Lord, I pray for those that are not able to be here, that You'd help them, that You'd touch them or give them a measure of grace, a measure of peace. Lord, a measure of comfort. Lord, I pray for this offering. Pray that it would be used to the uplifting of Your kingdom. Lord, that we would do with it what You desire. In Jesus' name, amen. Yeah. Alright. If you have your Bibles this morning, you'll find our text in the book of James chapter 1. James chapter 1. And we are going to be examining the thought surrounding the bewilderment of wisdom this morning. So far we've looked at two aspects of wisdom already. As we get into this, we're going to actually, I guess if you can call it this, we're going to deviate from our regular James series as we're in right now going verse by verse through James, and we're going to just park for a few weeks regarding this little subject of wisdom and the bewilderment Here in verse 5 it 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. Father, we need your help this morning. Lord, I pray that you'd meet with us. Lord, we need your touch. Lord, I need your help. Lord, I need help with my voice and just help in my spirit. Lord, I pray that you'd do only those things you want done. I pray that you'd be with the hearts of those that hear. Lord, that you'd do what needs to be done in their lives. And Lord, I just thank you for the opportunity to stand and preach today. In Jesus' name, amen. So as we are looking here at the blueprints for the believer that James is giving out as we examine this little text here, we come to this subject of wisdom, and we've already discussed some different aspects of wisdom, but as we get into looking at divine wisdom, you will find that it is very bewildering. And what that means is, it is very, sometimes very hard to understand exactly why things are the way that they are. The wisdom of God will always contradict the wisdom of man. I've never found a case, looking at my life and anybody else's life, that God's wisdom matched up with my wisdom. But here's the thing that God is letting us know, that if I will ask of Him, He will take the wisdom that I have away and will put in His wisdom. And as we dive into this bewilderment of wisdom, we're going to look for several weeks at the different aspects of this little bewilderment. So often we do our best to make sense of the wisdom of God. Anybody ever done that? You've tried to explain the wisdom of God? It doesn't work, does it? The wisdom of God does not compute in the lives of His people. What He does a lot of times, if not all the time, does not make sense in the here and now. But I've walked with God long enough to know that there will be a day that I will look back and I will be like, oh yeah, I understand a lot better why he said what he said there, why he wanted what he wanted there. But it's getting to the point in this bewilderment that we will allow it to take its place. It's not going to make sense most of the time in our life. But it is what we choose to do in that place of bewilderment that will either draw us near or cause us to be separated from God. The traits of divine wisdom are very bewildering to us and to the world. You living out faith in front of them, they're going to think you're weird. But as we get into this, go with me to the book of Jeremiah. The book of Jeremiah. And we will begin to see in Jeremiah chapter 33 some of this bewilderment that I'm discussing this morning. We're going to read here and then we'll go to one more text and then we will get into the message Lord willing. Jeremiah chapter 33 and verse 3 says this, Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not. Sounds bewildering, doesn't it? He's going to show you things that you're not going to be able to comprehend at this time, at this moment. He's going to take you to places that you would not understand. He's going to require things of you that you would not understand. He says, call unto me and I will answer thee and show thee great and mighty things. He says, things you don't have a clue about. Now over in the book of Isaiah, we get another example of this. Isaiah chapter 55 and verse 8. This is one that believers have long despised, including myself. Verse 6, we will begin there, and then we'll skip down to verse 8. Seek the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near. Verse 8, For my thoughts are what? My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. Now, let me ask you a question. And let's be very honest this morning. How many of us would be at least mildly offended at the language God uses there, saying that I know better than you do? He says, you can't understand my thoughts. My ways, they're not your ways. My ways are higher than your ways. I see things from a different perspective. I'm seeing the entire picture. While you have a narrow view of life, you have this one little picture that you're looking at, but I see the whole thing. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways." It's bewildering. Because when God begins to seek things in your life and ask things of you in your life, and gives you instruction, you will find that it contradicts what you think most of the time. I have come to this conclusion. When I'm operating in the flesh, the most dangerous thing I can say is, I think this would be a good idea. Because when I begin to think that this is a good idea, more than likely, unless I'm operating inside the realm of the Holy Ghost, it's not going to be a good idea. Why? Because His ways are not my ways. His thoughts are not my thoughts. When he's looking at a situation that you're going through, he's seeing it from all the angles. He already has seen the result and he knows what he's doing. But there are some bewilderments that come from that. As believers, we are charged with following after God even when it does not make sense. So I notice as we get into looking at the bewilderment of wisdom, I see wisdom's bewildered action. Wisdom's bewildered action. When divine wisdom is deployed in our lives, and it will have to be deployed by the way, you are the only one that can use the wisdom that God gives you. He will not force you to operate inside of that wisdom. You will have to put it into practice. If you go and you look and you examine the Bible, you will find that God gives divine wisdom to His people and they are responsible for the actions. And it requires our action to be very specific in nature. It has a way of honing in and singling out what we are to do. The only option that will allow success. Where do I get that? If you go and you read the Bible, you'll find many examples, but one of the most clear examples of that would be Paul As they are on the ship, they are headed to Rome. Paul has told the guys not to loose from the harbor that they were in. It was a bad idea. But they said, well, we're mariners. We're sailors. We know better than you, Paul. You're just a poor prisoner. And they found themselves in the midst of a very large hurricane. Euryclodon, as it's called. Man's wisdom got them in the storm. God's wisdom will get them out of the storm. But if you go to that text and you read it, you will find that God's wisdom does not get them out of the storm by abandoning the ship. In fact, you go and you read it over in the book of Acts. you will find that he says everybody that is on this boat has to remain on this boat in order to be saved now I don't know about you if I'm on a boat and things are falling off that boat because of a storm that I'm in it's probably not a good idea to stay on the boat We were just on that cruise ship and they take you around and they show you all of the lifeboats that's there and they say if this happens, if you hear this tone on the radio, then you need to make your way to this station so that you can get on the lifeboat. Paul said, the wisdom of God has told me the only way you're going to live is to stay on this boat. A bewildered action. I can imagine those guys standing there looking at Paul, they're sailors, they've made their living on the water, looking at Paul as he says, the only way you're going to live is if you stay on this sinking ship. Now put yourself in the place of those sailors. Who would you tend to believe more? The sailor or some dude that's locked up in chains? Talking about a bewildered action in wisdom, Paul said this night, The angel of the Lord, whose I am and whom I serve, has stood with me on this ship, and he has directed me that the only way you're going to survive is to hang on to the boat. Now wisdom of the sailors would say, we're about to abandon ship, we're about to get off the boat, we're about to go our own way and do our own thing, because this boat is sinking. How many times has God said that in your life about something in your life that you feel like is sinking? And he said the only path forward is to hang on to the boat. Stay on course. Keep sailing. He said for this night, it's been told to me, that every man on this ship, as long as you sit here, everybody will be saved. But if one of you get off, it's bad news. What I find even more intriguing is that if you go and you read that account, it says that the Roman centurion that's there tells the sailors, y'all better listen to Paul, They cut off all of the saving measures. What'd they do? They sat down and had a meal. Now that's a strange thing to do in the midst of a hurricane on a boat. We was on that ship in calm water and you was on that one dining room that we were on and you could feel every little move of the boat. I mean you're sitting there and you're trying to eat your biscuit and it's like this right here the whole time and I watched people. in the calmness of the sea, become very sick. You could tell the ones that were not doing well. They're in the midst of hurricane Paul says, y'all better sit down and eat, you're gonna need your strength. Be of good cheer. Talking about the action of bewilderment, the action of wisdom will take you to places and require things of you that you will not understand in the moment. Abraham in Genesis