Proverbs: Priorities

Introduction

Good morning. We’ve been journeying through Proverbs this summer, exploring themes like justice, the poor, listening, trust, and wealth. As an executive and non-staff elder, I was asked to speak on priorities, a topic I'm deeply familiar with. I expected to find a lot about time management, but what Proverbs really emphasizes is a different kind of priority: who we are becoming over what we are doing. Tim Keller says it best: the book doesn't talk as much about how God guides as it does about who God guides.

Scripture References

Proverbs 4:20-23, Proverbs 3:13-15, Proverbs 16:18-19, Proverbs 12:1-2, Proverbs 2:7-8, Micah 6:8, Ephesians 5:15-17

Key Points

• The Primary Priority: The Heart
  • Proverbs 4:23 says, "Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it." (NIV) The word "vigilance"—close and continuous attention—is used here for the only time in Proverbs. Our inner life is under attack from anxiety and fractured relationships, yet we often prioritize our to-do lists over our hearts. The true test of our inner life is our level of peace. If we don't prioritize our hearts, the "streams of life" will dry up.
• Three Habits to Revive the Heart
  1. Prioritizing God and His Wisdom: This is the most repeated command in Proverbs. Wisdom is more precious than jewels (Proverbs 3:13-15). It's simple, yet hard for our distracted generation. Studies show it takes over 23 minutes to refocus after distraction. To combat this, create space and silence. Consider using a pen and paper to read and journal, which boosts focus and deeper thinking.
  2. Embracing Humility: Pride leads to destruction (Proverbs 16:18). It's exhausting to carry a narrative of superiority and separates us from God and others. Humility, however, is a balm that heals. It recognizes our limitations, encourages receptiveness to correction, and leads to healing and refreshment (Proverbs 3:7-8). Turn at reproof, especially from the Lord or those who love you, and He will pour out His Spirit.
  3. Pursuing Wholeness (Integrity): Integrity, or wholeness, means living without duplicity. It's not just honesty, but the alignment of what we believe with what we do. The "crookedness of the treacherous" destroys them (Proverbs 11:3). Often, we lack integrity because we are afraid of what others will think. But the Lord is a shield to those who pursue wholeness, protecting those who take the risk to expose their fractures and secret sins (Proverbs 2:7).

Conclusion

Our inner lives must be a priority. We must be vigilant about our hearts, as the Lord commands. If we take up these habits—seeking wisdom, embracing humility, and pursuing wholeness—the Lord will give us back tenfold what we sacrifice, and "streams of living water" will flow from our hearts. Seek first the Kingdom of God, and all these things will be added to you.

Calls to Action

• Acknowledge your inner state: Take a moment to honestly assess the condition of your heart.
• Create time: Schedule time for God's Word, prayer, and silence to combat distraction. Consider writing by hand.
• Embrace Humility: Open your heart to correction from the Lord and those who care for you.
• Pursue Wholeness: Take the risk to expose a hidden struggle or area of your life that's fractured. Trust that the Lord will be your shield.

Transcript

We've been rolling through a series this summer in the book of Proverbs a summer of wisdom and we've had some just really amazing weeks talking about justice the poor listening trust wealth(...) some of those may have felt heavy some may have felt really really instructive and It's my turn now and Back a few months ago Travis asked me if I would share on the topic of priorities in Proverbs and For those of you. I don't know. I'm not on staff here at church. I'm one of the non-staff elders and My my day job is really as an executive and a family of companies where a lot of what I get to do is helping lead leaders or or work on strategy or help develop new opportunities and and so sometimes the the topics that I get Passed to me are somewhat related to a lot of what I'm seeing and reading and doing In my day job and so when Travis shared he's like I want you to talk about priorities and like God's wisdom and our priorities I'm like sweet. I read about priorities all the time I probably take in two or three books a year about being more efficient more effective About achieving more and less time about managing your time. We we have like slang at work about your priorities Don't call priorities calm rocks, you know, there's always different I mean priorities is like part of the the the air that I feel like I breathe and so When I started diving into the book of Proverbs this summer Following both the reading plan, but also just trying to really read big chunks at a time I love reading big chunks of Scripture I really would encourage you to do that, you know find a time to carve out 30 minutes and just read and just to kind of see like what you what what trends pop up and what kind of themes keep coming up over and over again and I went into my time of study in Proverbs with one of my favorite passages from Ephesians in mind That's Ephesians 5 verses 15 to 17 that says to look carefully then how you walk

