And if we accept, it changes our behaviour and if it changes our behaviour, that has consequences – that's the important bit. When we hear, do we accept or reject? Do we rely on them or not? Do we trust them or don't we? Do we put our faith in them, to the extent that we let them change what we do? It's not that we are around bad people; it's not even that we hear them speak – that's not the problem. It's when we are tempted by them and when we allow them to change what we do. It's a question of influence. Bad company can discourage us; it can lead us to complaining; it can be disruptive; it can make us suspicious; it can make us envious; it can make us dishonest; it can make us violent. Bad company is an entry point of bad influence from other people and I have enough issues in my life to deal with without taking on bad stuff from other people. Now, at the end of the day, all of us want to live a good life. Sure, we want to be comfortable, we want to be happy but part of that is knowing that we are living a good life - that there's a goodness that we are reaping the fruit from and God comes to us here – this is stuff from Solomon, it's from the Bible. And we might go, ‘Aw, come on, it's three thousand years ago. Aw, it's from the Bible – it's not for me.' Come on, this is good advice! God is giving us Fatherly advice, born out of His love because whilst bad company may entice us into action that appears to give us a quick win, ultimately that bad influence ... ultimately that bad influence leads us to destruction. Listen again to the consequences – Proverbs chapter 1, verse 17: For in vain is the net baited while the bird is looking on; yet they lie in wait, ultimately to kill themselves – they set an ambush ultimately, for their own lives. Such is the end of all those who are greedy for gain – it takes away the life that it possesses. See, they think they are ambushing the other guy through their bad deeds but in fact, they are ambushing themselves. They want to kill the other guy but their evil desires are going to destroy them. Come on, who do you hang around with? Who are the people whom you allow to influence you and are any of those ruining your life with a bad influence? Because if they are, it's like drinking in poison from them – it's time to do something about it. Bad company drags us down – bad company has consequences and we are going to sit here and go, "Well, that's a nice story from Solomon, Berni," and we can ignore it but there will be consequences. Or we can take it on board; we can say, "You know what, this advice from God through the Book of Proverbs; from Solomon – this is great advice!" I never really thought of it that way. Do you know something: there are some changes I need to make about the people I hang around with?   The Value of Wisdom Now, the very next thing that Solomon talks about in the Book of Proverbs, after the beginning of wisdom and the impact of bad company, is the value of wisdom. Now, why do people make investments? Why do they take their hard earned money and buy shares in a company? Well, it's not for the fun of it so much – people make investments in order to reap a return. On the stock market, the price of a particular share goes up and it goes down, according to the market's perception of the return that they can make on their investment in that particular company. If the company has good prospects, the value goes up – if there are some bad returns, the value falls down. It's the way of the world! But it's not God's way – God has an investment that we can make in the good times that actually pays dividends in the tough times. In fact, that's the whole point of this particular investment. Intuitively we all know that wisdom is a good thing – we would all like so more of it and so you have to ask yourself, why is it that we are not all as wise as we can be? Why is it that we are not full to overflowing with the Wisdom of Solomon? Well, the answer is simple – because like any investment, wisdom requires a sacrifice up front. If I invest some of my hard earned cash in this company or that company on the stock market then the point is I have to use the money that I would have spent otherwise, for that investment. I have to make a sacrifice up front. It's locked away – the money – and hopefully it's locked away because it will earn me a good return. That's the concept of investing – sacrificing now so that we can benefit later on. It's the same with wisdom but the mistake that we can often make with wisdom is that we imagine that it's just about having the knowledge and the experience and the principles. I mean, all those are necessary but they don't become wisdom until we put them into action – until we live them out. That's when we demonstrate that we have wisdom – by living it. So, back to this question: why is it that we are not all living virtuous lives, reaping the harvest of our wisdom? Because we haven't bought into it! And when do we buy into a company? We do it when we think there is going to be a good return. The problem for most people is that they don't perceive a return on investment – the upfront sacrifice – when it comes to this precious commodity that they call "wisdom". So right now we are going to look at what accountants and economists call "ROI's" – return on investment. So let's dive into the Book of Proverbs; Solomon's advice to his young sons and let's see what it say about the ROI on our investment in wisdom. Proverbs chapter 1, beginning at verse 20: Wisdom cries out in the street; in the squares she raises her voice. At the busiest corner she cries out; at the entrance of the city gates she speaks: “How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge?  Give heed to my reproof; I will pour out my thoughts to you; I will make my words known to you. Because I have called and you refused, have stretched out my hand and no one heeded, and because you have ignored all my counsel and would have none of my reproof, I also will laugh at you in your calamity; I will mock when panic strikes you, when panic strikes you like a storm, and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you. Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently, but they will not find me. Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord, would have none of my counsel, and despised all my reproof, therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way and be sated with their own devices. For waywardness kills the simple, and the complacency of fools destroys them; but those who listen to me, (says wisdom,) will be secure and will live at ease, without dread of disaster. I love the old Hebrew writings and the way they use picture language. And here we have this picture of wisdom as a person, calling out to us from the street corner in the middle of life, stretching out her hand – but everyone walks by and ignores her – they are too busy with life. Doesn't this just hit the nail right on the head? Earlier we looked at Solomon's advice to his sons about the company they keep – keep bad company and they will lead you astray and it will cost you a lot of pain. That's it in a nutshell! So times were good – his sons had a choice: listen to Dad; take his advice; turn away from the bad company or continue to hunt with that pack. Wisdom is something that so often comes to us when the times are good. When the economy is buoyant and returns are strong – she cries out to us; she stretches out her hand – invest in me! So we have a choice – we either go and invest; we act on the advice of God's wisdom; we live out that wisdom in the good times when it appears that we don't actually need the wisdom; when it appears that we don't need to make a sacrifice - we either do it then or we don't. And the whole point of wisdom is that we need to act on it in the good times in order to reap the reward in the bad times. Let me say that again: wisdom is the one investment we can make that delivers a dividend in the tough times. All the other investments come crashing down in the tough times but it's the dividend of wisdom that stands head and shoulders above the rest. Listen to what Solomon said again – Proverbs chapter 1, verse 32: For waywardness kills the simple and the complacency of fools destroys them but those who listen to me will be secure and will live at ease without dread of disaster. So wisdom either helps us to avoid the bad times - as in the case of the advice about keeping bad company - or when the bad times hit, which of course, they inevitably do in life. We don't want bad times to hit but they always do. Eventually the cycle turns and the bad times hit. And see, wisdom helps us in the bad times. It's like putting away some savings today so that we have some spare cash on a rainy day – bad choices in the good times inevitably lead to bad outcomes and bad consequences. Wise choices however, the sacrifices that we make in living out God's wisdom, pays dividends. It may not lead to perfect outcomes that we always planned but wisdom pays dividends. In fact, it pays huge dividends in tough times. This is wisdom that works! Wisdom cries out to us – God cries out to us, "Listen to Me – sacrifice the things I ask you to sacrifice and I will be with you there in the tough times; in the bad times because God's wisdom is wisdom that works."

