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[ Silence ] [ Music ] ♪ There's a sweet, sweet spirit in his face ♪ ♪ And I know that it's a spirit of love ♪

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♪ There's a sweet expression on his face ♪ ♪ And I know that His love's presence ♪ ♪ All along ♪ ♪ Stay, Holy Spirit ♪

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♪ Stay, heavenly love ♪ ♪ Stay right here with us ♪ ♪ Giving us great your love ♪ ♪ That for this last day ♪

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♪ We give God's good grace ♪ ♪ And now and now we know ♪ ♪ That we have been prepared ♪ ♪ And we shall be his friends ♪

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♪ Stay, O ye spirits ♪ ♪ Stay and think on ♪ ♪ Stay right here with us ♪ ♪ Filling us with your love ♪

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♪ And for each blessing ♪ ♪ We give our heart in praise ♪ ♪ Because the God below ♪ ♪ When we are given with life ♪

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♪ Then we shall be ♪ ♪ Missed ♪ ♪ >> We bow in silent prayer.

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Speak now to our hearts, O God. May we have listening ears. Grant that we may be not only but do us also, for we ask this in the strong and perfect name of Jesus Christ,

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our Savior and Lord, Amen. The message today is entitled "The House Wisdom Built." The House Wisdom Built. Comes in the form of an invitation.

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It's an invitation to attend a festival, a feast, which is to last a lifetime. The invitation comes in the language of scripture, that is, it's recorded in the ninth chapter of the book of Proverbs. It comes from the sages of the ages.

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Wisdom has built her house. She has hewn her seven pillows. She has slaughtered her animals. She has mixed her wine.

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She has also set her table. She has sent out her servant girls. She calls from the highest places in town. You that are simple, turn in here.

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To those without sense, she says, "Come, eat of my bread, drink of the wine I have mixed. Lay aside immaturity and live and walk in the way of insight." Wisdom is portrayed as a beautiful lady

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who invites wayfarers into her dwelling. The persons who are invited, are invited there that they may gain wisdom. This is a precious possession.

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Scripture says the price of it is above rubies. But so often we in our time, and I suppose this has been true of all times, get confused about knowledge and wisdom. And many times an individual gets to the point

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that he or she believes that the acquisition of knowledge, being in possession of certain facts, being able to remember a great deal of information, means that you're wise.

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And this is the problem. Knowledge is not necessarily translated into wisdom. I was coming along, I remember that the older people would often say, of a person who was very limited

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as far as formal education is concerned, but they would say that, well, he or she has a great deal call it mother wit. They are unlearned as far as books are concerned, but they are wise. So one has to be careful about trusting the wisdom of this world. So before considering

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this invitation which I have mentioned, I'm sure we would like to know where the event is to take place. The question is answered at the very outset. Wisdom has built her house. Now, wisdom is knowledge run through the gristmill of experience. Knowledge run through the gristmill of experience.

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defines wisdom as an accumulated philosophic learning, knowledge, ability to discern inequalities and relationships, insight, good sense, judgment, a wise attitude, all course of action. Now the sages of the ages knew that some students in life make high marks in the schoolroom low marks in the school of life.

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You've heard this saying, "You can send me to the teacher, you can send me to the school, but when I'm through I'll be an educated fool." No wisdom. Solomon, reputedly the wisest man of biblical antiquity, possessed tremendous resources

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vast wealth and immense learning. But when he looked at the resources and opportunities, he prayed to God

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that he would give him sense enough to make the right use of these resources. That he would have sense enough to make the right choices and courage enough to do the right thing.

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Haven't you seen people who have great knowledge, they can just recite off, they can almost memorize the books, you know, give it back just the way it is.

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Great knowledge, and yet make such foolish decisions. (audience murmurs) And all of us to some extent, don't live up to what we know.

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Now it says here in the scripture that wisdom has built her house. She has hewn her seven pillars. Her dwelling is well constructed. It's an ancient Oriental temple, which is the scene of the banquet.

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It has seven pillars. The seven pillars are in the inner court and they support the gallery of the first story, four of the pillars are in the corner and three are in the middle of the three sides. The seven pillars denote perfection. Seven is the covenant number.

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Seven means harmony. Seven is the symbol of unity. Seven is a symbol of wholeness. Seven pillars suggest adaptability to all the stages of human existence. Seven stages of life, Shakespeare says. Wisdom extends an invitation to those who wish to be prepared to live life to the fullest.

