Wisdom

In this podcast episode, the speaker starts by introducing the topic of wisdom and how it is important for believers to fear and know God. They then give a brief overview of the story of Jacob from the book of Genesis, focusing on how he was tricked into marrying Leah instead of Rachel. Jacob eventually marries Rachel as well, but not before working for his uncle Laban for 14 years. The speaker then delves into the topic of wisdom and its association with the Word of God. They mention that wisdom brings protection and that it cannot be separated from God's Word. The speaker also discusses King Solomon, who was known for his wisdom. They divide Solomon's life into two phases - the rise and the fall. In the rise phase, Solomon sought after God and received wisdom from Him. Solomon thrived as a king because he followed God's instructions. Welcome to CCI fellowships podcast. Thank you for joining us at CCI fellowship We are reaching God reaching each other and reaching our community We pray that this week's message challenges you in your walk with the Lord Causes you to grow in your faith and encourages you in your love for the Word of God Let's dive into it if you open your Bibles to Genesis chapter 30 Pastor John prayed earlier this message. God has been brewing it in my heart for for some time And I'm really excited to bring this word. We're gonna start in Genesis chapter 30 We'll just read three verses, but I want to let you know before That when we read this verse this passage You're probably gonna wonder what in the world does this passage have to do with wisdom and on the service on the surface? It has nothing to do with wisdom But underneath you will find that this passage contains one of the most important principles pertaining to wisdom and to living a godly life So we'll start reading on verse 37, but let me quickly give you the backstory of what is happening Jacob the son of Isaac the Grandson of Abraham was instructed by his father to go to the land of his uncle Laban or Laban to look for a wife So he obeys and goes to that land and he first meets Laban's youngest daughter Rachel and fall in love with her Not before long. He goes to his uncle and says, please give me Rachel as my wife and in return I will work for you for seven years and so Laban says, okay and so He works for him for seven years in the process of that time Laban starts to prosper because of Jacob and then the seven years come up and the wedding ceremony ceremony is ready and Laban being the trickster that he was Deceives Jacob and instead of giving him Rachel to wed He gives the youngest the oldest daughter Leah and so Jacob ends up marrying Leah The woman that he didn't necessarily love and so he goes to Laban and says what is this that you have done to me? And Laban says well, it's not our custom to give the youngest daughter. It's our custom to give the oldest daughter and so Jacob says, okay, well Give give me Rachel as my wife and in return. I will I will give I will work for you seven more years And so Laban says yes, and so he gave Rachel to him that very hour And so the other seven years passed by 14 altogether since Jacob has been serving Laban and at the end of that time Jacob goes to his uncle and says I want to go back home to my own land I want to build a household of my own So let me go with my wife and with my children and after a discussion Laban agrees and says, okay I'll let you go. What can I give you and Jacob says don't give me anything But I have a proposal to make you and he says I will keep tending your flocks for a little bit But let's go among your flocks and and let's select and set apart all the lamb the sheep and the goats that are speckled or spotted or dark and Let's set them aside and those will be my wages and then you can keep all the white ones and Laban says, okay Sounds like a good deal And so again being a trickster and a deceiver Laban goes that very night that same night among all his flocks and he separates all the speckled and spotted and dark animals and he hides them with his sons a Three days journey from where they were and this is where we pick it up in verse 37. It says Jacob however Took fresh cut branches from poplar almond and plane trees and made made White stripes on them by peeling the bark and exposing the white inner wood of the branches Then he placed the peeled branches and all the watering troughs so that they would be directly in front of the flocks when they came to drink When the flocks were in the heat and came to drink They made it in front of the branches and they bore young that were streaked or speckled or spotted. That's right Father we thank you for this our Lord and this great Service that we are having because we are gathered in your name and the mighty name of Jesus and we ask God as you were manifesting yourself to us as we were singing those songs and Setting our affections on you That you would continue revealing yourself to us Father you are the source of all wisdom and we pray God that you would open our hearts So that we might receive the instruction or the correction That we need to hear today father, we thank you that We can come with the boldness that the name of Jesus affords us and we thank you Lord that you That we know that with confidence that you have heard our prayer and have answered it word. We love you father in Jesus name. Amen So before we get to the To the meat of the sermon. I want to talk about some basics of wisdom kind of to lay down the foundation the fundamental essence of wisdom is to enable believers to fear God to know him and To so that we will live for him. The Bible says that God Brought us out of darkness into his marvelous light the first nine chapters of the book of Proverbs are devoted to wisdom in Those nine chapters you can hear the desperate cry of the father instructing his son To do everything in his