chapter 12. He's minding his own business. He's living his own life. He's not bothering anybody. And out of the nowhere, the Lord comes to him and says, Abraham, I want you to leave everything you've ever known behind. And I want you to go somewhere that when you get there, I'll tell you. Now, let me ask you this. How many of us would say, I'm not going anywhere unless I know the destination. but wisdom's action required for him to pick up and leave. Get thee out. Can you imagine what his family thought? When I told Emily about what the Lord had directed in my life, I had a direction. The Lord had told me we were going to come here. And so there was an end goal that was in mind, but I dare say it would not have went over very well if I had went to Emily and said, Emily, you need to quit your job, I'm leaving this church here, and we're just gonna go till the Lord says stop. How do you think that conversation would have ended? Probably in a knot on my head. But that's exactly what God asked of Abram. Get thee out unto a land that when you get there I'll show you. You see the reality was he didn't need to know the destination because he knew who he's following. The problem with us is we like to know the destination when the reality is all that really matters is who we're following. bewilderment of action. But then we notice wisdom's bewildered attitude. Not only does this divine wisdom affect our actions, but it changes our attitude in various situations. David in the cave. David has been chased by Saul, the king, and he has already been anointed. Samuel has anointed David as the king, and so now David is running. He's had spears lobbed at him. He's been chased all over creation by Saul and his men, and he is in a cave hiding out. Now, who in here would say David would be justified when Saul walks into that cave to take Saul out. He's already been anointed king, hasn't he? I mean, is that not how kings ascend the throne all the time? By killing the other king. But if you go and you read about David as he is in the cave of Adullam, you will find it changes his attitude towards Saul. David's men are saying, man, here's your chance. Look, God's put him right in your lap. All you got to do, one swift motion of the sword, and you're king of Israel. Makes sense, doesn't it? By our standards, we would justify that. David, you are completely and wholly justified for your attitude. There's just one problem. God never justified it. He says, I'd better not touch the Lord's anointed no matter what I feel about him. Because God has anointed him. And therefore I had better keep my attitude towards him in place. And so he goes up and he cuts a little bit of the skirt off of Saul's robe. And then he felt so bad for doing that that he had to go out and tell Saul about it. Now, Saul's still trying to kill him. Is that a good idea to walk out of the cave you're hiding in to go tell Saul that you just cut something off of his outfit? What I'm saying is the attitude of wisdom sometimes is bewildering. But God, I want to react like that. But God, I want to act like that. I want my attitude to be this way. I mean, look at what they did. Look at the life that they're living. Look at all of this stuff. And God says the best thing you can do is shut up. David in the cave of Adullam, he said, Whether I like him or not, he's God's man. And I've got to keep myself in check on how my attitude is towards it. But not just that situation. We see David there in the cave of Adullam. How he allows supernatural wisdom to override his circumstance and his emotion. But I also think about Jesus as He stands before Pilate. He says there in the Bible when Jesus is brought before Pilate, now Jesus has not done anything wrong. He's been dragged out of the garden of Gethsemane. He has been brought before the priests and the elders there. They've tried Him and now they've shipped Him over to Pilate to be sentenced. And Pilate is standing there in all of his pride and he says, Do you not know that I have the power to release you? Or the power to execute you? And you go and you read that account. Pilate's over here running his mouth. He's over here telling Jesus about how much power he has. Now, let's imagine for just a moment that you are the one that has all the power. And you have been brought before somebody who thinks they have all the power. What is our tendency to do? Is to tell them just how much power we really have. You ever work with somebody and you think they are a total blubbering idiot. Boy, if their head wasn't screwed on, they'd lose that thing. They'd never use it. You gotta shake it to make sure the cobwebs haven't built up in it. Shine a light in one ear, you can see the light coming out the other ear. You ever had anybody work with like that? What is your tendency? Is it one of an attitude of, boy, this place is lucky to have me. If they didn't have me, this place would fall apart. I mean, I show up every day. I'm on time. And we might even treat the one we have the problem with like they are less than