TRUNEWS with Rick Wiles - Morning Manna - June 2, 2025 - Proverbs 2:1-5 - Seek Wisdom Like Treasure

Episode Date: June 2, 2025

In today’s Morning Manna, Rick Wiles and Dr. Raymond Burkhart open Proverbs 2:1-5 and begin a deep dive into the pursuit of wisdom. The teaching highlights God's loving invitation for His children to actively seek, receive, and treasure His Word. Rick emphasizes the personal choice involved in receiving God’s wisdom, the need to hunger and cry out for understanding, and the immense value of treating God’s Word as a hidden treasure more valuable than silver or gold.Rick Wiles, Doc Burkhart. Airdate 6/2/25Join the leading community for Conservative Christians! https://www.FaithandValues.comIf you're a Faith & Values member, watch today's show with other members here:https://members.faithandvalues.com/posts/morning-manna-may-29-2025-proverbs-126-33-wisdom-laughs-at-the-fools-calamity-85267007You can partner with us by visiting https://www.FaithandValues.com/donate, calling 1-800-576-2116, or by mail at PO Box 399 Vero Beach, FL 32961.Get high-quality emergency preparedness food today from American Reserves!https://www.AmericanReserves.comIt’s the Final Day! The day Jesus Christ bursts into our dimension of time, space, and matter. Now available in eBook and audio formats! Order Final Day from Amazon today!https://www.amazon.com/Final-Day-Characteristics-Second-Coming/dp/0578260816/Apple users, you can download the audio version on Apple Books! https://books.apple.com/us/audiobook/final-day-10-characteristics-of-the-second-coming/id1687129858Purchase the 4-part DVD set or start streaming Sacrificing Liberty today. https://www.sacrificingliberty.com/watchThe Fauci Elf is a hilarious gift guaranteed to make your friends laugh! Order yours today! https://tru.news/faucielf

Good morning. Welcome to Morning Manna. It's Monday, June 2nd, 2025. And today we will begin the study of a second chapter in the Book of Proverbs, Chapter 2. We're going to be looking at verses 1 through 5. Let's pray. And Dr. Raymond Burkhardt is going to read the Word of God. And he and I are going to jump into the Word and again to do a deep dive into every verse that's in the Book of Proverbs. Let's pray. Almighty God, our dear Heavenly Father, Father, we worship you and praise you. We thank you for this beautiful day. We thank you for life. Father, your sons and daughters from around the world are gathered here in this online virtual Bible study class to be taught by your Holy Spirit. So come Holy Spirit and teach us, illuminate us, enlighten us, and reveal to us the greatness and the glory of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and his everlasting

kingdom in the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. Alright Doc, so Proverbs 2 verses 1 through 5. Yes sir, and we want to welcome everybody from no matter where you are in the world, anywhere from the Philippines to Russia to Brazil to Malaysia to Japan and all points across the U.S. and Canada welcome here to our Bible study. We are in Proverbs chapter 2, I'll be reading verses 1 through 5, and it reads from the King James, my son if thou wilt receive my words and hide my commandments with thee, so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom and apply thine heart to understanding. Yea, if thou cryest after knowledge

and liftest up thy voice for understanding, if thou seekest her as silver and searches for her as for hid treasures, then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God." That's Proverbs chapter 2 verses 1 through 5, what we're focusing on today. God bless the reading of His Word.

Okay, so our teaching style here at Morning Manor is to take each verse and break it into parts in the segments. Do a deep dive in each segment and then put all the segments together to get the big picture. So we're going to take a look at verse 1, Proverbs chapter 2 verse 1. And the first segment of this verse says, my son, if thou will receive my words. Again, we see the scripture being open with this tender parental address, my son. It could be my daughter, my child. It is a father speaking kindly, tenderly to a child.

When I say child, I don't necessarily mean a toddler. It's somebody old offered to us with love And God the father is inviting us To have that deeper more personal more intimate relationship with him father and child Father and son father and daughter. That's what he's seeking. Yes.

This segment also speaks of the value of God's words that we as children of God should view as children of God should view his scriptures as a divine treasury, and that they are worthy of our attention, worthy of our study, and obviously worthy of our obedience in a world that is filled with competing voices and alternative values that are contrary to God's values. He says, if thou will, if you will,

that implies there's a choice, there's free will. If you will choose by your free will to receive these words, to believe them, to act upon them, if you will, it speaks of the importance of choice. It means that every person must actively decide whether to embrace and obey the word of God or reject and disobey the word of God.

It is a choice. God is pro-choice. He's very pro-choice. You know, the abortion people, they say they're pro-choice. God says, yeah, I'll let you decide whether you want to murder your baby. But then I'll have something to say about it on Judgment Day. That's right. And you can do it right now.

