![\"20140621_173215\"](\"http:\/\/www.ChurchOfTheBeyond.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/20140621_173215-150x150.jpg\")
<\/a>1 My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you,
\n2 turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding\u2014
\n3 indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding,
\n4 and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure,
\n5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.<\/p>\nProverbs 2:1-5 NIV<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
It is the heart of a good father to want so see their child learn wisdom.\u00a0 It is the heart of our Father that we do as well.<\/p>\n
The great questions I had growing as a Christian were, how exactly were supposed to live, and why do Christian men do evil when 2 Corinthians 5:17 says it is no longer the nature of a true believer to want to.<\/p>\n
As I’ve considered this, I have come to understand that this is indeed what Jesus intended to bring.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Of course,\u00a0 no one can see the Kingdom unless they are born again, but what then?\u00a0 We see the basic pattern laid down in scripture, but no where is there concensus, nor even clear instructions on how to assmemble the pieces of the Gospel once they are recieved.\u00a0 Truly, one can run to and fro and increase in knowledge, but know little in the way of love.<\/p>\n
The Jews remarked at Jesus’ superb wisdom.\u00a0 Yet, Proverbs 2 says to seek for Wisdom as buried treasure.\u00a0 Well, if you are ever going to make progress at finding buried treasure, you need two things–a shovel and a map.<\/p>\n
Surely, man can stumble upon anything, but, like the Kingdom, there are few who find it.\u00a0 Better to follow the instructions.\u00a0 And, even if you get to the treasure, there is work to do on arriving.\u00a0 Hands for digging are an option, but tools make the job go by fast.<\/p>\n
So, if the Gospels are the form of both our shovel and our map, and the Spirit with in will be our light, we can venture in, Beyond the veils, into the thing for which God has hidden and prepared.\u00a0 It is the Glory of God to hid the ark within the tabernacle.\u00a0 It was the glory of the priest to enter in, and seek Him out.<\/p>\n
But, if the treasure we seek is the wisdom in which Christ walked, we must expect that the life we live will resemble His.\u00a0 His life, His service, His death.\u00a0 We must be like Him.<\/p>\n
Yet, if the Gospels do not contain the teaching that can equip a believer to live as He did, and to be just like Him, then we are at a great loss.<\/p>\n
But truly, the Gospels are exactly that.\u00a0 In the military medical school, there was a motto, learn one, do one, teach one.\u00a0 Those who are disciples, make disciples.<\/p>\n
But the nature of our find is rare.\u00a0 Jesus said it was the smallest of all seeds, that when fully grown, became the largest of all garden plants.\u00a0 You see, the smallest little thing, the most insignificant little truth, when fully grown and mature, is greater than all others.<\/p>\n
That is, the teaching of the Kingdom itself is rather small, when one examines it, but when fully developed, eclipses all others. Looked at another way, the Kingdom is God’s, and learning the Kingdom is merely learning who He is.\u00a0 And, as this is impossible for carnal man, God gave us His Spirit.\u00a0 But, God’s Spirit is not like what we were, and we must learn to walk as He walked.\u00a0 This is the process of sanctification.\u00a0 And, it is the process of losing our own earthly life, and gaining heaven.\u00a0 And, this is to learn to live by the Spirit within.<\/p>\n
We are now, then, on the way to our quarry, believe it or not.\u00a0 We have identified this treasure we seek, the Kingdom.\u00a0 It will seem very small, but will actually out-pace them all.\u00a0 But, we know this seed will grow beyond all others.<\/p>\n
And, this seed is faith, and it is by the Holy Spirit in the heart of a believer (Luke 13:18, 20).So, what is it?<\/p>\n
Hebrews 11:1 calls it a substance, and proof.\u00a0 It is having the thing spiritually, even though the natural is not yet seen.\u00a0 Faith is not tomorrow; faith is now.<\/p>\n
But, where might we choose to dig?<\/p>\n
First, the shovel.<\/p>\n
When Peter began to sink, Jesus asked him a question afterwards.\u00a0 He asked, Peter, why did you doubt? Jesus was after something.\u00a0 Jesus knew what was there, but Peter did not.\u00a0 Perhaps it was not until after the rooster that Peter knew what he\u00a0 was made of in himself.\u00a0 But, 50 days later at Pentecost, it was Peter who stood up first and said, “This is that…”, and told the crowd they were seeing the fulfilment of Joel 2:28.<\/p>\n
