Choose Wisely | Pastor Daniel Floyd

It's a good day to be in the house of the Lord, amen. Come on, are we ready to worship this morning? God, you're worthy of our praise. We glorify you. Come on, let's praise Him. ♪ My chains and part my freedom ♪ ♪ What else can I say but thank you Jesus ♪ ♪ Cause you're just that good, just that faithful ♪ ♪ And you're just that kind, I'm so grateful that you saved my life ♪ ♪ Like you said you would, come on ♪ ♪ Moving my hands held high, all independent and I'm fixed on fire ♪ ♪ Singing and dancing cause you saved my life ♪ ♪ Like you said you would, cause you're just, cause you're just that good ♪ ♪ You put a song in my heart, I sing with all that I've got ♪ ♪ I tell the world who you are, I'm gonna praise you ♪ ♪ You put a song in my heart, I sing with all that I've got ♪ ♪ I tell the world who you are, I'm gonna praise you ♪ ♪ One who broke my chains and part my freedom ♪ ♪ What else can I say but thank you Jesus ♪ ♪ Cause you're just that good, just that faithful ♪ ♪ And you're just that kind, I'm so grateful that you saved my life ♪ ♪ Like you said you would, hey ♪ ♪ So with my hands up high, heart up bending ♪ ♪ And I'm thankful for singing and dancing cause you saved my life ♪ ♪ Like you said you would, cause you're just, cause you're just that good ♪ ♪ Cause you're just, cause you're just that good, yeah ♪ Praise the Lord. ♪ One who broke my chains and part my freedom ♪ ♪ What else can I say but thank you Jesus ♪ ♪ You're the one who broke my chains and part my freedom ♪

♪ What else can I say but thank you Jesus ♪ ♪ Cause you're just that good, just that faithful ♪ ♪ And you're just so kind, I'm so grateful that you saved my life ♪ ♪ Like you said you would, hey ♪ ♪ So with my hands up high, heart up bending ♪ ♪ And I'm thankful for singing and dancing cause you saved my life ♪ ♪ Like you said you would, cause you're just, cause you're just that good ♪ ♪ Cause you're just, cause you're just that good, hey ♪ ♪ Cause you're just, cause you're just that good, hey ♪ Come on, can we give Him praise this morning? He's good, isn't He? Yes, Lord. He is so, so good. Well, we're so grateful that you came to worship with us this morning. We've got a friend in the house Paul is just such an influential worship leader and songwriter that is one of my heroes. And I know he has shaped the way that we worship in church today. And so I'm so grateful that we have him with us. Can we join in and worship with him today? Thank you, Paul. Thank you, Matthew. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus.

Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Christ. Thank you, Christ. Thank you, Jesus. I want to praise your name! Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Praise His name! Thank you, Jesus. I want to thank you for putting all of My life and my faith into Your hands today and into all of Our lives, sending the words out before you, I love you, I just prized you. Thank You. Let's pray this together. ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Amen. We really do. We really do. Well, it's really special to be here. Such an honor to be here at Gateway. Um, I was a worship pastor at a little church. If you get on Interstate 20 and drive an hour and a half in East Texas, we were there too. 25 years my wife and I and my family and in the early days of Gateway used to come out here a lot of names a lot of people like it oh yeah I remember him I remember her and one gal if you remember a young lady named Carrie and she would come out to our place sometimes and sit on the back porch with my wife and chit-chat and we try to write songs together and it's really special special times I've always felt a kindred spirit with Gateway and so it's great to be here as an old man I mean as an older guy now and and yeah these songs just came out of that little metal building the fellowship we just like you just coming showing up gathering together prayer meetings and open the eyes was

just you know a pastor was praying Lord before we look into your word we pray you'd open the eyes of our hearts tonight and and just that kind of stuck in my mind and we just would sing that phrase over and over eventually became a song and other times you know this song I remember just sitting in that little building there and during the week when no one was there and just would have times with the Lord and have a little journal open with possible phrases or scripture and anyway the phrase above all was something that I thought maybe we could say something about the Lord or to the Lord but that phrase and I remember that just sitting there and Lord you know because Isaiah says your ways are higher than our ways your thoughts are not our thoughts your ways are higher so maybe yeah so how could we declare that with that phrase maybe like above all powers above all kings above all nature and all created things above all wisdom and all the ways of man you were here before the world began above all kingdoms above all thrones above all wonders the world has ever known above all wealth and treasures of the earth there's no way to measure what you were crucified lay behind the stone you live to die rejected and alone like a rose trampled on the ground you took the fall and you thought of me Oh how about just the ladies sing this out Oh above all kingdoms above all thrones above all wonders the world has ever known above all wealth and treasures on the earth there's no way to measure what you're worth crucified

laid behind a stone you lived to die rejected and alone like a rose trampled on the ground you took the fall and thought of me above all you were crucified laid behind a stone you lived ♪ To die rejected and alone ♪ ♪ Like a rose trampled on the ground ♪ ♪ You took the fall ♪ ♪ You thought of me above all ♪ ♪ Oh like a rose trampled on the ground ♪ ♪ You took the fall and you thought of me ♪ You took the fall. ♪ You took the fall and you thought of me ♪ You did it Lord. ♪ You took the fall and you thought of me ♪ ♪ So we place you above all ♪ You did it. ♪ Oh Lord da-da-da-da-da-da da-da-da-da-da-da da-da-da-da-da Da-da-da-da-da-da. Thank you Lord. And say that to him. Thank you Lord. Thank you Lord. Thank you Lord.

