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ONE | A Potter's House Church
Wisdom, Understanding & Knowledge - Dr. Anita Phillips (Wednesday Bible Study)
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Hey, good people, this is Torre Roberts. Blessings to you and welcome to the ONE podcast. I'm excited that you're here. ONE is a community of dynamic and vibrant thought leaders, preachers, teachers, and just a community of wonderful people all together. And we're excited to bring you this weekly podcast from our services from ONE in la. If you haven't been to one, I encourage you to check it out. You can go to one the Word one O N E online and find out all about the service times and all about the teachers and all the philanthropic things that we have going. I believe you're going to be blessed to be a part of it. And speaking of being blessed, we're getting ready to get into a teaching right now that I believe is going to bless you. So tune in, enjoy, and I'll be back with you at the end.
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Hey family, I'm happy to see you. And even though it's a jarring day, I'm even happier that we happen to be coming together on a day that's jarring because we're together and that's a good thing. I am going to talk to you tonight about wisdom, understanding and knowledge. And I have been just lost in scripture all day to bring this to you tonight. This word actually dropped in my heart two Sundays ago. If you were here two Sundays ago when I taught a message called Full House. Anybody here, we're gonna. I got a little inspired. Amen. By that message and I wanted to drop deeper into it. So I'm gonna do that tonight. But in the process, I also want to take you on the journey of this study with me. I think when I was here right before summer for Bible study, I talked about sometimes just coming here and showing you how I study. So let's study Bible study, you know, so I'm not just gonna bring you what I found, but I wanna let you walk with me on how I actually studied it. Maybe it'll be you'll find some tools that you can use when you're studying the Word. Some things the Lord definitely does speak to me. And then other things, I'm just digging in scripture, so I would love to show you that. It's kind of like when I was thinking about it today, I had an image of like a cooking show where like they bring out the food, they show you the dish, and then they're gonna show you how to cook it. But I won't show you all a messy kitchen. So they always have everything like pre measured. They're like 2 tablespoons of this three cups was already out there. So I'm gonna give you the clean version. My house is a mess in terms of how much studying I did today. There's mess everywhere. I was all over the place. But I do wanna walk you through it enough that you might be able to do a little cooking for yourself. All right? So let's cook. Matthew 12:43 to 45. This is the passage that I began with. It says, when an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places seeking rest and finds none. Then he says, I will return to my house, from which I came. And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also be with this wicked generation. That message came on my heart for that Sunday because it was the Sunday after baptism, you may remember. And I know so many people left things in the water and had spiritual shackles broken off of their lives. And I know when that happens, the enemy usually comes and tries to retake some territory. So I wanted to dig into this word at that time to let you know what was happening, that the enemy will try to come back. He'll try to come back, they say, seven times stronger, but really it's eight. Cause he brought seven with him, and he was more and more. So that's eight. Eight times stronger than what you got free from. And I don't want anyone to think that when they have had a spiritual shackle broken by spiritual means, that the knocking on the door or the rushing in of the enemy means that you weren't actually delivered. We gotta know the plan of the enemy so we don't get confused about what's happening. And so if you weren't here and you didn't hear that message, please listen to Full House. But when I was studying for that message and I read verse 44, specifically when it said, I will return to my house, from which I came. And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. And those three words jumped out at me. And I said, God, what is this? It kept jumping out at me, those three words. And the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, wisdom, knowledge, understanding. And I was like, whoa. Okay. So I went and did a quick search in Scripture for wisdom, knowledge, understanding, house. I searched for those four words because we're talking about a house that was empty, swept, and put in order. The Holy Spirit spoke to me When I asked about three words, he said, wisdom, understanding, knowledge. So I went to. I'm always going to do my searches. I do them in the King James Version because then I want to be able to get back to the original Greek word, original Hebrew word. So I went to the King James Version. I popped in those four words. Wisdom, knowledge, understanding, house, and Proverbs 24, 3, 4. Popped right up. Through wisdom, a house is built. I love me some Holy Spirit. I was like, you a bad boy? Yes. So he just gave me that. So that's what I mean, thumbnail. And the Holy Spirit will just speak to me, right? And so through wisdom, a house is built. By understanding it is established. And by knowledge, the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches. I was like, ooh, ooh. But it was another path. So I didn't preach it that morning, but I was like, I can't wait to get back and look for this. So we're back. So when I saw that, then I'm like, okay, we're going somewhere. How are these things related? So first thing I wanted to do was see, what does wisdom, understanding, and knowledge really mean? I'm gonna show it to you in a little bit different order because of the way it's defined. So let's go to the word knowledge first. Knowledge is raw information. It's just the facts you gather. It's the data. It's what you know. And we love to know things, so we have all kinds of information. It can be what you know in scripture. There's many. I have many scriptures and pieces of scriptures in my heart, memory over the years. Been