The Wisdom of God (2)

[background music] Church in fellowship cannot be more spiritual than the individuals and families that constitute them. God will desire a godly home. These are words of restoration and instruction in righteousness on Family Tent Ministry. You will be blessed as you listen. [Speaker 1] Our God is good. Our God is good. Let's glorify the name of the Lord this morning, this evening. Let's appreciate him. Let's appreciate him. Let's take this song unto the Lord. Father, we declare that we love you. We declare an everlasting love for you. Father, we declare, Father, we declare that we love you. We declare an everlasting love for you. O Lord, we declare, Father, we declare that we love you. We declare an everlasting love for you. Jehovah, we declare, Father, we declare that we love you. We declare an everlasting love for you. We want to say, oh, that you are good. Another miracle you've done has brought us joy. And we are changed, another hope we have, we place in you right now. O Lord, we declare, Father, we declare that we love you. We declare an everlasting love for you. O Lord, we declare, Father, we declare that we love you. We declare an everlasting love for you. Everlasting Father, to you be glory, to you be honor, to you be praise. We worship you again for this time again to fellowship together in the scriptures, to fellowship together in your word. Lord our God, we thank you again for this great opportunity. Our Father, we commit ourselves into your hand. We who are gathering here physically, our brethren who are on Telegram with us this evening, our brethren who are on Mixlr with us this evening, Lord our God, we bring ourselves together. We say Lord our God, the Bible says the entrance of your word gives light and understanding. Lord, we pray as we fellowship together in scriptures, by the power of your spirit, we beg you Lord, grant us entrance of your word in the name of Jesus. Let there be an entrance of your word, of your truth in the name of Jesus. Thank you, Eternal Father. Blessed be your holy name, our God. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We started this topic, "The Wisdom of God", last week. And we want to move on from that point today. And like I usually do for our brethren who are here, brethren on Mixlr and on Telegram, please if you want to write a comment about last week, you can also put your comment, we will read it from here. You can put your comment too on the page, we will read it to the brethren here. But for those of us who are here, we have the privilege of telling us, what was your major take-home from our last week discussion, those of us that are here physically? While we await the brethren online, in case they want to have anything they want to write, they can go ahead to do so. Our brethren who are here physically, please what was your major take-home from our discussion last week as we try to move on today? So, anyone who has something they want to say? Okay, somebody is raising up his hand. Please come and use the mic so that brethren online can hear you. Brethren online can hear you. [Speaker 2] Praise the Lord. [Speaker 1] Hallelujah. [Speaker 2] So last week, one of my take-homes from the wisdom of God is that the wisdom of God is not given to the foolish. And the foolish are the natural man, the people that always count the things of God, things that are spiritual to be foolishness because the reason is because they cannot understand the things of the spirit, they are foolishness unto them. Another thing is that wisdom are stored, they can be in sieve, and it is for the wise. And the wise are the upright, not the up and wrong, but those that are up and right, not the down and wrong, not the down and right, but the upright. Also, the wisdom is not just sieve alone. The wisdom is released by the word that is spoken from God. So God speaks the word. And unless one hears the word that comes from God, the person cannot be wise. So the word that comes from God makes one to be wise. [Speaker 1] Thank you so much. Thank you so much for that take-home. It's really a reminder to some very, very important things again. It's really, really a reminder. Is there any other person before I move on today? Any other person that has anything they want to say before I move on? Okay, so we can move on. Oh, the hand should have been up. Oya, come and take the mic. [Speaker 3] Hallelujah. So last week, I also learnt that until God speaks, wisdom is not experienced. You can't experience wisdom until he speaks. So for us to experience wisdom, we must prioritize God speaking to us as the main thing. Praise God. [Speaker 1] Yeah, we must prioritize God speaking to us. Until God speaks, there is no wisdom. And one thing that people have, not as if it is entirely wrong, but it is also not completely right. People always feel that the older you are, the wiser you are. But the truth is that, like I said in one of our youth meeting, that is our Singles' Club meeting that holds every first Saturday, I said you don't need to listen to every old person because fools also grow old. You get the point I am making? So growing old is a process. Whether you are wise or foolish, you will grow old. So growing old is not whether you choose to grow old, it's a process, everybody grows old. But growing wise is a choice. You may choose to grow wise, and you may choose to remain foolish. So you may be growing