2018: The Year of Hesed Wisdom!

7 January 2018 (11.30am service, New Creation Church at Star Vista)

 - Sermon delivered by Pastor Joseph Prince

Sermon Notes (Note: These are personal notes and not a transcription of the sermon.)

         I.           New Emphasis for the Coming Year

The Lord always has an emphasis for the new year, and you can see God at work through the theme of the year. You see how the theme of the year transpires in your life, and then give thanks at the end of the year.

However, very often, we don’t thank God for things that we are not saved out of trouble. For instance, God foresees accidents and prevents us from trouble, and these are things that we usually don’t thank God for.

         II.         Hesed 

“Grace” has become a cliché for many Christians. However, Grace should not become a cliché. Grace (Hebrew: hesed), it has to be part of our life.

John 1:17

For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

Hesed is a big word. Some translations of the bible verses said that grace is hesed; some said that mercy is hesed; and some said that loving kindness is hesed.

Psalm 136:1

Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.

His “hesed” endures forever.

Psalm 136

In Psalm 136, all the verses end with “his mercy endures forever”:

The glory of God is here. God is going to put in your heart the direction for this year. His mercy endures forever.

2 Chronicles 20:21-22

After consulting the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the LORD and to praise him for the splendor of his holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying: “Give thanks to the LORD, for his love endures forever.” Now when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were defeated.

As Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the Lord, and when they began to sing and praise, the enemies started to fight among themselves.

2 Chronicles 20:24-26

So when Judah came to a place overlooking the wilderness, they looked toward the multitude; and there were their dead bodies, fallen on the earth. No one had escaped.

When Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away their spoil, they found among them an abundance of valuables on the dead bodies, and precious jewelry, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away; and they were three days gathering the spoil because there was so much. And on the fourth day they assembled in the Valley of Berachah, for there they blessed the Lord; therefore the name of that place was called The Valley of Berachah until this day.

 

God can turn the valley of conflicts in the valley of blessings, just like how he has turned the Valley of Berachah into a blessed valley until today.

His loving kindness is greater than life.

What is hesed? What is grace? Grace is the unearned, undeserved favor.

Many problems exist because we have this sense of entitlement. That’s why we treat people with rashness.  Many of us have this sense of entitlement when treating others, especially towards those we feel are of a lower status than us.

Our jobs and things cannot dictate who are we.

Today, God’s people are coming to a place of glory. Sometimes, we can tell who are the Christians among the crowds. It’s the glory of God that is reflected on their faces.

The word hesed is the word "grace". It is the unearned, undeserved favor.

If we have the deserving mentality, we will feel frustrated.

We have the unearned, undeserved favor from the Lord. All the good things undeserved, we get, all the bad things we deserve, Jesus take.

God has to judge, however, because God is loving, the judgement fell on Jesus.

1 Kings 3:4-10

Now the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place: Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar.  At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, “Ask! What shall I give you?”

And Solomon said: “You have shown great mercy to Your servant David my father, because he walked before You in truth, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with You; You have continued this great kindness for him, and You have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. Now, O Lord my God, You have made Your servant king instead of my father David, but I am a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. And Your servant is in the midst of Your people whom You have chosen, a great people, too numerous to be numbered or counted. Therefore give to Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?”

The speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing.

God said, “Ask! What shall I give you?”

Solomon said, “You have shown great mercy (hesed gadol)”

Solomon, a man of great position, said that he is “a little child”.

When people ask for lottery winnings, it’s not the cash that they want to have. They want what they feel the cash could bring them.

Money doesn’t guarantee true happiness.

Acts 4:33-34

And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all. Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold,

There were also great power and great grace.

         III.      The Year of Hesed Wisdom

Proverbs 9:1

Wisdom has built her house,

She has hewn out her seven pillars;

The theme for this coming year is

“The year of Hesed Wisdom!”

Pastor Prince has been praying for an emphasis for the year. When Pastor asked the Lord, the Lord told him that the theme of the year will form the shape of a cross.

Then, He said the letters will make the cross.

The top part of the cross must be shorter than the bottom part, and here we have “Hesed Wisdom”!

We have Hebrew in our theme of the year for the first time.

In “Hesed Wisdom”, there is "grace in wisdom”

      - If we don’t have grace, the wisdom doesn’t make us humble but it makes us proud.

Man’s wisdom makes us jealous and self-seeking.

God wants us to call upon Him for wisdom in life.

Based on the wisdom that God gives King Solomon, God’s wisdom will give you 5 things:

    1.   Long life (length of days)

    2.   Riches

    3.   Honor

    4.   Pleasure (Pleasantness)

    5.   Peace

Proverbs 3:13-17

Happy is the man who finds wisdom,
And the man who gains understanding;
For her proceeds are better than the profits of silver,
And her gain than fine gold.
She is more precious than rubies,
And all the things you may desire cannot compare with her.
Length of days is in her right hand,
In her left hand riches and honor.
Her ways are ways of pleasantness,
And all her paths are peace.

God is not against possessions; God is against selfishness. Wisdom is more profitable than gold.

Wisdom will give you things, but these are not the things to seek for in life.

Wisdom is personified as a woman. Wisdom is not aggressive, and we should not be inflated with self-importance.

To be undeserving, you don’t have to try, you just have to be yourself.

Grace is not attracted to human strengths, grace is attracted to human weakness.

