In this sermon, Brother Denny welcomes the listeners to Charity Ministries and emphasizes that the message is not copyrighted and can be freely shared. He encourages the audience to visit their website for more sermons and offers a catalog of other messages. Brother Denny shares a personal experience of a flight delay and how it reminded him to be dependent on God. The sermon concludes with a question posed by Brother Aaron about being a wise man and the importance of applying the teachings of the Word of God in one's life.

Hello, this is Brother Denny. Welcome to Charity Ministries. Our desire is that your life would be blessed and changed by this message. This message is not copyrighted and is not to be bought or sold. You are welcome to make copies for your friends and neighbors. If you would like additional messages, please go to our website for a complete listing at www.charityministries.org If you would like a catalog of other sermons, please call 1-800-227-7902 or write to Charity Ministries, 400 West Main Street, Suite 1, EFRA, PA 17522. These messages are offered to all without charge by the free will offerings of God's people. A special thank you to all who support this ministry. Isn't that a blessing? The glory gates are open wide yet this morning to welcome the weary home. Thank you, Jesus. I greet you in Jesus' name this morning. Also, grateful for each one that is here. God bless you for coming today. I trust your heart was glad when you realized it's the Lord's day. It's the day of the Lord. I get to go to the house of God today to meet with brothers and sisters, to pray, to sing and worship my God, my Creator. Hear a message preached and have fellowship with believers. You know, we get to. We don't have to. We get to. Hallelujah. If you're in the have to stage this morning, I trust that you would come and taste and see the goodness of God and move over into the get to stage. Oh, Lord. This morning I do feel clear to continue in the book of James. I wrestled with it a little. You know, not the kind of messages that tend to, maybe, I don't know, be remembered as well or lifted up, talked about. But I believe there's something very beautiful and feeding to the soul and nourishing to the Christian to just take the word of God as it comes. Amen. Chapter by chapter, verse by verse. So you pray for me. I struggled with that a little. I thought, well, you know, Lord, what do you want to say to us this morning? And as I looked at where I've been at in the book of James, I thought, I think it'll just go right in with the flow of what God is doing here and where we're going as a fellowship. So open your Bibles with me this morning to James chapter three, James chapter three and verse 13. We'll start there. James 3, 13. Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish, and is for where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits without partiality and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace. Can we pray? Let's bow our heads together. Father in heaven, we come in Jesus Christ's name. Father, we ask that you would anoint your word. We pray, Father, that you would in mercy look down upon us today, Father, in the continuation of this service, Lord. Father, we pray that you would speak, Father. You have spoken, Lord, but Father, we pray now you would speak to us individually and corporately here together, Lord, personally, Father, the visitors, those that are on the telephone, by way of tape, however they're hearing this word. Oh, God, speak to us, Lord, and let us not go away empty, Father, or unchanged. Father, answer our prayers. We want to grow. We want to become more like Christ. We want to walk in all the counsel of God. So, Father, I pray you'll help us today, Lord, to diligently seek after the living God, even as the word of the Lord is preached this morning. Father, have mercy upon me, your servant. Oh, God, and touch these lips. I ask it in Jesus Christ's name. Amen. Who is a wise man? Who is a wise man? Is it the one who has all the answers? Is it the one who has all knowledge? Is it the one who's never at a loss for words? Is it the one we would refer to as the expert? Is it the one with the doctorate, decree of theology? Is he the wise man? Is it the one who knows all the current state of world affairs and events? Is it the philosopher? Is it the politician? Is it the preacher? Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge? We're going to find out if we open up our hearts as we go through the rest of these verses. You know, as God's eyes are running to and fro this morning across the whole earth, where does his eyes stop? Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. Now, it's not saying that Cassius left all the knowledge aside and all the learning aside, but it is saying look for something else. Look for something deeper of the character and nature of the person. This is a wise man who out of his conversation of life shows his works, good works, good conversation with meekness of wisdom. That word let him show is, it's a demonstration. Let him demonstrate by his life. Let him demonstrate by his conversation. You'll know the wise man among you, not by the one who wins the argument. No. Not by the one who has all the right answers. Maybe I dare even say not by the one who has the most learning. Can I say that? Maybe you'll recognize that wise man among you, though he be a babe in Christ, by his fervent love for Jesus and for the truth, who is so simple in his understanding, hasn't yet learned to tear certain parts of the book out or say they don't apply today anymore. Or it doesn't mean that. You know there is a temptation that men face to take and twist this wisdom, to adjust it, to fit what is comfortable for me or what I wanted to say and to try to make it into something that fits my understanding presently, rather than to go to God and to go to the word of God with an open heart and to say, Lord, what do you say? Wisdom is. Wisdom. It's not understanding all prophecies and mysteries of end times, is it? It's not those who can create a great argument and debate of exactly how it will be when Jesus returns and where and when. I don't believe that's true wisdom. Should we study the scriptures and have a desire to learn of God and learn of those things? Yes. But have you seen many who are