ULTIMATE WISDOM

There have been a couple of watershed moments in my ministry life where I know God has forced the issue of going to a different place. I don’t mean a different church or community. I mean a different level of dependence in my approach to teaching. One of them may be happening right now. For the past week I have been participating in a 6-day training along with 3 others in our church family on leading our sexual & relational brokenness ministry. The training days are very full so I did c. 80 percent of my sermon prep for this coming Sunday in advance. Great right! The day before leaving my hard drive failed making it impossible to access that work for prayer and finishing work in the gaps this week. Return to start. DO NOT PASS GO. Ugh… What happened next? Irony, conviction and a call to something else. The core of the passage this week is about the necessity of God’s Spirit in both the understanding and teaching of His truth. Take a look at 1Corinthians 2:4 “my speech and message were not in words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” Then in v. 13 he reminds…

“and we impart this wisdom in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.”

In this moment of panic I had a choice. I could press harder in my flesh and figure out how to take that ground back in a fleshy push in a week where there is literally no breathing space. OR I could let it go and simply listen for the Spirit without using my typical approach to sermon study & prep. Don’t get me wrong, it is all bathed in prayer. But for this week it is only prayer. God is clearly reminding me which part is most important! I sensed Him in that moment of prayerful panic calling me to simply rest in Him and trust His Spirit to show me the way in a different way. What about you? Will you join me in prayer about what God wants to teach us together this weekend? Prayerfully reflect on the second chapter of 1^st Corinthians. Then come to hear how the Lord wants to apply it to us as a spiritual family. (It is either that or an epic crash & burn which might be entertaining as well). It may well be a watershed moment for us all.