TRUNEWS with Rick Wiles - Morning Manna - September 4, 2025 - Proverbs 11:1-2 - Just Weights and Just Wisdom

Episode Date: September 4, 2025

In this episode, we explore the weighty truth of Proverbs 11:1–2 and discover how God views honesty not just as a virtue, but as a reflection of His own character. When integrity rules the marketplace and humility governs the heart, divine favor follows. But when pride enters, shame isn’t far behind. Join us as we reflect on the eternal value of righteous dealings and the wisdom found in walking humbly with our God. Teachers: Rick Wiles and Doc BurkhartYou can partner with us by visiting FaithandValues.com, 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!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!Amazon.com/Final-DayApple users, you can download the audio version on Apple Books!books.apple.com/final-dayPurchase the 4-part DVD set or start streaming Sacrificing Liberty today.Sacrificingliberty.comThe Fauci Elf is a hilarious gift guaranteed to make your friends laugh! Order yours today!Trunews/faucielf

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to Morning Manna. It's Thursday, and we are delighted to have you. This week has gone by fast. We had a holiday at the beginning of the week, and I've been one day behind a week. So it is already Thursday, and tomorrow will be Faith Friday. Seems like we just did Faith Friday. Yeah. Time is going by very quickly. But we are. We're just delighted that you are here, that you've made an appointment to be with brothers and sisters from around the world. We gather at 8 a.m. Eastern Time at faith and values.com. And, of course, thousands of people will watch or listen to Morning Manana throughout today through our archives and also through our streams on social media platforms. it doesn't matter what time of the day we're just glad you are studying the word of God with us

so we're all together in spirit so today we begin a new chapter in the book of proverbs chapter 11 we're going to look at verses 1 through 6 I'm going to pray invite the Holy Spirit and Doc's going to read the word then we're going to jump into this study Almighty God our Father, our Father in heaven, Father, thank you for this beautiful day. Father, thank you for your beautiful son, Jesus Christ, and inviting us into his kingdom and bringing your Holy Spirit into us to dwell inside of us.

Father, we desire to know you more, to know your son, and if we know your son, we will know you. And if we know your son and we know you, we will know your kingdom. And so we are asking for wisdom and understanding. Father, we're studying Proverbs, and it is a book of wisdom. And we are asking for wisdom, and you have already promised to give it to anyone who asks for wisdom. And so that's a promise that we can be assured you will deliver your promise.

father bless the study of your word in jesus name amen amen and what a privilege it is once again to join together with brothers and sisters from around the world and study the word of god we're continuing in our study of proverbs and we are now starting chapter 11 today i want to give a greeting out to uh folks around the world canada japan switzerland malaysia the middle east Germany, Brazil, France, the Philippines, Australia, Russia. Sometimes we forget that we've got people all over the world that are tuning in and joining us live for this Bible study each and every morning. And we appreciate you being here. Most of these people in different countries, they're here every day, faithfully every day, to study the Word of God.

And so we are so privileged to have you here with us. And, of course, folks from all of the U.S. as well, we love you. too don't love you any less it just uh i never imagined as a young preacher that we could have a bible study each and every morning and then people from all over the world would be joining us uh you know it just it still uh overwhelms me at times to think about that all right we are in proverbs 11 and let's read the first six verses i'm reading from the king james today uh and this is this chapter today deals with practical wisdom and so we're going to be getting into some very interesting topics today so be sure you have your notepad and pencil ready to take notes today and follow along with us verse one

a false balance is abomination to the lord but a just wait is his delight when pride cometh shame but with the lowly is wisdom the integrity of the upright shall guide them but the pervert of transgressors shall destroy them. Riches profit not in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivereth from death. The righteousness of the perfect shall direct his way, for the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness. In verse 6, the righteousness of the upright shall deliver them, but transgressors shall be taken in their own naughtiness. God bless the reading of his word today. all right doc so verse one

a false balance is an abomination to the lord but a just weight is his delight isn't this interesting that scales are in the bible yes scales that you weigh things is in the Bible

in fact the first line of chapter 11 is about scales a false balance a balance is a scale a false scale is an abomination

to the Lord but a just weight is his delight I got to tell you the very first thing that came to my mind when I started preparing for this lesson. It's humorous to me. When I was a child, my grandmother would send me to a local country store. It was within walking distance. This is back, you know, when you could send a five-year-old down a state road by himself. You know, it was okay. There was

