morning, not Brooke, and people joining us through online and everyone to be here in person. My name is Lord, we are in Jai Khmer. It's a great honor and privilege for me to be here this morning, and I would like to thank God for his blessings. I'm grateful to not Brooke Bible, family for providing this great opportunity to share the word of God this morning, all praise, glory and honor to him.
Let us pray. Lord, we thank you for the gift of your word. And as we think on these things, open our hearts and minds to hear you. Let your Holy Spirit take full control of me and let him speak, not me.
God let your words move the hearts of those people who hear your words. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Who wrote the book of Proverbs?
King Solomon. Thank you brother. Primary author is King Solomon. He's known as the wisest man who ever ruled.
He ruled his friend from 971 to 931 BC, and he was granted great wisdom by God. Wisdom goes beyond knowledge. Chapter 30 reflects the words of Yeager, and Chapter 31 reflects the words of Lemuel. In Proverbs, Chapter 30 verses 1 to 33 is a group of Proverbs that were written by a person named Yeager.
In these Proverbs, he highlights how little he knows. Yeager was a smart man, and obviously he was a wise man. However, he admits that he does not know about God and his work. It is all way beyond his knowledge.
What is a proverb? A proverb is a short sentence that people often quote, which gives advice or tells you something about life. This is the definition I got from calling dictionary. Then what is biblical proverb?
A biblical proverb can be defined as short saying that expresses a general truth for practical godly living. The Bible describes Proverbs as sayings of the wise. The book of Proverbs spandings many brief but wise statements about how to live godly life. These Proverbs comprise many short sayings about right and wrong way of living.
The word proverb means to be like. The proverb is a book of comparisons between common concrete images and likes most profound truth. Proverbs states its theme explicitly very early in the book. If you see in Proverbs 1-7, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. The fear of the Lord refers to how we are weaving our God with the respect what respect he deserves. Proverbs 30, the words of Yeager, the son of Jake. I would like to read Proverbs 30 verses 1-5.
If you have your Bible, please open your Bible or you may see in the PowerPoint slide as well. Let me read Proverbs verses 1-5. The words of Yeager, the son of Jake, even the prophecy, the man's speak unto Israel, even unto Israel and you call. Surely I am more brutish than any man and have not the understanding of a man.
I neither learn wisdom nor have the knowledge of the holy who hath ascended up into heaven or descended, who hath gathered the wind in his fists, who have bound the waters in a garment, who have established all the ends of the earth. What is his name? What is his son's name if thou can still? Everywhere of God is pure.
He is a shield unto them that put the trust in him. In verse 2, Yeager calls himself the most stupid man on earth, brutish. He also said he does not have the understanding of a man. I personally believe that these are confusions of humility.
Well, Yeager news a lot, he did not know everything. There is only one God who knows all, who created everything, who is in control of everything, and who has the power to both descend to earth and ascend back again. This morning our dear brother, Yamai, mentioned from Colosians, visible and invisible things, everything created by God. There is a go a church for the raggostine.
He was wrestling with the complexity of understanding the fact, I belong to him. He belonged to me. So how do I learn to leave Christ instead of myself? And how do I know that I am a new creation of God?
As he was walking in the seashore of North Africa, he saw a little boy was digging a hole in the sand and bringing the buckets of sea water and pouring it in that hole. You might have watched that, shouldn't play in the seashore. You might have played that as well. Augustine watched this and he asked that little boy, my dear son, what are you doing?
You know, sometimes when you are distracting the young children, they don't like it. So the boy impatiently replied to him, hey, you look like a wise man, you look like a knowledgeable man, can't you see what I am doing? I am bringing the ocean into this hole. Augustine decided the boy is so wise, there is no use to argue with that boy.
He walked down, then God speak to Augustine and said, it is as foolish as that you think you bring my intellect into you. The only way you will be full of me, you need to dump into me, you need to sander your life into me. The bucket in the ocean can contain all the ocean that it can contain. It is important for us to understand there are many things about the character of God that are beyond our understanding.