old, but you may not be growing wise. And that general notion, I remember I said that in that meeting we had for people who were in that our singles' meeting, I took them to Job 32 where Elihu thought that old men should always be wise, so he didn't say anything, he kept quiet. But when he realized that the old people were not saying what was correct, he said, "I thought age should teach wisdom, but now I have come to a realization, there is a spirit in man. It is the inspiration of the Almighty that gives them wisdom, that gives them understanding." I pray for someone this evening, I pray for you. May your life be built on inspiration. May your life be built around inspiration. May your life be run on inspiration. May your life be molded by inspiration from God. May you never be foolish in the name of Jesus. You see, inspiration is the key. Inspiration is the key. And that's what we are talking about when you say God speaks. When you say God speaks, that thing you are saying God is speaking is what we are calling inspiration. When God speaks, the Yorubas call it imisi, k’Olorun misi om’eda, imisi Oluwa. Ti aye eniyan ba wa ti o ni imisi, eniyen o le gbon, a ma go ni. Inspiration. When there is inspiration to us, that is the basis of wisdom. And that was some of the basic thing we looked at last week. So we want to go back to where we left the matter. We will go back to that 1 Corinthians. Let's turn our Bible to that place. That's where we are going to today. We want to start journeying from that point again and see to what extent we will journey today before we close the meeting. I want to remind us of something in that 1 Corinthians chapter 2. We started our reading from verse 12. 1 Corinthians chapter 2 from 12. 1 Corinthians 2 between 12 and 14, that's where we stopped last week. 2 between 12 and 14. It says, "Now we have received not the spirit of this world, but the spirit which is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God." God has given us some things freely, we cannot understand those things ordinarily. The only way to understand it is by God's spirit. And he said in verse 13, we stopped at verse 14, it was 12 to 14, "And we impart these in words, not taught by human wisdom, but by the spirit of God." So we noted that there is also human wisdom while there is the wisdom of God. And those things which we teach, we teach them in words not taught by human wisdom. So the things of God's wisdom are actually in words, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. I emphasized last week that except you are spiritual, you cannot receive the things of God. And I explained that very, very clearly, what that really meant. I will not go into that again today because we want to move further. But the reality, like I noted last week, is that a man who is not spiritual can never become wise. He said we interpret spiritual things with those who are spiritual. And we took time to explain what that meant last week. So I will not go back into that. Verse 14, which was where we stopped last week. It says, "The natural person does not accept the things of God, for they are folly to him, or they are foolishness to him. He cannot receive them because he does not understand them." He does not understand them. He cannot relate to them. He cannot see anything good coming out of them. He looks at them and he looks at them like they are foolish things, just like our brother said. And then we concluded last week. Now, I want to move forward about this matter of God's wisdom. By making us to see something. When the Bible is talking about the natural person does not accept the things of the spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. Who is this natural person? Who is this natural person? Because he was addressing something. This matter that is raised here, I want you to go to, please look at chapter 2. Look at it from verse 1. You will appreciate what I am talking about. Look at it from verse 1. [Speaker 4] Yet among the mature, we do speak wisdom— [Speaker 1] Sorry, I’m reading verse 6. Let me read from verse 1. Chapter 2 from verse 1. "And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with—" with what? With what? Please look at your Bible. Chapter 2, verse 1. "And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with excellence of speech of human wisdom." So when the gospel was brought to these people, it was not brought with something. What was it not brought with? Excellence of speech. What does excellence of speech mean? What does that mean? Oratory? Oratory. Articulate. Precise. Clear. Based on fact and figures. Many times, undisputable. You get the point? When you make it plain. Now, he said, look, I did not come with that one when I came to you. He said, "For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. And my message and my speech and my message, they were not in—" what do you see again? In what? Exciting words of human wisdom. What does exciting mean? How can you interpret exciting? Exciting words of human wisdom. Look at your different translations. One says exciting. Another translation, I want to make you grab that word. [Speaker 4] Motivating. [Speaker 1] What’s another thing for that word? [Speaker 4] Persuasive. [Speaker 1] So, when we say something is enticing, we don't mean that the thing is something that is necessarily bad. We mean that it is persuasive. We mean that it is systematic. We