Navigating through The Obstacles of Life - Part 4

Transcript

Hello everyone. Thanks for joining with me on another Helping You Become podcast.
I pray it's a blessing to you. Friends, thank you for your company today. It's a
great delight to have you join with me around the Word of God and I thank you
very much for that. I take access to your heart and mind very, very seriously. So
let's just bow our heads before we start and let's just pray and thank the Lord
for today's study. Lord God we just so appreciate all that you do for us Lord your
goodness, kindness, grace and mercy and the Holy Spirit we ask that you lead us and
guide us into the truth of your word Lord into actionable intelligence something that
we can understand and learn and apply to our life so that we can have divine
intervention coming to us and through us into our natural environment around us and
Lord we ask these things and Lord we also ask that the name of Jesus be lifted up
today and we thank you for this Lord God in Jesus name. Now turn in your Bibles
please to John chapter 16. I just want to go back very quickly and recap over the
last couple of weeks. I've been sharing this study now for this is the fourth week
and it started off for me looking at the terrible human cost that's gone off all
around the world or that is taking place all around the world. We've had pandemics.
There's wars, you know, famines, all of these sorts of things are happening.
And yet they happened in biblical times as well, in Jesus' day,
when the Lord walked the earth as a human, as a person. All of these things were
going on and had been for thousands of years. Yet I notice when the Lord walked
the earth, He didn't go and attack the financial systems or try and change the
financial systems. In fact, He was quite respectful towards that particular
environment. When he was quizzed about it, he said, "Well, no, no, no, you render
to Caesar that which belongs to Caesar, and you render to God that which belongs to
God." And we also see when he was before Pontius Pilate,
who was the ruler of the area in Judea there, and When he was before Pontius
Pilate, the governor of Judea, the Jews were screaming out, and the chief priests
were all screaming out, "Crucify him, crucify him, crucify him." In John chapter 19,
we see that in verse 6. And Pilate turns around and says, "Will you take him and
crucify him? Because I don't find any fault in him. Now it's interesting,
Jesus, in his discussions with Pilate, down in verse 10, Pilate says, "You're not
speaking to me. Do you not know that I have the power to crucify you and I've got
the power to release you?" Pilate was confounded, but he couldn't get his head
around this, and Jesus answered and said, "You can have no power at all against me
except it were given to you from above. Therefore,
he that has delivered me unto you has the greatest sin." So Jesus was actually very
respectful to Pilate, and I think he was a shoring Pilate here.
"I am not holding this against you. You know that I'm an innocent man. I know that
I'm an innocent man, but I also know more than you."
intention and God's divine plan was then able to flow through Jesus into the earth
as it stood at that time. And Jesus was aware of all of that, but he was a
shoring pilot. I don't hold this against you. You don't have the power over me.
There is one that has delivered you to me. That is the greatest sin. So nowhere do
I see where Jesus was taking on the political arena. Nowhere do I see where he was
taking on the financial arena. No, no, no, no, no. It's very interesting though,
when you see in verse 33 of John 16, talking to his disciples who were just about
to scatter, these things have I spoken unto you that In me you might have peace.
In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, you be happy. Because
I have overcome the world, yet He did not take on the political arena, and He did
not take on the financial arena, and yet He's overcome the world. So Jesus navigated
a method through it. When He needed tax money, He told Peter to go catch a fish.
When there was no rides home. He had to walk back across the lake.