so puffed up with their knowledge that they miss true wisdom? Wisdom is known by its behavior, its conduct, not only by facts and scholarly advice or oratations. Many times what may be passed for wisdom today is nothing more than mere puffed up speculations and theologies of men and theories and notions of the mind. Wisdom is seen, true wisdom, heavenly wisdom is seen out of the conversation of a man's life. Does his walk talk what his talk talks? I like that statement, if I may borrow that. Does his walk talk what his talk talks? Let him show out of his conversation meekness. Meekness is gentleness, it's humbleness of mind, it's kindness. Meekness is self-control. Who is a wise man? A wise man is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you. Let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. There are many wise men full of wisdom and full of meekness, I praise God for that. I'm not despising learning, I'm not saying do not study, but if all you have is puffed up knowledge and you do not have the conversation of meekness of wisdom coming out of your life, you're a poor man. Oh, but if you have the nature and the character of Christ through the anointing of the Spirit of God coming out of your life in that meekness and gentleness of Christ, that is of great value. Self-control. Are you a wise man? Are you spiritual? Scriptures speak a lot of meekness. Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all loneliness and meekness and with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Ephesians 4. Who is a wise man? Examine the fruit of his life, and then you will know. And yes, if you have a crisis, you have a problem in life, is he endued with knowledge of the Word of God? Amen. And can point you in the right direction, can point you to the Lord Jesus Christ, can give you wisdom from the Word of God. This heavenly wisdom is contrasted with the earthly, sensual and devilish wisdom. Right here in this chapter, looking now at verse 14 and 15. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. Who is a wise man? What wisdom is coming from my life and from your life? There is a supposed wisdom, or a pretended wisdom, or a false wisdom you might call it. And it is also recognized by its conversation of life. It is also recognized by the fruit that it produces. Though it may pass for wisdom at first, if this is the fruit of it, it's earthly and it's sensual and it's devilish. The Bible says, if the wisdom that I or you have stirs envy in my heart toward others, and jealousy in my heart toward others, and if it arouses feelings of bitterness toward others, this is an earthly wisdom. Maybe it's a sensual wisdom. Maybe it's even a devilish wisdom inspired of hell, envious of others. Envious and jealousy of another person's ability, of another person's position or recognition false wisdom, earthly wisdom is selfish. It arouses bitter envying and jealousies. It stirs up division in churches, in homes, in communities. It's marked by envy. Verse 14, if you have bitter envying, why doesn't anybody recognize my gifts? Why doesn't anybody recognize and give me a position? Envious, jealous. Envying has its listing among the works of the flesh. Envying is right next to murderers, right next to drunkenness and revelings and such like, it tells us in Galatians 5.21. And it says, I tell you, as I told you before in time past, they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Pretty serious envyings. Oh, but charity. Charity, love. It's kind and charity envieth not. Because they are diametrically opposed. Charity, it vaunteth not itself. It doesn't push itself forward. It doesn't need recognition. It doesn't need position. Secure in Christ. If I can just be a doorkeeper at the house of God. If I just be faithful with the talents that God has given me. That's all my Lord requires. Whether it be one talent, whether it be ten, whether it be five. Not envious. This earthly, sensual, devilish wisdom, if it may be so called, stirs up strife in one's heart. And the word strife in this meaning here means to stir up a fashion or more accurately, it's a selfish ambition. Earthly wisdom, rooted in the heart of the human nature, stirs up strife. Because it's carnal. It's natural. Selfish ambitions need to be seen as a leader or the teacher or as wise. Needs to be seen as the builder or the creator or the one with the originator of the new ideas and position and putting themselves forward. Often associated with that earthly sensual devilish wisdom is a restlessness of soul. Always pushing forward here or there, bitter ending and strife in the heart. He says, if you find this in your heart, glory not. Glory not and lie not against the truth. My dear brother, my sister, let nothing be done through strife or vain glory, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. If you have bitter ending and strife in your hearts, glory not. Glory not. Do not boast. Do not glory in your wisdom, so called. That earthly, sensual, devilish wisdom focuses upon himself. It's all wrapped up in myself and wanting to be recognized. And what great things God will do in me. It arouses pride and self-glory. Glorious in what it can do. My dear brothers and sisters, be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend the men of lowest state. Be not wise in your own conceits. And if any man think he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing as he ought to know. For if a man think himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. You know, it seems like this prideful, glorying in self and what self can do, this carnal wisdom, it puffs up the heart of man. But how sad if he is nothing. How sad if it's just all vain imagination. How sad if it's full of pride and self-glorying and focused on me and I. Even to say what great things God is going to do with me and through me. It's so deceptive. When I think about it, when a man think of himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. To where the blinded heart lies against the truth. Though the truth be shown, that deceived heart, that puffed up heart, that sensual, natural wisdom is deceived itself to believe that it's God and lies against the truth. If you have bitter ending and strife in your hearts, glory not and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. You know, I believe the