This next song is Psalm 63. As the morning dawns and as the evening fades, you bring songs of praise to our hearts. As morning dawns and evening fades, you inspire songs of praise that rise from earth to touch your heart and glorify your name. Your name is a strong and mighty tower. Your name is a strong and mighty tower. Your name is a shelter like no other. Your name let the nations sing it louder because nothing has the power to save but your name. But your name. Lord Jesus your name. Thank you. Let's pray this together. Lord Jesus in your name we pray. Come and fill our hearts today. Forgive us strength to live for you and glorify your name. Your name is a strong and mighty tower. Your name is a shelter like no other. Your name let the nations sing it louder because nothing has the power to save but your name. Oh. Jesus your name. Oh. Oh. Your name. Let's sing it.

Is a strong and mighty tower. Your name is a shelter like no other. Is a shelter like no other. Your name let the nations sing it louder because nothing has the power to save but your name. Is a strong and mighty tower. Your name is a shelter like no other. Your name let the nations sing it louder because nothing has the power to save but your name. ♪ Come in my town, Your name is a shelter like no other ♪ ♪ Your name, let the nation sing it louder ♪ ♪ Cause nothing has the power to save, Your name ♪ ♪ Your name, oh Jesus Your name ♪ ♪ Give us strength for another day, oh Jesus Your name ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh Jesus Your name ♪ ♪ Who is the highest in Your name ♪ ♪ Is the greatest in Your name ♪ ♪ And stands above them all ♪ ♪ All thrones and dominions, all powers and positions ♪ ♪ Your name, it stands above them all ♪ ♪ Your name is the highest in Your name ♪ ♪ Is the greatest in Your name ♪ ♪ Stands above them all ♪ ♪ All thrones and dominions, all powers and positions ♪ ♪ Your name, it stands above them all ♪ ♪ And the angels cry, holy, our creator Christ ♪ ♪ Holy, You're lifted high, holy, holy forever ♪ ♪ Hear Your people sing, holy, to the King of kings ♪ ♪ You are holy, You will always be, holy, holy forever ♪ ♪ You will always be, holy, holy forever ♪

♪ You will always be, holy, holy forever ♪ Yes Lord, yes Jesus, yes Lord. Yes Lord. Thank you Lord. Come on, can we bless God today just for a moment? Thank you God, thank you Lord. You're holy, you're holy forever. Your name is powerful. You know, we've just been declaring about the holiness and the power of God's name. And it reminds me of what the psalmist said in Psalm 103. It says, bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. And then it goes on to say, bless the Lord, oh my soul, and forget not all His benefits. I don't know about you, but I'm thankful that my connection with God also comes with benefits, amen church? And the Bible lists several of them. It says that forgiveness is a benefit. It says that healing is a benefit. It says that satisfaction is a benefit. And then it goes on to say that He redeemed us from the pit. And I just wonder today, if we're honest, maybe some of us have come into this place and we feel like we're in a pit. We're in a pit on our jobs, we feel trapped. Maybe we're in a pit in our marriage.

It's a very low place right now. Maybe you're in a pit at school and the relationships are in turmoil. Maybe today you're in a pit of confusion, a pit of discouragement, a pit of depression. Here's what's so great, that in that verse, He says He redeems us or He buys us back. He rescues us from the pit and He crowns us with love and mercy. So He says, I'll take you out the pit and I'll give you love and mercy, amen? And here's what I wanna do. I just wanna pray for you today. If you feel like you're here and maybe you're in a pit, I wanna invite everyone just to bow your heads and close your eyes, just so you have a moment. I'd never wanna embarrass you. But if you'd say, Jelani, that's me. I feel like I'm in a pit today. Would you just raise up your hand? It's just you simply saying, hey, pray for me. Include me in this prayer, I'm in a pit. Father, you see the hands that are up all over this auditorium and we simply agree with your word over them that you redeem, you rescue them, you save them. Save them from the pit, in Jesus' name, amen, amen. Come on, let's give him praise one more time. Amen, well, listen, it was so great worshiping with you and Pastor Daniel has a great message for us today,

but before we turn our attention to him, why don't you turn to two or three people, greet them and welcome them to Gateway Church. AMEN, AMEN, AMEN. Men of Gateway, get ready for a one night only special event that you won't want to miss. Friday, April 24th, 5pm. Come for food, a chance to impress your friends with your skills at a golf simulator, and most importantly, to find encouragement from a strong community of believers. You won't want to miss Men's Night. Hey, welcome to church, everybody. Come on, let's put our hands together for Jesus one more time. So glad that you are in church this weekend, want to say hello to everybody at all of our locations. And of course, at our prison campuses, our gateway gatherings online are on demand later in the week. And if you're here for the very first time, you're an honored guest, we want to say welcome home. Come on church family across all the campuses. Let's put our hands together for anybody with us for the very first time. And as you just saw in the announcement, Men's Night is coming up this Friday night. And so if you've procrastinated, it's time to step up. And go ahead and get registered, you're going to want to be a part of it, bring somebody with you, it's going to be a powerful night together. I'm really, really looking forward to this night, community, some fun, we'll laugh, we'll worship together, get in God's Word, it's going to be a great time together. So get registered. And if you're a wife or a significant other, or family member, or mom, just be like, hey, I got it covered. You go, we're good.

