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00:00Family, this is your season for wise moves.
00:03You're probably thinking,
00:05B.D., every season is my season for wise moves.
00:08Of course, but I think it's biblically naive
00:11not to recognize that some seasons
00:13are more consequential than others.
00:15Sons of Issachar understood the times
00:17and knew what Israel ought to do.
00:19There are certain seasons
00:21where your margin of error is less.
00:23And I don't know when that season is for you.
00:25You have to discern that with the help of the Holy Spirit.
00:28But I know I'm in one of those seasons.
00:30And for many of you, you're in that same season.
00:32Your decisions are way more consequential.
00:35You need to know how to move with not earthly wisdom,
00:40street smarts, common sense, what grandmama told me,
00:45but with heavenly wisdom.
00:46And I'm not saying everything that I've learned
00:49from parents or family is unscriptural.
00:52I'm saying I gotta put it through the filter of scripture
00:55to make sure it passed that test.
00:57Because if I want a next level life,
01:00I gotta live with next level wisdom.
01:02That's what this sermon is all about.
01:05Now, I've got one request.
01:07If it helps you, I want you to send it to somebody else.
01:10That's it.
01:11Text it, text the link, and help somebody else.
01:14I love you.
01:15Enjoy the message.
01:18Today, I teach in series.
01:20That means I take a character from the Bible,
01:22I take a book of the Bible or a theme from the Bible,
01:26and I spend several weeks explaining it
01:29and attempting to show how this applies
01:31to our everyday life.
01:33Last month, we were in the book of Nahum,
01:36and we did a series called A Letter to My Enemies
01:39on how to handle yourself
01:41when you've been mishandled by others.
01:44This month, we're in the book of Proverbs
01:46from a series called I'm Too Smart for This.
01:50And I want us to go to the book of Proverbs chapter four,
01:52beginning at verse number five.
01:54And here's what Solomon says.
01:56He says, get wisdom, get understanding.
02:00Do not forget my words or turn away from them.
02:03Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you.
02:07Love her, and she will watch over you.
02:10Do y'all, look at passage.
02:13You see him using the word she?
02:16Because the Bible is filled with poetic imagery
02:20and some even hyperbole.
02:21Like in the New Testament, Jesus said,
02:23if your hand offend you, cut it off.
02:25Do you really think?
02:28He means cut your hand off physically.
02:30Come on, wave at me, wave at me.
02:31No, no, that's not, he's saying,
02:33hey, do whatever you got to do
02:34to protect yourself from you.
02:35So here in Proverbs chapter four,
02:38what Solomon is doing is he's using the imagery
02:41of a woman to describe wisdom.
02:44So he says, do not forsake wisdom, she will protect you.
02:48Love her, she will watch over you.
02:51The beginning of wisdom is this.
02:54Get wisdom.
02:55Though it cost you all you have, get understanding.
02:58Cherish her, and she will exalt you.
03:01Embrace her, she will honor you.
03:03She will give you a garland to grace your head
03:06and present you with a glorious crown.
03:09I'm gonna stop the reading of scripture from there,
03:10and I wanna use the series subject
03:12as a subject for this sermon today.
03:14Quite simply, I'm too smart for this.
03:17Clap your hands, 1145.
03:20You ready for the word?
03:24Too smart for this.
03:25I wanna leap into this lesson with a question.
03:27It's a rhetorical question, a question for your reflection,
03:31and it's simply this.
03:32Have you ever felt like your place
03:35didn't match your potential?
03:39In other words, have you felt like there's a gap
03:41between where you are and where you could be,
03:44what you have and what you want,
03:46or what you're doing and what you've been called to do?
03:50Have you ever looked at who you are,
03:53where you are, and what you're doing and concluded,
03:56I'm too smart for this?
04:00Things are not bad, but they're not great.
04:05Things are better than they used to be,
04:07but I know they're not as good as they can be.
04:12I'm too smart for this.
04:14If this is your sentiment and your story,
04:17then there's a question that begs to be asked and answered,
04:20and the question is simply this.
04:23When you find yourself in a season or a situation
04:26where your place and your potential don't match,
04:32what do you do?
04:34And this is a question that needs to be explored
04:37because there is a human tendency to work harder.
04:43And although there is a place for hard work
04:46and the Bible advocates for hard work,
04:49you can hit a season where hard work doesn't work.
