True Wisdom

• Praise

• Prayer

• Pastor Dan

A. text:

Prov. 4:7

The beginning of Wisdom is: get Wisdom (skillful and godly Wisdom)! [For skillful and godly Wisdom is the principal thing.] And with all you have gotten, get understanding (discernment, comprehension, and

interpretation). – Amplified Bible

Wisdom = applied knowledge , shrewdness, skill (in war), ethical and spiritual prudence

Greek word khokma (kokma)

1. In the text, what kind of knowledge, or what is referred to as wisdom?

Story of Matthew and Kenyan boy

(Matthew part of mission team. 2 weeks Nairobi, Kenya)

1) Boy lived in slum his whole life

• Boy lived in slum in city
• Slum population about 725,000
• Area about 1 ½ x 3 mi. (by contrast, Greater DM about 300,000)
• Boy 17 yrs old
1. Matthew asked him if he could have one thing in life – what would it be?
   • Did not ask for car, money etc.
   • Boy Wanted wisdom
   • God honored boys prayer – it lined up with His will

3. Matthew – a man of God and one who anyone would say is a man of true wisdom – an assistant pastor in our church and Pastor Dan’s # 1 advisor (besides his wife)
   • Brought him from Perry, Ia. to D.M. to Chicago to London and then to Kenya to stand before that young man and speak wisdom into his life.
   • Think of what The God Of The Universe is able to do!

4. God’s primary way of blessing ANYONE is with wisdom!

• If you apply the knowledge you have, seek more knowledge (which is wise), are shrewd and prudent, then you can figure out how to make more money or figure out how to do the things you need to accomplish to be obedient (to God, that’s what He requires in the first place).
• If obedience is what God requires, He will equip you for it – where God guides, He provides.
• This is how a Loving Father blesses His Children’s obedience. (do you bless your kid’s disobedience?)
  1. I don’t always – I tend to take it for granted

• King David impressed on Solomon at an early age to have a relationship with God, to honor Him and to be obedient. David (a man after God’s own heart) also let Solomon know that God blesses most of the time by speaking WISDOM to us. That’s why Solomon Prayed and asked God for WISDOM.

1 Kings 3

7 "Now, O LORD my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. 8 Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. 9 So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?"

 10 The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. 11 So God said to him, "Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, 12 I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be. 13 Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for—both riches and honor—so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings. 14 And if you walk in my ways and obey my statutes and commands as David your father did, I will give you a long life."

Prov. 4:7 Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom.
       Though it cost all you have, get understanding. - NIV

4:7 Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding – KJV

• Proverbs 4:3-9 Message Bible (synonyms – discuss/study)

3-9 When I was a boy at my father's knee,
    the pride and joy of my mother,
He would sit me down and drill me:
   "Take this to heart. Do what I tell you—live!
Sell everything and buy Wisdom! Forage for Understanding!
   Don't forget one word! Don't deviate an inch!
Never walk away from Wisdom—she guards your life;
   love her—she keeps her eye on you.
Above all and before all, do this: Get Wisdom!
   Write this at the top of your list: Get Understanding!
Throw your arms around her—believe me, you won't regret it;
   never let her go—she'll make your life glorious.
She'll garland your life with grace,
   she'll festoon your days with beauty."

1 Corinthians 3:18-20

18 Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their own craftiness”; 20 and again, “The LORD knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.”

Amplified version -

18 Let no person deceive himself. If anyone among you supposes that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool [let him discard his worldly discernment and recognize himself as dull, stupid, and foolish, without true learning and scholarship], that he may become [really] wise. 19For this world's wisdom is foolishness (absurdity and stupidity) with God, for it is written, He lays hold of the wise in their [own] craftiness;

    20And again, The Lord knows the thoughts and reasonings of the [humanly] wise and recognizes how futile they are.

• Brother-in-law one of smartest people I know
• Great guy
• Knows many obscure facts
• Does not know God
• God says his knowledge is useless!
•  Does not have TRUE WISDOM

1. How do I get true wisdom?

1. MUST be born again – (Rom. 10:9)

2. Acknowledge God in all your ways - (Prov. 3:6)

3. Worship in truth – (John 4:23)

4. Fear of Lord – (Prov. 1:7)

5. Pray and ask for it – be obedient make sure Jesus is Lord over every phase of your life. THAT IS TRUE WISDOM – (John 1:9)

A Humble And Contrite Attitude

NLT)

15 The high and lofty one who lives in eternity,
      the Holy One, says this:
   “I live in the high and holy place
      with those whose spirits are contrite and humble.
   I restore the crushed spirit of the humble
      and revive the courage of those with repentant hearts.

 This was one of the verses in my meditation of The Word this week, (Rom 12:2

 [ NLT] Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.) God reveals to us – line upon line precept upon precept His plans for us when we meditate on His Word.

Of interest words humble and contrite – in light of Fruit of Spirit in our study last week -  Gal 5:22  Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control.

