Introduction:
James 1:5 - If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.
How to be Wise (James 3:13-18)
- Understand what wisdom is. (Jas 3:13)
- Know the difference between Me-first wisdom and Godly wisdom. (Jas 3:14-18)
Three questions to ask yourself that will determine what kind of wisdom you live by:
- Where does my wisdom come from?
- Who is my wisdom meant to benefit?
- What is my wisdom producing?
- Apply liberally.
Proverbs 15:1 - A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
1 Corinthians 1:30 - ...you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God...
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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00:40-00:42
Let's turn to God's word together, James chapter three.
00:43-00:48
Let's bow our heads, I want you to pray for me and I'll pray for you as we approach God's word together.
00:52-00:56
All of God's people said, amen, amen.
00:57-00:58
James chapter three, are you there?
00:58-00:59
We're gonna be picking up in verse 13.
01:02-01:07
When my family lived in Chicago, we were broke.
01:09-01:17
We were training with the fellowship, the church planting training, and we tried to sell our house before we moved, but the house didn't sell.
01:18-01:24
So all of the money we got from the fellowship went right to paying our mortgage back here.
01:25-01:28
So we had, that season of our lives, we just had no money.
01:30-01:41
And to tell you how bad, it wasn't funny then, it's kind of funny now, but to tell you how bad it was, I needed a haircut so bad, but we couldn't afford it.
01:43-01:44
And I was a wreck.
01:45-01:46
I really looked bad.
01:46-01:47
I mean, really bad.
01:47-01:52
And I was driving the one day and I saw there was this place there was a neon sign in the window.
01:53-01:54
It said $5 haircuts.
01:55-01:58
I'm like $5 haircuts.
01:59-02:03
So we scrimped and we saved and we tightened the belt.
02:03-02:05
And we came up with that $5.
02:07-02:09
And I went to this place to get my hair cut.
02:09-02:20
And I sit down in the chair and I said to the lady, "You know, I want it really short around the sides and back, you can leave a little on top, but quite a bit needs taken off the top.
02:20-02:24
But just, you know, leave some on top." And she pulls out the electric clipper.
02:24-02:35
She's like, "Eh." And she was like, "Brrr." And I was like, "No, no, no, no, no, no." And then I realized she didn't speak English.
02:38-02:40
But she did kind of burp in my face the whole time.
02:40-02:42
And that was a whole different story.
02:43-02:44
I'll tell you that one later.
02:46-02:47
But she got done with me.
02:47-02:50
And look, some people can pull off the shaved head thing.
02:51-02:52
I am not one of those people.
02:53-02:56
I looked like Curly from the Three Stooges.
02:57-03:12
So I was like one part so like frustrated after this ordeal and one part so just dejected I guess is the word.
03:14-03:17
And I went up to the counter to pay and there was nobody standing there.
03:17-03:20
I just went up there and like, I was defeated.
03:20-03:28
I pulled out, you know, the only $5 we had to our family name And this man comes around from behind the corner.
03:28-03:30
I don't know if he's the manager or the owner or what.
03:30-03:38
He just comes from around the corner and he goes, "Ha ha, senority!" I'm like, "Just take my $5." I'm outta here.
03:39-03:45
You're like, "What's the point of this story?" Well, I learned a valuable lesson.
03:47-03:53
When it comes to haircuts, it matters where you get it.
03:54-03:54
Right?
03:55-03:56
It matters where you get it.
03:56-03:57
Now hold that thought for a second.
03:58-04:02
Look at James chapter three, verse 13.
04:02-04:10
James says, "Who is wise and understanding among you?" Stop there.
04:11-04:12
He asked the question.
04:13-04:14
Sort of like show of hands.
04:15-04:21
We're not gonna do this now, but James says, "Okay, who here is wise?
04:22-04:23
Who is understanding?
04:26-04:33
And the problem with asking that question and just kind of leaving it there is everyone thinks they're wise.
04:35-04:38
But obviously everyone is not wise.
04:40-04:42
Do I have to sell you on that?
04:43-04:45
That everyone is not wise?
04:45-04:47
I really don't need to sell you on that, do I?