nothing going to hurt anybody okay and and I would I would you know there's you know five six seven eight nine ten you know in that age group I'd walk to that store for my grandmother and she would give me some money to go buy she liked that the store had baked ham oh baked ham out of oh it was heavenly unbelievable doc I wish I could I wish I can recreate it for you. It would be the best ham sandwich you've ever had in your life, okay? Cheese, you know, all kinds of things that, you know, was in the deli. And she'd give me money and she'd say, now go down to the store and, you know, get a pound of this cheese and two pounds of this ham and all this stuff.

And she'd always say, now you keep your eye on that old man's thumb. And I go, what? I'm not going to say his name. He passed away a long time ago. Okay. I have very good memories of him. He was a cheerful, happy old guy, you know. Doc, I'll give you, think of Burrow Eyes.

Okay. Burrow Eyes with a butcher's apron on. All right. That's my memory of him. But she'd say, now, you can. keep your eye on that old man you watch his thumb i go what about his thumb he'll put his thumb on that scale or she if she was really mad at him she'd say he'll he'll put his big old fat belly up against that scale yeah well why is he doing that grandma because he's going to cheat me i've called him

cheating people okay now i don't know if he did it or not you know but she for she was convinced that he cheated okay and you had to watch him what does it have to do with this with proverbs 11 it has everything to do with it ever since ancient times dishonest merchants have used false scales, tampered scales to cheat customers. It's not new. It was going on thousands of years ago

to the time of Solomon. It's still going on today. Wherever things are weighed, there's a chance somebody's going to cheat. And it's not only in grocery stores.

It can be in banks, in financial trading. It can be in large-scale trading of grain. People cheat. Somebody told me one time, Doc, that this man at an organization who had access to customer files

he bragged to this man that I know and said you know I can go into I can go into these customer files and I can set the computer program

to take one penny out of their bank account every month and they'll never notice it but over a year I can make an extra I don't know $100,000 or whatever it was and he was laughing about it

you know I wasn't there this man told me about it and you know the gentleman was thinking well you're a crook if you're bragging it you could do this you probably have done it right so do you do you watch

Do you watch every receipt to see if the precise amount has been taken out down to the penny? See, there are many ways for people to cheat. Like, you know, we give a tip. We sign a receipt at a restaurant, and you give a $10 tip. Are you certain that $10 is what's taken out of your account? no if they add five dollars would you would you notice it you have to be meticulous to check every single transaction and doc i'll be honest with we you know um my my daughter caught somebody cheating on a tip it does happen

i know that's going to bother you now you're going to you're going to hey no i do check for me yeah i'm glad i and what i do this little trick i learned is i'll i'll handwrite the tip and then i'll circle it and so it makes it a bit harder to uh change the text and everything and so just a tip of all people my dad taught me that he said they'll cheat right but you but then you have to check on your bank statement is that the same amount yeah that's where we that's where we fail i'm bringing these points up to show you that this is common it's not a rare event it's a common event that takes place every hour all over the world God calls this kind of cheating an abomination.

He doesn't just say, oh, that's just honest, you shouldn't do it. He calls it an abomination. That's as strong of a word as you can get to come out of the Lord's mouth. Right. The Hebrew word for, Abomination is to Abba. To Abba means detestable, loathsome, disgusting, and abhorrence and idolatry. That's why the Bible always God speaks of idolatry is an abomination.

You know, if the Lord could vomit, Just think, he's sticking his finger in his throat, going, ah, that's how revolting it is to him. The word abomination is reserved for the sins that are the most detestable in his sight. And so I've said this before. religious people have a tendency super religious see there's a difference in being righteous and religious both start with ours

but religious is not necessarily righteous and righteous is rarely religious yes religious people will proudly say these sins one two three four five these are an abomination

this is what God God will send you to hell in a in a New York minute he'll get you there so fast you commit that sin you're done you're going to fry and yet the same people will commit a sin like cheating

and think that well my old neighbor used to say that's business he he was a character boy he was he was known in churches far and wide you didn't want to know him close up I knew him close up you didn't want to know him he'd get in your pocket so fast and he would he would always justify to say that's business In other words, hey, you let me take it. That was his mindset. You let me take it from you. It's your fault that you let me teach you.

