Voice of the Nazarene 7-12-26

Transcript

Welcome And Solomon’s Dream

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From North Center, Ohio, we share with you the Voice of the Mazarine, a week-by-week venture into the Word of God sponsored by the New Stars, Ohio Church of the Nazarene. We join our pastor, River Graylist now, and the Voice of the Nazarene.

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Let's read what happened that night. It's 1 Kings chapter 3, verse 5. The Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, Ask what I shall give thee. Notice how wide open the question is. And Solomon said unto God, Thou hast showed great mercy unto my father David, hast made me to reign in his stead. Now, O Lord God, let thy promise unto David, my father, be established, for thou hast made me a king over a people, like the dust of the earth in multitude. Give me now wisdom and uh and knowledge that I may go out and come in before this people. For who can judge this thy people who is so great? And watch God's response. God said to Solomon, because this was in thine heart. Don't read on, just stop right there. What's in your heart today? When I said ask anything, what came up in you?

What We Ask For Reveals Us

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Well, Solomon, he could have asked for a lot of things. I I I enumerated, setting in my office last night, some of the things he could have asked for. He uh he had a lot of enemies. There were so many kings around them that hated his father David for what he had taken from them. And they probably wanted to even up the score. And so he could have said, God, I just need some peace and some protection. There's a lot of people that hate me and want to kill me. And uh they'd like to capture me and put my eyes out. But he didn't ask for that. Could have asked for money. He didn't, he could have asked for family peace. Some of us, have you ever prayed for just peace at your house where you live? Maybe you need to. You'd look a little happier today. I'm talking to those by live stream, of course. He could have asked, you realize he had seven stepmothers. Later on, he had about a thousand mother-in-laws. But he had seven stepmothers. He had all these wild siblings, half-brothers, half-sisters. It was a crazy household. He had one half-brother that actually raped another half-sister. And two years went by while another half-brother plotted the death of that half-brother. He had another half-brother that undermined his father David and tried to steal the kingdom from him. All this stuff is going on. And none of them wanted Solomon to be the king. And so he could have just said, I'd like to have a little bit of family peace. Or he could have said, My father David is bigger than life. And I'm trying to follow David, and he's got all this stuff swirling around in the memories of people. Of what my mother and David did. And the rumors of Bathsheba, Bathsheba gate, and how I'm going to live all of this down. And God would just clear up the mess. But you know what he asked for? He asked for wisdom. Give me that. And watch what God says about this wisdom in verse 12. God said to Solomon, Because this was in thine heart, and thou hast not asked for riches, wealth, or honor, nor the life of thine enemies. Neither did you ask for long life, but has asked for wisdom and knowledge for thyself, that thou mayest judge my people, over whom I've made thee king. Wisdom and knowledge is granted unto thee. And I will give thee riches and honor, such as none of the kings have had that have been before thee, neither shall there be any after thee. God said, Because this is what you've asked for, a selfless thing, I'm going to give you everything else.

Why Wisdom Beats Wealth

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Now turn with me to the book of Proverbs, chapter 3, verse 13. Listen carefully to what God had to say, how incredible this is. Happy is the man that findeth wisdom. Do you know what I find everywhere I go? Everybody's wanting to get happy. They just like to be happy. And God says, if you want to be happy, find wisdom. Isn't that the funniest thing? And he said, Happy is the man that findeth wisdom and the man that getteth understanding. For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver and the gain thereof, then find gold. So if you've got a choice between unspeakable riches and wisdom, always go for wisdom. What would you do? I mean, if you were offered to be a multimillionaire or to have wisdom. And God says wisdom sees the value of silver and gold. Look at verse 15. She's more precious than rubies, and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared to her. There's not one thing that you can ask for that comes close to wisdom. So I'm gonna ask you a question right now. Do you have wisdom? The thing that God says is to be desired above everything. More important than everything. So what is wisdom? God says its value exceeds everything. Well, wisdom is not knowing things. That's knowledge. When you know things. How many of you ever met an educated idiot? Boy, that lit you up. They got so many degrees behind their name, it looks like alphabet soup. You heard about the guy named Tweedle. They offered to give him a doctorate of divinity, a DD, and he turned it down. He said it's bad enough to be called Tweedle, let alone Tweedly DD. Maybe somebody that's got a lot of education, if you're playing trivia, maybe you'd like to have them on your side. But I've met some of the most stupid people in the world with all kinds of education and all kinds of degrees. They know a lot, but they don't know what to do with it. Now catch this carefully. Wisdom is not knowing things, wisdom is knowing what to do and when to do it. That's wisdom. I believe you ought to get all the education you can. But the fact that you have an education and a degree doesn't mean that you have wisdom. And maybe you were never afforded the privilege of getting a good education, but you can still be wise. Can I tell you why? Because wisdom only comes from one place. That's from up above, from God. It's the only place that you can get true wisdom. And whatever God offers, we're about to read about it here in the book of James. Whatever God offers, the devil always counterfeits. He'll come along and he'll offer you a false dollar. It's a counterfeit. He'll offer you false wisdom that seems sharp and seems smart and seems to be the right way to go, and we get confused over the devil's wisdom and God's wisdom. So God writes out a little questionnaire for us here, and James is the half-brother of Christ, writes it, verse 13 of his little book, chapter 3.

