prayer and unforgiveness

This is a one-part series before I start a 3-part Christmas series.  Last Sunday we discussed one of the major hinderances to answered prayer — unforgiveness. I think it is also a major hindrance to Christmas joy.  Mark 11:25 tells us that when we stand praying that we must forgive anything we hold against one another so that we will be forgiven ourselves. I do not believe this is talking about salvation because other scriptures related to receiving salvation do not add this stipulation. When we ask God to forgive, He is faithful and just to forgive.  However, if we do not forgive others, we walk around this world AS someone unforgiven. Our eternity may be changed already, but our life on earth will be like someone who is not forgiven.   Being right before God does not give us more favor with God, but it does give us faith to receive from Him.  It’s hard to go before someone to whom we owe money and ask them for something with any hope that they will say yes.

 

A note on the statement that we should forgive 70x7 times.  The number 7 in the Bible indicates perfection, which means we should forgive to perfection, until they no longer need to be forgiven.

 

We looked also at a parable Jesus tells in Matthew 18. There is a servant forgiven of a debt of 10,000 talents. A talent was made up of about 3000 shekels of silver. A shekel was worth about $0.50. So 3000 would be about $1500. Then he owed 10,000 talents — about $15 million. That is a huge, insurmountable debt (just like our sin).  In the Bible, servants were to work for the lender (them and their family) until the debt is paid back. 

 

After he pleads with his master the debt is completely forgiven. Then he turns and immediately finds a man who owed him about 100 dinari. A dinari was worth about $0.15. So the man owed him about $15. He demands the man pay and, when he cannot, has him thrown into jail. Now this course of action was perfectly legal. But the picture we see is that we CAN choose to live by the law or we can choose to live by grace.

 

When word gets to the man's master he is called back to face him. The master was angry and had him turned over to the jailer to be tortured. The jailer can be a picture of the enemy, but I also believe it is the results we deal with when we carry around bitterness and unforgiveness. 

 

Many physical and psychological studies have shown the terrible effects on the human mind and body related to hatred and bitterness.  Our body is prevented by our unforgiveness from being able to heal ourselves and fight disease.  Proverbs 17:22 reiterates this as well.  The bone marrow is where the white blood cells, which fight disease, are produced.  There was a study that had people think about something someone had done against them.  Within minutes, their blood pressure increased and chemicals known to cause pain and disease were being produced.  Proverbs 18:14 echoes this as well.  Philippians 3:13 emphasizes that if we are to fulfill God’s purpose, we must forget what is behind and press on toward the things of God.  God is not saying the things that occurred in our lives are not important, but we should not continue to let those things rule us or dictate how we behave.  Ephesians 4:26-27 tells us to not let the sun go down on our anger. How many of us have let MANY suns go down on our anger? When we sleep, the subconscious continues to dwell on those thoughts! 

 

The Bible also says that this gives the enemy a foothold in our lives. Footholds will eventually become strongholds! We may be putting on the full armor of God every day and fighting the good fight of faith, but we continue to fail because we've actually allowed the enemy a base IN our camp — our hearts and minds!

 

Remember also we should refrain from picking up the offenses of others.  2 Corinthians 2:10-11 includes a command to the Corinthians from Paul to forgive since he has already forgiven them.   He was referring back to a person from 1 Corinthians 15 who was causing problems in the church.

 

In order to supernaturally forgive, there are three important steps (since there ARE things that will require supernatural forgiveness. We just can't do it on our own). First, choose to forgive. That is the hardest part. We aren't willing to give it to God because we're afraid He won't give them what they REALLY deserve. That is probably true. He doesn't do that with you (Remember the story in Matthew 18?). He actually desired to fix whatever it is in them that causes them to hurt others. We have to be OK with however God deals with it.  Remember that forgiving does not mean we allow them back in so they can hurt us again, but that we leave the situation to God to handle and stop letting it hinder us.  I would encourage you to read the story in 2 Kings 5 about a girl who was hurt but then is the means by which her master is healed of leprosy by Elisha.

