Leon Fontaine - Faith and Wisdom
Hey, everybody. It's so good to have you with me today. We've got a topic that is so crucial to understand because so many Christians are on one side or the other. We're gonna talk about the power twins of faith, believing for miracles and wisdom. Making wise choices and decisions every day of your life. Because some people are on the faith camp everything's a miracle. They need a miracle every day for something that goes on and they don't really think about wisdom. They don't really school themselves in the wisdom of the Word or every decision that they make is maybe even was causing their need for miracles. And then we've got the other camp that's all about wisdom. They love God's wisdom. They try to make as many wise choices as they can but if they ever need a miracle, umm, they're not sure that miracles still happened today. And so, they kind of what we call sensationalist. They believe it's all done and that the miracles we saw in Jesus time aren't for today.
Faith cannot do what wisdom needs to do, and wisdom cannot do what faith needs to do. They are together and they need to work together. And your life will change when you see the balance and the beauty of this two working together. In 1 John 5:4, it says, "For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world and this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith". So, this verse is saying that if you wanna overcome everything the world throws at us. You'd better have a faith and believe God to overcome sickness, poverty, disease, attack, sudden death.
All the things that are gonna come against us here on this planet. But then at the same time listen to what the Bible says about wisdom in Proverbs 2:10, it says, "When wisdom enters thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant to your soul, discretion will preserve you, understanding will keep you; to deliver you from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things, crooked things, who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness; who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the crookedness of the wicked, whose ways are crooked, and their crookedness is in their paths; to deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flatters with her words".
Alright, I want you to notice three words here. It talks about wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. So Proverbs says all the way through. If you want a great life, then find wisdom. That wisdom is crying aloud in the street. He's saying, "Young man, listen to me". So here it says wisdom's gonna make your life great. Then over here in this verse, it says faith is gonna overcome the world. So we don't have to go one or the other. We have this beautiful, beautiful, power twins that I believe will help us. Now, let's talk about, and I'm gonna put them in this order, knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. Now, the Bible says my people perish for a lack of knowledge. So anytime life begins to perish, you need to ask yourself, "Is there something I don't know here"?
Now, most people don't do that. When their lives start to perish in any area. They just believe the lie that God allows it so you'll just have to walk it through. But yet, the Bible clearly says and it's a very quoted verse that my people perish for a lack of knowledge. It doesn't say my people perish for a lack of faith or for a lack of wisdom, although we know that's in the Word as well. It doesn't say we perish for a lack of love, for a lack of prayer. We know those are important, too. They are important components. Why is it so bluntly saying my people perish for a lack of knowledge? Because it's hard to have wisdom unless you start with the three steps that gets you there. Storms don't build strength in the houses that carpenters do and our carpenter is Jesus and He's given us the principles of building our lives.
Now, knowledge is something that you have to read, learn, study. If you just go through life and you don't go after knowledge? The Bible says you're a fool. So knowledge is the facts. Then as you've got the facts, you're not just knowing the facts, knowing that knowledge isn't what brings such incredible wisdom. It's having understanding. Understanding, wow. Understanding comes from meditation. I'll give you an example. The knowledge is the bank calls you and says, "Oh, your credit cards are full up". And you meditate on that for a minute and rather than finding real truth. You just think to yourself, "Hhmn, I need new credit cards".
So your wisdom is faulty. So knowledge is the facts. Understanding is how do those facts affect you and what should I do? And the wisdom is actually doing it. You see, a lot of people have, they've got knowledge and they've got understanding. But they stop short right there from actually making decisions. Wisdom can always be seen because wisdom on someone's life is what they do. Wisdom is walking in wisdom, making decisions with wisdom. But before you get there, there are those three steps. The first one is gain knowledge. Get in the God's Word and understand. It is crucial to understand the Old Testament and the New Testament and what the difference is or you'll be living out Old Testament principles that now have come through the cross, have changed. We are in a new covenant and so this is crucial.
So gain knowledge, get into a great teaching church that understands this new covenant, the death, the burial, the resurrection of Jesus. If you're not, you are gonna die there. You will not get truth that will change your marriage, your life, your bus-. I know many Christians who struggle all the way through their life, because they just have never heard the truth or they've never spent enough time in it to gain an understanding. The only way to understand is to meditate on those principles until you can apply them to yourself. So as you get into God's Word, you'll find principles, take those principles and meditate on them because meditation always brings understanding. And what's beautiful about wisdom is that Holy Spirit is our teacher.