There weren't any boat taxis available. So he just had to walk back across the
water. Okay, so he completely mastered his natural environment. Sickness and disease
was not able to successfully function in his presence when he chose to do something
about it. So he was able to completely navigate through all of the obstacles,
all of the obstacles that were around him at the time. Now remember I painted the
picture or gave the illustration about the Titanic, the ship that hit the iceberg
and tragically sunk. There were many other ships going through those same waters but
they managed to navigate through the icebergs, and we need to be able to navigate
through the icebergs of life. That's so very, very important. Now, looking at second
chronicles in the first chapter there, we see that Solomon asked,
I'm just turning back in my notes here, Solomon asked a powerful thing from God,
And he asked for wisdom and knowledge, and in First Kings,
knowledge and an understanding heart. So this wisdom, knowledge,
understanding request from Solomon that God would empower him in this,
that God would increase his knowledge and his wisdom levels, so that he could judge
thy people, oh Lord, so that he could judge the people. Well, when you're judging
the people, you're judging the decisions of the people, their outcomes that he's got
to work with and work through. So we need to be able to have wisdom to accurately
create correct decisions, decisions that are led of the Holy Spirit that we love to
remember. And that's one thing that the Holy Spirit really so desperately wants to
do, if I can say it that way. He wants us to be submissive and knowledgeable of
the Word of God so that we can spot the falsities when they come along. We can
spot the erroneous things, the errors, the things that sound okay, but they're really
not. And I gave you an example of that in On 19,
when Jesus is before the chief priest and the Jews and Pilate, and the chief priest
turn around and says, "Yes, but we have a law," and the law says that he needs to
die because he called himself the Son of God. We have a law, and that's what the
law says, so that's what we need to do. But what about God's law that says, "Thou
shalt not kill?" Yes? So, there are things that seem right,
straight out of Proverbs, there are things, things that seem right unto a man, yet
the end thereof is death. It looks good, sounds good, okay, but it's not actually
biblical. And to successfully navigate around the icebergs of life,
to successfully maneuver and navigate through the obstacles of life, to be in a
position where you have overcome the world. You're of good cheer and you in Jesus'
name and in faith in Christ, remember, in Him,
in Christ, in Colossians chapter 2, verse 3, "In Christ are hidden all of the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge." Very important,
in Christ are hidden all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge that's such a
rich verse, such a full verse packed with revelation in the Word of God are hidden,
hidden. Please meditate on that. Let that sink in with something is hidden.
You have to go searching for it. You've got to seek it out. You've got to find
it. It's got to be a priority to you. You don't just go, "Oh, I don't know where
that is," and just give up and walk away. There are a lot of things I don't
understand about Scripture, but the things that I do understand,
build, and if you like jigsaw together, I've heard a person say one time,
"Scripture is like layers on an onion." You peel it back, and you peel it back,
and you peel it back, and you peel it back, and you get down to the very, very
core. But along the way, you get the taste, the goodness of it all the way along.
So Jesus, He overcame the world. There's going to be tribulations.
There's always going to be a massive human cost somewhere. Unfortunately,
that's the way people are wired. C C C
of things as we move forward, knowing that our ultimate primary focus is to connect
with him in such a way to connect with the treasures of wisdom and knowledge in
such a way that the divine intention is released through us into the earth.
very important. God's desired result. God's desired result for your family.
God's desired result for your friends, for your workmates, for your finances,
for your marriage, for your employment situation. Should you have your own business?
Should you start a corporation or start a business that will grow into a
corporation? Many, many people have done that very, very successfully. So it's so
important that our assignment that God calls us to. It is not only our decision,
it's also our discovery. Remember, 331 times thereabouts in Scripture, if you,
if you, if you be willing and obedient, you eat the good of the land. And all of
these blessings will come on you and overtake you, if "You harken diligently
according to the voice of the Lord thy God." Okay, so not only is it our decision,
it's also our discovery, but it's also God's intention for our particular world,
our particular environment, His desired outcome for the people around us,
for the people in our lives. And this is so very important to understand and be
reminded of. Colossians chapter 2 verse 3, "In Christ are hidden all of the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge." Now, we finished off last week in Proverbs
chapter 2. I'm just turning back over there in my Bible now. And in Proverbs
chapter 2 verse 1 reads, "My son, if," there's one of those ifs, "if you will
receive my words and hide my commandments within you or with you. Very important,
you're hiding God's commandments. That tells me just a little thing there.
Be secretive a little bit. Don't declare all your hand, particularly when it comes
to business or new relationships or people that you've only just met. Don't declare
all your hand. Just keep bit back, yes? Yeah? There's a bit of a warning in here.
"So that you incline your ear unto wisdom and apply your heart to understanding."
That word apply, that to me tells of output. If you're applying yourself to
something you're doing, you're involved, there's some output there. Okay? You're
investing in this. You've ever heard the phrase, You've got skin in the game,
so that you incline your ear to wisdom and apply your heart to understanding.