But, Jesus’ question ran directly at Peter’s heart long before.\u00a0 Only Jesus knew what lay ahead, and no answer came from Perer according to the account.\u00a0 Yet, at the root, was fear.<\/p>\n
God knows its there, even when we don’t.\u00a0 When we want to do everything we can to cover it up.\u00a0 He knows the condition of His flock.<\/p>\n
But, the question probed Peters heart, even if Peter lacked the sight to see.<\/p>\n
This is the verdict, that men loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil.\u00a0 Those who do evil do not come into the\u00a0 light, lest their deeds be exposed.\u00a0 Those who do truth come into the light that it might be plainly seen that what they have done has been done through God.<\/p>\n
John 3:19-21<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
And, so we have the shovel in hand, and we are on our way.\u00a0 What is the shovel?\u00a0 Coming into the light. When God asks a question, He’s after something. When the Pharisees asked a question, they were attempting to ensnare.<\/p>\n
And, so, it is simple honesty that brings us to where we need to go.\u00a0 And, we are almost through.<\/p>\n
You see, I want to live like Jesus did.\u00a0 Just like Him.\u00a0 Thats the point, really. Why go through all the mess and struggle? Because He’s worthy.<\/p>\n
And, so, as we live out our walk, we see se fail at times to live out the sermon on the mount.\u00a0 It is now our map.\u00a0 When we violate it, we must ask that question, Peter, why did you doubt?<\/p>\n
It truly is a matter of faith versus fear.<\/p>\n
As we probe, we do what Jesus commands.\u00a0 We dig deep to the rock, Luke 6:48.\u00a0 And, when we hit bedrock, Him within, were at the place life is.<\/p>\n
And, were at the place of truth.\u00a0 We dont sin, because it isn’t in our nature to sin.\u00a0 We are washed and blameless.\u00a0 We have \u00a0no reason to fear.<\/p>\n
And, as Hebrews 6:1-2 shows, we begin to progress through the foundations of the faith.<\/p>\n
As we repent from the works which are dead, our heart is alive to know the faith of God.\u00a0 As faith, that treasure, comes alive and illuminated, it begins to take over our lives.\u00a0 As this comes, God baptizes us with His Holy Spirit.
\nAnd, it is at this point we must reflect.<\/p>\n
We set out in search of treasure, but, for the believer, the spirit of wisdom and revelation is ours to possess, if we ask. As we as, God takes us through the process of knowing Him within, and being like Him again.<\/p>\n
It is through this, that the greatest “by-product” is then produced.<\/p>\n
Having purified your souls by obeying the truth unto unfeigned love of the brbrethrenlove each other fervently from the heart.<\/p>\n
1 Peter 1:22<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
1 My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, 2 turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding\u2014 3 indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, 4 and if you look for it as for silver and search for it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3714,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[264,268],"tags":[41,106,1301,1209,65,1208,33],"class_list":["post-3693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church-of-the-beyond","category-general","tag-father","tag-heart","tag-kingdom","tag-map","tag-seed","tag-shovel","tag-wisdom"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2MdeJ-Xz","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ChurchOfTheBeyond.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/20140621_173215.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ChurchOfTheBeyond.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ChurchOfTheBeyond.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ChurchOfTheBeyond.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ChurchOfTheBeyond.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ChurchOfTheBeyond.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3693"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.ChurchOfTheBeyond.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3693\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3716,"href":"https:\/\/www.ChurchOfTheBeyond.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3693\/revisions\/3716"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ChurchOfTheBeyond.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ChurchOfTheBeyond.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ChurchOfTheBeyond.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ChurchOfTheBeyond.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}