Provable Wisdom

Apr 8, 2021.Most of us long to be wise in our leadership. In fact, we probably pray for wisdom often in the shadow of James 1:5. And that is good. But, if we'd be honest, there is still a mocking voice within us at every critical turn. And of course, there are questioning people around us at every turn too. Will we ever see wisdom show up in such a way that our inner and outer detractors are silenced? Ah...such is the inner questioning of the Christian leader.#JesusStories: No one has ever been questioned or derided any more than our Lord when he walked this earth. At one point in Matt 11, he spoke to his detractors about their insatiable mocking nature. He pointed out that John the Baptist came without eating and drinking, and the mocking crowd said that he had a demon in him. And now that Jesus spends so much of his time eating and drinking, the mockers say is that he eats with sinners. How dare he. And of course he is able to cast out demons because like John, he has a demon in him too. Can't the voice of criticism ever come up with some new material? Today we hear the same things circling around from church to church: "you're preaching has lost something", "your leadership ideas are ill-thought-through", or "you keep asking too much from us." Christian leadership has always been exercised in the midst of furrow-browed critics from the time of Jesus to the present. But I love the way Jesus ended this particular qripe session, "Yet Wisdom is shown to be right by what it does." In other words, let's just see how things turns out. This is a big truth here: Wisdom is proven by divine results. And while that might seem weighty at first glance, we have been given the repeating behaviors of Christ that creates these divine results: prayer, healing, eating with sinners, time with the poor, talking about the inbreaking kingdom, breathing comfort, etc. Can we be confident that if we start repeating Jesus' behaviors in our leadership, that wisdom and the gospel will flourish around us? We can be.#DinnerChurchQuotes: "A consumer lifestyle can't be overturned by criticism, it can only be outclassed by the Christlike lifestyle." -Graham Cray#PracticalStuff: The Jesus Stories bible is only a week away from distribution. We are asking each DC leadership team to figure out a way to get one of these bibles into the hands of every new congregant Jesus has given them. These bibles are written for people with no Christian history, and focuses on the story rather than the verse. Can you start making plans to acquire these? And then start preaching from this bible in your dinner church gatherings? The cost is under $4 per bible, and they will be available at DinnerChurch.Com very very soon.Blessings & Boldness,Verlon