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She stands by the wayside, seeking to persuade travelers to come into her house. Wisdom provides the best nourishment and makes possible for us the true celebration of life. In this banquet hall, a feast is prepared. The best animals have been slain.

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The best cuts of meat have been prepared. The table is furnished. The food is ready for consumption. And wisdom stands on the highest hill

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and cries aloud for all to hear saying, "Come into my house. "All things are ready, eat, drink, and be wise." Now, pleasure is also on that road.

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She is a harlot seeking to lure travelers into her parlor where they are robbed of vision and virtue and left in a state of meaninglessness and despair. despair. As the poem puts it, I walked a mile with pleasure. She chatted all the

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way, but I was none the wiser by what she had to say. You're free to choose whether to yield to enticing allurements of pleasure or respond to the call of wisdom we're all free to make that choice. Pleasure offers snares and bewitching perfumes and those who occupy her bed participate in a festival that

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ends in drunkenness and misery. Wisdom offers a strong well-built magnificent palace, chaste and solid delights, and with wholesome instruction, a life crowned with blessedness. So let me just suggest briefly here today seven pillars for the house of wisdom. The first is knowledge. We ought all seek to

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to know as much as we can know, acquire as much knowledge as we can, know as much about ourselves as we can. As the Greeks put it, "Know thyself." We need to know ourselves. And then we need to know our surroundings. Because you see, knowledge is power. It's It's essential to meaningful growth and progress.

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It's one of the keys to success. And the second is freedom. Today we celebrate our freedom as a country. Freedom is a pillar that undergirds the house of wisdom.

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freedom to be. Freedom to be ourselves. Freedom, yes, to excel. Freedom to achieve the highest and best. Democracy is another pillar and we celebrate our democracy and it's ours to contribute to the preservation of this democracy of ours so that this government of the people, by the people, and for the people

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shall be continued. Wisdom involves knowing how to get along with other people. Now that's the challenge facing the human family. During the riot and the ruin the loss of human life in South Central Los Angeles, California, Rodney King asked, "Can't we

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get along?" And the answer is in the dream that was articulated by Martin Luther King. We must learn to live together harmoniously as members of the human family perish as fools.

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So wisdom is knowing how to get along with people. Get along with other people. If you can't get along with other people,

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if you know so much that you can't get along with anybody else, then there's something wrong with what you know. There's an article of, I think, five young men

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in Greenwich, Connecticut, who were up for graduation from high school, and they put in the book, the class book that we usually get out for those sort of occasions, the yearbook we call it, and they put in the certain letters, each one under his photo, so that when you put it all together, it's spelled "Kill All Niggers."

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Now something is wrong with their education. For someone ready to graduate from high school, acquired a great deal of knowledge, passed maybe all, oh yes, passed all of the required tests,

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but they have that kind of attitude toward people. Far from wisdom. No matter how many may have made the top score, But if there is not the sense and the ability, the skill to get along with other people,

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then there's no wisdom. And all you're getting, we need to have. But Jesus increased in wisdom. So sure, we need to have knowledge, freedom, democracy, and we need to have character.

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That's another pillar. And that involves honesty, love, loyalty, courage, self-control, and patience. This is the stuff that character is made of. Now the next pillar in this house of wisdom is understanding.

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It's the fifth pillar. and all of your getting, get an understanding of what life is all about. The sixth pillar is a wholesome philosophy of life. Have a comprehensive view of the world, recognize that none of us is an island. We're all part of the

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continent endowed with significance and with purpose. And then the last I would suggest is having an integrated personality. We often say, you know, that he or she

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has got it all together. It's not being splintered off here and there, but somehow having a unified, integrated personality. Harness all of your physical, mental, and spiritual gifts

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toward contributing positively to the ongoing of the human family. Well, now how can you get this? How can you get wisdom?

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Job raises that question. Where can wisdom be found? And the question is answered here in Proverbs. The fear of the Lord.

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- Amen. - The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. That if you really wanna live your life, that if you really wanna have meaning

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and understanding and strength, begin with God. - Amen. - The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

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Now you see God, talking about knowing, How do we know what we know? God knows. He knows.

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When we put our head in God's hand, we put our head in somebody who knows all. God knows. He knows what's behind.

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Everything behind me, he knows it. Everything that is before us, he knows it. Everything that is in between, he knows, God knows. So God, God knows.