04:54As one of my mentors puts it,
04:56hard work only works when you're working hard
04:59at the right thing.
05:04And I want to know, is there anybody in the room,
05:07anybody online that understands how frustrating it is
05:12to be working hard on something that's not working?
05:16Very little is more frustrating
05:18than to be working hard on the relationship
05:21and the hard work isn't working,
05:23to be working hard in the career
05:25and the hard work isn't working,
05:27to be working hard spiritually
05:29and the hard work isn't working,
05:31to be working hard trying to start something
05:33or scale something and the hard work isn't working.
05:38This family leads us to this axiom
05:41that needs to be embraced and understood by all of us
05:44under the sound of my voice.
05:47There are some situations and scenarios
05:49that are not addressed by working harder.
05:52Some situations and some scenarios require working higher.
06:02Working harder is using willpower.
06:06Working higher is using wisdom.
06:10And wisdom will work when willpower won't.
06:15This is, family, the essence of what Solomon articulates
06:18in a book of the Bible called Ecclesiastes.
06:20Ecclesiastes 10.10 says,
06:22if the ax is dull and its edge unsharpened,
06:26more strength is needed, but skill will bring success.
06:31See, the issue isn't working harder if my ax is dull.
06:36Come on.
06:37No matter how much I swing and how much energy I exert,
06:41how much effort I extend,
06:44swinging the ax may cause me to sweat,
06:48but it doesn't cause the tree to fall.
06:52If I want trees to fall,
06:54I've got to do more than swing my ax.
06:57I've got to sharpen my ax.
07:00And I just want to pause for the cause
07:02and say this to somebody at the 1145 service
07:05because it may have prophetic implications for some of you.
07:10This is your season, not of swinging.
07:14This is your season of sharpening.
07:17Come on.
07:19All 2024, you've been swinging and the tree's still standing.
07:242023, you've been swinging and the tree's still standing.
07:29But I want to know, am I talking to anybody
07:32that's ready for some trees to fall?
07:36I said, are you ready for some trees in your mind to fall?
07:39Some trees in your relationship to fall?
07:42Some trees in your career to fall?
07:44Some trees in your home to fall?
07:47Well, if I'm ready for trees to fall,
07:49I've got to do more than swing my ax.
07:52I got to sharpen my ax.
07:54I've got to do more than work harder.
08:00I got to work higher.
08:03And this is why we ought to thank and praise God
08:05for books of the Bible like Proverbs.
08:08I love every book of the Bible.
08:10I love Jeremiah, I love Daniel, I love Ezekiel.
08:13I love Zachariah, I love Zephaniah, I love Obadiah.
08:17I love Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
08:19But I thank God for a section of the Bible
08:22called Wisdom Literature
08:24that contains books of the Bible like Proverbs
08:28because Proverbs is situated in a section of the Bible
08:31called Wisdom Literature.
08:32Psalms and Proverbs, Ecclesiastics, Song of Solomon,
08:36and Job, and the purpose of these books of the Bible
08:39is to impart wisdom to the godly.
08:42It is God's way of saying that the life I intended
08:46for humans to live cannot just be accomplished
08:50by living righteously.
08:51They must also live wisely.
08:56Am I making sense here?
08:58I said, am I making sense here?
08:59So the book of Proverbs is this collection of content
09:03that is curated primarily by this successful sage
09:06named Solomon, and this book is intended
09:10to impart wisdom to the godly.
09:12Solomon, one of the wisest men to ever live.
09:16Solomon, a life who is an example
09:21that the circumstances you come out of
09:23don't have to determine what you turn out like
09:26because Solomon came out of unfavorable circumstances.
09:31And I'm not gonna have time, I don't wanna,
09:34but let me just bother, okay, yeah.
09:36His father was a man by the name of David
09:42who defeated Goliath, you okay?
09:46His mother, I'm just gonna say her name
09:49and get back to my business, was a woman named Bathsheba.
10:02Amen.
10:04So in Proverbs 31, when Solomon uses the word Lemuel
10:08as a euphemism for himself and says, in Proverbs 31,
10:11when I say, who shall find, who can find a virtuous woman?
10:14When Solomon says, I'm writing what my mama told me.
10:23Listen to this, his life reveals, listen to this,
10:27that the womb doesn't have to be your ruin.