in church all my life, and I've just always memorized a lot of Scripture. So I have a lot of scripture in me. I know a lot of scripture, but I also know other things. I know that loneliness is dangerous, as dangerous as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. I know that the chances of you marrying a partner who will help you or hurt you with your childhood trauma is 100%. I know that I know a lot of things. Knowledge, it's raw information. It's what you have. It's the building blocks. It's the Lego set. It's what you have to work with. That's what knowledge is. It's the content, the pieces, all the building blocks you have. Understanding takes us up a level. It's insight or discernment, the ability to see the connections between the data. So knowledge is all of the information. The bits of info that I have. Understanding is how they are linked. So one of the big challenges that I have often seen over the years with people when they come to therapy is that they have a lot of information about their experiences, but less insight into how those things are linked. So I'll say, hey, well, did you ever have this experience before in your life? Nope. Really? Then they'll tell me some unrelated story, and I'm like, yeah, that actually was the same story. Did you hear that? The same theme happened here and here and here. And so then eventually it's like, oh, now I have more understanding of myself or my life because I actually see how the dots connect. But when you're living, you just have information about what happened to you in this year or that year or that month, or at your job or at church or at your family, and you don't see what the links might be. So one of the things that I help a client do is get understanding based on all the information that they bring. So understanding is how we see how things fit together or how they don't. That's really important for us to have as well. And then wisdom. And you notice I'm not trying to pronounce any of these Hebrew words that are up here, but for y' all who wanna see it, there it is. I really don't think you'll think I'm more spiritual if I can do it. Wisdom is practical, know how. So knowledge is what you know. Understanding is understanding how what you know is connected your know and your how. Wisdom is your know how together. That is the application of what I know. It's not just the information or how it connects, but how I can actually then make the connections and apply it in my life in a way that I can use. Picture a wise craftsperson who knows how to build something that's sturdy. So let's imagine an IKEA furniture item that somehow is going to be 6ft high and 8ft wide, but comes in a box this size. You open it up and pour out all of the items. You lay them all out there. That's knowledge. I got all the pieces. And some of you will start trying to assemble those pieces without looking at the directions. And IKEA tries to make it real simple. There's not even words. There's just like a little guy pointing at stuff and laying it down. But it will say, you know, there's three of these, four of these. So you can see if you have all the information. But then he'll start showing you how to actually how they connect with each other. And if you start trying to connect them without getting the directions. You may get a few things done right based on something from before, but it'll be right when you put that last turn in a thing that's gonna be hard to take apart when you realize you have gone too far without understanding. So putting it, knowing how it's gonna be put together, that's understanding. And then once it is built and ready to function, now you have wisdom. I know what to do with this. That's the relationship between knowledge, understanding and wisdom. That makes sense to everyone. So you don't start with. To put it together. You don't start with the whole thing. You have the pieces, the knowledge. Then you understand how they're connected, and then you have the skill, the capacity to make those connections and build it into something you can use. So knowledge, understanding, wisdom, make sense. Okay, so then from there I got that. I'm like, this is very cool, because I was definitely wondering how they were going to be different and how they were going to be linked. So we see the relationships, but we see the distinction. And so I went. But I did go. Knowledge, understanding, wisdom. Because that was how I was able to get it in my mind. Because I have the pieces and then I get the connection, and then I get the build. And also because in Matthew 12, 44, 45, it said that their house was empty, swept, and put in order. And so I recognized the relationship between those three things and so I put them there. So let's go to the next slide. Y' all gonna be with me. And I know this one's like, what happened? But stay with me, let me cook. All right, so you see where we started, because this is how I study. I don't always type it. It's all over these yellow pads that I have. I'm obsessed with yellow pads. College ruled, blue pens, fine point, not ocd. It's just a preference. Strong preference. So strong that my daughter once had a birthday cake made for me in the shape of a stack of yellow pads. But not ocd, just a strong preference. Anyway, so I would usually write this. So across the first line is what I'm studying. Empty, swept, put in order. And then the next line, it made sense to me. Knowledge matched. It said by knowledge, the rooms are filled. So I put rooms are filled under empty. Make sense. Understanding, swept, established. Because that word understanding means to discern, to separate. So I'm sweeping out the trash, I'm keeping the things that should be here. And that word established by understanding, the house is established, and then by wisdom. Proverbs 24, 3, 4, says the house is built. And I connected that to put in order. Does that make sense? And so there we are. So now I'm gonna go and find. I do a search for other verses or consecutive verses or contained passages where the words wisdom, understanding, and knowledge appear together other places in Scripture. That's my next step. And so the next verse that I found. And I found a few, but I wanted. These are the four I'm giving you. It's in the bowl already measured for you. Okay. Proverbs 3, 19, 20. It said, the Lord by wisdom founded the earth. By understanding, he established the heavens. And by his