Spiritual Wisdom and Vision | Senior Pastor Kenneth Carpenter
by Kenneth Carpenter
First Apostolic Church of Maryville (Maryville, TN)
Kind: teaching
Scripture: Ephesians 1:15-18, Proverbs 1:1-2, Proverbs 4:5-10, 1 Kings 3:4-15, 1 Kings 3:16-27, Luke 4:5, James 1:5-8, James 3:13-18

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/kenneth-carpenter--spiritual-wisdom-and-vision
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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if you have your bibles and would join me in the book of ephesians the book of ephesians chapter number one and verse number 15. the book of ephesians chapter number one verse number 15. oh i just have to say it praise the lord everybody oh thank the lord thank the lord may we pray month we've had a great we have had a great may we pray and a great time gathering here uh i do want to make one alteration to may we pray month monday is the last day of may and it is a long weekend and a lot of men a lot of women here um get off on that day and uh don't go to work and so i'm going to ask you to pray at your homes pray go ahead and just just pray at your homes and um that way you can you can because the lord knows something about this church the lord knows we're faithful to this house we're we're not we're not some group of people that are not faithful to god's house we're faithful we're faithful to god's house and i i just thought today when i looked at the calendar i thought you know i i know if i have it on monday if i have it there'll be a lot of there'll be a lot of people that kind of alter some of the things they need to do and you good people that that work hard and come faithfully here you need to i want you to enjoy i want you to enjoy your day is that all right i want you i want you to enjoy get up now don't don't can't enjoy if you don't pray get up and pray now and uh but just just enjoy your day just briefly say that aca at competition if those medals if those medals were really gold okay and we'd have a standard here that the kids have to bring them and give them to the church if those medals if those medals brother marshall was really gold i'd have enough to build that dormitory right now all right i'd have enough that i'd have enough they are doing they are doing so they're doing so wonderful and they'll be giving reports they'll be giving reports i'm sure this coming this coming weekend chapter 1 the book of ephesians verse number 15. wherefore i also after i heard of your faith in the lord jesus and love unto all the saints and i'm going to keep reading but i want us to pray right now and after we pray you can be seated father lord your word is our lamp your word is our light lord i thank you for the experience that your spirit gives us through our emotions i thank you lord for the for the great spiritual highs that we enjoy when we come together and praise and worship you i thank you lord for our victory marches i thank you god for our dancing and our shouting our leaping and our praising but lord tonight help me to teach your word lord it is because we are people that have allowed your word to come into our lives have allowed ourselves to be taught your word father i pray tonight that we open up our hearts as we open up our bibles in jesus wonderful name we pray amen and amen you may be seated god bless you thank you for standing tonight let me give you the inspiration let me give you the inspiration behind the bible lesson tonight uh i was here this morning uh praying and uh such a beautiful sound it's such a beautiful sight to see people many of the daycare and the school teachers many of the faculty here come early and then there's many that that don't work here that that that come by and pray and to a pastor that's a very beautiful thing to see people all over the building kneeling down and praying and as we were praying i looked up a scripture i looked up a scripture we are an apostolic church correct right we believe the apostolic doctrine right we baptize the apostolic way we believe in receiving the holy ghost the apostolic way we believe the oneness of the godhead right and it kind of dawned on me i want to have apostolic praying apostolic prayers and so i immediately while i was praying i immediately began to look through and and i found one of course it's one of many uh the the the what it would sound like what it would sound like if paul the apostle paul writer of over half the new testament what would it sound like if the apostle paul was here in this auditorium in our prayer what would it sound like and so i found it matter of fact i found several but i'm just going to deal with the book of ephesians tonight chapter one he says to this church in verse 15 he says wherefore i also after i heard of your faith in the lord jesus and love and to all the saints now now get the picture now paul is is teaching through an epistle he is teaching to a church he said i have i have heard about your faith i have heard about your faith makes me want to live a way that people can hear about my faith i have heard about your faith but i not only heard about your faith i've also heard about your love for one another i've heard of how you you love one another verse 16. he said wherefore i also after i heard of your faith in the lord jesus and love unto all the saints cease not to give thanks for you making mention of you in my prayers he said i heard about your faith and then i heard that you loved one another and then it prompted me i made mention of you in my prayers i i i made mention of you but the beautiful thing is