And make sure they can be there. We're in a series we kicked off last weekend, my pastor, Pastor Chris Hodges was with us last weekend, brought a great word to kick the series off, yeah? And we're calling Between Sundays, and the idea is this, how do we have a faith that doesn't fade? And so how do we not just get inspired on Sunday, but how do we live that out Monday through Saturday? And we're going to continue in that today. And if you're new to church wondering what is a series, it's simply a collection of messages around one common theme. And that's our theme. And we have a theme verse. We have a verse that kind of drives the big idea of the series, found in Ephesians chapter 4, verse 14. But if you back up a little bit from Ephesians 14, Paul sets up that text by saying this, that God has given gifts to the church, and they are the apostle, the prophet, the evangelist, the pastor, the teacher. We call that fivefold ministry gifts. So I don't know if you know this or not, but I'm a gift. So just kidding, just joking. Well, it's what the Bible says, so we'll go with it. And then he says he gives gifts to do something to equip the saints. That's you. I don't know if you know that, but you're a saint. Some of you are like, I don't act so saintly some days. Well, it doesn't negate the fact of what God calls you. If you're in Christ, you're a saint. And the ministers are to equip the saints for work of ministry because every one of you is a minister. And he says so that this happens, this is the goal or the purpose, says then you will

no longer be immature like children. So we want to mature, we want to grow. And he says, you won't be when you're growing, you won't be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever, they sound like truth. Instead, we will speak the truth in love. Everybody say this with me on three, one, two, three, growing in every way. And what are we growing towards? Being more and more like Christ. Who is the head of the body, the church. He makes the whole body fit together perfectly as each part does its own special work. It helps the other parts, there it is again, grow so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love. And so what are we doing between Sundays? We must be growing. That's the big idea. And today I wanna talk to you around this title. If you're the note-taking type, write it down. If not, you're getting it. It's only been 245 days and we're finally getting it. So go ahead and write it down anyways. Choose wisely. I wanna talk to you about choices you make. If you're gonna have a faith that doesn't fade, you're gonna have to have choices that have wisdom during the week. Let's pray together. Father, our hearts and minds are open to you.

So Holy Spirit, speak to us. We believe that we'll never be the same because of our time in your word. May we leave differently, looking more like you, more and more like Christ. We wanna grow. We pray this in Jesus' name. Everyone said a big amen. Amen, so I was doing a little research this week and there was a Harvard study that revealed that you and I, during our waking hours, make over 35,000 choices every day. Some of you are like, that's why I'm so tired. I'm making all these decisions. 35,000 choices. You make a little over 220 food choices every day. So if you're like me, eat the same thing every day, you eliminate all those. Get some of your energy back. Children make less than 3,000 choices every day because you're making 35,000. So they don't have to make as many, right? We make all these choices every day, 35,000 plus choices. And obviously not all choices or not all the decisions that we make are equal. Some have greater weight and some have less weight. And it's estimated it's somewhere between 50 and 200, which I'm like, wow, that's a big range. But between 50 and 200, that are intentional choices. And they're consequential choices that we make

in our every day. Most of our choices are, they just happen. We don't even think about them anymore. We just make them because there was such a habit of making them. But there's about 50 to 200 that are consequential, intentional choices. And you could even, you know, make the circle a little bit smaller on the ones that man, they really affect the destiny of your life. But how many of you know that your choices do? Your choices affect the destiny of your life. They affect the direction of your life, the choices that you make. And it may not seem like, oh, this, you know, the big ones who I marry, you know, where do I go to church? Like what community do I get into? What job? What education? All those are the big ones, but there's little ones that like a dial, you make them every day and you just move it one dial at a time, just one click at a time. And all of a sudden over time, they dramatically affect the direction of your life. I like the way that C.S. Lewis said it, the brilliant scholar and theologian said, every time you make a choice,

you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses into something a little different than it was before, not into something a lot different, a little different. And taking your life as a whole, you are slowly turning this central thing into a heavenly creature, or as C.S. Lewis says very directly, a hellish creature. Slowly over time, we are moving the dial of our life in the choices that we make. And we're either moving them in a direction that makes us more like Christ, or we're moving them in a direction that makes us less like Christ. But have no doubt, your choices are defining you. And so my encouragement is this, choose wisely. And this is what James is gonna teach us, James chapter three, is that you don't get to decide whether you'll make choices. Matter of fact, you're gonna make thousands of choices today alone. The question is this, what kind of wisdom will you apply to the choices that you make? And James proposes that there's two types of wisdom that we exercise, and I wanna talk about those today, and obviously encourage you to choose heavenly wisdom.