Spotting Counterfeit Wisdom

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Who is a wise man? Great question. And endued with knowledge among you, let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness are wisdom. So there's no such thing as a proud wise man. If you got wisdom, show it in meekness. But if ye have a bitter envy and strife in your hearts, glory not and lie not against the truth, this wisdom descendeth not from where? Above, but is earthly, sensual, and devilish. Now watch this. God has lined up three things. And he said, The devil will use these three things to capture you and to capture me and to capture people with a wisdom that is not from above. So God puts an incredible and unspeakable value on wisdom, and the devil knows it, so he comes up with a wisdom that's from below and not from above. And God says, Let me describe that wisdom for you. It's not from above. This wisdom is not from above, but is earthly, sensual, and devilish. Now, we know that earthly means that it appeals to the world. Isn't it interesting how the devil's always trying to work his way in? Do you know they're now writing books that can be cross-marketed between the world and the church? They're writing books like that. They're putting out movies like that that draws in the church and draws in the world, and they can cross-market it. And the wisdom of the world, God said, is foolishness to him. And the first check is does this wisdom try to get the world to salute it and the unsaved crowd to salute it? That's earthly. That's what he's saying here. And then he suggests, secondly, this counterfeit is sensual. It appeals to the senses. The devil's always trying to get me to feel good about junk. How about you? Always tries to work on our feelings, our senses. Sometimes somebody will say, well, we can get a big crowd and we use the right music. Well, all music, the good music, is created by God, and there's nothing wrong with music stirring the emotions. But if it stirs the flesh, that's the very thing that we're trying to say that needs governed, that needs to be put to death. And if it stirs the flesh before it stirs the emotions, we've got a problem. And just justifying it to gain a crowd isn't where it's at. And then he talks about a devilish wisdom. Now, what's his capstone? It's pride. He wanted to be God. He wants to make you feel like you're a God too. And everywhere we go, we want God, but we want him on our terms. We want God on our terms. And if there's any pride in it, remember God resisteth the proud. And none of us want to walk out of here with God as our enemy. God resists the proud. It's devilish. So the Bible takes time to give us seven marks of wisdom. What wisdom is. And verse 17 says, But the wisdom that is from above is first pure. Never in any respect is the wisdom of God going to violate his word. You say, Well, the Holy Spirit impressed me. The Holy Spirit's the one that wrote the Bible. Holy men wrote as they were moved on by the Holy Ghost. So he's not going to, he's got a great memory. He's not going to counterdict what he had written. Okay? So don't go over that stuff. I felt impressed. I've got people that even tell me God told them. They just have a regular running commentary with God. Aren't they amazing? I've been around for a long time and I don't have that regular running commentary going on. I have to seek the mind of God. I even search out in the Word of God trying to find the mood of the Spirit. And so I'm not having this running commentary, and you aren't either. Don't walk up and say, well, God told me. We had one girl back in Bible school. She happened to be pretty. She was a visitor. I made that part up. We had two different boys that God told him to marry her. No, he didn't, but they said he did. Neither one of them got her, though. And this stuff I'm always saying, God told me. Don't come across that way. This needs to be pure.

