Wisdom 26 Jesus, One Above Us

 Last time we talked about the Atonement, the choice Jesus, by faith, made to give His life for ours on the Cross so that by faith we could be one with Him. Why? When Adam and Eve, the first people, chose to think and act apart from God whom they knew and follow the devil’s temptation they didn’t know, sin replaced the Spirit and they found themselves alone, frightened and self-centered.…

Wisdom 23 Jesus, One with Us

 “…the uniqueness of Jesus lies in the incarnation, the atonement and the exaltation.  Each is unparalleled (John Stott).” As we ended last time, we want to pursue the uniqueness of Jesus in those three realities, incarnation, atonement and exaltation.

 First, the Incarnation.

The eternal Son…

 John Stott got me to thinking about uniqueness as a gift from the Lord. that's the reaosn for this article. ><>W

Wisdom 22 Uniqueness and Us

 “I’ve never seen a sunset like that before! What sunrise! Wow! I look forward to every day because it has a new experience waiting. That…

Wisdom 21 Have You Got Coverage?

 When I bought my car, I got a bumper-to-bumper coverage that covers me for 100,000 miles. For those of you who drive that means a lot, especially if you do much driving. There are all kinds of things that can happen to a car. But if you maintain it properly and drive carefully, your car will last a long time. I’m sure you also have home insurance…

Wisdom 21 Have You Got Coverage?

 When I bought my car, I got a bumper-to-bumper coverage that covers me for 100,000 miles. For those of you who drive that means a lot, especially if you do much driving. There are all kinds of things that can happen to a car. But if you maintain it properly and drive carefully, your car will last a long time. I’m sure you also have home insurance…

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…

Wisdom 8 Religion, Relationship and Revelation?

 Three ‘R’s’ and a question mark. Revelation is the key word to understand the difference between belief in Jesus and all other belief systems.   Why is this important?

First, belief is an individual invisible process dealing with what can’t be seen. Think again about this constantly repeated theme upon which all these…

The following article is about a brother in the Faith living his faith.  It is an example of someone who doesn't seek honor but gets it because of his focus is on the Lord as he goes about the daily tasks he faces.  ><>W 

CSX Employee Recognized with Industry Award for Environmental Excellence

Wisdom 7 What’s in Your Cellar?

 We have been talking about wisdom and even put wisdom on a card, an IPFL card, which is a way to personally check where you are in the arena of wisdom. It’s important to immediately assess the word itself and grasp its source as God Himself. He is the Wise One on every level. If we’re talking intellect, He is the perfect Mind. If we’re probing our…

Wisdom 6 It Takes a Tuning Fork

 “You haven’t heard a word I said.” “You aren’t listening, I can tell.” “Didn’t it register with you that I was speaking to you? How come you didn’t get that?” Perhaps we’ve had those directed at us one time or other. Wisdom calls us to attention. Wisdom calls us to be alert, conscious of the moment, sensitive to who we are with. When we…

Wisdom 5 What’s in Your Wallet?

 You know that credit card question on TV. If we carry our IPFL card, that basic spiritual identity card, our mission and ministry define our secular roles as we encounter the world, one person, one situation and one event at a time.

 Take our jobs for instance. Say…