us. But if you look at what Jesus said in that circumstance, it will give us a clue on how we are to speak in that circumstance. How did Jesus speak? It says, He answered him not a word. Sometimes the best thing we can do in wisdom is keep our mouth shut. Now, it's bewildering. The world would say, you need to go and you need to stake your claim. You need to make sure they know exactly how you feel. You need to make sure that everybody around has a full understanding of exactly who you are and what you offer and what you bring. Wisdom of God would say, sit down! Shut up! Check your attitude at the door. The attitude. that is bewildered. He allowed divine wisdom to control His attitude in dealing with false accusations. We have a hard enough time dealing with ones that are legitimate, much less ones that aren't real. But Christ's example, you go and you look. When all of that was happening, what did He do? He never spoke. Paul again. We go back to the Euryclodon. We're back at that scene once again. We look at Paul on the ship as he tells the men to be of good cheer. James is writing to a group here in this little book that has been cast out. They've been persecuted. They have been dispersed. Notice what it's talking about here. It's people who are doing the work of God that are persecuted, that have been cast out for doing the things that is right. And James says it matters not what they do. It matters what you do. This world is going to act the way that they're going to act, but we are required by God to act a certain way and allow our attitude to be a certain way that is honoring and justifying and glorifying unto God. I don't get to react the way the world does. I've tried a few times. And when I get done reacting the way the world does, that little thing called the Holy Ghost begins to tap me on the shoulder and says, now that you're through throwing a fit, how about we do it my way? What did it get you? It's never got me anything but more heartache. James is talking to a group of people here that have been dispersed because of persecution. And he says, you better operate in wisdom in those you encounter. Any man lack wisdom, if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God. Give it to all men liberally, abrade us not, and it shall be given. He's talking about patience. He's talking about wisdom. Who's he talking to? He's not talking to the world. He's talking to the church. The world can't operate in divine wisdom. They can't operate in divine patience. They don't have the indwelling of the Holy Ghost to tap them on the shoulder in the midst of a freak out, or a spell, or an angry spell to drive through, or flipping somebody off in traffic, or whatever it is. They don't have that sitting there saying, you better not do that, you better not act that way, you better not say that. But we do. And if I'm wanting to be wise in my life, then I had better put it into practice with my face and my attitude. Wisdom's bewildered action, wisdom's bewildered attitude. But then we notice wisdom's bewildered application Divine wisdom will take you places and require things of you that make absolutely no sense in the here and now. We see Elijah by the brook, Daniel in the lion's den, the Hebrew boys in the furnace, Job in his trial, Esther in her captivity, and every single one of them had to operate in the wisdom that they had been given. And in each situation, it required application to be made in various trouble and trial. You think about those ones I just mentioned. Elijah is literally having to hide for his life. God has sent him down to the brook Cherith because he has just went and told a wicked king and a wicked queen that they're not following God and because of that there's going to be consequences. And so they've desired to kill him. And now God takes Elijah and sets him down by the brook. and he's getting water from the brook, and ravens are bringing his food. Does that make sense? No. Doesn't make any sense that I'd sit there and let a raven bring me food. You ever see what ravens eat? They'll eat anything and everything. I believe I could find a sanitary bird to bring me food. But God sent ravens. to deliver food to the man of God on a regular basis. Set him down by the brook. Why was he there? Didn't make any sense at the time. I'm sure Elijah's had it go through his mind at least once. Boy, this is a weird place to sit. But God had divinely hidden that brook to where nobody could find the man of God. You go to the book of Daniel and you begin to read about the story of Daniel. Daniel is a man that God has already proven to the king. But some wise men, soothsayers, have come to the king and they've said, King, why don't you make a decree that anybody that prays to another god, they get thrown into the lion's den. Why did they do that? Because they wanted Daniel gone. And so they were trying to deceive the king so that they could get Daniel gone. Talking about wisdom's application. Now they made the decree, you better not pray. If anybody's caught praying, you're