That's what you want to do. Yes. And so in this case here, you're making a clear, distinct choice of your will whether or not to receive the Word of God. And this word receive here isn't just a passive reception here that we're talking about. In the Hebrew, it really, the word for receive there should, it's a stronger word. It's take, grasp, hold on to.

It's not just, well, I'm sitting here and I'm listening to you. Like James 1.22 says, don't just be hearers of the word but doers of the word. So it's more than just you know absorbing the word itself but it means you're grabbing it, you're holding on to it. Why? For the purpose of using it. The picture I've got in my mind doc is a door dash, the delivery man or woman knocking on your door, you open the door, he or she is holding this plate, this covered plate of this beautiful meal. He puts it in your hand. You receive it from the man or woman, the door dash driver.

You receive it. No, let me rephrase that. You put it in your hands. Until you take the lid off and eat that meal, you have not received it. Right, fully received it. It's when you digest it, when you eat it, when you chew on every bite and savor its goodness, that's when you receive it. If not, it just sits there like a Bible on a coffee table.

Right. And what is in this meal here, Rick, according to Proverbs 2.1? What is this meal that we're receiving? The commandments. My words. My words. If you will receive with an open heart, with humility, with submission, no resistance, you will receive. If you will receive, not put up a fight, not resist, receive the word of God. My words, receive my words. That means you acknowledge God's authority to speak. That he has the final say.

Right. Look, the Lord will allow you to talk to him, question him, but at the end of the discussion you have to make a decision. Is it his way or your way? His words are forever. They're not going to change. Jesus said as long as there is a heaven and an earth, not one jot or tittle of his word will disappear. Amen. Not even a dot over an I or cross over a T. Nothing will disappear. here. So these, you know, atheists and agnostics and the scientific community and the woke generation, all these people who dismiss the Word of God, it doesn't matter that they dismiss it. It's still there. Right. It hasn't gone away because they dismiss it. That's right. The second part of this verse is and hide my commandments. So the first part is receive his words. Then the second The Bible uses the word hide to suggest a protective, cherished storage.

Yes. Like a treasure. You only hide things that are valuable. Did you have something, Doc, you wanted to… It's like a hidden treasure, something that's been hidden for safekeeping. Like you lock it in a safe, or you put it in a treasure chest. It's not just, well, I've received it,

and I'll put it on the shelf over here. No, no, no. This is very, very precious. If you had $10,000 cash, you wouldn't let it just sit on the kitchen table. You'd put it in a safe or lock box or something. You'd have some sort of place for safekeeping. That's what that word hide means there. So it's more than just a casual hiding.

And also, Doc, and I say this because we live in Florida. And when you live in Florida, you learn how quickly things can rust. You know, my home is at least five miles from the ocean. But the salt air causes metallic items to rust. And you have to think about this when you buy things that are gonna be outside. And so if you have something valuable, you hide it, you cover it. So it's not corroded by the influences of the world. Commandments, that's easy to understand,

God's directions, His laws, His commandments, His rules, His way. Yes. It's just that simple. It's His way. Right. And as valuable as Proverbs is, I mean, I see a lot of books in Walmart or bookstores or whatever where you have a book, Proverbs for the businessman

or Proverbs for the working mom or something like that. In just a general usage, Proverbs is powerful in that way, but it's much more powerful when you recognize it as His commandments, the Word of God. It's not just good advice. It's not just good wisdom, but it's the Word of God itself. It's life itself. Amen. And you can't omit any of the Proverbs just to make a book that's more marketable. Right. It's one package. If it wasn't important, it wouldn't be there. If it wasn't important, it wouldn't be there. Yes. What I see here, Doc, is that this verse is emphasizing that active effort is required.

Yes. To obtain wisdom and to retain wisdom. You have to retain that which you obtain. You lose what you don't use. Yes. And that's where those words with you come in. Another way to say is within you come in. It's not just a mental assent, but it's got to become part of your being, become part of who you are in your spiritual nature. Yes. It's easy to forget things that we learned. And it's not that we didn't, well, I guess maybe we didn't value, because we didn't do the things necessary to retain the revelation that we were given.

And that's happened in my life. Where the Lord has brought back to my remembrance, son, I taught you this five years ago, you forgot about it. Yes. Been there? Anybody done that? I have. Now the third part is with thee. This represents the closeness of God's truth. We carry his commandments as companions. They're with us. Carry his word with you. In your heart, in your mind.

You know, He gave the Jews instructions, you know, to write the Word down and wear it like jewelry. Remind yourself of my commandments. Yes. With the personalizes the act of hiding God's commandments. So now we're learning that wisdom becomes an intimate part of your identity. It's with you all the time. It's a living active force in your life.