 

Remember that the forgiveness is mostly for us, but also when we keep the offense to ourselves, God cannot act however He wants to toward that person (the debt is owed to us until we give it over).  BUT we have to give it not expecting Him to “get them” but knowing that God may instead just fix the root problem so they will not do it again.  Romans 10:14 tells us to bless (speak well of) our enemies).   We rely on God to fix us because the person who wronged us can’t fix us

 

The next step is to allow the Holy Spirit to do the work and help us. John 16:7 and 16:13 and 1 John 1:5 talk about the Holy Spirit being our helper and teacher.   God tells us to do many things that are impossible in the natural but none that are impossible in the Spirit.  He will do what you are incapable of doing. You can't forgive and forget, but He can. 

 

Last, remain obedient to do what you know to do. Pray for your enemy. Speak blessing over them. This will keep you from falling back into the trap of offense. James 1:12 speaks what happens when we hold evil desires in our heart.  Evil desires will always result in action or frustration, neither of which we want.  Romans 12:17-21  talks about praying for and blessing our enemies.  Heaping hot coals may sound nice, but in the day people put hot coals on their heads in order to keep warm, so it actually means that their needs will be tended to.

 

 

To listen to the entire sermon go to http://ahwatukeechurch.com/ and click on online media. To learn more about Living Word Ahwatukee, visit http://ahwatukeechurch.com/.

Thanksgiving Message

For Thanksgiving, we talked about what it means to be thankful in all things. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says it is God’s will for us to do so. It does not say that we are thankful FOR all things, but IN all things. He shows us throughout the Word HOW we can do that. 

In Leviticus chapters 1-7, there are instructions given on how and what to present in five types of offerings. These offerings, what they represent, and the order in which they were to be presented give us the picture of what it is we are truly thankful for.  The five offerings were the burnt, grain, peace, sin and guilt offerings.  Below is a summary of the offerings with details on their purpose, etc.

·         Burnt—bull, ram, certain types of birds—act of worship (voluntary act of worship) and sign of devotion and surrender to God

·         Grain—similar to burnt offering, similar to tithing, returning to God out of the thankfulness for the goodness of what He has provided (bringing a portion of crops)

·         Fellowship and Peace—lots of animals acceptable (perfect and flawless animals only), thanksgiving offering

·         Sin offering—different animal for each situation, sacrifice for sin, cleansing and atonement (usually made once a year)

·         Guilt offering—also called trespass offering, for unintentional sin and the guilt of sin (guilty conscience attached to sin

If there was more than one offering, there was an order to be followed.  The Sin and guilt offerings were always done first. They atoned for sin –sin had to be dealt with first. The next would be burnt offerings, which related to our devotion to God. Last would be peace and grain offerings. These related to fellowship and communion with God and with each other.

 The peace offering had two parts, fellowship and thanksgiving. Strangely enough, the thanksgiving offering was to be eaten together with all the “church” family. It was a communal offering.  The fatty portion belonged to God in this setting.  God takes the part that is most delicious, but it is also the part that is not good for us.  In this offering, God took the part that wasn’t good and left us with what was good and nourishing for us.  So, we are thankful for the following, in order of importance:

1.       God deals with our sin (what separated us from Him and brought death and destruction to our lives)

2.       God made a way for us to fellowship with Him

3.       God has made available to us His power, blessing and provision

In the Old Testament, these were obtained through the Law and the offerings. For us, they are purchased eternally through Christ Jesus – the final and greatest sacrifice. That is something to be thankful for! When we get focused on being thankful for the right things, in the right order, we will see all of them begin to operate in our lives.  We should always be thankful for the tangible things in life, but those things come and go. Living a lifestyle of thankfulness IN all things requires knowing what you are thankful for.

