Living in the Wisdom of God - Pastor Carmelo "Mel" B. Caparros II

now we're ready to go to the Word of God today we are still not going to the book of James we're still going sematic maybe up until next Sunday and then I dive in back to our series in the book of James but for now let's take a look at proverbs chapter 4 and verses 1 to 9 and I'd like everybody to please rise from their seats as we read proverbs 4 verses 1 to 9 here o sons the instruction of a father and give attention that you may gain understanding for I give you sound teaching do not abandon my instruction when I was the son to my father tender and the only son in the sight of my mother then he taught me and said to me let her heart hold fast my words keep my Commandments and live acquire wisdom acquire understanding do not forget nor turn away from the words of my mouth do not forsake her and she will guard you love her and she will watch over you the beginning of wisdom is acquire wisdom and with all you're acquiring get understanding price her and she will exalt you she will honor you if you embrace her she will place on your head a garland of grace she will present you with a crown of beauty shall we bow our heads in prayer our Heavenly Father we thank you and bless you for this wonderful time that you've given us O God that we might be able to bask in your presence and honor and glorify your holy name indeed Lord this is the climax of our week and we rejoice that we are in the house of God to God to glorify you to honor you to worship you O God and we invite Lord the power of the Holy Spirit to come upon us and upon our hearts and our minds I pray for myself Lord that you might anoint my lips of clay and may I speak as I shrewd boldly with confidence with clarity speaking the truth with passion Oh God I seek your grace upon me and upon the hearts and minds of your people provide illumination that we may be able to understand your word father whatever is going to be achieved today we will give you back the glory the praises and the thanks in Jesus name we pray amen and amen let's be seated in the presence of the Lord I've entitled this morning sermon living in the wisdom of God I believe nobody will argue with me that we belong to dangerous and perilous times in fact just quite recently we had some events that actually shocked the world and I believe some of you got hold of the news that in Las Vegas there was a massacre that took place people were watching a concert and then all of a sudden they heard shooting from high-powered guns and they did not know where it was coming from and they were sort of fenced in they were running to and fro not knowing where to go they were like sitting ducks and many of them died I think as of the latest that I actually heard there were about 59 people who died and there were hundreds of people who were injured some of them quite critical and so we look at that and we cannot help but ask ourselves the question what is happening to our world well friends we belong to dark times I happen to talk also to one of the leaders of international justice mission pastor Glenn Edwards who happens to be the Church mobilizer for ijm and he was talking to me about the perilous things are taking place in our country particularly cybersex and I think I gave you some statistics before that we are number one in cyber sex all over the world and he said do you know where the hot spot is pastor Mel and so I guess where is it and he said the hot spot is right here in Cebu and so these are the things are happening around the world darkness hovers around us and we're wondering what is happening but friends God is not taken by surprise he actually predicted these things actually taking place and we find it in 2nd Timothy chapter 3 verses 1 to 2 and I'd like to read that to you 2nd Timothy chapter 3 and verses 1 to 2 and here's what it says but realize this that in the last days difficult times will come there you go four men will be lovers of self lovers of money boastful arrogant revilers and I'd like you to note this because this is going to really be part of what I'm going to talk about it says here this will be then to parents ungrateful and unholy so one of the reasons why we live in a difficult world is because of all the things that were cited but also because children have become rebellious so the question of course that we would like to be able to ask ourselves this morning is how do we protect ourselves and our children from the darkness that overs about us how do we overcome the pressures of worldly voices and worldly choices the passage that we will be teaching today tells us how we and our children will be able to survive this world I'm not just talking about physical survival I'm talking about spiritual survival and so this passage that we will talk about will deal with that particular message now the passage is a call to heed godly wisdom of the parents which should be embraced generation to generation there are three things I would like us to see in this sermon and I'd like to pull back a bit and show you what we will be talking about this is going to be how it's going to pan out for us so let me go to the first point which is the priority of promoting God's wisdom that is a priority now I recognize that in our families we have our own set of priorities and obviously some of the direction that we are taking has to do with providing a bright future for our children now that's good but friends we need to understand what are the top things and so far as God is concerned for us and I'd like to be able to tell you that on top of the list is the priority of promoting godly wisdom that's how you secure your family again it is T so please take note of that and then the second point here which we will be talking about is if it is a priority then therefore it is a necessity so this is something we cannot do without this is something that we need to have in our lives a very very necessary component in our lives so it's not something optional