knowledge, the depths were broken up and clouds dropped down like dew. So now I drop those into the chart by knowledge. What happened? The depths were broken up and the clouds were dropped down. Dew. So I put that there. And then it says, understanding, establish the heavens. Put that there. And then wisdom founded the earth. Put that there. So now this is starting to make a little sense to me because Proverbs 24, 3, 4 shows me that rooms were filled from an empty place and the depths were broken up. Okay, but then I got the established one. I'm like, excited. Cause that's two establishes. So I'm like, okay, something's lining up. And then house built, founded the earth. That feels very related. So I'm gonna continue on not seeing anything in the translation that's saying that maybe I got one of these wrong. But I'm open to having one wrong. But. But I'm still going ahead. The established makes a lot of sense. Cause it's directly the same. Founded the earth makes sense. And house built. 100%. Depths are broken up. It doesn't feel as direct. But immediately when I hear the depths were broken up and the clouds drop down, the dew. Because I have knowledge of Scripture, I'm in Genesis 1 and 2. Let's go. So now we go over to Genesis 1 and 2, and let's see what happened with that. Because I know that on the third, third day he broke open the seas and let the earth come through. And I know that in Genesis 2, it tells me that before it rained, there were plants, because a mist came up out of the ground and watered the face of the ground. That's the dew in the morning. So now I'm digging around in Genesis trying to see what's going on. Well, I know that what happened on day three you is related to what was happening on day one. So now I'm in Genesis one and one. And I got three things there. Void. The earth was Void and without form. And darkness was on the face of the deep. Remember that. How many people were around when I preached a message called create intentionally? If you didn't watch that after tonight, it's gonna have a whole different insight. And if you did hear it, watch it again because they all begin to get connected. So Genesis 1:1:2, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was without form and void and darkness was on the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Now this is exciting to me because this is a creation verse, but what did Proverbs 3, 19, 20 say? Because that was about creation. The Lord by wisdom founded the earth by understanding, he established the heavens by knowledge. The depths were broken up. So both of these are actually creation verses. So void matches empty from the start. So drop that right on in there. Plus it also matches day three, because void means no content, empty, lifeless. And day three was the remedy. And so that matches empty rooms being filled as the earth was filled with the plants for life. The depths were broken up is what happened on the third day. So we're good. I'm still learning more and more about what knowledge does. Okay. And then I go without form. I drop that right on into understanding because it matches day two. The heavens were formed. So if you read Genesis 1:6, 8, it says that Jes. Jesus. Well, Jesus technically did it. Cause he's the word that came out of God's mouth. But anyway, so when God created the firmament on day two, it says that he divided the waters. He put some waters above the heavens and some below, and they called the firmament. And other translations that word actually means the heavens. So he formed or established the heavens on day two. So now I got established, established the heavens. And then when the earth was without form on day two, he remedied that by doing what? Establishing the heavens three times. Now, now understanding is associated with the heavens. So I'm just at my house jumping up and down. This is what I do by myself. I don't know about Yalls Bible study, but I'm in there like, oh my God, look at this, right? Cause we've gone from Matthew to, to Proverbs and into Genesis plus again, other verses I didn't include in here because we'd have been here all night. And then let's go over to Wisdom. Darkness was on the face of the earth. That was one of the words in the Genesis 1, 2. What was the remedy for darkness? Light. He said, let there be Light. That was the day one remedy. Now a couple things happen here that matter to me. Where did light come from? Now this could look like it's throwing a little rock in my shoe. Cause we was rolling. We're just like depths are breaking up, void being filled. All this stuff. Established the heavens. Established the heavens. Established the heavens. And then it's like light. I'm like, well God, what about light? So I just sat there for a minute. Holy Spirit, what about light? And a scripture that I hide in my heart. Yeah, that's why you gotta have word in you. Scripture came right to the surface. There's a scripture in Romans chapter one where it says that because people were not honoring God as God, that their foolish hearts were darkened. And I said, fools, darkness, Wisdom. So now I'm searching again. Scripture that has wisdom and light in it. Ecclesiastes 2:13. Then I saw that wisdom excels folly, which means like foolishness as light exceeds darkness. And boom, here we are. I love this Bible. So good. So now I got all of these examples, these four I'm bringing to you guys on purpose. I got all of these examples because I kept on looking for patterns in scripture because we never want to go consider ourselves having gone deep in a study if we cannot establish the truth in more than one place in the Bible. Every truth in scripture is going to run from Genesis to Revelation. You are going to find it repeated if you take the time to search it. The one verse to get my need met today is not Bible study. That's Bible band aid. That's Bible pill popping. That's Bible quickie, like quick solution. I don't know where you guys head was quick solution. And a lot of times that's how we treat it. We say we're gonna meditate in the word. We go looking for a scripture to match our pain that day, our need that day, or our desire that day, our motivation, our confession, whatever we want to happen for us. And then we sit there, we read that script, that one verse in five versions. Then we pick the version that makes us feel the best. And then we pray about it. And that was our Bible study. That was not your