you Well, blue skies and hillsides feel so far away, and I wrote in my notebook that I've seen better days than the ones as of late. I can't bear the wait. The rain won't stop pouring down my windowpane And I haven't left my bedroom in 76 days I wish something would change Cause I'm losing faith So I wrote it up in a desperate prayer Lord, why are you keeping me here? And he said to me Child, I'm planting seeds I'm a good God and I have a good plan So trust that I'm holding the watering can And someday you'll see that flowers grow in the valley. So whatever the reason I'm barely getting by, I'll trust it's a season knowing that you're by my side every step of the way. And I'll be okay Cause I wrote it up in a desperate prayer Lord, why are you keeping me here? And he said to me Child, I'm planting seeds I'm a good God and I have a good plan So trust that I'm holding the watering can And someday you'll see that flowers grow in the valley. When I'm on the mountain and looking down below, I'll see a valley of flowers that needed time to grow, and I'll thank you for the rain. The hurts and days of pain And I'll bring it up in a grateful prayer Thank you Jesus for keeping me there You know just what I need And you've planted seeds Cause you're a good God with a real good plan And you hold my world in a watering can So I can have peace Cause flowers grow in the valley Amen. Thank you ladies for the song. Thrills my heart to see God working in people. Just to watch God bring in folks that Have a genuine desire just to love Him. And a genuine desire just to serve. And to watch God take those people and to grow them, to mold them, that's what this is all about. Watching God work in the lives of people. I'm glad He does hold the watering can and He knows exactly how much I need. He knows exactly how much heat I need, how much sun I need. Oh, there's been some dark days, but I'm sure glad for a God that knows exactly how to grow me where I'm at. He's mighty good at what He does. It's exciting to see this young family growing in the Lord, doing what the Lord wants them to do. They've been practicing that, what, about two and a half months, I guess, three months? Preparing for the day. Oh, what a joy. This thrills my heart to see what God's doing in this church. If you have your Bibles, you'll go with us this morning to the book of James, chapter one. The book of James, chapter one. We're going to be back in our James study, Lord willing, for a while. We have spent the first several messages looking at the thought of patience and how it's to be put to use in our lives. It's a subject that most of us, if we are honest and we're true, we don't like the subject of patience. Mostly because we don't have much. And we realize through the text that it is something that is given divinely by God. It is not up to me. But it says patience. has a job to do. And if I'm ever going to be what God would have me to be, I've got to allow that to take root. But then James here begins to shift his focus. Remember our theme text for the book of James, Be ye doers of the word, not hearers only. It doesn't do you much good if all you ever do is hear it. You can come to church, you can put your money in the plate, you can join the church roll, you can do all that stuff. And it's never going to make a difference in your life until you begin to apply what the Word of God actually says. Be ye doers of the Word, not hearers only. So we arrive here at verse 5 of chapter 1 and James has been talking about patience but now he shifts his focus to another subject that I would dare say is as unloved, if I can say it that way, as the thing of patience. And that is the subject of wisdom. Why would that be so controversial? Why would it be so difficult in our day and in our life to apply the wisdom of God? One reason. I think my way is better. If I were to take a poll in here and to ask you this question. who in here would deem yourself, and you can be honest, we know how we think about ourselves, would deem yourself somewhat of a wise person, at least in some area. We'd probably all raise our hand. We've got some sort of wisdom, we would think. But the problem is, just like patience, we can't have Divine wisdom without the divine help of God. Now you can have worldly wisdom, but that won't get you very far. The world's wisdom, the only thing it's good at is getting you to hell. Or wrecking your testimony. That's all the wisdom of the world can muster. That's all it can do. But as we approach this here, we see James begins by looking at the very beginning of wisdom. Verse 5 says, 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. Father, We need Your help this morning, Lord. I am asking You to touch this place. Lord, thank You for just what You've done already. Lord, I pray that You'd meet with us, that Your presence would be felt, that Your power would be felt. Lord, that we would know that You have been in our midst. Lord, I pray that You'd