If you're with me, say amen. All right, James chapter three, verse 13, the Bible says this, it'll be on the screen for you. Who is wise and understanding among you? So there's the question. And then James answers the question that he asked, and he says, this is how you'll know, let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. Now time out for a second. Another translation says in the meekness. So humility or meekness. And I think sometimes we think about meekness as weakness, but meekness is not weakness. Trying to make sure I articulate that correctly. Meekness is not weakness. Matter of fact, the idea of meekness is this, it's a stallion that is under control. In other words, I have strength and I could exert my strength. if I wanted to, I have authority, I could exert my authority. Whatever you wanna fill in that blank, but meekness is the ability to go, no, I can reign that in when I need to reign it in. That is what meekness is. And he says that meekness is found or it comes from wisdom. Then he gives the contrast to this and says,

but if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. For such quote unquote, wisdom does not come down from heaven, but it's three things. It's earthly, it's spiritual, it's very strong language and it's demonic. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder in every evil practice. But the wisdom that comes from heaven, he gives eight characteristics. It's first of all, pure. Then it's peace loving, it's considered submissive, full of mercy and good fruit. It's impartial and sincere and peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of peace. It's not what the text says, right? That's what would make sense. If you sow an apple, you get an apple. If you sow an orange, you get an orange. Are y'all with me? But he says, if you sow in peace, you reap a harvest of righteousness. We're gonna talk about that in a little bit. So what James is trying to help us understand is there's a difference between knowledge and wisdom. Just because you're smart, doesn't mean you're wise. Just because you got a high GPA, doesn't mean you're wise. Thank God, we're all my C students at, fellow C students.

Come on. Okay, few of you out there willing to admit it, right? Thank God for that. You can be wise without being smart, okay. Knowledge can build a house, but wisdom can build a home. There's a difference between having knowledge and wisdom. And we are more inundated with knowledge than we ever have been at any time in human history, but it hasn't made us much better in the way that we treat people, in the way that we interact, in the way that we live life. Matter of fact, I mean, you can find anything at your fingertips, can you not? You can Google it. I'm loving AI. I can find it even faster. Chad's my newest friend. I even told Chad, I said, just call me Daniel. So when I talked to it, it says, Daniel, that's great. I'll be happy to help. Yesterday, I was like, Chad, tell me how to get from this destination to this destination. What is the fastest way to get there? And they were like, you got three options. Buy an airplane, it'll take this much time, but you have to go through TSA and it'll take this much time. But if you took a train, it would be this much time and it's in a scenic route. And then you wouldn't have to worry about going through security.

But if you Ubered, it would be this much. I recommend, I was like, thanks, Chad, for letting me know. Get information fast. Matter of fact, someone sent this to me. I thought this was funny. They said, the most asked questions to Chad. This is actually a list. These are real questions that I ask, is this. My spouse said, I'm fine. What does that actually mean? How about this one? These are real questions that got asked of ChadGBT, ranked in the top five. How do I eat healthy, save money, get in shape, sleep eight hours and have peace without changing my lifestyle? That just goes to show you, we want some knowledge, but we don't want some wisdom. But how many of you know, we need wisdom if we're gonna have a faith that thrives outside of a Sunday morning. We need some wisdom in the choices, why? Because you're making 35,000 plus choices a day. You're making 50 to 200 that are consequential and they're shaping the destiny of your life. And so we need wisdom and we need heavenly wisdom. Now James chapter three compares and contrasts two different types of wisdom. And that's what we're gonna walk through today. And I hope you'll write these down.

First, he talks about what we call earthly wisdom. And he says, there are two things that drive us towards earthly wisdom. And one he says is this, it is bitter jealousy. It's bitterness in our heart. And the second one that he says is selfish ambition. So if you remember what we read in the text, he said, wherever there is earthly wisdom, there is bitter jealousy and there is selfish ambition. In other words, whenever we allow those things to get rooted in our heart, then we are already gravitating towards earthly wisdom. It's one of the drivers, it's a motivator of it. And we're already moving in that direction. And some of us think, well, pastor, no, that bitterness that I have is just between me and my sister, or just between me and that person in my dorm room, or me and that person that betrayed me. But listen to me, you can't have bitterness in one area of your heart. your life and did not affect every area of your life. You can't compartmentalize bitterness. You can't lock it off in a room somewhere and just say, well, that's just in that room of the house of my heart and it not get into every area of your life and begin to shade and begin to fade and begin to be the lens through which you look at everything in your life. You are already moving.

Now, it may be one dial at a time. May just be one little thing at a time that is moving you in that direction, but you're already moving towards earthly wisdom. And here's the dangerous thing is sometimes we don't even realize we're beginning to see life through that lens because we think we have a right to be bitter. Well, the way they treated me, the thing they did, and I'm not minimizing the pain of the experience. I'm just saying when bitterness gets rooted in your heart, it leads to you operating out of earthly wisdom, which doesn't lead to God's best for you. The second thing he says is selfish ambition. When we begin to make choices in life through the lens of, it's all about me. It's all about me. It's all about what I can get. I'm gonna show up in the boardroom. It's all about me. I'm gonna show up in the dorm room. It's all about me. I'm showing up at school. It's all about me. I'm showing up in my career. It's all about me. He says, you're already drifting. These are the drivers of it. And then he gives us three things that fuel these two things.