PRAY

Humble

1.	not proud or arrogant; modest: to be humble although successful.

2.	having a feeling of insignificance, inferiority, subservience, etc.: In the presence of so many world-famous writers I felt very humble.

3.	low in rank, importance, status, quality, etc.; lowly: of humble origin; a humble home.

4.	courteously respectful: In my humble opinion you are wrong.

5.	low in height, level, etc.; small in size: a humble member of the galaxy.

–verb (used with object)

6.	to lower in condition, importance, or dignity; abase.

7.	to destroy the independence, power, or will of.

8.	to make meek: to humble one's heart.

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[Origin: 1200–50; ME (h)umble < OF < L humilis lowly, insignificant, on the ground. See humus, -ile]

Humus

the dark organic material in soils, produced by the decomposition of vegetable or animal matter and essential to the fertility of the earth.

Note: Essential for growth

I would submit that every fruit of the spirit mentioned in Gal 5, parallels

Humble and contriteness (deeply sorry or repentant)

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Lets look at Isa. 57:15 – 15 The high and lofty one who lives in eternity,
    (God always has been, always will be – My habitation, no time needed, where I live)         

 the Holy One, says this:
   (The Great I Am – not was…not a has been, or will be – Jesus tells us Love God with all your heart and have faith that He will provide what we need, then He says -  “sufficient for this day are this days troubles” – In other words don’t worry, The Great I Am, who takes care of you in the present.

A. how many examples  of Jesus saying I Am can you think of :

1. Way, Truth and Life – Vine and you are branches…. – (class)

“I live in the high and holy place
   (My domain – where I live)  

He says to us:

those whose spirits are contrite and humble.
  (truly sorry and are righteous through My Only Begotten, and who are or have an attitude or mentality or lifestyle of meekness or teachable ness preferring others over themselves)

 I restore the crushed spirit of the humble
     (Take care of the ones who have a lifestyle of putting other first)

 and revive the courage of those with repentant hearts.

(Bring back to life the boldness of those who truly have an attitude of repentance)

·        The idea is that if we have an attitude, or make a lifestyle of showing the fruit of the spirit.  We will live with Him and He will do all of these things for us.

He will prefer us – put us first – humble Himself to us!

(all about you to him, to you, etc.…. all about us to GOD! )

·        We have been equipped by the Power of God (His Word of Power, not by the power of His Word – {explain diff}), (many versions say “powerful word”. Correct translation is “Word of Power” – gives idea of infinite power) and it is essential if Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior to put others first. God through Paul & Timothy tells us to put each other first

(read) Rom 12:10 & 1 Tim 5:21

·        We must choose to be humble / if we have a free will to worship God and to be saved, we have to choose to show the attributes of Him

2 Cor. 5:7 -  We live by faith, not by sight. – We do the right thing (have a humble attitude show the fruit of the Spirit) because we have faith that it is the right thing to do not because or when we feel like it.

There will always be times when we don’t feel like being nice or being humble, (examples) but when we do it because it is the right thing to do that is when GOD rejoices.

·        When we put other first, we will never be offended, we will arrest the offense by saying to ourselves (why should he … examples)

God Is The God Of Patience

This Bible study was presented in 2007. The topic was "patience" - something we all need more of. A very astute observation came out of our conversation.

An inmate noted that we sometimes "try" way to hard to be followers of Christ. We try to "be" Christians. We often try to be followers of Christ by changing our behavior. The fact is though, that will never happen. No matter how hard you or I try, we can NEVER change the inside, the part of us that defines us, the important part,  the part of us God sees, cares about and loves, from the outside.

Paul, in his letter to the Galatians points this out. He calls this the fruit of the spirit (Gal 5:18). Paul is referring to the fact that it's the things inside us, the way we treat others, "humbly out of love", are the signs of those who believe. The way we ARE on the inside is  what matters.

The fact that these come from the inside - not some external force making us behave a certain way, is the way God works.Thats what Paul was saying. He tells them if they want to be circumcised (an external sign) then they will be judged by the law and that Jesus and the freedom He brings is irrelevant to them! He is saying to them God, through Jesus, works from the inside out not the outside in!

Jesus tells us this in many places and in many ways. At one point (I get the feeling He is tired of making a point He had made many times before)  He tells the religious leaders that it is what is on the inside of the cup that matters not the outside.

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• Praise
• pray

Patience = Greek word “hupermone” – compound of “hupo” = under and “meno”  =  abide – together, literally means to abide under. The idea is enduring under a load.

Dictionary.com defines patience this way:

1. the quality of being patient, as the bearing of provocation, annoyance, misfortune, or pain, without complaint, loss of temper, irritation, or the like.
2. an ability or willingness to suppress restlessness or annoyance when confronted with delay: to have patience with a slow learner.
3. quiet, steady perseverance; even-tempered care; diligence: to work with patience.

