SCRIP-BITS

1 Timothy 1:17     Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
 
Oh Friends, it’s Friday, Friday the 13th to boot! Are you worried and shaken up by the negative connotation that combination of day and date has come to symbolize in our society? Please don’t be. Just be your normal safe, secure, Christian self and say instead: ‘Thank God it’s Friday; the end of my workweek, the start of my weekend! It’s also the day the Lord has made, and I shall rejoice and be glad in it, regardless of what comes against me!’ Yes mih people, we can’t afford to let those simpleton, negative influences influence our already concerned hearts souls and minds, with further untrue, unimportant stuff. If we believe in the goodness and mercy of our heavenly Father, then we simply believe in Him; end of story. There’s no room for doubts concerning certain days. He’s not going to make some good and some bad just because they happen to fall in a certain way or time. That’s why Bruh Paul could laud Him with this brilliant description. ‘Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.’ We’ve already looked at ‘the King eternal, immortal, invisible’ attributes. Today we’ll check out ‘the only wise God,’ appellation. And Friends, that’s indeed a big plaudit Bruh Paul’s giving our heavenly Father; ‘the only wise God.’ Wow! It means that amongst the oodles of gods that proliferate on planet earth, the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is the only wise one. It certainly doesn’t say much for the many other supposed ones. But if He is the ONE and ONLY TRUE God, then it follows logically that He will be the only wise One. And Job, in acknowledging God’s justice, reverently offers these words in support of that contention. Sorry Friends, it’s not a contention, but a fact. (smile) ‘He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who hath hardened himself against him, and hath prospered?’ (Job 9:4) The answer to Job’s question is NO ONE, my people! Nobody has ever deigned to fight against the Lord God Jehovah and prospered. Not from the days of Adam, not now, and neither till the end of time will that happen. Elihu, Job’s friend, also sings the praises of God’s wisdom when he talks about Him being just. ‘Behold God is mighty, and despiseth not any: he is mighty in strength and wisdom.’ (Job 36:5) Oh my brethren, the ancients were much more in tune with God, in all aspects of His Being, because in their hardworking, agrarian society they depended on Him much more than we do for their daily bread. Today we have so much man made stuff that its’ very easy to go for days on end without even once considering the Creator of the universe. Friends, that’s definitely a foolish move, but it is possible. And that’s also one of the reasons why God is disappearing so much and so quickly from our society; we don’t have to depend on Him as much for our actual livelihood. That doesn’t mean He’s not there and still in control. Please remember that mih breddren and act in wise accordance. That brings us to the passage on wisdom, where Bruh Paul is talking to the Corinthians against divisions. ‘Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer (debater) of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching (the message preached) to save them that believe. For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness. But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For ye see your calling brethren (consider), how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound (put to shame) the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. That no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us (became for us) wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.’ (1 Cor.1:20-27; 29-30) Oh Friends, I didn’t plan on quoting all that, but there was no way to cut it down without losing the very essence of Bruh Paul’s meaning. And you can see how our wise God confounds us by using foolishness to topple wisdom, and weakness to topple strength. But those who believe have seen the truth and acknowledged it; that Jesus Christ is Lord of all, made so through the Father’s strength and wisdom. Oh my people, there’s no doubt whatsoever from all the available evidence, that our God is ‘the only wise God.’ And we’ll close with the words of two men of faith, who experienced it fully. First up is Bruh Paul, who ends his epistle to the Romans thus: ‘To God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen.’ (Rom.16:27) And now Jude, Jesus’ half brother, who, like some of his other siblings, apparently saw the light after Jesus departed this earthly life and eventually went on to spread His Word. ‘To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.’ (Jude 25) And all God’s people joyfully sang: ‘Glory Hallelujah!’ Yes Friends, let’s take strength and wisdom from all that we’ve said today, and go out there into the midst of the ungodly world and give Beelzebub and his evil cronies hell, while walking strong, steadfast and worthy in Jesus’ name. Amen. Much LOVE!…be not wise in your own eyes…fear the Lord…and depart from evil… (Prov.3:7)