House of Wisdom - Wisdom's Influence

Through wisdom a house is built,
And by understanding it is established;
By knowledge the rooms are filled
With all precious and pleasant riches.
- Proverbs 24:3-4

Sermon in a sentence
Begin to believe that the Kingdom of God can come in such a way that your heart, your home, and your household can become a haven on earth.

Haven
A harbor or an anchorage; a port.
A place of refuge or rest; a sanctuary.

The Gaderene - Mark 5:19-20
However, Jesus did not permit him, but said to him, “Go home to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He has had compassion on you.” And he departed and began to proclaim in Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him; and all marveled.

Influence
A power affecting a person, thing, or course of events, especially one that operates without any direct or apparent effort

Then Agrippa said to Paul, “You almost persuade me to become a Christian.”
And Paul said, “I would to God that not only you, but also all who hear me today, might become both almost and altogether such as I am, except for these chains.” - Acts 26:28

Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are well known to God, and I also trust are well known in your consciences.
II Corinthians 5:9-11

But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear. - I Peter 3:15

Heart Hope
The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. - Romans 14:17

Start With The Heart - Three Transformational Factors

1. Holy Spirit
2. Daily Life
3. Discipleship

The family is the foundation for Godly seed,
the demonstration of Divine agreement,
and is sealed by blood covenant!

Positively Influencing Our World for Christ & His Kingdom

• Two relational area’s of influence
  • Prayer & Evangelism
• One of the most important principles of loving others to Christ -- the “oikos” principle.
• The word <oikos> in the Greek New Testament refers to a person's extended household, their network of relationships or sphere of influence

Defining Your Household

• Identify Your "Oikos” <NT Greek>
  • a person's extended household
  • your network of relationships
• Defining & recognizing your relational network - your sphere of influence
  • Matthew 5:13-16 - Salt & Light
  • Matthew 28:18-20 – Missions Mandate

Your Sphere of Influence

The Church Growth Institute survey asking over 14,000 people
What or who was responsible for your coming to Christ and the Church?

The percentage of responses have been:
A special need 1-2%
Walk in 2-3%
Pastor 5-6%
Visitation 1-2%
Sunday School 4-5%
Evangelistic Crusade 0.5%
Church Program 2-3%
A friend or a relative 75-90%

New Testament Examples

• Acts 16:11-15 - Who became Christians along with Lydia?
• Acts 16:22-34 - Who followed the Philippian jailer in receiving Christ?
• Acts 10:1-2;22-24 - Who heard the good news of Christ with Cornelius?
• Matthew 9:10; Mark 2:15 - Who did Matthew invite to his home to meet Jesus?
• Luke 8:38-39 - Delivered demoniac’s response
• John 1:40-53 – Andrew and Simon Peter
• Acts 18:7-8 – Paul at Corinth

What people want ...

• Transcendence (contact with God)
• Significance (personal value and purpose)
• Community (connection and a sense of belonging)

House of Wisdom - Extreme Makeover ~ Home Edition

Through wisdom a house is built,
And by understanding it is established;
By knowledge the rooms are filled
With all precious and pleasant riches.
- Proverbs 24:3-4

Sermon in a sentence
Begin to believe that the Kingdom of God can come in such a way that your heart, your home, and your household can become a haven on earth.

Jesus answered and said to him,
“If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.”
John 14:23

Haven
A harbor or an anchorage; a port.
A place of refuge or rest; a sanctuary.

Heart Hope
The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Romans 14:17

Start With The Heart - Three Transformational Factors

1. Holy Spirit
2. Daily Life
3. Discipleship

Kingdom life is lived from the heart out!

Kingdom Intentions

• Physically
• Traditionally
• Spiritually
• Maritally

Look upon Zion, the city of our appointed feasts;
Your eyes will see Jerusalem, a quiet home,
A tabernacle that will not be taken down;
Not one of its stakes will ever be removed,
Nor will any of its cords be broken.
But there the majestic LORD will be for a place of broad rivers and streams
Isaiah 33:20-21

Building Families
The family is the place to:

1. Establish identity and security.
2. Teach and transmit values.
3. Make and store lifetime memories.
4. Develop hidden talents and potentials.
5. Learn how to love and forgive.
6. Grow in a safe environment.
7. Learn honesty and transparency.
8. Fail without criticism or condemnation.
9. Hide during the storms of life.
10. Experience the kingdom of God in action.
11. Translate Scripture into living realities.
12. Establish a command center for safety to bring the Kingdom of God to a lost world.

The family is the foundation for Godly seed, the demonstration of Divine agreement, and is sealed by blood covenant!

