Introduction

Hello everyone, today we will study Proverbs chapter 9. In the blink of an eye, we already studied 8 chapters! Have you become smart yet? If you want to become stupid, it’s really easy, you can just eat, drink and play all day. But if you want to be smart, it is very difficult.

When people come to my church, I always observe what kind of persons they are first. Some people will say, “Pastor, I love your sermons!” Is this real? What does he really think? I will always wonder about it and experiment with it bit by bit. If this person is self-righteous, I will keep away from them because you cannot change them.

Proverbs 9 tells us to use different attitudes against different people. To those who can’t be changed, I just say, “God, please keep me as far away as possible from these people!” I also don’t think making friends is a good thing, especially don’t be friends with foolish people. If you do, you will be angered by the folly he speaks through his mouth. If you get cancer, whom will you blame for it?

After listening to my sermons, many of you learn how to find the theme of the chapter. It is a great thing. Sometimes we can find the main points inside the Bible, sometimes the author did not write them out. The theme of proverbs 9 is that your attitude decides whether you listen to wisdom or folly.

Your attitude decides whether you are wise or foolish

If you choose to be wise, you will live longer, if you are foolish, you will surely follow ignorance, attract the spirit of death and you will go to hell.

For through wisdom your days will be many, and years will be added to you life. If you are wise, your wisdom will reward you; if you are a mocker you along will suffer. (Proverbs 9:11-12, NIV)

But little do they know that the dead are there, that her guests are deep in the realm of the dead. (Proverbs 9:18, NIV)

Then what is blasphemy? Blasphemy is self-righteousness. If you talk to somebody and ask them to do proper things. They just stare at you and disregard what you say. They will say, “ if I live like this, will I even enjoy life? ” You can’t change these people. Christians always think they believed it right, but out of all these people, probably I'm the only one who thinks I did it wrong. If I preach, I know that sometimes what I say might be wrong. Don’t think that just because I am humble, I’m telling the truth.

Some people say, “If even you aren’t clear, then aren’t you just misleading us?” However much I mislead, I don’t mislead as much as those preachers who are unbelievers. Why should Russia's attack on Ukraine have to do anything with us? We don’t need to care about it, and we should not decide who's wrong and who's right. But we should care about believers.

The root of blasphemy is self-righteousness. To be honest, both me and my fellow pastors, have to deal with our self-righteousness constantly. The attitude determines whether you are a wise person or an ignorant person.

I like people to get things wrong when they do ministry. Why? Because when they do something wrong, then you have a chance to say about them. Then they will have the chance to change it and learn. Sometimes when people do 1 or 2 things, they will act very arrogant, but when they get it wrong, their self-righteousness will be exposed.

I had such a kind of wisdom when I was young. I always want to be the best student in school, the best employee in a company, and the best member of a group. Whenever I am, I am always a good person. Whether or not my boss is capable or not, I will full-heartedly support his ideas. Even when the boss says something wrong and people laugh at him, I will always support and help him. I don’t support making mistakes. But because I am not his boss, in fact, I am under his authority so I will support him. So do you know why God used me? Because my attitude is good and I am humble.

When I was serving people, I met self-righteous people every day. Whenever I see someone talk, I will know whether or not he is foolish. They don’t like to listen to others, they like to create their own logic, so my patience is getting higher every day. It is trained by these foolish people.

When my mother got Alzheimer’s, I served her and her situation became well day by day. Another sister’s parents were the same age as my mom and I told her, ”look and learn what I did. You may serve your parents in the same way in the future.” But she said, “My parents are fine! They are already baptized and will not get Alzheimer’s!” I was speechless at that time. This really tested my patience. Later, when her father had Alzheimer’s disease and she served him, nothing worked at first. Then she recalled what I said and followed the way I did. Her father got much better.

That is why I think attitude is very important. If we can change someone’s attitude, that is a great thing. Attitude determines our choices. In the world, someone will say such things to you, another person will say other things to you. Then who do you choose to talk to? Talk to someone who does the right thing, and you will feel comfortable in your heart. But if you talk to someone who doesn’t do the proper thing, it will a fuss in your heart.