way in which there is a lying against the truth can be a number of different ways, but one is to lie against the truth that this is actually the state I'm in. Though other humble, gentle, spiritual, mature brethren come and show it to me, I lie against that truth. Say, but you don't understand. God is showing this to me and it is such a deception. I believe another way that we lie against the truth is that the walk, talk and the talk are not matching up. The walk of life is not matching the speech. What does it help you if you have all this great wisdom? If in your daily walk, your life is not self-controlled, not disciplined by the spirit of God, then things are falling apart. Things are falling apart in my own life, in the life of my home. What good if I have all the wisdom, but in practical application, it's not working out. It's just not happening. Who is a wise man? Let him show out of the good conversation of his life, in meekness of wisdom, that it can be seen. A life that is inconsistent with the word of God, inconsistent with what is being taught and done. This wisdom, the source of this wisdom is not of God, but it is of the earth. It is sensual or unspiritual, natural. It appeals to the senses. It appeals to the carnal mind, to the natural mind. And yea, even devilish. Pretty awesome strong words for us this morning. But they're not my words, it's the word of God. The devilish wisdom is self-centered. It produces envying. It produces strife in the heart. And in your hearts, hearts. Strife in the brotherhood. Strife in the family. It is natural. It is unspiritual. It is of man himself, many times. And yes, devilish or demonic, full of pride, self-ambition and envy. Seeks to promote self and does these things. He who does these things and is walking in these things is acting just like the devil. You know, Jesus said some very awesome words to some of those Pharisees one day. He said, you're of your father. Well, they said, we, our father is Abraham. No, he said, you're mistaken. You think your father is Abraham. But your father is the devil. Now those are awful words. I can hardly say them. But would it be possible that we could be deceived to thinking all my wisdom is from God. But stop and examine the fruit of it. What is it producing in my life? What is it producing in the life of those around me? What is it producing in the life of those I am teaching my wisdom? Is it producing a good fruit of righteousness and holiness and peace and joy? This wisdom, it's not from above. The terrible effects of this wisdom are confusion and every evil work. Confusion. I just can't seem to get it together. A clear path where I'm going. Bouncing back. Bouncing off this wall, then this one. Confusion. One day everything is up. The next day everything is down. Rollercoaster life. Confusion. And every evil work. Put in there whatever you want. Put in there whatever you've seen in the confused lives of those who profess a wisdom, but it's not a heavenly wisdom. It's an earthly, it's essential, and it's a devilish wisdom. And it seeks recognition, it seeks position, it is centered on self, it flaunts its ideas and its doctrines with others and causes confusion. Causes evil in the church. Causes division, maybe to form cliques. Causes confusion and evil within families. Raising questions and wonderings and differing with others and causing debates and arguments. And they cease to grow in the Lord. You know, it's really sad to see where this wisdom, this devilish wisdom is at work, and the devastating fruit of it. It's really sad to see. While we have all the decree and the doctrines lined up perfectly, but the application is so lacking that things are falling apart. Lord, deliver us from that. Where we have it all decided, we have it all worked out, everything's agreed upon in the brother's meeting, but we're not living it, we're not walking in it. Lord, deliver us from such a thing. Maybe this morning you see those effects of this essential, devilish, earthly wisdom. You're laboring under it for years. You recognize it. That's me. I want to encourage you this morning. I want you to see that in your life. Repent. Repent from going your own way. Seeking your own places of honor and recognition. Let us just stop and examine our lives. Have I twisted this wisdom to fit me? Am I resting it to fit my theology? I don't want to shake my comfort zone or my beliefs. Are you laboring under it this morning? Trying to prove that it's God? Have you ever known anyone trying to prove that it's God? The wisdom in which they're walking in for years trying to prove that it's God, but God isn't bearing witness. And they've gone for ten years practically by themselves. No fellowship of believers, very little. A life that is just trying to prove and hold on to this thing that this is God. Who is a wise man? Let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. I want to encourage you today, including myself, let us examine our hearts and let us repent. Confess our failures and turn completely away from our own wisdom. This wisdom is not from above. It's not of heaven. But it is earthly, sensual, devilish. For we're envying and strife is. There is confusion and every evil work. And we could spend a long time naming those different evil works. Let's pray. Father in heaven, please look upon us in mercy, Lord. Search my heart, O God. Search our hearts, O Lord. And God, help me, help us all to be honest and to not lie against the truth. Father, it's the goodness of God that leads us to repentance. O God, if there is confusion, if there is envying, if there is strife, Father, please have mercy upon us. If there is deception, Lord, if there is thinking high thoughts of myself, Lord, puffed up, thinking to be something when I am nothing in your sight, O God, would you reveal it and grant us repentance, Lord, humbleness of mind, meekness of wisdom, Lord. Wisdom says, repent. If there is confusion, Lord, come to the light, come to the truth. Father, we trust you for these things, Lord. Have your way in our hearts, Lord, in Jesus' name. Let us look now at verse 17. But the wisdom that is from above, and when I think of the wisdom from above, as I studied this, this wisdom from above would be a Jewish understood expression of wisdom come down from heaven. It's heavenly wisdom. This wisdom