Choose Wise

Romans 12 and 13 give practival tips for bearing peace. We are going to exlore those today.

Come with me as we explore Joy, the second fruit of the Spirit.

Love is the sugar that can be found in the rest of the fruit of the Spirit. It is the thing that makes the other fruit sweet. The reason we love fruit more then vegetables are because they are sweeter.

Today, I want to give you some practical strategies to be in a place of contentment. We know we should be content. We know discontent is a spiritual place we don’t want to be in. We know it isn’t an emotional place we want to live in. So how do we stay content?

Practical strategies for contentment

Praise and thanksgiving

What you consume

What you talk about

Giving generously

We have increased goods and blessings for the purpose of blessing which produces thanksgiving to God! Think about a fellow believers response when you supply a need. You bring them groceries, repair their car, mow their grass and they say Praise God!

Motivation matters. Paul says giving out of bounty and abundance verses taking because you want what someone has is what matters. The NLT says willing gift not grudging. If you are not content you will never have enough left to give. If you are not at a place of sufficiency you will never have enough...

Contentment allows us to pursue the right goals, God’s goals, our own goals, not our neighbor’s goals.

Contentment allows us to make long term choices, instead of short sighted choices. Contentment allows us to choose wisely. It is the foundation that helps us do hard things to accomplish important goals. One of the enemies of contentment is coveting.

Jesus is always trying to get us to live for eternity. He wants us to live with God in mind. We are always getting sidetracked trying to make heaven right here. I think that is particularly true for us as Americans. We have this thing called the American Dream. We spend our lives building our ideal here and forget our true destination is heaven. And so, we are working to make more money, or spend more time or build more of this or that because we are looking to build that perfect life. Live for the weekend, live for...

Discontent is a misallocation of effort and desire. We are aiming toward making wise decisions from a foundation of contentment. How do we build and maintain contentment in our lives?

Contentment is being satisfied that all my needs are met and now I can go and do the things that God has put into me to do. Discontent is a misallocation of effort and desire. Contentment and discontent are a heart issue that affect our efforts and desires. When we are discontent we are focused on something other than what is God is trying to do in...

Making wise choices from a foundation of contentment.

Contentment is a spiritual state.

Discontent is also a spiritual state.

We know contentment is universally a good thing. We know it is something for which to aspire. We know that it is better for us psychologically. However, contentment and for that matter discontentment is deeper than that. It is a spiritual state.

What does that mean “spiritual state.” What we are really getting at is that contentment says something about our relationship with God. Discontentment says something about our...

Learn how to identify and avoid what is foolish. We discuss what the Bible says about sexual appeal and how to identify and avoid its harmful affects on our lives. Proverbs 9 shows us how we can build our house in a way that gives us a fulfilling life.

I see the Lord blessing people at the age of 16 and 17 because of wise choices they made when they were 9. I see people in their 20s being blessed because of choices they made when they were in their teens. I have seen woman make changes in their 30s and 40s and watched as their lives started overflowing with blessing. We can follow the call of the Wise Woman at any time. Though the call of the Foolish Woman sounds similar we can discern the difference and make better choices that will pay off in the years to come.

Wisdom has built a house in Proverbs 9. She is described as a builder. She is industrious. She is prepared. We are also building a house. The house is a analogy for our lives. Right now you are building your house. You may not think you are doing anything important right now. But actually, you are currently building your house. You are building your foundation now.

How do we build things that last in this life? When life seems hopeless, how do we find purpose. We long for the eternal, how do we build eternal things?

Solomon wrote the book of Proverbs and he wrote it with his son’s life in mind. He wanted his son to have the best life possible.

Often parents want to give their children the best life possible, so they try and give them material things, opportunities for advancement through skills and education. However, none of these will actually make a good life without the character that fuels a truly successful life.

Solomon the wisest man, a father who loves his son is sharing instructions for life. Even more, as we view the word of Go...

Proverbs says that discretion shall preserve you. One of the distinguishing characteristics between a foolish person and a wise person is a plan. Discretion is a plan and it will keep us from following the ways of the evil man and the strange woman. Studing Proverbs Chapter 2.

Culturally we have a crises among women because we have been taught by our society (marketing) that 1) family and relationship building (especially children) are not fulfilling and 2) we can never do it well because it requires a beautifully organized closet with color coordinating labels on matching boxes, clean faced children with eco friendly, high end, beautifully designed ___________ (fill in the blank) and a picture to document it all.

Here in lies the problem. We have been given a false goal and then feel like we can’t achieve it. So, woman are responding by burning themselves out tr...

We read in the BIble about the fear of the Lord is the key to wisdom and knowledge, what does this mean? How can fear be a good thing?

Wisdom is the principle support of all area’s of our life. Understanding and knowledge is increased by hearing the instruction of wisdom. Hearing wisdom requires us to take 8 actions. These actions result in us learning about wisdom. When we have learned how to pursue wisdom we will understand the fear of the Lord which is the beginning of knowledge.

Once we understand the fear of the Lord it is like being accepted into the University of Wisdom. Because the fear of the Lord is the beginning we will prosper in many areas of our lives.

Not many of us self identify as a person of great wisdom. We want to make wise choices. We want to be wise. We want to do wise things.

Wisdom is the common thread that affects all areas of our life. Everything from finances, to health, to relationships, and employment is made better when we choose wisely and it is quiet obvious when we make choices that lack wisdom.

A great place to look for wisdom is the book of Proverbs.

Proverbs was written by the wisest man in the Bible. The purpose...