God is looking to train a generation of un-intoxicated men and women to lead and model Christ’s righteousness in an intoxicated world.

God wants men and women who do not succumb to the intoxicating influences that dull, cloud, neutralize, and inhibit their minds.

Any desire, unrestrained by God’s grace can become an intoxicating idol.

Things like:  fashion, comfort, convenience, security, work, sports, and amusements can be as deadly and powerful as addictions to alcohol, drugs, and sex.

Revelation is God answering all the centuries of prayers of all the saints who’ve prayed. Do you all know the Lord’s Prayer? Our Father which art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name. What’s the next line? Oh, wait a minute. Just that line, Thy name. Do you realize what you’re saying? Martin Luther said, that’s the terrible petition. Y’all know who Martin Luther is, right? The Reformer? He said, if Christians understood what Thy kingdom come means, they wouldn’t pray it so glibly. What it means is, I want God’s absolute rule. And that’s

 what the Tribulation is. God wipes out the whole planet. But, the Lord’s prayer is, bring it to the Earth, but first, bring your kingdom to me. That’s why Martin Luther called it the terrible petition. You know what it’s saying? God, I want you to control me.

Now, do you know what I do every day? My prayer? I actually pray through the Lord’s Prayer every day. Not reciting it like a good Roman Catholic could in their sleep, because they know it so well. Think of the Lord’s Prayer. Our Father which art in Heaven. So, what’s the first thing prayer is to be? I’m supposed to focus on who God is. He’s seated on the throne. He’s high and mighty, lifted up. So, our Father which art in Heaven, I want to hallow Your name.

The next petition, Thy kingdom come. I want You to control my life today. So, I want to start by focusing on who you are. Then, I want You to control me.

And what’s the next petition? Thy will be done. So, I don’t just want to focus on You and have You control me. I want You to lead me. Have you ever thought about that? What does lead mean? Someone’s in front, and we’re behind them. So, I want God to always be in front, and I want Him to show me where to go in life. Boy, that changes your whole life. It slows you down. You focus on who He is, the perfect Father. You invite Him to control your life,

and the very first thing you want is Him to be in front, leading you.

Then, what’s the next part of the Lord’s Prayer? Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. Give, what does it say? Our what? Daily. That is so un American. Most people want a lifetime. They want to save up enough money. God wants us to need Him every day. Just have enough to make it through today. You ever thought about that? So, I want

God to supply me today, so I see His hand in my life. See this, this is a whole new prayer. Every time, we pray, is recalibrating our life to God. Him controlling me, Him leading me, Him supplying me, and then what does it say?

Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass. What is that? I need cleansing from relational problems.

From my own struggles with the world, the flesh, and the devil.

Then it says, deliver us from the evil one. I need protection. Satan, we saw him last hour. You know that funny picture of the macho guy? That was the graphic of Lucifer. Satan is the most powerful, brilliant, most amazing creature God created, and he has one goal. To stop you from serving the Lord. He’ll distract you or he’ll destroy you, but he’ll do anything. And he has hundreds of millions, or billions of demons. We don’t know how many demons

there are. There are fallen angels. A third of all the angels in the universe are totally trying to ruin your life.

 Do you understand? And they’re not stopped by windows or doors or anything else. And they come and bother us. You ever had a horrible thought, and you wonder where did that come from? You think something like hurting someone or you see a wicked horrible picture.

And you know what demons do? They cause you to remember either something wicked you saw in a video, or some horrible lyric, or some horrible thing that happened to you. That’s what a flaming arrow is. Have you ever heard that Satan’s shooting flaming darts?

That’s what Ephesians 6 says.

10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.

11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

12 For we wrestle not against* flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;

15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

18 Praying always** with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto** with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

19 And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open* my mouth boldly*, to make known the mystery of the gospel,

A dart is, Satan can put into your mind a temporary horrible thing, feeling, thought, memory, whatever. That’s what the Lord’s Prayer says we’re supposed to ask God to protect us from every day. See why prayer is so important? See why Paul said pray without ceasing? Without ceasing, focus on God. Without ceasing, invite His control. Without

 ceasing, ask Him to lead you. Without ceasing, ask Him to provide. Without ceasing, asking Him to cleanse.

 Without ceasing, asking Him to protect.

What’s the last part of the Lord’s Prayer? How does it end? For thine is [the kingdom, the] power and the glory forever. You know what that one is? It’s saying, God, empty me. I want to be humble. Everything is about You.

 Life is about You. Yours is the kingdom. Yours is the power. Yours is the glory. You see, prayer refocuses us on what life is all about. So, let’s pray.

Dear Father, I thank you that we can gather for this lesson, and I pray as we look at the un intoxicated life that we would make choices in life so we can serve You even more. For Jesus sake. Amen.

