A New Launch

Luke 5 (Bible account)

• People were crowding around & listening to the word of God
• saw two boats on the water’s edge (Peter & Simon’s boats); He climbed in the one that was Peter’s and asked his to push from shore & began to teach
• after preaching…he preached to peter
• reluctant fisher obeyed & let down the net
• they signaled other partners to help them. They began to sink
• Peter asked Jesus to go away from him. Peter was convicted They were astonished
• Jesus told Peter to not be afraid
• Their best business day was their last

Ahas:

• Jesus had already be presented at the temple; baptized in the Jordan; tempted in the wilderness; preached his first sermon; life threatened (again) in Judea; he now sought people with whom we could work and build. (Today He’s still doing that. Right here)
• Jesus used two preaching strategies…one pulpit..The crowd/Inner Circle
• Jesus didn’t ask permission to enter boat
• He asked Peter to chauffeur him
• After he finished preaching~ he turns to Peter and takes him “deeper” ~ Deeper = Out of our control.
• Then Jesus started “meddlin’”
• Carpenter’s don’t know nuthin’ about no fishing…it’s morning…it’s hot…the fish have gone deep to cool themselves…Ugh!!!

• Peter called Jesus “Master” at first in verse 5 & Peter calls Jesus “Lord” in verse 8 as he kneels

Theological Realities:

1. Jesus demonstrates to would-be followers the Arm of God
1. Why? We only know God as God reveals Himself to us
2. God’s revelation always comes with power! 
1. Power to grasp: first with our eyes…then our minds (understanding)…then our hearts
3. Jesus demonstrates here what he came to earth to do…speak to us in a manner in which we can receive.
1. There men were fishermen, not priests/pastors or biblical experts.
1. First: We see God, again, choosing outsiders
2. 2ndly: We see God speaking to them in their language by entering their world…their sphere of influence. I’m sure NO ONE know those waters the way they did* (Scuba trip)
3. 3rdly: We see God demonstrating authority over nature.

1. We witness the evolution of Peter’s praise: Master—> Lord.

(Master): superintendent or overseer (Positional)

(Lord) Orig: from kuros (supremacy); supreme in authority, i.e. (as noun) controller; by implication, Master (as a respectful title):-- God, Lord, master, Sir. 1a) the possessor and disposer and controller of a thing; 2) in the state: the sovereign, prince, chief, the Roman emperor 

 (Relational)

1. Jesus to Peter, whose jaw had dropped, close your mouth!

Challenge:

➣Provoked (taunt/incite) ~ Invoked (ask for aid to overcome) ~ Evoked (call back to consciousness..call away from something old to something new & improved)

3 things are about to occur in your life:

1. Jesus is about to provoke you to go deeper and He’s about to get to meddlin’ in stuff you don’t think he understands. He’s going to “provoke” you. 

1. He’s going to give you such a conviction that you are on his radar that you will “invoke” His presence like never before.

1. When/as you do…He is going to evoke you and call you away from scenarios, entanglements, schemes, distractions, false- imprisonments and self-sabbotage-masked-as-success

~We’re launching deeper in this season

~We’re calling out to Jesus for solutions, not band-aids!

~We’re leaving our busyness and following Jesus with our entire lives

~We’re about to find greater purpose!!!

~We’re not church members…we’re the people of God

The Intuitiveness of the Counter-Intuitiveness of Love (Sacrifice)

The Intuitiveness of the Counter-Intuitiveness of Love (Sacrifice)

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3.16

►What would cause a perfect God to agree to come to a mutinous world?

• God is love and it is impossible or contain or hoard love. Love drew God out of Heaven

►The only cure for the blindness imposed by sin, was the shock & presence of Love!

• This is why the God of this world has blinded people to the love of God (2 Cor 4.4)
• This is why our unity is important. When people see it, it’s like God’s biz card

Love is Exemplified…Demonstrated…Proven…in Sacrifice

******

►Love is: Inconvenience.  (*Not easily accessible)

• Convenience: Easily accessible

►Love shows us that the only true inconvenience in the Christ-like faith is convenience!

Love identifies you! Godliness is revealed in what you release, not what you collect 

►Brotherhood/sisterhood is not based upon similarity of tastes, likes or resemblance. It is biologically and spiritual predicated upon common ancestry. Period. I chose to love, based upon that common ancestry. However, love doesn't give us the liberty of being unconcerned about the state of our brother/sister.

►1 Kings 3.16 (The Mother intuitively did what was unconventional. She was intuitive of what appeared to be counter-intuitive.) Love, demonstrated by sacrifice, proved the identify of the true mother. 

• She didn’t just say “let him live” she said give him to her…( a son to an unmarried women was valuable)

Challenge: We can’t fully give a love that we haven’t received. Go deep with God today.