Yeah. You allowed me to be slick. Not my fault. I'm slick. It's your fault. It's your fault you're slow. I'm not slick, you're slow. That's his mindset.

That was his mindset. All right. How did that work out for him when he died? I don't know. I don't know. He passed away. I don't know. Did he ever repent of it?

I don't know. I just know God says cheating people is an abomination. Amen. An abomination is a thing that God actively hates. And here, in this verse, he says, deceitful business practices. are up at the top of the list of things he hates. Wall Street?

How much cheating is going on in Wall Street? The banking industry? How much is going on in the bank? I'll tell you why. The crypto industry. There's so much room there to cheat. But God says, I see it all. Yeah.

I see it all. Why does he hate it? Why is dishonesty in business not a small matter to the Lord? And an abomination. I mean, it's not like, you know, I really wish you guys wouldn't do dishonest. no for him an abomination means it gets god riled up yes so what is it why it violates his character okay that's why it violates his character he treasures his character of honesty and truthfulness and justice and fairness he treasures it so much that when he sees somebody do something contrary to his character

it makes him rise up from his throne and go oh i hate that kind of behavior puts a different it puts a different spin on old Bob at the grocery store putting his thumb on my grandmother's cheese that she was buying. I thought it was funny as a kid. But it wasn't funny to the Lord. Because he saw every time, if that man did that, the Lord saw it every time he cheated my grandmother. Okay. just think about going back through time

centuries and centuries of people cheating see cheating cheating in business reveals a person's selfishness selfishness and greed those two are twins right selfishness and greed they're twin sins

you almost see both of them together working together a greedy person is always a selfish person a selfish person is always a greedy person yes those two things are contrary to god's nature his character people who watch out for themselves who will do anything to make sure they get taken care of first they're selfish and they're greedy and those are the ones most likely to cheat in business it also reveals that they don't fear god they don't think god sees everything that they do that means they do not fear god but do you let that person see a church member with a cigarette or cigar in their hand outside of church and oh my you're going to you are i was at your house and i saw a can of beer in your refrigerator you're going to burn in hell

see they're judgmental and i don't see anywhere in the bible where god calls smoking a cigar an abomination or drinking a beer is an abomination. Now, I don't smoke and I don't drink. So don't, don't think, don't think, oh, you know, Rick, Rick must smoke and drink. No, I don't. No, I don't. But I don't judge people who do.

See, there's a difference. So religious people will judge others with a super high standard of righteousness and yet privately they're selfish and greedy and will cheat people to get anything that they can get in their hands right to grubby you know what grubby is they got grubby fingers man this is grab they grubby fingers grab they'll go after something so fast they'll knock a little old lady over just to get to it

and these are the people that cheat so a false balance a false scale shows contempt for both god and your neighbor whoever that person is you cheat it God sees it all. Cheating is rebellion against God's character because he is the God of truth and justice and fairness.

Amen. How could he be the God of truth, justice, fairness if he tolerated cheating? So what this is telling us is that righteousness is practical. It reaches into the marketplace, not just the church, the synagogue, the temple. Your righteousness has to be displayed every day in the marketplace.

But dishonesty reflects a deeper corruption. Again, the greed, the selfishness, the disregard for divine justice. Doc, you know, I was thinking about that old grocer from my childhood. I thought, okay, he wasn't the store owner. He was an employee. And I remember where he lived. It was a shack. It was an old country shack

So it wasn't like he was making a fortune And I thought What would motivate him to cheat Yeah And I thought well If this is what I was thinking Early this morning You know this is

This is 65 60 65 years ago that's a long time man it's a long time ago how old am i this is like a long time ago but anyhow i was thinking what what motivated him to cheat he he wasn't a owner he lived poor and thought oh his poverty his poverty motivated his dishonesty he rationalized in his mind i'm i'm poor i have to cheat to get ahead oh you see where this is going yeah and i this thought came to my mind i've never thought about this ever

in all my years thinking about this guy but let's just say he cheated by a quarter pound a quarter pound of ham a quarter pound of hamburger a quarter pound of cheese whatever was in the deli if he kept an accurate tab of how much cheating he did every day he could go home with the accumulated amount

not pay a dime for it and have his groceries paid for and the owner would never know the difference yep And that thought came to me. He was buying his groceries that way. How he rationalized, if the man did it, he was rationalizing in his mind, I'm poor, I have to cheat in order to eat. This is how I'm buying my groceries. I'm going to have everybody, everybody comes in the store is going to contribute a little bit to my groceries.