10:32Yeah, yeah, yeah.
10:34The womb represents a set of circumstances
10:36that you came out of but aren't in control of.
10:40And I don't know what womb you've come out of
10:42in a previous season.
10:44It could be the womb of divorce, the womb of a breakdown,
10:47the womb of grief, the womb of a failed deal,
10:50but what you come out of doesn't control how you turn out.
10:53Solomon ends up being one of the wisest men who ever lived,
10:59but he's the result of one of the unwisest decisions
11:04ever made.
11:09And out of all the people that God could have picked
11:13to be king, he picked Solomon.
11:18And Solomon gets this assignment to be the successor
11:22to his father, David.
11:25And this assignment creates a degree
11:27of healthy imposter syndrome.
11:31Because it's one thing if you're David to succeed Saul.
11:37It's another thing if you're Solomon to succeed David.
11:41Saul was a very dysfunctional leader.
11:44And so when you're coming behind dysfunction,
11:46you don't even have to be good.
11:50You just got to be not dysfunctional.
11:58But Solomon's coming behind David and David is legendary.
12:04David is iconic.
12:07And Solomon has enough self-awareness to know,
12:11just because I grew up in the palace,
12:13doesn't mean I know how to run one.
12:19So when he steps into this assignment,
12:22he feels a little overwhelmed.
12:24And some people can look at this gap
12:27between what Solomon's called to do
12:29and how Solomon feels about his adequacy,
12:32and they could call Solomon insecure.
12:34I don't believe that just because you're questioning
12:38your capability to do a thing that God's called you to do
12:41means you're insecure.
12:43I think some things that God calls you to do are beyond you.
12:47Come on here.
12:48Yes, I believe that there are some things
12:51that God calls you to do that are beyond you
12:54because he want to assign you something
12:56that doesn't require him.
12:58And so when I look at what he's calling me to do,
13:01and I say to myself, I can't do it,
13:03God's like, exactly, without me.
13:06And the reason I picked you is because
13:09I know you can't do it without me,
13:12and you know you can't do it without me,
13:14and you won't be arrogant enough
13:16to try to do it without me.
13:18Come on here.
13:25I could take you throughout scripture,
13:27and I could show you examples
13:29of when God called a person to do a thing,
13:32and that person expressed their inadequacy.
13:34God never argued about the inadequacy,
13:37but God gave them a solution that would make up for it.
13:40When Moses said, I'm slow of speech,
13:43he said, don't worry about it, I'm sending Aaron.
13:48He didn't deny that Moses had the inadequacy.
13:51He said, I'm going to fill it with my assistance.
13:55Am I making, I don't know who this is for,
13:58but let me just tell somebody at the 1145,
14:01help is on the way.
14:10Wherever there's a gap between what you can do
14:14and what you've been called to do,
14:16God's letting you know I'm a gap filler,
14:19that I left the gap there intentionally.
14:22I don't need you to fill in the gap.
14:25I'm going to fill in the gap
14:27because I won't call you to do something
14:29that doesn't require me.
14:39Our gift is what God uses.
14:43It is not God.
14:53And God's like, as gifted as you are,
14:57your gift is limited in how far it can take you.
15:03But I left the gap between what you're called to do
15:08and what you're able to do
15:09because I'm going to fill in the gap.
15:12Help is on the way.
15:14I said, help's on the way.
15:16I said, help's on the way.
15:18I said, help's on the way.
15:20I said, help's on the way.
15:21Sooner or later, it'll turn in my favor.
15:26He's turning it around for me.
15:28Help.
15:36This is what happens with Solomon.
15:39He steps into this role.
15:40He's got some trepidation.
15:43He got some trepidation.
15:46So he engages in this generous act of worship.
15:52And let me see how I can say this.
15:56He engages in this generous act of worship.
15:59And I want everybody at every location not to shout
16:05right here.
16:07Don't shout.
16:08Don't shout at Global.
16:09Don't shout at Gwinnett.
16:11Nobody shout.
16:13Because Solomon makes this generous,
16:15he engages in this radical act of generosity.
16:18And in verse five, here's what happens.
16:21He's timid.
16:23He's wondering whether or not
16:25he can accomplish the assignment.
16:27And he engages in this act of radical generosity.