James 2-6(read) out of KJV

Now out of NLT -  2 Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. 3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.

• James tells us that the only way for us to develop patience is to go through some stuff. Then he tells us to go ahead and take and let good, (patience) come out of it.

Romans 8:28 tells us this will happen if we love The Lord.

Roman 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who    love him, and who have been called according to his purpose. 

(ALL OF US CALLED TO HIS PURPOSE)

Romans 15:5   (God is the God of patience)

 5 May God, who gives this patience and encouragement, help you live in complete harmony with each other, as is fitting for followers of Christ Jesus

                       

1. How does God show us show patience?

Encouragement - Jeremiah  33:3, James 1:5

Harmony with others -  1 John 4:8, Rom 8:39

God is telling us that patience, harmony and encouragement (of others) go together. Since love is the most important thing, 1 Cor a3:13 we can draw a parallel on how important patience is.

James 5:11              (Patience Exemplified)

11 We give great honor to those who endure under suffering. For instance, you know about Job, a man of great endurance. You can see how the Lord was kind to him at the end, for the Lord is full of tenderness and mercy.

1.    With regard to the definitions we have read, how does point to, and encourage us?

Job

Job 1:21 He said,   “I came naked from my mother’s womb, and I will be naked when I leave.
     The Lord gave me what I had and the Lord has taken it away. Praise the name of the   Lord!”

 Hebrews 6:12        

Then you will not become spiritually dull and indifferent. Instead, you will follow the example of those who are going to inherit God’s promises because of their faith and endurance

 Heb 6:15 - Then Abraham waited patiently, and he received what God had promised.

1.    How does this show patience?

2.      is faith involved? –

3.      After reading about Job’s trials and Heb 6:12 &15  is faith in God an element of patience?      

·       An example of patient faith:

ACTS 8:26 – 40

·        Phillip had patience with the Ethiopian eunuch to teach and endure his ignorance of The Gospel

·        Phillip patiently waited for the opportunity to fulfill the general calling we all have “to be ready in season and out of season”

Lamentations 3:26 (New Living Translation)

So it is good to wait quietly for salvation from the Lord

Romans 12:12

12 Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying.

Galatians 6:9  

So let’s not get tired of doing what is good.

·       At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. For our own good and well being.

1. Why should we exercise patience?
2. Do we benefit from showing patience?
3. Do others benefit
4. Do we benefit from other benefiting?
5. How?

More God

• Pray

 Text: - 2 Cor 10: 4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)

By default – If we believe in Jesus, we believe in Satan – Good vs. Evil

John 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have [it] more abundantly

1.    Spirit world (can’t see) / natural world (can see)   

a.  although we can’t see it spirit world far more real than the world we live in.

Ephesians 6:12
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual

forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

               

                2. Forces influence our behavior

a.    Things going on in spiritual world behind scenes that we would not believe –

b. Influence negative or positive

1.    only two choices – only two choices in spirit realm Christ or no Christ

CHOICE is the keyword – John 3:16

·         God made a choice to send His Son

·         Bible full of choices – good and bad

·         God chose - re-establish kingdom,

·         God chose to -have fellowship with us, creation, etc.

Joshua 24:15 (Amplified Bible)

15  And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord

·         We must make choice – good or evil

·         Good choices – good life / bad choices – bad life

·         what we choose  will influence the way we live and ultimately what happens in our lives and those around us – we effect others ( It’s A Wonderful Life)

           

3.Inspite of us choosing to do good, will bad things still happen to me?

1.    of coarse – sin entered world & all things bad.

2.     Gen 3 fall of man  -  disobedience

4.  For the most part – if we always do the right thing we will be rewarded

1.    Job, Daniel. Jacob, Moses,

2.    Jesus, Paul, Peter

a.    these all martyred – what’s good?

b.    Obedience for it own sake

c.    They knew beyond a shadow of a doubt the reward that awaited them.

                                                                  i.    Disciples -Lived with Jesus (God on earth)

                                                                ii.    Paul saw Jesus and heaven

                                                               iii.    Jesus told them (disciples) about His Kingdom

                                                               iv.    They accepted obedience to God as being it’s own reward

                                                                v.    When we make up our minds to do this we will start to find our purpose and live fulfilled lives.

                                                               vi.    Do the right thing on purpose – by staying connected to The Word, we put ourselves in position to serve others by being used by God. He can only bless us if we have a heart to bless others. When we display what Paul call the fruits of the spirit – people are attracted to us and we can truly help them

5. they came to realize they did not need less (fill in the blank)

 THEY NEEDED MORE GOD!

·         Chris – grass seed to choke out weeds, not weed killer to kill weeds.

THE SAME IS TRUE WITH US! – WE ALL NEED MORE GOD AND NOT LESS (FILL IN BLANK)

When we choose more God, we will not have to choose less (fill in blank) it will all ready be chosen, and we won’t want anything but more God anyway!