The Bible says if you go to John 14th, 15th, 16th, and 17th chapters, it's all about Holy Spirit and that Jesus is gonna have to die and He's gonna leave us. But He's gonna leave us a comforter and He's gonna lead us into all truth. So then, Paul goes on in the New Testament under the incredible inspiration of Holy Spirit where Jesus taught him this new covenant what happened from the cross through the throne and he begins to teach us how this new covenant works. It's incredible. So as you meditate that New Testament and see these principles. Medi-, get the knowledge, meditating in God's Word, spending time, soaking it up. Don't rush it through you'll never-, a meditation drives it deeper until you begin to go, "Aha". And you get an understanding of those principles. And then, you begin to make choices from what the knowledge you've got and the understanding of how that knowledge applies to you.
A lot of people can gain knowledge but they've never taken the time to gain understanding. Understanding is how this knowledge work for you. You can't just take, do what I do because you've got a different life. You are going through different circumstances. And so as you meditate on the knowledge and the principles of God's Word, Holy Spirit through meditating and thinking and pondering and just praying quietly. God teach me and guide me on this. Holy Spirit will show you. This is the decision that you have to make. Now, you're still only at the second level, knowledge, understanding. To get to wisdom you need to make a decision. Get up and do something. So, the Bible says, "When wisdom enters your heart and knowledge is pleasant to your soul, discretion shall preserve you and understanding will keep you".
See, I don't know how many, but I know from my life and I know from everyone in our church that I've counseled over the last 34 years or so or more. That a lot of the miracles we need come from the foolish decisions that we make. When we make a foolish decision and our life falls into a trial, falls into a storm and all of a sudden, we don't know what decision to make. We have to understand that making wise decision in the future will lessen the storms you have to walk through. And as you make wise decisions, it will actually will help you build that area of your life up to such a degree that storms have no effect on it. How do I know that? Luke chapter 6, alright, verse 45 and on. It talks about a man building a house and another man building house, one on the rock, one on the sand.
Now, the guy that builds his house on the rock, he dug deep and he laid the foundation on the rock. The guy who laid the foundation on the sand did not listen to Jesus. Jesus said you call me Lord, Lord, don't do what I say. What is he saying? He's giving you the principles. He's giving you the knowledge in His Word. He's guiding you by His Spirit as to what to do, what decisions to make. But laziness is one of the problems in everyone's life. The guy on the sand didn't dig from the sand down to the rock. He just built it on the sand. But the guy who listen to Jesus built it on the rock. Now, the storm came and it hit both houses. Storms will always come. Life's got storms. Storms are gonna come in every area of your life. They always blow. Now, if you build that area of your life on the foundation and Jesus is the rock. Build it on the foundation.
The Bible says the winds blow and couldn't even shake the house that was built with wisdom. Now, the house that was not built with knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. It says great was its destruction. Let me tell you one of the greatest lies that Christians have swallowed. That storms come to strengthen you. God allows storms because it make you stronger. That's a foolish thing. Storms might prove to you that your faith works, that God's Word works. But when the storm hits the house that was built on the rock, it didn't straighten the walls, drive the nails in deeper, put the shingles down better, stick the windows and clearer. No. The storm came to loosen the shingles, bend the walls, ripped off the roof, pushed the wall. It did not strengthen any of it. But now the people in the house built on the rock, when that first storm blew. They kind of went, "Wow, those principles work! The principles of how to build a life, they work. We made it".
So, it will of course increase your faith. But storms don't build strength in the houses that carpenter do. And our carpenter is Jesus and He's given us the principles of building our lives. So wisdom is crucial. Now, the guy on the sand, he was just lazy. He didn't see a storm and succumbs, he just blew that house up. I mean, he built it up so fast. He was probably sitting over there in his hot tub watching his friend still digging the foundation. Hey, hey, buddy. What are you doing over there? Man, I already got my house up. Come on, you're being too nervous. You're being a worry wart. Come on, what's gonna hap-, Oh, just build that thing already". Probably just mocked him 'cause he was building on principles. But when the storm came, the storm does not come to make a house stronger. Jesus is teaching this parable and in no indication does it makes the house stronger. It destroys one absolutely and the other one, it couldn't shake because of what was built into the life of the house before the storm. This is what wisdom is showing us.
Are you learning God's Word? Are you meditating to understand those principles? And then, are you making wise choices? Some people can even get the knowledge, meditate until they know what they should do. But tell me, "Well, you know, okay, I know I should do this". Yeah, that's exactly right. "Ah, I just can't find the strength to do it or the courage to do it". No, wisdom is making the decision not just knowing it. You are not a wise person if you know the wisdom but don't do it. That's a fool the Bible says. So when we get to wisdom, it's in the actual making of good decisions. Even if you have to gulp, even if it's hard. Maybe it's firing someone from your business. Maybe it's ending a dating relationship or even an engagement where you realized this is not what I want. Maybe it's having to stand up to someone and be strong and take them on in a public arena. I don't know what it is you're not making a decision of. But wisdom is powerful and wisdom will build your life.