we have no choice but to understand that we have to pursue wisdom the third and final point would be this the blessedness of wisdom now how many of us here would like to be blessed please raise your hands all right of course we all want to be blessed but if you are going to be blessed it's because you're following the way of wisdom and I hope to be able to convince you in the next hour or so but let's first of all talk about the priority of promoting God's wisdom which we find in verses 1 to 4 a and I'd like us to read this it goes here o sons the instruction of a father and give attention that you may gain understanding for I give you sound teaching do not abandon my instruction when I was a son to my father tender and the only son in a sight of my mother then he taught me and said to me now this passage speaks about the priority of wisdom but before we expand on this I'd like us to start on the right foot by giving you a working definition of what wisdom is because probably we already have some preconceived notions about what this wisdom is and I'd like to be able to focus on the definition so we don't get lost and we don't get confused so here's the here's the definition it is a godly and biblical knowledge of life and God's will that should be translated into conduct and the making of right choices in life let me repeat it again it is a godly and biblical knowledge of life and God's will that should be translated into conduct and the making of right choices in life now I think that's very important for us to have a handle on because friends if we are going to have a life that has quality well friends obviously we need to have that wisdom because this wisdom is so practical so practical in fact that you will know if you're going to get married with the right person you will be able to choose the right man or the right woman for you you will be able to make the right choices insofar as jobs to take there might be several doors that have been open to you and you're asking the question well what door do I enter into well the wisdom of God will be able to provide that for you and sometimes you're wondering what businesses should I get into or who should be my partner again friends you go to the Bible you will find general principles that will guide you in your life they will guard you as well from making the wrong choices in life now you and I know that we are a product of our own choices some of the choices we made were wise choices I think I made I made a white wise choice when I married my wife amen so I'm thankful that I got married to the right person and obviously you and I are faced with hundreds of choices every single day there are choices we have to make now we don't want to make mistakes we don't want to mess up our lives because if we make the wrong choice guess what's going to happen it's going to affect our marriage it's going to affect the way we do business is going to affect our spiritual lives it's going to affect our own spiritual growth so again I cannot overemphasize the fact that it is really very important that we get into dive into and embrace the wisdom of God the word do we find it where's the starting point well the book of Proverbs chapter one verse seven says this the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom this is the starting point you can't start right in the middle because you will get lost and you will get confused and you may not even understand what God is telling you it has to start here now when we talk about the fear of the Lord we're not talking about cringing in fear in its presence I'm not talking about that we're not talking about just being obedient to the Lord because you're afraid that God might spank you and you might suffer the consequences of your wrong choices now all of those things might be true but you see I think what is most important is for us to understand that what this essentially means is having a covenant relationship with God and the reason why I say that is because the word Lord here comes from the Hebrew word Yahweh now you probably know that God uses different titles just to be able to reveal his attributes to us for example he talks of himself as el shaddai and el elyon or adenine and he talks about being Yahweh and Nisa and Yahweh Jireh and all of these titles actually tell us something about God but that name Yahweh is quite special because it was the name that God gave to his own children or to his own people the nation of Israel and that title was used to signify that covenant relationship that they had that God had chosen this nation to be for himself and that is why the nation of Israel is called that chosen nation of God now how does that apply to us in the New Testament well in a New Testament the way we have a covenant relationship is by receiving Christ as our own personal Lord and Savior that's how we have a covenant relationship with him and I'd like to be able to ask you right now do you have this relationship with God now I'm not talking about knowledge that you got from a text book or knowledge that you heard from your religion teachers because you can actually know about God and not know him personally I'm talking about a relationship that is intimate a relationship where in you do not see God from a distance but rather you actually sense him working in your life you know he's right behind you you know he's right before you you know that he is with you and that is for you and that is not against you you're able to see God not just in the big details of your life but you're even able to see him in the tiniest of details in your life now again that can only happen if you have this relationship because when you have this relationship with him then you have become a temple of God you have become a temple the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit resides and dwells in you and so it becomes a very personal very intimate kind of relationship much like what you have with your friends in fact more than what you have with