• Continuing on with vigilance in agency, we are going to dive into the wisdom of God and how the Holy Spirit provides that. 
• Aristotle said “knowing yourself is the first step in all wisdom” as Christians we reject that idea, knowing ourselves is certainly not the first part of knowing wisdom. It is not separate from the idea, but is by no means the first step. 
• 1 Corinthians 2:1-7: Paul says true wisdom comes from the spirit and power of God in his full design, even martyrdom, we find the Gospel and Christ’s love reaching to the hearts of men in their testimony
• The foundation of wisdom goes as far back as to when God created us, as we see it hidden in our very DNA. But even so, we still suppress that truth. We ought to consider how the things we do and say refer back to Christ’s crucifixion. Are we choosing to use the wisdom engraved in us, or are we “retconning” it (Retroactive Continuity)?
• James 3, Colossians 1, and Romans 3 all point directly to peace being a key trait in wisdom. God is not a God of confusion, but rather of Peace. 
• Peace is defined as a state of national tranquility (The absence of war) it brings together harmony and is a tranquil state of the soul as assured by the salvation given through Jesus Christ after his death on the cross. 
• The Greek word for peace is eirene, used to reflect the Hebrew word Shalom, this is a holistic peace describing completeness and restoration.
• Luke 24:35: “The two from Emmaus told their story of how Jesus had appeared to them as they were walking along th road, and how they had recognized him as he was breaking bread. And just as the were telling about it, Jesus himself was suddenly standing there among them.
  His first words?
  “PEACE be with you.” but the whole group was startled and frightened, thinking they were seeing a ghost. 
•  Jesus was assuring them that there is no reason to fear, for all things have been restored through the work he has done. 
• We tend to rest in our earthly wisdom as we see in James 3 and is described as demonic wisdom. But we must not let that sort of wisdom divide us from the pure wisdom given through Christ. 
• Everyone likes clever speech in the process of argument, but God offers us peace. 
• 1 Corinthians 4:18 says God will work through us with love and a gentle spirit, not through clever speech and power like the Avengers.
• Today we see Americans afraid of Chinese threats, a sense of power to overthrow us, and lack of true wisdom, but what about us? Do we require God to perform for us? Do we require a strong leader to make all the decisions to pace a nice clean path for us to walk through with no chance of harm? Or are we willing to pick up our cross and start hacking our way through all those fears as we trek down the narrow path toward His glory.
• Those who are afraid to commit to ministry and spread the Gospel, we must start at simple wisdom through the peace He has shown us, even in all his ways to cleverly cut through worldly wisdom. 
• When Nicodemus showed up in John 3 asking about Jesus ways to wisdom and how to find a pathway to peace as a Pharisee, he is hit with what we all know from John 3:16: “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 
• When we pursue God in all of our own agency, are we seeking to preach a crucified Christ in the fullness of His victory over our own sin? Or is it just the teachings he has provided in the ministry we have seen Him in? The ladder is not enough, even his enemies loved his teachings. Demonic wisdom murdered Christ to solve a problem. How do we solve our own? Do we reach for peace in our hearts in how we disciple one another, reminding each other of the truth of God through peace? We must keep these things in the realm of how it is we serve alongside one another as Christians. 
• 2 Corinthians 13: “May the grace of the Trinity be with you all!”

QUESTIONS:

1. DO YOU ACT WITH A CONFIDENT FAITH IN GODS WISDOM AND THE IMPACT OF ITS TRANSCENDENT TRUTH?
2. HOW DO YOU NAVIGATE LIFE AND MINISTRY AND LIFE BY PEACE?
3. WHEN YOU PREACH CHRIST- HOW DO YOU PREACH CHRIST CRUCIFIED?