04:47-04:49
Okay, we'll just move on then.
04:53-04:56
with wisdom, just like haircuts.
04:58-04:59
It matters where you get it.
05:02-05:03
And that's what we're gonna talk about today.
05:05-05:06
We're gonna talk about wisdom.
05:08-05:11
And write down on your outline, it matters where you get it.
05:11-05:12
Just write that down at the top.
05:12-05:14
It matters where you get it.
05:15-05:19
Because if you miss that, you've missed everything, according to God's word.
05:21-05:22
But what is wisdom?
05:22-05:23
I like this definition.
05:23-05:33
I was looking up definitions this week and this definition was, wisdom is the capacity of the mind that allows us to understand life from God's perspective.
05:35-05:35
I like that.
05:36-05:49
It's taking his word, the commands and the principles in his word and understanding them in such a way that we are completely bought in.
05:50-05:51
That's wisdom.
05:53-05:54
But I can tell you something about wisdom, right?
05:54-06:04
Okay, 'cause right now, I know some people might be tuning out, be like, "Oh, another sermon about wisdom, "and didn't we talk about this before?" And it comes up a lot in James.
06:05-06:09
I cannot overstate enough how important wisdom is.
06:10-06:18
Listen, wisdom is the most important thing there is on this earth.
06:19-06:24
Because if you get wisdom, you'll get everything else.
06:27-06:28
It's the most important thing.
06:30-06:37
Do you remember back in 1 Kings 3, the Lord appeared to Solomon and said, "I'll give you whatever you want." What a blank check.
06:37-06:41
The God of the universe says, "I'll give you whatever you want." Do you remember what Solomon asked for?
06:41-06:42
What did he ask for?
06:42-06:43
Shout it out if you know.
06:44-06:44
Wisdom, right?
06:46-06:51
and with wisdom, Solomon got everything else.
06:53-06:59
And we already learned in James that, we learned like Solomon that God is the source of wisdom.
07:02-07:23
James 1.5 says, "If any of you lacks wisdom, "let him ask God, who gives generously to all "without reproach, and it will be given him." See, everyone thinks they're wise, but obviously everyone is not wise.
07:24-07:30
And James says, "Who is wise and understanding among you?" It matters where you get it.
07:32-07:35
So on your outline today, how to be wise.
07:37-07:38
How to be wise.
07:39-07:47
A, you have to, before we could get wisdom, we better understand what wisdom is, right?
07:48-07:51
Otherwise we might be trying to chase down something that isn't wisdom.
07:52-07:54
So letter A, understand what wisdom is.
07:54-07:57
So he asked the question, who is wise and understanding among you?
07:58-08:05
Another way of saying this is, it's like Solomon is saying, hey, who here is the master of knowing how to live?
08:06-08:08
Who's the specialist here?
08:08-08:09
Who gets it?
08:09-08:11
Like who's really nailed it down?
08:11-08:16
Like what it means to live a successful life?
08:17-08:42
And you ask that question and right now, I'm sure there are people sitting here, there are people watching this stream, and I say, "Who here is wise?" I'm sure there are people here that are like, "I'm too shy to holler out, but I am." You know, I have this degree, I went to the school of hard knocks or what I'm, but I'm really wise.
08:44-08:45
Well, look at verse 13.
08:45-09:08
He says, "By his good conduct, "let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom." James says, "You got godly wisdom and understanding?" He goes, "It's up to you to show it." And see, this is a command in the Greek.
09:08-09:13
He's like, "You wise?" He's like, "Show me, show it, demonstrate it.
09:13-09:15
"Don't just tell me you're wise.
09:16-09:23
"You have to prove that you're wise by your action." And see, this is where we get wisdom and knowledge mixed up.
09:25-09:27
Wisdom and knowledge are two different things.
09:29-09:38
And I say, church, we live in a day that the difference between wisdom and knowledge is more obvious than it's ever been in history.
09:40-09:41
Here's what I mean by that.
09:42-09:44
Knowledge is just information.
09:44-09:46
That's all knowledge is, right?
09:46-09:48
And we have access now to all the knowledge in the world.