mean that it is based on some measure of precision, accuracy. It means that it follows logical reasoning. Are you understanding me? A = B and B = C. Logically, A and C are equal. Look at that systematic reasoning. What I said, is it foolish? Is it not persuasive? If I say, "Look, I’ve come to show you that A and C, they are the same thing." I say, "Because when you look at it, all the properties in A they are in B and B... since this C = B, automatically brethren, what are we saying? Then A and C they are equal." That’s what we mean by persuasive. It’s not... when something is exciting, you don't necessarily mean that it is foolish. Now, it’s telling you something about human wisdom. Human wisdom seeks to persuade. Do you get it? It’s persuasive. It is eloquent. It is something therefore that is enticing. Enticing means that it motivates. You don't listen to it and begin to think that, ah, what stupid thing is this saying? What he is saying is really correct. It’s really correct. You know, and as I make this statement now, you know what I remembered? I remembered discussing with one individual one day. And you know what he said? He said, "Look, even the normal biological sense makes you to know that one man, one wife lacks wisdom." I said, "Heh?" I said, "Please speak on." I said, "What is the biological common sense?" He said, "Sir, just imagine that a child is born and then you are giving that child only carbohydrate, morning, afternoon, evening. The following day, morning, afternoon, evening. Only carbohydrate. In the process of time, what will happen to that child?" I said, "Of course, biologically he will develop kwashiorkor because of a diet that is not balanced." "Exactly! Life can never be balanced with one wife. You don't understand!" He was speaking and I was listening to him. And he was using the analogy and he was building on it, and he was building on it, and he was going on and he was building it. And for him, he has been able to make me see that, "Look, God can never be talking about one man, one wife because God himself is the one who brings about human biology and his different kinds of food." So he brought it again back to God and then it looks as if he was saying something that was correct. But what is it I am trying to bring out is that human wisdom seeks to appeal to your senses. They seek to make you see something based on the five senses. And that is what Paul was saying that when I came to you... And please, you know where I am taking you to? That when you look at chapter 2, what is the first three words in verse 1? My own say "And I, when I came to you". What does your own say? [Speaker 4] And I, brethren, when I came to you. [Speaker 1] The same thing. Can we have any completely different rendering from that? Any complete departure from that? There's no complete departure. You know what I am trying to make you see? Is that the chapter 2 that we began from is actually a continuous discussion from something that was raised in chapter 1. "And I, brethren, when I came to you, I did not come with human wisdom." So he was now speaking about that human wisdom. He now said when he got to verse 6, he now said, "Yet among the mature we do speak wisdom, although it is not the wisdom of this age or the of the ruler of this age which is doomed to pass away. But we impart the hidden wisdom of God, which was there before the beginning of time." I hope you are following it. None of the ruler of this world know of that wisdom. "But as it is written, 'Eyes have not seen'..." That word led to "these things God revealed to us through his spirit". Do you get it now? Do you get what I am trying to say? So we want to trace what Paul was referring to when he said the natural man. The natural man cannot receive the things of God. I hope you are getting it. We want to go back and go back because the matter began from somewhere. He said he cannot accept them because they are foolishness. So what makes it foolish to him is because they are not in alignment with his own wisdom. Do you get the point I am making? He was contrasting two types of wisdom. So he's trying to make us see something, that there is something about God's wisdom that makes it unacceptable to human wisdom, which makes the natural man not to be able to receive it. So who is now this natural man? You will come to see that it’s not just talking about man in terms of man, but he was qualifying something. Can we just journey back to chapter 1? Let's journey into chapter 1. Let's see how the scripture put it in chapter 1. Now, Paul opened up in chapter 1, an apostle, a letter written to the church of God which is in Corinth. Grace be multiplied to you. Verse 4 he was giving thanks, "I give thanks to my God..." and all of that. That ended in verse 9, "God is true, through whom you have been given a part with his son, Jesus Christ our Lord." From verse 10, he spoke about the division that is in the church. "Now I make request to you, my brothers, in the name of the Lord Jesus, that you all say the same thing and that there be no division among you." So the matter we are talking about is not about the division in the church. Then when he came to verse 17 he summarized that. He said, "For Christ sent me, not to give baptism but to be a preacher of good news, not with wisdom, with wise words, for fear that the cross of Christ might be made of no value." That's where he started the