Philippians 4:6 is the instruction on how to pray, and the emphasis is to do it with thanksgiving.  We are not trying to by thankfulness manipulate God but thank Him for what has already been done but that which you have not seen.  The thankfulness changes the way we ask, with confidence that He did it, rather than begging or pleading.  2 Corinthians 3:13 and forward says that as more grace goes out and more people connect to and receive that grace, then more people will truly by thankful people. Colossians 2:6 speaks again that if we get rooted in God’s power and who Christ is, we will overflow with thankfulness

 In Luke 17:11-19, Jesus has an encounter with 10 lepers. They call out to Him and He tells them to go to the priests to show them they are healed. This is how God operates. He didn’t just tell them they were healed, but told them to do something and, as they did it, they were healed. This was a very risky thing for these men to do as lepers for they would have been banished from the town as unclean. Anyone who touched them would also be considered unclean, so going into town around many people showing themselves to the priests (who by being near them would become unclean) was also an issue.

 It says that all 10 were healed as they went, yet only one of them came back and thanked Jesus. Jesus makes a point that the other nine were healed, but only this one was thankful. He tells the man that his faith has made him well. I believe Jesus was talking about more than just the leprosy. For all the men had already been healed of that. I believe He is talking about the idea that his thankful heart would not only make him well, but serve him well his entire life. A thankful heart is the will of God (remember 1 Thess 5:18).

 Finally, the most important part of thankfulness is receiving the gift. If someone gives you a gift and you never even open it,that is the epitome of ungratefulness. In Philippians 4:6 we are told to be anxious for nothing, but with thanksgiving and prayer we make our requests knows and then we receive peace from God. God gives us the gift of peace in all situations, but we can choose not to open to gift and stay in fear and anxiety.

 At its core, thankfulness is an act of faith. Praying with thankfulness is not to manipulate God into doing something. You see, He has already done it all. So, being thankful for those things we are praying for is connecting to the spiritual realm where the promise already exists.

 

To listen to the entire sermon go to http://ahwatukeechurch.com/ and click on online media. To learn more about Living Word Ahwatukee, visit http://ahwatukeechurch.com/.

Burst of Power—Unwrapping the Gifts of the Spirit—last part, part 5

 

 

This is the wrap-up of my series on the Gifts of the Spirit. Hopefully we broke down some misconception and misunderstandings about the gift of tongues and interpretation. Remember, in 1 Corinthians 12:1, Paul began this discussion by stating his desire that we not be ignorant about these things.  We started with public speaking in tongues but mostly talked about the power of praying in the Spirit.

 

We found in 1 Corinthians 14:2 that public speaking in tongues is spoken to God, not men. The purpose of it is not for someone to interpret what God is trying to say to the people present. Instead (as was the case in Acts 2:11), the message is to bring glory to or worship God. When it is interpreted it reveals something great about God that draws those who hear it to God.  That is how we will know whether the interpretation is accurate.  In Acts the apostles spoke in tongues and the people heard in their own tongue.  I experienced this when I was in India.  People came up to pray and I decided that since I could not speak their language that I would pray in tongues.  Many of them wanted to talk back to me or showed through their eyes that they understood something God was telling them.  I know my prayer language is not Hindi, so I know God was helping them hear in their tongue like in Acts.

 

I know that is not what I have experienced in many church settings. The prayer in tongues may have been correct, but the interpretation was an admonition or was condemning of the people present — “turn or burn.”  According to what Paul said, that is not what the message of tongues is for.  That is more like the gift of prophesy — which would normally be delivered without a "tongues" version first.  Prophecy also would never be condemning and never be in conflict with the Word in any way. The prophetic message is never an addition to the Word, but an amplification.  It is meant to exhort,

 

We spent most of our time though talking about the importance of praying in tongues. We may or may not ever give a public tongue or interpretation, but praying in the Spirit is a tremendous benefit to all believers. It is a powerful tool that many do not use because they don't understand it.