So this selfishness and this bitterness, there are things that act like accelerant on it, or they act like fuel to the fire. They act like throwing gasoline on a fire. And he says, there's three things. I wanna give them to you. Number one is this, it's the world. So he said, there's three things. The world is number one. What does he mean by this? It means just what are the inputs that I'm allowing into my life? Because if I already have, okay, let me say it this way. If I already have bitterness in my heart, don't you think the enemy of your soul has a way of just feeding you more bitter people? More bitter headlines, more bitter on my feed. Get my algorithm going where it just, where it compliments my bitterness. Where it just lets me know, well, they're bitter and I'm bitter and it's okay and that's how the world's are. And that's how people react and that's how they do. Or if I'm selfish, just put me around people that have fueled that selfishness. How much of the world? So I've got to ask this question, this is it. How much of the world will I let into my life? How much of it will I let into my life? I'm not saying that you can live a life.

I'm not asking you to be like a hermit and I'm only gonna be around, like you'll never reach people in your life. If all I'm gonna do is be around, I'm only gonna be around lost people and I'm never gonna, I'm only gonna be with church people. And I'm, you know, I'm like us four and no more and the world's awful and going to hell in a handbasket. No, but just how much are you letting influence you? Let me say it this way. Do you know more about pop culture than you do James chapter three? My name is Daniel and I'm your friend. Do you know more about why the bachelorette didn't get aired than you do about Matthew, Mark, Luke? Are y'all tracking with me? Just like how much of that are we letting in? Because the more you let in, the more it fuels bitterness. The more it fuels selfishness. And the more that happens, the more you are drifting towards operating in earthly wisdom, meaning you'll parent out of earthly wisdom. You'll lead out of earthly wisdom. You'll do friendships out of earthly wisdom. You'll respond to people that respond wrongly to you out of earthly wisdom when you're letting more of the world in. Number two, he says that the flesh, the flesh, this is the idea in the text here

is the idea of sensual. In other words, it's the idea of feelings. So I'm letting, when I begin to let my flesh lead my life, then it's only gonna fuel negative things in my life. It's how do I feel about this? You know? And can I tell you something? If you wanna, if there's selfishness rising in your life or bitterness rising in your life, your flesh is gonna go, oh, this feels so good. I'm gonna give them a piece of my mind. I always think I need all my mind. I can't give you any of it. I got limited bandwidth up here. But your flesh is gonna fuel that. Your flesh is gonna love that. More, yeah, be more selfish. Yeah, be more bitter towards them. Yeah, live for you. Look out for you. Don't look out for anybody else. Let's climb the ladder, get over, step over people if you have to. It's all about me, it's all about, and your flesh is gonna love that. You can't live by your feelings. You can't live by how you feel. You've got to live by what God has said. Here's the question that you've got to ask with this one. Will I be led by my feelings or by truth?

And here's the deal. We have a culture that wants to bend God's word to fit our feelings. We don't do that. I bend my life to fit God's word. Come on, can I get a better amen in God's house? All right. If you didn't know it, we're a Bible-believing church. We believe the book from the cover to the maps. Maybe some of you get that later. You have a digital one. The paper ones had maps in the back, okay. Anyways. But I don't bend God's word because it disagrees with how I feel. No, I say, God, you're the standard. I'm gonna bend my life to fit. There's some things I read sometimes, and I'm like, I don't even like that. I don't like how it confronts some things in me, some attitudes I have. Are y'all with me? But I don't say, God, you're wrong. I say, Daniel, you've got some work to do. So that's like a fuel on it. The flesh, how I feel. Number three, the devil. He says, it's demonic. And I'm not one that, you know, believe there's a devil under every rock.

I don't trip up the steps and be like, you know, the devil made me do it. I was like, nah, I made me new shoes or, you know what I mean? Are y'all with me? It drives me crazy. People that are like, I'm under financial attack. I'm like, no, you purchased something you couldn't afford. You need a budget. You don't need a prayer partner. You need a budget. You need an accountability partner. Less going out, more coming in. That's not the devil. That's wisdom. Come on, we ain't the federal government. You got to live on what you can afford. But there is an enemy of your soul. John 10, 10 says the thief comes to steal, kill, and to destroy. And there's some things we do in our life, some things, some inputs we let in, some places we go, things we, and we think, well, if I just crack the door, it's not that big of a deal. It goes to tell you, you give the enemy an inch, he'll take not a mile, he'll take 10 miles. Because he eventually wants to take your life. And it's like fuel on selfishness, on bitterness. And it leads to you living

and operating out of earthly wisdom. And what did James say? The result or the fruit of living that life is. He said, disorder and all kinds of evil practices. So here's a little test, little evaluation question. Is there any area of my life that is out of order? Is there any relationship that's out of order? Is there any, is my finances out of order? Is my parenting out of order? Is any anywhere where there's disorder, you may be like, I don't have vile evil practices. Is there disorder? Because if there is, James is saying, good chance you're living by earthly wisdom. And he says, but the wisdom that comes from heaven, it's different, it's completely different. Then he gives us eight characteristics. I ain't gonna give you eight points. Some of you are like, we're gonna be here all day. Categorize them down all the way to six, everybody. So write fast. Number one, he says this, says it honors God. He says, wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure. So the idea of pure here is this, is that it is completely loyal to God. In other words, whenever I have a choice to make, I'm in a moment of decision, I'm at some kind of crossroads in my life where I've got to make a choice. Heavenly wisdom first says, what does God think about this?