The Mystery in Marriage - “One Flesh”

• Genesis 2:18-25 -- All was proclaimed as "Good" in God's creation except one thing.
  • Vs 18 - Man being alone.
• Relationships; the only things we take into eternity.
  • Only your relationship with God
  • Your relationship with others.
• Intimacy
  • [Latin intimre, to make known, from intimus, innermost.]

What is “One Flesh”?

• Commitment
• Mutual love
• Sexual union
• Nurturing
• Matthew 19:5 "But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. "For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and the two shall become ONE FLESH; consequently they are no longer two, but one flesh. "What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate."“
• A permanent bonding God intended, not just a temporary agreement.

House of Wisdom - Heart and Home

Through wisdom a house is built,
And by understanding it is established;
By knowledge the rooms are filled
With all precious and pleasant riches.
- Proverbs 24:3-4

Sermon in a sentence
Begin to believe that the Kingdom of God can come in such a way that your heart, your home, and your household can become a haven on earth.

God has placed eternity in our hearts.
- Ecclesiastes 3:11

Proverbs 24:3 ~ paraphrased ~
By adhering to God’s speaking voice the life we live and the environment and atmosphere in which we exist is developed and progresses.
By relational cohesiveness and practical application of God’s Word the life and home are solidified, godly traditions are created and a way of life is defined with security and eternal purpose.

Matthew 7:24-27
“Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
“But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”

Haven
A harbor or an anchorage; a port.
A place of refuge or rest; a sanctuary.
Intentional Kingdom Focused

Start With The Heart
Heart Hype
Heart Ache
Heart Hope

Heart Hype
“… casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God …” II Corinthians 10:5

• Don’t be lead by a lie.
• Determine to demolish some things.
• Many attempt to create a secure haven on their own merit.
• We falsely assume that our blessed environment is a result of our evolved status and intellect.
• Deliverance from sin is not the same as deliverance from human nature.

Heart Ache
I Peter 2 and 3
In relation to:

• Vss 2:11-12 outsiders
• Vss 2:13-17 government
• Vss 2:18-25 masters
• Vss 3:1-6 Wives with husbands.
• Vs 3:7 Husbands with wives.
• Vss 3:13-22 Believers with unbelievers

Heart Hope
“The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” Romans 14:17

House of Wisdom - Start With The Heart
Proverbs 24:3-4

Sermon in a sentence
Begin to believe that the Kingdom of God can come in such a way that your heart, your home, and your household can become a haven on earth.

God has placed eternity in our hearts.
- Ecclesiastes 3:11

Basis

• Life is a story – His story
  • The metanarrative = meaning
• God’s speaking voice – the story teller

With every step of our lives we enter into the middle of some story which we are certain to misunderstand.
--- G.K. Chesterton

How God Has Spoken

• Through the ages, God has used a variety of ways to speak to His people.
• Except for the face to face conversation with Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:8), there are at least eight ways in which God spoke to His people in Bible times:

God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power.
- Hebrews 1:1-3a

Heart Hope
The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
- Romans 14:17

House of Wisdom
Proverbs 24:3-4

Life is a story – His story

• Life doesn’t come to us as a math problem.
  • It comes to us the way a story does, scene by scene.
  • Life unfolds like a drama.
    • Each day has a beginning and an end.
    • Sometimes like a tragedy, sometimes like a comedy.

“What sort of tale have we fallen into?”
~ Sam to Frodo in Lord of the Rings

“With every step of our lives we enter into the middle of some story which we are certain to misunderstand.”
~ G.K. Chesterton

Sermon in a sentence
Begin to believe that the Kingdom of God can come in such a way that your heart, your home, and your household can become a haven on earth.

"God has placed eternity in our hearts!" - Eccleseastes 3:11

What Does God Say?

• The Speaking Voice ~ The Storyteller
  • Source – Genesis 1 – God said, God saw!
  • Hebrews 1:1-3a – Creative & sustaining power

“God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power.” - Hebrews 1:1-3a

• The Speaking Voice
  • Source – Genesis 1 – God said, God saw!
  • Hebrews 1:1-3a – Creative & sustaining power
• “He thundered His Law to Moses, but it wasn't His last word. He spoke mightily through the prophets, but His greatest revelation was still ahead: Jesus!
• John 1:17 For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.”

Building Relationships
Wisdom & Understanding

• What is the key to developing a relationship with another person?
  • CONVERSATION
• What are the two important ingredients of communication?
  • TALKING & LISTENING
• The goal of any communicator is not to speak well, rather it is to be?
  • HEARD