going to be thrown that very same day into a den of lions. What did Daniel do? He went home and he opened his windows and he began to pray three times a day. Now, conventional wisdom would say, if you gotta pray, go to the basement. Right? I mean, doesn't matter where you pray, right? Except God's wisdom said I've got something I need you to do that's gonna show my power to an unholy nation. So divine wisdom said you pray in the openness of the house. And the application of that wisdom is when they come to get him, they didn't have to handcuff him and drag him out. He went into the lion's den of his own free will. Now, the king is there as they throw Daniel in. Daniel was loved by the king. He figured out too late that the men that were talking to him were trying to deceive him. Be careful who we listen to. But the application of the wisdom that comes from this little example in the book of Daniel comes in the form of a knight. A knight were two men. have very different outcomes. Now the king is in the palace and he is on his nice kingly bed. He's got his nice kingly robes on. He's got all of the benefits of being the king. He's got the lunesta. He's got the zequel. He's got the melatonin. He's got all of that. But none of that is going to help him one little bit. He can't sleep. He's afraid. He's worried. And nothing that he can do as a king can help him. In fact, it bothers him so much he gets up early and he runs to the mouth of the den of lions and they open it. And by some hope for a miracle, the king begins to cry out, Oh Daniel! Has your God delivered you? Oh, Daniel, say something. And out of the darkness, I can almost hear Daniel go, don't worry, King. For this night, the Lord sent his angel to shut the lion's mouth. I slept pretty good. You ever slept on a fur pillow? They're pretty soft. I can about see Daniel propped up on one of them old lion's manes, petting that lion on the head as it goes to purring. And old Daniel got some good rest. How'd he do that? By the application of wisdom. He knew what God said. He allowed his attitude to match what God said. And he applied what God had said. Is that not what the Hebrew boys did? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? Again, they're in front of a wicked king and they tell him, if you don't bow to this king, you're going to be thrown into the fiery furnace. I don't know about you, I don't know that I have enough God inside of me at this moment that if something like that happened that I wouldn't feel a little buckling start happening in my knees. But they said, King, we want you to know something. Our God, whose I am and whom I serve, be it known Our God is able to deliver us. And He will deliver us out of your hand by one way or another. Either by divine deliverance or a divine death. We're not going to be your bother anymore after this. Made old King mad. I mean, after all, he's the king. People ought to listen to the king. He said, heat that furnace up seven times hotter than it's ever been lit. It was so hot that the guys that was throwing them into the fire died while throwing them in. That's how hot it was. And old King began to stand there and he's like, I could about see him begin to rub his eyes as he squinted and blinked and, hey, Shadrach, Meshach, and a Bendigo. That's who we threw in there, right? Yeah, King, that's who we threw. Who's that fourth guy walking around in that fire with them? Good gracious. He looks just like the Son of God. And he stood there for a while and he looked and he finally told them, you boys, come on out of there. And the only thing that had been burnt was the bonds that they were bound with when they threw them in. And it says they didn't even smell like smoke. We had a little fire out here last night. Just a little old bitty fire. And you'd have thought I'd have been burning a slash pile for the last two weeks. I smelled like smoke. It says they didn't even have the smell of smoke on them. What is that? That's the application of wisdom. They understood what God had said. They understood what God had told them to do with it. And they said, God, we're trusting you to do what you said you'd do. What'd he say? I'll take care of you. I'll look after you. Wisdom's application said, walk into the fiery furnace. Y'all got time for a couple of more? Oester. Little captive girl. Israel is in captivity to the Persians. And the king had decided that he liked how Oester looked. She was a pretty thing. So he decided to marry her. Make her his queen. And he already had a queen. But from the way it's written, she sounded like a not nice person. And old Esther is put in an impossible situation. Haman, one of the king's advisors, had a thing against the Jews. He hated them and he wanted them all dead. but especially one Jew by the name of Mordecai. So old Haman concocted this plan about how he's going to hang Mordecai. Again, he went to the king and he began to whisper things in the king's ear. He said, King, when you ride through the village, when you ride through town, they