Ministering: Bishop David O. Oyedepo
Topic: Enlistment in the lifelong school of divine wisdom.
The day you think you graduate from the school of wisdom, you degenerate.
Rom 11:33; O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
Isa. 33:6; And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times, and strength of salvation: the fear of the LORD is his treasure.
Prov. 9:10; The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.
Ps. 111:10; The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever.
The fear of God is the only way to be enlisted in that school of wisdom and be there. Ministry cannot enjoy stability without wisdom. It is cheaper to attain to success than to sustain it. Without appropriate strategies for sustainability, success can be destructive. We are in the wisdom era of the church.
Micah 4:1-2; But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.
2 And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
The end-time church will become the seat of heavenly wisdom on earth.
Prov. 24:3-5; Through wisdom is an house builded; and by understanding it is established:
4 And by knowledge shall the chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant riches.
5 A wise man is strong; yea, a man of knowledge increaseth strength.
Isa. 2:2-3; And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.
3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
The world will be looking for solution providers from the church.
Haggai 2:8; The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the LORD of hosts.
The end-time will be in the custody of pleasant riches.
Prov. 9:1; Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars:
Prov. 3:19; The LORD by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens.
Eph. 3:8-11; Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;
9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:
10 To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,
11 According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:
Eph. 3:10 (AMPC); [The purpose is] that through the church the complicated, many-sided wisdom of God in all its infinite variety and innumerable aspects might now be made known to the angelic rulers and authorities (principalities and powers) in the heavenly sphere.
You can’t be managing just five hundred people and be sweating and struggling.
Prov. 3:17; Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.
Isa. 14:24,27; The LORD of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand:
27 For the LORD of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?
Political institutions and human institutions can stop God’s eternal purpose for the end-time church. The end-time church will become the wisdom wonder of the world.
Mat. 13:54; And when he was come into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished, and said, Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works?
Eph. 4:13; Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
Ps. 87:1-7; (A Psalm or Song for the sons of Korah.) His foundation is in the holy mountains.
2 The LORD loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.
3 Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God. Selah.
4 I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me: behold Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia; this man was born there.
5 And of Zion it shall be said, This and that man was born in her: and the highest himself shall establish her.
6 The LORD shall count, when he writeth up the people, that this man was born there. Selah.
7 As well the singers as the players on instruments shall be there: all my springs are in thee.
There are no finish line in the school of divine wisdom.
Prov. 9:9; Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.
Prov. 1:5; A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:
Dan. 1:17; As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.
Dan. 2:19; Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven.
Dan. 5:11-12; There is a man in thy kingdom, in whom is the spirit of the holy gods; and in the days of thy father light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, was found in him; whom the king Nebuchadnezzar thy father, the king, I say, thy father, made master of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers;
12 Forasmuch as an excellent spirit, and knowledge, and understanding, interpreting of dreams, and shewing of hard sentences, and dissolving of doubts, were found in the same Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar: now let Daniel be called, and he will shew the interpretation.
Dan. 6:3; Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king thought to set him over the whole realm.
Dan. 9:2; In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books …
Divine wisdom is a school of lifelong learning. According to T.L Osborn “When you stop learning you start dying”.
2 Peter 3:15; And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;
Eph. 3:1-5; For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,
2 If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward:
3 How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words,
4 Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)
5 Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;
2 Tim. 4:13; The cloke that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee, and the books, but especially the parchments.
Divine wisdom does not wait for solutions, it creates them
Prov. 8:12; I wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions.
Gen. 1:2; And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
Prov. 3:19; The LORD by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens.
Ps. 104:24; O LORD, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches.
Scriptural four kinds of wisdom
James 3:14-17; But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.
15 This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.
16 For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.
17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.
Nobody’s success is the reason for another man’s failure. Everyone has a place in the space.
Rev. 3:17-18; Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
The greatest challenge in the school of wisdom is the Laodecian syndrome.
Mat. 11:19; The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children.
The redeemed of the Lord, access the wisdom of God naturally.
Rev. 3:20; Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
1 Cor. 1:24; But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.
The wisdom and the power of God comes to resides in us at salvation.
Col. 1:27; To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
Col. 2:3; In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Jn. 1:3; All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
Rev. 5:12; Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.
We carry the treasure of wisdom in us at redemption, but it requires to be stirred.
2 Tim. 1:5-7; When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also.
6 Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.