take this message and work it in the hearts of Your people. Lord, help me to understand it and do it myself. Lord, in the things that You have desired to correct in me, I pray that you'd help me to have an open heart and an open mind. Lord, I pray that you'd get honor and glory from everything that's said and done this morning. In Jesus' name, amen. As we approach this, you will find the very origin of wisdom all the way back in the book of Proverbs. So go with me to the book of Proverbs chapter 9. Proverbs chapter 9. And we will begin to look at the very origin of wisdom. Because if we're going to have it, it helps to know where to get it. It's not going to help you to ask for wisdom if you don't know exactly where wisdom is found. And so we come to Proverbs chapter 9 and verse 10, and we begin to see the provider of wisdom here. It says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Where we get our wisdom will dictate its usefulness. If all we ever have as believers is the wisdom of man, we will continually fall short as God's children. He says in this text in Proverbs chapter 9 that Not the ending, not the middle, but the beginning of wisdom is found where? In the fear of the Lord. Now does that mean that I am walking about and I am looking just for God to strike me dead if I so much as look at Brother Wyatt cross-eyed and I might say an unkind word? Am I expecting God to just snap his fingers and send me out into eternity? That's not what it's talking about when it's regarding the fear of the Lord. You look throughout the Bible and it shows us all kinds of different characteristics of God. Some is found in the kindness and the gentleness and the meekness of God. Some is found in the power of God. And some is found in the judgment and wrath of God. But what are we to do with this This little subject of the beginning of wisdom. It helps to know where the wisdom is found. Why do I not look to my wisdom? I mean, I'm 31 years old. I haven't lived as long as some, but I've lived longer than others. Why would I not seek my wisdom? I mean, I know a few things. I've been a few places. I've been to school. Got a degree. Why would I not trust my own wisdom for my life? Go with me to the book of Romans really quickly. Romans chapter 1. And I'm going to give you the ending of my wisdom. Romans chapter 1 and verse 21. Verse 21 of Romans chapter 1 says, Because that when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened, professing themselves to be wise, they did what? They became fools. That is the result, that is the grand finale of what you can do and what I can do in and of myself. It revolves around and resolves around the fact that I am nothing but a fool without the help of God. He said, Preacher, I don't like that. Well, show me anywhere in your life, I would test you today, to find anywhere in your life that you made your own decision, your own way, in your own wisdom, and it worked out good. One of the most dangerous words that we ever can say as Christians is, I think. Because when I begin to rely on my wisdom, I'm finding out that I'm going to always fall short. We've got to look at the provider of wisdom. There's a great war that we find within mankind to die to our wisdom and to look to the provider of wisdom. that is divine and to walk in divine wisdom rather than our own. That is the great problem that we have in the world today. We've got God's side and we've got my side and it's always clashing about which one I'm going to choose, which way I'm going to go, what decision I'm going to make. Am I going to go the way that I think is best or am I going to go the way that God says that is best? And it has to do with this one little thought. The bottom of the barrel is this. Most of the time I believe I know better than God does. How often we've got the two sides. We've got God's wisdom. We've got my wisdom. How often have I come to God when He is doing something in my life and I begin to tell Him how He's doing it wrong? But God, don't you know that this is a better way to do it? Don't you know that this is a simpler way to do it? Don't you know that if you do it this way, it'll turn out so much better? It'll make so much more sense. It'll get so much further. But I was reading over in the book of Job, chapter 28, and it was talking about there, about a God that sees the beginning and a God that sees the end. He's looked to the end of the earth. All of it is in His vision. There's not one single thing that is outside of the vision of God. There's not one single thing that you will ever encounter that God does not already know about. And the last time I checked, the old adage was, if you want to be smart, hang around somebody smarter than you. That applies to everybody but God in our lives. Does it not? If we're honest. We'll go and we'll seek counsel. I've been talking to Brother Wyatt about reloading stuff. I know absolutely nothing about it. I could read 14 books and still not