And therefore, this suggests a lifelong relationship with God's word. That we are to keep his commandments ever present in our mind, in our thoughts, in our hearts. And it also conveys a partnership. Yes, they're his, his rules, his commandments, but they're with you. You are a partner with God. He gives you the commandments, but you keep them, you honor them, you retain them, you keep them in a place, you know where they're located, but you treat it as a treasure. Now verse two, Proverbs two, verse two, the first part of this verse is, so that thou

incline thine ear. So this uses the imagery of inclining your ear. When somebody goes like this, what does that mean? You wanna hear what you say clearly. Say that again. I wanna make sure I heard every word you just said. I want to make sure I heard every word you just said. It shows keen interest, sincere interest. They're not looking at their phone while you're talking.

They're leaning into you. They're tilting their head. They're putting their, they're cupping their hand around their ear to catch every word It means intentional focus listening And so thou you It that personalizes it So that you incline your ear Personalizes it so that you incline your ear Doc can't incline my ear and I can't incline his ear

right You have to make the choice to incline your ear to hear the Word of God God could be speaking the same words to both of us and If only one of us incline our ear towards him, only one is going to receive the wisdom. Amen. That's right. So you can have a church meeting and the Word of God is being preached with the anointing of the Holy Spirit,

but not everybody hears it. Yes. Only those in that congregation that incline their ear, they're the ones that receive it into their heart and hide it like a treasure. Unto wisdom, so that you incline your ear unto wisdom. You're not inclining your ear to get the sports report or to weather.

You're inclining your ear to get wisdom. Right. You're saying this is valuable. I've got to hear it. Right. You're saying this is valuable. I've got to hear it. So this to me, this implies that wisdom is a divine gift. You have to recognize it as a gift.

It's a gift from heaven. It's a gift from your heavenly father. You have to make an effort. All these verses speak of individual effort, free will, free will, choosing to do something, choosing to hear, choosing to receive, choosing to incline your ear. It's active, it's alive, you know, it's not just something, you know, well, I listened to the sermon today or I listened to the teaching today or whatever it is, but it's, you know, leaning in and saying, all right, how does this apply to me?

What is the Lord saying to me in this word? Yes. And so you're inclining your ear onto wisdom, meaning God's truth. You're separating God's truth from worldly opinions. I'm going to say, folks, that's why the Lord told me to shut down true news. It's just like, Rick, that's enough. They don't need any more of the world's news and world's opinions. They've had enough. Teach them my word. Teach them my commandments.

Only talk to the ones who stay with you. Don't go chasing the ones who leave. Let them go. They're going to go find another news podcaster. let them go. Focus on the ones who stay with you. They are inclining their ear. I like that, yes. That's who we're talking to right now. The people in our ministry who said, I'm staying because I'm going to incline my ear to hear the word of God.

I've got enough news in me. I know what's going on in the world. It's evil. It's bad. I don't need to know anymore. But I do need to know more about God. I need to know more about his ways. I need more of his truth in me. And apply thine heart to understanding. That's the third segment. That demands wholehearted commitment. But internalizing God's truth to shape your lives, your actions, your behavior. You apply it to your heart. You apply to your heart the understanding of wisdom,

because the heart is the seat of devotion. Yes. Yes. Again, the act of applying implies a deliberate intentional act. You have to apply your heart to understanding. A little elf is not going to come into your room and do it. And drop it in your brain overnight. An angel is not going to do it. That's not the job of an angel.

An angel's job is to minister to you strength and encouragement. Well, guess how you're going to get strength and encouragement? Reading the Word. So what's the primary duty of an angel? Get you into the Bible? Yes. If angels are sent as ministering spirits, the way that they minister strength and energy the saints is to get us to study the word. Understanding, that represents practical insight. You receive the word into your heart, but you have to understand it. What does this mean? How does it apply to life?

When a situation pops up, the word should pop up too. Amen. Immediately the word should pop up. Here's how to deal with that situation. You gotta have the word in your heart. But the act of applying means deliberate effort, intentional pursuit of understanding. See, it's not just, all right, I'm reading the word. No, God, I need to understand it.