your friends and with your spouse's it's a relationship that is like no other in fact the psalmist says at your right hand are pleasures forevermore and and so it speaks about encountering God and living a life that is within the bounds of God's framework and it's a wonderful life it's a beautiful life it's a life of joy it's a life of peace it's a life of righteousness it's a life wherein you are rid of all your guilt because you know that you have been forgiven by grace you have been forgiven by God all your sins are covered past present and future and you live in the confidence of being able to enter into the very throne of God to obtain help in time of need so you have got to start from there and so I need to ask you this question do you have that relationship with him and again what you need to do is come to him and say Lord if you're not in my life please come into my life I make you my king I make you my Lord and I make you my Savior and from that time on you will receive the wisdom of the Lord when you go to the scriptures it will not just it will not be a dry book to you but it will be a book that will open your eyes and open your heart and you will begin to see wonderful things from the scriptures things that will amaze you things that will cause you to grow things that will make you see life from the lens of God and how beautiful that is it's actually a rested life a lie of rest a life were in you just understand that God is in control whatever the circumstance whatever the situation you know God is in control and so you walk about life feeling that restiveness if I might use the word you are feeling that restiveness and that power working in you and through you and you get amazed at the way God is able to move in your life so as I described to you this kind of a wisdom obviously this kind of a wisdom is not just being it's not about being street smart or as some of us awareness would say being Maru now and we're not talking about that we're talking about a wisdom that is born out of a relationship with the Lord and this tells us that this wisdom is only available to those who have this covenant relationship with God and you can also only pass it on to others who also have a covenant relationship with the Lord so it is actually non-transferable to people who do not have a relationship with the Lord I mean you can try and maybe they can understand bits and pieces of it but they will never understand the fullness of it and that is unfortunate of course so again we need to start where we need to start and that is having a relationship with the Lord now taking a look at the passage that we just read we find repeated calls to hear and pay attention to the father's teaching and the question is who's the father here who's the father that's talking here well it's Solomon and actually the book of Proverbs was written by Solomon for the purpose of instructing his own sons one of them was going to be a king of Israel and obviously he wanted his sons whoever will become King to be wise to be able to govern the nation of Israel correctly and properly and so he made time for them by instructing them and in fact writing down a collection of writings which would somehow guide them to make the right choices in life so that is what the Book of Proverbs is it is composed of short pithy sayings which somehow tell you this is the path that you need to walk in and friends thank God we also have the book of Proverbs because we can draw and glean so much practical wisdom from this book now also I'd like you to understand that there are certain words here that somehow bring emphasis to the importance of listening well to your parents those words would be here and give attention and now it sounds redundant it's just like you know using different words for the same thing but it's a Jewish thing of emphasizing the importance of listening well to the parents instruction in the case of Solomon he says that he actually became on the receiving end of instruction as well because his father David was a king and his father likewise taught him and instructed him in and we find it actually here in the passage we just read notice what he said when I was a son to my father tender and only son in the sight of my mother then he taught me and said to me so he was also on the receiving end of instruction which tells us by the way that parents should be the primary promoters of God's wisdom now how many here are parents could you please raise your hands alright now we have got to be intentional about disciple our own children well I just remembered a Jake one of the missionaries here hi Jake and at one time we my wife and I had breakfast at Ibaka here in Paseo and he was there with his daughter and so I just chatted with him a bit and he began to share me what he was doing and he said you know what I bring my kids one by one I I bring them we have breakfast we we walk and I start sharing to them about the Bible and that's wonderful how many of us parents actually do that we're in we just sit down our children and talk to them and speak to them inspiring things coming from the Word of God you know these things are foundational we want them to grow up to become mature people people who are responsible people who are accountable people who are disciplined people who understand values and wisdom that's not going to happen automatically that's not going to happen because you know you bring your children to church you need to be intentional and David I believe King David should be commended that even in his busy life as a king he was not derelict in his divine duty to instruct his own son Solomon and maybe we should also commend Solomon because how many women did he have in his life 700 wives and 300 concubines I don't know how he survived now friends by the way don't use that as an excuse to get married to two women or three or more because that's Old Testament that was permitted at that time and definitely not permitted in our time we're supposed to have a