Pastor Wayne Cordeiro
April 5, 2020 - W2014

"Make Us Wise"

Pastor Wayne Cordeiro

April 4 & 5, 2020 

Aloha!  Welcome to Hawaii!  This is a place that never sleeps—it's called Waikiki, a cacophony of sounds all competing for everyone's attention; it’s a microcosm of life where people are struggling aimlessly without direction. It's in these times the Bible says that Wisdom speaks…  

Proverbs 1:20-21 NASB says: “²⁰ Wisdom shouts in the street, she lifts her voice in the square; ²¹ At the head of the noisy streets, she cries out.”

Wisdom is talking to people who need direction and a bit more navigational wisdom, when it comes to life and relationship.  We all need wisdom, don’t we?  But there is one prerequisite—you must be still to hear her voice!  Psalm 46:10 KJV: “Be still and know that I am God.”

I know something about being still.  You see, I was raised by a military dad, a first sergeant, and, I mean, he was a strict disciplinarian!  In fact, he disciplined us in patriotic style: He laid down stripes until we saw stars!  When my dad would speak to us, we listened.  I remember once I had disobeyed, and dad said, "You stand right there and don't move a muscle."  I didn't move, I think, for two years, until I heard his voice say, "Wayne, at ease."  Boy, that was so nice!  When you're still, you learn a lot—you learn to repent, to be good, and to confess—but, you must be still! So, find a quiet place where God can teach you how to be wise. 

Welcome to a place called Lanikuhonua—in Hawaiian, it means: “Where heaven touches earth.”  

We want to talk, not just about wisdom, but how to tap into the source of wisdom.  In the beginning, you won't have the necessary wisdom to be everything that you want to be—the husband, the wife, or the businessperson. But as you gather bits and pieces of wisdom along your way, you will accumulate the necessary wisdom to become that person!

Wisdom is gained from two places: First, personal experiences and consequences; second, a better way, from other people's experiences—you'll garner wisdom beyond your experiences!

When I first began in ministry, I had about four good messages in me; I uncorked all the bottles of wisdom that I had and was depleted after about a month!  I didn't have anything else to share!  But I had heard about a man, Titus Coan, a missionary in Hawaii back in 1837, who had written a journal of all the mistakes that he had made and what he had learned from them. I thought I need that book! But when I went to the library, I found that the book was copyrighted in 1882, so it was sorely out of print—but the librarian said, "We have one book in the Archives." 

She got me the book but said, "Don't copy it on the Xerox machine because it will break the back of the book; and be very careful when you turn the pages!" The book was very fragile, old, and yellow.  She gave me some yellow pads of paper and a pen, to copy the book by hand!  

Well, as I started reading the book, I was amazed at how much wisdom I had garnered from it. Over a period of six months, I had copied page after page, till I had filled six yellow pads!  As I would review the pages, the wisdom of this man's life from the 1800s, began to be deposited into my account!

It took me about six months before I realized that this one book had probably saved me 25 years of mistakes, and I would have easily paid a thousand dollars for it!  After several months, I visited the librarian to tell her that I was moving to Honolulu to begin another branch of our church and I wanted to say thank you for allowing me to go into the Archives.  

To that, she said, "You know, we heard that you were moving, so I talked to our board and since we happen to have another same book, we want to gift you with this ancient book!"  I said, "You're kidding!?" as tears came to my eyes! 

God knew that we would need wisdom beyond our personal experiences, so He gave us not one, not two, but 66 books called biblios (a library of books) filled with raw, unedited accounts of men and women who have gone before us—and every mistake we'll ever make is already written in the Bible! And, if we would sit at their feet (Divine Mentors I call them), they have been assigned to tutor us; and we would have the Wisdom of the Ages!

Some of my best friends are in the Bible. Often, I'd walk with Solomon and talk to him about wisdom; walk with David in the back sides of the desert; and talk with Moses about leadership and how to handle grumbling people.

These people still speak—Hebrews says, “Abel, though dead, still speaks”; Romans 15:4 NASB says; “…whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” 1 Corinthians 10:11 NASB says: “…written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.”

Did you know that God will give us the wisdom of the ages?  

Psalm 119:98-100 NIV says: “⁹⁸ Your commands are always with me and make me wiser than my enemies. ⁹⁹ I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your statutes. ¹⁰⁰ I have more understanding than the elders, for I obey your precepts.”

By the way, your best friends are in the Bible, too: Jeremiah saved my ministry; Joseph saved my life! If you'll understand what God has placed in the Bible for you, you will begin to understand the source of wisdom! 

If you will watch a concert pianist, they all do scales again and again and again!  It's not because they will play scales in a concert; no, but it’s to build dexterity, muscle, memory, and speed, so that when a Chopin or a Beethoven score is put in front of them, they'll be able to navigate through the notes more fluidly, and figure out the composition, and play it! It doesn't matter if a musician plays blues, jazz, or classical, they all do scales! So is it true with every Christian! I want to talk to you about the scales of a Christian—every one of us must choose to do that!