Amen. That's why everybody's here for morning manna, because you're saying to God, I want to understand it. I desire to understand your word. I've read it in the past, but I am hungering to understand it. Yes. And it's interesting, James 1.5 says that if anyone lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveeth to all men liberally, abriddeth not, and it shall be given him. And yet in these

passages it says to get wisdom, to go after it, to hold on to it. Those two aren't contradictory to each other. We lack wisdom. We ask God, God for wisdom. He provides the wisdom, but it's only ours if we receive it. Yes. He can give that wisdom. And how many times Rick have people and you know, it comes back to real life, doesn't it? Where you give advice or you give wisdom based upon, you know, years of being in business or in ministry or just living life and you speak to someone, maybe even they ask you, look, can you give me some advice on this or some wisdom on this

particular thing? And you give it, you give that wisdom. And yet, if they don't take it and apply it, it's worthless. That's right. I can't say the number of times people have asked me about financial advice and I've quit giving it out now. I just quit telling people unless I ask the question, if I tell you, are you going to do it? I just quit doing it because it seems like time after time, no one receives it. And I would know I failed at it and I've succeeded. But it's a matter of both the Lord grants it, but we have to actively receive it too.

It's not a passive thing. There's a two part process, Doc. You have to receive it, then you have to act on it. Yes. Receiving it is not enough. You can receive the Word and say, I believe it. I absolutely believe it. But if there's no action, there's no change. Amen. action there's no change. You have to act on what you receive. Now the next two verses, verse three and four, really speaks to what you're saying. Proverbs two verse three,

Ye, if thou cryest after knowledge and liftest up thy voice for understanding. The world English Bible says, yes, if you call out for discernment and lift up your voice for understanding. So the first, this first segment that I just read of verse three, speaks about the urgency of crying out for wisdom. Yes. It says you should approach God with a fervent longing, a hunger. I need it. I'm asking for it. I'm seeking.

Oh God, grant my request. Yeah, it's not a whisper, is it? No. No, it's a request. Cry out. Cry out for it. Hey, sick people cry out for healing. Fools to cry out for wisdom. You cry out for it.

I need it. If I don't get it, I'll be an idiot. Oh God, please don't, don't let me be an idiot. Don't let me be a fool. I'm please God give me your wisdom. So I'm not an idiot. fool. I'm please God give me your wisdom. So I'm not an idiot The world is full of them billions of fools There's some very educated fools in the world highly educated fools

But you cry out for knowledge which which in this case, the knowledge means discernment. It's not necessarily possessing facts. I know how they built the Titanic. That's not what this is about. Right. I can use AI to tell me how they built the Titanic. This is to cry out for discernment, and discernment only comes from heaven. Amen. So this represents a passionate vocal, a passionate vocal pursuit of God's truth. Again, it's not a quiet little prayer where you whisper or silent prayer.

You're just whispering. The Proverbs says cry out. Yes. Cry out. Oh God, I have to have wisdom. I'm hungry for it. Fill my hunger. Satisfy my hunger. I don't desire to live another day without knowing your will, without knowing your ways, without knowing your commandments. You're not going to give it all to you one day. He's going to feed it to you. You know why? First of all, we can't handle it all at one time.

Number two, He desires us to keep coming back. Keep coming back. Yes. You know, right back... Go ahead, Doc. I'm sorry. I'm just was saying back in Chapter 1 when we were looking at that last week, it talks about wisdom. Wisdom is crying too. Wisdom's crying in the streets. Crying out in the plaza, the heart of the city. Crying out in the gates of the city. Wisdom is crying out. Wisdom's looking for somebody.

It's the same word that's used, crying, and to lift up your voice. It's the same word used here. So wisdom really is a two-way street here. Wisdom, the Holy Spirit is ready to dispense wisdom. I'm ready, crying out. I've got wisdom here. Yes. Now you need to say, I want got wisdom here. Yes. Now you need to say, I want some wisdom. Sort of like at the ballpark, you know, where they're selling hot dogs. You got the hot dog vendor there, hot dogs, get your hot dogs.

Either way over there, you've got to holler out if you want to get your hot dog at the ballgame. Otherwise, he'll never see you. He'll never hear you. He'll never hear you. He's not going to come to you. He'll come to you if you cry out. So that's where I find my man. It's a two-way street there. I think about the blind man who knew that Jesus was nearby. He cried out, Yes. Son of David, Yes, son of David, yes have mercy, have mercy on me. Everybody in the region of that wherever they were speaking everybody could hear

him. Yes. His voice was above every other voice. Son of David, have mercy on me. He's determined. I can't see, man. I can't see this Jesus, but He'll hear me. He will hear me. I can't see Him. I don't have any eyes, but He'll hear my voice. And wisdom had cried out to that blind man and said, Jesus can heal me. Yes. He had received something. Yes. He cried out and said, I have a passionate need for Jesus Christ. He wasn't there going, heal me Jesus, heal me. Well, I hope he comes by today. No, he was shouting. I want some. I gotta have what you have Lord, I gotta have it. Give it to me. No, second segment of this verse is, and lift us up thy voice and lift up, or the King James's and lift

our world, excuse me, the King James's and that the voice, that lifting the voice is a sincere plea and we can approach God with confidence. I don't know where you have in your home, your workplace, your farm, your ranch where you have privacy, but everybody needs a place where you can lift your voice to God. You need a place and a time of day that you can lift your voice. And not be intimidated by the world. Doesn't have to be at your house. Maybe you got to take a walk. I like to pray at night walking outside. I like to pray at night walking outside. I'm somewhat restricted now where I live in Florida because the creek has gators in it.