power to seek wisdom to get it to treasure it and to live his entire life by it The strong's concordance Defines wisdom and that is godly wisdom not manly wisdom defines godly wisdom as insight skill intelligence Prudence it is associated with interpreting dreams or can even be associated with giving sound advice My definition, which is a little more simple or more compact My definition of wisdom is the ability to apply the knowledge of the Word of God to daily life The ability to apply the knowledge of the Word of God to daily life so the way that Proverbs puts on on on Wisdom cannot be overlooked and I want us to read a few verses so that we can get a gist of what? Proverbs has to say about wisdom Proverbs chapter 4 and verse 7 says wisdom is the principle thing Therefore get wisdom and then all you're getting get understanding Proverbs 2 verses 10 to 12 when wisdom enters your heart the knowledge is pleasant to your soul Discretion will preserve you Understanding will keep you to deliver you from the way of evil. We can see that wisdom brings protection to the believer Proverbs 15 verse 33 the fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom in other words the fear of the Lord imparts wisdom to the believer Apart from the fear of the Lord there can be no wisdom all wisdom it operates within those who fear and reverence the Lord Now as we look closely at these nine chapters, we find that wisdom and the Word of God cannot be separated Proverbs chapter 2 and verse 1 says my son if you receive my words and Treasure my commands within you this is making allusion to the Word of God So that you incline your ear to wisdom and apply your heart to understanding Indeed if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding And if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for a hidden treasure Then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God For the Lord gives wisdom from his mouth again his word Come knowledge and understanding so you cannot have wisdom apart from God's Word in Fact when we forsake or ignore God's Word in any area of our life That is the equivalent of departing from wisdom So we can't talk about wisdom without talking about King Solomon right the wisest man that ever lived King Solomon was the third king of Israel after his father David and after King Saul and he ruled for 40 years He is responsible for having written song of songs or a song of Solomon Ecclesiastes and much of the book of Proverbs So for the sake of this sermon we are going to divide the life of Solomon in two phases phase one is the rise of Solomon and phase two is the fall or the demise of Solomon He was raised by his parents to fear God to walk in his ways and to follow his commands God's Word He was chosen by God and When he's chosen he does what you and I what most of us would do under the same circumstances he looks at the magnitude of the calling that God has placed over him and then he looks at his own ability and says I'm not gonna cut it. I Desperately need God's help. So he humbly recognizes his inability to fulfill the calling that God had for him Now it's important to note that in this first phase of his life Solomon sought after God earnestly first Kings 3 3 says Solomon showed his love for the Lord by walking according to the instructions given him by his father David you cannot walk According to instructions unless they are you have embraced them and they become a part of One day Solomon after lavishly expressing his love and his devotion for God He presented 1,000 burnt offerings in one day You know the story but after that God appears to him in a dream and says Solomon ask for whatever you want and I will give it to you and Solomon says well God you have made me king after my father David. I am only a child and He says give your servant understanding so that he will be able to judge your people And God says well because you have asked for this and not for riches or for a long life or for the life of your enemies God says I have given you a Wise and understanding heart so that there has not been anyone like you before nor shall any like you arise after you God also gives him riches and honor far more than all the other kings of the earth So God gives with God gives Solomon wisdom so that he would be able to run the nation But also so that he would use this wisdom for his personal life And this is evidenced by the fact or by the way in which he managed his own Household and his palace and the servants that lived in his in his home So Solomon prospered he thrives and becomes a very successful king of Israel why? because like the sheep He was reproducing in his life what he was looking at and what was he looking at God in his word again It says that Solomon showed his love for the Lord by walking according to the instructions given him by his father David So everything is going great in his life Solomon is recognized. He is successful. He is established. He's loved He is honored and comes to the peak of his life when he could probably run the nation of Israel with it with his eyes closed and then Comes face to the fall of Solomon and what transpires here is truly tragic it's terrible and You can see what happened, how did the wisest man on earth deviate from where he was? This is the guy who wrote do not be wise in your own eyes fear the Lord and depart from evil I Know there's many different suggestions and commentaries as to the why of Solomon's fall and I'm not here to tell you those are wrong and this one is right there may be different reasons but I am here to show you what the Lord showed me and The Lord showed me that Solomon stopped looking to God And he turned his eyes elsewhere, and then he started reproducing what he was seeing In Ecclesiastes, which by the way, he wrote a chapter 1 verses 12 to 13 He says I that Solomon the preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem