05-23-21 Kevin Goins - The Test We All Should Take

“The Test We All Should Take”
Proverbs 4:20-27 
After a six-month sabbatical, we return today to our study of Proverbs and John.  When last we looked at Proverbs we had just completed Proverbs 4:18-19, which compares the path of the righteous with the way of the wicked.  In the beginning of chapter four Solomon exhorts us to walk the road of wisdom.  We may believe that we are doing just that, but is there a way we can know for sure?  We can know by taking the test that Solomon gives us.  By asking ourselves the five questions which these verses raise, we can see whether we are, in fact, walking the road of wisdom:                                  
I First, what do we allow into our _______________ (4:20-22)?

A. Sometimes our ears are solidly c____________________ to certain people and solidly d__________________________________ from others.

B. The crucial question is not, “What do we hear each day?”  The real question is to what do we _________________________.

C. Since our God is a s___________________ God, and Jesus is the _____________ of God, if we do not hear him speak to us, it can only be because we are not listening.

II Second, what do we allow into our ___________________________ (4:23)?

A. There is nothing that needs g_______________ so much as our heart.

B. We know we must guard our physical heart, but we also must guard our emotional, i____________________________, moral, and spiritual heart.

C. Solomon reminds us here that God is not interested in how much we ____________ we love him, but in whether our deepest and most secret thoughts reveal a real love for God.

D. We may have ____________ control over the ungodly thoughts that flitter through our brain, but we ____________ have control over what we choose to do with that thought.

E. Our mind cannot focus on everything at the same time, so if we bring God-honoring thoughts to the _________________ of our mind, then wrong thoughts will die of n________________.

III Third, what is on my ______________________ (4:24)?

 A. Spiritual contamination in our heart will often reveal itself in our ________________.  

 B. The word “_______________” appears more than forty times in Proverbs

C. What we say can never be u __________________.  That is why our self-examination must include an analysis of our words.
IV Fourth, what is in front of my _______________________ (4:25)?    

A. If we are Christians, we are not only looking f________________________, we are also looking toward ________________________.

B. Seeing Jesus not only enables us to walk s_____________________________, as he did, but it enables us to go forward without q_____________________.

C. We need to ask ourselves, “Am I looking straight down the road at Jesus, or am I looking to either side of the road at what lies in the ______________________.” 

V Fifth, where is my path _________________________ (4:26-27)?

 A. Some think they have total _________________________ over their future.

B. Still others, including some Christians, reject the idea that they have ____________________ control.

C. Do we have total control over our future?  No, we are f___________________ people.

D. Do we have no control at all?  No, the Bible sees us as moral d____________________-m____________________.

E. Solomon says that when you decide the direction of your life t_____________, you decide where you want to end up t___________________.

F. We must ask ourselves, whatever our age, do I know where I want to ________ in life, and do I have a ______________________________ to get there.