In this episode of the Audio Bible Podcast, we introduce our reading from the Old Testament Book of Malachi from the New International Version. Subscribe today for Q&A, special content and more: https://anchor.fm/theaudiobible/subscribe

In this episode of the Audio Bible Podcast, we conclude our reading from the Old Testament Book of Zechariah with chapter 14 from the New International Version. Subscribe today for Q&A, special content and more: https://anchor.fm/theaudiobible/subscribe

In this episode of the Audio Bible Podcast, we continue our reading from the Old Testament Book of Zechariah with chapter 13 from the New International Version. Subscribe today for Q&A, special content and more: https://anchor.fm/theaudiobible/subscribe

In this episode of the Audio Bible Podcast, we continue our reading from the Old Testament Book of Zechariah with chapter 12 from the New International Version. Subscribe today for Q&A, special content and more: https://anchor.fm/theaudiobible/subscribe

In this episode of the Audio Bible Podcast, we continue our reading from the Old Testament Book of Zechariah with chapter 11 from the New International Version. Subscribe today for Q&A, special content and more: https://anchor.fm/theaudiobible/subscribe

In this episode of the Audio Bible Podcast, we continue our reading from the Old Testament Book of Zechariah with chapter 10 from the New International Version. Subscribe today for Q&A, special content and more: https://anchor.fm/theaudiobible/subscribe

