Go Ask Your Father
Burning Questions: Week 1
Sunday, July 3, 2022
Luke 11:9-13, 2 Chronicles 1:7-13, James 1:2-5
Give me wisdom and knowledge so I can lead this people, because no one can govern this great people of yours without your help.
2 Chronicles 1:10 (CEB)
Listen to this week’s sermon here:
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In 2 Chronicles 1, God appears to Solomon saying, “Ask whatever you wish and I will give it to you.”
What a blank check! Can you imagine what we might do with such a request? Would we ask for healing for a loved one? Would we ask for our church to grow? Would we ask for peace on behalf of our nation or world? The possibilities are endless.
For Solomon, there was only one answer, and it wasn’t success, health, prosperity, or even peace. Instead Solomon asks for wisdom. In our world knowledge and information abound. We want immediate answers and quick fixes for every problem we can imagine. But rarely do we slow down long enough to cultivate true wisdom.
That is what we seek as we bring our burning questions to God. In many cases, seeking wisdom means first changing the question. For example, when people ask about dinosaurs in the Bible, we must understand that the Bilical writers had no concept of a fossil record. Does that mean they were wrong? No. It means they were a product of their own time in history. Denying scientific discoveries since the time of the Biblical writers because they are not in the Bible would be as absurd as denying the existence of computers or cell phones because they never show up in any books written prior to the late 1900’s. Seeking wisdom in this case requires us to ask a different question, namely, how are science and faith related in our lives? This is only one example. Over the next four weeks we will consider four such questions beginning next Sunday with the issue of science and evolution. For each one we will seek to reframe the question in a way that the Holy Spirit might offer us wisdom through the scriptures on how these issues impact and shape our lives.
Lord, grant us wisdom as we wrestle with these issues and seek to know your truth. Amen.
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Each question or topic below came from a member of Shiloh UMC (Granite Quarry, NC).
7/10 - Faith & Science (Evolution)
7/17 - End Times / Rapture / Heaven
7/24 - Mental Health / Suicide
7/31 - Money / Generosity
Please be aware some of these may be sensitive or controversial for some individuals. If any of the above topics have impacted you or your family personally in some way, especially mental health / suicide, and you would like talk or share your story, please reach out to me at sefacj@gmail.com.