monogamous relationship but why I'm thinking about here is if you have 1,000 women obviously you have more than a thousand children maybe that's the reason why he wrote the manual maybe that's the reason why you wrote the book of Proverbs because he understood it's quite difficult I mean we are more than a thousand here can you imagine if all of you were my children well you are my spiritual children but friends can you just imagine being able to instruct and spend time with with this large a crowd and so perhaps Solomon in his desire to be able to instruct his children wrote the book of Proverbs by the way the book of Proverbs was written also by others but it happens it so happens that Solomon is the primary author because majority of the book of Proverbs come from him now I just like to be able to say that when you think about this how David did this and how Solomon did this this becomes a rebuke to us because sometimes as parents we have some lame excuses like I'm so busy I don't have time to be able to instruct my children or some of us would probably make the excuse and say well they have Sunday school so let them learn all of that stuff in Sunday school or some of us might might say well I send my children to Christian schools so that's fine they will get all their Christian education in church as well as in their school friends I'll tell you this that is not enough in fact if you take a look at the Old Testament and I will also go into a New Testament passage later on you will find the intention ality that needs to happen in racing up children look at Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verses 6 please it says here are these words which I am commanding you today shall be on your heart you shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up now this is not talking about a formal instruction we're in it's like a classroom or in all your children are sitting down and you're behind a rostrum or a pulpit and you're beginning to instruct them and making them memorize some verses of Scripture no that's not what this is talking about this is really informal it's as you go about your your daily thing you're supposed to be sharing and looking for preaching points and there are a lot that we can actually glean from because for example when we're driving our car and we're bringing our children to school they will see a lot of things and haven't you noticed sometime they have so many questions like why is this happening or why is this like that and they're observing the world that we are living in and the world that we are living in is filled with a lot of lessons there will be people who will be knocking on your your car window and they'll be asking for money and your children will be asking questions there will be street children who are sometimes barefooted wearing dirty clothes your children will be asking certain questions about them and then they will probably see the crazy driving that's happening in Cebu everybody just cutting the lanes and your children might be asking some questions now do you know that we can actually go to the Bible and explain some things to them and use those things that they observe as preaching points to teach them lessons in life is that important oh yes it is friends a lot of us in hindsight begin to regret the lack of instruction that we have given to our children and that is why friends I'd like to address the parents here to be more intentional in their disciple of their own children your first responsibility is to disciple your family and by the way that includes your spouse's so if you're a man you're supposed to disciple your wife and that's what I'm doing with my wife I disciple her and I'm thankful to God that she has stepped up to the plate and she has grown and she's disciple in other people that's how it's supposed to work because you know the world that we're living in is a dangerous world we will we will experience allurements and the seductions of the world and we will find those glittering things and we will be attracted to them and we will think what would it be if I attached myself to this or if I grab this opportunity friends you know what some of those things might practically destroy our you don't want getting into those places but again that requires wisdom so don't expect the Hat as well to just come automatically and don't just rely on the Sunday service you have got to dig deep into God's Word yourself now what's the rationale to giving attention to God's Word it is to gain understanding on how to live one's life properly and you might think well we get that in school really well I know of a doctor a very good doctor by the way who can't help himself you know why because he's hooked into drugs he's helping everybody else giving prescriptions but he can't help himself he is practically helpless I know of somebody who's extremely wealthy studied abroad even but you know what when it comes to his life when it comes to his marriage he does not have have a handle on it and guess how he escapes he puts a bullet inside his mouth and he kills himself well friends that's what we see in this world and we can talk about Story upon story upon Story upon story and friends we have got to have this wisdom now Solomon's description of his teaching is that it is sound now what does sound mean it means is its tested and proven the source of course is God's infinite and perfect wisdom it doesn't get any better than that you can't improve on something that's perfect and how many times do we go to the Bible how many times do we read the scriptures how many times do we actually obey and follow what the Word of God says sometimes we follow our hearts we follow our emotions we follow our passions and what why happens some people are some women are impregnated before they get married and some of them become single parents and I'm not putting down the single parents if that was if that is who you are right now I'd like to be able to say that you may have made mistakes in your