study. That was your check in. That was your quick. That was your thing. Be careful. We have to eat the whole thing. This word. And I'm not saying I never look for a verse. Of course these things. But that's not Bible study. We wanna, if we're looking at one verse constantly, I want it to be because you're memorizing it. Memorize it. I'M a big Bible memorizer. Like, pick you a scripture like if you were a kid in Sunday school. We used to have the memory verse. I'm grateful for those memory verses. That's why I know a lot of scriptures now. So if you're memorizing, but study is gonna get you to see what the Word is telling you beyond where you are emotionally or mentally. Because otherwise you narrow your desire on the Word based on where you are and where you want to get. So this is what happened next. Because I wasn't looking for something specific. I was looking to actually learn. So when I got to this point, I'm like, well, check this out. Day three, day two, day one. Which means I have these out of order. I have these out of order. I went in the order of empty swept, put in order from the first verse where I started. And that was helpful because it helped me understand the concept from small to big from bottom up. The pieces, the connection, the assembly, it helped my human mind understand that. But day three, day two, day one tells me that I'm not in the order that God went. So even though it helped me get it, what did I get if I'm not going in God's order? So now I have to flip the whole thing and see what happens next. Slide. So now it's flipped. Luckily, I was typing and it was copy and paste, because usually I'm writing. I would have had to write, rewrite this whole thing, which I would have. And now it's in order. Wisdom, understanding, knowledge, which was the order that it was in when I went to Proverbs 24 the first time. So it was in God's order the first time. The empty wept put in order was not in order. But I got it fixed now. So now we're looking at wisdom coming first, then understanding, then knowledge. This is amazing because now what it teaches me is that when I get wisdom from God, the wisdom actually contains the understanding and the knowledge top down. That's why I want God's wisdom, because he's gonna bring me the whole thing. And then in order for me to start to understand it, I may start to break the pieces up, or I may start to see what it's made out of. But he's bringing it to me. Done. But until I understood it coming from the bottom up, I would have missed the miracle of what it means to get it from the top down. I would have missed the miracle that God is gonna bring me this whole thing that I don't have to find everything and understand Everything and assemble everything for myself. Because God wants to hand it to me in ways that are bigger than I could have imagined. I don't have to try and imagine what the finished product will be. He can show it to me up front. And this is really important because this is related to creation. Oh, man. Where's the scripture? Where's the scripture? There's another scripture I want. Okay, I'll get back to that one. Go to the next slide. This verse, I also love, Proverbs 2, verse 1 through 6. It says, My son, if you receive my words and treasure my commands within you so that you incline your ear to wisdom, so it's something you hear and apply your heart to understanding, so something's going on in your emotional space that's related to understanding. Don't miss that. Yes. If you cry out for discernment, remember, discernment was linked to understanding. And lift up your voice for understanding. If you seek her as silver and search for her for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and you will find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom from his mouth. Come knowledge and understanding. When he gives it, everything's there. So pay attention to the fact that we are listening for wisdom from God. We have to apply our heart to what we hear. So we have to check where we are emotionally. And then we can find knowledge. If that's necessary, then we have something we do with our hands. The Lord gives wisdom from his mouth comes knowledge and understanding. It's there in this one big lump. And this is so important that we recognize that we can get it this way and that wisdom, understanding and knowledge are creative because this is how he created things. So I wanna go to a scripture in Exodus, and I might not. Did I give you guys that scripture? I might be in a little trouble. Exodus 31, verses 3 through 6. Let me see if I. If I did a good job. Hey, there they are. I love you guys. Exodus 31:3 6. And I have filled him with the Spirit of God. This person's name is. Oh, gosh, I didn't write it down. Bezalel. Bezalel. Oh, yes. Thank you, Bezalel. This is a young man who God called. He was, some scholars think, about 13 years old, who was doing this incredible work. And I have filled him with the Spirit of God in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, to design artistic works, to work in gold, in silver, in bronze, in cutting jewels, for setting, in carving wood, and to work in all manner of workmanship. And I in I have appointed him with another person, Aholiab, and the son of Ahashamach and the tribe of Dan. And I have put wisdom in the hearts of all the gifted artisans that they may make all that I have commanded you. So this young man is tasked with building the Ark of the Covenant, the lampstands and the temple. Like this is really important stuff, but it's artwork. He's a Creator. Exodus 35, 31 to 35. And he has filled him, still talking about him with the spirit of God and wisdom and understanding and knowledge and all manner of workmanship to design artistic works, to work in gold and silver and bronze. Another day I will go gold, silver, bronze, all through Scripture in gold and silver and bronze, in cutting jewels for setting and carving wood, and to work in all manner of artistic workmanship. And he has put in his heart the ability to teach in him and in Oholiab, the son of the guy and the tribe of Dan, he has filled them with skill to do all manner of work of the engraver and the designer and the tapestry maker in blue, purple and scarlet thread and fine linen, and the weaver, those who do every work and those who design artistic works. How many creatives are in the room tonight? Look around. Wisdom, understanding and knowledge