Monday, May 5, 2008 @ 10:55 PM
Wise Men, Or FOOLS?.

With the recent pivotal messages that Senior Pastor preached on "Fear of the Lord" and "Word of God", I had been meditating on these topics and how it applies to my life.

Remember on Sunday's open cell I shared what God had been prompting me repeatedly:

Proverbs 1:7
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.
敬 畏 耶 和 华 是 知 识 的 开 端 ； 愚 妄 人 藐 视 智 慧 和 训 诲 。

I emphasized that God showed me that "fools" are not stupid people, but refers to the "morally deficient" (ie. lack of values or do not behave to godly standards).
As the chinese translation points clearly: 愚 妄

愚笨，妄自尊大 （foolish and conceited)
Basically: "I am the biggest. I operate according to my own standards". The "I" in SIN.

I believe we cannot run away from the Word of God if we want the Fear of the Lord in our lives. It's interlinked.
If we operate by our own standards, God calls us FOOLS.
If we want the fear of the Lord in your life, we can only get wisdom if we understand God's standards through God's Word.

Now, what Pastor wants to convict us last Sunday, is that it's not good enough to just KNOW God's standards.
We need to OBEY, obey COMPLETELY, and LIVE IT OUT.

God reminded me of the plight of the author of this proverb.
Who is none other than King Solomon.

Wise?
The bible says God guaranteed that there will be none wiser than Solomon (1 Kings 3:12).

Is is possible the wisest man become foolish? Absolutely.

1 King 11
1 King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh's daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. 2 They were from nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, "You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods." Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. 3 He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. 4 As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been. 5 He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites. 6 So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the LORD; he did not follow the LORD completely, as David his father had done.

SAD!!!
He didnt stand firm till the end. In fact, if you read carefully Hebrews 11, which is a "hall of fame" for people of faith, Solomon's name was conspicuously missing.

This revelation caused a lot of soul searching within me.
Are there commands from God I obey SELECTIVELY?
Yes.
Are there commands from God I obey HALF-HEARTEDLY?
Yes.
Am I complacent about my position now (as a leader in church, and as someone with "spiritual age"), thinking I will not fall?
Yes.

All these are risky grounds. Like building foundation on sand, as the parable says.

Do you want to be a wise man till the end?
I certainly do.
It's time to stop taking God's Word lightly and start obeying it COMPLETELY.

Monday, May 5, 2008 @ 10:55 PM
Wise Men, Or FOOLS?.

With the recent pivotal messages that Senior Pastor preached on "Fear of the Lord" and "Word of God", I had been meditating on these topics and how it applies to my life.

Remember on Sunday's open cell I shared what God had been prompting me repeatedly:

Proverbs 1:7
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.
敬 畏 耶 和 华 是 知 识 的 开 端 ； 愚 妄 人 藐 视 智 慧 和 训 诲 。

I emphasized that God showed me that "fools" are not stupid people, but refers to the "morally deficient" (ie. lack of values or do not behave to godly standards).
As the chinese translation points clearly: 愚 妄

愚笨，妄自尊大 （foolish and conceited)
Basically: "I am the biggest. I operate according to my own standards". The "I" in SIN.

I believe we cannot run away from the Word of God if we want the Fear of the Lord in our lives. It's interlinked.
If we operate by our own standards, God calls us FOOLS.
If we want the fear of the Lord in your life, we can only get wisdom if we understand God's standards through God's Word.

Now, what Pastor wants to convict us last Sunday, is that it's not good enough to just KNOW God's standards.
We need to OBEY, obey COMPLETELY, and LIVE IT OUT.

God reminded me of the plight of the author of this proverb.
Who is none other than King Solomon.

Wise?
The bible says God guaranteed that there will be none wiser than Solomon (1 Kings 3:12).

Is is possible the wisest man become foolish? Absolutely.

1 King 11
1 King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh's daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. 2 They were from nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, "You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods." Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. 3 He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. 4 As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been. 5 He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites. 6 So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the LORD; he did not follow the LORD completely, as David his father had done.

SAD!!!
He didnt stand firm till the end. In fact, if you read carefully Hebrews 11, which is a "hall of fame" for people of faith, Solomon's name was conspicuously missing.

This revelation caused a lot of soul searching within me.
Are there commands from God I obey SELECTIVELY?
Yes.
Are there commands from God I obey HALF-HEARTEDLY?
Yes.
Am I complacent about my position now (as a leader in church, and as someone with "spiritual age"), thinking I will not fall?
Yes.

All these are risky grounds. Like building foundation on sand, as the parable says.

Do you want to be a wise man till the end?
I certainly do.
It's time to stop taking God's Word lightly and start obeying it COMPLETELY.