god would so have it to where he shows us what paul prayed for verse 17 that the god of our lord jesus christ the father of glory may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him now that that tells me something right there although they were an apostolic church they knew how to baptize they knew how they they they knew about the godhead they knew about tongues they knew about water baptism and the list goes on and on but paul wrote to him and said i'm praying for you i am praying for you that god would give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him in other words there's more to know about jesus than just his name should be used in baptism because they had already been baptized there's more to know about jesus than he's just the holy ghost baptizer because they had already received the holy ghost so paul says the greatest need that you have i'm praying for i am praying that god would give you the spirit of wisdom and the re and revelation in the knowledge of him brother weatherly here this is the eyes of your understanding being enlightened the eyes of your understanding being enlightened you know one of the dangerous things for a child of god is not our culture the most dangerous thing for the child of god is to start believing we know all about god that we need to know about that we know all about him well evidently if paul was here paul would be saying i'm praying for you that the spirit of wisdom now i think that's mentioned first because i think that's important go back to verse number go back to verse number 17. i'm praying for you that god would give you the spirit of wisdom i'm praying for you for you to have the spirit of wisdom please listen real intently tonight this this is going to be something this is going to be a meal that will stick with you and alter your your your life he said i want you to have wisdom i want you to have wisdom i want you to have the spirit of wisdom about you i want you to have the spirit of wisdom well what is wisdom wisdom is the the ability to discern the nature or the cause or the purpose of something it's the ability to discern the nature of something the ability to look beyond what the natural eye can see and look and see we all tonight if we're in the body of christ we've all got two sets of eyes we've got a natural set and we've got a spiritual set and what we need to work on that spirit of wisdom affects that that spiritual of wisdom affects our spiritual eyes to help us look beyond something see the nature of it the old saying is everything that glitters isn't gold so wisdom is something to help us in all the things that paul could pray for the ephesians the church at ephesus for he said you need to have that spiritual set of eyes that helps you discern the nature of now just hold your place there but go over with me to the book of proverbs proverbs chapter number one has several things has a lot to say about wisdom we're just going to choose a few passages of scripture proverbs chapter 1 verse number 1 the proverbs the proverbs is a saying the proverbs of solomon the son of david king of israel now he's writing a book and you understand that the first part of that book sets the whole tone for the book he identifies who he is in the first verse i'm solomon i'm the son of david i'm the king of israel the same thing as paul when he would write paul a servant of jesus christ solomon writes and says these are the proverbs of solomon the son of david king of israel to no wisdom to no man he just gets right after it doesn't it he just says hey folks how you doing you better know wisdom you better know wisdom to know wisdom and instruction to perceive the words of understanding look at that he says i want you to see the true nature of something i want you to be able not to see with these but i want you to see with these i want you to be able to see the true nature of something and then it's odd not odd odd but it's it's interesting that it's there notice after wisdom comes a word calls instruction well in order to have instructions you've got to have an instructor right you got instructions you've got an instructor and see our our fleshly nature can cause us to say i don't want nobody telling me what to do i don't know about telling me what to do me and jesus got our own thing going and we don't need anybody telling us what to do well you're not serving the jesus i serve all right i'll just tell you and the bible does speak paul did say there's other jesuses all right but you're not serving the jesus of the bible the god made flesh because the god made flesh so loved his church that he put her in a system to where there would be people instructing them to know wisdom and instruction notice the next word to perceive to perceive your perception your perception he said you you need to to pray and and you you need to ask god and matter of fact paul said i'm praying for you that you will have this spirit of wisdom about you that you will you will look and try to study out you won't get caught up with what you see with the natural you you will get you will try to discern the nature of what you're looking at and then he said he talks about perception turn over a couple chapters chapter four in proverbs chapter number four and verse number five chapter number four and verse number five um he he uh he's talking about he's a father and he's talking to his children he says in verse 5 get wisdom get understanding forget it not neither decline from the words of my mouth forsake her not and she shall preserve thee love her now he's using he's using wisdom in a