matter of this wisdom. Are you seeing that now? Can we have that verse 17 in some other translation? [Speaker 4] Berean Standard Bible. "For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, not with words of wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power." [Speaker 1] So, not with words of wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. Which means there is something about words of wisdom which is against the cross. Are you following? We want to explain that "cannot receive the things of God". We are still to look at the wisdom of God. So you see that there is something. Anytime we have human wisdom, the cross of Christ will die. Can we take another translation? Amplified? Please use the mic. [Speaker 5] Amplified version. "For Christ, the Messiah, sent me—" [Speaker 1] Your voice is cracking. What happened to your voice, my brother? Was it a vigil? Please somebody should help him to read this so that brethren online will not be wondering what is going on in the hall. [Speaker 4] "For Christ, the Messiah, sent me out not to baptize, but to evangelize by preaching the glad tidings, the gospel, and that not with verbal eloquence, lest the cross of Christ should be deprived of force and emptied of its power and rendered vain." [Speaker 1] Okay. So what is it that can render the cross of power, the cross of Christ? What can take the power from it and make that cross not to have any power again and just become like anything that you can just put on? You know some people put the cross on their neck? He said, "I am carrying Jesus on my neck." They put it on sign on their house, he said that's the cross of Jesus. But he's saying that that cross has too much power, and something can make the power to just go away. What is it? Verbal eloquence. So when a man become eloquent, when you bring verbal eloquence... How did he interpret that verbal eloquence again in the Amplified? How did he amplify it again for us? [Speaker 4] Verbal eloquence, he didn't amplify it, just verbal eloquence lest the cross... [Speaker 1] Verbal eloquence. So there is a way in which verbal eloquence can strip the cross of its power. Can strip it of its power. Is anybody having NLT translation? Is anybody having The Message translation? [Speaker 4] The Message. "God didn't send me out to collect a following for myself, but to preach the message of what he has done, collecting a following for him. And he didn't send me to do it with a lot of fancy rhetoric of my own, lest the powerful action at the center, Christ on the cross, be trivialized into mere words." [Speaker 1] Oh! Are you getting something? Are you getting something? You see, when we try to fine-tune, when we try to make it look reasonable, appealing, plausible, exciting and motivating, what will happen to the cross? Trivialized. The power, which when we make it Christ-centered, that power will be gone. Who is reading NLT for us? [Speaker 4] NLT. "For Christ didn't send me to baptize but to preach the good news, and not with clever speech, for fear that the cross of Christ would lose its power." [Speaker 1] For the fear that... is there any other thing there? [Speaker 4] NLT. "For Christ didn't send me to baptize but to preach the good news, and not with clever speech and high-sounding ideas, for fear that the cross of Christ would lose its power." [Speaker 1] Now, why is Paul afraid of clever speeches and high-sounding ideas? Why was he afraid? Because it can strip the cross of Jesus its power. And why was he, he himself, becoming so conscious about that? Because he was a brilliant lawyer. He already knew the power of argument. He understands the power of argument. He knows he was a lawyer. And he knows how to ititiye ititiye ititiye ititiye ititiye, bam! You have won the case. You can speak and win the argument, yet you are not on the side of the truth. Are you understand me? Something can happen and you can be so eloquent, you can have so much power of words and you can argue it, you can put it like this, you can put it like that, and ah, this is the truth now. Can't you see what he has said? Is there anything again to say about this? And people will say, "Yes, yes, there is nothing again to argue." Yet, that matter is not the truth even though it is correct. Now, the point is that he had a clear understanding that there is a problem. The problem is that if we bring the preaching of the cross and we try to merge it with the power of human wisdom, there will be no cross. That power of the cross, that power that is in the cross, what you will have will be the caricature. You know, many times I see this caricature, that's why I was trying to make a picture that time. When something happens sometimes, have you seen people do like this? sign of the cross. Have you seen people do like that before? Have you seen men carry cross on their chest? they say they are carrying the cross of Christ. Have you seen men write cross on their doorpost? say the cross is there. Now, the point is there is something that we need to understand fundamentally that where human eloquence prevail, something will happen to the cross. What will happen to the cross? It will lose its power. So the cross don't need human eloquence. And what do we mean by human eloquence? What do we mean by human eloquence? That is where we were coming from. Systematic argument, logical reasoning, inductive and deductive reasoning. That's what