And I set my mind to seek and explore by man's wisdom all human activity that has been done under heaven For you to set your mind To seek and to explore something that requires determination. That's not something that just accidentally happens That's saying I'm going to follow this course and I'm going to seek and find what I want to seek and to find Now this point is very important because many of us arrive at a point in our lives and a point in our Ministries and after we have done or have been doing something for a while We have maybe prospered in the calling that God has for us we've had success and Then we become a little complacent. We can become prideful We become sure of ourselves Trusting in our own ability and so the things that we could once not do without God's help that would terrify us Now we're pretty good at doing because we've gained some practice and we stopped seeking Hard after God as we did before and so we stopped depending on him to guide us The same thing that happened to Solomon happened to his dad if you recall King David the first phase of his life He depended on God for everything his eyes were set on God and he reproduced Holiness because he was constantly looking at holiness Now the second phase of King David's life the Bible says that at the time where the kings of Israel were at war David stayed back home in his palace went up to the rooftop and he reproduced what he had set his eyes on So the real danger for us is not when we are facing a huge monumental task It's pretty easy to depend on God under those circumstances The challenge for us is when we are facing an ordinary one This is when these great men of God made terrible mistakes and suffered devastating consequences as a result Solomon looking away from God and seeking by man's wisdom everything that he could ever find that caused the kingdom of Israel to be split in two and you know that after After King David did what he did with Bathsheba and Uriah and all that all that story his family was Divided and he suffered great loss as a result of that I'm never gonna forget one time that we were up there in the auditorium and up And I come in and I see Pastor John. He's kind of a squatting against the wall Of course, he's praying he's like this And I look at him and I know that something is up and I I go to him and ask him. Are you okay? And he said I just don't want to go down there to preach without God By that time Pastor John had preached many many sermons and Really? It's not about Knowing how to do something you can say can Pastor John preach you can say of course you can preach but that's not the point The point is doing something Versus doing something with the anointing and the blessing of God That's that bring about a very different result So it's not about the things that I can do. It's about looking to Jesus about looking to God and getting his counsel. I Believe that a great that a sign of maturity is greater dependence on God on everything in your life a Fool says I can do it alone The wise person says what does God have to say about Lord? I've done this a thousand times How do you want to do it this time? It's about depending on the Lord Our daughter Johanna loves to have blueberries for breakfast and So she we will put them in a bowl and they're they're thawed because they were frozen And so with a little force she pinches them and and eats them by herself But at the end when she was done a little puddle of blueberries uses left in the bowl And I would love to just get it because she wanted to drink it and I would grab it and just give it to her And she would drink it and we would do that for did that so many times and it was something special for me Now one day this was about two months ago I grabbed she finishes the blueberries and I grabbed a little bowl and I'm about to To put it to her mouth and she stops me and says I got it daddy They kind of broke my heart You know, but at the same time you're like, okay, they're supposed to grow out, you know We don't want her to be five or ten years old and and us doing that either, right? Well, Jesus said I am divine you are the branches he that abides in me and I in him will bear much fruit for Apart from me you can do nothing So the whole I got a daddy is not gonna cut it with God We can understand that in the natural realm with our children or with our spiritual children But when it comes from the Lord, he does not only does he require? Dependence it behooves us to depend on him for everything So the question is what are you reproducing in your life? We are like that those sheep those goats What we look at we reproduce What are you reproducing or I can ask the question another way? What are you looking at? What is your heart set on? Listen to Proverbs 26 22 It says the words of a whisperer She's gossip are like dainty morsels to be greedily eaten They go down into the innermost chambers of the body to be remembered and mused upon They come in we ingest them gossip and then it's gonna come out it's gonna be reproduced And then it's gonna come out it's gonna be reproduced Gossip pornography jealousy envy unforgiveness bitterness They all operate according to what is described in this verse The lust of the eyes the lust of the flesh the pride of life. They all feed on what we see and ponder The Lord Jesus said a tree is known by its fruit and of course, he's not talking about actual trees He's talking about people a tree is known by its fruit. Now fruit is the result of what is on the inside Then he said this is Matthew chapter 12 then he said out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks Whatever is abundant in your life, whatever you have ingested whatever you have allowed Whatever you have ingested whatever you have allowed To come into your person to your mind into your heart That is going to come out Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks It's all the same principle that what we look at we reproduce The Lord had said to uh israel in deuteronomy chapter 30 He said to them I have placed life and death before you therefore choose life This is almost the cry of the father God doesn't get to choose what we choose. The enemy doesn't get to choose what we choose We get to choose what we choose. That's why God says I place life and death therefore Choose life We make that decision So let's talk let's talk about first reproducing death because it would be um It would be unthinkable to say that we never make a mistake and then we all that we reproduce this holiness that would be uh deceiving ourselves So let's talk about reproducing death The enemy knows about this principle that what we look at we reproduce And so that's one reason why he works extra hard To keep us under what I call the trinity of deceit under guilt under shame and under condemnation If the enemy is accusing me and I am allowing these accusations to stay in my mind and in my heart Then I will reproduce death unholiness I will feel completely unworthy And I am would be acting in a way that is not pleasing to god because jesus went to the cross to die for my sins And to take away my sins So if I accept the condemnation and the guilt and the shame that the enemy is putting on me then I am not Believing in what jesus did for me. So I am reproducing death and unholiness The same principle works with sin james chapter 1 Verse 14 says but each one is tempted when he is dragged away Enticed and baited to commit sin by his own worldly desires. His lust his passion And That means that we have to look at them It's not that you look It's not that you're tempted and you look at something and you immediately look away that that you're not allowing the temptation. But for For you to be enticed and baited And for the desire and the lust and the passion to grow that means that you looked and you stayed Looking at that and i'm just talking about sexual sin when I say look it can be with your heart You can you can have envy over somebody or jealousy and you're looking with your heart And you're being envious about that person or you have unforgiveness Bitterness about something that somebody did and you bring it to your memory and you start looking at it These things reproduce exactly What they are designed to do by the enemy which is reproduce death and what's more is that it keeps us ineffective for god Because as long as i'm looking at the shame and the guilt That the enemy is placing on me Then i'm not looking to the one That can breathe life into me so that I will reproduce holiness It's a cause and effect situation It will keep us ineffective for god So Never let condemnation or shame or guilt Be on you or don't never let the enemy place it on you. It is never from god. God may bring conviction God may show you a sin so that you will quickly repent and come back to him But he's never going to use guilt or shame or condemnation to speak to you not ever Amen, god is good. Let's talk about reproducing holiness now The bible is packed with instructions to set our eyes on life Keeping our eyes on jesus the author and perfecter of our faith. It doesn't say just look to jesus It says keep your eyes on jesus Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is just Whatever is pure whatever is lovely whatever is of good report if there is any virtue if there is anything praiseworthy meditate on those things and Then paul said and the things that you learned and received and heard and saw in me these do And then he says and the peace of god or the god of all peace Will dwell with you will be with you. There's a cause and effect relationship Another verse that we all know be anxious for nothing We all know that verse don't be anxious be anxious for nothing when we're anxious It's because we have been looking at the wrong thing too long But in everything by prayer and supplication With thanksgiving that with thanksgiving is the key to that verse Because when I go to god with a situation that i'm facing and I present my prayer and my supplication to the lord But I say god, thank you that you have heard my prayer and thank you that you will take care of it I am letting the peace of god not anxiety stay with me Why because I have been looking to god who is faithful and I have been thanking god who will Bring it to pass in his own timing He who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it Will be blessed or fruitful in what he does. It's not just important to look it's important to continue in it This book of the law shall not depart from your from your eyes, but you shall meditate on it by day and by night We know that verse joshua chapter one My son give attention to my words incline your ear to my sayings Do not let them depart from your eyes keep them in the midst of your heart For they are life to those who find them and health to all their flesh Keep them in the midst of your heart. Do not let them depart from your eyes be constantly there so that you will reproduce holiness It is the same cry of the father That we read of in in in the first, um in the life of solomon he was instructing his son God is saying look at me steadily Don't look away. If you for some reason stumbled come back to me quickly and look at me For some reason stumbled come back to me quickly and look at me steadily for I am the source of all wisdom Now for him for wisdom to operate in our lives humility is a requisite Humility will cause us to have an attitude of lord. I need you Lord every moment. I need you every day. I need you without you I can't do anything and I don't want to do anything Human wisdom on the other hand phase two of solomon's life Will cause us to say I got it. Daddy. I don't need your help And sometimes without knowing we adopt that attitude Believers