that is from above is, first of all, pure. And let's take note of that. First, pure. First, it is pure. The wisdom that is from above is not having all your doctrines exactly straight and all your theologies figured out, but it's pure. It's pure. It means to be free from fault and defilement. It means moral purity. It means to be completely separated from impurity and wrongdoing and set apart to God. That's the wisdom that's from above. Quite different than carnal earthly wisdom. Quite easily recognized, isn't it? Very different. It's pure. The wisdom that is from above will result in purity of heart and life. Keeping the temple of God, our body, pure. Not overeating, not drinking, using drugs, smoking, all these different things that defile and destroy and damage the body. But oh, much more than that. Keeping his relationships pure. That wisdom is pure. Keeping relationships pure with spouse and children and family and brothers and sisters in Christ. Pure relationships. Open relationships. Most of all, pure before God. This heavenly wisdom is first of all pure. Pure before God and his relationship with God is open. It's an open heaven. It's a pure relationship. No part dark, no part impure. It's pure. But how can we attain to that? By yielding ourselves wholly to God and allowing him to cleanse us. Can any man say my hands are clean? Cleanse your hands, ye sinners. Purify your hearts, ye double-minded. Come to Jesus and be cleansed and be pure and sanctified. And then walking that grace. Not going back to those weak and beggarly elements and drinking there again and defiling ourselves by drinking that impure water of the world and the lust and the flesh again. But keeping ourselves pure before God in our relationship with God. Then we can have pure relationships with one another. Oh, blessed are the pure in heart. For they shall see God. This wisdom is peaceable. First pure, then peaceable. And that peaceable, I love the meaning of that word. It has the meaning of to join and weave together. Peaceable. Binding together. You know, if there's enmity at heart or a separation or a wall, sometimes people call it, you know, in relationships and all that. But this wisdom is peaceable. It seeks peace and it pursues it with God and with human relationships. Peaceable. To bind together, to join together. True wisdom works to reconcile people to God and to each other. Amen? It does. But the earthly, sensual, devilish wisdom divides. Divides. Divides. Divides. The wisdom that is from above. It's first pure. Then it's peaceable. And then it's gentle. Gentleness, meaning forbearance, very closely linked there in the word definition. Gentleness, forbearance, it's gracious, it's not harsh. It's not harsh. It's not hard. It's not critical. Heavenly wisdom doesn't make others feel small and like nobody. I'm this man of great wisdom. No. But it's gentle. It forbears. It's gracious in dealing with other people. It forbears like the long-sufferingness of God. With all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love. Forbearing one another and forgiving one another. If any man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. You know, it's that gracious forbearing gentleness. And the next one is easy to be entreated. Oh, now it's getting to where it's very personal and it touches my life. This heavenly wisdom is easy to be entreated. Hmm. Willing to listen, to appeal, to counsel, being willing to change. Where I'm missing the mark, where I'm wrong. Yes, that's heavenly wisdom. Earthly wisdom? And what do you have to say to me? What about your life? How do you live? Huh? What about so and so? They do it too. Defense, you know. Don't touch me. But heavenly wisdom, oh that, that wisdom that comes down from heaven is easy, easy to be entreated. If you see anything in my life, please come and talk to me. Come and share it with me. How many have said that right here, sharing their testimonies as they committed to the fellowship? But how many of us have done it? I think Brother Denny touched on that the other evening. Some areas that we're weak in, in admonishing one another. Because it's not real easy to do. It means I need to die to my flesh. It means I need to get on my face before God and make sure it's not just some earthly thing here, but this is on the heart of God. And this person has a need in this area and they're missing it a bit there. Do I love them enough to go and entreat them? Am I willing to be misunderstood or to be reproved? Am I willing to take that risk? What if they don't like me anymore after that? What if they speak evil of me after that? What if they avoid me in church after that? You know, I just want to encourage us not to upbraid, not to scold. But I would have to say I believe we're a bit weak in that. And many of us, you know, have even said it. I believe with some longing no one has ever come to me. I wish they would. How many wish someone would come to you if you really, if they really have a concern and see a need in your life? May I see your hands? How many wish someone would come and tell you? Look at that. Now take courage. You may be that one that God will speak to and you need to go and tell him. Maybe you're the only one who knows. You were the only one present when you saw that action, heard that word or that deed. Now go and in Christian love admonish one another, exhort one another. Lest any be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. This wisdom is easy to be entreated. I just want to encourage us in that this morning. Let's examine our hearts. How do I respond when someone comes? Maybe I don't even say a wrong word. But how does my heart respond? What is my attitude? Is there something within that? You know, it just goes against my grain. They have a beam in their eye. How come they come to me about my splendor? But see that how it looks to me. They say, brother you've got a beam in your eye. It's easily to be entreated. You know when I think of something easy. You know we like to do things the easy way, don't we? You know it's easy. It's just so well received. It's like giving a compliment. Well thank you. You know. So we need to examine our heart this morning. If there's a reaction when someone comes to entreat. What wisdom is in my heart? Is it earthly? Bad enough. Is it sensual? Carnal? Natural? Manly? Is it