 

1 Corinthians 14:2 also said that when we speak in tongues we utter "mysteries." In the Greek, that word mean "secrets between friends" and "information available only to the initiated." There are secrets about God that He only reveals to we "friends of God" that allow us to know Him more deeply and intimately.  When we pray in the Spirit, we disconnect our flesh and our soul (mind, will and emotions) and allow the Spirit to pray a pure prayer — unaltered by our own perceptions, beliefs and experiences.  We can pray a powerful prayer for someone else by praying in the Spirit for them as opposed to from our flesh.   It is also the way God creates through us. Once He gave man authority on this earth, He then "rested" and ceased directly creating. When we allow the Spirit to speak through us, we give Him permission to create in this world through us.  It is also a way we can “pray it forward.” You and I do not know what tomorrow or even the next minute holds, but God does. Make it a habit to begin every day with prayer in the Spirit. You'll be praying the prayer that will prepare the way for the day that God already knows is coming. It will help you avoid many stressful situations.

 

To listen to the entire sermon go to http://ahwatukeechurch.com/ and click on online media. To learn more about Living Word Ahwatukee, visit http://ahwatukeechurch.com/.

I want to Believe part 2

We continued talking about the gift of faith. We looked deeper at the faith of Abraham as accounted in Genesis 17. God speaks to him after 13 years of silence. At 86 years of age, he had Ishmael by the maidservant Hagar. He may have thought at the time that he had received the promise God had made of a child, but he had not yet received it.  Now, at 99 years old and his body (as well as Sarah’s) no longer capable of creating a child, God speaks to him again about the promise as yet unfulfilled— which means Ishmael was NOT the promise.  Note that He does not mention Abraham’s prior failings but just reiterates that His promise still stands and will be fulfilled.

 

In Genesis 17:1, God introduces Himself to Abraham with a new name, God Almighty or El Shadday (aka Shaddai) in Hebrew (LORD in all capitals in your Bible always means this name). Understand that names are very important in Hebrew — names of God and names of people. So, let's look at the meaning of El Shadday. El means "God" and is made up of the letters Aleph (picture of strength and power) and Lamed (picture of a shepherd's staff or leader). Shadday (spelled Shin [picture of two front teeth meaning structure], Dalet [door or entryway], Yod [arm or closed hand signifying man’s work] in Hebrew) means almighty and most powerful, the God of ability. 

 

The name El Shaddai is used to describe God as One who has the power to overrule, speed up, slow down or suspend any NATURAL law in order to fulfill a Spiritual promise. God’s word has higher authority than natural law.   The truth of His Word is always more powerful than the natural laws. He never changes His Word, but natural laws are subject to His Word and promises. If a natural law is in the way of God's promise, He will overcome it if we will believe.  This is what Abraham was going to need to have a child at this point in his life. It was physically impossible for he and Sarah to have a child. They needed El Shadday to make it happen.

 

Next, God tells him to walk before Him and be perfect or blameless. Until we look at the original Hebrew for this word, we don't get the complete picture.  God is telling Him to walk where God was and follow Him in all we do.  The rudder, which steers the boat, is in the back.  So we walk with God directing us as we go.  Abraham lived prior to the institution of the law. God was not telling him to keep the law or to be sinless. The Hebrew word here for blameless or perfect is tamiym. What it means is "complete, whole, entire, healthy, unimpaired and innocent." The picture here is that God needed Abraham to walk before Him seeing himself as God sees him — complete, healthy and whole.  It takes faith to see yourself as God sees you when everything in the natural tells a different story. Then, to emphasize His point, God changes Abraham's name. His name was Abram which meant exalted father. God renames him Abraham which means father of many nations. He changes Sarah's name as well, from Sarai to Sarah.

 

Now, when they speak to each other, they are speaking what God sees! Not only that, the same Hebrew letter was added to both of their names — Hay, the fifth letter in the Hebrew alphabet (alephbet). Among other things, this fifth letter is related to grace. Grace was being added to Abraham and Sarah. It takes faith to believe that, by the grace of God, He sees you as whole, complete and innocent.  When all of these changes happened and Abraham did as God told him — the work attached to his faith—he received the promise.  The promise includes circumcision, a picture that we produce together with God, and we believe God is who He says He is.

 

We are all given a measure of faith.  What we do with it is up to us.  Faith is a powerful thing, but no faith is more powerful than that which is in God's Word! The supernatural gift of faith comes by the Holy Spirit and frequently is used to believe for someone else's miracle, not necessarily ours (isn't that just how God would work?!)