are meant to be a fountain of life Rivers of living water not that we are a fountain in itself or a river But if we are drawing nourishment from the fountain of life And from the rivers of living water of the holy spirit, then we will be a source of hope and encouragement and joy for people Leonard revanhill once said the most exciting place on earth Should be the church of the living god when god is active and present and moving But it can also be the most boring place when god is not And I believe the same applies to an individual believer We can have the most exciting life That you could ever think When you're living a life that is devoted to god because he will be manifesting yours himself And you will never have a boring life doesn't mean that everything's going to be great Perfect. We're going to have trials and trouble. Jesus said that And On the same token We can have a very boring life if we're not yielding and seeking after the lord with all of our hearts It all hinges On what we're looking at On what we are setting our affections and our hearts on This is one reason why being filled with the holy spirit is so important When we are filled with the holy spirit we are filled with god And when you're filled with god And saturated with god god will come out and express himself to bring blessing upon others So as long as we continue steadfastly looking at the lord we can Be very confident that wisdom will continually Guide us and operate in our lives Now let me quickly give you um The four things on a practical level that I try to apply and I try to be diligent about these things in my own life to make sure that i'm abiding in wisdom and to make sure that i'm Abiding in god's presence and seeking him with all of my heart These are basic this like talman said there's nothing new under the sun. I'm not going to give you something that you haven't heard before So for some of you it's going to be a friendly reminder for others it's going to be like oh I need to I need to watch it here and for Others it's going to be like a wake-up call So the first one is daily bread The manna that fell from heaven The children of israel were not allowed to store for the next day except for the sabbath But if they stored some manna some bread for the following day, it would rot And they could not eat it Why because god wanted them to go seek it every day And it's the same with god's word today Today's diet is not going to hold you steady next week. So we need a consistent diet of the word of god Number two be filled daily with god Not just during your quiet time quiet times are great, but all the times in between Pastor john has been talking about cultivating a god consciousness About being aware of his presence. So whatever you do for me, I listen to a lot of sermons during the week uh, but if for you it's worship music or journaling or praying or Reading a christian, but whatever it is, it draws you closer to the lord increase in that and be filled with god Daily Proverbs 23 17 says do not let your heart envy sinners But be zealous for the fear of the lord all the day all day long We must live in such a way that god exudes from us We are his ambassadors And we should strive constantly to be completely immersed in him Now as the worship team comes up, let me give you the other two and then we'll And then we'll close Number three never miss a gathering make it your life Mission not to miss a church gathering. I don't mean just a service like this one fellowship groups We have a on wednesday or the first wednesday of every month like adreana Announced we have our prayer and fasting service never miss A service never miss a gathering. I feel I really feel for people Who are not consistently coming to church because they are easy praise for the enemy they easily stumble Being consistent in our attendance to church and to church meetings will cause us to be steady in the lord And number four always be open to instruction and correction Arrogant and prideful people don't accept correction humble people do Proverbs 19 20 says listen to counsel and receive instruction that you may be wise in your latter days So wrapping everything up About wisdom. I know this is not the typical message on wisdom. It's more on a practical level, but the main purpose Of wisdom is to enable the believer To live a life that is holy and consecrated and completely devoted To god But we must seek it earnestly As we see god's presence and guidance every day and then and only then Will we have wisdom? Guiding and protecting us and operating in our lives. Let's pray Father, we thank you lord that your word is packed with wisdom And father we pray lord that as these these seeds have been planted in our hearts Your word is the seed we pray god that each of us will be diligent In watering the seeds that have been here planted by you That these seeds father will bear the fruit that you intend it to come about That there will be a bounty harvest of holiness as a result of us walking deeper in wisdom And in the fear of the lord for your honor and for your glory We pray god that you would enable us to live Lives that are holy for you not 20 or 50 or 90 100 or if the 100 is not possible in this life Then 99.9999% Help us live lives that are devoted To you that you may be glorified That jesus may be exalted and that your kingdom might be advanced in jesus name. We pray amen Thank you for listening to this week's podcast If you are ever in the tegucigalpa area and looking for an english-speaking congregation Please join us on sunday afternoon at 4 p.m In the main auditorium of iglesia cci in colonio traficci just off boulevard. Suyapa near una If you'd like prayer or more information about our church contact us at fellowship.cci at gmail.com That's fellowship.cci at gmail.com Or follow us on social media We hope to see you or hear from you soon blessings You