Month: August 2012
if – then: a film about consequence told with dominoes
32CH: Lesson 2 – The Question Is…
32CH: Lesson 2 – The Question Is…
Last week…
Chapter one states the intent of this book and God’s larger intent for your life.
God wants to make your life and your world better. God gets you. God is for you. God loves you.
To enjoy the fruit of Gods wisdom you must have a reverence-saturated respect for God as your foundation. You grow that reverence by spending time with him reading his word, meditating on his word and by cultivating a rich, continual prayer life.
This week’s main point
God’s wisdom means nothing if you don’t trust him. If you want to grown in wisdom, if you want to see the results of wisdom in your life you have to make a decision to trust him and to heed his words and accept his direction. Unless and until you do so wisdom is worthless.
The 22 verses of chapter two are broken into 3 sections.
- The proposition
- The payoff
- The protection
The proposition
Wisdom’s power to change every facet of your life for the better is amazing and to be desired. But wisdom’s power is either limited or activated by your faith.
The first big question is:
“Will you heed my words and accept my direction?”
The power of everything AFTER this verse depends soley on how you respond. This is a binary decision. It’s yes or no. It’s 1 or zero. It’s black or white.
The book of Proverbs is coaching you from the very beginning in the fine art of making wise choices. This is your first test. Every day this is a question you can use as a kind of wisdom filter.
If you answer yes then the next step is to pursue God’s words and direction with passion, persistence, patience and purpose. If you do so, then there is a payoff. There is a tremendous upside.
This chapter also sets up the “if”/”then” challenge.
In computer programming the if/then logic sequence is used to write code. If you press “this” key then “this” happens. If you press “that” key then “that” happens. You get the idea.
Life has laws and consequences. God’s love is unconditional. Life is not. If you trust God with the “if’s” you will be happier with your “then’s”. Given the fact that he created and sustains every law (physical & spiritual) upon which our world is based it makes since to trust his word.
The Payoff
Saying yes to God leads to a domino effect of blessings. When you say “yes” Your relationship with and reverence for God surge. You understand the fear of the Lord, righteousness, justice, fairness and every good path. That knowledge co-mingled with unflinching faith in God gives you the ability to make better life choices. Better choices, better life. Saying NO to go has a domino affect too.
The Protection
The upgrade in discernment will protect you from the people, pleasures and pitfalls that stand ready to consume and confine you at any given moment. The wrong men in your life can be devastating. The wrong women in your life can be devastating. The wrong habits in your life can be devastating. Wisdom teaches you to see the danger before it sees you.
The Conclusion
At the end of it all you’re left with a choice. And you are instructed to choose wisely.
A life based on God’s wisdom involves only one choice. Choosing to trust him. IF you choose him THEN you will know wisdom.
The Challenge
Answer the question. Every day just answer the question
(c) 2012 Hallerin Hilton Hill
Wisdom House Publishing
Chapter 1 Audio Preview – We Can Rebuild Him (The God of “-er”)
32CH Lesson 1 – The Foundation
God is for you, not against you.
That’s an essential truth that you HAVE to embrace if you are to know wisdom…if you are to know GOD. Growing in wisdom is great. Growing in God is greater.
God wants the best for you. That is why he gave the best he had. Know that. Live with certainty, knowing that your omnipotent God wants to make your life better now and in the life to come.
There are 33 verses in this the first of 9 foundational teachings.
The Introduction [verses 1-7]
The chapter begins by introducing the purpose of the book. This book is about “-er”.
If you’re lost he wants to find you and bring you back. If you are dumb he wants to make you smart. If you are smart he wants to make you smarter. If you are wise he wants to make you wise-er.
The wisdom teachings found in this book are designed, no matter where your are on your journey to offer you an upgrade. It is yet another example of how God lives to make your life better. Even in the tough experiences He longs to to give you a more abundant life on the way to eternal life. You have to believe that, TRUST that!
Two things stand in the way of experiencing the transformative power of wisdom: skepticism and ignorance. When you deny the truth of the wisdom you encounter OR when you are too lazy to embrace the DISCIPLINE it will take to activate the wisdom that is presented you will know ABOUT wisdom, but you won’t experience wisdom’s transformational power in your life. That’s why TRUST is essential to truth. Verse 7 sets the foundation.
Wisdom’s FOUNDATION is the selfless awe of GOD. (Shapiro)
Prov. 1:7
The next two sections [verses 8-19,20-33]
A contrast is presented between foolish desires and wisdom. Foolish desires lay a trap. Wisdom never ensnares you. The way of wisdom doesn’t have to hide in the shadows. This is the first of what will be many contrasts that help you to begin to or enhance your ability to use your discretion and discernment. First, you have to get more clarity about good and evil. Then you have to make informed wisdom-based decisions. The more you choose the better path (get your reps in) the more natural making quality choices becomes.
The suffix “er” means more.
“-er” also can turn verbs into what are known as “agent nouns” (bake becomes baker, etc.)
For instance, if you BAKE a cake once by following the recipe, cool. You BAKED a cake. But if you do it 1000 times and you’ve mastered the disciplines of the craft you become known as a BAKER. When you make one wise choice, cool. When it becomes your lifestyle you become a man of wisdom.
God wants more for you.
He longs the make you the personification of faith.
He doesn’t just want you to believe. He wants you to be a believ(er).
His capacity to expand you is limitless. God is so full of wisdom you can’t outgrow him. You can’t grow beyond his capacity to make you better.
All of us need to reach up to our full potential in God. As the Army’s ad campaign said we need to “Be ALL we can be.”
Foundations
If the intent of this book is to build us, then we must begin with the foundation.
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge…”
Shapiro says it this way, “wisdom’s foundation is the selfless awe of God.”
The Burj Khalifa is the world’s tallest building, for now.
