Read proverbs 24:16  How do you feel when you mess up?  What do you say when you have done something wrong?  Do you try to cover up your mistake?  Or do you try to blame someone else for your mistake?  When we make a mistake, we should admit that we have made the mistake.  We should take responsibility and apologize for it.  We should ask forgiveness from the one that we have offended.  Instead of making excuses, we should own up to our failures like a grown-up.  We should not be like the wicked person in our verse who falls into mischief.  We should be like the just man in our verse.  When the just man fell down, what does our verse say that he did?  And when the just man fell down again, what does our verse say that he did?  Our verse says that the just man fell down how many times?  But our verse says that the just man got right up again and again.  Every time he messed up, he apologized and got right up again.  Don’t give in to mischief like the wicked man.  Ask forgiveness over and over if you have to.  Be like the just man.  God is on the side of the just man.  Are you on God’s side?

Read Proverbs 24: 11&12  There are two groups of people mentioned in our verses for today: those who are drawn into death and us.  You may say, “I don’t know anyone who is about to be killed today.  How does this verse apply to me?  I am just a kid.”  Well, that may be true.  You may not know anyone who is in danger of being killed today.  But you may know people who do not know Jesus Christ.  You may know people who are not Christians.  These people are in a dangerous place.  If they were to die today, where would they spend eternity?  Hell is a terrible place.  That is why we do not use the word hell in every day language.  Using the word hell is not very nice.  Using the word hell is bad language and you should not say hell just as a word.  Hell is a terrible place and we should do what we can to warn people about not going there.  So, in the spiritual sense, we may know people who are, as our verses say, drawn unto death.  And our verses say that it is our responsibility to warn them about the danger that they are facing.  If we try to say, we didn’t know that they were facing death, verse 12 says that God knows our hearts.  He knows that we know.  In Genesis 4 after Cain’s offering of vegetables was refused by God, Cain got mad.  He didn’t like that his brother Abel’s animal offering was accepted by God.  Cain was jealous of his brother and rose up and killed him.  When God asked Cain about his brother, Cain tried to say that he wasn’t responsible for his brother.  He said, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” he said to God.  But God knew.  God knew the wicked thing that Cain had done.  And back in Proverbs 24:12 we are reminded that we are responsible for our fellow humans.  We know how to get to heaven and they don’t!  Let’s not be like Cain and try to get out of our responsibility.  Let’s follow what God says in Proverbs 24: 11&12.  Let’s help to warn those who may be facing death.  We need to warn them because they don’t know the dangerous situation that they are in.  And we know the good news of how to get to heaven.  That is our job.  That is our responsibility.

Read Proverbs 24:10  Like yesterday, our verse talks about war.  If you are a soldier or a king like David, you have to prepare for war.  If you just sit around the campfire and talk about fighting, when the fighting does come, you won’t be ready.  A soldier has to be ready when the time comes to fight.  Every day the soldier has to run and exercise, and practice fighting with your friends.  If a soldier doesn’t build up his strength and work on his battle skills, when the day of battle finally does come, he will not be ready.  He will just faint when the heat of battle is all around him.  Just like the soldier in our verse, we have to be ready for our war.  We must be prepared to do battle against Satan.  In order to prepare, we need to read our Bibles and memorize Scripture.  Satan will come against us with slick lies and tricks.  Just like a soldier needs to be ready for the day of battle, we must be ready when the time comes to do battle against Satan, our enemy.  If we prepare beforehand and put on God’s armor, we will not faint in our battle against Satan.

Read Proverbs 24:5&6  Solomon was a wealthy and wise king.  But he was able to enjoy a peaceful time as king because his father, David, had fought many wars to leave a strong country to his son.  But our verses remind us that David didn’t just get mad at the neighboring country and go to war with them.  David asked for the advice of his trusted generals.  Did they have enough soldiers to defeat the enemy?  Did they need more chariots?  Did they need to train more archers?  Did they have enough food to last for the intended battles?  Should they attack right away before the enemy had time to get ready or should they wait until the next year when David’s army was better prepared?  David put all of these questions to his generals, and then he listened carefully to what each of them had to say.  He listened and then made his decision.  After hearing from everyone, David was able to make the right decision.  Before we make an important decision, remember verse 6.  If you ask several people give you good advice, and you listen, you can make the right decision.