past but here's the Bible the Bible will help you make it strength the Bible will help you have a restored life so I'm not condemning those who have made mistakes in their lives but I'm just saying we are actually a product of our own choices so we're doing where do we go when we want wisdom obviously we go to the word we go to the source of wisdom the perfect and infinite wisdom of God and that is why we need to stay this course notice what Solomon says do not abandon my instruction could you say that your neighbor please do not abandon my instruction say it please and go shift to the other person and say do not abandon my instruction oh that was weak come on let's do it with some energy could you say that the other brother or sister do not abandon my instruction all right I saw brother Hawks on pointing to his sons do not abandon my instruction well friends that's exactly what needs to happen not only do to the children but to our spirits because it's actually possible for us to abandon the instruction of God it is not enough that we listen to the wisdom of God it must be embraced it must be applied it must be obeyed interestingly one of the sons of Solomon who became King that's Rehoboam did not follow the wisdom of his father guess what the result was the result was civil war the result was the Kingdom of Israel being divided into two the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom and Rehoboam actually just held on to only two tribes ten tribes departed from the kingdom of David and they formed their own kingdom which became known as the Northern Kingdom or Ephraim and that is so unfortunate and this tells you what this tells you that even in matters of governance and this was government we're talking about here in matters of governance we actually can can glean from the Bible we can actually lift wisdom from the Bible I spoke to a retreat of a microt it's called the light micro foreign finance company it's a non-government organization composed mostly sixty percent would be non evangelical Christians about forty percent are and so I was given the privilege to talk to them and I began to talk about matters relating to our government I used the example of Daniel for example and basically citing the impeccable record of this man in government and it served him well and it served the people that he was serving as well and so when we talk about this kind of wisdom this is all-encompassing this is not just about family or marriage this is talking about business this is talking about how we do government this is all-encompassing and how we would be greatly enriched when we tap into the wisdom of God and so again it is unfortunate that Rehoboam did not follow the wisdom of Solomon but to be fair to Rehoboam well the first one who abandoned his own instruction was Solomon himself as he got so so lustful in having so many women in his life many the ladies that he got married - were actually pagans they were worshipping other gods and guess what happened to Solomon he began to practice religious syncretism not that he abandoned the highway but he began to add other gods and that proved to be his destruction that's why not only did he penned the book of proverbs he also penned the book of Ecclesiastes which is actually a record of his stupidity a record of his foolishness a record of the vanity of his own life because of his worldly pursuits well thank God we have the book of Proverbs and thank God we also have the book of Ecclesiastes it gives us both sides of the picture when you walk the way of wisdom this is how it's going to be this is going to be a good life and when you walk the way of foolishness well obviously it's going to be disasters so thank God we have those books to instruct us so which brings me to my second point the necessity of pursuing wisdom let's take a look at verse 4 be all the way to verse 7 it says then he taught me and said to me let your heart hold fast my words keep my Commandments and live acquire wisdom acquire understanding do not forget nor turn away from the words of my mouth do not forsake her and she will guard you love her and she will watch over you the beginning of wisdom is acquire wisdom and with all you're acquiring get understanding now all of this basically teaches us about the necessity of pursuing wisdom running after it being intentional about acquiring it and we find actually certain lessons from what we just read first of all a call to obedience to instruction again we find synonymous words like hold fast and keep to emphasize that mental assent is not enough it's not enough to nod your head and say pastor Mel I agree you know you've got to apply it in your life obedience is required we're given an instruction for the continual pursuit of wisdom take a look at verse five how many times do you find the word acquire here how many times take a look how many times the word acquired just in verse five how many times twice alright you're very smart twice yes why just in one verse the word acquire is mentioned twice that speaks of a continual pursuit of wisdom it speaks about intentionality it speaks about it speaks about one thing my question really is are you hungry and thirsty still for God's Word I mean some people probably are thinking well pastor Mel I've been with you for several years I've heard it all I've heard all your servants and it's nothing new really some things that you just keep on repeating them well that might be true but do you know that the Holy Spirit's anointing can make it so fresh to you it may not be new but when you are when you open your heart when you open your mind the Spirit of God just illumines it and it goes beyond the manuscript and it you begin to have an encounter with God and you leave this place having felt the presence of the Lord knowing that God spoke to you but that only happens when you're hungry and thirsty if you're saying I'm full if you have no spiritual appetite any longer then nothing of what I do and nothing of what I say is going