man? Worse yet. But woe to me if it's devilish and it's demonically opposed. You know against God and against the counsel, against the light. This true wisdom is not stubborn. It's not hard. But it's entreatable. Moldable. Oh yes, when the master potter puts me on his wheel and wants to mold me, that's just fine. But don't let my brother touch me. But you know the master potter uses many different tools on his wheel. And he uses imperfect brothers and sisters. He does. He does. Oh come let us reason together. Say of the Lord, true wisdom is full of mercy, pity, compassion, affection and kindness. It's merciful in its approach. When you go speak to your brother, you recognize he might have a hard time with this. So it's tempered with mercy. You don't go, let him have it. No. That's not in you. If you're walking in true wisdom, it's full of mercy. Hallelujah. And it's without partiality. Isn't that right somebody says? Yes. Full of mercy and good fruits and without partiality. And you know I think we just have to be honest with our own hearts this morning. You know carnal earthly human that I am, I like some people better than others in my natural person. And it's easier to talk to some people than others. And if this person comes and tells me a need in my life, much easier to take. But what if that person who tends to rub me a little bit, what if that person comes and tells me? Then what? Lord grow us up without partiality. Okay, so that person is a little bit blunt and to the point, but they have a good heart in what they're doing. They meant it well. And they really are concerned for my soul. Amen. I receive it. Without partiality, thought of that a bit also in couple different ways. You know it's without favoritism. My how much damage has been done by favoritism. Favoritism in the church. Favoritism in the home, in families. Favoritism. This child gets more privileges than this one. Favoritism. This requires discipline if this child does it. But the other one, well, we'll let him slip. It's an awful, the fruit of that is bad. You don't want it. So Lord deliver us from favoritism at home. Favoritism in the church. Favoritism in the ministry. Favoritism among brethren or sisters. But let it be without partiality. Doing nothing by partiality. In fact, when Paul commanded Timothy, he said, I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect angels. Timothy, I'm trying to get your attention on a very important matter. I'm trying to get your attention, Timothy, to observe these things without preferring one before another and doing nothing by partiality. Nothing by favoritism. This man gets a lesser sentence. He gets a lesser discipline. This man gets a harsher discipline. How devastating that is in the church of Jesus Christ. This wisdom is without hypocrisy. It's genuine. It's real. It's not a Sunday Christian, but it's real. Straight through. What you see here Sunday morning is what you get at home Monday evening. It's without hypocrisy. It's free from insincerity and play acting and wearing a mask. Put on your smiles. We're going to church. You know, it's sad to see those pasted on smiles when inside there's a hurting soul. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace. Oh, how beautiful. I love that. The fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace. That's the fruit we want, isn't it? That's what we want. And that's what heavenly wisdom will grow forth in our lives. The meaning is that it produces results in the life like the effects of a seed sown in the ground. And that seed which is sown is going to produce a harvest. It's beautiful, isn't it? Whatsoever a man soweth, he's going to reap it someday. Oh, it's like scattering this fruit of righteousness, being sown in peace. Not in contention and strife. Not in arguments. I'm going to win you to my point. No, it's sown in gentleness and peace and of a life that speaks far louder than your words. And then when they see your life talk and they hear your mouth talk, they're ready to listen. I believe this brother has something to say to me. The picture of a farmer. You know, we're a little bit past those days, but in the old days they had the seed, well way back in Bible days they had it in a sack of some sort and they had a way of tossing it that it would scatter it, you know. And it's just that beautiful picture of a farmer very carefully calculating the size of his field, measuring out the seed and with very deliberate purposeful steps he's going through that field sowing his seed. You don't want to put it all in one spot. Spread it out. Oh, brothers and sisters, let us be sowing the beautiful fruit of that seed, or that seed rather, and yielding a beautiful fruit of peaceable fruit of righteousness. That's what we want. Who is the wise man? Who is this wise man? Oh, yes he's endued with knowledge. He's adding to knowledge, temperance and faith and meekness and charity and brotherly kindness and all these things, but he's a man or a man of a good conversation. Their walk talks and their talk talks and they're going the same path. It's beautiful. It's lovely. They're full of meekness. They're approachable. They're not high in their own estimation. Though they be miles ahead of me in their Bible understanding and learning, though they have doctorates of degrees in theology, you'd never know it because they're filled with the heavenly wisdom. Who is a wise man? Who knoweth the interpretation of a thing? A man's wisdom maketh his faith to shine. Ecclesiastes 8.1. May the Lord bless. So who is a wise man among you? I think the answer is clear. It's not what you know, but it is the proof of it is what flows out of your life. It's how you walk out what you know. Brother Aaron said, wisdom is known by its conduct. Wisdom is known by how you conduct yourself. You can look at your life and others can look at your life and God can look at your life and see the wisdom or the foolishness flowing out of your life. In Proverbs the wise man says, he says, wisdom is the principle thing. Therefore, get wisdom and with all by getting, get understanding. It's been described before that understanding is the practical application of wisdom. And, you know, just yesterday morning at the prayer meeting, I saw some wisdom flow out of that prayer meeting. And I'll tell you what it was. We had a