Okay, we’re in Proverbs. Living life God’s way. We’re exploring the book. We’ve come to our sixth lesson together,

 and this is the self-controlled life. Choosing to be un intoxicated, the life of wisdom. And we touched on it in Titus last lesson.

Basically, God says that we’re supposed to have this unintoxicated life. So that, we’re self-controlled. So that,  we become patient.

Proverbs 19:11 says ,

The discretion of a man deferreth his anger; and it is his glory to pass over a transgression.

The discretion of a man makes him slow to anger, his glory is to overlook a transgression. When we’re self-controlled,

we don’t immediately respond to people’s badness. Wise people are concerned about having peace around them.

Jesus put it this way, what does it say in the Sermon on the Mount? We’re supposed to be peacemakers. And so,

Proverbs 14:9

Fools make a mock at sin: but among the righteous there is favour.

Puts it this way, fools mock at sin, but with the upright there’s favor. It’s kind of like when

someone does something bad, we’re the ones that are the peacemaker, that goes to help them instead of reminding them how bad they are.

God says wise people forgive those who wronged them. Do you remember what Jesus said on the cross? What’s His…

 Jesus spoke seven times from the cross. While He was crucified, He’s talking… seven times. Do you remember what He said as He looked at the crucifiers, the Roman soldiers. He said, Father, what? Forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing. Wow. Wise people forgive those who wronged them. And Jesus, if you remember what I had it right here, Jesus grew in wisdom. Jesus grew in that wisdom of reflecting God’s forgiveness.

And wise people are not vindictive.

Proverbs 20:22 says,

Say not thou, I will recompense evil; but wait on the LORD, and he shall save thee.

Do not say I will recompense evil. Wait for the Lord,

He’ll save you. God can pay people back better than you ever could. If someone’s hurt you, if you release them and don’t hold bitterness, God will take care of them in His perfect time.

So basically, this is the summary of Proverbs. Proverbs is a choice between God’s way and man’s way. God’s way is wisdom, man’s way is foolishness. God’s way is to save us, to walk the narrow way, giving us the mind of Christ,

making us come alive, causing us to be sensitive to His Spirit. Which is why we pray and connect with Him and ask Him to do that again. We worship Him. We flee sin. We are being saved. I love how Paul puts that. He says, in one

 sense, you’re already seated with Christ in the heavenlies. You’re eternally secure, but every day you have to work out your salvation. What does that mean? It means I want God to control more of me, longer every day. I want to longer trust Him, longer be patient, longer be gentle, and when I’m not, to instantly confess. Say, Oh, I shouldn’t have said that Lord. I know it was wrong. I’m sorry. Please cleanse me. He’s already forgiven me, I just

 need to be cleansed. Do you remember how Peter said when Jesus was trying to wash their feet? He says no, You can’t wash my feet. And Jesus said, if I don’t wash your feet, you don’t have anything to do with Me. So, Peter jumps in the bowl, just wash all of me. And see, that’s the attitude we have we want the Lord to keep us as clean as possible, because we know that we struggle.

Beware of Christian perfectionism. There’s this idea that some groups advocate where you can be perfect, and we can’t be until we’re glorified by God. And that’s a different class. That’s the doctrine class. So, we’re being saved. And by the way, it gets brighter every day.

Psalm 92 says the older you get, the better life is.

1 It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High:

2 To shew forth thy lovingkindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night,

3 Upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltery; upon the harp with a solemn sound.

4 For thou, LORD, hast made me glad through thy work: I will triumph in the works of thy hands.

5 O LORD, how great are thy works! and thy thoughts are very deep.

6 A brutish man knoweth not; neither doth a fool understand this.

7 When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish; it is that they shall be destroyed for ever:

8 But thou, LORD, art most high for evermore.

9 For, lo, thine enemies, O LORD, for, lo, thine enemies shall perish; all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered.

10 But my horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn: I shall be anointed with fresh oil.

11 Mine eye also shall see my desire on mine enemies, and mine ears shall hear my desire of the wicked that rise up against me.

12 The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.

13 Those that be planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God.

14 They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing;

15 To shew that the LORD is upright: he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness* in him.

 That you are overflowing with joy, and peace, and with telling everybody how good and faithful the Lord is. In America most people don’t want to get old. Did you read about the billionaire in Silicon Valley, spending all of his money?

 He gets five transfusions a day. He’s getting from his kids their platelets. Platelets. And he’s trying to live forever. He’s regenerating his body. He’s like 50 and he really looks 30. He’s spending all of his money to live forever. And what he doesn’t know is, he can’t apart from Christ. And by the way, he’s getting frustrated because even though his body is staying buff, his mind and everything else is aging just like it’s supposed to, and he’s frustrated. So don’t worry. God says you and I can get more. We can live a life that’s brighter every day.

 Psalm 92 says that we are flourishing.