Amen. I don’t know what it says that I was asked to launch the series Wisdom For Dummies, <laugh>. I’m working hard not to read too much into that and I had to follow the horse. So I don’t know who I made mad, but like it or not, you’re stuck with me this morning. It is summer. Summer is in full swing. Summer’s in full swing at our house. My car has that unique smell of sweat sunscreen and pool towels. You know what I’m talking like. It’s just a magical smell. And we have all the summer things. We’re part of the Cherry Hills trip that’s headed to Uganda, which we will commission at the end of this service and doing the VBS with our ministry partners there at Moana. And you know, we do all of our family stuff. We’ve got a beach trip. The things that you do, you all have your family summer routines or memories, things that when you do that brings back all those memories from when you were a kid.

But believe it or not, no amount of sand or sunscreen or 60 hours of travel bring any good memories back. For me, that’s not, it’s really not what gets me going. For me, that moment of sitting out on our back porch listening to music, maybe s’mores or something as the hot day turns to a cool breeze, like those are the moments that transport me back to my childhood. Now I grew up in a house full of boys, so those moments were preceded by a full day of manual labor because that’s how mom kept us outta trouble. But it’s still an amazing memory for me. And this morning is a great memory because we kick off this series Wisdom For Dummies, looking through the book of Proverbs and probably no book of the Bible has had a more presence in my life than Proverbs because my dad loved the book of Proverbs.

So many of our family Bible studies as we were kids growing up centered around Proverbs and or the idea of wisdom When I graduated from high school, you might think I got a trip or a car. Nope, I got a sleeping bag and a Proverbs Bible study book because my dad told me from a young age, it is wise to have wisdom. And so there we were, young parents we’re doing the same thing. I was raised up to do. There we are having our Bible study with our young family. And more times than not we were looking through something of Proverbs because it’s just an easy daily thing to read through. And I remember one particular time we were on the topic of wisdom and just these memories are kind of flooding back to me. And we were looking at the story of Solomon in one Kings three, five.

And I still remember reading this passage to my girls that in Gibeon, the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream at night and God said, ask what you wish me to give you. Being the good pastor I was, this felt like a really spiritual off ramp. And so I just asked my family, Hey, if we could ask God for anything today, what would we ask him for? And my wife says, I would ask him for someone to buy our house that God our house would please sell. At the time, that was an amazing, amazing strain on our life. I was pastoring a church 25 miles each way and coaching full-time at the high school there in order to be a part of that community. We had even put our kids in extracurricular activities there. So every day we were driving 50 miles, round trip twice on Sundays, but for some reason our house would not sell.

We had our whole church praying for our house to sell as a family. Every night we were praying for our house to sell. It just wasn’t happening. And I just remember the look on my wife’s face of like, man, if I could cry out to God for one thing today, it would be that someone would buy our house. I turned to my oldest daughter, I said, sweetie, if you could ask God for anything. And she said, I would ask him that we would love our friends and we would love the people God has placed around us. And I’m just like, well, gimme the trophy. I’m, I’m father of the year. I mean how Look God, look what I’ve produced. I mean this is like a Bible study here. And I’m like, yes, let’s go gold star. And I turned to my sweet little youngest and I said, sweet dilly, what would you ask for? And she said, I would ask God for a baby brother <laugh>.

She then sold the look on my face and she said, oh, I mean for our house to sell, we were like this. I was this close. This is why you don’t prematurely celebrate. Okay? But I wondered this morning for you as I was just trying to imagine what that list may look like in your life this morning that if you could ask God that question was pitched to you. If, if God in his very presence came and said, you can ask me for anything. My guess is that a number of you would say, I don’t, I don’t even need to pause like we are in it deep right now. And if I could ask God for anything, I would know right away healing. That’s what I would ask for. To be honest. A shadow of a doubt man, if you ask me that question, I would say a miracle.