little devotional here this yesterday morning about self and that being the main hindrance to prayer. And there was too many of us to pray around in here. So we all went to the back and we began to pray. And it wasn't too many prayers after the first one that. There was someone lifted up their voice and said, I have a confession, in essence, that their prayer life was not what it should be. And then there was another one and then there was another one. That's wisdom, brothers and sisters, that's wisdom. Make confession, admit where you're wrong, admit where you're weak, ask forgiveness, that's wisdom, practical application of wisdom. And I have seen recently here another practical application of wisdom. If I could speak a little practically to the church this morning, as we have looked into the church plant and we thought about multiplying and a few few brothers, families going over here and meeting together for the purpose of the extension of God's kingdom. And we've asked, what were your concerns? And you gave us your answers. Many of you wrote on your papers that we asked you, you had some concerns. And so we decided to on Wednesday nights, we would have a time when we would talk about those concerns and give some teachings. So that's what we did this past Wednesday night. And, you know, Brother Aaron said that God speaks to us in many different ways. He speaks to us through the word, by his spirit in our hearts. He speaks to us by the brethren, the sisters. He speaks to us through the church, speaking collectively together. So I think a good practical application of wisdom is to take those things we heard last Wednesday night just as a starter and apply them to our life. We heard about radio and more specifically Christian radio. We heard about we talked about contemporary Christian music. And there are several other things we'd like to talk about as as the Wednesday nights unfold before us. But my question to us this morning is, are we willing to apply the wisdom that was presented those last Wednesday night and even here this morning? Amen. But practically speaking to apply that wisdom to our life, God speaks to the church. There's another practical application of wisdom that I have recently experienced. I had a brother come to me recently and he said, brother, I've got something I'd like to say to you. And then he proceeded to tell me something about my life that bothered him. That's wisdom. He came and talked to me like Brother Aaron was talking about. It's wisdom, brothers and sisters, to go talk to somebody if there's something about their life in this, in the meekness and in mercy, talk to them. That's wisdom. I think that's what Brother Aaron is talking about this morning. And, you know, the purpose, the ultimate purpose of wisdom is to glorify our father in heaven. That's the ultimate purpose of wisdom. And may we each one, as we live our life, use that wisdom for one purpose, to glorify our father in heaven. I think we'll open it up now. And if you have anything you'd like to say, any comments, confessions of the ushers, bring a mic, raise your hand and we'll give you the opportunity to speak. You know, many times the testimonies you speak, speak louder, they speak loudly because they are the expression of it. They are the expression of your heart and your life. So I encourage you, brothers and sisters, if you have something you'd like to share, please share it with us. It will be wisdom. Yeah, I was really blessed this morning. I recognize my pride and seeking honor and position. And so I repent of that. God has been speaking to me about that yesterday. We went to a museum and we learned a lot of things about the Titanic. And Captain Smith apparently was trying to build up a reputation for himself. And he, if he would have listened to the warnings from the other captains and been willing to go slower than what he wanted to, there would have been, there would have been that destruction that happened. And that really spoke to me how I just want to be humble and, and give up myself. And there was a lady that she was getting into a lifeboat. The ship was sinking and she was getting into a lifeboat, the last lifeboat. And there was a mother who wanted to be with her children that were on that lifeboat. And there was only one seat left. And so the lady got out of the lifeboat and let the mother get in. And then she went down with the ship. She was a missionary in India returning. And I want to be like that. I'm sure she had learned to die to self even before she got on that ship in many little areas. And so that's what I want to do. I want to learn how to die to myself daily and be faithful in little things that I can be faithful in, in death too. Amen. Thank you. Amen. Is that what we're all willing to do? That is wisdom. You know, giving up ourselves for the sake of others. Um, I just, I am just so happy now. God has had so much mercy on me. Um, he saved my soul Wednesday night and I'm just so happy now. I just want all the glory to him. And, um, one of the first things God is showing me I need to do is to apologize to the congregation. I have made many judgments against you all and said some unkind things behind your backs. And I apologize for that. And I just ask the congregation's forgiveness. Amen. How many of us will forgive our sister? Amen. Thank you for that confession and praise God. Amen. That's true wisdom. Amen. Do we have another one? Yesterday we moved everything in for Annie Zielinski's and it was such a joy. It was a real blessing of a day. And it just made me think of how it must be for Jesus that they're preparing mansions for us and making it very special. And, um, it's just, uh, I'm sure he is, you know, we're anticipating for Annie's to come back and see it and we hope they feel blessed and feel welcomed and cherished. And I think that's how it is for Jesus. He's anticipating for when we come home and he can share all the things he planned for us, uh, with us. Amen. I have another one. I saw. Yes. As I look through my Bible, I, I see various notes and stuff. And I have noticed through the book of James is Aaron's been preaching on that for a while. It's full of notes. And Aaron, I, you said something that, um, maybe these messages don't stick out. Well, they do. They really stick really well to expand the word of God is what