09:49-09:55
Right now, if I said to you, "Hey, who played Clark Griswold's mother "in Christmas Vacation?
09:55-10:01
"What was that actress's name?" You could tell me in like 15 seconds, couldn't you?
10:02-10:07
Or if I said, "Hey, what are the lyrics to Dancing Queen?" Some of you probably know them by heart.
10:09-10:11
And I applaud you for that, I guess.
10:11-10:16
But you could, if you didn't, you could tell me in a few seconds, right?
10:17-10:18
That's knowledge.
10:20-10:21
We all have that.
10:22-10:24
But do you know what I don't see?
10:25-10:27
And I'm seeing, or maybe I should say it this way.
10:27-10:33
I am seeing it less and less and less and less and less as the years go on, as I'm seeing real wisdom.
10:33-10:34
I'm just not seeing it.
10:36-10:44
Like for example, in relationships, when it comes to conflict resolution, we don't know how to do that.
10:44-10:46
Like, can I just text an apology?
10:46-10:55
To sit down and have a hard conversation with someone, that takes wisdom and we've lost that.
10:57-10:59
Or managing money, right?
11:00-11:05
That is an aspect of wisdom, and we don't know how to do that.
11:05-11:08
We don't know how to manage God's stuff.
11:12-11:13
We're controlling your temper.
11:18-11:19
We don't know how to do that.
11:21-11:30
You see, movie actors and song titles and all that secular stuff, that's trivial.
11:30-11:37
But you know, when it comes to relationships and money and self-control, those are things that the Bible addresses.
11:40-11:43
So you see, wisdom isn't just the knowledge.
11:43-11:49
Wisdom is taking the knowledge from God's word and knowing how to apply it.
11:51-11:58
But it's not just knowing how to apply it, it's actually applying it, it's doing it.
12:00-12:11
It's as simple as this, you know, knowledge is knowing that if I eat a better diet, I will be healthier, that's knowledge.
12:11-12:12
Wisdom is what?
12:13-12:16
Actually eating a better diet.
12:18-12:19
So you have to start here.
12:20-12:23
James is telling us that wisdom isn't just a knowing thing.
12:23-12:25
He says it's a doing thing.
12:25-12:27
He's like, "Hey, hey, who here is wise?
12:27-12:29
"Who here has wisdom?
12:30-12:30
"Show me.
12:31-12:33
"Don't talk about it, live it.
12:36-12:52
"Who is wise and understanding among you "will know it when you show it, right?" All right, with that stated, the rest of the passage here, James is going to show us two kinds of wisdom.
12:54-12:55
Spoiler alert here.
12:56-12:58
He's going to show us there's a false kind of wisdom.
13:00-13:02
And then there's God's wisdom.
13:03-13:04
That's the rest of the passage.
13:04-13:10
He's comparing false wisdom and true wisdom.
13:12-13:16
And on your outline, we kept these on here because I want you to have these.
13:16-13:22
I have, there's three questions to ask yourself that determines what kind of wisdom you live by.
13:23-13:26
Because in the false wisdom and the true wisdom, James tells us three things.
13:27-13:31
He says, you gotta know where they come from, you gotta know who they benefit, and you gotta know what they produce.
13:32-13:37
And when you figure out those things, then you'll know if you're living by false wisdom or God's wisdom, right?
13:39-13:40
And this is gonna help you apply it.
13:43-13:48
In any situation you face in life, You need to ask yourself, okay, where is this wisdom coming from?
13:51-13:53
Who is my wisdom meant to benefit?
13:54-13:55
And what is my wisdom producing?
13:56-13:59
Those are the three things James walks us through with false and with true wisdom, all right?
14:00-14:05
So it's up to us, by God's word, to know the difference.
14:05-14:06
And that's letter B.
14:06-14:11
Know the difference between, I'm calling false wisdom, I'm calling it me first wisdom.
14:13-14:16
Know the difference between me first wisdom Godly wisdom.
14:16-14:17
Look at verse 14.
14:18-14:31
He says, "But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth." So first up is the wisdom.
14:32-14:34
It's pretty obvious why I call it me first wisdom.