It is beyond our comprehension. God is infinite and we are finite. The kingdom of God and the kingdom of nature is full of marvels. Let me read Proverbs 30 verses 18 to 19.
I am going to talk about in these two verses this morning. Agary is saying, there of an eagle in the air. Recently I saw a Facebook post by our dear brother David McDonald, and I saw a great picture of a bald eagle. I took already permission from him to show this picture to you.
I saw that he probably took that picture from the salt marsh trial, he said, right brother? Yes. I never been to there, but I would love to go sometimes in the future. Hopefully I may able to see some eagles during my visit.
Well, here I'm sure most of you might have seen eagles somewhere, right? Somewhere. Eagles, aerial sky dancing is spectacular to watch. No Scotia has the highest concentration of breeding eagles in North Eastern, North America, according to the Department of Natural Resources and Renewables.
I came to know that the majority of bald eagles are found along the British Columbia coast and some other provinces as well. You know, bald eagles can soar over 10,000 feet high, and the great eyesight lets them see fish up to 1.6 kilometers. 1.6 kilometers away. Bald eagles have super eyesight.
They can see four to seven times farther than humans. When they attack, they drop down up to 161 kilometers an hour. Their bodies can be three feet long, and the wings, and the wingspan can be eight feet across. And eagle has over 7,000 feathers.
God created the eagle to soar high. Once an eagle gets into a thermal, it can just spread its wings and float upward with very little effort. These majestic birds symbolizes many things, such as freedom, courage, honesty, inspiration. The way of the eagle is full of wonders because it is something hard to grasp.
Once when I was traveling from Bahir to Addisababa in Ethiopia, I had an opportunity to see a cockpit in a flight where I saw a lot of control mechanisms, mainly primary controls, secondary controls. I saw display units, communications equipment that crew members need to operate and navigate, so they need to have all those controls to operate in ground as well as in the air. So pilots go through a lot of checklists to make sure everything in order. One of the important things for them to check the weather and make sure the temperature, barometric pressure, wind velocity, so many different weather stuffs, they have to make sure for a safe flight.
One time when I boarded a flight from India to Thailand to attend a conference in Bangkok, all of a sudden the weather changed and it turned out to be a huge storm at the Chennai airport. Torrential rain, thunderstorm, and it's totally a bad weather. Pilots took few attempts for a takeoff, but it was unsuccessful. We were all stayed inside the flight for more than three hours.
Thankfully we all reached the destination three hours late, but some of them might have missed the meeting, some of them might have missed the conference, so on and so forth. Automation is widely used in commercial aviation and has been priced for making the skies much safer, yet we often hear about plane crash. Sometimes I wonder about birds this morning, brother was sharing as well. We can easily visualize the size of the brain of the bird.
It's very tiny, we can visualize very well. It can take off anywhere. It can land anywhere. It can land in water.
You can see it can land in trees as well, anywhere. It doesn't require any ATC, air traffic control systems. I never heard about any bird crash, do you? No?
So when we read Provost 30, we may think that versus 18 and 19, probably the ancient people, because it was written long ago, right? So probably we may think that the ancient people were unable to understand the concept of aerodynamics of bird flight or convection current called thermals. Now we have signs and that explains very well about the flight of birds based on weight, lift, drag, trust, we know everything, right? It is always good to understand the concepts behind in signs, but on the other hand, most of us slowly losing the sense of wonders of nature that is created by God.
In Provost 30, do you think, is August saying about the physical bird flying in the air? No, this is a proverb. The real meaning or the real picture is way, way, way higher. That is why he's saying, it is too wonderful for me.
It is too wonderful for us. In English, we have many proverbs. An apple a day gives the doctor away. What does it mean?
If one eats healthy foods, one will remain in good health and will not to see the doctor often. I'm not sure about that, but that's a proverb. That's the meaning of that proverb, right? So let us see some in-depth meaning of the way of an eagle in the air.
I saw your chapter 40 verse 31, but they, they wait upon the Lord, shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint. When the storm hits, eagles sets its wing so that the wind will pick it up and lift it above the storm.