Pure Wisdom And A Clean Heart

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Now, I uh I had a house I used to live at, and it had a back porch. And uh I when I bought it, somebody else had already lived there, and I lived there for quite a while, I don't remember how long. But in time, it was amazing that back porch that would begin to turn green and become brown, begin to turn black, and uh uh stuff got poured on it, and so I got the bright idea of pressure washing that back porch. There's still some marks of not knowing how to run a pressure washer. 1400 PSI. And uh plank by plank I started out and amazing, it began to strip the dirt and the grime and uh gunk and mildew and mold and uh and I'm praying. One more at a time, amazingly it took it back almost to its natural form. And I thought, we're kind of like that old back porch. Over the years, stuff can get into our lives, maybe a little bit of bitterness and maybe a little frustration, maybe a little envy, maybe a little doubt, maybe a little despair, and it can cling to the soul and produce a discoloration that a normal worship won't take care of. And we need God to clean us to the core until the wisdom is pure. And then it's peaceable. Look at uh look at peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy, good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Now, I know people who are not peaceable, they'll knock you to pieces. You just look at them crosswise, and they'll raise figures you didn't even know grew on hands. They'll glare at you. I'd stop to tell you a few things, but I'm gonna move along while you're shouting happy. They're just flat-out bullies. And I've seen some folk even do it in the name of Jesus. Now you haven't, but I've lived longer. Mean. People can be contentious. How many have some like that in your own family? Contentious. How many sitting next to them right now? Some don't want to get along. I mean, they'd rather fight than talk, they'd rather yell than to listen. They won't give an inch because they're always right. They're not concerned about a middle ground. They don't want to get along and they never bring peace. They're like a human tornado that wreaks havoc when they come into the room. But I want you to know the wisdom from God is peaceable. And I like what Solomon said, a heart at peace, Proverbs 14, 30, gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones. So wisdom that comes from heaven is peace-loving. And then it's gentle. I'm talking about wisdom. Get wisdom above all things, he said. And wisdom that's from above is gentle, easy to be entreated. Means it's non-combative, non-quarrelsome, not easily annoyed. Discover this aspect of wisdom, and you really find out what you're made of when you're under the gun. And when tempers are short, and when you're worn out, and when you're overwhelmed, and when you're swimming like in a bunch of hungry piranhas. Then it's also persuadable. It'll listen and it'll take the best route. It can be persuaded. Wisdom that comes from God is submissive. Have you ever seen some folk when they enter the room? I mean, they they want to dominate every discussion. The center of attention every time they walk in. They attacked anybody they think is attacking them. But wisdom is also merciful. It's like somebody said, You bring a knife to the fight, I'll bring a gun. You bring me, you put me in the hospital, I'll put you in the morgue. And it's not merciful. It's also impartial. We're never to hold others to a higher standard than we have for ourselves. Have you ever noticed how judgmental some people can be about everybody else? And they've got glaring things in their own life. And then it's sincere without hypocrisy, the scripture says. It's sincere. Now, originally that meant playing another part. It was the uh ancient Greek actor that uh would be in the play, and he would run around and use different masks. He could play three or four different people. And we, if we're not careful, we can be that way. Now, Solomon, you made a wise choice. But friend, that choice to choose wisdom can be

How To Ask God For Wisdom

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ours. So turn with me now to James chapter 1, verse 5. Brethren, if any of you do lack wisdom. The first key to finding wisdom is to acknowledge that you like wisdom. Does that make any sense? And the word there for like isn't mean to be shortcoming, it means nothingness. Jesus said, without me you can do nothing. The biggest enemy that we have to gaining this wisdom is we want to rely on our talent or some of our experience. Maybe some of us have a bushel full of talent. I didn't, but I've sure had a bushel full of experience. I'm not sure I learned much. But God said, if you want my wisdom, you're gonna have to seek me. And the only thing that'll get in the way is pride. So if you lack, he said that we can come and ask of him. And that's the second thing. Ask of God that giveth to all men liberally. God will give you enough wisdom to get through every meaningful need you have in life if you'll only ask him. He's the source. And it's never earthly, it's never devilish, it's never sensual, and it'll match everything that the Bible said it would be. He giveth liberty. And the third thing is to ask in faith, nothing wavering, verse 6. For he that waverth is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and toss. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord. A double-minded man is unstable in all of his ways. Have you got wisdom from above? There's no substitute for God's wisdom.