16:30And God comes to him and asks him something.
16:32Now God's never asked me this,
16:34but if he asks me this, I'm ready.
16:38If he asks me this, I don't have an answer.
16:40I got a list.
16:42Now, don't you shout unless you want God
16:46to ask you this one day.
16:49God appears to Solomon during the night in a dream.
16:54And God said, ask for whatever you want me to give you.
17:02Don't you shout in here.
17:06Don't you clap.
17:08Don't you rejoice.
17:10Unless you're waiting on verse five
17:13to come to your address.
17:16Here's what he says.
17:18Ask me for whatever you want.
17:19It's not a reckless, it's not a reckless invitation.
17:24He's vetted the person
17:28that he's extending this invitation to.
17:31Because everybody can't be trusted with that question.
17:37So he's vetted Solomon.
17:40And says, I trust you enough
17:43to manage a request like this properly.
17:47And Solomon's answer reveals why
17:50he could be trusted with the question.
17:53Watch what Solomon says.
17:54He says, you shown great kindness to your servant,
17:59my father David, because he's faithful to you
18:02and righteous and upright in heart.
18:05You have continued this great kindness to him
18:09and giving him a son to sit on the throne this very day.
18:13Oh, if I had time.
18:16Woo, the degree of character that's seen in the question.
18:21A man who could have entitlement.
18:26A man who could say, I'm here because I deserve to be here.
18:30But he's saying, but I'm not here
18:31because of your kindness to me.
18:33I'm not here because of your fondness of me.
18:35I'm here because of your fondness to my father.
18:39Y'all missing.
18:39I want you to get the metaphor.
18:42I'm not here because of me.
18:44I'm here because of my father.
18:48You missing the metaphor.
18:50I'm not here because of me.
18:53I'm here because I had a good father, okay?
18:56You're missing the metaphor.
18:59I'm not where I am because I'm good.
19:03I'm where I am because my father's good.
19:06He was talking about an earthly father. Our testimony is a heavenly father. I am
19:14where I am because my father has been good to me. Notice what he says, he says,
19:24he says, he says, now, now, Lord my God, you've made your servant, gosh I don't
19:35have time, you've made your servant king. Me being king, me gaining king, doesn't
19:45mean I lose servant.
19:53I'm serving through the office of a king. Notice what he says, in place of my
20:02father David, but I'm only a little child. I'm young and I don't know how to
20:06carry out my duties. I'm inexperienced. Your servant is here among the people
20:10you've chosen, a great people, to numerous to count a number, so give your servant
20:14a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and
20:18wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours? The Lord was
20:22pleased that Solomon had asked for this, so God said, since you have asked for
20:31this and not for long life or wealth for yourself or the death of your enemies,
20:38thank God for Nahum, but for discernment in administering justice, I will do what
20:44you've asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart so that there will
20:51never have been anyone like you nor will there ever be. He says, I'm gonna give you
20:56such a wise heart that you will be wiser than everybody that came before
21:02you and wiser than everyone that will come after you. Now I'm gonna read verse
21:1113 because I got to keep going here. I got a long way to go in 10 minutes and
21:1556 seconds to get there. Here it is, here it is, but when I read verse 13, don't you
21:22shout, don't you clap, unless you want God to say this to you too. Moreover, I
21:33will give you what you have not asked for.
21:46I'm gonna give you what you asked for and I'm going to give you what you have
21:51not asked for, both wealth and honor so that in your lifetime you will have no
21:59equal among kings. I want you to see this. I said, God said I'm gonna give you so much
22:12wisdom that is going to distinguish you from everyone else and I
22:17want you to see this. The wisdom that he gave to Solomon was wisdom he
22:22gave to Solomon but not for Solomon. It's almost as if God's saying, okay, there
22:31are gonna be people that are at Change Church or watching Change Church in 2024
22:34who are gonna hit a season where they realize I have to work higher. Now someone
22:39would argue, Pastor, we should operate in wisdom in every season. Of course we
22:43should, but it is also biblically naive to assume that some seasons are not more
22:47consequential than others. There are certain seasons where the margin of error
22:55is smaller and then there are certain seasons where the implications of your
23:01decisions are greater. Did you hear what I just said? If I got to fighting, and I'm
23:09not, but if I got to fighting with someone in the parking lot in 2004,
23:14that's one thing. If I get to fighting with somebody in the parking lot now in
23:202024 leading Change Church, stewarding the responsibility that I'm stewarding, the
23:27implications of that decision not only affect me, it affects everyone connected.