When the storm of life come upon us, we can rise above them by having faith and trust in God. He gives us the power and strength to face, whatever comes our way. It is all about trusting God. The eagles are bad that take advantage of the wind to soar, to mount up high in heavens.
Revelation chapter 12, 14 says, and to the women were given two wings of a great eagle that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place where she's nourished for a time, and times and a half a time from the face of the serpent. The women is persecuted and driven into the wilderness. Yet it is with great eagle wings, given her by her Lord that she flies. The serpent drives her into the wilderness.
The women that John saw in Revelation chapter 12 is the nation of Israel. Christ is the great eagle who ascended beyond human hen. Revelation chapter 12 verse 6 says, and the women fled into the wilderness where she had the place prepared of God, that they should feed her 1,203 score days. That is a year.
That's 300, half years. 42 months or 1,260 days. That is the first half of the tribulation, I believe. The wings of the great eagle represents the word of God, which is, oh, I went so wonderful today, and so powerful today.
The great characteristics of eagles is something similar to those who remain faithful to God and look forward to their heavenly reward. In two tronomy 32 verse 11, as an eagles stirs up its nest, hovers over its young, spreading out its wings, taking them up, carrying them on its wings. Similarly, God cares for us, though it may feel painful and confusing when he stirs our nest. But our heavenly Father is giving us the gift of life.
He wants to give us the gift of hope. He wants to give us the gift of light. He wants to give us the gift of fright for us. This is the eagle in the air.
It is too wonderful for me. It is all about faith. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing comes by the word of God. In Hebrew 10 says, the just shall live by faith, the righteousness one shall live by faith.
I don't understand everything, but I believe, as the children of God, we don't understand everything. But we believe, Hebrew 11 says, without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists, and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. Is it possible for me to give a faith to you? Is it possible for you to give a faith to your friend?
Is it possible for you to give a faith to your neighbor? No. All what I can do, or what you can do, simply proclaiming the word of God. That's all we can do.
Faith is a marvelous work of God. Salvation is by faith and faith alone. God created eagle to soar high, and it is a picture of the believer to live a victorious life and soar high. The way of an eagle in the air is faith.
The second one, the way of a serpent upon a rock. The amazing thing in this, how snake slithers across a rock. We know snake has no arms, snake has no legs, snakes has no feet. Then how can it move forward and upward?
Biologists are studying the mechanics of snake movement to understand exactly how they can propel themselves forward. Sorry. Sorry. Okay.
Recently I read an article from University of Cincinnati, Ohio. They say there are four types of snake movement. The first one is serpentine. Serpentine, that is a side to side motion.
Side to side motion. Concedentina, the second one. Snakes coil into alternating curves before straightening themselves to propel themselves forward. That's the second type of snake movement.
The third one is side winding. Snake bent in waves, both side to side, and in a vertical pain to lift the body to form just a few contact points on the ground, or with the ground. The fourth one is the rectilinear. So these specialized muscles move the belly skin of the snake, propelling it forward in a straight line.
It is very interesting to read such articles. Snakes are known for their iconic movements. You might have heard or studied about the deadliest, most venomous snake in the world. Snakes like inland type on.
King Cobra, black mamba, can take easily one's life in no time. I have seen in front of my eyes that King Cobra, it can take life a person in no time in seconds. Again, this is a proverb. He's not talking about or saying a physical snake slithering on the rock.
Its meaning is way, way higher, way, way deeper. The way of a serpent upon a rock. Who is a rock here? Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
David wrote in Psalms 18, 2, the Lord is my rock and my footers, my shield, my high tower. Psalms 18, 22, the stone which the builders refused is become the headstone of the corner. Matthew 16, 18 says, upon this rock, I will build my church. The serpent represents death, destruction and evil.
According to the scripture, the serpent is a symbol of Satan and of sin. The first time Satan is mentioning the Bible in Genesis chapter three, when he tempts Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit. Genesis three, one, the first part of the verse says, the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field, any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. Saptil means cunning, crafty, discerning.