gender of her and he says don't forsake her don't forsake her she shall preserve thee love her she shall keep thee wisdom is the principle thing therefore get wisdom and with all thy getting get understanding exalt her and she shall promote thee she shall bring thee to honor when thou dost embrace her she shall give to thine head an ornament of grace a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee oh my son received my sayings and the years of thy life shall be many solomon is pleading with his son and he starts out by saying the main thing you need in life is wisdom just like when a child starts his education the main thing they need is to be able to read and write in arithmetic they need to be these are these are principal things that they've got to have in their educational structure they've got to be able to read and write and they've got to be able to do math arithmetic these are principle things these are principal things so solomon when he was instructing his son he said you've got to get this in your life you've got to get it and you've got to get it now you've got to get wisdom look beyond what your eyes see and look at the very nature of this look at the very nature of it well solomon lived true to his word he lived very true to his word because in first kings in first kings chapter number three david is now dead solomon is sister carpenter solomon is now the king you know i don't think i'm alone at this but how many of y'all can testify tonight how much smarter your parents got from the time you turned 16 to the time you turned 25 how much smarter they got you know man my mom's really smart man dad's really really smart you know what they've been smart all the time you just started kind of realizing you know i remember mother tharp as a young wet behind the ears evangelist and i hope god forgives me for all my meditation but i'd stand on platforms and i'd say boy i'll get me a church i'll do this different i'll get me a church i'll do this i'll do this different i'll do that i wouldn't do that and i'd do this i'll do this and uh man that he's just you know kind of out of touch with people and all that and as i got older i find myself saying my wife off you know what now i know why he said that i now now now i know why this happened now now i know i i know why they did this i know why the old timers i know why they kept i know why they kept doing this and so solomon live he lived his daddy's dead now his daddy's dead he don't have his daddy you know a lot of folks looked at a lot of folks looked at solomon because solomon was the son of david and they was all up into giant killings all up into david david had david had such a tremendous uh tenure as the king of israel but david's dead now solomon sits on the throne the bible says in first kings chapter 3 verse number 4 and the king which is king solomon went to gibeon to sacrifice there for that was the great high place a thousand burnt offerings did solomon offer upon the altar man his daddy died his daddy died he i mean he went to putting sacrifices on the altar because i really think this thousand sacrifices on the altar is a young man saying god i need you you know sometimes we don't realize how bad we need god till he takes things out of our lives we seem to be pretty secure when the meat counter at kroger is full but we start kind of scratching our head when we go through and it's empty and we just realize really how fragile in case do do we need a reminder of the gas lines a couple weeks ago huh see we're not as secure as we think we are but as long as we keep god where he needs to be god's going to take care of us but just as sure as we start depending on kroger and the marathon station for our fuel god just may cut it off to say i i want to see if you'll lean on me sometimes in a thousand i think this is a testimony daddy's gone daddy's gone i don't have daddy anymore daddy's gone he went and put a thousand burnt offerings on the altar verse five in gibeon the lord appeared to solomon in a dream by night and god said ask what i shall give thee said ask what i shall give go ahead solomon thousand thousand sacrifices on the altar just ask me now i'm tell you when god when god gets his checkbook out wow said just ask me and i'll give it to thee i want you to listen real closely to this as solomon says thou has shown unto thy servant david my father great mercy according as he walked before thee in truth and in righteousness and in uprightness of heart with thee and thou has kept for him this great kindness that thou hast given him a son to sit on his throne as it is this day he said god you've been good to my daddy to allow me to be here in his place verse 7 and now oh lord my god thou has made thy servant king instead of david my father and i am but a little child i know not how to go out or come in stop right there he is not a little child he is a grown man but he's got one great thing going for him he's got a childlike spirit he's a grown man but he's got a childlike spirit and he says basically daddy's gone he says daddy he says daddy is gone daddy's gone and god i i'm a little child here i got this big kingdom i got all these people i got all these people that i'm leading and god i don't know how to be a king i don't know how to go in i don't know how to go i don't know how to do all these things god and thy servant is in the midst of thy great thy people which thou has chosen a great people that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude give thou therefore thy servant here's what i want god