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Not as unwise but as wise(...) Making the best use of the time because the days are evil

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Therefore do not be foolish but understand what the will of the Lord is and I love that passage It's like so encouraging but make the most of your time make the most of your time You you've only got so many days You only have so much that the Lord has given you but boy it can be effective if submitted to the Lord and Being really used well And so I walked into looking at priorities and proverbs with oh it's gonna be about like managing our time And it did not become about managing our time(...) Not not at all this This kind of initial focus or even as I mentioned priorities this morning Maybe what comes to your mind are like to-do lists and the things I didn't get done and managing my time But what really emerged as the priority in this book of wisdom is that? What is elevated is who we are becoming over what we're doing?

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What is elevated is who we are becoming over what we're doing and(...) Tim Keller who's one of my favorite authors he wrote a lot about the book of Proverbs and he said this he he wrote that(...) If you were to survey all of the proverbs for methods to discern God's will

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You would conclude that the book does not talk about how God guides as much as who God guides

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That the book does not talk about how God guides as much as who God guides I Don't think there's a one of us in here that doesn't want more clarity about like God's will in our life Or like what God wants to do in and through us or how God might might step into a situation That's really difficult for us. And so we can run to scripture and I do it to run to scripture looking for like Okay, God. How do I fix this?

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and The book of Proverbs can often be characterized as just a lot of like quick hits on what to do and what not to do(...) But in looking at the whole of all 31 Proverbs It really did become about the who about our about our heart

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Our primary text for this morning's gonna be in Proverbs chapter 4 if you have a Bible It's still like a print Bible in your hands and you want to open it go to Proverbs chapter 4 You can flip there on your phones. It'll also be up on the screen

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The Proverbs are fairly repetitious and that there are themes that come at you over and over But there are also certain parts of the Proverbs and certain writings of wisdom that kind of Stick out with something that is unique in Proverbs chapter 4 in this little section from verses 20 to 23 Has something unique for us to see

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starting in verse 20 and again if you're new to the book of Proverbs are new to being here at radiant the book of Proverbs is written as a Message as F being if being spoken by a father to a son

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This section is written by Solomon who was David's son(...) Solomon was considered the wisest of men to have walked the earth He was blessed by God with tremendous wisdom. And so as he's pinning these writings He's writing in this kind of personification of being a father writing to his son Proverbs 4 starting verse 20 my son

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Be attentive to my words incline your ear to my sayings(...) Let them not escape from your sight keep them within your heart

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For they are life to those who find them and healing to all their flesh

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Keep your heart with all vigilance For from it flow the springs of life

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The NIV translates verse 23 as above all else guard your heart for everything else flows from it(...) The word heart is mentioned 78 times in the book of Proverbs Heart comes up again and again and again

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So while in Proverbs we see so many things that we either think we should be doing or not doing In reality what Proverbs is honing in on is the priority of your inner life and in our inner life or our heart Who were becoming often gets discounted in our culture and even our day-to-day when you think of your to-do list? What's on the top of it? Is it your heart or is it breakfast? Is it drop-off?

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Is it the first meeting of your day? Is it the email you have to get back to?(...) Is it the project you have to complete? Is it the next place you have to go?(...) It's so easy for us to get wrapped up in all these things that we have to do and that fill our day And then if there's margin, maybe we think about how am I doing?

