OLD SCHOOL WIDSOM | Week 1 | Full Service

Pastor Bill Bush · Jun 5, 2023

Big Idea

True wisdom means living skillfully, not willfully — acquiring God's word and actually applying it to daily life.

Real wisdom isn't just knowing the Bible, it's living it out. Pastor Bill shows from Proverbs 1 that wisdom means living faithfully — letting discipline become discernment over time — and living fearfully, meaning we bow to God as ruler instead of staying on the throne of our own lives.

Key points

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1Wisdom is not knowledge, it's applied knowledge — skillful living, not just information.
Pastor Bill defines the biblical word for wisdom as meaning skillful, like a craftsman who learns by doing rather than just studying theory. He contrasts this with education for education's sake: you can know Scripture and still not be wise if you never apply it to everyday decisions.
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2Living skillfully starts with living faithfully — discipline practiced long enough to reach discernment.
Walking through Proverbs 1:1-6, he explains that discipline is meant to correct course and build character, unlike punishment, which is about payback. He uses the picture of starting a workout routine or learning to drive a stick shift: the early days are miserable and most people quit right before they'd start to feel the benefit, and the same happens with our walk with God.
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3Fear of the Lord is the foundation of wisdom, and it means bowing, not being scared.
From Proverbs 1:7, he distinguishes being scared of God (which makes people run and hide, like Adam and Eve) from fearing the Lord rightly (which makes people run toward Him, like David in the Psalms). Fear of the Lord means recognizing God is Creator and Ruler, and I am not, and surrendering the right to rule my own life.
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4Everyone in the room is one of four types: the simple, the wise, the fool, or the mocker.
He describes the simple as those who don't yet know what they don't know and need to first understand Jesus' love; the wise as those who apply what they learn; the fool as someone careless and self-satisfied who ignores instruction because life feels like it's working; and the mocker as someone who openly mocks God's wisdom, often by getting angry at whoever confronts them with it.
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5The mocker's path, including modern identity and sexuality confusion, never delivers what it promises.
He applies the mocker category to Christians who twist Scripture on identity and sexuality rather than surrender to it, arguing that finding identity outside of what God designed is a distortion that traps people. He warns that pastors who soften God's word to keep people comfortable aren't loving them, they're pointing people to themselves instead of God.
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6Choosing the harder, disciplined road leads to a blessing you cannot get any other way.
Pastor Bill tells his own story of resisting planting Rock Point because it was financially terrifying, and only moved forward after his wife and a mentor pushed him toward it. He says the work hasn't gotten easier over 21 years, it's gotten harder, but he now sees the blessing on the other side, like watching 300 middle schoolers leave for camp because the church exists.

Application

Pastor Bill's charge is to figure out which of the four types you are right now, and move toward wisdom from there.

If you're simple, go find out about Jesus
If you're new to faith and don't yet understand God's love, go to the prayer room after service and ask someone how to start a relationship with Jesus.
Choose discipline and stick with it
Don't quit right before discernment kicks in. Keep showing up, serving, giving, and obeying even when it feels hard and you don't yet feel the benefit.
Surrender to God as Lord, not just Savior
Stop treating God's word as a consultant you can overrule. Bow to His authority even on the parts of your life, including sexuality and identity, that are hard to hand over.
Stop mocking and get honest about your anger
If you're mad at being challenged with Scripture, examine whether you're really mad at the message or mocking God by refusing to trust what He's clearly said.