It's a hundred percent loyal to God. What would God, how would it? I mean, it can be a little cheesy, but it's like WWJD. What would Jesus do? Are you with me? It's like first and foremost, it is pure. It is motivated by a loyalty to God, not by a loyalty to self or even a loyalty to others. It's a loyalty to God. This is what James addresses in James chapter four. He says, come close to God and God will come close to you. And he says, wash your hands, you sinners. James just like gives it between the eyes, right? Purify your hearts, and here it is, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. So he says the kind of wisdom that comes from heaven is first, it's pure. In other words, it doesn't have a divided loyalty. It says, God, I'm gonna do what's right according to you, period. No matter what the consequences, no matter how people respond to me, no matter if it benefits me or not, if it's right, it's right. And I'm gonna walk in heavenly wisdom. Number two, he says, it promotes peace. So is the choice I'm about to make, does it promote peace? The idea here is shalom. It's completeness, it's wholeness, it's nothing missing. It's a steadiness, it's an ease.

It's not chaotic, it's not tense, but it promotes peace. You can't control everybody, but you can control your response in the middle of it. This is what the Proverbs says. It says, a wise man controls his temper. He knows that anger causes mistakes, but peace leads you towards heavenly wisdom. Number three, considers others. I like the, somebody said this once, the word considerate means to consider it. In other words, when I'm dealing with other people, I pause long enough to consider where they're coming from. It's what Romans 15 says. It says, we who are strong must be considered of those who are sensitive about things like this. We must not just please ourselves. We should help others do what is right and build them up in the Lord. And it goes on to say this about Jesus, for even Christ didn't live to please himself. In other words, here's what this thought Paul is giving us. He's saying, listen, the kind of heavenly wisdom that God wants you walking in is willing to stop for a moment and go, let me see it from your perspective. It's not stubborn. It doesn't have its heels dug in. It's not like my way or the highway. It's not, well, I'm not gonna listen to you. And no, no, it has the maturity.

Remember, he's talking about how we operate as a body, but he's also talking about how we can live with wisdom and blessing in our everyday life. But he's saying, here's how we work together. Here's how people from different perspectives, different backgrounds, all that can come under the banner of Jesus Christ, because we operate with heavenly wisdom that goes, hey, I didn't grow up where you grew up and I didn't have the experience you grew up in. And I wasn't in your house. I grew up in a completely different family system and culture and environment, but I'm willing to stop long enough to go, tell me how it was. Wow, I never knew that. Tell me what it was like for you. Tell me how you dealt with that. Tell me the family you came out of. Man, that's so different than mine, but I'm considering it. I have ears to hear. I have humility, right? I have a meekness that comes out of wisdom. It's what James said to go, man, I'm gonna consider it. Can I challenge parents a little bit? Have you ever stopped to go to your child? Hey, tell me how you see it. I wanna consider it. What's it? Whatever it is. Just wanna consider it.

James, Romans says, Paul wrote in Romans, he goes, even Christ did this. He didn't live for his own self. He lived considering the perspective, the view, the experience of somebody else. When you could dig your heels in, I'm a grown adult, I can do what I want. Well, one theologian said it like this, with great power comes great responsibility. Spider-Man. Come on, put your hands together for that. All right, just making sure we're awake. Then he says next, which I think is critical in the order that he says them, and he says, consider it. Because whenever you consider something, then there'll be times where you have to be willing to yield where you're willing to yield, where you're willing to go. I never considered that. Maybe I should now have a different choice. This is what wisdom does, everybody. Earthly wisdom, selfish, digging my heels in, stubborn, bitterness. Godly wisdom, man, I've never considered it from that perspective, and maybe I need to adjust. 12, 15 speaks to that. Fools think their way is right, but the wise listen to others. I'm not talking about things that are black and white in the word of God. I'm not talking about like,

well, I'm just gonna let go of values and I'm gonna let go of truth. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about in the daily decisions, most of your day isn't filled with decisions that are like, I've got to become a heretic to walk light. No, they're not. Most of it is, I have a preference. You have a preference. How do we get on the same page? Right? Most of it is, it isn't right and wrong. We've got to move to a point where we're graduating beyond right and wrong, to wise and unwise. Right and wrong is pretty basic. That's black and white. That's yes, you do it or don't. It's right or wrong. It's moral or it's immoral. We're talking about graduating beyond that to these things that's like, man, I don't know. I don't have a chapter and verse for that. How many of you know? Many things that you, I know in parenting, I'm like, I don't have a chapter and verse for this one. God, I need wisdom. And he says, okay, well, wisdom looks like this. It's pure. It's considerate of others. Are y'all following me?