 

 

To listen to the entire sermon go to http://ahwatukeechurch.com/ and click on online media. To learn more about Living Word Ahwatukee, visit http://ahwatukeechurch.com/.

I Want to Believe Part 1

We began discussing the spiritual gift of faith. Before we can get into understanding the supernatural gift that comes through the Holy Spirit, we need to understand a little bit about faith in general and what it is NOT.

 

According to Hebrews 11:1-3, faith is the connection between the unseen promises of God and the "seen" world we live in. But operating and living by faith is much more than just confessing the Word or "naming it an claiming it." To understand what faith is, we need to understand what it isn't. We all speak and create based on what we believe and have faith in, but we need to speak and create what is in the Word.  Many people think they are living by faith, but are actually living in foolishness of presumption.

 

Foolishness would be belief that you can obtain the promises using your own method or that following God’s principles is unimportant.  The example we looked at was of King Saul in I Samuel 13. He set out to do the right thing, but got impatient waiting for Samuel (the man of God)  to do what he promised. So he took things into his own hands and did what he thought was good to do. But it was NOT what he was supposed to do. When Samuel arrives he rebukes Saul and tells him that he has acted foolishly.

 

Presumption is receiving the Word of God but stepping out beyond the faith that is in you (faith in your faith).   Many times it happens because we think we have earned the promises — I've prayed and confessed and I give my tithes and serve at the church, so God will do ________. This is not faith in God, but faith in our own faith.  We forget that the breakdown is not in God not doing things but things hindering us from receiving what has already been done.  We do not earn the promises of God. They HAVE been given. What we do is live by the principles that produce the promised results.

 

The example we looked at was with the Israelites in Joshua 7. They had just defeated Jericho by following God's instructions. God had told them that all of the plunder from Jericho belonged to Him (they would get all of the plunder from all the future victories), but, unbeknownst to Joshua, someone had taken some of the plunder for himself. Then,

Joshua sent a force onto Ai and they were defeated. We can look at that defeat and think that God punished them for withholding something that belonged to Him. However, God did not tell them to go to Ai. Joshua, in his overconfidence from defeating Jericho so easily, went out beyond what God told Him to do.  God does not set us up for defeat to teach us a lesson. He didn't tell the Israelites to go to Ai, but they decided to go. After Joshua dealt with the "sin in his camp," God then told him to go to Ai. This time they routed Ai. In fact, God used the mistake they made the first time to their advantage to bring victory. God uses our mistakes to our advantage if we will allow Him to.  That does not mean that God meant for them to be defeated in order to be victorious later, but instead God used their defeat to bring victory when they operated in and followed God’s direction.

 

So, we don’t want to operate in foolishness or presumption. We want to operate in faith. We began looking at Abraham's faith. He finally obtained the promise when, at 99 years old (and after making mistakes), he came to the conclusion that it was impossible for him to obtain the promise on his own. It was then that he knew that only God could make it come to pass. It was in that same year that he finally had the child God promised — Isaac.  The more impossible the promise became, the greater faith Abraham had to believe God would do it.  Often we do the opposite and let our faith wane when it goes beyond our ability.  When we know we have to do something we can't do on our own, we know God has to do it.

 

 

To listen to the entire sermon go to http://ahwatukeechurch.com/ and click on online media. To learn more about Living Word Ahwatukee, visit http://ahwatukeechurch.com/.

How Did You Know That?--Unwrapping the Gifts of the Spirit Part 2

We are continuing our series on the understanding of the gifts of the Spirit — specifically word of Knowledge.   This involves having supernatural knowledge for ourselves or to impart to someone else.  In 1 Corinthians 12:1 Paul exhorts us to not be ignorant of the gifts. Ignorance can be a lack of knowledge and it can also be misunderstanding. Misunderstanding can cause us to shy away from the gifts or it can cause us to misuse the gifts. We don't want to have either type of ignorance.