Read Proverbs 24:3&4  Our two verses are talking about an analogy.  An analogy is a story that teaches us a life lesson.  It is like a parable.  In the New Testament, Jesus taught the people by giving them parables.  One of His parables was about a farmer who went out to sow seed.  As this farmer cast the seed out onto the field, the seed fell upon four types of soil:  Rocky soil, hard soil, soil with thorns growing in it, and good soil.  The point of Jesus’ parable was to liken the different types of soil to the different kinds of people who hear a message from God.  Not everyone who hears the message listens to the message.  If you listen to God’s Word, you are like the good soil.  In verse 3 Solomon says that if we have wisdom our lives will be successful just like a house that is built.  Our lives will be established and will be successful if we have understanding.  If we have knowledge, all kinds of good things happen in our lives, just like a beautiful house has all kinds of fine furniture in it.  If we live a life that pleases God, people will want to be around us, just like a wonderful house that is filled with pleasant furniture makes you happy to be living there.  On a cold winter night, isn’t it great to come in from the outside to a warm inviting home?  Are our lives inviting others to be near to God?  I hope so.

Read Proverbs 23:29 & 30  This talks about a subject that you are way too young to even think about. Drinking alcohol and wine.  The dangerous ingredient in beer and wine and liquor is alcohol.  When a fruity juice like grape juice is not refrigerated, and it sits outside in the open, it ferments.  When the juice ferments, bacteria is actually causing it to rot and turn into alcohol.  Alcohol is the dangerous part of the drink.  Our first verse tells us that bad things happen to someone, who in the next verse drinks wine.  What happens to them?  They have trouble.  They pick arguments with their friends and fight.  They can't talk clearly.  When they drink alcohol, they pass out and wake up the next morning with cuts and bruises on their bodies.  But they don't even know where the bruises came from.  That doesn't sound like very much fun.  So why do people drink alcohol?  Well alcohol makes their brain feel fuzzy.  They like the buzzing feeling in their heads.  But there are many more troubles that come after that feeling.  Another problem with alcohol is that it is addictive.  Addictive means that something in our brain makes us want to do it over and over again.  Someone may like the warm feeling that first comes with drinking alcohol, but they don't like the terrible other things that come along after the warm feeling is gone.  Solomon knows what happens if just begin with a taste of alcohol.  We get trapped.  We want more and more. But verse 31 has the solution:  just never take the first drink of alcohol.  I like what Solomon says about alcohol in verse 32.  He says that it bites you like a snake!  Leave it alone!  Stay away from it! 

Read Proverbs 23:17 & 18  Our first verse talks about the word envy.  What does envy mean?  Envy means to wish that you could be like someone else or that you could have the things like someone else.  You wish that you could have talent like someone or be able to play baseball like them.  There is nothing wrong about being like someone else, but envy means that you wish you could have what they have.  A person envy's someone else,s new bicycle, and then they steal it.  Envy begins as a jealous thought, but soon leads to bigger sins.  When we look at sinners and are envious of them, we soon want to become like them.  We want to sin.  Notice that Solomon says that envy is in the heart.  Envy is way down inside of us.  And when we want to be like sinners, we are headed down a dangerous pathway.  The second half of the first verse says that instead of envying a sinner, we should consider what ultimately happen to a sinner.  What ultimately happens to a sinner - what happens when they die?  That is told to us in the second verse, verse 18. When sinners die, they are cut off from heaven and home with God.  Sinners live a life that looks exciting, but the sinner is headed down the path to destruction.  And when we consider the sinner's end, well we surely don't want that, do we?  We want a home in heaven when we die. So, when we are envious of a sinner's great life, remember where they will end up.  Always go with God.  You will never be sorry that you did.  I'm not!