is about creating. Wow. It's about reflecting how the Creator made the heavens and the earth. And this young man, given the spirit of God to bring wisdom, understanding and knowledge for us also to create. So that many creatives and almost everybody in this room knows what it's like to suddenly have a vision of something. A painting, a sculpture, to hear a song that you are about to now be the vessel to write, to imagine a poem, a finished thing. Michelangelo said this about carving the statue David, that he saw David in the concrete. He just had to free him. He saw the finished product. That is wisdom. When you saw the whole thing. And then in seeing it, you got the understanding of how it was put together. And in that understanding, you found the pieces and you were able, able to bring it into fruition. Wisdom, understanding, and knowledge. Is God giving you that vision, the thing that it activates your gift. These were artists. They did every work. And those who design artistic works. So wisdom, understanding, and knowledge is not just about solving your problem. It's about creating what God has for you to create the life that he's called you to create. That might be business. It may be the house that you're literally building. It may be the family that you desire to create. Let God show it to you before you've even seen the pieces because we can start with the part that's most accessible to us, which is what I did when I started this study. I started with knowledge because it was the easiest way for me to understand the knowledge, to understand understanding, to understand wisdom. So for me to approach it that way. But that's also generally how we approach decisions. What do I know? How are they connected and what can I make out of this? That's how we approach decisions. And a lot of times we're always, I won't say a lot of times. I'd say almost all the time. When we've heard these phrases, wisdom, understanding and knowledge. We're after that when we're trying to decide or figure out what to do. When we feel stuck, when we are in that high stakes decision moment where we don't know what to do, we can't predict or control the outcome and the consequences of the wrong decision could be very high. Then we're like God, I need wisdom. But how often when we sit down to create that we say, God, I thank you for the spirit of wisdom, the spirit of understanding and the spirit of knowledge that I will produce what you have made me an artist of. Father, let us do that your way. In the name of Jesus. Father, we just stir up every gift in the room. Every gift in the room. Gifts that have been dormant, some have chased the gift that is stronger, but they've left a weaker gift behind or a gift where they were wounded or rejected and they've given up on that thing. Stir up every gift in this room. Room. And Father God, we ask you for wisdom, understanding and knowledge. That wisdom will show us the finished product that will become the thing that we're pursuing, not trying to figure it out. We're chasing after what we've seen, not trying to figure out what's possible. Father, shift us. Let our hands be the last thing. Let us hear your wisdom first. See and understand and then we build, Father, because that's your top down way of helping us bring into sight the things that are right now invisible. In the name of Jesus. Every person in this room is a creative. You may not label yourself that way and 90% of the room did, but for the other 10% of you, trust me, we are all creatives because we were created by the Creator. And so don't think you're not a creative because you don't use artistic mediums. You may be an entrepreneur. You're called to create businesses that haven't existed. And maybe you're called to create management Systems that haven't existed to build work cultures where people are thriving and healthy rather than stressed. What might you create? What bothers you that you want to answer? What problem do you want to solve? Create. You never know. They say what say, necessity is the mother of invention. What need is there that you have been frustrated by? And instead of grabbing your hands and starting with what you know, just say, God, give me the spirit of wisdom. What is at the other end of this? He can show it to you just like that. And then you're working backwards, so to speak, because you've already seen the big product. Somebody already had that Ikea thing sitting there. They had it. Now they figure out how to take it apart, put it in these pieces, shrink it down and package it. They didn't start there. They started with the finished product. They had the vision, they worked backwards to get it to you. You gotta see it so you can get it to somebody. But so many of you are called to lead in your fields by these creations. You are not thinking about, what is it going to be that I get to somebody. Because you're so frustrated trying to work with the pieces you have God, give me wisdom, Tell me what it is. That's what we're asking for. But I love it because when I study like this, every time, it's always. God is always so much more. He's always shown me something much higher than I thought, much higher than I thought. Because I was definitely. I definitely approached this with a decision kind of mindset. This is gonna be good. Like, I need to know what to do. This will help me with that. And it does. And we're gonna actually talk about that. But first, man, I was too low. I was too low. And I don't ever want that to be the case. But when I systematically am studying the words, digging into a topic, I always end up at a higher place. So one of the challenges then that we have is sometimes we can get this wisdom and mess it up. We can corrupt wisdom. And the first time that we know of wisdom being corrupted, Lucifer, that was his name before we called him Satan, when he was an angel of light living in the heavenlies in the presence of God. And he got prideful and started feeling himself. And he said, you know what? I will ascend to the throne of God. I'm that bad. I am that guy. I could be as high as God. That was not a good idea. And we know, most of us, if you don't know the story, he did get a little out of hand. He decided he was gonna ascend to take God's throne. Somehow or another, he managed to convince a third of the angels in heaven to go on his side. I'll never understand it. Y' all were in God's presence, but. Okay, and