Defined by Gods Love Jas 3.18

The speaker starts by expressing gratitude and testifying about answered prayers. They then quote Brennan Manning, who says that our true self is defined as one beloved by God, while every other identity is a deception. They then discuss the book of James, specifically focusing on the sources of wisdom: earthly, sensual, demonic, and from above. They give examples and discuss how relying on earthly and sensual wisdom can lead to negative consequences. They also mention the importance of seeking wisdom from above and living according to God's word. for his good. We are grateful. For you have caused to rejoice and to also testify. Thank you for brother David and for the miracle he brought concerning his brother goodness. Thank you for answered prayers. Thank you everyone on the call tonight. Some of us were unable to be here last time but we are together tonight. Lord we lay our lives before you, lay our body and soul and our spirit in submission to the leadership and authority of your world. We submit ourselves for training, for teaching to your servants tonight Lord. Cause us to hear, cause us to listen, cause us to understand and help us to become that which you want us to be to the glory of your holiness. Father those things in our life that are yet to take shape, that are still in skeletal form, Lord give life and frame and shape to that. Amen. In our sweet journey in your word, in Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Hallelujah. Amen. Amen. Amen. We've been talking about how we are defined by the desert or by what God says that we are. And I came across a quote that I'd like to share. It's by Brennan Manning. I believe he's I believe he's Bethel, one of the Jesus culture leaders in Bethel. And he says, define yourself radically as one beloved by God. This is your true self. Every other identity is a deception and an illusion. Let your definition of your own self be what? Radically as one who is beloved by God. By God. Accepted. Beloved. Special in his eyes. Precious to him. Amen. This is the true self in God's eyes. Every other identity comes from the desert. Oh he didn't say that, I said it. Every other identity is a deception and an illusion. It comes from the desert we've been through. Wipe the dust off your self, dear one. And remember, remember we are beloved of our Father. What a precious thing. That's a quote for us. Tying together what we've been talking about before, how this definition of who we are in Christ. Amen. Okay, today, I bless the Lord for today as I was sitting studying. What a wonderful time I had in the Lord and seeking the Lord and asking him, God speak to this people, speak in my heart. And I believe that the Lord brought me back to a subject that we have talked about in the past, but I find that I don't mind eating steak more than once a month. Oh, bless the Lord. I don't mind eating beef whenever the Lord provides it. So today, let's go to the book of James, the third chapter. And can we read from 13 to 18? Hallelujah, Lord Jesus. Thank you. Hallelujah. Who will be reading for us today? Who's in the place? Or we can take turns. James chapter three. Go ahead. 13 to 18. 13 to 18. And it reads, who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct. Sorry, am I loud enough? Perfect. Okay. Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your heart, do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual and demonic. For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. But the wisdom that is from above is pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good works, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Now the fruit of righteousness is shown in peace by those who make peace. Hallelujah. Amen. This chapter and verses have often spoke to me, but today again, I feel the Holy Spirit drawing us back to look at our lives in the light of this mirror of God's word. And so I called it, Picking Rotten Fruits, because you can see the four rotten fruits that are the fruits of wisdom, which does not come from above. Wisdom, which is the world, the flesh and the devil, and that is bitter jealousy, competition, strife, envy, seeking man's position and approval, selfish ambition, opposite of unselfish, servant of God, disorder, and evil in abundance. So these are the four rotten fruits. And I hope we're not picking those rotten fruits and harvesting them in our lives. But the root cause of many of these rotten fruits, if we want to look carefully into the word, the mirror of the word of God, we find the cause of these rotten fruits is leaning on and depending on, even ignorantly, the wisdom, which is of this world, of our own flesh and of the devil. So this is the introduction to this lesson tonight. And let's look carefully into this and prayerfully saying, God, I don't want any rotten fruits in my life. God, help me to see, open my eyes and my understanding, how to walk in the wisdom, which comes from above. So let's start. First of all, there's four sources of wisdom. And so who can find them? What are the four sources of wisdom? If you were here in a previous Bible study and you remember these things, that's wonderful. Let's see what we can find. Four sources of wisdom. Go ahead, Brother Case. I see you on mute. Wisdom from the devil, wisdom from the sensual wisdom, wisdom that is of this world, and wisdom from above. So there's four sources. I think that it would pay us well to look into these four and see if we can understand better what does it mean when it says earthly wisdom? Who can define what might be? These are actually four separate sources of wisdom. They're not the same thing poetically put together. They're actually sources, as you'll see as we go along. Who would like to take, Sister Bertha, can you take the challenge of what is earthly wisdom? I see earthly wisdom as, maybe I should just say conventional wisdom. Okay. Give some examples. Oh, let me see now. I'm trying to see. Okay, let me help you. Oh, someone can help her. Yeah, open up someone and help her as well. What would be some examples of, go ahead, Brother, don't close yet. What are some examples of earthly wisdom? Let's work on this together. First of all. Yes, go