If some of us have a more serious disease, I have to tell you how it came about. Your sickness came from the powers of hell. You have already seen it because whatever other people say, they will say things that corrupt you. For example, “How can your husband act like that towards you? Why can your boss do that?”

When you hear this, you start feeling uncomfortable, and because you think he understands you a lot, you start thinking bad things about other people. But actually, it's evil spirits from hell that are talking to you, he just has nothing to do so he comes to you and creates trouble. In the end, you will be sick. You can choose to listen or not, blasphemy is actually a very evil attitude.

How to choose to follow wisdom or foolishness?

The Bible talks about the foundation and principles of life. I didn’t write the Bible, I'm just trying to preach it and make sure everybody understands it. When we have a good attitude, the next step is to figure out who to follow.

Who you listen to depends on what he does. A person who does proper things and says proper things is the one you have to follow and listen to. Don’t follow a nonsense person who only does useless things and says words that corrupt people.

Wisdom has built her house; she has set up its seven pillars. She has prepared her meat and mixed her wine; she has also set her table. She has set out her servants, and she calls from the highest point of the city, “Let all who are simple come to my house!” To those who have no sense she say, “Come, eat my food and drink the wine I have mixed.” (Proverbs 9:1-5, NIV)

Where is wisdom? It lives in people, when someone is wise, they are someone that builds people up, and people that build others up have a foundation. These 7 pillars are the pillars of truth. He who uses God’s wisdom to build houses is here to bless others.

She has prepared her meat and mixed her wine; she has also set her table. (Proverbs 9:2, NIV)

Come, eat my food and drink the wine I have mixed. (Proverbs 9:5, NIV)

Someone who gives out freely blesses others, if he talks smack and takes advantage of others, you need to avoid them. You need to see through others and know what their true intent is. Does he build up others, does he bless others? If he does do proper things, that means he's rich, make sure he doesn’t take advantage and likes to be a kind, giving, wise person.

God chose Abraham not because he was a beggar, but because he was a faithful person. Abraham was rich and powerful, he had a very good life in Haran. He listened to God and traveled from west to east, which required a lot of faith.

If you have faith, God lives in you. One day God appeared in Abraham's tent. Abraham didn't even know it was God, but he washed their feet and slaughtered oxen and sheep to prepare a feast for them. Only later he learned that it was the messenger of God. You have to be careful to observe people. Wisdom will leave person who does not have the right attitude.

Whoever corrects a mocker invites insults; whoever rebukes the wicked incurs abuse. Do not rebuke mockers or they will hate you; rebuke the wise and they will love you. Instruct the wise and they will be wiser still; teach the righteous and they will add to their learning. (Proverbs 9:7-9, NIV)

Do you see the importance of attitude? I do what God does, but some people don’t. They serve the blasphemous as if to serve God. But we should think about it, are we more powerful than God? No! Don’t do stubborn things, if God doesn’t do it, we should not do it either, I have tried it before, and the success rate is 0 percent.

Once there was an old lady, who was around 70. When she was young she didn’t read a lot of books but she was very focused on God. Whenever she called, I would pick her up. Why? Because she loves to learn, her attitude is very good, she can be taught and scolded and she won’t hate me because she relies on God.

There was a man who got cancer, he was an evangelical Christian. At his church, they didn’t cast out demons or fight spiritual battles. A friend of his, who was healed by me, introduced him as well. This person had cancer 10 years ago. Because of his disease, whenever he ate the food, the food would possibly go into his lungs so he had to go to the hospital. So the doctor inserted a tube into his stomach and he survived by injecting liquid food. 10 years later, his wife also got cancer and their child was still very young. So I was very sad about it. How is it possible to be like this? I know it is very difficult for them to be healed and released. But since they were here, I had to serve them.