Revelation 12, nine says, and the great dragon was cast out, the world's serpent called the devil and Satan, which deceivia the whole world. He was cast out into the yerk and his angels were cast out with him. Remember, the devil knows the Bible very well. Perhaps devil knows more than the Bible than what we know.
By twisting the truth of God's word, he blinds the eyes of men and women and everyone. We need to be very careful. Someone said, the most powerful deception is that, which has a lot of truth in it. From the writing of the great evangelist Billy Graham, I read that deception is everything opposite the truth.
Second Corinthians 521, for he had made him to be sin for us. Who knew nothing that we might be made the righteousness, righteousness of God in him? Are we able to understand this? That is a serpent upon the rock.
Christ identified with man sin, mankind identified with Christ's righteousness. That is the truth, amen. The way of us serpent upon a rock, is a substitution. Numbers 21 verses 4 to 9.
I would like to read 4 to 9 verses, it's account of the children of Israel and the bronze serpent, which Moses lifted on a pole. I think it's here. And they journeyed from Mount Hore, by the way of the Red Sea, to compass the land of Edom, and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. And the people speak against God and against Moses, wherefore have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?
For there is no bread, neither is there any water, and our soul, loatheat this light bread, and the Lord sent feary serpents among the people, and they beat the people, and much people of Israel died. Therefore the people came to Moses and said, we have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord, and against thee, pray unto the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us, and Moses prayed for the people, and the Lord said unto Moses, make thee a feary serpent, and set it upon a pole, and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it shall leave. And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had beaten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he leaved. What is the picture here?
It's not about the manna, it is the bread of life. Give us this day our daily bread. Salvation comes through believing, God demonstrates his own, love towards us, in that while we were exeiners, Christ died for us, Romans chapter 5, 8. That's the similarity between what Moses did here, and what Jesus did on the cross.
Jesus said, as Moses lifted up the servant in the wilderness, even so must the son of man be lifted up. John 3, 14. When we look upon the cross, we leave. The way of a serpent upon a rock is nothing but, but our sins were laid on Jesus.
1 Peter 2, 24 says, he himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins, and leave for righteousness, by his wounds, you have been healed. Are we able to understand the love of Christ? It is too wonderful for me, and it is too wonderful for all of us. It is beyond our understanding and our comprehension, but I believe, as the children of God we believe, Jesus stood in our place, and paid the price for our sins.
The way of a serpent upon a rock is the substitution. 3rd, the way of a ship in the midst of the sea. I'm sure most of you had an opportunity to see, or you might have taken a voyage on a cruise ship for pleasure. I remember when I was a little boy, I think in 1988, my parents took me and my sister to show the huge OEM ship logos hope at my home state in India.
The ship ministry began in 1970 as part of the global Christian training and outreach movement. We had an opportunity to enter into the ship, and I am remembering, it was quite amazing. I still remembering seeing white people for the first time. I believe they're probably from the west in that ship, and they were talking few words in Tamil.
It surprises all of us. When I was a little boy, he was saying, bongo, bongo, bongo, actually, it's not bongo, bongo, it's bongo, bongo, that means come, come, in Tamil language, but we all enjoyed. We exchanged our smiles each other. They distributed a lot of Christian story books to us.
That's the first time we had an opportunity to see a great ship. When I grown up, I learned about you, S.S., Ronald Reagan. That's a nuclear carrier, super carrier. It is a marvel of modern engineering.
I wonder how the ships can accommodate so many aircrafts, missiles, and still it can flow very comfortably in the water. Well, we know the concept of Archimedes principle, bio-on-force, and everything. That's good, but still, it makes me to surprise to see how the huge ships float on the water. Is Auger seeing a physical ship sailing on the ocean?
No, again, this is a proverb. He's not seeing a physical ship sailing on the ocean. It is way, way higher, deeper meaning on it. Do you know what the ship represents?
The ship is the church. The ship was an ancient symbol. The ship symbolizes the church as a whole, making safe passage through stormy waters. The water of a sea is a symbol of death.