ahead, Sister. Okay, an example that I think could depict earthly wisdom is maybe going outside when it's raining. You know that if you go outside and expose yourself to rain, you may get sick. So, the wisdom of staying indoors while it's raining is just earthly, or that's what I think. Okay, that's a good example. Common sense. Where would psychology or science fit into this? Encyclopedia is full of knowledge. Would that be considered a wisdom of this earth? Wisdom of this earth? I propose that it is, and so many depend. Go ahead, Sister Bertha. Can I try? Let me give two instances. Okay, there's a saying that, yes, there is this, I don't know if it's a wisdom, I think it's ethnic, that says you have to live within your means. Okay. Yes, as in, like, don't desire beyond what you have or what you earn. Good. But that negates what the scripture says because the Bible says you walk by faith and not by sight, and that the Lord is not going to deny any good thing to his people. And the word encourages us to live within our means. That means if your parents are poor because they cannot afford your education, don't bother to have one. It's just like common wisdom. You can't get this thing, so don't even dream about getting it, you know, because, yeah, so let me stop there. Ah, that's very good. That would bear rotten fruit if you listen to the wisdom of this world, and yet God had given you a vision for further education because of his purpose in your life. So if you listen to conventional or worldly wisdom, you would stop right there. You would never advance. You would never exercise your faith and believe God for a further education more than what you could possibly imagine, what you could possibly afford, but God birthed the vision. Amen. Good example. Anyone else on this one? Yes, your flair. Go ahead. Um, my view on the topic we discussed, examples of heavenly wisdom, um, it just came into my mind while we were looking at it the other day, Cain and Abel. They were offered a more sacrificial one to God. Rather than Cain opening his heart to understanding what he can do better, he allowed heavenly wisdom to flow in him, telling him the best thing was to kill his brother, which was not. So, as an example of allowing heavenly wisdom to influence his actions, he could have easily said to himself, okay, um, since my brother offered a more acceptable sacrifice because of the things he presented, let me do the same. Let me follow the same pattern. But he didn't. He allowed heavenly wisdom, human wisdom to influence him to say, okay, I kill him, and all of that is over. I think that's an example too. Okay. Linda? Okay. Let's look at, because some of these can be easily confused together. The next one is called sensual wisdom. Maybe you have a different translation, and it translates it's natural, and that's also a good translation for the word. Um, you know, basically, let's just, as far as the second one, let's look up 1 Corinthians chapter 2. 1 Corinthians 2. Let's read verse 6, 7, and 14. We could really read that whole passage, but I'm seeing time. All right. As soon as you have it, unmute and begin to read, please. 1 Corinthians 2, 6, 7, and 14. I read, however, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of age, nor of the rulers of this age who are coming to nothing. 7. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory. Verse 14. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, nor can he know them, because they are spiritually the same. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. So, here the natural man, and so also the translation of this word, natural wisdom, or sensual, does, in this case, sensual does not mean sexual or just pleasing to yourself. It has a larger meaning of all of your senses and living by the wisdom that your senses provide, the natural man. In other words, the flesh, everything we were before we received the Spirit of God. Not the Spirit, in the opposite is the spiritual man, and this one is the natural man, and just operating by the flesh and by the old way. So, the flesh has a certain wisdom. Thayers, which is a dictionary, says a sensuous nature with its being subject to the appetite and passions of the body. So, it's your whole natural, fleshly, old, unborn-again person. It's your natural, your wisdom. So, we have the earthly wisdom, which is the wisdom of this age. There's a lot of wisdom. They say knowledge is expanding and doubling every four years. It used to be every 40, and before, every 400. So, the expansion of knowledge is increasing, as the Bible said it would. But here we have that the natural man cannot even comprehend its foolishness to them. So, it's spiritually discerned. In 1 Corinthians 2.14, it tells us it's spiritually discerned. So, God has given us what his Holy Spirit, for what purpose? To guide us into all wisdom, and to give us that understanding, wisdom that comes from above. The first source is just the whole education system, the whole science, the whole sayings of man, and then our wisdom that our own flesh would give us. And then thirdly, demonic wisdom. And Brother Emmanuel, I have a question. Would your example possibly be better put in under demonic wisdom, that Cain was incited by evil to kill your brother? Yes. That's true, Sam. That's true. Okay. Just a question. Fellish wisdom. I think we might be surprised. The infiltration of doctrines of demons, would that be demonic wisdom? Also referred to in the scripture, there are doctrines, which are beliefs about God. And so, religion, has it been infiltrated by demonic wisdom? That's one question. The second would be, what kind of wisdom do these world leaders use to reach the heights of influence, power, and financial that they do? How do they get there? I believe they're cooperating with demonic wisdom and demonic influence in order to reach those heights of influence. So, this is the third kind of wisdom, which we see. Hallelujah. I like the wisdom that comes from above. Does this help clear up for anybody? I would also say possibly that you could see earthly. You know, our enemies are the world, the flesh, and the devil. So, can you see that the world, the flesh, and the devil are also here in