then God threw all of them out, and then that's the fall of Lucifer. But in Ezekiel 28:17, it says, Thine heart was lifted up. This is speaking of Lucifer. Because of thy beauty, thou has corrupted thy wisdom. By reason of thy brightness, I will cast thee to the ground. I will lay thee before kings that they may behold the. The first danger to wisdom is pride. Very dangerous. Very dangerous. What's the Bible say? A haughty spirit and pride. Before the fall, it says you were messed up by. He got messed up by reason of his own brightness. Remember, wisdom was attached to light. And now some of you done got a little wisdom. You got some gifts that allow you to see big picture, maybe in a way that other people can't. I have that capacity in certain spaces. I just see it. I'm gonna see it. I will recognize a pattern like crazy. You know, like, there are people that they talk about who are neurodivergent, and they have high pattern recognition. I will see it. And if I see it over here, my brain's like. And I'll pull up all ten things, and God uses that. But that is a gift that was placed in how I was made when I was born. But I could get lost in my brightness and start thinking, it's my brightness. No, it's a capacity. And it has gotten me a lot of information, and it made me a great student, and I got my academic achievements and blah, blah, blah. But I put all of that. I counted dung lost in my flesh is no good thing without God. This brightness will burn me out. It will burn me out. It'll have me. First of all, my mind won't stop going. I had to learn to rest this mind in God because it's so crazy that I wake up in the middle. I don't. I wake up in the middle of the night, just, oh, I remember I saw that thing. I saw that thing, and it's just. Oh, you. I used to describe it as a toddler driving a Mack truck, and I got to a point of anxiety where I was like, God, you gave me this. But it's wearing me out. So I have to submit this to you because I'm in contact with its danger. The world has always been in contact with its impressiveness. Everyone's like, oh, but me at 2am so you have to remember, don't be distracted by your brightness. There's a lot of brightness in this room. There are bright voices and minds and hands and capacities. So many creatives mean so many gifts. You're blinding. There's so much brightness. But your brightness has nothing on his brightness, and your wisdom has nothing on his wisdom. And when you start thinking that your thing is equal to his thing under the religious language of he gave it to me, be careful. If Lucifer could do it, if a third of the angels could get deceived this way, and they were in God's presence in his face, then it can happen to me. And the first danger with pride is to believe that it can't happen to you. I'm too proud to be proud. Listen back to that message. One of the themes of create intentionally was stay naked, stay humble, because it's dangerous when we're not. And so because of his own brightness, he was cast out. That's how wisdom can become corrupted. I'm gonna read you a few verses. Ezekiel 28:5. By thy great wisdom and by thy traffic, thou hast increased thy riches. And thine heart is lifted up because of those riches. Because if we feel like what we got is by our own wisdom, our own brightness, our own gift, our own hard work, and not acknowledging God and the fact that he let me live and do this, Y' all know it's one of my favorite verses in the Book of James, when we're always saying like, oh, I'm gonna build a business, and I'm gonna go to this city and that city and buy and sell. That's in Book of James. Somebody look it up for me so I can say the exact chapter and verse. And the Bible says, do not do that. It says, you should say, if God will and I live, if he says it's okay to do and he lets me be alive, then next year I will go do this and that. But we get to making the plans that we feel like we have the power to make because we've executed them in the past. And so we're just like, yeah, I'm going to go back to school in the fall, or, yeah, I'm going to get up and go to work tomorrow, or in two years, I'm going to apply to school, or I'm going to open this business. No, that's fine to dream, but don't forget, if God wills it and I live, if he doesn't hold his breath and I drop dead, if I live, then I will do this And I will do that. We have to keep his wisdom ahead of ours. Thank you. I knew it was James. James 4:13. Read it. Read it. Yeah, come on. What version of the Bible you about to read? All right, I'm going let that slide. Go ahead. Can y' all hear him? Huh? What is your life? What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while. Oh, my God. I'm a vapor. I'm a mistake. Instead, you ought to say, if it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this. Amen. Amen. Put that on everything. Put that on everything. Because also when I reflect on that, it reminds me also of the promises that he's made. The promises that he's made. I've gotten through some dark periods of my life. I am over time. You guys are kidding. That's not my clock. Who clock is that? We gonna hang out. We gonna hang out. I have gotten through some dark periods by reminding myself of what God promised. What he promised. When I was in a dark strange, while I was writing my first book, God spoke to me and gave me the title for my second book before the first book was done. So I knew I was going to have to live at least long enough to write two. And then somebody came that I trust and gave me a word. And she said that God told her that I was going to write 20 best selling books. So let me tell you, I'm going to take my time. I'm going to live a long time. I'm standing on that promise. But when I'm frustrated, sometimes you forget those things. But then when I remind myself that if God wills that I will do this and that. But then when I remind myself of his will, I also then am reminded of his promise. And now I'm moving not just on what I want to accomplish or to push through or because the publisher is calling on my deadline, but because God said gets done. Wisdom has shown me the big picture already. Now I just have to give in to the understanding of the process of connecting the pieces that I find. Hallelujah. All right, I gotta. I gotta. I gotta go. Cause y' all saying. And y' all might start leaving me or something out here. Miguel. Oh, now my iPad is frozen. And I did buy a new