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How am I doing

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It's been mentioned before in this series and it's and if you're on social media or pay attention to the media at all It's no surprise probably that like our inner life is under attack It's like anxiety is really high right now

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Depression is really high right now Fractured relationships are really common right now And so if if we had to kind of like take a little poll about how our inner life is doing here We probably would have a decent representation of the cross section of what we see it like around us in culture and that our inner lives Are kind of like set to the side It's like not a we're gonna do a lot of good things and then we'll get to that later But the problem is I don't think it's working. I don't think it's working

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And the the I'd say Maybe best thermometer for our inner life is like where is our level of peace at?(...) Like do we if someone asked like how are you doing? Were your response like I've got a lot of peace right now

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Or to be like I'm keeping up

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My most common response in last few months is like I'm surviving so I was like how you I'm surviving that's a terrible response It's a terrible response But it could be true And maybe it's true for you

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And I don't know how often you think of your inner life But I can tell you that there is one thing in all of proverbs that we're told to be vigilant about It's your heart That's the only time that word vigilance shows up in the book of Proverbs And for those that don't know what vigilance means vigilance means close and continuous attention When you're vigilant about something you give it close and continuous attention as a first-time parent I mean like I had like like video monitors going on my child I was checking in like middle of the night like I think I woke up our first born more than First one work up on his own like I'm like checking like walking in different like back like I don't want that child waking up Right now. I'm like is he okay? He's not like I was very vigilant about the health of my first child(...) Evan our oldest he had a rough start Spent a couple weeks in the NICU and so like after that like I had so much concern for his health and every moment They're like I was consumed by it. I was consumed by how is he doing I? Was vigilant about my son

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Are we vigilant about our heart?

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Do we think it matters that much?(...) Do we think do we think the condition of our heart in terms of like relationships that we have matters that much? Or do we say I'll fix that later I'll get to that later You know I don't really feel close to the Lord right now But you know I'll wait till the next man camp or the next celebration. I'll fix it then

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The problem is that doesn't seem to line up with with the priorities that God places in front of us It's like this is where I want you to be eyes-on attentive like clearing your to-do list to make this a priority is

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Your inner life is your heart and From it a lot of things are gonna flow 23 says for from it flow the springs of life Man sounds amazing like I want life to flow from my heart There's a lot that comes from my heart in a given day Could depend on like what time of day could depend on how loud my kids have been how many of my kids have been around me How the workday has been there's a lot that can flow from my heart, and it's not always streams of life I can tell you that(...) Guess my wife she'll tell you that too

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and

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And as an elder even here at radiant, and I'll say so our elder team we are

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We're a group that is certainly not perfect, but are really(...) Attentive to like how are you all doing and we meet together every Wednesday? We pray asking like how are we doing and so I have proximity to Guys that are gonna ask me more often how I'm doing to check on my heart And and even my heart gets wonky at times when my outer life goes bonkers my inner life kind of follows so one of my maybe favorite stories now to tell January of 2023(...) my Wife and I we were with the other elders and wives in Exeter up an elder meeting Kind of our annual strategy means kind of a couple day event as we do talk about strategy Here and there for those of you that wonder like it's doesn't all just kind of come out new every week like there's a plan There's often a plan And so we we were meeting for our multi-day kind of strategy meeting get together to pray ask out what he wants I mean, it's like a really holy time, right?(...) It was right in the middle of a time when when work was really hard. I I Help run what started as kind of a group of family businesses and the agricultural arena In late 2022 we had some real significant turnover with just like some of our business in January 2023 I mean I was in the midst of it at work of trying to figure out how we gonna hold these things together So I was in a high stress time and I showed up late to our two-day elder meeting I showed up distracted. I think I was on my phone like bouncing emails half the time I was not present and I knew I was not present. I knew that was not okay I I knew that my my outer life just being a whirlwind like a tornado Had significantly affected both my peace my attentiveness my emotional connection to my family Everything was in disarray. Everything was in disarray. I knew that and So we leave the first night of that elder meeting We're driving home and my wife and I drove separate to this meeting because again I was late and she didn't want to be late because you shouldn't be late(...) And we're driving home on 198 and it's dark and it's about a 20 minute or so drive from where we met to where our houses and Northwest Visalia and we're on the phone together kind of kind of debriefing and