We need a miracle in our life. We need a miracle from a loved one. If you were to ask me right now, I would say restoration for a relationship. We have tried everything. It is falling apart. And if I got to ask God for just one thing today, it would be that, that he would pull that relationship back together. For some of you would say, I need direction man. We feel like we’re at this crossroads and we don’t know what to do and we are agonizing over it. Some would say wayward child, we brought ’em up in the church, we taught them the ways they know the Lord. They’re not living in it right now. And as a mom and dad it breaks our heart. Some of you would say forgiveness, some I need to ask someone to forgive me or, or like, Hey, I’ve just had a road and I, I just need God to help me forgive myself.

I get it. I also understand this room is large and there are others that would say, Hey, life is good right now. I, I don’t really have any pressing needs that I would ask God for. So maybe I would just throw out something like world peace. That sounds like something we should probably just ask God for right now. I’ll just throw that out there. I I don’t know where you may be. I would say if you’re having trouble today figuring out where you may be, we just have vacation Bible school. We had 1200 kids here. I had a little time on my hands since the last time I preached. So I decided to ask some pre cares this same question. Maybe you would take their list if you could ask God for anything. Austin said A box of command strips, please. Luke, I don’t think talked to his mom. He would like a real life sea monster.

<Laugh>.

Kaylynn, simple girl. She just would ask God for a jar of pickles.

<Laugh>.

Now I’m guessing Levi has probably had this conversation. I don’t know, but his mom is, her heart is probably broken because I said, what would you ask God for? And he said, I would want to change my name to Batman

<Laugh>,

Your poor, your poor mama. She picked that name for you. And Morgan, this probably tells me a lot about her life. She just wants to go to Ikea, who doesn’t.

But what we’re kicking off this morning is the answer to this very question that a Solomon was asked this question, by God you can ask me for anything. His answer is where we’re getting this whole series throne verse nine. He says, so give your servant an understanding heart to judge your people to discern between good and evil for who is able to judge this great people of yours. Right? Like since I can’t go to Ikea, God, here’s what I’m, I’m throwing out here. And look what verse 10 says. It was pleasing in the sight of the Lord. And God said to him, because you didn’t ask for these other things because you’ve not asked for long life. Nor have you asked for riches for yourself, nor have you asked for the life of your enemies. But you have asked for your self discernment to understand justice.

Then verse 12, behold I have done according to your words and behold I have given you a wise and discerning heart so that there has been no one like you before you. Nor shall there be one like you, like you arise after you. Hey look, I love command strips as much as the next guy. But what Solomon understood was the same thing my dad taught me at a young age. It’s wise to have wisdom because wisdom is invaluable. It’s an invaluable thing in our life. And I think so often we, we get confused ’cause we use this idea of knowledge and wisdom interchangeably. We think knowledge and wisdom is the same. They’re very different. Knowledge is understanding how to build your kids. That trampoline wisdom is getting someone else to do it.

Like knowledge is, hey, I understand a tomato is actually a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in my fruit salad. That would be disgusting. Knowledge is the accumulation of information, wisdom is the application of that information. But in our series what we’re gonna seek to do is go one step further and say not just being wise in my decision making but having godly wisdom in my decision making. And what I would tell you godly wisdom is this. It’s being able to see your life from God’s perspective and then to live your life and make your decisions based upon it. And that’s what we’re gonna try to do every week here is picking a topic and seeing how wisdom comes into play. So if you have your Bibles, we’re gonna be in Proverbs chapter three. We’re gonna go through first 27 verses here, just extracting what it says about wisdom.

Solomon says, my son, do not forget my teaching but let your heart keep my commandments. And I think naturally as the case is, we tend to kind of have that childish response when God gives us a command with like why Well God, why? Why do I have to do this? Verse two says a pretty good answer for length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you. I mean scripture’s pretty clear. Scripture’s pretty direct. And I don’t know about you, but anytime I get to read something or scripture is very clear and very direct, I usually stop and say, Hey, thank you God. ’cause You’re, could you not have just always been this clear like why is some things confusing? But when scripture is clear, I wanna celebrate that. Hey the word is very clear. There is no confusion. There is great reward to your life for pursuing the wisdom of God and adjusting your life so that you can live with and make decisions based on God’s wisdom.