one for those of y' all who know I was up here with a cracked iPad. There we go. Corrupting wisdom. What's the next one after corrupting wisdom? It's totally frozen. I know I have about corrupting understanding. Hold on, I'm gonna close it and open it back up. Very technical. All right. Corrupting understanding. We can mess that one up. Isaiah 44:18 to 19. They have not known nor understood. For he have shut their eyes. None considereth in his heart. Neither is there knowledge nor understanding. When we idola, when we have idols, that's how we corrupt understanding. And when we get like that, God will blind you. Understanding is linked to the heart, remember? And the eyes and the heart are also linked. And so when he says that he will shut our eyes because of idolatry. Idolatry is the thing that we go. Not just that, we don't consciously put it before God, but we go there first. We're emotional about the thing. It's the thing that we're most emotionally attached to. It's the thing that we try to solve for. It's the thing that we want the solution to allow for. I want to figure out how this relationship can work. I want to figure out how I don't have to move. I want to figure out how I can stay where I am or how I can get over there. And because that is my heart's desire, that's what's in my heart, it starts tinkering with how I understand things because I'm biased for what I fear or what I desire. I'm a big person about being aware of emotions. You guys know that. But we cannot fear painful emotions, nor can we crave the pleasurable ones. We have to be willing to ride through them all, because otherwise the fear of them are or the craving of the feeling will bias us to arrange things with an understanding that gives us what we want instead of what God has for us, which is always better. Even if the journey there is harder, the outcome is always better. But whatever we're trying to get to and wrap up with our God language, but our heart emotionally is just so attached to that thing. That's how the idolatry comes in. It's rarely obvious. It's just where we go first. Does that make sense? So it was easy for me to go first to knowledge, understanding, wisdom, because it was easy for my mind to grip that. I have a lot of confidence in my mind, so I'm constantly allowing the word to correct it so that I don't get blinded by my brightness or idolatry. So be careful, because we can have our understanding corrupted. Jeremiah 51, 15, 17. Write that down and read it later. It's summarized as the portion of Jacob is not like them. Every man is brutish by his knowledge. Every man becomes brutish by his knowledge. Romans 1:21. Because that when they knew God. This is the verse that I. That brought me to this earlier. They glorified him not as God and became vain in their imaginations. And their foolish heart was darkened. Heart takes us back to understanding. Having the. Understand. I'm sorry. Ephesians 4:18. Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God. Our understanding must be informed by a heart space that is in line with God. This isn't about a good heart or a bad heart. It's about being honest about what emotions are strong. When you are on this thing that you're on, whether it's getting a wisdom from God or it is trying to make a decision, where am I emotionally? Because I have to be aware of that. If I am in a place that feels scared, sad, angry, or I am chasing something that I really wanna feel, the excitement, the joy, the thing I. I need to just check on, making sure that I'm not skirting around God to get there. Because when I start thinking about God, and if you get nervous, like, oh, gosh, if I do that, he might tell me, no, he's gonna say, this isn't it. It's another lesson. God, no more lessons. Can we. I feel like I've had them. Can we just get to the thing, you know, anybody ever. Yeah. Yeah. And so what can happen in those. In those areas of our lives is that we start to be kind of scared of God. We don't trust him. We're like, oh, he's coming for me. Oh, he's gonna make me go through this hard thing, and I don't wanna have to do it. But get in that space. Admit that if that's where you are, and then recall the good things he has done for you. Remember the other times you didn't really wanna do it his way. And then it worked out so good. Because when we recall those things, those emotions start to come up too. And our heart starts to move towards God's way. And now we're ready to understand when we're in that space. But you gotta take that walk. Okay, I gotta go. I gotta go. I gotta go. Corrupting knowledge. Corrupting knowledge. I'm Gonna give you two verses to study on that later. Isaiah 47:10. For thou that trusted in thy wickedness, thou hast said, none seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it has perverted you what you know, what information you have, or more importantly, what knowledge or information or data you have deemed important. Because a lot of times we don't pay attention to certain things. We need God to open us up to even see, remember what we know because we start to focus on the thing that matters the most to us in that moment. Hosea 4, 6. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge because thou has rejected knowledge. It doesn't just say, it says lack of knowledge, like knowledge you didn't have, but because you have actually rejected the information. This is a 100% human behavior when human beings are facing a high stakes decision. A high stakes decision is a decision where the outcome can have very high emotional or financial consequences and it is hard or impossible, possible to reverse it. That's a high stakes decision. And when humans are facing high stakes decisions, one of the things that we all seem to do is reject information that's right in front of us because it scares us and we don't like it. That's what we do as Christians. We cover it up by saying, well, I'm just waiting for God to speak to me. Non Christians might be like, well, I'm going to the psychic, but whatever it is you, you know, this person lied to you 10 times. Why are you rejecting that data? You know that every time you go to that place you do the thing. Why are you rejecting that data? We start, well, I know that they just said the same thing that the last one said, but I don't think that's the same. So I, okay, I gotta keep going. So you see what happens with you when you mess with your