So I can't go near water. By the way, Doc, yesterday morning I'm sitting on my patio and I, man, there was a big gator growling. I could hear him growl. Really? Oh, yeah. Oh, I can hear them growl. I don't know if it's a mating call, but it was loud. Yeah, it's a low rumble. But anyhow, I can't walk many places at night now unless it's lit up.

But I used to do that a lot. Because I could lift my voice. I could cry out. I could talk loud to my father. If you have a place that you can talk loud to Him, do it. We shouldn't be whispering all the time. It doesn't seem to want you to whisper. Satan wants you to whisper all your prayers.

Why? Because the Word says says cry out. Cry out with passion. Cry out with enthusiasm. Cry out with confidence. You cry out to somebody that you believe can answer. If my house was on fire, I would cry out to the fire department. Yes, what do you want? Put out the fire! Put out the fire right away. If I were on top of a house and it's on fire, I'd be crying out, get a ladder.

I wouldn't be whispering, I'd be shouting. That doesn't mean every prayer you have to be shouting. That's not what I'm teaching. But there are just times when it just feels good to cry out. Say, oh God, oh God, I can't accept mediocrity. I can't accept average. I hunger for your best. See, lifting your voice conveys the image

of persistence, confidence, pursuit, engaging in an honest dialogue with God. Lifting the voice is the opposite of a passive faith. What are you crying out for? The third segment of this verse is for understanding. Right. You're not just crying out to make a noise. You're crying out, oh God, I desire a hunger for understanding. Right. You're not just crying out to make a noise. You're crying out, Oh God, I desire a hunger for understanding. See, now you you're recognizing that understanding

discernment is a divine gift. Yes. And that we have to seek it diligently. Seek it diligently because it will empower us to discern God's will for the affairs of our lives. How to live in a very complex, wicked, fallen world. There's no way you're going to get through this life without getting skinned up, you know, scratches. You just can't get through this life, but you can at least mitigate the damage by applying as much wisdom to life's daily affairs as you can. Sometimes we get bruised up and scratched, but it would have been worse if we didn't have any wisdom. Right. And this verse here, Rick, verse 3, implies the urgency of wisdom.

You need it now. You may not even know it, but you need it now. It's an urgent need in your life right now. There's something that God wants to tell you that you don't know. I'll say it again. There's something God wants to tell you that you don't know yet. He's looking for you to ask. This understanding, Doc, is actionable knowledge.

It's knowledge that you're going to act upon in this natural world. I tell my father, you put me, you put my spirit, you put my soul in a clay jar. My soul's not clay, but that jar that's holding it is clay. Yes. Help me, Father, help me. I'm living in a clay jar. This is a side note. This thought came to me the other day.

You know, and Daniel, every Bible prophecy teacher I've ever seen on television, they've all had that big goofy statue. You know what I'm talking about? Oh, yes. The big statue laying on its side and stuff. Yes. And, you know, tin toes and everything. Yes, that one.

But the statue that they always talk about is clay and iron. Yeah, mixed together. Do you know what came to my mind the other day? The merging of humanity with robots. I've thought about that in the past too. Did you? Yeah, I mean, it makes perfect sense. It It really does because what is clay? It's man. What is iron? But something man makes forms. So man emerges with what he's formed. Yes. Transhumanism.

You got it, Doc. Oh well, that's another Bible lesson. That's free. Yeah, that's an extra lesson. That's free. That's just, yeah, that's an extra free freebie in this this lesson. Now we get to verse four. If thou seeketh her as silver and searches for her as for hid treasures. If you seek her understanding as silver and search for her understanding as you would for hidden treasures. So the first segment is if thou seeketh her. the conditional pursuit, the conditional nature of the pursuit. If, if implies it's not certain

you're going to do it. Yes, that's right. That word if implies you may do it, you may not, but if you do it, here's the payoff. So if it's encouraging the sons and daughters of God to actively commit to seeking wisdom and understanding, it's a personal choice to pursue wisdom. Acquiring God's wisdom and understanding requires intentional, active effort, like attending a Bible study for one hour, five days a week. That's serious pursuit. That's right. I'm telling you, this morning man of Bible group, you are in the upper, upper, upper level of the saints of God in the entire world.