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He knows. In fact, the psalmist says he knew us before we were found in our mother's womb. And the psalmist goes on to say that such knowledge is too wonderful for me. This is in God's hands.

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He knows. And you know, there's just so much we don't know. And something is happening to our language. Many people, you're listening to them,

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they're giving an interview or something, radio, TV, or wherever they may be, and they say, "You know so and so and so, "you know so and so and so,

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"you know, you know, you know so and so and so." And I say to my wife many times, "I don't know." (audience laughing) I wanna hear what they're gonna say,

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but they keep saying, "You know, you know, you know, "you know," you know. And that covers up a lot of so much information. You just said, you know, you know, you know.

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But God really knows. And I heard one of the boys was saying that, he who knows not and knows not that he knows not, is a fool.

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Shun him. He who knows not and knows that he knows not is ignorant. Teach him. He who knows and knows that he knows

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is wise. Follow him. Well, in the black community, we have a saying,

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do you know the Lord? That's what we say. I heard it come in as a boy, do you really know the Lord? Do you know the Lord?

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That's a significant question. Do you know the Lord? In other words, do you have an intimate relationship with him? Are you on speaking terms with him?

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Do you commune with him? Are you really, rightly related to the Lord? Tell me, do you know the Lord? And our ancestors understood that.

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They understood it quite well. And they said, I know the Lord. They put it in the language of a spiritual, I know the Lord, I know the Lord,

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I know the Lord has laid his hands on me. You know what God has, when you walk with the Lord and you had your hand in his hands, You really know the Lord.

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I don't know what's gonna happen. You don't know what's gonna happen tomorrow. You just put your hand in the hand of the one who holds tomorrow.

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And that's enough! That's enough for all the trials! That's enough for all the hills! That's enough for all the valleys

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through which we must travel! That's enough. So if you really want wisdom, I used to wonder how some people made it,

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but they knew the Lord. They didn't know a lot of other things. And they were able to make decisions and do things that they never could have done

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just based on their limited knowledge. Because you see, the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of men. So, in all you're getting, get wisdom,

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but remember that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. So we say to him, teach, teach me, teach me your secrets. For God, God will reveal it if we're close to him.

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He'll let us know. He said, I'll not do this without talking with Abraham because Abraham, you see, is a friend of God. So be sure, be sure that we know the Lord,

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because in this knowledge is our hope, and knowing him is our strength, and knowing him is our salvation. I know the Lord, I know the Lord,

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I know the Lord has laid his hands. Can you make that testimony today? If you can make that testimony today, That's the most significant testimony

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you can make in your life. To say I know the Lord, and we come now to extend the invitation. Someone here may not be rightly related

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to Christ and the church. There may be others who are rightly related who know him and you come to town and you have him united with the church,

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we invite you to do so now as we extend the invitation. As wisdom extended the invitation of old, we extend an invitation today for those who would walk with God along wisdom's way.

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(soft piano music) The door of the church is open. We invite you to come. By letter, by Christian experience,

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or on profession of faith. ♪ My hope is built on nothing less ♪ ♪ Thank Jesus' blood and righteousness ♪ ♪ I dare not trust the Swedish rain ♪

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♪ But only in Lord Jesus' name ♪ ♪ On Christ the solid rock I stand ♪ ♪ All other ground is stinking sand ♪ ♪ All of the proud, dear singing, say ♪

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♪ King of the hills, his tongue he spake ♪ ♪ I bless the living, the living great ♪ ♪ In every heart and story there ♪ ♪ Lying the hope in his blood there ♪

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♪ For Christ the Son ♪ ♪ He brought us there ♪ ♪ All of the crowd ♪ ♪ Is singing sad ♪

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♪ All of the crowd ♪ ♪ Is singing sad ♪ ♪ He took His crown ♪ ♪ Against His back ♪

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♪ Some for me ♪ ♪ O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming ♪ ♪ And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air ♪ ♪ Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there ♪

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♪ O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave ♪ ♪ All other ground is sinless land ♪ ♪ When he shall come with trumpet sound ♪ ♪ O may I be with him be found ♪

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♪ Dressed in his righteousness above ♪ ♪ All flesh to stand before ♪ ♪ For Christ the Son in love I stand ♪ ♪ All of the ground is sinking sand ♪

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♪ All of the ground is sinking sand ♪ ♪ For Christ the Son in love I stand ♪ ♪ All of the ground is sinking sand ♪ ♪ All of the ground is sinking sand ♪

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[ Music ]