wisdom, your understanding without God and the knowledge that you reject. Be very careful because sometimes, sometimes. And I'll end with it this way. Sometimes we are starting from the bottom up. If God doesn't give you it that way, you know, like here it is, here's the big thing. Give me the wisdom. I saw the vision of it. And you do have what you know. Bring your knowledge to the table with the fear of God with you. You may be facing a decision and this is how you use wisdom, understanding and knowledge in a decision. And I want you to think about this because this is the first time I ever thought about this today. Creating and making a decision are not actually two separate things. Start thinking about every decision you make as a creative decision. Every single decision. I'm deciding whether or not I'm going to work out today. I'm deciding what body I want to create. I'm deciding what health I want to create. I'm deciding what future I want to create. And today I want to create a future where I can chase my grandchildren, not have to call them over here, to play close to me because I cannot walk. I'm creating a future. That's the decision. It's not just, do I do this now. Do you see what I'm saying? This is the first time today I've ever seen it this way. And when I write it and it's published. You were here to tell you today. I told you that I realized that every decision is a creative decision. Everyone. Because I am a creative. Because I am the child of the Creator. And if I look at every decision as what do I want to create or not? It changes everything. So approach your life the way you approach your art, because that is the art you have. What life do I want to create? Every day I'm gonna do. I. I don't feel like getting up right now. I wanna sleep in. I wanna sleep in. That's a creative decision. Because the day that I have the power to create, if God wills and I live through it, I have the power to create this day. And I am making a creative decision about the possibility because I'm now gonna have two less hours to create because I wallowed. And maybe I'll choose that, but do it on purpose, do it consciously, say, that's what I'm doing. But if every decision is a creative decision, suddenly you are living with this spiritual artistic integrity that just looks so much more like the Creator. I want to be able to go to bed at night and look back at the day that I created for myself with God's help and say, it was good, it was good. But sometimes I don't have the whole picture. Maybe I just have some information. And so I need to look at the information and say, what do I know? I may be looking at what do I know about the situation? That may be the data you have, but add two other questions to that. What do I know about myself in this? And what I believe about myself? Cause a lot of times that'll bring up the negative things. I have these five items, but I also know I always procrastinate. I know I always fail. Or I know that nobody gives me a break. Whatever these beliefs are, get honest with those. And then make sure you then add, what do I know about God? What facts do I have about God? What data? Because until you bring that in, your knowledge is incomplete. And once they have that, and once I got my God knowledge to get my other data organized, then I can say, God, help me understand this. How is it actually connected? Not how would I connect it, but how is it connected to Move to where you're taking me. I need your wisdom. You're asking for it at every step. He may show it to you all at once, and then you work your way backwards. Or you may come to him with what you have. Ask for wisdom, and he may take you to understanding and then take you to wisdom. We may get there from the bottom up because this is an area where we're working something out in our flesh. And sometimes he gives it to us at the top, here's the image, here's the vision, here's the wisdom. And then we come down and we apply it. Either way, you need God in every single step. I'm gonna finish with this last verse because this also stood out to me. I don't. When did I. Oh, this was from Full House as well. No, no, no. Stormy weather, guys. Remember that all this stuff runs together for me. But if you didn't listen to the message. Stormy weather. We talked about temptation. James 1, 2, 8. My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith didn't. We had a good message on faith last Sunday. Knowing that the testing of your faith produce. So let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. But then look what it says in verse five. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. I love that this verse is here. It seems like a weird place, but it's saying, when you are tempted, you're dealing with temptation. You're being tested. Ask for wisdom. How many people have ever done that? You are standing in the face of that temptation. The thing you said you are going to get out of your life, it's in front of you. How many have ever said, God, give me wisdom. Remind me what information I have. Help me understand what I'm really looking at. Show me the vision of what I'm about to create. If I take the decision to fall into this temptation. Give me wisdom in my trials. Give me wisdom. Oh, my God. We ask for strength. We ask for him to help us resist. But I need wisdom. Wisdom, which includes umbrella knowledge and understanding, will help you in a trial, will help you in tribulation, and it will help you create not just the art you want, but the life you want. Amen. Amen. Hallelujah. Man, that was fun, right?
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Hey, family. Well, I pray that you were just as blessed by this teaching as I was. I'm just so grateful again to be honest, a part of a dynamic community full of love, full of revelation and wisdom. One has been a movement that's been blessing people for over two decades, and I'm so glad that you got an opportunity to experience it. I also have a podcast called the called it's right here on wherever you're listening to this Spotify or Apple or wherever you're listening to this podcast, you can just look up the called T H E C E A L L E D with myself, T Roberts. This is designed for entrepreneurs, leaders, and business people. It's a weekly podcast and it will bless you. But hey, I enjoyed having you here. Meet us here next week. Check out the call. Much blessings to you. We'll catch you next time.