give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people that i may discern between good and bad for who is able to judge this thy so great of people and the speech pleased the lord that solomon had asked this thing look at this he says god just give me wisdom god just give me the ability to look beyond what i see with my eyes and see as you see it god just give me wisdom to make the right decisions give me wisdom that i make decisions that's not just good for israel today but they'll be good for israel tomorrow there's some decisions there's some decisions you can make that would be good for your today but not good for your tomorrow and if you have to choose always make decisions that bless you tomorrow you can make it through today god please give me wisdom that i can discern and you know what this did this pleased god this pleased god and god said unto him because thou hast asked this thing and has not asked that for thyself long life neither hast thou asked riches for thyself nor hast asked the life of thine enemies but has asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment behold i have done according to thy words lo i have given thee a wise and an understanding heart so that there was none like thee before thee neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee god said granted god said i gave it to you god said i just gave you wisdom said there's never been anybody like you and there will not be any one anyone in the future that will match your wisdom of course i could throw in there and accord a man but jesus jesus went beyond him because jesus was the embodiment of the wisdom of god he said it's given to you but now watch this verse 13 and i have also given thee that which thou hast not asked wow you imagine that that when we ask god for things that please him he actually looks around and gives us what we didn't ask for you didn't ask for riches but i gave you riches you didn't ask for honor but i gave you honor so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days if thou if thou will walk in my ways to keep my statues and my commandments as thy father david did walk then i will lengthen thy days solomon awoke here's why i know he's got a little wisdom here's why i know he got touched with wisdom solomon awoke and behold it was a dream and he came to jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of the lord and offered up burnt offerings and offered offered peace offerings and made a feast to his servants just hold that verse right there do you know how i know he got wisdom because where's the first place his feet took him the house of god the first place his feet took him was the house of god you see the house of god with these you'll see this is a waste of time you see the house of god with these you'll see it is something that we need a church for when somebody dies or we need a church for when somebody gets married but oh friend when you can see the house of god with those spiritual eyes you'll see it as your salvation station you'll see it you'll see it i had a i had a grown man much older than me in a terrible situation terrible situation this week called me on the phone and poured his heart out to me but at the end of the conversation he's a horrible situation he said it's the first time in 50 something years that me nor my wife nor our children or our grandchildren have a place to go worship god now friend you think about how terrible that would be i don't care how many ball games you can get them enlisted in ain't a little league in town or any town can match the feeling i get to bring my children to the house of god i get to bring my children to the house of god let's not take this place for granted tonight i'm thankful we got a place i'm glad i'm grateful that we got a place sister celina i'm not only thankful that we got a place but i'm thankful that people want to come and worship god and magnify the lord with me you know you'll know you got a little wisdom you know you get a little wisdom first thing you'll do is see the house of god as a necessity in your life you want to know how you're losing wisdom you know how and you know how you're losing wisdom is when you start devaluing the house of god first place first place solomon went was the house of god first place he went was to offer up offerings but watch this wisdom watch this wisdom you know how you get people working in the church serve them serve them that's right first thing solomon did this and this was way back before john maxwell brother white this was way back before john maxwell and leadership seminars first thing he did went back to jerusalem and worshiped god and then he set up a huge banquet he said now i want all the servants to come who's important coming to town you are who me yeah what king's coming where we've got the banquet table spread what king is coming here i tell you what king's coming here you're coming here and that was a that was a great thing to do because how to get people busy working in the church is serve them and the greatest service i could render you and i try my best to do it i'll do it to the day i die the greatest service i can do to you is to pray for you the greatest service that i could do and my wife can do is to call your names in prayer you can boast of having the best dentist in town you can boast of having the best doctor in town you can boast about having the best lawyer in town but can i tell you all of them will fail all of them fail in comparison to having somebody that when you're on your way to work or you're you're at work somewhere somewhere in a little auditorium somebody