As a staff right now we are working through a famous book you’ve probably many of you have heard of, it’s Henry Black Abby’s famous book Experiencing God. We are working through that during our staff worship times and discussing it through our staff small group times. And just a few weeks ago we meet once a month. Last month we were really looking at this very idea here that that in order to truly experience God, what we have to do is we have to obey God that that faith and actions are inseparable. It was this very idea that that we come to experience all the richness that God has for our life. When we walk in the ways of God, we we, we were just looking that anything short of doing that causes us to miss the mark. This idea that partial obedience to God is still disobedience to God.

But when we know God, when we truly know him, then we obey him. And when we obey him we are walking in his ways. And when we walk in his ways, we get to experience him and there in experiencing him. That’s the spot where God accomplishes all that he has planned for our life is this truth. Today life is better doing it God’s way. And that’s really the first truth that we’re gonna pull out today. Three things this morning. The first is this, that we would long for the wisdom of God in our lives knowing that that godly wisdom is the greatest treasure. It’s the greatest gift that we would long for the wisdom of God that we would long for it in our life. That is verse 13 says, how blessed it’s the Hebrew word as, sure you could read it like this way, how happy is the man who finds wisdom.

Now look, I understand there are probably some of you here today who are like, well I thought this was supposed to be a practical series that sounds about like the most church answer I’ve ever did here. That’s like shouting Jesus in Sunday school to a question I don’t know The answer to this feels like a pretty safe bet, Bronson, that here I am facing this major decision in my life. Here I am facing this major crisis in my life and you’re telling me the key to figuring it out, to finding that happiness is just pursuing the wisdom of God. Here’s what I would tell you. That is not a church answer. It’s not even Bronson’s opinion. That is biblical truth for your life today. Godly wisdom brings genuine happiness to your life. That’s just the truth of scripture that if today there is a longing in your life today, if today it feels like some something is missing in your life today, if today you look and you say, man, no matter what has happened, there is a void that has taken place in my life, then what I would tell you is long for the wisdom of God, stop chasing after the things of the world and develop a longing in your life for all the things of God.

And I understand that that feels opposite. I understand that feels counter-cultural especially I think for our context here that that here we have this context of, of not just Douglas County but but even our church community. And we’d say, man, there’s, there’s just maybe not a lot in my life that I, that I am missing that compared to the world at large. How blessed are we right here? That all the things we have access to right here. But that’s not the question. The question is are you fulfilled? The question is, is the voids in your life complete? Is there a genuine happiness taking place in your life? Because I meet with families in our church all the time whose lives and whose homes are filled but whose souls and hearts are empty and longing that there’s a void. It can only be filled by the wisdom of God.

How blessed is the man who finds wisdom and the man who gains understanding that if you want to find happiness, if you want to find fulfillment, if you want to find peace in your life today, then long for the wisdom of God and put that wisdom into practice in your life. Because look at the statement that verse 14 makes for her profit is better than the prophet of silver and her gain better than fine gold. Now look carefully at verse 15. We’re gonna go really slow here. She is more precious than jewels and nothing you desire. I mean if you just slow down for just a second and you think about what scripture is saying, that’s a really strong statement for scripture to make. The word of God is saying this morning, nothing you desire is saying nothing of this world compares to longing for and living with the wisdom of God. I mean that’s a very strong statement. That’s a very strong promise because if, if we were to be truly honest this morning, if you, you know where you are, if you got a chance to ask God for anything, like if we’re just being totally honest, a real life sea monster would be awesome to have. I mean that would be wild if we’re just being honest.

Just enough money to get through this month. Like I’ll seek the Lord as soon as if we could just get through the ability to just buy those clothes so that my kids could fit in the, the end of suffering of my mom or my dad or a loved one who’s just suffered and suffered and suffered. Like if you really had the choice today, would you really choose wisdom like of all the needs in your life? But we look right here, the word says, real happiness is found in God’s wisdom. And look, nothing you desire compares with her. What a remarkable statement. The true riches that that real blessing for our life. They are not found in the ways of the world. They are found living and chasing after and longing after the wisdom of God. And I get that’s not what we’re taught. We are taught very simply.