In waters, when we see Noah's ark, that was a massive ship. Noah labored faithfully to build the ark at God's command. Who is the captain of our ship, our Lord, and Savior, Jesus Christ? When you and I allow Jesus of our captain in our life, he will transform our life, and he will lead us to an eternal life.
John chapter 10, verse 27, 28 says, Jesus says, my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish. Acts 27 records the pulse, voice to Rome, and of the shipwreck which occurred on the way. A ship carrying 276 men and a cargo of grain. You know, the Mediterranean sea is rough in winter.
So they sailed on the east and south sides of Crete, but the ship got caught into the storm, close to the island of Cada near Crete. They lightened the ship and threw out the wheat into the sea. Paul said to them, there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. As the storm tore apart the ship, Julius instructed everyone to see me possible, and make their way to land.
Just as the angel had prophesied to Paul, all survived the shipwreck, and safely arrived on the island of Malta. Even though Paul's journey seemed to be out of control, he kept giving thanks to God and trusting in him. Paul prayed, God answered Paul's prayer, and spared the lives of every one on board. First Timothy is 6-12.
Paul in Crete's Timothy to fight the good fight. First Timothy chapter 6 verse 12, fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you are called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. Here is Paul talking about the Christian faith.
We know the story of Jesus, coming the storm in Matthew, in marking Luke. It is all great encouragement for us to walk with Christ. Let us keep our focus and king to his word in times of suffering. I don't know what kinds of problems you are going through in your life, but every one of us here is going through some kinds of problems.
A storm could be a job loss, a storm could be a financial hardship, or it could be a personal loss, or sickness, or a troubled relationship, or broken marriages. There is no shocker to escape the problems in our life, and we all need to go through it. Whatever the storms we face, we can trust God, and he will provide the strength, encouragement, and protection in our life. God can see the bigger picture in your life and in my life, so we must trust him.
Even when we don't understand his ways, the key is the important thing, we must disconnect from sin, and we must flee from temptation and obeys God's word. It is simply, we are responding to love of God, nothing else. The way of a ship in the midst of the sea, it is a promise. It is a life of discipline, focus, and attention to matters of righteous living.
The big lesson here is God can use you if you allow him in your heart. It is beyond my understanding, but I believe. Last one, the way of a man with a maid. The way of a man with a maid is one of the things too wonderful for Eager.
The first glance of the eye and capturing her heart, it seems so natural. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. The first look, the first love, it's so wonderful. In the book of Psalms 139 David writes, "'We are fearfully and wonderfully made.
"'The human body is not just a human body. "'It is an extraordinary work of God of all creation. "'It is amazing to see how a man and women come together "'and turn as one couple. "'Most of us we cross that stage in our life, "'but we celebrate our anniversary every year, "'because it's something too wonderful between the couple.
"'One time I remember my wife told me that, "'Do you know tomorrow is our special day?' "'Then I said, "'What special day?' "'Because I was quite busy in my conference meeting publications. "'I actually further tomorrow that day was the wedding day. "'So don't forget about your wedding days, "'wedding anniversaries. "'No matter if it was an arranged marriage or love marriage.
"'Feeling, caring, each other, always wonderful. "'This is something a man and women knows by nature "'and does not need to be taught. "'In our case, we met each other at the bus station. "'She came with her mother.
"'I went along with my mother. "'We do not know each other before. "'All what I talked to her on that day. "'What's your name?
How are you? "'What else you can expect when our mothers "'are just standing very close to us? "'She did not ask even a single question to me. "'She just smiled, sometimes smiles, "'communicated a message better than words.
"'Our meeting lasted only for five minutes. "'Less than five minutes, I would say. "'The bus came, she left, I left. "'Then my mother asked me, do you like her?
"'I said yes, if I say no, then she'll ask why. "'So better to avoid.' "'I said yes. "'She probably said the same thing to her mother, "'I don't know. "'That's it, got connected us and we are together now.
