Can I become wise? | Inder Pawar

This message was preached by Inder Pawar at Word of Grace Church  Pune, on the 13th of October 2013. 

Read and listen to this life changing message.

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How wisdom is critical for decision making !

Decisions require great wisdom. It begins with the most important decision, i.e. acknowledging Jesus and placing our faith in him.

1 Cor 4:14 tells us that the God of this world has blinded our eyes. And Eph 2:9 says that God makes us alive in Him.

1 Cor 1:30 says Jesus has become to us righteousness and we receive power for change and has become wisdom of God for us.

We have all made foolish and wise decisions and they have consequences. No decision is without consequence. To make Godly decisions we need help.

Wisdom is a skill needed for living with God and for God. Wisdom is taught and can be got. We need to pursue it. 

Proverbs 4:8 says, “Prize her highly- she will exalt you.” Solomon writes on how we can get wisdom and how to live wisely.

In verse 23 he writes, “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flows the springs of life.”(ESV)

Jesus always pointed to the heart- out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. The battle to guard our heart is the biggest one.

There are 4 fences that we can use in front, behind, left and right.

1.      Personal responsibility for the state of your heart. Romans 12: 1-2. What we put into our hearts will come out. The world always wants to squeeze us into its mould. We need to take responsibility for transformation.

Irresponsibility started in the Garden of Eden. Men tend to abdicate this responsibility and need to be alert to it.

What are my motives; am I joyful or distracted and is my heart away from God’s purposes? Ask these questions. We expect the pastor to help us out- No. We have to take responsibility.  V. 23- “keep your heart”. The onus is on us.

2.      Be Alert- vigilant- there are times when we are tired or a season of success and we let our guard down- we need to be alert.

1 Peter 5:8- Be sober minded. Be alert. Don’t get carried away, neither get too disappointed.

Not being alert can cost us years and seasons of our life. The devil is no push over but neither do I want to frighten you. We need to know our enemy. Competitiveness is very subtle and can get to us. This will lead to striving and move us away from God’s will. This is true even for good things. Thank God that we have the Holy Spirit to help us. He prompts us all the time. So learn to connect to the Holy Spirit 24/7.

3.      The discipline of examination- Verse 26 says, “ponder” or make level paths. Think about what is the way you can go forward. The way we think shapes the way we live- that’s why we need to renew our mind with the word of God. 

     How do we do this?

This requires development and time. We need time to pause and ponder and think and pray and wait on the Lord. 

1 Cor 11:28- “examine yourself”- we are not talking about introspection but we need healthy examination. We need to hit the pause button in our lives. The Psalmist said, ‘search me O God, and see if there is any offensive way in me.”

In our quiet times, let’s not rush into the word but pause. Pastors need to be careful and learn to press the pause button.

4.      The fence of community- this is becoming endangered in our individualistic world. Throughout proverbs, there is a practical intentional emphasis on community- verse 20- “my, son”.  Proverbs 13:20 – “he who walks with the wise will be wise.”

Word of Grace is a community, a family. Get into the life of the church and value it for however many months/ years you are in Pune. The community of God is precious because you get loved, encouraged, rebuked…

Make decisions that keep the local church at the center of what you do. When you stray from the community of God, you also stray away from the purposes of God.

   Word of Grace is an Evangelical (Born Again),  Spirit filled (Charismatic), Reformed, English speaking church in Pune that upholds the Bible as God's inspired Word for life. We are a church community that have people from every part of India and parts of the world. We are here to put the Great Command and the Great Commission into practice by equipping and releasing every member into works of service. To know more about us please log ontowww.wordofgracechurch.org.

    English Language Service Sundays at 10am. Please check google maps for directions!