Making Wise Decisions"- Sunday, May 17, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: Solomon’s Empty Hands

The young king stood in Gibeon’s tabernacle, smoke curling upward. God’s voice pierced the silence: “Ask.” Solomon gripped nothing but the weight of leading God’s people. He chose wisdom over wealth, understanding over vengeance. A child-king admitted his inadequacy. God gave not just wisdom, but riches and honor too. [38:07]

Solomon’s request revealed his heart. He sought God’s perspective, not personal gain. Jesus later echoed this: “Seek first the kingdom.” God rewards those who prioritize His mind over momentary desires.

You face decisions daily—career moves, relationships, finances. What would shift if you sought discernment before advantage? When have you traded eternal perspective for temporary comfort?

“Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil.”
(1 Kings 3:9, ESV)

Prayer: Ask God to expose one area where you’ve prioritized convenience over His wisdom.

Challenge: Write down a current decision. Circle the option aligning most with Proverbs’ principles.

Day 2: Wisdom’s Street-Corner Cry

Wisdom shouts where fry sizzles at diners and engines idle at stoplights. She’s in casino billboards warning “Gambling problem? Call 1-800…” and medicine labels listing side effects. Solomon said she “utters her voice” in the marketplace—not just sanctuaries. [45:51]

God designed creation to reflect His order. Natural consequences preach sermons: smoke damages lungs, debt enslaves, gossip isolates. Jesus used fig trees and fishing nets to teach. Creation testifies—if we’ll listen.

You pass wisdom’s warnings daily. What modern “street signs” have you ignored—a strained relationship, mounting stress, financial leaks? What habit have you normalized that carries a hidden cost?

“Wisdom cries aloud in the street, in the markets she raises her voice; at the head of the noisy streets she cries out.”
(Proverbs 1:20-22, ESV)

Prayer: Confess ignoring one warning God placed in your path this week.

Challenge: Identify one “advertisement” in your life (app, relationship, habit) that includes a spiritual “warning label.”

Day 3: Four Chairs, One Choice

Four graduates sat onstage—the Wise, Simple, Fool, Scorner. The Wise nodded at Scripture’s call. The Simple wavered, eyes darting. The Fool crossed arms; the Scorner smirked. Solomon’s categories aren’t fixed destinies but daily postures. [51:09]

Jesus faced these responses: Mary chose wisdom at His feet. Peter waffled between faith and fear. Judas scorned redemption. God lets us pick our chair but warns: “How long will you love simplicity?”

You’ve occupied each seat. Last week, where did you sit when challenged to forgive, give, or repent? Which chair feels most familiar in your current struggle?

“How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge?”
(Proverbs 1:22, ESV)

Prayer: Thank God for grace to change seats today.

Challenge: Review yesterday’s choices. Label each as Wise, Simple, Foolish, or Scornful in your journal.

Day 4: When Wisdom Laughs

The poem’s couple buried their daughter, empty hands clutching air. Solomon warned: reject wisdom long enough, and she’ll “laugh at your calamity.” Not mockery, but the groan of truth ignored. Jesus wept over Jerusalem: “You did not recognize the time of your visitation.” [01:10:18]

God’s laws operate like gravity—jump off a cliff, and consequences follow. Yet even in discipline, wisdom whispers: “Return to me.” The prodigal’s pigpen became a classroom.

Where have you tasted the “fruit of your own way”? What current struggle might be wisdom’s final plea before the fall?

“Because I have called and you refused to listen… I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when terror strikes you.”
(Proverbs 1:24-26, ESV)

Prayer: Beg God to intercept one destructive path you’ve rationalized.

Challenge: Read Proverbs 1:24-33 aloud. Underline every consequence of ignoring wisdom.

Day 5: More Precious Than Rubies

Solomon’s gold-covered palace meant nothing compared to wisdom’s “merchandise.” The adulteress offered sweet lies (Proverbs 7), but wisdom’s hands held enduring wealth. Jesus later sold all He had—heaven’s glory—to buy wisdom’s pearl: us. [01:09:27]

True wisdom always costs. It cost Solomon humility, the psalmist midnight tears, Christ His life. Yet it alone satisfies. Paul counted everything loss compared to knowing Christ.

What have you clung to that blocks wisdom’s embrace? What earthly gain feels harder to release than Solomon’s riches?