is saying god would you just keep your hands on them today god would you just would you just help them god god visit them right now lord right now visit them right now lord visit every man and bring to his mind god he begin to serve the people but let's go on down this is going to get this is going to get good verse 16. god gives you something you're gonna have to use it you're gonna need wisdom you're gonna need wisdom verse 16 then came there two women that were harlots unto the king and stood before him and the one woman said o my lord i and this woman dwell in one house and i was delivered of a child with her in the house came to pass the third day after that i was delivered that this woman delivered also and we were together there was no stranger with us in the house saved we too in the house and this woman's child died in the night because she overlaid it and she arose at midnight and took my son from beside me while thine handmaid slept and laid it in her bosom and lay her dead child in my bosom and when i rose in the morning to give my child suck behold it was dead but when i had considered it in the morning behold it was not my son which i did bear and now are you hearing the case are you hearing the case he's two harlots one got gets to speak first she's standing there she's saying i delivered a child three days later my harlot roommate delivered a child and and i was asleep one night and my harlot roommate she she overlaid her she she smothered and said she she killed her child by by smothering it and and said she in the middle of night my harlot friend got up and uh took my living baby out of my bed and lay her dead baby in my bed and the living baby is mine all right let's hear the next harlot and the other woman said nay but the living is my son and the dead is thy son and this said no but the dead is thy son and the living is mine thus they spake before the king hey like that how would you like to handle that case and that was back before the 1 800 who's your daddy i mean that was back before that was as back before that all the dnas they can do here he is no that's my baby can you see solomon sitting there on the uh the throne oh that's my baby this is my baby this is my baby but all sudden that wisdom kicked in sister jeter that wisdom kicked into him and and uh the king said verse 23 then said the king the one saith this is my son that liveth and thy son is the dead and the other said nay but thy son is dead and my son is living excuse me and the king said bring me a sword and they brought him a sword before the king now hear these two women bickering back and forth one was pleading and one was lying right all right sometimes it takes wisdom to find out who's pleading and who's lying but if you get the sword out that's a word sometimes you can't make some decisions without praying about it once pleading one's a lie he said bring me a sword they brought a sword and the king said to the man that had the sword the king said divide the living baby the living child into and give half to the one and the half to the other said this is both of you claiming the same living baby said hold it up by its heels executioner hold it up by its heels and said divide it right down the middle said give one bloody half to that woman that harlot and give the other bloody half to the other then spoke the woman when she heard that from the king saw her little baby smiling they inspect the woman who's the living child was into the king and her for her her vows yearned upon her son and she said oh my lord give her the living child and in no why slay it but the other said let it be neither mine or thine but divide it one one said oh lord no oh don't touch that baby go ahead and give it to her go ahead and give it go go ahead and give it to her don't don't do that and the other came in the room and said no said that would be good said it just go ahead and divide it i'll take the the bloody half she'd take the bloody half and solomon then looked at it verse 27 then the king answered and said give her the living child then then the king answered and said give her the living child and in no way slay it she is the mother thereof you know you know how you know you know that that woman said that baby doesn't have to be mine but that baby has to be alive sometimes in life we have to come and grow up and get some wisdom and understand some things can't be mine but please keep it alive some things i can't control but if i can control keeping it alive the main thing is let's keep it alive don't always have to get my way don't always have to be right don't always have to be first don't always have to be tops just keep it alive just keep it alive king said that's the baby that's the mother hand that hand that living baby that's the mother well how about samson uh i'll just give you i'll just give you the scripture samson didn't have any wisdom he might have been a he might have been a well he well i'd describe him this way he was a he man with a she weakness all right he didn't he didn't have any wisdom i don't care how many philistines he can kill i don't care how many gates of cities he can carry off samson doesn't have wisdom he can't see past these three women in sampson's life and all of them are wrong all of them are wrong he uses a word the first woman he saw he told his mother and father he said i have seen a woman in timnath would you get her for me she pleases me she pleases me and i know this might sound old-fashioned this may sound old-fashioned but please don't put on the top of your list when looking for a mate how