Slide #5 Next Steps In Connecting With Your Purpose…

• New Beginning: Commit to follow Christ (Card/Prayer)

• Grow: Adult Bible Class Sunday @ 9am & Wednesdays @ 7pm. Follow fast guidelines.

• Connect: Join a LIFE GROUP & journey with great people who are doing life together.

• Thrive: 1. Ask The Lord for an understanding of unconditional love. 2. Share the love you’ve been withholding because of inconvenience. 3. Read the Christmas story with new eyes this season.

• Serve: We honor God in giving our lives away. Check bulletin for opportunities to serve.

Wise guys (Proverbs 3.7): What to do when God doesn’t make sense to us!

Wise guys (Proverbs 3.7): What to do when God doesn’t make sense!

➣What you acknowledge will govern you. It shapes your values. It determines or limits your actions.

What governs our lives?  Pleasure? Guilt? Entertainment? Money?

• Truth wants to govern our lives and make them potent. 
• Truth applied = Wisdom...when birthed out of reverence for God
• This is counter-intuitive

➣Adam & Eve lost wisdom in the Garden. 

• Their intel became internal and sensory-based
• It wasn’t until the arrival of the holy spirit that we were enabled to be filled inwardly with God’s Holy Presence & power.

Acknowledge = YADA: to perceive, understand, acquire, knowledge, discern, sexual intercourse, to appoint. To know by reflecting and revelation.  

"I knew (Yada) you before I formed (Yatsar) you in your mother's womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you... Jeremiah 1:5-7

Do we see God? Potential purpose

➣Acknowledge (beyond casual acquaintance): Follow~Assimilate into God’s plans

Association: Guild, coalition, volunteers who enter into agreements

Acquiesce: Accept reluctantly but without protest 

Acquaint: Knowledge or experience of something, make familiar, firsthand experience

Acknowledge Admit or accept the truth of something, allow, roger that (telecommunications), concede, give someone a preferred or recognized status, make known the receipt of

Assimilate: Absorb, incorporate

They that wait (serve) the Lord....When it was counter-intuitive

➣Joseph The Carpenter: Matt 1.20; Matt 1.24; Matt 2.13; Matt 2.19; Matt 2.22

(Emotions: Anger/Embarrassment/Resentment/Pride/Fear/Helplessness/Homelessness/Marginalized/Inconvenienced)

• Samuel: Speak...I’m waiting for instruction
• Jehoshaphat...We don’t know what to do, but our eyes are one you
• Moses...if you don’t go with me, I won’t go
• Jesus...I do what I see the Father do

So What?

➣Purpose is God-ordained/ That message of purpose is conveyed to us via scripture, the voice of the Spirit and community/ The response to the intel is wisdom or folly. 

• Wisdom is the path to purpose, authority, fulfillment and powerful/meaning living.

Our purposes are short-lived and thwarted when we live from our own limited perspectives rather than God’s perspective.

• We are mortal: weak, self-centered, fickle

• We are limited by our own experience or the experiences of others
• As mortals we are driven by our need for relevance (connected) & significance (meaning)
• We can NEVER see things the way God does unless the are revealed
• Following that revelation is an act of wisdom and begins with respect for God.

➣God has been God forever and human for 33 years. Why wouldn’t we want to benefit from that experience?

Next Steps: Make a Wise Move

➣You’re worth too much to merely be a loose canon. You were created to be a dangerously strategic part of God’s plan for healing, loving and transforming the world.

Sage Wisdom (#Perspicacity Series)

Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (12-Steps 1 & 2)

*There’s a lot of foolishness going on! (Let’s come to terms. 2-sided guilt)

Psalm 111:10a

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; 

November 9: Sage Wisdom    Job 12:12 (NIV)

Is not wisdom found among the aged? Does not long life bring understanding?

New International Version

Better a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who no longer knows how to heed a warning. Ecc 4.13

New International Version

The glory of young men is their strength, gray hair the splendor of the old. Prov 20.29

SAGE noun

1. a profoundly wise person; a person famed for wisdom.

2. someone venerated for the possession of wisdom, judgment, and experience.

Taste (Latin)

sagacious [suh-gey-shuh s] adjective

Sage= Perspective (keen insight) + Life Experience + Knowledgeable

1. Having or showing acute mental discernment and keen practical sense; shrewd:

a sagacious lawyer.

Origin = wise + taste

New International Version

Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. Psalm 34.8

Ministry Aim: Learn to solicit and apply the wisdom of experienced people

Examples of Sage Wisdom:

➢Biblically

• Jethro to Moses: You need to delegate or it will kill you and the people
• Nathan to David: “You’re the man!”

36 Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God.” 37 Moreover David said, “The Lord, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.”

And Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you!”