That is no exaggeration. That is no exaggeration. You tell me how many other Bible studies are held five days a week for an hour and attract thousands of people. You tell me. I don't know of any. I hope there are a lot, but I don't know of any. I'm just patting you on the back. I'm encouraging you because you're in a class beyond the average Christian. a not seek, this is a continuous active pursuit, a quest to persevere in the pursuit of wisdom.

And how do you do that? Through the active engagement with the Word of God, prayer to God, in actions seeking every day to carry out his word, that's part of it. You're seeking. Every day we ought to be, Lord, give me opportunities today to apply in real life what I learned today. to apply in real life what I learned today. That's hands-on learning. against passivity, to reject complacency.

Men and women must actively chase God's wisdom. With the same determination, you would chase something valuable in this world. The second part, how okay, so if you seek her. The second part is as silver. Look, if I told you, I'm gonna give you the clues I know for a fact that there is a buried treasure chest in the desert outside of Tucson, Arizona. That it was from a stagecoach. And they were gonna be robbed and they buried the treasure.

And nobody has ever found it, but I have, I've got the coordinates. I've got the exact location. If I told you that, how many of you would be on a plane to Tucson, like in the next hour? would be on a plane to Tucson like in the next hour. If you believe me, I said, hey, he's telling the truth.

That's right, especially you're telling first one there gets it. First one there with the shovel gets it. Everybody would be chasing it. A big old treasure chest filled with silver. Hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of silver in this chest. All you got to do is dig it up. You got to get to it, pursue it and dig it up. Yes. That's what this is Go pursue it and dig it up See we wouldn't have trouble sweating in the hot sun of Arizona desert Cuz hey, there's There's silver buried in here

You got the map What's a little sweat compared to the payoff? Well that's the way we should be thinking about the Word of God. What's a little sweat compared to the payoff? As silver, a precious metal. The word of God is worth more than silver and gold. Truth is of an immense value that cannot be cannot be estimated in human monetary terms. It's a wisdom and understanding is a treasure that surpasses earthly riches. But to get to it, you're going to have to go through trials and tribulations and discipline because God's going to purify your character

before he gives you more of it. There's a cost to pursuing wisdom. You have to invest time, energy, effort, devotion. Sometimes you've got to buy books. Sometimes you have to pay a subscription to a service like this to have access to teachers. There's a cost. there's a price. I have just outside the studio, I've got a vast library of old Christian books, some of them going back to the 1600s, because I've been actively pursuing knowledge that has been lost to the church. Where am I getting my

understanding of the Word of God to teach? I've been reading these old books. I'm reading books that are 150 to 250 years old, written by great Bible scholars centuries ago. And I'm realizing I've never heard this stuff before. That's why so many of you who are watching or listening to Morning Man are saying, I've never heard the Bible taught like this. That's because this has gotten down inside me. It's getting down inside Doc. We're pursuing it, but we had to invest money to get the books. And think about this. The people that wrote those books had to pursue wisdom too.

Oh yes. In fact, you know, some of these guys back in the 1800s, they spoke five or six languages, traveled thousands of miles to find some obscure book and some obscure library in Europe. And hopefully they understood the language it was written in. If not, they had to learn the language to read the book. I mean, these are men that pursued the wisdom of God. And they put it in book form for us to transmit it to us. Why wouldn't we seek that? Why wouldn't we seek those treasure chests full of information and wisdom? comes to my mind is a German reform professor, Philip Schaff, 1800s historian, church historian. Doc, I have a number of his books, but But I realized, okay, this book, he found this

book in a library in Berlin. He found this book in a library in London. He found this book in a library in Edinburgh. I'm thinking this was in the the 1800s this man was traveling from country to country searching for these books and somebody will say well why would you spend that much money for that book this man spent a lifetime to learn this stuff right that's why i'm getting a bargain That's why I'm getting a bargain. Yes, you're getting his life experience, his life knowledge in one volume. Yes, what took him the entire lifetime and a vast sum of money and countless hours, months, and years pursuing this knowledge and then assembling it and putting it into a book and I can just go buy a copy of it? That's a bargain.

So you search for her as silver and search for her as for hidden treasures. Again, going back to my analogy about a treasure chest in the Tucson desert, you search like you would for a hidden treasure. Yes. Where Doc and I live, this is called the treasure coast of Florida. You know why? Because there are sunken ships off the coast of Vero Beach that have gold in them. Yes.

And the gold has been there for 500 years. And then every once in a while, some of that gold washes ashore. Washes up and people find gold coins. But the ones that really find it are those that are looking for them. That's why on the weekends, you'll see a number of guys out on the beach walking the beach with their metal detectors, and you'll see them stop and dig in the sand. What are they looking for? They're not looking for hubcaps.