know nothing about reloading. Why am I going to him? Because he knows something about it. I'm not going to go tell Brother Wyatt how to reload ammunition. Because if I tell him how to reload, it's liable to blow up. But so often we find ourselves explaining to God why He is wrong. How He missed it. It says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. What is that fear? That fear is understanding that I'm serving a God. That number one, yes, there is consequences to sin. I've got that little boy right there. It would not do him much good to live in his wisdom. Why? Because if he lived in his wisdom, all he would eat is muffins and donuts, play video games all day, not go to school, and drink Dr. Pepper. Now to how many of us that sounds like a pretty good thing to do? But that's not sustainable. So God has placed me and Emily in his lives to impart wisdom into it. To tell him to do things that he might not understand. He's 7 years old, he's not going to understand a 30 year old problem. And it might be that he has to have a little bit of fear of dad in his life. Because that fear, if it's done right, is healthy. Because all my wife has to say is, do you want me to go get your father? And instantly, he begins to straighten up. Why? Because he knows if he crosses the boundary line, consequences will soon follow. Why did God write so many of the consequences down in the Old Testament? How would we ever know where the boundary was if he had not recorded it? He's gracious enough to show us that He knows where the lines are. And He's gracious enough to let us know where the lines are that we do not cross them. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Wisdom says, the Bible says, have no other gods before me. Wisdom says, I better not put up an idol in my house. The Bible says, do not take the Lord's name in vain. Wisdom says I'd better be careful how I talk about God. He's already given me the boundaries. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. But not only just like fear that I'm terrified that I'm going to somehow upset God inadvertently and He's going to just strike me dead. That's not what it's talking about. My son has no reason to live in fear of me unless he is getting outside the boundaries. I can come home, and he can crawl up in my lap, and we can wrestle, and we can tickle, and we can do all the stuff that me and him do. We was out here at Lucky Pond yesterday, and we was catching fish, and we was having a big time, and he was not worried about me judging him. He was not worried about me striking him dead. But he does understand when dad says, come on, that if he does not come, that judgment will follow. So there's a healthiness to the reverence of the authority. He's the provider of wisdom. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. The reality is we cannot have divine wisdom without the help of God. He is the giver of true wisdom. And He alone is able to provide it to us to put it into use in our lives. You go back to James chapter 1 and verse 5 again and it'll show you again the very beginnings of wisdom. It gives us the very definition of what we're talking about here. He says it really plainly. If any of you Lack wisdom. Who lacks wisdom? If any of you lack wisdom, where does it say to go? Let him ask of God. Now there's more to it than that, and we'll get to the rest of it later. But we have to understand the provider of wisdom. It will not come from books. It will not come from even living. It comes from heaven, it comes from God. Because the wisdom of God is going to take you to places and ask you to do things that do not make sense and would go against the wisdom of the world. To them, you're going to look foolish. But again, God sees the whole picture. Do you know this? God already knows the day you're going to die. Your death date is already written. The day they put you in the ground is already set in stone. And you will not miss that appointment. Guess who knows about that? God. If He knows my end and He knew my beginning and He knows all the middle, wouldn't it do good to consult Him about the life I live? The provider of wisdom. If any of you lack wisdom. I'm not talking about smart. There's a difference in smart and wisdom. I've met a whole lot of smart people that was real dumb when it come to wisdom. I've met a lot of intellectual people that had the capacity for wisdom about the size of a thimble. It don't measure up. That's not the same thing. Because divine wisdom only comes from one place. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God. Where are you finding your wisdom at this morning? The provider of wisdom. It shows us here in James 1.5, the author of wisdom and his desire to give it out. What is also put into stark focus here is our inability and incapacity for divine wisdom to naturally exist without the help of God. James 1.5, if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth to a few men, some men, only select men. Is that what it says? It says, "...that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given." He says, if you ask wisdom, now there's a few things that go with that, that you'll find in the verses that follow this, that you have to do to get wisdom. But He says, if you'll come and you'll ask and you're seeking the wisdom of heaven, He has promised it will be given out in plenty. Now notice I said wisdom and not answers. He may not always give you the answer, but He will always give you the wisdom to get through whatever it is you're dealing with. Then I notice, the place of wisdom. We've already talked about it some. Regarding this subject there in Proverbs chapter 9, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. His children will find wisdom under the heading of obedience to His will. You will not get the wisdom of God if you're always bucking what He's trying to do. You can ask and ask and ask, and if you're trying to do it your way, He will not give you His wisdom. It would be a waste of breath. Would be a waste of time. You ever tried to talk to somebody that already had all the answers? Not much to talk about, is there? It's found in the reverence and the understanding that God Almighty, He is the beginning, He is the end, and He's everything in between. And if He knows it all, it might be a good thing to listen to Him. You know that thing that you're going to deal with next week that you have no idea that's coming? He already knows about it. And He'll spend months preparing you for it. He'll spend years preparing you for it. Every move, everything you get put in the middle of, every life problem you find, everything that God takes you through. is moving you in a direction to deal with a certain situation. But how often do we find ourselves in that situation completely unprepared because we have fought Him the whole way? If any man lack wisdom, if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God the place of wisdom. If I'm one of His children, I don't have to walk around in an utter fear that He's going to drop me dead every second of every day. He shows me His character throughout the Bible so that I may be comforted in knowing who He is and where the lines are. When I was growing up, I don't know if this will help anybody or not. When I was growing up, my dad would give out a set of rules. One of the rules that he gave that I did not like was I had to be home and in the house inside the door by 10 o'clock at night. Now I'm 17. Well, bless God, I got my own driver's license. I can stay out as long as I want to. Why would he put such an unfair rule in my life? Brother Wyatt was a cop. Levi here is working for a paramedic. When do most bad things happen? after it gets dark. Nothing good ever happens after midnight. Why would my dad put that unfair rule in my life? Because he lived through those days. He saw what went on and he did not want me to have to go through it. And because I had a healthy fear, not an unhealthy fear, guess what time I was home by? I was home by 9.30. It wasn't because I was afraid of having a good time, but it was because Dad had already set the boundaries. And I knew that he knew enough That if I listened to Him, it would keep me out of trouble. And I loved Him enough and respected Him enough to listen to what He had to say. The same goes for God. I could be out all day. I could leave at 6 in the morning. And brother Wyatt, I never once had to wonder whether dad was going to get on to me for being out. As long as I knew I was home by 9.30, 10 o'clock. I didn't have to fret about it. I didn't have to worry about it. I could go shooting. I could go... Me and my buddies used to go fishing. We'd ride to town. We'd do all this stuff. I could do all of that without one single worry. Because I was living in the wisdom that my dad had already given. Be home by 10. I could enjoy everything within that boundary. Sometimes the things that God says, the things that God does seems harsh. But we do not see the other side of it. You don't see the ditch you'd be laying in had God not made that, had God not said that. You don't see the casket where you would lay if God had not intervened. You don't see all the things that you've missed. We usually just see how mean God is for not letting us do what we want to do. We are to have a reverence for God's authority and His power and His boundaries. We are to fear stepping out of them. Not that we're worried that God will strike us down, but rather we understand that those decisions will break the heart of God and break the fellowship with God. It is a fear in realizing that I have no clue what I'm doing and that without God's help I will always fail. I began to think about, as I was studying this, the Boaz and Ruth dynamic. Now I want a show of hands in here. How many of you like to be told what to do from somebody you know? Not one single hand. Now let me ask you this. Show of hands. How many of you would