#2 — Ask many questions and listen carefully

“He who gives an answer before he hears, it is folly and shame to him.” (Prov. 18:13)

Before making an important decision ask a lot of questions

Do you have all the facts for making the decision? Don’t fall prey to “wishful thinking” and don’t allow your emotions to get the best of you. Listen carefully and fully understand all sides of the situation before making the decision

Remember that there are two sides to every story

“The first to plead his case seems right, until another comes and examines him.” (Prov. 18:17)

#1 — Ask God for knowledge and understanding

“For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth comes knowledge and understanding.” (Prov. 2:6)

Ask God to give you wisdom about it

“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.” (James 1:7)

“Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.” (Jer. 33:3 ESV)

What does the Bible say about it?

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” (Psalms 119:105 ESV)

“Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.” (Prov. 3:5-6)

Can you do it to the glory of God?

“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” (1 Cor. 10:31)

Will it cause you to be a partner with unrighteousness?

“Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?” (2 Cor. 6:14)

Will it put you in any kind of bondage?

“The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower becomes the lender’s slave.” (Prov. 22:7)

“And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.” (Mark 11:25 ESV)

A warning about forgiving others

“But if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” (Matt. 6:15 ESV)

Forgive others as the Lord has forgiven you

“Bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.” (Col. 3:13 ESV)

“He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.” (Psalms 103:10-14 ESV)

How often should you forgive a repeat offender?

“Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.” (Matt. 18:21-22 ESV)

Therefore…

“Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” (Eph. 4:32 ESV)

Integrity: The quality of being honest and having strong moral principles., The state of being whole and undivided. character, decency, goodness, honesty, morality, probity, rectitude, righteousness, rightness, uprightness, virtue, virtuousness.

Integrity guides the upright

“The integrity of the upright guides them, but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them.” (Prov. 11:3 ESV)

Show integrity

“Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity…” (Titus. 2:7 ESV)

Therefore…

“Better is a poor man who walks in his integrity than a rich man who is crooked in his ways.” (Prov. 28:6 ESV)

“If you pray to God and seek the favor of the Almighty, and if you are pure and live with integrity, he will surely rise up and restore your happy home. And though you started with little, you will end with much.” (Job 8:5-7 NLT)

“The righteous who walks in his integrity— blessed are his children after him!” (Prov. 20:7 ESV)

“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15.5 ESV)

Fruit: The basic Greek word for fruit is karpos , used literally of fruit, offspring, and figuratively of the consequence of physical, mental, or spiritual action; karpophoreo [karpoforevw], means to bear fruit or crops, and figuratively, bear fruit in the heart (Luke 8:15); and akarpos , means fruitless, as of unproductive, unregenerate lives (Matt 13:22). - Bible Dictionary

Every true believer produces spiritual fruit

In Galatians, chapter five, Paul used “fruit” to help us understand the product of the Holy Spirit, who lives inside every believer. The fruit of the Spirit is produced by the Spirit, not by the Christian.

You must be producing spiritual fruit

“You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they?” (Matt. 7:16 NASV)

Nine fruits of the Spirit are listed

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” (Gal. 5:22-23 NIV)

1) Love (1 Cor. 13)

2) Joy (1 Pet. 1:8-9)

3) Peace (Rom. 5:1)

4) Patience (Eph. 4:2)

5) Kindness (Eph. 4:32)

6) Goodness (Gal. 6:10)

7) Faithfulness (Prov. 20:6)

8) Gentleness (Titus 3:2)

9) Self control (Prov. 25:38)

Therefore…

“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.” (John 15:4 ESV)

“He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.” (2 Cor. 9:10 ESV)

• Plant the seeds of giving: “One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want. Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered.”

(Prov. 11:24-25 ESV) “In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” (Acts 20:35 ESV)

“Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.” (Luke 6:38 ESV)

• Plant the seeds of the Word of God: “Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.” (Luke 8:11 ESV)

“As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.” (Matt. 13:23 ESV)

“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”Isa. 55:10-11 ESV)

• Plant the seeds of righteousness: “The wicked earns deceptive wages, but one who sows righteousness gets a sure reward.” (Prov. 11:18 ESV)

“Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.” (Hos. 10:12 ESV)

• Plant the seeds of doing good: “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” Gal. 6:9 ESV)

• Plant the seeds of spiritual things: “If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you?” (1 Cor. 9:11 ESV)

“Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.” (Gal. 6:7 ESV)

God’s rule about seeds

The interesting thing about the above verse is that God has a hard fast rule about seeds. You ALWAYS get what you plant! Period! No exceptions! You will never plant a radish seed and have a turnip sprout from it! Radish seeds will always produce radishes and that’s the same for all seeds. “Don’t be deceived… you reap what you sow.”

Seedtime and harvest shall continue

“While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.” (Gen. 8:22 ESV

In the above verse are found three words: 1) seed, 2) time, and 3) harvest. God says these shall not cease as long as the earth remains. Seeds take time to grow to bring a harvest. You plant them and then you wait. Eventually, if they have been planted in good soil, given the right amount of water, given fertilizer and receive sunlight, they will produce, in time.

Seeds produce more than planted

“And Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. The Lord blessed him…” (Gen. 26:12 ESV)

When you plant one radish seed, it produces a bunch of radishes, not just one. You get more than you planted. It’s how God blesses. And, the more you plant, the more you get.

To recap

1) You always get the same thing you plant,

2) you get it later, and

3) you get more.

This rule of seed planting and harvest applies to everything you plant.

Therefore…

“The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.” (2 Cor. 9:6 ESV)

“The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied.” (Prov. 13:4 ESV)

The slacker vs the diligent

“A slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich.” (Prov. 10:4 ESV)

“Slothfulness casts into a deep sleep, and an idle person will suffer hunger.” (Prov. 18:15 ESV)

“The hand of the diligent will rule, while the slothful will be put to forced labor.” (Prov. 12:24 ESV)

A lazy person lacks sense and will end in poverty

“I passed by the field of a sluggard, by the vineyard of a man lacking sense, and behold, it was all overgrown with thorns; the ground was covered with nettles, and its stone wall was broken down. Then I saw and considered it; I looked and received instruction. A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.” (Prov. 24:30-34 ESV)

Therefore…

“Love not sleep, lest you come to poverty; open your eyes, and you will have plenty of bread.” (Prov. 29:13 ESV)

“For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.” (2 Thess. 3:10 ESV)

“Then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.” (Lev. 24:16 ESV)

The rain and the snow come down from heaven

“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater…” (Isa. 55:10 ESV)

He did good by giving you rains

“Yet he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.” (Acts 14:17 ESV

A question

“Are there any among the false gods of the nations that can bring rain? Or can the heavens give showers? Are you not he, O Lord our God? We set our hope on you, for you do all these things.” (Jer. 14:22 ESV)

Therefore…

“May he be like rain that falls on the mown grass, like showers that water the earth!” (Psalm 72:6 ESV)

“Ask rain from the Lord in the season of the spring rain, from the Lord who makes the storm clouds, and he will give them showers of rain, to everyone the vegetation in the field.” (Zech. 10:1 ESV)

“Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.” James 5:18 ESV)