Two Great Tests

You are listening to a message from Thrive Community Church, a church located in Southwest Florida. For more info, visit us at thrive-fl.org. Good morning, Thrive. Good morning. It's good to have you here this day. It's a week after Easter, but we can still say Christ is risen, hallelujah. Heck yeah. Heck yeah. Well, the early church didn't say heck yeah. The early Christians said he is risen indeed, hallelujah. But, you know, it's Thrive. What do I expect from Hugo, right? Oh, my goodness. It's good to have you here. And we're starting a new series, as we mentioned last week, and it's called The Way of Wisdom, or as we are going through Proverbs, through the month of April, the rest of April, and into May. And then we have a new series for the summer, which is, I think, the title is The Story of Us. Not quite This Is Us, you know, the show that was on TV, but The Story of Us, which we're going to look at different biblical characters, you know, Adam and Eve through Jacob, through Abraham, and they're really the story of us. It's not just about them. Actually, the past in Scripture is described to also point to the future and a point of our lives. And we're supposed to learn from each of these characters, especially all the faults and foibles that they are filled with. We kind of see ourselves. So that's going to be an exciting one for the summer. Just a couple announcements. First of all, we are having a hangout tonight at our house. Again, five to eight. We'd love to have you there. We're supplying pork loin and grilled chicken, and I think we'll have roasted potatoes as well. And you bring a side or a dessert. If you're new to the idea, you will find directions over at the Connection Center. We'd love to have you. We believe we're really about relationships, about fellowship, about community. And I'll tell you, a lot of people have missed it over the last few years. Man, it's been tough. You know what I mean? And I've seen it, especially among the college students at FGCU, those that I teach and those that I just kind of connect with. And oh, my goodness, right? There's a lot of disconnection over the last few years, and it's time to get back to be the family of God. And I think that is more salutary. I know that's a weird word. Have you ever heard that word salutary before? It's actually in part of the old liturgy that it is meat, right, and salutary. When I grew up, I always thought it was meat, right, and celery. I never understood what salutary means. But salutary means it's kind of salvific. It brings salt, salt, by the way, which is the idea of salvation. It's all tied together. It seasons life. It gives life. It brings something. Community is part of that. You see that in the book of Acts, especially after the resurrection, that the church came together and had fellowship with one another, cared for one another, gave of themselves. And that is, I know, a new word for some, salutary, okay, not celery. So have you heard this poem before, Two Roads Diverged in a Yellow Wood? Yeah, Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken. And it ends like this, I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference. And that's the difference we're looking for in this series on wisdom. The road that's not taken by the majority of people in this world but makes all the difference in our lives is the road of wisdom. So we're going to read in the book of Proverbs through these different parts of the book, kind of thematically. And this week we're going to be reading in Proverbs 3, Proverbs 10, and Proverbs 24, these verses. So first Proverbs 3, Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the first fruits of all your produce. Then your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will be bursting with wine. My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline or be weary of his reproof. For the Lord reproves him whom he loves as a father, the son in whom he delights. Blessed is the one who finds wisdom and the one who gets understanding. For the grain from her is better than gain from silver and her profits better than gold. Then Proverbs 10, the wage of the righteous leads to life, the gain of the wicked to sin. When the tempest passes, the wicked is no more, but the righteous is established forever. And Proverbs 24, if you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small. Rescue those who are being taken away to death. Hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter. If you say, behold, we did not know this. Does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it? And will he not repay a man according to his work? So for your life and mine, I've said this before. There are thousands, possibly millions of different voices bombarding you on a daily basis. You know, every advertisement, every voice on the radio, every talk show, every event, every electronic device, every social media. There are thousands of messages bombarding and trying to get your attention over time. But t...