get really upset by being told what to do by somebody you do not know? Who do you think you are? telling me where I can and can't go. I'm an adult. Just who do you think that you are? Now you go and you look at the dynamic of Boaz and Ruth. If that had been you in Boaz's field and Boaz came to you and said, do not leave this field under any circumstances. You're confined to this boundary. How many of you would have snubbed Boaz and said, well, bless God, he's not going to tell me what to do. I'm a grown adult and I'm going to go where I want and do what I want. Let him try to tell me what I'm going to do and what I'm not going to do. Let's be honest. But you notice Ruth does not do that. Why? Because Ruth is in a foreign land with foreign people in a foreign culture. And she has no idea what's going on. And Boaz is telling her that if you'll stay in my field, I can protect you. And I will make sure you have enough to eat. If you go outside of my field, I have no authority out there." She trusted the wisdom of Boaz that he had the ability. Did she know Boaz had the ability to take care of her? Really? She didn't know the guy. She'd never met him. Who is this guy? Naomi knew who he was. Ruth didn't know him. She'd go into some stranger's field picking up pieces of barley. She had no idea just who he was. She didn't know that he had already got this idea that he was going to marry her. And was already putting into practice those things that would be required for him to redeem her. And if Ruth had went to another field, she would have missed out on the blessings of Boaz. What is that? That's a reverence to the wisdom that comes from God, not mine. Conventional wisdom would have said, well, bless God, don't listen to that guy. He's just trying to control you. Look at him tell you what to do. Are you going to let him talk to you that way? But divine wisdom would say, I'll stay in your field. What came from staying in the field? Those handfuls of purpose that Boaz told his men. He says, when you're gathering, when you're gleaning, don't just drop the little things. He said, I want you to drop handfuls of blessings. Because she's mine. She's in my field. And is that not what God does for His children? Luke chapter 12, Matthew chapter 6, it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. What is that that's dropping him handfuls? God's already got everything you need lined out. He's already got it all waiting. He's already got it all on the way. He's already got it all planned. All you have to do is stay within the boundaries and live within the wisdom of God. It may not make sense. I'm going to tell you, Elijah. I'd had trouble being Elijah. Sitting down there by a river, little old brook. And here come a crow over the hill, a squawking. Drops a little piece of bread, a little piece of meat. I don't know about you, I'd have a hard time eating food from a raven. I've seen what they eat. I'd have a hard time with that. Fed Elijah for a long time though, didn't it? And in the midst of that, God was hiding him from a king that was trying to kill him. God, why will you not let me go and do it? It's because I don't want you dead. The place of wisdom. The best thing we can do is stay within the boundaries that God sets. The fear of the Lord. is understanding that if I get out of the boundaries, I will be operating on my own. And God has absolutely no reason to help me. The fear of the Lord puts His grace into full view. He didn't have to throw out those handfuls. He didn't have to be gracious. He didn't have to save me. We're getting ready to baptize Kevin. He didn't have to save Kevin. He didn't have to die. He could have wiped us all off the face of this old ball of dirt and started over. But He didn't. He showed us grace. There's judgment along the way sometimes. When you do stupid things, you get stupid things in return. I say it like this, you play dumb games, you win dumb prizes. But how often has God brought me back from those dumb things that I've done? And has given me another opportunity to do it right. What is that? That's His wisdom and His grace. Because He knows where I'm headed. He knows what I'm going to be. And every move He makes with me, He makes to get me where I need to go. But then we notice lastly, the promise of wisdom. The promise of wisdom. If you look there at verse 5, it says it. It says, If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally and abradeth not. Does it say it could be given? It might be given if you do everything just exactly right in your own self. Now there are a couple of things that we have to do according to the next verse. But it's not about dotting all the I's and crossing all the T's. It says, it shall be given. it shall be given." I'm glad for this promise that is found in this little book of James. The promise that if I seek wisdom, He will give it. Could you imagine? Now, let me give you one more visual and then we'll close her down. Let's be really 