 

 First we need to understand the meaning of “word of knowledge.”  Word (Logos in Greek) means a word uttered by a human voice, not just a written word or thought.  Knowledge in the Greek means knowledge of the thing.  When we add the gift of the Spirit to it, we come up with this definition “received from the Holy Spirit in you, enabling you to more effectively minister to the needs of people; to know or understand situations, circumstances, and strategies of the enemy; it enables you to know how and what to speak with a knowledge that can surprise, baffle or disarm, bringing answers, healing or understanding.”

 

Keys to Operating in Word of Knowledge:

1. Have a desire to do so--God will not make you do things He wants you to do, but if you are a willing vessel, He will use you.
2. Recognize His voice (which comes by knowing His Word)--If a “Word” does not line up with the Word, it is not God.
3. Understand timing (not all words are for right now but some are).--Pray and find out when to share it.
4. Desire to edify the body through this gift.  Our desire and motivation should always be to edify, exhort, and comfort and never to tear down, embarrass, or condemn.
5. Be open to fine-tuning, teaching and correction from those over you in the Lord (the Spirit is perfect, but we're not!  Sometimes we’ll make a mistake—just apologize, ask for forgiveness, and move on). 

A note, with Word of Knowledge, you usually will not know what you are talking about.  It is not wisdom into something you know about, but only God and the person will know what it is about.  We also can’t imitate others.  We need to be ourselves.  We can learn from what others do, but we have to let God flow uniquely through us. 

A major factor in effectively flowing in any Spiritual gift is doing so through love. 1 Corinthians chapters 12 and 14 both deal with operating in these gift. But chapter 13 is all about love and how, without it, the power of the gifts is totally useless.  1 John 4 is another good reference.

 

Remember also that your role in delivering a word of Knowledge is simply that of a postman. You have nothing to do with the message, understanding it, adding to it or taking away from it. You simply deliver it. I find that in almost every case, the deliverer of the message knows nothing about its significance or its meaning. You are simply delivering a message.  We can confuse or delay or cause misunderstanding if we add or take away from God’s clear message.  The errors I have made in this gift has either been not doing it or not telling the complete message I am given.

 

Ways We Receive a Word of Knowledge (not the ONLY ways — just some ways):

1. In your own prayer time (a person or situation comes to mind)
2. You may get a sudden witness in your spirit
3. You are shown something as you study the Word
4. Seeing or hearing something moves you (Jesus was moved by compassion to see a need in people that was not naturally perceivable in Matthew 9:36)
5. In a vision (sometimes a complete picture and sometimes simply a single word)

We must learn to discern when we are receiving a word of knowledge and when it is something else. If you could have perceived it on your own, then it probably is not. Not every random thought or dream is a vision or word of knowledge. They may be, but they may not be.  

 

What to do when you believe you've received a word of knowledge:

1. PRAY – ask God if it is a Word from Him
2. PRAY — If it is, ask Him what He wants you to do with it

                                - is it a simply prompt for me to pray?

                                - is it something to be shared with an individual?

                                - is it something to be shared with the congregation?

 

Finally, what should you do if someone shares a word of knowledge with you — to ensure it truly IS a word from God:

1. PRAY – ask God if it is from Him.  Remember, God, like in the Word will confirm more than once (two or three witnesses often).
2. Does it line up with His Word and His character? (should not be condemning or exposing sin – it should edify)
3. Does it confirm something God has told or shown me or has been trying to tell me? Does it confirm a question I had?
4. Could the individual have known what the significance of what they told me was (were they simply stating something based on what they see) or was it clearly God-revealed knowledge?

Always confirm any word by 2 or 3 witnesses (your own spirit being one). Most times the word is confirming something God has already shown you. Very rarely is it something totally out of left field. If it is, then be very diligent to pray and confirm before acting on that word.

 

There are many great examples of how God uses this gift to do amazing things (John 4:4-42, Acts 9:10-18, Acts 10:1-8, Acts 10:9-17)

 

Understand the gift and allow yourself to be used to be powerful. Remember, Jesus wasn't weird or fruity. He was powerful!

