Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:06 For the foolishness of God, as wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men for consider your calling brothers. Not many of you were wise to worldly standards. Not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth, but God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong first Corinthians chapter one. Welcome to the podcast today. It's great to be here. I want to take a few moments and talk about the power of foolish valor. Now let's be clear. I'm not talking about the valor of fools, right? Let's get the language in the right order, the power, the strength, and why you need foolish valor. You don't need to be a fool that has valor. <laugh> there's a difference. So here, here we go. This, this passage of scripture has been one of my favorites since I gave my life to Christ 20 some years ago.
Speaker 1 00:01:06 And if you get into, uh, first Corinthians chapter two, verse 14, this comes into play strong. The natural person does not accept the things of the spirit of God. Okay? Very clear. The natural person does not accept the things of the spirit of God for they are folly to him and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. So what we're finding here is that there is a spiritual man, you know, uh, women, you know, when I say, man, I'm referring to everyone. There's a spiritual man. When we become born and new born again in God's kingdom and we receive his salvation, we see the world differently. There are things that come alive inside of us that are activated that the natural person outside of Christ doesn't have. So, you know, we see all these religions and we see all of this, uh, I kind of call it like groping and darkness.
Speaker 1 00:02:07 It's like the blind leading the blind, like the natural leading the natural. It ends up in a ditch every time. So it's the, the spiritual person. Now also, always remember this too. The spiritual person is gonna be a person marked by humility, marked with great character. They're not gonna be, I'm not talking about the spiritual person that thinks they're better than everybody like somebody latest. That's not what I'm talking. It's not about an elevated, you know, we're better than everybody else. It's it's, uh, it's actually, you've come lower than everybody else. You've come to a place of humility. You come to a place of the end of yourself, realizing God is who he says he is. And I'm gonna walk according to his ways. And according to his will, that's the spiritual person. Now the scriptures are teaching us that this is folly to the natural mind.
Speaker 1 00:02:52 This is folly. This is foolishness to the natural mind cuz they can't process it. They don't have the processors. They don't have the gear that we got. Right. They don't have, they don't have the ability. I mean, in the, in, in Corinthians, it also talks about how the enemy, the enemy has blinded the minds of unbelievers. So they can't see the gospel, the glory, uh, of, of Christ and the light of God. Right? They can't see it. I, I didn't say that a hundred percent. Right. But they can't see the gospel of, of Christ. They can't see his glory. And so there's a battle going on. But for us to kind of grow today in this concept of, I want to inspire you to be a person who's filled with foolish Ballor and it's exactly the way I've read it in the scriptures that your eyes have been opened, that you're humble and you're filled with the character of Christ and you're growing on a daily basis.
Speaker 1 00:03:43 Your prayer life is growing. Your timing with God is growing your, your ability to honor, God is growing. And if you know, turn affection towards your family and walking to liberties of Christ and you you're waring for those spiritual disciplines. Right. Then we're, we're, we're actually walking a life of valor, courage in the battlefield of life, courage in our assignments, courage in our families, our call callings. I've been thinking about this a lot lately and it's nothing newer, anything that'll like, you'll be like wow about, but it's, you know, sometimes if you just take little things and you, you meditate on 'em, you get so much out of it. I've been thinking about God family country, right? Like, um, I've been thinking about in the context of my life, like the way I've always set my priorities is God, first I need to know my father in heaven.
Speaker 1 00:04:28 Right? And then after that, it's my family. I've gotta minister to my family. Now I have four daughters and a wife. Right. So, um, it might be a little extra than most of you out there. <laugh>, you know, but I love my family and it's like, I gotta learn to be with them and turn my heart towards them. And then what comes third, it would be like vocation. Um, and my vocation is actually working in the church culture. So I have to keep those priorities clear and those boundary lines set. And uh, and when you do it's act, it's absolutely pretty amazing. And we're not always perfect at that stuff, but I want to encourage you today.
Speaker 1 00:05:07 Foolish valor is one who has seen the worthiness of Christ. You've seen the beauty of his kingdom, the beauty of his redemption and salvation and your eyes are open to it, right? It's like a man who, who, uh, found a treasure in a field and he buried it and he went away to sell everything he had so that he could buy the field, right? Like foolish courage. The valor of, uh, of, of the man of God is going to be viewed by the natural mind as utter, just stupidity, cuz they don't have any grid to discern. It is what the scriptures are showing us. And I want us to kind of look at, you know, for a few moments here, look at the reasoning behind this, right? What are the reasons this is set up this way? Why is it set up this way? Why did God frame it like this? Right? Because he said, because if you go back a little bit in first Corinthians, uh, middle, middle way through the first chapter, you know, it says for the word of the cross as folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it's the power of God. You know, so folly, you know, this foolishness, the cross is foolishness. It can't be re perceived because they have no grid for it.