we call philosophy. Inductive and deductive reasoning, ability to think critically in a bid to solve a problem. The Bible is saying that when we bring this kind of things to the cross, the cross will lose its power. When we separate it from the cross, the cross will gain its power. Which means actually the cross is about power. The cross is about power. The cross is not about speech, it's about power. It’s about power! And this power is not in plausible argument. It’s not in motivational argument. Yet, don't forget where we are coming from. He said this wisdom, we speak in words. So the cross too have words. Words that are taught by the Spirit. Are you getting something now? So there are two kinds of words. There are some words that are taught by the Spirit. That is the one that the cross need. There's the other one that comes by high-sounding reasoning. It comes, it has its origin in everything that is human, that is, it is seated in human intellectual power. So human intellectual power can lead to some kind of reasonings. When just reasonings are used for the cross, the cross will lose its power. If you don't want the cross to lose its power, you need speech also, but that speech will be the one that did not emanate because intellect was engaged into the Bible. Are you understanding me? You know I made a statement last week. I said to engage God, you need your eyes, you need your intellect. If you cannot read and write, the Bible will not be profitable to you. Am I correct? So it is good to be able to read and write. Is that not true? So he said, "Ah, here, we don't need human wisdom for, don't go to school at all." Who talk you use human wisdom? Is that what we are saying? That's not what we are saying. You see, I am saying these because you see, many times, people just take one statement and begin to run with it, not bringing it within the context of what is being discussed. Now, in engaging scriptures, we need our eyes, you need to be able to at least read and understand what you are reading. So if it is Yoruba that you can understand, it's good to read the Yoruba Bible. Am I correct? So if it is English that you can understand, you carry English Bible. If you cannot read Yoruba or English Bible, there is a problem. Is that not? Then you will need audio Bible. They will be talking, then you will be listening. You can also read the Bible by audio and you hear it, "Heh, okay, heh, okay," this is what he's saying. If you cannot read Yoruba or you cannot read any particular... because the Bible is written in some languages. You must be able to read and write that language for you to be able to read the Bible. And that is also intellect. Is that not intellect? It’s intellect. So you see that, that's why I said last week, that to engage God, to engage scriptures, we need intellect. But we cannot find God by intellect. His intellect is useless in finding God because we are saying something here that when we now want to talk about the cross, and we shift to intellect, to intellect, what happens to the cross? Well... so what is that power? The Message gave us that power. It said it will no more be Christ-centered, it will be an intellectual engagement. You understand me? An academic reasoning. It can become intellectual discussion. It can become a... you know you can take the Bible like a seminar? Am I correct? I taught CRK for 15 years, so I know what I’m talking about. I was a CRK teacher for 15 years. And I remember that we have to because of junior, senior, we have to do some division so that... because the school is so much. So we have about... we have two CRK teacher, me and my colleague. After all the moral, all the lesson and everything, my colleague will still... he has his own uniform. He will enter the class to help them write exams, collect money from... yes! And then in those days, because you know there's no passport, there's no... he will also go round other schools to write CRK, CRK from different... he has different uniforms to go and write. And he's preaching the... he's the one that teach them the gospel, the Synoptic Gospel, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, how Jesus was born and he died. Have you not seen men preaching the cross but don't know salvation? So, it can become an intellectual engagement. Once it becomes intellectual engagement, something is lost. We will become knowledgeable, but there will be no conversion. So, you can become very knowledgeable about the scripture but Christ is not formed in you. The character of Jesus, the life of Jesus is not formed in you. And yet, you have a working knowledge of the Bible. You have a good knowledge of the Bible. What made that to happen? What made that to be possible? The intellectual power. Now, because we can bring the preaching of the cross, we can use it to engage men based on the power of intellect. And when we bring intellectual discussion into Bible, we have lost Christianity. Do you get the point I am making? We have lost Christianity. That is what Paul is saying. So that we don't lose Christianity and become Bible scholars. Do you get it? So that it is not just about being knowledgeable, but about Christ being formed in us. Don't forget, from glory to glory he's changing me, he's changing me, he's changing me. I enjoy that with that song. From earthly to what? To heavenly. Changing, changing me. He's changing me! It is the image of Christ being formed in a man, the character of Jesus being formed in a man, that is Christianity. It is not the intellectual knowledge of what Jesus did and said that forms Christianity. But that that what Jesus did and said, as you know it, is causing you to change to the character of Jesus. That is Christianity. Now, that change into the character of Jesus is not what intellectual power can do. Intellect can only inform. It can enlighten. Mark my words. It can enlighten, but it cannot transform. It cannot bring conversion. It cannot form the image of Christ in a man. It cannot! But the reason why we are preaching the cross is so that the character, the character of Christ can be formed in people. It’s not just that somebody can come and the person can engage us with the Bible, and yet... like I told somebody one day. I said, "Listen, listen." I said, "Please, I am saying this not because I myself am not a scholar. Not because I myself am not a philosopher. We in the Humanities and Art, we are the custodian of philosophy. Our own doctorate is Doctor of Philosophy. Medical doctors, they are not in philosophy. They are different type of medicine. There is different thing between medicine and philosophical doctorate." See, I told the person, "If somebody for instance says, 'See, the tide of dynamics of God, when it operate at the frequency of manifestation and there is a transformation into an emergence of the presence of God in a place, and the glory of God bursts forth into an extraordinary supersonic situation...'" I said, "While that sound very, very grammatical and high-sounding, please ask the person, how does that help you not to tell a lie?" How can I see in your life that you are not lying? How can I see in your life that you don't deceive people? I cannot see it practically that you are not covetous. I cannot see it that you don't hate your brother, you don't keep malice. How can it transcend to character? How can it reveal Jesus in you that when people touch you in terms of what you do, they will be saying, "Ah, it’s like that person knows Jesus. It’s like... please, are you a Christian?" Or people will say, "It’s like that person is a pastor." You know people think it's only pastor that live right. So when people live right, they say you are a pastor. That's another foolishness I find in Christianity. As if the normal Christian life should not be lived. But the point I am trying to bring out is this. What Paul is saying is that what we need is life-transforming power. A life-transforming power! What can make a thief not to steal again? What can make a fornicator to stop committing fornication? What can make a covetous man to become content with what he has? What can make a gambler not to gamble again? What can make an immoral man not to no more be immoral? What can make a man that is not straightforward with his wife, what make him now straightforward? And when he tell his wife it is one naira, it is one naira. When he said... what can make somebody to be in Lagos, they are expecting him in Akure, he ought to have left Lagos yesterday but for some reason he has not left Lagos, and if they know he has not left Lagos by today, it’s going to be problem. And they call him on phone and they say, "Where are you?" What can make him say, "I am very sorry, I am still in Lagos"? And not be afraid to face the consequence of telling truth. That is what we are talking about. What can make a man, because the law of existence, the first law of existence is self-preservation, while the first law of life is self-death. The first law of existence is self-preservation. But the first law of life is for you to die, kill yourself. That's the law of life. So what can make a man to shift from the law of existence to the law of living? Because you know when Jesus came and he said, "I have come that you may have life." Please, when you listen to Jesus, I want to ask you, were you dead? The people he was speaking to, were they dead men? "I have come that you may have life." Don't we have life before? But what he's talking about is that look, you are existing. There is a principle that rules your life, it is the law of existence. So you are existing, you are not living. When you live, there is another principle will be ruling your life. That is dying daily. "If any man will be my disciple, let him first deny himself." He first die. So to live is to die. That is the law of life. Living is dying. You die to your interest, you die to your passion, you die, you forget yourself, you bury yourself and your own interest. You begin to live for another interest, the interest of another person. The only thing that matters to you is how does it bother Jesus? How will this glorify Jesus? How will Jesus be happy about this? And they say, "Ah, what is your problem? Don't you want to make it in life?" He said, "If not making it in life will glorify Jesus, I don't want to make it." He said, "You are a madman. How will you not want to make it in this life? Is making it in life not why you are in life?" He said, "No, to make it in life is to glorify Jesus." He said, "You see, you are already crazy. Look, to make it in life is to have three cars, 10 house, good wife, children in the university, five..." He said, "No, to make it in life is to please Jesus." He said, "You see, that is what we have been trying to say, you can never make it in life." Now, because you are living another