“Blessed is the one who finds wisdom… for her profit is better than silver, and her gain better than gold.”
(Proverbs 3:13-14, ESV)

Prayer: Ask God to recalibrate your desires until His wisdom tastes sweeter than success.

Challenge: Text one person a Proverb that addressed today’s decisions.

Sermon Summary

Proverbs puts its cards on the table. Solomon says he wrote to give wisdom and instruction, to teach justice, judgment, and equity, and to help the simple gain discretion. Solomon’s story frames the point. God offered him the blank check, and Solomon asked for wisdom to lead God’s people. God then gave the wisdom and the rest besides. That order still holds. Wisdom first, then everything else finds its place.

Proverbs 1 says the fear of the Lord is the beginning. God gets to define reality, not feelings, trends, or private hunches. Decisions about marriage, work, church, and money do not need a mystical lightning bolt. Wisdom supplies principles for how to choose before the specifics of what to choose. That is why the text says wisdom is the principal thing. There is a way that seems right, but the end of that shortcut is a dead end.

Proverbs paints wisdom as loud. Wisdom cries in the streets. God stitches warning labels right into everyday life. A cigarette ad that says it will give lung cancer, a casino billboard that posts the helpline, the garage sale that never ends, the restaurant with the screen door, the couch with three legs and a phone book financed at weekly payments. Creation and conscience team up with Scripture to say, do not do that. Romans 1 says that truth is already pressing on the heart.

Proverbs then seats four people in view. The wise hears Scripture and says yes, even when it pinches. The simple rides the crowd, standing and sitting with the buzzer, yes with the youth group on Wednesday and yes with the party on Friday. The fool answers God with a firm no and will do life his way. The scorner does not just reject right; he hates it and bites back when corrected. The text says do not waste correction on the scorner, but note what happens when the scorner is punished. The simple gets a clue. Consequences become teachers for the undecided.

Wisdom issues a straight invitation. Turn at my reproof. God will pour out his Spirit, make his words known, and give generously to those who ask. Wisdom will win whether believed or not, and rejection will cost. Jonah learned it in a fish. Celebrities learn it in closets. Families learn it at gravesides. But whoever hearkens to wisdom dwells safely. Wisdom is better than silver, better than gold, more precious than rubies. All that can be desired is not to be compared to her.

Key Takeaways

1. Wisdom cries from ordinary streets Wisdom does not hide in a corner. God plants signals in Scripture, in creation, and in plain common sense, and those signals are loud. Warning labels, lived examples, and outcomes are the voice of wisdom yelling, do not go there. The humble heart learns to hear that voice before it has to feel it. [45:09]
2. Principles over private impressions Sound decisions do not rest on a vague feeling that the Lord led me, then get reversed later. Proverbs equips a person with God’s way of seeing so the right kind of spouse, work, and church can be recognized by clear markers. Wisdom gives the how of choosing so the steps can be ordered without chasing a mystical one. [43:38]
3. Choose a chair today Proverbs sits the wise, the simple, the fool, and the scorner in a row and asks where a person belongs. The wise says yes to God’s Word, the simple drifts with the crowd, the fool says no, and the scorner sneers. That lineup is not an insult; it is a mirror. Movement toward wisdom always starts by admitting whose voice is getting the vote. [51:09]
4. Consequences become classroom bells God is kind to let outcomes do some of the talking. When the scorner is punished, the simple wakes up and gains sense, even if only by fear of the fallout. That secondary schooling is grace, but it is still a hard way to learn. Better to heed correction at the front end than to enroll in pain’s remedial class. [58:58]
5. Wisdom will win; ask it Truth is not true because people like it. Truth holds because God spoke it, and life eventually bears it out. Rejection will cost, but the door of wisdom is open to the one who turns and asks, since God gives it freely and without shaming the asker. Asking is the beginning of a better path. [60:57]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[02:11] - Singing Scripture and Spirit-filled
[36:34] - Senior Recognition setup
[38:07] - Solomon asks for wisdom
[39:42] - Why Proverbs exists and its aim
[40:30] - The decision-making problem
[41:57] - How to choose without specifics
[44:48] - Wisdom cries in the streets
[49:38] - Wisdom speaks: four kinds of people
[53:15] - The simple swayed by the crowd
[56:03] - The fool and the scorner
[58:58] - Consequences that teach the simple
[60:37] - Turn at my reproof
[62:45] - Wisdom will win; you will see
[68:00] - Money wisdom and the couch

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading
Proverbs 1:20-23, 33 (ESV)
20 Wisdom cries aloud in the street, in the markets she raises her voice; 21 at the head of the noisy streets she cries out; at the entrance of the city gates she speaks: 22 “How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge? 23 If you turn at my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit to you; I will make my words known to you. [...] 33 But whoever listens to me will dwell secure and will be at ease, without dread of disaster.”

