“Understanding the Holy Spirit part 7”

(How to hear from the Holy Spirit part 4b)

August 14th, 2005.  Pastor Matt

Previous weeks:

-         H.S. speaks through

o       Absence/ presence of peace

o       Our conscience

o       The Word of God

This Week:

The Holy Spirit uses Wisdom to speak to us

Ephesians 4:17-23. 

Ephesians 5:25-32

-         These verses contain some simple rules Paul gives the Christians to live by

Ephesians 5:1-7. 

Ephesians 5:8-11a. 

Sometimes we have rules for Christian living right in front of us. 

They are literally in black and white and Red (in the Bible)

But what do you do when you are faced with an issue that is not clearly in the Bible?

What do we do when we have peace, our conscience is not convicting us one way or the other, and the Word of God does not spell it out for us?

We have to ask ourselves a couple of questions:

What is the Wise thing for me to do?

Ephesians 5:15-18.  

 1. Wisdom is Being careful

(15)“Be very careful”

 once you have all the facts, you find the best middle ground

We do what He tells us to do and we let God be the one to tell them what to do.

2. Wisdom is being skillful

(15) not as unwise, but as wise

Wise:

Definition of being wise:

-         A person who is wise is a person who is skilled

-          an expert. 

-          Someone who has taken the time to learn

-         forming the best plans and using the best means for their execution.^[2]

o       Wisdom is that ability to make a decision based on your training and experience

o       Example:  my dad and brother as carpenters

§         “it’s not an exact science” “it’s not about doing it perfectly as much as it is about being able to fix your mistakes”

§         After you have done it a while, you have learned from your mistakes and now you know exactly what to do

·         The Holy Spirit uses our past to teach us what we should do in the future

·         He reminds us of where we have been so we can know where we need to go

o       Often times this has to do with the things we struggle with

§         Stay away from what you struggle with

·         He does this in a loving way, not out of hate

3. Wisdom is remembering

(16) making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil

-         every decision we make has to be made while keeping eternity in our minds

-         as Christians we are eternal beings

o       we look forward to eternity

o       we want to bring people into eternity

o       nothing really has any meaning in this world unless is effects eternity

§        Ask yourself, “Is what I am deciding to do going to bring people closer to Jesus”

§        Are there eternal rewards for what I want to do

-         we must remember that there is a sense of urgency to focus on being about the business of Jesus because the things of this world are temporary

o       Matthew 6:18-21.  “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth…”

4. Wisdom is understanding

(17) We are to understand what the Lord’s will is

-         Understanding the Lord’s will is the True definition of what it means to be wise.

-         What us the easiest way to understand the Lord’s will?

o       The black and white and Reds in the Bible

-         the most important part of understanding God’s will is your realization that, compared to Him, you don’t know squat

o       even if you think you know what to do, God’s ways are always right

o       when we know for sure that God has spoken, it might not make sense right away, but we have to trust that He is God and He knows what He is doing and then we do it

o       this also means we have to trust that God is in control of our lives even when we have to deal with difficult stuff

§        seeing life from the perspective that God is in control and is going to do what is best for His kids helps us to make wise decisions from that perspective. 

§        Often times trusting Him from that perspective means making the wise decision to do nothing

5. Wisdom is drinking (the Spirit)

(18) don’t get drunk on wine…be filled with the Spirit

-         not the kid of drinking you are thinking about

o       You can have beer in your fridge but it does not begin to control you until you allow it to control you. 

o       The more you drink, the more you are allow something beyond yourself control you.  (which is why I believe the Bible does not speak against alcohol, just the drunkenness because when you drink too much, the substance is in control of your life and not you or the Holy Spirit.  Nothing in our life should control us outside of the Holy Spirit.)

We have to allow ourselves to be filled with the Spirit.

We have to start each day by asking the Holy Spirit to be in control

          Just like you cant get drunk until you open the fridge, you can’t be filled unless you allow yourself to be filled.

Wisdom can only begin when we let go of the control in our lives and let the Holy Spirit be in charge.

First we put our faith in Jesus.  Then we put total control in the Holy Spirit’s hands. 

We are like computers/ cars that don’t work without the engine/motherboard (Jesus)

We can get upgraded by adding a wireless card/ turbo charger (Holy Spirit)

Closing

James 1:5. 

If you lack wisdom, you can ask for it.

We receive the Holy Spirit when we put our faith in Jesus. 

The Holy Spirit is the one who gives wisdom because wisdom is one of the ways the Holy Spirit communicates to us.