14:36-14:44
Me first wisdom, James tells us right out of the gate, it resides in a heart full of bitter jealousy and selfish ambition.
14:44-14:45
What is that?
14:46-14:47
What's bitter jealousy?
14:47-14:48
You know what that is?
14:50-14:53
That's when you can't be happy for someone else who's blessed.
14:55-15:07
You see somebody else receiving some kind of blessing or good fortune or prosperity or however you wanna frame it, but you see somebody else is having a good day and that bothers you.
15:09-15:10
Why does he deserve?
15:11-15:11
He doesn't deserve it.
15:12-15:13
I should be the one getting it.
15:13-15:17
And we're like, we're ticked off that somebody else is being blessed.
15:19-15:25
That's what he's talking about here with bitter jealousy and selfish ambition.
15:25-15:27
I think we know what that is, right?
15:28-15:30
All you care about is what's good for you.
15:32-15:33
I don't really care about other people.
15:33-15:36
I just, you know, what's best for me.
15:37-15:46
And James says, hey, hey, don't brag about being wise This describes you because you're lying to yourself.
15:48-16:00
And we've talked about this before because wisdom has come up several times through James, but this me first wisdom is the basis of all worldly wisdom.
16:04-16:09
And I gotta tell you, I cringe because I hear this garbage all the time.
16:11-16:12
People say, you know what?
16:13-16:21
You know, Pastor Jeff, I went to see my therapist or my secular counselor, and he told me, I have to do what's best for me.
16:24-16:31
You know, he told me that I deserve to be happy, and that really, I need to learn how to love myself.
16:33-16:38
So with the decisions that I need to make, Pastor Jeff, I need to learn how to, I just, I need to trust my gut.
16:38-16:39
That's what I really need.
16:39-16:40
I have to trust my gut.
16:43-16:44
That's me first wisdom.
16:45-16:47
Where does that come from?
16:48-16:49
Right, that's our first question, right?
16:50-16:50
Where does that come from?
16:52-16:55
Well, look at verse 15, he tells us where it comes from.
16:56-17:04
He says, "This is not the wisdom "that comes down from above." Like, where does it come from?
17:05-17:05
Not from God.
17:07-17:12
That me first thing, that selfish ambition, that bitter jealousy, that me, me, me thing, Where's that from?
17:13-17:14
He's like, that ain't from God.
17:14-17:17
First, he goes, that's not from above.
17:17-17:18
All right?
17:19-17:20
Look at the rest of verse 15.
17:21-17:32
He says, "But is earthly, unspiritual, demonic." Earthly, unspiritual, demonic.
17:37-17:43
Do you realize that's just another way of saying the three enemies of God.
17:44-17:50
Other places in scripture, I believe it's the world, the flesh and the devil, right?
17:50-17:51
It's the same thing.
17:52-17:54
It's the same unholy trinity, right?
17:55-17:56
It's the same thing.
17:58-18:01
World and flesh, that's the earthly, that's the unspiritual.
18:01-18:03
What that means is just simply this.
18:03-18:09
This kind of wisdom, this me first wisdom, this false wisdom, it's just thinking about here and now.
18:09-18:11
There's no thought towards God.
18:11-18:14
There's no thought towards anything spiritual.
18:14-18:17
There's no thought towards what does the Bible say?
18:17-18:18
It's just about here and now.
18:19-18:21
What's gonna feel best for me?
18:21-18:22
What's gonna serve me?
18:22-18:23
That's the world of flesh.
18:24-18:27
But I gotta tell you though, the thing that kind of jumps out to me is demonic.
18:29-18:33
Listen, worldly wisdom, E-first wisdom, isn't just bad advice.
18:34-18:40
It is from hell, according to James.
18:41-18:42
It's demonic.
18:45-18:48
It's straight from Satan's trash mouth.
18:51-18:59
But here's the thing, this false wisdom, this me first wisdom, here's the problem with the church.
18:59-19:03
Listen, the problem with me first wisdom is it sounds good.
19:04-19:05
It sounds good.
19:07-19:08
Here's what I mean.