Kind of a generosity tax. that's possible but see people rationalize in their mind a justification for their sin right and in today's world it's okay to cheat it's okay to cheat i mean really oh you can you can become a you can become a famous youtube influencer yeah do anything uh my friend geraldine here on the chat she lives in the Philippines and we both are aware that you know there's a lot of poverty in the Philippines there's no doubt okay but there's kind of an acceptance that it's okay to they won't call it cheating but it's okay to short someone who is more well off than you are if you're poor and it's justified

and it's okay to do Geraldine would understand that if I show up at a store myself as an American, I'm likely to be charged more for an item than someone else, than someone from the Philippines. Why? Because of the color of my skin and or the appearance that I have wealth. They don't really know how broke I am. But, but that's, it's prevalent there. But it's also prevalent in American culture, too. That's okay. You know, the rich have plenty let's take it from them if they don't know it they won't miss it anyway but god sees it and it's an abomination to him yes and the church is hesitant to call it out the church doesn't like to talk about these things because this is this is where the rubber meets the road isn't it this is where

real religion takes place yes so so again the mindset in the in the poor person my poverty justifies my thievery yes but the wealthy person says my wealth justifies my thievery that's right works the other way too yeah see and God says no it's an abomination I've traveled throughout the world and it didn't take me long to figure out the way business business was done for tourists or business visitors. And I got to the point where I didn't get upset about it. I would just, sometimes I just put my arm around.

Somebody could quote a price. I just put my arm around their shoulder and look at them and go, now, is that the local price or is that the white American price? And sometimes they would just chuckle and laugh and go, it's the white American price. I go, okay, thanks for being honest. Now, let's work out a real price. price here. Okay? And I thought, well, the best I'm going to get here is halfway between the local price and the white America price. But the point is, they had two sets of prices. The local got one price, the tourist got another price.

Yeah. And God says, that is wrong. Yeah. That's wrong. It's wrong. It's wrong. It's more than wrong. It's an abomination. Yes. He's sticking his finger down his throat. Going, this gags me. This makes me mad. Does God get mad? He's trying to tell you what makes him angry.

Abominations are the things that make him angry. Go read what the abominations are. That's what makes him angry. He's pretty easygoing on a lot of other things. Even though he doesn't condone it, but the abominations get him riled up. So, but a just weight is his delight. So here's the contrast, a false balance and a just weight. Integrity in business dealings brings joy to the Lord.

When he observes a man or woman who is honest in their business dealings, it brings joy to the Lord. So a just weight is not just scales in a grocery store. It refers to fairness, honesty, equity, and business in daily life. If you're selling a quart of honey, make sure it's filled to the top. Whatever you're doing, make sure it's just. It's exactly what you're telling people it is. He takes pleasure in truthfulness because he is truth.

He's not just truthful, he is truth. See, it's beyond being truthful, God is truth. So every act of integrity reflects his nature and his nature is righteous. So our integrity shows reverence for God's law

and our love for neighbors. So one of the roles of God is judge. So, Your honest dealings honor God as judge. Doc, here's another reason why he detest dishonesty and finds joy in honesty. Honest business dealings is evidence to the Lord that you trust him for your provisions. Yes.

And dishonest business dealings is evidence to the Lord that you trust him for your provisions. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. And dishonest business practices, prove to him that you do not trust him, that you've got to do whatever you've got to do to get ahead. So he takes it personal. You're not just offending the other person who doesn't even know he or she was cheated. You're offending God. Well, why is it offending God? Because he's saying, you're cheating proves to me you don't trust me.

that's right i've promised to take care of you i've promised to meet all of your needs and your cheating proves you don't believe me amen preach it so doc it's not just about it's a violation of ethics it's a violation of trust in his nature yes the other thing that we see here is the delight of the Lord is not only in worship in church services but the delight of the Lord is in the mundane things of life how we measure stuff how we trade how we do business these are the mundane everyday things of life and God says i find joy in these mundane things when they're done in honesty because it proves that you

trust me and i delight i delight in it he delights in justice he delights in fairness he delights in truth and the man or woman who lives with these principles reflects god's character and Therefore, they enjoy his favor. Amen. Now, I'm a believer that God's, I see, oh, God has balances too. He's got books. You know, he's, he's the, he is the number one CPA in the universe. He can count.