Observation questions

According to Proverbs 1:20-23, where does wisdom make her voice heard, and what does she call people to do?
The sermon describes four types of people in response to wisdom: the wise, the simple, the fool, and the scorner. What characterizes the "simple" person based on Proverbs 14:15? [53:15]
What everyday examples were given in the sermon to illustrate how wisdom "cries in the streets" (e.g., warning labels, consequences)? [45:51]
What does Proverbs 1:33 promise to those who listen to wisdom?

Interpretation questions

Why do you think wisdom is portrayed as crying aloud in public places rather than whispering in private? What does this reveal about God’s desire for people to hear truth?
The sermon contrasts the "fool" (who says "no" to God) and the "scorner" (who actively hates correction). How might rejecting wisdom look different in these two attitudes? [57:10]
Proverbs 1:23 says wisdom will "pour out [God’s] spirit" to those who turn. How does this connect to the idea of God giving wisdom "generously" (James 1:5) mentioned in the sermon? [01:00:57]
The sermon says, "Consequences become classroom bells." How do outcomes like punishment for scorners teach the "simple"? [58:58]

Application questions

Which of the four responses to wisdom (wise, simple, fool, scorner) do you most identify with in a current decision or relationship? What practical step could shift you toward the "wise" category? [51:09]
Where in your daily life (work, finances, relationships) have you ignored "wisdom crying in the streets" (e.g., red flags, common-sense warnings)? What would it look like to pause and listen this week?
The sermon warns against relying on "private hunches" instead of biblical principles. Share a decision you’re facing. How could Proverbs’ wisdom about how to choose guide you, even if you don’t have a specific answer? [43:38]
Think of someone you’ve seen suffer consequences for rejecting wisdom (like the "scorner"). How can their story motivate you to turn toward God’s truth sooner in your own struggles?
Proverbs 1:33 says those who listen to wisdom "dwell securely." What area of your life feels least secure right now? How might applying one principle from Proverbs (e.g., honesty, humility, diligence) bring peace there?

Sermon Clips

27s

“How to know who am I supposed to marry, what job am I supposed to have, mean, a ridiculous thing it is to ask your 18 year old to decide what they're gonna be when they grow up. All of them are gonna be like a astronaut or a underground street fighting king something or another. I'm like, what? I don't know what all that is. And so you're you're you're deciding them to do these specific things in their life. And so how do you do it?”

30s

“I'm gonna tell you what's right, and if you reject it, you're gonna find out it's still right. First of all, wisdom is going to win in this life. You don't have to like it. You don't even have to understand it fully. Wisdom will win. Number two, as we've said, you will see. There will be a day in everybody's life, 100%, that you will understand that god is right and you are wrong.”

28s

“here's something that you should probably pay attention to. Anytime someone advertises something and puts the warning label on the advertisement, wisdom is screaming at you saying, don't do that. Right? You see a cigarette advertisement on that same advertisement, it used to say could cause lung cancer. Now it says, it will give you lung cancer. And I'm like, think I'll take two.”

22s

“gives you the ability to make the decisions. I don't know how many times I've heard somebody say, the lord led me. And when you say that, what you're saying is that god has spoken. I don't know how many times I've heard people say, the Lord led me to do x y z, and then years later be like, one of the worst mistakes ever made. They're like, no. Both those things aren't true.”

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Making Wise Decisions"- Sunday, May 17, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: Solomon’s Empty Hands

Day 2: Wisdom’s Street-Corner Cry

Day 3: Four Chairs, One Choice

Day 4: When Wisdom Laughs

Day 5: More Precious Than Rubies

Sermon Summary

Key Takeaways

Youtube Chapters

Bible Study Guide

Sermon Clips

Making Wise Decisions"- Sunday, May 17, 2026

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