19:09-19:15
Remember the Garden of Eden, Genesis chapter three, do you remember Satan showed up to deceive Eve and Adam was with her, remember that story?
19:17-19:21
Did Satan show up and say, "Eve, hey, listen, I got an idea.
19:22-19:24
Let's spit in your creator's face.
19:25-19:30
Let's just flagrantly rebel against God." Is that what he did?
19:31-19:31
No, no, no, no, no.
19:32-19:37
He used what James has got, this demonic, me first.
19:38-19:45
And he convinced Eve to sin by telling her that she needed to have her best interest in mind, right?
19:46-19:54
He says, "Oh, no, no, no." He goes, "You should eat off this tree." Not this tree, don't eat off this tree.
19:55-19:59
It was a different tree, but makes a nice illustration.
19:59-20:10
But I don't think the tree in the garden looked like this But anyways, Satan was like, "Eat off this tree because," and I'm paraphrasing, he goes, "Hey, hey, "you'll be like God.
20:10-20:16
"And listen, if you eat off this tree, "you will know things that you have never known before.
20:16-20:20
"Doesn't that sound great?" And you see how that would appeal.
20:21-20:24
Like, yeah, yeah, I wanna be like God.
20:24-20:25
I wanna know some things.
20:25-20:30
And we have completely disregarded what God actually said.
20:31-20:33
That's me first wisdom.
20:34-20:36
It's good for you, it benefits you.
20:37-20:41
So the first question we ask is, where does this wisdom come from?
20:42-20:44
Well, he says, not from God.
20:45-20:46
Look at verse 16.
20:48-20:53
He says, "For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist." Oh, that sounds familiar.
20:55-20:59
Jealousy and selfish ambition, there it is again.
21:00-21:01
And that answers question number two, right?
21:01-21:03
Who is my wisdom meant to benefit?
21:05-21:11
Worldly wisdom, me first wisdom, false wisdom, whatever you wanna call it.
21:13-21:14
It's always meant to benefit me.
21:16-21:21
What's best for me, what's good for me, you gotta look out for number one, I gotta take care of myself.
21:21-21:26
That's that worldly wisdom always has myself in view first, always.
21:29-21:31
James doubles down on that.
21:31-21:32
There it is again.
21:33-21:36
Where jealousy and selfish ambition exists.
21:39-21:41
Our third question is what is my wisdom producing?
21:43-21:44
So we know where it comes from, right?
21:44-21:47
It's not from God, it's meant to benefit me.
21:47-21:48
What is it producing?
21:51-21:56
Well, I think when you have this kind of wisdom, it's pretty obvious, but look at verse 16.
21:56-22:03
He says, "Where jealousy and selfish ambition exists," Here it is, there will be disorder in every vile practice.
22:05-22:07
Disorder in every vile practice.
22:10-22:16
That's just what you get when everybody insists on getting what they want.
22:18-22:21
Disorder, chaos, right?
22:21-22:23
Fighting, what causes fighting?
22:24-22:25
What causes grudges?
22:26-22:28
We're gonna talk about that next week.
22:29-22:31
But here's a preview.
22:33-22:36
James tells us this discord comes from this me first wisdom.
22:38-22:39
What causes lawsuits?
22:41-22:42
What causes divorce?
22:44-22:49
It's me first wisdom, discord, every vile practice.
22:50-22:57
All right, now let's talk about something good because James moves on to godly wisdom in verses 17 and 18.
22:58-23:01
And the first question is, where does this wisdom come from?
23:02-23:04
In this contrast that he's making, look at verse 17.
23:05-23:13
He says, "But the wisdom from above." Okay, first of all, we see where it comes from.
23:13-23:16
This wisdom is from above, it's from God.
23:16-23:18
God wrote it down in his word.
23:18-23:19
You wanna know God's wisdom?
23:21-23:24
He has blessed us by writing it down.
23:24-23:27
Number one bestseller, right?
23:29-23:30
So that's where it came from.
23:32-23:34
But look at the rest of verse 17.
23:35-23:54
He says, "Is first pure, then peaceable, "gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, "impartial and sincere." All right, look, he gives a list here.
23:56-23:58
And I could do what a lot of preachers do here.