You know, he invented numbers. He invented math. That's right. He's the number one CPA certified public accountant in the entire universe. My view is his books balance every day. Amen. I don't know how he does it. I'm just, here's my view.

When God sees a person steal something from somebody, God just goes over to his books and move something in that person's account out of that man or woman's possessions. He removes something. Oh, you just stole something. You just cheated somebody. Oh, I'm going to change the books. And I'm going to move something out of your account in. this world could be money could be possessions could be your health but you're going to pay for

what you just did could be your life could be your life could be your life but the rich man who said oh today i'm going to build more barns so that i can store more stuff and jesus said you fool your soul will be required of you today this day this day well let's see what the commentator said Charles Bridges 1794 God's eye is on the market as much as on the sanctuary yes

dishonest gain is his abhorrence but the righteous balance is his delight Albert Barnes 1798 The proverb rebukes dishonesty and trade The law of God extends to common dealings Fraud is hateful to him

Honesty is his delight Alexander McLaurin 1826 religion has to do with the marketplace A man may sing psalms on the Sabbath, but if he cheats with his weights on Monday, his religion is hypocrisy. Proverbs 112. When pride cometh, then cometh shame.

But with the lowliest wisdom. What is pride? It's the exaltation of the self against God. Simple as that. When a person is full pride, they are exalted themselves. And it's actually an exaltation against God. And pride always precedes a downfall. Why?

Because a proud person overestimates himself, despises others, and resist God's authority. so pride blinds a person's mind at heart corrupts their judgment leads to foolish choices that bring the person down to dishonor and you can see it throughout history empires kingdoms rulers they fell when pride lifted them up Probably the best example in the Bible is Nebuchadnezzar. How did it work out for him, Doc? He ended up thinking he was a cow. Yeah. Folks, if you don't know what Doc's talking to,

the king went mad. He lost his mind. He was outside of the palace eating grass. This happens. Pride invites shame. That's right. God will humble the proud. Satan offers pride to people, and he promises honor.

Hey, if you act proud, you'll get honor. But the word of God says, no, you'll get humiliation. Satan's promise is counterfeit glory Everything Satan offers you is counterfeit He's a counterfeit God Everything he does is counterfeit So he'll offer you Glory through pride

But it's counterfeit Yes Because it eventually end up in humiliation It even even temporary temporal success in this life If it's gained by pride It will ultimately collapse under God's justice Now look This is talking about people who are walking outside of the covenant

Walking in arrogant pride Walking in arrogant pride is talking about people who fall, okay? The promise here is that person will eventually fall. The righteous will stumble, but the righteous will not fall. There are times in your life you may stumble, but you will not fall. he will protect you from falling he will he'll let you stumble but he won't let you fall he'll take care of you he'll he'll save you from yourself but the the proud person he's not going to save them from themselves their proud their pride will lead to their

downfall but with the lowly is will The lowly are those who walk in humility and acknowledge their dependence on God. I think of the sermon on the Mount. What is Jesus teaching us in the sermon on the Mount? That by humbling yourself, by being lowly, is the only way to be brought. brought up high and not in a way that doesn't end in a downfall. The kingdom of God has, well, actually, the world has inverted the principles of the kingdom. It's not that the kingdom has inverted the principles of the world.

No, the world has inverted the principles of the kingdom. In Satan's kingdom, Satan says, hey, puff yourself up with pride and I'll give you glory. And God says, no, that's a guaranteed way to fall down. Lower yourself. Make yourself humble. Be a servant. And you'll be lifted up. It doesn't make sense to our carnal minds. It makes sense in heaven. The ways of the world don't make sense in heaven. What are these people doing down there? humility is not weakness it's strength it's strength under god's authority

moses was the meekest man on earth he wasn't the weakest man he was the meekest man see a lot of people say oh well he was meek he must have been he was a weakling no he stood up to pharaoh right he led up a million or so Hebrews out of Egypt and took them into the wilderness and let them to Canaan. That's not weakness. It was meekness. He was meek.