 

 

To listen to the entire sermon go to http://ahwatukeechurch.com/ and click on online media. To learn more about Living Word Ahwatukee, visit http://ahwatukeechurch.com/.

A Wise Man Once Said---Unwrapping the Gifts of the Spirit Part 1

Last week, we began a series on the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The gifts are powerful tools given to us to be able to do extraordinary things. Many believers shun them because they view them as something weird or fruity.  We want to tap into the power Jesus used and which is available to us.  Certainly we have seen good-intentioned believers do strange things with the gifts, but we should not fault the gift or the giver when the gift is used in a way that is foreign to us or which may seem to be a misuse of the gift. Our example for what the gifts are supposed to look like is Jesus. He wasn't weird or fruity. He was powerful. People wanted to be around Jesus because He was powerful.  The enemy has used the strangeness of some uses of the gifts to generally reject the gifts that can allow us to have the power to do the supernatural things He wants us to do.

 

We all are familiar with the story of King Solomon in 2 Chronicles 1. He has the opportunity to ask anything of God. He uses "wisdom" in knowing to ask for wisdom. He knew that leading God's people would require God's wisdom.  Of course, God tells him that since he did not ask for riches or fame, he would get them. It was not as a reward for making the right choice. It was because making wise choices would naturally produce those things. You see, we do not seek God's wisdom so we can be wealthy. We seek His wisdom so we can successfully run our races — the wealth and abundance is a by-product of wisdom.  Romans 11:33 says that if we operate by God’s wisdom, riches are often a by-product….but it is, again, not WHY we do it. 

 

 

We began this study looking at the first of these gifts listed in 1 Corinthians 12; the gift of wisdom. I believe this one is listed first because all of the others should operate through it (much like love being listed first in the fruit of the Spirit).  Wisdom is a very broad topic, but like all gifts from God, they are designed to help us run our race. Godly wisdom is needed in order to do the things He has called us to do. Wisdom helps us know whether a use of the gifts of the Spirit is from God or not.  Is it giving glory to God and bringing people closer to Him?  Then the answer is yes. 

 

My definition of wisdom is “seeing life from God’s perspective.”  The Greek definition of wisdom in the passage in Corinthians is sophia, which means “broad, full of intelligence, knowledge of very diverse matters.”  It also means “devout and proper prudence in intercourse with men who are not disciples of Christ; skill and discretion in imparting Christian truth.”  If we have the Holy Spirit gift of wisdom, we will be very effective in sharing the truth of the  Gospel with others.  Colossians 4:4-5 says that we start with love and grace and season (not overwhelm) with salt.  We receive righteousness when we are saved, but we grow in wisdom over time.  Luke 2:40 and 52 says this about Jesus as well, and indicates that His stature (influence) grew as His wisdom grew.  Again here, grace and wisdom are tied together.  Perhaps wisdom is knowing when to apply grace and when to season with salt.  A lot of what the church does fails because it is full of the truth of God's Word, but lacks His wisdom in how we present it.

 

 

 

Finally, in Proverbs 4:7 we are told that we should gain all the wisdom we can, but in all that gaining, get understanding. What does that mean? God, by the Holy Spirit, will give you supernatural wisdom. When we get it and apply it we succeed. We also set ourselves for even greater future success when we then seek God for the understanding of that wisdom. 

 

Colossians 2 says God hides wisdom, not to keep it from us, but because it is VERY powerful and can lead people in weird directions if they are not already in Christ.  It also says God reveals it to us by His Spirit.  His wisdom goes beyond our understanding but, if we ask, He will help us understand so that what was to you powerful, supernatural wisdom before can become natural and you can press in for even greater, supernatural wisdom.  Wisdom is knowing what to do (do not confuse this with the word of knowledge, which we will explore later).

To listen to the entire sermon go to http://ahwatukeechurch.com/ and click on online media. To learn more about Living Word Ahwatukee, visit http://ahwatukeechurch.com/.

 

 

To listen to the entire sermon go to http://ahwatukeechurch.com/ and click on online media. To learn more about Living Word Ahwatukee, visit http://ahwatukeechurch.com/.