ought to all bow to you. If they don't, they ought to be hung by the neck until dead. I ain't never figured out what else you get when you hang by the neck, but that's what they say. The king says, Well, that sounds like a pretty good idea. I'll make a decree. So he made a decree. The king goes riding through the village. Or excuse me, I told you a little wrong. Haman is going riding through the village. And he's wanting people to bow to him. How self-centered of Haman. And old Mordecai, Haman rides by on his chariot. And old Haman looks over. Everybody's bowing except Mordecai And he rides by and he says what's your problem? Yes, I ain't bound to you So the king goes back and he began or the Haman goes back and he begins to talk to the king he tells how he has been so disrespected and all this stuff and So they go to build these large gallows to scare people. Mordecai says, I will not bow. And so Haman is desiring to kill the Jews, but especially Mordecai. And Mordecai goes to Esther and he says, Esther, God has created you for such a time as this. You need to go and talk to the king. Now, how it worked in those days was you walked in, you did not go into a king's palace, a king's throne room without an invitation. If you went into a king's throne room without invitation, he could kill you on the spot. Sounds like fun. So Esther, she says, well, I'm going to fast over this for a few days, and I'm going to pray over this for a few days, and I'm going to see what God would have me to do. So she fasts and she prays and she says, I'm about to go into the king. And if I perish, I perish. What is that wisdom's application? And she walked into the king's throne room. And the king extended his scepter, which was a sign of invitation. And she come and she touched it and she began to tell the king about all that Haman had done. Guess what happened? Old Haman hung with his own rope. But none of that would have ever transpired had Esther not been willing to apply the wisdom God had given her. I'm telling you, it's going to take you to places that does not make sense. It's going to take you to places that make you very uncomfortable. But that leads me to the last thought for the morning. We've seen wisdom's bewildered action, wisdom's bewildered attitude, wisdom's bewildered application. But then we see wisdom's bewildered anticipation. Now if you go back to Jeremiah chapter 33 and James chapter 1, you will see the anticipation. of wisdom. What does it say? Call unto me, and what I will answer, and I will show thee great and mighty things. Now go back to James chapter 1. Really fast. I'm going to try to get through this really quickly. James chapter 1 verse 5. We see the anticipation. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, and it shall be given. with all these characteristics that we have looked at as we are at this launching point for our investigation into wisdom. We do not want to forget to look at the end results of this wisdom and the joy it has and the ability it has to bring us closer to God as we are reminded each day of what these texts say. What is the basis of what it says? If we ask, He will respond. He promised us that He would give us wisdom that is far beyond the comprehension of man. That He will give us the needs of our lives through His wisdom. And that we would grow in Him and be an effective light to those around us. But more importantly, that His light and wisdom would grow in us, change everything about our lives. With this wisdom, we are anticipating for the Lord to do something special. Just like Jacob did at the Brook Pinell over in the book of Genesis. He's been wrestling with God all night long. And he says, let me go for the day breaketh. And Jacob says to him, I'll not let you go till you bless me. I am expecting something to come from this. What can we take as believers? For all things work together for good to them who love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. What did it say last week when we read it? Seek and you shall find. Knock, it shall be opened unto you. Ask and it shall be given. Oh, I'm thankful this morning that as one of God's children, I can anticipate some benefits from the wisdom. I can anticipate some results. Oh, they might not be my results, what I thought. But I have found in life, so many times, if I'll get out of my own way, His results are far better than I could have ever imagined. The bewilderment of anticipation. So what are you talking about? I'm talking about you're holding on to the wisdom of God when everybody else says you're foolish. When everybody else says it's pointless. When everybody else says it's time to do something else. When everybody else says give up, go another way. Wisdom says hold on just a little longer. Wisdom says, I've got the results already in store. The anticipation for these that we've read about was deliverance for Daniel, deliverance for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. It was expectation of sustenance for Elijah as he sat by the brook. It was