For those gold doubloons that have been washing ashore for 500 years, and are been washing ashore for 500 years and are still washing ashore. I read today about a volcano that's erupting right now and they said gold is coming out in the lava. Oh really? You don't think somebody's not trying to figure out how they're going to get that hot lava? How they gonna get that gold to get that hot lava. How are they going to get that gold out

of that hot lava? Let's see, how do I bottle hot lava? People will do a lot for gold. Yes. It's a treasure that they want, they desire. they desire. So search for wisdom as you would a hidden treasure. The search implies exploration. I mean part of the fun of finding a treasure is to search. You got to dig deeply. I this I'm telling folks this this morning man of class. This is not work to me. This is fun. This is absolute fun. True News was work. It was a burden. It got to be to the point it was I could barely do it. And that was the Lord making it a heavy burden on me. You know, Doc, my arm has not hurt since we quit True News. Praise God for that. He was making my arm hurt during the day that it became

unbearable to search for news. And I've not had that pain ever since I quit true news. Yes. Praise God for that. But I'm searching for the word, my arm's not hurting. But I'm searching for the word, my arms not hurting. And then every time, every session of morning manna, find another nugget. One more little treasure. Where has that been? I've only been in ministry for 45 years and I've never seen that before.

And you're holding that nugget up going, I've never seen that before. Where have you been? Yes. And it's a delight. Yes, oh yes. When you see something you put that new nugget put that in your sack that's a new one. Buying old books, old Christian books with sound doctrine, I would say for me it can become addictive. Everybody on the staff knows that. Because the search was fun. The search.

Finding books I didn't know exist. Finding Bible scholars and preachers I didn't know ever existed. Finding these books that were 200 years old and still in good shape and readable. That became fun. I had to cut it off. Like, okay, I'm having too much fun at this. I've got more books and I can read for a while. I got to slow down. I got to stop this. But those books have changed me. So search implies a thorough exploration. If you haven't thoroughly explored something, you're not searching.

You're just casually glancing. Right. If you've lost something, you've got a flashlight, you're searching. That's right. You're pointing that light in corners. You're putting it under the flashlight, you're searching. You're pointing that light in corners. You're putting it under the bed. You're searching.

If you just do casual walkthrough, you haven't searched. See, we keep getting this active pursuit. Actively pursue the Word. Verse four. Or verse five. that was 4. Verse 5, then shall thou understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. So let's start with the first segment. Then shall you understand. This is the promise of the reward. Amen. If you do this, here's your reward.

It's not going to be an endless pursuit and you're never satisfied. Then you will understand. That's your reward. That's your reward. What's the reward that satisfies you? Satisfies you. What you're pursuing, what you're searching for. You know, if I'm, if I'm hungry and I'm searching for a steak restaurant, and somebody says, where there's a corn muffin stand, I don't want a corn muffin. I'm searching for a steak. My reward will be the steak. A corn muffin is not my reward. I don't care.

I'm hungry for the T-bone. I wasn't seeking a corn muffin. If I get a corn muffin with the T-bone, that's fine. I'm okay, but I'm hungry for the t-bone. So the reward is what you're searching for. And you want to know something? We always get what we're searching for, don't we? Yes. That's the principle here. You're gonna get what you're searching for. If there is a diligent pursuit for wisdom and understanding, God will reward you by giving it to you. This is a, I mean, we'll say a no-brainer, I was like, this is a given. God will give you wisdom and understanding, promise, done.

It's His word. He says so. But you have to seek it. You have to cry out for it. You have to do all the things that we just read in these first four verses before you can get to verse five. If you do the verses one, two, 3, and 4, verse 5 is guaranteed. Yes. But what's the big payoff in understanding, Rick? The fear of the Lord.

The fear of the Lord. Then you will understand. You will understand what? The fear of the Lord the the fear of the Lord is the foundation of true wisdom yes that we we understand that understanding Meaning this principle is essential for a life that's in alignment with God. There has to be a fear of the Lord. When do we get in trouble?

When we lessen, weaken our fear of the Lord. That's a sign. Yes. Hey, I'm getting off track. I'm losing my fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord is a relational devotion. There has to be in each of us a heart of respect and obedience that honors God, honors His holiness, honors His authority.

It's the starting point for wisdom. You can't go on. You can't go to the next step without the fear of the Lord. Right. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And then the third segment is, and find the knowledge of God. This promises an intimate encounter with God's truth. Seeking wisdom always ends up with you having a closer, deeper, more personal, intimate relationship with your Heavenly Father. Always.