23:33Come on. There are seasons that are more consequential than others.
23:47And God knows that we will be in seasons that were more consequential than others.
23:53So he had the wisdom that he gave Solomon. He said, it's like he's saying,
23:57Solomon, I gave this to you, but I didn't just give it to you for you. I gave it to
24:03you for others. So I want you to take the best of what you've learned and put it
24:09in poetic statements called proverbs or truisms. Hmm. And I want you to document
24:16it so that people can get it when they can't get you. So this book of Proverbs
24:25is a collection of sayings primarily curated by this wise man named Solomon.
24:33It's as if God is saying, the life I intend for my people to live cannot be
24:39experienced independent of this wisdom. Listen to this, because your anointing
24:46and your gifting helps you improve other people's life. Wisdom helps you improve
24:52yours. I'm not anointed for me. You're not anointed for you. You're not gifted for you.
25:01Come on here. No tree eats its own fruit. The fruit that you produce is for others.
25:09The anointing does it for others. Wisdom does it for you. And this is our season for many of us
25:19to become better stewards of you. This isn't selfishness. This is stewardship.
25:26At some point, you ought to get sick of everybody else eating your fruit and
25:32you're hungry. Come on.
25:40I need wisdom. So Solomon here helps us. It's an entire book dedicated to wisdom.
25:48And here's what he says in verse chapter 4, verse 7. This is so powerful. He says,
25:56the beginning of wisdom is this. Because somebody's like, P.D. where do I start?
26:01The beginning of wisdom is this. P.D. I don't know where to begin. The beginning
26:05of wisdom is this. Get wisdom. I want to be wise. Get it.
26:17The revelation is in the word get. That which elevates our life rarely comes
26:26into our life automatically. It must be pursued intentionally. Get wisdom. Pastor,
26:35where do I get wisdom? Wherever there's a wisdom deficit. Well, Pastor, how do I
26:40know where there's a wisdom deficit? Wherever there's a pattern of self-induced
26:44stress or a pattern of unnecessary pain, there's a wisdom deficit. Are y'all
26:56processing or are you resisting? I'm trying to... I said, where's the absence of
27:02wisdom? I'm not talking about an absence of knowledge. Where's the absence of
27:05wisdom? Wherever there's a pattern of self-induced stress, self-induced
27:11suffering. Suffering that didn't come from life-lifing, but suffering that
27:16comes from me-me-ing. Let me go to this side over here. This isn't life-lifing.
27:24This is me-me-ing. What happened? Me. What happened? Me. Lord, deliver me.
27:42Me. Self-induced suffering. A self-sabotage of pain, there's a wisdom
27:55deficit. And Solomon says, get it. Get it. Be intentional about it. He says, be so
28:01serious about it, though it cost you all you have. Be willing to invest the time
28:05and the energy and the effort to get wisdom. But notice what he says here. I
28:09love this. He says, get wisdom. Now, here's what we need to park our car. Because
28:15when Solomon says wisdom, the question we got to ask is, what does he mean? Does
28:21that make sense? So here's what we don't want to do. Because we rob ourselves of
28:26the revelation of the richness of the Bible when we do this. When we assume,
28:31when I see a word, the person who wrote it means what I mean when I say it. Because
28:39here's what happens. If I think Solomon means what I mean when I say wisdom, when
28:45I'll see that scripture, I'll think that doesn't apply to me. I don't need that.
28:48I'm already wise, PD. I got that. But what does Solomon mean here? Because the
28:56Bible teaches that all wisdom in the same. Did you know the Bible teaches
29:01there are two types of wisdom? Pastor, where'd you get that from? The Bible. In
29:07James chapter 3, there's two types of wisdom James mentions. James chapter 3,
29:11verse 15, says, such wisdom does not come down from heaven, but is earthly, unspiritual,
29:18demonic. This is called earthly wisdom. Don't get quiet on me now, church. I need,
29:25I got three minutes. I need all your amens here. Earthly wisdom is characterized by
29:31human reasoning, logic, and it is wisdom that is based on the words and experiences of people,
29:39but it is absent of input from God. It is wisdom that comes from the words of people. It's meaning
29:51the wisdom that comes from words I've heard others say, words I've read, podcasts I've
30:01listened to, conversations I've had, courses I've taken. Come on. Sermons I've listened to.