good they please you check out how much they please god i just threw that in that wasn't even in my notes all right three women you're a he-man but you're you gotta you carry off gates you whip philistines but you you you don't have any wisdom when it comes to flesh three women is life all of them were trouble but you know the bible finally that third woman that third woman it introduces her i want you to hear this that third woman introduces her the first woman he said just get her i like the way she looks she pleases me just get her i like the way she looks the second woman he had his wife life was a harlot all right he's a harlot the third woman the bible said now samson loved a woman named delilah you see the problem with people and they very seldom ever get out of this nose dive you're going to flirt with something long enough to fall in love with it this is one reason you need to come completely out of the world and start walking in wisdom because very few people that's why the bible says love not the world stop flirting with the world it makes god jealous it makes god jealous when we flirt with the world makes god jealous don't flirt with the world you better watch what you flirt with you better watch that little brush with the world that you kind of have a little brush with the world then you come on back in the church you go out and have a little brush with the world and you come on back in the church you're going to fall in love with something samson you want to fall in love with something that doesn't value you at all you're going to fall in some you're going to fall listen listen to me real good you're going to fall in you're going to fall in love with someone samson that loves money more than you that's right because he fell in love with delilah and when he was living with delilah the philistines came down and said delilah said we got a lot of money we can give you you've got to find out where samson's strength lies you've got to find out how we can take that strength from him and afflict him and we're going to give you money you know what she said back oh i love samson i would never betray my husband i would never do that she didn't do it because samson doesn't have any wisdom so she said sure sure they counted up the money she had them hiding in the closet in the room she said samson we love each other tell me all your heart what would it what would it take to what would it take to render you just like any other man what would have to be done to you to cause you to be an ordinary man he said uh go out to a tree and and carve out some bark out of a tree long slivers of bark and and and and cut long slivers of bark and kind of bind me with those long slivers of bark and if you do that i'll be just like any other man so you know what she did she went out got some long slithers of bark and she tied up his little hands when she got him all tied up she gave the signal and the philistines came out of the closet and around but samson just broke those slithers of bark off his arms and he whipped the philistines sometime later the philistines came back said try it again now yeah come come on think with me think with me think with me all right think so now after a few days maybe a week or two she comes around and says oh my sweet samson i wish i knew what made you so strong i wish i i wish i knew what made you your strength i wish i wish i knew what it is and what i could do to take it away from you he said well go get some brand new ropes go get brand new ropes that have never been used if you'll tie me up with brand new ropes i'll be just like any other man guess what delilah did she went and got brand new ropes she tied him up she got him tied up and then guess what she did yes she had she had in the room in the closets the philistines they came out samson just ripped the new cords off he just ripped the new ropes off and he destroyed the philistines some time went by am i making sense here tonight i mean samson where's your brain dude i mean not once not twice now listen the third time samson i know the little bark i know the little rope i don't know but oh samson i just love you so much oh samson you know i just you know i just feel like there's a part of you that i don't know about i just feel like that we need to bond and and and you just tell me where you and then now watch this now watch this the third time he says if you will take and weave the seven locks of my hair guess what's happening you're getting closer you're getting closer see the first time the enemy comes for you you think it's about this it's not he's so just just take a little pin and uh just take a little weave and weave my seven locks together and if you'll do that i'll be like any other man and guess what she did she did it and you know what you know you know what happened right the philistines were in the room they came out he destroyed the philistines come on is anybody here thinking samson what in the world are you thinking see this is a proven mess method that you can have god moving in your life in certain areas but not in other areas see don't ever mistake being able to feel a chill bump that you've got it here you may be able to dance the carpet out of these aisles but not have wisdom of course the bible even helps us with that right when they were choosing deacons it said choose you out seven men full of wisdom full of faith and the holy ghost why didn't you say choose out seven men with the holy ghost because just because you've got the holy ghost doesn't mean you've got faith and just because you've got the holy ghost doesn't