A Messy Lesson About Listening

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I held a camp meeting in Louisville, Illinois. Seems like a hundred years ago. I hadn't thought of this in years. Kind of a holiness-like Methodist camp. And uh they hired a camp cook to come, and she uh they didn't have any accommodations, any place to keep her. My wife and I, we came in a big long 32 foot travel or motor home at the time. And since then that's become short. They got buses more than 40 foot in length, but we had a 32 footer. When I pulled in, there was a An old guy backing in a little travel trailer in the area where they were to be parked. They had electricity for us, they had water, and they also had a sewer system. Little pipe coming up out of the ground, and you could run your sewer hose to it. So I backed in and I got out and plugged in my electric and uh screwed in the water hose and checked the water and I took my drain hose and I put it over here in the sewer drop. And this guy just backed the trailer in and plugged the electric in and uh screwed the water hose on and he left. And it was hot. Man, sitting right out in the Illinois sun, it just burned. We we had two air conditioners, but the the camp electricity would only let us run one of them. And it was hot. We'd sit there just wiping the perspiration. Right next door was that little trailer out in the hot sun. About mid-camp meeting, this farmer shows back up with his bibs on. Skinny little guy. He was a lucky boy. He didn't have to worry about being twins like me. He's walking around, he had his thumbs in his spinders and or whatever you call those things on bibs, and he's walking around and around and studying that little trailer. And finally, I walked out and I said, What's happening? Well, he said, I didn't dump the septic. And then said time, somebody else has been using it. It's clear up to the bottom of the commode. This is one of them high-fluting sermons here. I'm telling you a story, okay? This is one story high. I can I can preach sermons that are two-story, three-story high, whatever you want. And uh I said, uh, well, you need to dump the septic. Well, he said, it won't make a mess. I said it would. You don't just pull the lever. Well, he said, What am I supposed to do? Well, he said, Well, out in the farm, he said, I pull the lever and jump in the truck and I start driving. I just spread the manure. Well, I said, You want to do that here. Next to my motor home, but I didn't say that. So he said, What do I need to do? I said, Well, you need a hose from your dump there on your trailer over here to that sewer hole. So he said, I don't just back close and pull the no, I said, you can't get that close. You've got to have a sewer hose. Well, he said, I don't have one. He said, Can I borrow yours? I wasn't wanting to loan him my sewer hose. But I opened my back bumper on that uh thing and I pulled out my sewer hose and and I said, I'm not sure the adapter will fit on your dump, on your travel trailer. You all getting this? He said, It'll work. I said, I doubt if it works. Two different makes. I said, Why would they make something that fit? I mean, why would they make things work in life? And uh he knelt down in front of that thing and he took it. I said, You gotta slide it on and then turn it and it'll latch it on. And it wouldn't fit. He tried and he tried. I said, Don't break it. It's just not, it's not made, it's not the right adapter. Well, he said, I'll tell you what. He said, No problem, I'll just hold it. Oh, I said, you don't want to do that. Oh, he said, I can do it. I said, I'm telling you, this is not the thing to do. He said, I can handle it. And he held it with one hand and he pulled the release lever with the other. I wished I'd never been standing outside. The accumulated pressure of that entire full tank, clear up to the little commode. When it hit, it came out of there, and he's kneeling around in front. It knocked his hand away, it knocked the holes away, it hit him in the knees, and he started sliding backwards, and it's getting him higher and higher. Suddenly his bibs are full. He caught him in the mouth, and he was saying, Oh God, oh my God. And back he kept sliding. It was in his hair, it was in his eyes. I never saw anything like it. He's still sliding, and I looked up in the window of my motorhome, and my wife was crying. She was laughing so hard. Now I have to keep from crying, and I'm about to lose it anyhow. And he just kept going back. I wound up having to spray him down with a water hose. I even moved the motorhome the farthest away I could get, and it still was nearly unbearable. I was glad when camp was over. All he had to do was just to listen to somebody that had known a little bit about it. And some of us aren't listening to God very well either. And we got some of the same mess going on in our homes, and in our business, and in our lives, in our marriages, deals that we have done, things that we've gotten involved with or should have and didn't. Solomon, boy, did he make a wise choice. Well, he said, Give me wisdom. I don't even know hardly how to come in and go out the door. I'm not that brilliant. God, if you're gonna give me anything, I don't need money. I wouldn't know what to do with it if I had it, he's saying. I just need wisdom.

Final Challenge And Next Steps

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You know the devil's not too terrified of us with our wisdom, our man-made wisdom. But he's horrified and defeated by the very wisdom of God. And if you want wisdom today, my little Bible study, I want to tell you, all you gotta do is ask. All you got to do is ask, but you gotta go to the right source. You gotta admit, first of all, that you like it. And that you need it. And then simply ask, he said in faith. Solomon, a great choice. But Solomon, the very promise God made to you, he's promised to every child ever believer of God.

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Thanks for being a part of the Voice of the Nazarene. Visit us every Sunday at 9 a.m. with BNT's pastor, Ray Lestalle. For more information regarding BNST, visit EusyrusNazarene.org.