The architect that designed Burj is working on an even taller one.
Burj Khalifa is 2,717 feet tall. It has 160 floors and took 6 years to complete.
You may remember it from the most recent Mission Impossible Movie.
As you might imagine, a building that tall has to have a firm foundation. The engineers that designed the Burj spent a considerable amount of time engineering the foundation that could/would support this building. But there was another engineering challenge, wind.
The design was wind tunnel tested. The designer’s assumption was that wind, harsh wind was inevitable.
Wind, harsh wind, in life is inevitable. It’s inescapable. God shapes us with wisdom to make us more aerodynamic. The wind will come, count on it. Expect it. But a the wisdom-shaped man is optimized so that the wind does it knock him down it flows around him.
CENTRAL TRUTH
If you want to go higher, you’ve got to dig deeper!
God wants to build you up
“For I know the plans I have for you plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11
You need a strong foundation so you can stand the wind.
You need to be affixed to the bedrock.
You need depth.
You need reinforcement.
As you get bigger you bring glory to the God who made you. People will want to know, “who built you up like that?”
“I want your architect to design my life.”
Wisdom’s foundation is the fear of the Lord.
If you don’t reverence and respect God you cannot hear him.
If you can’t hear him you won’t heed him.
If you don’t heed him, if you don’t act on the wisdom he gives you, you cannot benefit from that wisdom.
Do you really reverence God?
The Disciplines of Reverence
Prayer.
Studying the word.
Studying nature.
Fellowship.
Helping others.
TRY THIS
32CH Lesson 1: The Foundation PowerPoint
What do you want?
That’s a potent powerful question. It forces you to clarify what’s important to you. Be careful how you answer it.
Take some time to think about what you REALLY want.
In re-reading Proverbs 1 I am re-inspired by what God wants for me. He wants what’s best. He wants to AMPLIFY my joy.
Just knowing that His intentions for me are only and always for good let’s me know that as I start this day I start with God on my side, that everything that happens today is in some way working out for my good gives me courage to take on the day.
His will for you is better than yours. What he wants for you is better than what you want for you.
Welcome Back!
Here we go on yet another journey through the 31 chapters of proverbs.
1 Kings 3:4-15 (read this)
Solomon was facing a big assignment. His destiny was to lead a nation. He had seen his father make good decisions. He had joined in the suffering of his father’s bad decisions. But watching his father was not enough.
The most important thing Solomon witnessed was his father’s love for God. David was a “man after God’s own heart”. He wasn’t perfect. In fact he was full of flaws but he was a man clinging to this deeply personal relationship with God.
Some scholars suggest that Solomon may have been a teenager when he became king. Here he stands knowing only one thing: he can’t do what God has called him to do without wisdom…without God.
Have you ever stood at the threshold of a big assignment in your life scared to death at the prospect of what’s in front of you?
As a new husband, what do you do? As a new father what do you do? At a new job what do you do? At the end of a marriage what do you do? Breaking an addiction what do you do?
Solomon did what he saw his father do? He ran to God. He worshipped.
How will your children face their life’s biggest decisions after watching you?
Solomon offered a thousand sacrifices. Think of that. Imagine the smell, the sound of 1000 sacrifices. What a statement he made to the nation he was to lead about the priority God’s will had in his life.
According so some scholars an average of 1200 sacrifices were made in a year. Solomon offered almost as many in this one profound act of worship.
How would your life change if you put worship before work?
God showed up. God told Solomon to ask for anything…anything and he would do it.
What do you want from God?
Solomon asked for the one thing: wisdom!
Asking God for wisdom acknowledges that He has it.
Solomon’s request tells us 2 things about God. (1) God is the one TRUE source of enduring wisdom. (2) God can give you wisdom. He can put wisdom in your heart and mind immediately.
Solomon’s faith allowed this. In order for God to give you wisdom you have to believe in Him.
Do you know what you need to know in order to do what God has called you to do?
Are you making wise choices?
Why are we here?
The Big Picture
We’re here to surrender to God. We’re here to study, learn from and apply the life wisdom in Proverbs.
The Practical Picture
A Return to Reverence
Falling in love with the God of all wisdom and having His power shape and transform your life.
Improving All Your Relationships
Changing the way you think about and treat yourself. Transforming your walk with God. Enjoying a faith-grounded relationship with God. Developing the habits and character skills that help you function and serve more effectively in all of your relationships.
Making better decisions so you get better results
Learning how to respond to life instead of reacting to life. Making right choices. Thinking about results before we take an action
How will we do it?
Read the Proverbs
Read each chapter slowly and thoughtfully. Just one chapter a week for the next 31 weeks. Memorize the Proverbs that minister to you most so that they become your internal counselors.
Journal your experience in the word.
Keep a daily journal. Keep a record of what God is saying to you and what you’re saying to God.
Teach what God is teaching you.
Each week one of you will be asked to present what God has been teaching you through the Proverbs. Prepare a one page summary of the BIG idea that God challenged you with in the previous week.
Come to class.
Show up for the fellowship and study. Commit. Come on time. Be prepared.
Help your fellow brother.
Reach out. Share your experience. Keep their confidence. Be a friend.
Suggested 1-page Format
Name
Date
Passage
Put your Proverb with chapter and verse here.
Bottom Line
A one or two sentence summary of what you learned or what God revealed to you.
Why this passage?
What you learned?
How this passage will work or has worked in your life?
Optional: something profound God gave you from your journal.
Proverbs Translations
This is the translation of the Proverbs we’ve been using for the last 6 year. This time through I’m encouraging you to use the ESV or NIV as well and to think deeply about how the passages are speaking to you.
You can find the Shapiro translation at Amazon. There is a revised edition in paperback with added notations.
Click here for link to Shapiro’s translation on Amazon.com
#32chapters 