In Luke 10:38-42 is story about Martha and Mary. Mary is seated at the Lord's feet listening to His words; and Martha is scurrying around doing a host of things.  Jesus enters the room, and Martha says, "Tell my sister to come and help me in the kitchen."  And Jesus smiles and says, "Martha, you're worried and distracted about so many things, but really, just one thing is necessary, and Mary has chosen the good part, which will never be taken away from her.”  

I want to talk about the scales of a Christian; it's one of the most important things that you must do!  Remember, wisdom comes when you still your heart; and draw from it daily! 

1.  Wisdom Isn't Built in A Day, But It Will Be Built Daily  

Daily, you must choose a time to sit down and do your scales/devotions.  The best time to do your devotions is when you're at your best. If you're a morning person, that's when you do it; if you're an evening person, that's when you do it.  Choose a time to be in God’s presence!

Some years ago, I took a jazz class at a community college, one hour a week.  We all brought our guitars and played some scales and did a few things; I learned some, but it wasn't much because it was only an hour a week.  What if the instructor was a great legendary jazz guitarist, and he came to me one day and said, "Hey, Wayne, I see so much promise in you, I'll meet with you an hour a day.  How's that?  And we'll play jazz together, and I'll teach you jazz, an hour a day or one hour a week."  

If I spent an hour a day with a legendary jazz guitarist, it wouldn't be more than a year before someone would hear me in concert and stop me and say, "Where did you learn to play jazz like that?"  I'd say, "Well, I went to a community college and took a class an hour a week."  They'd say, "You might have, but you didn't get this from there.  No, I hear the way that you play, and it’s like a legendary jazz guitarist.  No, no, no, you didn't get that from a class one hour a week.  You've been with a master, haven't you?  You've been with the master."

Tell the difference?  We can go to church one hour a week and that's good, but the scales of a believer must be an hour a day, seated at His feet—You must choose that!  And it won't be more than a year until someone will stop you and say, "Where did you get that insight?  Where did you get that wisdom?"  "Oh, I go to church an hour a week."  You might, but no, you've been sitting with the master, haven't you?  For flesh and blood did not reveal that to you, but my Father which is in heaven, the source of wisdom.”

The Holy Spirit knows what you will face next week, next month. We don't, but He does, and as you're reading, God is speaking to you through His Word—you are being tutored by Divine Mentors, and depositing wisdom to your account!  

Before God can make us wise, we must break a famine that Amos 8:11 NASB says, “Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord God, “When I will send a famine on the land, Not a famine for bread or a thirst for water, But rather for hearing the words of the Lord.”

There's a famine of hearing God’s Word, even among Christians; and it's time to break that!

2. Feed Yourself

It's a part of growing up—that's your responsibility! You will need four tools as you gather:

(1)  Bible.  There’s only one book that God promises to inspire, the Bible! Inspire means "God breathed."  In other words, the same wisdom that He gave David, when you read the Psalms, God will breathe that into you; the same wisdom that He gave to Solomon when you read Ecclesiastes or Proverbs, He gives you the same wisdom that He gave to Solomon.  Read the Bible so that you can be fed, it's for you! 

(2)  Pen to underline the scriptures that Holy Spirit will highlight. 

(3)  A reading program that takes you through the Bible systematically, through the Old Testament once and the New Testament twice, and the whole Bible in a year! 

(4)  A journal.  Start to journal in an acrostic called soap—S.O.A.P:  

Scripture that jumps at you; write it down, i.e., Matthew 10:27, “What I tell you in the dark      speak in the light, and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim from the housetops.”    

Observation. Write an observation, i.e., “Be still so that I'll hear the wisdom of God!”

Application. “Today I will still my heart so I can harvest some wisdom from the Bible—from        those that God has allowed to go before me.”  

Prayer.  Write out a prayer, i.e., "Lord Jesus, help me to have ears that hear so that I might have eyes that see.  Speak, Lord.  Your servant is listening."  

Table of Contents:  Give it a title, i.e., "Marching Orders." Write the date, title, page number.  After about 4 or 5 months, if you want to know what God has been speaking to you, all you do is turn to the Table of Contents, scan it, and find exactly what God has been saying.  Flip open to that page, and everything He had said returns, and you will receive the wisdom of the ages!

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:     

1. Explain the two ways that we gain wisdom?
2. What is the correlation between a concert musician practicing the scales daily and a Christian doing devotions daily?    
3. Feeding ourselves spiritually is our responsibility, and Pastor Wayne Cordeiro came up with the acrostic SOAP to do that.  Explain.    
4. Share your experience (struggles and accomplishments) of growing in wisdom. What did you learn?