➢Practically

• Pastor Ford: “Same salt that preserves a hog will preserve a pig.”
• Pastor Ford: “If everybody likes you, you’re doing something wrong.”
• Mother Evans: “If you’re going to go high in God, you need to learn to go low”

➢Historically

• Mahalia Jackson to MLK Jr. “Tell them about the dream”

➢Scripturally

• If you can’t run a sound home you can’t lead a sound ministry ~
• don’t be unequally yoked (contracted) with unbelievers ~
• Never curse the king, not even in your thoughts, nor the rich man, either; for a little bird will tell them what you’ve said. (Ecc 10.20)
• For a dream comes through much activity,

  And a fool’s voice is known by his many words. (Ecc 5.3)

1 Corinthians 4:15New International Version (NIV)

Even if you had ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father(A) through the gospel.

#Perspicacity Recap from 1st Sunday

I refer to #Perspicacity as the Practical Art of Spiritual Living and Spiritual Art of Practical Living.

Smart: Showing mental alertness, calculation & resourcefulness. Characterized by quickness.

Intelligence: The ability to comprehend. To understand. To profit from experience. Gathering of information.

Knowledge: The psychological results of perception & learning & reasoning.

Wisdom: Is not mystical insights or deep revelation. In scripture it comes from the a Hebrew word with means “skill of living.” It is the practical application of truth. 

*Wise & Intuitive

*From Latin roots meaning “Seeing Clearly”~ which leads to informed action.

Wisdom:

• More valuable than gold (Prov 3.15)...used for exchange
• Wealth is associated with is...it increases in worth and offers dividends
• Jewelry: You’re adorned with it (Prov 3.22)
• Helps one to succeed (Ecc 10.10)

Opposite:

• Folly ~ Destructive destiny. Purposeless living (Prov. 5.23)
• They end up as the guest of Hell (Prov 9.18)

IVP Dictionary of Biblical Imagery

“Whereas the path of folly is a downward slide toward destruction, the progress of wisdom is toward something better...”

i.e. “the path of the righteous is like the light of the dawn, which shines bright and brighter until full day.” (Prov 4.18)

*Looking for it is futile...it’s the mind of God!

*Prov 1.7 states that  the beginning point is “fearing God...”

#Perspicacity ~The Practical Art of Spiritual Living and The Spiritual Art of Practical Living.

New Series Title: #Perspicacity

Message Title: #Perspicacity= The Practical Art of Spiritual Living and The Spiritual Art of Practical Living.

Psalm 111

Smart: Showing mental alertness, calculation & resourcefulness. Characterized by quickness.

Intelligence: The ability to comprehend. To understand. To profit from experience. Gathering of information.

Knowledge: The psychological results of perception & learning & reasoning.

Wisdom: Is not mystical insights or deep revelation. In scripture it comes from the a Hebrew word with means “skill of living.” It is not for a selective few. It is common to street smarts or common sense. It has very little to do with what one knows, but rather what one does with that knowledge. It is the practical application of truth. 

*Wise & Intuitive

*From Latin roots meaning “Seeing Clearly”

➤Goods v. Guts

➤Good detective shows act on clues and 

November 2: Wisdom Begins Here    Psalm 111:10  (NIV)

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise. 

He recommends the holy fear of God, and conscientious obedience to his commands, as the most acceptable way of praising God, Ps. 111:10.

Good success have all those that do them (so the margin), according to what was promised to Joshua if he would observe to do according to the law. Josh. 1:8; Then thou shalt make thy way prosperous and shalt have good success. 

Ministry Aim: Grasp the importance of the meaning and application of wisdom

Wisdom:

• More valuable than gold (Prov 3.15)...used for exchange
• Wealth is associated with is...it increases in worth and offers dividends
• Jewelry: You’re adorned with it (Prov 3.22)
• Helps one to succeed (Ecc 10.10)

Opposite:

• Folly ~ Destructive destiny. Purposeless living (Prov. 5.23)
• They end up as the guest of Hell (Prov 9.18)

IVP Dictionary of Biblical Imagery

“Whereas the path of folly is a downward slide toward destruction, the progress of wisdom is toward something better...”

i.e. “the path of the righteous is like the light of the dawn, which shines bright and brighter until full day.” (Prov 4.18)

*Looking for it is futile...it’s the mind of God!

*Prov 1.7 states that  the beginning point is “fearing God...”

There is a place for intelligence, smarts, and knowledge. 

It’s just that when wisdom speaks...it trumps those things. It overrides them.

Wisdom is the big joker, Royal Flush, Right Bower, 

Transition To Table......