He's given me some framework on how to think about things whenever I'm needing wisdom. And at some point I've got to be willing to yield. Sometimes in your friendships, you got to be like, hey, I think I saw that wrong and I got it wrong. Sometimes in your career, you've got to as the boss be like, hey, I missed it on that. I moved too fast. I didn't see that the way you saw it. Sometimes with your children, hey, I got that wrong. I see where you're coming from now. I miss it. This is willing to yield. Let's move quicker. Chapter five covers the faults of others. First Peter 4, eight says this, above all love each other deeply because love covers over a multitude of sins. Let me say this. There's a difference between covering up and covering with love. Covering up wants to hide the sin. Covering up says why you deal with consequences, I'm going to love you. Covering a multitude of sins says, you know what? I'm not going to carry this. In the words of Elsa, I'm going to let it go. Let it go. Okay. That's what love does.

It says I could hold an offense. I could get angry with you, but wisdom says, let it go. Number six, last thought has no agenda. James said it this way. He said, the wisdom that's from heaven is impartial and sincere. It doesn't come with an agenda. Doesn't come with, you know, I'm eventually going to manipulate this to get my way. It comes with, I want what honors God. I want what's best. I want what is good, peaceful, loving, kind, gracious. Are you with me? Here's what, yeah. Okay. Two of you. Two of you got it. That's great. Now here's what some of you may be thinking. You're like, pastor, this is great. But if I operated in the real world like this, I would be like a doormat getting walked over all the time. Like if we, if I, like this sounds good in church and it kind of feels good. But if I really like in the boardroom went in and was like, I'm going to be considerate of others. I live, it's a dog-eat-dog world. I got to take care of business. I got to take care of myself.

If I, I'm trying to, it's a competitive world in college. If I really, it's, I'm trying to get into the careers and I'm worried if AI is going to take my career and you got to fight for what you want and you've got to scrap. I can't really, this doesn't work in the real world. And here's just what I want to show you. It's a closing thought. James ended the text in verse 18. He says, peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness. Now you would think, I said earlier that if you sow peace, you reap peace. And so I was curious about this word righteousness and I read it and I thought, I know what righteousness means. I've been studying the Bible a long, long time. It was just something said, now you need to go to the original language on it. So I went to the original language and the better translation for the word is peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of justice. One commentator called God the guardian of justice. I thought, how beautiful is that? Here's what the text is saying. God says, if you'll operate according to heavenly wisdom. even if it costs you in some areas, even if you feel like you're doing the right and getting done wrong, even if you feel like you are not getting ahead

while other people are using earthly wisdom in the world and the flesh, and it seems like the devil's on their side and he's helping them out a lot. God says, you walk according to heavenly wisdom and I, the guardian of justice, will make sure it is done right by you. And it may not be in the moment and it may not be a week later, but he goes, I got you. In the Daniel translation, I'll take care of you, I will cover you, I will make sure favor comes upon you and blessing and promotion and all the things that if you did it in the world's way, you may get there, but God goes, I will get you there. Because if you'll sow in peace, you will reap a harvest of justice. God said, I'll make it right. And can I tell you something? You could put all your effort into getting you to the front of the room, but when God does it, there's nobody that can pull you back. There's nobody that can pull you back. Let God, you walk in wisdom and you let God prosper you. The word prosper doesn't mean if you give God a dollar, he'll give you a, you know, Mercedes. The word prosper is this idea in the Hebrew that when you've done all you can do in your own strength,

the picture is God puts his hand behind you and pushes you beyond yourself. You walk in wisdom, the hand of God will push you further than you thought you could have gone. And you will have done the journey the right way, the God honoring way. You may have heard the story of Corrie ten Boone. She was a Dutch Christian living in Holland during Nazi occupation in World War II. Her family cared for Jewish people, would hide them actually. And they were betrayed and it got uncovered they were doing this. And so Corrie and her sister Betsy ended up in a concentration camp. And in the camp, they were treated obviously with inhumane cruelty and starvation and all the things that you've heard and read about. But when the war was over, Betsy didn't make it. She passed away in the concentration camp, but Corrie did live. And Corrie ended up with a wonderful ministry of sharing about the forgiveness of Jesus in the gospel. And she was speaking one night in Munich, Germany of all places. And at the end of the service, a man came up to her. And as he began to approach her, she says that she recognized him immediately as one of the worst guards in the concentration camp.

She said, he began to make his way up to her at the end of the night. And probably thinking in her mind, she would never run into the people that did this to her again. He walked up to her and said, isn't it amazing if what you said is true that his blood can wash away all my sins? And he reached out his hand and he said, will you please forgive me? In that moment, Corrie wrote that she felt like a cold anger rise up that she hadn't felt before. And knowing the difference between earthly wisdom and heavenly wisdom, not because she felt it, but because God called her to it. She reached out her hand and said, yes, I forgive you. She said in that moment, she felt a weight lift off of her body and a peace fill her like she'd never felt before. Because when you sow in peace, you reap a harvest of righteousness. You're gonna make over 35,000 decisions today. What kind of wisdom will you use? Earthly wisdom or godly wisdom? Because even that choice is up to you. I pray you'll choose wisely. You received the word of God today. You pray with me, every head bowed, every eye closed all across the room.