Speaker 1 00:06:27 They can have a grid for it, but they have to choose to have a grid for it. They have to choose to, uh, walk in this humble place of repentance. Everybody can choose that. It's not like the whole world doesn't have the ability to repent <laugh> so, or to perceive truth. Um, it's I, I think maybe I'd like to look at it as the enemy makes it harder, but not impossible. And I think that's where prayer comes in. I think that's where persistency comes in. I think that's where being, letting the G the light of God and the truth of God shine forth out of us, that that's all powerful acts one, right? It's about us being bold witnesses of resurrection. And that doesn't mean that we're out there, you know, condemning the world. That's not how you win people. That's not, uh, doesn't mean you don't share truth, but we, we have to, uh, go in and do very sensitive type Del deliveries of the word.
Speaker 1 00:07:27 And sometimes it's hard and rash. I've done those before. Sometimes I knew it was God. And I don't know why, but it, but I, I knew it was God. And, and but most of the time, 90% of the time it's been very relational and very, uh, slow and patient. And, and um, so here we are, right in verse 19, it says for it is written. I will destroy the wisdom of the whys and the discernment of the discerning. I will thwart. And then, you know, God is getting into this debate here. You know, he is asking all these questions. Um, well, Paul's writing this stuff out. And so he gets into this whole concept of the, for the foolishness of God is wiser than men. And the weakness of God is stronger than men. So God's actually showing some stuff here, right? So those who are alive in him look foolish to the natural mind.
Speaker 1 00:08:21 Um, so he's gonna take the, those alive in Christ and he's going to use them because they're considered weakness. And God's gonna show how those who love him and those who trust him, um, are gonna thwart their, he's gonna leverage his, his sons and daughters in the earth to actually confound the wives. Those who think they've got it all figured out. Those who've walk in arrogance and pump and you know, pride and, you know, God is going to continue to use what they consider to be the lowly where God would consider us be the righteousness of Christ in the earth. Right. He doesn't view us the way the world does. So God's kind of doing some things in the earth. Maybe it's a battle. I like to look at it as a battle. Um, maybe like a chess game, right? There's maneuvers and there's, uh, there's moves and counter moves. Right? And then, and then you've got Psalms too. You know, why did the nation's rage? And why are the rulers of the earth turning against the Lord's anointed? You know, if you really want to get to somebody, you go after their children, right? If you want to really hit a mom and dad where it counts, you go after their children. And so that's what the nations are doing. They're going after the sons and daughters of the living, God, cuz they don't like God, they don't like the concept of God.
Speaker 1 00:09:44 It's sad to see where our world is today. On one hand, on the other hand spiritually, I think we're in the greatest condition. We're in the greatest place we could ever be because we can't hide in comfort anymore. We can't bury ourselves in prosperity anymore. We've gotta get to the very moorings of why we believe in God and come alive is what, this is what it's all about. And the kingdom of God is gonna be shaken until everything that uh, can be shaken to till the only thing that remains is that which cannot be shaken. And that's what we're going through right now. And God is strengthening his house, strengthening his church, strengthening his people so that we can move forth in the earth with salvation and power. We're not just supposed to be praying. We're supposed to be participating. We must do both. This is not just a spiritual thing of prayer.
Speaker 1 00:10:33 No, you need to get involved. You need to go stand against this evil in the city gate. There's a powerful phrase in the scriptures that I've always loved. It says, may your offspring possess the gate of their enemy? And that is something that I think needs to be brought back into church culture. We have got to, uh, go stand in the, the, the gate of our enemy with no fear in our eyes and uh, and do the, do the righteous battle. <laugh> you know, you know, and I'm not talking about a physical fight I'm talking about, but it is a physical place. I'm gonna go stand in a physical place and I'm gonna go look, I'm gonna go look naturally minded people in the eye who have no grid for understanding who we are or what we're about. And in compassion, I'm going to still stand in that place with character and honor, and we're gonna move forward in strength.
Speaker 1 00:11:20 And that's how the kingdom advances, you know, that's how the, we, we, we're not just praying, we're participating. So I want you to kinda look at your life today. I love these verses because you know, there was this old statement that's always stuck with me. Probably heard it, right? God doesn't call the qualified. He qualifies the call. Thank God for that. Right? Cause I love this verse, you know, consider your calling, right? Not many of you were wise to worldly standards. Not many of you were powerful. Not many of you were of noble birth, but God, what is foolish in the world, right? To shame the whys, God chose what is weak and the world to shame as strong. So, you know, I look at this as when we come alive in Christ we're foolishness and we're weak to the world and God's, and, but we're, God's chosen instruments <laugh> and so we must go forth with foolish valor, understanding that we are not gonna make sense to the world. And that doesn't mean we should prop up ourselves with, with more of an intensity to be right, because we air when we're trying to be right. We must prop ourselves up with an intensity to burn forth his light and his love and his truth.
Speaker 1 00:12:43 So I hope this encourages you today, cuz I know the enemy's relentless when it comes to like, oh you're foolish. You can't do this. You're not strong enough. You don't have that degree. You don't have this, uh, pedigree. You didn't made this much money yet. You missed that goal. I mean the enemy can be relentless and I've always used these scriptures to go back. These have motivated me for 25 years now to stay the course. I love it for the foolish things of God is wiser than men. And the weakness of God is stronger than men. Psalm two is still playing out. He sits in the heavens and laughs God's moving and counter moving and he's working all things to be redeemed. He's working all things to be restored. What a great and terrible day it will be when he returns until next time live upright.