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Deborah and in a loving but very direct way began just to let me know how disappointed she was and Began to let me know that hey this this was just not it's not okay I don't I don't like who you're becoming I don't I don't like what's happening here and I get that this is hard But is this our reality like is this is this what we're gonna be when things are hard? and And thankfully if the Lord had prepped my heart for this because the Lord had been telling me that too He'd been telling me like your inner life is a mess Like who are you becoming?(...) Thankfully about five man be seven minutes into like the download from from Deborah about you know all of her thoughts

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She's like oh and she stopped talking like what I have a flat tire and she pulls off I'm really like right behind her like if you do have a flat tire So we pulled off the highway and that flat tire into that conversation Really really quickly and and I'm thankful that it did because I got the point but

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But often when the Lord has prepared your heart in like a tender way to be ready to like receive from him Like it's tender you guys ever punch something that's tender that bruises easy And so thankfully like the Lord saw like okay You got it from me you got you like you got enough from your wife about this like a conversation over And we had a flat tire and triple-a coming to help Because trying to change a tire on a suburban on the angle of 198 is not something you want to do on your own

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So all that to say this isn't like hey you you kind of figure out your life with the Lord once and never have to Worry about this again. There is this need for just a continuous like care and it's gonna vary in different times of your life and and Maybe you're like me in that moment or like like the way I get often and you say man I just don't even really think about like how I'm doing because I just want to make sure everybody else is doing fine and everything Else is taken care of but the problem is eventually there will not be sprint streams of life coming from your heart(...) There's gonna be a lot of different things coming from your heart, and you're gonna be dying inside And you're gonna begin looking for other ways to cope or to handle it And and it's gonna be a bit of a mess That's gonna take more than a conversation prior to a flat tire to fix

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So if you're(...) Maybe agreeing now like okay inter life is important It's a priority in the Proverbs. It's a priority in the Bible as to like how I'm doing and how my heart is doing(...) What what where do I go? What do I what do I do? How do I turn this ship around? And the Bible speaks so much to this Proverbs speaks so much to this and you almost miss it If you don't look at it in the lens of like keeping your heart and guarding your heart If if we don't start with that lens of God's priority is like here. It's me. It's my narrative It's it's like how I'm doing. It's it's my peace. It's my worldview If you don't start with that place you'll miss a lot of what Proverbs says It's actually about your heart much more than is about your behavior(...) And so we're gonna start we're gonna get three areas today that really if we lean into them They can revive the heart and they will keep your heart and they will lead you to places where you can repair What's been broken? Because all of a sudden your inner life is gonna become full of streams of life again versus feeling just empty and dry and full of drought

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So the first it's gonna seem so simple, but please stay with me on this the first habit That we can lean into that will help revive our inner life. Number one is prioritizing God in his wisdom This is all over the Proverbs. If you've been reading through Proverbs this summer with us in the reading plan How many times have you been told to go get wisdom?

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Proverbs 4 2021 the first part of our section from earlier my son be attentive to my words Incline your ear to my sayings. You guys want us to incline towards something like it's to move toward it It's to like make effort toward it incline your ear to my sayings Let them not escape from your sight keep them within your heart

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Have you ever chased something so it wouldn't get out of your sight

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My kids I have

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We had them at Hume Lake yesterday with a friend and Aguilar celebrated her her birthday We had a little birthday thing this week. I had birthday Anna, but you see that coming from the front, did you?(...) So she and some others invited folks to kind of go up to Hume Lake just for the day to hang out We had an awesome time. We had an awesome time There were some kayaks and canoes and let our kids go out in the water in these canoes and kayaks But you better believe like I am like watching like okay my kids off in the distance Where are they out on their own on a canoe on the lake?(...) And when I couldn't see them anymore. I'm kind of moving kind of moving up there. They are okay It's just the idea of like what's really valuable you you don't let it escape from your sight Keep an eye on it It's it's too valuable to lose and then not be able to find again

