Wisdom has greater value and teaches proper respect. “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.” (Matthew 6:9 nkjv)

In Psalm 111:10 (nkjv) God tells us, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”. 

What is our society really lacking today? That. 

Have you chosen to fear, to reverence, and to walk with Christ? 

Fearing God means that we have reverence for Him. I like this definition of it: “a wholesome dread of displeasing Him.” It isn’t so much a fear of retribution; it’s a dread of displeasing God. It’s a dread of dishonoring the Lord or disappointing Him.

Hebrews 11:7 tells us that “by faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith” (NKJV).

Noah moved with reverence and godly fear. Smart man! We should be like he was and never lose our reverence for God.

I just finished up on the topic of Stewardship and am now lookin' forward to hearing Kenny in six days, and am prepin' to teach through Proverbs at Prestonwood.

So, “Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?” That's the question that was asked by the late British poet T.S. Eliot. Also, “Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?”

You and me, we indeed be living in the “information age,” but we certainly ain't living in the “age of wisdom.”

Many people seem to be wizards with their computers (far more than I am), and yet seem to be amateurs when it comes to making a wise success out of their lives while here.

You know how computers can store up gobs of data and even obey signals, but they just can’t give any of us the ability to use that knowledge wisely. What’s needed today is wisdom, discernment, the holy fear (respect) of God and a tight relationship with thee wisest Person - Jesus.

The Book of Proverbs is about godly wisdom, how to gain it, how to understand it, and how to efficiently use it and bear fruit. It’s all about priorities and principles, not get-rich-quick schemes, lame religious gimmicks, or "success formulas." Personally, how do you typically prioritize? Ask for wisdom.

It's better than

gilt,

halcyon, 

platinum, 

aureate, 

aurelian,

palladium,

auric,

auriferous,

aurous,

gilded and

rose-gold.

“How much better to get wisdom than (yellow gold, white gold, or rose) gold! And to get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver. The highway of the upright is to depart from evil; he who keeps his way preserves his soul. Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. Better to be of a humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud. He who heeds the word wisely will find good (fools always have their own unique application that helps no one), and whoever trusts in the Lord, happy is he. The wise in heart will be called prudent, and sweetness of the lips increases learning. Understanding is a wellspring of life to him who has it. But the correction of fools is folly. The heart of the wise teaches his mouth, and adds learning to his lips. Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the bones. There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” Proverbs 16:16-25 nkjv #emph.mine

Never give heed to God’s powerful words like a fool does, but do so wisely. Then you’ll be rewarded.  

Wise King Solomon was rewarded and he desired that we all have the kind of wisdom we really need in order to be skillful in making the most of this life (God put that in him, so that we could glorify the Lord and bless others too). In Proverbs the King explains to us:

* What wisdom is and where to find it

* How to choose the right path of life

* What happens when you choose the wrong path

* How to make the best use of time and money

* How to make and keep the right kind of friends--how to be and stay in connection with the wisest Friend.

* How to build a happy marriage and successful home 

This is exactly what we need in our day! Way better...

..is God’s kind of wisdom. We often think of old people in regards to this wisdom -- it has nothing to do with age at all. There are a whole lot of old fools and rich fools too. You can learn wisdom early on in life! See things from God's perspective and act accordingly.

Show me your choices that turn into habits and we'll see your life. Ya gotta be super tough if you're going to be a stupid fool. But why have to be?

Lord, we want You and ask for Your discernment. You are worth far more to us! Q: Will people even be able to one day buy bread with platinum, yellow, rose or white gold?

How much? WAY much -- because it's hard to describe how much better it really is to gain God's wise Son and His wonderful wisdom! Nothing here even compares!

We choose You ahead of it all! We choose to wisely respect and walk with You, Lord. 

"The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb." Psalm 19:9-10

Do ya remember that song, "I wish we'd all been ready" sung by Larry (and it was later re-done by DC Talk).

“A piece of bread would buy a bag of gold.” (Larry Norman's lyric. I heard him sing that in Stuttgart. Took a church group up the Autobahn to hear him), and it reminded us of what the Bible says...

"And I heard something like a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, 'A quart of wheat for a denarius (a day’s wages), and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not damage the oil and the wine.'” Rev. 6:6 amp (BTW: Roman currency consisted of gold, silver, bronze, orichalcum and copper coinage. And that denarius coin in the verse contained nearly pure silver at approximately 4.5 grams in weight, but from the time of Nero onwards its purity was decreased).

So where can smart investors put their wealth.. so that it can really be safe? And how safe in these last days? Are T-bills safe, how solvent is our government? Man, it's the greatest debtor of anything I know in this world!