we need. We do need that. And so thank you brother for laboring in the word. First, I just want to say that this week God has met with me. I came to a crisis point. It's brother manual spoke up earlier. And that crisis point for me was that there was some issues in our home. And as I did not respond, right. God met with me and pointed the finger right at Papa, right at the father of the home. Show me there was some pride in my own heart and some lack of self-control, some things that I'm seeing in my family. It really pointed back to me and I just had to repent and cry out to God and say, Lord, I am committed to, to meet with you on a daily basis. I have to meet with you to be full of the Holy ghost. As I'm studying an ax right now, we can't do it in the flesh. And I was doing it in the flesh. It must be full of the Holy ghost. And as I see here, as we expanded James three, the 13th through 18, how beautiful it is to dissect that and that it speaks to our hearts. And first 17, that full of mercy and good fruits, that full of mercy really is an element to my life. And I think we need to have in our lives that we're full of mercy to our children, full of mercy. And that will go a long way. Last thing I'd like to say is I thank you for your prayers. Uh, had knee surgery earlier this week, as I mentioned last week, and thank you all for praying for me. I'm feeling better. I, I ditched the crutches this morning. I just was strengthening the leg and, and I just praise God for all the prayers and the visits and the encouragement. And so bless you. Congregation. I, I know it was the prayers that guided the doctor's hands and I know it was the prayers that, that sped up the healing. So hallelujah. Do we have another one? Yeah, I want to say that the Lord is speaking to me and these areas also. Um, I find him, him very faithful as we desire that he tries us to reveal what's in our heart and puts us in those situations. That's what he's been doing in my life. He put me in a situation that got so tight. I, I had to see the, um, fleshly wisdom that I, I live in. Um, a few weeks ago, he showed me the hard core of pride in my life. And I did repent. I, I still repent. I don't want that there, but I felt a little unknowing, you know, where does this show up? How do I humble myself? I, I, you know, it's part of me and I hardly know how to face it. And, but I believe he's showing me now little by little this morning as I read, um, the next passage in, you know, my quiet time, the first verse said, wherefore laying aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisies and envies and all evil speakings. And that's all the farther I could go because I said, Lord, I just have to, I just have to confess these things. And I did, I kneeled down and I just confessed to the Lord. That's me. Envies, I envy people that don't have that hard core of pride. Don't have to, you know, face it. Don't, don't have the harshness coming out of their life. Don't have the critical spirit. Don't, you know, these things are here and, and I don't want them. I just want to give them up to the Lord. I don't want to pass up this opportunity this morning to just confess it and seek the Lord's forgiveness and that I could be cleansed of that. Thank you. Thank you sister. Yeah. A couple, three things here this morning. First of all, just on a personal level, I want to testify that the Lord ministered to my heart today, shone light upon my path. I just want to rejoice that I have a pastor. Uh, I'm sure brother Aaron has no idea how many times God speaks through him to minister to my personal needs. And I know that in many ways, my life is beyond his because of all the work that I'm involved in, but in his own humble way, God just uses his words to shine light. And I thank you for that brother Aaron. I received that from the Lord in these words this morning. And then also because of my work, I find myself many times trying to patch up, solve the problems of these little churches. And I've been busy doing that the last three days just got back last evening. And this message is quite revealing in light of all that I've been trying to help brethren through and trying to bring them back to peace. And really the whole thing, all these difficulties in the churches and between leaders and all that, it just goes right back to these simple verses, which God has given to us again this morning. So may we learn from that as a congregation and take the preventative maintenance that God is giving us before we are falling apart. And then the other thing, I just appreciated sister's words there about being excited about getting Andy's house ready and all that. And some of my work through this last week had to do with a missionary coming home and all the difficulties that they face and how that somehow we don't see missionaries as soldiers, you know, who had been out on the battlefield, who are coming home, hurting, wounded, sometimes devastated. But I just want to make that plea for brother Andy and his family. They are soldiers coming home from the battlefield, who were willing to go out there and make themselves vulnerable and their lives open to everybody else looking in. And I just appreciate everybody's excitement about caring for them. And I just want to encourage us all. We won't be here next Sunday. We're leaving on a family trip. But I just want to encourage us all. Let's receive them as soldiers who have been out on the front lines where it's very difficult and just bless them and shower them with love and acceptance. And yeah, let them feel like they're heroes, because I'll tell you, they're thinking that they're failures. Let's make sure they know they're heroes. That's my encouragement. Thank you for that. I think that's a good word for us. Even soldiers get tired and they need to come back for a rest and they need encouragement. So I say amen. It's good to be back with you this morning. My family and I have been away on a little bit of family trip and I feel like I need to update you on what the Lord is doing in our life and in my life. At the end of the revival meetings, I mean right down to the last verse, the Lord finally brought me to the end of myself. And I realized that I was trying to live this Christian life in my own strength. And I was too afraid to let people know what I was really