Wisdom 20 Getting a Hold of Power 

That is kind of a misleading title. You can’t get a hold of power. You have to let power get a hold of you. Here again there are three kinds, spiritual, personal and relational. We’ll start with spiritual power because ultimate power is the power of God. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Gen.1:1).” Now that’s power,…

Wisdom 19 Power 

Volcano erupting in Hawaii, a tsunami sweeping across the shore of Japan, the hydrogen bomb exploding on the Bikini Atoll, a hurricane slamming the Louisiana coast with 130 mile an hour winds, a tornado snapping trees and ripping off barn rooves; all with gigantic power demonstrated in nature. These are examples of physical power. There are other kinds of power…

Wisdom 17 Making a Wise Move

Let’s review wisdom. Paul defines it clearly for us, “It is because of Him [God] that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God---that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption (1Cor.1:30).” He concludes in vs.31 that our inclination to boast has to be transferred from self to Jesus. If there are any accomplishments to be praised, any personal qualities…

Wisdom 16 Treasure Seekers

 “Thar’s gold in them thar hills” was the cry that awakened many to become gold hungry prospectors called the ‘49ers’ in California and later those that roamed the mountains of Alaska. Even today there are the few that take dredges and sift sand for gold off the coast. You can try your tourist hands at panning for it if you go to one of the pretend sluices in the Appalachians where…

Wisdom 14 C’mon, Take the Lunge!

 You’ve heard the expression, ‘Get a life!’ Usually it is the response we give when someone is moaning and groaning about themselves while their real problem is refusing to face the truth or making excuses or looking for sympathy. It’s an attitude based on someone or something to blame instead of getting on with life. Disciples of Jesus know it as…

John Stott's brilliant impression of Jesus:

"Altogether beyond our reach

Jesus renounced the joys of heaven for the sorrows of earth, exchanging an eternal immunity to the approach of sin for painful contact with evil in this world.  He was born of a lowly Hebrew mother in a dirty stable in the insignificant village of Bethlehem.  He became a refugee baby in Egypt.  He was…

Wisdom 13 The Golden Ring

If wisdom starts with God we must grab the golden ring, our personal relationship with Jesus and delve into it. A light bulb doesn’t get light from itself. It is the energy that comes through the electrical system that initiates the filaments in the bulb to light up. A flower blooms by itself? I don’t think so. It is the water and the…

Wisdom 12 The Bible and Wisdom

It takes wisdom to mature. Our need for wisdom comes from the fact we are not born with it. We have to learn it. Jesus showed this, “And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him (Lk.2:40).” The perfect birth gave the perfect ability to become perfect in the perfect Spirit of…

Wisdom 11 What’s Your Story?

 Three histories operate in everyone. If we are looking at secular history, the history we read in school, it is loaded with the names, dates and movements of people who made recorded history, as we said previously. But what made their personal history was their choices. What influenced their choices was the good or bad influences behind them, their…

Wisdom 10 We’re Here to Make History

Yesterday is gone, the past has passed, and history is a passing record of things past, passing and going to pass into the past. But is that all history is? Think again. There are actually three kinds of history---secular, personal and spiritual. Secular is what has happened in human society. Personal history is what is happening in our individual experience from birth to death. Spiritual history is what God has done and is continuing to do since…