➤Listen long enough to hear plan AND strategy

➤Rec’v direction and assurance and become resolute

➤Wisdom provides a necessary corrective adjustment to your trajectory

➤Exodus 13 God protected Israel from Israel

➤Exodus 14 God protected Istael from Pharaoh

➤Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord

Be Still...And Know...I am God: A Call To Defiance ( Psalm 46 )

Wrestling with the cares of this life~ (We’re stressed)

9 Then Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”

10 When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables. 11 He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables 12 so that,

“‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving,

    and ever hearing but never understanding;

otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’”

13 Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? 14 The farmer sows the word.

Truth isn’t thrust upon us~ it if offered if we seek it. We seek through our pursuit of God’s will~ often found in solitude, silence and God’s Word.

Be Still...And Know...I am God: A Call To Defiance ( Psalm 46 )

Significance of stillness: Relax. Breathe.

• An interesting word to our hurried society
• Physiology of anxiety/stress (What its impact on decions?)
• Physiology of rest. Breathing. Silence. Reflection. (Impact on decisions?)

Ps 46 Our God is Great!

• Superior natural disaster
• Our God is always with us and a bulwark (cement impenetrable fence to protects agains attack)
• Survey His works
• Stand Down. Attention. Be still. Recognize. Identify. Align with. Stand behind Him protect love and word.

✺ How does this strike defiance? (David re: Goliath...understanding)

• In light of God’s strength & integrity...not our own.

✺ God’s resume

✔ God is our Fortress (v .1)

✔ Therefore, we won’t fear in the face of certain calamity

✔ God of Jacob (v. 7)...God of the past. God of your family. Is with you.

✔ Assess what God has done (v. 8, 9)

✔ God’s instruction to us (Be Still... (I’ve got this! Step out the way!!))

Be Still...And Know...I am God ( Note connection between relaxing & knowing)

Be ~ not stand still. Be still. Exist in stillness

Still ~ faint. forsake. weak. slacken. (These are bad words to our society)

Know~ Recognize. Understand. Live assuredly

I ~ Personal pronoun

AM ~ Self-identification as with Moses. “Unlimited God”. Unlimited Resource. Calling Card. Resume.

God ~ No one else deserves this place in your life.

✺What happens when for we are Threatened by God and God plans for us?

3 Times (at least) did we see Jesus get away from the crowds of people to breath, prayer, walk, listen....

1. When he was baptized and entered his public ministry (Matt 4)
2. John the Baptist, his cousin, we beheaded and he retreated (Matt 13)
3. Facing his capture, trial and crucifixion he retreated to Gethsemane (Matt 23)

Read Luther’s Hymn

1. A mighty fortress is our God, 
 a bulwark never failing; 
 our helper he amid the flood 
 of mortal ills prevaling.  
 For still our ancient foe 
 doth seek to work us woe; 
 his craft and power are great, 
 and armed with cruel hate, 
 on earth is not his equal.

2. Did we in our own strength confide, 
 our striving would be losing, 
 were not the right man on our side, 
 the man of God's own choosing.
 Dost ask who that may be?  
 Christ Jesus, it is he; 
 Lord Sabaoth, his name, 
 from age to age the same, 
 and he must win the battle.

3. And though this world, with devils filled, 
 should threaten to undo us, 
 we will not fear, for God hath willed 
 his truth to triumph through us.  
 The Prince of Darkness grim, 
 we tremble not for him; 
 his rage we can endure, 
 for lo, his doom is sure; 
 one little word shall fell him.

4. That word above all earthly powers, 
 no thanks to them, abideth; 
 the Spirit and the gifts are ours, 
 thru him who with us sideth.  
 Let goods and kindred go, 
 this mortal life also; 
 the body they may kill; 
 God's truth abideth still; 
 his kingdom is forever.

Read Sam Cooke’s Hymn

"Jesus Be A Fence Around Me"

[Chorus:]
Jesus be a fence all around me everyday
Jesus I want you to protect me as I travel along the way
I know you can(yes Lord)
I know you will (yes Lord)
Fight my battle(yes Lord)
If I just keep still (yes lord)
Lord be a fence all around me everyday

Next Steps

• New Beginning: Commit to follow Christ (Card/Prayer)

• Grow: Adult Bible Class Sunday @ 9am & Wednesdays @ 7pm. Follow fast guidelines.

• Connect: Join a LIFE GROUP & journey with great people who are doing life together.

• Thrive: 1. Acknowledge areas in your heart that fear and worry have captured and keep you from breathing and living.  2. Ask for a boldness in God that enables defiance against the enemies of your promises. (This comes from learning about God’s nature and love.) 3. Quiet your life & calm your heart through the reality that God truly sees & knows you and cares.

• Serve: We honor God in giving our lives away. Check bulletin for opportunities to serve.

• Fear makes us run when no one is chasing us ~ It also keeps us from stillness when God is calling us.