23:59-24:05
And I could go through the list and I could explain these glossary terms.
24:07-24:08
I'm not gonna do that, right?
24:09-24:17
Like, you know, when it says here, full of mercy, like in the Greek, that means like lots of mercy.
24:18-24:21
And when it says sincere, that means without hypocrisy.
24:21-24:22
That's what that means.
24:23-24:25
And you're like, yeah, I could have guessed that.
24:26-24:28
There's nothing really challenging here.
24:28-24:40
What I wanna do instead of dissecting the definition of these pretty obvious words, and I did study them by the way, I can show you my notes, and they basically mean in the English exactly what they meant in the Greek, okay?
24:40-24:42
There's no curve balls here, all right?
24:44-24:50
What I want you to do instead is to take a giant step back and ask question number two, who is godly wisdom meant to benefit?
24:51-25:00
And when you look at this list, peaceable, gentle, open to reason, mercy and good fruits, impartial, sincere.
25:00-25:01
Who's it meant to benefit?
25:05-25:06
The answer is everyone.
25:07-25:08
That's the answer.
25:08-25:29
Imagine a church, just imagine a church where instead of everyone demanding what they want, every single member of the church aims to make decisions that benefit everybody in the church.
25:34-25:42
I'd like to go to a church like that because this kind of wisdom benefits everyone, right?
25:43-25:47
Then the third question, what is this kind of wisdom producing, right?
25:47-25:48
We see where it came from.
25:48-25:49
It came from God.
25:49-25:51
It benefits everyone.
25:51-25:52
What does it produce?
25:52-26:04
Verse 18, he says, "And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace." It results in a harvest of righteousness.
26:04-26:09
This is actually a very tough verse to translate, but it's, we get it, we get it.
26:10-26:22
He's saying peacemakers sow peace and a righteous environment just grows and grows and grows because peacemakers aren't concerned with getting their own way.
26:23-26:24
That's what he's saying.
26:26-26:28
All right, we get it, right?
26:28-26:30
It's an easy passage.
26:30-26:32
James is like, okay, who's wise?
26:32-26:33
And there's two kinds of wisdom.
26:34-26:41
There's like the me first wisdom that comes from the devil and it's all about me and it produces discord, right?
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But then on the other hand, there's godly wisdom and that comes from God and that's focused on what's good for everyone and that produces peace and righteousness.
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And that's the text.
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And I suppose we could leave now, and you would say, I learned some things, except the definitions of all those words in verse 17, I didn't learn that, I'll have to look that one up.
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But I think we would really be doing a disservice if we didn't just take another, just a little, another little step forward here, because James told us that wisdom isn't just about knowing things, right?
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And I can't just have you leaving here today like, well, now I know some new things, because the issue is what are you gonna do with it?
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That's the issue.
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Are you gonna do something with it?
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Are you gonna go back to the same old thing Monday through Saturday and then come back in here next Sunday and maybe make another half-hearted commitment that things are gonna be different?
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James says, "Who is wise in understanding?
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Show me." Right?
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So let's take another step.
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That's why the letter C, apply liberally.
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Apply liberally, right?
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Like shampoo.
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But you need to take this, you need to apply it liberally.
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'Cause here's the thing, Every scenario that you face in life, every scenario, you have a choice.
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Are you going to go with the me first wisdom?
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Or are you gonna go with God's wisdom?
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So in these scenarios, that's why we wrote these questions down.
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You have to ask yourself, where's this wisdom coming from?
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And who's it meant to benefit?
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And what's it producing?
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So let's run it up the pole here and give a couple examples.
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Let's imagine you work with a guy who's just not always easy to get along with.
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Is that the nice way to say it?
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And he said something that really ticked you off.
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Okay?
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You got, okay, at this point you have options.
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And maybe, you're like, here's the option that I'm taking.
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I'm gonna march into his office first thing on Monday, and I'm gonna give him a piece of my mind.
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I'm gonna tell him off, I'm gonna annihilate, I'm gonna tell him exactly what I think about him.
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That's an option that you have, right?
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You with me?
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You have that option.
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So here's the question.
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What kind of wisdom is that?