Take it into your week

Scripture in this message

From the transcript
“You know why? Because Proverbs four:seven says this, Getting wisdom is the wisest thing you can do. And whatever else you do, develop good judgment”
Read the whole chapter →
From the transcript
“We're gonna look at the first seven verses of Proverbs one where Solomon kind of lays out what's the whole point. And I think there's two points”
From the transcript
“if I'm going live skillfully the way of wisdom not just knowledge but true wisdom acquired and Applied understanding of truth. Then I have to live faithfully. I'm gonna have to live faithfully. What do I mean to live faithfully means I'm going to continue to do this. I'm going to be faithful in how I choose to live and that's really verse to kind of summarize this”
From the transcript
“it will not work. You will not stay faithful and the faithfulness won't even matter in the same way because you won't be faithful to the right things without verse seven. What verse seven says is the secret sauce matter of fact, it's repeated multiple times to this and the book ends with the same concept”
From the transcript
“It says fear of the Lord is the foundation of true knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline notice. It says discipline with wisdom”
From the transcript
“The book of James says, if you know the right thing you're supposed to do and don't do it, that is sin just like doing the wrong thing. So there's a lot of us in this room that are Christian fools”
From the transcript
“It's repeated six times if God keeps saying the same thing. If over and over it's an important thing throughout Proverbs that keeps saying there's a way that seems right to man but the end it leads to death”

7-day devotional

A personal reading plan from this message — scripture, reflection, and prayer for each day.

Day 1

Most of us grew up thinking wisdom meant knowing a lot — having the right answers, the right theology, the right Bible verses ready to go. But Proverbs reframes all of that from the very first page. Solomon writes that the purpose of this book is to teach 'disciplined thinking and sound judgment' — in other words, wisdom is not a library you fill; it is a skill you build. Think about what that means practically. You can sit in a church service every Sunday, highlight your Bible, and still be no wiser in how you actually live if the knowing never becomes doing. The Hebrew word behind 'wisdom' in Proverbs carries the idea of craftsmanship — the kind of careful, practiced skill a woodworker brings to a piece of timber. Nothing sloppy. Nothing rushed. Just patient, faithful application of what is known to what is in front of you right now. That is the life God is inviting you into. Not a smarter you, but a more faithfully applied you. The invitation at the start of Proverbs is not intimidating — it is actually freeing. You do not have to have it all figured out before you begin. You just have to begin, and keep going.

For reflection

Is there a gap between what you know God's Word says and how you are actually living day to day — and what is one honest thing you notice there?

Pray

Pray for a genuine willingness to let God's Word move from your head into the decisions you make this week.

Small-group discussion guide

For leading a group conversation about this message.

Open

Proverbs opens with a bold claim: wisdom isn't something you know — it's something you do. Let's dig into what that actually looks like.

Discussion questions

1
Proverbs 4:7 says wisdom means acquiring and applying God's Word to everyday life. Based on what the message unpacked, what's the difference between someone who has a lot of biblical knowledge and someone who actually has wisdom?
2
The message described four kinds of people present in any room — the simple, the fool, the mocker, and the wise. Looking at those four portraits, what do you notice about what separates one from the next?
3
Proverbs 1:7 puts the fear of the Lord at the foundation of wisdom. The message defined that as recognizing God as Creator and King and surrendering willful self-rule. What does that kind of surrender actually look like in ordinary, day-to-day decisions?
4
The message made a distinction between hard obedience — the early, costly stage of a discipline — and genuine discernment, which comes after staying faithful long enough. Why do you think the gap between those two stages is where so many people stop?
5
James says that knowing the right thing to do and not doing it is sin just like doing the wrong thing. How does that idea challenge the way we typically think about faithfulness — especially around disciplines like serving, giving, or sharing faith?
6
The message drew a line between having Jesus as Savior and surrendering to Him as Lord. How might a community like ours help each other close that gap — not just individually, but together?

Pray together

Ask God for the courage to stop the start-stop cycle — to run toward Him as King and stay in the disciplines He's already put in front of us.

Topics

Discipline and Obedience Fear of the Lord Practical Living Wisdom

OLD SCHOOL WIDSOM | Week 1 | Full Service

Big Idea

Key points

Application

Take it into your week

Scripture in this message

7-day devotional

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

Small-group discussion guide

Open

Discussion questions

Pray together