30:08Okay? People I love. People that love me. Or experiences I've had. Meaning I go through
30:22a traumatic experience. I come out of that experience with a life philosophy that I
30:29feel like protects me. Are y'all still here? Here's the problem. That's not the way the
30:43Bible defines wisdom. Because that kind of wisdom may work temporarily, but just because something
30:58doesn't mean it's right. Am I making sense? So someone can tell you, hey, this is how you handle
31:09a man. Or someone can tell you, this is how you handle a woman. And you try and it works. And we
31:16can assume whatever works is right. But if we go, let's use the Old Testament for an example. Before
31:23Moses led Israel in an exodus out of Egypt, he has this exchange in front of Pharaoh and the
31:28Bible says there's this rod. He throws a rod down and it turns into a snake. Pharaoh's magicians
31:33throw their rod down. It turns into a snake. So prophecy and sorcery. You can be like, oh my God.
31:45When she said what she said, it was so right. But here's what the Bible, oh my, my, my. But the Bible
31:59says there is a way that seems right unto man. But in the end, ultimately, eventually, inevitably, it
32:10leads to destruction. No, PD, I got that from my grandmama. Fine. But did you put it through the
32:24filter? Did you put it through the filter of the word? Because if not, it's earthly. And this series
32:39is a shifting series. I believe what God wants to do in this series is shift us from operating with
32:46earthly wisdom to heavenly wisdom. Pastor, what is heavenly wisdom? In Matthew chapter number seven,
32:56verse 24, Jesus says, therefore, whoever hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is
33:01like a wise man. So for Jesus, whoever hears these words of mine, it's the of mine. You got it? It's
33:13the of mine. Not just who hears some words. Not just who hear words that make sense. Not just who
33:19hears words that speak to me. It just spoke to me. Just spoke to me. No, these words of mine. And
33:31puts them into practice. So the wisdom gap is the wisdom, excuse me, is what fills the gap between
33:42information and application. The person, watch this, how real can pastor be? I'm not just 1145. I
33:52just want to know how real can I be at this service? Okay, every service is different. So I don't want
33:57to go too far. But how y'all, can I? You benefit not from the sermon you hear. You benefit from the
34:14sermon you apply. Where'd you get that from? The Bible. I got it from the Bible. Don't just be
34:31hero of the word. Listen to this. And so deceive yourself. That's the book. It means that when you
34:40hear something that is profound, and provocative, is stimulate something on the inside of you, that
34:47you can be deceived into thinking something's changed. It means that word is right on time, a
34:57timeless truth delivered in a timely manner. It's right on time. And it is exactly what I need to
35:02hear exactly when I need to hear it. And I just feel so much better. And I feel so much freer, not
35:09realizing that what you're feeling is fleeting, episodic, and temporary. You feel better, but
35:15nothing gets better until you put it into practice. And so many people have defected from the faith,
35:27saying that the faith doesn't work. And the issue isn't whether or not the faith works. The issue is
35:32whether or not you're working the faith right. I don't want to know how many notes you have. What
35:39did you apply? I don't want to know how many sermons you heard. What did you apply? Let's go
35:51Tarrio, we out of time. This is heavenly wisdom. James 3.17. The wisdom that comes from heaven is
36:19first of all, pure, peace loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy, and good fruit,
36:27impartial, and sincere. See, earthly wisdom can be manipulative and exploitive. It's wise. Come on.
36:37It's like wise from an earthly perspective. You got to be wise to manipulate somebody. Come on, to
36:47scam, you got to be wise. And let's not act like all scamming doesn't work. It works. Some of it
36:56works. But it's earthly wisdom, unspiritual, inconsiderate, exploitive, manipulative. And it
37:09seems right. But in the end, that's the way that seems, but in the end. No, no, pastor, I'm wise in
37:18my relationships. I'm not questioning that. My question is what wisdom are you using? No, I got
37:30this from my cousin. They've been married 40 years. And did you put it through the filter of the
37:45sayings of Jesus? Because heavenly wisdom has promises attached to it. That earthly wisdom
37:55doesn't. And these promises are in Proverbs. Number one, heavenly wisdom has the promise of
38:02protection attached to it. Verse six, do not forsake wisdom, she will protect you. Do not forsake
38:09wisdom and she will protect you. Do not forsake wisdom. The presence of wisdom reduces the need
38:21for miracles. We will always need miracles, but it is one thing to periodically need miracles versus
38:36living our life in a way where there's a pattern where I always need miracles for everything.