this verse? Who can see that? So, earthly wisdom of this world. Essential wisdom, our own flesh, and demonic wisdom, the devil, and the world of the devil. And these, the Lord said, these are our enemies, the world, the flesh, and the devil. So, possibly we could pay attention to that in these verses. Hallelujah. I like this word in, back into the book of James, chapter 3. I'm just looking, there's one Jesus said in Matthew 16. I think the example of Brother Emmanuel, also of satanic wisdom, I think we can think of Peter's life when he said, Jesus, when he said, Jesus, far be it from you to go and to offer your life to be sacrificed. Amen? And Jesus rebuked him. What did he say to Peter? He said, get you behind me, Satan. Or Peter had allowed the lie of the devil to sink in, allowed his own fleshly desires to enter in, and he said, no, Jesus, far be it from you, never would you be killed like that. And Jesus said, rebuked him and said, you get behind me, Satan, you're a stumbling block. What does that say? Because you've not set your mind on things the way God sees it, not heavenly wisdom, but you set your mind on the interest of man. He said, Matthew 16, 23, if you want to look it up, set on the interest of man, not on the interest of God. I wonder how many times in our lives we serve our own interests and not especially the interest of God's kingdom. I know I certainly have done that. And what is the fruit when I seek my own pleasure, my own comfort? Is there any good fruit comes from when I seek the will of my father and I seek to do the will of my father? Excellent fruit comes from it. I was thinking of the other verses. He who sows to the flesh, from the flesh shall reap rotten fruit. Not quite like that. Reap corruption, which is rottenness. I have an example for corruption. When an animal is hit on the side of the road, he's dead. But come back two days later and you will see corruption. Once dead and then decaying and sinking. And this is the work of demonic wisdom. And even the fruit of these other wisdom is corruption. When we sow to our flesh, what do we reap? Amen. Thank you, Lord. All right, to James chapter 3. Sister Bertha, would you read again verse 13? James 3.13. Are you there, Sister Bertha? Unmute when you found it, please. Okay, sorry. I was reading. I forgot to unmute. You were reading very well, but we couldn't hear you. Can you hear me, sir? Very fine. Okay, James chapter 3 verse 13. Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. Who is a wise? Yes, correct. Who is a wise man among you and endued with knowledge? James is challenging something. In the Hebrew, as I've been reading, Hebrew understanding, Hebrew thought, when you would say wisdom, it would not be wise and high-sounding theory. That would be Greeks. That would be the Greeks who introduced high thought and wisdom of understanding. But in Hebrew thought, the word wisdom is always connected with right actions, correct actions that are appropriate in the moment, right actions that produce excellent fruit. So, if someone behaved wisely, as it says about Joseph, that he behaved himself wisely, as it says about Daniel, that there was excellent spirit, the spirit of wisdom was in him. And as I come to understand, it's not talking about that he could talk for hours on large and high-sounding subjects. That wasn't the kind of wisdom that is being referred to. The kind of wisdom in Joseph's life was the kind of wisdom that bore good fruits and was the right actions that showed that it was wise by the fruit that was born from the action. Brother Cassandra, do you remember where it says, when Jesus is talking and says, wisdom is known by her children, or wisdom is proven by her children. I don't know if you remember that one. Okay. Matthew 11, 19. Yeah. What does it mean? What does it mean? Matthew 11, 19. Wisdom is proven by her children. I've always thought about what it means, but let me try. Well, in light of what we're saying, would it fit in? Yeah. In light of what we're saying, I think what Jesus was saying essentially there is that the wisdom is from heaven and God's children are proof of that wisdom. Doing the natural way, as the people did, you may not be able to catch it because you will say, well, this Jesus is not serious. If we had to compare notes, John was a more serious leader than Jesus. He's a friend of sinners. He's a glutton and all that. But the disciples of Jesus and all those who have followed Jesus are proof of the wisdom that Jesus is. So in much of the, were you finished for the kids or did you want to say more? Okay. Okay. I see you've made it. So wisdom, could this be almost like a poetic way of saying, you'll know wisdom by its fruit. You'll know wisdom by its offspring. If it's truly wisdom from above, it's going to bear good fruit. It's going to produce something excellent. Go ahead, Brother K. Oh, because I looked at what the Bible says about the wisdom that is from above. It says, his first cure is peaceable and all that. So why Jesus walked the earth, when we listen to how he answered questions, we'll see this quality of supernatural wisdom. They brought him, they said, should we pay tax? Jesus didn't say, yes, go ahead, pay tax. Neither did he say no. People are children of the kingdom, don't pay tax. But he asked that they bring the coin to him. And they brought the coin, he said, whose head appears here? They said Caesar. He said, okay, give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God, what belongs to God. So we see a wisdom that is peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated. It is natural wisdom that makes a person a fool to be fool of himself. Sorry. You know, you are trying to beg somebody, get him to understand or to be trustful. And it's refusing any entreatment and all that. That's a natural man at work. Or you are beginning to look at something and you are beginning to judge it based on what you can see or what you hear or how you feel. That's essential wisdom at work. But in the wisdom of God, it may sound foolish, but at the end, it is proven to be wisdom. The Holy Spirit may have you do certain things that the natural man will wonder how stupid that is or how meaningless it is. But at the end of the day, it will be proven to be wisdom. Many of us here will agree with me that we've had such experiences where we obey the instruction of the law. Maybe we didn't fully understand why. He said, okay, do this. Don't do this. Go get this. Keep this money. Don't use it. At the end of the day, we'll see that wisdom is proven by the fruits it bore. You find out that by that obedience, you are able to have peace. You are able to avoid trouble. Okay. Can you imagine Jesus asking people to go fill some pots with water when wine was finished? Doesn't sound wise because what we need is wine, not water. But that is the wisdom of God at play. You can imagine the wisdom of God at play where he says, well, Jesus is going to die for the whole world. Instead of, you know, on the level of earthly wisdom, the high priest was trying to serve the Jewish nation and said, instead of the Romans to come and take our country, let's kill this one man. And that would be okay. But in the wisdom of God, that death was to bring many, was to serve many more than just the nation Israel, as Caiaphas had thought. So we see that the wisdom of God is without partiality and without hypocrisy. When you see the natural man at work, it's just as the Bible described. You see strife there. You see envy. There's always that competitiveness. Confusion. He brings confusion. That's wisdom that is on this world. You see confusion there. You see strife. You see every other evil work. Yes. So that's the rotten fruit that we're talking about. Exactly. You're catching it very well. Thank you. Yes, exactly. We see the fruit of the other kind of wisdom. Hallelujah. I'm reading a verse from Luke 16, verse 13 to 15. Luke 16, verse 13 to 15. That's the teaching of Jesus. And they talk about things which are valued by this world. Among men and women of this world, they value something. Go ahead, Sister Bertha, if you have it. Luke 16, 13 to 15. Now you'll have to unmute. Sorry, I always forget that. Luke 16, 13 to 15. He says, No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard all these things and they derided him. And he said to them, You are those who justify yourself before men, but God knows your heart. For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God. Verse 16. The law and the prophet were unto John. Since that time, the kingdom of God has been preached and everyone is pressing into it. Amen. 13 to 16, right? That's good, to 16 is fine. So what things are highly esteemed among men? It mentions it here. What things were they highly and they're an abomination for God. They esteem them highly. Talks about two masters. What two things? Jesus is talking about the world's wisdom and wisdom, which is kingdom, heavenly wisdom. Amen. And Jesus making very clear, you can't serve two masters. What are these two masters? You will receive your instruction, one value set for another. What you value. Go ahead, Sister Bertha, it's you on mute. If you want to say something, you're welcome. Okay. You're asking about the two masters we see here, according to what we read. Yes. I see God and mammon. God and money. The word mammon is this whole world system. It's not only money, it's prestige, it's position, it's the political system, and all of that. Yes. So mammon and God. And the wisdom says, you know, that it's saying that what man esteems is an abomination to God. So the two worlds are not compatible. Amen. So that's just an example. So the rotten fruits are produced by depending on man's wisdom, the world's wisdom, and demonic influence. And each time we might think we're wise, but we become a fool. How do we learn? This is the question for the day. How do we learn to be guided by and to our actions to be led by heavenly wisdom and not our own? How can we get into this? I want good fruits. Please teach me, you guys. How can I enter into this realm where it's peaceable, gentle? It's wonderful. I appreciate it, but how can I get there? Who dares to approach this one? By the favor, I'll allow you the privilege of approaching this question. How can I get there? I'm sorry, Reverend, just a minute. I'm just following and listening. I'm very sure that I just want to be quiet and listen for now. I'm going to comment much later. Okay. Somewhat later. Somebody else. Mr. Chinwe, you want to address this. How can I begin to receive this? I want the good fruit of this. I don't want the fruit of my own wisdom. How can I change from where I've been getting rotten fruit to where my life is full of good fruits? How can I begin to tap into heavenly wisdom? Emmanuel is trying again, my brother. God bless you. Dr. Chinwe, are you able to approach this question? The challenge. Reverend, sorry. I'm really struggling to follow, but I'll just give it a try based on what I've heard in the discussion. Okay. You have children distracting you, I understand. It's okay. Do your best. I'll just give it a try, please. I'm thinking that I'm thinking that if one will learn to rely more on the Holy Spirit and obey, because I believe at each point in time for everything we are doing, the Lord has a say. He's directing us. Just as sometimes, either we are not sensitive enough, or we're not paying attention, or we are being too rational, trying to just oppose it with our own reasoning. But many a time, our own reasoning, whether human reasoning, ethnic reasoning, will not always get the required fruit. So, if we can rely more on the Holy Spirit, and obey irrespective of what our human reasoning, or our human wisdom is saying, I believe our faith will be the right fruit. Just like Brother Sando was giving an example that Godly wisdom may not appear as great from Brahman's point of view. It may not appear profitable or profitable. It may even look like you're going to lose, or you're on the losing side. But you see that if you permanently don't obey, you end up, you know, ripping the right fruit. The right fruit will end up manifesting. And you're like, oh, thank God I obey this. So, I'm just thinking that yielding more, if we can consistently yield to the Holy Spirit's leading, our fruits will be the right fruits. Praise God. Amen. That is so beautiful, what you said. What you said is so exactly