Always. That's the payoff. That's the grand prize. The grand prize is not wisdom and understanding. The grand prize is you're closer to your father. Yes. That's the grand prize. If we could just all of us get this understanding, get this concept, everything God is doing in our lives is to get us to come to Him closer. Amen. Everything is to get our trials and tribulations, our, our, when we're chastised, when we're blessed, everything He's doing is designed to bring us closer to him. He craves relationship. He yearns to walk in What does God dream about? New Jerusalem. He has built you a home.

That's his dream. All my children are going to come home. We're all going to live in the garden. I'm going to leave heaven. See, we're not going to heaven. He's leaving heaven. He's moving in with the kids. Do you understand that? Papa is going to move in with the kids. And he's never going home because your home is going

to be his home. It's going to be our home together, New Jerusalem. And we will be one family. Amen. That's His desire. And He's saying, pursue me. Pursue me like I'm gold or silver. When you pursue me, I'm going to give you gold and silver. I'll throw that in just as a bonus. We'll learn that later here in Proverbs. Wisdom will fill your barns

with precious metals, with riches. It's just a byproduct. That's not the real treasure. No, the treasure is God Himself. The treasure is Father. That's the treasure. I'll talk I tell him sometimes. I love you if you were poor, God. If I found out you were poor, and you don't have a palace, you got a shack. I love you. It's you I love, Father. It's not your wealth. It's you. I love you, Father. That's the relationship he desires us to have. Fortunately, he's rich. Oh, yes. He's not a poor God. I'm just saying I gel supply all my need according to his riches

Yes, not his power god. I'm just saying if he was it wouldn't matter to me. I love him I love him. He is good to me He is very very good to me. He is kind to me and I love him. And that's, this is what he's desiring for every person to come into that personal, intimate, private relationship. You have a relationship with him that I don't have and I have one that you don't have. It's, if we all had the same, it wouldn't be intimate, would it? Right. It'd be boring.

You have to have your own private, personal, intimate relationship. He will do things and say things in your life that you just can't tell anybody else. They wouldn't understand it. We see things that happen, he makes things happen. He does these beautiful, kind-hearted little things often in the natural world. And you just go, that's my father. He just said, I

love you. We got a brother here in this class. I'm not going to call him out because of his privacy. I respect everybody's privacy. And I'm not jealous, but God does things in his life that are unique. And I don't know anybody else who gets what he gets How the Lord will just touch him he'll feel the Lord touch him Touch his shoulder touch him feel it. I've been talking to him and he just all of a sudden I see the change in him He goes he's touching me right now He is seeing the Lord seeing the Lord Three or four times, where the Lord has appeared to him, sometimes in the clouds. One time, a couple years ago, he was driving by himself across a long distance and the

Lord came at him out of the sky and he said he was looking in the eyes of the Lord came at him out of the sky. And he said he was looking in the eyes of the Lord. And it just disappeared. See, I don't have this kind of experiences. That's his intimate relationship. It's what he needs at the time. That's why I don't have it. I don't need it. He needs it. The Lord gives me things that you don't need.

He gives us what we need in an intimate personal way when we draw close to Him and we have that intimate relationship with Him. Okay, that's it, Doc. That's all I've got for today. We'll pick it up tomorrow, verse six. Amen. We appreciate you being here today for this edition of Morning Manna. Remember that you can watch Morning Manna on our various social media channels out there, Rumble, Facebook, YouTube, X. And so if you're looking for a way to share Morning Manna, you can do it from those platforms. Of course, we're still sharing it on True News for the time being, but that's coming to an end very, very soon,

probably later this month. And so we just want to encourage you that you can share this content. And we're starting to see some growth on social media. And so we appreciate that. We are also sharing some clips from each Morning Manna as well, making it a little bit easier to share some of our content out there. So we encourage you to do that as well. We love you very much, and we thank you for joining this Monday edition of Morning Manna. Any final words before we sign off?

Just a reminder to everybody that since we ended True News last month, those of you who follow us on Morning Manna, you are 100% the entire financial support of this ministry. Yes. the entire financial support of this ministry. Yes. The news junkies left, some of them were donors. That's okay, I'm not gonna spank them, not gonna chastise them. They made a decision.

All these things are decisions. But what I'm saying is the support of this ministry is now 100% on the shoulders of those who follow Morning Manum. So this is your time to step up. If you've not been a donor, if you've not been a giver, this is your time. This is your hour. Others have left. We need you to come in and fill their place. Amen. And so you can you can donate online. You can still go to truenews.com. The website's still there. It's going to roll over eventually to rickwiles.com. But there's the donate button there. It's on faith and values. And you can send a check or a money order. It's a PO Box 399, Vero Beach, Florida, 32960.

There are different ways that you can get, but we need your support. Amen. And I know you'll do it. I know I'm confident you will do it. God bless, we'll see you tomorrow. God bless you.