If you can, right there where you are online, maybe you're here today and you've never made the greatest choice you could ever make. And that is the choice to make Jesus the Lord of your life. That simply means that you're surrendering control to him, that you're done living life your way, by your standards, your choices. But you're saying, God, I wanna live according to your way. I wanna know that my sin. Ends are forgiven. I want to know that heaven is my home. And the Bible says that if you do that, that you become a brand new creation, that all things pass away. The old is gone and the new comes. And some of you today, you need a fresh start. You need a new beginning. Maybe you're here today. And there was a time where you were walking with Jesus, but you've strayed away. And there was a time where your commitment was deeper and your passion was greater, but you know that's been a while. Today needs to be a day of returning, a day of recommitment. If that's you, you'd say, pastor, I want that today. And just a moment, we're going to pray. I want to be included in that prayer.

If that's you, I just want to know who I'm praying with. We're not going to come to you, embarrass you, or point you out, but want to know who I'm praying with. And I just believe when you shoot your hand up in a moment, that's kind of your first step of faith. You're saying, God, that's me. I need that. So when I count to three, you shoot your hand up high enough, long enough for me to see, and then we're going to pray together. If God is speaking to you, today's the day, you need a brand new beginning. Then you shoot your hand up on three. One, two, three. God bless you. God bless you and you. Wow, so many all over the room. Just keep them up. God bless you. It's beautiful. I see in the very, very back row, on the floor and in the balcony. God bless you. God bless you. All the way over to my right. God bless you. It's beautiful. You can put them down. Church, will you pray this out loud with me

for the benefit of those who just slipped their hand up? You say, Jesus, I need you. I ask you to forgive me of all my sin. I believe you died for me. I believe God raised you from the dead. Today, I make you my Lord and savior. Thank you for a brand new beginning. In Jesus name, everyone said a big amen. Come on, can you clap your hands and celebrate those who made that decision? It's incredible. Thank you. So, so many hands up all over the room. And if you made that choice, that decision today, then we would love to come alongside you and help you in this journey. This is the beginning of a journey of faith. And there's three simple ways to let us know. One, you can text Jesus, the keyword Jesus, to 71010. And our team will respond to you and help you in this step of faith. You can stop by Connect Central out in the lobby on your way out. But one of the best ways is just come forward and let one of our prayer team members know. We would love to pray with you today and help you in the next step of the journey. So in just a moment, we're gonna all stand. The team's gonna lead us in one final chorus. Our prayer team will be available down front,

up in the balconies as well. And once you come down and grab someone, just say, hey, I prayed that prayer today. Maybe you're here today and you have a need in your life. Maybe you have a choice. You need some wisdom in. Maybe there's some areas where you've been living by earthly wisdom and you need someone to go, man, will you pray with me? I need God's help. I need the power of the Holy Spirit to help me live with heavenly wisdom. Then in just a moment, you make your way down. We would be honored to join our faith together and to pray with you. So why don't you stand all over the room, ask our prayer team if they would to make their way down front. And as we begin to sing, you just slip out. And if you're like, well, I'm nervous to go by myself. Well, grab somebody beside you. And you may be thinking, I don't know who they are. Grab them anyway. They'll be glad to go with you and to help you today. Why don't you make your way down here as we worship. ♪ You are, You always will be God alone ♪ ♪ Seated on the throne, King of all majesty ♪ ♪ You reign in victory, cause You were, You are ♪ ♪ You always will be God alone ♪ ♪ Seated on the throne, Jesus be glorified ♪

♪ Forever lifted high, and all the glory is Yours ♪ ♪ All the glory is Yours, now and forevermore ♪ ♪ Now and forevermore, all the glory is Yours ♪ ♪ Yes, we sing, all the glory is Yours ♪ ♪ All the glory is Yours, now and forevermore ♪ ♪ All the glory is Yours ♪ Come on, church, can we put our hands together and give God glory for such a powerful message, such a great word on heavenly wisdom? And also, can we one more time just put our hands together and thank Paul Belash for leading us in worship earlier today? If you are interested in getting more from him, he actually has a new album out called Yes, We Believe, and you can find it on anything that streams music. or anywhere music is sold and we'd love for you to get that. I wanna let you know, we've got people here at the front and also there in the balcony area that would love to pray with you. So I'm gonna share a couple of closing announcements. But even as I do, if you have any prayer need at all, we're gonna stay here as long as we need to. You just keep coming forward because we'd love the opportunity to pray with you. But just a couple of things. Number one, all the men in the house, we want you to come out and be a part of our men's night. This Friday night, we're gonna put a QR code up on the screen so you can take out your phone and register there, or you can go to Connect Central.

But listen, men, you don't wanna miss it. It's gonna be a great time to hear an encouraging word, to worship together and to have some fun just worshiping with other men. So I encourage you to come out and be a part of that. And then also, if you are new to Gateway Church, again, we're so honored that you chose to be with us this weekend. And we'd love the opportunity to personally connect with you. And there's a couple of ways to do that. First of all, after service, there's an area called Connect Central that's located in our lobby. And I'll be there along with some of our leaders. We'd love to meet you, answer any questions that you have. And we also have a gift for you. So if you have a moment, please stop by Connect Central. But if you can't do that for whatever reason, or maybe you're joining us online, you can just text the word CONNECT to 71010. And that way we can follow up with you there. Let me pray a blessing over us today as we depart. And I'm gonna speak this blessing over you out of Numbers chapter six. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

Amen, God bless you. We love you and we'll see you this Friday.