Now, we've talked about wisdom. We've talked about faith. What do you do when you have done everything you know with wisdom? And all of a sudden, an attack comes at you and there is no wisdom. Let's give you an example. Let's say that the doctor looks at you and says, "You have a disease. It is this disease. You've only got a few months to live. And you have, you know, you've eaten right. If you're following the wisdom of the Word, these actually things you can do for health. Bible talks about eating. What to eat, what not to eat. The Bible talks looking after your body. It talks about looking after your mind. And so, don't let unforgiveness, don't let bitterness, don't let fear, don't let any of these negative emotions in your mind. And it shows you how to not walk and live in anxiety. It shows you what to do with your body to keep it healthy.
So the Bible got this beautiful principles and that's how we are the best way to stay sickness free. But in our world, we've got chemicals and we've got weird stuff going on. I mean, it's affecting the DNA. It's affecting, it's, we don't know and all of sudden a storm comes that you had no idea, that you couldn't prepare for. Now, the Bible actually says that Holy Spirit will show us things to come. So I believe He's always trying to show us things to come and prepare us for. But if I do not know what wisdom to make, I need a miracle. That is where I stand on my faith. Even Ephesians 6:10-18, says, when you've done all, stand. So you've done the wisdom. You know what to do. But you still need a miracle. You stand using your faith, declaring in faith that no weapon form against me will prosper. The doctor says I have this disease. It's gonna kill me in less than a year. But Jesus says in Psalms 91 the last verse, with long life He will satisfy me. It doesn't say when God is satisfied. It says, "The long life I'll satisfy you".
I'm not satisfied and I'm gonna live long. I'm gonna live healthy. I'm gonna live whole. And your faith begins to rise up and you begin to prophesy your future. You begin to declare with your mouth what you believe according to God's Word. Faith is a substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. When you don't know, if it's a wisdom move and you don't know how to fix this with just a decision. But you've gotta believed God for the miraculous, then believe God for the miraculous.
I remember one time, I'm getting a call and this person phoned me and said your brother has been assaulted. He's laying on the street in front of my house. Well, you've got a phone call like that and you just are, so I jumped up and I raced down to that part of the city, pulled up to the address. Looking to see where my brother was so horribly, his body was laying there and as I, and he wasn't there. But as I pulled up and jumped out of the car and I'm walking around. This man comes out of a house with a tire iron in one hand. And he's coming at me to hurt me, to kill me. And now, what wisdom would you give him there? You know what I did? I just looked at him and I just said, "In Jesus name". That man dropped that tire iron like a hot poker and ran for his life. I believed that was a miracle. I don't know what hit him. I just know, I don't know if he saw angel. I don't know why he took off. All I know is, there wasn't just a wisdom decision. I needed an instant miracle. He was gonna hit me that tire iron. So I just said in Jesus name.
I remember onetime driving through Ontario, a place of narrow roads and cliffs and there's no room for a ditch to even abandon. And as I'm coming around a corner this entire truck slid right into my lane. All I have on my side is a cliff. I had two men with me at that time and we all at the same time, they're all believers, just shouted, "In Jesus name". And none of us can say how we made it passed that semi-truck. Ah, because we, our eyes were opened, all we know was that we're on the other side. I've no idea. I don't know how. I just know, whatever took placed. It was a miracle. I'm so glad for wisdom. I'm always working on wisdom. But I'm also developing my faith which believes that the gifts of healing, that the working of miracles, the gift of faith, a word of knowledge. God's gonna show me things to come. He can stop the attack of the enemy when we believe. I love looking at faith and wisdom as the power twins and I pray that this will help you today. Build your life on the wisdom of Jesus, build it on the rock. Don't look at the Bible and go, "Well, just don't really understand it.
So, you know, it's hard to read". Then, go find some great teaching material. Do not stop getting wisdom. Because if you do, your life will need a miracle every day. And if you walk in God's wisdom but you're not sure about miracles, spend some time and see all the promises that every person regardless of how wise they were. There's time they'll need a miraculous move of God, for a miracle will save you from certain destruction. Faith, wisdom. God, I pray right now that you would bless every person watching. That they would understand the power of miracles are our right and our inheritance because of Jesus. And the wisdom to build our lives as we learn your Word. Touch them I pray right now Holy Spirit. In the mighty name of Jesus. Amen. God bless you. We love you. Keep watching. Take notes. And put yourself through Bible school by watching this television show and I believe God will change your world. We love you.