100% transparent. and honest. How many of you have went through times in your life, maybe you're going through it now, maybe you've been through it recently, to where you throw your hands up and you say, God, I wish you'd just let me do it my way. I wish you would just let me do things my own way. But then let's imagine, for just a minute. We're all sitting here this morning. Imagine your life if God gave you what you asked for and said, okay, good luck. You're on your own. Don't ask me for anything else. You figure it out. Now we say we want that. We say, there are times in my life I could do it better. Aren't you glad God does not? There are times that He will let us hang ourselves with our own rope. But for the most part, God puts the brakes on. He says, no, no, no. That's not good for you. And we'll fight Him, and we'll fight Him, and we'll fight Him. But what if He gave you exactly what you asked for? He removed His hand from you and He said, from here on, you're on your own. How long do you think the joy of doing it on your own would last? Would it last a day? Would it last an hour? I have found out that when I do things that I really, really, really want to do so bad that I'm willing to do whatever it takes to do it, and then I do it, it's not near as fulfilling as I imagined it would be. And it usually winds up being a lot more problems than it's ever worth. Because when I do it on my own, the only wisdom I have is mine. And Brother Wyatt, I'm going to tell you right now, I've been to school, got the degree, I've got all that stuff. And I can tell you my wisdom ain't worth nothing outside the help of God. Not worth a plug nickel. It's not worth the paper that it's printed on. If I don't have the help of God. But thank God, He said, if you ask, I'll give it to you. If you ask, I'll pour it out. And I'll pour it out liberally. I won't just give you just barely enough. I'll give you plenty. the place, the provider, the promise. He tells us that if we ask and ask right, you say, what is that, asking right? We'll find out in the next couple of weeks. Then it will be given. He has promised to provide us all that we need in this area. It comes from our understanding that we lack wisdom. In order to gain wisdom, you first have to understand I don't have it. If you think you got it all figured out and you think you're a wise person, then this probably ain't going to help you. I've come to the conclusion that I need all the help I can get because I'm far lacking when it comes to the wisdom category sometimes. Looking to the One who does it, who gives it in reverence and asking Him to put it in us. Job 28 tells us about Him knowing it all. He's seen it all. He's been everywhere. He's better than a Johnny Cash song. I've been everywhere, man. All them places He went, God's been there already. Not a place in this world that He has not already occupied. He knows about it all. And this is just my humble little opinion. It ain't worth a whole lot most time. But I believe I'd rather have my wisdom from the one who has all the information. I don't ask Ellie for wisdom. Because her information's all out of whack. If it ain't revolving around a dink, a clarka, a knack, She ain't got nothing to offer anybody. Those are the three things she cares about. I believe I'd rather go to God to get my wisdom. In the same regard, why would I seek wisdom in and of myself when all I want is a dink and a knack and a clacker? It's no different. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. I believe I want my wisdom from the one who already knows. If I ask the right source, He has promised to give it to me in abundance. We've looked at the beginning of wisdom. Lord willing, here in the next few weeks we will see the progression of wisdom as it begins to take root. And the things I'm responsible for, if wisdom is to be had, and wisdom is to be applied. I believe the Bible says it this way, you have not because you ask not. But it does say, be careful how you ask. And be careful what you ask. Who are you seeking your wisdom from? What is your view of the wisdom of God? What do you do with the wisdom that He's already given? Father, That's the distance You'd have us go. Thank You for Your help. Lord, I pray that You would work this message in my life. You know I have been chewing on this all week long. And just looking at the things You've taught me and where I lack in wisdom. Lord, where I try to do it myself, where I try to figure it out, where I try to get all the answers, it just don't work that way. Lord, but I'm thankful for the patience You have had in my life. The grace You have shown. Lord, I'm thankful for the wisdom You have given. Lord, I pray for those that are here. We're about to go into the invitation time. Whatever needs to be done, Lord, I pray that You'd have Your will and Your way through it. that You'd work in the hearts and lives of Your people. We love You. In Jesus' name, Amen. As we stand...