In this episode of the Audio Bible Podcast, we continue our reading from the Old Testament Book of Zechariah with chapter 9 from the New International Version. Subscribe today for Q&A, special content and more: https://anchor.fm/theaudiobible/subscribe

In this episode of the Audio Bible Podcast, we continue our reading from the Old Testament Book of Zechariah with chapter 8 from the New International Version. Subscribe today for Q&A, special content and more: https://anchor.fm/theaudiobible/subscribe

In this episode of the Audio Bible Podcast, we continue our reading from the Old Testament Book of Zechariah with chapter 7 from the New International Version. Subscribe today for Q&A, special content and more: https://anchor.fm/theaudiobible/subscribe

In this episode of the Audio Bible Podcast, we continue our reading from the Old Testament Book of Zechariah with chapter 6 from the New International Version. Subscribe today for Q&A, special content and more: https://anchor.fm/theaudiobible/subscribe

In this episode of the Audio Bible Podcast, we continue our reading from the Old Testament Book of Zechariah with chapter 5 from the New International Version. Subscribe today for Q&A, special content and more: https://anchor.fm/theaudiobible/subscribe

In this episode of the Audio Bible Podcast, we continue our reading from the Old Testament Book of Zechariah with chapter 4 from the New International Version. Subscribe today for Q&A, special content and more: https://anchor.fm/theaudiobible/subscribe

Since Jesus was fully human, that means he needed to learn just like we do. But how could he learn what he needed to know in order to become God's Messiah and the Saviour of the world? The answer isn't controversial, but it may surprise you. Join Scott and Shawn as they discover Jesus' foundation for thinking and why it affects how Christians should think about everything.

In this episode of the Audio Bible Podcast, we continue our reading from the Old Testament Book of Zechariah with chapter 3 from the New International Version. Subscribe today for Q&A, special content and more: https://anchor.fm/theaudiobible/subscribe

In this episode of the Audio Bible Podcast, we continue our reading from the Old Testament Book of Zechariah with chapter 2 from the New International Version. Subscribe today for Q&A, special content and more: https://anchor.fm/theaudiobible/subscribe

In this episode of the Audio Bible Podcast, we begin our reading from the Old Testament Book of Zechariah with chapter 1 from the New International Version. Subscribe today for Q&A, special content and more: https://anchor.fm/theaudiobible/subscribe

In this episode of the Audio Bible Podcast, we introduce our reading from the Old Testament Book of Zechariah from the New International Version. Subscribe today for Q&A, special content and more: https://anchor.fm/theaudiobible/subscribe

In this episode of the Audio Bible Podcast, we conclude our reading from the Old Testament Book of Haggai with chapter 2 from the New International Version. Subscribe today for Q&A, special content and more: https://anchor.fm/theaudiobible/subscribe

In this episode of the Audio Bible Podcast, we begin our reading from the Old Testament Book of Haggai with chapter 1 from the New International Version. Subscribe today for Q&A, special content and more: https://anchor.fm/theaudiobible/subscribe

In this episode of the Audio Bible Podcast, we conclude our reading from the Old Testament Book of Zephaniah with chapter 3 from the New International Version. Subscribe today for Q&A, special content and more: https://anchor.fm/theaudiobible/subscribe

In this episode of the Audio Bible Podcast, we introduce our reading from the Old Testament Book of Haggai from the New International Version. Subscribe today for Q&A, special content and more: https://anchor.fm/theaudiobible/subscribe

In this episode of the Audio Bible Podcast, we continue our reading from the Old Testament Book of Zephaniah with chapter 2 from the New International Version. Subscribe today for Q&A, special content and more: https://anchor.fm/theaudiobible/subscribe

In this episode of the Audio Bible Podcast, we begin our reading from the Old Testament Book of Zephaniah with chapter 1 from the New International Version. Subscribe today for Q&A, special content and more: https://anchor.fm/theaudiobible/subscribe

In this episode of the Audio Bible Podcast, we introduce our reading from the Old Testament Book of Zephaniah from the New International Version. Subscribe today for Q&A, special content and more: https://anchor.fm/theaudiobible/subscribe