correct, and so beautiful. You said that very, very elegantly, and very graciously. I believe you said to be true. Receive the wisdom from us, and to depend on, to receive from, obey the Holy Spirit, yield to us, to guide us, to change us. Hallelujah. Oh, why do we? Here's a question. The children of Israel began to disobey and grumble the most was when their situation looked terrible. When they were in the biggest trouble, according to human reasoning. When did they choose to depend on their own sensual wisdom, and crumble, and complain, and worldly wisdom, and say, God is foolish. Moses, you're a terrible leader. You're not leading us. Moses was leading, as led by God, a man of God, and yet they accused him of being a man of the flesh, and being almost a crazy man. What kind of crazy man would lead us out into this desert? There's no water out here. You thought you're going to bring us here. It's a trap. You're going to kill us. That's human reasoning. Why is it that we depend on human reasoning, and worldly wisdom, and the advice of ungodly friends, traditions of our own culture, when we get in trouble? I don't know what your way is. I've got to get a loan from Uncle So-and-so. I've got to do whatever it is that you do. I've got to search. Even some people, they turn back to spiritism when they're in trouble. Oh, Lord Jesus, help us. The God of all the universe desires to have a relationship with us, that he can show us wisdom, and guide us, and speak to us. Why is it the largest, most significant decisions of our life, we try to make them on our own emotion, our own drawing, marriage, business decisions, education decisions. Oh, Jesus, help us. How many Christian young people have destroyed their lives by taking it out of God's hands, and refusing to seek God, because their heart desires something. I better be quiet. Hallelujah. Y'all won't come back. Y'all going to be mad at me now. Hallelujah. Why is it that we trust in the wisdom of man? We set our eyes on things below, and not things above. Hallelujah. When we're in trouble, my eyes turn to you. From whence cometh my help? David said, my eyes look up to the hills. From whence cometh my help? My help cometh from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. Do you realize how significant of a statement that is, made by David? When I am afraid, I will trust in you. Hallelujah. Brother Emanuel, you want to speak. I don't know if you can. Open up, and shift, and see if your network, test your network. Brother Emanuel, talk to us, brother. What is the Lord putting in your heart, as we're talking together? Can you hear me? Yes, you're a little far from your phone, but we can hear you. Can you hear me? Yeah, that's much better. I think why we, oftentimes, fall back to our own wisdom, when things become challenging, is because of the human nature, the human factor. Sometimes, at those situations, the first reaction is the human instinct of despair, of sadness, and of brokenness. That's humanity. That's the first response, as a human being, that comes up. It now gives way to someone beginning to align actions based on his own thinking, without partnering with the Holy Spirit. That is why it's very important to have a fellowship of the brethren, or people you talk to, when things happen to you. That is why it's important to have friends, to have people that are around you, when certain things happen. Because, as a human being, when you face a certain challenging situation, the first thing that may kick into you, is the natural human instinct of sadness, heartbrokenness, and unhappiness. If you stay in that atmosphere, the next thing you will do is to begin to try to think out things with your human wisdom. With the help of Christian brethren around you, which, as I said earlier, is very important. The truth is, there are some times that you are so heartbroken, you are so sad, that you cannot lift yourself. And, in such a situation, the brethren around you, they talk to you, they encourage you. Then, you remember that the Lord God is your strength, and is your shield. But, the truth is, while we oftentimes fall into calculating with our mind, understanding when something happens to all this, that natural human instinct, at that first time, that first human instinct of feeling sad, heartbroken, unhappy, when something happens, will always kick in. It's my view, I stand to be corrected, will always kick in when something happens. Yes, sir. Praise God. So, it's, amen, it's well said. And then, it is our decision at difficult points, when emotion is strong, and our own human nature is screaming to us, one thing, and yet, faith will say another. And yet, our dear brothers will encourage us with another. And so, it's our choice at that point. Had the children of Israel made a different choice when they faced the waters of Mara? They said, God, you've led us out here to die. Here you brought us, Moses, you led us to this ugly water. Moses, you're terrible. Had they changed, and rather said, God, we know you led us this far. You did not lead us for no reason. We trust that you've led us up to now. God, you've given us Moses as a leader. God, we believe that you will make a way where there is no way. God, what shall we do with this bitter water that we face? God, we cannot drink it. Moses, what should we do? Amen. Oh, what a difference would have been in the lives of the children of Israel. Amen. What if they had said, Lord, we love the manna that you've given, but oh, God, could we also please have some meat? Oh, God would say, I love your heart, your attitude. You trust me. You love me. You know I love you. I will pour out on you. Oh, you know, they got so much meat, it spoiled. And so, what they asked for became a curse, because they didn't ask with a trust. They didn't ask in knowing that they were beloved of the Father. Amen. I am beloved of the Father. I'm guided by His Spirit. He can speak to me. He's purchased me. He's cleansing me. I'm becoming useful in His hands. Amen. Hallelujah. This changes how we approach these situations, when we draw from wisdom from above and not from our own resources. Amen. Many times I've been without resources, and as I wait patiently on the