philosophy. What is ruling you is that to live is to die. What is ruling them, to live is to live. But for you, to live is to die. So it becomes a contradiction. Now, you see Paul is saying that if we bring the cross with intellect, what we will have is that there will be no shift in paradigm. People will still be existing, they will not be living. They will not live. But what the cross came to do actually... Please, please brethren, why exactly, why, why, why did Jesus die? What did he die for? "For God so loved the world that—" what? "—gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believe in this son should not perish but have—" what? "I have come that they may have—" what? "—have life." So, the reason why he came is a changed life. He didn't come to make you to be eloquent in preaching Bible, to be committed to Anglican Church, Deeper Life Church, Redeemed Church, Four Square Church, Gospel Faith Church, the churches are many, we can keep naming them, we won't leave here if we continue with that list. You know the list is endless. Does that mean joining church is a wrong thing? No. But we need to understand what he's saying, that there is something about the cross. The cross came to establish life. And if we are not careful, everything we will be gathering we will be doing, in terms of what you are calling Christianity, will just be something that will be void of the power that changes life. You know a man can be so committed to church without a changed life? A man can be so... can lead, can be leader of men fellowship, leader of women fellowship, an individual can be pastor, an individual can be anything inside church, and yet there is no changed life. So if we are not careful, and that is where we are today. That's why I am emphasizing, that is where we are today, that's the challenge we are having today. That what you have inside church... and when I say church, you know I didn't mention any denomination. I am talking about our church system. What you have more inside our church system, the actual definition is to say we have a crowd of people. I hope you know what a crowd is? What is a crowd? [Speaker 4] A group of people. [Speaker 1] What is particular about crowd? Everyone have their own ways. They are doing their own thing. What do you notice about people inside the church today? Their own ways, their own things. That is what you find people, that's why I’m calling a crowd. You can't talk of a definite way inside the crowd. A definite way... You see, there is a life. There is a life. And what I am trying to push you, trying to push you to see, is this matter of God's wisdom. That in God's wisdom, what God came to do is to give us life. God did not come to make us to be merely intellectuals. What he actually came to do is to change us. From what? We were dead and he came to give us life. Now, if we understand this, we will understand where Paul is going to gradually as we migrate on this matter of man wisdom and God's wisdom. Now, you will notice immediately after that verse 17, he open up a matter in the verse 18. He said, "For the message of the cross is what? Foolishness to those who are perishing. But to us, who are being—" please note the word "—being", what does that mean? Present continuous. "—who are being saved, it is what? It is what? It is the power of God." Please I want you to note something. So in the wisdom of God, what actually did God bring to us? Words or power? Power! Power! Power! Power! So actually, the preaching of the cross is what? The preaching of the cross is what? It’s foolishness to those who are perishing. But to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. Power! Power of God for what? So actually, the gospel is what? The gospel is what? It’s the power of God. Please note that. Number one, the gospel is the power of God. Please be noting this thing, the gospel is the power of God. Let's go down. Look at something now. "For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent." Are you seeing something? "The preaching of the cross is foolishness to them who are perishing, but for us who are being saved it is the power of God, as it is written..." So verse 18 is supported with a scripture. Please be following this thing. We are looking at it contextually. Verse 18 is supported with a scripture. Ordinarily what should that scripture be? It should be about power. You said the preaching of the cross is foolishness to them who are perishing, but for us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom—" not the power "—I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will discard the brilliant... their most brilliant ideas, the understanding of the prudent." Are you seeing something? We are talking about power, what again about wisdom? Are you seeing... what I am trying to bring out? So he's trying to make you see something. To experience the power that is in the cross, we don't need the wisdom of the world. Because actually that power was designed to destroy this wisdom. Are you seeing it? That power was designed to destroy the wisdom. So it means the message, the thing that will be preaching, when that wisdom hear it, how will it sound to it? Which tells you that since the way the cross will be preached, the way it will be preached, that way is deliberate on the part of God to make sure that when the intellectual hear it, it will be nonsense to him. Then God have also designed