In this episode of the Audio Bible Podcast, we conclude our reading from the Old Testament Book of Habakkuk with chapter 3 from the New International Version. Subscribe today for Q&A, special content and more: https://anchor.fm/theaudiobible/subscribe

In this episode of the Audio Bible Podcast, we continue our reading from the Old Testament Book of Habakkuk with chapter 2 from the New International Version. Subscribe today for Q&A, special content and more: https://anchor.fm/theaudiobible/subscribe

In this episode of the Audio Bible Podcast, we begin our reading from the Old Testament Book of Habakkuk with chapter 1 from the New International Version. Subscribe today for Q&A, special content and more: https://anchor.fm/theaudiobible/subscribe

In this episode of the Audio Bible Podcast, we conclude our reading from the Old Testament Book of Nahum with chapter 3 from the New International Version. Subscribe today for Q&A, special content and more: https://anchor.fm/theaudiobible/subscribe

In this episode of the Audio Bible Podcast, we introduce our reading from the Old Testament Book of Habakkuk from the New International Version. Subscribe today for Q&A, special content and more: https://anchor.fm/theaudiobible/subscribe

In this episode of the Audio Bible Podcast, we continue our reading from the Old Testament Book of Nahum with chapter 2 from the New International Version. Subscribe today for Q&A, special content and more: https://anchor.fm/theaudiobible/subscribe

In this episode of the Audio Bible Podcast, we begin our reading from the Old Testament Book of Nahum with chapter 1 from the New International Version. Subscribe today for Q&A, special content and more: https://anchor.fm/theaudiobible/subscribe

In this episode of the Audio Bible Podcast, we introduce our reading from the Old Testament Book of Nahum from the New International Version. Subscribe today for Q&A, special content and more: https://anchor.fm/theaudiobible/subscribe

In this episode of the Audio Bible Podcast, we conclude our reading from the Old Testament Book of Micah with chapter 7 from the New International Version. Subscribe today for Q&A, special content and more: https://anchor.fm/theaudiobible/subscribe

This week we are joined by fellow Bible enthusiast and returning guest Patrick, creator of CANTGETFOOLEDAGAIN, to discuss the Old Testament Book of Proverbs. We discuss the voluminous advice this book extolls as well as contemplate the Lady of Wisdom and her gnostic implications and how she intersects with the Girardian interpretation of the Gospels and the nature of the gradual revelations of the Bible. Don't forget to join our Telegram channel at T.me/historyhomos and to join our group chat at T.me/historyhomoschat The video version of the show is available on Youtube, bitchute, odysee. For weekly premium episodes or to contribute to the show subscribe to our channel at www.rokfin.com/historyhomos Any questions comments concerns or T-shirt/sticker requests can be leveled at historyhomos@gmail.com Later homos --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/historyhomos/support

In this episode of the Audio Bible Podcast, we continue our reading from the Old Testament Book of Micah with chapter 6 from the New International Version. Subscribe today for Q&A, special content and more: https://anchor.fm/theaudiobible/subscribe

In this episode of the Audio Bible Podcast, we continue our reading from the Old Testament Book of Micah with chapter 5 from the New International Version. Subscribe today for Q&A, special content and more: https://anchor.fm/theaudiobible/subscribe

In this episode of the Audio Bible Podcast, we continue our reading from the Old Testament Book of Micah with chapter 4 from the New International Version. Subscribe today for Q&A, special content and more: https://anchor.fm/theaudiobible/subscribe

In this episode of the Audio Bible Podcast, we continue our reading from the Old Testament Book of Micah with chapter 3 from the New International Version. Subscribe today for Q&A, special content and more: https://anchor.fm/theaudiobible/subscribe

In this episode of the Audio Bible Podcast, we continue our reading from the Old Testament Book of Micah with chapter 2 from the New International Version. Subscribe today for Q&A, special content and more: https://anchor.fm/theaudiobible/subscribe

In this episode of the Audio Bible Podcast, we begin our reading from the Old Testament Book of Micah with chapter 1 from the New International Version. Subscribe today for Q&A, special content and more: https://anchor.fm/theaudiobible/subscribe