mean you have wisdom you can shout run the owls you can talk in tongues that's all wonderful you can do all that but you need to allow god to minister to the wisdom part god give me because we don't live here we don't live here we live in homes we live in relationships right we work jobs we work in places that that that that employment we we got jobs out in the world and guess what we need wisdom we need to be able to see that i don't know why people keep falling in the same old trap the same old thing it's like simpson when you're going to wake up but the truth is he never wakes up well he did just for a short season you think after three times of having the philistines in the closets and coming out from under the bed in every place you'd think that he'd say girl i'm done with you you don't love me i'm done with you you are done deal delilah all right i'm done with you he didn't you know why he fell in love and level blind you it blinded him so finally you know the rest of the story samson his eyes are out samson you know go to luke chapter 4 luke chapter 4. here's another trick of the enemy luke chapter number four and verse number five it's a temptation when the devil was tempting jesus christ follow real closely verse five luke chapter four and the devil taking him up into a high mountain showed him unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time brother stephen i want to look at this tonight because there's distance here he takes him up on a high mountain he takes him up on a high mountain and he shows them all the kingdoms distance distance lot made the wrong decision about sodom and gomorrah he lost his family because he made a decision about a city from a distance good fly into new york city new york city is a beautiful city to fly into as you fly in new york city you always want to have the window open if you got a window seat you always want to look you see the statue of liberty and you see different this this city there and from from from 12 or 10 000 feet what a beautiful city but land there and get on a subway yeah it's not so beautiful after all sorry all you new yorkers all right it's not so beautiful sitting in the plane you see the beautiful outline of the city but x amount of people are murdered every day in that city you look from the seat of your plane and you see a beautiful city but there's children blindfolded handcuffed in vans being shuttled around human trafficking going on from the 10 000 feet in your plane you see all these things but when you get down on the ground there's all this going on satan knew if i can trip him up i've got to get a distance away from all the kingdoms of the world but not only this watch this please watch this he showed it to him in a moment a matter of fact i'd like for you to put that verse up please that is luke 5 that is luke chapter 5 excuse me luke chapter 4 and verse number 5. i'd like for that verse to be on the screen he showed it to them in a moment in a moment of time how in the world can you see all the world in a moment i tell you satan showed it to him satan's job to trip you up is to cause you to get distant from something and show it to you quickly because if he can show it to you quickly and from a distance you will always without fail make the wrong decisions but the beautiful thing about wisdom wisdom says i want to see it up close wisdom says i want to see this up close i want to look at this i want to see the true nature of this as a matter of fact as a matter of fact i would like to see some people that went down this route i would like to know you know i i i would like to know just as an example uh those that want us to let down the standards here at the church those that say it's our standards that that's that that causes people to think we're judgmental and all this and and we would like for you to to lower the standard and if you don't lower it just stop stop harping on it all right if you if you you know but the problem is that which ceases to be preached ceases to be practiced and young lady young mother young man young father middle-aged person when you get ready to untie yourself from the standards find somebody that's done it and check in on their life and see is that what i want to look like five years from now do i want to look like that 10 years from now do i want that and i guarantee you 10 times out of 10 you'll turn yourself around and say brother carpenter i don't want to go that direction i i want to stay right i see it totally different i see it totally different it's like seeing it's like seeing the walls of a correctional center on one side of the wall you see it and say those are walls of protection but there's people on the other side of the wall that say that's laws of confinement and with holiness standards if you look at it with this you'll see it's confining me it's confining me but if you let wisdom get a hold of you you'll say oh praise god praise god i'm going to grow up to be the young lady god intended me to be i'm going to grow up to be the young man god intended to me to be not some demon possessed marketing agency not some liberal movement that wants to erase all traces of gender thank god it's not a confinement it is my protection thank god for that in a moment of time in a moment of time in a moment of time oh i feel the holy ghost here tonight oh i feel the holy ghost just lift your hands right now i feel the holy ghost right now oh god now i got good news for you tonight i got good news for you this thing that you need called wisdom is yours for the asking how can i get wisdom all you