38:40Wisdom protects my mind, protects my relationship, protects my heart, protects my name, good name, more
39:00precious, more valuable than rubies. Wisdom, protection. Number two, wisdom brings promotion.
39:12Wisdom from above, cherish her and she will what? Exalt you. That the increase of wisdom inevitably leads to
39:22increase of opportunity because wise people can't stay hidden. Come on here. Now here's when we talk
39:34about promotion, right? I want to use two biblical frameworks for you. I want to use old Testament
39:39frameworks, King and King makers. Here's what I really been praying for in this season. And later
39:44in this series, I'm gonna introduce you to a new Testament character named Cornelius, because I got
39:50this concept last week called the Cornelius calling that I want to introduce you to. But when I talk
39:56about promotion, very often people think about like job promotion, or they may think about career
40:01promotion. Maybe they think about like becoming what we would call a King, influential, known, front
40:08facing the face of a thing. When the Bible there's, you got Kings, but what was more significant than Kings
40:15were King makers. These were people that actually wiser than Kings, but they weren't called to be in
40:25the front. They were called to be behind the person that is in the front. Y'all missed it. And very
40:34often they were greater in spiritual stature and wisdom than the person that was in the front. So
40:40Esther was a Queen, but the Queen maker was Mordecai. There's a whole book written about
40:48Esther that wouldn't exist if it wasn't for a King maker named Mordecai, who say I'm wise enough to
40:55help you be a Queen, but I'm humble enough not to have to be in the palace. King maker. John the
41:08Baptist, so secure in his assignment that he says my assignment is to decrease so that he may
41:19increase. Boy, if I had time. Number three, preservation. Wisdom will preserve you in what you
41:35didn't get protected from. You ever, you ever been in some and then you're like, man, you thought
41:49about it. Once you ended, you're like, man, I wish I thought about this before I got in this, but I'm
41:59in it now. It's no sense in revisiting what I can't revise. There's no sense in punishing myself
42:05over past. I can't change. I'm in it now. Wisdom helps you preserve yourself in what you couldn't
42:17protect yourself from a minute. He's going to help me get out. I got myself into it, but he's God
42:27enough to help me get out of it. The story of the gospel is a story of the second Adam getting us
42:35out of a mess that the first Adam got us into. Come on. And then number four, prospering. Blessed
42:49are those who find wisdom, who gain understanding for she wisdom is more profitable than silver and
42:54yields better returns than gold. She is more precious than rubies. Nothing you desire can
42:59compare with her. Listen to this long life is in her right hand and in her left hand are riches
43:11in honor. Wisdom. Now, just in case you think you don't need this, I want them to put Luke two 52
43:21on the screen and Jesus increased in. So if Jesus increased in wisdom and he's Jesus and we're
43:33actually trying to live like Jesus. So this is the kind of increase we're praying for this month.
43:42Lord, give me an increase of heavenly wisdom. Help me to unlearn so I can relearn. Give me
44:00the faith and the courage to trust your way, because your way is not just right. Your way
44:08is better. Father, I pray for increase of heavenly wisdom. May all month long. Our heart
44:16be open to relearning your ways. May our question in this season, not just be, is this right? May
44:28our question be, is this wise? I asked this in Jesus name. Amen. Really quick. If you're here
44:37today and you've never sincerely family, I hope that word help you. I hope it challenged you in a
44:46unique way. Here's what the Bible says. God's word doesn't return to him. Boy, it accomplishes all
44:51he sent it out to do. And it prospers the thing. We're in. He said, you're going to, your soul is
44:56going to prosper because of God's word today. And listen, if this message has blessed you, I just
45:03ask you to send it to someone else. And if your heart is so stirred to sow back into the field
45:09that you're harvesting from to bless the ministry that is blessing you,
45:13then we invite you to do that as well. Thank you in advance for your generosity.