His meekness gave him strength under God's authority. His strength came from God's authority. But Moses had to be meek in order to walk in that authority. if not pride was going to come into his heart so wisdom accompanies humility because the humble are teachable and they're willing to be corrected wait a minute if they're willing to be corrected it means that they did something wrong see now wait a minute I thought only rotten sinners did things that were wrong. No. Righteous people do things that are wrong. But they're willing to be corrected.

Amen. And why are they willing to be corrected? Because their hearts are humble. And many times when a righteous person stumbles and does something wrong, they're condemned by proud religious people. we're not humble I'd say God sees it all

God says oh you know let's see the proud person the proud religious person that's condemning the humble person who fell and stubbed his toe you know got his knees skinned up that proud religious person is not aware that God's saying hey I'm watching all of it

and I'm making notes and for you proud people, I'm going to schedule something up ahead for you. I'm going to sand some of that pride off of you. I don't want that, okay? I don't want that. I'd just rather avoid that process. I'm doing, I'm just doing my best.

Can I get through one day? and just be everything's okay between me and the Lord and I've learned that I've got to put boundaries on people that's been a big lesson if you don't put boundaries on people you don't put boundaries on people they'll mess you up and they'll get your own your own mind will get messed up you'll start thinking wrongly because of other people who don't honor your boundaries so just have the boundaries and you just stay in in the presence of the Lord like I was thinking this morning in my prayer time I can't and I hate using the I hate using the term commodity because it's not a commodity I just don't know of another English word

to use a limited vocabulary but the presence of the Lord I can't think of another thing another commodity another whatever that's more valuable

his presence what would you take what would you choose wealth or the presence of the Lord I'm going to choose the presence of the Lord when his presence is very near to me

very detectable it is so pleasing it is so satisfying I don't want it to go away I don't I don't desire to go away I want his presence yes

and why does it go away because it doesn't go away we pull away we pull away we pull away So, let me give you an analogy. This is probably not part of the lesson.

I mean, for Proverbs, but I'm talking about the presence of the Lord. Why are we sometimes in the, just like the heart of his presence? It can't get any better. It's like, this is just awesome, wonderful. His presence is in my life. and there are other times yeah I know he's there somewhere why is that

does he pull away no we do and this is the analogy I can give you think of a son or a daughter young adult okay they've left home they're a young adult they get into trouble they have a serious problem

it could be their marriage it could be finances it could be anything they have a problem serious problem i mean really serious problem what's the first thing they do they run home to dad right and they open up their hearts they sit down with dad and they tell their father things that they never would tell anybody and fathers listens and he doesn't judge and he doesn't condemn and he doesn't puff and puff he loves them and he says son daughter we can fix this we can get out of this thank you for being so honest with me thank you for being transparent you've given me insight into your life and your your problem and i can help you and you and i

together are going to solve this problem and you're like oh i've got the best dad and you're calling him every day you're going over to his house. You're sitting with him. Dad, I need more of your wisdom. I just need another hug. Could you give me one more hug? And then eventually the problem gets solved. And what do we do? Hey, Dad, I'll try to stop by next week if I have some time. I'll give you a call. the moment the problem gets solved we take off it's got dad's presence didn't leave you left god's you left dad's presence

and so why do we have these problems that reappear in our lives because dad wants you to come back and sit with him and talk is that hitting home man for anybody so god gives grace to the humble james four verse six he lifts them up in due time first peter chapter so humility aligns a person with reality aligns a person with reality They see themselves rightly before God leads them to sound judgment. Yes.

The humble finds wisdom. The proud, the proud boast, the proud person stands up straight and puts their shoulders back and boasts. But the humble. bows before the Lord. One boast, one bows. The one who bows is the one who's lifted up. And the one who stands up proud is the one who gets knocked down. Now, let's see here.

Adam Clark, pride was the first sin and the parent of all others. Yes. But humility brings a teachable spirit, which is the beginning of wisdom. I like what he says about that, because he goes on later on in his commentary, he talks about the first sin, the first sin was pride, and it occurred in heaven. Yeah. First sin was pride, and it occurred in heaven by Lucifer.