got to do is ask for it turn with me right now to the book of james chapter number one verse number five good news awesome news the very thing we need we can get it if we just ask for it watch verse 5. if any of you lack wisdom let him ask of god that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not and it shall be given him do you hear me tonight when i prayed for the sick i said these words god if it is your will heal god is at your will heal because there are some prayers that you have to say god if it's your will but right here's one you don't have to say god if it's your will give me wisdom do i have to pray it that way it is god's will to give you wisdom it is god's will that you have wisdom he says let him ask and then i like this word that god that god he gives to all men how how does god give how man i i mean he gives to all that liberally and upgrade if not in other words he won't push you away and it shall be given him but you got to watch verse 6 but let him ask in faith nothing wavering for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the lord a double-minded man is unstable in all of his ways you know a double-minded man is a man that's got a vision of worldly wisdom and a man that's got a blurred vision of spiritual wisdom he said if you're going to ask for wisdom ask in faith don't waver ask it in faith god give me wisdom quote that scripture to god when you're praying god you said that you would give wisdom if any man asked for wisdom that you would give him wisdom and and you would give it to me liberally god i need wisdom in my life i've got decisions i need to make i've got directions i need to make i don't like where my life is at right now i don't like where my home is at right now i don't like where i'm at spiritually right now god i need wisdom to take the next step prayer answered prayer answered god's going to give you wisdom let me close with james chapter 3. james chapter 3 and verse number 13. who is a wise man and in dude with knowledge among you who's wise and who's in dude that word indeed there means clothed who is wise and who's clothed with knowledge among you let him show out of a good conversation and so it's a lifestyle it's not just a conversation you have that's a lifestyle your conversation your lifestyle look at the lifestyle look at the lifestyle let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom you know what meekness is meekness is a word in the greek that was originally used when they would take a wild horse and they would saddle break him they took a wild animal and they saddle broke him they they they tamed him to where you could put a bridle on him you could put a saddle on him and you could ride him before this time he was bucking and kicking he couldn't carry any uh wagons to town he couldn't he couldn't have anybody riding with him he couldn't he couldn't do he could not do any of these he could not do any of these things but when they would break him they would call it meek you know he says let his works a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom with meekness of wisdom wisdom is going to help you get control of your life wisdom no this out of control business wisdom is going to help us get control of our lives the meekness of wisdom but if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts glory not lie not against the truth he said if you've got envying and strife ending always won't want somebody else to say oh i wish i was that person oh i wish i had what they had oh i wish i had this and and then when you decide you can't get what they have then you're going to tear them down you're going to have strife and war he says this wisdom verse 15 this wisdom descendeth not from above but is earthly sensual devilish look at that he said if you've got envy you ain't happy with who you are you don't thank god for what you have and who you are and what god has given to you and you're envying all the time and you're fighting and tearing people down he said that wisdom didn't come from god that wisdom didn't come from god he said that's devilish it's of the earth what's what's the progression here earthly sensual devilish better be careful we may create lives that's a breeding ground for the devil to work in he said it's devilish but the wisdom verse 16 for where envying and strife is there is what confusion and every evil work and god is not the author of confusion where there's ending and strife there'll be confusion but verse 17 listen closely hang on each word but the wisdom that is from above is first pure then peaceable gentle easy to be entreated full of mercy good fruits without partiality without hypocrisy and the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace would you stand with me tonight oh precious god of heaven god i to this day need wisdom lord god i need the wisdom god i need the wisdom that can come from you lord i pray right now while we're we're reaching out to you with holy hearts god give us wisdom tonight lord give us wisdom right now lord god give us wisdom lord god give wisdom god and direction god give wisdom lord help us lord to look at things help us god to seek your face lord help us o god not to be his lot and not to be a samson but god help us lord to seek the wisdom lord help us to follow in your footsteps and be able to say get behind me satan you're to worship the lord thy god and him only lord give the young and the middle age and the elderly god give us wisdom tonight as we make our journey toward heaven lord we'll give you praise and honor and glory in jesus name we pray amen and amen