Stuff is status, knowledge is power. If you are about my age, you probably grew up with the same cartoons I watched. They’re right there after the ducktails had just pulled off a rescue and the Flintstone mobile had rolled off the screen. You get that star that would come across the screen and it would say the more you know and they would say, trees are green, they grow from the ground. The more you know, you’d be like, wow, I’m learning so much from cartoons mom and dad, but this is what we’re sold. You need stuff in your life to gain status. You need knowledge in your life to gain power. But look around stuff and status knowledge is everywhere. We have more stuff. We have more knowledge than ever before. We are more technologically advanced than the world has ever been. We invented Amazon Prime for crying out loud and yet we are still surrounded by death and disease and destruction.

That’s because the cure for these things is not more stuff from the world. The cure for healing, hatred, the cure for violence, the cure for the broken relationships in your life, the cure for your fractured marriage, the cure for the dysfunctional spaces that you find yourself in. The cure for your kids who are so unhappy in life is not more knowledge. It’s not more stuff, it’s more Jesus that we would long for that and we would not chase after these other things. And here’s the reality today. You can believe the world if you want to. God loves you enough to give you that choice. Or you can believe the word today And what the word says is number one, long for wisdom in your life. And then number two, live with the confidence of it. Live with the confidence that the word is enough. Live with the confidence that the ways of God are enough. Live confidently knowing that God’s ways and chasing after them. Verse 17 says are pleasant ways and all her paths are peace.

Is there anyone in here today that sounds good too. Is there anyone this, this morning who says I could just use something pleasant to finally happen in my life? Anyone? Is there anyone in this audit auditorium who could use just a little peace in their life? I mean, I don’t know about you. My kids have been off school for three weeks. They’re already bored. I’m bored Dad. Dad, we’re just bored. So bored. We could use a little peace in our home. And yet the scripture says, we can be confident in this promise. We can be confident that the ways of God are good and pleasant and peaceful. And I think that kind of promise is something so incredible because everywhere we look today, someone or something is promising us something. We were having dairy Queen blizzards the other night. There’s a sign right there next to the register that said, your blizzard will be perfect or we will make it perfect, son. That’s my kind of promise right there. And if you don’t know this about me, I don’t have a sweet tooth. I got sweet teeth. They’re all sweet, all of them. I’m like, maybe I should order five. This feels like a sign from the Lord <laugh>.

And yet scripture says, Bronson, no, there is no promise. Like the promise of the word proverb is saying, nothing in this whole world comes close to promising you. What the ways of God can that pursuing the wisdom of God, chasing after him, longing after him, being confident in his ways. It is the only way for your life and your relationships and your family and the spheres that you hang in in to be pleasant and to experience peace for you to ever walk in genuine happiness. Because I’ll tell you what I experienced that night is that Dairy Queen can guarantee that my blizzard is perfect. They cannot guarantee that there won’t be a 3-year-old running around the restaurant screaming like crazy <laugh>, right? This that’s not very peaceful or pleasant, but the word of God delivers this promise. Verse 18, she wisdom, wisdom. Look at this is a tree of life to those who take hold of her and happy are all who hold her fast.

Everything else is flawed. Everything else lacks life. Every single thing that you could possibly try and put your hope in somewhere along the way is gonna let you down and lead to death. Sin entered the world to a tree that looked like it could provide all these things that God couldn’t provide and yet it was met with death because he is the tree of life. He’s the only way to experience the fulfillment that he desires for our life. That all the other paths are gonna promise to make you happy, but they’re gonna end in heartbreak. And and and I get, I was meeting with our, our student Pastor David this week as we were just trying to, I was trying to tie this up. I was trying to, to put a bow on this message and we were just talking about how it feels when we hear this because I think what we feel is we feel like this is a near impossible test.

What we feel like Solomon is saying is choose this intangible invisible thing called the wisdom of God over the things of the world. That he’s saying, Hey, choose this invisible being of godly wisdom. Even though I can’t, you can’t really see it over 4K tv like, like it’s pick this or a new car. It’s pick this or the nicest clothes. It’s pick this over this relationship that I’m immersed in that is promising me to be better than every relationship that I’ve ever been a part of to fix all the things I’ve ever gone through. That we feel like Solomon is saying, Hey, run to this invisible intangible piece over this addiction that has held me hostage for so long that I’m so immersed in. And maybe today it feels like he’s saying, Hey, it’s wisdom or a new Instapot like, I don’t know, whatever. My, my wife would say sourdough kit, whatever, you know.