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Proverbs 3 13 to 15 says blessed is the one who finds wisdom and the one who gets understanding For the gain from her is better than the gain from silver and her profit better than gold She is more precious than jewels and nothing you desire can compare with her. This is wisdom personified. I Think Glenn taught about this at the very beginning of this series this idea that we're being told that wisdom God's God's just God's Truth over who we are and who he is and what's happening around us God's just pouring out to us about how to live and who to be like it's so valuable It's so valuable shouldn't trade it for anything And I think in in our minds. We'd say ah that's true. I get it, but often our lives don't reflect it

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The easiest way to prioritize God in his wisdom in terms of being able to like impart advice would be to say just read your Bible

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spend time in your word

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When I was growing up it was very simple when asked like what should I do as a believer? I'll read your Bible and pray who here has ever heard that before read your Bible and pray(...) Absolutely, it seems so simple and yet we are potentially Us adults here the most biblically illiterate generation in the history of the church(...) Who were the most podcast rich generation say that? But The problem with just being a podcast rich generation is that how easily how easily can we be distracted while listening? And are we really listening?

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Are we hearing or are we listening?

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In Encouraging others and even trying myself to to really spend a lot of time in God's Word From others. I've heard like that's really hard like I didn't I didn't grow up in the church I it's hard it's hard for me to read I don't really get much when I read and I actually can believe that's very very true That for those trying to read their Bibles regularly or like I just oh man I I kind of lose track of it I forget about it. I come back to it or when I try like it's really hard to glean and gather And this this is a I'll call it a cultural moment for our generation to acknowledge That's true and then to acknowledge why because we are the most distracted people maybe who have ever lived How many times have you touched your phone while I've been up here on stage?

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Maybe a few

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Studied by UC Irvine that came out a few years ago shared that the for the average person it takes 23 minutes and 15 seconds to refocus after distraction

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23 minutes and 15 seconds to refocus after distraction. Do you believe that like to connect with the Lord takes focus? Yeah, absolutely So one of the reasons we have a really hard time I believe of connecting with the Lord through his word is that we're really distracted really easily

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really easily(...) I know I am(...) Like I had to put my phone down there by my wife because I probably up here trying like reach for it while I'm up here(...) And so we have to acknowledge these realities that to connect with God through his word to connect with him in prayer We're gonna have to we're gonna have to do something different than maybe what we've been doing We're gonna have to create time. We're gonna have to create space. We're gonna have to create silence Because we don't focus quickly(...) It's difficult for us in a world of distraction to focus

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And The wisdom we're chasing from God like that. We're trying to lean into it's really not terribly complicated, but we can't get enough of it

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It's simple enough to commit our minds to and to meditate in on daily

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But it's not so hard to understand if we clear space One of my favorite like simple passages when people ask like what is God like want of my life would be in Micah 6 8 the prophet Micah When sharing kind of God's response to the people says he has told you told you oh man What is good and what does the Lord require but to do justice to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God? And so if you spend time in his word like you're gonna find these nuggets of truth just to just to write down and Keep with you all day, but you've got to get there. You've got to get there and if you If you're one of those it's like well, I have tried that I tried doing the summer of proverbs And it just didn't really do a whole lot for me. I want to encourage you try something a little bit different a Recent study came out that was comparing typing to writing by hand. It was really interesting and(...) It was showing that writing by hand boost memory sharpens focus and supports deeper thinking

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That when people were writing by hand versus just typing on a computer on their phone Like the measured brain activity was was like night and day different

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Handwriting triggered long-range connections between the left and right brain

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Handwriting requires coordinating movement language memory and attention all at the same time(...) That writing by hand

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Caused in people's brains what looked like a symphony

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the whole orchestra playing together

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It's actually a reason that journaling can be calming

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It slows you down enough to process emotions to organize thoughts and to make sense of what's going on

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This study showed that journaling led to stronger brain waves and(...) Helped with more complex or emotional material actually sticking in one's mind

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If you find that trying to get in God's word and get anything out of it's really hard grab a pen and paper

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Try writing out what you're reading try journaling your thoughts try writing out your prayers. Give it a shot. Give it a shot Because if God in his wisdom is worth enough to you, we're gonna have to try something different if it's not sticking now