After I talked to them, I found out that it was very difficult to communicate. The moment I told them that cancer was a curse, they talked back and said that cancer was a blessing in disguise. I had no idea how to talk to them. I told them if cancer is a blessing, would you want more cancer? How come I don’t see the Bible saying that cancer is a blessing? Did it say “If you follow God’s word I will give you cancer? It's so difficult to serve them.

Later, he told me that he was the modern Job, but I couldn't scold him because if I do, he will hate me. When I tell him that cancer is a curse, he gets mad at me and says “You're the one with a curse! Don't curse me!” Whatever, I will save the scolding for wise people.

This guy says he was an evangelical Christian, but he can only talk, he can’t actually act it out. He doesn’t do what Jesus does. Jesus healed the paralyzed, made the blind see, and healed many diseases. Even though I can’t say much, whenever I see someone like him, they are all the same.

There was another guy who was depressed, his former church did not serve sick people. They told him to go to the hospital and stopped him from letting me pray for him. They told him, even if you are depressed you will go to heaven, don’t go to a church that casts out demons. He was such a fool. That pastor was foolish.

Later, when her mother saw him contact the pastor of the previous church, his whole face turned hideous. Because the pastor carried a spirit from hell. If Jesus stood in front of him, he wouldn’t care what type of Christian he is, the most important part would be that he gets healed.

Some people can talk but they can’t act it out, they eat all day long and don’t work. Stupid people talk a lot, you shouldn’t listen to these people. And some people talk all day saying they saw angels and visions, they act like they see even more than Jesus. Don’t listen to what they say, instead, look at what they do. You have to know the difference between wisdom and foolishness.

She has set out her servants, and she calls from the highest point of the city, “Let all who are simple come to my house!” To those who have no sense she say, “Come, eat my food and drink the wine I have mixed.” (Proverbs 9:3-5, NIV)

She sits at the door of her house, on a seat at the highest point of the city, calling out to those who pass by, who go straight on their way, “Let all who are simple come to my house!” To those who have no sense she say, “Stolen water is sweet; food eaten in secret is delicious!” (Proverbs 9:14-17, NIV)

Look at the result of your choice

How do you know if you got it wrong? Look at the result. If you choose wisdom, you will live longer and your life will be better, if you aren’t wise, you can be hell's guest. You have to know that whatever you follow, you will reap the result of your choice.

The spirit of hell lives in people for a reason, the reason is the person's choice. If you have a very serious disease, you must be very careful. Because if you aren’t, you will get meddled in by bad people. Spirits from hell don’t bless people, they only corrupt people.

Will you choose wisdom or foolishness? If you choose to slander, you will be foolish and you will attract death. You reap what you sow. If you sow bitter or sweet fruit, you will reap bitter or sweet fruit. All these years you have sown so much curse and bitterness but you are still eating it. Do you want to keep sowing curses? I advise you guys to think about it carefully.

Summary

What should our attitude be like? If you think you understand but you really don’t, you need to change. If you make a mistake, you can repent and make it right. Those who seek will find, even if you understand something, maybe your perception of it might be a little bit wrong, but you can still change. Don’t think that you are the world's perfect believer. There is no perfect believer, it's impossible to find! So I advise you guys to be humble and fear the Lord.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. (Proverbs 9:10, NIV)

Some people are very arrogant. So I often challenge them, “how many people have you served? how many problems have you solved?” They have not served many people and they don’t know the basics of pastoral care. So they can’t help others solve problems.

I encourage you guys to think like this “I still do not 100% understand, I will continue to seek and learn for wisdom.” If you have this kind of mindset, you will be a person who builds churches. If you build a church like this, it will be a place where blessings will be given out.

The church is a place to give out blessings. Don’t casually accept offerings, because the church isn’t a place to collect money. God doesn't need money and he lacks nothing. And also our God isn’t an idol. Sometimes, people say that the pastor is so poor, they have to donate money to support him. That kind of thinking will sin against and the offering will be cursed. Can’t our God feed him? Absolutely not. Why the pastor is so poor? Because he likes to be blind and does whatever he likes. The result of choosing wisdom is to see God’s blessing clearly and the days will increase. You will not have any shortage.

May God bless you!