Grace is not threatened by sin. When sin increased, grace abounded much more:

Roman 5:20

Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more,

2 Corinthians 12:9

And He sai to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

“Reality” is not about receiving “applause” or “looking successful”, like what many love to portray in the social media.

Jesus said, “My Yoke is easy, my burden is light.”:

Matthew 11:30

For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.

If God calls you to a task, it’s going to be easy. Of course, the “normal” work/labor has to be involved. However, there will be a lightness in doing so

— easy and light.

If we google the top 10 richest people in history. King Solomon’s name is mentioned.

All these are recorded in the bible.  25 tons of gold came to Solomon every year during his reign of 40 years. In addition to gold, there were also the businesses he made and taxes he collected from the other surrounding countries. 

God wants to let you know that you have more than Solomon.

There is a difference between natural wisdom and God’s wisdom – the Hesed wisdom.

You could have wisdom which is corrupted:

Ezekiel 28:17

Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty;
You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor;
I cast you to the ground,
I laid you before kings,
That they might gaze at you.

God wants you to pursue wisdom as a person. God can also give you what you have not asked.

Proverbs 3:16-17

Length of days is in her right hand,
In her left hand riches and honor.
Her ways are ways of pleasantness,
And all her paths are peace.

Both riches and honor are represented by the left hand. The length of days is represented by the right hand.

However, don’t focus on left or right, focus on wisdom, and both will embrace you:

Proverbs 4:7-9

Wisdom is the principal thing;
Therefore get wisdom.
And in all your getting, get understanding.
Exalt her, and she will promote you;
She will bring you honor, when you embrace her.
She will place on your head an ornament of grace;
A crown of glory she will deliver to you.”

We have more than Solomon.

Wisdom is the “principal thing”— the beginning thing.

The beginning of wisdom is to “acquire wisdom”— “Get it!”, get the wisdom!

When you pray, you pray for wisdom. Wisdom will help you identify the problem and give you a strategy.

          IV.        Conclusion

For 2018, we should redeem the time; save the time!

In 2018, we should walk in wisdom, walk not as fools but as wise:

Ephesians 5:15

See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise,

Even the emphasis of parables about end times talk about the wise and the foolish:

Matthew 25:1-5

“Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish.  Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.

Matthew 24:45-51

“Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. Assuredly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods. But if that evil servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards,  the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of,  and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

It’s time for us to fully utilize 2018. If you are in a relationship that is not good for you, don’t waste time. There are also people who have been wasting time on sins or on drugs.

God has filled Bezalel, the chief artisan of the Tabernacle and who was in charge of building the Ark of the Covenant, with wisdom, in understanding and in knowledge in his workmanship without prior background knowledge:

Exodus 31:3-5

And I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, to design artistic works, to work in gold, in silver, in bronze, 5 in cutting jewels for setting, in carving wood, and to work in all manner of workmanship.

 

1 Kings 4:29-34

 And God gave Solomon wisdom and exceedingly great understanding, and largeness of heart like the sand on the seashore. Thus Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the men of the East and all the wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser than all men—than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol; and his fame was in all the surrounding nations. He spoke three thousand proverbs, and his songs were one thousand and five. Also he spoke of trees, from the cedar tree of Lebanon even to the hyssop that springs out of the wall; he spoke also of animals, of birds, of creeping things, and of fish. And men of all nations, from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom, came to hear the wisdom of Solomon.

In the 1990s, when Pastor Prince asked for wisdom, God gave rise to the revelation of grace. 

Many of us are all trying to save our lives with “my needs, my wants and my desires”. However, we should “lose our life” to save our life:

Matthew 16:25

 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.

Today, when we become impatient with people, we don’t have big heart.

If God gives us wisdom, we will have a big heart.

Solomon’s wisdom “excelled the wisdom of all the men of the East and all the wisdom of Egypt”. Solomon spoke on animals in order to let man learn from the animals. For instance, the wisdom about eagles’ renewal.  

Every situation is the heart that matters to Solomon. For instance, when two mothers (prostitutes) were fighting over a baby, Solomon listened to both and made a judgement based on the matter of heart:

1 Kings 3:16-28

Now two women who were harlots came to the king, and stood before him. And one woman said, “O my lord, this woman and I dwell in the same house; and I gave birth while she was in the house.  Then it happened, the third day after I had given birth, that this woman also gave birth. And we were together; no one was with us in the house, except the two of us in the house. And this woman’s son died in the night, because she lay on him. So she arose in the middle of the night and took my son from my side, while your maidservant slept, and laid him in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom. And when I rose in the morning to nurse my son, there he was, dead. But when I had examined him in the morning, indeed, he was not my son whom I had borne.”
 

Then the other woman said, “No! But the living one is my son, and the dead one is your son.”

And the first woman said, “No! But the dead one is your son, and the living one is my son.”

Thus they spoke before the king.
 

And the king said, “The one says, ‘This is my son, who lives, and your son is the dead one’; and the other says, ‘No! But your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one.’” Then the king said, “Bring me a sword.” So they brought a sword before the king. And the king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to one, and half to the other.”

Then the woman whose son was living spoke to the king, for she yearned with compassion for her son; and she said, “O my lord, give her the living child, and by no means kill him!”

But the other said, “Let him be neither mine nor yours, but divide him.”

So the king answered and said, “Give the first woman the living child, and by no means kill him; she is his mother.”

 And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had rendered; and they feared the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to administer justice.

Stop wasting time for 2018. Seek the Lord for wisdom and listen to what He has to tell you.

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