Lord, He shows me the way. If I obey and I follow with patience, the fruit is peaceable, gentle. You know, if you have to push it and force it, it's probably not God. God will make a way, or you will make a way. Which one do you want? Do you want to make your own way, or do you want to walk with God, move when He moves? Hallelujah. Oh, the wisdom from above is yielding fully and submissive to the voice of God, the voice of God, fully surrendered, saying, God, whatever you tell me, I will do it. Mary said, be it unto me according to your will, according to your word, according to your promises. Hallelujah. Oh, when we walk with God, we cannot. So it says, let's look in James, um, the wisdom from above, verse 17, James 3 and verse 17. It says, it is first pure. Wisdom from above is first pure. I wonder what that means. Wisdom from above is first pure. Brother Cassandra, why did he say that first? Brother Kay? Okay. So we're looking at James 3, 17, and it starts out in that verse where it says, but the wisdom that is from above is first pure. Why does it say first and then pure? It could have just said it's pure and then peaceable and gentle, but it says this to emphasize purity. What is the meaning of that? Or significance? I'll give you a moment. The wisdom that is above is first pure. I think that's emphasized and it's something we should take note of. When, uh, when people go into spiritism, demonic ventures, soothsaying, and the like, they do a lot of dirty things, even in the natural world, dirty things. Yes. So it is a clear sign of something that is not of God. When we see some of those things that are impure, impurity often involved with demonic wisdom, often required to do something impure, something that you have to hide. Something fishy. So for the wisdom from above is marked by his purity. Even those who were law enforcement officers couldn't stand that wisdom when they faced Jesus. They'll have to go back and say, look, no man ever spoke like that. They couldn't stand it. Because like light shining, it's first pure. It's first pure. That is emphasized. And in the wisdom of God, you don't have to go, maybe, envying anyone on healthy competitions and the like. It requires you to abandon yourself. That's how to walk in this wisdom. Have to come to that place where you're able to say, Lord, I don't want to trust myself any longer. I don't want to prove anything. I want to trust you. I want to follow you. I want that you be pleased. So purity is a core fruit or indicator of the wisdom that is from above. Amen. All through scripture, I've never seen the Lord have anybody do something fishy. Yes. Yes. That's always been very clear. The word of God is very clear about what he wants us to do. I can even say sometimes very simple, such that it looks stupid because it's simple. It's not complex. The gospel of Jesus is simple, so much so that the Jews feel that, well, we don't understand this. And to the Greeks, it's foolishness. So the Jews, it's a stumbling block because the Jews are used to doing something. And now you're coming to preach and say, believe in Jesus and yourself. These are people who are doing something to feel good. They're obeying the Lord. And you talk to Greeks who philosophize and you tell them the cross of Jesus, the gospel of Jesus, it looks like foolishness. Right? That's the wisdom of God. First cure. Once you see anything fishy, you could have a question mark over that. It may not be of God. Probably it's not of God. Consulting mediums, probably not of God. Jesus said, why I was with you. You saw me teach. Right. Second Corinthians 1.12. Paul says, for our proud confidence is this, that the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness, godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom, but in the grace of God, we behaved ourselves and conducted ourselves in the world. And especially towards you not in fleshly wisdom, but in the grace of God. So here's two, here's a comparison for us. The difference is found in 2 Corinthians 1.12. Not in fleshly wisdom, he behaved, but in the grace of God. So here's two opposites. There can be fleshly wisdom and then the grace of God, meaning the wisdom that God helps you with. The nature that God gives you to behave correctly. Remember wisdom in Hebrew thought is an action. It's a correct and right action and response to a situation. Amen. So not in fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God. Oh Jesus, we thank you. Help us, Lord, in every situation to seek you. Help us, oh Lord, to find your wisdom and bear good fruit. I love the end of this in James. Where it says, and the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace, sown in peace of them that make peace. So sown in peace means the time that you're acting in wisdom, you are at peace and you bring peace to the situation. You know somebody who is opposing themselves, somebody who's out of control, and a man of peace comes, a woman of peace comes, and they sow wisdom in a spirit of peace. It brings peace to the situation. People get acting crazy. Simple, soft answer turns away that wrath. That wisdom that comes from above can deal with relationship situations. Many times the reason for our strife and our debates and all of the bad fruit is that we're not behaving in wisdom, we're reacting out of our flesh. Maybe I need to say that again. Hallelujah. Many times in our relationship things get out of control because we react by fleshly wisdom. We react out of our own flesh rather than responding by the wisdom and by the Spirit of the Lord. Often a soft answer will turn away wrath. Wisdom will cause an angry prince to be still. Proverbs is full of these things. Even in Job, the book of Job, God says to Job, hold your peace and I will teach you wisdom. You cannot receive wisdom when you're all worked up, you're all stirred up, you're all disturbed. Now he says, hold your peace, be still, then you know I am God. He says in Job 33, hold your peace and I will teach you wisdom. A soft answer turns away wrath in Proverbs. In Colossians, he says, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching, admonishing one another in songs and hymns and spiritual songs. You know, in the house of God, how many times have you seen craziness? Why is there craziness? Paul says, well, the reason for your craziness is you're still in the flesh. You're not yet mature. When God's people, that God desires to walk together in unity, there's rotten fruit comes when we behave out of our flesh rather than out of wisdom. May God help us in our relationships, in our churches, in our ministry. There's no way that we can do the work of God by the power of the flesh. Why do we try to elevate our position in the Christian world when it's God's job to lift up and to put down. Oh, if we'll submit ourselves unto God. We submit ourselves unto God and surrender seek him first. Oh, Jesus. He will definitely lift us up and he'll begin to flow through us and the fruit of our life will be amazing. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. If we're able, Brother Cassander says, if we're able to hold our peace, we're able to do this. We will have God's help. If we'll be silent as God said in Job, just be quiet and I will teach you wisdom. How can we receive wisdom when our whole spirit is all stirred up and we're ready to make war? It's time to sit down and be quiet and seek the Lord. Hallelujah. When our spirit is all disturbed and sad, how can we know what God wants? Sit down and be quiet and let the Lord God speak to us. Amen. Amen. Well, amen. Hallelujah. Amen. Anyone else you want to share, please go ahead. Amen. Okay. Just recently, I've thought of it before, but I had a preacher mention it. He said it about three times. If we go through scripture, we'll hear the Bible use certain, especially in the book of 1 John and even in the book of John, uses the word, and we know, we know, we know. That's the wisdom of God at work. And I began to ask myself, what do we know? And I remember Brother Emmanuel was talking about the fellowship of the brethren and it's important in helping us, especially when life hits us hard, the encouragement that comes from that fellowship. If you notice, the Bible never says, I know. It always says, we know. That's the body knows. And what does it know? It says, we know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brethren. He also says, we know that all things work together for our good. He also says, we know that we have eternal life because we believe in the name of Jesus. So, we know. And most times, we are supposed to be reminded of these things that we should know. If we do, and we operate in these, we'll find ourselves operating in wisdom. For example, there are things I've asked the Lord for. I really felt I needed them. And I said, oh God, this is just it. Just give me this one, this one, this one from this source. And the Lord seems not budging. And I'm wondering, well, no, this is cheaper. And this is available. Why not give it to me? But in recent times, I've come to understand that whatever I ask the Lord that he will not give me, he has something better for me. I've seen it over time now. I'm beginning to repent and say, oh Lord, I'm so sorry for trying to force things on you. If I had known, or if I had the consciousness of what you mentioned earlier when we started out about knowing that we are the beloved of the Lord, I would not force things on the Lord and get pissed off if I don't have them. Yes, the one who knows the Lord loves him cannot feel bad if he has certain things. He'll just know, well, maybe for love's sake, for you. That's the way to think. If you have this wisdom... I think we lost you for a moment, Professor. If we have this wisdom, then we lost you. You were doing good. Amen. Until he gets back to his network, 1 Corinthians 2.5 says, you know, I didn't come to you in great words of wisdom. I came to you in humility, demonstrating the power of God, so that your faith might not rest in the man of wisdom, amen, but rest in the power of God. God desires us, yes, to seek wisdom and to ask for a fellowship and wisdom from the brothers, but let us always remember, if God gives any wisdom through me, it's by the spirit of wisdom. It's by the principles of God, and it's not because I am a man of wisdom. No, I'm a humble man that the spirit of God can use, and when we become usable, and when we are humble and usable, we'll give the glory to God. Oh, this is the wisdom of the Lord, amen. It's sown in peace, and it produces peace, amen. Are you back, Brother Cassandu, is your voice back on? Oh, yes, I'm back. I think the thing dropped off. We have the range here. It has subsided a bit, it takes me on and takes me from time to time out of connection, right, but I'm back. Right, and you're a little bit, you're a little bit, okay, not clear. Can you hear me? Why don't you try? It seems okay. Okay, okay, so that's the thing about the wisdom of God, but sincerely, I had to make this prayer recently. I looked at my life in retrospect, and I asked myself, all these things you struggle for, trying to prove a point, trying to prove that you could do this or that, what's that all about? Is it not time you hand over to the Lord completely, and say, well, Lord, I don't want to prove anything anymore. I just want you to be pleased, even if it means, I have, the Bible, Pastor Fever used to talk about it. The Bible says, having no reputation, referring to Jesus, having no reputation, where man comes to the end of himself, lays aside whatever he thinks he knows, and is trusting the Lord wholly, getting ready, being ready to move when the Spirit moves, being ready to move only at the prompting of the Spirit, to sit quietly when the Spirit sits quiet. I can tell you that there are times that something as simple as, just like that day, I don't talk, and I went ahead to disobey and to talk, escalated into something more serious. I'm telling you, as simple as the quiet, don't respond to this, or just lie down there. I disobeyed and escalated to things more serious. So, it made me understand how that the wisdom of God is everything. Even as a banker, there was a time an account was very difficult to reconcile. It was a very huge account of one of our biggest customers. Every other staff member had gone except my manager and one other person. It was the wisdom of God that sorted me out. I cannot really say this is exactly what God said I should do, but I just had wisdom. It just came in the moment. I just knew what to do, but I can't explain it, but I just knew. It's just like the expression, we know, we know, I just knew. That's the wisdom of God at work. I've seen it at work. So, on the final notes, Bible, we're encouraging scripture to ask for this wisdom. Very interesting, the Bible says, if any acts lacks wisdom, nothing acts. Yes, that God is willing to give. He's not going to give you wisdom crumbly. He'd be very happy that you're asking for wisdom. We have an example in Solomon. That's what he asked for, and the Lord was very pleased with that. I think today we have more than Solomon. We have Jesus here. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Amen. Bless the Lord. Solomon asked for wisdom because he wanted to have, he said, Lord, give me an understanding heart. Just let understanding come to my heart. It comes by the spirit of the Lord. So, I really desire that people learn to access this source of wisdom, which he places within us, as he did with Solomon. He placed an understanding heart that you could know, amen brother Chris, that I would know how to govern this people. God is your people, that you ask me to govern. I need you to be that source of wisdom to accomplish what you ask me to do. This is so important, why and how Solomon asked it, because it applies to every one of our lives. God, you ask me to do something, and God, I need resources that only come from you. Give me, Lord, a knowing that I might know how to do what you ask me to do. Many times he asks us to do things that are above us and are beyond us, and our response is like Gideon. Our response is like, I'm the least of the least, or our response is like Isaiah, but but I'm a man with unclean lips. I live with an unclean family. Are we like Moses that I can't talk? So many of the leaders that had reasons to disqualify themselves, but Solomon didn't disqualify himself. He said, God, I need something in order to guide this people. This is too much for me. I'm just a young man. Give me an understanding heart that I may know how to rule, make decisions about this people. God, you guide me, and God did, and became the wealthiest of all the Israeli kings. Hallelujah. Oh, we could go on and on on this subject, but I encourage you. Be guided by the world, the flesh, or the devil. Be guided by wisdom from above, heavenly wisdom, which sources the Word of God and the Spirit of God. The Word quickens your spirit is wisdom. Hallelujah. Many people take the Word and behave crazy. I'm sorry to say, you know, it's true. They take the Word of God and behave crazy. Why? Because without the wisdom, the Spirit of God, even the Bible, the Word of God, people can act crazy with. You can't apply the Word of God without the Spirit of God. It's impossible. You're going to try and, you know, be perfected by your own flesh. Now, the wisdom of God says, I depend fully on your Holy Spirit. God, show me what I must do. God, lead me today. Use my life in some way. Simple story I want to tell of the wisdom of God, because I want to emphasize a point that God's wisdom applies in every practical thing. God loves to be with you, ladies, when you're cooking. He loves to be with you when you're traveling, gentlemen. He loves—you can avoid accidents. You can get there quicker or better or in the timing of the Lord. So, we were building a garden, and we've been doing gardens for many years, and we have some pipes left over. They're drip irrigation pipes we had for some years, but it was the last of what we had, and we were discussing, well, should we make the garden this size, or we can make it bigger, make it that size, and together we just knew that it must be this size, no larger. This was the size and no larger. When we assembled the pipes which we had, if we had made it even one meter larger, we would not have enough pipes, and we had nothing left over. So, how does this happen, except by the hand of God and the wisdom of God? Before we make the garden, God already knows how many pipes we need and if we have enough. So, just this week, there's an example, many, many, many examples in everyday life. We may never notice it, but when you notice, give God glory. When you notice, give Him thanks. When you notice, praise Him, and you will begin to see these circumstantial things happen more and more often because the hand of God has begun to guide you. He knows far more than you know about children, about travel, about everything in life, even just baking a cake. Oh, the wisdom of God is a blessing in every area. You know, you could have done the same thing the same way 10 times, but God will say, no, do it different, and you'll find, if you obey, you'll find out it was the right thing to do. You see, so beautiful, each and every one of you. Hallelujah, what a favor I'm turning it back to you and thanking you, Brother Faber, for being involved in pulling this time together and encouraging this group. I believe this group is called the God for Purpose. Brother Faber. Thank you very much, Reverend. I was very quiet from the beginning because it was mind-blowing. I was meditating on Jesus this morning when I was in school and from Proverbs 10. So, I'm so thankful to the Lord that this came. I just didn't want any interruptions. I was very quiet to pick up all of the words. I wouldn't want to keep this any longer. Probably, I was just, we have the WhatsApp group, so we can continue there with our comments and all of that. So, it was such a blessing. So, please remember to, each and every one of us, please let's remember to engage the WhatsApp group. You can share further on what the Lord of His joy is serving. I posted the notes from today, Brother. Things that we didn't even get to, you can find it there on the WhatsApp group. It's fairly lengthy. I enjoyed my study so much. I'll just share the simple basic scriptures and notes with you. Amen. Father, we thank you for tonight. We thank you for your Word and we thank you for the time you spent in your presence in our Bible study. Thank you for your service. Thank you for all your servants that are here and for coming to this service.