that by it he will not be able to find God. I want to stop the meeting here today. What I am trying to make you understand brethren, God will not make sense and will never make sense. You will keep trying to make sense out of God until the power of God comes to play. It is when the power of God comes to play that God can make sense in your life. That is what God have done. To make that power of God come to play, God simply established that we preach what? What should we preach? We should preach Christ and him crucified. The more we preach Christ and him crucified, the more we can keep preaching... just preach the simplicity. It looks so simple. It looks like there is nothing in it. But just preach that simplicity. Just make it as simple. Just keep repeating Jesus. Just keep showcasing Jesus. You will discover that it is the power of God, not the intellectual engagement that actually transform people. So what I am trying to make you see is that there is a wisdom of God. That wisdom of God has been so designed in a way that man can never find God by their wisdom. I want to stop my... I’m concluding with today. God's wisdom is that man will not find God by their wisdom. What is God's wisdom? God's wisdom is that man will not find God by their wisdom. Let us go ahead to pray this evening. God's wisdom is that you will never find God by your wisdom. God have designed it. It is the wisdom of God that you don't find God by your wisdom. That is the... that is what God have done already. You cannot undo that. And that's why you must beg God. God, God have mercy on me. I want to find you. God, God I can never find you by my wisdom. Lord, I can... I can engage scriptures, I can do everything with all the resources, but God, I have come to a realization that I can't find you by this human intellect. I can't find you. Lord God, Lord come to me. Lord come to me. Lord come to me. Lord Jesus, Lord Jesus come to me. Lord Jesus come to me. Everlasting Father, we thank you again for this evening. Everlasting God, we just commit ourselves into your hand. One thing that is our pointed enemy today is being wise in our own eyes. And you have warned us, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your path." Do not be wise in your own eyes. Lord, we pray today, everywhere we are wise in our own eyes, everywhere, everywhere, you know those instances in our life where we are trying to... we employ what brings a capacity that will glorify us. Lord, because you have made a decree that the earth will be filled with your glory. It is your glory. The Bible says the glory of God will cover the earth as water covers the sea. Lord, everything that does not have to do with your own wisdom can never showcase your glory. Lord, everywhere we are trying to contest with your glory, we are trying to showcase our wisdom, we are trying to be wise, we are trying to build a future by our wisdom, we are trying to sustain ourselves by our wisdom, we are trying to make things work by our wisdom, we are calculating, we are putting some things in place, we deceive, we lie, we corner people, we do some things, we trick people, we do it this way, we struggle struggle but we don't understand that all the days of Jacob, he was a struggler until you made him Israel. Lord, and we have discovered how our brethren are struggling, how in so many things we have become strugglers. We are just struggling. We are just struggling. We are just... we don't understand Lord, that the more we go the way of human wisdom... it took years for Jacob to realize. And Lord, we have remained in this life, Jacobbing and Jacobbing everything, in everything this trying to calculate, to reason, to... Oh God! And Lord, we have been strugglers. Lord, deliver us from our struggles. Lord, deliver us from our struggle! Because you have made a decree that the earth will be filled with your glory. The earth! You stood Israel that you have sworn that the earth... whatever does not showcase your wisdom can never glorify you. Lord, please help us. Lord, please help us! As we move on in this matter, let it not just be information. Lord, encounter our soul. Lord, meet with us. That Lord we may walk by the wisdom of God, in every areas and matters of our lives, in the name of Jesus Christ. Thank you, Eternal Father. Blessed be your holy name, our God. In Jesus' name we pray. Let's share the grace together. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us now and forevermore. Amen. [Speaker 1] This message is coming to you from Family Tent Ministry, a Christian ministry involved in enriching the lives of singles and married through preaching and teaching of God's word, discipleship, family life enrichment, social and community development and mission aid. Our regular activities are: Discipleship Class every Monday, 5:00 PM; Adolescent and Singles Club every first Saturday of every month at 10:00 AM; Marriage Forum, second Saturday of every month at 10:00 AM; Family Life seminars, regular school outreaches and everyday counseling. For further counseling, you can reach us at our location: Life Camp by the first bridge, Ileri community, opposite the Rejoice filling station, along Ige road, Akure, Ondo state, Nigeria. You can also reach us through our social media handles: familytent@yahoo.co.uk, familytentministry01@gmail.com, www.familytentministry.org. Our phone numbers are: 080-3386-1136, 070-3361-3848. God bless you all.