Yeah, if you cry after knowledge and lift up your voice for understanding, you've
got to cry out for this. God wants to see your level of desire,
your level of pursuit. You don't qualify for anything that you're not actively
pursuing. If you seek her as silver wisdom and search for her as for hidden
treasures, then shall you understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of
God. Now that word knowledge there refers to cunning strategies. You'll find the
strategies, those shrewd things, the way God approaches things and we look at that
and think that's just brilliant, okay? This woman caught an adultery. The law says
she needs to be stoned and Jesus turns around and says, "Well, you, you who is
without sin, you cast the first stone." So brilliant, absolutely strategically
brilliant answer. How good was that? Verse six, Proverbs chapter two,
"For the Lord gives wisdom, out of his mouth come knowledge and understanding." The
Lord gives wisdom. And I want to get into this today. Verse seven, "He lays up
sound wisdom for the righteous." Here's a buckler to them that walk uprightly. "The
Lord gives wisdom." Wisdom is a gift from God. Why would he want to give us
something? Why would he want to give us, I mean, he could give us Ferraris. He
could, you know, give us whatever, but he's chosen to give us wisdom. For the Lord,
give us wisdom out of his mouth, come knowledge and understanding. So that's the
case. Then listen, listen to what he's saying. Listen to what's been written down
for us to read. Now, reading on verse eight, he keeps the paths of judgment and
preserves the way of his saints, then shall you understand righteousness and judgment
and equity, yea, every good path. Verse 10, when wisdom enters into your heart and
knowledge is pleasant to your soul, discretion shall preserve you, understanding shall
keep you to deliver you from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaks
fro it or perverse things now we're getting into you be of good cheer for I have
overcome the world now we're getting into let's navigate around some of these
icebergs and continue our journey on across the ocean wherever you want to be
journeying to you're going to have obstacles you're going to have difficulties the
prophet Elijah was at the brook chereth and the ravens bought him bread and flesh
in the morning and bread and flesh in the evening. There was a famine in the land.
Elijah spoke it into being by the power of God, but it got on him too. But he
had a method. He had a way. He had a process where he could navigate through this
obstacle of famine. And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning and
bread and flesh in the evening. And any drink from the brook chereth. God's got a
method. He's got this. He's got our back, man. He's got our front. He's, you know,
he's just got this. So we have to be able to learn and understand the wisdom and
the knowledge of God. Keep that foremost in our mind. Learn how to discern.
Learn how to learn. Yes, I'll give you an example of that. Wisdom is the principle
thing. Therefore get wisdom and with all you're getting get understanding. In Proverbs
chapter 4 verse 7 I said learn how to learn. With all you're getting get
understanding. What's understanding? Understanding is the reality of the repercussions
of the word. Knowing what the reality of those repercussions are.
What does this mean if I do Yes, so we learn to learn,
but we learn to learn God's way. We learn to learn His methods and His processes,
His ways of doing things so that His divine intention,
His desired outcome gets released into the world through us. So with all you get
and get understanding in Proverbs 4 verse 7, what is understanding, the reality of
the repercussions of the Word? Understanding is also the why of your now. You have
a now, why is it the way it is? We see here, going back to Proverbs chapter 2,
when wisdom enters your heart and knowledge is pleasant to your soul, in verse 10,
verse 11, discretion shall preserve you, understanding shall keep you, to deliver you
from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaks perverse things who leaves
the paths of uprightness to walk in the way of darkness. You don't want to be
hanging around with people like that. These people, they rejoice to do evil in verse
14 and they delight in the perverseness of the wicked whose ways are crooked and
they're perverse in their paths. Verse 16 talks about wisdom and discretion and
knowledge entering into your heart. Well verse 16 will deliver you from the strange
woman so they'll deliver you from evil men and strange women well that covers most
people on the planet yes so to deliver you from the strange woman and the men the
evil men I'm not saying all men and women are evil I'm saying there's both sexes
there are covered from the stranger which flatters with her words so now we're
talking other people as well what is all this saying here. What does wisdom do?
Wisdom creates for you and in you the ability to discern.
Wisdom sharpens your ability to discern, to discern right from wrong, to discern
difference, the difference in people, the difference in situations, the difference in
a moment. You can read a room when you walk into it. Wisdom gives you these
abilities. you can discern evil, you can identify difference.
Wisdom is the ability to anticipate a consequence. Wisdom helps you avoid painful
situations and people. See much of our pain comes from bad decisions involving or
with bad decisions with wrong people which comes from a lack of wisdom.
Single people don't date wrong people. Yes? Married people. Don't flirt.
It's just not a good practice. Wisdom gives us the ability to avoid painful
situations. Wisdom also helps us manage the quality of our friendships.
Wisdom is very important. It is in verse 7 of Proverbs chapter 4,
talks about wisdom is the principle thing. Other versions of scripture talk about the
primary or the initial, the beginning, the commencement. Wisdom is our starting point
from which we build upon. If you correct the wise man he will increase. See it
just continues to grow and develop and increase in our life. Wisdom is critical and
it is a gift from God. We're out of time for today friends. Please make sure you
go to church, do something kind for somebody, bless somebody and always remember the
wonderful words of the incredible Apostle Paul. He said, "You be kind one to
another, tender hearted, forgiving one another as God for Christ's sake has forgiven
you." I look forward to your company next week on this station. Have a great week.
God bless.