Archive for 29/07/2009

Jesus is our Wisdom (3)

Why Should I Want Wisdom? 1. Improve Your Life

“Wisdom, like an inheritance, is a good thing and benefits those who see the sun.” – Ecclesiastes 7:11

 ·        What are some worldly benefits to being smart?·        In the same way that being smart has a lot of benefits in the world, gaining wisdom will give you a much better life.·        Wisdom is a “good thing” that “benefits” everyone who gains it.·        When you have the wisdom that comes from Jesus, your life will be better.  Even your appearance will be improved (Ecclesiastes 8:1).·        Problems will seem a lot smaller because having wisdom is a source of great strength (Ecclesiastes 7:1).·        Not only that, but you won’t have as many problems in life because you’ll be making smarter choices (Proverbs 28:26).·        You’ll be able to obey God easier and won’t get into so much trouble (Psalm 119:34).·        People will notice you and praise you for your wisdom, as it says in Proverbs 12:8.·        When you have the wisdom of God operating in your life, everything becomes so much easier and better!  

2. Understand Your God

“Then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God.”– Proverbs 2:5

 ·        When you gain wisdom, you’ll begin to understand who God really is.·        Understanding God is a benefit in and of itself.·        Though there’s no way you can ever know everything about God now, when you gain wisdom, you begin to understand Him more and more.·        We can actually know God as a person, not just know about Him (Galatians 4:9).·        While the world can never really understand God, when the Spirit of God lives in you, you can (1 Corinthians 2:11).·        It’s an incredible thing that we’re able to know and understand God, and this understanding can only come through Jesus being our wisdom. 

3. Stand Your Ground

“We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God…”– 2 Corinthianas 10:5a

 ·        Besides improving your life and understanding God, gaining the wisdom of Jesus will help you stand your ground against deception, heresy, lies, and partial truths.·        Has anyone ever been taken in by a clever lie?·        When lies, wrong teachings, and goofy ideas take you in, you feel awful.·        With the wisdom of God in you, you won’t be deceived so easily.  You’ll be able to “demolish arguments” that set themselves up “against the knowledge of God.”·        You won’t adopt every weird new idea about God that comes your way, because you’ll have true wisdom that sees past lies (Ephesians 4:14).·        You won’t be so easily deceived into sin because you’ll see the temptation for what it is.

·        In this world of pseudo-Christian cults, false teachers, wacky ideologies, and never-ending temptations, it’s important to have true wisdom so you can see past the deception and stand your ground for truth,

Have a really great day. Hello to Rob & Donna!!!!!!

John 

Jesus is our Wisdom (2)

Who Should Have Wisdom? 

1. We Should

“But we have the mind of Christ.” – 1 Corinthians 2:16

 ·        We should all have the wisdom of God, not just our parents, pastors, teachers, or older siblings.  If you call yourself a Christian, you have the mind of Christ and He is your wisdom.·        You’re not too young to being acting and speaking in wisdom that astonishes even your elders.·        No matter how old you are, how long you’ve known God, how many books you’ve read, or how good your grades are, we all have the same ability to be filled with wisdom.·        God doesn’t care who you are – you have the mind of Christ, so start using it! 

 

How Can I Get Wisdom?                            1. Ask God

“Since this is your heart’s desire and you have not asked…  for a long life but for wisdom and knowledge…  therefore wisdom and knowledge will be given you.” – 2 Chronicles 1:11-12a

 ·        Hopefully now you’ve begun to see that God wants you to move in wisdom and that if you start to you’re life will go so much better.·        Now the question becomes, “How can I get wisdom?”·        If you were to try and get better grades in your school classes, how would you go about it?  What sort of steps could you take to get smarter in school?·        God has a lot of ways you can go about getting wisdom, but the first place to start is simply asking Him for it.·        Just like God gave Solomon wisdom when he asked for it, He’ll do the same for you.  And just like God gave Solomon riches, fame, and health with the wisdom, all those will come for you too.·        You can ask God for a “spirit of wisdom and revelation” (Ephesians 1:17) and He’ll give it to you.·        God wants you to be wise, so don’t be afraid to ask for it.·        Proverbs 2:6 promises that God will give you wisdom. 

2. Read the Bible

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.” – 2 Timothy 3:16

 ·        Besides directly asking God for wisdom, start reading His “manual,” the Bible.·        If Scripture is “God-breathed,” then it came straight from God, the creator of all wisdom, and you would do good to read it.·        If Scripture is “useful for teaching,” then let yourself be taught by God.  There’s no other better teacher out there.·        If Scripture is “useful for… rebuking [and] correcting,” open yourself up to be rebuked and corrected by God, so you begin to walk in true wisdom.·        If Scripture is “useful for… training in righteousness,” let God train you to walk in wisdom and righteousness.·        If you want to have a better life, if you want to understand God more, if you want to have wisdom to know truth from error, start reading the Bible. 

3. Read Proverbs

“The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel: for attaining wisdom and discipline…” – Proverbs 1:1-2a

 ·        The whole Bible is good for giving you the wisdom of Jesus, but if you could pick one book in particular that focuses on issues of wisdom, which would you pick?·        Proverbs, probably more than any other book, will teach you how to live wisely.  The whole focus of the book is to help you gain wisdom in your life.·        Read even a few verses from Proverbs every day, put them into practice, and you’ll notice yourself walking in more wisdom than ever before.·        If you want a good, practical lesson on being wise, start with the book of Proverbs. 

4. Learn from Others

“Instruct a wise man and he will be wiser still; teach a righteous man and he will add to his learning.” – Proverbs 9:9

 ·        Finally, one of the most important ways to learn wisdom is to learn it from others.·        Open yourself up to your pastor, your teachers, your parents, your older siblings, and other more mature Believers.  Let them speak into your life and help you use wisdom.·        It’s easy to read the Bible and ignore the convicting parts.  It’s easy to read Proverbs and pretend you’ve put its guidelines into practice.  But when you allow other people to speak into your life, they’ll be able to point to specific things that need changing but you’d rather gloss over.·        If you learn from others you will become “wiser still” and “add to [your] learning.”·        Jesus taught the disciples to walk in wisdom (Matthew 11:1).  The disciples went on to teach others, and these went on to teach even more.·        Christianity is built on this idea of learning from others. 

  

“If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.” – James 1:5 

·        If you need wisdom, ask God for it and He’ll give it to you·        God gives wisdom generously – He’s more than ready to make you wise

·        You don’t have to already have everything figured out before God gives you wisdom.  Just ask, and He’ll give it to you.

Have a great day 

John

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