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You're like, God is a God of vengeance.
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So that's godly wisdom.
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Yeah.
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Let's back up here for a second.
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What kind of wisdom is that?
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Well, where does it come from, first of all?
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This, I'm gonna give him a piece of my mind.
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I'm gonna tell him off.
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Does that come from the Bible?
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Okay, so if it's not from God, it's from, it's from the enemy, isn't it?
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And if you do that, if you go in and tell him off and give him a piece of your mind, question two, who does that benefit?
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Right, benefits me, doesn't it?
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It's gonna make me feel better to put this piece of trash in its place.
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It's gonna make me feel better.
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Okay, the third question is what does it produce?
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Do you think that's going to bring a more peaceful environment at work?
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Or would that produce more discord?
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Right?
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So what kind of wisdom is that?
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Is that me first wisdom?
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Or is that godly wisdom?
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Which one is it?
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Shout it out.
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That's me first, isn't it?
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And that's from hell.
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It's demonic.
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Okay, so here's another option that you have.
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Another option you have is just, well, this guy really ticked me off and (groans) but Proverbs 15, one, says a soft answer turns away wrath and a harsh word stirs up anger.
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So instead of retaliating, you know what?
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I'm gonna be kind to him instead.
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And I'm gonna look for a way to bless him.
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As hard as that is.
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That's another option you have, right?
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Okay, so the first question is where did that come from?
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Where did that wisdom come from?
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Was that from God?
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Yeah, it was, it was literally from Proverbs 15.
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And who does that benefit?
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If you're walking into work, looking to be kind and bless people, who benefits from that?
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Everybody does, right?
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If you're fostering that kind of work environment.
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And the third question is, what is my wisdom producing?
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Produces peace, right?
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It produces peace.
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That was an easy one, let's do another one.
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Evaluating what kind of wisdom we're using.
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Let's do another scenario.
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Like I, let's pretend that you're like, I really like this girl.
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I really wanna be with this girl.
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I really think she's the one.
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Okay, you have options.
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One option is we'll just move in together.
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We're not gonna get married, we'll just move in together.
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That's an option that you have.
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And you can say, you know what?
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It makes a lot of sense, doesn't it?
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Because we're saving money, we're sharing utilities and here's the thing, we can sort of see if we're compatible, right?
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You wouldn't buy a car without test driving it, right?
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So we can see how compatible we are.
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By the way, and if the thing goes south and we break up, there's no divorce or any of that legal stuff.
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I just take my stuff and go.
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Or she takes her stuff.
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That's an option that you have, right?
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But what kind of wisdom is that?
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Well, first of all, number one, where's it come from?
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Does that come from God's word?
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Does God's word tell you to move in with somebody and try them out to see if you wanna get married?
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Is that, no, well, that's not from God's word.
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So where's it from, tell me?
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That's demonic, that's from the devil, all right?
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And who benefits from this kind of wisdom?
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I do.
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I'm only thinking about what's best for me.
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And the third question is, what does it produce?
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Well, I've been counseling people for a long time, so I can tell you from personal anecdotes, and I can tell you from the statistics of people that live together without getting married, it most often doesn't end well.
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So, is that me first wisdom or is that godly wisdom?
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That's me first, isn't it?
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Or, on the other hand, what if I'm like, you know what?
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I love this person so much.
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I do want to spend the rest of my life with this person and the Bible doesn't present living together outside of marriage as a good option.
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So, if I really love the person, I'm going to marry them.
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I'm gonna do the right thing.
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Where does that wisdom come from?
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That's from God, isn't it?
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That's the first question, it comes from God.
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Second question is, who does that benefit?
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That benefits the other person, right?
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It's not saying, I wanna try you out and see if you're good for me.
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It's saying, I love you so much that I'm willing to enter a forever covenant with you till death do us part.
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That's how much I love you.
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It's about benefiting others, right?
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And what's that producing?
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Well, when you have a godly marriage, a godly home, it produces peace.
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You know, at this point I thought, well, you know what would be fun is you shout out scenarios and we'll keep doing this, but we don't have time.
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Do we, Ashley, we don't have time for that.