to help you but if you are hungry and thirsty this is going to help you a lot and friends that I pray is what's happening actually here and now that there is just this openness you know I continue to pursue the wisdom of God I'm thankful to the Lord - legends - spiritual legends came over to Cebu I got to talk to dr. Harold Sayla well-known author of course well-known radio commentator well-known speaker he speaks all over the world and we spent time together we were celebrating his advanced birthday or was it that the late birthday I'm not sure anymore but we were seated together and he was just pouring out his life pouring out his experience pouring out his learnings to me we spoke for maybe a couple of hours and I was just sucking it in I was just digesting everything that he was sharing to me and then about a week ago yeah was it a week ago or a couple of weeks ago pastor Edmond Chang came over and dropped by in Cebu what a privilege that was because he could have gone to Manila for a connecting flight but he decided he would come here because he wanted to see me and we spent two days two days he was just mentoring me he was just really pouring out his life pouring out his ministry pouring out his learnings and I was just sucking it in I was just soaking in all of that wisdom receiving everything that that he was sharing to me and how I was greatly enriched by that my wife was there also and we were talking to him and she was just receiving everything I'm hungry I'm hungry still I'm thirsty still why do you think I'm enrolled in the master class in taya actually my professors thought that the senior pastors would not enroll and they were really thinking of the young young ministers the Maverick so to speak and wanting to instruct them and they were actually surprised that I myself enrolled in that course and why did I do that I mean I'm 55 already I'm 56 and some of yours probably thinking that's good time to go to school well maybe actually I'm thinking this should have come much earlier in my life but you know what I may be this age already but I want to learn until the day I die I'm just going to continue to learn why because I'm hungry and I'm thirsty Jesus wants that he wants you thirsty he said if anyone is thirsty let him come to me and that's the problem sometimes with a lot of people I mean the Word of God is there but sometimes were not hungry enough sometimes were not thirsty enough sometimes we don't have the spiritual appetite we want to maintain our status quo were merely on maintenance mode and we're wondering why am i spiritually dry well you're dry because you're not hungry you're dry because you're not thirsty any longer God wants you thirsting after him remember the psalmist what he said as the deer pants for water so my soul pants after thee that's what needs to happen a continual thirst for the Word of God it doesn't really matter who's behind this pulpit I'm not just the only one who stands behind this and sometimes I get frustrated when I hear people not attending church because it's not pastor Mel who's preaching well friends it's the Word of God doesn't really matter who's behind the pulpit come in at 10:00 because they have some things to learn I'm not the only one I do not have a monopoly of truth and that needs to be clear we will learn from so many people if were opened if we're hungry if we're thirsty now notice also here in another passage a call to commit to memory and faithful obedience notice what it says here do not forget nor turn away from the words of my do not forget one of my regrets now is that when I was younger I did not memorize as many verses of Scripture because right now my memory at this age is not as sharp as it used to be now I'm thinking Lord I missed it but you know how difficult it is I mean try memorizing when you're 50 years old alright know how many here are 50 by the way and above raise your hands oh yeah I've got a lot of classmates here amen you know how hard it is right I mean just to keep on memorizing things but you know we have to be intentional those of you are young memorize scriptures you know why you know what the psalmist said thy word have I hidden in my heart that I may not sin against thee the more you memorize Scripture the more it becomes part of your life the more it will be able to guard you the more it will be able to inspire you the more your your faith would be energized that's what memory does memorizing scripture does here we find a call to cling to wisdom it says in verse 6 do not forsake her tell your neighbor do not forsake her alright the heard there is wisdom all right don't look for somebody else that's wisdom that's being talked about there do not forsake her again we find a continual pursuit of wisdom take a look at verse 7 it says the word acquire is mentioned twice again notice the progression also it says and with all you're acquiring get understanding you know what that is saying it's saying don't be satisfied don't think you have enough don't think you know it all it says here and with all you're acquiring understanding friends here's where I'd like to say that I value my diploma from ibi International Bible Institute more than I value my diploma from De La Salle University I hope the last alights who are listening right now are not going to get angry with me I'm still goalless odd but I just have to say there is so much more that I have learned about life because of International Bible Institute and my thinking is why didn't I get this earlier how I wish I had this a lot earlier but friends this is the thing that God wants us to have a continual thirst a continual pursuit and we come to the climax the third point which is the blessedness of wisdom in three verses verse 6 verses 8 & 9 it says here do not forsake her and she will guard you love her and she will watch over you prize her and she will exalt you she will honor you if you embrace her she will place on your head a garland of grace she will present you with a crown of