7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
HOW TO STIR THIS TREASURE INTO MANIFESTATION
Many sweet destinies are tasteless because of lack stirring of the treasure within.
- By the rod of the Word.
Isa. 11:1-2; And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:
2 And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;
Rev. 4:5; And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.
Rev. 5:6; And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.
Jn. 1:1; In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Ps. 19:8; The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.
Ps. 119:98; Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: for they are ever with me.
2 Tim. 3:15; And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
- Through meditation in the word
Ps 119:97,99; MEM. O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.
99 I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation.
Luke 15:17-20; And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!
18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee,
19 And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.
20 And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.
It is time to come to yourself asking why is this not working and how do I make it work.
Isa. 1:18-19; Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
19 If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:
Gen. 24:63; And Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the eventide: and he lifted up his eyes, and saw, and, behold, the camels were coming.
Prov. 18:1; Through desire a man, having separated himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom.
- Through the prayer of enquirers
Jere. 33:3; Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.
Only those who ask questions are entitled to answers. We serve a question answering God.
2 Sam. 5:18-20; The Philistines also came and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim.
19 And David enquired of the LORD, saying, Shall I go up to the Philistines? wilt thou deliver them into mine hand? And the LORD said unto David, Go up: for I will doubtless deliver the Philistines into thine hand.
20 And David came to Baalperazim, and David smote them there, and said, The LORD hath broken forth upon mine enemies before me, as the breach of waters. Therefore he called the name of that place Baalperazim.
1 Sam. 30:6-9; And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.
7 And David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech’s son, I pray thee, bring me hither the ephod. And Abiathar brought thither the ephod to David.
8 And David enquired at the LORD, saying, Shall I pursue after this troop? shall I overtake them? And he answered him, Pursue: for thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail recover all.
9 So David went, he and the six hundred men that were with him, and came to the brook Besor, where those that were left behind stayed.
- Through a life of joy and rejoicing.
Job 32:7-8; I said, Days should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom.
8 But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.
Inspiration is a product of a lifestyle of joy and rejoicing. God cannot survive joyless environment.
Isa. 12:3; Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.
Ps. 16:11; Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.
- Keeping company with the wise
Prov. 13:20; He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.
Only fools walk with men of, unlike minds. PRAYER: “Jesus, disconnect me from all men that are going backward”.
Ps. 1:1-3; Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
You need to be consciously conscious of the relationships that you keep.
Prov. 27:17; Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.
BOOSTERS OF DIVINE WISDOM
- The fear of the Lord. This is the master booster.
Gen. 42:18; And Joseph said unto them the third day, This do, and live; for I fear God:
Gen. 41:38-39; And Pharaoh said unto his servants, Can we find such a one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is?
39 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Forasmuch as God hath shewed thee all this, there is none so discreet and wise as thou art:
Dan. 1:8; But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.
Dan. 6:4-5; Then the presidents and princes sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom; but they could find none occasion nor fault; forasmuch as he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him.
5 Then said these men, We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God.
- The ever-growing love for God and the interest of His kingdom.
2 Sam. 14:20; To fetch about this form of speech hath thy servant Joab done this thing: and my lord is wise, according to the wisdom of an angel of God, to know all things that are in the earth.
1 Sam. 13:14; But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the LORD hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the LORD hath commanded him to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that which the LORD commanded thee.
1 kgs 3:3; And Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of David his father: only he sacrificed and burnt incense in high places.
1 kgs 4:29,31; And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore.
31 For he was wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol: and his fame was in all nations round about.
- Addiction to the study of the word of God.
Mat. 7:24-25; Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
Luke 11:49; Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute:
God’s word is God’s wisdom in print. According to Henry Ford, “When you stop learning you are old whether at 80 of 20, if you keep learning you are young whether at 80 or 20”.
Ecc. 4:13; Better is a poor and a wise child than an old and foolish king, who will no more be admonished.
2 kgs. 4:2; And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for thee? tell me, what hast thou in the house? And she said, Thine handmaid hath not any thing in the house, save a pot of oil.
1 Cor. 2:16; For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.
Wisdom of God is God’s solution bank to all human issues, with unlimited capacity to create solutions.
Mat. 4:19 – 20; And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
20 And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.
Our making is in following Jesus. Ministry is restful because it is structured in all sectors. Only readers qualify to attract readers.
As your spiritual depth deepens, your height heightens. It’s your spiritual depth that determines your ultimate height. You have lost your ministry if you let men come between you and God. You won’t lose it in Jesus’ Name. Amen!