In the presence of God. yes so why does god get so upset about pride it reminds him he takes it personally he does he thinks it all started with lucifer yep he looks at all the sin the suffering everything going on on on earth and he says it's all goes back to that day satan lucifer had pride gender McLaren the proud man courts shame for he builds on illusions the humble man learns wisdom for he looks at realities in the light of God what is it he looks at realities the proud that the humble man or woman is transparent with the Lord learn to be transparent with God, sit down with him and talk to him like he is a loving father, which he is.

And just say, I know you already know about this, but I got to talk to you about it. Sometimes you just, it's a wake-up call when you realize your father already knows about it. Right. Doc, I remember when I was like 18 years old and I was carrying a, I came home with a, you know, I'm embarrassed to say this the way I lived it when I was 18. But I had a pound of marijuana in my car, you know, back in a pound. A pound. that would send you to the federal penitentiary you don't do anything halfway do you i had a pound you know and um i got it out of the trunk of my car and i was carrying it into my

house and later that day my granddad said to me now he's just an old country boy he looked at me and he said rick i know what was in that bag and I just stood there and I said, you do? He goes, yeah, I do. He didn't say anything else. Okay? Boy, I went in the house thinking,

my granddad's smarter than I knew. He knows what I did. Okay? Well, let me tell you, God sees everything. He sees everything. sees the thumb on the scale. He sees the cheating. He sees the fake bank accounts. There's another thing. The fake books and businesses. How many times you heard about they cooked the books? What does that mean? They cooked the books. They have a second set of books. They had a second set

of financials. The real one and the one they showed people. It's crookedness. God sees all of it. so just keep that in mind your father says i know what you got in that bag i see it i was standing back i watched you i saw it and i knew okay it's it's better just to be honest be transparent okay and when you do something wrong quickly confess to the Lord and just say, yeah, you're right. Okay. And your Heavenly Father

will not kick you out of the house. He will bring you back into right standing. And he'll deal with anybody who condemns you. Right. Okay.

We're over the time limit. Hope it was a good lesson today. And we only got through verse two right is that it was only two wasn't it yeah well there was a lot to glean from those two verses because you know this is very practical so they're real world uh items here folks that you know our faith is not just something that happens in the ether or in the paper so now this is where it really happens at the grocery store at the hardware store when you file your taxes when you're you know when you're negotiating the real estate deal everything i mean that's where your faith

really is revealed do you believe god do you believe him yes do you believe in doc i just thought of another real true example i don't give you so you know it's a long time ago all my stories seemed to be a long time ago this happened when i was in my 20s so this is over 50 years ago doc okay I'd say 45 years ago I was in my mid mid 20s okay so I was working for a a major department store chain and I was a commission salesman and there was a a man there he was just a few years older older than me he was you know that probably 30 and he was a what would they the title of his job was merchandiser so he was a merchandiser for this department store which meant he was in charge of certain departments and would do the ordering for the you know this is back when a human

actually did the ordering for the merchandise uh for each department store and so each year you had to do inventory. And if you've ever done inventory in a warehouse or anything big, you know, it's a pain you know where. It's not fun. It's one of those kind of jobs I don't want to do, okay? And so we all knew that inventory time was coming up. And I was like, oh, we got to count every single thing

on the floor of the store. And we got to go into the warehouse and count everything. that's in the warehouse. Oh, this is horrible. I hate this job. I don't remember his McKenzie. No, that wasn't his name. Anyhow, he came to me

and he said, hey, Rick. This is how slick he was. He goes, hey, Rick. Suddenly he was my buddy. You know, any other day, he was a, you know what. Because he was a, he was higher up. He's only a few years older than me, but, you know, he had a college degree and he was brought into management training and he was better than me. That was the attitude. You know, he was going to be a store manager someday. You're just a lowly commission salesman. Okay. Anyhow, he was always a creep of on any given day. Just wasn't a nice guy. But this particular day, he was my friend, Doc.

he was my buddy and he's he's hanging out with me at the store he's I'm like oh okay maybe this guy's not as bad as I thought he was okay oh he was buttering me up okay so then he started talking about the the inventory and you know we got to do that inventory mr. so-and-so the store manager he's been asking me when's that inventory going to be done okay i said i hate inventories he goes i do too and we're back and forth talking like this he goes hey rick i got i got something for you i said what he pulls this paper out he said just sign this i said what is it he said it's the inventory i said we haven't done the inventory yet. He goes, hi. Old man, so-and-so doesn't know that. I said, what you just made it? He goes,

then I guess these numbers are pretty accurate. He goes, we're not going to stand there and count every single thing in every box. He goes, we got more things to do. You and I, you know, we got more things to do. He was, I just, I made up the numbers. He said, they're accurate. He says, just sign this. Then we'd get out of all this work. I said, well, I'll think about it. I had already made my decision the moment he presented it, but I didn't know what to do. And he came back the next day.