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Because I don't know how many times Proverbs can tell us to get God in his wisdom and I say I've tried that and move On before we realize like I need to go back to if it's that if it's that basic is the place that I start I've got to go there if my heart is gonna be healthier because I'm taking five minutes or ten minutes or twenty minutes To actually write and to slow down. Is it worth it? Yeah, I think so. I think so

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Number two the second habit that really really is significant reviving the inner life is embracing humility

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Embracing humility you may never have heard humility next to the word embracing before in your life But humility is about perspective humility is about perspective

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Humility recognizes our personal limitations Humility sees value in others humility encourages receptiveness to feedback receptiveness to criticism like when we when we're humble we're like sponges When we're when we're humble, there's a softness to us(...) Proverbs really paints a light about humility We have to pay attention to Proverbs 16 verses 18 19 says the pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall It is better to be of a lowly spirit with the poor than to divide the spoil with the proud(...) That word haughty. I'm not sure if you guys use that word haughty. I don't It comes up off to have to explain to my kids that word haughty simply means like arrogant or like acting superior Or like something's beneath you We use that a lot with my kids at home because I have one child in particular who tends to act a little bit haughty towards His siblings And we have to point it out that hey don't look down on others that that's not gonna go well for you Just not gonna go well for you And Proverbs brings up this idea connecting pride to destruction over and over again and yes outwardly prideful behavior can destroy relationships(...) It can bring a lot of bad results in the world around you but pride can also destroy your heart How exhausting is it to carry pride around and to continue to try to convince yourself of a narrative like that? I'm better than this. I deserve more than this I Am of like equal to God in terms of knowing what I need in my life like that's exhausting That's a really hard narrative to carry

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And really what it does is it separates us it doesn't bring us closer to anything

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Humility is like a great it's like it's like glue(...) and and humility is also Very much like a tool that can repair what's been broken when you approach someone that you've offended with humility It goes a lot different than you if you approach them with a kind of like semi apology that you're not really convinced of yourself

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Again, I talk about my kids a lot. So we work through that at home when it's like hey say sorry. Sorry That's not quite what I meant there and We can do the same thing too But but humility is like that balm that heals the wound both outside with with others but also inside(...) When it's when we like almost embrace our own limitation like I can't do this on my own I can't and that's okay. It's not be able to do it on your own I can't fix this addiction on my own. That's okay You're not asked to do it on your own Recognize your limitation and and and seek wisdom for how to address what's literally destroying you inside

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In terms of embracing humility with that we also have to learn to embrace rebuke that's a hard one If we listen to Proverbs embracing correction isn't like a consider it. It's like a now you have to(...) Proverbs 123 to 27 says if you turn at my reproof Behold, I will pour out my spirit to you Gosh, if you like if if if you turn at my reproof like if you if you hear my correction I will pour out my spirit to you I will make my words known to you because I have called and you refused to listen Have stretched out my hand and no one heated because you have ignored all my counsel and would have none of my reproof I will I also will laugh at your calamity I Will mock when terror strikes you When terror strikes you like a storm and your calamity comes like a whirlwind when distress and distress and anguish come upon you Like that's the kind of like that's the picture of God. We don't like so much the one that's like well I invited you to heed my correction, but you didn't now it's on you We don't like that picture of God so much(...) But but this is the picture that Proverbs gives us of when like when we just say no. Thanks. I don't really care enough

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Eventually, it's like alright, then you get what you want and what you want is not going to be good(...) The the story I shared of Debra nice phone call and flat tire on the road

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The Lord had been preparing me to receive some of that correction But man everything in me wanted to fight on that phone call everything in me wanted to be like Do you know how much I'm doing you know much stress? You know what I'm like I My natural inclination is to want to fight and yours might be to when God's like oh man I need you to like take take a turn here about about about what you're what you're doing or you know what boy Mmm. I need you to let go of something. That's not a bad thing But I need you to let go of that for something that's better Our your inclination may be like to like no, I'm fine. I got this Man That's a dangerous place for us to be It's a dangerous place for us to be to not be approachable and correctable now. Don't get me wrong there is