"'I'm sure you all have wonderful memories "'of your marriage as well. "'Is Eager saying about physical relationship with a man "'and a maid? No, it's way, way beyond that. "'It's not the physical relationship.
"'This is a picture of the bride and bride groom. "'Who is the bride? "'It is a church and the bride groom is the Christ. "'Efficient's 532.
"'This mystery is a profound one. "'And I'm saying that it refers to Christ and the church. "'It is a sacred union between Christ and his church. "'The mystery Paul has in mind.
"'Here is not marriage, but the relationship between Christ "'and the church. "'It is now clear, Jesus had come, "'to offer salvation to all people. "'All people are one in Christ now. "'Could be Jews or Gentiles, no matter.
"'We are all one in Christ. "'The way of a man with a maid. "'I'd like to quickly summarize Matthew chapter 25 "'verses 1 to 12. "'We see the parable of the 10 virgins.
"'In this parable, the virgin represents the members "'of the church and the bride groom represents Christ. "'The parable of the 10 virgins is told about 10 virgins "'who are awaiting a bridegroom survival. "'Five of them were wise and five were foolish. "'Foolish took their lamps and took the lamps "'and took no oil with them, "'but the wise took oil in their vessels with the lamps.
"'At midnight, the cry rang out. "'Here is the bridegroom. "'Come out and meet him. "'Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps.
"'The foolish ones said to the wise, "'Give us some of your oil. "'Our lamps are going out. "'No, they replied. "'There may be, there may not be enough for both of us.
"'Instead, go to those who sell oil "'and buy some for yourselves. "'It's too late. "'Each person will stand on his own "'or her own merits when the Lord comes. "'No one comes to help us at that time.
"'One must be well prepared for judgment day "'and not make any mistakes for the time "'that Jesus comes. "'Tragic words will be pronounced to those "'who are not completely prepared. "'The Bible says he will say, "'I do not know you. "'We must be ready.
"'The simple message of this parable "'is the one Jesus touched on again and again. "'We had to be ready because the son of man "'will come at an hour when you do not expect him.'" Revelation chapter 19 verses seven and eight says, "'Let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to him "'for the marriage of the Lamb is come, "'and his wife had made herself ready. "'And to her was granted that she should be a ride "'in fine linen, clean and white, "'for the fine linen is the righteous of saints. "'Or we able to understand his secret rapture "'or second coming?
"'It is too wonderful for me. "'As a children of God, it's too wonderful for us. "'But we believe, but I believe the way of a man "'with a maid, it's all about a new life. "'Egger, who was inspired and spoke of four things "'and humble himself in the presence of the presence "'of his creator.
"'We need to humble ourselves before God like Egger. "'James 4.10 says, "'Humble yourselves before the Lord, "'and he will exalt you. "'He will exalt you. "'Humility is the fear of the Lord.'" This morning, our dear brothers were talking about faith, belief, hope, John 14.6, Jesus says, "'I am the way, the truth and the life.
"'No one commit unto the Father, but by me. "'The way of an eagle in the air is faith. "'The way of a serpent upon a rock, it's a substitution. "'The way of a ship in the midst of the sea, "'that's the promise.
"'The way of a man with a maid, it's a new life. "'The question is, are we ready for Jesus Christ's return? "'It is extremely important for us "'to put our trust and faith in him. "'Come into your life with him, without any further delay.
"'He is waiting for us. "'May God bless his words. "'Let us pray. "'Havenly Father, we thank you for your word.
"'Lord, we humble ourselves before you, "'and we acknowledge and accept your way "'is way, way, way higher than us. "'Be with us in this journey of life, "'and help us to strengthen our faith in your words, "'and eternal life. "'I pray for each and every one those who gathered here "'at Northbrook Bible chapel, "'and all those who are listening to me virtually through online. "'Help us to honor you in all circumstances, "'and give us the strength to face the storms "'we face in our life.
"'Preper us, moulders, users, and fill us with your Holy Spirit, "'and lead us to walk with you. "'We commit everything into your mighty hands. "'In Jesus' name we pray, Amen."