beauty all of these are benefits of wisdom but they are conditional say conditional say conditional they are conditional benefits of wisdom in other words it's not going to work for you by simply hearing it you have to apply it and so what do we have here well first of all a protected life if she is love if wisdom is loved and not forsaken knowing that wisdom protects should cause us to pursue it relentlessly and this is what David admonished Solomon and Solomon in turn his own we'd like our children to have a bright future amen amen we want them to have a bright future and the wisdom that you can give to them is the wisdom of the Bible I know some of us we want to send our children to the best schools we're racking our brains maybe going over time because we want our children to get the very best education and I do not want to belittle or diminish the importance of that let me tell you the greatest education you can ever give to your children is the Word of God amen it is the Word of God so you have a protected life not only that exaltation and honor will generally come to those who prize and embrace wisdom actually and I don't have the time to explain this verse eight actually uses a Hebrew way of emphasizing it uses what is called as a chaotic structure but basically just to go straight to the point what it is really trying to do is place the emphasis on exaltation and honor coming when you treasure wisdom now how many here want to be exalted raise your hands please all right some of you are eating a lot of humble pie or pretending how many here want to be exalted raise your hands please oh yes of course we want that because this is that's the sign of God's favor but know what the Bible says promotion does not come from the east nor the west but it comes from the Lord God Almighty and it comes because you attach yourself to the perfect wisdom of God godly wisdom is something that needs to be passed on from generation to generation if our church and if our families are going to survive this dark world that we are in parents you are called upon by God to instruct your children Ephesians six verse four reads fathers do not provoke your children to anger but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord children on the other hand are to honor and obey and and follow the instruction of their parents that they might reap the benefits of that wisdom but it doesn't stop there I'm 55 doctors say that the average Filipino age for males is between 60 to 70 years old so if I'm 55 and if God is merciful to me and I get to live at least until 70 I still have about 15 more years more or less of ministry and here's here are my thoughts what is good what is a living word going to look like when God takes me home what is a living word going to look like when God takes me home will the next generation step up to the plate what about the third generation will they still be similar to living word the original paradigm that it was passionate about the word passionate about prayer passionate about discipleship will it still be the same that's my concern the reason why I'm preaching these things to you is because I want us to be responsible to pass this on to the next generation so let me close with one more reckon Timothy chapter 2 and verse 2 it says here the things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses and trust these two faithful men who will be able to teach others also now think about this for a while how many generations are being talked about in this verse you know do you know how many generations are being talked about here we're talking about four generations you have Paul Paul is the one who wrote this whom to whom is he writing this to he's writing in 2timothy and what is his instruction to Timothy he says entrust these to whom to faithful men third generation and then he says who will be able to teach others also fourth generation so what's living word going to look like four generations down the road I'm hoping that down the road it will still be the same old living word that is walking the ancient paths and friends let me tell you it's not going to happen if we drift away from this wisdom that God has given to us let's stay with it and friends we will remain as the Living Word amen let's give the Lord a big hand please shall we pray please let's bow our heads and close our eyes at this time our Father we just come before you with Thanksgiving in our hearts lord thank you for instructing us and inspiring us to love the word some of us are turning cold towards the Word of God I know that there are many here who are saying I've read the Bible for several years already there's nothing new in it but Lord you know that your word is alive it's not just words that are penned by ink these words are God breathed words and therefore as we read it you could breathe life into it and make us understand and make us see things that we never saw before but that will not happen Lord if we don't have the appetite that will not happen if we're no longer hungry and thirsty so here's my prayer Lord for this congregation I pray Lord raise the level of the spiritual appetite of your people let us never ever be content and think that we know it all allow us to understand that there is still so much to learn now we still can dig deeper deeper deeper still into the Word of God and still find great treasures in it so father help us because we are so weak and we need your grace working in our lives Oh father we thank you we thank you for this morning we thank you also for the opportunity to give our tights our grace gifts and our offerings Lord use them for the glory of your holy name in Jesus name we pray amen and amen

Channel: Living Word

Views: 6,471

Rating: 4.7849464 out of 5

Keywords: Living Word, Christian Church, Carmelo Caparros, Mel Caparros, Bro Mel, Cebu Church, Cebu City, Cebu Philippines, Sermons, Proverbs 4:1-9

Id: 0UR4eZSXtE4

Length: 56min 46sec (3406 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 04 2017