But check this out. That is not what Solomon is asking you to do. Look here at verse 19, he says, the Lord, by wisdom founded the earth by understanding. He established the heavens. Verse 20, by his knowledge, the deeps were broken up and the sky’s drip would do. He says, it seems impossible because you believe you cannot see the things that God is trying to offer you. You think you are being forced. You think it’s hard because the things of the world are so impressive. And Solomon says, I get it. You think you’re having to choose between this invisible thing called godly wisdom and 4K viewing pleasure. I get that. But then he just writes the scripture and he says, yeah, those things are nice, but have you seen the earth? Like, like have you seen the image of the, the, the sheer size of earth?

Have you seen the beauty of the earth? Have you seen what God created? He says, you think you can’t see the ways of God? Have you seen the redwoods? Have you seen the sheer size of their creation, the sheer size of their existence? You think God is asking you to pick between this invisible and tangible thing? Hello? Have you seen the rocky mountains? Like, have you seen the beauty that exists right out this window? He says, you think God is asking you to do something, but have you ever tried to find the expanse and the ends of the heavens that every time they invent a more powerful telescope, they find pieces of outer space that they hadn’t been able to view before? He’s like, you think this is a choice that’s really tough. Have you viewed the depths of the oceans that there are depths they can’t even get equipment to?

He’s like, yeah, you, you think it’s tough because you don’t think you can see the creation of God. You can’t, you don’t think you can see what God has to offer you. But then look at verse 21. He says, let them not vanish from your sight. Oh, you can see, you can see the works of his hands. You can see everything he has to offer. Don’t let them vanish from your sight. Keep sound wisdom and discretion ultimately in the simplest terms possible. Here’s what he’s saying. Hey, the works of God are amazing and the ways of God are sufficient for every single thing you need in your life. And you think it’s this near impossible choice. But lemme just tell you the, the majestic works in this hand are better than everything. And the ways of this hand are more peaceful and pleasant than anything you could ever experience.

Long for wisdom. Number one, live with confidence. Number two and number three, then just let God have it. I don’t know what to do today trying to figure out how to, to, to navigate this life. Hey, long for God’s wisdom. Be confident that it’s enough and then turn it over. Just let God have it. Let him have it. Let him guide you. Let him lead you. Now that you understand the very same wisdom that created the expanses of the heavens is available to you and me, what an unbelievable opportunity. Let him have it. Verse 23 says, then you will walk in your way securely and your foot will not stumble. I wonder if you’re familiar with the GPS app ways. It’s really one of the very first kind of GPS apps that did something different. Instead of just giving you turn by turn navigation, what Waze did was it combined the social media platform with GPS turn by turn navigation.

And it wasn’t just using your location to determine speed and the speed of vehicles around you to try to figure out traffic jams or whatever. But it let users called Wazers ad information as well. They could add traffic is stopped. They could add construction, they could add police activity debris in the road and it changed everything. But what you may not know about the app is it’s very creative in the turn by turn navigation you can receive. You’re not bound to the boring like male, female, British English voice. There were just a few settings you could receive turn by turn navigation from the Jonas Brothers or like an auto-tuned nineties pop star. It’s wild.

But actually with just a few prompts you can actually receive turn by turn directions from yourself. Just a few weeks ago I was headed to meet a guy for lunch. I throw the ways up and I’m listening to myself and I’m thinking, wow, I thought I was a lot funnier three years ago when I recorded these prompts. This is not very funny. Bronson <laugh>, I see what my wife means. So <laugh>. But I’m driving. I’m listening to myself, tell myself where to go and what to do. I just begin to think, how many times do we find ourselves like that? Hey, we’ve got wisdom that exists out here. We’ve got the direction of God that’s available to us trying to guide us. We’ve got people that God sends into our life to help guide us with godly wisdom, to help tell us hard truth, to help point us in the right direction. But the enemy is so crafty, right? That that there are times where he arrives and he says, no, you just need to focus on yourself for a while.