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There needs to be discernment in terms of whose correction you take For sure. Oh my goodness you look at our our generation like with social media and Boy, if you like to post on social media very likely you've received some rebuke that you don't appreciate(...) No matter what you say like I could put I could make a post about like oh I I Like watching this team and there's something that's gonna come back at me. It's like oh, how dare you? I mean it just it happens So we live it we live in the world of cynicism and criticism We absolutely do and so when it comes to like receiving correction and taking it to heart There is a level of discernment and but it's valuable When it comes from the Lord one or those that really care for you or have proximity to you So if right now you're sitting here and you've you've been receiving some just Rebuke or correction or critique from someone who has proximity to you that actually cares about you man open your heart to that

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Because that's for your good(...) correction from those that don't have proximity or that don't have your heart and mind like That yeah, take it or leave it I would say

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Now watch your pride in the midst of that so there's you know kind of that there's that avenue to walk But but especially from those that are close to you(...) And especially from the Lord

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Turn at reproof and he will pour out his spirit to you.(...) He will make known his words to you

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One of the great benefits of humility is healing We love Proverbs 3 5 and 6 as like as like a church Not this church like the church in general many of you may be able to quote it like trust in the Lord with all your heart Anybody want to go with me there trust in the Lord with all your heart lean not on your own understanding

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Yeah, all right, there we go. There we go. You guys got it. Do you know the next two verses behind that?(...) Oh No, I mean I I don't off top my head either, but I'm gonna read them to you Verses 7 and 8 says be not wise in your own eyes fear the Lord and turn away from evil(...) It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones

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And the Lord calls us into humility for our healing and for our refreshment It's a beautiful thing

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Proverbs makes a priority of humility. Are we making a priority of humility?

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Are we putting ourselves in places where our perspective can be aligned to what the Lord says is true This is also so really all these areas of like reviving the inner life. They connect together What's the best place to put yourself to hear like God's perspective? It's in his word Absolutely. It's in his word. So these things connect

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But we're told that if we pursue humility if we pursue an aligned perspective like it will be healing to us It'll be refreshing to us

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It won't just save us from destruction it really will heal what's been broken The Third and final of the habits for reviving the inner life that Proverbs highlights to us is this pursuit of wholeness? pursuit of wholeness Proverbs 28 6 says better as a poor man who walks in his integrity than a rich man who is crooked in his ways and Proverbs 11 3 tells us the integrity of the upright guides them But the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them our word for integrity comes from the root word integer

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Comes from the Hebrew word(...) Tom the word integer really is like whole whole whole number the Hebrew word Means simplicity soundness. It's the idea of like wholeness like being one together of Having a lack of division between what we believe and what we're doing And so what we're what we're told is better is a poor man who is whole(...) Who was whole?

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The wholeness of the upright guides them

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It implies that one who is crooked is divided that they know better, but they just can't quite get there to do better That they know what they should do But gosh, there's something else enticing enough that keeps them from acting with wholeness from acting with integrity We often confuse integrity with honesty now honesty is a part of integrity certainly But integrity is a little bit different and so I want us to see that as we see it in the book of Proverbs That's talking about wholeness to us Talk about wholeness

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Proverbs 2 7 and 8 is one of my favorite passages and Proverbs about integrity Because it gives some I'd say encouragement to walk in integrity in this way Proverbs 2 7 says he stores up sound wisdom for the upright and he is a shield to those who walk in integrity Guarding the paths of justice and watching over the way of his saints Walking in integrity will require a belief that the Lord will be your shield and here's why

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Often when we divide our actions from what we believe or know to be better It's it's not because we're like devious or we're crooked or we're not we're wicked