Well, they say buy gold buy silver. A lot of people bought gold and silver, and they bought gold and silver for 900 dollars, gold for nine dollars an ounce, but how many dollars can they get for an ounce of gold or silver today? Much less? It's all an artificial value. Seems to change like the weather and fickle feelings.

I mean what can you do for gold, or with gold, except to say, "Well, I've got so many Krugerrands stacked up." It's a flexing-like artificial value. One day.. Diamonds, go buy diamonds and gold. They say yeah, go invest in diamonds with precious metals! But it's all so temporal here, with artificial value. Won't really fill that void inside of you. Hey, when things get really bad in the Last Days you can't eat gold? You can try to I guess. You know when things are really bad that's what you'll think about, "Dude, what am I going to eat to get through this day?"

The Bible tells us that there's coming a time when it'll take a bag of gold or some silver to go buy a loaf of bread. So when it really gets down to it, and you really need something to chew on for physical nourishment, you're going to have to get rid of that gold you hoarded, or stuffed under the mattress or in that safe deposit box at Chase bank, and who knows what value will be placed upon it at that time. I hope you're ready, I want them all wisely ready.. everyone still taking in air today (my mom, Betty with Covid is in the hospital struggling for air today. Please lift her up). Yes, that's my prayer for all. You can be ready.. today. Now is good!

Man, who doesn't have a gold ring they like with sentimental value? Do you have a gold watch, or is it gold plated and cheap? But as far as true value, where is true value? In God's wisdom! The true value is only in spiritual things from God. That's the only true and lasting value that we can really know, it's in spiritual things that last, not in temporal earthly material things. That value can change, is all artificial. It's like one poet said, "It's only worth what you can get for it."

"He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666."

That’s Revelation 13:16-18 in LaHaye’s preferred New King James translation. The “he” there is the second beast, the beast from the earth. This is the beast with two horns, like a lamb, and a voice like a dragon, not the first beast, from the sea, “having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name.”

"Your gold and silver have become worthless (are corroded). The very wealth you were counting on will eat away your flesh like fire. This treasure you have accumulated will stand as evidence against you on the day of judgment." James 5:3

James never said that what we do with money isn’t important. It's all God's anyways, but we each need to be wise stewards for His glory. James is talking big picture here. When Christ soon returns, what good is our gold and silver going to be? If we put it off too long or outright reject Christ as our Savior, we won’t spend eternity on streets of stunning gold in heaven with our loving Creator – all this gold in the world here can’t get us there.

Will there literally be streets of gold in heaven?

Why did the Magi bring gold, frankincense, and myrrh to Jesus?

What things in this world have a true eternal value?

“They will throw their silver into the streets, and their gold will seem like something filthy. Their silver and gold will be unable to save them in the day of the Lord's wrath. They will not satisfy their appetites or fill their stomachs, for these were the stumbling blocks that brought about their iniquity.”  Ezekiel 7:19 csb

Do you remember reading about that intense flaming heat that melted the gold of the dome. Remember when it, being melted, came on down and filled all those cracks of the stones in the floor. Remember when the Roman troops, in order to loot all the gold, took the Jew's temple down stone upon stone, until the prophesy of Jesus was literally fulfilled. And not one stone was left standing upon another. Gold can corrode and be stolen, but wisdom can't be.

What was the sanctuary shekel?

What is the meaning of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in Daniel 2, with that head of pure gold?

How is it wise to choose a good name -- why it that better than choosing gold or great riches (Proverbs 22:1)?

Some people in the church have become much too casual with God. They have a relationship with God, they are casual people like I too am, but they’ve forgotten the holiness of God and that's what I mean. 

They say, Yo, Jesus he be my “homeboy.” 

But wait, their so-called homeboy put it all together -- He created the entire universe. 

Dude, let’s show some respect towards Direct Authority, and even towards His flawed delegated authorities. 

This ain't your homeboy, He is God Almighty. Remember when Jesus taught us to show respect towards our loving heavenly Father and pray, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name” (Matthew 6:9 nkjv). Holy is His name. Reverenced is His name. 

The daily aim is for us to see clearly in order to walk well in the Word.

“Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.” Psalm 119:18

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” Psalm 119:105

..but then we’ll see “face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.” 1 Corinthians 13:12

“I can see all obstacles in my way...

It's gonna be a bright (bright)

Bright (bright) sunshiny day

It's gonna be a bright (bright)

Bright (bright) sunshiny day!!!" ~ Johnny Nash (song)

Proverbs also helps us with this and walking well in the Word. Our LifeGroup on Proverbs will run for 24 weeks from 2/6. So let's all prayerfully grow and go.. tell. Let's pray and obey, studying through together. BTW: Start with some key words of wisdom to wisely apply: Turn and trust Jesus. Be forgiven and forgive. Sure, a forgiven people should be a forgiving people.