like. So I went forward and in a way didn't really know why I was going forward, but in a way I did. And brothers counseled me and let me know that I need to be born again. So I just cried out to the Lord and hallelujah. He saved me. He saved me. And we're pressing on. I now have the excitement of knowing that God is with me and all these things I've been trying to do on my own and failing and trying to kind of keep up appearances. I now have the power in it. It's not all fixed and it's not all magic, but we can I can now press forward and hope. And I'm also just I thank the Lord for my wife. I now have a clearness with her that I haven't had for a while. And God has been so good to us, drawing us closer, uniting our hearts. And I just want to praise the Lord for what he's doing. Amen. God bless you, Brother Joe. Give you that power that you want. May you continue on in that. Recently, I was talking with a man that just got born again. He said, it's light now. It's light. Do I see another one? I want to say how much I appreciate that message. And the Spirit recalled my memory, these words, change my heart, O God, make it ever new. Change my heart, O God, and make it more like you. You are the potter. I am the clay. Mold me and make me. This is what I pray. Change my heart, O God, make it more like you. I'm a visitor here this morning and I can say with my wife that we've been truly blessed to be with you this morning. Amen. Praise the Lord. Have another one. Hello. I'm also a visitor with my wife and family. And I was kind of marveling when I was seeing all the hands raised to people who said that they would receive correction in their lives. And I wanted to just give a testimony of something that happened just this last week to show what a blessing it is when we take the chance, step out in faith and confront somebody according to what that message was today that we received this morning. But last week, I made a phone call to the husband of a friend of my wife's back in Washington State. And based on some of the things that she had been telling my wife, I was very concerned about things that I saw or was hearing about in their family. And and I waited a few weeks and then finally she called again and there was something else that came up. And so finally I said I need to call. I need to do some intervention here, even though I didn't know him well. And so I called him up. And at first I wanted to talk to his wife and just get permission from her to share some of the things that she shared with my wife. And anyway, I ended up talking with him because she wasn't there. And we talked for an hour and a half. And at one point it got very heated. And he said, no, you said enough. And I could just feel the the animosity rising. And I began to cry out to God and in mercy, just continue, just gently bring it back to the issue that we're talking about. And my wife and I, we've been listening to a lot of tapes from this church that we get through the mail. Thank you very much for that. And one of the series on the home series, Brother Denny, you talked about it is not acceptable to spank your children in anger. So I began to share this with this person. And at one point when I said it's just not acceptable to do that in anger. And I repeated a few times. And he finally said, well, who says so? And at that moment, I wanted to say, well, Brother Denny does. But I knew he needed something more than just Brother Denny. So that's right. We able to regroup it anyway. Long and short of it is we talk for an hour and a half on the phone. I was really concerned that I had stirred up a hornet's nest in my conversation with him. And I I went to work the next day and I came back home late that night. And I wanted to call him just to make sure everything was OK, that he didn't, you know, get off the phone and angrily go to his wife and say, what are you doing, telling other people about our business? And and it was just such a blessing, because when I talked to him, things began to change that night. And he went to his wife and he said, you know what? I don't want to separate. I really want to make this thing work. And he went to his he went to his daughter and he said I had shared with him about praying over his children. I said, why don't you go bless your children? And he said he went to his daughter that night and said, can we pray? And she looked at him and said, what? And so it was just a real blessing. And he thanked me from his heart to to have the courage to come in and address some things in his life. And thank you for listening. Amen. Anyone else want to thank you all for your prayers for us while we're away. God has blessed our time, kept us safe. And I would just say to Brother Aaron, I think these messages through the Book of James are good, even from verse one of chapter one, which is counted all joy while you fall into diverse temptation. I'd mentioned that in children's class and. There have been various occasions where that has come to mind, you know, your seems like a difficult situation, maybe an impossible situation, and you wonder what good can ever come of this. But I believe that's just as was shared in the message this morning, that it's like being in front of the Red Sea, I mean, being there at the Red Sea with mountains on either side and an arm behind. There's nothing we can do, but God can. Amen. No problem. And we felt a little bit that way whenever we came into Miami and and they told us, well, nobody's going anywhere. Computers are shut down. Nobody's going through customs. Computers don't come out. We're staying here. And as we thought about that, I said, well, let's count all joy because what else can we do? And just so happened that about an hour or so later, the computers came up and they delayed our flight another 45 minutes or something like that. And we were able to be home within a half hour behind schedule. And so it's just one of those little things that God can do. But God wants us to be dependent on him no matter what. I just want to thank God for what he's doing. Well, you know, Brother Aaron began with a question. Who is a wise man? And I would like to end this message or this service with a question. Are you a wise man? Brother Aaron gave us many instructions out of the word of God. Now I encourage us to take it home. Am I a wise man?