expectation of salvation that Esther had, that her people would be saved. It was expectation of a deeper purpose for Paul as he stood on the boat, for he knew he had other places that the Lord wanted him to be. They were all anticipating God to actually do something with what He told them. Now let me ask you this in closing. How many of you would say, yeah, God said it, but I'm not really expecting to do anything with it? It sounds good, but everybody else has always said stuff, but it's never happened. I'm not really expecting too much. If we're honest, I'm afraid that is the story of the Christian far too often. I'm not talking about this claim it, name it stuff, where if I want a million dollars, I just ask God for it and expect Him to give it to me. But I am saying that there are some spiritual things that He has said, if you will ask, I will give you in abundance. Wisdom is one of those things. As we begin to investigate this thing of wisdom, we will find it takes us to many places we would have never seen, lets us experience things we never would have gotten to do, all in the power of the Holy Ghost, if we'll just live and understand that we may be bewildered by His wisdom. But He's got it all figured out. It goes to a question that Elisha asks on top of the mountain. Elisha is standing there in front of the 450 prophets of Baal in the groves, and he has told them to build their altar and to sacrifice to their God. And if their God rains fire down, then it's proof that He's God. And if Elijah's God rains fire down, then He is God. He said, I want you to all stand here. This is going to be a trial. We're putting God on trial today. And if Baal be God, Serve Baal, but if God be God, serve him. And those prophets begin to dance around, they begin to cry and scream and begin to cut themselves and bleed all over the altar. And Elijah began to say, well, what about, maybe he's asleep, maybe y'all need to cry a little louder. And Elijah got down and he prayed, Lord, send the fire. And he got up, and he said, in fact, on my altar, I want you to bring a bunch of water. I want you to soak the sacrifices in water. I want you to build a trench around the altar, and I want you to fill that full of water, and I want you to soak the wood with water. Now, two things that don't mix is fire and water. You put water on fire, fire go out. Elijah knelt down and he prayed and he said, God, send down fire. And God didn't just send down fire. He sent down fire that ate up all the water, it ate up all the sacrifice, it ate up all the wood, and it said it ate up all the rocks too. When's the last time you saw a rock get burned up in a fire? If God be God, serve Him. If Baal be God, serve Him. If God has proven himself that he is God, why not live in his wisdom? Do things his way. Father, we thank you for the day. Lord, you've not promised us that we would understand. You have not promised us that we would always make sense of it. But you have promised. You have promised that we would make it through. And You've promised that it would all work out just the way You designed it, if we will but live in Your wisdom. There's a lot of times, Lord, it does not make sense what You tell me to do, what You say for me to say, how You give for me to live. Lord, it's not for me to know. I don't see the future. You do. Lord, I'm asking for help in my own life. You know I've been struggling in this area. Lord, I need your help. I need your touch. Help me to get out of the way and allow your wisdom to have its power in my life and in those around me. Lord, I pray as we go into this invitation, Whatever needs to be done in hearts and lives, I pray that you'd do it. In Jesus' name, amen. As we stand, this altar is open. Whose wisdom are you living in? Where is it you get your wisdom? What do you do with the wisdom God gives you? What's your action? What's your attitude? What's your application? What's your anticipation? So, so so so so Well, thank you for being here today. I appreciate you coming out. I know things are a little different with the service and Sunday school and stuff, but I sure am thankful you're here. You be in prayer for those that were not able to be here. I know they'd appreciate if you shoot them a text or call them or whatever. They would sure enjoy that. Has anybody got anything on their heart before we turn loose this morning? one of the results of the wisdom that these people we read about in the Bible had. When they put it into practice, the Hebrew boys, they came out and the king said, we're not going to serve any other god but the god of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. That's what he said about Daniel. That's what he said about Esther. Paul got shipwrecked onto Barbarian Island. God was able to give the gospel through Paul to those barbarians and they got saved. It might just be that God's instilling wisdom in you, that if you'll use it, it'll show God to somebody who's never seen Him before. Alright, if nothing else, Michael, if you would, you dismiss us in prayer.