Hey, you just need to block out all those other directions, all that other guidance. Just do what you want. Just do what makes you happy. Chase after yourself, block everybody else out and just do whatever you wanna do. And I would just tell you today, it’s a bad way to live. Whose voice are you listening to that hey, that question, if I could ask God for anything, can I just tell you the truth this morning? It’s going to remain an impossible question to answer until you have a heart that is fully devoted to God. It will always feel impossible. It will always feel like this impossible tension until your heart is fully devoted to God. Verse 25 says, let your eyes look directly ahead. Let your gaze be fixed straight in front of you, much the path of your feet. And all your ways will be established.

Do not turn to the right nor to the left. Turn your foot from evil. I’m just telling you this right now. Some of the best advice I ever got. Let God have it. Would you just let him? I’m angry. That’s okay. It’s okay. He can handle it. I got a lot of questions. Did you know you can just let God have those? He, it’s not too much for him. I’m broken. Yeah, you can let him have it. He’ll put you back together. I don’t know which way to turn. It’s good. He does. Just let him have it. I would long for the wisdom of God. I would live confident that it’s enough and then I would turn it over to God. ’cause The best part about it is no matter where you find yourself today on the road, that when you begin to lean into him, it doesn’t take long to hear.

Turn right, turn left. I’ve got this. My ways are pleasant. My ways are peaceful. Would you let him have it? You will ultimately never know the wisdom of God if you continue walking and living in the ways of the world. So the choice is yours this morning for that situation, whatever it may be. Would you turn it over to him today, understanding that it’s wise to have wisdom? Let’s pray. Father, thank you for the gift of wisdom. Thank you for this gift that is greater than the knowledge of the world and the stuff of the world. Father, thank you so much that you are enough, that it’s all we need and the world convinces us. We need a life full of all these other things. And all those other things ultimately lead to death. But your path is the path to life. No matter who, no matter what, no matter where they find themselves today, you are calling. Come back. Seek me long for me, live confidently in my ways. Turn it over to me. Father, would you just lead us? Would you guide us? Well, thank you for the opportunity to praise you and worship you this morning. See your name we pray. Amen.

Slide 1
In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream at night; and God said, “Ask what you wish me to give you.” 1 Kings 3:5

Slide 2
“So give Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people to discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?” It was pleasing in the sight of the Lord…and God said to him, “Because you have asked this thing and have not asked for yourself long life, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have you asked for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself discernment to understand justice, behold, I have done according to your words. Behold, I have given you a wise and discerning heart, so that there has been no one like you before you, nor shall one like you arise after you.” 1 Kings 3:9-12

Slide 3
My Son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments; for length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you. Proverbs 3:1-2

Slide 4
Partial obedience to God is still disobedience to God.

Slide 5
#1 Long for Wisdom

Slide 6
How blessed, how happy is the man who finds wisdom. Proverbs 3:13

Slide 7
Godly wisdom brings genuine happiness.

Slide 8
How blessed is the man who finds wisdom and the man who gains understanding. For her profit is better than the profit of silver and her gain better than fine gold. She is more precious than jewels; and nothing you desire compares with her. Proverbs 3:13-15

Slide 9
#2 Live with Confidence

Slide 10
Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace. Proverbs 3:17

Slide 11
She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her, and happy are all who hold her fast. Proverbs 3:18

Slide 12
The Lord by wisdom founded the earth, by understanding He established the heavens. By His knowledge the deeps were broken up and the skies drip with dew. Proverbs 3:19-20

Slide 13
My son, let them not vanish from your sight; keep sound wisdom and discretion. Proverbs 3:21

Slide 14
#3 Let God

Slide 15
Then you will walk in your way securely and your foot will not stumble. Proverbs 3:23

Slide 16
Let your eyes look directly ahead and let your gaze be fixed straight in front of you. Watch the path of your feet and all your ways will be established. Do not turn to the right nor to the left; turn your foot from evil. Proverbs 3:25-27

Slide 17
You will never know the wisdom of God walking and living in the ways of the world.