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It's because we're afraid

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When we make a mistake often we're afraid to expose it and then pursue wholeness of okay, I've now aligned what people(...) know that I'm doing with what I should be doing or I Am pursuing like letting others into an area of my life. That's not okay to make it whole again It requires a level of risk integrity requires level of risk Humility doesn't require as much risk necessarily humility much more requires just in a sense like an open-handedness and a submission And and just an acknowledgement of like what's true about who God is and who you are Integrity requires a lot more risk because often integrity pursuing wholeness requires exposing where we're fractured Where we're divided where we're struggling where we have stepped into something that we're not proud of we don't want others to know but on our own we can't quite fix or figure out and I love that we're told that the Lord is a shield to those who walk in integrity The Lord is a shield to those. He is the protector of those who will take the risk for the sake of wholeness

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who will take the risk to expose what's killing them inside that they don't want others to know a Secret sin that's gobbling them up But gosh if my if my spouse knew that or if my co-worker if my boss knew that but I what would they think of me? the Lord is a shield to those who pursue wholeness

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Gosh I hope we can believe that how we can believe that

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Because I think it will lead us to being a people at peace a People who are alive who have streams of life coming from their heart and aren't trying to mask just darkness and poison in the waters

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I We really want to be a people whose inner lives are thriving I believe that Like I know I want that for myself Even though it means carving out and creating space Like in our home. It's meant a lot more I'd say just guidance or guardrails around like the inundation of screens and social media and technology It's meant nose to things that our kids get invited into(...) Or that we get invited into because we've realized that that busyness is often in opposition to wholeness That busyness is often in opposition to peace

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Because if we run so fast usually the first thing to get put to the margin is our heart

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That's not the first thing we like carve out space for(...) My wife growing up(...) Was told by her mom that if you

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Sacrifice something for the sake of time with the Lord he'll always give it back and more and she believed her mom when she told her that

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Do we believe that like do we believe if we sacrifice something for the sake of knowing God For the sake of like being at being healthy inside(...) Of having the of having a pursuing peace if we sacrifice something else for the sake of that the Lord will give us back even more than what we let go I Want to believe that I want to lean into that because I I Man I Feel like it's hard to keep hearing about Lives that looked really good just being destroyed all of a sudden was something that was under the surface

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It's hard to keep hearing about the way anxiety is gripping our youth or even us and where depression and purposelessness is winning the day

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Will we take up God's command to prioritize keeping our heart guarding it watching with vigilance? Like watching our heart and our inner life and our relationship with him So close that like if it begins to drift into the weeds like I see it. I see it. I got it Like will we will we will we watch our heart with that kind of vigilance?(...) And I hope we will Because the Lord will give us back tenfold whatever we sacrifice to do it and from our heart will flow streams of living water And then who we will be becoming

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Will make beautiful all that we're doing

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In closing

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One of the most I'd say readily quoted passages of Matthew that recalls Jesus's words is when he said seek first the kingdom of God And all these will be added to you the idea of like seek first God in his kingdom lean into him first Pursue him first and and everything else will be added like those things will be taken care of(...) Will we prioritize the heart gosh? I hope we will I? Hope we will see its value. I hope our hearts will get the best of our time. I Hope our hearts will get the most immovable boundaries that we set Because they matter that much. Let's pray

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Lord thank you that you care enough about us that you would tell us our hearts matter If you tell us our hearts matter Lord, I know that means you care about you care about us You care about our peace you don't just Lord look at us and say well. I hope they do the things I need them to do

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You don't need us to do anything you're the God of the universe who created something from nothing Lord you don't you don't need our activities Lord But you want our hearts nice Thank you for that and what I pray that as we see this priority in your word about keeping our hearts and guarding our hearts That it'll matter to us. I pray that you would sink deep into us maybe strategies or things to To set aside in order to be with you to pursue you

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And Lord I pray also that you would just guard us from looking for a life hack around getting close to God because those just don't exist

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That it is daily it's regular it's constant

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Just this practice of

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Being with you being close to you pursuing you Lord

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We love you Lord we invite you to be with us we invite you Lord to help us lay down the things that keep us From you And Lord we want what you want for us, and that is that there be streams of life Lord streams of life

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We ask this Lord in your name amen

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