He said, hey, just, you ready to sign that inventory? I said, no, I'm not going to do it. He goes, why? I said, it's dishonest. I'm not going to do it. Because the numbers are accurate, Rick. He goes, it's not dishonest. I said, what's dishonest is me signing the document.

knowing we did not do the inventory. That's dishonest. Even if the numbers are perfectly accurate, it's dishonest for me to sign it saying we counted it. Or he got angry. After that, Doc, I was his enemy. I was his enemy. He was out to get me.

But the Lord saw it all. And you know what happened? Higher up at a regional office, they had been watching him. An auditor at a higher level in a regional office had been watching him. Guess what? $250,000 worth of merchandise was missing from that department. He was stealing it. he got fired okay yeah i don't know i don't know if they prosecuted him i know he got fired

and i'll tell you what if i had signed that document i would have been fired with him he might go to the pen too and i might have gone to the prison with him if they you know they if they prosecuted him see it's it's things like that in real life where you have to make a decision and say no that's dishonest i'm not going to do it you notice he didn't sign it he didn't say well and i asked him that he goes well and he said i can't be the one to sign he goes i'm the i'm the supervisor he said that's not going to look right you're you're here an employee in this department you i can say that you did the county but i didn't do the county loves company yeah how many times is

that done all over the world every day those are the real life examples yes of dishonest scales and balances yes for god's when you stand and say no i'm not going to do something dishonest god says i love it i take to light in this person right so i'm sure many of you could uh tell real stories from somewhere in your lifetime. We've all had these encounters. Right. And it's good that we learn these lessons again, even if we've already learned them, they reinforce it with ourselves and allow us to teach others, too, our children, our grandchildren, to show them the importance of being truthful in all matters and financial matters and dealing with people that God is watching, that God is looking, and to make it very serious that it's, you know, it's not a playful

thing it's not a funny thing and i'll be honest with you rick i i grew up in a family that there were some members of my family that winked at things like this you know um i tell the story of my great i'll keep it short i promise my great aunt jess okay my grandfather's sister she and a friend traveled across the country they wanted to take a trip to california and they traveled across country and the way that they got money is they would knock on people's doors along the way and tell people that they were

broke and they're trying to get to family in California and just begging for money now this is at the end of the Depression and you know and that's and she bragged about that even in her old age you know about how she was able to travel all the way

across country just asking people for money and people just would give you money they would just give it to you and you know she delighted in telling that story but every time she told it my heart cringed i mean i thought how could you do that how how could you i mean it's not just one lie it's repeated lie it's a living lie and she lived and she reveled in it that's yeah that's the part that's even that's the part that's even worse she she she found delight in it doc so She found a light in her dishonesty.

Yeah. But there are people who live in that, but you don't. You don't, folks. You don't because you've been made aware of what the Word of God says. Well, we'll continue in Proverbs chapter 11 on Monday. Tomorrow's Faith Friday. And we also honor the Lord's supper, the Lord's table on Fridays as well. So we encourage you that you have bread and either red wine or great.

juice and that you join us at the Lord's table if you're confessing believer in Jesus Christ been baptized in water according to scriptures we invite you to participate in the Lord's table and we'll be continuing our series on boat faith tomorrow on faith Friday so we encourage you come and join us invite a friend here to join too with us live we do this live every weekday morning 8 a.m and we would love to have more people here interacting with us questions, providing comments, and making connections with friends all over the world. So, Dr. Bid, our previous boat faith lessons were on boat faith before the storm. Now we're going to move into boat faith in the storm.

Amen. Okay. Praise Lord. Goodbye, everyone. Love you. Just reminder, we'll be telling you more about this over the next few days on how you get your copy of Megafire. Okay.

So stay tuned. We'll be sharing more information. Okay. Love you. We'll see you tomorrow on Faith Friday.