Fri 30 Jul, 2010
Click here to download a printable version of the Daily Bible Study for 7.30.10.
FRIDAY — Growing in the Spirit of Wisdom
Today’s Big Point: God makes His wisdom available for anyone who chooses to pursue it.
As you read through Ephesians during the Essentials Series, it will be easy to notice that both faith and love, on the part of the Ephesian believers, were the virtues that prompted the prayers of Paul on their behalf. Likewise, the virtues of faith and love are imperatives toward coming into a deeper experiential knowledge of God. This is the great subject of this passage: the knowledge of God. It is absolutely essential that believers grow more and more in their intimate experiences with God, that their knowledge will be “OF” God, and not simply “ABOUT” God.
Something that is essential for a believer to grow in the knowledge of God is to have the Spirit of wisdom. As stated in the beginning of the week, that is a spirit that reaches out and hungers and thirsts after wisdom.
Wisdom can best be understood by the single words “what” and “how.” Wisdom means knowing what something is, what is behind something, and what can be done. It is knowing how to use or relate to something. Therefore, spiritual wisdom means: knowing who God is and how to relate to Him; knowing the truth and how to use it; knowing what to do and how to do it; knowing how to live more and more fruitful lives for the glory of God and for the welfare of men.
Wisdom differs from knowledge. Knowledge is the grasping of facts, but grasping facts is not enough. Much more is needed; a person must know how to use the facts. That is where wisdom comes in. Wisdom knows how to use the facts. The point is this: it is not enough to know the facts about God; a person must know God personally. He must know how to experience the facts about God. He must use the truthful facts of Scripture to develop a personal relationship with God–a growing relationship of increasing intimacy that takes one deeper into the very Person of God. This is the meaning of the word “knowledge” (epignosei)… it means a personal and intimate relationship with God; a personal experience with God. It is not an intellectual knowledge of God, but an experiential knowledge of God. With all of that said, we can easily see why the Spirit prompted Paul in his prayers to pray for a “spirit of wisdom” along with praying for a “spirit of revelation” on behalf of the believers.
THIS WEEK’S BIG POINT: The most important thing I learned during the Living It Out: Daily Bible Study this week was…
Weekend Reminders…
Leadership Summit — Go to www.cedarcreek.tv to register for the 2010 Leadership Summit. We’re excited about speakers like reality show star and Tom’s Shoes founder, Blake Mycoskie! By the way, CedarCreek has the chance to be one of the largest Summit Leadership Summit sites in the country. Come be a part of it!
DAILY BIBLE READING: 1 Corinthians 1
1 Corinthians 1:3 Paul planted the church at Corinth and in time, some of those believers began to question Paul’s apostleship. The letter to the church was written in order to maintain his apostolic character and authority. However, Paul didn’t write this letter out of pride but because he believed in his divine appointment.
1 Corinthians 1:7 The manifestation of gifts in the church confirmed that Christ was among them.
1 Corinthians 1:10-17 Paul takes on the divisions in the church head-on in this chapter. They quarreled about their ministers and Paul admonished them to put their energies toward Christ rather than advocating for one minister or another.
1 Corinthians 1:18-31 This weekend’s message was about pursuing spiritual wisdom and in this section of scripture, Paul also discusses the importance of abandoning earthly wisdom in favor of grasping God’s wisdom.
HomePointe Family Activity Section
Coming this fall, we will kick off our all new CedarCreek family ministry called HomePointe. Families will be able to take part in opportunities and resources at CedarCreek that will assist them in their journey to intentionally grow a Godly family. The following family activity is just one of the many resources we will be offering.
Big Point for Parents: Children are dependent on their parents, for the most part, to learn Godly wisdom. Therefore, it is imperative for parents to be intentional about raising their child in the knowledge of God.
Big Point for Children: God wants to grow you up to be wise.
Lesson: Read the story of Solomon asking for wisdom in 1 Kings 3:6-15. Talk to the children about how wisdom is available to them just like Solomon.
Activity: Spend time thumbing through Proverbs. Talk about how Proverbs is chock full of wisdom. Have the children choose a wisdom life verse and then have them write it out and decorate it so that it can be hung somewhere they will always see it.
Pray: God give us a spirit of wisdom, and a desire to pursue your knowledge.
Living It Out — July Memory Verse:
Faith is the confidence that what we hope for
will actually happen; it gives us assurance
about things we cannot see.
Hebrews 11:1 (New Living Translation)
Living It Out
It is the dream of CedarCreek that everyone who calls this their church home will be reading and studying the same topics, both individually and in groups. Each week, join with thousands of others at CedarCreek Church in applying God’s Word, the Bible, into your daily life. Our hope is that while we learn and grow together, as individuals and as a church, we will collectively live out the weekend message.
Living It Out resources, such as the Daily Bible Study, Daily Bible Reading Plan, Discussion Questions and Scripture Memory Verses, are designed to help us embrace a missional mindset…a mindset that compels us to love Jesus, serve others and tell the world about Christ.
Living It Out: Daily Bible Study…Daily Bible study activities to reflect on the weekend message
Living It Out: Daily Bible Reading Plan…Read through the New Testament in a year
Living It Out: Discussion Questions…Weekly questions to discuss with others
Living It Out: Scripture Memory…Memorize one Bible verse per month
All of these resources are also available electronically at www.livingitout.tv, where you can subscribe to have any or all of them emailed to you as they are updated.
We Want Your Feedback!
Tell us about any questions or comments you have about this week’s Living It Out: Daily Bible Study. Forward them to barbr@cedarcreek.tv.
RESOURCES:
The Bible
Pastor James Drake on SermonCentral.com
This week’s Living It Out: Daily Bible Study written by:
Amber Distel
Chantele Henry
Brenda Hutmacher
Barb Roose