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Okay, Ashley says we don't have time for that.
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But you can apply this to anything and determine what kind of wisdom am I living by?
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Me first or God's?
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So my friends, what are you facing right now?
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In your home, at work, in your church, you have a choice you need to make.
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And you realize I need wisdom in order to make this choice And like haircuts, it matters where you get it.
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As the worship team comes forward, you know, I wanna do a quick callback.
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I said near the beginning that wisdom is the most important thing.
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Do you remember that?
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Like that was so long ago.
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Wisdom is the most important thing.
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It wasn't that long ago, so I don't know.
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Wisdom is the most important thing.
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And that's true.
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but I can't step off this platform without saying this.
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In order to get wisdom, you have to get Christ.
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Because listen, church, all of these things that we've been discussing in James, we've talked about trials and temptations, how to handle those things.
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We talked about being impartial.
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Last week, Pastor Taylor talked about watching your mouth.
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All of these things that we've discussed.
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Listen, you can't go after these things.
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You can't grow in wisdom and you can't do it if you don't know Jesus Christ.
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Because you're just trying to go after them in your flesh.
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Without God's Holy Spirit, listen, you don't have the ability.
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So you can hear a message like this and say, yeah, you know what?
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I probably need to grow in wisdom.
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Listen, you want wisdom?
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It starts with knowing Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.
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Because Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1.30 to the believers in Corinth, he says, "You are in Christ Jesus, "who became to us," what?
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See that?
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What is Christ to us?
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He is wisdom from God.
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The Bible says that we're all born with a bent toward sin because of Adam and Eve's sin that we talked about a few minutes ago.
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The Bible says that we're all guilty before a holy God.
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And there's nothing you can do to take that guilt away.
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You can say, you know what, I'm going to work in the soup kitchen or I'm gonna try to be the best neighbor that I can.
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And somehow we think our good works are going to make God overlook the fact that we have rebelled against him.
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But our good works won't do it.
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Any more than if you commit a crime here and show up in court and you tell the judge, you're gonna try to be a nice person, the judge is gonna say, well, good for you, but that doesn't take away the fact that you have committed a crime.
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God in his grace, you see, that's what we're celebrating with Christmas.
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You notice the trees, all the lovely decorations.
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And we celebrate this every week, but especially at this time of year, our hearts get like ultra tuned in to this glorious truth that God became a man.
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And he did that so that he could die on the cross to pay the penalty for sin that you and I deserve.
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and He rose from the dead to give us eternal life.
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So please hear me.
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You can go after all the wisdom in the world, but if you don't know Jesus Christ, you're just going to be the smartest person in hell.
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First and foremost, if you're gonna get wisdom, You've got to get Jesus.
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Would you bow your heads with me, please?
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And maybe there's somebody here this morning or somebody watching this stream that's like, man, I need more than wisdom, I need forgiveness of sin.
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I just want to encourage you now to take a moment and cry out to God.
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God, I want to know you.
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I wanna know the salvation that you purchased for me through your son.
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But Father, right now I wanna believe, and I choose to receive Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.
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Father, I am turning from my sin, and I am embracing everything that you have provided through the death of your son and through his resurrection.
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If you're praying that now, or if that's something that you want to pray, or you need more information, listen, you need to see me today.
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You need to see Pastor Taylor or one of our elders today.
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Father, we commit this time to you, and ask that your name is greatly glorified as our hearts turn to you.
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Father, we are so insistent on this demonic, self-centered wisdom that James talks about.
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Father, I pray today that there would be repentance for all of us, that we would go after the wisdom from above.
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We pray in Jesus' name, amen.
Small Group Discussion
Read James 3:13-18
What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
How can you tell where your wisdom comes from - whether it’s demonic (Jas 3:15) or from above (Jas 3:17)?
In what area do you need God’s wisdom right now? How does this passage encourage you in both what to do and what NOT to do?
Have you ever held non-Christians to Biblical standards? (For example: telling your non-Christian coworker he shouldn’t swear because of what the Bible says about our speech.) Why doesn’t that work? How should you address them instead?
Breakout
Pray for one another to grow in godly wisdom.